The End

Three years and 80 posts later I've decided to end this blog.

I started it my Junior year of college, talked about the life of being a college student in Logan and the adventures that went with it. I graduated and kept it going for a year talking about the major milestones of my life as a recent graduate and how being an Aggie made all of these things possible.

This last month Norwest, the company I work for, offered me my first full-time salaried position complete with health, dental, vision, 401k, and a myriad of other little benefits such as my first business cards! :) The incoming freshmen this year were born when I was in 3rd grade. My budget habits have changed so much as a result of the career college has allowed me to pursue. Last night I bought $7 orange juice. In college I couldn't afford $3 orange juice. When I meet new people now and we talk about college, it's always in the past tense. I bought a USU shirt last week. It has buttons and a collar. As much as I'm definitely still an Aggie, it's time for the college-years blog to end.

This weekend I was able to drive through Logan twice on a trip with my YSA ward to Bear Lake. The first time through I saw all the freshmen wearing their new gameday shirts they got at SOAR. It's funny. They have no idea that they've already made the best decision of their lives. At Bear Lake there was a whole army of Aggies from my Salt Lake YSA ward. I guess the proximity to Logan makes us all bring our USU gear because I felt like a third of us were wearing it. On the way back I drove through downtown Logan and had a silly grin on my face missing all the fun times I had in the town and really wishing I could have stopped to eat at the Bluebird.

I really don't think people realize it when they enroll there, but more than signing up for a world class education. You're signing up for an exclusive club. The rest of your life any time you see someone wearing a Utah State shirt or hat, you just made a new friend. On the way back I was talking about this with the girl I was sitting next to. She is a U of U alumni. She told me that whenever she saw large groups of Aggies together that she was jealous of how it really does appear to be a club.

I think it's something that every other school in the state and most schools in the entire nation are missing. Most people go to school for an education and at most of them that's just what you get. At Utah State it was only about a third of what I received. I got a life experience and I got lifetime membership to this exclusive alumni group that know about the incredible life experience I had, because we all shared it. And because you really can't have the experience anywhere or any time else besides Logan Utah, when you're in your late-teens/early-twenties.

The life experience really changed my life. I was a pretty unhappy person without much direction in life. I just knew I needed to get that degree so I could get a job and make money or something. Why? Because that's what people do. So I did that.

At the school I met my best friends and I always felt like I belonged. Even when I would quit dating someone or lose a friend or group of friends or when a friend of mine would get married and forget I existed, it really didn't matter because there was always thousands of other people looking to make a new friend. I met and developed more close relationships with complete strangers than I will at any other point in my life.

Sure there were crappy days and moments, but that's life. There always are. Overall it was amazing. I was always engaged in learning, experiencing new things and meeting new people. When I graduated I felt like a completely different person. Some things I could never do before then was work a 12+ hour shift, have conversations with complete strangers or put effort into something that I didn't experience an immediate reward from. I do all of those fairly easily now.

If for some reason you're a potential Aggie or know someone who is, don't think twice about it. You may think the U of U or BYU is where it's at because they're the bigger schools and they have more alumni base in Salt Lake and Provo, but you're so wrong. I'm biased, sure, but I know enough Utes and Cougars to say that from my most objective point of view. You just don't experience the same things at those schools as you do in Logan. Sure, maybe in Utah you get to see an incredible football team and in Provo you get to say a prayer before you start class, but the experience of leaving the city, living on your own with complete strangers, all of which are doing the same thing you're doing, sledding down Old Main hill, becoming a True Aggie, doing the Scotsman, wearing shorts because it warmed up to 30 degrees and you can see the sky today, eating Aggie-Blue Mint ice cream, seeing the A light up blue, finding free meals 4 nights a week, and well, and doing the winning team, losing team chant for the first time. You just don't get that anywhere else.

I got hired by my current employer because of being an Aggie.
I met nearly all of my best friends because of being an Aggie.
I infinitely improved my social skills while being an Aggie.
I gained a well rounded education while being an Aggie.
I discovered a love of college athletics from being an Aggie.

Most importantly, for the first time in my life, while I was an Aggie I always felt like I belonged. Even now I sometimes miss college because of that, but I think the Homecoming motto this year says it best:

"Once an Aggie, always an Aggie."

The End!

Business Reply Mail

Today I came to see my mother in Layton. She had a bunch of mail waiting for me. I was very excited for it, only to find that it was mostly unsolicited junk mail. However I decided to make the best of it and open it anyway.

First I had my acceptance letter from Stevens-Henneger College which is one of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in the local suburban office complex. I can barely express my excitement of having been accepted to a school I never applied to.

Next I had not one, but two advertisements from the Aviation Service Academy in Woods Cross. They must really understand my potential as a commercial airline pilot if they sent me two!

Wow, and they even have jobs waiting for me at $18 an hour? How could I possible say no?! I'd only be spending $40,000 for the programs and then taking a ginormous pay cut after graduation. What a deal!

Unfortunately I can only choose one, and since Stevens-Hennegar College sent me a business reply envelope which allows me to send the mail to them should I be sending it from the United States (which I am!) I chose them.

It sure would be a shame if I put the wrong paper in the envelope!

Here's my first step towards a bright new future.

My Greek ancestors would be so proud!

Dinosaur Cursors for Windows 7!

Remember the dinosaur icons for Windows 95/98/XP/Vista? Well, you can have 'em on 7!

1. Download this file and move them to -> C:\Windows\Cursors

Zipped Dinosaur Icons
It is safe, I use it.

2. Go to Start -> type "Mouse."
3. Click the "mouse" icon under control panel and then go to Pointers tab in the window that pops up
4. Change each pointer as needed
(do this by clicking browse and selecting which cursor you want for which item - you should use the yellow dinosaur for "working in background" and the blue one for "busy")
5. Save the scheme (Save As button)
6. Hit Apply or Okay
7. Done. The chubby blue and yellow dinosaurs are back!

Click Here! To follow me on Twitter!
I probably post way too much about dinosaurs.. and geology..

The Utah Accent

So I've been doing a bit of thinking about this one layly (yes, that was on purpose). I've been in Utah nearly my whole life so I have a hard time determining a Utahan accent, but it definitely exists because I know I can go in and out of my native vernacular at will, therefore there are certain rules I am changing when I am not around the locals.

1. Oh my heck, that's too frickin stupid.
Yeah, we all do that one. I like to claim I'm not offended by profanity, but in reality I'd much rather use replacement words. Although anyone in the 49 other states would disagree with this, I feel like it sounds more proper and classy to use silly replacements. Effin' A.

2. Sallake Ciey
We hate the T. (Really, as you just read that you made a soft stop over the T sound and it sounded more like "heigh" in your head that "hate") If it isn't at the start of a word we're not going to use it. Taco? Tortilla? Tostada? (Apparently I have Chipol-eh on the mind right now.) Yeah, we'll hit those T's. Kihen? Brekfuss? Wadur? No way I'm ever going to pronounce those T's without thinking about it. I love Sallake, it's by the moununs and just south of where I grew up in Bouniful.

3. Famlee home evening
Does the word have a pesky redundant vowel in it? Well then, no need to say it if there's another one at the end. It's not like I need to see my reflection twice when I look in a mirr or do my labratory experiment over and over if I keep getting the same results. Oh look, my friend Stephnee just instant messaged me.

4. Pitcher
Hurry up and take one, I can't hold this pose forever. I used to not do this, but over the last few years I defintely have abandoned saying picture with those middle letters. Cameras take pitchers. This is why I use the word photo.

5. It's getting late, where's my pellow?
I do enjoy a nice glass of melk before I got bed. If someone asks me about this I instantly abandon the I=E thing and go for the a glass of milk and fluff my pillow, but if I'm not thinking about it, I'm as bad as anyone else.

6. The adversary.
I don't even think Mormons in Col-rado or Nev-a use this term. Luckily we have heavenly father to help us avoid this adversary (God and Satan for those of us not from Zion.)

7. Or eltse
Okay, so you know all those T's we get rid of? This is where they turn up. Brother Neltson from one of the wards eltsewhere in the stake was telling me about this just the other day (back in 2008.)


8. Eh... a pretty great state
This was a failed ad campaign Utah ran for a short period. Utah: a pretty, great state! Sounds like somewhere I'd want to visit! Sadly they forgot the comma. As you can imagine it was abandoned very quickly when this was pointed out.


9. Hey Brother
This obveesly stems from the pioneers and their seddling of our preddy gray state. Everyone was viewed as brothers and sisters and in their wards and still are. Heavenly Father would want it this way. Nachurrly (naturally) whenever you're around people you see in church settings eltsewhere, they still view you as Brother Alger.

10. and = n
To use my previous example, when was the last time you heard someone at church start their talk with "Brother and sisters..." NEVER! They say "Brothers n sisters" They have to say it that way or eltse it's going to rain cats n dogs. N I'm not making this up.

Have a gray friggin nigh brothers n sisters. Pray to your he'v'nly father that the adversary doesn' trouble you before you fall asleep on that pellow of yours and dream you're somewhere eltse.

Official New Utah State University athletics logo.

Earth Day 2012

This blog is broken, I don't particularly care to fix it, sorry! A small collection of photos I've taken of the amazing rock that we live on.


