Bryan's Travels

Carnival Splendor Troubles

2010-11-17T14:20:00.003-07:00

This is an article that I read and I wanted to share with everyone everywhere... I was on the Carnival Splendor a year ago, and absolutely loved the service and the overall experience!

Dedication of the Carnival Crew

By Paul Motter

The recent Carnival Splendor crisis showed the larger non-cruising public something we dedicated cruisers already know - that a major reason cruising is so popular is because of the amazing crewmembers.

I was in San Diego to watch and speak to departing Splendor passengers, and everyone said the crew was amazing. I was on the radio on Saturday and asked if I thought this incident would lead to discounts due to slowing demand. We in the industry already know that it won't, but I had to find a logical reason to explain why it won't.

What other tourism business compares to cruising for the quality of personal service? I said "If you heard this incident happened at Disneyland would you say you'd never go to Disneyland again?" Of course not, because everyone knows that Disney is a great vacation experience and such an accident would be a pure anomaly.

That is how the vast majority of cruisers feel about cruising - not only does the cruise industry have an exemplary safety record (which never gets mentioned during media reports of these events) - but cruisers know that ship workers are among the most dedicated in the world and they truly respect that.

We have had rare incidents of fires on ships and ship losing propulsion power. But this is the first time I have ever heard of a ship losing all power to the point where almost nothing onboard was working. But I never heard the media mention that fact.

They were all over the "cruise from hell," angle, as always, and many reporters were even saying "I will never go on a cruise." That kind of reporting is purely coming from a lack of knowledge, and why is it that every time a cruise ship has a crisis the media never call in a cruise industry expert to put the events into perspective?

We cruisers were not at all surprised to hear the Carnival crew did a fantastic job, we already know cruise crewmembers are the best in the world. But while every passenger I heard interviewed cited the crew and ace Carnival Cruise Director John Heald as having done a fantastic job of keeping the guests informed, reassured and even in good humor about the events, the media didn't seem to care about those statements - being far more interested in the "spam" angle.

I watched some of the first person videos people had taken onboard during the blackout, and every time a video camera hit the face of crewmember they smiled and waved. Many of them stopped and talked to the camera, telling us what they were doing, whether it was delivering ice or forming a human chain to get food from the galley up to deck ten where passengers were assembled.

The people who cruise regularly all said they would definitely be taking Carnival up on the free cruise offer they gave every guest as compensation. By the way, Carnival also paid for flights home for everyone, and gave them the option to stay in San Diego for an extra day with a paid hotel room (Hilton) and even meal vouchers.

My interview with first-time cruise Barbara Dillonpierside as she came right off the ship showed that even a first-timer could be so impressed with a crew during a crisis that she said she would definitely cruise again, and she even tipped the room steward. She also mentioned the heroism of the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, who contribute to the exemplary record of the cruise industry on almost a daily basis.

As I said on the radio, I didn't hear a single person say "I'll never cruise again." Every experienced cruiser said "this was an accident and this doesn't change my mind about cruising one bit." My interview in CruiseMates with first-time cruiser Barbara Dillon coming right off the ship shows that the crew on Carnival was so good that she will definitely cruise again, many times, even with this "cruise from hell" as her first experience. She even tipped her crewmembers.

This Carnival crew showed what crewmembers are famous for - all the time and under all circumstances - keeping the passengers as happy and comfortable as humanly possible, even under the most challenging and extraordinary circumstances.

Splendor cruise director John Heald has an epic firsthand account of his experience in his personal blog. He mentions a few things he wishes he had done differently. But every officer, staff and crewmember was improvising - there is no handbook on what to do in case of a systemic failure of ship power - it has never happened before.

I just think it is too bad that the courage and commitment of the crew during every "cruise from hell" crisis gets lost in the television media coverage. When Captain Sully landed a jet on the Hudson River the media didn't focus solely on the negative points. They focused on the heroism of Captain Sully and the fact that he was the exception to what commonly happens with airlines -planes crash and everyone dies.

But I have never seen a cruise crisis where the media notes that our modern western cruise industry has a spectacular reputation for safety with no catastrophic loss of life in recent history. The worst ship fire had just one tragic fatality. That is very sad, but an exemplary record compared to every other form of mass transportation; trains, cars and planes, all of which have had horrific accidents.

Discuss the Carnival Splendor crewmembers here: Carnival Splendor Crew

I JUST FINISHED!!!

2009-11-12T21:12:00.005-07:00

I finished (ACED) my last final.
I am officially "smart"

I AM DONE WITH SCHOOL!!!

Did you not hear that? I AM DONE!
WAhoo!

T-Mobile??? LOL

2009-11-03T21:19:00.004-07:00

My favorite Verizon ad:

WANT 100% MORE COVERAGE THAN T-MOBILE?
THERE'S A MAP FOR THAT TOO.

