they like it when I call them different baked goods.

Acer Aspire 5100...

2010-06-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

So the Brain Inter-Active Construct, aka, my Acer Aspire 5100, decided not to work a long while ago. So Last summer I dual partitioned it to have Windows XP and Linux Mint 7.

This worked for a while, except for some issues with my windows partition.

Linux always worked splendidly.

After a while of this, doing static resets to get windows to boot at all, finally it just would not work at all.

What would happen specifically is, I would turn the computer on, it would load the BIOS, then the POST and towards the end of the post it would beep twice LOUDLY and then give me an error like this:

ERROR
Resource conflict - PCI in slot 03
Bus: 06, Device:02, Function:00
ERROR
Resource conflict - PCI in slot 02
Bus: 06, Device:04, Function:00

ERROR
Resource conflict - PCI in slot 03
Bus: 06, Device:04, Function:00

Press to resume, to setup

Then I would press F1 and it would go into my boot screen and when I picked windows XP, it would start running Windows and freeze on the screen that said WINDOWS XP!

So, today, I decided to work on it, ya know, get it to work so it would be usable again, not that I need it, but I just wanted to work on a PC and train for my A+ a bit, show that I could actually wear the mantle of Certified Tech.

I opened it up, looked for PCI slot 3, couldn't find anything with that description, took things apart, blew out some ports with compressed air and put it all back together... a couple of times actually.

I looked it up on google, found some forums and did every little trick that they gave, turning off network boot, disabling the wireless cable network card, all kinds of things, still it would not get passed this. I ran hardware tests, they all passed, ran DFT, pass, Ran Memtest, passed, but it would not work!

So then I took out the HD, plugged it into my mac, and wiped it squeaky clean. But when I tried to INSTALL windows, it would freeze at the beginning of the windows install start.

I googled some more.

A few others were having this same problem. Their solution: Install Linux or chuck it.

I understand that Linux is great and all... but the fact that it can run and no form of Windows can even load up on my computer is a little weird.

Then I looked down at the apple sticker...

When I used this computer freshman and sophomore year, I had the whole OS looking as if it was a Mac. I taught it that Windows was stupid and only barely necessary...

Now it won't even take anything having to do with Window's...

I've created a windows hating monster...

I'm installing Linux Mint on it again... at least I'll be able to use that...

Its name, BRAINiac fits so much better now...

TImeline of Art

2010-06-14T15:08:00.000-07:00

Over the years, art has evolved with its different genres into what it is today. The start of this evolution would be Picaso who simply skewed art into basic shapes, an outrageous move that made everyone question what art really was. And then there was Pollock who made everyone question even further what really is art with all his paint scribbles. Photography and video became other ways to not only capture what was around but put in the right perspective could cause people to see the world in a different way and was questionable as to why it was art. Then there was Lichtenstein and Warhol who made everyone give up on being able to not call any and everything art.

Sketches from England

2010-06-14T14:36:00.001-07:00

sketches

Here are all the sketches I did while I was in england.

Some pages have multiple pictures on them, like the one from the tower of London. I should have done a better job of labeling where each of these were sketched... but I was usually yanked away from finishing before I could do so.

I met this girl...

2010-06-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

AIM Conversation with Sheley...

Staphon 9:55

I met someone this morning

Sheley 9:55

Oh yeah? Who? Better than me?

Staphon 9:56

Well, she was more like a beauty queen, from a movie scene

Sheley 9:56

Uh-huh...

Staphon 9:57

She told me her name was billie jean, then she caused a scene

Sheley 9:57

Yes, go on

Staphon 9:59

then every head turned with eyes that dreamed of being the one

Sheley 10:00

Watcha doing?

Staphon 10:00

meh, just pondering on what people have been telling me

Sheley 10:01

What have they been telling you?

Staphon 10:01

Well, people always told me, be careful what you do, don't go around breakin' young girls hearts

10:02

and mother always told me, be careful who you love, and be careful of what you do, be cause the lie becomes the truth

Sheley 10:02

Oh, we're still on this?

Staphon 10:02

haha,, don't worry

10:02

Billie Jean, is not my lover

10:02

she's just a girl, that claims that I am the one

10:02

but the kid, is not my son!

10:04

ok done

...We have the weirdest conversations... mostly because of me.

This Is The Man In Charge Of Communications In Australia…

2010-06-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

Glad he isn't in charge of OUR country!

This Is The Man In Charge Of Communications In Australia…: "

Speaking at the National Cyber Security Awareness Week on Sunday, Senator Conroy announced that his three year old daughter had altered the settings of his iPhone, and he hadn’t been able to work out how to fix it. Confidence inspiring, don’t you think? (more…)

AT&T takes away unlimited data plan! WHAAAT!

2010-06-02T16:03:00.000-07:00

I was reading this article earlier today and thinking about the plan that I have.

I think in the end I would go to the $15 a month plan and maybe, quite possibly add tethering... I don't use that much data (to my surprise) in any given month and I don't need to be paying $30 for unlimited when i'm no where close. Tethering is $20... but is it really worth it? Who knows at the moment, but we will see what I change my plan to... Worst case scenario I run out of data and bump to the 2gigs a month data plan for $25 and still save $5... thats a whole meal at Taco Bell! Here is the Article from Yahoo! News.

AT&T phases out unlimited data plans
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^DJUSS 460.93 +12.86
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Wed Jun 2, 12:07 pm ET
AT&T just did away with its all-you-can-eat smartphone data plans — bad news for those who stream video on their iPhones all day, but potentially good news for the rest of us, given that the cheapest of the new capped plans goes for just $15 (rather than $30) a month. Also: AT&T is finally ready to offer iPhone tethering.
First, a little background. Up until now, AT&T was charging all of its smartphone customers — including iPhone users — $30 a month for unlimited data usage. Starting Monday, June 7, the unlimited data option will be going away for new subscribers, to be replaced by two cheaper, capped plans. (If you're currently on an unlimited AT&T smartphone data plan, you don't have to switch to the new, capped options, which are required for new subscribers only. But AT&T says you can opt to make the switch without extending your contract.)

DataPro: Heavy smartphone users will probably opt for this $25-a-month plan, which offers up to 2GB of data a month at a $5 savings over the current unlimited plan. If you go over your 2GB monthly allotment, AT&T will charge you $10 for an additional gigabyte. No, overage charges are never fun, but it's certainly better than typical per-MB overage rates, which result in those catastrophic $50,000 cell phone bills you see on CNN.

DataPlus: A $15-a-month option that offers 200MB of monthly data, good for (as AT&T puts it) 1,000 e-mails without attachments, plus 150 messages with attachments, plus 400 Web pages, plus about 20 minutes of streaming video. If you crack the 200MB monthly cap, you get another 200MB for $15.

So, which plan is right for you? That depends on how much data you're using a month, which you can typically check on your smartphone's settings menu (for the iPhone, tap "settings," then "general," then "usage," then scroll down to the "cellular network data" heading).

I consider myself a pretty heavy iPhone user, so I was leaning toward the $25-a-month DataPro plan. But to my great surprise, I found that I'd used barely a gigabyte of AT&T 3G data in the past seven — count 'em, seven — months, or about 133MB of data every 30 days. I guess that means I do the majority of my iPhone browsing and streaming over Wi-Fi. So I just might switch to DataPlus rather than to DataPro. I'd save $15 a month over my current $30-a-month unlimited plan, give or take the occasional overage charge.

To help keep track of your data usage, AT&T says it will send you up to three text-message warnings when you approach your monthly cap: when you've used 65 percent of your data, then 90 percent, then when you've run dry. You can also check your data usage using the myWireless app for the iPhone or by calling *DATA#.

What about those $30-a-month unlimited prepaid plans for the iPad? They're going away too, unfortunately, to be replaced by the $25-a-month DataPro plan — and that's a bummer, considering the iPad's aptitude at streaming video. But at least AT&T is offering up free, unlimited use of its 20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots.

Last but not least: Almost a full year after Apple first announced that the iPhone would support Internet tethering, AT&T is finally set to offering a tethering plan for U.S. iPhone users (starting "when Apple releasesiPhone OS 4 this summer"). Welcome news, but keep in mind that you'll fork over $20 a month extra to tether your iPhone (via USB or Bluetooth) to your laptop.

Overall, I have to say that I'm disappointed to see AT&T dumping its unlimited data plans, especially for iPad users — and don't be surprised if the other big U.S. carriers follow suit. Then again, depending on how much data you use on your smartphone, you actually might end up saving money on a cheaper, capped plan without feeling a thing. Indeed, based on my surprisingly low monthly data usage, I might fall into the latter category.

What do you think? Happy with AT&T's revamped data plans? Bummed that the unlimited plans are going away?

• AT&T: News release

— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.

RELATED QUOTES
^DJUSS	460.93	+12.86
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England Day 7/8

2010-05-25T13:40:00.000-07:00

The last two days have gone in a bit of a blur. Its hard to believe that we only have 4 days left.

On Monday, we started at 9:30 and went out to the Tower Of London! It was actually VERY interesting learning about all the history from the audio device after a bit of coaxing from Jim to get one. I went around and spent a lot more time looking around, sketching and taking notes than I thought. The crowned jewels were definitely amazing to see, its weird that I was so close to objects that are worth more than my entire life! It was no wonder that they were protected by doors which each weighed 2 tons each, solid steel with titanium bolts! The only damper on it was that a a few of the objects weren't present, they were in use at that moment, most likely by the queen.

I left later than I was supposed to since I was supposed to meet Jim for a run through Hyde park at noon... I left the tower at that exact time.

I hurried back and ended up missing him, so I went on a run by myself, hoping to run into him on the way.

No cigar...

However, the run was very pleasant, long and hot, but pleasant. The small lake was a lot bigger than I thought, but running through it was very nice.

I returned just in time to head out to the London Eye. I got to see the 4D experience and before going up (which was lame, I'm sorry, it just was) and then we went up! UP up up! We were up higher than Big ben!

Ok, Side note! Big Ben; Such a let down. Biggest disappointment of England. I thought it would be so big that I would be able to see it from anywhere! But no, that puny little bell tower is so hard to see, I can never hear it, and you can't even SEE "Big Ben" because Big Ben is the bell, the clock is just called the Clock Tower. So dumb! The London Eye is definitely the new thing I will think of when I think of London, so much cooler!

Big Ben = Fail.

Tuesday morning, we started at 8:10am and headed out to Canterbury. Yeah, the only time I have ever heard the name is Canterbury tales, which just so happened to have taken place here... or something like that, I really have no idea what the canterbury tales even are to be able to tell you what its significance to the town is. I apologize for my lack of information on the subject.

We went to the Canterbury Cathedral which was rather interesting, very nice architecture, high ceilings and what not, and very old fashioned. It was interesting to be able to see the age on everything and to think that they built this hundreds of years ago, and many many years before the machinery was built to be able to make this in any decent amount of time. I pondered on that a bit as Rick and I left and went to see the Augustine Abby. Sadly, the AA was closed and we had to take our few pictures through a gate.

The rest of the afternoon was relaxing. We had lunch, some tea and scones, and just simply enjoyed the little town as much as we could. It had some nice design and was very quant and interesting to see, but all in all, the town was boring. There really wasn't anything incredibly fascinating about it aside from the Cathedral.

When we got back, we went out and had dinner at an old pub. It was a very cool pub to go to seeing as how the downstairs basement area was build in the 1300's as a monastery and years later in 1667, the top floor was built and the whole thing was turned into a pub. I had Lamb.

Tomorrow is the National Museum. It promises to be a blast and has all the pieces I have wanted to see. I'm stoked.

To Be Continued.

England Day 6

2010-05-24T01:25:00.001-07:00

This morning began with hunger!

First thing I did after my shower and shave was a nice English Breakfast downstairs, had to fuel up for Oxford!

To get to Oxford we took:

The subway

A Train

A bus

And more busses throughout the town.

