Delays in Blog Posts

Hey everyone, I haven't been as active blogging lately as I would have liked. The holidays, work, and family can definitely keep you busy.

We are currently working on some more art projects.... Funding is a little short at the moment but we will keep you updated.

Right now we are working on our "Save the Care Bears" Project. More info to come on this soon. Care Bears are cold, hungry, and alone.... Help save them.

Check out our updates

We have posted some updates to our project on Indiegogo.com

Go check out our story and who will benefit from your donations.

Our main goal is to lower costs for school students and teams/clubs.

Any amount that is donated will influence this goal.

Our Project on IndieGoGo.com

HELP SUPPORT MY BROTHERS GAME

Hey everyone,

I wanted to update everybody that was interested in my brothers up-and-coming board game. With some previous issues now taken care of the updated game has been officially launched on Kickstarter.com

The board game is quite unique by itself but does have some slight influence from other games. If you are a fan of the board game Risk, or the card game Magic: the Gathering, then you are sure to love his creation.

For the full story and imagery pleasure check out his blog at http://dragonmagewarfare.blogspot.com/

To view this project on Kickstarter click HERE!!!

For those of you who don't know what Kickstarter is here is a brief explanation:

You can donate money to get certain things in return. For example, on some projects you can donate only 1 dollar and earn yourself a name spot in a rulebook of a game. Or, you can donate 15 dollars and also score yourself a nice t-shirt. Some projects will give you a completed copy of a game or comic book for a donation.

Check out kickstarter.com for details and also check out my brothers game mentioned above.

Also, if you like to browse boardgamegeek.com here is the link to his game there http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/102927/dragonmage-warfare

Thanks everyone for checking it out and a HUGE thanks to anyone that supports my brother in his endeavor.

My position on Texting while Driving

For those of you who have never driven in Logan, Utah during the busiest hours of the day, lets just say that its typically a nightmare. While I am sure many of the drivers of Logan are completely capable and intelligent there is a large number of drivers that have no respect or common courtesy whatsoever.

IF YOU DON"T WANT TO READ THE FIRST TWO STORIES, SKIP TO THE SECOND TO LAST PARAGRAPH FOR THE POINT OF THIS POST.

I decided to relax and let my wife drive this time and I was just sitting back and watching everyone. I watched a very large, lifted Dodge truck weave in and out of lanes behind us until he was beside us driving about our pace. As soon as he was beside us I noticed that he was in the process of texting (could have been web browsing for all i know). He did not look up at the car in front of him for a full 10 seconds (and I am being modest, it felt like much longer). The traffic at that particular time was actually pretty bad, the fact that he was weaving in and out like that took a little bit of bravery if you ask me and the whole time (as it seems) he was using his phone. A truck that size and lifted could rear end a car like mine (2010 Mazda 6) at 20 miles per hour and end up on top of my son in the back seat. Hmmmmm, wow.

Moments after the Dodge truck was long gone, my wife and I were stopped at a red light next a minivan that was full of kids (looked like 4 kids, could have been 1 or 2 more). The mom was texting while we were stopped which is no big deal since everyone uses the stop light as a great chance to quickly reply to someone. But when the light turned green, she hits the gas and I didn't see her look up for quite a distance. She finally looked up and slammed on her brakes and almost hit the car in front of her. I think she was wearing a seat belt but I couldn't see any seat belts on the kids. I wonder how much that text message would have cost if she didn't slam on her brakes when she did.

Driving home that night we were following a car on the northern end of town. We could see the glow of his phone from where we were. He had his phone up on the steering wheel and was texting in a position that he could still "quickly" look at the road between letters/words. Information I had read about eye focus time from near sight to far sight still took around .5 seconds. And, when you add a stimulation such as light your focus time can take just over a second to adjust back to far sight. I also slightly researched some statistical analysis of reaction time and found out that while driving your reaction times are much less than anyone would think. While you are thinking your reaction time is instantaneous, it is actually delayed by a ballpark average of .5 - .8 seconds. (of coarse I am not throwing in exact data but its close). Now, to add on to this we were traveling at 50 - 55 miles per hour. 50 miles per hour is 73.33 feet per second. I'll say that again, that is 73.33 FEET PER SECOND. If you have the the combined eye refocus time and the normal human delay time you are losing over 1 second on average and 2 seconds on an apparent worst case scenario. Worst case scenario you will run into anything within 146.66 feet of where you are. then you have to add in the stopping distance of the vehicle you are driving. So, I know that this particular person thought he was being safer by being able to look at the road quicker but in reality he could have caused quite the accident if circumstance would have been considerably less favorable.

Back before we all had smart phones and touch screens we could write a novel with one hand in 10 seconds without even looking at our phones. Now, there are not very many people that can do that on their current phones. I know several people that have had some severely close calls while they were texting and driving. I just don't want to see my wife or kid killed from some idiot who isn't paying attention to what they are doing. Besides, if you get in a wreck and they prove that you were texting, even if nobody is injured you can still go to jail for attempted manslaughter. Wow, it seems to me that I don't really need to drive this point any further. This is my position on Texting while Driving: It doesn't just make you unsafe, but it makes everyone unsafe. There are kids on the road, babies, grandparents, spouses, parents..... lets help them get home to their families ;)

You Never Know When An Idiot Will Strike - Episode 6

Short and sweet episode today, Talking with an apparently crazy lady that was waiting for the bus. For this episode she will be referred to as Crazy Lady.

Scenario: I am walking my boy over to 7-11 to buy him a treat. The bus stop is on the street next to 7-11.

Crazy Lady: Hey, how are you?
Me: Doing good, you?
Crazy Lady: I use to live around here and was wondering if I could plug my phone in at your house.
Me: Umm, I think there is an outlet on the outside of the 7-11
Crazy Lady: Well, I asked them if I could plug my phone in inside and the said no, I think they are prejudice.
Me: Well, I would just plug it in outside until they tell you to stop.
Crazy Lady: I use to live in this neighborhood, can I just plug it in at your house?
Me: I would rather not.
Crazy Lady: Your boy is really cute, Can I hold him?
Me: Really? No Thanks, but good luck with your phone.
Crazy Lady: Can you show me where the outlet is on the building?
Me: Its next to the red box, good luck.
Crazy Lady: My friend has heat stroke and we live in Ogden and are waiting for the bus. Can you buy her a bottle of water?
Me: ***Staring completely blankly in disbelief*** Sorry, I can't help you

Then I walked away. I may have messed it up just a little but WOW. She asked me if she could charge her phone in my house several times. I just can't help but think she was just a druggie that was looking to steal stuff.