(as of 5:30pm (EST) today
here is the Map for T-Mobile Service, LOL)

HA ha ha, Go T-Mobile! It's a good thing that I am with Verizon!
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/110309-tmobile-outage.html

Go Vikings!

2009-09-25T22:02:00.003-06:00

SMA Walk-n-Roll

2009-08-15T13:38:00.007-06:00

So I have the cutest little niece, Brynlee, but when she was around 6 months old her parents noticed something wrong with her legs. They took her into the doctor, and to make a long story short, they found out that she has SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy). SMA is a disease that affects the muscles in her little body, it basically prevents them from working like muscles should work. She was unable to lift her legs, and the one that gets most children under the age of 2 is that she is unable to cough and struggles to breath.

Well, her 2nd birthday (they never said that she would live to the age of 2) is August 29th, and it just so happens that there is a fund raiser on August 29th in Park City; the Utah Chapter of Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy Walk-n-Roll. The FMSA is inviting friends, family, patients, and anyone else interested to participate in the fund raiser to help find a cure for the number 1 genetic killer in infants.

To register, or even just to donate you can visit: FSMA
If you want to join Team Brynlee on the Walk-n-Roll (she will be rolling along in her new little wheel chair) you can register under my sister-in-law: Tara Liston

Here is the fund raising Biography for Team Brynlee:

See, isn't she the cutest!

Aspen Grove - Timpanogos

2009-08-09T22:09:00.005-06:00

So, today we decided to try to hike the Aspen Grove Timpanonos trail. I was with my mother and step father, who haven't been on the hike for a long time. We ended up starting way late, so we didn't make it to Emerald Lake, but we did have a great hike. It was a beautiful day, and we all had a great time.

There was a lot of water coming down the mountains this year, which made for some great pictures. I didn't take these pictures, but some nice friendly blogger did, so I figured that I would share. This is what we did see though. =0)

There were also many beautiful flowers, but once again I don't have the pictures that I took today, so I may have to post them a little later.

Well I am headed to bed so that I can spend the week getting ready for those crazy teachers to come back into their schools a week for now... ;)

Lake Powell

2009-07-21T22:16:00.006-06:00

Well it was hard, but I had to work almost 2 weeks before going on another trip... I take off Sunday morning to head down to Lake Powell with some family and friends that go down every year. I wasn't able to make it with them last year, and I was devastated, but this year it sounds like it should make up for the lost time. They just bought a new (as in 0 hours) boat that we are taking down, AWESOME!

So my favorite part is the part where phones don't work down at the water level, my computer won't work (well I don't want it to work), and well I really can't be reached by those that I work with on a daily basis at all. I am leaving and not talking to them until I return to work in August. =0)

I do love Lake Powell, and have since I first went down there with my childhood friend and his family. I don't know if it is the beautiful red cliffs, the clean blue water, the nice warm weather, the nice sandy beaches, or the great company that I usually get to go with, but I do so love it.

Yeah, it is not a cruise in the Caribbean, but it is is probably the second best place on earth as far as I am concerned.

Anyway, I hope that y'all have a great week as I know that I will. =0)

Chao,

Beautiful Oregon Coast

2009-07-03T18:16:00.004-06:00

I am out in Oregon visiting my step-sister, and we all decided to go out to the coast to enjoy a day at the beach, and what a perfect day it was. I had a better camera, but don't have the cables to pull the pictures off if it, so the phone will have to do for now. =0)

The kids all had a good time making castles, playing in the water, while we enjoyed the sun and the sand. It was a great day at the beach, which is usually the case. =0)

New York 2009 - AWESOME!

2009-06-09T20:18:00.015-06:00

I just got back from a week in Manhattan New York, probably one of the best trips that I have been on in a long time. Here is a list of the shows that we went to see while we were there:

Billy Elliot
Absolutely INCREDIBLE!
I don't know that there is another way to describe this show
except that we couldn't even believe the talent, the fun, the
energy It was so much fun, everyone should see it!

In The Heights
This was a good show, and a lot of it was in spanish, so
not everyone was able to even follow it.

Hair
What a FUN Show! The cast members came out into the audience
several times to interact with us. When they were singing "Hair"
the girl in the canter of this picture came up to our row
(clear in the top) and played with my hair. Did I say FUN!

West Side Story
The talent was incredible! Great voices, dancing, and
spanish (they sang several songs in spanish with the revival)

Shrek the Musical
This show was hilarious, and I loved Lord Farquaad
the best (he did the entire show on his knees!)

Blithe Spirit
Staring Angela Lansbury, Seriously! She is so dang Funny!
She did a little dance around the state the reminded me of my
Grandma. We got her autograph on a playbill, Awesome! =0)

Well besides the shows we had a great time in New York. We were able to go to the Top of the Rock observatory (Top of the Rockefeller Center in the middle of Manhattan). We also ate at some great restaurants, and saw several other fun things that you could only see in New York.

