Celebration of the Mountains

This weekend I will be attending the 4^th Annual Hammer Inc. Art Festival: A Celebration of the Mountains. A friend of mine is hosting the festival and I recommend and invite all to attend. It takes place this Friday 12/3/10, downtown SLC on the NW corner of 100 S and Main St. from 5-10pm. Prior to gazing at all the impressive mountainous views these artists have portrayed; I plan on taking advantage of all this new snow by exploring the mountains of Snowbird. This will be the first boarding adventure of the season and I can’t wait!

I have a new goal to make it up to Alta for the first time ever (with the help of a friend of course), and yes that means I will be attempting to ski again. It has been over 12 years since I have last skied down a mountain so stay tuned for updates.

This is not a pipe

I am currently taking an art history class this semester, and we have already covered centuries and centuries of magnificent artwork that has impressed me. I’m amazed of the immense talent and creativeness found in the great artists who have constantly been evolving art over the years. This week my teacher put up a slide with a particular work of art that I had seen several other times, but I wanted to share it on my blog because it reminded me of a type of print advertisement one might see.

Rene Magritte started out as an advertising designer until he received sufficient funds to become a full time Belgian Surrealist painter.

The Treachery of Images, 1928-1929 ->

When the image came up I thought how this work of art we are studying in my art history class could also be used in an advertising class to teach print ads and copy. The simplicity and very creative copy catches people’s attention and could easily pass as a print ad for a pipe or tobacco company. Translated the copy says, “This is not a pipe”. Surrealism is when you take an ordinary object and place it in an unusual space or context. It is not an actual pipe but an image of a pipe, genius!
I have gained more appreciation for fine art while taking this art history class. Through this intro to advertising class I have also seen how advertising can be a very creative form of art. Why not blend the two together?
What are your thoughts, do you think this would be a decent print ad?

Spry Canyon

Located within the beautiful Zion’s Nation Park is a canyon called Spry Canyon, which was the main attraction this weekend for our group of adventure connoisseurs.

Canyons in Zion’s have been carved deep in colorful sandstone rock and are famous for their narrow slots. The canyons have slowly been eroding away providing canyoneers a unique place to discover the wonders of the earth. Water of course is the main contributor of consistently shaping the canyons, as well as posses some of the most dangerous threats and obstacles when exploring in narrow slot canyons. During the hot summer the majority of people enjoy being able to cool off from the heat by wading through pools of water found in the slot canyons; most canyoneers just plan on getting wet through their journey. Even in the spring and fall, those planning on going through a canyon where you can get wet will ether wear a wet or dry suit. Not us. We are frugal college students who don’t want to rent an expensive dry suit, and would rather spend our money on new gear… So doing Spry Canyon (a canyon with several water pools) in November, without a wet or dry suit only added to the adventure of the journey.

Everyone was layered up from head to toe for protection from the cold and ready to experience some breathtaking rappels and views. The hike to the canyon provided some great insight to what lied ahead, we found ourselves crunching through frozen ice sand. Seeing water ice and sand all in one place is rather interesting and hard to believe, but it does exist.

Parallel to our first rappel of 165 feet, a small drizzle of water froze creating an icy sandstone cliff, starting our legit canyoneering experience in Spry Canyon.
As soon as we approached any water in Spry with no way around it, we were forced to get creative. Only two members of the group of nine had wet suits and so they were able to get wet if needed; to ether set up zip-lines for those who didn’t want to get wet and catch hypothermia or even helped carry people across.

My favorite rappel consisted of a 90 foot free hang rappel into a narrow slot canyon of maybe only 7 feet across (See Pic).
The drastic change in scenery was amazing, especially when you were at the bottom staring up at a sliver of sky being surrounded by sandstone.

During our canyoneering adventure in Spry we had the opportunity to experience all that you would expect to in a technical canyon: from stemming 20 feet above the water covered canyon floor, creating make shift zip-lines, enjoying a dozen rappels, great bonding moments, and unfortunately a group member who sprang their ankle off one of the rappels.

