NYC with S and J

Here is a video that Kage made of our trip to NYC this summer. It was one of our best trips ever! This video also confirms how weird Jenn and I are.

Thanks again!


NYC with S and J from Sam Anderson on Vimeo.

Dream Team

20 years ago today, arguably the best team of all-time was created, the "Dream Team".

From top to bottom, and left to right, Patrick Ewing, Christian Laettner, Magic Johnson, David Robinson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, and Clyde Drexler.

The team was coached by Chuck Daly, and assistant coaches, Mike Krzyzewski, Lenny Wilkens, P.J. Carlesimo.

GREATEST BBALL TEAM EVER!

Public Transportation

Ever been to a Cubs game and taken the train and "L" over to the north side? What about taking the subway in the Bronx to see the Yankees play?

This is how it can feel sometimes...

haha....Happy Tuesday!

I love America

I have great pride in our country! I have always been incredibly grateful for the opportunity that I have to live in such a great country. I love the Olympics because of the grandeur of the collision of sports and national pride. However, the magnitude of my appreciation for the USA has grown tremendously over the past couple years. Living in another country for two years opened my eyes to seeing that there was more to the 4th of July besides great food, parades, and fireworks. Upon returning to American soil two years and two months ago, I just wanted to kiss the customs workers! I think I in fact kissed the ground in Miami after getting off the plane. These thoughts and feelings were reiterated Saturday night as I stood next to Jennika and my great Aunt as we listened to the National Anthem at Merlin Olsen Field before the Utah State football game.

I have never served in the armed forces, but if called upon, I'd be willing. I am incredibly grateful for their service and dedication to our country. September 11th, 2001 was a day that just like everyone else, I will remember for the rest of my life.  I was in "shop class", working on a gumball machine that we were making out of wood.  A lady from the office came in with a paper and handed it to our teacher Mr. Sanderson.  Mr. Sanderson read over the recent news and told us that if we had any family in New York or Washington D.C. to go with the lady to the office.  I had family in Virginia and Maryland but I didn't think anyone would have been at the Pentagon so I just stood there and really tried to comprehend what had just been said to us.

Unlike most of the class, I had been on a family trip to New York so I could vividly see the WTC in my head, as well as the Pentagon. Lots of kids were confused, saying, "Oh my goodness, the stock exchange is done!" and "There must just be money flying everywhere." I remember that kind of confusing me because it was pretty inaccurate and they were thinking of the New York Stock Exchange building.

Throughout the rest of the day, in every class we began the class with a little discussion and our teacher I feel like went over the severity of what was happening and if we needed to talk to anyone, there were people available to help us feel better.

On the bus ride hope, everyone was just speculating and yelling things about what we had heard had happened. None of us were that well informed. We were in middle school and smart phones hadn't been invented yet.

As a 13 year old with a random routine of watching CNN with my mom every day, I remember being incredibly scared the night of September 11th.  I watched a little too much of the footage.  My imagination ran wild. I had nightmares all night. I had reoccurring thoughts and dreams of what my future would be and it scared me. I felt so sad for all those that had lost loved ones that day. I felt like I would not live a normal life or complete any of the goals and visions I had already in my head for what my dream future would be like.

My perspective began to change over the next week as professional sports began to resume again and normalcy reappeared. The country united together and I remember how good a feeling that was to see our nation bounce back the way it did. It was the emergence of one of the greatest memories in sports history.

Thank goodness that 10 years later, things are a whole lot different than what my 13 year old self imagined. 

I have a small place in my heart for New York City. Not only because I have family there but it has been a city that has always fascinated me and filled me with a different energy and excitement. I've had eight visits there, each one was different, but each one I have loved.

Jennika, Kage, and I got to visit the WTC site two months ago.  It was the third time I had been back, but it equally touched my emotions and thoughts. I love our tenacity as a country to rebuild, to fight back, to unite, and to continue to stand for freedom.  The new building they are building is beautiful. Obviously it is not complete yet, but when it is completed, it will definitely become one of my favorite buildings in the world.

Today is September 12th, a day late, but my love for America is with me every day. I think about my love for this country every time I take a HOT shower. Every time I come home and there is electricity. This sounds crazy, but I even think about it every time I drink a glass of milk! It is something that passes my mind every night as I kneel down and give thanks.

I love America.

"I'm Back"

Well I'm not Michael Jordan...and I'm really not back from anything but being a lazy blogger, but here's to my first blog post in over a year!