We stayed in a great hotel too, right outside of Times Square. It was an awesome trip and I am sure glad that I was able to go with great fun people. We had a blast and loved every minute of it!

MMMmmm.... Fresh from the Garden!

2009-06-09T20:02:00.005-06:00

This is what I picked out of my garden today. Nothing better than a freshly picked strawberry.

I was eating these in fact while I went through all of the pictures that I have taken on my camera in the last little while (New Your and Las Vegas).

Now if only the sun would come out so that the tomatoes and petters could grow... =0)

The end of the Year!

2009-05-27T21:22:00.005-06:00

Well only if you go to or work at a school that takes summer off, LOL.

So it is that time again, when our local schools are left vacant in the heat of the summer. So we have 2 days left before school is out, but you wouldn't guess that by walking the halls of a lot of the schools around. ;)

I spent 8 hours today at a local high school working on the school network, 4 hours of which were over-time. The days are getting longer, but the time is rushing by quicker, I swear it!

And so starts another summer...

Oh, and I get to go to New York in a couple days! =0) I cannot wait!

Beautiful headstone

2009-05-26T11:02:00.002-06:00

Well we made it to see my dad's newly laid headstone this weekend, doesn't it look good!

We are pleased with the way that it turned out, he would have been proud.

I'm getting good at this home owner thing,

2009-05-23T22:31:00.002-06:00

I just fixed my kitchen sink!

I can hardly wait to see what I get to fix next. =0)

I just found myself a second career

2009-05-19T23:05:00.002-06:00

Sprinklers!

I just had pressurized irrigation installed in my yard, and while they were installing it they broke my main sprinkler line, yeah this is the same one that I fixed over the weekend when I dug out the entire sprinkler box, replaced all of the valves, connections, wires, all that fun stuff.

So after working on this all day Saturday, I decided that it would be good to test the new pieces to make sure that I installed them correctly. As I went through the stations I quickly realized that the main line to the first station, as there was a huge geyser in the front of my yard with water, dirk, and rocks everywhere, great!

So I decided to fix that. Then on top of it since I have re-landscaped my yard, the original sprinklers don't work very well, so I decided to look into changing all of the heads to the correct model, no big deal right?

Well the correct heads only spray about half as far, which is good and bad. This means that I have to install twice as many heads as are currently installed in my front yard. So I started digging, went to Lowe's to get more parts, went back to get the correct parts, and I just finished installing them. I haven't tested them, but they better work or else!

So up to this point I have dug two huge holes in my front yard, followed by 6 smaller (but still good sized) holes that I had to do in order to replace the heads. Along with the holes, I swear that I have been to Lowe's, and the Sprinkler shop about 50 times, NO JOKE. I keep waiting tof my credit card company to call me in order to notify me that my card has been stolen by some Lowe's freak that won't leave the store.

So I have worked in my yard all day saturday, sunday morning and evening, Monday after work till after 10, and today after work till about 10. All I can say is these sprinklers better sprinkle good water for that stupid lawn f mine, otherwise I don't know what I will do...

I think that I could get my degree in sprinkler maintenance and installation at this point.

SunFlowers

2009-05-14T21:17:00.005-06:00

So I am kind of a freak, but I wanted to grow sunflowers again this year. I wanted to try different flowers though because I have a friend that planted some crazy flowers one year and they looked so fun. I went to plant them, but then I realized that my sprinkler system was broken for a while (I am getting secondary water put in) and I didn't want them to die a dry and horrible death in my back yard. SO I planted them in my Kitchen (far far away from the slugs and bugs in my yard)!

Ok, well I planted them in a large planter pot that I have moved into my kitchen. Earlier this evening I suddenly realized that I hadn't watered them since I had planted them last week, OOPS! As I went to water them I this is what I found!!!

They are Growing already! I just planted them last week and they are already poking their leaves out of the dirt. When I saw them I was so excited that I had to take a picture (see, I am a freak).

Well I really felt guilty that I hadn't posted anything, and so I decided that I would blog about the new additions to my household instead of the story about the FIRE at work, that wouldn't be a good story, right? (yeah, there was really a fire, what's next? Locusts???).

Anyway, I just started another class this week so I should get back to my homework... =0( This was a good distraction for a while though, don'tcha think?

Carnival Splendor - November 29, 2009 - Mexican Riviera Cruise

2009-05-02T17:46:00.007-06:00

I just finished booking and paying for my next cruise.

You are all invited, since I was invited from a guy that I work with. It looks like I will be on Vacation the week after Thanksgiving though. I guess the party that I am going with is planning to drive to Los Angeles where the ship departs, hope it is good weather!

Well let me know if you are interested in joining the party, the prices are right ($379 for inside cabin).

