NO TV

So i dont have tv in my house.....(gasps, cries!) And i decided to post about it simply because people are SO funny when you tell them you don't watch tv.

The thing that really gets me is that people act like i am a better person for it. I promise you, throwing out my tv did not instantly improve my sinful tendencies....in fact, the only thing it really did was give me more time for reading, running, and homework. i am pretty sure hitler did not own a tv-with that said i think we can all conclude i am not an enlightened being for not having a tv.

the other really funny thing about no tv, is that SO much office gossip is about what was on tv. it is always a bit awkward when conversations go a little like this:
"hey robyn, did you watch american idol last night"
"nope, pamela, no tv remember"
"oh....yeah......well.......it was really good"
"really?"
"yeah there was this guy, and he sang this song and he looks a lot like my brother, but sounds more like my little sister...its like the high pitched whining....but in a good way, you know?"
"what song did he sing?"
"i dont remember....that one, that the older guy used to sing...uh you really just should have been there"
"ok, great"
awkward silence followed by something like this: "you are SO much better of a person than i am for not having a tv"

sometimes i think that having a tv would save me the time of having dumb conversations like this.

with that said, i do have a dvd player and i do love the office and scrubs.....so really i am not that much more righteous than the rest of you!

skate ski adventure

So for those of you who don't know me too well (ie most everyone who runs across this blog) I am obsessed with picking up random sports....really...if there is a club on campus i sign up for it. so far my endeavors include squash, lacrosse, xcountry skiing, downhill skiing, snowboarding, crew(probably the hardest i have tried), running, snow shoeing, climbing, road biking, mt biking, mountaineering (only did that once...but willing to give it another go), water polo, kayaking, surfing.....ok, i really could go on forever, and the list of things i want to do...probably twice as long.



the part i left out, is that i never do any of these things particularly well..I am a definite clutz and typically make some sort of fool out of myself while trying to accomplish a new sport. For example, my first white water kayak adventure-i accidentally got a rope wrapped around my neck...and blacked out from strangulation, which coincidentally saved me from drowning! (its funny in my head, cuz who the hell gets a rope wrapped around their neck while kayaking! I DO! so feel free to laugh :) i am alive after all)



so last weekend i checked off my list skate skiing.....For those of you southerners (most of my blog) skate skiing is like really really fast xcountry skiing on really really thin skis. this of course is a recipe for disaster.. I pulled my poor recovering boyfriend from off the couch and made him try with me. we were warned by multiple people that we were in for it.



My good friend who is a mad athlete agreed to give us a lessonand i have to admit, it was a ton of fun! it is my new most favorite outdoor winter endurance activity. If you have a chance, take a lesson (its totally required because technique is key). Mike and I were the slowest out of the entire track, but we loved every minute of it and WHAT A WORKOUT!! funny thing is, the next day the only thing truly sore was my neck....from falling over and over again.
No this isnt me, once again
did not take pictures!

happy winter sporting, too bad its almost spring...that means i need a new spring activity...maybe skydiving!

Happy valentines baby!

Valentines Day, as a teenage girl, always inspired thoughts of some sort of "love miracles". Filled with wishful dreams each year that some boy may just express his undying devotion to me, usually made v-day a big bust. But i must admit, my current boyfriend has a way of turning v-day into a terrible event....for the second year in a row, he has not disappointed.

Mike decided to go skiing this year on v-day with his lab. It was about one thirty in the afternoon while i was plugging away at work that he called to let me know he had had a little accident.

Problem is, mike's lab is chalk full of extremely talented skiers, those post docs who ski'd the alps put utahns to shame. Being it is only his second season of skiing, he reminds me of a kid trying to be one of the big boys as he runs off willy nilly to throw himself off of double blacks and ski until he can no longer stand. So yesterday after hours of intense skiing mike decided to go on "one last run" down honeycomb canyon. As far as he can remember, he was trying to turn, lost control of his skis, started sliding, hit a tree, fell for a while, hit a rock, heard some screaming, fell a bit more, and landed. Turns out his little fall was about a thirty foot cliff right under the chair lift. The screaming were people terrified that they were witnessing this poor boy's demise right before their eyes.

