Pics

My Picto-Bibliography

Know what, I feel I’ve become pretty distant in this blog. At the beginning I would write more about myself- what I’m thinking, my plans, and I guess you could get a feel for me as a person. Well, tonight after I finished my homework, I looked at a few of the pictures on my computer and had the idea of posting some of them so you can see some interesting things about me. (I’ll try and spare boring ones and just show some that can hold someone’s attention.

It all started with Georgia, a young coed who converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormons) while attending Baylor University in Waco, Texas. You can see the picture of the prophet Spencer W. Kimball in the background. That might date her a bit. Haha.

Here’s her parents who were apparently both Jewish. From them my mother and brother are both Judah, which is kinda neat I think.

Also my maternal grandfather was a Mason. Also an interesting point of trivia I think. He was the first family member I ever lost.

The other half of my roots came from this stud- my dad. He also converted to the Church around the same time as my mom (which as you can tell by the picture was ‘back in the day’ hee hee).

He grew up in the vicinity of Waco, Texas which is where he met my mom- in the local ward (congregation). He left home at this time to serve a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as a full-time missionary in Chile. He loved it. My mom wrote him while he was down there.

Well, he wasn’t home long before my mom wanted him and snatched him up.

So that’s the beginning of my family…

They decided to stay in Texas and I was born in Austin while my dad attended the University of Texas. Texas is great for a lot of reasons; for one thing, we have the Texas Rangers, an arm of the police who don’t put up with much crap. I snapped a shot of a Corvette Ranger as he was makin’ the rounds.

Also special to Texas is the beer consumption. This is a liquor store that is not only as big as a normal store, but has a drive through. Not 5 blocks from here there was another place called a ‘Beer Barn’- it’s a drive through liquor store. HA! For those drunks on the go. Now that’s redneck.

One other thing about Texas I’ll mention is that it just don’t snow in south Texas. I remember once back in like 1988 when it ‘snowed’. As you can see in the picture, that might be an exaggeration. Not the extreme amount of winter protection. I was decked out. Here in Utah that would still be shorts weather. Not in Texas. They seemingly cancel school if they’re afraid it might frost because maybe some ice could form on roads. That’s a no go for school buses. Can’t take the risk. Haha.

And then there were the two of us. My lil bro and I. He’s 18 months younger.

We ended up with the four of us. I think we were pretty good kids.

I liked this picture of my sister. I wonder if kids nowadays even know who Baby Bop was? Ha ha.

My youngest brother is like a genius. Here he was, like 11 or 12 or something, and we dropped him off in Pennsylvania to attend a Space Camp program so he could spend a week learning about whatever… rocket science… build robots that retrieve things from riverbeds or something. I remember him saying he wants to be a rocket scientist someday. And I believed him.

He is now serving as a full-time missionary like my father did; only he’s in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He’s gotten pretty fluent in Portuguese if I do say so. I get weekly e-mails from him. He loves it down there.

Then there’s my other brother. He’s a good man.

I don’t know if other colleges have this. At BYU we don’t drink, so we have something called the ‘Gallon Challenge’. You gotta down a gallon of milk…. In like an hour…. Without throwing it up… I’ve never even tried, but big guy here did it. What a man.

We went skiing in Jan 2002 when I started college. He survived the first day, but on the second I guess he fell off the mountain or something ha ha. I guess he busted his face (obviously), ribs, and arm/hand. He was flown home to Houston leaving my dad to drive home alone. Sad.

Now add in my parents….

And you have my family. This is when my brother just got back from his mission to the Dominican Republic. It’s the first time I saw him in three years. He grew a bit.

Oh yeah! I forgot my mom’s favorite child, her lazy fat Chihuahua. The prophet Joseph Smith had a ‘bodyguard’ named Porter Rockwell—so my dad, thinking he’s funny, named our not-so-bodyguardesque dog Porter. My mom feeds him better than she ever fed me when I lived at home. Recently the vet told her she can’t be giving him the human food she’s been giving him all his life cuz his kidneys aren’t very happy. Haha. (a hint: he likes Lasagna, Carrots, Boar’s Head sliced turkey and ham, etc.)