But then again, she could have just been a complete idiot ;)

Eat Your Words - Episode 2

You know those times when you are getting so completely frustrated with your child doing something and you want to smack them? But, they are just so cute when they do it that you just want to smile and watch them break all your stuff?

This brings us to Episode 2

My son has developed an absolute love for tractors. It doesn't matter if they are red, green, or blue.... If it looks like a tractor or sounds like a tractor he is all for it. In fact, saying the word tractor puts a smile on his face. We have discovered that the best babysitter for him is YOUTUBE. Jason Aldean sings a song called Big Green Tractor. Someone was kind enough to put this song into a tractor slide show on YOUTUBE. We can sit my boy in front of the computer screen and you will have just about 4 minutes of complete uninterrupted work, sleep, or relaxation time.

My son was sitting on my lap watching this slide show on my second monitor while I was doing some graphic design work on my main monitor. He was holding a toy truck and kept trying to remove my hands so that he could drive it on the keyboard. I kept telling him that he would have to get down if he didn't stop. After about 4 million attempts to finish my work I finally decided to put him down and let him lay down on the floor in "UTTER POUT MODE". I went into the kitchen so that I could ignore his whining and after about 15 seconds I hear him giggling pretty hard. I look around the corner and he has his truck on the keyboard looking right at me. He busts out laughing ridiculously hard and starts running towards me. I had started to open my mouth to tell him "NO" but just swallowed my words and laughed. He would dart back to the computer and stand there quietly until I put my head back into the kitchen. As soon as I peaked back around the corner he had the truck back on the keyboard. After about 10 minutes of this I finally had to stop him from putting his truck on the keyboard. It's times like these that make you happy to be a parent.

Eating Your Words can sometimes bring about the best things ever.

You Never Know When An Idiot Will Strike - Episode 5

Last night my wife and I took my son to the fair. It was a typical day at the fair and the rides were only one ticket because it was family night. Like any family night it was quite busy. No big deal for us, we had a lot of fun and we won a few prizes. But, lets talk about parking. The parking at this particular set of grounds is set up so that you can park on the two outside edges or park face to face in the center of the area. The parking area on this side of the grounds spans for quite the distance and sometimes you will have to drive all the way to the end and back just to go into the next row to find a space and it sometimes takes a little time.

But, What if you don't want to drive all the way down? Just park behind someone who is already facing another car in the center parking, right? WRONG. We are chatting with some friends and notice a guy in an SUV trying to get out of a space where there is someone in front of him and behind him end-to-end. I ran over to help him get out without hitting another car and luckily he was able to barely squeeze between a couple cars. What would seriously drive someone to completely block someone in like this? Did they just not see the car on the other end? Did they just assume that they were going to be leaving before them? Who knows. On the way out of the parking lot we noticed that about 10 other people had also blocked in cars the same way. Are these people all from the same gene pool? I know we were in Tremonton but holy crap, I didn't know that many people had complete disregard for other people.

I guess idiots are everywhere, We all better watch out.

P.S. If it were me, I would have either backed into that car repeatedly or else keyed the living crap out of it. And then left a note saying: "YOU KNOW WHY".

You Never Know When An Idiot Will Strike - Episode 4

Short and quick post today. Idiots are everywhere and they like to cross the street. The like to cross the street when there is a lot of traffic I'm guessing that they don't have a car or else they would have driven to their destination. Today, I met one such moron.

I'm driving home and I am almost there. This person decides to dart in front of me to cross the street. No big deal, I am not too close to this person so I didn't have to completely slam on the breaks. I didn't come to a complete stop and I was just about to hit the gas again when this person darts back in front of me from the center of the street. At this point I'm thinking to myself: "Is this person on a suicide watch list or just an idiot?" He grabbed a grocery sack that was sitting next to one of the trees on the curb and then darted across for the third time. This time there were quite a few cars getting stopped. from both directions.

I understand that the northern end of Brigham City doesn't have any cross walks or stop lights so people just cross wherever their dear little hearts desire but seriously, get a freaking clue. Stop traffic once?....Sure, fine. Stop traffic twice?....Okay moron sure, ill wait, not a big deal. Stop traffic a third time?.... I want to punch your face off, holy crap!!! Did that just happen?

Who raises these people? This kid was most likely in the range of 13 - 16 years old unless he just looked way way old for his age. I swear I learned traffic safety before Kindergarten, I could be totally wrong though. This kid was probably the offspring of one of the complete idiots from episodes 1, 2, or 3. The best part is that I am lucky enough to encounter these people myself. I HAVE THE BEST LUCK EVER.....OF ALL TIME.

You Never Know When An Idiot Will Strike - Episodes 1, 2, & 3

Episode 1

Wal-Mart Super Center In Brigham City Bring us Episodes 1 and 2.

The parking lot at this particular Wal-Mart has alternating direction parking. I already hate it when people drive through the lanes the wrong direction since I have a massive sized truck. I pull into the lane to find a space and there is one car in front of me. Coming out the wrong way there is this chick in a little white car eyeballing a space. The car in front of me wanted to pull into this space and the little white car decides to pull forward and block the space. The car in front of me honks and keeps going to a further space (quite the distance away I might add). The little white car backs up and tries to pull into the space but realizes that it can't make that turn without being in the way so it pulls forward again and waves me by. Ok, I am in a Dodge Cummins with a long bed and can barely pass by the other car. I finally get by and pull into my distant space. I look back and watch this car try for at least a full 3 - 5 minutes before it finally pulls out and goes into a different lane. WHAT THE CRAP???????

Now, this idiot blocks 2 of us from getting into that close space.... Didn't realize that she could have just backed in and saved herself time... Then not knowing how to make a 3 point turn just gave up and went somewhere else to park. WOW, I wonder if she has kids.... I also hope that if she does have kids they are the same age as my son. That way, my son will look even smarter in school ;)

Episode 2

The same Wal-Mart store but this time inside.

I had my son in the cart and I had two items. I had a package of pens and a little toy car. I'm not in any hurry and was just killing time anyways but I walked from the one side of the checkouts clear to the other side since I was parked on that end of the building. I get down there and realize that the lines on this side are crazy long so I turn around and go back to the other side. Right as I am about to stand in a line this guy runs up out of nowhere and jumps in front of me. I say under my breath "Okayyyyyyyy" and decide to go to the next line which is obviously a little longer. The same guy decides that he likes my line better yet again and jumps in front of me again. I looked at him very puzzled and he turned around and saw me staring at him. I kept walking further down and he was going to cut in front of me for a third time but before he could get in front of me again I asked him if he was in a hurry. I didn't say it too rude but I had a little bit of a tone in my voice. He looked right into my eyes, didn't say a thing, turned around and walked away.

