The Long and the Short of It

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!

I landed a job as a Crew Leader for the Utah Conservation Corps Winter Crew

I got to Logan, UT (Utah State University) last night and I scored a place to stay by using CouchSurfing.com, which is a site for people who are traveling and need a place to stay. I'm staying with a guy named Vlad, and he's really cool and nice for letting me stay with him on campus.

Today I have been watching football, which is awesome because I was expecting to miss the Patriots play in London. Thank god I was able to watch them crush Tampa Bay. The Patriots are on a roll!

Currently, I'm hanging out in the University library and surfing the net. I start training tomorrow and I'll be doing work in the fields Tuesday-Friday this week. I'll be learning how to use a chainsaw! (and other things). Next Monday I'll be relocating to St. George (southern Utah) for the rest of the program. It turns out that St. George is literally the safest small city in the United States. I think we've found a place to stay as a group too, which is awesome.

Updates to follow! Go Patriots! Go DOWN Yankees!

I went to the Suns game tonight and sat in a suite. There were two of us, and no food. I must be spoiled since the only time I've been in a suite like that was at the AAA Baseball Team USA vs. Italy four years ago (awesome time by the way - tons of food and excellent fun). At the Suns though, there were cans of Coke in the fridge, but nothing else. I didn't expect anything since it was free, preseason, and unexpected to even sit there. The view angle was cool though. I was thinking of how it would be neat to have seats that hang down from the ceiling that could move around...if you can picture that.

I go to a lot of games. In 4 weeks I've gone to 3 of the Mercury championship games and 3 Suns' preseason games. I'm lucky I get the hook-up from Danny since he works at the arena. Tonight was the first time I've sat in the suite level. It's more exciting sitting in regular seats...especially when there are only 2 of you in the suite! I like the view from lower down towards the court. Then you can see Steve Nash tear it up; unless, of course, he limps off the court in the 2nd quarter and doesn't return to the game. Amare has been on fire too. OF COURSE - I'll always be a Celtics fan! (good record in preseason for them, by the way).

I had an interview today to work with the Utah Conservation Corps (Americorps program) to be a leader or a team member for 3 months starting in 2 weeks. I'm hoping to get it. It'll be six volunteers and two team leaders doing habitat restoration; specifically hiking trails. I'm excited to hear back!

Nothing else going on really...weather's nice!

As the title says, this entry is way over-due. As most of you probably know, I relocated to Arizona two weeks ago today, and I'll share some of those experiences with you. I'll throw in some pictures so you can just scan through and look at those, which I'm sure a lot of you will do. That is, if anybody even reads this. Also, I'll give some opinions on the Boston sports world (of course), but that will be a minimal part of the entry. I'll also give you some thoughts on the future and what's next for me.

Arizona so far has been hit or miss. Some days are great, but some days drag and I can hardly stand it. Just to give you some background, I came out here to find a job, but I'm finding out that (A) there are no jobs, and (B) Phoenix is a pretty lame city in general. The "downtown" is about 4 blocks and consists of about 5 restaurants and a bunch of office buildings.

Since I've been here, I've actually done a lot considering I usually hang out all day by myself while Danny and Ernie are at work with the Suns. The Phoenix Mercury (WNBA) has been on a run since I landed. The second night I was here, I went to the game and saw them clinch a spot in the WNBA Finals where they're currently playing the Indiana Fever. I've been to 3 games already and tonight is the final game in the finals at home, which I think I'm going to despite the Red Sox playing game 2 in LA at the same time. Thank god for Verizon Mobile browsers.

Because Danny works at the arena, I've been able to go to these games for free, which is awesome. Last week I also watched the Phoenix Suns play their first preseason game where they blew the Partizan out of the water by about 30 points. Unfortunately, Steve Nash had the flu and didn't play, which was disappointing, but there will be more games coming up.

I also went to the Arizona Diamondbacks' last home game game against the Padres where they won. The stadium is amazingly nice, and is indoors. I wish there was more time left in the season because I'd like to see them play again. Unfortunately, their team is pretty awful so they didn't make it to the postseason.

To get around the city, I've been using the Light Rail transportation system, which is just a train that runs from one end of Phoenix into Mesa. So far, I've seen Scottsdale and Tempe besides Phoenix, and both of those towns are much nicer and appear to have more things to do. Tempe seems like it's where it's at since that is where ASU is where some 50,000+ students go to school. I went over to the campus to walk around one day. I saw many pretty people and the campus was about 50x nicer than Umass (but I'll always love Umass!).

In terms of adventure, I hiked through the White Tank Mountains where I saw several hundred cacti and was stupid enough to step on a dead cactus hard enough so that it broke, flew up, and stuck into my leg. I was able to pull out all off the needles pretty easily though, thank god. Not much wildlife there, but I did see a rabbit and some road-runners (yay). Here are some pictures from that day:

As it turns out, it's kind of a pain in the neck to add photos, but you can see all of the photos I've taken thus far in my Facebook album called "Arizona".

Last night, I went with Danny to see Mae in Scottsdale, which was great, as always. They played a lot of old songs and some newer ones that sound great. I'm looking forward to getting their newest CD. Here's a picture from that:

So in terms of the NFL and MLB the time zone switch is great for that. I've been able to watch all of the games and they start 3 hours earlier. So football Sundays start at 10am, which is kind of weird, but everything's done by 8:30 so it's not late at night either, which is cool. Patriots are on a roll after that win against the Ravens, and I'm looking forward to them facing off against the undefeated Broncos on Sunday.

