Heres to the Ladies

There was a suprisingly large crowd for the finals of Lady Falconburgs Triva Lunacy, but there were a proud few that stood out above the rest! Thanks to all the ladies that came out to cheer us on!!

they are all crappy cellphone pics, but the content makes up for it.

The first picture:
We have Jenny (front), Toni (back), Holly (side), oh and I wonder who the lucky guy in the middle is?


Toni was cheering for the other team actually, but I forgive her...

This is that lucky guy again and Kristen.


Here I am with Sadie, soon to be married to Mike. (I cant wait for thier wedding!!)


and last but not least.. another picture of Toni and Jenny. They were two members of the team that we beat in the first round on Wednesday.

Rippin the sick Pow!

Got another great day in at Wolf Creek on Sunday, I would have to say it was the best of the season so far. They only had 7” of new snow but it was soft and light (almost Utah quality), there was nobody there, and it was local appreciation day so tickets were half price. Every run ended with a huge smile, way out of breath, and a sense of “GO GO GO before it is all gone”, but it never went away, we closed down the resort and we were still getting face shots in the trees! We got on the first lift @ 10 and all six of us found at least 2-3 good turns of untracked powder on every single run ALL DAY LONG! I learned a lot of new spots that not many people know so they remained untracked until we hit them. I know 2-3 turns does not sound like much, but with the snow as nice as it was and the fact that it is spraying all the way over your head on almost every turn it is so worth it.

We are the champions!!

WE WON!! WE WON!!

My team whooped some major trivia ass on Saturday!! We won all three of our games! The first two were pretty good blowouts like our game on Wednesday, but the final was very close.

The final was against the "Ambiguously Gay Action Force" in reference to the Saturday Night Live skit, their costumes left little doubt though, it was a little intimidating. That was the team that won last year they have one VERY strong chugger (an important skill @ Lady Falconburgs Trivia) and 3 good ones, and they also have two trivia masters they come in first or second on almost every Tuesday trivia. Anyway we managed to pull away for the question and answer portion of the game and we won 2 of the 4 chug-offs (I never lost any throughout the contest) which gave us a comfortable lead. Then it was decided that we would have 2 Final Lunacy questions... so on the first one we bid small in order to maintain our lead. We both answered correctly but it took the score to 655 - 700, we were barely holding on to our lead. It came down to the "Final" Final Lunacy question... we knew they were going to bid it all, so we were a bit worried. He reads the answer, they got it wrong and they bit it all! We got it wrong as well but we only bid 300 Pts so the final score was 0 - 400 go team!!

Here is a cameraphone pic of the team (without me).
From left to right: Morgan (not looking), Andy, Andys Dad Jeff (he was on the team we went against in the finals), and on the ground is Mike.


I have a lot more to write about from this weekend but I do have a bit of work to do so it might be awhile before they get posted.

How to get out of an avalanche

Man, it must be friday afternoon... spending too much time on the internet. (I guess thats not to much different than any other day...)

This is an article I just came across, though it was entertaining.

Avalance Survival...

I know this is kindov a "cop-out" post but I dont really have much else to say.

I am probably going to head to the Snowdown parade tonight so I should have some pictures to post later.

Superbowl Seat

I came accross this joke today, thought it was funny:

A man had 50 yard line tickets for the Super Bowl. As he sits down, a man comes down and asked the man if anyone is sitting in the seat next to him.

"No", he said, "the seat is empty".

"This is incredible", said the man. "Who in their right mind would have a seat like this for the Super Bowl , the biggest sport event in the world, and not use it ?"

Somberly, the man says, "Well... the seat actually belongs to me. I was supposed to come here with my wife, but she passed away. This is the first Super Bowl we have not been together since we got married in 1967."

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that. That's terrible. But couldn't you find someone else - a friend or relative or even a neighbor to take the seat?"

The man shakes his head, "No. They're all at her funeral."

We Survived

My team won our round of Lunacy last night!! That means we get to participate in the finals on Saturday, Fun Fun Fun.

