Media (the real reason you read my blog)

Sometimes I spend so much time worrying about what I should write about on my blog that I forget that ya'll would probably rather have me putting up pictures instead. Well I have taken a few pictures that I fell proud of so I'll humor you with those today. If you hate them then just delete me from your own blogs and I'll have to be okay with it.

One of the sweetest options of my camera is the digital macro. You can zoom in on things, like bees and still see them. I took this picture while on the phone yesterday and luckily I didn't get stung.

This one is from Ephraim, Utah while I was at EFY on duty. I was suppose to be watching to make sure that the children didn't run away. I decided to get a little creative with my time and probably should have spent more time preparing for my lesson, but took pictures instead.

I went to Bear Lake recently and one of the afternoons we were out there the lake was being blown all over the place. I tried surfing, fell a few times and then left, but it was fun to play around.

Lindsey recently got married and got all of the attention with her dress. Tyler, her husband wanted some attention too so he took the bouquet while Lindsey was distracted.

I put a red color accent on the camera and Kristen snapped the picture for me. I just thought it was a cool picture and yet the credit doesn't go to me.

Same story as the picture above, except for the fact that the blue accent was turned on instead. This was my first trip to the SLC public library.

This is one of my favorites. We were in downtown Bangkok, Thailand sick and tired of shopping. I pulled out my camera and did a time lapse video. It takes a picture every second. So those are a few of my favorite pictures, maybe I'll add more someday. I'd like to promise you that but I tried promising pictures of me and girls while I was in Taiwan and I don't think I ever posted anything after that. So no guarentees, only hopes that I'll get around to doing it again.

Taiwan Reunion 2008

For those of you who have been following my life for the past six months you should know that I had been spending most of my time in Taiwan with my fellow Americans. We all, well most of us, returned home about one and a half months ago and recently enough of us ended up in Utah to justify having a reunion of sorts.

Most of the credit for the party should go to Jessica even though she's still in Taiwan. For some strange reason she was willing to get up at 6:30a.m. Taiwanese time and talk to us, why I'm still not quite clear. But she did manage to humor us for quite a while and lasted much longer than I would have on Skype being a world away. She giggled in the correct places, smiled when she was suppose to and when we started hanging up on her every five minutes she was always on the phone when we called her back. She must know that we are all in desparate need to friends so she sacrificed her life for our needs. So you might be asking yourself exactly who it was that attended the party, well here they are:

If you have managed to forget who these people are then I suggest that you return to Sara's blog and you should be able to figure it out. If you are still have problems then I suggest that you give Joseph Castleton a call and he should be able to help you out.

In addition we had a few special guests join us that have managed to enter the Taiwan fold within the last little while. Alisha, the girl in the white, trained us to be wonderful teachers last December and then took off for Texas. Liz, in the blue top and white skirt, was kind enough to take us around Thailand and act as a tour guide. We saved hundreds of dollars having her come along with us. Thanks for helping us keep change in our pockets. The girl behind my head is Kristen and I met her at EFY a few weeks ago. She seemed nice so I invited her over for the party. Turns out she actually enjoyed it. Next to her we have Colby, a friend of Emily Joy's who joined us in our travels around Taiwan. Funny kid. Lorin is the last member of the party and is shown here in a red and white shirt. He's dating Tammy so we decided that she could probably bring him along and it'd be alright.

Of course during the party we ate, drank and were merry. Pizza was the mine ingredient on the menu with a smattering of Chinese food provided by Tammy. Drinks consisted of fresh water from the Centerville City well, even though we happen to live in Bountiful. And of course no Taiwan reunion would be complete with the dancing game. I'd like to try to explain it but again if you have no idea how to play I suggest you talk to Whitney before she moves to France. Again if that doesn't work out then try Joseph again. So yes the party was a success. Will we do it again? I surely hope so.

When Enemies Make Peace

So this past week I started my final semester of my undergraduate college career. However, this was my same thought last year and it turned out not to be true. Anyways, I am taking a class about the conflict in the Middle East and how the War on Terror began. Turns out that I like the class and it should be easy just like last year. As per my other classes, I have yet to decide if I really enjoy them. My required class, International Marketing, should be enjoyable. Having now lived outside of the country I feel as if I can contribute something to the class discussions. Well, I might keep everyone updated, but at least you have an idea about what is going on in my life. Until next time . . .

KBR on Skype

So today I had the chance to talk with my old Kindergarten Basic Reading class over the internet using a free program called Skype. I must say that I am grateful for the capabilities of the internet because without it I could see, talk to or mostly understand my old students. Granted most of you won't appreciate seeing this video as much as I do but hopefully you can share in some of the joys. The kids continue to fight, just as they did in my class, so Lindsey's must be doing a good job of teaching them. So enough about technology, maybe someday I'll actually post something real. But until then...

