B log

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2009-05-04T22:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Cinco de Mustache...er Mayo.

Just trying to show my appreciation for the independence day of Mexico.

Pancho Villa says, "You better celebrate this amazing holiday of the Cinco de Mustache."

If so, "then thumbs up to you Amigo."

If not......"then prepare to face the fury of the Amigos de Mustache!!!"

Mighty Muggs

2009-01-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that I'm really just a big kid at heart. I enjoy watching cartoons and I even have a toy collection. My most recent additions have been a new type of toy called Mighty Muggs.

For Christmas Mel got me some sweet exclusive Marvel Mighty Muggs, so we added them to the collection and took some pictures.

They even have blank ones that you can get and paint yourself.

...

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2008-12-26T09:13:00.000-08:00

This was the best Christmas ever! That's a pretty bold statement, but we just had the best time this year. Maybe we are biased, because this was our first Christmas married, but really it was so much fun. We decorated our tree Star Wars style, made delicious and fancy chocolate covered pretzels, had a visit from Santa himself, went caroling up in Evanston, played the dice-game present exchange, listened to some sweet Christmas music on the radio (basically the same 4 songs on every one of the stations it seemed like, but it was still fun), read the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2, Helaman 14:5, 3 Nephi 1:21, woke up and surprised each other with our gifts, made a nice big breakfast, went to a movie (The curious Case of Benjamin Button), and finally enjoyed a bunch of evening snow. Couldn't have been more perfect. Here are some sweet pictures for your visual enjoyment:

We made some really tasty chocolate covered pretzels.

Then Santa came to town. I asked him for world peace. We'll see if he can come through this year.

We treated the nice people of Evanston with our great voices. We also realized we don't really know the words to the majority of Christmas songs.

Here we are enjoying our gifts. Can you guess who got what?

THE DISTANT FUTURE: THE YEAR 2000

2008-11-26T15:16:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's weird to think that we are in the 2000's. Technology has advanced so much just in my short lifetime of 25 years. I mean, the internet, email, cell phones and laptops just to name a few. Speaking of all that, it was only 9 years ago that we all thought the world was doomed because of that whole Y2K thing. Pretty silly.

On to the good news. Two weeks ago, I decided to make a huge technological step of my own. I got an iPhone. I have to say, IT IS SO AWESOME!

I can't believe how sweet this phone is. It has GPS that works with the Google maps, the Apps store with tons of handy applications. Don't even get me started on how good the web browser is. And those are just a few of the many great features available. I have to say, I am very pleased with my purchase.

Medieval Times, call for Medieval methods.

2008-11-19T13:42:00.000-08:00

If you looked at the current financial crisis, you may think we are slipping back into Medieval times. Good thing my buddies and I are one step ahead. We have built a Trebuchet. Check out wikipedia for more info on Trebuchets. In layman's terms, it's basically a catapult.

I don't want to steal any of the thunder of the Mad Scientist, so I will just direct you to his webpage to see pictures documenting the build, and the pictures of the first throw. Go to mad-laboratory.com

Also, while you are there, check out his other projects, like his current laminar flow fountain and air compressor rockets. Plus stay tuned for several other projects in the works.

I'll put up some pictures later tonight. So what are you waiting for? Go to mad-laboratory.com!

City of Salt Lake

2008-11-12T12:14:00.000-08:00

I like to take pictures. My buddy Brott and I like to go on photo missions, where we both go to an area and shoot photos. Sometimes with a specific idea in mind, or other times we just shoot photos that will help Brott complete assignments for his photography class. It's nice to have digital cameras, because they give you instant feedback on your photos. When I shoot 50-100 pictures, I usually only really like 2-3 of them. It's not very efficient, but when you shoot digital it's not a waste. I have a Canon 40D, and I love it. I've had it for over a year now, but I'm still learning how to use it more efficiently, and get even better photo quality.

Here are some night shots of good ol' Salt Lake.

That's what she said

2008-11-09T14:36:00.000-08:00

That's a huge post. The last post was pretty big, but I still have some other recent random stuff to put up here.

On the way back from Mel's parents cabin, we stopped by the Logan temple to take some pictures. We couldn't get inside the gate, so I had to settle for only a few quick pictures. It's a pretty temple, and the design is pretty unique. I would like to come back another time, and take some photos in the the night.

Yes We Can!

2008-11-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

I couldn't think of a clever opening title for this post, so I just stole the new President-elect Barack Obama's campaign phrase. Lame, I know, but I've been away from my blog for so long, I don't feel back in my groove yet. I know if you read my most recent post, I made a promise to maintain the B log up to date. Kind of like how the Presidential candidates promise you everything from "no new taxes" to making you more popular. Well, my promise was just as empty as those.

I do have a good excuse. Not only have I been keeping up with my school and work, I just got married. I met the most wonderful and beautiful girl in the world. It took all i had to trick her into marrying me, but I succeeded. My next post will be a little about the wedding, with some pictures. In the mean time you can go and look at another thing that was keeping me busy. I started a blog for Mel and I. It's at mandmsartori.blogspot.com .

