Christmas Party

I know its been a while since I blogged, my bad. I decided to ante up and by myself an iPhone. I haven't installed any music on it yet and don't really expect to, if I'm honest. It's done an amazing job and keeping things organized for me. I've used it more as a tool than a toy which is contrary to what my expectations were going in.

In other news, my friend Beau had his birthday at the eh hem... GRAND AMERICA this weekend. Of course he got one of the big suites, because, why not right? The hotel is by far the most beautiful building on the Salt Lake City skyline though it sits just slightly outside of downtown. Here's a picture:


















The suite was on the south facing (right side in this picture) side of the hotel and the balcony overlooked the swimming pool. The suite was as large as it was decadent. The balcony was the size of an average hotel room. It had a kitchen complete with a washing machine. I have to be honest that a washing machine in a hotel this expensive - in a suite no less- seems a bit redundant. Any person with the money to stay there would have the money to send out their laundry, but whatever. Here are some pictures of the evening.



This is Becka and Kirstin. Every single girl at this picture was a total dime (i.e. a ten). Well, the ones that I allowed in front of my camera were anyway. Becka (Bex) works with Abercrombie & Fitch and therefore knows Adam - my best friend - and Beau - the birthday boy. Kirstin is one of Beau's best friends. I hadn't seen her since leaving for Kenya and she looked great. Though she claimed she hasn't consciously been loosing weight, she has lost in none the less.



From left to right: Johnnie, Kirstin, Becka, Julie, and Me. Julie is one of Adam's Assistant managers at Abercrombie.



My best friend Adam and I. I borrowed his signature look that night. I hope he'll forgive me. I never would have bought a sweater vest had i not seen him rock it so hard.



I can't remember the girl in the middles name. I hate that this is so blurry.



Kirstin and I must have hung out a lot. I have a million pictures with her. She's fun.



Me? Distracted? Who knew?



Beau, the birthday boy on the left.



Choosing to take all of the pictures in the kitchen was a horrible Idea, The back drop was so poor relative to the rest of the suite and the lighting was very very yellow. From left: Nate, my close friend that just graduated BYU law school last year, Johnnie, Adam, and lil old me. (Great outfit right?)



By the end of the night we were tired. The party went late and it is finals week. P.s. notice the wallpaper. It's pretty.



We took a couple pictures leaving the hotel. This was a fun one.



Just the way I like it. Me front and center... I mean. Um.... shoot. I must close by thanking Tyra for teaching me to smile with my eyes. I mocked until I put it to the test. My pictures are so much better now. Thank You Tyra Banks!

Family Portaits

During my whirlwind trip to California for Thanksgiving we took some family photos. As usual it was a lot of fun. Dad was Mr. Serious setting things up and posing people. Mom was looking at her grand daughter. Robbie and I were making mischief, and Kimberly and Heather were (largely) well behaved, while Phillip was probably still thinking we are just a little odd. We took a lot of pictures and my dad sent me a few. I was surprised to see that he neglected to send the picture where I held up my hands behind his head like moose antlers. Actually, this wasn't surprising at all. He never even acknowledges that they were ever taken. He never gets after us for them and never shows them to anyone. I think he feels it will extinguish the behavior. Little does he know we do it just for him. After the main family portrait was done we took some separate pictures of smaller groups of the family and I started snapping some pics of the group just standing around. Here they are. The one above is the main event. I think we look nice for the most part.















This is just the guys. I know that that is hard to see because of the sheer paleness of my face. I need to get out of Utah... SOON!














My Dad took this of my niece Joy. I don't know what he did but it looks really magical. The coloring is great.
















This looks really impromptu but everyone looks great. It's my Mom, sister Heather, and brother Robbert. I hope you liked them.


**** Update!!!! Upon reading this, my Dad did in fact email me the Picture where I was making the funny face. I'll be honest, it's a classic. Check it out.

Elevator

Last week the BYU Finance Society hosted a luncheon with representatives from Union Pacific Railroad. We ordered two six foot sandwiches for the event and had some hardships fitting them into the six foot four inch elevator we had to take up two floors to the room where the event was hosted. I thought it picture worthy.















Jeff was having a good time with it all. He was such a brave sandwich carrier.














