Does It Really Matter?

P90X

2009-06-03T20:38:00.000-07:00

I am one and a half weeks away from being a P90X graduate. Although I have made up my mind to do it over again, I don't want to discount what I've done so far. I'm officially down to my pre-mission weight. I started at 217lbs and am down to 192lbs, 25lbs total is pretty good in my mind. I have taken photos every 30 days to show the results. I know I promised to show the before and afters, but I don't feel quite ready to show them to the world. I feel I have a long ways to go before I do that, sorry to disappoint but I feel I'm doing all of you a favor.
One thing I have noticed is people are truly interested in P90X after they see and talk to me. They are always asking me to burn them a copy and I'm not sure how I feel about that, it may show up in another post in the near future. One thing is evident though, it does work and yes it takes a lot of work if you are thinking of doing it. Tony is cocky and kind of annoying to listen to one hour a day, but in time you learn to block him out during workouts. Also a side note, he is in love with the "world famous Andrea" as he calls her. And if I hear him call Pam the "Blam" one more time, it might be enough for me to hit the mute button permanently.

Pam the "Blam"

By the numbers

2009-05-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

Number of dollars spent on college books(felt like it anyway) - 10,000
Number of dollars the bookstore bought my books back for - 1,000
Total number of credits earned - 240
Number of credits required to graduate - 120
Number of years spent in pre-dentistry - 4
Number of years spent in Information Systems - 3
Number of children born - 2
Bachelors of Science Degree in Information Systems - 1
The support group through it all - Priceless

Day 46

2009-05-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

I'm half way done! I can't believe it. I've lost a total of 18lbs and can fit into a size 34 for the first time in probably ten years. I've lost a little motivation the last few days, I'm not sure why. I do have some mini mile stones that I'm pretty proud of. I can do all the push ups on the DVD's. Considering that on day 1 I could not do a single one. I can do all the exercises on Ab Ripper X. I'm not a huge fan of Kenpo X, and I don't really feel like I'm working out during that day. I think I might replace it with the Core Synergistic workout. I've already decided that I'm doing the P180X version, and I hope to get a lot more size and cat like agility.

Heard Lately

2009-04-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

I have nearly lost 10lbs in the first 11 days. But nothing has topped some of the things I've picked up from listening to Tony Horton for an hour a day. So along with my kids and Tony's quotes, I'm doing a P90X heard lately.

Yesterday while doing shoulders and arms, I was toward the end of the workout and was grunting out the last few reps. I guess I was grunting too loud as I heard Livi yell from the other room "Dad are you ok?"

Tony: Let the head do the work, mine weighs 600lbs.
Me: He really is big headed.

Tony: Only 10 more minutes of Ab Ripper X, I'm sad.
Me: I wanted to punch him in the face.

Great quote from Tony on Day 9: "Tip of the day: Think like a cat." All I could think about was Tobias from Arrested Development and his cat-like agility. (see below)

Day 6: Kenpo X

2009-03-29T11:15:00.000-07:00

This was a straight cardio workout. I had to move the furniture in the living room to do this workout. The great part is Livi and Ethan were right at my side kick for kick and punch for punch. They only lasted 5 minutes but it was fun. I liked this workout because it was fun and fast paced. I get a rest on Day 7 and then repeat week 1 again for the next 2 weeks.

Day 5: Legs and Back

2009-03-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

This was a tough workout. One legged wall squats were a killer. Olivia kept telling me I wasn't doing it like Tony...thanks Livi. So I can't go down as far as them and my leg is skaking uncontrollably to where my knee almost buckles. A good side note is that this is the first day I'm not sore from head to toe. Hopefully this non-soreness trend continues. Tomorrow is Kenpo X, Livi is going to really get a "kick" out of the show I'm going to put on.

Day 4: Yoga X

2009-03-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

Ok so Yoga right? Easy stretching, calm mind, supposed to be relaxing right? Wrong! I was sweating from the get go. I really liked it though, as my sore muscles welcomed the stretching. I didn't come close to finishing the DVD as it's 90mins long vs. the 60 I'm used too and for the real truth, I couldn't keep my balance during the Warrior II stance(which is pictured above).

Ab Ripper X

2009-03-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention I attempted Ab Ripper X after today's (Shoulders and Arms) workout. It was the most pathetic show of attempting a workout as I could imagine. One of the first workouts is sitting down with your legs in the air simulating riding a bicycle. Olivia kept telling me I was being silly, I couldn't help but agree with her.