I am still confused to this very minute. I just cannot fathom what was going through this guys mind. The first lane he was in was in fact the shortest lane.

Lets really hope that this guy didn't breed. I don't think there is an institution that can handle the coming generations that may have spawned from this moron. The best part is that when I asked him he didn't even say anything to me. He can really influence the world with his social skills.

Episode 3

This was on the drive home from Wal-Mart.... What a joke that I run into this many idiots within 1 hour.

Brigham City main street has two lanes both directions and a center turning lane. The majority of main street doesn't have turning lanes on the sides of the street. I am in the inside lane and am about 5 or 6 blocks from my house when a car pulling out of Kents market completely cuts me off. They cut across a whole lane to do it.... GRRRR. I got in the right lane and was annoyed. The car shortly pulls into the turning lane to get off main street. There was a huge flatbed tow truck behind me that quickly pulled beside me. A second car pulls out and cuts off the tow truck even closer than I was just cut off. The tow truck tires had to be dang near locked up to avoid hitting that car. The car then slows down almost all the way to zero to make a left had turn off of main street from the inside lane..... the car didn't even go into the turning lane. REALLY????? REALLY????? Where do all these idiots come from? I mean seriously, where do they come from?

These people are one day going to be teaching someone else how to drive. I just wish there was some sort of I.Q. test in order to drive or even be in public. I am just baffled by the lack of intelligence all over the place. One hour of my life and I came across this many people that are total idiots.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN AN IDIOT WILL STRIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT THE CRAP BLOGGER

Apparently the "Post Comment" feature on blogger is Kaput. Nobody can post comments. A couple weeks ago I was getting comments and also able to comment. Now, everyone texts me and posts on my facebook saying that they can't post comments. Kinda lame blogger, kinda lame.

Thanks for ruining my life ha ha just kidding. But seriously, are you mad Google? Are you a little sad that your stocks dropped so you decided to jack up your own servers in a rage? Seriously though, start working soon.... Love: A blogger on your service.

Scenario - I need Opinions

First of all, I will be linking this to Facebook so if you don't want to comment on my blog.. feel free to comment on my Facebook if you have my Facebook account.

SCENARIO BASIS: A four way intersection with four way stop signs and a car at every stop sign.

For added emphasis so this does not get confusing we are going to say that the car facing North is RED, the car facing East is GREEN, the car facing South is BLUE, and the car facing West is White. The colors don't matter but are for illustrative purposes only.

Now, the Blue, Red, and Green cars are all going straight and the White car is going left. Now according to what we learn in drivers ed and also in Traffic School (for those of us who got too many tickets when we were younger) We know that it really does not matter which direction you are going as long as you get to the stop sign first then you have the right-of-way regardless of what direction you are traveling.

In this scenario the Red car arrives the same time as the White car with the Blue and Green cars getting to their respective stops sign a couple seconds after.

The White car knowing that if he gives the signal for the other car to proceed that he is next to proceed.

We know the White car which is turning left has the right-of-way. However, the Blue car seeing that the Red car is proceeding he knows that no cars other than him can proceed until the Red car clears the intersection, so the Blue car proceeds. The White car in a rage hurries and makes the left turn and tailgates the Blue car while honking all the way through the intersection. The White car then follows the Blue into a parking lot while tailgating it until the Blue car stops. The White car drives out of the parking lot and leaves.

OK.... READY FOR THE QUESTIONS? I really want your opinion.

1. Is the Blue car in the wrong since him proceeding didn't actually hinder any other cars in their travel?
2. Do you think the Blue car was actually hindering the other cars?
3. Was the White car justified in its action?
4. If you were the Blue car would you have done the same thing?
5. If you were the White car would you have done the same thing?

Thanks in advance for your replys.... again, please comment below or on facebook. Thanks

The New Network

We finally got our new wireless network up and running. Who would have thought that a new router would make so much difference.

Our old network compares to a car that is driving basically on fumes. You aren't going to get very far from home when you realize that you can't go anywhere. Our older router had a couple issues and you could get about 75% or less 8 feet from the router and don't even think about going in the other room.

Our new network is like a Smart car. All you need is battery and you will keep on cruising.

Not to mention that the old router seemed to drag down my "plugged" speed too. With the new router I am getting much faster reaction times with my "plugged" devices as well. Kinda crazy, who would have thought that buying a new router would actually merit writing up a whole blog post ;)

Eat Your Words - Episode 1

Lets preface this story by first telling you that one of my sons favorite things to do with his sippie cup is to try and get as much water on something as he can before anyone notices. And, maybe I should have prefaced that by saying that his favorite sippie cups are the ones with the straws. If any of you have used any of the sippie cups with straws, you know that they are a little easier to "shake" water out of than most normal tilt sippie cup.

Now, on to the story:

Korver: Daddy.... Juice. Dadda.... Dadda....Daddy.... Juice.
Me: Hang on a sec bud let me get you some water, the doctor said to not give you so much juice. I'll even put ice in it for you.
Korver: Water...Water..... Water.
Me: Here you go bud

Then, Korver decides to shake water all over the place

Me: Korver, please don't
Korver: No No No
Me: thanks bud

Korver continues to try to get the water out (which is working by the way)

Me: Korver, we go through this every day, If you dump out any more water I'm going to smack your butt!!

Korver turns around starts shaking more water out of his cup then turns right back to me, starts slapping his own butt and says with the biggest smile ever: Dadda Butt...... Dadda.... Butt.

Lets just say it was so cute I had to eat my words and give him a huge hug.

Another Uinta Trip Coming Soon

It's coming again.... Finally. We have so many things going on this summer and it also seems that we have too few days off work.

We are working on another trip here in a couple weeks and I get so giddy when I start talking about it. It will most likely only be a 2 day or a 1.5 day trip this time. Which is fine, that gives us plenty of time to catch lots of fish. Maybe this time we will be able to get some good hiking in too. I have been hearing lots of great news about my favorite trails. Trails are drying out and there aren't too many downed trees. Fishing is pretty slow in many of the distant lakes but fishing is better now than it was a month ago.

Can't wait

Crazy Rantings - Wax Paper

First things first about my Rant: I feel that I can cook fairly decently, Sometimes I just wing it and manage to combine some great spicing with terrible cooking and create a nice outcome. Having said that.... I don't typically touch goodies or treats but can make a great cobbler in my opinion.

Now, My wife and I decided to make a few different varieties of rice crispy treats last night. Which, by the way, all taste excellent.