So it's time for a quick review of the last little while. Rest assure, I will be more vigilant in keeping the updates coming. I am promoting a "Change We Can Believe In" and promise to keep this B log up to date.

The Utah Utes just beat TCU last night in a thriller, but Mel and I went with our good friend Blake, and his son Mason to a Ute game a couple weeks ago when they played CSU. We had a great time, so thanks Will for the tickets. I tried to take some good pictures, and I got some okay shots. Someday, I would really like to have a press pass, and be on the sidelines, to take some pictures.

That's a really nice picture of Mel and I. Photo courtesy of Blake. Also, check out Mason, and his sweet game face. I love it.

During all the time preparing, planning, and sometimes stressing over the wedding, we didn't have time to adequately celebrate an important event. Mel's dad had his 60th birthday in the beginning of October. We did have a small birthday party, but that just didn't seem like it was enough. Mel's mom decided that a surprise party would be in order. The plan was to go up to their cabin near Bear Lake,and invite the family and friends. I had never been to the cabin before, but I had a great time. It was fun riding the 4 wheelers around, and just spending some quality R&R time.

Halloween was few weeks ago. I didn't go all out with the costume this year like I did last year.(remeber this?) But we did get together with friends at our new place to carve some pumpkins. Last year I carved an awesome looking Stormtrooper helmet. This year, well I decided to go with the New England Patriots logo. I think it turned out good. It was fun to see my friend Nate's kids and watch them getting so excited to carve pumpkins. His littlest boy Brody, was overly excited.

People always tell me i'm "special"

2008-09-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

For those of you blog lurkers who have been to my site lately, you've probably noticed that I haven't had an update for quite some time. So I have to apologize. I do have good reason though, because I recently went back to school to get my MBA, so I have been awfully busy. Still I can't let something like school get in the may of my quality blogging can I?
Anyway, here are some funny pictures. Proof I really am special. At least to my mom.

These first two are from my vacation a while back to San Diego. We took a tour of an aircraft carrier, and got to look around the inside of the ship.

Sometimes you just can't hold it any longer.

This is probably one of my all-time favorite pictures. Remember the Nintendo 64 game of Mario? Every time at the loading of the game, you saw his big Italian mustached face, and he said "It's-a-me-a, a-Mario." That's what I think of every time I see this.

Happy National Spumoni Day!

2008-08-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

Today, August 21st, is National Spumoni Day. I bought some Spumoni ice cream yesterday to celebrate with today at work but I forgot to bring it in to work. Thanks to Mel for being so dang amazing, she went to the Spaghetti Factory on her lunch break, and bought a big gallon of Spumoni ice cream for us at work. She is the best.

I highly recommend getting the Spumoni from the Spaghetti Factory, and not getting the Dreyers brand. But for the sake of pictures, I am showing the Dreyers stuff I got.

more new hairdo pics

2008-08-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pics of me getting my hair put in cornrows. Me and the nice lady who did it, named Nefina (or Nephina, I'm not really sure), had a nice chat throughout the whole process. You may see me smiling in some of the pictures, but don't be fooled. It really hurts pretty bad when they do it, because to get nice tight braids, you have to pull the hair pretty hard. It was still totally worth it. Tons of people have given me really strange looks. Especially when we went to Raging Waters the day after. Anyway, enjoy the pictures, even if i did go overboard, and put too many on here.

Here are a couple of pictures from Raging Waters. My friend Nate reminded me of a funny truth. That truth is, as a kid, you just don't notice certain details because you are completely distracted by the fun. As kids, we never realized how run down and kind of dumpy Raging Waters looks in certain spots. Besides that, it was still really fun to spend a day there, messing around, and getting some sun.

One last pic of the cornrows taken out. For some reason I'm reminded of Lionel Richie. I don't know why.

My new hairdo

2008-08-17T05:05:00.000-07:00

I enjoy changing up my hair and appearance on a regular basis (heck, look at my profile pic). I've always said that your hair was something to play around with. I usually go through the cycle of buzzing my head and then growing it back out long again. Once the hair is long, I like to do funny haircuts, with the Mullet style being one of the funniest, in my opnion. Well this time, I decided that I would go and get my hair put in some cornrow braids. I just wanted to at least try it, and see what I would look like with them. I think it looks sweet.

Or as the Indians call it...Lake Powell

2008-08-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

There are few things better than going to Lake Powell. You really can't beat just relaxing on the houseboat, playing in the sun, and getting some early morning skiing sessions. We usually go to Wahweap instead of Bullfrog, and that is just fine with me. Personally I think the scenery is better at the Wahweap end of the lake anyway. Our spot this year was in Gunsight Bay, near Cookie Jar, and it was a really good spot.

We got shade as early as 5:30 in the evening which was great. Interestingly enough, every evening between 4 and 6, a storm would come by with blustery wind and some rain. After the storm passed, everything cleared up, and it made the evening really cool and refreshing. It also made for some really nice nights sleeping out on top of the houseboat, and gazing up at the stars.

