The Long and the Short of It

Wow, 3 months of Utah went by pretty quickly. Well, some weeks are longer than others, but it went by fast. We've accomplished a lot:

• Planted over 13,000 willow trees (acres and acres)
• Cut hundreds of cotton wood trees for future transplant
• Educated townspeople about our project
• Eliminated willow trees from the Cedar City Airport where deer and other animals where causing problems
• 6 of us managed to live together, haha

At first, I wasn't very excited about this state. I think a lot of it had to do with not having a lot of access to adventure, seeing as though I don't have my own car here. Luckily, we were able to see Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. The landscape is great, but the night life lacks. We were forced to make our own night life events at the house, but it was all fun and every weekend was great.

As a Crew Leader, I think I did a good job. Our project sponsor said we were a very independent and great-working crew, and I think a lot of that has to do with Becca and I's ability to organize and manage work situations. We've dealt with a lot of adversity, from all angles, but we've always managed to get our jobs done and come out on top.

With all that being said, I'm excited to head back to Massachusetts. We have two more work days left, then myself and another guy are driving the vans back up to Logan (Utah State) and are getting some office stuff done on Monday. I'll be flying out of Salt Lake City on Tuesday, and I'll be back East that same night.

What's next for me? Well, I'm not sure. I received a job offer at a golf course in Upton, Mass as an all-around employee (ranger, grounds crew, golf operations...). I'm pretty excited about that, and I think I'll end up doing that. That will rev up around the end of March. Other than that, I might be interviewing with Entercom Radio Broadcasting (the company that owns WEEI SPORTS RADIO!). I want to work for their marketing team, so we'll see if that works out.

Well, I'm at the computer lab and it's shutting down in two minutes...looks like I have to get out of here, but I'll see you all soon.

On Monday nights, for Monday Night Football, Ruby Tuesday's has a trivia competition. The competition is each person has a hand-held computer and you try and call the plays. For example, pass short, pass left, run middle, deep pass middle, etc. Every time you get it right, you gain points, and lose points if you're wrong.

LAST NIGHT I WON WHEN THE PATRIOTS/SAINTS PLAYED! 1st place of 18!

I won a ticket to their Super Bowl party ($25 value), which I'm pretty sure I won't be here for...

Still, I'm pumped! They don't call me the playmaker for nothing!

Things are going great here in Utah. We moved into a new house, and my room is super-sweet. There's no internet available there, so we're using the library for now. Who knows when the next time I"ll be able to get on will be.

Plans for Thanksgiving: hit up a Chinese Buffet. I'm excited for the non-traditional dinner, and I'll be with most of my crew, which is cool. Some of them are going to see family, but most of us are sticking around.

I have 10 days off for the Christmas holiday, but I'm definitely not going home. Flights are too expensive and my plan is to do some traveling around here. I still have to look up some sites and figure out where I want to go, though.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mission: Cut and bundle willows from an area with a willow abundance, and replant them in areas with a willow shortage where wildlife must be sustained.

Current Project: We're cutting the willows (about as wide as a thumb in diameter) around the Cedar City Airport area. We prune off branches and bundle the willows into groups of 25, and soak the bottom ends of them in a body of water.

Progress: With seven crew members, we've harvested 46 bundles of willows in two days. 46 bundles adds up to approximately 1,150 willow stems. We'll be replanting them in groups of three, which will yield 384 separate plantings. In about 100 years, if successful, each willow planting will help to sustain wildlife within a 50 foot diameter. In two days, then, we've harvested enough willows to provide nourishment to over 19,000 feet of wildlife.

That's just from two days, and we'll be harvesting these willows for at least a couple of weeks. I'll give you some more stats/updates as they come. Looking a the numbers gets me excited.

Not feeling very clever, but feeling pretty good. Buying beer in Utah is weird. You can buy regular domestic beers (with less alcohol content than they have in other states) OR you can buy imported beers at the state liquor stores. At those stores, they don't price six or 12 packs, but you can mix and match your own and each beer is priced differently. They only sell beers 5% and higher. I got some pretty exciting new kinds.

