Reunion

.... sheesh ok ok! Ill post my pictures! Give it a rest peoples!

Ok I don't have room for all the pictures in this blog post so there will be links at the end to PhotoBucket where you can enjoy them and even download the ones that you want. But ill Post a few of my favorites here.

You all know what we did on our reunion.... if you don't look at Moms or Melanie's blog. So I'll summarize. There was some driving,

There was some hiking,

Some Eating,

Some Olympics,

Some Awards,

Some Family Photos,

In Zions Park

It was loads of fun and i was happy to see you all!

Here is the links to all the photos:

http://s801.photobucket.com/albums/yy294/Helm9of10/Reunion%202010/Opening%20Ceremonies/

http://s801.photobucket.com/albums/yy294/Helm9of10/Reunion%202010/Emerald%20Pools/

http://s801.photobucket.com/albums/yy294/Helm9of10/Reunion%202010/Olympics/

http://s801.photobucket.com/albums/yy294/Helm9of10/Reunion%202010/The%20Narrows/

http://s801.photobucket.com/albums/yy294/Helm9of10/Reunion%202010/Closing%20Ceremonies/

http://s801.photobucket.com/albums/yy294/Helm9of10/Reunion%202010/Family%20Photos/

http://s801.photobucket.com/albums/yy294/Helm9of10/Reunion%202010/Scenery/

http://s801.photobucket.com/albums/yy294/Helm9of10/Reunion%202010/Randomness/

the photos are in reverse order ... photobucket does it that way... weird

Please enjoy and hope to see you all again soon!

(PS to get these photos on your own computer if you want them right-click on the photo you want, select "Save image as.." and put where you want the file to be, name it if you wish, and select ok)

A day of reflection

Today is a day of sadness and reflection, a day to remember things of the past. For today, my Frisbee cracked.

Dear Frisbee,

You will be remembered for all the happiness and desire to achive that you have brought to many. Though Jared's foot caused the fatal blow, we all felt the pain as we remembered the joyous times we spent together. May you rest in peace,

my dear friend.

Bloggerific!

Well I was going to complain about others lack of others blog posts for me to look at when I'm bored... but then I would be a hypocrite and that would be bad... supposedly. So in order to remind you that I do like looking at your blogs and to write them I'm going to write one (If you mention the fact that I hardly ever blog and should blog more often your complaint will be ignored :)

2 stories for you alls.

Because it was Angela's birthday on Saturday, Angela and the parents went down to the "Bosque del Apatche" wildlife refuge. That made it easy for me to drive up and meet them. Though I was not particularly enthused about the idea of staring at birds I did want to see my family and get free well made food. The food was great and so was the pie. The birds were....well... flapping/sleeping/doing birdy things. Though the Harris hawk was cool. So Dad and I added to the list of birds that we saw :

Balding Birds
Flip-Flappers
Saltine Quackers
Scooters
Hooters
Birds that Pray
Heavy Lift Cranes
Honkers
Squawkers
Bobble-heads

.... I think there was more but i can't remember them. It was fun... though i was REALLY tempted to run at some of the birds screaming to scare them but I bet the "serious" bird watchers would have been mad.

Anyways onto today..
I usually walk to campus... it's not far and good to walk, but I forgot my book so i hurried home. I grabbed my bike to go back as it's faster. It has been a long time since I've been on my bike and I'm a bit out of shape. Coming back to the apartment there was another guy on his bike riding the same way I was... well I couldn't be outdone by him (1st mistake) so i sped up and passed him. Well I couldn't show that the whole reason i sped up was to pass him so i had to maintain my speed (2nd mistake) I didnt want to look back to see where he was, cuz he might know i was just trying to show off.. so I didn't know if he was following me so i continued on my speed (3rd mistake) Traffic was particularly bad and there were so many people watching....so i still didn't slow down (4th mistake) as I got close to home away from the busy streets I saw ahead of me another biker, who glanced back and saw me.... well I can't slow down now! (5th mistake) i got to my apartment.... and about died trying to carry my bike up the stairs! Pride CAN KILL! It's true! Good news is that i beat my record coming from Jett Hall to the apartment :)

Well have fun everyone! Keep those posts coming! (unless you have a good excuse.. then blog about the excuse!)