Those who appreciate a good adventure, I recommend Spry Canyon for you.

Let the Tweeting Begin...

I have always been a bit skeptical when it comes to Twitter. Several times I have seriously thought about signing up for my own account and letting the world experience my very own tweets. Every time I have found myself on the actual website thoughts come to mind about how Twitter looks confusing and complicated, as well as the idea that I already have a Facebook and why do I need another social media website to influence my life.
I was very impressed with the personal example Prof. Hadley shared on his experience to successfully publicize an entire event on Twitter. Being able to reach such a large audience through connections on Twitter is a brilliant idea to create buzz about your product or service, or in Prof. Hadley’s case, his unique CoWork Utah, Orem Tweetup.
So the other day, I caved in and decided to finally created my very own Twitter account and have SLOWLY been figuring out how it all works. I would definitely consider myself a noob to the tweeting world but would love any insights and pointers. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @robmwitt. I need to work on expanding who I follow....
I am already pleased with what I have observed in my short time on Twitter. Just like Facebook you are able to take advantage of special sales, coupons, and offers if you are connected with specific companies. I like the idea of people simply sharing what is on their mind, and being able to search words and see what people are saying; which is extremely helpful for companies to see what is being said about their brand.

Hiking 2 Other Planets

Very few hikes do you first descend almost a vertical mile in elevation then regain it to finish the hike. The Grand Canyon introduced me to this unique hiking pattern. Descending from the South Rim at 8,000 feet to the Colorado River at 2,700 feet is a mind expanding experience. The further you dip below the rimmed plateau you immediately begin to witness how grand the canyon really is. It is one thing to see the vast canyon from the top, but once you are surrounded by the massive rock walls you recognize how minute you are in compassion as well as how impressive it is that water was able to carve out such a natural wonder. While we hiked the South Kiabab trail we were able to see the first rays of sunlight highlighting the canyon walls, sooo beautiful!
I recommend that hike to anyone. Deep in the canyon it almost feels like you are on another planet, with few people around, and encircled in a very foreign and different terrain.

Usually I am use to ascending several thousand feet first to the summit, then enjoying the easier descent down the mountain. A week before the Grand Canyon I was able to finally able to check off something from my summer bucket list, hiking Mount Timpanogos. If anyone wants ideas for making sure your Mount Timpanogos hike is memorable and adventurous, here are a few tips from personal experience:
• Begin the hike in the thick blackness of night at 4:30 a.m. with your only light source from headlamps.
• Make sure you are the first care in the trail parking lot (or make it the first group on the mountain if you really want a thrill), this way you will be sure to run into wildlife in the dark that will scare you big time! Especially when all you can see is the area where your headlamp is pointing and you can see huge glowing eyes in the distance….
• Go when the early morning forecast calls for clouds and some precipitation, allowing you to hike in mist and thick heavy fog that forces you to stop moving forward because you can’t see 3 feet in front of you, and have no idea where you are.
• Hike it in October so once you get above 9,000 feet there will be snow and you then are able to make fresh footprints in freshly fallen snow, as well as enjoy the crunchy sound under your shoes.
• Plan on eating a cold breakfast in the Emerald Lake Shelter, that provides a nice place to sit down but no protection from the chilly breeze.
• Ascend the rocky slope to the saddle only once you are completely engrossed in a literal cloud, which provides a ghostly atmosphere that makes the terrain look like you are on another ice planet covered in rock, ice, snow, and hiking cairns.

• Once on the saddle pretend like you are approaching the summit of K2, or Mount Everest, as in it will look like it with all the rock, snow, and clouds. You might as well use a caption like that when you post your pics on Facebook, as very few will be able to tell the difference.
• Enjoy the descent down that will feel like a whole new hike, because you will be able to see your surroundings in a new light, the sun.
I live for adventure and am always anxiously awaiting my next. Which is hopefully Canyoneering Zion’s this weekend that is if it doesn’t rain. Cross your fingers!!!
Happy Trails.

