Back From Hollywood

Just flew in from covering the American Idol Finals.

Stay tuned for more...

(might be a couple of days, though)

Snowman Fun

During this past winter I did a bit of snowshoeing every week. One of our favorites was in a place called Killyon Canyon. It's a good spot because there aren't many people, dogs are allowed and it's a good steady uphill to a saddle where you can branch off in several other directions.


One day the snow was soft and sticky and we were inspired to build an old-fashioned snowman. I made a short video.


You will need the latest version of Flash loaded to view this video.

The CH-47 Chinook Helicopter

As I mentioned in a previous post about my brother Paul, he flies helicopters for the army. I found this short video montage of the Chinook being used in Afghanistan. These are the types of things my larger little bro does.

Just imagine it without the music, but with more sweat, more stink and stifling heat and lots of sand in everything. And then extend that to 525,600 minutes instead of 1:40 and it'll be more like his experience over there.



You will need the latest version of Flash loaded to view this video.

I'm Not Sharing My Reward Money

Last week, a female co-worker told me about a fan that she had. She received an email from some guy who supposedly had the hots for her. He is an aspiring actor or model or something and gave her the website for his agency. Curious about his looks we did the normal thing and did a search on the agency's site and this is what we found:

I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to this guy. I was more interested in teasing my friend. But I did notice his last name was Fisher because we recently had a guy apply for a job with us with the same last name.


Later in the day I'm over at the FBI office to do an interview on some doctor who ran an oxycontin ring out of his office. Just like at the post office, there's a bulletin board with all the losers on it who are wanted so I wander over. I glance past Osama Bin Laden and a couple of Mexican drug lords and see this guy:













At first I looked right past his picture but then did a quick double-take.

Same dark eyes. Same strong jaw line. Similar hair. And they both have kind of an angry crazy look to them.

Now the craziest thing is that he had the same last name! Since I hadn't paid much attention to the actor guy I couldn't be sure if I was imagining anything or not.

You can be damn sure I walked right up to my reporter friend and asked her to show me her fan's picture again. After closer inspection they don't quite look the same but it creeped out female co-worker pretty good.

It turns out the guy on the FBI's most-wanted list killed his wife and kids and burned down his house in Scottsdale and is considered armed and extremely dangerous. Normally wanted criminals don't move to an adjoining state, keep their same last name, and then aspire to be an actor/model. But some of them are quite agressively stupid.

Anyway, I've already alerted the FBI to this possible connection so if it turns out to be the guy I'll get $100,000. If any of you sees him, I do expect a percentage of the reward.

I'm more than happy to share your reward money.

My Brother Paul

There's a new link over there in my 'Friend's Blogs' section in the right column. It actually belongs to my brother. He just started his own blog and he calls it 'Boring Paul's Boring-ass Blog'.

He actually should have all kinds of interesting things to write about. He flies Chinook helicopters for the Army. He skydives professionally on his weekends. He's spent time in Iraq (all right, admittedly for some reason the military made that part of his life boring). He might brew beer still. And he likes to mountain bike through the desert outside Las Vegas.

Plenty of interesting things.

Give it a read. It seems he barbecued some chicken last night.

Mr. Show Quote Of Last Week

"GOD DAMN IT!!!"
-Bob
Oden-
kirk

Stories From The Previous...

Two Weeks Ago(late due to illness)...

*Interview a bunch of random kids about what they think of American Idol
*House burns to the ground in dramatic fashion (basement full of ammunition – garage full of firewood)
*Soccer stadium not to be funded by county – interview with mayor – interview with fan – interview with Sandy City rep – video of proposed site – live shot at City Hall
*Man “hit” by light rail train (actually the 80-year-old man didn’t see it until he was about 2 feet away from moving train then fell down and cracked open his head because he was startled)
*Bars go smoke-free for one night – interviews and video from 3 different bars – live shot
*Oxycontin drug ring – interview with FBI – live shot
*Medicaid information meeting with public
* News anchors take (and fail) driving tests
*Scout-a-rama
*Interview with insurance company rep about ob-gyn reimbursement

Last Week...

*Man sentenced who committed 314 robberies
*Stranded hikers in snowfield near Sundance Resort
*Live shot for Glen Canyon documentary
*Returning soldier workshop for family of troops overseas
*Live shot at courthouse for Schanze sentencing
*Dirt bike hits woman in street after dark
*Live shot for man who fell and got trapped under light rail train
*Masonic Temple open house for public
*Flower deliveries for Mother’s Day
*State Democratic convention – some Olympic medal winner speaks
*New Motorsports racetrack to open – photographer training

Vomit Comet

No! Not that plane that astronauts train in zero-gee. I just like rhyming today.

At my work a few of the Saturday crew started a tradition of barbecuing after the 5PM show. It’s the usual bbq fare: hot dogs hamburgers, the occasional steak. My shift ends before they start cooking so I always just head home.

Yesterday I get back from a late shoot and everyone is already out there eating fajitas. Some sort of seis de mayo celebration I guess. Since I’m there, I help myself to a chicken fajita – damn good! – some ‘several’ layer dip and guacamole – all good stuff.

"OK, see ya, bye."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My dog woofs at something in the middle of the night. I look at the clock and it’s a little bit after 4AM. The dog barking doesn’t bother me – it’s the rolling and grumbling coming from my belly.

I know the feeling – I know what’s coming – I also know that it’s going to be a while before anything happens. The juices still need to ferment.

The next coupe hours are spent dozing, waking up in a feverish sweat, and listening to my stomach churn. As we approach 7AM I know that it’s time.

Blue, plastic garbage can in hand I go sit on the toilet. Everything is primed. I just can’t tell which end it’s coming out of.

The only thing out of the backside is air. And it is the foulest, most-wretched thing I have ever smelt! My god! What the hell died up there?

I have never thrown up from odor before but in this situation it was the catalyst I needed. I ducked out of the bathroom and technicolor yawned into the garbage can.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Most of my day has been spent cyclically repeating this every couple of hours. Bleh!

The worst part is that I’ve now wasted my entire day off. I’ll happily be sick during the week when I can miss work but it’s a nice day and there are a lot more things I’d rather be doing.. This sucks!

Damn you seis de mayo fajitas!!

By the way, Pepto Bismol now is cherry flavored. And it has a cherry flavored aftertaste. Give me chalk-flavored any day.

Little Black III - The Final Chapter

Well I finally made it to the top of Little Black Mountain in the foothills just to the north of Salt Lake City. Actually, I didn't make it all the way to the peak. The last 50 yards or so have a couple of dropoffs of about 10 feet and I'm not experienced enough to downclimb these with sheer cliffs on either side. So I didn't really bag the peak (even though my wife says that it counts because we were "close enough").

It took us about 6 hours round trip. I decided to include some pictures of the little things that make the outdoors so enjoyable - no grand vistas - no pics of us and the dogs: I've already put those on the other posts for this hike. Early spring brings out the colors, the smells and the animals that we haven't seen in months. It's refreshing.

We did see a coyote from about 250 yards away. Luckily the dogs didn't see it or we may have witnessed them getting their asses kicked by a scrawny and scraggly dog. There were lots and lots of horny toads sunning themselves on the trail. They would scurry off as we approached and none of them were very big. I spotted what I thought was a fossil on the edge of a rock. It looks like it might be some kind of nautiloid thing - or a hummingbird.