My Newest Possession

While I was on my trip with my family to Denver, I acquired something unique and very interesting. It is a musical instrument that has seemed to have lost a lot of respect over the years, though it is making a huge comeback in European music, especially that of the Russian variety. I acquired a beautiful Scandalli accordion, made sometime in the 1930's, that has had very limited use and is practically perfect in physical structure and appearance. Check it out!

(oooOOOoooh! Italy. Nice.)

This baby can really produce a lot of sound and it sounds amazing. This accordion was sitting in my grandparents house for decades. It has been untouched and unplayed for about quite some time now. When we went over to visit them, this is how the first moments went with my grandpa...

"Hi grandma! Hi grandpa!"

"Well, it looks like you made it all right."

[firm grandpa handshake]

"Yes we did."

"Come with me."

"Ok."

"I want you to take this. It has been sitting here in the closet

and hasn't done anything. I thought that you might like it

and maybe would do something with it."

"AWESOME! Thanks grandpa! This is so cool!"

: : :

There you have it. That is how fast I acquired it and how fast grandpa was ready to give it away. He must have been thinking about it for weeks before we even came over (he told me he wanted to give it to me over the phone, but I had no idea that this would be the first thing that would happen when I got there). But, nonetheless, I am really grateful that he did give it to me. I am fascinated by it. I've tried playing a couple of times, but have no idea in this world how it is done. I'll have to look up some things and get working on my favorite Russian pop song. Why is it my favorite? Easy. It uses accordion with a white Russian guy rapping about his black BMW, and how it gets him all the ladies, and the dancing is quite stellar in the video. Just saying. It's pretty awesome.

My Newest Obsession

Yes, I have a new obsession. It used to be an interest a few years back, but quickly died because the price of this obsession was far more than I could ever afford. It all started when I saw my first racing bucket seat. Not just any bucket seat, but one that was made out of carbon fiber. There started my interest in it.

What is carbon fiber? Let me tell you as far as I know. Carbon fiber is a fabric that is woven from extremely thin strands of carbon atoms. These carbon atoms bond together and form these strands. I don't know how, but because of the way that they bond together, it gives the strands a high strength. When many are woven together, this creates a fabric or a sheet that is both very strong and extremely light weight. Random fact, a single strand of carbon fiber is about 5-8 micrometers in diameter. The average diameter of a human hair is about 80 micrometers. That's significantly smaller, yet it is much, much stronger. Pretty cool.

Of course, I don't have the money to purchase carbon fiber pieces and parts for my car, as the prices run high. Nor would I put anything carbon fiber in my car because it would seem out of place and would serve no real purpose. This all happened about 2 or 3 years ago. I quickly brushed away this thought because of the depression that occurred, knowing I had no money and my car was not up to carbon fiber standards.

Until...

I discovered carbon fiber film. This is vinyl that has the appearance of carbon without the cost of it. The best part about it, is that it is not just a print that looks like carbon fiber. It has an actual three-dimensional texture that reflects light the same way real carbon fiber does. So cool!

I quickly discovered that there were so many uses for this other than in a vehicle. Check it out.

That's right. My light switches in my room! Isn't that just so cool? I love it. What says manly more than a light switch that looks like it's made of carbon fiber? I'm still trying to think of other things that I can "carbon fiber," so if you have any ideas, let me know.

In addition to finding this awesome vinyl, I also found other household and common products that are made out of real carbon fiber. Check it out. There's some very fun and practical stuff there.

Time to Get Fit!

The week before graduation happened, I decided that my goal for the summer was to get in the best shape of my life. I know that this is the goal of half the people on the planet for their summer plans or New Years' resolution, however, this is a real one and it is going to happen. I'm sick and tired of being so insulated, though it is nice for the winter season. I have decided to trade it in for something a little harder, stronger, better sculpted, and far more attractive.

I have decided to give my try at P90X. Yes, I know what you're thinking, "Wow. You got sucked right into that infomercial. Sucker." Although that may be partially true, it is not entirely true and therefore false. I did extensive research on the topic and read hundreds of reviews and what not before I took the plunge. So, unless everything I read is wrong and misleading, yes, I am a sucker. But I don't think so.

I started off the program by taking the embarrassing pictures of me with my shirt off in several poses. I will not post those until I have the final results at the end of the ninety days just to leave you all in suspense. One thing you can rest assured about is that I will complete all ninety days of it and I'm not going to skip a single one. If not, you all have permission to come and smack me and laugh hysterically in my face to your heart's content.

Right now, I am on day 25, and things are looking good. That's all I'm going to say. You'll hear back from me in 65 more days with my results. You can count on this one. This is going to be the best summer yet...