It was very interesting going through a town devoted to scholastic endeavors. It was a lot like Claremont, except for the fact that it had so much more history!

Our first stop on the Double Decker bus was Alice’s Shop, which had a lot of Alice In Wonderland gear. It was amazing to go in that little shop and actually understand everything I was looking at, I appreciated the fact that I read the book earlier in the year.

After that, we walked through a few campuses, and had the best Cream Tea and Scones I had ever had. The Tea I had was called Junsung and it tasted like a bon fire! I know that makes no sense, but trust me, it was bloody brilliant!

The rest of Oxford was just a lot of exploring, more of a relaxing day. We saw Einstein’s chalkboard which had his equation for the expansion of the universe (which I know is complete rubbish, but it was still a very interesting equation, even though I in no way understood it.)

We had a lot of random experiences, one of which being the Pub that CS Lewis and JR Tolken founded… or something like that. It was a great place and felt very scholarly for a pub. We stayed there for a while just talking and sketching and just had a good ol time. We then ventured over to a Gallery across the street which wasn’t particularly interesting (hence why I don’t remember the name.) and then to dinner, to a lovely little park by a pond, and then to the bus that took us to the train which transferred us to the tube, which took us home.

Then some of us guys went down for our nightly pint and discussed the day. I will have to say, a very relaxing day, followed by a relaxing drink and good conversation is awesome, but I don’t think it would be particularly effective in America.

Only in London.

To Be Continued.

England Day 5

2010-05-24T01:24:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog Readers,

I really tried to update everything early this morning, but it just doesn’t seem like England is a place for the Internet. I went over to Starbucks early, but it just did not seem like it was a dream that I shared with the green tinted coffee house.

So after a frustrating half an hour and a rather tasty breakfast, our group was off to the Tate Britain.

We arrived at the side entrance and Emily and John did their presentations for us, which was very informative and got me excited to see some video media and something a little more contemporary.

Walking through the Tate was very interesting, especially doing my photo assignment which involved me taking a ton of pictures without using the viewfinder. It was a weird assignment at first but after a while I started to get the hang of it.

After the Tate, and some awesome Damian Hirst art, we went over to uptown London (which was not as easy as it sounds) and headed into Notting Hill (yes, same as Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts). The journey there was long and we got lost a few times, but once we made it, it was well worth it. We went to the market which is much like the LA Swap meet but with a whole lot better gear. I bought a few gifts (you luck people you) and a new watch and sketchbook for myself.

Once we left the crowded streets, we headed back and had Pizza at an Italian Restaurant. It wasn’t a very pleasant meal, I found a weird wire in mine and of the two ladies that worked there, one did not speak English very well and the other was very pushy.

After dinner, we headed into Piccadilly Circus and went to the movies to see Robin Hood. I fell asleep from the long day at the beginning, but after my short 15 minute nap, I watched the rest and enjoyed it very much. Rick and I stopped at HMV and bought season 1 of Coming of Age (which is playing on his Laptop right now) and then headed back where we went and had a pint across the street and then headed to bed.

Overall, I would say it was a very productive day, but I am definitely ready to get a little more out of my day tomorrow at Oxford.

To Be Continued.

England Day 4

2010-05-24T01:23:00.000-07:00

"what time is it? Why is it 6:05... I'm going back to sleep."

...

"what time is it? 8:50... Crap, no time for breakfast."

Woke up and got ready in a blur and headed down to Starbucks to post the blogs, get a quick breakfast, and meet up with the group at 9:30 to go to The British Museum!

We walked down and our first stop was actually the Victoria & Albert museum. Our photo assignment was to take pictures and not look through the viewfinder.

I looked ridiculous.

The museum was great! I saw a lot of great casts and paintings and sketched a sculpture of Eve.

We all left at around the same time and ventured down and looked inside Harod's, a HUGE department store. I ended up buying a baby blue satchel (no, not a man bag, a satchel!) and Jim bought one too, but his was wider, more of a messenger bag. We decided to switch off the way it faces as to not seem like twins, people need to be able to tell us apart.

After going through the department store ( which was huge and amazing and had a memorial for Princess Di) we left and had lunch and gelato.

When we finally arrived at the British Museum, it was with much excitement at finally getting to see the Rosetta stone! We walked around. Huge roundabout and finally made it around to the stone used to decipher hieroglyphs! It was very shiny and protected by a thick pane of glass.

Around the gallery there were many works with hieroglyphs, a bit of egyption art and some awesome ionic pillars (yeah, I've been picking up some terminology from Jim).

After the British museum, we made our way to the "white cube" that had an instillation by Mark Quinn Which was very... Interesting. There were sculptures of girls with penises and guys with vagina's and 2 huge Michael jackson heads. It was very trippy, but also very interesting.

We then made our way back to the hotel and the rest of the day was ours. I was going to go buy a copy of Peter pan and go find the statue at Hyde park and read, but I ended up going to piccidelli circus and seeing a play called avenue Q.

Since I travelled by myself, I was able to test my knowledge of the tube system. I was proud, but I did wish Sheley had been with me for Ave Q, she loves that play and is the reason I decided I needed to see it in the first place.

After the show I came back, got some food, and retired to my room for the night in order to get plenty of rest for the TATE Britain!

To be continued

England Day 3

2010-05-21T01:13:00.000-07:00

“Huh… there’s actually sunlight at 5am in London…”

And that is how the morning started. Finally feeling a little accustomed to my surroundings, yet still combating Jet Lag, I got up and hopped in the shower (which I got working in under a minute this time) and was ready to head downstairs at 5:30.

We met in the lobby and then hurried into the tube to Kings Cross as quickly as possible in order to get to Paris and the Musée De Louvre.

A couple hours on the train (we had an awesome compartment to ourselves… except for that one guy, but he didn’t stay long.) and finally we had arrived in Paris, France.

We walked down to the Louvre, me brainstorming my missions for the day and of course keeping a weary eye out for Gypsies who were actually showing all the sign’s that Rik had warned me about. Kent and I had decided we would have to find barrettes and then I told Heidi that I wanted a chocolate croissant, and then thought about getting a Crepe when Jim mentioned it, and of course, I needed to buy a shot glass for Sheley and 1ft Tall Eiffel tower for mom.

Mission Start.

We got to the Louvre and boy was it breathtaking. The Pyramid was probably my favorite… no second favorite part to see. It was as epic as seeing Stone Henge! I gave my presentation which I realized halfway in that I had a lot more information to tell everyone than I thought, which ended up being awesome! I then headed in and the first big piece we went to see was the Venus De Milo, which was pretty dang awesome!

But as we ventured to see some other sculptures, I heard the call from the most breathtaking apparatus I had ever seen. I broke away from the group and headed up the marble staircase to get a closer look and low and behold, there at the top… wait for it…

Wait for it…

THE WINGED NIKE!

It was absolutely amazing; pictures did not do it justice. First of all it was HUGE! A lot bigger than I had imagined. The craftsmanship was amazing and looked so real! I stood there and I dubbed it my all time favorite sculpture. I reckon she would have nodded at me had she had a head, but that’s all just semantics.

I then turned and ran to catch back up with the group, but found way to many things that caught my eye instantly, so I decided, hey, I’ll just find the group when I find the group, no big deal. I’m a big boy.

I explored a bit more on my own and actually ended up finding them again, after I had come across Hermes, the god of… speed or something. Messenger?

We then went back to the Winged Nike and I was able to spend another 10 minutes with her, drew a bit of a sketch and took more pictures. Then it was time… for the Mona Lisa.

Now people had been telling me all kinds of things like, “Oh it so small!” “There are just too many people in front of it.” “It’s really small…” So I’m thinking… ya know… that its small and stuff.

No, it’s a normal sized painting; it’s just right across from the biggest freaking painting in all of the Louvre. It wasn’t breathtaking or anything, but it was really interesting to see. After that I walked around with Rik and Rachel and we just explored a bit, tried to take in a bunch but after the main things, there really wasn’t anything too epic to see, not that everything we did see wasn’t great or anything, just wasn’t the Winged Nike.

We went down to the gift about an hour later, and what a let down that was. They didn’t have anything interesting in there. We then had lunch at a café and then re-surfaced back with the group. Our next destination was the Musée d’ Orsay. But first… CREPES! It was amazing! Crepe with Nuttella and Banana’s! So good! And then I spotted it…

5 minutes later, I was sporting a brand new Black Barrette! Another 5 minutes later and Sheley’s shot glass was tucked safely into my backpack.

This Museum was rather spectacular if you ask me. It had a lot of good paintings and sculptures and even photography. But getting in for some reason ended up being a huge pain for Jim and Kent who had to retrieve our tickets. It wasn’t until about an hour after that we finally made it in and we weren’t allowed to take in our bags and we could not take photos. This gallery was only for show, not for tell. They were very strict, but it ended up being alright. There was one rather obscene painting that was in a back room which… well, lets see, you know how there are those curtained off back room area’s in video stores? Well… this museum didn’t really have curtains, but definitely had that back room for a reason.

I was talking to Marissa later about the Gallery and she said that her and Emily were completely geeking out over how many paintings and sculptures they recognized as being some of the pieces that inspired them to be painters themselves. I can’t say that I particularly appreciated it as much as they did, but I did enjoy it quite a bit.

We then left and Shawn and I were separated from the group, but we knew where our meet up destination was; the Eiffel Tower! So we followed the river for about 2 miles as the tower grew closer and closer, took some awesome pictures on the way, and finally made it to the tower, and took TONS of pictures of it. Didn’t go up because it didn’t seem all that practical, but we did enjoy watching people get chased by the Police through the square right after I bought the 1 foot tall Eiffel tower statue off of one of them.

While I was taking pictures and waiting, I decided it would be a good time to call Sheley, and that it was. Her voice was definitely the soothing stimuli I needed to take the edge of the paranoia I was feeling by being surrounded by Gypsies.

About 40 minutes there and it was time to head back home. We took the subway back to the train station and that was disgusting! The subway was packed like no other and everyone was just sardined into the darned thing for at least 10 stops.

When we finally got to the train station, I realized I needed to get rid of my Euros because they were of no use to me in London. I spotted something similar to a chocolate croissant and MAN was that amazing! Finally boarded the train and started our ride home.

When we finally got back to the hotel, it was 11:15p and I was exhausted, but as I was saying good night to Sheley, I decided it would be a great idea to show London how much I appreciated it over Paris, and what better way to show London Pride then to head down to the pub across the street and have a pint of London Pride. I convinced Rik to go down with me and we conversed about the day, finished our drink and went back upstairs, to the shower, and to the bed. And with that, I am going to sleep and will post this up tomorrow before we head out to the BRITTISH MUSEUM!

Cheers!

To Be Continued…

England Day 2

2010-05-21T01:10:00.000-07:00

Day Two in England physically hurt getting up for.

Man, this Jet lag is killin’ my vibe, but it was definitely worth it!

So I got up and stumbled into the bathroom and fumbled with the knobs and dials in the shower… there were a lot more than I had anticipated.

My 3 minutes shower turned into a 12 minute crash course on British water works.

Finally Rik and I got downstairs and went to breakfast in our hotel. It was actually REALLY good! But as you may or may not know, I enjoy eggs of all kinds so that wasn’t too hard.

We took the tube down to the train station and then took the train to Salisbury (yes, like the steak… EXACTLY like the stake)

Once we got to Salisbury, we got on a double decker bus and took the far too narrow streets down through beautiful green and amazingly yellow (due to flowers) fields until we hit the top of the hill and low and behold arrived at Stone Henge!

This place was like nothing I had ever seen before, It was a bunch of rocks, yet it was so curious and in such an order that one could not help but drop a jaw and oooh and aww (Props to Dr. Seuss for my rhyming skills) I have a theory that someone from the future went back in time and used advanced technology to lay the stones the way they were just to play a prank on us… I’d do it!

