"Turkey"

This morning, I was manning my front desk post at the hotel when the UPS guy walked in. I see him on almost a daily basis and although is never rude, he just seems a little displeased with life. I asked him if he was ready for Thanksgiving to which he responded, "No. It's just like any other holiday. Another wasted day." Well, Mr. Cry-Cry Grumpy Head, I think we have a problem here. Thanksgiving is awesome. It is the perfect non-biased, non-threatening holiday. It's all about family and the food rocks. So to my Pessimistic little friend, I dedicate this video. It's a happy little beam of Thanksgiving love wrapped in a baby's laughter and a kitten's tears. It also happens to be my favorite game show moment of all time. Feast...

Thanksgiving Craft Day

Yesterday, Jake and I wanted to make something nice, memorable, and awesome for the apartment of girls that we home teach. Let's just say that we pulled that off and then some. Jake found the recipe for Oreo Turkeys which require Double Stuff Oreos, mini-Reese's, candy corn, malt balls, and white, orange and black gel frosting. The process started out slow, as I got frustrated breaking a few cookies and a couple Reese's. (Mark obliged to eat the mess-ups) But once we got the hang of it, we were able to make ten of these cute little turkeys in under an hour! We had a lot of fun making them and the girls loved them. I think we have earned some major points toward being the best home teachers ever.

Irish Fun

I found this fun little song while I was skimming Kanye West's blog earlier today. The band is Two Door Cinema Club and they are from Ireland. Their MySpace page lists their musical influences as Arcade Fire, Death Cab for Cutie, Band of Horses, Wolf Parade, and Garth Brooks. lol.

Two Door Cinema Club I Can Talk

TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB MySpace Music Videos

Random Thoughts

First of all, I would like to apologize for my last post. I put all of those pictures on there with the intentions of adding some cute descriptions and stories, but it never materialized. I could add them now, but I think I will just leave things as is. It will teach me a lesson to never publish an unfinished post. I won't let that happen again (probably)...That post was intended to be part of a larger series called "Week of Concerts" as I was planning on attended three different concerts last week. Sadly, Week of Concerts turned into Week of Concert when Elton John and Billy Joel got sick and Dear and the Headlights cancelled. The one concert I did attend was amazing...My plans on graduating in May might be pushed back a few months as I am diligently laboring to fail my rhetoric class. It will probably now be a summer graduation, but who really knows at this point? Anything can happen...One of my worst feelings is when I show up to work at 7 a.m. and turn on ESPN to find The Sports Reporters is on. This show single handedly makes one of the most naturally exciting things (sports) boring. It is the equivilant of being a kid and hoping to watch Simpsons only to find that the President has taken over every channel. Heart breaking...Speaking of sports, watching Real Salt Lake win the championship last night on penalty kicks was pure joy. I've never seen them play before yet I was still jumping up and down yelling like I was their biggest fan. It has to rank as one of my best sports memories in the non-Jazz/Utes/49ers category. Congrats to them...Thanksgiving is next week. Best holiday out there in my book. Love it.

Tuesday Night

:(

This morning a received a text message from my best friend, Marcus, that made me happy and also very, very sad. It read "I GOT THE JOB IN VIRGINIA!!" Obviously, he is pretty thrilled about his new job which will take him 2,000 miles away on a government internship. I am too. It is a great opportunity that could set him up for life if things work out the way they should. But he is going to be gone in a few months and that part really sucks.

Sure we have been separated before, when I was gone on my mission for two years, and we haven't even lived in the same city since we graduated from high school six years ago. But, there is something that feels a little more permanent about this time.

Marcus moved here from Indiana when we were in seventh grade and I was assigned to give him a tour of our middle school. The first thing I noticed about him was the San Francisco 49ers Trapper Keeper being held in his arms. Everything after that is history. For the last eleven years we have evolved from sleepovers and Nintendo 64 to rock concerts and road trips. We've seen Dylan, Clapton, and Aerosmith and have traveled to Vegas, San Fran, and the O.C (with hopefully a long-planned trip to Indiana to follow next year). We text each other nearly every day and I have taken enough trips to visit him in Ogden to drive all my Logan friends nuts.

He doesn't read this blog so I suppose I can say whatever I want about him. I really do love the guy as if he were my own brother and I am practically getting teary-eyed just writing this. February is still three months away but it will be here before I know it. I am going to miss you. dude.

Back in our younger days

Older and more hairy, but still rocking the same pose.

Go Back to the Fifties!

I have been listening to this band Camera Obscura a lot lately. They have some fun, happy songs that make me wish I lived in the 50's for some reason.