Snowdown here is awesome, people go ALL OUT, way better costumes than Halloween. I will have my camera out for the rest of the week, I've got to share some of the views! We had a great time last night, Lots of people out, lots of costumes, lots of friends. Except for Kristen, I get to pretend to be mad at her for awhile ;-)

I felt bad (sortof) for pounding the team of girls into the ground, I think the final score was 750 - 50 or something like that, and that's only because the host stopped letting us buzz in and giving them the answers!! We all knew each other from the regular trivia night so there were no hard feelings.

Lunacy!!!!

Tonight is the beginning of our yearly winter festival "Snowdown” And tonight I will be participating in the Lady Falconburgs Lunacy Trivia contest. Now heres the thing, last year we failed miserably, for multiple reasons, one we were drunk... Can’t fix that one, most likely we will be tonight as well. Two, we didn’t know the rules. Every Tuesday Lady F's has trivia night, and my friends and I are regulars there for the last few years, so we assumed that it would be the same format... wrong!! We will be much better prepared tonight. Three, now I don’t remember this (you can assume the reasons)but apparently we lost last time because we bid all out points on a double jeopardy type question and we got it wrong. I guess we will be smarter about that tonight.

Snowdown is lot of fun it goes on for a week with events like this every day, Pool Contests, Foosball Contests, Singles Auction, the Pie Hit squad (you can hire them to throw a pie in the face of anyone) the Snowdown follies a sketch comedy show that is supposed to be super funny, I’ve never seen it because you have to have some sort of "Connection" to get tickets to it. There is always a theme, this years is Unknown Superheroes, last year was Flintstones. I don’t know our team name but based on out costumes we will probably be the "Sweater Vest Crew" because we will all be wearing button up shirts a sweater vest and a tie. (I didn’t have any influence on the decision) Anyway it should be a lot of fun, if you want to see more on Snowdown check out Snowdown.org

Moab

This weekend I took off to spend some time in Moab, this is most definitely one of my favorite places on the planet. I had so much fun!! I got there early Saturday afternoon and found a campsite, which was very easy because nobody was there. Nobody I was the only one around. (shhh, don’t let the secret out that the perfect time to go to Moab is Jan-Feb) it was almost 60F so I got to wear shorts which was awesome!! Soon after setting up camp I went out to really see what my truck can do... OH MY GOD!! I went so far beyond what I thought I (it) could do and it never even questioned. I had wheels off the ground, I was driving up and down things that are a challenge to walk on! It was WAY too much fun!

Lets look at some pictures!!

This first one is on Baby Loins back. I see it and want to do it every time I am in Moab, so I finally did it.


This was one of the more sketchy thing I did, if you look closely the back wheel is 6-8" off the ground, now that’s what I call "Off-Roading".


It did get a bit bruised but only minor, I put a few scratched into the skid plate but that is what it is for so now it just looks like it is supposed to. Also some of the things were so steep that I was dragging the trailer hitch on the rock as I cam down and it bent the attachment for the trailer lights. I bent it back so it is good now.

The real purpose of the trip was to meet my dad and pick up a new couch for my house (well not new, it is my parents old one, but it is new to me). So I met him on Sunday and we went for a great run, and I got to show off the truck (again). The best part of the whole weekend I think was driving home in a brand new truck covered in mud hauling a couch @ 80Mph down the highway. If I had taken a picture I would send it to Toyota for an add. That made me realize that this is the perfect vehicle for me, it is fast enough, it can go ANYWHERE, and it can car stuff around. While I had the Saab I rationalized it by saying, "Well I have never not been able to do something that I wanted to", but now I realize there is just so much more I CAN do that was never an option in the Saab. Not that off roading really appeals to me it is just the capability to go to campsites that I would not be able to otherwise. All in all I think I made the correct decision and I will probably refrain from talking about my truck from here on out.