PS. Jenny can i get sparkler pictures from you? Please?

ULTIMATE!

Hiya alls! Just some funny happenings to tell you about.

My new thing is Ultimate Frisbee. I even got cleats and a frizbee! It's fast, easy to learn and fun. we usually have around 10 to 20 people come and its a blast. We play late at night in the intermural fields at the colledge. There are some lights but it is a bit hard to see... but that makes it all the more interesting. If you don't know how to play you are really missing out!

It seems that no matter what I do I hurt myself and/or others when I get involved in sports. A couple of weeks ago I tripped Kylee and made her faceplant. (I felt really bad about that one) I crash into people and because I'm tall I'm always defense which means I have jumping matches verses people. I jammed my thumb real good as it met an elbow going the opposite direction. Both were moving which increased the force upon my thumb. When moving at high speed I cant seem to stop fast enough. Today was no exception. I was sprinting ( I seem to always be sprinting) and almost had the Frisbee when WHAM! I met my teammate. Needless to say the Frisbee did not get caught and I had to sit it out for a little bit. He was Ok and it seemed I took most of the damage. I also ran into Chris but because his mass is higher then mine I kinda bounced off.


Not a very good picture but you get the idea!

Well the funny part was what happened over the duration of the game. It was cold so i layered up. See you layer yourself then as you heat up you take off what you don't need. Other people weren't so smart so they didn't have many layers. I felt bad and started giving some of my layers to others. Soon i was in shorts and a light jacked while others had my sports pants, my outer jacket and my gloves. As long as i kept moving I was good. But there was so many people at ultimate this night we did 3 teams with the losing team sitting out. So I froze even though i had prepared the most. But it was STILL fun! I like ultimate!

Well I don't feel bad about it. I just found it kinda funny.

Hope your all doing fine and not hurting yourself like I tend to do!

I am my Fathers Son

Interesting Title eh?

Just some observations for you all

You all know Dad has this bad habit of hurting himself when he is working right? Well it seems the older i get the more i seem to hurt myself.

Tues we got wire in. Well even though my boss' operation isn't that large but when he gets wire he gets a lot. We had at least 45 rolls of 14-2 (guage 14, 2 wires and a ground.) Most of the stuff got moved by the forklift but all of the 10-2 (larger still 2 wires and ground) had to be moved by hand. Now you would think wire would not be heavy but remember that it is copper so when you wrap it around a spool multiple times.... its like a large billet of copper. I should have used my legs but because the area was tight and I am tall I could not. All I could think about was "the best way is to lift with your back in a jerking, twisting motion." Needless to say my back was killing me the next day. Ah well. at least the wire got moved.

On Thurs I was working in the shop moving boxes and sweeping. The secretary was waiting for a shipment of supplies (things like plugs, fittings, weatherheads.) but it didnt show.... till 3:30. The Guys get back at 4:00 and it's not a small shipment. So we are working hard to get this stuff put away so the trucks have room to park. One of the last things off the truck is the conduit. This is some hefty conduit. its 2 in and schedule 40 (thickness). Really heavy plastic pipe 10 ft long. There was 42 of these things. Because they are taller on their end then the rack they are suppose to go into you have to lift them in sideways like _ /|. I'm trying to hurry and Ive got 2 people feeding me with the pipes. Because im hurrying I put the pipes in willy nilly and they fill up the space fast... i need room so i drop my shoulder and WHAM smash them together football style. As we continue I repeatedly smash them whenever i need more space. Now i have a nice bruise on my shoulder.

So I think I'm becoming more like dad in which i have no care for my self as long as the job gets done. If this is a good or bad thing is yet to be seen but I do find the comparison funny. Sorry DAD!

(I better get big Muscles for this!)

Have fun peoples and don't work too hard!

Lessons from a week.