The ship, the Carnival Splendor is the newest ship in the Carnival Fleet, so that is pretty cool! I have never been on a ship this new. I think that it may be the largest ship that I have been on as well. Pretty excited!

The ports of call are:
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Mazatlan, Mexico
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
and of course Los Angeles, CA

I have never been on a Mexican Rivierra cruise, so if anyone has any suggestions as far as what to take and what to do, I would be glad to listen. As of now I am planning on beaching myself and maybe shopping a little...? =0)

Hopefully the H1N1 (Swine Flu) is not in the picture! LOL

6" WATER MAIN - Do NOT assume that it is EMPTY!!!

2009-04-29T16:58:00.004-06:00

So it started out as a nice peaceful day at work. I had several things on my schedule, but nothing too bad, just some server installs for a new system (that is what I do at work). Then during a conference call to support, we all of a sudden lost power. That happens quite a lot though in my offices, so I didn't think anything of it. Then we slowly started to realize that the power was out throughout the entire building.

I hear someone talking outside about a water main, and so I decided I better go investigate. Upon investigation, I walked into the back door of the warehouse that occupies the other end of our building, only to find about 4" of water being shoved out the door by crazed warehouse workers and secretaries.

I guess there was someone there working on the fire suppression system that had assumed that the lines were drained and the valves shut when he tried to remove a broken section of the water main, he was wrong! OOPS!!!

So there was a man made geyser in the warehouse for several minutes as he scrambled to figure out how to shut it off, hence the 4" of standing water on the warehouse floor.

So the fun part; the geyser (so powerful that it pealed the paint off the wall) was pointed directly at all of the power distribution panels for the building, which also included the power distribution panels that feed the Data Center/Server Room for over 70 buildings spread throughout the valley and 100,000 users).

Miraculously the data center was still functioning, while the rest of the building was down. Several minutes after the water stopped someone went to check on the breaker boxes, and found that they were full of water. The one that we use for the Data Center however only had about 6" of standing water in it and was still passing power through it???

The servers were up for the time being, but as the water soaked into the electronics, it started to freak out, and caused the power to fail, and then kicked on the generator. The generator feeds through that same box, so I don't know how it was working but everything, except for the cooling units, stayed on in the server room.

Without the cooling units, the server room started to get hot quick, so we were forced to shut down everything that was not marked as Critical. We left the main router up as well as the security devices that allow for Internet access to and from the site. Other than that we shut about everything down and went to help squeegee an estimated 5,000 gallons out of the warehouse, FUN!!!

We all walked around with wet shoes for the rest of the day, and are still waiting for repairs to be done on the power and AC units. In all though we never lost Internet connection throughout all of the pain and chaos that we faced all day, that was awesome as it was our priority to keep these services open for the thousands of users that depended on them.

Quite the day at work!!!

110 In the Shade - PGHS Spring Production

2009-04-20T23:13:00.002-06:00

COME SEE IT! You won't be sorry!
Playing every night this week starting at 7:00 pm

See you there!

Le Rêve - Las Vegas

2009-04-20T08:11:00.005-06:00

I Love Spring Break! Especially if I can get away and have a great time.

This year I ended up taking my sister down to Las Vegas for the long weekend to get away from the 6" of snow and cold. We succeeded and ended up finding the sun, which was wonderful.

We did several things, but I my favorite was the show, Le Rêve at the Wynn.

It was incredible. You walk into the theater, and there is seating all around what should have been a stage, but it was a huge pool of water. On the water was a bed, floating there in the middle of the pool. It was lit from all different angles and the light was slowly changing from blue, purple, pink, and several other colors. My sister and I just sat there and watched the bed and looked at all of the other things in the theatre in awe (I know, I am a tech geek).

I don't even know how to explain the show, but it incorporated about everything that I could think of. There were flying acrobatic moves, fun dancing, great costumes (they all got wet!) surprising props, techno effects, great sound, and everything appealing to an audience that could involve water, acting, dancing, and sound.

Here are a couple images that I found on-line, but it is late and I need to go to bed because if now I will become the monster that you can see in the third image (I think that it is the devil).

Fun show, I would recommend it!

While in Vegas my sister and I also spent some quality time watching the incredible Belagio fountains (I love them). We also had to spend time at the hotel pool soaking up as much sun as we possible could (which reminds me I need to apply aloe).

Hope you all had a great spring break, and if you maybe you could come with me next year! =0)

Choir Tour 2009

2009-03-28T18:22:00.013-06:00

This year I was invited to go on Choir tour again. It was a while ago, but I figure it is better late than never, right? We had an awesome time, the Choir was incredible and fun to watch in all of the performances and work-shops that they participated in (well when they weren't looking like death, keep reading).

