TRUE BLUE

As a testament to the Trueness of the BLUEness of my blood.

True Blue Football 14/10/11

P.S.

A note on the two previous posts: Shortly after I came home from vacation I decided I wanted to write about it because I had thoroughly enjoyed the outing! However, in my first attempt to write it I only got as far as the bit about Zions. I then saved the post on Evernote, and continued with my life. Apparently at two different later dates I came across the post on Evernote and thought that I should finish it. So that is why there are two. I'm leaving both up, because...who could choose? That's the long and short of it! 

Summer Vaca in So. Utah

Lake Mead:

     Boating on the lake included episodes of wake boarding, wake surfing, knee boarding, air chairing, tubing, and even a little actual skiing. We packed both days with fun for all the sizes, although the boat finds it easier to pull the smaller people right up. This was my first experience with the wake surfing and knee boarding. Both of these I rather enjoyed. Wake surfing entails a bootless wake board, a short handle rope,  and the biggest wake your boat can manage. Reportedly the rider is to "surf" the perpetual wave created by the wake, without holding onto the handle. It turns out it is a bit more difficult than it appears.  All in all the lake was a success. My favourite part came from the blasting work at the bottom of the lake. At random times throughout the day a blast would go off that sent shockwaves through the water and rattled the current rider, most frequently the middle sister. The middle sister did not take to noises and bubbles from beneath. 

Zions:

    Look but don't touch. I used to think that this rule only applied to glass shops, apparently this is one of those rare times when my thinker is off. IT turns out that this rule also applies to the emerald pools at Zion National Park. Basically this rule seems to apply to all of the water sources, as they were all reserved for ankle dipping. This is one of those moments when you wish to have lived 20 years ago when people were still apart of nature rather than a force against nature. But maybe one day we'll make a return. 

Rafting:

    For our river rafting activity we brought along the nearest grandparents, and had a great time. The river proved mostly calm with a couple of spots exciting enough for even our hardened eagle scout. The guide proved more interesting than we had bargined for. His three favorite topics? Politics, Religion, and the River, in that order. Everyone took an interest to the river, and the rock formations along the ride, but the rest of the time we got a monologue on all things wrong in the world. In the end we were all wet and not too traumatized by the crazy man.

ATVs:

Nearly everyone's favorite activity took us around the Grand Staircase, the largest national monument in the United States. Although this trip included its share of religion and politics, mostly on the evils of not being allowed to ride ATVs in national monuments, mostly we enjoyed the wind, dust, and beauty of God's great earth. While some people enjoy the high speeds of a single horse, the rest of us sought all the horse power we could get racing along dirt roads. 

Favorite Moment: 

The look of confusion on the face of the waitress that had recently been asked just which soup had made the middle-of-nowhere restaurant so famous.

For the most part everyone enjoyed the trip, or at least some parts of it, and whoever permenantly borrowed our cooler ejoyed our travels through their town as well. 

Summa Fun

Lake Mead:
 Boating on the lake included episodes of wake boarding, wake surfing, knee boarding, air chairing, tubing, and even a little actual skiing. We packed both days with fun for all the sizes, although the boat finds it easier to pull the smaller people right up. This was my first experience with the wake surfing and knee boarding. Both of these I rather enjoyed. Wake surfing entails a bootless wake board, a short handle rope,  and the biggest wake your boat can manage. Reportedly the rider is to "surf" the perpetual wave created by the wake, without holding onto the handle. It turns out it is a bit more difficult than it appears.  All in all the lake was a success. My favourite part came from the blasting work at the bottom of the lake. At random times throughout the day a blast would go off that sent shockwaves through the water and rattled the current rider, most frequently the middle sister. The middle sister did not take to noises and bubbles from beneath.

from Gravityx9

Zions:

 Look but don't touch. I used to think that this rule only applied to glass shops, apparently this is one of those rare times when my thinker is off. IT turns out that this rule also applies to the emerald pools at Zion National Park. Basically this rule seems to apply to all of the water sources, as they were all reserved for ankle dipping. This is one of those moments when you wish to have lived 20 years ago when people were still apart of nature rather than a force against nature. But maybe one day we'll make a return. 