After that, we went back to the quaint little town of Salisbury and at some Fish… ate some chips (which are actually fries! Yeah! We call them French Fries, they call them chips! Crisps are the things that we like to dip in salsa and eat coated with BBQ powder during the Super bowl and other major sporting events that we enjoy on the Tele.) and went to the Salisbury Cathedral. Actually, that’s a lie, Rachel and I first went to the other tall towering spire thinking that was the cathedral we were meeting at to find we were sadly mistaken and going to be late, so we yelled out “Bollocks!” and turned around to find the other one.

The Salisbury Cathedral was amazing! Its architecture was so detailed and fine-tuned that one’s mind cannot help but be blown, and since I am a one and not a two, my mind was in pieces.

After that, we took the train a little further down to the Roman Bath’s! This was pretty entertaining and interesting, though the water was so rank! We tried to get Kent to jump in, but he wouldn’t have it (he claims that Bail money would have been too expensive, psshh)

After the bath’s, we had some time to kill, so Jim told us to return in a couple of hours and that he was going to see the Victoria Art Gallery and if anyone wanted to go with him they could. I decided that could be fun, so I accompanied him, however our first mission was issued by his wife to have us indulge in some Hot Chocolate. I claimed that it tasted just like what we get in the little baggies around winter time rather than melted down milky chocolaty goodness, but after a few more sips, I was proven wrong and it was quite delicious. Jim then gave me half of his Turkish delight, which I will definitely have to go find more of, and him and I set off to find the gallery.

One hour later, we had not found this gallery.

Whether or not this place ACTUALLY exists is still a question on my mind, but we followed sign’s (which pointed in different directions), the guidance of the owner of the Hobgoblin Pub, an acquaintance of his who overheard our question, and my London to Go app on my iphone and STILL could not find this place. We instead found a Chapel that was housing some kind of what looked like girl scout ceremony with color guard flags and a cluttered memorial wall, but never did we find the gallery.

We then had dinner at the Lion and the Lamb pub with Rik and Shawn, met back with the others, got on the train to Paddington Station (yes, where Paddington bear is from, there was a statue also!) and then to the subway and back home… (yes, our own Bailey Hotel on Gloucester Road is my London home)

Tomorrow’s mission: PARIS, FRANCE! The LOUVRE BABY!

And thank you Rik! As I sit here in bed, he is telling me about Gypsy’s and how I’m gonna get my stuff stolen tomorrow… frick town!

To Be Continued.

England Day 1

2010-05-18T13:45:00.001-07:00

Let's see... how long have I been up...?

My computer's clock says its 1:45pm but according to my new Talkmobile LG phone (and Big Ben way over there) it's 9:46p.

It's been such a splendid, (yes, splendid!) yet tiring day.

Started with my amazing roommate Andrew taking myself and Moo to the airport at 8am! and through the traffic we finally arrived at the bane of my existence, L.A.X.

4 hours (and a phone call to the mom and the girl) later we were finally on the 10 hour and 45 minute plane flight to London, England.

It took a little over an hour to finally emerge from airports and subways into the brightly lit streets of Gloucester Road. We dropped our bags off at the hotel (too early to check in, it was 8:30p at this point) and we jumped onto a Double Decker bus or two, camera's in hand and saw pretty much all of London for the next 5-6 hours. It was absolutely amazing, yet so tiring. We stopped at the Sherlock Holmes Pub (I know right!) and had Fish and Chips for lunch, it was amazing!

We then went back and checked into the Bailey Hotel (which I am now looking at the front of for spelling, I love that this starbucks is right across the street!) and Rik and I took a bit of a snooze!

We woke up 45 minutes later to the Jerusalem's bells ringing, and a roman calvary choir singing, and walked down a few districts to find me a phone so I could call Sheley because I missed her so. After calling her and letting her know I was alive, I called my family who did not answer, but I of course left a message so that they were not worried. We went to have Japanese food for Dinner in Piccidelli Square and then a few of us went to a pub and had an Ale together to celebrate our new residency.

All in all, it was a tremendous start to an amazing 2 weeks in England! Tomorrow, STONE HEDGE!!!

To Be Continued!

This Sickness...

2010-04-27T17:44:00.000-07:00

Day one: Sore throat

thoughts: ...I really shouldn't use mouth wash before bed...

Day two: Stuffy nose, Sore throat, Dizziness/light headed, intense pressure in my ears

thoughts: WHOAH! What is this!? I'm going back to bed...

Day three: Coughing, Stuffy/Runny Nose, Sore throat, Dizziness/light Headed, Energy Deprived.

thoughts: Ok, seriously, my head may just explode.

Day four: Woke up from Coughing, one nostril runny/clogged, Light headed, queasy stomach, energy deprived.

thoughts: At least I don't have a sore throat anymore...

This is the track record of me being sick the last couple of days. No idea where it came from, but its been the WORST feeling ever. I have never had the lack of energy or dizziness whilst being sick, I usually have to FORCE myself to go to sleep. I'm not sure what I caught, but one thing is for certain. It was laced with Kryptonite.

Indoor Nationals 2010

2010-03-01T21:24:00.000-08:00

3:45am... Departure
I could barely comprehend anything...
5am, arrived at LAX
On the plane... Sat next to Bre.
11am: Landed in Texas.
Sitting around in a layover... Very Boring.
Not even sure what time we landed in Knoxville, Tennessee, the time change messed me ALL up. I was hungry!
GRACE!
We went to Outback Steakhouse!
I had a full rack of Ribs and fry's!
We got to the hotel around 11pm... Tennessee time...
I'm now laying in bed Watching [adult swim] on Cartoon Network (oh cable).
9 events in 2 days... Not yet looking forward to it, but its my last Indoor Nationals...
Lets do it to it!
More updates to come: Enjoy the pictures!

Towels...

2010-02-17T22:04:00.000-08:00

"A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to- hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough."

That is what the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy says about a towel.

Last night at our Staff meeting, Mitch was telling us about being a servant. He mentioned that being a servant is like being a towel. It does nothing but service the user and expects nothing in return. With it being the most useful tool in the Galaxy, I couldn't see why we shouldn't all try to be more like a towel...

When its right, its right...

2010-02-17T21:43:00.000-08:00

I feel weird saying that someone completes me.

I have always been a believer in the fact that one should be complete on their own before they find that special person.

However, I relate it to another feeling whenever I'm around Sheley.

It feels more like a sensation of comfort. A feeling of being home.

I started to think about why I don't get excited whenever I see Sheley, I mean, of course the feeling of excitement comes prior to seeing her, but when I actually see her, I'm not phased at first, it always takes me a second to realize that its her I'm actually looking at. Even the first time we met, It didn't register that I was seeing anyone out of the ordinary.

Its a feeling of comfort when I see her face, not unlike when you see your own reflection, you think nothing of it until you are actually looking for it.

Its just comfortable.

Chasing after the Wind...

2010-01-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

I was reading Ecclesiastes this morning and the one thing I was pondering on more than anything was... wait for it...

VANITY

Of course, right away I started thinking of Barbra Mantinee from Veggie Tales, but then I continued to think about its meaning.

It has three.

1.) Excessive Pride over one's own appearance.
2.) The Quality of Being worthless or Futile
3.) A dressing table.

So pretty much, vanity is Looking into a mirror and Having too much Pride over your worthless self... No wonder it is so frowned upon in this book.

If you have vanity, you are pretty much Chasing the wind... (aka, nothing.)

Spring 2010 Track Schedule

2010-01-24T20:32:00.000-08:00

For all of you who say "I wanna see you jump sometime..." Well here is your chance...

THE SCHEDULE OF MEETS

Sat.	Jan. 23	Cal State Northridge All-Comers	Northridge, CA	cancelled
Fri.-Sat.	Jan. 29-30	Mountain T's Invitational	Flagstaff, AZ	8:00am
Sat.	Jan. 30	Concordia Open Invitational	Irvine, CA	1:00pm
Fri.-Sat.	Feb. 5-6	Run for the Dream Invitational	Fresno, CA	TBA
Sat.	Feb. 13	AZUSA PACIFIC INDOOR ALL COMERS	Azusa	10:00am
Sat.	Feb. 20	AZUSA PACIFIC LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER	Azusa	10:00am
Sat.	Feb. 27	Rossi Relays	Claremont, CA	12:00pm
Thu.-Sat.	Mar. 4-6	NAIA Indoor Championships	Johnson City, TN	All Day
Sat.	Mar. 27	Point Loma Invitational	San Diego, CA	All Day
Sat.	Apr. 3	Pomona Pitzer Invitational	Pomona, CA	10:00am
Thu.-Sat.	Apr. 8-10	Johnson/Joyner-Kersee Invitational	Los Angeles, CA	All Day
Wed.-Thu.	Apr. 14-15	CALIFORNIA INVITATIONAL / MT. SAC RELAYS MULTI EVENTS	Azusa	9:00am
Fri.-Sat.	Apr. 16-17	Mt. SAC Relays	Walnut, CA	All Day
Sat.	Apr. 17	BRYAN CLAY INVITATIONAL	Azusa	9:00am
Fri.-Sat.	Apr. 23-24	GSAC Track and Field Championships	Santa Barbara, CA	All Day
Sat.	May 8	Occidental Invitational	Los Angeles, CA	10:00am
Sat.	May 15	Westmont Last Chance Qualifier	Santa Barbara, CA	12:00pm
Thu.-Sat.	May 27-29	NAIA Outdoor Championships	Marion, IN	All Day

Delegating Responsibility to...God?

2010-01-21T08:14:00.000-08:00

In all my leadership training, I have never really learned the lesson of delegating.

I understand the whole theory behind it, I mean, I am only one person, things would be easier if I could just tell someone else to do a small segment. However, the only time I have ever truly succeeded in doing this is when I either a) Don't know how to do a certain part or b) have completely flopped and need someone else to fix everything for me.

This year was supposed to be the year I learned to delegate.

The fact that I have felt burned out on multiple occasions is finally getting through to me and telling me that "You, Staphon, have failed."

I mean, yes, everything has gotten done, somehow, some way, lots of stress, but I am worse for the ware because of it.

Superman, my own personal moral compass, does everything, all over the world, balancing a Work, a love life (more or less), keeping up with other relationships, and saving the world!

But even he had to join the Justice League. I tend to forget that there are other very capable people around me.

Jesus is another even better example. He did everything, sermons, healing, walking on water, exorcisms, and still found time to have dinner with his friends.

But even he had to rest, And rely on his disciples to steer the ship.

Aren, a very wise friend of mine, was telling us a story about him simply assuming that his father could do something, without even asking him.

I know God can do it all. But for some reason, I feel hard pressed to actually ask him to do it. I have the mentality of The Last Son of Krypton, without any of the superpowers, and I often forget that.

However, if I can learn to rely on God... Its almost like I do have all those super powers, or at least a lot of Super Friends.

Thanksgiving weekend... Late.

2010-01-09T16:20:00.000-08:00

(Oops, sorry for posting this late, its been sitting in my phone since the plane ride back from Danville after Thanksgiving... I had forgotten about it.)

Dave was still talking, half lecturing the class about life as a graphic designer, half just killing time to let us work on projects. I'll never remember what it was he as actually saying, one because I was only doing a mental countdown till Fall and two, because I actually had gotten up and left. I felt bad standing in the hallway, having left a smidgen earlier than the rest of the class, but I didn't mull over it too much.

Got back to my apt and I Went strait upstairs to tell Abby. Subconsciously, I think I went there first because I wanted to be rushed to get out faster, but logically, I definitely should have finished getting ready and the told her because hearing "Oh my God hurry up! I WANT TO LEAVE" for the next 10-15 minutes was almost NOT worth it.

I blinked!

The drive was over. We were in Danville! 6 hours had passed, Abby had not peed. I was proud but my mind could only focus on the feeling in my stomach. I was nervous!