Why is it that every freaking recipe on the internet tells you put your finished treats on wax paper? WHY? I mean seriously, its as though they think that your treats won't stick to wax paper.

Its in the nature of wax paper to not let your crap stick to the paper and then you can enjoy your crap without having to pick paper off of your treats.

Who are they kidding? Do they secretly tell everyone to use wax paper and then go giggle about it with each other?

My treats are sticking to the wax paper and now I have the tough decision of whether to toss the lot or try to pick the stupid paper off the bottom. Who invented this garbage? Was it just a ploy to fool bakers into using a pathetic product just to ruin their treats? Now that I hate wax paper and realize that I will never use it again maybe I will use it to clean my rear if I happen to run out of toilet paper. Which by the way would have been equally effective for placing my finished rice crispy treats. Not to mention you wouldn't notice it as much because it would probably dissolve in your mouth. If you miss wax paper you will end up picking it from your chewed food before swallowing, so why not just use toilet paper instead of wax paper?

Ok, Ok.... Rant finished.... Thanks Wax paper for ruining my deliciously scrumptious treats.

Uinta Conditions

I have not been through the Uintas (hwy 150) since my last trip but, For those of you who do view my blog I thought I would relay what I have seen so far this week. I typically stick to hwy 150 and the surrounding lakes.

Most of my info is coming from Bogley.com if anyone is curious.

Fishing is pretty decent at many of the lakes on Hwy 150. Fish have been stocked in many of the lakes as well. Worms and Power bait seem to be doing the best at the moment. I personally don't use worms or power bait. Many anglers are doing great with various flies at the moment as well.

Inner lakes such as Marjorie, Crystal, Cliff, Echo, Notch, and Divide Lakes, etc seem to be fairly poor fishing. Fish are, however, being caught but it isn't as productive this year as normal. There are still patches of snow here and there and several of the lakes still have small patches of ice. Most of them should be clear by the end of the week.

Lets all hope that we don't have another year like this one for a long time. This late start is throwing everyone off.

Crazy Rantings - Pet Style

You hear about all those people that have gotten tickets recently for talking on their cell phones while driving right? I know of several individuals who have gotten tickets for it. Ok, it makes sense.... It is an attempt to stop people from being "unsafe" drivers.... I get it.

But here is an even bigger issue. Why can a driver not get in trouble for having a dog chill on their lap while driving. Lets just go over a couple safety issues really quick:

Issue #1: Its a pet on your lap while driving. I don't know how much "not distracting" it can be
Issue #2: If your puppy is hanging its head out of the drivers window I would think that you lose not only your peripheral vision but also vision from your drivers door mirror (depending on where the head is out the window)
Issue #3: If your little pet happens to have a tail longer than your big toe I would think that there may be some slight possibility of getting "wagged" in the face.... I don't really have a better way to phrase that.
Issue #4: Since you are already in a pretty distracted state of things, do you think that when you get into an accident that your dog will get more hurt or less hurt being on your lap than it would if it were in the back seat?
Issue #5: I have heard of several cases where animal rights activists (or pet lovers... whatever) have gotten upset and sued someone over their pet getting left in the car while the owner went into the grocery market. I understand and although I don't necessarily agree with either party (depending on the case) Wouldn't it make sense that those people who complain about it shouldn't have a pet out of a pet seat belt? Because they are endangering their pet more unrestrained in a moving vehicle than the person who left their little friend in the car with the windows cracked.

I am actually pretty impartial most of the time with many of these types of things but I think that there are some major issues regarding traffic rules and regulations that are floating around.

I was told by an officer a while back (because I ask stupid questions all the time when I get pulled over.. and trust me it helps avoid tickets, I have done it many many times) That according to the law you can get a citation for drinking a soda while driving. Eating, drinking, cell phone use, messing with the stereo, and few other things are all cause for "distracted driving". DID ANYONE EVER MENTION PETS??????

A plug for my Brother......

So, my brother has created a new board game. He is currently in the funding process and currently has his game listed on Kickstarter.com at this link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/340631149/mage-wars-the-ancient-prophecy?ref=live The project has about 40 or so days left for funding.

Any help would be great. I have played the game and it was awesome. He is offering quite a bit to those who help fund. Backing 55 bucks will earn you a copy of the game quite a bit below retail value. Additional backing will earn a copy of the game, expansions, engraved dice, and much more. Check out the link above at Kickstarter or also his blog @ http://magewars.blogspot.com

Thanks Everyone, I would love to see his game make it onto shelves. He has put lots of time and effort into the creation of this game through play testing, design, and a great deal more.

5 Day Uinta Trip Post 3 - Additions

Additions:

I thought I would just add to anyone about to visit the Uintas. Friday nights seem to be the nights when about 75 - 85% of the people volume shows up. I would recommend getting up there sooner than later. Talking to the Ranger at the Station on the Kamas side, he said that most of the upper camp sites should be open on the 20th of July. That may of coarse make it easier to get a good spot to camp since the majority of the Campers like to use the improved sites that also have camp hosts. (And of coarse I am talking about the areas on the Mirror Lake Hwy, since that is my favorite area).

Our dilemma was this: We had our site since Wednesday about the middle of the day. Friday night we had several different groups pull right in to the area that we were camped. This really isn't a big deal to us having fellow campers nearby. But, here is the problem. There were about 7 different spots that previous campers had made for a great camp site. Instead of going to a further spot, a group decided to make camp right next to us Friday night. Not too big of a deal, although, they came over and asked to borrow some lighter fluid to make a fire. I didn't have any so I lent the last bit of my white lantern gas to them. Apparently they had non-existent fire starting skills. I watched as they used the gas and threw on a match. The flames burst everywhere and burned for about 30 seconds or less. That group ended up with no fire that whole night. Rather funny if you ask me, what a waste. After this took place they decided to blast their crappy music and start dancing around. This normally wouldn't bother me at all but I just gave them the last of my white gas and they were still jerks. Oh well, I finished my hot cocoa and went to bed early. I thought about hitting the panic button for my truck but decided to let them have their fun.

I also found a couple more pictures from our trip that I didn't post.

The first one is of my boy. He actually had the time of his life up in the mountains. We had a small stream running almost through our camp. He played in that quite a lot during the 4 days we were there. The second picture is of our camp site. Not really sure why I took that picture but I guess it just shows a memory. I can't wait to get up there again.

I also found some goodies laying around in the area that people seemed to have left behind. If you recognize the area and happen to be missing anything from your trip, leave a comment and let me know. Its nothing expensive or anything that we found but its still something.

