Day 344
Hey cool! It is 10/10/10!
I had one of the best days I have ever had in a long time. So much good stuff and a few good personal things that I will have to jot down in a more private blog/journal.
I am blessed to live where I live and have the neighbors that I do. I am a lucky man with a great family and a great supporting family. I am very thankful to be surrounded by wonderful examples.
And to make things even better, I am going to watch some football with my great family.
Showing posts with label Awesome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Awesome. Show all posts
Oct 10, 2010
Oct 8, 2010
Happy Birthday Jennifer!
Day 342
This is going to be one of those blogs that are a bit scatter shot. I have tons of things that I can say and share about my sister and it will be hard to put them into any order.
First things first. I have an awesome older sister and I couldn't ask for a better sister. We have always got along and we always have a good time together. When we were younger my sister went to great lengths to make sure I was taken care of. Here is just a small sample of some of the stuff she did for me:
- Jennifer is a protective older sister. She always told me to tell her if any kids at school were giving me a hard time. Having a sister a couple of grades older than you definitely had its advantages. I didn't have any huge problems so Jennifer never did have to open a can of whuparse on anyone. But I remember one occasion she was ready to punch the lights out of a friend of mine. This friend stole my BMX bike and she went right over to his house and "stole" it right back out of his yard. It is too bad that my friend was not there. I would have loved to have my sister and her friend Mindy beat this kid up.
- Our parents used to go out quite a bit leaving my sister to babysit me. It was never really babysitting since we always ended up playing. Our evenings were full of dancing and singing to loud music, making crank calls, eating candy, letting the hamsters out in the living room, letting me watch TV past my bedtime, going to the mall (when I was older), playing Atari and just plain having fun. Some of my favorite memories of my sister were during these times.
- Jennifer would wake me up very early Saturday mornings so we could watch this show called Hammy Hamster. It only came on like at 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning. We would scrounge for some sort of treat and then watch the show. Most times she would go back to bed but occasionally we would play board games like Full House.
- I also fondly remember the last few days I was in Edmonton. I stayed with her overnight at her apartment and we hit the town. We ate at the Progi House (or sooooo good) and we went to West Edmonton Mall and she spoiled me rotten. We had an awesome time together and I will never forget it. "Baddest Living Bikers" indeed!
- Even though we were separated when my mom and I moved to the States, Jennifer still made sure she stayed in contact with me. She called at least once a month and I would get letters and packages in the mail all the time. This is where she debuted her first novel "Hey Bro". It was always good to talk to her.
- Jennifer always supported me in whatever I did. When I left for my LDS mission to New York I had her full support. She helped out in preparation for my farewell and gave me my first mission journal. She wrote me quite a bit too. I guess that my sister missed me so much that she called me while I was on my mission! Here is the journal entry (April 18th, 1995) of when it happened:
- After I got home from my mission Jennifer wanted to make sure that I was dating an awesome girl. She met and liked my future wife in Kristy and she even took Kristy to come see me when I was acting in the musical Chess. I am not sure how many times Jennifer saw me in Chess. But I appreciated her coming to support me and for taking my girlfriend. Jennifer also came over the morning of my wedding to do Kristy's hair. I had no idea she planned that. Jennifer has always supported my wife Kristy.
Now that we are both older I can clearly see the qualities that my sister has and has always had.
- One thing that Jennifer and I have in common is our love of music. And any type of music. Jennifer was the one that introduced me to Rob Zombie. We love that type of music as well as broadway stuff (she also introduced me to Sweeney Todd) to Billy Joel to classical stuff to... ...well, just about everything. When we were kids we would pretend to sing (oftentimes we would sing out loud anyway) and make our own music videos and reenact them in her large mirror. Some of the ones that I remember are Billy Joel's Pressure, Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain (remember the birds crapping on us?) Prince's, Let's Go Crazy, the Beatle's Eleanor Rigby and Elton John's Funeral for a Friend. Throw in some Black Sabbath too. Like I said, we listen to anything. This is good because we can go to concerts and musicals together. It is nice to have someone I can share my love of music with.
- One thing (out of many) that I really admire about my sister is that she will tell it like it is. And she does it in such a way that it gets her point across but it doesn't come out angry. She just says it and I wish I could do that. Even if it is in the middle of the night, she will call and say exactly what she feels.
- Jennifer is also a very hard worker. From working at a doctor's office to Convergys to the Police Station to her current job at the Alternative school. She does her best and works very hard. I admire that quite a bit and I wish I had a shred of her hard work. She takes great pride in her job and she should. She always does a great job.
- One of the biggest things about my sister that I admire is watching her be a mother. She is very good to her kids. I love watching her interact with her children and I try to live up to her example in her relationships. This started early on with Jill and continues today. She is a great mother!