Some footage from MJ's fifth game back after his first retirement to celebrate my trivial return to the blogosphere.

Last Week of Summer

Where did the summer go?

I think we all are asking ourselves that today.  Summer was long and awesome yet it seemed so short.  I am looking forward to different parts of school starting up again because there are lots of fun activities (like football, intramural sports, basketball season, and of course getting hitched) that will happen in the upcoming month.

This being the last week of summer, I want to 'live it up'.

It will probably snow in a month so we have to right?

Any recommendations or ideas?!  haha I know I don't have a large blog following but I'd love some feedback. 

Shout out to Naperville

I'm really not a Saints fan but....

El Calvito

I'm a lil bald. My hair has been pretty short as of late anyways, but I think I love Jennika's reaction to all this the best..."Uhh..are you going to keep doing this?"

Haha I don't plan to keep shaving my head like this, but my brudda Mike really wanted to so I thought I would support him. After all, it's summer!

I can say that there are a few weird things about having nearly no hair:

• My shirt gets stuck to my head when I take it off.
• Towels get stuck to my head when I try to dry it.
• Shampoo is almost unneeded.
• I keep getting the shivers...I blame it to lack of hair.
• I could sand a wood fixture to be nice and smooth with my noggin.
• I probably had more hair when I was born.
• It's not that great of a look.

Here are some famous peeps though that got barely any hair:

<---Mike

It was worth a try at least right?
What was really ironic to me about today though, was the last thing I saw before going to bed:

Hair Conditioner from Jonathan Gurvit on Vimeo.

It's good to be a calvito (little bit bald guy) while it lasts.

Dandelions

This is our newest single, "Dandelions", featuring Hillary Dodd, Truth, and Showcase from the Cache Valley Killaz. Check for, 'Happy Fat Kids', the album to be released towards the end of the summer.  This track will be a little different (better) when we release the album.

Co-Producer of 'Dandelions' - Tren Dawg



DO WORK!

Inception

Last night, a group of us went to see the midnight showing up the new movie, "Inception". 

I had BIG expectations because first off the movie is directed by Christopher Nolan who I thought did a great job with, "The Dark Knight", and I also enjoyed, "The Prestige".  I also really just thought that the trailer seemed cool and who wouldn't want to see a movie with "Alfred" from Batman aka Michael Caine.

I started to get nervous though because the movie was being advertised so much!! I feel like most of the time when movies are heavily advertised, it's usually because they aren't that great.  A good movie can usually advertise for itself because people begin talking about it and then tell their friends about it and then they go see it too.

I'm no Roger Ebert and I don't have some elaborate review of the film, but I have to say is that I was not disappointed.  I was expecting a complex plot, so I brought lots of brain food to eat while watching, but within the first five minutes I was kinda hoping it would have been a little easier to understand like Toy Story or something, I mean I was completely lost, but a few minutes later, I was able to settle in. I thoroughly enjoyed nearly every part of this movie.  The very ending made the whole crowd groan because we wanted more!  I don't want to give anything away, but this was a sweet film for sure.  I walked out feelin a little sketchy and trippy cause it was making me think a lot, but I also blame that on my lack of studies due to summer break ;).  

Pogo

In different stages of my life I have been very interested and intrigued by music and video and I have attempted to make both of them. It takes a lot of time to really make a good product and there is one guy that is making some really sweet movies on YouTube who I definitely repsect. What he does is produce a track that has like a Drums N Bass feel and then he adds soundbits from certain movies and splices that together with video clips from the movie. Something like this seems incredibly difficult to do and he has a serious talent for it.

Here is an older video that he released based on the movie, "Up":

Here is one based off of the movie, "Hook":


I know that this might not be everyone's cup of tea because it really has a Drums N Bass, electronica trip-hop feel to it but I really like them and I'm impressed with his work.  I wish I had talent + theequipment/software to make videos like this....and the time and patience as well.

hahah here's another one for kicks...based off of Toy Story:

In the Studio

The Cache Valley Killahz are back in the studio and we're workin on our new album which is unnamed, but might be called, "Happy Fat Kids".  Here are a few videos from our first day recording.  Expect our first single to be released by the end of the week.  

"Wake me up, when September ends...well October too.."

