Attention all.

I read Tuesdays with Morrie, and I liked it. That's all.

Freedom and stuff

So this past weekend I took a little trip to New York and Washington DC. It was my first time in New York since I was like 8, and I'd never been to DC before. Basically, this trip rocked.
Wednesday night I took the Red Eye from Salt Lake to Newark, then I took the train into Manhattan, then the subway down to downtown, and walked over to New York Law School. After the open house, I walked around town, saw lots of stuff (Ground Zero, Wall Street, Canal Street, Times Square) then took a train to DC, then the Metro to Germantown.
I stayed with my friends David and April Honeycutt in DC, and on Friday I took the Metro downtown to see the monuments and stuff. I saw tons of stuff - all the major monuments and memorials, plus a sweet triceratops skeleton.
On Saturday Dave, April and I went to Harpers Ferry. While I didn't see any abolitionist stand offs, I did see the C&O canal, or rather it's remnants. That was cool. Then I flew back Sunday afternoon on yet another horrible flight (if I don't get 1 bad flight for every 2 I go on, I'm convinced the universe will implode. and that's a bad thing.)

Anyway, the true purpose of the trip was to check out New York Law, and try to determine if I feel like attending there. Well, at this point I'm still undecided. I loved the city, and I liked the school. But the professors certainly didn't do much to persuade me that Law is the right path for me. I'm going to continue researching it, praying about it, and hopefully figure out which direction I'm going with my life.

Report tomorrow.

I'm back from my massive travels and I'm whupped. I'll report tomorrow...

Decision

So over the next few weeks, I have to make a very, very difficult decision. The only Law School I've been accepted to is in New York City, and I'm going out there for an open house next week. I've now been rejected from my top 3 schools (BYU, Utah, and ASU), so in reality the question becomes "Do I really want to be a lawyer?"

Being a lawyer could make me a lot more money in the long run, but would I be happier than I am now? I really enjoy my life here in Utah, mountain biking, snowboarding, hiking, camping... Of course, the flip side of that is that sometimes my current job drives me crazy.

Anyway, that's the struggle I'm in right now.

Someday I'll learn

Someday I'll learn that deer trails are not meant to be followed.
This morning I went running, in search of a trail between Rock Canyon and Provo Canyon. I discovered that the trail begins to both disappear and fragment shortly after crossing some barb wire. I'm not sure if I was trespassing or not, but anyways, the trails started going up and all over, and intersecting, and after trying all of them, I decided to head back on the highest one I could find - which turned into a deer trail. Which then disappeared, leaving me 100 vertical meters (and who knows how many horizontal) from the nearest trail. It took a while to get home.

Oh - and congratulations to Jared and Becky Shaver on the birth of their 2nd boy!

This American Life

I just watched This American Life, a sweet new documentary series running on Showtime. Pretty dang sweet show, definitely different, but I highly recommend it. I'm hoping they continue to place new episodes on the web... found via Pop Candy.

Interesting Article

While I obviously can't relate at all to this man's experiences, I understand very well what it feels like to no longer be in the excitement of war. Read me.

The White Rim Trail

So this weekend I went to Moab with some friends to do the White Rim Trail around Canyonlands National Park. It was incredible.

To start off, we had a 20 mile detour, kinda messing up our plans on where to camp, and how long we'd have to ride the next day. What made it even worse was the ranger giving no indication that it was a 20 mile detour - he acted like it was just a simple little change. 20 miles on a mountain bike is a BIG change.

Anyway, we eventually got to a camp, spent the night, then rode the rest of the trail the next day. We did about 50 miles each day.

Here's a picture of me after I wrecked and turned my arm into hamburger.


And here's a pic of us at the 'finish line'. Beyond myself it was Kirk Coombs, T-Rav, and Shannon riding, with Kelly and Michelle driving my truck as the support vehicle.



An inspiring adventure.

Where did Ryan go?

So I haven't posted in a long time. Basically, it's because I felt like nothing super special was happening in my life - like I'm just going from day to day trying to find something exciting to do.

But there are a few things to report:
- I took the hardest snowboarding hit of my life last night. It involved a chest slam into a mogul, bouncing in the air, followed by a head slam into the next mogul. Basically ended my night.
- I'm now an official member of the USBA (United States Boxing Association). We'll see if I ever cowboy up enough to do a fight.