So we went to Sea World, which was fun because I hadn't been there for several years. Something new that I saw this year was the dolphin experience. I knew that they had dolphins, but I didn't know that you could get up close and personal with them! Here is our video of getting up close and personal with the dolphins (I think I was wet for the rest of the day after this little dolphin encounter!)

This one really was the splasher. I should have noticed, because as we walked up
to do the dolphin encounter, there was a bunch of people that had just gotten soaked
by this same dolphin... Nice!

Here are some fun shots of all of my friends at Sea World and Disneyland

My Friend the Dolphin.
THis is the nice one, not the one that splashes.
The one that splashed through was really good at splashing!

This is me feeding one of the Bat Rays at the bat ray encounter.
They splashed a little too, but nothing like that cute dumb Dolphin!

And there are my friends all trying to force Debbie to feed one of the
ugly scary bat rays. Now she looks like she really wants to do that, right??!

And now to Disneyland:
The happiest place on earth!

Riding the Grizzly River Rapids, This is the Choir Director commanding
the water to stay in the river and to be Calm...? It didn't work,

And there in the tube behind us are some more of our friends.
Hi Friends!

Oh, and the Log Ride (I don't know the real name).
This was when we just were starting out and everyone was still
happy and dry.

Well everyone except for my friend in front of me, who I never really
got a good shot of because either he WAS the shot, or he was OUT
or the shot. There he is though, you can see his back =0)

And the great Fall!
Notice the hands in the Front. That is the choir director's hands.
When he walked off the ride he was SOAKED to the Bone,
and the sun was just starting to go down, so it was chilly.
We didn't do this again the following day in case you were wondering.

And here we are at the end of the ride, You can't see it but the guy in the front,
well his shirt was totally soaked! Good thing it dried quick or he would
has been really cold, as it wasn't the warmest of days at Disneyland...

Those three days (2 days at Disneyland) were the most exciting, but the other days were fun, just not photo fun. The choir sang in the Music in the Parks festival in Disneyland. When we went to the awards festival this year there were far fewer schools than there usually were. That was nice though because we took first in everything that we entered. GO PGHS!

The funny thing is that they sang at 9:30 in the morning. Now this was day 3 of the trip; after one full day at Sea World, and another long day at Disneyland. They were all obviously tired, and many of the students were sick, make that all of the students on bus 1. As luck would have it, the two soloists, of course, had the most severe sore throats and had lost their voices. The male soloist (Tony) was able to sing his part, but you could tell that he wasn't as comfortable as usual. The female soloist however couldn't do anything but mouth the words and try to look alive.

Before the performance I went in to help out with the warm-ups and couldn't help but laugh. Most of the students looked like they had died the night before, and somehow their bodies had been set in place on stage. They looked like hell to tell you the truth, I was worried... Then all of a sudden the stage lights came on, and they all must have come back to life or something, because they started to sound great, and some of them even looked great.

When they got to the solos, Tony did a decent job, so he decided that he could sing his part. Jim (the director) however has to sing the female part, and decided that this was how it was going to have to be for the performance too (His Intro: and this is Jim Wilcock who plays the pitches and sings the solos). It was different, but it actually sounded really good from the audience. I guess the adjudicators liked it becasue we got straight superiors in each of the three categories.

The tour was really fun. I am glad that I have such awesome friends at the school because without them I would have stayed at home, worked like normal, and been stuck in another weekend full of freezing temperatures and ugly white snow. Yay for fun trips!

Is it summer yet...

2009-03-25T20:29:00.003-06:00

I keep thinking that it should be warm outside, but every time I walk or look outside, it seems that it is snowing, dark, cold, and miserable... Can't we just be done with winter already? I am dying for some heat here!

Maybe I just need to move to this place,

Into the Woods

2009-02-23T17:01:00.003-07:00

Pleasant Grove High School Performing Arts is running their showing of Into the Woods this week after months of preparation. I have been a part of the technical setup of the production including lighting (very little), sound (we have 16 brand new microphones), and some of the special effects that have been incorporated into the production.

This is a production that is being done by high school students, bu

t you would never guess that by the sounds and sights that you are presented with as you watch the show. The Director and his assistants have done an Incredible job at making this a great show, and I would recommend that anyone and everyone go to see it. Here is the synopsis that I pulled off of Wikipedia:

Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch, and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife, brought acclaim to the production during its original Broadway run.
Into the Woods won several Tony Awards, including Best Score, Best Book, and Best Actress in a Musical (Joanna Gleason), in a year dominated by The Phantom of the Opera. The musical has been produced many times, with a 1988 national tour, a 1990 West End production, a 1991 television production, a 1997 tenth anniversary concert, a 2002 Los Angeles production and a 2002 Broadway revival.[1]

Anyway COME SEE IT!

It shows Monday (Tonight) through Saturday night starting at 7:00 every evening. The prices are $6.00 for adults, $5.00 for students, and $3.00 for children (12 and under). Come say hi if you decide to come see it. =0)

Lost in Portland...

