the giving of thanks

So this Thanksgiving I am in Vegas visiting my Fiance (say it with a thick french accent, trust me it's more fun that way). The Barker family really knows how to party. After the traditional eating of food until there's none left or until you want to die, whichever comes first, I was ready for the just as traditional sit down on the couch and pass out while your body does its job with the digestion. However, I was not given the privilege of that tradition this year. Immediately after we ate it was time for the talent show.

I love talent shows. But for some reason no matter what my talent is it ends up being defined as a comedy act. The last 3 talent shows I can remember being in went like this: FHE talent show; I played my didgeridoo and screamed then my roommate Brandt and I sang a song about our Caribbean roommate Walsworth while Walsworth danced and it ended with me cutting my finger on the guitar and Brandt howling like a monkey. Next, Birthday Talent Show (2nd Bday in the mission); we went to a park in the mission and everyone did obscure talents amongst the tree. I ended up freestyling a song on the guitar. It ended with me scatting and explaining to people that that was the sound a ship makes. Lastly, we had a mission talent show my 3rd week in the mission. I did magic tricks with using only my fingers, displayed my coveted one handed clapping and finally convinced my companion that he could lasso bananas out of the air. He couldn't do it. All ended with everybody laughing at me.

Thanksgiving Talent Show: Barker House 2009 went about the same way. There were great music talents; a piano duet by Hannah (9) and Riley (11), another piano duet by Megan and Paul (18), mama Barker signed (ASL) a song, Katie (14ish) played a Taylor Swift song on guitar, and then Brody (16) solved a Rubik's cube in about 2 minutes (not very musical but still very impressive). All great talents. I started my talent by pulling a crumpled peice of paper out of my pocket and smoothing it out. After that it was like giving candy to baby (intentional misuse of expression) they ate it up. I then explained that although I would be playing guitar they could probably consider my talent to be comedy. I then improved a song about things that I'm thankful for which included jokes about dinner and everybody in the family. It was good.

And that's how it goes in the Barker house. We had a blast and the Thanksgiving Talent Show: Barker House 2009 was a big hit. I think there might be a recording of it floating around, I'll try to find it and post it.

what happens in Vegas...

so I'm in Vegas for the week of Thanksgiving and I'm visiting Megan and her family and it's great. Everyday I spend the entire day doing homework and playing games with Riley and Hannah (11 and 5) consequently I'm not doing as much homework as I should be.

My first day here we went to the park with Megan's younger siblings. Most people played tennis, Hannah played on the playground and I took a disc, of course. I was only there for a couple minutes when some guy asked me if I played Ultimate. He must be an Ultimate angel because He answered all my Ultimate prayers. He asked if I was from the area and I told him that I was only here for the week but that I'd be moving down the first of January. He invited me to play with a group of guys that play in the area. He didn't know exactly when they were playing so he called another guy and gave him my number. That guy called me later and I gave him my email so he could send me directions to the field. He also mentioned in the email that they are looking at putting a team together for Trouble In Vegas. It's the biggest Ultimate tourney in the world and it's held right here in Vegas in early February. It going to be a blast!

I'm am actually way excited to live in Vegas for the winter because the weather is always good. I just came from playing in below freezing temps, snow and wind. Vegas only has good weather, never below freezing not a lot of wind if any and it only snows once every 12 years or less. So I can play year round now. If you can't tell I like Ultimate.

Aside from Ultimate it has been great being here. After I do homework all day Megan comes home from work and we get to spend all evening together. That really has been the best part of the break. This whole semester I've only seen her 2 other times. But now I'm here and it's great. And Thanksgiving is going to be amazing. So pretty much that's what happens in Vegas.

Ya I don't even know

Sooooo... all I've been doing for the past couple months is going to school, doing homework, talking to Megan on the phone until one of us falls asleep and playing Frisbee.

I've been coaching an Ultimate team up here on campus at BYU-Idaho. I've never coached before but I am having a blast. It really is a new look at the sport. I'm not gonna brag about how well my team is doing. However, I will say that we are not in last. Actually we have the same win record as the last placed team the only difference is that we have more points in the season than they do. Tonight is game one of our league tournament. That is actually why I have time now to blog. I don't want to do any of my homework for this weekend yet and I'm trying to lay low and get ready for the game. Although my team have a bad record I really think that we have a good chance of winning the t-shirt (see former post titled Campion). I'm optimistic because there are a lot of young new players on my team and the whole season we've been working on learning the game and how to work as a team. The past couple weeks we have been looking really good and playing together beautifully. We'll see if we can put it together tonight.

