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.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
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.
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.
Friday, December 16, 2011
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!!
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!!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
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.
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.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
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.
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.
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