Big Rain

Today, there was a quick downpour, which seems to just be a short precursor to what Gustov may bring. We have started making preparations at work and everyone around town seems to be talking about Gustov. It will be interesting to see how my first hurricane experience plays out. I had to run to my car during the downpour and it was coming down so hard, that I was soaked to bone after running about 40 yards to my car. Also, the rain was coming down so hard, it was hard to see across the entire parking lot, because the sky seemed whitewashed with rain.

My roommate and I stopped by the store today and picked up some food and water supplies. Our apartment complex left a notice on our door today which states, "As you have probably heard by now, Hurrican Gustov is headed for South Louisiana and is expected to hit Baton Rouge on Tuesday. Please take the necessary precautions." The letter goes on to tell us about emergency supplies, disposing of trash early, moving grills inside and that the pool/fitness center will be closed for storage of pool supplies (tables/chairs) in preparation for the hurricane.

Guess I'll know more about this storm in the upcoming days. Until then, here's a couple of pictures when we had a lot of rain from Tropical Storm Fay last week.


This is a picture outside my balcony from when Tropical Storm Fay passed over Baton Rouge last week. Not sure how much wind and rain we'll get with Gustov, if any, but it will be interesting.


This is the worst I've seen our courtyard flood (during Tropical Storm Fay)

Growing roots in Louisiana?

I've always been hesitant to purchase anything larger than a breadbox, because it would mean that if I ever had to move again, it may not make list as far as to what I would bring with me on my nomadic journey.

In the past four years, I have lived in four different states. Utah, Texas, California, and now Louisiana, and my experience has taught me not to invest in anything that wouldn't fit into my Corolla.

But recently, since moving to Louisiana, I have bought my second bed (the first one I actually bought was left in California after only about 7 months of use), and now my first living room furniture set.

The actual price of the sofa was not the most disturbing to me, but the thought of what I would need to do the move the thing if I ever left the state, left me with a headache after I actually purchased the thing. FIrst, let me say that I love my new two piece sectional. It is basically two sofas pushed together in an L shape, complete with matching ottoman. IT's HUGE! I think I'm going to nickname it the elephant.

After the purchase of the sofa set, I think I went a little crazy in the head and have now bought three new pieces of art to display in the living room, because heaven forbid that the sofa be the only thing sitting in the apartment. I've been living in essentially a blank canvas for the past seven months, so I guess it was time to accept the fact that I've lived in Louisiana for a year and I don't have any plans to leave anytime soon. Of course, whatever happens, happens, but over the past four years, I felt very tired of the places I've lived after my first year was up.

This time is much different and it has a lot to do with the friends that I've made. These rowdy, bitchy, somewhat brutal people have accepted me into their homes and lives and I am happy here.

Few would've thought that this place would have been my home for more than one year, but here we are going into number two. Looking forward to what my second year here brings. Could be exciting, word on the news is that Hurricane Gustav has hit Haiti tonight and is likely to come into the Gulf sometime this weekend.



The living room without furniture.



The blank canvas.



The elephant, live and in color.



Photo of the world sitting above the new sofa.

My Sister Rocks!!

For those of you who have not had an opportunity to meet my sister, Summer, you are sorely missing a great thing in life.

Aside from being one of the kindest, friendliest, happiest, and most humble people in the world, she keeps me abreast of what is happening with my family. I am the only sibling who has left the state, and having parents and siblings that are constantly on the move, it is difficult sometimes to keep in touch with what is going on with everyone.

When I call her, we generally speak for at about an hour and she keeps me updated on what people are doing. I find it impossible to have a conversation with her without us both laughing throughout the entire conversation.

Being 15 months apart, my sister has always been a part of my life it seems, and I have many memories of late night talks and heart to hearts with her.

Additionally, she is always the first to send care packages like the one I received this week. I had called to ask her to send me my softball glove and she said she would and when I received it, lo and behold, there was also a loaf of ZUCCHINI BREAD and a bag of JERKY!! I have not had zucchini bread for years and it was awesome to see that great surprise. And Jerky? Forget about it. I love jerky. I don't think that you can be a southern Utah boy and not love jerky, it's practically fed to babies after hunting season as a pacifier, rather than the normal rubber kind.

Anyway, just wanted to throw a little shout out to Summer and the great things she does. I love you, sis.

Volleyball @ Audubon Park

Today, I played outdoor volleyball for the first time since I left Utah. I played with Karl, Ray, and Eric. Due to some rainy weather earlier in the day, there was a small turnout, but we all had a good time. Looking forward to future weekends down in New Orleans to play volleyball.



R to L: Eric, Karl, Ray (Boo)



R to L: Eric, Karl, Ray, Me

Weekend in New Orleans

This is the second weekend in a row where I was out of town with friends. We went to New Orleans on Friday under the guise of watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. The plan was to meet at Todd and Michael's and watch the games. When I got there around 9pm, the crew was outside in back, doing anything, but watching the opening ceremonies.

Guess I should've known better. :) Regardless, Friday night we had margaritas and spent half the time outside the house and half the time inside the house.

My camera escaped my sight for a little while, when I had to make a call to work and when I got it back, I saw some pretty funny pictures. I won't divulge the names of the guilty, but let's just say that the margaritas seemed to kick in while I was on that phone call.