The Phantom of the Opera

I saw this movie last night, and although I don't think the movie itself was bad, I feel disappointed that I saw it. I would have much rather seen the real thing.

here's my reasoning. I don't think they did it right. I think they should have made into a real movie. Unfortunately they simply took the play and filmed it... mayby made some better sets but in essence that is what they did. I think it would have been much better if they kept the idea and wrote a new screenplay. It still would have honored the original but in a different form. Have you seen Chicago? That I think is how they should have done this, it was done as a movie based on the play, not as a filmed play, but it still had the same effect. I thought it was great, and I can still go see the play and really enjoy it!

I do think this helped a bit because now if I ever really go see the real Phantom (I really hope to someday) I will better understand the story. (hopefully)

Best and Worst of 2004 Poll

A great site on the internet that I have been visiting pretty much since I bagan surfing, is IMDb or Internet Movie Database. It has anything you ever wanted to know about any movie.

They are currently holding a Poll for the best and worst Movies, Actors, Directors... of 2004 Here are the current Results. You should log in and vote for your favorites (or most hated).

Best of 2004
Worst of 2004

Eternal Sunhine of the Spotless Mind was my pick for best movie but I was very suprized to see the lead it had on everything else, It is a great movie so I dont dissagree.

Cheesey Noodles at My House!!!!

Last night was a lot of fun!! First off I would like to thank Mike and Sadie for having a party for me at their house, Sadie for slaving in the kitchen all day to cook food and bake a cake for all of us and Holly for helping with the preparations. Then Thanks to everyone that showed up, I had no idea that many people would show up (Free food at Sadie’s house was probably a good draw, but I am going to think they came for me!) I also need to thank everyone that called, and Text Messaged, and Instant Messaged, and emailed, and commented on the blog. This was definitely one of the better birthdays I have had!! Thanks for all the love, I really appreciate it!!

The meal Sadie made was great, She made a huge batch of angel hair alfredo, some garlic bread, and a salad with nothing but lettuce, carrots, and croutons. A perfect "Justin" meal. We all chatted and had a generally good time. After dinner they actually brought out a cake with 24 candles on it!! I have not had a cake with candles in years, it was so much fun to have everyone sing and then blow them out!! The sad fact that I learned during that was that you can only buy candles in 24 packs, I guess that means this is the last year of being young, I have to get 2 boxes of candles next time!!

We of course could not pass up our local haunt Lady Falconburgs on my birthday so after dessert we went down town, we had a few entertaining rounds of "The Boot" and some... Arm Wrestling? Why were we arm wrestling? Who knows, one cannot predict the effect of 3 Boots!

Here is the one picture I have from the evening, it is a crappy cellphone pic but it clearly makes the point!

This is Mike "EMPLOYEE OF THE MOUNTAIN!!!" Sarti with the first of the 3 boots:

Its Official

24 years ago to the minute I was born...

Edit: I guess I was wrong... but now Im right

Toyota Commercial and other Pics...

Well, I know I have a lot to do at work, I wanted to post the pics I just downloaded from my camera:

Here are the Pictures for XC Skiing the other weekend with Kristen:







and here is my toyota Commercail!

I was wanting to try out the off road for awhile so I went looking, I didnt find much but I got the truck all dirty!!



and an hour and a half later:

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Its my birthday today!! YAY!! 24 Years old!!

I wanted to do a bunch of posts yesterday, but I never got time to sit down and do them, so hopefully if I get a chance I will get them up soon. I cant talk much today, I am really busy at work, so this will have to do.

Hope everyone has a good Justins Birthday!! (I know I Will, even with all the work I have to do)

I take it back...

I do have something to say, I would like to comment on a horribly addictive and hallucinogenic drug that I have recently been exposed too. It is called MMORPG or Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. I cant stay away from it!! Take last night for example, I was fully prepared and to go to bed around 10PM but for some reason I decided to play a little of World of Warcraft (the MMORPG that currently has my attention), BAD idea, I need to learn some self control. Once you are in you are stuck... there is no getting out! Even when the batteries died on my laptop (I was playing in bed...) I got up turned all the lights on looked around for a few minutes to find the power cord, got a glass of water, and promptly got right back into the game. Sickening!!! I was up until 3 this morning playing!! There is always, i mean ALWAYS just one more thing to do before you are at the next level, when you get to that new level you have all sorts new stuff to try out (spells, new weapons and armor and such) by the time you’ve finished playing with the new stuff you find you have almost completed whatever quest you started a few hours ago. "Ill just finish this quest" yea right!! 45 Minutes later you finish the quest and realize you are THIS close to level 15!! "Ill just level then quit" BAH!! then the whole cycle starts over again!! The sad part is I’m not very far in the game yet. I am only level 14 and I can get to level 60 I’ve explored maybe 5-10% of the world. Arg!!! So much to do!! OK I’m done I have to go to work now...

