The Reason

Why did I grow a beard, you ask? Well here is your answer:

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Meet Beard

Hello friends and family, meet Beard!
Beard was only around for a few weeks, so most of you never had a chance to meet him. I thought you might like to see him though, so enjoy

Since Beard left, I'm back to looking like my regular self. But don't worry! I'm sure Beard will be back some day.

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Happenings

Oh hello there Blog. I've sort of missed you. I see you nearly every day when I get on the internet at home, but it's been too long since we've sat down and talked. A lot has happened, but at the same time, not a lot has happened. In May I moved. I know we've talked since then, but I didn't mention it and I don't think you really even noticed. Thanks for noticing the details, blog. Sheesh.

I got a summer pass to Seven Peaks, which has been great. A couple hours after work is just what the doctor ordered on some days, especially after getting stuck at work a half hour later or more.

I've thrashed my feet this summer by taking all winter off from running, then immediately getting back into it with Vibram Five Fingers. In retrospect, it would have been best to get into running again, then transition to the Five Fingers, but oh well. I've been plagued by injuries to my feet, dozens of blisters, and sore muscles, but it's been worth it because I love the shoes. They may look funky, but they are so comfortable.

I went to Seven Peaks with my family, got some crazy expensive sunglasses for free (thanks dad!), hiked Table Rock in Five Fingers and got some awesome blisters on my heels for it, probably did some other stuff that I don't remember, and then had a birthday (26. I know, ancient). What did I do to celebrate my birthday, you ask? I guess you could say I hiked Mt. Timp. I know, I'm crazy. I did it last year, and I just couldn't resist the pull of the second trail. Oh, and it was at midnight again. Crazy, I know.
This is the only picture I took, mostly because for the most part, I was thinking to myself "Why the freak am I doing this again..." The other part is because we cruised up there pretty quick. 6.5 miles in 4 hours. And then down in 3.5 hours. Was it worth it again, you ask? No, no it was not. I will not be hiking that mountain for at least another 10 years.

And I've decided I need to be inducted into the order of the Geeks. Much like how Luke Skywalker needed to construct his own lightsaber before he could become a Jedi, I must construct my own computer before I can truly become a Geek. All my parts should be here this weekend, so that's what I'll be spending my weekend doing. Hopefully I don't suck at it.

Well Blog, that was pretty much my summer. We should do this more often.

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Wrong Season

The colors make this look very Halloween, but it's late and I'm tired once again. Improvements to come.

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U-G-L-Y

I can't say I'm a super huge fan of this look now that I've spent a bit of time looking at it. In other news, I ran 7.25 miles on Saturday. I was surprised at how much I wasn't tired during the run. I had difficulty staying awake for the remainder of the day after, though. I have been absolutely exhausted lately, and I'm not sure why. I've been a bit restless at night, but not enough to explain how tired I've become. I'll just say I have mono so I can stay home for a while.

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This'll work

Still gotta adjust a few settings, but I'm too lazy to do that right now. In any case, not much is going on in life. Just work, church, forcing myself to exercise. You know, the usual. Bone and Back is one month away today. Yikes.

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Construction

I had a shiny new template all worked out, but it was missing some major aspects, so I'm temporarily back to plain jane. It'll change soon. Don't know to what, but it'll change soon.

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The Cutest

I was thinking the other day how adorable all my nieces and nephews are, so I thought I would put some of my favorite pictures of them up all in one place for bragging rights. Most of these were thieved from family blogs, so sorry for the double post, though I think it's entirely worth it. Nat's kids first, then Eric's:

I love this one of Brooklyn because it shows that she already has the hip-cocked-to-one-side-with-leg-bent-to-show-attitude stance. Wonder where she got that from...

I took this picture with my phone a couple years ago, so that's why it's all washed out. I love the little toothy grin on Nathans face, still.

My buddy Eli. He really lucked out getting those baby blues.

Thomas is the chubber of Nat's family, but he's equally adorable as the rest.

A quintessential pose for Carter, contemplating the mysteries of the universe and calculating how may whales could fit in our Solar System.

Molly, arguably the cutest BYU cheerleader ever to exist.

Sadie was clearly very excited for 2010. Too bad this pic was out of focus.

The heretofore unnamed(?) Eric and Jenn Jenkins child. Due for an appearance on or around June 5th.