National Parks & Advertising

Over the weekend I experienced firsthand one of the Seven Wonders of the World, The Grand Canyon. This was the first time I had ever seen the magnificent natural monument in person. It is incredible that a river was (and is still) able to carve such a beautiful landscape. In order to take in the entire canyon beauty, we hiked all the way to the Colorado River and looped back up to the rim. While on this short weekend getaway, I thought about what does the National Park Service do for advertising?

So I did a little research and found The National Park Conservation Association (NPCA) uses public service ads to promote the National Parks, as well as to send a message about how we as a people need to protect them. The NPCA is run by donations and funds from the government, but uses mostly print ads in national magazines and a limited amount of advertising on the web.

In 2016 the National Park Service will hit their 100 year anniversary, and so the NPCA did a few min promotion ad video to help inspire people to restore our National Parks. This ad campaign in entitled "Renewing Our National Park Promise".

I love the National Parks and hope to visit most, if not all, of them in my life; and I think that the NPCA should use other mediums to advertise the beauty of this country. For more info check out the NPCA’s website:
http://www.npca.org/

Rain, Rain...

Tonight on my stroll home from the reliable Harold B. Lee Library, there was a light sprinkle of rain. Nostalgic feelings came to my mind of simply one of the greatest feelings. The feeling I am talking about doesn’t come all at once, it is a remarkable process which I will explain. This process begins with preferably a several mile hike, backpacking to a remote location in the wilderness to set up camp. Tents are pitched and every adventurer enjoys their dinner while relaxing around the toasty fire. As the embers slowly burn throughout the cool night, you notice thousands of stars doting the dark sky in patches as clouds begin to take over the tiny specks of light. You notice the remaining coals have called it a night and decide to follow suit. After a refreshing session of brushing your teeth with fresh cold spring water, rain starts to sprinkle as you crawl in your dry tent and sleeping bag. Once in your comfy mummy bag, the rain patter starts to come down harder. Protecting you from the downpour, your tent provides the perfect place to enjoy the peaceful relaxing sound of rain while trying to sleep. Bliss is reached as long as the downpour doesn’t turn into a sort of intense storm causing flooding and soaked gear.
Note to self: do not listen to Dane Cook when you need to study and do homework, too distracting.

Ads That Stick... Literally

Just over a week ago there were some Calle reps on campus handing out free stickers and wrist bands, I totally took advantage and snagged a few for my enjoyment.  Then soon after we talked about that company in class and how they have used guerrilla advertising tactics.  Below is the example mention in class, luckily I was able to get one of those DOT stickers and most likely will cleverly spread the word of Calle.  Very subtle but just enough to catch your attention and spark some curiosity. 

I decided to look into finding other creative ways to advertise through stickers.  Here were a few of my favorites from a website I found http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2010/03/02/clever-uses-of-stickers-in-advertising/.

I liked this one because it shows the power of the batteries in a clever and humorous way.  Image the amount of people that take this particular escalator and most likely everyone saw that add and thought about batteries.

This sticker ad is found in an airport and does an excellent job in giving those who are sitting waiting around to think about their next flying adventure.

I love stickers-I put them all over my notebooks, folders, snowboard, pretty much anywhere there is a boring surface.  I wish more brands and companies gave stickers out for free more often.  Such a simple yet powerful way to advertise your name, product, or service.

Slow... Down... Fall!

The most amusing blog posts seem to just flow from your brain all the way down to the keyboard and appear in words somehow on your word processor. Occasionally I am blessed to have those remarkable moments in life; unfortunately I am currently finding my way around this massive writers block….

Does anyone else seem to feel that the changing of the leaves is happening too quickly?! I went camping last weekend up Big Cottonwood canyon by Guardsman’s Pass and I swore when I woke up there were more bright salmon and flaming orange leaves overnight! This can’t happen all once because I haven’t even had time to hike several times and capture some of the beauty autumn brings. Colors in nature grab my attention like someone grabbing that last spoon in the classic card game, spoons. And unfortunately school getting in my way and starting to get busy, so I am not able to just journey off into the mountains to hike for hours on end.