Sevier Lake, Utah


Hidden Arch, Utah


Crescent City, California


Mt. Timpanogos, Utah


Grand Tetons, Wyoming


Lassen National Forest, California


Goblin Valley, Utah


Jenny Lake, Wyoming


Crater Lake, Oregon


Klamath River, Oregon


Great Basin & Notch Peak, Utah


Unnamed Glacial-cut Valley, Idaho


Mt. Shasta, California


Delicate Arch, Utah


Mt. McLaughlin, Oregon


Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah


San Andreas Fault, California


Balanced Rock, Utah


Wellsville Mountains, Utah


Mojave Desert, Nevada


Redwood Forest, California

Yeah, we live here. How amazing is that?
Happy Earth Day everyone.

I did it!

Sevier Lake field project? Complete.

27 of the last 31 days of my life were spent out at Sevier Lake, but that's not where it began. I'm going to tell you all about my first real geologic field experience, beginning in August, and you're more than welcome to read :)

It started on August 1st. I went out to Sevier Lake with my project manager, Larry, and met the field supervisor, Alex. Through all of August I was at Sevier Lake. In fact I spent 18 days of the month there, worked roughly 200 hours, and in an indirect way set up my new boy/girl-type relationship for failure. I spent all of this time training with the field supervisor on both the direct push and mini-sonic rigs that the client had out there. We rode 40 year old snowcats around the dry lake bed at around 4 mph. They were constantly breaking down. One day we had to walk two miles back to shore through mud.

Late september and all of October the job went on hiatus while I worked in the office and the client got permitting taken care of for the federal land leases.

November began with more Sevier Lake field work. I went out there and met up with Alex and a civil engineer from Denver, Orion. At this point the client had invested some money in ATVs to use on the lake bed for faster transportation. There were three drill rigs. I was put in charge of the Direct Push 1 rig. It was a track mounted Geoprobe and we drilled 45 holes. I logged and photographed each one. This lasted for two and a half shifts, or about 25 days. Approximately 300 hours were spent working at Sevier Lake during this time. We finished all the drilling on the dry parts of the lake bed and had to take a break while the client figured out how drilling on the parts of the lake bed covered in water would play out.

It was late December when the client got things squared away. There would once again be three drill rigs. A direct push, mounted on an airboat. A mini-sonic mounted on a tracked cargo buggy and a truck mounted full size sonic. The mini-sonic would be mine. Alex had left for another project at this time, so Norwest brought in a new guy to be the field supervisor. I forget his name, and he isn't important because he quit 10 days later. This left just Orion and I. During the remainder of the time the deep-sonic rig was active I was out there while the mini-sonic rig was having mechanical issues the whole time.

January came around and Orion was replaced by an interesting older geologist named Jon. Jon's truck broke and him and I commuted to and from the site together for most of the shift before Enterprise finally replaced it with a working one. The mini-sonic rig broke off and on throughout the whole month and continued doing so into February. This translated into a lot of down time for me. During this time I worked another 200 hours at Sevier Lake. The direct push program wrapped up and this left me as the only Norwest employee at Sevier Lake and it unofficially became "my project" according to my project manager.

During late February the program was changed to drill clusters of wells to test for transmissivity, or how well the water moves through the sediments. I would go for a day or two, log a well, and go back to my office duties. This lasted into mid March and I was fine with this. I worked at Sevier Lake for roughly 75 hours during this phase.

During mid-March it was decided that not enough sonic wells were being put in at far enough intervals to accurately define the base of the resource. This meant 9 more sonic wells were added and this is when I spent 27 of 31 days at Sevier Lake, almost to the point where Delta became home. During this time I spent roughly 350 hours out there. I became good friends with the two Boart-Longyear drillers, Dairus and Ty. We sort of began to resent the marine "specialists" whose sole purpose on the job was to supply us with well construction supplies, which they never did in an efficient manner and left us with countless downtime sitting around chatting while they took their sweet time.

In all, not counting office support hours, I spent 925 hours on or around Sevier Lake. That's roughly 23 normal work weeks spent there. After my first day I was afraid I wouldn't be able to even finish one. I feel quite proud of myself for this. I've really shown myself that I can do some pretty hard stuff when I try... and... when you offer me enough money to do so...

Don't believe it was hard?

Temperatures during the time I was at Sevier Lake ranged from -6 degrees to 103 degrees. The average January high was 24. The average August high was 92. With no mountains around to stop them, winds consistently blow at 20 mph, easily gusting upwards of 50. During the summer the monsoon caused frequent thunderstorms over the Sevier Lake. This is a 30x10 mile flat lake bed where the tallest thing as far as I could see was the drill rig. After that was our mechanic and after that was me.

When we were drilling on the water the airboat I had to ride on was one of the most terrifying things I've been on in my life. It was a boat, with an airplane propeller attached to a 350cc V8 engine that consistently ran at 4000 RPM's and speeds over 40 mph across water that was sometimes no more than 2 inches deep and usually well below freezing; the high salt content allowed for the 20 degree water to stay liquid. The boat had broken welds and it was normal to jump in the boat and hear *splash* The barge that I spent most of 2012 on had no shelter, no bathroom and no way to the shores, which were usually 5+ miles away, other than the airboats. During extremely bad weather, when the airboats wouldn't run we had to ride in on a tracked machine called a Marsh Master which had a top speed of about 5 mph.

Delta, the forsaken town I was staying in, was anywhere from a 50-70 mile drive from our various staging points. This caused for a long commute on top of a 10-12 hour work day. I was paid for the commute, but still, when you work 14 hours in one day and have to go home and do paperwork, life is not happy. Delta had nine restaurants when I first began working there. Three were Mexican and two were pizza. Three of them closed during the eight month span. I had no kitchen, just a microwave and a refrigerator. Lunch was a sandwich, cookies/crackers, chips and an orange, every day. Milford, the town I stayed in from Late August-January, had three restaurants. One made me sick each time I ate there.

Know what though? I did it. I made a shit-ton of money doing it and even more importantly gained invaluable experience. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Now comes the fun part. Taking 8 months of data and making a report out of it. I bet you envy my life so much right now :)

Also of note:

Vehicles I drove during the project:
Ford F150, Dodge Durango, two Chevy Silverados, multiple Dodge Rams, Toyota Rav4, Jeep Liberty, Ford Escape, an 8x8 Argo, a snowcat and multiple 6wd Rangers.
Towns visited that I'd never been to before:
Delta, Milford, Minersville, Hinckley, Eureka, Leemington, Lyndyll, Fillmore.
Weird food I ate:
Alligator, lamb, jambalaya
Total number of holes logged by me:
74
Approximate number of photos taken by me:
3,800

The Benefits of a College Diploma

So recently I've noticed the benefits of having a college diploma. They are rather significant actually. I would have never expected this when I was younger. College may seem hard, but in the end you finish because you are lazy.

Let me paint a picture of the group I work with when I'm on field assignment at Sevier Lake. There are a whole bunch of field hands. One is an older master mechanic, another mechanic in his 30's, an airboat driver/generic helper and four people from an aquatic diving center that are contracted to be here that range from 30 to 70 years old. Then there is a neurotic barge driver from Louisiana, a driller, the driller's helper and myself. With the exception of the air boat driver and a couple of the aquatic laborers, each one of them has considerably more experience and knowledge with their respective chosen career than I do. Each one of them is older than I am. There are occasionally others out here. Other geologists who sample the water, a technician who helps me sample the mud, the project manager visits occasionally.

I'm 26, I look like I'm 21, I have 8 months of experience which makes me relatively new, I have no idea how to run a drill rig, a barge or an airboat. Yet what makes me special is that I have a piece of paper that says "You went to school for 4 years longer than everyone else here." That paper means people trust your judgment more than they would otherwise. If you ask me, that's pretty damn cool. If you ask them, that's pretty damn annoying. However, they had every opportunity to go to college that I had. Most of them do have vocational training of some sort. Yet training isn't the same as taking random useless classes that you'll never need along with a handful of classes that you will use daily and keeping at that for four years. In the end that means my trusted judgment allows me to make decisions on when we have situations that must be taken care of before we can continue or when we have to stop altogether.

Another benefit? The pay. I'm not really one to flaunt what I make. In my office I would bet that I'm one of the lower paid people, but they're all college graduates too and most of them have more experience than me. However with the field crew I've been working with, I've overheard conversations between people working out here about money. Despite having significantly more experience, none of them make what I do (well the other geologists and project manager probably do, if not more, but they also have degrees). In fact some of them don't even make half of what I make despite working longer hours. I almost always get there last and go home first.

The final benefit, the work. My job, in the field, isn't too difficult. I grab samples and take smaller representative samples of the bulk sample for analysis. After that I write down geologic observations based on the scope of the project and take photographs. I communicate with my supervisor on occasion what I did the last few days and make sure everyone stays on task. Now could anyone do this? Probably not, but anyone with a geology degree from a good university certainly could. The point is that for me, it's easy. Everyone else spends most of the day lifting heavy stuff, moving heavy stuff, driving and operating heavy equipment and going down into the lake to fix, fetch or find things. I don't have to do any of that stuff and if I did I would likely have quit months ago as I am not capable, nor do I have any desire do those things. Occasionally I will help lift stuff that need to be moved, so I don't look lazy and because I really do like to help, but that's not my function out here. My function is to take samples, notes and photos.