You are a great sister Jennifer! I am proud of who you are and I am proud to call you my big sister. Love ya!
And since I am the little brother, I get to tease my big sister by posting this picture. My dad and I wanted to include this picture in her wedding picture book but she wouldn't let us. So many years later I can finally include it. You thought since you took the pictures I wouldn't have this gem didn't you?
Happy Birthday Jennifer!
This is going to be one of those blogs that are a bit scatter shot. I have tons of things that I can say and share about my sister and it will be hard to put them into any order.
First things first. I have an awesome older sister and I couldn't ask for a better sister. We have always got along and we always have a good time together. When we were younger my sister went to great lengths to make sure I was taken care of. Here is just a small sample of some of the stuff she did for me:
- Jennifer is a protective older sister. She always told me to tell her if any kids at school were giving me a hard time. Having a sister a couple of grades older than you definitely had its advantages. I didn't have any huge problems so Jennifer never did have to open a can of whuparse on anyone. But I remember one occasion she was ready to punch the lights out of a friend of mine. This friend stole my BMX bike and she went right over to his house and "stole" it right back out of his yard. It is too bad that my friend was not there. I would have loved to have my sister and her friend Mindy beat this kid up.
- Our parents used to go out quite a bit leaving my sister to babysit me. It was never really babysitting since we always ended up playing. Our evenings were full of dancing and singing to loud music, making crank calls, eating candy, letting the hamsters out in the living room, letting me watch TV past my bedtime, going to the mall (when I was older), playing Atari and just plain having fun. Some of my favorite memories of my sister were during these times.
- Jennifer would wake me up very early Saturday mornings so we could watch this show called Hammy Hamster. It only came on like at 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning. We would scrounge for some sort of treat and then watch the show. Most times she would go back to bed but occasionally we would play board games like Full House.
- I also fondly remember the last few days I was in Edmonton. I stayed with her overnight at her apartment and we hit the town. We ate at the Progi House (or sooooo good) and we went to West Edmonton Mall and she spoiled me rotten. We had an awesome time together and I will never forget it. "Baddest Living Bikers" indeed!
I don't think I need to say anything about this pic.
- One of the best things about having a sibling is that you can share things together that only we get. All I have to say is LATE NIGHT RAVIOLI'S and I am sure it will make my sister giggle or gross out. - Even though we were separated when my mom and I moved to the States, Jennifer still made sure she stayed in contact with me. She called at least once a month and I would get letters and packages in the mail all the time. This is where she debuted her first novel "Hey Bro". It was always good to talk to her.
- Jennifer always supported me in whatever I did. When I left for my LDS mission to New York I had her full support. She helped out in preparation for my farewell and gave me my first mission journal. She wrote me quite a bit too. I guess that my sister missed me so much that she called me while I was on my mission! Here is the journal entry (April 18th, 1995) of when it happened:
That evening the phone rang and Davidson answered it. He said “Who you looking for?” Then he turned to me and said, “Hey Matt, the phone is for you.” I thought it was strange that he called me Matt. Did the person ask for Matt? I got the phone and it was my sister Jennifer. That totally surprised me. She said she was thinking of me and wanted to call. It was fun talking to her. Davidson I am sure was suspicious that it was my girlfriend or something. I told him it was my sister and there was a small family emergency and he asked why they didn’t call President Bailey. I told him they might have but it is not a big deal, it was after the emergency. He then suggested I call the President if there was a problem. Yeah right, that would be the last thing I would want to do. I said that the family emergency had already passed and that she just wanted me to know right away. I hate that I have to lie to my companion but it is much easier to deal with him this way.
Jennifer and her family came to the airport when I came home from my mission. This is one of my favorite pictures of us.
Jennifer also called the local McDonald's the day before I came home from New York so they can post this special welcome.
- After I got home from my mission Jennifer wanted to make sure that I was dating an awesome girl. She met and liked my future wife in Kristy and she even took Kristy to come see me when I was acting in the musical Chess. I am not sure how many times Jennifer saw me in Chess. But I appreciated her coming to support me and for taking my girlfriend. Jennifer also came over the morning of my wedding to do Kristy's hair. I had no idea she planned that. Jennifer has always supported my wife Kristy.
Now that we are both older I can clearly see the qualities that my sister has and has always had.
- One thing that Jennifer and I have in common is our love of music. And any type of music. Jennifer was the one that introduced me to Rob Zombie. We love that type of music as well as broadway stuff (she also introduced me to Sweeney Todd) to Billy Joel to classical stuff to... ...well, just about everything. When we were kids we would pretend to sing (oftentimes we would sing out loud anyway) and make our own music videos and reenact them in her large mirror. Some of the ones that I remember are Billy Joel's Pressure, Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain (remember the birds crapping on us?) Prince's, Let's Go Crazy, the Beatle's Eleanor Rigby and Elton John's Funeral for a Friend. Throw in some Black Sabbath too. Like I said, we listen to anything. This is good because we can go to concerts and musicals together. It is nice to have someone I can share my love of music with.