I've never been really successful with girl friend's families before, not because they didn't like me, but they just never trusted their daughters with other guys, the good girls. Since Sheley is as good (better even) than the past ones, i figured there was a good chance this could go horibly bad, especially because I would be here 4 days.
I was so completly wrong.
Whether it was me being on a roll or the Price family just being so incredible welcoming, the first Impressions went over amazingly. Huge hug for Sheley, one for Sam, one for Mama D, a well placed hand shake for Papa Diego (just tryin the name out) and a big hug for Ryan and I had made it through the gates.

Sheley woke me up the next morning and oh how wonderful it was to see her face the first thing! I got up and got dressed to go running and Sheley had a few classes to get out of the way. This here was my chance to explore the neighborhood. It was so beautiful... So amazing SO PERFRCT! A 20 minute run turned into 40 minutes (partly because I kept stopping at every end to look out snt rolling green hills, partly because my lungs felt amazing in the clean air, and partly because I got lost...)
Got back, showered, and heading downstairs I knew It was interaction time. I had talked to Mama D a few times before on facebook but I knew our first real life conversation was coming up. Scary right? Somehow, I didn't have any fear, I was actually looking forward to talking to her! She asked me questions which I enjoyed answering and simply enjoyed each others company for the morning and then everyone else woke up, it's a blur as to the order of awakening, but it was soon sibling bonding time.
Abby and I have had TONS of bonding time already, so I had no worries there, it was Ryan and Sam that I needed to get to know. Sibling had never really been a problem for me, I usually can find something on common with all of them and generally, they are a lot of fun for me, being that I have 4 siblings myself. I didn't want to mess this one up at all!
We went to the mall and Abby split as soon as we got into the mall. Ryan, Sam, and I went through the mall, looking around through various shops and having fun in each one. Being that we are all guys, not much shopping happened, but I especially enjoyed the lack of awkwardness. It was completely comfortable hanging out with them, especially when we went into the store with the massage chairs!
Sheley met us there and the rest of the day was hers, finishing out the mall, then the movies, back home for a second and the off to her friend Pauls house for Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and other various movies while we waited for Sara to bring the main movie. Her friends are amazingly fun! I enjoyed myself.
My bonding time with Dave was short but sweet. I tried hard to blow his mind with my knowledge about computers, but was fended off by a shock back as we were evenly matched and he had all the programs, rendering me dang near useless in the situation. It felt nice to not have to worry about troubleshooting a computer, but at the same time I wanted to show I was helpful... oh well. It was still a good conversation.

Looking back on the whole thing, I realize now it was very short, yet as close to perfection as I could ever imagine. I definitely cannot wait to go back....

Here we go again

2010-01-09T16:08:00.000-08:00

The bell rings... Wait... is that a bell, or a chime... hmm... who Cares, I'm in Danville now.
I exit the plane. I grab my bag. I take my picture of the day. I go outside.

Smoke from a cigarette, it burns my eyes. Oh, please get here soon.

I look around. A red car... Is that hers?
IT IS! Sheley is here! I kiss her hello.

Thats how the week started. That was 10 days ago, back in 2009, seems so long ago. The rest of the week was absolutely spectacular! Got to meet even more great people, got to see Wicked, ate amazing food, and played some amazing games.

Now what? I'm sitting here on he couch, I'm sick, just took Nyquil about 45 minutes ago. Why has it not kicked in? As I sit here in my droopy state, I can only think of two things. 1. Sheley, who is always on my mind, even more now that I got through an entire week with her and officially realized that I could spend forever with her and not be bored! and 2. what does the next semester hold for me.

I have a butt load of classes, and the only reason this is different from last semester is because 3 of these classes are REAL classes, two Psych, one Math.
I also can't help but think about what I will do with my residents. I really want to get to know them this next semester, all of them! Hopefully that will be possible, I'll need to assert myself more!
Then there is always track creeping in there. Another Indoor Season. Another trip to Tenessee... Oh boy, practice on Monday is going to suck coming off being as sick as I am right now. My throat hurts more just thinking about it.
and Work. I have a full plate in front of me on that, 4 days a week, 9 mod hours. Oh boy is this going to be intense! Hopefully I can balance it along with everything else...
Time to be Super again... after I sleep...

Just a Dream...

2010-01-09T16:02:00.000-08:00

I'm at the mall meeting Sheley and her friends. When she gets there her friends are actually my friends from APU and they grill me. Sheley doesn't say much. We walk through and some of my other friends pretend to beat me up to get me away from her.

I Lose Sheley in the crowd.

I'm in a huge mess of a line at a library. I go to where I think she is but she has gotten lost in the crowd again. I'm over on the side and behind me the janitor knocks over his mop cart. He leaves, grumbling about it not being his day. I decide to try and go through the line again. A cook comes out, sees the mess, doesn't want to clean either. I get in line, she isn't there. I head out. I'm in the Mansion.

I know this place...

I've been Here a few times before. I go to my favorite room, it's creepy at night, I leave. I go to another fun room. A drunk guy is saying poetry to a mantle place. I turn and leave the whole mansion. On my way out, I see the spa and pool. Sheley is in there, they had been wearing swim suits. I get hailed over, her friend doesn't remember my name. I walk passed to talk to Sheley...

She isn't responding, silent treatment?

Yet no eye contact either, she's stunned, no brain activity. Her face twists, everything blurs,

I wake up.

Once again Its before my "go see your girlfriend" alarm goes off. I suddenly realize what it is everyone has Been warning me about her when they tell me stories. Sheley is bossy. I ponder on that and the only thing I can think is "hmm... Can't wait for her to boss me around! ...Kinky"

I get dressed.

Ontario

2009-12-27T01:54:00.000-08:00

It 1:54am and I don't really know why it is that I don't want to fall asleep.
It could be my mind racing over the day...
Could be that I'm a tad bit too tall for this couch...
Or it could be that I am being forced to breathe through my mouth because my nose is rather clogged with the stench of Cow...

Yep, I'm in Ontario...

It surprises me how much I dislike this town. I mean, I lived here so long, you would think that these thoughts would have fluttered through my head back then, but it has only hit me in the last couple of years since I moved a short distance away from here that the town of "Retired Gangsters" is so rank, so disgusting, that I don't like coming back... not even for a visit.

However, it is the people here that make it worth visiting, but only a select few.

Whenever I drive passed my school, I say a silent prayer to the Lord thanking him that I am out of there.

However, I have found lately that it isn't just Ontario that I am starting to dread, it is all of Southern California. Even Azusa is looking bland to me lately. APU still holds its vigor and will always be "home" to me, but the rest of the town is so cluttered with noise and trash that even a 20 minute jog makes me want to curl up into a ball and never leave my apartment after.

It could be that my recent visit to Northern California has spoiled me...
Or that the only place my heart wants to be is with Sheley...
It could even be as simple as the fact that I have outgrown this place...
Or that the busy hustle and bustle of living anywhere near LA is simply nagging at me...

I dunno... My mom likes it down here and wants me to stay. Sadly, I will disappoint her, but everyone is welcome to visit wherever I end up...

Finding My Soul Mate

2009-11-13T16:42:00.000-08:00

Everyone always talks about soul mates. Whether or not one believes in them or in true love, love at first sight, all of that, it's all a question of faith, until it actually happens.

I know it sounds dumb, but I now believe in all of it, but not as a chance thing. I believe that God has created that perfect person for everyone, and if you trust in him and stay on his path, he will bring the two of you together.

This actually happened to me! It has been something I have been patiently waiting for for a long time, here is the tale:

It all started with my roommate's interactions with a few of my residents. You see, they all grew up together and know each other from living up in Sacramento. They would exchange stories around me and after a while there seemed to be a pattern. Their best stories involved my resident Abby's Sister. After I had heard about 4 stories staring Sheley and seen about 5 different Facebook Wall Videos of the girl, I decided, her and I should be friends, so that I could put a better face/personality to the stories on a personal level.

It all started when my sister found out that her apartment was directly above a few of my good friends from church back in Sacramento and diagonal from Mike who was a friend from high school. I was really excited that I knew most of Abby's neighbors and most people who I was most looking forward to seeing while I was visiting would be very close by. Mike and I started getting back in touch around mid-summer and we would talk on Facebook and text every now and then. I remember the first time Staphon was mentioned by Abby was when Mike and Staphon were in some sort of fight over twitter and they brought my sister in on it. I immediately thought that this guy was pretty funny and awesome. I would randomly hear more stories from Mike about Staphon and I knew I needed to meet this guy. One day he added me to Facebook with a message that said something along the lines of "I've heard tons of stories about you such as.....and I think we need to be friends." So, of course, I accepted his request and I started sending him videos and chatting with him. I couldn't wait until we would finally meet face-to-face.

Events happened and eventually, there was finally a weekend that I would be around, and she would be visiting, and I would finally get to meet her in person, as opposed to our random interactions on facebook. We were both excited to finally meet each other because we had already realized that each other was "awesome".

The first weekend in October when I went down there, I was so upset that Staphon wouldn't be there! He was going on a trip to Yosemite and I was just so upset. But, conveniently I was also going down the following weekend and we would finally get to meet.

That night I had a date with Aubree, that had been my thanks for her taking my shift cover, and at the end, I walked into my apartment and sitting on my couch was Sheley with her friends Sarah and Guiness. I saw her and my honest first impression was, "Ok, who are these two people in my apartment. Probably Sheley's friends." Not thinking at all that it was weird to see Sheley, that I had never actually met her in person because she was just so familiar to me. But then my brain kicked in and I realized it was SHELEY!

When I first got to Azusa, I was hanging out with my sister and Mike in Mike and Staphon's apartment and I was wondering where Staphon was because I was very anxious to meet him. Mike told me that Staphon was on a date and would be home later. I remember the total pang of jealousy that went through me at that point, but at the time I didn't know why. When he finally came through the door and I realized who it was, we made eye contact and I jumped up from the couch and gave him a huge hug, not caring that he was coming home from a date and that the girl was standing right behind him.

Later that night, we had been hanging out for a while, and everything we had said was just spot on a perfect and we were completely in sync. It was when we were talking about Serenity, when she asked if I saw the movie and I got to look completely cool and tell her that I was there opening night at the premiere of the movie. She jumped off the couch and hugged me and that was when I realized that I liked this girl, and so the tests begun.

That night was the first time I realized that we had so much in common. I had brought Firefly down because he had asked me to, but I hadn't realized that he had already seen it and wanted it for Mike. I was so psyched that he knew about Firefly and had seen Serenity at midnight the night it came out that I jumped up again and hugged him.

However, during that night, I said something about track and she looked at me with a confused look, not knowing about my track career, which was weird to me seeing as how that's what EVERYONE here at school thinks of me and "Track". It was then that Abby yelled out from the kitchen "You guys keep forgetting, YOU DON'T KNOW EACH OTHER." and the two of us looked at each other and I'm pretty sure we were both thinking, "Yeah we do! YOU DON'T KNOW!"

Staphon and I had spent plenty of time talking about random stuff but nothing really about ourselves so we really didn't know much about the other person. Abby would constantly shout things like "YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW EACH OTHER!" Which, of course, was a total lie because we absolutely did. Didn't we? Not really.... But we didn't mind because we knew this was just the beginning. What it would turn into, I don't think either of us really knew.

But we really didn't and at that moment, I felt this needed to be corrected.

After she left, I really was sad. I kept singing “Aint no Sunshine when she’s gone.” and told her to come back, but it was inevitable. So I decided to find out about her. At first it was just in conversation, but then I decided to take it a step farther and found one of those 100 question quizzes. I sent it to her, and then filled one out for myself, and after we exchanged I knew she was perfect, though I was skeptical.

