Listen to This!

So the blogpost title today comes from the movie "Back to the Future". If I watched the movie enough times to remember the details, this is how it went: As Marty McFly is rocking his version of Johnny B. Goode, injured bandmate Marvin Berry calls his cousin Chuck (yes, insinuating that Chuck Berry is a plagiarist) and tells him to "Listen to this!"

Anyway, today I am following Marvin's lead and telling you to listen to this. If you don't know who Ray LaMontagne is yet, it's time to get acquainted. I was introduced to Ray's stuff by my friend Stanley as we drove to Yosemite National Park a few summers ago. Little did I know that Ray's music would be the last music I heard prior to our infamous Yosemite death march . But that's a story for another time... (see Part 1 and Part 2).

While I couldn't post the video here for easy viewing, here is a link to a prime example of Ray's skills and why you should get to know him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIUSikXex5w

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Cannonman Triathlon

When we were at the New Jersey Triathlon, someone put a flier on my car that was advertising other triathlons. Shonni noticed that one of the sprint tri's was going to be held at Shawnee State Park in Pennsylvania. That was enough for her to decide she wanted to compete in it.In her first triathlon, Shonni did a great job! Though there is room for improvement in her swim, and she had some major leg cramping on the run, her cycling was phenomenal and she held on to take 2nd in her age group. Well done, Shonni!My race was decent. Ever since I moved out to the East coast, my hill climbing on the bike has declined, and I really struggled with it again in this one. My IT band issues are continuing, though they didn't really kick in until about 2 miles into the run. Despite all of this, or perhaps because of this, I enjoyed the scenery of Shawnee State Park.

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Not Your Mama's G.I. Joe

I can't remember if I've discussed this before on my blog, but Stanley is my friend that I've known the longest in my life, excluding family. We don't know exactly, but we're pretty sure we met when we were 2 years-old. Though he moved to California before elementary school, our families stayed in touch and we saw each other every so often over the years.As both of us were in town for the weekend, we decided to go on a double date. After Stanley, Shonni, and I picked up his date, Mary Ann, we got some Thai food downtown and then headed to the movie theater to see the new G.I. Joe movie. Stanley and I grew up on G.I. Joe, so we were excited to see this childhood memory brought to life on the big screen. While there was definitely some modernization and technological advancement of the weaponry, we enjoyed the movie mostly for the great characters we knew and loved as kids. We're talking about General Hawk, Storm Shadow, Duke, the Baroness, Lady Scarlett, Heavy Duty, and maybe my very favorite, Snake Eyes.Seeing the movie reminded me of the great public service announcements, like this one about not judging people, which is especially poignant since one of the Village People is teaching the lesson. "Now you know... and knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joe!"

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Back to My Utah Roots: August Edition

Note: I'm writing this post in March 2012. I'll mostly use pictures to keep this as a reminder of fun things done. Also, while I was dating Shonni at the time, I won't include much of her here. Thanks, and read on!

The main reason for this Utah trip was my 10-year high school reunion [see post here], but that doesn't mean it wasn't also a great opportunity to spend casual time with friends and family.

Brunch at the Park Cafe near Liberty Park

Trail running up Provo Canyon

My friend Carly had a farewell party, since she finally decided to follow her dreams and move out to New York City to pursue a career in professional dance. She's already made quite a name for herself as a dancer and dance teacher, so this is a great and logical next step. Go get 'em, Carly!

Had to get in a little golf, and the miniature variety was all I had time for.

My mom and Gunner let me tag along to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy, and we quite enjoyed looking at all the sea creatures and learning about their similarities and differences.

Gunner wasn't the only rugrat that I couldn't get enough of. The twin nieces also got lots of loving. With such cute hands and feet like these, how could I not be excited to snuggle them?

And some quality time with the little ones' parents was also definitely in order. A couple of characters!

Chocolate fondue? You betcha!

And a little wrestling just to work off some fondue calories

Shonni's aunt invited Gunner and me to join their clan at the pool one day, so we definitely had to soak up the rays and do some diving board tricks.

Superman!