5 Day Uinta Trip Post 2 - Let it Rain, Let it Hail

Thursday July 7, 2011

To start off this post lets just say that rain and hail shouldn't be an excuse to have a terrible week but we were getting a little frustrated with the amount of rain and hail. We woke up Thursday and cooked some sweet french toast and sausage for breakfast. About half way through cooking I realized that I forgot to pack syrup. I don't know about all of you but I hate eating warm breakfasts without syrup. The first thing we did was drive down to Kamas to get a bottle of syrup. That was an emergency.

Lets get on with the fun times....

We decided to head to Echo Lake since we had never been there and also wanted to catch... well, lets not talk about what we wanted to catch... Shhhhh, its a secret ;)

anyway, The road to Echo was fairly rough but nothing that my truck couldn't handle. There were only a few small snow drifts on the road but quite a few large puddles. When we arrived at Echo the entire surrounding flat area (which really isn't that much flat area) was completely wet. It was nearly impossible to walk anywhere without getting your shoes wet. The weather quickly turned nasty and started pouring rain. Coincidentally we grabbed my boys mini tent for him to chill in while we had to hang out under trees to try and keep dry. We had walked quite a ways around the lake and didn't want to head back until we had caught a prize. Since it was raining I decided to go for a quick run/hike up the mountain. After about 20 minutes the rain turned into giant hail. And by hail I don't mean little girly pebbles of hail.

After I quit hiding under a few trees I finally decided to take a few pictures of the lake. Quite beautiful if you ask me. And also, I now know why they call it Echo Lake. When there is thunder, it definitely leaves you in awe.

There was water pouring in from everywhere and there was still a good amount of giant snow piles all around the lake. Aside from the hail and rain this was a great little detour from our original plan in the Uintas. We caught a nice little Brooke Trout but with such bad weather it was pretty hard to do much. Not to mention we took advantage of a nice break in the weather and high-tailed it out of there since we had my 18 month old with us. Lucky for us that the weather stayed terrible so its a good thing that we left when we did. Oh well, I guess we now have an excuse to go back to this lake later on in the year.

With such bad weather we really didn't do much the rest of the day.

Friday July 8, 2011

With my wives' family arriving at our camp on Thursday we were able to fish with them on Friday. We decided to be a little lazy and just fish Trial Lake. We caught a few fish (that were tasty) but nothing to blow away a record book. I had fish chasing my lures all the way to shore but I was having a hard time getting them to bite. My father-in-law was having some great success with flies (particularly wooly buggers). Most of the fishing around the crowded lake was being done with power bate. Let me just interject right there and say that I absolutely hate fishing with power bate. I HATE IT. Anyways, we caught a few nice looking rainbows and what I am very certain was a tiger trout but everyone had their own opinions. And again, nothing to really brag about except that I was eating heaven....MMMMMMM

Saturday July 9, 2011

We decided to pack up and head home a day early. We were all sunburned and couldn't reach most of the lakes that we had planned on hitting. We couldn't get to the Crystal Lake trailhead with the truck so we missed out on most of the hiking that we had planned. We could have just hiked to the trailhead first but with my little man we decided to just save it for later on in the season. My favorite "drive-to" lake in the Uintas which is Butterfly Lake was still about 50% ice covered (maybe a bit less).

We had a great week even though we didn't attempt several things with my little man since he is still so young. We didn't catch a ton of fish either but with the amount of people that were up there and the terrible weather I guess we have a couple excuses. Overall it was great to get away for a while and the sweet mountain air had me already excited for our next visit. Maybe next time we will get to fish some of the more distant and exciting lakes.

5 day Uinta Trip turned into 4.

5 Day Uinta Trip Post 1 - Mostly Driving

So I must say that our Trip was a little less exciting than I had anticipated but we did, if fact, have some good times.

We started out on Wednesday a little later than we had anticipated but we got there by around 2:30 in the afternoon. We played around for a little while and drove over to Trial Lake and were planning on heading up to the Crystal Lake Trailhead. Well, there was some pretty deep snow covering the road about a quarter of a mile past the Trial Lake Campground. We didn't want to do anything crazy at the moment so we decided to make a new plan. We drove up forest road 401 and I can't remember for the life of me what the name of the turnoff is at the moment. Lets just say that this turnoff will eventually connect you with the Trial Lake C.G. turnoff. On this road we ran into some beautiful scenery. I saw what I thought was a small fishing pond but when I got out of the truck for a closer look it was just a giant runoff puddle. As soon as I walked over to the pond we started hearing an elk bugle. OH MAN!!!! just made my day, that is one of my favorite things to hear.

We continued on and splashed through some giant puddles in the road and plowed through some snow drifts until we came to a sign. Never having been on this road before we really didn't know what to expect. The sign reads: (right) Trial Lake 4 miles and (left) buckeye lake. Knowing that I wanted to reach the Crystal Lake Trailhead I opted to go right. By the time we reached the sign I had already put my truck into 4 wheel drive since the road was pretty harsh and there was all the snow. Not far up from the sign the river that had been running down the road got a little bit treacherous and my wife was starting to get a bit nervous. I put the truck in 4 Low and kept going up. Not too long after the shift my wife got out and walked up the hill a little bit and made it very clear that I was not going to make it. Since I had my little man in the back seat I decided to heed her warning and head back down the hill. (I still think I could have made it... but we will never know).

We went back to the sign and headed to buckeye. Well, lets just say that this lasted about 3 minutes. We were not going to drive to buckeye, there was just too much snow. We had the packs in the truck but we weren't quite feeling up for a hike. So we headed back out. By this time we just decided to head back for dinner and do the fishing tomorrow. It took us about an hour to get up almost 8 miles.

Ill post the next day a little later tonight, along with some pictures.

ONE MORE DAY

Tomorrow is the day. We are heading out tomorrow for an adventure, FINALLY!!!!!!

We are heading up to the High Uintas for some fishing and hiking, but more importantly some time away from our busy lives. We have so much going on that most of the time it seems like we don't ever have time for ourselves. My wife and I don't typically see each other for more than half of every day. It will be a nice change to have a full week to ourselves.

The Plan: We are more or less going to wing it when it comes to where we are going to camp since all of the "improved" camp sites that are reservation aren't even open yet. But, we are hoping to get lucky with the first-come, first-serve side of things on some of the other improved sites. If not there are plenty of places that we can find to camp. We are going to be hitting several quick hikes from Thursday to Sunday. Most of which will be shorter 2 - 4 miles hikes since we will be packing my little man with us. Korver weighs almost 32 pounds so it will be a little rough.

