Category Archives: Uncategorized Posts

Past its Prime Meridian

Posted on by

meridianschool.jpg

Meridian School. I don’t really know where to begin and I don’t want to ramble on (I’m not feeling very eloquent at the moment) so I’ll make this short and sweet.

On the 24th of May we visited the school building before it was torn down. In many ways visiting the building was like attending an open casket viewing. The body is not what defined the person, much like the building is not what defined the school. But it’s the last tangible thing that remains, and so it is to that shell that we say goodbye.

It was nice to be able to visit the old classrooms one last time and reminisce about all of our experiences there. Much about the school was still the same as I remember it, but many other things had changed and the school was in s state of disrepair. Each time I drive along 900 East in Provo I’m sure I’ll feel a little sad when I don’t see the old school building, but it was time for it go.

I’m glad I had the chance to attend the school in, what I would consider, its prime. I made friends I still have. I met my future (and current) wife. And I got a “real” education to boot. I often think back to my time spent at Meridian and I can’t help but smile.

And yes- I edited Andrew into the picture on the left. He was MIA when the picture was taken but he deserves to be in it.

Park City Street Fighting, Goodbye!

Posted on by

hotelparkcity.jpg

Recently Fran and I hit Park city for a little time to ourselves (no kids- thank you Nelly!) We stayed at the Hotel Park City. The accommodations were much nicer than I was expecting and the room decoration and feel were outstanding.  We had dinner at Ruth’s Chris Grill which was also excellent- easily one of the best meals I’ve had all year (caesar salad, ribeye steak, creamed spinach and sauteed mushrooms with a chocolate coffee cheesecake for dessert).

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side and our plans were cut somewhat short. When we got to Park City it was a tolerable 69 degrees but by the time we had finished dinner and headed toward the pool it had become sub 50 degrees and it was raining (when we left the next morning is was 33 degrees and snowing). We’ll have to give it another shot later this year.

superstreetfighterii.jpg

In other news we recently got a Super Street Fighter Arcade machine. I used to play this one at a pizza parlour by my old house in Alpine. Nostalgia aside, it’s still one of my favorite games and I’ve always wanted to own the Arcade. As a kid I always thought it would be fun to have arcade games (I think I got the ideal from Silver Spoons).  Anyway- we got this one for work. Not sure yet if it’s a good thing. It doesn’t do much to engender good will (“This doesn’t block. I can’t block.  What the $#%$!?” “You’re so cheap, stop being such a %$#@!!” and other gems like, “Be someone else. Don’t you know anyone else?  This is lame $@%$!”).

Getting Street Fighter makes me want to assemble a MAME arcade. It would be really cool to have some more games.

And finally, GE is out of the the appliance business. Thank goodness! We have GE appliances in our house- five to be exact. We had to have the compressor replaced in our fridge, we had to have the fan motor replaced in our microwave, the “self clean’ on our ovens is broken, various pieces of our dishwasher have broken off and our gas stove top has ignition problems.  Kind of unreal – five appliances with five problems. No more GE for me

6/23/2017 Update: I guess GE didn’t actually get out of the appliance biz since our new home has almost all GE appliances. And, you guessed it, they have all broken at some point. 

Anyway, got another post coming up soon!

Cam’s Tacoma

Posted on by

tacoma-sold

I sold my Tacoma to a coworker. Mechanically the truck was in perfect shape and always served me (us) well. The exterior was starting to show some wear, there were a few interior issues (i.e. the compass had stopped working) and the stereo interface was starting to feel dated (no iPod connection). Having a black vehicle was always a challenge too- they are extremely difficult to keep clean. As soon as I sold the truck I felt a little regret, like I had betrayed a friend. But I know the truck is in good hands now and the new owner will take even better care of it than I did.

It’s always emotional for me when I lose a vehicle. 

I love my Tacoma. This truck has done everything for us and has never complained once. If I recommended a mid-sized truck to anyone it would be the Toyota Tacoma.

My Tacoma is almost totally stock (all options are from the factory). The only upgrades I have done are JDM exhaust and headers.

