Wow

So, there has been a bit of drama between myself and Jeff & Daniel since I told them on Sunday I wasn't going to Vegas because I wasn't feeling well enough. I have been on antibiotics for a week now, and am making progress, but can tell I'm still not 100%, because despite sleeping until 11am today, and only doing mildly taxing things (went to temple and saw a movie...the end), I am exhausted less than 12 hours later.

Anyway, I posted my two activities on Facebook, which exacerbated the problem. See, they think that I didn't go with them because they are gay. Yes, my family expressed some concern about me traveling with two guys, but only because they thought people at church might assume they are straight and that it might look like I was doing something bad with them in Sin City. I don't necessarily agree with that assessment (I also think it underestimates many of the friends I have at church), but I can understand it. Then, when I got sick, and the hotel needed 72 hours to give me a refund, and thought of hours in the car blowing my nose, and walking through a smoke-filled casino with already reactive lungs (I have asthma), and thought that I should take care of myself first.

Sadly, the way the whole thing played out gave them the impression that I decided not to go because they are gay, which is not the case at all. Hello - I spend every Friday night (practically) at their house,and they are like my brothers! If I end up losing two friends over this, I will be hurt; mostly because I thought they knew me better than to assume the worst about me.

My bad

I realize I only posted once in May; the month was an extremely busy one for me. We spent much of the month driving to and from Petaluma for work, which is a 150-mile round trip every day. I ended up driving 1650 miles in 16 days.

So, you already know that I went to Yosemite. The weekend after that, I went to Monterey. Jeff, Daniel, Juka, and I visited the aquarium, did lunch at Bubba Gumps, visited the tidepools, and drove down 17-mile drive. We then drove back up the coast a little and had dinner on the beach in Aptos. Here are some pics of that fun day:

The weekend after that I did girls' night at Delphine's on the Friday, but made a point of doing nothing on Saturday - it was really nice.

However, last weekend, I went up to West Point with Jeff and Daniel; we stayed at Daniel's grandparent's house there. Being away from TV, computers, cell phone signal, the freeway, etc. was REALLY nice, and allowed me to win pretty much every board game we played. I won Monopoly twice (probably the last time that'll happen).

We went to Black Chasm cavern and to Moaning Cavern, and here are the pics and videos:

Ziplining was SOOOO fun!

All-in-all, May was a busy, but highly entertaining month for me. I hope June will be the same!

Yosemite!

Every year, our family takes a trip to Yosemite National Park; the constants are mom and Guy. This year, for the first time in 6 years, all of us kids got together for the vacation as well. I had a blast hanging out with my bonus sisters Monica and Rebecca, and talking to bro-in-law Zack. My sisters are unique women, and each of them has different strengths. Both of them are good listeners, and more patient than me by far. Monica seems to totally understand my warped sense of humor, and my perspective on dating in the YSA ward. Rebecca understands the annoyance of being chronically ill, although she deals with it with much more grace than I do. Zack is just Zack: he is a storyteller without an off button, but it's okay, because he makes us all laugh.

It was a great trip, and here are some of my pictures:

People from Arkansas can't take a hint

And called 4 times this morning. The caller ID said Shirley Cordell, and the phone number was (479) 459-4475. We answered three times around 7:30 this morning, and I finally told them their information would be posted here on the internet.

Someone else from Arkansas (I assume a friend of Shirley - not to be confused with a friend of Dorothy) called back just after 11 from (479) 552-2951 and left an unintelligible voicemail.

Car Smashing!

Saturday at noon, I headed out to Bollinger Ranch to participate in some good times. At the December 2010 YSA Charity Ball, Dave Haupt and Mike Corrigan had bid for (and won) and tractor ride with Aaron Locey. This tractor ride also was to be accompanied by smashing some stuff. Aaron had a couple ovens he was going to smash, but this year, he also had a full car to demolish. It started with them attempting to remove the windshield by kicking it out, which was unsuccessful. Aaron then set out to remove the side windows - he got two out without problem, but the driver's side windows both shattered.



While they were doing this, Katie (Schirtzinger), Caroline (Melgarejo) and I took turns swinging the sledgehammer at the bumper (after Mike and Dave had a go at it of course).



Sledgehammers are HEAVY! Once all the side windows were out, the guys had to empty all the fluids out of the car (oil, gas, transmission fluid, coolant). And, if you don't have a hydraulic lift, you simply use your backhoe.



While the car was lifted Katie got to slash a tire, which is something she'd wanted to do. At last, the car was ready for smashing. But before the guys could do that, Aaron had to teach them how to drive this beast of a dozer.



Katie, Caroline, and I got lost about halfway through the instructions. Terry (Hagen) said it takes a lot of hours before you totally get the hang of it, but that it's easier to just do it. As a prelude to the car smash, the guys ran over some ovens.



Now we get to actual car smashing:



Once the car was smashed, Aaron decided to cut it in half to fit it in his scrap metal bin.




I have to say, this was pretty fun; it took longer than expected, but there is something quite satisfying about crunching metal. Next year, we drive a car off a cliff and watch it explode. :)

Oh, the humanity

I was on my home from a party in Livermore last night, so I got off the freeway at Hacienda and went down Martinelli to get home. Here is a map for reference:



As I was coming up on Arnold, I noticed a dark shape in the dirt on the side of the road; I always take a closer look at stuff like this, which usually ends up being garbage bags or boxes. In this case, it was a person. To be more specific, it was an African-American male, who was lying there with his head on his arm, dressed all in black, and looked like he was sleeping. Since I am not used to seeing human sprawled on the side of the road, I called the Dublin police dispatch. As a side note, yes, I have the Dublin emergency phone number dispatch programmed into my cell phone.

Anyway, so the operator asks me if the man appears injured, and I say, "no, there's no blood or anything." She asks if I want to wait for the police, and I said I would since there were cars driving by. About three minutes after I hung up with the dispatcher, I see a police car on Arnold, and then he flips on his lights and drives the wrong way about 100 feet down the street where I was.

This cop gets out of his cruiser, turns on his flashlight, and starts shining it in the guy's face; as he is doing this, 3 more cops pull up, and a firetruck. I see the man moving, so he's not dead. This is a relief for me, since finding a dead body wasn't ever on my bucket list. I watch the scene unfold from my rearview mirror for a few minutes. The firefighters are doing something, and all the cops are talking. Eventually, one of the officers came over to tell me exactly what was going on.

Apparently, Dublin PD are extremely familiar with the guy who I found; this is the third time this month he has been picked up by them for being "severely intoxicated." The cop thanked me for phoning it in, and told me that this was "normal for [the guy sleeping on the side of the road]." He also told me that the man had just been released from the hospital that morning for the same thing, but they were securing him an ambulance to take him back.

Here's my question: how many people drove by without (1) noticing the suffering of a fellow human-being; or (2) not caring, or thinking it wasn't their problem. Is this what we have come to? Yes, the guy clearly has a problem and needs help, but seriously...

More moron-ocy

So, I was home yesterday when this stupid girl from Washington called. She even had the nerve to ask me who I was, and I said, "You called me: who are YOU?" I think the total number of phone calls was 5. Her cell phone number is (360) 286-4212. Not sure about a name, because it's a cell, but clearly, the lack of sun in WA left some brain damage.