It is oddly fortunate that mike mainly ran into things on the way down head first. The times his head "bounced" off of rocks probably kept him from breaking legs and arms and slowed his decent. It's a miracle he didnt snap his neck. Since he had a helmet on he came home with only a minor concussion, some pretty bad scratches, and very sore muscles. Our valentines date consisted of me making sure he didn't fall asleep and slip into some sort of catatonic state. V-day always inspired some sort of hope in me for that v-day miracle. The funny thing is, I always knew when i met the right guy, my valentine's day would feel like i had always imagined when i was young....i guess concidering my boyfriend didn't die, i can say i finally got my miracle.

love you babe, wear a helmet!

BANFF mountain film festival

Hey all you northern utahers....Banff is here! for those you not in the know about Banff, it is a world famous mountain film festival....so if you LOVE the mountains (skiing, boarding, climbing, hiking, mountain biking, or just looking at them) these are amatuer films dedicated to them. They really range from pure adrenaline pumping to taking a look at lost mountain cultures....

I have been a banff follower for years, and it only gets better as the years go by. It is going on two nights (feb19,20th) at kingsbury hall. Each night has a small collection of films, and it is always adrenaline packed. tickets are 10$ and you can buy them at the box office.

if you love the outdoors, you don't want to miss it.. here is a link to the trailer....the music gets my heart rate going! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gV6ThtY25Q

Here is a link to the official site: http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainculture/festivals/2007/

Book Review

So i just realized how much I LOVE throwing my opinions at people. The nice thing about the blog is, you can take them or leave them. I feel for my poor co-workers who have to hear me rant daily. So i am going to start reviewing the books that appear on the side bar of my lowly blog......and if you are a bookie like I am, then you will appreciate it. If not, skip it and go to a blog with more pictures on it!

this review you get a good book and a not so good book(or more like a book i wasted hours of my life reading).

Good book:

Many of you know this book as a play, or THE play of the moment. I have not seen the play, but may I say the book is fabulous. I have a hard time believing the play is better (probably cuz i am a bookie and the book is almost ALWAYS better in bookie world) but i look forward to seeing if it is comparable. This book is dark, hilarious, sad and insightful. I related, pitied, rooted for and against the main character all in a matter of chapters. The author is no literary novice like most best sellers around nowadays, and actually uses beautiful prose and vocabulary. (unlike people who write literary crap a.k.a.-thrillers, da vinci code, anything by steven king....dont get me wrong, those are fun, but HELLO have you ever heard of allusion, alliteration, metaphors?)

It is an easy read as it flows nicely, but it is riddled with large words and long dialogue(nice to learn while you read for a change). The book does something that I rant about all the time....shows the other side of the story. We get so caught up in our "right" deeming that everyone else is "wrong". Wicked beats that theory into the ground. I believe that to be a very important theme especially in today's society and in light of our present state as a nation (sorry, couldnt get away from a political jab....)

Not so good book:

I am going to get a lot of protests to this I am sure, but thankfully, not many people read this blog so i may get very few protests, but hear me out on why i did not like this book.

First of all if you are writing a book that is supposedly about the power of one life and the amazing thing that one person can do, isnt it just a little bit more convincing if it is a true story??! because i am pretty sure i could write an amazing story about a guy that sprouted wings, flew around the world and saved all the poor people and that would just be incredibly inspirational and all....except that it never happened! The power of one is a fanciful story about a kid that could have existed and possibly could have done amazing things IF a million things fell right into place for him, but frankly, it is fictional and none of things ever happened.

Point two, relating to my first point. If you insist on writing a story that is fictional about someone overcoming the odds and rising above his enemies to become a better person, what worse way to end it by making him stoop to his enemy's level and instead of rising above revenge, reep it instead in a really pointless stupid way?? I mean HONESTLY, what is that teaching kids "kids, go out and become a better person than your bully so that one day you can beat him up in the school yard and carve your intials into his head." NICE....really nice, that is what I want my 13 year old boy to read into so that he can get into fights with all the kids at school. fantastic ending....really

and finally, if you are claiming that your book is about social inequality, you greatly dissapointed a lot of readers who were interested in social inequality in africa, because frankly....i dont even remember social inequality being a big theme, yet if you read the back of the book, apparently that is all this one is about. Maybe someone gutted my book, ripped out all the pages, and stuck in a different one in its place....

on a good note, it was a very easy read....and it made me want to go back to grade school and beat up my bully.....wait, no....let's just stick to easy read.