- One thing (out of many) that I really admire about my sister is that she will tell it like it is. And she does it in such a way that it gets her point across but it doesn't come out angry. She just says it and I wish I could do that. Even if it is in the middle of the night, she will call and say exactly what she feels.
- Jennifer is also a very hard worker. From working at a doctor's office to Convergys to the Police Station to her current job at the Alternative school. She does her best and works very hard. I admire that quite a bit and I wish I had a shred of her hard work. She takes great pride in her job and she should. She always does a great job.
- One of the biggest things about my sister that I admire is watching her be a mother. She is very good to her kids. I love watching her interact with her children and I try to live up to her example in her relationships. This started early on with Jill and continues today. She is a great mother!
You are a great sister Jennifer! I am proud of who you are and I am proud to call you my big sister. Love ya!
And since I am the little brother, I get to tease my big sister by posting this picture. My dad and I wanted to include this picture in her wedding picture book but she wouldn't let us. So many years later I can finally include it. You thought since you took the pictures I wouldn't have this gem didn't you?
Please don't give me another black eye (inside joke).
Apr 22, 2010
An Evening With Queen
Day 173
After 173 days it is getting hard to remember what I have blogged about. I am sure that I have mentioned before that Queen is my all-time favorite band before but I am too lazy to check. One day I will blog about how I discovered them but for this column I am going to cover the time I was able to see them in concert.
I saw them a few years ago in Las Vegas and let me say, it was the best concert I have been to. Vegas is a special place for Queen since that is the place where they debuted their musical We Will Rock You.
With the unfortunate passing of Freddie Mercury back in 1991 I thought that I had missed the boat in seeing Queen in person. But I was lucky that they formed a partnership with Paul Rodgers of Bad Company fame to tour the US and also release an album together. I didn't even know that they were touring at the time and I was surfing the net and found that they were touring and better yet, they were coming to Las Vegas!
Now let me say this. Paul Rodgers can never replace Freddie Mercury. No one can replace Freddie Mercury. But I thought Paul did a good job meshing well with Queen's music. I am not a Rodgers hater at all, I appreciate the stuff that he brought to the table. I got Return of the Champions Live CD by Queen and Paul Rodgers and I will admit that I was surprised by his vocals. He didn't try to imitate Freddie, he took Queen's songs and put his own style on them.
I looked them up to see if they were touring and was so excited that they were coming shortly in concert to Vegas. I got two tickets (for me and my wife) and we made plans to stay the weekend in Vegas. Kristy and I left Logan here with Lynn, Jennifer and Mom and we took off Thursday morning. The drive was horrible, it was snowing so bad all through Salt Lake and Provo, the roads were full of ice and snow but once we got past Provo, the weather improved and it got warm. We got to Vegas in pretty good time and we stayed at the Tropicana hotel.
The hotel was right across the street from the MGM (where Queen was playing) and right off the strip. Friday we went out and ate at the ESPN Zone for lunch and went shopping. We went the M&M store and bought some stuff for Logan and then we rested and then went the concert.
I was pretty excited. We first got in line so I can buy a Queen t-shirt and the lines somehow blurred together and we got to the merchandise booth at the same time as this fat lady and her daughter. I had no problem letting them go first and thought that would be the right thing to do when suddenly she looks at me and yells out "We were here first! Not you!" I thought about letting her have it but I smiled nicely and let her go first. Geez, what an extremely rude lady.
I bought a real cool "retro" brown Queen shirt and then we ran off to find our seats. There was no opening act. Then the lights dimmed and the concert began. It started with this cool remix of It’s a Beautiful Day and then the members of Queen came out and rocked it!
It was SO worth the money and the drive to see them. During the song These are the Days of Our Lives they flashed images of Freddie on the large screen to the cheers of the crowd. I think I was the only HUGE Queen fan sitting on our row. I knew all the typical Queen concert things to do and yelled and sang them out.
I was hoping they would sing I Want It All but I was extremely glad for the inclusion of Under Pressure. When Brian May introduced that song he said that we should all be familiar with that song because they stole it from some "white boy". I was not a huge fan of the song Dragon Attack until I heard it live. The bass line was so awesome live. It vibrated your whole body. Now that song is one of my favorites.
Like I said before, Queen just isn't Queen without Freddie but I thought Paul did a fantastic job. And it was fun to hear some of his Bad Company songs live as well. When they exited off stage I tried to get everyone clapping the beat to We Will Rock You but it didn't catch on until another section started it. And then they came back and finished the show. Sure I am biased but I think this was the best concert I have been too.