BONUS: This is a picture I couldn't help but love. It's of my cousin Sylvia's daughter, Bailey. She had just posted pictures of her two other children showing off their Easter Eggs with their arms raised triumphantly. Then she posted this picture. Her own subtitle following the picture:

"Bailey opted for looking like she's offering Satan's earthly progeny in egg form"

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Double Down

I have consumed one of the most abhorrent concoctions to be conceived by fast food in a long, long time. Behold the Double Down:
A product so meaty, there was no room for a bun. I'm just gonna dive right into this behemoth of a product.

To start off, it looks a lot bigger in the ads than it really is. Granted, it's fairly dense, so that's not really a major problem. It's substantial enough that you won't really need to buy the meal to fill you up. Well, I guess that doesn't apply to a lot of guys, but it was sufficient enough to fill me without making me feel full. The chicken patties(?) are very thick, so you have to open wide to get a full bite. Swiss and Pepper Jack cheeses are included, and surprisingly, the Pepper Jack doesn't get drowned out completely. There is just a hint of spice remaining. Certainly not the full flavor of the cheese, but enough to let you know that it's there.

Bacon...why is there bacon in here? Oh yeah, because everybody loves bacon, and so they could jack the fat and sodium content as high as possible. Unfortunately, the bacon is mostly lost in the overwhelming wave of original recipe spices that assault your senses. You will taste it occasionally, and it's a delight when you do, but it's mostly a useless addition. The "Colonel's Special Sauce" seems to be Thousand Island, which I'm not particularly fond of, but blends adequately with the other flavors here.

All in all, it's a decent product. As with all fast food, it is by no means something you should eat on a regular basis. It only seems more disgusting than it really is because we are used to handling a bun, rather than directly handling the meat itself, making us feel like ancient neanderthals. Which brings me to my next point: Changes.

There are two main things I would change. The first is the chicken itself. While I was eating the sandwich (or perhaps more accurately called a chickwich?) I was worried about the grease and juices from the Original Recipe getting down my hands. How about a Crispy recipe option? That would help with the worries of juices running down my arms to drip off my elbows like spring runoff. Also, I'd like to see a different sauce in there. Maybe a nice spicy ranch to add a little oomph to the Pepper Jack?

At any rate, this is worth the price just to say you've tried it, and probably worth a second visit later on, but I do not believe this would make it into my regular-item-to-order-when-eating-out list.

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The transformation continues

I had a horrible realization the other day: I don't notice the taste of Utah water anymore.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!?!!?!??!

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Little Peoples

I hopped on Google Talk to talk to Jenn today. I was surprised by Carter responding instead. These are a couple parts of our conversation:

me: Hey Jenn.

Jennifer Jenkins: It's Carter Steve

me: Well hello Carter Steve!

Jennifer Jenkins: It' Carter Jenkins.

For some reason I cracked myself up by responding how I did. Carter's response aided in the humor.

Later...

me: Are you home from school already?

Sent at 2:23 PM on Friday

Jennifer Jenkins: Yep. Fridays are short days.

me: Cool! I wish Fridays were short days for me.

Sent at 2:28 PM on Friday

Jennifer Jenkins: Mmmm. I see. Well tallk to ya laytor.

me: Ok bye.

Jennifer Jenkins: Bey.

Sent at 2:31 PM on Friday

Evidently Carter had some serious contemplation to do upon learning the inner yearnings of my heart.

Nephews rock.

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They see me rollin...

They hatin. Why are they hatin? Because I'm styling this bad mother of a machine:
That's right. Some little 17 year old dame in a slammin' classic Mustang decided to hit my car while I was at work, so I have a rental until my ride is all prettied up again.

Enough with the slang. I'm stuck with this thing until Wednesday or Thursday. And you know how Enterprise's big thing is that they will come pick you up? Well they do, but they deceive you into thinking you are getting a nicer car than you are. My driver showed up in a Dodge Avenger. He made small talk about the Health Bill that just passed, and I waited eagerly to get behind the wheel and show him how to really drive that kind of car. I signed the paperwork, and then they took me back out, and my heart sank.

I got in to the thing, made sure I knew where all the essentials were, and drove off, testing the pathetic and noisy acceleration. Only when I was exiting the vehicle did I realize that it has both manual locks and windows. Did you even know that they make vehicles without auto windows and locks? I sure didn't. The only redeeming factor of the vehicle is that is has an aux in, so I can still listen to my iPod. Speaking of my iPod, check out the latest on it:Nevermind the weird waves, that is just due to having a picture taken of an LCD screen. Those big black lines started showing up a few days ago. It's sad, but exciting, because if the screen completely fails, that means I can save up and get a Zune HD, which I have been pining over for a number of months now.

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Blah blah blah

There, I updated. Real update coming within a week or so.

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