Day 3: Shoulders and Arms

2009-03-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

Holy crap I'm even more sore today. My body feels like someone went to town on me with a jack hammer. Ethan jumped on my lap this morning and I wanted to cry. Day 3 I really enjoyed and even kept up with Tony most of the time. I am using 15lb weights and felt pretty good after the workout. Tomorrow is Yoga X and I'm pretty sure it will be humiliating. I'm about as flexible as an uncooked spaghetti noodle.

Day 2: Ploymetrics

2009-03-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

Holy crap I'm so sore. I feel like I laid down on the road and let a car run me over and over and over again. Plyometrics is all legs. I really liked this workout but I am convinced Plyometrics is code for "rubber legs". It was nice to not work on anything in the upper body as I felt like my arms were sown on.

Day 1: Chest and Back

2009-03-25T15:55:00.000-07:00

Opened the DVD pack, threw in the first DVD and was regretting it 5 mins into it. Ok not 5 minutes, but no joke after the warm-ups I was sweating like a beast. I didn't even come close to finishing the DVD, but felt extremely pleased that I could do 4 pull-ups with the assist of chair(pathetic). It also occurred to me that I need to drink a lot of water during the workouts as I wanted to puke my guts up after it was over.

P90X

2009-03-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

I've been following a friend Ty Roberts blog who is doing P90X and I was so excited to get started. A huge thanks to my sister-in-law Cher for letting me borrow her DVD's. I want to blog about my experience for support and a sort of accountability. Wish me luck!

It's the end of the world as we know it

2009-01-03T22:28:00.000-08:00

Well I guess it's literally not the end of the world, but it is time to end my blog. Due to the lack of time I posses, my blog is suffering beyond comprehension. Although I feel one day it may be resurrected, for now it must be put to sleep. Please continue to check my family site, doverpics.blogspot.com, as you will truly see where most of my time goes. Thank you and good night.

The Dovness

Don't make Hitler mad!

2008-12-10T08:52:00.000-08:00

Shake it

2008-10-07T10:05:00.001-07:00

This is not an ad for a game, but watch the whole thing and you will see some seriously cool effects. Watch if for at least 15 seconds before the effect kicks in.

A bad economy

2008-10-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

leads to this.......

Decisions

2008-09-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

It's really becoming evident that I need a new hair style. Let me rephrase that, I need to do something with what hair I have left. I have contemplated shaving my head, not bic-ing it shaved, but shaved. I figure I have a few other options.

1. The toupee:

If they throw in the matching stache, I'm in (as my red mustache may not work so well).

2. The comb-over:

I mean do people really think they are getting away with this? If you think you are.....you're not, so stop.

3. Shave it:

If I was even a fraction of how cool Bruce Willis looks, it would be a no brainer.

So I'm reaching out, I need some help from those 2 or 3 people that still check my blog. Help me decide and while you're at it, go ahead and check your own degree of baldness.

(I think they left off the "e" on case)

This one speaks for itself

2008-09-15T20:22:00.001-07:00

(click image for larger view)

2008-08-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

Priceless

2008-07-31T08:39:00.001-07:00

BYU license plate tee from bookstore: $25

Gold CTR ring in the language of my mission: $150

Enjoying a good smoke at halftime: Priceless

Is that a red head joke?

2008-07-07T22:25:00.001-07:00

I feel your pain

Ummm, is that?

2008-07-07T21:46:00.001-07:00

You are what you eat?

2008-07-07T20:48:00.000-07:00

If you eat this, then you are the only thing that can make me dry heave just by looking at you.

Krispy Kreme bacon cheeseburger

Gut Check

2008-06-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

So I've discovered a few things over the last few days. One is not very pleasing and the other is worse. The first happened whilst sitting on my couch watching Outlaw Bikers: Masters of Mayhem (which was awesome). We have some train tracks running through the field behind our condos that often shake our little home. I can usually feel the vibration and hear the plates hanging on our wall clatter a little bit, but on this occasion I felt an unfamiliar "jiggle". Scared of what I know it is and buckling up for the discovery, I look down at my gut and see it jiggling along with everything else in our house. I was absolutely speechless. I knew I had quite the gut, but this was the first time it had ever moved like that. It was a slap in the face to do something about it.