The next day we went shopping and browsed the sights of Las Vegas. We also went and walked around the LDS temple in Las Vegas too. The next day we returned home to Mom and Logan. The trip was nice and relaxing and was extremely happy that I was able to see my favorite band of all-time and share that with Kristy. I would do it again in a flash.
After 173 days it is getting hard to remember what I have blogged about. I am sure that I have mentioned before that Queen is my all-time favorite band before but I am too lazy to check. One day I will blog about how I discovered them but for this column I am going to cover the time I was able to see them in concert.
I saw them a few years ago in Las Vegas and let me say, it was the best concert I have been to. Vegas is a special place for Queen since that is the place where they debuted their musical We Will Rock You.
With the unfortunate passing of Freddie Mercury back in 1991 I thought that I had missed the boat in seeing Queen in person. But I was lucky that they formed a partnership with Paul Rodgers of Bad Company fame to tour the US and also release an album together. I didn't even know that they were touring at the time and I was surfing the net and found that they were touring and better yet, they were coming to Las Vegas!
Now let me say this. Paul Rodgers can never replace Freddie Mercury. No one can replace Freddie Mercury. But I thought Paul did a good job meshing well with Queen's music. I am not a Rodgers hater at all, I appreciate the stuff that he brought to the table. I got Return of the Champions Live CD by Queen and Paul Rodgers and I will admit that I was surprised by his vocals. He didn't try to imitate Freddie, he took Queen's songs and put his own style on them.
I looked them up to see if they were touring and was so excited that they were coming shortly in concert to Vegas. I got two tickets (for me and my wife) and we made plans to stay the weekend in Vegas. Kristy and I left Logan here with Lynn, Jennifer and Mom and we took off Thursday morning. The drive was horrible, it was snowing so bad all through Salt Lake and Provo, the roads were full of ice and snow but once we got past Provo, the weather improved and it got warm. We got to Vegas in pretty good time and we stayed at the Tropicana hotel.
The hotel was right across the street from the MGM (where Queen was playing) and right off the strip. Friday we went out and ate at the ESPN Zone for lunch and went shopping. We went the M&M store and bought some stuff for Logan and then we rested and then went the concert.
I was pretty excited. We first got in line so I can buy a Queen t-shirt and the lines somehow blurred together and we got to the merchandise booth at the same time as this fat lady and her daughter. I had no problem letting them go first and thought that would be the right thing to do when suddenly she looks at me and yells out "We were here first! Not you!" I thought about letting her have it but I smiled nicely and let her go first. Geez, what an extremely rude lady.
I bought a real cool "retro" brown Queen shirt and then we ran off to find our seats. There was no opening act. Then the lights dimmed and the concert began. It started with this cool remix of It’s a Beautiful Day and then the members of Queen came out and rocked it!
LAS VEGAS - Fri 07/04/06 SET LIST
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY
REACHING OUT
TIE YOUR MOTHER DOWN
FAT BOTTOMED GIRLS
CAN'T GET ENOUGH
TAKE LOVE
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE
LOVE OF MY LIFE
HAMMER TO FALL
FEEL LIKE MAKING LOVE
I'M IN LOVE WITH MY CAR
LAST HORIZON
BAD COMPANY
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
DRAGON ATTACK
THESE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES
RADIO GA GA
UNDER PRESSURE
THE SHOW MUST GO ON
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
WE WILL ROCK YOU
ALL RIGHT NOW
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
It was SO worth the money and the drive to see them. During the song These are the Days of Our Lives they flashed images of Freddie on the large screen to the cheers of the crowd. I think I was the only HUGE Queen fan sitting on our row. I knew all the typical Queen concert things to do and yelled and sang them out.
I was hoping they would sing I Want It All but I was extremely glad for the inclusion of Under Pressure. When Brian May introduced that song he said that we should all be familiar with that song because they stole it from some "white boy". I was not a huge fan of the song Dragon Attack until I heard it live. The bass line was so awesome live. It vibrated your whole body. Now that song is one of my favorites.
Like I said before, Queen just isn't Queen without Freddie but I thought Paul did a fantastic job. And it was fun to hear some of his Bad Company songs live as well. When they exited off stage I tried to get everyone clapping the beat to We Will Rock You but it didn't catch on until another section started it. And then they came back and finished the show. Sure I am biased but I think this was the best concert I have been too.
The next day we went shopping and browsed the sights of Las Vegas. We also went and walked around the LDS temple in Las Vegas too. The next day we returned home to Mom and Logan. The trip was nice and relaxing and was extremely happy that I was able to see my favorite band of all-time and share that with Kristy. I would do it again in a flash.
Pun FULLY intended! FLASH! AHHHHAHHHHH! SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE!
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