Bonding with Transformers

Posted on by

bumblebeemikeanddad.jpg
My son, Mike, is obsessed with Transformers. Sometimes he calls me at work to ask me Transformer questions. “Hi Daddy. Hey, can Fortress Maximus beat up Optimus Prime?” We’ve been pulling out my collection and playing with them a few nights each week and Mike is amassing a little collection of his own. He’s watched the movies (both the cartoon and live action offerings) more times than me. All of this delights me.

Recently I decided it was time to start drawing with him. Now, I’m not some kind of super artist or anything, but I think a person should have some basic art skills. I bought us some markers (I recommend Prismacolor  markers- excellent in every way) and we decided to draw some Transformers. Mike picked Bumblebee for our first effort. I tried to teach him about seeing basic shapes in objects. I showed him how to pencil the design, ink and then color. I was thrilled that his little bumble bee drawing had shapes with volume and weren’t just little sticks! I helped him with the outline of his car, but he did all his wheels and windows and his own inking and coloring. We still have a ways to go, but I’m going to do this with him a couple of times a month and save everything in a book for him. I’m sure he’ll get better than me pretty quick.

Shedding the Clutter

Posted on by

ashedfinally.jpg

This little shed is exciting to me for three reasons.

First: We can finally move the yard and garden equipment out of the garage. It was getting really cluttered and we didn’t have room for the important stuff like manly car tools and testosterone powered wood cutting machines. I’ve had my eye on some nice metal cabinets I want to put in the garage on “my” side that can hold my tools… that I plan to buy… when the cabinets go in… cabinets for the tools…  It’s a cyclical thing. Anyway, less stuff in the garage means more room… to put in more stuff… huh.

Second: We bought this shed at Costco last year. It sat unassembled on the side of our house for about 6 months. It’s really neat to have it sitting by the side of our house in an assembled state. Yep. All done.  Now it’s not a chore looming at some unforeseen point in the future “when I have time.” Moving on.

Third: I came home one afternoon and found Fran putting it together. I rolled up my shelves and took it apart. Then I put it back together the right way. Fran likes it when I do “husband stuff.” Plus I love to do these kinds of things for her when I get the chance to show off my mad skills (I can be hard to mobilize, I confess).

Anyway- now we’ve got a little space to stick our unsightly yard equipment. One day we might get a real shed (I like Andrew’s), but this will do for now. Plus it was only a two hour venture.

Work, Unwork and Rework

Posted on by

oldstorefrontremoval1.jpg

The new store has been an emotional journey in some ways. I spent a good part of the last night pulling out the shelves from the old storefront… the same shelves I spend over 3 months working on. I keep telling myself that they served their purpose and it’s time to move on. I still find the whole ordeal of undoing what took so long to initially do very depressing. Kudos to Steve for a good design though- it’s impressive to see the amount of work that went into the initial design and build as I disassemble things. Hopefully I’ll get the removal done in the next couple of days. We’ll use the room as a receiving area for our shipments and a photo studio and posting area for our pictures.

storeprogressapril261.jpg

I take some comfort in the fact that the new store is coming along pretty well. Most of the wall shelving is finished and the BladeHQ stock is almost all moved over with plenty of room to spare. At least our space crunch has been alleviated. Now, if only there was a way to stop time.  We still need to finish all the counters (you can see a cute little mock-up in the picture on the right), but we’re still undecided about how to proceed. We removed $7,000 worth of glass from the old store and we’d like to find some way to use it.

desksfranandcam1.jpg

And the silver lining of the expansion was that I finally got an office (it’s in the back of the new store).  It’s just right for me and Fran- I put in two corner desks, a shelf, a filing cabinet and a huge fake tree I found at Costco (the fake plants stay the urge to blow up my store).  Very cozy. Sadly Fran is only putting in about 6 hours a week right now so I don’t see as much of hr as I’d like. But I do get the office mostly to myself!

Retail Store Chore, Lore and More

Posted on by

Here’s a bit more on the retail front. I’ve posted a project status page on my retail website- you  can see it if you click HERE.  It’s a bit behind though- we’re well into the shelving stage now and have moved over most of our inventory. I’ll get some exclusive (wow!) pictures up in the next couple days. I just don’t have any free time right now.