2009-02-03T00:00:00.005-07:00

Well this weekend, I was able to drive my sister and her two cute little sons home to Oregon. we made the drive to Oregon on Saturday, rested on Sunday (we may have gone to a museum to see the Spruce Goose), and then I drove home on Monday.

Well Sunday night I jumped on the Internet to make sure that I knew how to get home. The first step and most difficult I might add, would be making it to portland, then I just had to follow the Interstate all the way home. Well I didn't quite follow the plan this morning when I started my journey. Instead of following the route that was recommended, I took a little detour.

This is the route that I took, and it wasn't too far out of the way, but it could have been if it hadn't been for Melissa on the HelpDesk. She was amazing at trying to figure out where the heck I was, and then pointing me in the right direction. I finally made it to portland, and then onto INterstate 5, and then onto Interstate 84, when I then just had to follow for about 900 miles.

The detour was gorgeous, even though it may have added a little time onto the journey. It was early morning still, the the terrain was slightly hilly but really green. There were patches of mysterious fog settled below the hills, and the sun was making the bright green trees and fields shine a beautiful green. It was actually quite incredible.

Then in Idaho I missed the most beautiful sun set. I saw a little of it, but I was driving on I-84, so I couldn't look long. It was really pretty though. The snow covered fields were reflecting a blue tint, and then the sky was pink, red, purple, and then dark blue with scattered clouds that reflected the colors. It was really pretty, but I didn't dare look at it for too long. It was really pretty though in case you didn't get that part.

Oh, and I got to see the Spruce Goose which was Incredible. This thing is so dang big, I couldn't believe it. AND, it is made of WOOD! I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E!!!

In all it was a great trip.
Way cool! =0)

Thanks for the support in my time of need... and now Homework!?!

2009-01-26T23:59:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone that has contacted my by any means possible (and I mean any). I so appreciate all of the support that everyone has given. This has been a hard thing to go through, and I imagine that it will still be hard for a while.

Thinking though that I was going to get my mind off of things, I started to try to get cough up on my homework. Well I am in a Physics class that I started the night the my father passed away. The professor was incredible, and has let me start a week late, but as I logged into the class and started reading the book, I started thinking that this may not be such a good idea.

Work was fine, but this homework is not fine. This crap is for the birds, and I don't mean My bird.

I don't know what my problem is, but I guess I am supposed to know how to "Calculate the magnitude of the force between two 3.60-uC point charges 9.3 cm apart"... Whoda What?

Anyway, I am just about ready to throw this book out into the big freaking ugly pile of snow out on my driveway that I got stuck in again this morning. Then after that I am going to call my university and demand my money back because this education sucks! Shoot, they assume that I know this stuff already, Why in the world would I be in this class if I already knew how to do it??? Tell me that!

Anyway, maybe I need a little sleep, but this is insane!

Thanks though for your support with the passing of my dad, now I just need support of another kind...;)

Life History of Paul E Liston

2009-01-26T23:13:00.006-07:00

This is the talk that I gave at the funeral on Saturday.

• Paul Earl Liston was born on September 19, 1956 to Verdin and Marie Liston
o September is during the pine nut season, and if you know the Listons and their pine nuts, then you would know that Verdin was out back working the pine nut sorting and counting machines.
o When my grandma felt like it was time to go to the hospital, she had to call Sandra, my dad’s oldest sister to drive her to the hospital because there was no interrupting a Liston while working in the pine nuts.
• Paul as a first name was decided upon because his mother liked it.
• Earl came from Paul’s uncle Earl Saxton, and Grandma Liston said that Paul E Liston just sounded like a good strong name.

• Paul is the youngest of seven children:
o Sandara
o Sherril
o Elaine
o Larry
o Joyce
o Janice
o Paul

• Paul grew up on 800 east in Orem and often participated in the many family businesses that he could participate in
o For many years the family sold Christmas trees all over the valley.

• Before Paul even started school he had already started his own money making scheme. He would go around and gather left-over bunches and Christmas tree limbs and sell them as Christmas decorations to the customers.
• His siblings said that he made a lot of money for his age.
o Another family business that they worked in almost every year was Pine nuts.
• Paul would always help to sell the family pine nuts, and did a great job in sales.
• When he was off of his mission he started driving a large semi truck picking up and delivering the pine nuts to the Orem yard. That truck is how I got one of these scars on my forehead.

• Paul has always been a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
o At a young age he regularly attended the adult Sunday school and relief society classes, and was also faithful visiting teacher because everywhere that his mother went, Paul was by her side.
o When Paul was about 5, the Provo temple was just being built. He wanted to be a part of the beautiful building, so he donated $5.00 to the temple fund to help in the lords work.
o When he was a young boy there was a drought when lots of ward members prayed and fasted for rain. The next day Paul was seen out walking in his raincoat and boots, getting ready for the rain. His faith was always incredible both as a child and as an adult.