End of Taiwan Trip

So most of you have noticed that I have yet to blog about my recent vacation within Taiwan and in Thailand. I have decided to post some links to my facebook photo albums before everyone decides to boycott my blog. So here are some links, with a few more to come:

Green Island

Kenting

Alishan

Bangkok

Saturn SC2

So apparently my car has come to hate me. Yesterday, Lindsey's wedding, I went to get into my car to head over to the reception center for pictures. I put my key in the ignition and nothing happened. I was a little frustrated but luckily my sister Natalie and her husband Luke hadn't left yet so I caught a ride with them. The night went on and I finally decided to tell my parents about it after the reception ended so they didn't have to worry about it. So this morning after I got up my dad decided to help me jump the car and after it started up we determined that I should get the battery checked out because there didn't seems to be nothing wrong with the current car situation. So I pulled up to Checker Auto Zone and had them run a test for me. They told me that the battery was a little low, which I could have told them, and that there might be a drain somewhere in the car like a light in the trunk or something crazy like that.

And then it hit me. About one week ago my trunk stopped closing all the way. I tried pulling the latch out like I normally would when it doesn't close but that hadn't worked. So I had attached a bungy cord to it to keep it closed. I drove up to Ogden and back on Monday and then parked the car until Thursday night. Apparently because the trunk didn't close all of the way it drained my battery. I have since pulled a bit harder on the trunk lack and now it will close. Oh, and p.s. the back of my car looks nothing like this due to an accident immediately prior to my moving to Taiwan last December. So my car is currently drivable, but we will see how long that lasts.

So that car problem got me thinking about other car problems which I have had in the past. Last Winter or Fall, I can no longer remember which, I was driving up to Ogden for a morning class and all of a sudden I saw smoke coming from the airconditioning controls. It shocked me just a little bit and I pulled over to see if I could do anything about it. Likely it stopped, the smoke that is, and I finished driving up to school though a bit hesitant. I made it back home later that night and then my dad decided to see if he could be anything about it. I think the only thing he could see was a bunch of dust so he cleaned it up and we called it good.

And then there are the other stupid things I have done to my car. A friend and I decided to take an afternoon off and attend the Ogden Temple, but had gotten lunch before we went inside. We parked in the temple parking and left only the aircondition on so we won't die of heat. Then we finished our meal and popped the trunk, locked the doors and then got out and shut the doors. Notice that I never pulled the keys from the ignition. We scratched our heads for a while and then decided to clear out the trunk and see if we could push in the back seat from the trunk. Luckily it all worked out and for some unknown reason I decided to leave my suit jacket on during the entire ordeal. But we got the keys and made it inside the temple.

The final story in our saga takes place in Provo, Utah. I was going to lunch with a bunch of friends after an activity at a ropes course. I had a whole bunch of stuff in my front seat and randomly gathered things together, such as my camera, wallet, keys, etc. Well it turns out that I really had not gathered my keys up. But luckily, if you can call it that, my sunroof is broken and so we went in from the top with belts, a coat hanger, car antenna and some elbow grease and managed to get the keys out of the car. Now I have my keys attached to a landyard so that it is easier to grab with a coathanger when it happens again. Needless to say, I do love my car and I actually have already made money from it due to an accident in Provo. So I'll continue to drive my car into the ground as it continues to fal apart.

Genetic Engineering

Recently, as in today, I had the chance to participate in a baby blessing for my cousin Michael Benich. We had to travel down to Lehi to go to church and then attended sacrament meeting with them. I had the chance to bond with one of my cousins Conner and later on one of his cousins Cody. Conner and I had the chance to talk about a whole bunch of things before church actually started. He told me that his teacher this year is going to be a boy and he was excited about that. He also told me about the books he is reading, mostly about pirates these days but usually non-fiction. Remember to keep in mind that Conner is ten years of age.

Conner and I contined to discuss life and then I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up. He promtly told me that he wanted to create a crocodile that could walk on two feet. He then told me that he would have to mix a crocodile with a human to get that result. So I asked him if he wanted to be a genetic engineer and he said yes without skipping a beat. I was quite impressed, mostly because I haven't been around children who could even understand that word if I used it in a complete sentence. I thought maybe talking to Conner was just a fluke but then I talked to his second cousin Cody who is eleven and wants to be a sports announcer. I thought that was pretty cool and we had an hour long conversation about our futures and mostly how his is more planned out than my own. These American kids continue to impress me with their mastery of the English language. I heard my other seven old-year cousin use the word individual correct and almost dropped my jaw. I guess living in Taiwan has lowered my expectations for the raising generation. But then Taiwanese kids can speak Chinese and English without a hesitation. So the moral of the story is Taiwanese kids ages five to six can translate simple Chinese phrases into English for you but ten and eleven American kids can talk about genetic engineering and presidential politics. You take your pick.