So as I'm gaining momentum to stop eating everything in my path, I was watching the 10 o'clock news tonight (this is the second discovery). They did a segment on how Oprah is starting a new diet. As the rage was running through my body at the thought of how this is local or even national news, they explain she will be vegan for the next 21 days.
So in honor of my gut and to do the complete opposite of anything Oprah does, I will ONLY eat meat for the next 21 days (then I will start the diet).

Sorry cows, it sucks to be you right now

No love and never will be...........

2008-05-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

I got this from my buddy darek this morning and almost peed my pants laughing. The sad part of the below dialog is that it's true. Since when do teams have to start playing against the refs instead of the their opponents?

(match faces with text)

Parker: "Hey guys, I can't believe what we get away with...the ref just told me they have no intentions to stop calling our flops! And we've been doing it for YEARS!"
Manu (in barely understandable accent): "Ha, Alright!"
Duncan: "Heee said that!? I can't believe how many NBA rings they're gonna give us for not even playing basketball!!"

Let's be honest folks

2008-05-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

My wife and I are headed on a cruise in a few days and that is where my mind has been the last few days. Ok, maybe the last few weeks. I haven't been this trunky for something since I left my mission. Anyway since the cruise is so close I am blogging to say I won't be blogging for a while as I will be sipping mai tai's and soaking up the sun. So while you're doing this:

I'll be doing this:

Not Actual Photo

Kissing tag????

2008-04-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

Ha, you all wish, I did get tagged by Camille "Stake Sauce" Mugleston. I'm supposed to reveal 6 facts/quirks about myself (this should be easy). Here we go:

1. When I fall asleep with my ipod, I honestly lay there and imagine myself as the singer, guitarist or whatever member of the band that sounds the coolest. I imagine that I'm playing a small show with all my friends watching (worshiping) me, wishing they were as good as musician as I. I will literally rewind a part of the song to replay the scene in my head (maybe I shouldn't have started with this one).

2. I judge people by the type of shoes they wear. And by judging I mean I pretty much know what type of person they are.

This was a no brainer

3. I eat left handed when eating with a fork. I switch to right handed when eating with a spoon. I also brush my teeth left handed.........every thing else I'm a righty.

4. Since music is a big part of my life, I thrive on knowing everything possible about a band. Every band member, where they lived, how and where they formed the band. I've even been known to Google Maps some of their childhood homes.

5. When I was 20 I worked for a carnival during the summer. I actually worked a Harley Davidson booth that followed the carnival. As much as my wife loves to call me a carny, I never smelled like cabbage nor did I refuse to shower or brush my teeth. My friend had a 76' Shovelhead that we used to dress people up in leather and take a poloroid of them with an air brushed desert back drop(maybe I was a carny?).

6. My due date was Halloween, but I was born on Thanksgiving. I was obviously late and by the time I was done cooking I came out with long finger nails.

I guess it was trick mom......sorry

So I guess I'm suppose to tag other people (this is where the kissing tag would have been sweet). I tag my wife Amy, my brother-in-law Jon, Brad Frandsen,The Stewside and Ty Roberts.

Sad, but true

2008-04-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

So my wife honestly asked me if Stevie Wonder was blind. I guess the darkest glasses known to man being worn indoors by a guy shaking his head back and forth staring at the ceiling didn't give it away. Or the fact that it's Stevie Freaking Wonder........................!

Dov out!

P.S As I was making fun of Amy again for this, her little sister KT thought he was deaf! The glasses, head shaking back and forth................come on!

Just a few of my favorite words

2008-04-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

I've been particularly aware of words I've heard lately from different people. Some of them have meanings and some don't.
One the words comes from my wife, she has said it pretty much our whole marriage but I have taken special notice of it lately. I'm thinking it's a combination of other words or something. The word is rag-a-muffin, now just take a minute and think of what comes to your mind first. Is it a type of muffin you can eat or a cloth that cleans muffins maybe? Unless you guessed that it means your (or anyone else's) kids look like they haven't taken a bath in a few days you were wrong. She often refers to our kids as a "bunch of rag-a-muffins."

(If this is what our children are going to turn into.......so help me!)

Another word someone I know says is slick. They were showing me something I referred to as cool, and they said "yeah, pretty slick huh?" Um pretty slick that is the same word my grandpa uses when describing the new snow shovel he just bought. Not that the word can't be used, but it should not be used unless you're over 70.