I got Bulls fever.   I can not wait for the NBA season to start again.  There are so many teams and story lines that I am interested in this year.  I want to see how well John Wall plays with the Wizards.  I want to see if the Lakers can repeat the 3-peat and bring Phil his fourth 3-peat.  I want to know if the Celtics have ANY gas left.  Is Joe Johnson gonna be as bad as he was in the playoffs?  I hope the Heat are the biggest bust of the century.  I hope the Clippers are good for once and that Blake Griffin leads them to a playoff appearance. The Knick and the Nets, which is the better team this year? Can the Cavs avoid from going from 1st to last place in our division? Will Durant keep getting better and better? Who's going to win the east?  The Magic? But most importantly, how will the Bulls do this year? I have so many questions about the Bulls and just about every player we have, but I don't know how I will be able to wait till the end of October for this all to start!!!!  Who thinks we'll have a Heat vs. Lakers match-up on Christmas day?....or will they stick with Cavs vs Lakers? hahah....

I guess YouTube videos will have to do till then...

"Big D!"

As of late, I am behind on my blog posting, and a little behind on this tribute, but I wanted to post a few things about my Dad despite already celebrating Father's Day.

If I had a top 10 list of pictures of Dad, this would definitely be in it.  I already posted earlier on my blog that I have the best Mom ever, and the same really goes with my Dad.  I don't know I did to get blessed with such great parents, but they are the bomb!  Dad is one of the greatest examples to me.  His letters while I was serving my mission always seemed inspired.  He always knew what I needed to hear and I loved marking the scriptures he sent me while I was out serving.   Despite being one of the most obedient people I have ever met (we even thought he was one of the three Nephites for a while / we still do) as you can see from the picture, he is goofy and fun!

Dad and I have great memories.  We have had some great Father and son campouts and camputs with scouts.  One time we went to a Cub's game and afterwards he decided it was a good idea to take a shortcut through a sketchy dark alley hahaha I think I was like 12 and being scared out of my mind but I felt safe as well because I was with Dad.  We've done fun things such as model rockets, biking, lego robotics, cleaning up dead mice.

Everyone loves Dad!  Of course our family does, but even my friends think Dad is a tight dude!!...and he is!  I have always been amazed at Dad's ability to work hard, fulfill his callings, enjoy life (through exercise and funny diets), and still have the time to show his great love for us.  He is one of a kind, and I hope that some day I can be a Dad like him.

Dad, you're the best! Thanks for always supporting me and having interest in my life and wellbeing. Can't wait to see you on Saturday!

Florida

A few weeks ago I went out to Florida to see one of my best friends Matteo get married in the Orlando temple. We had all been anticipating the big day and it definitely snuck up on us all really fast.

Matteo and I

It was the first marriage I got to attend in one of the LDS temples and it was definitely a great experience to be part of.  The wedding itself took place in Orlando but we then drove down to Miami for the reception.  Here are some photos and a video from my trip... Sorry for the lack of description and words, but I'm a little short on time...hah.

Highlights of the trip included lock-picking and throwing knives class, AIDs cat, floating down some natural lazy river that seemed like it came out of a movie, the warm water of miami south beach, chipotle, Bill showing up at the airport dressed as Angel Batista and then later his MC Hammer pants, and seeing one of my best friends get married. Congrats Matteo and Nina!!

 

Razor

Have you seen these at Wal-mart? hahaha

Chef SamyoD Update

Life has been busy.  I'm only two weeks into my new job but I have already clocked in 40+ hours both weeks.  Right now I am basically working 9-5 or 6 every day except Sunday's and Wednesdays.  The first two hours I spend cleaning up the restaurant for opening and making sure the big dish washer is hooked up and ready to go and then I pretty much do food prep the whole time unless there is a big holdup and the dish washer needs some help.  It has been good and my body is more use to it now so the days aren't as tiring as they were the first week.

I'm really grateful for this job because I really think it is teaching me a whole new set of skills and I really love learning about another side of work and life that I haven't experienced.

My tasks as a prep cook are always changing but I usually always do something with the fries, whether it be cutting them up or doing a pre fry, something with onions whether it be cutting them for onion rings or whatever, potatoes, baked and red potato wedges, bacon, portioning meat, cleaning chicken breasts, and seriously an assortment of other jobs and tasks.  When I am at work I get really into it and make sure not a moment is wasted.  I usually don't even really stop for breaks because it is just always super busy and there are things that need to be done.  I think its very possible that in the future I'll train a bit to work on "the line" and do more cooking as a chef/cook.  It's been hard work, but most of the time I have a good time.