Like I said earlier, going to college may seem like hard work, but in the end you graduate college because you're lazy and you want to fully take advantage of opportunities to exemplify your laziness. You probably don't feel lazy while you are staying the night in the geology building because you fell asleep working on a project or when you are sneaking out of your bed, at 3am, while you have a beautiful woman asleep in it, because you have an assignment that you have to finish before the next morning but that doesn't mean you aren't.

In the end you get a diploma. Then you get to be the one who doesn't have to struggle to find jobs, or work 2+ jobs just to pay your bills. You get to sit back and take notes and samples while everyone else does the more monotonous (and harder, in my opinion) work. You get to make the decisions on when you shut down work because of protocol. You don't get those benefits because you are more experienced and have more knowledge. No, you get them because you cheated, you took a shortcut and sat through 4-6 years of classes. Best choice ever.

Jazz Game

My office has 4 season tickets to Jazz games. For most of the home games a drawing is held to see what two employees win a pair of the tickets for the night. I had been signing up for the drawing every game that I was home for. This was probably the 5th-ish time I had signed up for it, but this time I was determined to win as the Jazz were playing a team that I would argue is the best team in the NBA and has a legitimate shot at winning the title, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

After sending my email expressing interest I got a phone call about an hour later (I had the day off, so I wasn't in the office) telling me I had won and that I could come pick them up whenever. I was out the door in about 2 minutes and headed to go get my tickets. A girl I have been going on dates here and there with lately, Amanda, is a basketball fan so on my way to the office I called her to see if she'd want to come with me. She was more than happy to do so.

I picked her up at around 7:30 and we headed to Radium Stadium for the game. The place is actually named after a company that buries hazardous waste in the west desert, but I prefer "Radium Stadium" over "Energy Solutions Arena." We went in and got our seats. This was the first time I had been to a Jazz game in over 10 years. We had decent seats. They were in the upper deck, but they were row 2 of the upper deck. The tickets said they were $62 a piece. There is no way in hell they should have been $62 seats. I would pay maybe $20 for a seat there, haha. NBA games are ridiculously priced.

The intro to the game was great. They shut the lights off and introduce the starting lineup with a cool laser show and everyone was excited to see the Jazz. It was strange not turning my back when they introduced the Thunder though. There were even a significant number of people who cheered for Durant (the OKC star), that was quite strange to me. At tip off it was loud..ish, but as soon as the ball was tipped the arena went silent, despite the fact that OKC had the ball. This was very odd to me. It remained silent for the entire rest of the game. The only time any noise was made was when the Thunder were shooting free throws and when the Bear was doing something silly. I'm serious, more people would cheer for the mascot or for crazy halftime show antics than would cheer for fast break dunks by the team they were there to support. NBA spectating sucks. "Oh the Jazz, they're all right, but that silly Jazz Bear, now he's the real how!!" Fail. However it seems the Jazz are aware of this and because of it they have added another Jazz bear. Yes, there is a Bear and a Half Bear who is apparently a dwarf in a bear mascot suit.

The guy who had the other set of tickets that sat next to me was pretty cool. We talked a bit about basketball and how good the Thunder were. Amanda was interesting, she spent the majority of the game complaining about how the NBA was rigged and that's why the Jazz were losing. Amanda and I also discussed at length about how foreign of a place this was compared to the college venue we were used to watching sports in, which granted is arguably the loudest venue in all of college sports, but still.

In the end the Jazz gave a good game for 3 quarters, gave up in the 4th and ended up losing by about 10. The game was fun, certainly more fast paced, but not as technical as college basketball. The shooting was pretty bad, the defense was just too good on anything that wasn't a fast break, which is where most of the points came. There were about 4 alley oop dunks on each end of the ball which was impressive to me, but I guess when the "short" guy on the team is 6'4 that is to be expected.

I liked my Jazz game. It was a lot of fun, however I would never spend $62 on one moderately decent ticket and if I was going to spend $20 on a ticket, I'd much rather just go to a college game or a soccer game.

2011 Summary

Sigh, 2011. What a long year. I feel like the beginning of 2011 was two years ago. I don't even remember what the hell I did in January.

January - I remember it was an exceptionally snowy year. I remember walking to my guitar class in the mornings being absolutely freezing and not being able to feel my hand that I carried my guitar with by the time I got there, despite wearing gloves. I learned to play guitar that last semester of school. I took only needed 3 classes to graduate, but I threw in guitar for fun (and because a cute girl was taking it) and a weekend camping course so I could bump things up to 12 credits.

February - was a rather depressing month. I spent most of my February on campus researching some potential oil play in the Barrent's Sea. In my free time I played a lot of video games alone in my room. I was ready to graduate. I went to my last Aggie basketball game as a student in February. They played 5 more games after that, but the last one in Logan was late February. For Valentine's Day I recall sitting around the kitchen table with Ryan talking about how screwed up our dating lives, or lack there-of, were. Trisha had recently written me a letter saying "I hate you because I think you're hot and I want you every time we hang out." That's not actually what it said, but when summarized into one sentence that's about it. February was a rather poor month.

March - was much the same as February. Still bitter cold, still just concentrated way too much on my classes and basically had given up on bothering meeting anyone new since I knew I was leaving Logan in just over a month. I found out that SOU accepted me for their field camp. That was cool. I met Alyssa towards the end of March. I want to say it may have even been St. Patricks Day, because I recall I'd had two mixed drinks and that's why I was being sociable and wanted to go hot tubbing. I don't think she ever knew I was tipsy when we met, haha.

April - was a little better because I could see the light at the end of the long long tunnel of college. My relative, who is a mining engineer, called me one night while I was at Alyssa's and started asking me what I wanted to do career wise. We talked about it for a while and then he asked me to send him my resume. I did. Afterward Alyssa told me all about the house we were going to buy, the kids we were going to have, the life that was in our future... it kinda freaked me out... It reminded me of that part in Wedding Crashers where Vince Vaughn sleeps with that crazy virgin and then that happens to him. Yeahhh, that was her. I registered for graduation, bought a cap and gown. It was happy. My friends and I all had a celebration dinner at Cafe Sabor for the end of the year, about 20 people came. My roommates gave a toast to me being someone they looked up to and a cool roommate. That night was truly one of the high points of my life. Also of note, I was sick for the entire month of April.

May - I graduated. I didn't get my diploma because I still had one more class, but it was a nice ceremony. Some guy that I'll never remember the name of gave a commencement speech about not letting what you learned in college go to waste. It was a good speech. My school hosted the regional GSA meeting and I volunteered at it. I spent the week at Alyssa's apartment. None of her roommates had moved in yet, so we had the place to ourselves. I was basically using it as a test drive for what our "future" would be like. Honestly I think I spent more time worrying if she was pregnant than trying to see if I could tolerate living with her. Regardless, it was a long week. I was more than happy to get out of there when Friday rolled around. She wasn't pregnant, freaking drama queen... "Oh no, I'm going to get up at random times in the mornings and go vomit and then complain about cramps all day... btw, wanna do it like 5 times today?!?" There really is a huge difference between 25 year olds and 18 year olds. As May came to an end she made airline reservations to come visit me in Oregon.

June - she cancelled those reservations, haha. We broke up. I spent the two weeks before going to Oregon being inside as much as I could since I knew it wouldn't happen much in the future. A guy from the company my cousin worked at called me and asked if I would have time to come in for an interview. I scheduled it 4 days before I left for Oregon. I had to go buy a shirt for it, but the interview went very well. I think I impressed them at least a little. The day I left for Oregon was actually a night. I went and had burgers with my friends before heading out for the long drive. I drove through the night and made it there the next morning then slept most of the day, got yogurt with my e-friend from Ashland and met some geology students that night at dinner. The one ended up being my favorite friend from there. Really nice girl. The rest of the month from the 20th onward consisted of field work.

July - consisted of a lot more waking up in the mornings, throwing on some junky clothes, hopping in an 11 passenger van and driving to random places to do mapping, stream gauging or sitting around chatting with friends about geologies. We'd get home around 5, dump our junk in our rooms, go eat, meet again to work on our maps and then fall asleep, hopefully before midnight so we could wake up and do it all again. It was strange. I made some of the best friends I have ever had on that trip, but will likely never see any of them again. Almost sad, but that's life. I also got an email from the place I interviewed with saying they were offering me a temporary position and stating the temporarily awesome rate that I would be paid. I celebrated by taking a break from a report I was finishing up, calling my family and letting them know. I left Oregon in late July and came back to Utah.

August - 1st was my first actual day of work. I was really broke and really ready to go work. I met my boss, Larry, who drove out to Sevier Lake where we met the field supervisor, Alex. I learned how to "log core" (take notes and pictures of what gets pulled out of the ground by the drills) and how to really miss field work in Oregon where instead of being 100 degrees, it typically maxed out around 80. I spent the majority of August in Millard and Beaver Counties working. I traded in my 2003 Tiburon on my 2010 WRX. I would have kept the Tiburon longer, but when I realized how much I needed fixed to pass registration, I figured 7 years was long enough to own the vehicle. I believe I also started dating Kelley at some point in this month. My time reference on that is pretty hazy.