• Paul attended Hillcrest Elementary School in south Orem
o In Paul’s own words he agreed that he wasn’t the best student, but he sure loved school.
o His favorite teacher was Mr. Rogers – He taught the students how to play games at recess and became more of a friend to his students than just a teacher.
o He was not one to do a lot of reading, but he did own every Dr. Seuss book that he knew about.
o While he was in elementary school he had a favorite red shirt. In fact he loved it so much that his mother said that he wore it every day to school. She had to wash it out every night so that he could wear a clean red shirt to school. It is no surprise to us though; he has always been a practical and determined man.
o Paul always excelled at everything that he did. One day one of his teachers asked him to find as many words that he could out of the word Constantinople. He asked everyone to help and ended up founding the most words out of anyone in his class. He always wanted to be the best at everything that he did

• At age 12 Paul started helping the family by working with the Utah Trail Builders company (composed mostly of Liston family)
o They worked on many trails in different western states including:
o Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, California, Colorado, Utah
• Pacific Crest Trail in California and Washington
• Aspen Grove and American Fork Timpanogos trail

• In high school Paul was known by everyone by his nick-name; pine tree
o Paul was very likable and had many friends. He was elected as Senior Class President at Orem High School for the graduating class of 1975
o He was a state record holder in track-and-field for the shot-put, and was considered a star on the Track and Field team of Orem High.
o Along with these great achievements, Paul also played the trumpet in the Orem High School band, and ended up competing for first chair against John Davis, and Kirt Bestor. This was motivation enough to keep my dad practicing daily to be the best dang trumpet player in the school.

• Paul Liston was called to server an LDS mission in the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania mission where he was influential in teaching the gospel to many families.
o There was one contact in particular that puts the Liston name just one step closer to the movie stars. Paul and his companion spent many hours in the home of Christina Aguilera’s mother. The family continued to send him Christmas cards for several years after his mission.
o It was on his mission that Paul gained a very firm testimony of the reality of the presence of the Holy Ghost. This became an anchor to help him with future decisions throughout his lifetime.

• In 1978 Paul married Alisa in the Provo Temple. Paul and Alisa are the parents of 5 children. Each of which has shared their favorite memories about their father, which I would like to share with you starting with myself…

o Bryan is the happiest child of the bunch, and was always the gadget wiz kid.
• I will always remember working with my dad down at the wood shop and at A&P Craft. He gave me a job when I was 10 just doing simple things around the shop and store. I loved how he always made the atmosphere inside professional and still playful and fun.
• I remember one of my favorite stories was during a Christmas party with the employees. He was being handed a couple presents to unwrap, and one of them was a tin of Oreo cookies, or so it seemed. As he went to pull the lid off of the tin he screamed a choice word or two dropped the tin on the ground and jumping into the air. Two little rats then jumped for safety as they were so poorly introduced to their new owner.
• We had rats for a couple years after that little prank, and they weren’t as bad as they seemed, but the tails of those guys always seemed to gross my dad out after that day.
• My dad was an awesome manager though. As the boss he demanded the respect of all his employees, but he also gave that same respect to each one of them, making them feel important in their own ways.
• I am so grateful that I have been able to spend time with my dad both in the home and in the work place. He has taught me many lessons in life, religion, and business. I hope that I can continue to make him proud in my future decisions.

o Mark is the hardest worker in the family and one of my dad’s best friends
• The best memories that I have are the ones of the fishing excursions up to Alaska when we were younger. Grandpa Liston (Verdin) Paul, my older brother Bryan and then me, Mark. Our first trip up there I learned a lot about Paul and how adventurous he really was and no matter what happened it was always a good trip whether we brought fish home or not it was all about the experience and the time that we all spent together. Paul loved to go see new places and explore new things, whether it was a glacier or a mountain or a trail Paul always wanted to see everything that he could and get a picture of it while we were there so that he could share the memories with others, I loved spending time with My dad and Grandpa and brother.
• For the past 5 years I enjoyed working with him in the excavation company, Paul and I were always on the phone talking about the next job or the next equipment that we needed to buy to do the job, me and him grew really close and I am so glad that I was able to work with my dad through the last few years of his life, I learned so much from him, he was always happy and had a smile on his face no matter what was happening around him, He always had a great attitude about life nothing could ever get him down, no matter what the problem or outcome was he just kept on smiling that is what I am going to remember most about my dad.

o Jill is the roudy one with a heart of solid gold, and my dad’s first little girl
• I will always be my daddy’s little girl
• I admire him so much for everything he has been through and accomplished.
• My dad’s stubbornness is what has gotten him as far as he got in life.
• There in nothing he couldn’t do as long as he wanted it done.
• He has always been there to support me whether he approved of not, but he would always let us know his thoughts.
• My dad fought till his last breath just like he has for the past four years.
• I am so glad that he was so stubborn so that we could have him for as long as we did.
• It just is never enough when you love someone so much.
• My dad is my hero and always will be.