When I went home, I got some messages and pictures and videos from Staphon telling me how much he missed me. He kept singing the song "Ain't No Sunshine When She's gone." I laughed and thought it was cute but didn't really think anything beyond that. However, the more we talked, the more I started to like him. I would tell my mom about things that she would say and she started asking me if he liked me and I kept saying, no, no, that's just his personality. However, I had no idea. I was hoping that he liked me, but I had no idea for sure. Finally, he sent me a 100 question survey to fill out so that we could get to know each other more. The further I read his answers, the deeper I fell. I knew that I really, really liked this guy but I had no idea how he felt about me. I was probably just one of his resident's little sisters and we would go through a phase and that would be the end of it.

I pulled out my relationship journal, the one I had to write in Freshman Writing Seminar, and I compared her to my list of the perfect woman. She hit ever single qualification! Not just 4 of them, not all but one, but EVERY SINGLE ONE! No one had ever come even close to getting a perfect score, not without some tweaking like “Oh well maybe she likes some video games, like wii, but I’d have to coax her into it.” No, she PLAYS them in her own spare time!!! “Her eyes are kind of nice.” NO, HER EYES ARE BEAUTIFUL! “She has seen all the spiderman movies and liked them alright” NO! SHELEY IS A SUPER HERO!!! “She likes cats but is more of a Dog Person.” SHELEY HATES CATS WITH THE SAME FIREY PASSION AS I DO!!

When I saw the question of what he looked for in a girl, I knew he was the perfect one for me. We had basically filled out the questions with the perfect answers for each other and yet they were honest and we hadn't meant to. Every way he described himself made me realize more and more how perfect he was for me and how he fit all of the qualities that I looked for in a guy. Most importantly, he hated cats. Yup, he was the one for me.

So at that moment, I HAD To have this girl! And just as I was about to turn on my charm and try my hardest to get her to like me... I got a strange reaction. She told me first that she wanted to Marry Me! That I was perfect. What was this... there is no way any girl would read all of that about me and not find anything wrong with it. She was lying! She had to be! Or maybe I didn’t fill it out right... Maybe I was too fake in it. Maybe she was just another Arrianna who saw my accomplishments and thought I would make a great husband, but was not a great match.

We continued to joke around for a long time, including me telling him that we should get married. We had so much in common that it was the only logical solution to our situation. I knew that he was the perfect match for me, even if he didn't see me that way. I was probably just setting myself up for another heart break, but it didn't matter to me at the time. Over the next couple of weeks we had successfully planned out our entire wedding, figured out our lives together and joked around about a million other things. Well, half joked.

So being the silly people that we are, we made an announcement to her sister and friends and told them that we were getting married. Abby yelled and asked me why I was talking to her sister. I laughed and we changed our relationship status on facebook to engaged. It was a joke that I really didn’t want to be a joke at all! But it was too fun an activity to pass up, Abby’s reaction made it so much better.

We told my sister, Karl, and Mike one day that we were engaged as a joke and my sister, of course, freaked out at Staphon and yelled at him for talking to me. We changed our relationship status on facebook to engaged just to seal the deal. Abby was pissed, Mike rolled his eyes and Karl laughed. Or, so I'm told. That night while Staphon was at work, Mike gave me the "Do you really like Staphon or is this just a joke" talk. I didn't want to admit to liking him in case he didn't feel that way about me, so I assured Mike that it was totally just a joke and we were just playing around.

So we kept talking and after about the 6th time each of us had exclaimed “YOU ARE PERFECT!” or “WE ARE SOUL MATES!” or “I WANT TO MARRY YOU RIGHT NOW!” I decided, since I couldn’t be around her to find out anything, we had to go the extra step in finding out our compatibility. I decided we needed to tell each other 5 flaws a day. To my surprise, she was totally ok with it. We both were really sincere and honest with each other AND ourselves and after about 5 days of this, we realized not one of our flaws would get in the way of this!

At this point we were sending more than 200 texts a day and we had talked about everything. We knew everything about each other and I think we both knew what the other was thinking at this time, we just didn't want to say it to keep from getting hurt just in case we were wrong. So Staphon decided that we needed to list our flaws. 5 a day. After a few days and a bunch of in common flaws later, we realized it didn't really make a difference one way or another to us.

Abby had gone home that weekend and when she got back she told me that all Sheley would talk about was me. I smiled at this, and smiled more when Abby asked me what my intentions with her sister were. I told her I was going to pimp her out on the streets for money. Abby said this is what her and her mom figured my over all plan was. I then remembered how awesome her family was. I told Abby what I intended to do and promised her I would keep her heart safe! I tried to keep cool on the outside, but on the inside, all I knew was that I wanted SO badly not to screw this up.

Abby came home the last weekend in October and I felt bad because all I could really talk about was Staphon. Abby was telling me how Staphon wouldn't stop talking about me either, and that gave me a lot of hope. I would smile every time Abby brought up Staphon's name and hope for a story about him. Over the weekend Staphon and I had admitted our feelings toward each other and he had asked me out for our first date which would take place December 4th. Long wait, but that was the next time that we would get to see each other. When Abby went back to Azusa, she gave Staphon the "big sister" talk and explained how things were going to work.

At this point, we had not even talked about dating, we mostly talked about married life, since we were engaged according to facebook, it was a lot of fun and got me really excited, but I knew we couldn’t just skip a step, even when we talked about having our wedding in the Fortress of Solitude (the set from the Superman Movie) and that we could have Dogs, really cool awesome Dogs (one named Malcolm Reynolds, One named Anaura, and one Name Krypto who would wear a red bandanna) , and a hedgehog (named Sonic and she knew EXACTLY who that was and said she wouldn’t have it any other way) and live in a place with lots of trees and 4 seasons, and... etc. HOWEVER, I could not wait, and I was on the verge of asking her on the phone, but I knew, I KNEW when I asked her to be my girlfriend, it had to be in person, and it had to be EPIC because what fun is going out with someone if you don’t have an amazing story to tell about how it happened, or at least have a cute tale.

Staphon and I knew all about our married life and what we wanted in the future, including where we would get married, where we would live, our pets (dogs and no cats, with, of course, a hedgehog), kids, and what would do with our lives, but we had never discussed the now. Talking about what was going on now made everything so much more real. And painful since we were so far away from each other all the time. I didn't know what we were calling each other at this point. To a few friends, to avoid confusing, I referred to him as my boyfriend, but I wasn't sure if that's what he really was or not. Saying that we were dating just didn't seem to cover it.

It was her Idea and a perfect one it was, to meet up in SLO, which was 3.5 hours from here, and 3.5 hours from where she is. The plan was to spend the whole day together! Every time we tried to think of a plan, we couldn’t get passed how much we HAD to see each other. I’m not sure if she knew my intentions, but the first thing I did when I got there (an hour late btw... sorry babe.) was to quickly grab my chalk (I was prepared) and write on the sidewalk “Sheley, will u b my GF” (literally, I had like 15 seconds to do all this before I was even more late to meet her across the street, I could tell she was already irritated (it was one of her pet peeves), had I gotten there earlier I would have used full grammar and drawn a picture, but alas... the curse of CPT) and I drew a heart around it, and then I put a bouquet of yellow and red roses on the floor on top of the heart. I ran out to her, gave her a big hug and said “You have to come see this!!!” and dragged her to the other side of the truck and stood her in front of the truck. She said yes and then we ******* SHOOK HANDS ******* and then decided to go get some food.

On Halloween night I came up with idea for the two of us to meet in San Luis Obispo which was exactly 3.5 hours away from Danville and Azusa. We would meet the following Saturday and spend the day together. We never really made any set plans for what we were going to do because neither of us knew the area very well and we had no idea what we would be up for. The night before we met we finally figured out a meeting place and the following morning I got there at 9 (when we were supposed to meet) and he was an hour late. I was pissed. Tardiness is one of my biggest pet peeves and on our first date he was an hour late. Not okay. However, right when he got there and I was about to chew him up, he picked me up in a huge hug and then told me to come to his car because he had something to show me. On the ground in chalk was written "Sheley, will u b my GF" with a heart around it and two dozen beautiful roses laying next to it. I laughed and gave him a hug and told him that I would, of course. And after ***********SHAKING HANDS******* I finally chewed him out for being late. I don't think he'll do that again.

The rest of the day was absolutely splendid and a blur and made me never want to let go of her (I literally held her hand 80% of the day, the other 20% consisted of bathroom breaks, eating, and kite flying... yeah, we flew a kite! yes, it was a Superman kite.) She let me go into Best Buy, and Game Stop, and she didn’t seem the least bit uncomfortable, in fact, she actually looked at things that SHE wanted and helped me find things! It was the perfect day!

The day went WAY too fast and after getting breakfast, we shopped around at random electronic and game stores and just walked and often got lost. We had lunch at this sea food place and ate the only sea food I'll actually go near. Clam Chowder. After that we flew his Superman kite which I accidentally crashed into the ocean... still sad about that. Staphon insists that he just wanted to visit Aquaman, but I know Lex Luther will be proud of me for succeeding in what he never could.

We ended it off watching *PELICANS* smack their faces into the water, and then watched the stars and pointed out constellations (SHE HAD AN APP ON HER PHONE WHICH SHOWED THEM ALL! How PERFECT!)

We sat on a bench around sunset and watched the ocean as all the pelicans slammed themselves into the water head first. A bunch of seals then started swimming around as it grew dark. We spent the next few hours just talking and looking at stars which my awesome app on my phone that shows all the constellations. It was the perfect day. The only downside was that it had to end so quickly.

We haven't even been dating a week yet and I already know so much about her and am so happy every morning that I could explode. I don’t want to wait, but I know I have to. I have to finish what God has for me here. We are waiting for her to hear back some news which would bring her down here next semester. I am praying all the time that she gets it and comes to me, I miss her terribly, but I am ever so grateful for technology, even though we both hate talking on the phone, but texting keeps me and her together all day and skype lets me see her pretty face todos los noches. She tries to convince me she’s not perfect, and I know she isn’t completely perfect in the world’s eyes, but I know that God made her perfect for me. Even this week, she has helped keep me accountable by making sure I spend time with God, read my bible, pray, ultimately keep God first, and her second, and she understands that and I do the same for her.

So if any of you are having problems believing in soul mates... Just be patient and trust God. Proverbs 3:5 & 6.

PS3 SLIM!

2009-09-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the crappy video, I don't know what is going on with it. But stick with it and it will give you some good info that lets you know that patience pays off! I'm gonna buy a PS3 by christmas!

Mermaid Spells

2009-09-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

OK, I definitely fell out laughing when I read this today. Rik showed me that some girl had asked this question on Yahoo! Answers and I thought that was hilarious, and then I read the answer, and OMG! That was great!!

Is there a spell to become a mermaid that actually works?

I would like to know if there is any spell available to become a mermaid, one that works. I am asking people that beleive in mermaids. Don't say things like "Mermaids don't exist" because I take it very seriously and I find it offensive. PLEASE HELP ME FIND A SPELL!
BTW: I am also a witch.

Answer: You enter a small pond or lake with a mask that allows you to speak similar to the ones that divers wear (Mermaids can survive in salt or fresh water.) Once submerged, you begin chant "Let my power surge and fly, flowing deep through sea and sky, take my form and let it be, free to roam through the endless sea" X3. Once you have said this 3 times, remove your mask. Once removed, deeply inhale the water. At first you will feel like you are drowning, this is to be expected. Once your lungs are full of water, they will begin to transmute into gills. Be warned, if you surface during this, the process will quickly reverse itself. Best of Luck!

The book of Staphon chapter 21:4-5

2009-09-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

Staphon 21: 4 then the Lord spoke to Staphon and said "my son, buy an new bible so that you may know my words." and Staphon replied, "later Lord, Im busy." so the Lord sent down his angels to rip Staphon's bible cover and Staphon replied "Ooookay! I'll go get a new bible!"
5 it was soon after that Staphon found himself in the midst of the most beautiful blue book and the Lord said "I present to you My blue word. With it, I shall bestow unto you my words in new ways." and Staphon thanked the Lord and started his relationship with Kaxol Dabar "The Blue Word".