September - came and went much like August. I wasn't doing field work so I spent a lot more time with the girly I was dating. She also asked me what kind of house I wanted to live in with her. At this point, having a real job and being done with school, it was at least feasible, but I was still not into things enough to justify it with an answer. She broke up with me a few days later. I made a quick trip to Vernal and did some field works there for a few days before driving home in a cargo van full of rocks.

October - came along with a quarter life crisis. The newness of my job which I loved so much suddenly wore off. I realized that I was 25, making more money than most 55 year olds, and still living at home. I began to become more socially awkward than usual since it had really been about 4 months since I had hung out with non-geology people. For Halloween I went to a party in Provo with Katie. It was nice to get out. We saw Paranormal Activity 3. I got carded twice. After leaving her apartment I went to In N Out burger where I ordered, went to my car, and sat for about two hours thinking of all the things in my life I regretted. I spent the majority of October doing office work at my job, which mostly consists of creating geologic models of potential mines.

November - was better. Nothing much changed, but my outlook on life became less crappy. I really have nothing to say about November. It was too dull and too recent. I did a bunch more office work, I feel like I'm almost getting a grasp on the programs they've been teaching me and am getting to the point where I can do a lot of stuff on my own even. Thanksgiving was nice. I went to my Grandpa's house where we had it with family.

December - This month hasn't really been my favorite. Honestly not much has changed from October to December in life. I got a Christmas bonus at my job which has kept me well beyond the temporary dates on my original contract. First bonus I ever got and it was really nice too. I went on a date with some girl, who has apparently also been out with two of my old roommates this month too. Oh well, random meaningless hookups ftw.. I guess.. (Not really, if it were up to me I'd never have a meaningless one again.) Christmas was nice. My grandpa came over for Christmas Eve and I went with him to his girlfriends house for Christmas. Yes, my grandpa is awesome like that. A few nights later I ran into Shelley. I dislike her much. Tonight I ran into Amber. I dislike her much. This, along with my meaningless hookup, has made me come to the conclusion that :

My resolution for this year is going to be to not have random meaningless relationships or sex. It just isn't worth it, at all.
Best month of the year: July
Worst month of the year: February
Happiest moment: A random September afternoon when I received my diploma in the mail. I waited until no one was around before opening it. It was just a paper signifying something I'd already achieved and had already been using, but having a tangible thing showing that my last 4 years were worth something really made me happy beyond words.
Crappiest moment: Pretty much the entire month of February. Specifically probably any night I spent alone or with a couple people in the geology building until midnight putting together a presentation before walking home in the sub-freezing weather and falling asleep in my clothes because I didn't care enough to change.
Biggest regret of the year: Never asking Caytie out because I was afraid I wasn't religious enough for her tastes.
Most unexpected event of the year: The email I had stating I'd been offered a job that was way beyond anything I'd expected.
Best movie of the year: Cowboys and Aliens
Best song of the year: Egypt Central - White Rabbit
Best make-out of the year: I really should take this off here since I've not answered it in 3 years now, but this year certainly had more variety than the prior two ;)
Best new t-shirt of the year: Mario Kart Turtles, no question.

Where the term Aggie comes from

Someone on the ESPN message board posed the question of "What is an Aggie?" I've always had a basic understanding that it came from the schools agricultural roots and was kind of just a remnant of this, but out of curiosity, and due to having the day off, I put a little research into this question and found quite a lot of information on what led to students and alumni of Utah State University being known as Aggies and if possible became even a little more proud of the title.

USU was originally founded as the Agricultural College of Utah back in 1888 and they were known as "Aggies." Lots of schools in the late 1800's and early 1900's were known as the Aggies. Oregon State, Nevada, Colorado State and Wyoming to name a few. Most of them changed their names to what they currently are now. The iconic "Old Main" building on campus still wears the original designation of "Agricultural College of Utah" above its doors.

In the 1940's the teams from Utah Agricultural College (slight name update) were called the Farmers and their mascot was a dude in overalls, but many locals still kept referring to us as Aggies and to the school as "The Agricultural College." In 1957 when UAC changed its name to Utah State University they officially adopted Aggies as their mascot, but kept the farmer around for a while.

During 1969, due to concern by administration of not being known for anything special by people outside of Utah, a movement was made to change the mascot to the Highlanders due to the ideological tie of the school's setting being on top of a hill in a mountain valley and the Scotsman song which was a popular tradition among students. During a football game at halftime it was officially announced that the name would be changed to the Highlanders and the student body and alumni alike booed for the remainder of the second half. That idea was quickly bailed on and we remained Aggies. The Scotsman song remains popular with Aggies.

In 1975 the bull first appeared at Utah State. It was actually a live white bull which they painted blue. It was kept around for a while, but despite rubber boots it still occasionally caused damage to the brand new Dee Glen Smith Spectrum's floor. This and the high level of upkeep for a bull which gets painted blue multiple times a month led to it being replaced with a guy in a bull cartoon suit in 1987, but there is a huge statue of the bull on campus which has a student tradition of being ridden naked to earn the title of Ultimate Aggie (yes, I am one.)

Apparently we really like being Aggies. I wouldn't accept being called anything else, even if there isn't much sagebrush left in the valley.

Go Aggies!!

Looking Back on Yesterday

Today I hung out with my old best friend from high school, Joe. We've stayed in contact all these years while I've been on the other side of the state and he's been doing the whole married thing. We went and got lunch, he brought his wife along - suppose he figured I wouldn't mind. I suppose it's fine. Unlike some of my friends wives she's a cool person and I get along with her. It's just never quite as fun hanging out with your friend plus their wife as it is to hang out with just your friend, but I digress.

It was nice, he kept reminding me of things in my life that I'd either forgotten or heavily repressed the memories of for good reason. It's interesting looking back on it. When we got back to his house I hooked him up on Spotify and he was talking about old music we loved, so when I got home I made him a playlist of all the angry pissed off music we used to listen to during those very forgettable years of 15-19. I even got out some old CDs for ideas of what I wanted to listen to and it really brought back the memories. Some good, most bad.

In no specific order here are some memories of high school that I was reminded of by songs I listened to tonight:

Eva by Orgy always reminded me of my Grandma. My Grandma was a wonderful woman - kind of like a second parent. I had a single parent and we always lived with my grandparents. She died just before my 17th birthday and life was rough, losing a close friend like Grandma is never something an emotionally unstable 17 year old wants to deal with. I mostly hid inside and listened to Orgy's CD Vapor Transmission and Tool's Lateralus CD over and over for weeks. I still love the CD's.

Cloud 9 by Distorted Penguins reminded me of this stupid girl Vonda. At 16 I liked her, I wanted her. She liked me. We went out a few times. Then I decided to let her meet Joe. She decided she liked him better and I was "destroyed" or about as destroyed as a 16 year old can be over a girl. They made out and he told me about it and I remember feeling like the world just ended, haha. Silly Brandon.

In This Diary by The Ataris reminded me of this girl Brindy. Her and I "dated" when we were 15 or 16. By "dated" I mean we'd sit next to each other and hold hands on occasion. Once we even "kissed" and by "kissed" I mean our lips touched briefly. Afterward Joe had a thing for her for about 6 years. It never amounted to anything though, haha. She was very anti-dating of friends.

World so Cold by Mudvayne reminded me of my friend Eric. We're still friends, but in high school we had a brief period of non-friendship. I don't blame him, I was an overdramtic punk. I wouldn't have wanted to hang out with me, but we were still tight in junior high and he bailed to hang out with some shady kids who were into things I didn't approve of at the time... you know, like beer and R rated movies. Haha. He also led me to believe that he was dating the aforementioned Amber which was pretty low, but apparently he wasn't.

The Odyssey by Orgy reminded me of track meets. Eric and I would listen to that song to get psyched up. We thought it made us run faster. Honestly it was just a cool song to listen to and you don't really need to psyched up to run, but man, we sure thought you did.

Silhouettes by Smile Empty Soul reminded me of this time that Joe and I decided that the lines "I don't want to live like my mother/father" were how we felt about our lives. Even though to be quite honest we both have parent(s) who are good people, but hey - in high school you just want to find something, anything, to hate. At least I did.

Here's to the Night by Eve 6 reminds me of when I didn't graduate high school. I quit, I gave up. I'd had enough and decided I didn't need an education. For a brief time my mom tried getting me to do an alternate high school, but that wasn't for me either. I didn't fit in with the druggies and the people who were looking for that technical type of education. Not that I'm above that, my brain just doesn't work that way. I can't fix a car or weld something, it just doesn't doesn't please me to do so and I honestly just have this mental block that makes me give up about half way through anything mechanical like that because I get frustrated.

A couple years later I went in for the GED test. What a joke that was. They allot 5 hours for it. I took two hours and took my packet up to the lady. She asked if I was taking lunch and I told her, "No, I'm done." and she asked if I wanted to maybe review my answers and I told her that I already had. When compared to projected scores of graduating high school seniors I scored in the 79th and 84th percentile in writing. Not too shabby. Math, science and social science scored me in the 90th, 98th and 99th percentile though. Yeah, I kinda owned that test. The pathetic part of this is that I actually took the GED test. Haha. Yikes.