On an awesome note, BYU-I just held their first ever disc golf tourney. Justin Cutler (Captain) and I jumped all over that. It was a doubles tournament. We played 5 rounds at the near by 9 hole course at the nature park. The park is new and it's pretty ghetto. The baskets are cheap and the chains are light weight. If you know what I'm talking about then you know it's not good. If you don't know, just assume they're not good. Anyway we played and the results are in. Captain and I won the tournament. Our final score was 5 under in 5 rounds. So we didn't play super well but we did well enough. No other team even scored under par. In fact we beat the next team my 8 strokes. So once again I am a Disc Champion. I should be receiving my t-shirt soon.

Anyway, wish us luck tonight and I'll do my best to keep ya'll posted not only on Ultimate but on what I do.

3-D tetris

This post will be begin with a few disclaimers and finish with something that should make you laugh. So stay tuned.

You can all stop worrying, I am not deathly ill.
My nasal passages are clear and breezy.
The mucus has subsided.
My tonsils have deflated.
And my ears are less and less plugged everyday. They do however, I think, change with the tides. I say this because the pressure and fluid in my ears fluctuates. There are consistent times of day when they are more plugged and times when they are almost clear and unnoticeable. This is what leads me to believe that the pressure in my ears is directly correlated to the position of the moon, like the tide in our oceans. My ears are like nature, how poetic.
Anyway I'm not way sick so you can stop worrying...mom.
and I don't have mono...Jared.

I don't remember what else I was going clarify. Uhhhhh....

Anyway, today at work was a great day, and for this reason.
After pulling around a BMW 325i (small car) I stood back and, with all the strength I could muster so as not to laugh, watched as a woman and 3 teenage girls tried to load their luggage into the truck of this undersized vehicle. -Just to help with the visual aspect of this story I feel it is necessary to mention that all four of these ladies was, to say not so politely, large. I mention this only because had they not been of such a stature I would not have laughed nearly as hard to myself.- They had way to much luggage then could fit comfortably in their car. 4 large duffel bags (packed so tight the zippers were bursting), 2 small duffel bags, 1 standard suitcase, and a mess/array of plastic grocery bags for of unused or half eaten groceries and related items. They tried with all their might just to load all the large duffel bags and the suit case into the trunk. They heaved and hoed and pushed and smashed those bags until at last all were in the trunk (the smaller duffel bags were forfeit to the back seat, no attempt to trunk them was made). Now with all the large item securely crammed into the car there was only the question of where to put all the smaller stuff. Few items (half a bag of potato chips) were even surrendered to the trash and never made it into the luggage mosh pit. Bags full of unopened TP and dryer sheets were weaved into whatever crevasse could be found. Half eaten boxes of cereal were smashed into whatever space could, or couldn't, be found without a thought of what must be happening to the contents of their breakfast to dear to them to part with. And finally Poptarts were removed from their box and were inserted like credit cards into the last remaining pocket of air. I half expect them to retrieve the bag of chips and dump it on top just to be sure every space was sufficiently used and nothing was left behind. The 4 girls then climbed into the car and dragged away. Not laughing out loud was one of the hardest things I have had to do in a long time. It's moments like that that make my job worth enduring.

P.S. my job isn't really excruciatingly bad. It's just funnier if I make it more dramatic.

i brake for summer

Spring semester is over and done with. I did better than expected in almost all of my classes. hurray.

So what does one do when he's done with school and has 7 weeks before it begins again? Catch up on sleep? Get a job? Play disc golf for endless hours a day? I say unto you nay! If you remember my last break from school resulted in a trip to Orlando to drive monorail for the Mouse. Staying in Idaho for the break just wouldn't do, I have to much to love for. So I've packed up again and headed off to another "exotic" location, sunny Las Vegas, NV.

I guess you all want to know why Vegas and how I'm liking it so far.
Why Vegas: 2 words... Megan Barker. I wasn't about to let her get away and the only way to make sure of that was to follow her home to Las Vegas. Now I'm staying with her family and having a blast. Also Megan, through a friend of hers, was able to find me a job valet parking (but that falls more under the realm of how I'm liking Vegas).