Brad was brave too. We look like missionaries which is kinda funny.

Thanks Giving

After you see all the classics I've served up for this blog it will definitely make your list of things you're thankful for tomorrow. Enjoy.



I mean seriously who didn't love this song?!



I know, I know, it's not them singing. Oh well.



I think I claimed I hated this song, or all of their songs at the time. But let's be honest.




Hangin Tough



This blog is the result of a conversation that I had with my friend Robbert about New Kids, hence their heavy representation. Don't Hate.



If you didn't find yourself tapping your feet to this one I think you may want to see a doctor.




Happy Thanksgiving. Think of me.

Generaly Humorless

I have mentioned a couple of times that I want to post a "here are some things I'm into" post. Turns out that I haven't had the time to do it so I've been hitting the topics one by one. The topic for today: LOLCATs. Click "LOLCATs" to go to an explanation of what it is more or less. One of my favorite Lolcat blogs is "I can has cheeseburger". People submit their lolcat pictures and captions on the site and they are rated by people with much more spare time than I will have in the next 40 years. These are some of my favorites.








This next one just BLOWS MY MIND. I thought it was "shopped" until I looked really closely. The bubbles in front of the face are way too good to be photoshopped.





The city of brotherly love has been in the news for homicides recently so its not as accurate as it is funny.

So welcome to the world of LOLCAT. For some of you, welcome to the world of internet memes. If you don't know what an internet meme is, you may not want to get ahead of yourself. I'll help introduce you slowly.

I'm sorry

People, you may think that this is really juvenile. It may be. I saw this video a month or so ago. It's hard to believe that anything could be more funny that an Indian imitation of Thriller. Here it is though. Don't let the event jade the comedy of the process. From the second that the girl goes live on the air you can tell that somethings just not right. I'll get something more "me" oriented up in the next couple days.

If you're having a bad day

If you're having a bad day this will make you happy. This is one of the funniest videos I've seen in a long time. enjoy.



I believe that this guy TAUGHT Michael Jackson how to dance. Thats what I've heard anyway.

New Picture

My third test Monday went well for the most part. I was caught off guard when I realized that the test was all short answer and calculation problems. I didn't mind having to write everything out as much as I didn't like the fact that I didn't know how I did as soon as I finished the test like I usually do when I take a test in the testing center. The morning of the test my study group gave a class presentation on the country of Japan. I saw my professor walking home from work and offered him a ride home. He told me that our presentation was the best of the three he saw on the subject which was flattering. I used the opportunity to take a picture while I was all dressed up to take a picture for the finance society web site. Here it is. I hope you like it.

FEW!

Wow, this week was IN>>> SANE! two words. IN SANE! I had a paper due Wednesday, and took two tests that started Thursday on the late day (Saturday / Today). Thursday was one of my friend Nate's birthday and I helped orchestrate the activities for that. I now have another test Monday afternoon but in addition to studying for that I also have a group presentation Monday morning. So one week: 3 mid-terms, 1 paper, 1 large event, and 1 presentation. no sweat. Oh and I worked 24 hours this week too.

I am feeling really relieved though because the two tests that I took today were the big ones and because of the work schedule I had, I was forced to take them back to back in the testing center right after I got off of work. Given my less than average test taking speed I was pretty certain it was going to end in disaster. But good news. I got a 93% on the my international econ test and an 86% on my marketing exam. High B's are so bitter sweet.

I keep wanting to write a blog about the joys of the internet. There are a some blogs that I really love to read. And some sites that I go to religiously. I was going to just give all of them today, but maybe I'll make you wait a bit.

I miss YOOOOOU!

I miss blogging! I've thought fifty times since August that I really want to start blogging again. In the last week three random people have told me that they miss reading it, and that was the little extra push I needed to get back on my bike and start writing again. I've been busy since I got home. I started school and I'm working for Wells Fargo again. I've also seen a couple concerts. I went two weeks ago to "The Arcade fire" and "LCD Sound System". Both were totally mind blowing. The arcade Fire played no less than 15 insturments during their show. I loved every second. I saw The Smashing Pumpkins three days later. They were also good. Billy Corgan played a guitar solo with his teeth - What a rock star.