from StuSeeger

Religion and Politics:

My two favourite subjects to talk about in the same conversation, especially two days in a row. It turns out that our guides, for both the Sevier River and ATVs on the Grand Staircase, wanted to talk about both of these. In summary: Politics: The government is going to the dogs because people have left God. The dogs are then not letting people use ATV on National Monument Land which is not fun. Religion: We all need a personal relationship with God, so that he can save us from the dogs. Although, personally I don't see how cats ruling the world will help us any. 

from Eran Finkle

All in all I enjoyed the whole trip, despite nearly no sleep and generally no good food. Of course I'm looking for going back to school, where the same joys await me, hopefully I'll get to fix the food part!

Julia Says...

Julia wanted some space to say a few words. I take no responsibility for these words.

On this day...

Yesterday 18 years ago the world was a dark and dreary place. Today 18 years ago the world suddenly experienced joy as a tiny new life entered spreading light, joy and happiness where ever she went. The following are pictures from the world-wide celebration of my birthday. As you can see those closest to me must look away at my joyous brightness. =)

Done, Done, Done!

We've Done It! 

August 31, 2010: Jen and Erin begin the adventure called Freshman Year of College. 

April 21, 2011: Jen and Erin take their last finals officially closing the chapter of their lives called Freshman Year of College. 

So yeah....

We've Done It!

P.S.  Jen and I will be moving into the recently

 vacated basement at 294 E 60N. Lindon, UT. 

Any suggestions for a name change?

P.P.S. If you'd like a slightly more sentimental 

reflection check out Call Me...Erin.

Valentine's Day - A mockery

Some people spend their Valentine's day with loved ones. Some of the rest of us clearly are not getting enough love living away from family. We have parties that center around the making and destruction of a man shaped piñata, that only gives chocolate when destroyed. This is our story...

Typical man made into Piñata.
Big Head and all.  

Editing

I am aware that it is now February, but January flew by so I still consider this to be the beginning of the year. Moving on.
As this semester moves along its way there has come a time for editing. Changing, altering, readjusting, anytime anyone starts something new this time period comes around, and this semester follows that rule. I had thought that with one semester under my belt I had a handle on college. However, this is one of those extremely rare occasions when I, Erin Hamson, am wrong. I know you are all furiously recording this moment in your calendars and journals, go ahead, I'll wait. Are we all back?

DU's Defense

The following is the email the sports editor for the Daily Universe sent in defense of the paper:

Dear Erin Hamson,

Thank you for reading The Daily Universe and for responding. It's always great to know we have readers out there who pay attention to what we're doing.

First, I want you to know right away that we at The Daily Universe have no intention of discriminating against women or treating them unfairly. But I think where your argument might be a little misguided is that you're taking a stand for women's rights, when really this is an issue about sports journalism and not sexism.

Thursday is now Tuesday

Apparently to The Universe Thursday is now Tuesday. Don't ask me why this is, it just is.

The Daily Universe: A Rant

A long, long time ago, (in a galaxy far, far away...) it was decided that men and women are equal. So why can't a very nice university, BYU for example, that has a fairly good paper, the Daily Universe, treat us as such?

Warning: Below is a rant about how amazing BYU's Womens basket ball team is and how they deserve more page space than Jimmer Fredette the day after they pound the Utes. No offense to Jimmer, but he can wait.

Family History

These are some wordles I made about family history.


　



Wordles are a great way to express ideas in a picture. Not to mention fun and exciting to look at! They are fairly easy to create.
1) Ascertain that your computer likes you and is willing to obey.
2) Go to www.wordle.net
3) Click on the tab or link labeled "create".
4) Type or paste a bunch of text. The key here is that the words that you want biggest need to be typed the most. However, you need at least 15-20 different words to make your wordle's look their best.
5) Click "go".
6) Then using the "edit", "language", "font", "layout", and "color" tabs you can adjust nearly every feature of you picture.
7) Click "save to public gallery", and fill in the appropriate information.
8) Remember to write down the URL for your project! There is no way to search for Wordles. So unless you wrote it down you get to spend hours sifting through millions of pictures looking for yours.
9) Good luck!