GO JAZZ!!!

I have been a Jazz fan as long as I can remember. Obviously I was a huge fan of Stockton, Malone, and Hornacek, but for a few years I had a bit of a falling out. I became more interested in 2006 when they started off to one of the best starts in NBA history. They won their division and made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals, only to be beaten by the San Antonio Spurs. At the beginning of this season I was in St. Maarten and was not able to watch any of the games. I was looking forward to watching the games and attending a few as well. A few weeks ago I realized the season was coming to an end and I still had not made it to a game. So Brittany and I took her grandma to the Nuggets game for her birthday. I got hooked and wanted more. I had never been to a playoff game, so I looked on Craigslist and found some tickets to game 4 of the first round against the Houston Rockets. It was a close game, but in the end we pulled it off. Jazz lost tonight in Houston, but will take care of business at home in Game 6.

Craigslist

I love Craigslist. I recently purchased a 22" Widescreen Westinghouse LCD Monitor for my desktop computer. The regular price of this item is $299.99 at a retail store. I got it for $120 and I didn't have to pay for tax or shipping, very nice. I love my new monitor.

The next item I bought was a portable hard drive. A buddy of mine had one of these in St. Maarten and I have wanted one ever since. It matches my laptop perfectly. The regular price of this is $119.99, I got it for $40.

I also saved $50 on an iPod Nano with video.

My last purchase was a bluetooth headset for $15, it retails for about $50.

So all together if I had paid full price for these I would have spent $619.98 and I only spent $325, so I basically saved around $300, very exciting.

Facebook Texas Hold 'Em

So lately I have been fascinated and intrigued by facebook's application of Texas Hold 'Em. I have always loved a good game of Hold 'Em, but sometimes it is hard to find people to play with. This is why it is great to play on Facebook. My brother Kyle and I are quite competitive as you may know and we are always trying to top the leader board. If you have a facebook account, I highly recommend playing Hold Em. If you don't have a facebook account, I suggest you get one and add me as a friend.

Mom's Accident

What's the deal with all of the accidents? Before my mission our family never got in any accidents. I remember once when I was probably 9 or 10 and Jenn had just gotten her license. We were at the intersection of Highland Drive and Fort Union Blvd waiting for the light. I guess she thought the light turned green and went for it. Well I wasn't wearing my seatbelt and I hit my head on the windshield and made a big crack. I learned my lesson and from then on I have always worn my seatbelt. Anyway, it was just a small fender bender, but it was the only accident I remember for a long time. Since 2004, there have been way too many accidents. First I got in one in October of that year, Grandpa's was in 2006, in 2007 both my dad and Loni totalled their cars, Anna got hit by a car and now at the beginning of 2008 Mom wrecked her car. I don't know what the deal is, but hopefully we are done now.

So the details of what happened from my point of view. I talked to Mom at about 5:20 and I guess she was on her way home from work. About 20 minutes later I get another call from her and it was extremely loud. I couldn't hear her at first and I didn't know what was going on. Then she said, "I got in an accident" and that caught my attention. So I jumped up and was still talking to her. She told me to go home and wait for Dad, then we needed to come and get her. She was just before the off ramp at 4700 S on I-215 heading South. I went to her house and waited for about 5 minutes. When I told him, he jumped in the car and sped off. I almost thought we were going to get in another accident on the way to this one because he was going so fast. He couldn't believe that he passed her up on his way home since he left after her. We drove past her going North and saw her car. From the other side of the freeway it didn't look like the damage was very bad at all. Even when we pulled up we couldn't tell right away. When we got closer we saw how bad it really was. The front end was completely smashed in and her airbag was deployed. I guess she was in the right lane and her lane was going slow, about 10 miles an hour and she saw an opening in the lane to the left. She thought her lane was still moving so she gunned it to go into the lane next to her, but her lane had stopped, hence she ran into the guy in front of her. She said she couldn't have been going more than 25 mph, but apparently the impact was pretty strong. The car had to be towed away, but Mom was fine. One hand was burned from the airbag and the other was badly bruised. When I opened the car door to get some stuff out of her car, the stench from the airbag was really strong. I hate that smell. It reminded me of my accident, awful. Ok, so from here on out, nobody get in any more accidents, ok?

Coming Home

Well, I probably should have posted this about 2 months ago, but I am a bit of a slacker. We got home on Friday January 4, 2008. We were welcomed by our families and the snow. The previous Wednesday, we were swimming in the clear blue waters of the beautiful Caribbean Sea. Of course we had to come home in the middle of the worst winter Utah has seen in 20 years. This was quite a shock to us. I mean our Christmas was spent getting sunburned on the beach and body surfing the waves. It was our choice to come home, and we were tempted to stay, but we felt it necessary to come home so we could finish school and settle down. The plan was for Brittany to finish up school while I found a job and saved up money to get into a house. I am currently living with my sister Loni, who is ever so kind for letting me stay with her. I wanted to get a job with Del Sol corporate in Sandy, but that has proven more difficult than I had expected. Right when I got home I interviewed for one job and got turned down. I interviewed last week for an even better job at Corporate, but have yet to hear the latest on that. This job would be perfect for me. It's a marketing job that I have wanted ever since I heard of Del Sol. I really want it, but I don't want to get my hopes up too high for it because I've heard that they have interviewed alot of people for the position. I have got a temporary job at Comcast until I find a more permanent career.

St. Maarten

So we have been in St. Maarten for 2 months and I haven't posted a blog yet. It's funny because the reason I started this blog was for the fact that we came here. We are always pretty busy at work, which is why I haven't posted anything yet, but we also have a lot of fun too. We go to the beach almost any day we have off. As you can probably imagine, the beaches on this island are amazing! We also like to go snorkeling with our friends from the ward. There are a few other married couples in our ward from the states. They are here to attend medical school for 2 years. All of them have children, which makes Brittany extremely baby hungry. We don't have any set plans for having a baby yet, but I'm sure when we do I will post it on here. It's great to have people to hang out with because in Hyannis, MA there was nobody. I love my wife more than anything in the world, but it's always nice to have people to hang out with.

Besides Brittany and I, there are two other interns that are here to manage the other Del Sol store we just opened about 3 weeks ago. I was in charge of almost everything that had to do with opening the second store. Also, when the new interns arrived I had to train them on all the store operations. I really enjoy my job, but sometimes it can be stressful, just like any other job. The other two interns are single LDS guys. One of them is a returned missionary, Seth and the other has yet to go, Brandon. We live in the same complex as them, and our stores are very close together. Because of this, we share a car, which is good because then the cost is divided between the four of us. Also gas is more than $4 a gallon here, so we share that cost as well. The two guys have been here a month and our arrangement with the car seems to be working out alright.

To wrap it up, we are enjoying our stay here on the beautiful caribbean island of St. Maarten. We have played with the idea of staying for another 4 months, but for right now that thought is gone and we are planning on coming home in January. This way Brittany can finish her last semester at SUU, then we can move up to Salt Lake where I can find a permanent job, Britt can do her student teaching and we can start having kids. This is our plan, but the way things have been going in our lives, it can change at any time.

Kyle and Whit's Wedding

So Kyle and Whitney are married. It's crazy that it has already been almost a year and a half since we got hitched. Time flies when you're having fun. We have already had quite a few adventures in the short time that we have been married, and we have many more to come. When we get back from the Caribbean, Brittany has one more semester at SUU, which she will do from January 08 until May 08. After that comes student teaching, which will either be in the summer or the fall. As for me, I hope to get a permanent job at Del Sol headquarters in Sandy. If that doesn't work out, we were still able to have these amazing adventures and memories.