I'll be better about posting.

1 year ago today

1 year ago today I left for Iraq.

Moab

So around Wednesday I was having a hankerin' to get out of town. The weather was getting warm, and I checked the weather report - Moab was supposed to be 60s all weekend. I called up Trav - he was game for it. We split for Moab Friday morning, rode the world famous Slickrock trail. We did well, other than my pedal falling off...

That night we ate hamburgers over the grill, then got bored and headed into town for a movie. That's right - we went to a movie theater while camping. It was sweet.

The next day (Saturday) met up with my friends Shannon and Jenny and rode the Sovereign singletrack, which was sweet. Then we went over to Canyonlands before eating dinner and heading home. It was a rockin' trip.

Which to choose?

I can't decide which project I like more!
Banana in the Sky
Satoshi

Also,
my buddy Tim is moving to North Carolina. I've known Tim a long time, and while he and I are as opposite as they come in politics, he's a good man and a good friend. I wish him lots of luck.

Fullmer's Gym

So I went to Fullmer's boxing gym tonight for the first time in a month. I didn't spar tonight, but I am exhausted after having an old man train me for a bit. Crazy old dude.

But when you have Gene Fullmer slapping you around, I guess life ain't that bad.

Mucho better

This weekend was much more better than have been my weekends lately. A few reasons why...
- I hiked the 'Y' with T-Rav* in the snow. It was sweet.
- I got to see David and April's little girl, Amber. She wasn't too friendly until I started feeding her chocolate ice cream. Then we were friends.

- I went snowshoeing in the bitter cold with Trav and Kel. It was frakin' sweet.

- And I got accepted to a law school in New York City. So I'm planning on 'retiring' from engineering in July. 6 more months!

Uneventful weekend

So I was a little sick this past weekend, and unfortunately the only exciting things I did were
1) Go night boarding at Brighton on Friday and almost freeze because of a sub-zero wind chill. I don't know how Jim's doing it in Antarctica...
2) Watch far too much '24'. But I finished season 5, so I'm all set for the new season...
3) Get sick, then almost better.

But, the good news is that I'm getting a hankerin' to do something wild and crazy. Details to come...

So Lazy

I didn't work out tonight. Instead I watched 4 episodes of '24'. Enjoyable? Extremely.

Christmas and such

Christmas was great - family, friends, lots of not-so-productive time. A few quick thoughts from over Christmas...

Rocky Balboa was worth the wait. Frickin' sweet, you know, if you love freedom. That said, it could have been better, but it was still sweet.
The Guardian was surprisingly good. I wasn't too sure about it going in, but it rocked.

Sitting on the plane for an extra 2 1/2 hours yesterday trying to get back to Utah wasn't fun, but those Texas thunderstorms sure are impressive.

Having a nephew is great.

This video by my friend Dan was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Good job Dan.

Oh, and whoever provided the funding to make Church Ball shoot be hurt.

Just like his uncle

So my sister just sent me a picture of my nephew Caden in the camo I bought him. Pretty dang cute.

In other news, Kevin Lambert (my roommate) and I performed a super sweet song last night at a mini christmas talent show. Kevin was on the guitar, and I played the harmonica. Basically it rocked.

And I'm flying home to Dallas on Thursday, unfortunately, right in the middle of the BYU bowl game. Hopefully I'll be able to see the 2nd half.

28

So yesterday I turned 28 years of age. The celebration basically consisted of going to Fuddruckers with some friends, then having friends drop by the apartment throughout the night to have rootbeer floats and say hi.

Up and Down

My week's been up and down. Here are some short reasons of why...

Bad - Work is driving me nuts. They can't keep me busy. That's the problem with actually doing your work efficiently.
Good - Ken and I went snowboarding all day Friday at the Canyons.
Bad - My sister Staci continues to be sick, and the doctors don't know what it is.
Good - I went and saw The Fountain, which rocked, but I don't think most people would like.
Bad - So I tried to get the alignment on my truck fixed. 3 hours and $85 later, it still pulls right.
Good - I went and saw Paradise Now at the International Cinema at BYU. Very interesting film if you don't live in a bubble.
Bad - I'm socially inept when around a girl I like.

So yeah... that's my life.