The Red Sox started their series against the Angels last night where they lost game 1, but they'll bounce back like they always do. Also, did you see that Twins/Tigers 1-game playoff last week?! It was the best game I've seen all year as the Twins went on to win it in 12 innings. They're facing off against the Yankees, as I predicted, so we'll see how that turns out.

I guess that's about it! It's been 2 weeks since I left Massachusetts, but it feels like much longer. I've been talking to some of you regularly, which is awesome, and I miss you all.

My plan is to continue looking for a job in the Phoenix area for a few more weeks.

Mark is coming to visit us the first week in November. If I don't find anything by around that time I might head back to Mass. I've been looking at volunteer jobs through Americorps lately, and I was actually offered a position at West Virginia University yesterday, which would start mid-November. I'm thinking I probably won't take it though...it's too soon and I still want to explore my options. The formatting in blogspot is pretty shotty, and it's irritating.

So today I started throwing some old CDs onto my iPod before I make the move to Az. I was surprised when I found these CDs in my room that several of them weren't already on my iTunes, but thank God they are now. Check some of these names out:

Green Day - Warning
New Found Glory - From the Screen to Your Stereo
The Movielife - This Time Next Year
Jewel - Pieces of You <---yea, I can't believe I put this on my computer...
Freeway - Philidelphia Freeway
Bad Religion - No Control
Korn - Life is Peachy
Boys II Men - The Remix Collection <---one of the first CDs I ever owned, but I can't recall EVER listening to it
Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water
System of a Down - System of a Down
Green Day - Insomniac
Chumbawumba - Tubthumper

In other news, the Red Sox have won 6 straight and are taking a commanding lead in the Wild Card race in the American League. There is still about four weeks left of the baseball season to go. I'm predicting the American League playoff picture to pan out as such:

East: NY Yankees
Central: Minnesota
West: LA Angels
Wild Card: Red Sox

There's nothing profound about my predictions, though most would say that Detroit is running away with the Central as Minnesota is 4.5 games back right now. However, I'm not very impressed with Detriot's pitching staff, and the Twins are able to get it done on offense against any team. I think there's still plenty of time for the Tigers to fall to the Twins in this race as the Twins have a 3-game winning streak going for them right now. The Twins and the Tigers face off seven more times this season! This gives the Twins plenty of chances to take a lead in the AL Central.

Red Sox will face off against the Angels in the ALDS, as usual, and blow through them, as usual! Dice-K pitched a solid 6 scoreless innings against the Angels tonight, and I'm looking forward to seeing him finally get back into the Sox's rotation.

I hope to God the Yankess lose to Minnesota, but I wouldn't mind seeing the Sox face off against them either. Though since the All-Star Break the Yankees have pretty much dominated every team in the AL East, I have full faith that the Sox will be able to get the job done. I'm not afraid of C.C. Sabathia or Mark Teixeira.

The Buffalo Bills were charging down the Patriots' half of the field as the final 10 minutes ticked off of the 4th quarter. Greg Webber, confident that the Bills were running away with the game, challenged everyone to a bet that the Patriots wouldn't string a comeback together. All of my instincts told me to take the bet because I knew that Tom Brady would pull another game-winning drive out of his pocket. Needless to say, I didn't take the bet. What was I thinking?

As the clock winded down to the final 5 minutes of the 4th quarter, the Buffalo Bills had just scored a touchdown to put them up 24-13 against the New England Patriots. Greg still taunted us to take his bet, but I still didn't for some reason.

BOOM! The Patriots charge down the field and score a TD to put them within 5 with 2:06 remaining (failed 2pt conversion).

Kickoff.....McKelvin of the Bills catches it in the end zone...doesn't down it for the guaranteed touchback, but takes it up field! Here comes Merriweather....LATER! Stripped ball and the Patriots take control on the Bills' 31. Quick pass from Brady to Watson AGAIN for the game-winner because Trent Edwards cannot run an offense against the Patriots when they're winning at home with less than a minute remaining.

If only I took that bet from Greg, I would be owed an ice cream cone at Friendly's. Yeah, the bet was for ice cream.

It's about time that I made the switch from Livejournal to something a little more professional (kind of). That being said, I haven't "seriously" used my Livejournal in a few years, but I did enjoy writing in it back in the day. I can't promise myself that I'll even use this, but for some reason I was inspired to start writing in a blog. I hope to someday be Tim Meadows' Blog Master.

So yesterday kicked off the 2009 NFL season. Actually, last Thursday's game between the Steelers and the Titans did, but I hold so much animosity towards the Steelers that last Thursday wasn't put in the category of yesterday's games. I wasn't around for the beginning part of the afternoon, but I caught some of the endings to the 1pm games and then all of the 4pm games.

HILIGHTS FROM SUNDAY

• Brandon Stokley's game-winning 87-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Orton with less than 1 minute remaining in the 4th quarter
• Adrian Peterson runs for 180 yards and 3 touchdowns as Brett Favre passes for 1 touchdown
• Drew Brees "cuts up" the Lions as he passes for 6 touchdown passes and over 350 yards
• Giants defense owns the Redskins. Osi Umenyiora forces a fumble and returns it for a touchdown
• Green Bay wins as Aaron Rodgers throws a deep touchdown pass to Greg Jennings on 3rd and 1 instead of going for the field goal