(I couldn't decide between these two, I just figured I couldn't lose either way)

Finally a word I guess I made up is used primarily by me when referring to idiot drivers, idiot customers anyone on "The Hills", you get the picture. The word is igmo. I guess it just means whatever you want it to mean according to the situation.

(Google image search of igmo, point made)

Feel free to use it and please feel free to let me know of words you like to use, can't stand to hear or think are made up.

P.S All the above images are from searching the term of the word, fyi

Wow, so I suck!

2008-04-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

Ty Roberts, thanks for calling me out. This is going to be a boring post about the haps (happenings) in my life as of late. So I got a new job with XL Cable. They are based out of Puyallup WA, and yes Jon I do know how to pronounce that. I'm the IT administrator for them. There are 2 other guys that I work with, this was the hardest thing going from 60+ at Circlepix to a total of 3. I consider myself a pretty social guy, so it's taking me a while to adjust to it.
Um, I only have 2 more finals left which I'm stoked about. My dad has a condo up in Park City right now, which is where I'll be all weekend if you need me. I'm leaving on a cruise with Amy in 30 days (but who's counting). My work is sending me to Oregon for a week to do stuff I hope I know how to do. I'll be setting up some new computers and servers in Portland and Corvallis. Then I'll drive the state of Oregon to Medford for a few days, I'm excited about that.
Olivia is still the funniest girl I know, and Ethan wrestles with me now which I worship. Amy is still the most amazing person I've met and I am still the Dovness at heart.

It's been a while

2008-04-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

So I hope this will make up for my lack of posts..........I'm sure it will.

It's an Indian Version of Thriller interpreted into english

2008-03-21T15:44:00.001-07:00

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2008-03-20T10:30:00.001-07:00

Big Snake or Jackie Chan?

2008-03-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

So I got a forward the other day of this picture:

And since I know my wife has the worst fear of snakes known to man, I naturally forward it on to her and asked if she would turn around or wait for it. She replied back and said "It wouldn't matter because I would have fainted."
As we were talking about it later that night, I said I would probably gun it and run the sucker over. She got a very worried look on her face and said, "Wouldn't you be scared that it would wrap its body around your car, break the window and get you?" I hope you all know me enough to imagine the look on my face and the millions of smart aleck remarks running through my head.
To Amy: No I don't think it would wrap its body around the car, break the window and get me. I think it would be crushed by the tires and die a very painful death.

Fear and Loathing in St.George

2008-03-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

So I could tell Amy needed a break from the kids, so I offered to take them to St. George for the weekend. I was going to leave Friday night after work. The she pulls the Seinfeld trick, the one when Jerry and Elaine are in FL visiting his parents. Anyway Amy says, "well if you think about it, I only really get one day since you are leaving Friday night and coming home Sunday afternoon". So I asked my awesome boss if I could take Friday off and he was very nice and said yes.
So I told Amy that I could leave Friday morning now, what does she do? "Well if you think about it, you really might as well leave Thursday night as the kids will sleep the whole time." She then said, "I could have the car packed, come to your work and switch cars with you then you could leave from there." I told her she was pushing it!
I think she's excited to have a quiet house as I feel the door closing in on my heels each second. It also confirms how happy she is as I bought a Wii today and she barely batted an eye. So thanks Ames for the Wii, Wii (the kids and I) are going to have a blast in Santo Gorge and Wii will miss you very much.

Abort...Abort......

2008-03-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

So Amy discovered our hide-a-key was missing. I remembered the other day after chasing a wiffle ball Olivia threw over the fence seeing a key. I investigated and found that the key was actually our key, a little scary. So I told Amy it indeed was ours and she said "where are we going to hide it now that our hiding place has been compromised?". I replied with "Um, compromised Nancy Drew?", to which she laughed and knew the situation didn't actually call for the word compromised. I think Amy needs to lay off the spy movies.

They HAVE to be related

2008-02-28T11:43:00.001-08:00

And the Oscar goes to........