The main area that we will be hiking is just below Bald Mountain on the South Slope off of Highway 150 (mirror lake highway). Many people still refer to this area as the North Slope even though the North slope is on the other side (Mirror Lake, Butterfly, Browne). We are hoping to go to John Lake, Three Divide Lakes, Possibly Notch Lake, and maybe even back to Marjorie Lake where we caught the Grayling last year.

There are still small patches of snow in many of the areas around 10,000 feet and higher but from what I can tell from one of the forums that I frequent that the snow in the area that we will be is all but gone. The fishing in the area isn't quite as good as it was last year due to the late snow season and winter kill. But, there are still plenty of fish ready to be caught, you just need to know what they are eating :)

I won't be able to post an update until we get back next Sunday. Wish us Luck!!!

55" 1080P 120Hz LED-LCD HDTV for just over $2,000

Back in the day my 46" HDTV had a price tag like that. Great time to get an HDTV.

Click the image to go to Best Buy.

Happy 4th

Happy Independence day everybody. For those of you who don't know today is the 4th of July. Today is the day that we celebrate our nations independence and unite to give thanks to our brave men and women in the armed forces who continue to fight for the freedoms that we all enjoy.

On July 4, 1776 the declaration of independence was signed. On the one year anniversary of the signing there was a 13 gun solute in both the morning and the night to solute the original 13 colonies. To this day we still solute with fireworks. Don't forget what we celebrate.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!

Not Long Now

So we have less than a week left until we head into the Uinta Mountains again. I am not only excited to fish but to hike and just be lazy camping as well. I seem to be the only one that is excited about it.

There are several dilemmas that we are still facing though.

First: There is still snow as low as Trial Lake which is just shy of 10,000 feet. Although the snow melt rate is around 3 - 4 inches per day. As of noon today the Snotel Report shows that at Trial Lake the snow depth was 12" Here is a link to the hourly (last seven days) report: http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/nwcc/sntl-datarpt.jsp?site=828&days=7&state=ut

Second: The Mirror Lake Highway was just opened recently (only a few days ago) so there is bound to be lots of traffic right now. As soon as people hear word that the road is open they start jumping on their bikes to do some pristine rides through the mountains. Not to mention people want to start camping and fishing being so close to the holidays.

Third: Mirror and Trial Lake Campgrounds are not scheduled to be open until the 13th of this month so everyone who is up there will be camping at the lower campgrounds that don't have any snow on them. Which will cause there to be lots of congestion.
          - We are hoping to get lucky and go earlier in the week and hopefully avoid the rush to get a spot.
          - And we are also hoping to avoid the "big" holiday rush as most people get the holiday weekend off and not the week after.

Fourth: going along with the third dilemma none of the campsites that are above the Mirror Lake Campground will be available at all either since they will most likely still have a good amount of snow on them. And some of the highest lakes will most likely still have ice on them.

As you can see we are in for a surprise in more ways than one. Hopefully we will get lucky but I guess there is no way to really tell how things will go until we get there. You can ask people all you want about the fishing and the hiking and all that but it all boils down to your skill, your methods, and your tools.... Oh and don't forget luck.

Only 6 days to the Real Deal

Ok, its about that time for the first major trip of the year.

This Years Trips Have Included:

1: Cattle Drive to my families Ranch in Southwestern Utah
2: Park City
3: Quick Uinta Trip to check conditions (which is a portion of the Park City trip)

As you can see, the list is very short this year. I am hoping to change that starting next week.

We have our big fishing/camping/hiking trip planned. Although, with the late snow year and conditions I don't know how much fun we will have but we are going to give it our best shot. Many of the hikes that we were planning on may not be accessible yet. However, this is only the first big trip of the season and we plan on taking many more before the season comes to a screeching halt.

The Uinta Mountains are completely unpredictable and the weather can get the jump on you. Always be prepared for the utmost unpredicted. Many who are very familiar with the mountains will agree that being prepared is very important. Always dress and pack in layers. Always have a way to get clean water whether you pack it in, filter, tablet, chemical, boil, or find a natural spring. I personally would recommend a good sharp knife too. Learn about the animals and plants around too. In emergencies it is always a good idea to be completely familiar with your surroundings. Oh, I almost forgot matches. Although many contacts of mine will say that you should avoid leaving a trace in such a great pristine place. And I agree, However, if there is an emergency (fall into freezing water, lose your stove, get lost etc) don't hesitate to build a fire. A fire can be used for warmth as well as being seen. Pack Rope (or cord). Rope can be utilized in so many different ways, never forget to have some rope with you.

I am getting excited, not long left before we are checking it out. Hopefully we will be able to get to all the lakes we planned. Even if the fishing is bad, its still such a great place to be.

Firework Dilemma

I was at Smiths earlier today and saw that they had some new aerial fireworks (since they are now legal in Utah). They had a 15 shot, 5 tube launcher that said it would shoot the balls 150 feet high. Guess how much it cost..... $69.99...... Wait.... ARE YOU SERIOUS????

I did some simple math: From my home in Brigham City, Utah to Evanston, Wyoming is exactly 97.7 Miles. My wifes car gets 26-28 miles per gallon around town. So, lets round up and say 30 mpg on the highway. Now, fuel at Smiths costs $3.21 per gallon but everywhere else it is about $3.30 or so. So, lets pretend gas is $3.30 per gallon.

So, 195.4 Miles Round Trip @ 30 Miles Per Gallon = $21.50 just to drive to Evanston and back. Plus lets add in that I am going to want a burger and fries for my wife, son, and myself @ about $20.00 or so total. I can buy somewhere around $40.00 Dollars worth of spectacular aerial fireworks and have enough to set off that I can get completely bored lighting them and have to save them up for another day (or two). (trust me, you can get boat loads for cheap up there).

Lets Re-cap what we just learned: For $81.50 I can take a small 3 (or so) hour road trip, Eat, and buy 2 nights worth of complete firework entertainment. However, Smiths (and everywhere else) want to charge me $70 bucks for one, 15 shot firework.

HOW IS THAT FOR THE NEW FIREWORK LAW???????????????

Lets apply this to Cedar City, Utah.... Since I love this town so much:

614 Miles Round Trip @ 30 Miles Per Gallon paying $3.35 per gallon (since Cedar is a little more pricey for gas) = $68.56 Plus some food lets say it ends up at $100.00........ Then pay for your fireworks, lets say about $40.00.