Blackhawks

It has been a fun season to follow.  I even got to go to a game in Anaheim during spring break. Patrick Kane has been my favorite player on the Hawks and in the NHL and I couldn't be happier seeing him get the last goal!!  What a fun night!!  Wish I could be at the parade on Friday.

New Summer Job

Tuesday I started working at a new restaurant that is going to open on Monday named Aggy's.  I know, I thought it should be spelled Aggie's as well, but this restaurant is in the same location as a restaurant that recently closed named "Iggy's".  "Iggy's" was a sports grill and it actually did very well in Logan and the one time I went, it was very crowded, but due to poor ownership and management in Idaho, they had to close it down here.  The owner of the building that Iggy's was renting from decided to get together with a few other people and they decided to start Aggy's.  I think it is a great idea because Logan is definitely a college town and who wouldn't want to go to a place named after our mascot?

My current position at Aggy's is as a prep cook (click here to learn what a prep cook is) / dish washer.  Seems like a pretty easy job, but so far over the past three days that I have been working, I have had to do a grip of things including prepare food to be served or cooked and cleaning the dishes.  I was really excited to start this job because of my interest in food and I always wondered how a restaurant operated.  I am currently witnessing it first hand as we prepare for our VIP opening today (Friday) and Saturday and then the grand opening on Monday.

This is not us...but you get the idea.

One of the most interesting things is the separation and division between the people in the kitchen and then the servers and hostesses.  It is actually incredibly interesting to me.  I don't know how many of you have ever been to wal-mart past midnight, but the same people working their at midnight are definitely not the friendly faces that you see in the commercials on tv when they are rolling back prices.  The thought the night crew at walmart was working in the kitchen the first time I stepped back there. ;) One prerequisite about working in the back kitchen is that you need to have a tattoo, piercing, or addiction to cigarettes.  All three is an extra bonus.  I just tell everyone I got an Aggie tattooed on my bum so that I can work in the back.  ;)  In all honesty though, the kitchen crew are the nicest people that I have met at the restaurant.  I am really enjoying to get to know em and work together with them.  Each person seems to have their own story.  Today I was setting up prime rib into servings with a 28 year old dude from Panama that everyone calls "Eh Ooh" (well at least its pronounced like that) and he was telling me about his dream to open up a restaurant of his own.  I want to be the first one to eat at it the day it opens.  These people on the outside seriously might look unfriendly to some, but have started to become a fun new group of friends that I have at work and its been sweet.

On the opposite spectrum of the restaurant, there is the glam of the servers and hostesses.  Its amazing what putting on an apron and standing in the back of a kitchen will do to your image and how people stereotype you.  My housemate Mike also works in the back with me, and it is hilarious to us at how the servers have little respect for us or pay very little attention just because we are workers in the back.  It's so interesting to me and I'm gonna do a little social experiment and see how they treat me as a customer when I walk in the front doors in normal clothes, as compared to how they treat me when I am in the back working as a prep cook / dish washer.

One of the nicer servers today though said something I really liked.  He basically said that the success of a restaurant and nearly everything relies on the productivity, quality, and speed of the kitchen.  It's so true.  How many times do we tip well as a place we just ate because we get our food fast or because its dang tastayyyy.

I have so much to say about this new job.  I am enjoying it because I feel like I am learning a lot about a plethra of things and it's kinda humbling being maybe the lowest ranking job at Aggy's haha, I don't even think management will look me straight in the eyes cause I'm that low. ;) Hopefully later in life I can come back to the restaurant to eat as a more successful business man and relate my stories to a server, and tell him/her about tarting off there when it opened as just a dude in the kitchen.  hahah ;) 

Summer House Part 1

It's been a grip of days since my last blog post but now that I'm starting to get on a more regular routine, I'll give ya'll an update on past events over the next few days, including my trip to florida, my new job as a prep cook at Aggy's which is opening up soon, my trip to St. George and hiking "Angel's Landing", bowling, strange food, and much moreeeeeeeee hah. ;)

A few weeks ago, me and some buddies moved into a legit house with prime location to campus.  I plan on posting some pics and video of the house but for now here is some before and after shots of my room that I share with Kevin.

Before

After

Here is a quick tour of the room: 

I must say, we have a pretty sweet setup going.  I'll post about the rest of the house very soon.