WHO's GOT IT FIGURED OUT!

2009-08-08T23:16:00.001-07:00

So AWESOME

WHO's GOT IT FIGURED OUT!

2009-08-08T23:16:00.000-07:00

So AWESOME

Time the secret keeper

2009-08-07T07:42:00.001-07:00

I was talking to a friend last night and I was looking for a good quote about waiting for time to pass to reveal something. Couldn't find one, so I instead made one up...

Time is the ultimate keeper of secrets. But if you wait it out, you'll find that she is a bit of a gossip...

-Staphon Arnold

Apple Wheel

2009-07-17T11:05:00.000-07:00

OK, so I am a tech junky so when i saw this, I fell out laughing. I also love Apple, but that doesn't mean I don't like making fun of them too. Just makes it so I can understand the jokes a bit more.

Her Morning Elegance - Oren Lavie

2009-07-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

This was just way too cool not to share. Enjoy.

So...I am Gryffindor

2009-07-12T19:07:00.001-07:00

The sorting hat says that I belong in Gryffindor!

Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those with brave deeds to their name."

Students of Gryffindor are typically brave, daring, and chivalrous.
Famous members include Harry, Ron, Hermione, Albus Dumbledore (head of Hogwarts), and Minerva McGonagall (head of Gryffindor).

Take the most scientific Harry Potter
Quiz ever created.

Get Sorted Now!

Cats make pickles part 2

2009-07-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

My dad is one of those guys who doesn't like very many condiments. He hates mustard, doesn't like salad dressing and cannot stand pickles. He also, like me, is not particularly fond of Cats. When we were younger, he tried to instill this dislike of these things with a small but of "fact" which was him telling us that Cats make Pickles and we believed him for a while, either that or we just didn't question it, I don't know for sure, but I do know that I didn't think about it until late into my elementary school days.
So my little cousin Jrace (I have tried 6 times to spell this boys name in the last thirty seconds and that's as close as I can get to Drrr • ace ) anyways, so he was about 4 at the time and he had a kitten named Pickles (ironic no?). One rainy afternoon, pickles had somehow wandered out into the yard and was cold and shivering at the moment Jrrr•ace had found him. Wanting to save all animals, Jrrr•ace knew that he had to warm up the cold cat, however, Jrr•ace was about 4 years old at the time and only knew that when you want to warm up something quickly you do what? That's right people, you put it in the microwave.
From what I hear, there was a lot of smoke, and they had a small burial for what was left of pickles, but this memory has gone down in history as the best cat story I have ever heard, thank you Drrr•ace!

The Kite Runner

2009-06-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

When Atticus shot the foaming dog, I didn't flinch.

When they raving lunatic little boys threw piggy off a cliff and smashed him with a boulder, I chuckled.

When Rachel was killed by the Yeerks after 50+ books of her being a bad ass in one last heroine act of crashing an entire ship, I didn't so much as gasp.

When Lenny killed that girl in the farm, I could honestly care less.

But, when I read those last 2 chapters of The Kite Runner, I smiled with excitement, then my heart stopped as I continued to the next paragraph, then I cried! I read on as fast as I could through tears for the next two minutes, clutched my book for dear life, prayed to the heavens with Amir, and sighed the heaviest sigh of relief with a smile on my face and happy tears still streaming. As I read on I fell into a slight depression and felt sadness creep into my very soul to the point where I felt there was simply no hope. I wanted to turn the pages back and go back to the happy chapters of the book, the ones before Amir became an insomniac. But I had to finish, so I read on and to my relief, I once again was smiling at the end, with a renewed sense of hope in the world.

Never in my life had I read a book that made me cry or feel any of these emotions to this extreme. This book built up to the very end, not just one climax, but many to the point where I had 15 pages left, didn't think anything could happen, I was coming down the last 100 meter stretch and BOOM! It hit me hard.

Not only did I read a good story, but I actually learned quite a bit. I had never really payed that much attention to what was going on in Afganistan. I feel like I know so much more now, I've seen a human side that I would like to see flourish again in my lifetime, not just the filthy Taliban hiding in caves planning to destroy us, I now realize that Afganistan is just as much a victim as we were back on September 11.

I'd tell you to run to your local library and check it out now, but I would say, don't do it if you don't have an open mind and the willingness to plow into he depths of a great novel. But when you do, the Kite Runner will be waiting for you.

What really happened to Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

Here is what really happened:

MJ figured out through stem cell reseach that he could clone himself (ie: his "son" blanket) yes, that "boy" was a clone. It grew at a rapid pace which is why we never saw him anywhere, they kept him locked up and he was never actually "alive". When he got to be a certain size, (body grew but no brain activity, like... Read More a star fish) mj decided it was time. He did something to make people want him bak in their lives (proposing another tour) and then faked his death by planting the clone body in his house as he ditche into his underground lab and cryogenically froze himself where he will wake up in 300 years and re claim his crown as the king of pop in the new century!

iPhone Lightsaber battle

2009-06-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

Camp is fun when you have iPhones! hahaha, Martianna and I decided to have a little fun after the Zip Line and Blob!

Lightsaber App for the iPhone

2009-06-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

Lightsaber App for the iPhone is AWESOME when you have two iPhones in your hand. :)

Woodleaf Day 1

2009-06-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

This place is amazing, it reminds me of the main camp in Japan, with the nice grass and cement walkways, yet still surrounded by tree's because we definitely are in the middle of a forest. The drive wasn't too bad, just cramped, 5 tall kids all crammed into a truck, my mom would have been the only one comfortable had she not been driving due to her 5'3" stature. We arrived with a warm greeting from everyone already knowing who we were like we were famous, it was kinda cool, I couldn't help but think that my dad had called them all together in one big meeting and explained with diagrams and pictures who each one of us were. I've probably heard "Oh, so are you the professional high jumper?" about 10 times. Still not sure what to respond to that with aside from an embarrassed chuckle.

Day one consisted of me taking a bike ride with my dad to see where everything was, and him explaining the camp to me, and then I got ready for the best thing ever, THE ZIP LINE! Round one was Mercedes and I, so much fun, and then I went with Devin! It was so cool and when you hit the water, you think its gonna hurt, but it really doesn't. Devin and I then proceeded to try the swing and we ended up being the demo for a group of kids, which was awesome, except when I pulled the release cord, I didn't put my hand down and the carbeener smacked me hard in the hand. Still hurts, no bruising though. Dinner was great (Lasagna) and Club was hilarious (skits and the message = Amazing) and we ended off with Devin and I running through the obstacle course 2 times in a row, we ended off in a VERY muddy state. So Far, this place is fun, a nice getaway!

He's Barack Obama

2009-06-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

Hahaha, this is great! GO JIBJAB!

"PIRATES!!!"

My President Is a NINJA!

2009-06-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

Hahaha, oh man, this is great. Not only does John Stewart do an amazing job of covering it, but the actual thing he COVERS! Oh man I am still smiling. My President is a Ninja, check it out...

AT&T FAILS

2009-06-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

iPhone users across the U.S. were disappointed Monday to learn that AT&T, the only operator in the country offering the iPhone, won't immediately support a couple of key new features in Apple's new 3.0 operating system that will be available starting next week. But AT&T says these features are coming.

HAHAHAHA! I Can't believe that AT&T can't keep up with the iPhone, sad... If you wanna read the whole thing, click here

Show 31

2009-06-15T18:56:00.001-07:00

I always have the best times with Courtney. Sunday was a plethera of amazing quality time, hands down. I mean really, these photos speak for themselves! Got a lot of prickly's on my pants though... I love my camera :)

Downtown Claremont Adventure

2009-06-14T08:36:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I got a chance to hang out with my good friend and we had a blast! We decided to have a bit of a photo shoot in Downtown Claremont (the new side) and he was showing me all the cool places they had there. We topped off the night with a lovely (yet cold and windy) dinner at a place called The Back Abbey which, let me tell you, has the most amazing burgers! We then came back to my place, watch some of the stuff on my netflix and ended the night. Its was great. Here are the best of the photos I took which I have put on my photo steam on Flickr.

Cats Make Pickles Part 1

2009-06-13T09:44:00.001-07:00

The Kitten Joins the Ranks

As you know, a Cat starts out as a kitten. This can be very deceiving because we all know that kittens can be cute, and for the most part are. I have no problem with this notion because God made everything, and he created the kitten to be something cute and cuddly.

But a Kitten grows older, and there is one night where it evolves and takes on the form of one of Satan's many disciples, the cat. You see, Satan's original animal of choice was the Snake, but God made that a useless form taking away its appendages making it utterly useless, so Satan found a new henchman, the cat.

Now you have probably all heard this ritual done. Its that one night, when you are sleeping in a sound slumber and you suddenly hear the most gut wrenching sound you have ever heard. It is whiny, it sounds painful, and it is frickin annoying. As you go out to check on your Kitten, who has grown a little more lanky since its days of frolicking through fields chasing butterflies, and the little rascal is now standing in a corner of the room staring at you, as if nothing were wrong. But something definitely happened. That sound was NOT caused by nothing, it was caused by a demon painfully crawling up the butt hole of that very cat and possessing its every move. Your once kitten has had its upgrade to cat, an officer of Lucifer's army...

5 hour rain delay for a Baseball Game

2009-06-11T08:54:00.001-07:00

OK, so these guys decided that 5 hours of a Rain delay was making them a little edgy, so instead of playing Baseball like they were supposed to, they decided to take on a new sport... Dancing.

Black Dynamite

2009-06-10T13:36:00.001-07:00

This is going to be good when it comes out on DVD! Yeah!

Beijing Olymics: A trap!!!

2009-06-09T13:37:00.001-07:00

OK, Anthony brought this to Bryan Clay's attention on Twitter and I had to check it out.
I was rollin!

The Beijing Olympics: Are They A Trap?

Jamba Juice and a $46 shirt

2009-06-08T15:39:00.001-07:00

So yesterday, I decided to go meet Court for lunch before she had to go to work at 3. So we met in front of Jonny Rockets and neither of us was very hungry so we went to Jamba juice and talked about life till 2:50 and then walked over to GUESS and I decided to go inside with her and take a look at the products.

Court is a very good sales girl because I definitely bought a $46 plaid shirt that she picked out. I then proceeded to buy a shirt at American Apparel to go with it. But I had some fun trying on different shirts.

The outfit I ended up with was this >>

Martianna cracks me up!

2009-06-04T13:34:00.001-07:00

My Little sister is hilarious. I was wondering if she worked at the abercrombie at victoria gardens, and she works at the Ontario... Read the convo. Apparently Ontario mills doesn't stick to their banishment rules cause she got a JOB there hahaha.

Mai Boi!

2009-06-04T08:24:00.000-07:00

So, I think everyone should go check out mai boi's new blog. He mentioned that he started one a while ago, but I didn't actually think that he POSTED in it till I decided to try and find it and BAM! Some of the best ranting in the land!

LINKIES>>>>>> http://chapademic.blogspot.com/

OK, now that that is settled... I couldn't find my pants this morning. My past self is a tricky SOB! No idea where he put them. I mean, yes, I have other jeans, demo... I wanted my old navy jeans, the one that I bought two pairs of. "But Staphon, if you already have two pairs, why not wear the other pair?" You ask, well the answer is... I am, but I have been wearing them for a while now and they are finally starting to feel icky... Probably because I ran around while wearing them. Ok, I'm going to find those pants when I get home!

In other news, I downloaded the whole Rockman.exe the Anime tv series last night, IN ONE SITTING! 9Gigs of info! Great Job Macenzie!

- ニがろ! -

PS22 Kids Sing Viva La Vida

2009-06-02T13:10:00.001-07:00

These kids are SIIIICK! Check it out!!

WoW Kid gets OWNED!

2009-06-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

Hahaha, thanks Anthony, this is why I will never
play WoW, if it affects people like this, oh man...