How I like it/what I've been doing: IT'S HOT!!! I have a job valet parking. Sounds great right? (rhetorical) It's not quite what you think. It would be a great job if I worked better hours. Right now I'm working 12 a.m. to 8 a.m. some would call that graveyards. Gross. 90% of the work I do is during the first and last hours of my shift. The rest of the time I sit on a bench and wait and read and try not to fall asleep (sometimes). But at least I have a job and it's not super physically demanding, just boring. I do however find great pleasure in flirting with old women as I hold open doors for them. All the time people will ask me questions about the area. Where's the closest place to eat? Where's the best place to gamble? Where are the best bars and clubs? How do you get here or there? And honestly I don't have a clue. I don't know anything about Vegas or where things are. So I've gotten pretty good and giving people really vague directions and such. Sometimes it is really fun and I laugh to myself about it a lot.

Fortunately work is not the only thing here.IT'S HOT. We went to the "Pinball Hall if Fame" it's pretty much just a pinball arcade with a ton of machine and some way cool old school pinball machine (rhyme unintended).

Megan and I were walking thru some of the casinos just looking around and stuff and we saw the best thing ever. We saw an Orthodox Jew playing black jack. Pfft. My mind exploded. I had no idea a Jew could be so loose with his money.

Megan's littlest sister, Hannah (palindrome), who is 5 loves me. When I first got here she was mega shy and probably scared of me. That lasted about a day. Now we like best friend. Everyday she asks me to play games with her or read books with her or look at her coloring/sticker books with her. We're pals. Megan's brother, Riley 10, likes me a lot too. Probably because I give him attention and I'm not a jerk to him when he's acting like a 10 year old. Between Hannah and Riley I pretty much always have an extra shadow. No biggie.

The Wedding: I just arrived back in Vegas after going to Daniel Jensen's wedding to Ashley Hoffman. So cute. Daniel is my best friend since the womb, so obviously I had to be there. Who else could be the best man. Our friend Andrew Wood was the other groomsman. Pretty much all we did was sit around and wait to take a few pictures and wear some nice black suits with really ugly vest/tie combos. My vest was orange and Andy's was pink. We're not talking pastel or other nice shades. You could land a plane or safely hunt large game with the vest's we were wearing. But what do you do right, your best friends bride tells you to wear an ugly vest then you wear an ugly vest. (Ashley if you're reading this Andrew and I both loved the vests and wished we could have bought them instead of just rent) Overall the wedding was great and they're both way happy and I got free food. Good Day.

But now I'm back in Vegas and I'm sick. My head hurts, my ears are plugged up, sometimes I have a fever, my tonsils are swollen and my throat is full of mucus. But I'm not mad. I haven't been sick for a while I guess it's my turn. If anybody asks I'm sick because I don't sleep well working graveyards.

That's about all I have to say about my recent activities and journeys in the land of Vegas. Oh ya and Megan and I are engaged...to each other.

champion

Not to long ago my competitive Ultimate team up here at BYU-I played in the school competitive tournament.  We entered the tourney ranked 2nd and with only one loss on the season so we had high expectations.  To make a long story short the Vikings (my team) were victorious over the Knights (# 1 ranked team) in the championship game, making us the BYU-Idaho Spring Semester Competitive Ultimate Champions! Ya.

This entry isn't so much about Ultimate as it is about me being a champion.  Ever since we won I've been telling everyone "I'm a Champion."  I'm sure it's getting way annoying to Megan because she has to hear me say it like a hundred times a day.  Every time we meet someone new or bump into somebody I haven't told yet I make it a point to say something like, "I don't know if you heard, but I'm a champion." Or if anyone compliments me on anything I usually say "well... I am a champion." mixed in with a smug facial expression.

I had been a champion for about a week and the thrill of letting everyone know was slightly, just slightly wearing off.  Then we had the Ultimate players banquet.  That is where awards were given.  Everyone on my team was given a sweet BYU-Idaho Competitive Sports Champion T-shirt.  All that did was re-encourage me, except now I have a prop.  I can wear my sweet Champion T-shirt and walk up to people turn around and show them the back of my shirt. "Do you like my shirt?" I might ask. "Ya, I'm a champion" will be my reply.