So, for the price of 2 fireworks at Smiths, you can drive all the way to Evanston and get 2 days worth of fun. HMMMMMM, that is a tough one, even for Cedar City :)

Snowy Conditions in The Uintas,,, Bummer

The awaited trip was upon us. My fishing hands were twitchy as I patiently awaited our arrival. The drive from Kamas was green with no snow in sight. "Those pictures couldn't have been from this week" I thought to myself as we made the steady climb into the mountains. As the ascent continued there were only slight traces of visible snow on the distant peaks. "FINALLY" I say to myself, "I can finally go fishing". Not too long after all this is going on in my head, we come across this:

And by "this" I mean the snow on the sides. The truck in front of us is my Father-in-law (and mother-in-law). Realizing that we weren't even to the turnoff for Washington Lake my heart began to beat faster, knowing that there was potential for no fishing or hiking. We drove a little farther "Washington is just around the corner" I said to my wife "we might get lucky". We came around the bend saw the sign for the turnoff almost completely covered in snow and then saw this:

"Well Sh**!!!!!" I say to crew. Looks like we aren't getting in there. You can see the stop sign on the left, that is the entrance to Washington and Trial Lakes. I was considering going for a run at it but after the first few feet I still wouldn't be anywhere near where I needed to go. Oh well, we are here, lets see how far up the road goes.

This one below is my 18 month old. It was around 85 degrees or so when we were up there so don't think I'm a bad parent for him not having shoes on :) I wrote his name in the side for fun, as you can see though, the snow banks on this side are around 4.5 feet high. On the other side of the road they were a little over 5 feet high.

Bald mountain definitely isn't looking bald at the moment:

This one below might be a little hard to make out but right about the center you can see the snow being blown from the giant snow blower. The snow blower is right below the scenic lookout that is on Bald Mountain Pass. just pat the "road closed" sign is where we were playing in the snow. from the picture you can sorta see that we were only one bend away from the snow blower. From what I can tell it shouldn't be long before the road is open all the way through.

On our way back down we stopped for a few more pictures. This one is right there just north of the turnoff for Washington Lake. you can see this piece of water coming out from under the road and then disappearing back under the snow. Spots like this are all over the place right now. Not to mention that there are portions of the Provo River that are well over the bank and just rampaging through the trees.

We continued down and took a few shots of the Provo Falls. Quite pretty although its rip roaring pretty ferociously. Its pretty but I think its a little more photo eligible when it isn't turned up so high:

I think the picture below is upside down, but oh well... I am not going to take the time to flip it over. This one is just a random little part that is flowing into the river right next to the falls.

This one below is also flowing in from the side. I don't remember seeing this one normally but it looks like it may have always been there.

That is just so much freaking water. It almost doesn't look like a fall. Its just a mass amount of water going down a hill. When it slows down a bit (which might be a little while) I'm sure it will be a different set of falls from what it once was.

And here are some other fun pictures that we took while up in the Uintas:

Heading out tonight

We are heading to Park City tonight. Tomorrow will be Uinta Fishing... Although, with some recent pictures that were taken and sent to me yesterday, it looks like we won't be doing nearly as much fishing as I had anticipated.

This year has been one of the worst snowy seasons that I have ever seen in any mountains that I frequent. There is still quite a bit of snow up in the Uinta Mountains and the Mirror Lake Highway isn't even open yet. I don't know how good the hiking will be either but it looks like we won't be able to drive past Lost Lake. Oh well, lets just hope that with the higher temperatures that it will be looking better in a couple weeks for our 5 day trip :)

New Firework Law

WOO HOO!!!!! Ok, so by now it is a bit of old news but I just thought I would recap on what has been happening with the change in the firework laws in Utah.

Last week the law was finally changed as to allow "multi-tube", "repeater", and "cake" aerial fireworks that can shoot up as high as 150 feet in the air. Although, things such as "m-80's", "cherry bombs", "bottle rockets", and "roman candles" are still not allowed. I don't know about all of you but this excites me very much.

In todays newspaper (the Ogden Standard for me) there was a section titled "Not Thrilled" which explained from the point of view of police and fire officials that this is going to make our neighborhoods "messy and cluttered". That point of view is actually quite funny to me. They decided that trying to tell people it wasn't safe was just a waste of breath so they are trying to detour people from lighting off fireworks on the basis that it will litter the streets. I don't know about everyone else, but I really feel like they are grasping at anything they can find to try and convince people that they are still bad.

Now the best part is this: living so close to Evanston, Wyoming who can argue that the best part of the "firework season" is trying to avoid getting caught by police on the highway coming back with your stash of fireworks. We all know that the highway patrol pulls over as many cars with Utah license plates as they can as soon as they cross back over into Utah. Well, now they can't ticket you for your fireworks (assuming of coarse you don't have the roman candles and bottle rockets.... etc).

I think that its about time Utah finally just gave in and is trying to bring some of the revenue back that is going to another state (according to the newspaper 10% of firework users in Utah go out of state). The sad part is that we still can't have roman candles but that's ok as long as we can still have something a bit better than the stupid fountains. Fountains are fun when you are 7 years old but they definitely don't do it for Independence Day!!!!!!!!!

Count Down is Ending

Ok, only two more days now. I have to wait two whole days. I can almost smell the sweet Uinta Mountain air already. I have 5 different hikes picked out and now its just a matter of narrowing it down to one. Since this will be the first hike of the year in the Uintas, and also since we will have my boy with us, it will most likely be a shorter hike until we can get back into the summer mountain groove.

I am pretty sure Notch Lake, Marjorie Lake, or potentially the Three Divide Lakes.

We will see, there are still two days to decide.

New Book by Napolean Hill

During a time when economic stability remains out of reach for so many, where do you turn for faith, inspiration and hope? Napoleon Hill's just released Outwitting the Devil is your answer.

Since the Great Depression, the self-help movement has influenced generations to incorporate personal growth into their everyday lives. But, are you really reaching your full potential? What holds you back? Could fear be the devil that prevents you from fully embracing opportunity and succeeding?

Napoleon Hill, author of all-time bestselling book, Think and Grow Rich, and one of the founders of the personal development movement, was also quick to point out that obstacles may get in the way of you achieving your true purpose. I am excited to share that a manuscript hidden for over 70 years by Hill's family has just been published on June 7th in which Hill exposes the strategies and tools used by the Devil to keep his grip on your heart and spirit preventing you from achieving your full potential. He then reveals how you can outwit the Devil's influence in your life.

We have the opportunity to learn from Hill's most controversial and provocative writings in Outwitting the Devil. This book, written in 1938 and updated for a modern audience by best-selling author Sharon Lechter, has the power to emerge as the bridge between knowing the theories of success and actually succeeding. I highly recommend it to anyone fighting fear or in search of the next steps to success. You can find Outwitting the Devil now by clicking the Amazon link below.