Wow player owned; heard over teamspeak
by phantasmagorias

Google Wave

2009-06-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

OK, looks like Google is gettin' stupid crazy!
This is going to be awesome! Gonna take a little
while to get used to, but will still be awesome!

Weddings

2009-05-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if everyone has this feeling, but do you know how there are so many different feelings you get at weddings. There's the "I'm single and this is making me jealous" feeling, there is the "I'm with someone and I could see myself up there", or "there is the I'm with someone but I cannot see myself up there", then there is the "I'm single, but I'm ok with that." feeling.

And then there is the feeling I had. I felt absolutely happy for David, and thought, "Yes that is awesome for him", but I didn't have any feelings towards myself. I know, none of you believe me right now, but I'm tired of thinking of myself and how I feel about my relationships, I am completely ready to just accept whatever happens and not over think it.

I think that's how weddings are supposed to be, you aren't to think about yourself at all, you are just supposed to stand behind and support the Love that unfolds in front of you.

Movies coming out!

2009-05-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

So, Cookie and I went to go see UP last night, which was so awesome and another example of Pixar greatness! While there we saw some great trailers, and also spotted a poster for a new Studio Ghibli movie coming out in America called Ponyo!

We also saw a trailer for a movie called Shorts, which should be good, and some dumb ones like G-Force, but there were one that gave both of us a restored interest in Disney... THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG!

Its gonna be sooooo great! Cannot wait!

My Brute!

2009-05-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

If you haven't ever seen this, I think you should take a look.

http://barett.mybrute.com

The game is... well ridiculous, you don't really do anything, just make a brute and watch them fight... It really makes no sense, but for some odd reason... its addicting...

Interview With Natalie Portman

2009-05-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

I Came across a funny, and very awkward video of a fake interview with Natalie Portman (who is amazing in every way, shape, and form if you ask me, V for Vendetta, Garden State, Star Wars, etc...) so yeah... check it out, even more awkward than when she did that Rap on SNL! Credit goes to @therealnp (aka, Neil Pattrick Herris who I am following on Twitter hoping that it is actually him because Barney Stenson/Dr. Horrible/Dougy Houser is friggin AMAZING!)

Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis from Between Two Ferns

Outdoor Nationals '09 Part 3

2009-05-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, the final installment on how Nationals went. Well, the 3rd day was hot and sticky. Ced and I woke up ready to run our races with that video 3 posts back of us flipping on the bed (great way to get pumped for a race let me tell you!) and so we headed out at about 12 and Savidge was in the process of winning the Pole Vault and Monti was at the start of winning the Triple Jump. 4x1 began to commence and we were all a little on edge. I drank down a Red Bull and powered up telling Savidge to make sure he plugged his ears when he handed off to me, otherwise he might go def from the Sonic Boom I was about to create when I went super speed. The race started, Ced had a nice hand off to Savidge, Savidge to Me, and I powered down a hard as my tired legs could carry me, yelling "FOO!" as I handed off to Zach and then screamed down the runway as he flew down landing us in 5th place with a PR time of 40.89 which ties us with the 10th fastest time ever run at APU. Needless to say, we were stoked and that gave each of us a personal point on the board.

The rest of the day was a roller coaster as everyone finished off their events and finals, Rono almost getting chased down by a half barefoot guy in the 1500, and Monti winning Triple with a 15.25m jump. It was all so amazing for the guys. In the end we won with 80 points, next highest score being 71. We left proud and ate at Macaroni Grill where some of us continually got up to watch the Lakers win, putting a bitter taste to my pork chops, but whatever.
I didn't go to sleep that night, I instead packed and hung out with various members of the team, spending most of my time watching Friends with Mandy and Queso. In the morning we got on the plane, where I slept the whole time and arrived back in California at about 11:30p with the thought that the next 8 months that I did track were in no way going to relate to jumping... sad thought but every summer has that realization.
In the seasons end my Legend has changed to (Andrew, you will like this.)

•7 time All American
•5 National Team Rings
•4th Highest Jumper in APU History (3rd unofficially)
•10th Fastest 4x1 Team
•7 foot Jumper!

What a great end to a great season!

8 Gigs of power balanced on one finger...

2009-05-26T10:15:00.000-07:00

Yep, I got a very small 8 gig flash drive! It is the size of my thumb joint, so awesome, so practical, so easy to lose, so amazing!!! But now that I have it... I don't really know what to put on it... :(

How to turn off Facebook Chat

2009-05-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

This is for you Cookie...

Here is how you turn Facebook chat OFF!

Now, at the bottom right hand corner you will find this:

When you click the small chat bar, you will get this:

Now, click Options at the top to open this and click "Go Offline"

Now you are Offline:

And you can surf Facebook with a smile!
Win!

Memorial day

2009-05-25T13:04:00.001-07:00

After taking Zach to the airport early this Morning, I came home and went back to sleep. Then I woke up and watched a few episodes of NCIS and my mom made us egg and bacon sandwhich and home made cinnimon rolls... Which I will go back downstairs to get another in a minute. And then I found this app which let's me blog on my phone, yay! So this is a test. Gonna go see terninator at 2! Ill let you all know what I think.

Ced and I in the hotel room

2009-05-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

Ced and I had a little too much fun in the hotel room hahaha. I love National trips!

Ghetto Black Names

2009-05-22T22:27:00.000-07:00

OH, yoU gotta see this!
This is mostly for you Cookie, but for everyone also!

Lebron

2009-05-22T22:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, I don't watch basketball too often, but seriously, if you can't appreciate this...

I vote LEBRON over Kobe!

Outdoor Nationals '09 Part 2

2009-05-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

"Senior Staphon Arnold put in a yeoman’s day of work, scoring 7 points in 2 events and running the third leg on the Cougars 4x100-meter relay that advanced to Saturday’s finals. Arnold gave the Cougars a bonus 3 points with a surprise sixth-place finish in the long jump, an event he wasn’t expected to score but nonetheless posted a career-best leap of 23’ 8” on his sixth and final attempt. Three hours later he finished fifth in the high jump, clearing 6’ 9” to pick up another 4 points and another All-America award." -Gary Pine

Today was a great day! It started out with me going to the track at around 11:30 and getting ready for the Long Jump. Long story short, I jumped 2.21m (23'8") and we thought I came in 7th, but I got a nice surprise when I found out later that i actually got 6th giving the team 3 points from me. Already that was better than I had done at any previous outdoor nationals (since I never score) AND better than I have done at ANY nationals ever!

Then I went over to the 4x1 and we advanced to the finals tomorrow with the fastest time we ever ran, 41.05!

Then in the High Jump, I ended up missing 3rd place by ONE bar, I landed ON TOP of the bar at 6'11" (2.11) which sucked, but I ended up getting 5th which isn't bad because that gave me a total of 7 Points over all today.

The rest of my team did amazing also, if you have time, you should check out the APU website, go to athletics, and read the stories. Thats where I am pulling these pictures from, and the piece about me in the article at the top of this post.

Tomorrow, its time to finish this up and dominate! We are already ahead of schedule on points, so it is looking really good!

How far away from home am I?

2009-05-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are wondering... this is where I am, and this is where most of you are. I have no idea who asked how many miles we were from home today...

Don't mind the T-Mobile network at the top.

The Gateway to the West

2009-05-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, so yesterday I went up into the St. Louis arch and learned a lot more than I thought I was going to. Apparently back in the early 1960's there was a contest to create a monument in St. Louis which would become the central focus of the City and a kind of Gateway into the west. around 180 architects drew up designs for the front part of the city which would lead up to City Hall, and the winner was the guy who created the Arch, which rivaled the Roman Cathedral hallways. It took 2 years to create the arch and not until 1965 was it finished, and in 1967, a man created a lift system which would take you up into the arch (which is what took my dad, CheeseCake, Creego, and myself up to the top of the arch in a little pod)

So today, I wanted to see the types of designs that didn't quite make it in and so I traveled to the old City Hall (it wasn't far, just had to cross ONE street, its right across from the arch, I can see it from my window) and they only had the top 5. There was one with two tall towers off to the side, but by far, the arch blew the rest out of the water. They design is just so much more advanced than anything anyone could have thought of back then, and I'm glad it was built so I could find a great appreciation for it. On my way out, I saw this amazing shot and sooo... I took this.

Outdoor Nationals '09 Part 1

2009-05-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

I know I promised some of you some constant updates on how this meet was going and I apologize for not keeping my end of the bargain. This hotel we are staying at, the Hyatt, is amazing with all the stuff they have and the nice rooms and amazing view of the St. Louis Arch (I posted these pictures in my twitter from my phone...) but there are two things that they don't have, and that is free internet (its like 10 bucks a day, eff that noise) and their TV selection sucks. But I have been keeping up with my twitter with one sentence blogs the whole time. If you aren't following me on Twitter, do not fret, there is a blue box to the right which has all my twitter updates on it and it updates as much as I update my twitter, so you can check that out for more constant updates.
First day of training was great and quick, a little concerned about Zach's IT band, but I think us not doing hand-offs yesterday should help in a quick recovery. They seem to have moved the high jump pit around a bit so my step is not completely horrible, and I am to do long jump approaches in 10 minutes. I compete in the 4x1 prelims tomorrow so wish me luck, and on Friday will be the Long Jump, 4x1 semi-finals, and High Jump at night. I will post quick results on twitter and will try to get around to updating a full update on Friday Night.

Oh, and I was a Denver Nuggets fan for like an hour last night but they failed me... super random. I am also reading the book "The Kite Runner" which I have been told is an amazing book. I am 60 pages in and I am starting to agree!

Jya Mata!!!

Saturday

2009-05-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

Oh, that was a great night sleep. I got to sleep till 9!! definitely needed after this long week. I also finally got to unpack my room and set up my things, still needs some work but Its looking good. Today I am out to the Home Depot Center for the big Addidas track meet where I get a free shirt and shoes helping all day, pay attention to twitter for some pictures of the gear I get.

Also, my friend Ari came across this video of a little boy and girl dancing and its HILARIOUS! If you have seen it already, try watching it again but without the sound on, it looks like he is possessed by the holy spirit.

Smallville Season Finale

2009-05-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

OK, here is what I thought about it...

Beginning was good, aside from the whole orb Kandor thing, thats not making much sense. Clark meeting Cosmic Boy was awesome, but I think Cosmicboy should have stayed around, because honestly, where did he go after that conversation with Clark, he even said that he might not have a future to go back too. Clark kicking Green Arrow out of the Justice League was a little harsh, but whatev. Seeing Bart only speed around for 2 seconds was a little sad... but yeah. Black Canary didn't use her powers not once. The Doomsday battle was very underdone, they are getting lazy with their special effects.

Best part of the whole thing was the Jimmy twist! OH MAN! the Jimmy in Smallville that we all thought was JIMMY! was actually Henry, Jimmy's older brother, and the real OG Jimmy Olsen was at the funeral and Chloe gave him Henry's Camera! AMAZING TWIST! Never suspected it!

Zod coming back will be fun and good, but I'm confused at how Kandor ties into all of this, unless it was under attack by Zod, but this could mean that Kara might come back, hmmm....

OH! And Lois is in the future atm, legit, but only if Clark or someone GOES to the future to go get her back and we get to see the future...

It looks like they are trying to fix all the pot holes that they made in comparison to the Superman Universe now, step one being Jimmy actually being Henry. What they have to do now is make it so that when Superman comes, no one suspects it because Clark will be a geeky guy with glasses and somehow Lois can't know that the two are the same, but at this point it might end up like that, at first they were doing well with Lois thinking Clark was the geekiest guy ever, but then she started to see his true side, like when he jumped in front of that bullet. Thats going to be tough to fix, but I can't wait.

What is a twat?

2009-05-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

Definition:
So I decided to figure out what the word twat meant... boy was I surprised, its the British version of the C word... pretty horrible, I should probably not use it anymore...