Up all Night by Unwritten Law reminds me of the first time I had sex. It was cute. It was both of our first time. Looking back on it, it was probably terrible for both of us because of that, but again, it was cute. May 16th 2003 I believe. Not sure why I remember that.

No Hard Feelings by Bloodhound Gang reminds me of when we broke up two years later. Her and I still talk now and then. She's a good person though certainly not the type I would date at this point in my life, haha. Despite us being e-friends now, I certainly hated her for a while after we broke up. She sorta boned some dude that she met from myspace, haha. I don't fully blame her, we were obviously bored of each other and neither of us wanted to end it. It was for the best, but I was destroyed over yet another girl. The song Attack by 30 Seconds to Mars reminds me of getting over her.

Closer by Nine Inch Nails reminds me of my first kiss, which by the way was terrible. I liked this girl, Brindy, and was at her house for some party. It wasn't with her. This other girl Rachel was there. I'd never met her before, she was my friend's friend. While watching a movie, Joyride with Paul Walker, somehow we ended up snuggling. Afterward she attacked me. I was 16 and just wanted some, so I made out with her - in front of like 6 people. Yikes. In my defense she 100% initiated it, all right? Anyway, for the next year I kept wishing it would have been Brindy, haha, but oh well. Rachel was at least knowledgeable about what she was doing I guess. She would always tell me some Kelly Clarkson song was "our song." I didn't bother listening to that song. I didn't like it then, I wouldn't like it now.

Blue and Yellow reminds me of my car (which by the way was white.) All of these songs we would always listen to in my Supra, but for some reason Blue and Yellow was something we'd listen to more than any other. I had a 1985 Toyota Celica Supra that my grandma bought me. It was nothing fancy, keep in mind that it was older than me, but I loved it. At the time I thought it was a racecar and the coolest thing ever. I had big subwoofers in it and a hidden switch that turned on fog lights. I still have those same subwoofers in my WRX actually. They work just fine 8 years later. We'd drive around town pissing people off and getting in fights with rednecks. We got drunk way more than any minors should and we fooled around with girls that I wouldn't even give a high five to anymore. Blech. Dirty. Yuck.

It might sound fun, but I'd never been more unhappy in my life. There was always something missing. I'm not sure what it was, but it's not missing in quite as large of an abundance anymore. I was never happy. I found distractions to keep me from being sad, but for a good 3 years I just never had a feeling of "Oh wow, I sure am happy to be here." It's fun to reflect like that. That was the worst half-decade of my life and remembering it in detail makes me so much happier to be me now.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would attend the best university in the world and be a scientist 7 years later. Shut up, a geologist is still a scientist. Never in those same wild dreams did I imagine that I'd be nearly 26 and still single. I certainly never thought I'd still be in the Salt Lake area. Being someone who doesn't drink now, even around people who do drink? Yeah right. I guess I probably never even thought about what I'd be doing 7 years later when I was 18. A lot of days I really didn't project me still existing when I was 25. Well here I am, I made it. I think I installed a few major upgrades too.

I wonder when 32 holds for me.

If I had to project at this point I imagine I'll still be a geologist. I may even still be working at Norwest, but if I am I wouldn't be surprised to see me at the Denver office. Otherwise I think I'd have moved to Northern California or possibly Oregon by now. I'll be married. Nice woman, probably tall and thin. Doubt we'll have kids yet, well I don't know - maybe a baby. I'll still drive Rex (my WRX), but I'll be heavily considering something new at this point, something more lush but still semi-sporty. Maybe a Legacy? I imagine I'll own a house. Nothing huge, but it'll be newer and in a nice neighborhood. I'll still make it to Logan often enough for Aggie games. I'll own a really expensive telescope. Like a $2000 telescope, just for fun and a hobby. Oh! A dog. I'll definitely own a dog. Probably a Corgi or something similar in size and personality. Maybe a few more personal upgrades too. I'd be cool with that. I'll have likely forgotten about this blog and in no way read this at 32, so I'll have no clue what my 25 year old self expected of my 32 year old self.

I often romanticize about the past. This is one instance where that is not the case. It's an interesting trip down memory lane, but I can't even put into words just how much I don't miss that time of my life.

Seriously, fuck high school.

Jaded in the Field

I'm laying in a random bed eating day old pizza which I heated up in my rooms only cooking appliance, a microwave, while listening to some indie rock music and reflecting about happier times. I do this knowing that I'll have to wake up in 8 hours from now and brave the cold weather to go look at some core pulled out of the Earth. I'm in Milford, Utah and I have been for the last 12 out of 13 days. Is this what being a geologist is?

Today was a relatively easy day. My partner and I worked for 8 hours, far shorter than our typical 12 hour shift. We worked together expediting the process of things and only drilled two holes. Most days I've been the lone geologist on my crew of 4-5 people and we've done anywhere from 4-7 holes. Afterward we drove into the city (Beaver - population 4000) to get some Mexican food and check our cell phone messages.

That was pleasant I guess. It's something to look forward to, but to be honest these past couple days have been quite miserable. I can do field work, it's not a huge deal. Having a room, whatever I want to eat, gas, rental truck and any supplies I need for the job all paid for by the project is great. Then on top of that getting paid more than I ever dreamed of making at this point in my life is amazing. There are so many perks to this job, especially the field work aspect, that I couldn't leave even if I wanted. I just get so lonely.

My only connection with the outside world is whoever I can talk to on facebook. I find myself messaging random people who I've not talked to in years just in the hopes of starting a conversation. It doesn't normally happen. Occasionally old roommates will have a conversation with me or various girls that I used to date will chat for a while with me, but that's about it. I can't talk to any of my family because my motel has an absurd long distance charge that I would feel bad charging my company for and my cell phone doesn't get service here.

Around town I've tried talking to various people and making friends, but most people here seem content with not getting to know outsiders. I don't blame them. It's a small town, maybe 1000 people. Everyone knows everyone and when someone comes in with a new $40,000 pickup truck wearing clothes purchased at the mall and traipsing around their modest town eating out every day. It's probably a little annoying. Then I try asking questions like what living in Milford is like and they look at me weird. I understand I guess. If someone asked me what living in Salt Lake was like I would be happy to answer, but I'm proud of Salt Lake. I can't imagine many people are proud of Milford. It probably sounds condescending though I don't mean it that way. I really want to know what the lives of people here are like.

On any given day I have about 2-3 hours to myself where I'm not working, doing post-work paperwork, showering or sleeping. I have those 3ish hours to get dinner, read, watch TV, play on facebook and anything else I might want to do. I guess that's what being an adult is like. I can't imagine things are much different for most of my married friends, but I'm single. I should have plenty of time to myself still, right? Oh well.

It's just hard. It's hard being with drillers for 10-12 hours hearing about nothing but raunchy sex stories, of which 95% are more than likely completely made up, and cursing over dropped pipes, slippery work conditions or crushed liners and then making an hour long commute back to a motel room over mostly unpaved roads. It's strange to think that I went to college for four years to live this life. Would I have gone for it if I knew this is what I was getting myself into?

Don't get me wrong, there are good parts to my job as well. I love sitting in the office with geologists and engineers and building models and even building databases (though databases can get monotonous at times I still do enjoy it.) I love the pay and the ability I have to help people out when they need money or to just be able to say "I got this one," when I go out to eat with someone and not have to worry about how that's going to fit into my budget. Certain things about life right now are amazing. Field work is just so hard. I don't know how long I can sanely do field work at this frequency for an extended period of time. I hope once the Sevier Lake project is completed that I get to spend a few months doing desktop geology.

I guess overall this is a wonderful experience for me and is really helping me become a more well-rounded person. I'm learning so much. I'm doing a great thing for the surrounding community should a mine develop here bringing employment and commerce. It's just that being cut off from friends, family and anything that I care about for 12 of the last 13 days isn't something I dreamed of doing shortly after college, but I guess this is the life right here; a lonely motel room and a laptop and day old pizza. Staying up late, past 10pm, for the sake of writing a blog that I can someday reflect back on and hopefully remember these times as being a pretty good experience.

7,000,000,000

That's how many people there are now on our planet.

Interesting. I thought out of boredom, and since having worked for the census bureau for 3 months I am obviously an expert on population (not really), I would put together a collection of interesting stats based on that number.

When I was born, on January 30th, 1986 there were 4,912,946,909 people alive, according to a cool little calculator on the BBC website I used. You can use it here The world population has since increased by 30%, or roughly 1.2% per year.

3,563,000,000 people on the planet are female.
485,000,000 of those fall within an age range in which I would consider dating. (20-29)

1,400,000,000 people on the planet currently have a viral STD.
That leaves 388,000,000 for me to date if I disqualify those with STD's.

700,000,000 left handed people are alive today.
This means only 38.8 million of the dateable people for me would have to eat dinner sitting to my left.

94.5 million "geniuses" (People with an IQ over 145) are currently living today.
This leaves 27,000 females who would be around my age, STD free and intelligent enough for me to date (I'm obviously kidding about this one. I prefer intelligence around my own, which is clearly below IQ=145)

There are 57,308,738 square miles of land on the planet.
That is roughly 21,200 square meters of land per person. That is a box which is 145 meters on each side or about 1.5 football fields.