Do yourself a favor... Don’t start playing!!!


Or do because it is a lot of fun!!!


UPDATE: the link is good, but for some reason the World of Warcraft site is down at the moment

No Pun Intedid?

I havent been doing much of anything lately except going to work and coming back. So I havent had much to write about. But while looking at my usual set of blogs this morning Stan put up a funny set of jokes.

This is my favorite:
9. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. It made him (Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good)..... A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

you can see the rest @ Defense Against the Ninjas

Got some good use out of the new truck

On Saturday, Kristen and I went XC Skiing. I have not done this in years and it shows. I had a great time, it was actually a lot of fun. The weather was cold and snowy (same as it had been all week), but it was beautiful. I don’t think we could have done this in the Saab given that the roads up to the canyon were covered in 3-5 in of snow on top of slick hard pack, well we could have but it would have bee sketchy. The truck didn’t even think twice about it. We went about 3 miles up La Plata Canyon and back. It was definitely good fun, except that I got some rather large blisters on the back of my feet. It wasn’t that bad then...

Sunday: First road trip in the truck. We decided to go to Telluride for the day Lizard head Pass was the only pass open in the area and it was restricted travel. HA! I say, lets see what this thing can do!! We left Durango @ 7 and 2 and a half hours later we arrive in Telluride Mountain Village, 30 Min slower than normal but given the weather great time. Only once did I feel slightly out of control, it was a bunch of slush basically floated on for a few feet, moving more and more toward the guard rail. Nothing happened and other than that it was an uneventful trip, slow but uneventful.

It was a great day at T-ride, thigh deep powder, and we know the place well enough that we could find it all day long. The snow was slightly wet and heavy, but still good. This is where the Blisters from yesterday came in... Oh man did they hurt, there was no way I was stopping of slowing down so I just suffered through them. When I got my socks off last night my whole ankle was red.

I had pics from the XC Skiing but I left my camera at home so I will put them up later.

Hope you all had a good weekend as well!

It is Done...

I did it, I decided to take the financial hit now instead of later and drove home and brand new 2005 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab w/ TRD Off Road Package. MAN how stressful that decision was!!, I didn’t really realize how stressed/amped/overdosing in adrenaline A had been for the last few days, last night at about 8:30 it all came crashing down and I just about fell asleep ant my friends house.

Buying a car sucks, it is so stressful, but it is done now and I just have to live with my decision. So I know it is a new model year, but I trust Toyota, and I also learned from my mistakes and threw down for the 6 yr bumper to bumper warranty and GAP coverage, which means if it does happen to get totaled the gap coverage will pay the difference between what the insurance pays and what I still owe on it.

Anyway, I really need to work now, got a new truck to pay for. So heres some pics:

Stupid dealership!!

THe mechanic just called me and informed me that due to the loss of thier last saab tech they are no longer certified to do ANY warranty work. So there goes another nail in the coffin of dear Sadie (the cars name... I know Im a geek)

Getting myself in trouble

Well Now that Ive been ranting about my car for so long, I decided to try to buy a new one...

Im looking at a 2005 Toyota Tacoma, It is alomst exactly the truck Ive wanted for years and now with a new body style, which is awesome!!! Do I be safe and stay with my car and hope this is the end of the problems, because the warrenty ends a year before my contract ends. That brings up the other problem, it is on a lease... a 4 year lease no less. It is also quite likely that I will have to pay alot of money for damage to the wheels (not my fault... long story though) even more in milage overages. I also have to buy new tires in the sping, (and most likely new wheels) so there goes even more.