Saturday, Jerome, Todd, Lewis and myself went to Audubon Park and threw a football around, peppered with a volleyball and then Michael joined us with drinks in tow. After Audubon Park, we went to the French Quarter and caught the tail end of Dirty Linen Night, which was basically an art gallery stroll. There are tons of artists it seems in New Orleans and while I'm not an expert on art, there were some pieces that I really liked. Others were way too out there though for me to comprehend.

We finished Saturday night at the Bourbon Pub and Lewis did a great job as our DD. We made it back to Todd and Michael's where we caught the USA men beat Venezuela in their first Olympic match. It was insane seeing how big those guys are and how hard they hit and serve that ball. Finally, we crashed, ate breakfast on Sunday morning at a little restuarant called J'anitas and then drove home.


Names not included to protect the guilty. From Left to Right, in relation to size...Cookies, Pies, and Cakes!!! p.s. I am in the background on my call and not one of the bakery boys.


Jerome, Me, and Todd at Surrey's for breakfast on Saturday morning, needing food after that Friday night. :)



Todd doing his best Drew Brees impression at Audubon Park.



Michael, Zach, Todd, Lewis, and Jerome, hanging out at Audubon Park.


Lewis, Greg (partially hid), Matt, Todd and Jerome, hanging out at the Bourbon Pub.

San Antonio Trip--part 2

Saturday morning in San Antonio, I watched Lewis, Todd, Thomas, Jerome, Paul, and Ignacio play in their tournament. They finished 4-4. I didn't stay the whole day, but early that morning I was recruited to help register players for the tournament. At first, I didn't really want to do it, because I would have to get up early and be at the tournament by 7:30am Saturday morning, but after I started doing it, it was pretty easy and I breezed through the registration sessions pretty quickly.

I don't like to brag, but I think I did an awesome job. There was a little drama later that day, but I won't get into it here. Suffice to say that I went to pick Michael up and we then met up with the boys after their tournament and pool hopped at a the Marriott Plaza.

The swimming pool area there had a bar, hot tub, and pool, complete with peacocks. There was a colorful male peacock and a fully white female peacock. Jerome made the comment that the males of every species are prettier than the females of any species. So true.

After hanging out at the pool, we ended up all going to dinner and we pigged out something fierce, well, at least I did.

Sunday morning the boys continued their tournament and I stayed to watch. They lost, won, then lost and were done with the tournament. It wasn't the best result, but they had a new team and Thomas got some much needed experience, as this was his first ever volleyball tournament. Overall, I think that everybody had a great time.

On Monday morning, we started to come back when we heard that the Gulf of Mexico had a Tropical Storm (Eduardo) that was scheduled to hit the Texas coast between the Texas and Louisiana border, fortunately, we were about 20 hours ahead of the storm and made it back safe and sound, sans speeding ticket.

All in all, it was a great vacation and I look forward to more time with those crazy people I call my friends.



Jerome Hitting the Ball



Thomas hitting the ball




Lewis hitting the ball




Tata warming up to play.

San Antonio Trip-part 1

I just took a wonderful five day vacation to San Antonio, TX, with Lewis, Conan, Jerome, Todd, Michael, Paul, and Thomas. They went to play in a BB volleyball tournament and I just tagged along. It wasn't that I didn't want to play, but I couldn't play in the division that they were going to play in.

The trip started off early in the morning on Thursday and Lewis picked me up at about 7am. Lewis, Conin, and myself would drive to San Antonio while everyone else flew out there. I had stayed up late the night before (in fact, all night) so when Lewis picked me up, the first thing I did was lay down and go to sleep. I was drifting peacefully along, when all of a sudden Lewis pulled over. We had barely driven 30 minutes when he was pulled over by a cop for speeding along the Breaux Bridge between Baton Rouge and Lafayette.

After that little encounter, I slept until Houston and then stayed awake until we reached San Antonio. Once there, we went straight to Grace's mom's house (Dora) and I got to meet some of the nicest people in the world. Dora and her husband were very kind and welcomed us with open arms. We hung out for a little while then went to Grace's new house and saw the work they did in fixing it up.

Thursday night we met up with the boys and went out to the local clubs, namely the Saint, Luthers, and another place that I can't remember. We danced, drank, and had a great time out there.


From L to R: Todd, Jerome, Thomas, Michael, Lewis


Friday during the day, we went to Schlitterbahn and had an absolutely awesome time. We spent tons of time in the lazy rivers, raced down some slides (I won-gravity was my friend), and did some of the tube rides as well. The lines for half of the things were forever long and so we didn't get to go on the biggest attractions. Next time, we will go when school is back in session and during a weekday.


Friday night, we went to the Bonham club which was HUGE!! I have never been to a club that was as big, they had three large areas to dance, along with runway balconies, tons of tv's, a huge outdoor patio and lots of large hallways to walk through. It was easily the biggest club I think I've ever been to, couple that with the fact that it was three stories high and there was tons of room there. We danced and acted like fools, but it was tons of fun.

Here are some pictures:






From L to R: Karl, Todd, Paul, Jerome, Lewis, Tom, Michael, Conin (@ Bonham Club).