In order for my fall to be complete, I must hike Mt. Timpanogos while it is exploding with colors. Period.

Law and Advertising

Most likely others in the class didn’t get as excited or interested as did I, when one of our long chapters started discussing the legal side of advertising. Learning about how the government creates laws and regulations to monitor the use of advertisements in our nation opened my mind to yet another possible career option.

I started having the idea of studying law at an early age, as my Dad is a patent attorney who specializes in intellectual property law. He would occasionally talk about his work and how he loved it. I even had the opportunity to help him with some work over the summer. Lately I have thought about the possibility of going to law school after I graduate, but I also am rather attracted and attached to the idea of advertising and marketing so I am torn between two choices.

So I decided to do a little more research on the subject of laws dealing with advertising, I checked out the FTC website (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/bcpap.shtm) which contains most of the same information found in our textbook about unfair or deceptive advertising . I stumbled upon an interesting blog that deals solely with advertising law.

http://www.consumeradvertisinglawblog.com/

This blog has several recent examples of companies violating a particular law or regulation. As I read over a few I became aware of how the advertising and marketing world really does need regulations, laws, and enforcements to keep it fair with everyone. One particular example I thought was interesting, was a trademark dispute between Victory Secret and Fortune Dynamic Inc. Victory Secret used the work “Delicious” on some of their tank tops and because Fortune Dynamic Inc owns the trademark for the “Delicious” mark on women’s shoes they decided to take Victory Secret to court.

Check out that blog to see advertising laws at work.

Interupting Horseshoes

Sparks flew as horseshoes collided with iron poles Sunday evening. Unfortunately the group of friends I played with wasn’t lucky enough to witness any ‘ringers’. Yet we were lucky enough to make it up to the Cook cabin with plenty of daylight to enjoy the fresh crisp air of Sundance Utah. This particular game of horseshoes had quite the unexpected start and interruption from some friendly creatures. As we ventured out to horseshoe pits in the back yard of the Cook cabin we were surprised to see they were already occupied by three deer that were enjoying a nice break-the-fast Sunday grazing session. It felt like elementary school all over again-when your group of friends was forced to confront the older grade to challenge them for complete control over the field during recess. We were a bit nervous to interrupt this peaceful site but we knew our daylight was limited and we wanted to make sure this game happened. The deer quickly noticed us encroaching on their space and chose to forfeit the backyard to allow us an enjoying game of horseshoes, or so we thought… Midway through the second game, we were caught way off guard as one brave deer returned to interrupt us by charging right through the two horseshoe pits! It’s too bad we didn’t have any sort of headlights to stop this deer in its tracks as it trampled around the backyard for another 15 seconds. All of us were forced to move in order to get out of this crazy deer’s rampage, but just as quickly as the deer came, it also left. Not everyone is able to start off their conversations saying their horseshoe game was interrupted by some wild deer, I feel fortunate being able to at least blog about it happening.
That deer was literally the only thing that interrupted a non-stop action packed weekend full of adventures from parties in Draper, BYU sport games, hot tubing, cabin fun, games, horseshoes, hiking Stewart falls, rock climbing, ward parties, and of course I can't forget the HBLL.
I felt like I needed to add a picture of some sorts, it had been a while. So enjoy a climbing pic of me pinching the Appendage up Rock Canyon.