A week has gone by since I started this job.. so I thought I would share some nuggets of wisdom from an electricians point of view.


The moment you take off your gloves, you get splinters.
Ladders help a lot
If there is no breeze, it's going to be a hot work day
Water + wood makes a smelly humid house
Ask if you don't know, 'cuz you don't want to do it over again
2 story houses are good, unless your going up and down them repeatedly.
Large lunches are awesome
Don't sweat the small stuff 'cuz your gonna sweat all day
Sandy soil is awful to dig into
You will be sore
Under the sink outlets are of the devil
No one will notice if your light isn't actually in the middle of the room
Always have something to write with
If your hands don't have an owie.... your not working hard enough
Always make sure your circuit is OFF
Who needs a 3rd hand, you got a mouth
You cant do construction and not get dirty
Use your cell phone calculator if you cant do math in your head
Shower so the rest of society can deal with you
Don't force it, use a longer screw
Cold water has never tasted so good
Watch your head
Hammers are dangerous and malevolent

As you can prob figure out each of these has a story behind it and if you are interested I can share the stories.... but I think your imagination makes them much more funny.
Heres some pictures for your enjoyment

The undersink plug of doom..... and The kitchen of my first house
sorry i dont have more but I dont really have time to take pictures while working.

Work

So for all those who dont care i have a job now doing electrical construction. (I think that is what it's called) and sadly for those who had high hopes.... i am coming to the reunion. (haha I think I'm sooo funny)

Jared asked me why I wanted this job so I'll answer here. I thought it would be good experience and help me get big muscles like Nate (the great) has. Also if I need to in the future I can fall back on it. And it will feel good to know how to do this stuff.

I was really apprehensive on the first day (today) but it turned out ok. I made sure i had a good breakfast and took a large lunch as I was sure i would need it. Got there early and of course the boss (Dave) was late so I'm wating at the gate twiddling my thumbs thinking of all the negative things that could happen like I always do. Well we get into the building and clock in and I'm standing around feeling useless and Dave tell's me to go with Nick in the company truck (which like all construction trucks was dirty but I expected this) I soon learned that it was just Nick and I going to do finishing work on a house. We drove out to the eastern part of Las Cruces were the new developments are. (There is also a brand new Ele. School so I'm guessing the projected growth of the area is large) After bringing in gear Nick showed me how to do plugs.. so I did plugs

After a few questions (like why does this one have 3 lines in it? Oh thats GFI and the wire that is twisted is your line) I got busy. I was SOO glad for my MP3 player. Nick had a radio playing rap, the plumber had spanish Polka, the tiler had country and while I usualy dont mind country.... adding it with the other 2 just makes me cringe. While i was doing plugs (much more slower then when Nick did it) Nick worked on the outside plugs, stand thingy where meter goes, AC. And got a lot done.

We had lunch and I sat down the entire time trying to rest up knowing my body is not happy with me.. (trying to do plugs over a counter that was just glued so you cant lean on it is REALLY tough!) Thank Goodness i packed a large lunch and lots of water cuz i needed all of it.
around 1PM I started to notice getting a little tired and 2pm I could really start to feel it and I started watching the clock. By now I'd finished the plugs and started working on Switches. Now I cant sit down and do them I have to stand. Nick had already switched to doing lights and fans... he hates fans. Can't do them fast or you break something (the last one he did he broke the glass covering the lights on it.)

3pm i was really starting to lag. So I'd do things "as soon as i finish these switches then ill take a drink of water" which worked pretty well. Finally 4 came around and we started to clean up.. holy cow going up and down is really tough! We got the fixtures we hadn't put up away and drove back to the office... whatever you call it. WHEW I survived! It felt really good to sit down.

Got back home took a shower and i know Im going to hurt tomorrow!

anyways thought you might be interested in my first day.

And i think this house would look much better with white instead of ivory plugs and switches and if it had a LOT less Brown! (but then I'm colorblind..... oh well)

Hope your all having fun and I'm REALLY looking foreward to teh reunin......

i am going to fire my keyboard.