2008-02-26T13:19:00.000-08:00

So Amy and I were watching the Oscars. When they were showing the previous Oscar winners for Best Film we decided it would be a good idea to watch them all. You know, to culture us. So if anyone wants to join us, here is the list:

1927 (1st) Wings

1927 (1st) Sunrise

1928 (2nd) The Broadway Melody Metro

1929 (3rd) All Quiet on the Western Front

1930 (4th) Cimarron

1931 (5th) Grand Hotel

1932 (6th) Cavalcade

1934 (7th) It Happened One Night

1935 (8th) Mutiny on the Bounty

1936 (9th) The Great Ziegfeld

1937 (10th) The Life of Emile Zola

1938 (11th) You Can't Take It with You

1939 (12th) Gone with the Wind

1940 (13th) Rebecca

1941 (14th) How Green Was My Valley

1942 (15th) Mrs. Miniver

1943 (16th) Casablanca

1944 (17th) Going My Way

1945 (18th) The Lost Weekend

1946 (19th) The Best Years of Our Lives

1947 (20th) Gentleman's Agreement

1948 (21st) Hamlet

1949 (22nd) All the King's Men

1950 (23rd) All About Eve

1951 (24th) An American in Paris

1952 (25th) The Greatest Show on Earth

1953 (26th) From Here to Eternity

1954 (27th) On the Waterfront

1955 (28th) Marty

1956 (29th) Around the World in Eighty Days

1957 (30th) The Bridge on the River Kwai

1958 (31st) Gigi

1959 (32nd) Ben-Hur

1960 (33rd) The Apartment

1961 (34th) West Side Story

1962 (35th) Lawrence of Arabia

1963 (36th) Tom Jones

1964 (37th) My Fair Lady

1965 (38th) The Sound of Music

1966 (39th) A Man for All Seasons

1967 (40th) In the Heat of the Night

1968 (41st) Oliver!

1969 (42nd) Midnight Cowboy

1970 (43rd) Patton

1971 (44th) The French Connection

1972 (45th) The Godfather

1973 (46th) The Sting

1974 (47th) The Godfather Part II

1975 (48th) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

1976 (49th) Rocky

1977 (50th) Annie Hall

1978 (51st) The Deer Hunter

1979 (52nd) Kramer vs. Kramer

1980 (53rd) Ordinary People

1981 (54th) Chariots of Fire

1982 (55th) Gandhi

1983 (56th) Terms of Endearment

1984 (57th) Amadeus

1985 (58th) Out of Africa

1986 (59th) Platoon

1987 (60th) The Last Emperor

1988 (61st) Rain Man

1989 (62nd) Driving Miss Daisy

1990 (63rd) Dances with Wolves

1991 (64th) The Silence of the Lambs

1992 (65th) Unforgiven

1993 (66th) Schindler's List

1994 (67th) Forrest Gump

1995 (68th) Braveheart

1996 (69th) The English Patient

1997 (70th) Titanic

1998 (71st) Shakespeare in Love

1999 (72nd) American Beauty

2000 (73rd) Gladiator

2001 (74th) A Beautiful Mind

2002 (75th) Chicago

2003 (76th) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

2004 (77th) Million Dollar Baby

2005 (78th) Crash

2006 (79th) The Departed

2007 (80th) No Country for Old Men

Happy watching!

2008-02-22T15:56:00.001-08:00

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iPod, do you Pod?

2008-02-15T12:44:00.000-08:00

I'm selling my 30GB iPod for $150. I want to buy the new iPod Nano, which is close to the same price. It's the 1st Video iPod generation, holds 20,000+ pictures, 10.000 songs or 30+ movies. It's black and in good condition, works perfectly. I will leave my movies (5-6), music (3000+) and TV shows (Seasons 1-2 of The Office) on it. If you have any questions let me know.

Thanks Michelle!

In case you forgot.....

2008-02-15T10:10:00.000-08:00

In case you forgot how cool I am, just go here.

Meant To Be

2008-02-05T15:48:00.000-08:00

The other day I was driving to school. I have to drive over the UVSC, I-15 overpass. I knew this is the same overpass that our hub cap fell victim to. By the way, this was the third time the hub cap had fallen off. So this started the hub cap debacle at our home. As I was driving I thought I would take a quick look around for the missing hub cap. I truly thought I spotted it.
Well I forgot all about it after class and even a week or so after that. Last Friday night Amy, KT (Amy's sister), the kids and I were on our way to eat. I decided to pull over real quick and have Amy do a quick scan. Well lo and behold, there she was in the middle of the island, our lost hub cap! With flashers on, Amy jumps out and grabs it and we were on our way.
Our hub cap has dodged 3 bullets and has yet failed to have fallen victim to the mystery of lost hub caps. This was like finding that sock that's been missing its mate for oh so long. As Amy (and all of her friends) tend to say, "it's meant to be....meant to be."