Working in the field starts tomorrow. I made the drive down to St. George yesterday. It went from snowy mountains, to endless highway, to golden rolling parries, to more snowy mountains, to expansive canyons and hills made of beautiful red rock. It was a 6+ hour drive, but it was as amazing as I heard it would be. Nowhere else can you find such drastic changes in landscape than you do in Utah. If you can, then I want to know about it.

Major music selections on the way down - Cartel, Cute is What We Aim For, Drake, Saves the Day, Angels and Airwaves...complete works for most of those. I have 122 Saves the Day songs, so it's a pretty safe bet to think I didn't listen to all of those. I know Justin Creeden would. He would do anything.

Not sure if I like this new blog template. It looked cool at first, but I'm not sure about it anymore. I wish I was creative enough to make my own.

Things to look forward to: first day of real work tomorrow (chainsawing?!), Dixie National Park (and others in the area), doing more mountain biking like I did today (which was unreal). We're living in this condo complex right at the edge of the city. Our back yard is an endless landscape of dirt and red rock. There are hiking paths and unpaved roads for motor vehicles spread across the land for miles. No end in sight. I'm looking forward to some sunsets. Do Any friends want to come visit before Jan 30th?

Tomorrow is finally arriving! I'm shipping out from Logan to St. George, where I'll be for the next 3 months working with the crew. I'm excited to finally meet the crew and get things rolling. I rented out a free bike from the University yesterday, which I'm going to take down with me. I've heard there are TONS of cool biking trails, etc. that I'm excited to try out.

I talked to some of my best buds from home today, which made me feel good. I'm missing home like crazy, but I've met a ton of cool people out this way. I have time off for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I'm doubting I'll make a trip home. It's mad expensive for plane tickets there and back, and plus, I want to check out some of the terrain around these parts when I have some time off. Everyone's been telling me about the great places to climb, hike, and ski so I want to check out some of that. I'm sure some people in my crew want to do the same.

I was looking at the crew list today, and it looks like I'm the only one from the East Coast (only one east of Kentucky, in fact). This means that there shouldn't be any Yankee fans. If there are, then they have no excuse.

So check out this living situation. I think there's going to be 7 of us in one house, which should be cool. BUT - for the first 2 weeks, the house won't be ready. Therefore, we're staying in a 4-bed condo (with one bathroom I think). That could AND WILL be pretty tight...at least it's only for a couple of weeks though, right?

Halloween was AWESOME - partied here on Friday night and then on Saturday, we went to a rave at the Saltair (outside of Salt Lake City). It was a great time - and I was a woodsman both nights. Check out the pictures on Facebook.

Phillies made it rain on the Yankees last night. Chase Utley is a killer. He tied the record for the most home runs in a World Series, with five, after he had another two-home run game last night. Ryan Howard, though, not so much - 12 strikeouts in a World Series (tied record). STEP IT UP!

I just saw the guy who hooked me up with my bike yesterday - very nice guy. He has a mustache...a lot of people in Utah do, I've noticed...

I just showed 3 mormon girls my Reverend card when I was at the dining hall. They asked if I was religious, and I said kind of. Then after that I showed them the card. They questioned the validity of the license, and when I told them it's legit they still didn't believe me! How dare they? If Justin Creeden, a fellow Reverend of mine, were there, then he would have set them straight.

The last two days I've been in Weber, Utah cutting down brush and learning out to use the chainsaw. We've been clearing out pathways for a bike path that is going to be built. It's pretty cool knowing that we're doing the initial groundwork for a recreational site. I'm sure I won't be around to see the final product, though, but it's still cool.

Chainsawing is definitely a lot harder than I thought. My muscles are incredibly sore and I can barely type this post! Not to complain, of course, but just stating the facts.

When we're walking down the trail to the site where we work, there is a group of horses that are always out. There's one that looks at us the whole time when we're walking by and it's funny to me for some reason. The way it's looking at us reminds me of how a person watches people. Just a thought.

I'm still staying at Vlad's apartment on campus, and he's been really cool about me staying there. Time to go back and watch game one of the World Series. Go Phillies!