Or..

Do I not risk it and pay that extra money now and get the truck, wich I hope, and is probably more likely that this should be failry cost free (other than payments) for the next few years?

I dont know...

Oh yea and I have Jury Duty tomorrow.

I love my car!!

I know I just ranted about how much it pisses me off. But most of it gets forgotten on days like today. This morning was some of the worst road conditions I have driven in years (Yay for snow!!!!). The Saab kicks ass in those conditions, my previous car was an AWD Ford Explorer V8 and this with only FWD handles MUCH better, Rock solid, not much sliding, and when it does slide (mostly on purpose by me because I love driving in the snow) the Traction control kicks in and wont let me lose control!!! Even with the conditions as bad as they were the only reason it took me longer to get to work was because everyone else was going WAY slow.

I have to say the car just bought itself one more trip to the mechanic before I sell it.

My Damn Car!!!

When I first got my new job and began making some real money I went straight out and bought myself a new car. I love it, it is Fast, Beautiful, has all the techy/geeky gadgets that I love, and did I mention that it is Fast...

Anyway it has been plagued with minor problems, windows stop working, computer failures, security systems failures, sunroof won’t close... on and on. It has been in the shop every month since I got it in Sept of 03. I was so excited last time I picked it up because I was so confident that that was the last time, and everything was settled and working... WRONG!!! During the holiday the seatbelt broke, the passenger window stopped working right, the drivers seat broke, and now something is wrong with the engine where it is using oil and the computer put it into "limp mode" where it basically shuts off the turbo and it loses all of its power. ARRRGGGH!!! Why does this happen to a brand new $35k car!!! it has 24k miles!!!

OK, I’m done venting, I had better get back to work and schedule my month appointment with the mechanic.

If you are interested it is a 2003 Saab 9-3 Arc 2.0T 6-Speed manual. Oh and of course I will post a picture to show off how beautiful it is.

Please click to see larger version:

Pants Party

My good friend has a blog which I very much enjoy reading, he is a way better writer than I so if you wish to read some thoughtful text (other than the random ramblings that I write) check it out: Pants Party

This first time I linked it he hadnt written much so I will repost so that you can see more of what I am taking about.

I added a permanent link to the sidebar so you can always get to it.

Enjoy!

Wolf Creek

I went skiing yesterday with a few friends, Amanda, Ryan, Kristen, and Ryan #2, at Wolf Creek, a cool little mountain on top of Wolf Creek Pass. The bottom of the lift is above 10,000 Ft, and the top is just a little over 12,000 Ft. The mountain is about 1.5 Hours from the house but about 30 min from the mountain is Pagosa Springs a cool little town with a bunch of natural hot springs. Every time we go to Wolf Creek we are always upset that we did not bring swimsuits to go to the hot springs.

This time we did, and it was a lot of fun. there are many different pools there all at different temps. they go from "The Crik Tub" @ ~84 F to "The Lobster Pot" ~112 F with the river running near by at ~34 F. All the guys decided to challenge each other by sitting in the lobster pot then jumping in the river... hmmm sounded fun at the time. the girls for some reason wouldn’t do it... I wonder why? That was quite a shock to the system, you quickly forget how sore you are from skiing all day!!

Heres another bad camera phone pic of us at the top of the hike to Alberta Peak, I was way proud of the Amanda and Kristen for making it (although they were a bit slow :))!!

From Left to right - Amanda, Kristen, Ryan #2, and Ryan:

Sacrafice

A long time ago for Christmas my dad gave me a remote control airplane, I took a couple of lessons with it but never got to finish then (the last lesson was how to land). So it sat for a few years hanging from my ceiling as a decoration until I finally decided to take it out myself a learn to fly it. Needless to say I couldn’t land so I "Crash Landed" it was damaged but fixable... Never quite got to fixing it and again it just hung from the ceiling and collected dust.

While I was home for Christmas my dad decided that we would have a ceremonial sacrifice of this "health hazard" (it had about and inch of dust on it, and was leaking something). Well we went out into the driveway with a bunch of fireworks and had a blast! (pun intended)

Here are some pics of the final moments:






Im glad we did it, it was a much better end than just throwing it out, and now I can get on and maybe get a new one and really learn to fly it!