This is the scene I woke up to one of the mornings.

If you have never been to Lake Powell, I highly recommend going. You won't be disappointed. And, you will never want to step foot into another cold mountain lake again. The water temperature at Powell is usually high 70's to mid 80's.

I'm not the best wakeboarder by any means, but I enjoy wakeboarding. That is, when I'm not smacking my face really hard on the water, and getting the wind knocked out of me. It happens more that I'd like to admit. Well enough talking, and on to what you are really looking forward to, more pictures.

Here is Mel skiing it up. Notice Cookie Jar rock in the background.

This was Mel's first time at Powell, and we made sure we got the most of every minute of it. We went on the Molecule tube and i'm pretty sure she broke her thumb while trying to hold on. She's so tough though, she just kept on going.

We went to the Big Sandy Hill one morning too. Pretty original name huh?

Here are some more sunrise pictures that I messed around with the lighting and editing.

SPUMONI

2008-08-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my custom paint job on my scooter helmet. I had an idea that I wanted to paint the helmet the colors of Neopolitan ice cream, which is chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry colors. When I told my friend Kyle about this, he reminded me of the old Italian ice cream flavor, Spumoni. After searching online quickly to clear up the question of what the exact flavors for Spumoni are, I decided that was the pattern for me. Chocolate, Pistachio, and Cherry.For a very short explanation about Spumoni ice cream, check the Spumoni Wiki page.

I decided to go for the Spumoni colors, since I was going to get the green color for my milk crate anyways(see an earlier post for info). Here are the photos, and I'll get to the process explanation after them.

I started by removing everything possible from the helmet. This meant the visor, the front air vent, and the plastic grommet/seam. Once I had all this removed I taped up the remaining visor snaps and the 4 rivets. These were a little difficult, but that's because I was being too much of a perfectionist. Next I taped up the inside lining of the helmet using a cutout piece of a poly bag. After everything was taped up nicely, I used #400 sandpaper, and I sanded off the clear coat that was already on the helmet. I wasn't trying to sand deep into the helmet, but just take off the clear coat, so I could have something for my base coats of paint to stick to.

After sanding, I measured the helmet and divided it into thirds, one section for each color. Then, with more of the poly bag, I carefully taped off the two outer sections. The first color I put on the helmet was the pistachio(really more of an avocado, but in talking about the Spumoni, it's pistachio). I put on 4 coats of the base coat paint, with the intention that I was going to put on a clear coat at the very end. Then I repeated the steps for the cherry (pink) and chocolate (brown) colors. Each time, I just carefully taped off the sections I didn't want to get sprayed. Actually on the brown, I messed up, and got lint in the first coat, so I had to use paint thinner to remove the first coat and start again. I recommend you don't do that. Just a suggestion.

Finally I got the clear coat with hardener. This stuff is only good for about 12-24 hours in the spray can, so you have to use it the same day. I gave the helmet a medium first coat, and then waited about 30 mins, before putting on a nice thick full coat.

The whole process only took my about a week to complete, and that was mostly waiting time for each coat to dry. I love the way it turned out. For such a simple paint job, I think I came out with a great final result.

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope.......

2008-08-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

This is a request for your help. As you can see from my last post, I have a sweet new scooter, but I now have a dilema. What name do I give my new scooter? I was racking my brain, and I couldn't come up with a good name, so I figured I would open it up to you for suggestions. I was thinking something along the lines of a good Italian name.

Let me know what good names you can come up with and after I get a bunch of ideas, I'll select one and let you all know the name for which my scooter will be known throughout the records of the chur.......wait that's a different situation of name giving. I'll just put another post with the official name of my scooter.

Mode of transportation

2008-08-03T15:34:00.000-07:00

Just about a month and a half ago, I purchased a Genuine Brand scooter. The model is a Buddy International, version Italia. I have to say that it has been a fantastic purchase. Since getting it, i have also added a performance exhaust and air intake kit to boost the horsepower. It's so much fun to go cruising on it, and it is perfect for my commuting.

I went to a local autobody paint store, and had them match the avocado green color so I could paint the milk-crate you see attached to the back on the chrome rack.

Stay tuned to my coming scooter updates, because I am currently custom painting my helmet.

Ketchup on a summer hotdog

2008-07-30T20:36:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would catch you up on what's been going on this summer.

--We went down to Panguitch, Utah to see the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival. It was pretty impressive to see 36 balloons launching off in the morning. Here is a little panoramic view.

In the evening, several of the balloons set up in the middle of Main St. and had the Balloon Glow. I shot a sequence of this one, and it just so happened that someone's flash went off during the sequence, giving it some pretty weird light.

Then I had to do battle with Lord Vader. He won.

Just thought this was a nice picture.

--The next weekend, we went back down south, only this time to Moab, Utah. We did the normal stuff, like going through Arches National Park,

we also went to a pretty sweet watering hole, and messed around.

and some sweet jowlin.