Guilty Pleasures

I like to portray myself as a connoisseur of underground music. I love finding new bands and sharing them with others gives me great pride. But I am not afraid to admit, I love mainstream pop divas. (Except Pink. Get out, you skud!) Most of you might be aware that I have a slight Rihanna infatuation. You also might have heard that I went to a Britney Spears concert and liked it. I have no reservations bumping some PCD, GaGa, or MJB on my iPod. But would it surprise you that I have a sweet spot for Mrs. Mariah Carey? (I'm guessing that it would not.) Just like the rest of these girls, (sans Rihanna) I don't dig on all her stuff. But when she is on, she is on. Obsessed? That song is the joint. Fantasy? Straight cash money. One Sweet Day? That song kicks all kinds of different butts. But the song that really waxes my car is her rendition of the Bad Finger/ Henry Nilsson song "Without You." Yes, it's a hopeless romantic love song. Yes, it's cheesy. I like it anyway. Remember the dude from Seinfeld that couldn't concentrate on anything when Desperado came on. That is me with this song. I have no choice but to emote. (PS- I think Desperado blows, but who am I to judge?) Girl belts it, ok? Now go ahead and watch it while I grab some tissues.



First of all, doesn't she look way different, yet prettier? Second, time to 'fess up, Paper Badgers! I know I am not alone here. What is your guiltiest pleasure song?

Dynamic Trio

Whenever I run out of my own creative ideas to post, I just put up a bunch of other people's videos. Today's feature matches the star power of Hall & Oates with the indeniable talents of the one and only Keyboard Cat. It's a match made in amazing heaven.

Come to Penn State!

This is a commercial for the Big Ten Network with all it's coaches in recruiting mode. The last scene is a flat-out gem.

CreepMazing 8

This is without a doubt the strangest thing I have ever put on here, but I love this song. So, please deal with it.

Recent Happenings

Here are a few shots from what my roomies and I have been up to lately:

We have always thought that Mark would look really good with a moustache and this is as close as we have come to seeing it.

We have begun a tradition of "seeding" which involves sitting in camping chairs and eating sunflower seeds. It's glorious. As you can tell, Stice is a fat glutton when it comes to seeding.

Marky Mark

Jake goes for the hands-free seeding. Show-off.

We also hit up a little T. Roadhouse for Stice's birthday.

We allowed a few other friends to join our TR fraternity for the night.

Whoever took this picture has apparently never heard of the concept of getting an entire face in a picture.

The birthday boy saddled up to celebrate Roadhouse-style.

Spencer and I went to the Sounds concert.

But the highlight of the week came last night, when we packed into Jake's car and had out late night munchies satisfied at Big J's. This event was monumental because Mark has been talking about this place incessantly since he moved into our apartment two months ago. We had to shut him up somehow.

Before we left, I bet Stice that he couldn't eat six crescent rolls in one sitting. He had to bring the last three on the road.

Of course the fatty ate them.

Every last one.

We made it there about ten minutes before the place closed.

Mark was all business. Jake was all pleasure.

I enjoyed my food too.

One satisified customer.

Fin.

Something Something Serious

It is a very rare occasion when I decide to blog about something serious here at Paper Badge. I much prefer to discuss the exciting, fun, and happy as opposed to the educational, financial, intellectual, or romantic parts of my life. Mostly I choose not to talk about those things because as far as my life goes they don't really exist. I lead an overall boring lifestyle peppered with the occasional frisbee game, Texas Roadhouse visit, or rock concert. There isn't a whole lot else going on. I'm not entirely thrilled or depressed about that, it's just how it is.

As evidence of that statement, my roommate Stice and I were sitting in his room last night watching WWE wrestling. (I'm not kidding you that is seriously what we were doing and have been doing every Monday for the past month. I can't say that I like it, but I am definitely entertained by the whole thing.) I decided to make better use of my time by figuring out my class schedule for next semester. After a few minutes of research I realized that if I took five classes next semester, I could graduate in April! Total shocker! Great news, right? I don't know! I was obviously excited at the prospect of not having to attend school any more but that thought was quickly chased away by several other bigger, more frightening thoughts. How am I going to pull this off? Am I ready to have a real job with real responsibilities? Do I need to move? How do I even graduate anyway? Who is my advisor? What is box happening?

For some of you to understand where I am coming from with all this stress, I have to make a confession. I sometimes do not take my school career seriously. I hit up class about 70-80% of the time, listen and try to learn as much as I can, and then I go home and forget just about everything including the occasional homework assignment. I don't mean to be a slouch, it just happens. I would rather work on my napping, Madden, and burrito microwaving skills than figure out how to citate, punctuate, and run InDesign. I have done zilcho nada to build up a technical writing resume (Krista and Kelsha, you can start laughing and pointing now, you earned the right). As I am typing this right now, I have a test in three hours with only about fifteen minutes worth of studying in my pocket. Now that all of that time was been wasted I am closing in very fast to game time and I am freaking out about it. I'm not sure what I am going to do.

Wish me luck.

I sure don't deserve it.