Gunner was brave and went down the slide; I was there to catch him

Later, Gunner was my personal photographer while I went to Cottonwood Pediatric for a dental check-up. The dentist there is the best; you should take your kids there. [Full disclosure: the dentist is my dad.] I've known some of these hygienists longer than many of my friends. Wonderful ladies!

Dee can get away with pinching my butt as if I were still 10 years old

Stacee cracks me up

With my pops, the best pediatric dentist around

My sister Megan invited us to join her in seeing the Sandy Amphitheater production of Horton Hears a Who, and her awesome friend Skye was the main attraction. Doesn't she just look like the coolest girl?

Lunch with my buddies Stanley and Steve. Some of my earliest friends on this earth.

The reunion was luckily close to my mom's birthday, so I was able to attend the celebration. Happy birthday, mom! We love you so much!

My dad had surgery, but look how happy he is now to be recovering. Heal up quickly, dad!

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CHS Class of '99

Yesterday was my 10-year high school reunion. Since I have been living near Washington, DC, for the past 2 years, I doubted if I'd be able to make it, and I had made my peace with that. However, my schedule turned out to be flexible enough that I could travel to Utah, spend time with friends and family, and attend the reunion.I'm glad I did. I liked seeing old friends and catching up with all they've been up to. Many of them are married with children. Our class represents a good cross-section of employment in various fields. Most actually haven't changed all that much physically (though I've been told that typically big changes will occur between this and the 20-year reunion).James and Bryan organized the reunion, and they did a great job given the time and resources they had to pull it together. It was held in the high school, so it wasn't glamorous, but I don't think anyone minded since the purpose is getting the people together.Thanks again to everyone and it was great to spend the evening with you and get caught up on some of what has happened in the past 10 years. See you all again in 2019!

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"The Sconces are Glass!"

Ah, the perks of working for Deloitte. Every year, we get to go to Georgia for some national training. Since we're making the transition to being Seniors/In-Charges, they sent us to Peachtree City, GA, for a week to teach us about the process of performing an audit. While that's what we did during the daytime, pretty much the fun stuff is what we did at night.

Most of the evenings were pretty relaxed, but we still found activities and things to do around the conference center or Peachtree City. For example, on Monday night there was a reception in the ballroom with lots of games, like ping pong, foosball, double shot, and that sort of thing. As it got later, the crowds thinned out and a couple of us guys were doing long distance basketball shots. A facilitator came by and said to be careful because "the sconces are glass!" We just kind of looked at him with blank looks for a second, as we had no clue to what he was referring. Turns out that the light covers in the ballroom were called sconces. Click here and here to see examples.

On Tuesday night I went for a run after class and then we ate dinner and caught up on emails and reading on the patio. Victor and Sara took advantage of the opportunity to sip champagne in celebration of Victor passing an exam.Since we'd been cooped up in the conference center for the last couple days, we really wanted to get out on Wednesday night. Some guys had heard that a Japanese restaurant/bar did karaoke in the back room, so we headed over. Turns out that karaoke isn't on Wednesdays there, but they did have a Wii hooked up to a projector screen, so we played some tennis and bowling before catching the shuttle back and playing some pool in the lounge.On Thursday we hurried out of class to go play some racquetball before the happy hour.Once happy hour was over, everyone wanted to go to a local bar for karaoke. This is kind of a Deloitte training tradition on the last night. Almost everyone went, which added to the fun.

I got a couple buddies to join me in doing "Fight for Your Right (to Party)" by the Beastie Boys. It was a crowd pleaser, for sure. I like that song because you can have as many guys as you want and it requires absolutely no singing ability. You just yell into the mic and do fist pumps. Go ahead. Try it the next time you do karaoke. I guarantee the entire audience will join in and be cheering you at the end. Later in the evening, I got up and sang happy birthday to Autumn. Let's just say it wasn't my best work, but I'll do better next time.The best part of training is seeing friends that live and work in other parts of the country: Southern California, Floriday, Minneapolis, New York, etc. You get to catch up and hear how everyone is doing and what they've been up to. And who knows when you won't be back and get to see them again, ya know?Best wishes, friends, and (maybe) I'll see you at next year's national training in Georgia!

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