That's the Power of... Words

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0HfwkArpvU
Several weeks ago a friend posted a youtube video on my Facebook page (the links just above, check it out). I watched it and thought it was rather creative, clever, and I went on with my life and didn’t think much else of it. He obviously knew that I was going to need some sort or advertising topic to blog about this first week. I personally had no idea when I first watched it that I would be incorporating it in my first blog for this advertising class. It’s not so much an ad for anything in particular but I felt there was an important lesson with advertising found within. When we see an image, person, or a logo our mind will instantly connect it with a word or brand. “Just Do It” with Nike, or when we see “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” we connect it with Old Spice, or if we are lucky enough to see “The Most Interesting Man in The World” we think of Dos Equis. This youtube clip is almost like 50 short ad clips designed to brand us to a specific word. I was amazed at how well this video flows from one image to another keeping your mind constantly thinking on a certain word.
Such a creative clip like this would have had to take a lot of time to plan out all the different shots dealing with the words: play, blow, break, split, run, fly, fall, light, and space. The use of being creative with a word or words amplifies an ad. It helps the viewer remember the ad, makes the ad more entertaining and has a powerful effect.
I am always impressed with how creative some people can be. As I attended Jason’s Thursday lecture I couldn’t stop thinking about how I need to become more creative. He constantly talked about how he personally felt he wasn’t creative at all, and the entire time I was just blown away by his creativity. I wanted to ask y’all what you do to find that added creative buzz in your writing and ideas. What tips or suggestions have helped you when you seem to have hit that creative block or wall and can’t move forward?

It’s been a summer…

And this means that it has been several months since I have last updated my blog. I want to apologize for those who haven’t been able to receive their full blogging/Google reading in. Surprisingly I have been busy doing other things that will now be able to be made into an update for my blog.
Where to begin? This summer was fantastic, but aren’t they all? Whenever I wasn’t dead heading flowers, pulling weeds, fertilizing pots, or proofreading patents: I took advantage of the hot summer weather to hike all over the Wasatch Front. Hiking is a huge hobby of mine that I take rather seriously. Some people hike to get a nice work out or burn in their legs, others to find solitude or peace, some to get away from the world and to clear their minds, others to experience the satisfaction of summiting an 11teer or the beauty of a glacial lake, some for that fresh mountain air, others to find that perfect photo opportunity. I hike for all of those reasons and more. I encourage those looking for some sort of adventure in life to dedicate time each week to hike around and explore this gorgeous Earth we live on.
I’m excited for this next semester to start. To meet loads of new people, spend countless hours in the HBLL, and learn new things. But this also means there will be less free time for hiking and getting lost for 8 hours in the Lone Peak Wilderness bushwhacking 14 unplanned miles and getting dehydrated. Anyways, let’s hope I am able to beat the ridiculous class schedule system at BYU and can get in the hiking class this semester.
How does one randomly lose their voice at night? And why is it so hard to find...

The Art of Registering

What happened to March?!
With a semester coming to a stressful and relieving end, there begins a new competitive saga at Brigham Young University. It is quite the legendary event that has evolved over time. It is known to those few who have had the opportunity to attend this school as registering for fall semesters classes. I honestly wonder how other universities do it. Do they have a ridiculous online system where seniority maters and athletes have first priority, and all the classes you want are filled up instantly? Do they have tens of 1000’s of students frantically trying to sign up for classes when midnight strikes? Does their websites allow for the overflowing amount of students to be on it at the same time without crashing or having serious errors? And is the only way to beat this lame system, to get in your classes, is to have one of those lucky seniors or spoiled athletes hold a spot for you? We shall see how this night unfolds as I begin this epic saga tonight at midnight. Wish me luck!

Oh by the way Happy Easter!

Orange.

Spring brings on the chance of introducing new colors for the upcoming year. Color brings both variety and beauty into this world. Some colors are found naturally in the wild outdoors, while others are creatively and meticulously put together by an individual. Many artists strive to find that perfect color for the image they wish to portray. Orange is not often the color one expects to find with spring on its way, yet this week seemed to be full this color. For me I enjoy looking for vibrant colors in nature and capturing them through photos, little did I know that I would stumble upon a favorite color of mine on while hiking Squaw Peak. Orange has always been a favorite color of mine, so seeing the bright orange moss on this tree was very pleasing to my eye. I had to take this opportunity to capture this lively color.