This area obviously varies by the resolution in which you look at the planet. Here along the Wasatch Front, I obviously do not have that much area to myself, but using the resolution of the whole state of Utah I have about 4x that.

7,000,000,000 seconds ago George Washington was about 6 months into his role as president of the newly formed United States of America.
There are roughly 7,000,000,000 separate bits of information in the Xbox 360 video-game Dragon Age 2.
There are 7,000,000,000 bytes of data in 70 yards of physical books on a shelf if you converted them to e-books.
7 billion years ago, the nebula which would later condense and ignite and be called the sun by 7 billion people hadn't even begun to form.
The number of base pairs in the human genome is less than half of that number, at just over 3 billion.

According to BP's estimate of 1,333 billion barrels of oil remaining on planet Earth. This is roughly 8,000 gallons of crude oil per person.

When considering the refining process used to extract gasoline usable by your car from crude oil and using the average quality of oil found on the planet we end up with approximately 19.5 gallons of gas per 42 gallon (1 barrel) of crude oil. This lowers the number to 3,700 gallons of gasoline per person remaining.

Using my car as an example (a 2010 Subaru WRX), I can drive to Los Angeles and back to Salt Lake City 67 times with that much gasoline. (Fortunately for Americans, no one uses as much gas as we do...)

Using the current population growth rate of 0.012 (or 1.2%) per year and a continuously compounding growth curve the world population would hit

8 billion : 2023
9 billion : 2033
10 billion : 2041

and would be at 13.5 billion when I die, assuming I live 80 years.

Most people who study this stuff expect a decline in population growth.

60% of the 7 billion people on the planet live in Asia.

When comparing population percentage to land area per continent it looks like this.

Asia: 60.4% pop, 30% land area, Ratio = 2.0
Africa: 14.5% pop, 20.3% land area, Ratio = 0.71
Europe: 10.9% pop, 6.7% land area, Ratio = 1.6
South America: 8.5% pop, 12.6% land area, Ratio = 0.67
North America : 5.0% pop, 16.3% land area, Ratio = 0.31
Oceania: 0.50% pop, 5.2% land area, Ratio = 0.096

The ratio is essentially useless, except for comparing population density to the entire world, which would have a ratio of 1.0.

In an estimate done by Carl Haub of the Population reference Bureau, 106 billion people have lived on Earth throughout history.

Having evolved roughly 200,000 years ago and given a world life expectancy of 69.4 years, this says the average person who will die today has seen 0.035% of human history, but had they met every person on the planet, they would have met 6.6% of all humans to have ever lived.

I should have been a statistician.

Disjointed thoughts

Two days ago at work I got to go deliver some samples to a Chemistry lab in South Salt Lake. The guy who met me was excited to talk to me and take my samples. We chatted for a while and he asked if I wanted to take a tour. It was lunch time so I figured why not? I'll consider it part of my lunch break. He showed me the lab and introduced me to some of his employees, who were all cute women, I felt important. It was really nice. He kept introducing me as a "new client who is a geologist." It was really cool being that respected at such a young age. Now obviously the man probably doesn't personally respect me as much as he was acting. Mostly he just wants business and the company I work for has money to provide business, so he wanted to treat me right. I liked it though, unfortunately my opinion on who processes our samples is not really a strong one. That aside, I drove back to the office with a big smile on my face the whole way. For the first time that I can remember I was treated like I was incredibly important. I was given the VIP tour of a chemistry lab and talked to like a professional. It was really nice.

Tonight I was in Provo to go to a party with a friend. It was nice to see her, but the party sucked. We left and saw Paranormal Activity 3. It was a scary movie. Terrible story, great suspense and just a good element of fun to it. We are 25 and 26 years old (me being 25) and we both were asked for our ID's. Strange, but whatever, it happens now and then still. We laughed and showed our ID's. On the way in the person taking the tickets also asked for our ID's. At this point it was just kind of silly. She asked him if he was serious and he said yeah, sorry. He laughed when he saw our ages and said we both looked very young. I supppose we looked offended because he quickly changed his statement to "No, you both just look young, you look your ages." Yes, clearly I look 25, which is why you asked to see proof that I was older than 16. Oh well, such is Provo.

I went to In and Out after I left her apartment. It was 1am, it was still open. I went inside and realized that every female in the entire town of ..Orem? looked exactly the same. Not the "same" that you get in Logan or Layton where everyone is white and modest, but eerily the same. They all had the same medium to long and straight hair style, they all used the same amount of hair bleach, they all did their makeup the same, they all had the same style of graphic t-shirt on. It was kind of disturbing. There had to have been about 20 females around my age in there and beyond some of them being fat and some of them being skinny I would have had a hard time telling any two of them apart.

I like my Subaru. It isn't that special, there really isn't anything about it that is better than all other cars. It's fairly plain looking with a hood scoop and spoiler. It's very fast from 0-60 but pretty typical at speeds over 60. The handling is better than most and the AWD is wonderful in the rain. The interior is plain but functional. It's just the perfect car for me. It's just enough of everything I want, but not too much. It's not a red hot Mustang that screams "give me attention." It's not an overly classy BMW that screams "I want people to know I'm important" and it's not a huge truck screaming, "I think I'm a tough guy." but it's almost as fast as a Mustang, almost as nice as a BMW and honestly.. it probably does better in poor road conditions than a truck, or any AWD vehicle for that matter. Subaru sets the bar for that.

Trisha left on her mission. That's weird to me given our history together. She never struck me as the type who would serve a mission, but religious beliefs can make people do strange things. I wrote her a letter last weekend. I just got around to mailing it on Wednesday though. It wasn't very long. I didn't really have much to say. It will be sad not having her around for 18 months. Not that we really saw each other, but she was someone I knew I could always call and talk to for hours about nothing. I'll miss that. I'll always wonder what could have been if I were more impulsive and would have been able to go through with taking our relationship further. It's both fortunate and unfortunate that I critically think about everything before acting on it.

I have a hard time getting rid of old things that I have sentimental attachments to. A few nights ago I fired up my old Windows 98 computer. Unfortunately rather than firing up I heard a large electrical pop and then nothing. I blew a fuse I imagine, so something with the power pack is probably bad. The computer is old, very old. For the most part any file I needed off it made its way to my XP computer (which still works just fine.) I have a couple games old games on it that would be fun to play, but only for a few minutes. It seems that there would be no reason to keep a busted computer than wouldn't even be used if it weren't busted, but I just couldn't throw it away. I ended up stashing it in a closet. I don't know why, I'll never fix or use it again, but I just couldn't get rid of it. It was a good computer.

Last weekend I bailed on a sort-of-but-not-really date to go hang out with my cousin. Probably is a good thing. I really don't have much interest in the girl, I was mostly just going because I really needed to get out. His dad bailed on him earlier that day and my mom said I'd go hang out with him without first asking what my plans for the day were. I was a little irked at first, but I'm happy she did. He's a fun kid. He reminds me of me when I was 14. We played NCAA 12 against his two buddies and smoked them. It's sad that his dad would bail on him. I remember when I was younger his dad would hang out with me, even coached my basketball team once, not that he had any idea what he was doing, but it was nice. Growing up without a dad sucked sometimes.

The Cardinals won the World Series. I can't tell you how much I don't care. Baseball sucks.

I'm definitely not ready for Winter. I'm even less ready for it because of my job. I'll be out on Sevier Lake for much of the winter. That sounds quite miserable. Yeah, sure it's Southern Utah which is considered warm to most people, but it's really not any warmer there than it is in Salt Lake. Maybe 5 degrees or so. The elevation is still roughly 4500 feet. It is in the Great Basin just like Salt Lake and the weather patterns are roughly the same. To make matters worse the mountains in the area are small (by Great Basin standards) so there is nothing in the way to break the wind and it blows at about 20-30 mph every day. If it snows a lot, it's going to be a long Winter. I suppose it's worth both the money and the invaluable experience though. Most geology graduates would kill for this job right out of college. I need to remember that.

I sleep now.

Working at Chili's vs. Working as a Geologist

In this blog post I will compare and contrast being a waiter vs. being a geologist and the benefits of each to see which is a better job for me.

First let's compare the shifts:
Chili's - Any time, any place, any length.
Geologist - Typically M-F, 8-5. Sometimes long field hours.

Advantage: Geologist

Dress Code:
Chili's - A black shirt and jeans.
Geologist - Business casual sometimes and grungy clothes you are okay with destroying others.

Advantage: Chili's

Pay:
Chili's - $2.13 an hour + tips.
Geologist - A whole hell of a lot more than $2.13 an hour. No tips.

Advantage: Geologist

Commute:

Chili's - 5 minutes through Logan traffic.
>>>Biggest commute danger - hitting a cat.
Geologist - 45 minutes through I-15 traffic
>>>Biggest commute danger - getting run over by a semi trailer and dying.

Advantage: Chili's

Work related perk:
Chili's: Half off food for me and up to 3 friends.
Geologist: All expense paid trips to field sites to do work.

Advantage: Geologist

Items I received on my first day at work:
Chili's - Apron and a menu
Geologist - A laptop

Advantage: Geologist

Co-workers
Chili's - A mix of pissed off people who have been working in restaurants for far too long and really hot 18 year old females.
Geologist - Mostly really nerdy old guys and married women who gossip too much.