A Shout Out To My Boy........

2008-01-31T19:32:00.001-08:00

Let me just tell you a little about my boy Ethan. First off, today is his birthday, he turned one year old. When I got home from school (which was only for 15 mins as I had to go back for another class) Ethan was chilling on our cushionless couch (that story will have to wait until I do Liv's shout out) and he got this big grin on his face when he saw me. I walk over to him and said "wow, you're happy today" and Amy gave me a look that told me he wasn't. Now I know it was only for 15 minutes but that kid was happy the whole time, and would not let me put him down. He was playing with my face, making noises and just having a good time.
Ok, enough with the tender moments. I want to tell you some of the things that make me worship him. If there is a binky anywhere within his reach, his only goal in life is to get that thing in his mouth. I have literally seen him screaming at the top of his lungs and the only thing to keep his lungs from exploding, is his old friend the bink.
The last thing I want you all to know is that when he laughs, it's affects me like the laughter of children in the movie, Monsters, Inc. It brightens my world! It's the most contagious laugh I have ever heard.

So Ethan (Bud) I love you man, keep making my world brighter.

P.S It doesn't matter that its upside down

Score: Hawk - 1, Duck - dead

2008-01-30T12:35:00.000-08:00

Um, so I just went to lunch with my friend Brad and no more than 1 minute in the car we see this hawk swoop down and pluck a duck off the water with its talons. On our way back, the hawk was still there and the duck must have had its goose cooked as there was nothing but feathers hanging from the hawk's beak. Kind of like Ethan's food after he's made his kill.

P.S You all were not suppose to vote for the "Gold Tooth", as I don't know where I will find one gold spinner......the hunt is on!

New Poll

2008-01-23T08:21:00.000-08:00

Check it out. The outcome could determine our decision. We might have to replace it with one of these.

Yes, it spins.

9,510

2008-01-17T22:47:00.000-08:00

I needed to make some room on my computer last night as I only had a little over 500MB left on my hard drive. For you non-computer geeks that's not very much room. So I wanted to find out what was taking up so much storage on my computer. After scanning a few files, I hit the the mother load. Our picture folder had 22GB of pictures, again for the non-NERDS, that is approximately 7000 high res pictures. That's right folks, 7000!
Now that I have your attention, these were only the pictures from the last year and a half. I think the number on the last picture copied over to the external hard drive was 9510. I don't even know where to begin with this. We have only had our camera 2 1/2 yrs. So a quick calculation revealed that Amy has taken an average of 10.421917808219178082191780821918 pictures a day. That is like you waking up, take a picture, take a shower, take a picture, get dressed, take a picture, eat breakfast, take a picture, brush your teeth, take a picture, drive to work (or whatever you do during the day), take a picture, eat lunch, take a picture, drive home, take a picture, eat dinner, take a picture, brush your teeth for bed, take a picture.

Get the picture?(pun)

If I had $1 for every picture taken, I would one of these in no time

Memoirs of the Bluth Family

2008-01-14T11:38:00.000-08:00

Ok, so we live in a world full of TV's, we have 2. So in accord to that, we all have our favorite shows. So I wanted too, actually I need to, introduce some people to one of the best shows ever.

Arrested Development

Easily the most underrated show ever to be broadcast! Let me introduce you to the show:

The plot of Arrested Development revolves around the members of the Bluth family, who generally try to lead excessive lifestyles. At the center of the show is the humble but wise Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman),

who tries his hardest to do the right thing and keep his family out of trouble, despite their worldly natures. His teenage son, George Michael (Michael Cera),

has the same qualities but has a humble humor about himself and fights the urges to do his own thing because he does not want to disappoint his father.

Michael's father George Bluth Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) is the patriarch of the family.
He goes to considerable lengths to control his family. His wife Lucille (Jessica Walter), is equally manipulative, as well as materialistic.

She is very hypercritical of every member of the family. In particular, she has a tight grip on her youngest son Byron "Buster" Bluth (Tony Hale), who, as a result of his mother's dominance and

sheltering, is unstable, socially inept, and prone to panic attacks.