The Festival of Color, celebrated by Krishna followers, was of course my other orange filled colorful event. Taking part of this event was thrilling! There is nothing like 1000’s and 1000’s of people throwing colorful chalk particles up in the air. I made sure I purchased some orange chalk to cover myself and those around me. The colorful cloud was an amazing site to see! I thoroughly enjoyed this experience-minus the fact that I got a hand full of chalk thrown in my eyes (ironically yup it was orange) and I lost my contact. Hare Krishna!

It is Written...

Have you ever noticed how some peoples birthdays seem to just stretch on for days? Maybe even weeks? Well my roommate’s birthday is one that continued to be celebrated several days after. I am not complaining as I was able to take part in half-off sushi on Tuesday. I’m not a huge sushi goer, as I have had a few bad experiences with it, but this time around was a turning point for me. I dunno if it was the part that it was only half off or the sushi was delicious. I ordered a California roll and some Asian fry’s. When you order fry’s do you honestly expect the waiter to bring out four foot-long fry’s stacked Lincoln log style? To my surprise that’s how it was served! I was furious that there were only four until I realized that each one was stuffed with who knows what! It turned out to be a tasty surprise. Thanks Mikato’s and Julie.
I love how connected and spontaneous weekends can become. Who would have thought that while playing Mad Gad Friday night at the cabin would lead to the Sunday afternoon film? The correct phrase “Interview with the Vampire” was splurted out by my roommate. No one had a clue what that was until he said it was a movie. We ended up watching it today. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise as we witnessed Brad Pit, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderez, and Kristen Dunst wreak havoc as vampires. Take that Twilight! Speaking of twilight, I was privileged to take part in a mid-night hike to the Y with only the light of the moon. It was freezing.

Every once in a while you find yourself receiving that phone call that just sends you rushing to the rescue. For some their wife’s water broke, others their roommate’s car just got towed, or a flat tire. But for me, my call was a request to assists two vagabonds in a special ritual and ceremony; so I obviously found myself speeding around south Provo to take part in. I wasn’t given many details about the origin of this particular event but I was intrigued and honored to be included. My individual part of this extravaganza was to be the transporter of the pledge and photographer. I felt I did a good job documenting this most important occasion. I won’t go into too much detail as in the masterminds behind this will be writing the full account shortly; I wouldn’t want to steal their thunder. But I will note that I have found myself extremely sore from climbing a special tree chimpanzee style. I mean it had been a while since I last climbed a huge tree, tonight was also the first time I may have been legitimately called a tree hugger.

Bonfire, Baking, and Beams

What is the relationship between: a Bonfire, Balancing Beams, and Baking a Birthday Cake? Subliminally you may have thought the capital letters made up my average report card, and you are right! But if you thought a little harder you probably figured out these events made up my weekend. I attended my first gymnastic competition Friday night. BYU’s gymnastic team dominated the meet. I was very impressed with how each girl was able to jump, flip, twist, and stick their landings.
After an evening full of watching girls balance on four inch beams, flipping off the vault, and rotating several times on the bars; we headed up the canyon for a bonfire. Bonfires bring together quite the random group of individuals, but that is the beauty of those events. This night was no different. I knew many of those who were huddled around the blazing fire, but an interesting part about the night was when we were surprised as unknown car showed up and decided to join our group. I’m not even sure how it all worked out, but it did. I was too busy being captivated with the millions of stars in the clear sky. I love space and find it so fascinating; astronomy was one of my favorite classes I’ve taken. I used to be able to find and name all the constellations, but unfortunately I’m now lucky to point out a handful.
With my roommate’s birthday this weekend, my friend and I took advantage of it by baking an intense birthday cake. Baking is an all around good thing, I’d day. It’s relaxing, enjoyable, and the end product you can show off and eat. We went all out and baked a double layer chocolate cake with nutella frosting. You should have been there; all I can say is it did look as good as it tasted, it was amazing!

GoldenEye's and Masquerades!