Advantage: Chili's

How often I have to ride in elevators:
Chili's - Never
Geologist - Typically 4 times a day.

Advantage: Chili's (i HATE elevators)

Potential for advancement:
Chili's - Becoming a shift manager and making $14/hr
Geologist - Learning powerful software, learning invaluable skills and being able to become valuable asset to a company or potentially start your own consulting firm.

Advantage: Geologist

Your ultimate function at work:
Chili's - To bring people who were too lazy to make food for themselves food and kiss their asses hoping for $5.
Geologist - Research and help put together data of the quantity and quality of ores that can be extracted from places in the Earth.

Advantage: Geologist

Geologist wins 6-4.

25 years makes you old.

The other night I was driving home and as I was driving along someone cut me off. I didn't slow down much more than I absolutely had to, to avoid hitting the other car. They then hit the brakes so I simply changed lanes. The person then honked at me and flipped me off.

At an earlier time of my life I'd have probably honked longer and flipped off with two hands, but that night I was simply indifferent about it. Whatever, bad night for them I guess, it happens. They downshifted and sped off.

At an earlier time of my life, with 270 all-wheel turbocharged horsepower at my command, I'd have downshifted and blown past them. That night I simply continued driving and thought nothing of it.

I then realized that in the last 3-5 or so years I grew up a lot. I didn't get pissed off at the angry road rage driver. I didn't try to race away from them and I didn't waste gas, tires and clutch just to show someone that my obviously fast car is in fact fast. That's cool. Though I can't really figure out why. College certainly didn't teach me that (all college taught me was that sometimes I have to do stuff I don't want to do so I can get ahead, and an extensive vocabulary of useless geologic terms) and it's not like I hang out with older people now. Most of my friends are in their early 20's still.

It's not like I have a family or serve any crucial purpose to anyone. I'm certainly not afraid of a little danger. If I got a speeding ticket at this point in my life I could handle it much better than I could as a 21 year old. I simply didn't feel the need to show this guy, who would likely forget about me 20 seconds later, how much of a bad ass I was. It would have served zero purpose.

It's hilarious to read things that I wrote in my late teens and early 20's. I was such a jerk. I had no sense of tact and everything I wrote was simply driven by rage and emotion. Yeah sure, now and then I still rage over something, but it's rare and usually done tactfully.

I have a very recent ex-girlfriend, who is now engaged, that I can guarantee has never told her very LDS fiance the truth about our relationship. Earlier in life I'd have made sure to let him know I was there first, now I just figure that's cool. They're happy. Good for them. Everyone deserves to be happy sometimes. Two nights ago I had another girl from my life invite me over for a late night visit. I texted her the next day and she didn't reply. This would have pissed me off four years ago, but now I just smile at the pseudo-romantic experience we were able to share with each other that night and understand that she just wanted a hook-up. That's fine. We all do now and then.

It's no wonder insurance for a 25 year old is so cheap. We really chill out a ton right as we approach this age.

Maybe it's because over the course of human history, 25 is actually beginning old age. Sure in the 21st century I'm in the beginning of my life still, but humans haven't always lived to be 80 years old. There is a stat I heard of life expectancy in Ancient Rome being 22. Yeah sure, as a mean life expectancy, but you have to take into account that a third of humans died before their first birthday. Even then humans had discovered how to live longer healthier lives up into their 50's. I'm talking about pre-history.

How long do we really think humans lived when we roamed the African savannah (without sunscreen!) competing with warthogs and hyenas for food and shelter and drinking water from ponds? I highly doubt too many lived past my age. This can kind of be seen in how some of our bodies really do begin to break down at this age. I'm lucky. I still feel as healthy as I did at 14, but I've spent the better part of my life as a student playing the occasional sport and having hobbies and jobs that consisted mostly of simple inside work and large amounts of sunscreen, sunclothes and portable water when I needed to be outside. I have friends who complain about waking up to back pain at my age or who have arthritis developing in their joints. We begin to get wrinkles in our 20's and some of us (like myself) begin growing a few strands of gray hair. Many people gain weight around this age as their metabolism slows. Many female bodies start beginning to show signs of gravity and many males begin to bald. How nice is it though that, barring some unexpected event, I'm not even a third of the way done with my life yet?

For most of human history, a 25 year old would have been one of the older humans in the world. I suppose that is almost still true today with our absurd birth rate, but that is tangent. Maybe evolution caused that the people who become calm and content at this age, while keeping a firey passion of everything through their youth, were able to live longer, thus produce more offspring with this trait, and this is why humans become emotionally mature in their mid-20's. Maybe God simply designed us this way for reasons we can't understand.

All I know is that I'm happy my auto insurance is cheaper now than it was 7 years ago.

Why Utah State has the best fans.

So I've been bored tonight after getting home from Vernal. I was trolling the Utah vs. BYU board on ESPN.com and it really shocked me just how stupid the Utah and BYU fans were compared to the Utah State fans that I typically read posts of. Then I got to thinking about it, and it made sense. Here's why.

BYU and Utah geographically share about 2 million fans and separate themselves based mostly on their religious beliefs. If you are Mormon and your religion defines who you are, you like BYU. If you are not Mormon or you are and you treat religion like any other aspect of your life, you like the U of U. Utah State has about 100,000 fans, geographically. About half of these 100,000 people don't actually give a damn that there is a world renowned university in their valley. Utah State fans are all basically converts, myself included.

How does a Utah State fan become a convert? Well, easy. They decide they want to go to school near home, but away from home. The only real choice is Utah State, unless you want to go to Snow Senior High or SUU, and really, if you're going to go as far as Cedar City, just go out of state. Logan becomes home to about 3,500 new freshmen every year. Then out of some tradition or something their older roommates force them to go to sporting events and they're converted into fans, regardless of prior interest level in sports.

Basically what is learned here is that nearly all Utah State fans have some level of college education, and with a roughly 50% graduation rate many have a pretty high level of education. U of U fans are basically SLCC drop-outs, thugs, and a few students/alum. BYU fans are Mormons who got married after their mission and couldn't ever afford college, Mormons who moved here from another state, and a few students/alum.

Advantage? Utah State.

Next you have the stereotype. It's so easy to stereotype a BYU fan. There is probably no school in the country easier to stereotype except for maybe Yale or Hahvahd (yes, you have to say it like that). If you happen to have never been to Utah and need a stereotype of a BYU fan go try searching "zoobie" on urban dictionary or just think of a really plain and boring religious person and you got it. Utah fans are a little more difficult, but basically the stereotype that BYU fans give them is that they are stupid uneducated rebels. They throw beer on the quarterbacks family, they smoke at Cougar Stadium, they openly use harsh language and they all have tattoos. Basically they're regular people, but around BYU fans they become ass holes because, "it's funny." Utah State fans, as said before, are sort of a mix of people from all over the Spanish Fark to Narth Ogden area. You have boring molly mormons there, you have ass hole frat bros there, you also have a lot of people who just kinda don't fit in (that was me). It's an interesting mix.

Advantage? Utah State.

Finally you have this chip on the shoulder as a USU fan. Utah and BYU merchandise is everywhere. I see USU gear down here about once a month. Because of this, and the completely lack of love from local news stations, every Utah State alumni who lives down here has to let EVERYONE know that they are a USU alumni. I kid you not, there are more license plates with A's on them than Y's and U's combined. People get all religious and have to point out to the other 2 million people down here, "Hey, there is another D1 school in the state too, you know?" It's kinda cool. Then you get things like other Aggie fans complimenting your hat. No one says "nice hat" to a BYU or Utah fan down here.

Final advantage? Utah State (sort of.. sometimes I wish we weren't overlooked along the Wasatch Front.)

It's a united little club that not as many belong to as the two larger clubs, and then we don't have a million .. let's call them fans-by-association .. like the other two. I think anyone can see why this makes being a USU fan better than being a BYU, Utah or Weber (do they have fans?) fan.

The douchiest blog entry ever.

Let me preface this by saying that I'm mostly kidding and trying just to make you smile. Don't hate me if you actually listen to dubstep... actually no, if you listen to dubstep go ahead and hate me, I don't care. Really though, don't hate me. Even if you drive a lowered civic, have a flat brim hat and love rap-core you might still be a pretty cool person. Just a lot of your peers are not :-)

So.. my blog.. earlier today I was driving around in my WRX, wearing a collared shirt and listening to Nickelback. I realized that I had hit the pinnacle of douchiness and posted about it on my facebook. To this I got about 15 likes, seriously. Then I realized that maybe my friends do think I'm a douche. In all likelihood I probably am sometimes. I do make generalizations about basically everything and occasionally say something rude just because it makes me smile. So to this point I'm going to write a 0-10 scale of 20-something douche-baggery based on what you drive, what you're wearing and what you're listening to, which you can use to judge just how much of a douche you are. This will be a nice product of me being a douche based on how douchy I appeared earlier today based on my car/attire/music. My reasoning is circular. Who cares, I'm being a jerk. We begin at the bottom.