Graduation

April 22 and 23 marked two of the biggest days of my life. I graduated from college! For me, this is a huge accomplishment. While in school, I always had the feeling that there was no end in sight and I would be in school forever. Well, after 5 years of Brigham Young University, I received my Bachelors Degree in Music Composition. This finally marked the end of my undergraduate career.

What are the pros of being a graduate? Let me tell you.

First off, if you are a music major at BYU, you get a fancy pink tassel! Check it out! The majority of people get either a white one or a yellow one. That's a music major perk.


Secondly, I am now a member of the BYU Alumni and get to reap the benefits of that, whatever they are. Maybe I should check it out and learn what it is all about.

Thirdly, I get to say the I am graduated. How much more snooty can I get than when someone asks, "are you in school?" Ha! I'm graduated. Didn't see that coming, did you! I guess there are more snooty things such as "I have a Masters" or "I'm a Doctor." I'm working on that.

The cons...

Well, I either have to do more school or grow up and find a real job. I've opted for more school. I have been accepted into the Masters program at BYU in Music Composition. Right now, I have in mind going the whole nine yards to get my doctorate. Well, I guess that all really isn't a con because I enjoy being in school. So, I guess there are only pros right now. Win!

It Happened...a while ago...

You can tell how excited I am to tell all of you about one of my first big achievements, which happened about a month ago. The reason I waited so long was to keep you all in suspense of when I was going to post about it. Well, wait no longer because here it is!

My car did make it to 200,000 miles! It didn't croak a few miles before it was supposed to happen. It happened right after the afternoon session of LDS General Conference (check it out if you missed it. Amazing!). It happened at the perfect time as well.

I knew that it was going to roll over soon, so after conference, Kristin, Josh and I all got in my car and drove around for a few minutes until it finally ticked over. As soon as it hit 199,999, we all got really excited because we knew that it would soon tick over. But when was it going to do that? The suspense was killing us.

When's it going to change?

We were driving along 500 West, turned right on to Bulldog Boulevard and waited until it ticked over. As I was driving, the light ahead of me turned red and I thought, "wouldn't it be awesome if it ticked over as soon as I stopped?" As soon as I thought this, we came to a stop and sure enough, when I crept to a stop, it ticked over. 200,000 miles! [insert celebration here. See celebratory pictures below] This was also perfect timing because I could easily pull out the camera and snap a couple of shots of the odometer.

200,000! Woot!

                                                (excited!)                                       (excited!)

(mission accomplished! yes!)

Way to go Corolla. Keep going strong. I'll see you at 300,000.

Major Event Coming Forth

So, from the title, you may think that this is some major event of epic proportions. Well, you thought right.

I drive a 1999 Toyota Corolla. She's a trooper. In fact, she's about to pass a huge milestone.

200,000 miles!

At this moment, I'm about 150 miles short of that. I'm pretty sure this is my last tank of gas before she roles over. Just to get an idea of how far 200,000 miles is, I've put this together for you.

Distance from my house to my Grandparents (in Utah) :: 1 mile

I've traveled to my grandparents house and back home 100,000 times!

Distance from my house to my other Grandparents (in Colorado) :: 500 miles

I've been to my Grandparents house and back 200 times.

Distance across the country (California to Maryland) :: about 3000 miles

My car has been across the country almost 67 times.

Diameter of the earth :: 7,926 miles

My car has traveled to the other side of the earth through its core 25 times (12.5 times there and back. I've still got a ways to go to get back home)

Circumference of the earth (around the equator) :: 24,901 miles

My car has traveled 8 times around the earth.

Distance from earth to moon (from core to core) :: 238, 875 miles
My next destination. Better pull out my set of moon tires. I'll finally get to use them! Good thing I brought my iPod, too.

New Olympic Event: Chair Stacking

I work a custodial job while going to school. Despite the common conception of custodial jobs, I actually love doing it. I don't love it because of the things that I have to do (such as clean up a backed up sewer mess. Eww!), but my supervisor and coworkers make my job interesting. The reason for writing this post comes from my experimentation to make carpet cleaning fun and interesting. I'm going to share with you a little on how to make something dull and boring a little more interesting and worthwhile.

Carpet cleaning by nature is nothing special and very monotonous. Basically, you move the furniture out of the way, vacuum, spray down the soap, then extract it. I have been experimenting with making the first step interesting: moving furniture.

Most of the carpet I clean is found in classrooms and there are a lot of desks to move. When I first started, I would just push the desks to one side. Then I experimented with stacking. The trick with this is to stack them so that they don't fall and severely injure the person in the morning that has to move all of them back. I also see it as a way to make the morning person's job interesting. It's like a puzzle that they have to take apart just right so that it doesn't come crashing down. For example, this is my latest stack.

This is by far my most complex stacking job to date. I'm always looking for ways to make the stacks higher and more complex. It keeps my brain working while doing mindless tasks.