Every now and then there is the opportunity when one is able to dress up for a night out on the town. I enjoy these moments thoroughly when I am able to pull out my favorite lime-green colored dress shirt, and a bright colored tie. This weekend’s special event was a semi-formal Masquerade ball birthday party. So I made sure my double-winders knot was perfect, and my shoes were shined. Once I finished, my roommate and I left to pick up our dates; which ended up with odds in our favor, two too one. They were dressed to kill as they say. It worked. As we arrived to the large villa, we found the party was already bumping. We were each given a decorated mask and asked to participate in a photo opt to document this celebration. We enjoyed dancing to some interesting music, and eating some tasty munchies.

James Bond movies are classics. The action, the awesome gadgets, the girls, the spy’s, the explosions, the girls, ’Q’,007, the conspiracy’s, and the bond girls. I was pleased to see that a television channel took the adequate amount of time to air these great films. There was a marathon of Bond films all week, I believe or maybe just the weekend. The most played was Goldeneye. One of the all time best Bond movies ever. It may have been all the hours I spend growing up on this Nintendo 64 game that created my love for this Bond film. Surprisingly the TV channel had the same feelings I had for this movie as it seemed to play three times in a row.

Free concerts rock! Literally…

No Trespassing Signs are Optional

My weekly goal is to fit in at least one hiking adventure. So far I have been able to reach my goal for the last several weeks. My interest in photography; along with my enjoyment of nature and hiking has led me to make this a routine. This week’s hiking destination was stumbled across by my friends during their run. They weren’t able to make it to the top of the peak (for fear of coming in contact of a wild cougar), but that failed attempt led them to try again and they decided to include me this time around. Thank you! Not gonna lie as we started the hike we were all a little skeptical as our shoes were encaked in inches of mud and we were slipping everywhere; but our end point-a random gazebo found at the top of the peak-was just too appealing for us to pass up, so we pressed forward. As we paused to admire some mysterious footprints, a heard of white-tail deer began stampeding down the mountain side. We quickly hid in some shrubbery and started rapidly taking pictures as if we worked for National Geographic. Once the deer were out of our site we continued on our way up the trail. When we reached the gazebo we all began wondering who in the world would build a perfectly good gazebo way out in the middle of nowhere on this hill. The many “No Trespassing” signs, found around the gazebo, to us were optional. We felt this particular gazebo was not getting enough use out of it as it should. We felt obligated to change that-so we made a tasty lunch in the gazebo and began thoroughly exploring around it. While enjoying the breathtaking views; we were privileged to witness some rare creatures called harpies. Luckily those who I came with were quite educated on them, and were able to relate to them in a very intimate way-I’d say they may have been obsessed with them.
Remember to take the path less traveled.
One of the greatest reliefs in life is when you finish speaking in sacrament meeting.

TV Remotes and Olympics

Ever wonder how you can cut back your amount of time spent watching TV?? My roommates and I learned the hard way… Our TV remote mysteriously stopped working one day. I believe all of my roommates found this out on their own attempts of trying to change the channel with the remote having no success. After multiple attempts of grabbing the remote, rushing to the couch, getting comfortable and ready to view some worthless, time wasting TV show, I found myself clicking the remote buttons furiously with no luck of the channels changing. Everyone knows that it is not worth the effort to watch TV without a working remote. It is just too big of a pain for some, or an inconvenience for others, or just not appealing; when you don’t have the ability to change the channel without moving your body. I fall in all three of those categories and found myself not watching any TV until my roommate who owns the TV decided to reprogram the remote so it works correctly.

To pay tribute to the US dominating the 2010 Olympics I decided to participate in one of my favorite pastimes-snowboarding. So in order to fully enjoy the slopes: I took the day off from school Thursday, rounded up a good friend and began blazing down the mountain. Both of us weren’t familiar with our way around Snowbird, yet we thoroughly enjoyed getting lost and finding our own way down the mountain. We found ourselves in some treacherous terrain one run, where we had an encounter with some rather intense cliffs. Through it all the only downside was the fog which was so thick you had a hard time telling apart the snow and the moguls. This created a great workout though. Take that p90x oh and see ya in the 2014 Olympics!!