Count Reset to 10 Days :(

Ok, so the sad news is that my wife and I aren't going to go up to Park City until the 22nd now and that means we won't be fishing the Uintas until the 23rd. My work schedule steals my Monday evening which would have been ideal for her (and then fish tuesday) and then her work schedule won't let her have Wednesday.... Oh well, I guess Ill have to make due with Thursday.

On a brighter note though, The extra few days could mean that more lakes are open and that we can hit a different hike than we had been intending. Who knows, maybe we will get lucky.

I'm crossing my fingers.

Only 10 More Days

Ok, I know its only 10 more days until we get to hit the Uintas but HOLY CRAP!!!!! I'm going stir crazy. That means I have 6 more days of work until then. Oh well, Its coming though..... Seems like its taking forever. And the bad news is that we may not be able to hit several of the lakes that I want until next month. With one of the highest snow pack levels that I have seen in a long time the Mirror Lake Highway isn't expected to be cleared until the end of the month. They didn't give a date other than just the end of June.

However, from the info I have gathered from the forums at Bogley.com there are several great hikes that are already open.... although, with the late storms and extra snow I hear that there are lots more trees down this year and several are fairly large and across the trails. But still, I can't wait to get up there.

A must own Book for newbies in the Uintas

I completely love this book. Has to be the most ingenious work of outdoor literature ever.... well, its informative anyways. I recommend this book for Newbies and also veterans in the High Uintas. I personally still need to visit the majority of the places in this book. Its great, it shows maps and pictures and all that.

Jeffrey Probst also wrote another one called "Best Easy Day Hikes" which I am yet to purchase but from what I have seen of it, it is also a phenomenal book for anyone going to the Uintas.

Trip of Choice

So, I don't know if my wife is as excited as I am but I am freaking out about our first trip into the Uintas this year. She was attempting to surprise me with an unexpected day off work but right after she told me "We are going fishing tomorrow" her boss decided she couldn't have those days off anymore :(

Oh well, maybe we will just end up waiting for the 20th like we had planned.

And did I mention that my fishing pole is now broken? It ended up in the car trunk somehow and all of the rings got bent over. But, oh well..... Now I will have a back up pole Tee Hee. Looks like I get a new one. BONUS!!!

Conversation of the Week!!

The scene: Korver (my 17 month old) standing by the couch playing with a toy.
I just filled Korvers sippy cup with milk to give him for his nap.
(Korver was almost asleep when we walked in the door but I set him down so I could get his milk.)

Me: Korver, do you want your milk so you can take a nap?
Korver: **shakes his head no** Uh-Uh
Me: Are you sure?
Korver: **nods his head yes**
Me: Well, Im just going to go drink your milk and take a nap then.
Korver: Bye Bye

HA HA HA HA HA

Who says kids don't understand? That is one of the best conversations I have ever had with him.

Off to work I go

Ok, so with all of the 700 jobs that it seems like I have (ok, well... Im at 4 jobs I guess) this one is the most dreaded. Although it pays quite well for such little amounts of time. I am still just daydreaming about the next fishing trip. Oh well, its coming soon enough I suppose.

Its about that time

Soooooo, I have now been informed (thanks to a forum at bogley.com) that the lower lakes in the Uintas are now accessible. This has me completely freaking out and excited to get up there. Sad part is that since I am so busy I will have to wait until the 20th of June to get up there. And, the second week in July we will be up there for a full week.

If I could become a hermit, the Uinta Mountains are definitely where I would live :)

Bogley Outdoor Community

Not too long ago I found a pretty interesting Outdoor Community. http://www.bogley.com/

I stumbled across them while looking for a lake in the Uinta Mountains that may contain Golden Trout. I did, in fact, find a suitable lake that should have Golden Trout in it. And, while I was browsing around on this site I have learned some pretty cool things.

If you are interested in joining an outdoor community, I would recommend this one.

Counting Down The Days

My father in law has a Mechanic Training Event in Park City on the 20th. So that means that we are going to head over there with him and try to hit a couple lakes in the Uintas While we are that close. Hopefully it will be a little more thawed out than it is now..... AURGHHH.... Can't wait to go hiking.

Almost Time For The Uintas

Here we are, This is sorta hard to see in here but this is a rough map of the first Uinta trip for 2011. The path on the bottom is a bit rough from where the trail is but it is close. That was last years only hike :( However we did manage to catch a pretty nice Grayling and few Brook Trout.

The Loop in the center is roughly six miles in total. This is the one that we are hitting first. The main hike is to hit John Lake which is about in the center of the six mile loop. Since my brother-in-law is named John we are planning on hitting this lake just for fun. We are going to take a detour and possibly camp at Ibantik Lake. Which is one that I am quite excited for. We are probably only going to be there for 2 days on this trip but will have a week long trip after the 4th of July.

Axe Detailer FOR THE WIN!!!

So, I just thought I would post this picture and say that the Axe Detailer is bloody sweet.

The commercials were right, it is phenomenal.

Tee Hee

Here is a Youtube link to the commercial:



Anyways, Just posted this for fun. K'Dee bought me one and I love it. :)

COUPONING FOR THE WIN!!!!!

Sooooo, my sweet wife has been rocking the coupon world (at least it seems that way to me).

Since we started about half way through April we have been able to pull off some nice hauls.

I put a picture below but that is just pieces from the last couple trips.

We have gotten 14 boxes of pasta FREE, 8 Candy Bars FREE, A bunch of body wash FREE, 3 Digiorno Pizzas FREE, 8 bottles of BBQ sauce for 9 cents a piece, the store paid us 50 cents a piece for a couple containers of nesquick powder. We ended up with 3 free toothbrushes, several free containers of floss, and several almost free packs of razors and blades. We also got a whole bunch of other stuff for pennies and dimes. This is quite the incomplete list too, there is so much that isn't in the picture. We have saved about 30 bucks just in diapers and toilet paper tee hee.

But the Moral of the story is that on the past few shopping trips we have spent around $115.00 total and the savings from coupons alone has been about $136.00 and that doesn't count what we saved from store sales and discounts and all that. So pretty cool deal. Below is a pic that really is irrelevant but just shows some of the stuff that we got for basically dirt.

SWAG BUCKS

So, just a quick post about swag bucks. Apparently you can build up "swag bucks" and then redeem them later for gift cards and what not. And, searching the web using their search engine can randomly reward you as well.

Kind of a cool deal. Go check out Swag Bucks HERE. seriously though, I have been winning swag bucks for K'Dee by doing surveys and playing some stupid games.... that aren't worth my time actually. But still fun.