1. Ford Fusion, plain colored t-shirt, The Beatles
Pretty much as chill as a person can be. Not drawing any attention to themselves. Likes their standard sized car and listening to something that literally everyone likes.

2. small pickup truck, Carhartts, radio is off/country
So you're probably headed to work, that's cool. I don't really like country, but most people who listen to the stuff are pretty cool. However, because I dislike your music, I hope your radio is off. Blue-collar is the way to be though.

3. Focus/Corolla, graphic t-shirt, Oasis/Kansas
Just because you're a 3, don't think this is bad. The small fun sedan is a pretty normal car to be driving. Your graphic shirt is probably awesome and people like that. Your older rock that you're listening to is liked by mostly everyone, just not quite as widely as The Beatles.

Now most people in their 20's I would say fall pretty steadily between a 1-3. You could really switch up any of those numbers and it wouldn't matter. If your douche level is between a 1-3, pretty much everyone likes you. Up above here though is where you might start rubbing certain people the wrong way, but don't worry - up until about #7 you're still mostly a likable person, sometimes people just prefer you in small doses.

4. old jalopy, converse, Arcade Fire
Hipsters are actually pretty big douches when they have to prove to everyone just how much of a hipster they are. However you also have to take into account the large number of people who just kind of naturally act this way because they don't care. They drive an old car and wear old shoes because they don't need new ones and listen to Arcade Fire because other music is too angry. These people are cool. It's just the ones that try so hard that ruin it for them. However they typically drive a Prius.

5. Your parents old Lexus, Hollister, Bowling for Soup
The old Lexus probably should go higher, as anyone in their 20's driving their parents old luxury sedan is probably a huge brat, however being a brat is different than being a douche. Brats are generally just spoiled and jerks because they are stupid. Douches are jerks because it makes them happy to be. Anyway, good job on advertising a store from the mall and listening to music that you liked when you were 14. Now please grow up a little.

6. WRX/BMW 3-series, tight collared shirt, Nickelback
This is me, I fall right about here. I had to spend a few extra thousand dollars on having a turbo in my sedan for really no reason other than "it's cool." Then I wear a collared shirt so people go "Oh look at him. He dresses successfully and drives a successful car." when all I'm really feeling is "I need to compensate for how much of a failure I feel like I am." Then honestly I kind of like Nickelback, but everyone tells me they are douchy, so I'm just going to roll with it.

7. Camaro/Mustang, wife beater shirt, Whitesnake
The muscle car vs. sport compact was a tough one for me, but what it came down to was the accessory. Sure, wearing a collared shirt is bad, especially if it has a name brand on it like the Hollister seagull, but it really fades in comparison to the wife beater shirt. I mean really, how often do you ever meet someone wearing a wife beater who you just think, "Man, what a thoughtful and considerate person." I know for me it is far less than a person wearing a collared shirt. I mean c'mon, those are the same people who eat ketchup on their steak and well.. beat their wives. Douches.

8. Escalade with 20" rims, $200 sunglasses-at night, Ludacris
This is kind of like #6, but taken to a whole new level. First of all driving a $50,000 SUV that can't go offroad because the tires are so thin they won't flex kind of defeats the purpose of having an SUV in the first place, douche. Next what compelled you to spend $200 on glasses that are no different than a pair of $20 glasses? It's not the style because the imitation ones look great. You did it simply for the name brand, douche. Hardcore rap really isn't that douchy, but it kind of goes with the stereotype here.

9. lifted truck, flat brim cap, ICP
A flat brim cap with a sticker proving how badass you are does nothing except prove that you probably have anger issues, douche. I'm sure most of your anger issues stem from the fact that your rap-core is all angry and about breaking stuff. Then to show how truly bad ass you are, you take your already too large truck and have it lifted even higher so your headlights shine right down into the back window of any normal height car. I hope you tip over.

10. ricey Civic/Eclipse, bandana, dubstep/drum n bass
Dubstep is by far the douchiest thing you can possibly listen to. The music is basically an onomatopoeia for the listener as when you hear it coming from someones car all you hear is pounding bass sound of "douche-douche-douche." In fact I think that the lifted truck/flat brim cap combo alone is probably douchier than the lowered civic/bandana combo, but because I can't imagine someone in a lifted truck ever listening to dubstep, it gets bumped down to 9, because dubstep is just that douchey. Then on top of this the ricey civic is pretty douchy itself. You put a noisy exhaust on it so everyone can hear you coming from both your exhaust and your pounding subs. Then you lower it for on-street use, despite the fact that you never auto-x it and now you have to go through every street at an angle and slow down to 2mph because if you don't your ugly body kit will fall off.

Now sure sometimes you might be driving your Focus and listening to Nickelback while wearing a Hollister shirt. In this case you must take an average. You would fall at roughly a 4.7/10 on the douche scale. Today I was a solid 6. However had I put in some dubstep it would have bumped me up to a 7.3/10.

Now, rate yourself. Be honest. Don't hate me too much, I'm only speaking the (highly-exaggerated) truth.

Quarter Life Crisis

So I think I'm having a quarter life crisis. The circumstances are all about right. I just finished what was arguably the funnest phase of my life, college, and I'm moving into that I'm an adult phase somewhat against my will. Sure I still live at home, but I have a career and an adult car now. I go work in downtown Salt lake for a very good pay rate and drive a sedan. Sure the car might have a turbo and be faster than a new Camaro, but it's still a sedan.

I don't really know what to do at this point. I feel like all my young friends that I want to be around are still in Logan, because they are, then all my old married friends that I don't particularly like spending a great amount of time with are near, but we have nothing in common, besides a love of board and video games, and they can never go out anyway.

I suppose logically Utah dictates the next step in life for me is to get married and have a family. Then I can move to the suburbs and live a boring life with boring neighbors in eternal misery. But like, who do I marry? You don't just go to the marriage store and pick out what you want. That's a complicated process of which I really just don't know where to start.

Today the girl I'm dating, Kelley, called and asked if she could come over and I was like, sure! Let's go enjoy the last day of summer. For some reason Labor Day (or Memorial Day, I always forget what today is) just feels like the last day of summer to me. The weather was gloomy, it looked like Seattle on a good day, and we got sandwiches and went for a drive. After not really finding anywhere worth stopping to eat we kinda just stopped in front of some cows, because cows are awesome.

She started out asking me if I ever wanted to get married. I wasn't sure if she meant to her, or just in general, so I kinda just said yes. I want to get married. As addressed before that is probably the next major step I need to take in life. Then about 10 minutes later she was saying I wasn't emotionally committed enough to the relationship for her to keep interest. I was tempted to argue it with her. I feel that anyone who has given reasonable effort into knowing me would realize that I'm actually quite emotional. Hell, I write about how I'm feeling in a public blog. Imagine when you can get out of me if you ask the right questions and act interested in what I feel. Rather than argue this with her, I kept mostly quiet for a while just probing her thoughts. Then after a while it occurred to me that honestly what two of my best friends had been telling me was right. I shouldn't have been dating her. I was just doing it for the sake of dating someone. I hate when other people know me better than I know myself.

That's horrible of me. Kelley is a nice girl, beautiful in a very plain way, non-judgmental and usually entertaining enough, but just not really what I'm looking for in a long-term attachment in terms of excitement and ambition. I imagine she felt similar about me. I had no reason to try and end things hastily as honestly, I was happy for the most part. Having just moved home from college I'm rather bored and it was nice having someone to go out with and spend free time with and snuggle with when I needed affection, but that's nothing to base a relationship off of. It was dumb of me to try. Eventually I admitted most of this to her and we agreed that we should be just friends, which honestly I'm not even sold on that. I have friends. I don't need yet another ex-girlfriend to hang out with. I've got plenty of those. But given the opportunity I'd go say hello to her.

Afterward my old roommate told me that I should have cried out, "Why God, WHY?!" when she told me I wasn't emotional enough, and that was a funny mental image. Haha. I probably should have, would have made for a great story, but honestly after thinking about it critically for 30 minutes or so I realized there really was no reason to continue. I was basically just spending money on someone that I already knew would someday be someone else's wife... again. Though rational thinking isn't nearly as funny as screaming emotionally because I'm not emotional enough, haha. Anyway, long story made short the "girl I'm dating" is no longer the girl I'm dating (which is a good thing) so that makes the having a family part even more complicated.

So what does one do when they are done with their undergraduate degree, found a fantastic entry level job, and has no idea what to do next? I suppose I should just wait, but what am I waiting for? There is no need for me to save money for a house as to be honest, I love Salt Lake, but I don't see Salt Lake as being my permanent home. I can live with my mom as long as I need (or can stand to, we get along much better when we don't live together). I kind of just feel like my life is at a halt for a while until some opportunity presents itself since as of right now I don't even know where to begin looking for an opportunity, other than maybe graduate school, but it's too soon for that. I just had my undergraduate degree posted on my transcript about 10 days ago.

Sigh life, as soon as you start fooling me into thinking you're all perfectly laid out and simple I realize that things are not as they seem. You're like Aggie football, as soon as it looks like there is no way you can lose, you somehow manage to lose. I feel like I just have no control over the circumstances I am in since I don't know what I should even do next. It's.. frustrating. Almost as frustrating as helplessly watching the Aggies blow a 10 point lead, on the road, to the national champions.