The “Give the Coke to a Stranger”

Four day weekends are hard to come by at Brigham Young University, there what you may call literally once in a blue moon… Yeah definitely Cougar blue… This weekend business writers, including myself were asked to give a stranger a coke and write about it. If we were at any other University one might be sketched out with the words stranger and coke in the same sentence. The weekend was packed with outdoorsy adventures which led a limited amount of time to drop the coke off. It started off with a wintery hike up American Fork Canyon on Friday. Early Saturday morning the weekend took a turn to the top of Little Cottonwood canyon for some cabin fever. Snowmobiling didn’t seem like the best place to find a stranger to give them the coke so I just enjoyed my time plowing through the mountains and digging myself out of 5 feet of snow. Sunday was a day to rest and recuperate from all of that digging and lack of sleep. Monday seemed like the perfect day to make the coke assignment happen. I went to the usual store to purchase the beverage, Smiths. Having no clue who I was going to be the lucky recipient of the beverage, as I was driving out of the Smith’s parking lot; I stumbled across a homeless man sitting on the corner by R.C. Willey who looked parched. I rolled down my window and wished the man a happy Presidents day as I gave him the coke.

Hyke.

<-Big Hollow Springs
I am on this hiking/photography phase right now where that is all I want to do. This world is so pretty on many levels and I want to capture it with my Nikon d5000. Three winter hikes took place this week: Rock Canyon, Big Hollow Springs, and Battle Creek Falls. Rock Canyon brought on a gorgeous sunset; plus a night scene with the lit-up Provo Temple. Big Hollow Springs was a surprise; I’ve never done this hike and I didn’t know what to expect. The lush green moss stood out so well surrounded by the white snow. This spring was worth seeing even if you had snow up to your knees when you ventured off the trail. Battle Creek Falls is already slowly melting away, yet the icy falls is always worth witnessing.

What makes a horror film, actually scary? This weekend we experienced the classic old-school movie, Halloween. This 40 year old film’s music is what created the creepy atmosphere for me, along with the Cook’s haunted cabin hidden in Sundance.

You cannot ‘one up’ a testimony-period.

A Winter Hurrican Aloof-take two

Here is a Chinese Riddle for you… How does the VIP line take longer than the general admission line? This was the question of the night as I was freezing and anxiously waiting in the VIP line at Harry O’s in Park City. There was a lot going on at the moment to keep me occupied: the snow was coming down profusely, celebrities were sneaking by on the sidewalks trying to remain unnoticed, and a cop was busy with some yelling drunks. I’ve lived in Utah most of my life yet never really experienced much of the famous Sundance Film Festival. Here I was about to see a former Jurassic 5 member, Chali 2Na; not even a movie, yet I felt so apart of this independent film experience. We had quite the fun filled night full of entertainment-especially when we were homeward bound (classic movie by the way which was on TV this week).

The snow had begun blanketing the roads and we knew this was going to be a looong night. It turned out to be as we literally, barely made it home-we witnessed several prideful 4 wheel drive SUV’s spin out and slam into cement barricades, believing they were the exception in this winter hurricane. I felt like we were THE little Toyota Camry that could. If it wasn’t for our driver’s experienced skills in Mario Kart we may have never made it up the mountain between Park City and Heber. The driver, a good friend, was an expert on the ice levels and took advantage of the dry spots in the snow to catch traction so we didn’t end up sliding back down the mountain. This was the second weekend in a row were snow and driving created problems, it was even the same route.

Note to self: winter hikes can create unseen challenges. Not only is it difficult to find an actual trail that is not closed because of snow but certain canyons aren’t the most accessible in a tiny Toyota. Any ideas of winter hikes would be greatly appreciated-THANKS.

I love sunsets...

If it’s a 435 number should you answer it? Yeah I shouldn’t have. Everyone is welcome to come and witness me speak February 28.