Along those same lines my roommate's (Justin Bade) soccer team made it to the finals as well. Their game was last night.  I was so excited for him. I told him that if he won we would have 2 champions living in our apt. Unfortunately his team did not win and apt. champion count remains at 1. Sorry Bade.

This all probably makes me sound completely conceded but it's ok. I've had a ton of fun with it.  I think it's funny and know that my mom, sisters and Megan are all rolling their eyes at me right now and that makes it all worth it.

doing stuff outdoors

So you thought you were going to get a blog entry from Shaun but you were wrong.  This is Megan, and I'm writing because I know that there are dozens of people waiting in anxious anticipation for new updates from Shaun and we have fifteen minutes before this dinner thing.  ANYWAYS, I thought I'd share some highlights from the last month, which has been rather outdoorsy in nature.  When I say outdoorsy, I mean outside?  Basically, Shaun is from Idaho (gross) and is convinced that doing things like camping and hiking around in nature are necessary for a complete and satisfying life.  I, on the other hand, like doing things that don't involved bugs or dirt, but I'm usually up for an adventure.

Well, our first adventure this month was going to Yellowstone.  Even though I've been going to school in Rexburg for 4 years, I have never been to Yellowstone.  We went on a Saturday with great aspirations.  We drove two and a half hours to get to Old Faithful, because apparently everyone needs to see that.  We got there and it started raining, so we ate our picnic in the drizzle, which wasn't terrible.  Then Shaun went to the car to get me the umbrella, and we ended up missing Old Faithful by four minutes.  No problem, right?  We'll just walk around for ninety minutes until the next one.  We started walking down this paved road and I could see a lot of buffalo on the side of the path, and they had little babies with them.  We kept walking closer and closer until we were about 100 yards from them.  And then it happened.  I felt something warm and gross on my right foot.  I looked down, and what are the odds that my entire moccasin was submerged in buffalo crap?  Yeah.  Gross.  I did not react well.  In fact, I was whining and trying not to throw up while attempting to wipe off my shoe, but there was no hope.  So I'm hopping up and down on the path and freaking out and Shaun is just standing there laughing.  I was getting so upset, and Shaun was trying not to laugh really hard, but he just couldn't help it.  Then it started raining harder and we could hear thunder.  Apparently, so could the buffalo that were getting closer and closer to us.  In my trauma, I hadn't noticed that the path we were standing on was actually directly in the middle of the herd.  They started snorting and trotting towards us, either to protect their little babies or to get out of the rain.  You can say they weren't even focused on us at all, but when there's a buffalo that's bigger than the car you drove to get there and it's 20 yards from your face, you get a little scared.  Or a lot scared.  So it's raining really hard by that point, I'm surrounded by menacing buffalo, and I'm hopping on one foot.  It was awful.  And then we left.  The outdoors are so great.

For the fourth of July, Shaun's family has this tradition.  Some may think it's kind of strange, but they assured me that a lot of people do it for fun as a family.  They go camping.  I don't really love camping, but I love Shaun, so I went.  They camped at Island Park, which is only about an hour from Rexburg.  So in my mind, I'm thinking why not just play outside all day and then drive home, shower, and sleep in my own bed?  What's wrong with that? Then you get the experience of mosquitos attacking you by day but NOT by night, right?  Wrong.  Apparently there is something that people find immensely satisfying about cooking without traditional appliances, getting dirty and covered with Off, and smelling of smoke and sunscreen.  Weird.  However, I have to admit that it was pretty fun.  I had a great time.  We went rafting down Big Springs on Friday, and even though Shaun made me use the little paddle and didn't show me how to use it correctly, we still had a blast.  Oh wait, he did show me how to use it when we were ten minutes from the end.  He proceeded to demonstrate the girly way I had been holding the paddle for the last 3 hours and showed me the right way.  Ridiculous.  Now I'll know for next time I suppose?  And I can't be really upset that I went camping, because his family didn't get mad that I used up more than half of their bug spray by myself.  I'm pretty sure I had a cloud of repellant that resembled Pig Pen's aura from Charlie Brown, but I came away with only 5 bug bites, a feat if I do say so myself.  So all in all, a good experience.  Thank you Mayos for waiting to make fun of me when I was gone.  Gotta love the outdoors.