RA Slide Show '09

2009-05-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

I worked on a slide show for rez life consisting of pictures from each living area on campus's RA Staffs and I was pleased with the reactions it got yesterday morning, they all seemed to like it. I am glad because its only the second thing I have ever made on iMovie. Took me 6-7 hours to do the other day, trying to get everything perfect and having to go back and get new pictures and such for some parts, making sure the music played and stopped at the right spots, it was all very tedious but it payed off. So check it out, I put it up on Youtube.

... I still haven't turned in my E Key...

Summer at IMT starts...

2009-05-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

And this is how today feels... I also came across a picture I made for Anthony while he was somewhere studying over the last 2 weeks and I forgot to show it to him... sad. If you are watching Ant, check this out ;-P

Danke Schoen

2009-05-12T16:44:00.001-07:00

So, Danke Schoen actually means thank you, so last year I decided to make that the theme song for thanksgiving and whilst listening to the song over and over, I got edgy and... well made a video.

It was the second video I had ever made on my photobooth, but it was fun, I enjoyed it and decided to put it up on youtube. I'm gonna get more involved to get ready for my school blog next year.

Skate Video

2009-05-12T16:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I realized that it has been a while since I updated this, so I decided to throw in my old skate video that I made to make one my friends skate team in High School!

There are also scenes from Kingdom Hearts, great game.

...I didn't make the team...
Not even sure there was one...

Anthony's Face

2009-05-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

I randomly got the urge to make Anthony like Steevo...

Green Lantern Movie!

2009-04-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

Devyn has just brought this to my attention! I am excited, it will be in a slightly anime format! Wonder Woman was great so this should have a great storyline of its own! Next HAS to be Flash or Martian Manhunter! Bomb sauce. Ok, check out the video...

Green Lantern: First Flight Official Trailer

Anthony is...

2009-04-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

My roommate decided he wanted to see how it would
be being fat so he puffed out his stomach and here it is,
I caught it on camera with amazing lighting and every
thing (and it was simply my iPhone camera!) and here
we have it, Anthony Logan as a pregnant man! Amazing!

Trolled...

2009-04-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

So,

I was trolled this morning...

Frozen Yogurt Documentary

2009-04-28T18:11:00.000-07:00

Purple Forest Adventure 1

2009-04-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

Last night, I crossed the wispy white bridge into the purple forest. I'd probably been there about a bajillion times, but something felt weird about this time. For the first time ever, I actually looked back to where I crossed the bridge from, and caught a glimpse of a crack in the air which showed a glimmer of my bedroom in the RL. I winced as the portal closed with a brilliant flash and all that was before me was the back forty acres of the red grotto. I turned and headed to my destination, the Green mushroom where Rich was no doubt waiting for me.

On my way, another fantastic specimen caught my eye. Now, if you know anything about the PF, you know that to get to the Green Mushroom, you walk strait until you reach the Blue Frosted Owl's tree fort, then take a left, swing over the musky pink river on the conveniently placed rope (courtesy of Dante Slavotski, a Canadian who used to frequent the PF), crawl under the big Ghoul bush (the BIG one, you would know what I meant if you saw it), take a right at the Orange Boulder, cross the green bridge and there you are, easy peasy. But this time, the Orange Boulder had... shifted.

Now, unless you somehow got the Lavender to help you (the purple Totoro, who is very stubborn and only wakes up from his nap once every two years...), then there is obviously no way any human from the RL could possibly move this boulder, its as big as a house, a small mountain if you please. Somehow it had. I decided to examine this, got close enough, and jumped as it moved, ever so slowly, but a movement none-the-less. I hid behind a teal vine tree and watched it for a little longer.

10 minutes passed and I saw it shift 5 times, not very much, but it did shift. I got up the courage to walk around and examine it a little closer and upon arriving on the other side, I found its head. Yes, I know what you are thinking "Boulders don't have heads" thats what one living in the RL would say, but in the PF, this did not much surprise me (no more than the first time I saw a maroon shadow ghoul).

I kneeled down to examine the head and realized that this was no boulder. This big orange house that I had walked passed so many times and saw it as nothing but a checkpoint was none other than the biggest Millitoad I had ever seen.

There are always great surprises in the PF, even when you think there is nothing more to be seen. But I ended up having a conversation with the Millitoad (turns out, his name is Reto-to) and I ended up helping him with some stuff which was causing his shifting (cleaning a few of his million feet) which is why I was so late... Sorry Rich :/

Third Degree Smoking

2009-04-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

Has anyone ever heard about this? It is so crazy that THIS actually has a name now. So we have Smoking (idiots if you ask me), 2nd Hand smoking (yeah, thanks you inconsiderate nicotine crazed idiots), and now, 3rd Degree Smoking, yeah...

"That’s the term being used to describe the invisible yet toxic brew of gases and particles clinging to smokers’ hair and clothing, not to mention cushions and carpeting, that lingers long after second-hand smoke has cleared from a room. The residue includes heavy metals, carcinogens and even radioactive materials that young children can get on their hands and ingest, especially if they’re crawling or playing on the floor."

Seriously, with all the bad that smoking can cause, how can anyone still do it and think it is cool. D-U-M-B-A-S-S-E-S.

2009-04-18T07:30:00.000-07:00

"All-American Staphon Arnold won the high jump at 6’ 8¾” and qualified for the NAIA long jump with a personal-best effort and winning leap of 23’ 5¼.” To complete the day, he competed in his first-ever triple jump and posted a fine mark of 45’ 5¾” to finish seventh overall. Arnold also ran the third led on the Cougars’ 4x100-meter relay that finished third with a 42.40."

-Gary Pine

Now here is how it went down from the beginning. I wake up at 7:30, go on a one on one with Kellie, get some Jamba, Go over to the track, warm up. Start out with 4x1, we didn't have Savidge because he was at Mt. Sac jumping, so we were waiting for Monti, but he didn't come in time so then we got Sato who did pretty well in my opinion, it was just different all around. Bad hand-off to Zach and we finish in 42.40 putting us in 4th.

Then long jump, was not expected, but I jumped 7.14m giving me my A mark AND putting me in the lead, meaning I won the Long Jump, super random, I was not expecting it.

Then High Jump. Came in at 2m, got it on my first attempt, same with 2.05, and stupidly I jumped again at 2.10, I should have just passed to 2.14, it would have been so much better taking attempts at that instead of the mark I already officially have, but I will not jump at 2.10 until nationals, period. So I got 1st with a 2.05 in that and figured I was done. Then Triple Jump came and I couldn't resist. Best jump was 13.88, with no second phase, and ended up being a rather good day. I was mostly excited that Ashley came to watch, even though I could not find her the whole time. And Alex came too, I got to explain to her what the events are which was also fun. All in all, a great day to be an Arnold.

And on top of that, I am sick... Still Sick... and am leaving in 2 minutes (7:50) to go on Day 1 of RA training, woot.

SlaP Bet

2009-04-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

So as I was watching How I Met Your Mother today, I remembered how funny the show was. In particular, I remembered a certain story-line that just so happened to be the funniest thing I have probably ever seen in the show. Robin said she didn't go to malls and a Slap bet between Barney and Marshal start on the reasoning behind why Robin doesn't go. Marshal thinks she got married at a mall, Barney thinks she did porn at a mall. Robin says she was married, Marshal slaps Barney, Barney find out that she wasn't, Barney get 3 slaps, Barney finds out that it was a video, assumes its porn, it ends up not being porn, Marshal slaps Barney ONCE, but remembers that the rules of a slap bet are that it can happen whenever, wherever, so he saves the last two. Throughout the rest of the season, Marshal delivers his last 2 slaps RANDOMLY and says the number after, its the most hilarious thing EVER! Slap 2 is probably my favorite.

Slap 1: (in this video, the first slap from marshal is his offical slap 1 at the end of the episode, the second one from Marshal (Jason Segal btw) is his premature slap earlier, and the last three by Barney is explained but ends up faulty:

Slap 2: is probably my favorite, Lilly invites everyone to come see her perform, and everyone says it was good and supports her, but Barney tells her flat

out that it was the worst thing he has ever seen. She says "You could be nice and tell me it was good even if it was the worst thing." and he thinks that

if something was truely horrble, no matter how good of friends you are, one could not lie and say it was bad, so he puts on his own performance for like

4 hours of just horrible crap proving his point and Lilly tells him it was bad, and Barney keeps performing and it is killing everyone to watch so Marshal

walks up on stage and...:

Slap 3: in the middle of the season, Barney gets an e-mail telling him to look at this website. He looks at it and its a countdown timer to thanksgiving, but

it actually says "SlapsGiving" Barney freaks out but realizes, its not as bad if you know its coming. But a couple episodes later, its thanksgiving and Barney

is freaking out and Marshal is taunting him and Lilly, being Slap Commissioner, tells Marshal he can't slap Barney. Barney takes his new freedom too

far and keeps rubbing it in and as the timer goes out Lilly cracks and gives marshal his slap power back and here is what happens:

I love this show...

2009-04-09T13:14:00.000-07:00

I took a quiz today, one of those facebook ones where they ask you all these questions and then give you what they think you should be or do, etc. Well this one was to find out where you should live and after answering 6 questions I apparently should be living in Dublin, Ireland.

Hmm...I never thought of living in Ireland. I mean, I am a wee bit Irish so I guess it wouldn't be the worst place. In movies it looks so amazing, yeah, I could live there, become a bard in a pub, it would be great! Beautiful green nature, living on the outskirts would be peaceful, endless rolling green hills, and cold weather during the winter. I wouldn't mind paying that place a visit right now, spring break sucks.

Beach Day

2009-04-07T15:30:00.001-07:00

This is the third spring break in a row that I haven't gone on the beach trip with my team.

Year 1: Couldn't go because I had to wait for my hour to choose classes, so I stayed on Campus in my room. (I also did my room mates so that HE could go on the beach trip...)

Year 2: Beach Day was planned on the only day of the whole week that I had to go to work.

Year 3: I planned beach day on Wednesday so that I could go since I had duty Tuesday and wouldn't be able to leave campus. Somehow I knew this would happen, that some snake would roll in and have everyone go on Tuesday instead of Wednesday when I had planned it AND

announced it the week before (plus its supposed to rain tomorrow.)

This is the final straw, if it wasn't for being and RA, I would say that I am never planning anything ever again because every time I do, my plans go up in flames. So frustrating...

Oh yeah, remember how I bought new board shorts... FML

Ugh... What am I doing with my life?

2009-04-06T18:23:00.001-07:00

GOD! I feel so gay for putting these up! No, I feel even GAYER for taking the

pictures and photoshoping them to look good. Wow... Wow, this is horrible. It makes me wonder where my career is going. Ok, anyways, who do you think is going to win this competition. Anthony resubmitted and Jordan's is just... Oh lord... I'm gonna take the hit for this I KNOW IT! Why did I put my signature on it? They better get a butt load of comments...

Edit: Ok I had to take down the competitors picture, but its probably for the best. It looks like the competition is done due to a forfeit on Jordan's half (for good reasons) and will end with only these pictures of Anthony burning its way through my blog.

Edit2: Jordan wanted me to put it back up. Its staying up now.

Shower Photoshoot

2009-04-05T19:36:00.000-07:00

Today I did probably one of the gayest photoshoots I have ever done. Anthony and Jordan decided to have a competition to see who could get the gayest looking model picture and get the most comments one it. Of course, I volunteered to take the photos wanting to polish up on my photoshop skills. I was laughing all the way through, especially when Anthony couldn't keep a strait face in the shower. Thankfully he was wearing swim trunks which made it less awkward but still, hahahaha, Highlight of the day. To the left is the picture I chose for to edit for the competition with my insignia on in the corner. I decided to go with my normal signiture instead of the new logo I made for painting since I have not developed it all the way yet. It still works the way it is supposed to. I wanted to do a caption but I am not sure what I should put on there....