o Brad was my dad’s little boy and easiest child to raise He always seemed to go with the flow and seldom complained.
• When ever I think about my dad, I think about camping out under the stars. He loved to be out camping, going four-wheeling, or just being outdoors.
• We had so much fun as a family on all of the Lake Powell trips. With our Liston luck every time that we went we'd get rained out or blown away by the storms that ruined so many of our tents, but it wasn't quite a Powell trip with out it.
• I love thinking about how he always tried so hard to make the week that we spent at Powell the best possible. I think about his swim suit that was probably a few sizes to small, and that ugly old orange marshmallow life jacket of his; every time that he'd jump off the boat into the water we weren't sure if he was coming back up or not. Those are my favorite memories of and with my dad.
• I also remember when dad found patty; he was so excited. I remember him telling us about her, and his face was lit up with a smile. I can only hope to be half of the man that he was to her. Patty says that he Never, not once, raise his voice to her, and I'll take Patty’s word for it.
• My dad was honest in all of his work that and always set an amazing example to everyone around him. In his last few months he was so dedicated to figuring out what was going on inside of him that he kept him self busy even though he had retired and felt sick. He spent weeks searching for every bit of voodoo that claimed to cure cancer.; not only did he look, but he also tried every one of them he could get his hands on.
• Again, I hope that I can be like him, to be that dedicated in everything that I put my mind to, just all around he was one of the best men that I think a lot of us knew. He will be missed

o Kerri is Paul’s little baby and is the cutest and most studious child with a lot of potential.
• One thing that I will always remember about dad is he always worked hard for what he wanted. He taught all of us to be hard workers, no matter what it is that we are doing
• My dad had a sheep-skin rug in his room at the foot of his bed that I loved to sleep on till I was about 10. I have heard stories though that he used to do the same with his mom and dad, I guess that must be a youngest child thing to do.
• I always remember the fishing trips of the trips to lake Powell. We haven’t gone quite so often in the last year, but the times we did were still a lot of fun.
• I loved my dad, and still do. He was an amazing father.
• Paul’s children were his greatest joys. Most of us have worked side-by-side with our dad in many of the business adventures that he has been involved in.
• Paul has been referred to by many as The man with the golden finger. He was very successful in the businesses the he owned and managed. He operated A&P Craft and Paul Liston Custom Wood for 15 years. He had several employees that loved and adored him, mostly Women, but there were a lot of them.

• Paul met Patty Creer Kerecman on a blind date in February 2001. They both knew immediately that they wanted to share the rest of their lives together.
o Their marriage was solemnized in the Mount Timpanogos Temple on May 25th 2001.
o He then became a father to four more children and eventually 5 grand children.

• Together Patty and Paul started Western Oasis, which was also known as Paul Liston Excavation.
o The business grew quickly and was a great success as Paul continued to please customers
o When it comes to business Paul says
• “Make your own good luck, don’t wait for it to come to you.”
• “Work hard, work smart, and rely on the lord“

• My dad’s favorite overall hobby was travelling, be it for business for leisure. Some of the places that he has been to are:
o Tahiti
o Mexico
o Hawaii
o Alaska
o Canada
o The Caribbean
o And several countries in Europe

• One of his most memorable vacations was taking his father Verdin to Alaska along with my brother and I. We had a guide take us out on several fishing trips, and my brother Mark always seemed to catch the biggest fish; I don’t think that I ever caught the BIG one, but I sure had a great time with my dad, my grandpa, and my brother.

• Something funny about my dad is that he looked a lot like Paul Newman. A good story about this happened one evening when my dad was having dinner at the Chine Town restaurant in Provo.
o After he ordered, he couldn’t help but notice several of the employees talking and pointing in his direction.
o One of them finally approached after hearing someone call him Paul and said “We knew it, you are Paul Newman aren’t you.”
o My dad probably laughed as he was often mistaken as Paul Newman throughout his life, including his time spent in Pennsylvania as a missionary.
• He would tell stories about knocking on the doors and telling people that he was Paul. Many of them would assume that he was Paul Newman and let them in.
• Face it, if a guy came to your door that looked like Paul Newman and said that his name was Paul, wouldn’t you let him into you house, if nothing more than to give him a drink?
• My dad has been the greatest example when it comes to patience, honesty, patients, determination, patience, patience, patience, reliability, and respect.

• My dad was not just a dad; he was a friend, he was a good listener, and he was someone you could confide in, and trust.

• He had a firm testimony that there is life after death and that families can be together forever. He was a great example of someone having incredible faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• I love my dad and will continue to do so throughout the rest of my life.