Here are a couple pictures that are post Kenya. The first one is a really cheesy self portrait. They are so much fun to take. The next one is during a bout with some seriously heavy traffic coming back from a road trip in Utah about two weeks after I got home. It took two hours before we could get going. I wasn't a happy camper but made the most of it.

Enjoy, and welcome back.

Home Sweet Home

I'm sorry for not posting in the last week. I ended up coming home a few days early after I completed the projects I had been assigned ahead of schedule. I have a few pictures to post. This may be the last Kenya related post. I hope you like the pictures.



This is a mosque thats about a quarter mile from our apartment. The first call to prayer is at about 5:30 AM. It woke me up everyday for the first two weeks that I was there. It doesn't look much like a mosque, but most of the mosques in Kenya didn't look like mosques.



It's nice of the government to put these (corporately sponsored) trash cans in around town. It would have been nicer if they had arranged to actually have them emptied. Oh well, all in due time I'm sure.



Get it? Homely Beauty shop. It's funny. This beauty shop was on the route we'd walk to work.

Like I said, this may be the last post on this blog for a while. In other news, my friend Nate showed me this Youtube video. Its the funniest thing I've seen in months. I hope you like it.

Sam and Blair, If you read this... It will take a while for it to load there, but its worth every minute.

Blogage

My very clever older sister asked the other day if the visits I had had from Antarctica were from Scientists or from very advanced penguins when I claimed that the blog had had visitors from all of the continents except Australia. So, now that I've had a visitor from Australia, I'll clarify by saying my blog has now been
visited by all of the widely inhabited continents. Hold your applause. Thank you.

This blog will be a bit of a variety pack of things about Kenya. I hope you like them.



This is gate number one leading to our apartments. Notice that its called rainbow court. Thats fun.



This is gate number two and our apartments. We live on the top floor on the near side. Notice the scenic balcony.



Labor is cheaper than technology or infrastructure in Kenya. This means that you see people doing things that you would use some form of machine to do in an industrialized country. Its a pretty regular occurrence to see men pushing and pulling carts that must way hundreds of pounds.



Turns out its illegal to be gay in Kenya. Their perception of interperonal contact between men isn't influenced by a lot of the stigmas we have at home as a result. This Barclay's bank add is a perfect example. I think its really funny. The billboard reads "need a loan for a lift?" Ha Ha. Good times.



I don't know how they get palms to fan like this. They are at expensive restaurants and homes. I think its really cool looking.



REEEEED SNAAAAAPAHHHHHH. I don't know if any of you have seen the movie UHF. It's worth renting if you like awesomely bad movies. On a segment of the movie there is a TV show called Wheel of Fish. A contestant has the chance to win a red snapper. It wasn't as big as either of the fish this guy was selling to people waiting to get on to the ferry at rush hour.



The only thing better than this big trash fire, is that its a big trash fire in a school yard. At least they waited until recess was over to light it.



As I've said, matatus are almost decorated somehow. There is usually even a theme throughout the entire vehicle. This picture is a double wammy though because it shows how any word and I do mean ANY word can be used to advertise. "INTERNET". I don't know what exactly they want us to know about their service as a matatu because of this, but I'll roll with it.



Shakira. Now that I can understand as a Theme. If you look closely the top of the windshield is covered with pictures of the Columbian Diva.



Me at the office... Pre weight loss. The building isn't this skinny... its just the angle.



This woman in Lamu made great bags and dresses. Grace and I bought a few things from her. Her name is Elizabeth and she's been working in Lamu for 15 years. She was really nice.



Me looking really tan.



This is the key from a hotel we stayed at in Nairobi. Hotels don't let you take the key out of the hotel. I thought this key chain looked like Ice a rapper would wear. I tried it on.



This fish curry was exactly that: a big hunk of fish cut into four pieces and then put into curry sauce. This arrangement is my own personal work. I liked a tail down configuration. The curry was great.



Again, in Kenya, labor is cheaper than machinery. This...is a lawnmower.



This is me in the rift valley saying OK Grace, I'm going to not look at the camera. Take the picture and act like I just wasn't ready.



Pretty birds outside our apartment complex.



More pretty birds.



More pretty Andrew in Rift Valley.