We once had a Russian from the island of Sakhalin live with us. Lonya was a nice guy; he gave me like a Russian billion dollar bill. I was thrilled… until I learned it was worth as much as a pine cone. Then I felt cheated. He opened my eyes a bit to what life is like outside of America. We took him everywhere with us, to theme parks, to get a tire changed… wherever. I remember once we took him to the grocery store. As we walked in he stopped and just stared… “is all this food.. for sale?” We were a bit puzzled, but he was shocked. This was a very well educated man in his country, and yet he had no conception of this level of prosperity that we take for granted here. It was humbling. We should be grateful to live in this country.

He was here because my dad works at the headquarters of an international oil company- Lonya works for a Russian division and came with other Russian colleagues for training. While they were in town, the company has picnics- the American employees challenged the Russian ‘exchange-students’ to a game of baseball. It was funny to watch these otherwise athletic Russian men swing and throw like girls because they’ve never played before. It was equally entertaining to watch these overweight American business executives beat ANYONE at some sport. Well, when the game was over, the Russians challenged the Americans to a game of soccer. While the Americans accepted, they’re not stupid. They know full well they’d probably have a heart attack each and die from that if embarrassment doesn’t get them first. So they make a phone call… a week or two later, the Russians show up for the anticipated cake walk, but to their surprise, the Americans aren’t dressed out to play. Huh? Turns out they flew over a the much-more-in-shape British Division. The Russians thought this was a dirty trick, but ended up enjoying a hard fought game against a group that is competitive. I don’t remember who won, but the Americans cooked hot dogs while the two foreign countries battled it out. It was a great game.

My brother, I, and my best friend Jon got our Eagle Scouts at the same time. Or should I say my dad did. He was our ward Scoutmaster and must have done 75% of the work. He wasn’t a member of the church until he was an adult, so he never went through the scouting program, but he’ll be the first to say he’s earned several, and I grant him that. I owe it to him and my mom.

It would surprise anyone who knows me that I played a year of football. Football is a religion in Texas if you didn’t know. I was a running back on the B team.. well, second string on the B team.. so like C team really. Coach just used the B team as a chew toy for his A team to sharpen their teeth on. Since I was second string I didn’t even get to be a chew toy. I was the kid who sat on the sidelines eating the ice and drinking all the team drinks while the actual players did their thing. I’m the kid who got the ball twice all season and fumbled once because someone had the audacity to hit me in the kidney. Jerk. I’m the kid who in practice didn’t hear coach say ‘no hits this time round’ and moments later congratulated myself when I plowed the punt returner. Coach told me I was a meathead.

Anyways, I’m also the kid who got a brand new 2000 V-8 Z-28 T-top Camaro with custom cold air intake and the loudest Borla exhaust (with the flow plate taken out of course) you ever heard. I mean, it was the sweetest thing. I miss it to this day. When I’m middle age with millions to blow I think I’ll buy a super muscle car. You just can’t beat it.

My first job was when I turned 16- James Coney Island. Yes, I made hot dogs. They use something called Mantega. I think the ingredients read: Animal Fat.

I didn’t care too much for high school classes. Not too motivated… then one time my counselor called me in and asked me if I had post-high school plans. She knew I was LDS and we tend to go to BYU. I confirmed this dream, and she nicely reminded me you need to make some sort of grades to get in. She and I mapped out a plan for me to do what I wanted to do while still graduating high school early. I thought that sounded great and that’s what I did.

I was interested in being a thoracic surgeon one day and joined HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America). I became the medical class and club president for my school district. Here we were at a state competition for medical academia. I bet you didn’t know you get a letter jacket for stuff like that but we did. Very nerdy. P.s. the only other guy in the picture is the author of the famous Nevblog.com on my Associates list. Check it out.

I spent my last year and a half of high school going to school for a few hours then leaving to work- like a co-op program. I worked as a pharmacy technician, at the dementia ward of a retirement home, at a hospital, as a dental technician (as pictured) and other things. I wore scrubs to school a lot.

I also spent several years working for ARC (which used to stand for Association of Retarded Citizens which is nowadays not so PC, so it’s not longer an ‘acronym’). It was a day camp for people with severe disabilities. One year I was in charge of a few campers including this great guy. 24/7 I had to watch over them, feed them, bathe, them and often much more. It was a great experience and I’m glad I was able to be apart of the cause.

I also fared well with the ladies. But to show that I was still a dork, notice in this junior homecoming picture that I hung my keys from my belt! I remember explaining to my angry girlfriend that I forgot to take them off of my belt for the picture but in retrospect why did I wear my keys on my belt anyways?? Aw man. What did she see in me?