Ode to the nice guy

I found this this morning and it hits the nail on the head, I related to almost every word in this and enjoyed the whole thing.

I blatenlty stole this from here

Ode to the Nice Guys
This rant was written for the Wharton Undergraduate Journal

This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl’s every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style.

This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they’re at her door, for the guys who accompany girls to bars as buffers against the rest of the creepy male population, for the guys who know a girl is fishing for compliments but give them out anyway, for the guys who always play by the rules in a game where the rules favor cheaters, for the guys who are accredited as boyfriend material but somehow don’t end up being boyfriends, for all the nice guys who are overlooked, underestimated, and unappreciated, for all the nice guys who are manipulated, misled, and unjustly abandoned, this is for you.

This is for that time she left 40 urgent messages on your cell phone, and when you called her back, she spent three hours painstakingly dissecting two sentences her boyfriend said to her over dinner. And even though you thought her boyfriend was a chump and a jerk, you assured her that it was all ok and she shouldn’t worry about it. This is for that time she interrupted the best killing spree you’d ever orchestrated in GTA3 to rant about a rumor that romantically linked her and the guy she thinks is the most repulsive person in the world. And even though you thought it was immature and you had nothing against the guy, you paused the game for two hours and helped her concoct a counter-rumor to spread around the floor. This is also for that time she didn’t have a date, so after numerous vows that there was nothing “serious” between the two of you, she dragged you to a party where you knew nobody, the beer was awful, and she flirted shamelessly with you, justifying each fit of reckless teasing by announcing to everyone: “oh, but we’re just friends!” And even though you were invited purely as a symbolic warm body for her ego, you went anyways. Because you’re nice like that.

The nice guys don’t often get credit where credit is due. And perhaps more disturbing, the nice guys don’t seem to get laid as often as they should. And I wish I could logically explain this trend, but I can’t. From what I have observed on campus and what I have learned from talking to friends at other schools and in the workplace, the only conclusion I can form is that many girls are just illogical, manipulative bitches. Many of them claim they just want to date a nice guy, but when presented with such a specimen, they say irrational, confusing things such as “oh, he’s too nice to date” or “he would be a good boyfriend but he’s not for me” or “he already puts up with so much from me, I couldn’t possibly ask him out!” or the most frustrating of all: “no, it would ruin our friendship.” Yet, they continue to lament the lack of datable men in the world, and they expect their too-nice-to-date male friends to sympathize and apologize for the men that are jerks. Sorry, guys, girls like that are beyond my ability to fathom. I can’t figure out why the connection breaks down between what they say (I want a nice guy!) and what they do (I’m going to sleep with this complete ass now!). But one thing I can do, is say that the nice-guy-finishes-last phenomenon doesn’t last forever. There are definitely many girls who grow out of that train of thought and realize they should be dating the nice guys, not taking them for granted. The tricky part is finding those girls, and even trickier, finding the ones that are single.

So, until those girls are found, I propose a toast to all the nice guys. You know who you are, and I know you’re sick of hearing yourself described as ubiquitously nice. But the truth of the matter is, the world needs your patience in the department store, your holding open of doors, your party escorting services, your propensity to be a sucker for a pretty smile. For all the crazy, inane, absurd things you tolerate, for all the situations where you are the faceless, nameless hero, my accolades, my acknowledgement, and my gratitude go out to you. You do have credibility in this society, and your well deserved vindication is coming.

Fu-zu Jen, SEAS/WH, 2003


So now all you girls out there looking for the "Nice Guy" Im here!

Happy New Year!!!

Well, the holidays are over, and a new year has begun. I havent posted in awhile because I have had so much other stuff going on. Hopefully in time I will have most of it up here.

I hope everyone had a great holliday and had at least some vacation. I know I enjoyed mine, but now I have a lot to catch up on (including this blog) so this one is short. I will post more about the last few weeks soon.

yay for 2k5!