Michael's older brother G.O.B. (an acronym for George Oscar Bluth II but pronounced Job, as in the Biblical figure), played by Will Arnett, is an unsuccessful professional magician (Illusionist) whose

business and personal works usually fail. He is always trying to take back control of The Magicians Alliance. GOB is used by his father to undermine Michael's control of the family business. Michael's twin sister Lindsay Fünke (Portia de Rossi) is flamboyant and materialistic, striving to be the center of attention
and usually falls short as no one takes her serious. She enjoys being taken advantage of, but also protests it. She is married to Tobias Fünke (David Cross), a failed psychiatrist, aspiring
actor, and "never-nude", whose language makes you see him in a different light. Their attention-starved daughter Mae "Maeby" Fünke (Alia Shawkat) is the complete opposite
of her cousin George Michael. She is constantly skipping school, cheating on homework, and stealing money from the family's frozen banana stand business.

I love this show because it reminds me of how great my family is and constant reminder of what not to do with my life.

To fully appreciate the show that is no longer on, please watch all 3 seasons for free!

2008-01-14T10:28:00.000-08:00

Dovness [dohv-ness]: 1. He may have been spotted in the early 90's with long red hair and braces. Very cool for his age group of 16-17. Listened to bands like Led Zeppelin, Jane's Addiction and Simon and Garfunkel.
2. He may have had some cut-off levi's and a pair of Teva's. Loved hanging at Zion's National Park and owned a Specialized Stump Jumper. He really was cool, he promises.

More than 16-0

2008-01-09T08:38:00.000-08:00

My flight home from Seattle was delayed for about 3 hours. At first, I was ticked because Amy had just dropped me off and had to get back to the kiddos. So I grabbed a cup of Ivar's clam chowder and found my gate. To my surprise and great joy, the New England Patriots were playing the New York Giants. This was a pretty big game as NE was going for an undefeated football season.
Now it wasn't the game that kept me from going crazy waiting for my plane. It was the people around me that fed my patience. First off, I was probably the only person on the planet that wanted the Pats to win. I wanted to watch the first team to go 16-0, everyone else apparently did not. Anytime the Pats would score, people would seriously yell at the TV. I loved it! For some reason I like seeing people freak-out over stuff like this.
It got a little more interesting when a guy, if you could call him that, who looked like this sat down next to me.

Carrying one of these:

The funny part about this is that he forgot it when he boarded his plane. So I took it to the guy taking tickets and said "the guy sitting next to me forgot this....you shouldn't have a hard time figuring out who it belongs to." As I was saying this, he came running up the ramp yelling to not close the door. The guy taking tickets gave me a look that said, I completely understand.
After a few planes left from my gate, it was down to the people that were on my flight. One guy in particular is who I will focus on now. He was obviously a BYU student

as it's not hard to spot one. Any who this was a discussion about typical BYU stuff, their football team blah blah. This guy was giving me stats about stuff I didn't even know about. I couldn't tell if we were still talking about football or not.
Well the Pats the won and went 16-0 for the season. I'm glad I had the experience I did watching this historical game.
My plane landed at 11:30pm and my friends Brad and Andrea were all so nice to be willing to pick me up that late.
Thank you bye bye.

Not so Plain

2008-01-02T13:45:00.000-08:00

Every year we go to Washington for Christmas we go snowmobiling in a little town called Plain. This is one of my favorite things that Amy's dad plans for the group. We do a 2hr guided tour through the Cascade Mountains. This year they had a ton of new snow, which makes it better for doing the power slides around corners. Although I catch myself trying to power slide when there is no corner. The trails mainly follow deep lumber truck roads, but sometimes the trail is only made by the snowmobile, these are the best.

We stop 2 or 3 times along the way to rest, take some pictures and try to trip each other in the snow. Here's one of Amy and myself.

And another one of our group:

L to R: Mark, Laurel, me, Amy, Aaron, KT, Jon and Cher.

Afterward we go to this cool little Bavarian style village called Leavenworth and eat at Gustav's.

This is what Leavenworth looks like at Christmas:

Spontaneous Dental Hydroplosion

2008-01-02T12:25:00.000-08:00

Amy and I had our now semi-annual dental check-up. First, a little about my dental history.....oh wait.....there isn't one because I haven't had a cavity or anything else since I was 10. Well that came to an end at my dentist visit. I had a very, very small cavity on the occlusal surface of tooth #15. The dentist, Amy's brother Mark, ask if I wanted to numb it. I said no way I think I can deal with the drilling, just don't hit my nerve and turn up the N2O (Nitrous Oxide, laughing gas, hippy crack). From what I remember and having seen a few people lately that have just had some dental work done, I didn't want to have the half smile for 4 hours.