Anyways, so that’s us kids in the ‘backyard’ of a property my parents had. The backyard is against the seventh hole of the golf course on the edge of the lake. It was a beautiful place they loved to visit once they empty nested. A great hobby.

I lived for two years in Sao Paulo Brazil as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Brazil was amazing. It was beautiful, hot, humid, poor.. everything you’d imagine and more. I loved it. Plus speaking the Portuguese language everyday was a plus (much more beautiful than Spanish!).

During my first year of college I submitted paperwork and waited two weeks to be called as a missionary to serve in whatever location the Apostles decide to send me. I have no control over where it could be. While I anticipated a response letter, my workmates took shots in the dark to guess where I’d be called upon to serve- all except this guy- Edson. From day one Edson looked me in the eye and with convincing confidence told me he KNEW where I would go- “You will go to my hometown, Sorrocaba Brazil and you will meet my family”. Everyday he would tell me that with total confidence. I was almost convinced myself. When I was called to Sao Paulo Brazil and looked at the map that came with my paperwork, I saw that Sorrocaba Brazil was in my mission area!! I couldn’t believe my eyes! Edson wasn’t shocked in the least. Even more incredible, my very first assignment when I got down there was to serve in HIS city!! And the Bishop of the congregation that shared our chapel was his older brother!! So far his prophecy was fulfilled, except his parents were serving as 3 year missionary tour of their own in another state, So I wasn’t expecting to meet them. However, the very last Sunday before I was transferred to another area, his parents were released as missionaries and I actually met them at the chapel! As icing on the cake, I was spending one day in an area with a missionary, just to tag along, and our lunch appointment happened to be at his parent’s house!! So I met his ENTIRE FAMILY! And took pictures of course. Furthermore, he flew home during the summer, and I ran into him at a church activity and took a picture with him. Edson the prophet.

I can honestly say that I’ve gone to a river to get water and have drawn water from a well. Living among people with dirt floors, no running water, homemade electricity, etc. is humbling to say the least. This picture is where I and other missionaries lived, we did not have a refrigerator during the HOT summer months of November through January, so we put items that should be cold on a chair with a sign that reads, ‘Keep the Refrigerator door shut!’ We had to drink warm water and take warm showers. Nice.

But on the upside, I met a lot of great people that I won’t soon forget.

This man was an interesting case. Manuel’s wife was LDS, but he not only wasn’t, but was pretty hostile and a chain smoker. Out of the blue he approached us and said he wanted to join the LDS Church! Shock! We were thrilled and breezed through the missionary lessons as he already knew them. Our only concern is when it came to his smoking. His baptism was coming quickly and he was still smoking like a chimney. We asked him about it and he thought… and thought… and asked, “When’s my baptism?” “… Uh.. October 11^th”, “Ok.. October 10^th, I quit for good” and gave a reassuring wink. I was sweating, but indeed he came to his baptism without a whiff of smoke. His wife cried and they were happy for the next 2 weeks until he died. Maybe going cold turkey after 4* years didn’t go so well for him.

For sure the most rewarding hours were those spent with families teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

After two years, I came back to school in Utah and was roommates with my best friend (pictured previously getting his Eagle Scout Badge and pictured here drinking not one, but two Hershey’s bottles AT THE SAME TIME).

In my family, we all enjoy traveling. We’ve driven across the US and seen many sights… Like skiing in Canada (Looks soooo cold!)

Deep-sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Cancun Mexico- Here’s my brother and yes, that’s our bus DRIVER with two bottles of tequila. Let’s just say he drove a lot faster through the jungle with liquid courage in his veins. Haha.

Deep-sea fishing in the Caribbean Sea.

Visiting the Mayan Riviera in Mexico.

Flying a helicopter around Hawaii.

Snowmobiling here in Utah.

Seeing Wicked and Spamalot while sight-seeing NY.

Catching the Blue Man Group in Vegas.

Here in college I met this girl and three days later left with her and a few of her friends on a 3000 mile road trip through Montana, Wyoming, Idaho to go camping in Yellowstone and Jackson Hole.

Come winter another camping trip was in order… too bad it was 33 degrees and we went home at 2 a.m.

I’m a people person. I enjoy relationships and human activity. I’m proud to say I set up my roommate with my friend and one marriage later they’re not expecting their first child.

My interest in people and human nature brought me to study clinical and developmental psychology at BYU. I’ll be graduating in December and could not be more excited.

So I guess that’s the latest.