So needless to say, I took a drill to the tooth with nothing but my man-ness to dull the pain.
Amy on the other hand did not fare so well. She had a cavity filled with the local anesthetic and the laughing gas. I was actually the one laughing as when I went to check up on her and she was punching the air like one of these were in front of her:

Riding the storm out.......

2008-01-02T11:42:00.000-08:00

So we started our Christmas trip a day early due to a large storm heading our way. We headed out Wednesday night hoping to make it to Boise. It rained most of the way, but when we were about 100 miles outside of Boise, it started snowing and looked something like this:

But it was about 11 o'clock at night. It was off and on like this until we arrived in Boise at around 1am. My hands hurt as they were white knuckling the steering wheel for about and hour and a half.

The next day we hit the road again with smooth sailing until we hit the Blue Mountains outside of La Grande, OR. This mountain range is notorious for its winter worn snow packed ice roads. As we were nearing them there was a sign displaying the road was closed and to exit at our earliest convenience. After some inquiries from the locals and observing cars driving on the highway, we learned there had been an accident involving 2 diesels. One of the diesels gas tanks was split open and they had to do some serious clean-up on the road. Luckily it was not on our side of the road so we were allowed to go through once everything was contained. They did leave the other side closed until the diesels were towed and the gas was contained.
The roads through the Blue Mountains were terrible, completely covered in snow and ice. We did have our snow tires on and breezed through the mountains just fine. As we exited the mountains there was a line of cars for about 5 miles waiting to enter the mountain pass the other direction.
After a long lunch in Pendleton, OR we drove another 5 hours to reach our destination of Wenatchee, WA.

Final product

2007-12-18T12:33:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

The results are in:

2007-12-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

After a glorious day of snowboarding with some fellow employees (more on that later) we did the photo shoot. How close were my predictions:

Hey mom, how about a picture of my finger in your eye?

Oh.....eyes open? My bad

The final product is soon to be released.

Family Pictures......

2007-12-14T19:08:00.000-08:00

We are doing our family pictures for our Christmas cards tomorrow. Whenever we do pictures as a family, this is how I see it going down in my head.

Olivia stop moving around, look at the camera and say cheese:

Ethan, you don't understand a word I'm saying but chill out!

Amy, just strike a pose and don't stress!

Mike, just remember your the man

So hopefully by the end of the shoot I won't be running for this:

My House, My Rules!!!

2007-12-14T08:21:00.000-08:00

So last night as I was rocking out to GH3, I look over to Amy throwing back the bottle of Hershey's Syrup. I pause my game and say "other people use that you know", she replies "my house, my rules!". So warning to all, if we ever invite you over for anything that requires Hershey's Syrup, you had better bring your own or you might get one of these to the head from Amy if you try and take hers!

BYOHS

The Dovness

2007-12-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

So I have some co-workers that are wondering how I got the nickname "The Dovness". It started with Virgil Beck, a former employer calling me Dov. From there my friend Darek started calling me Dovness. So Amy and I had an idea to make Darek a T-shirt that says The Dovness. We were wanting to make it extra special so we put a picture of myself that was very controversial between Amy and I. I hated the picture with all the hatred I could possibly muster. After some sweet photoshop from our friend Leah, we ended up putting this on the shirt.

I hope you are all happy now and enjoy the emotional insecurities this image has caused!

Picasa

2007-12-12T20:53:00.000-08:00

So I was looking through our Picasa and found a pattern of pictures taken of me. They go something like this:

The pattern you ask???? I never know when a picture is being taken of me. I swear Amy just has me doing things with the kids so she can take a picture.

Does It Really Matter?

2007-12-12T19:52:00.000-08:00

According to this guy, yes! The funny part is that I did a Google image search for "does it really matter" and this was the first one returned. After Amy saw the picture she started laughing and said she was embarrassed to admit she knew who it truly was. If you know who it is, you should be embarrassed too (KT and Megan according to Amy).
So I guess I'm part of the blog world, or adult myspace, now. I've spent the last few years reading other people's blogs and their opinions, what their kids/families are like, what their houses look like etc. I now want to share my opinion.......well mostly rants about how I perceive this waiting period called life.