Meiszus's Musings

The Emperor's New Clothes

2009-08-14T10:53:00.006-06:00

So as indicated in one of the earlier posts about our trip to New York, Manda and I went to the MOMA for several hours one day. For anyone who doesn't know, the MOMA is the Museum of Modern Art. And for anyone who doesn't know me, modern art isn't really my thing. Manda loved it, so I indulged her, and now I never need to go back.

While modern art isn't my thing, and really art appreciation isn't really my thing (we also spent a day at the Met and that was somewhat tortuous, although much less so than the MOMA), I am able to appreciate the artistic talent of the pieces. We did the audio tour, which entails carrying around what looks like an old cell phone, into which you type numbers to hear the curators and art critics talk about pieces. I had a really hard time getting through the audio explanations, because I feel like the majority of the time the artists don't put nearly as much thought into the painting as later interpreters credit them with. In other words, I feel like the critics like to hear themselves speak, so they make up a bunch of bull to sound deep and so understanding of the tortured soul of the artist.

Anyway, just because I don't want any of the art, doesn't mean it isn't art...except the crap that isn't art. These pictures are a few examples of some of the things they had on display that cannot seriously be art. For anyone who thinks they are, the emperor is really naked, he doesn't have a new suit on.

Of all of these pictures this one is my favorite (in all seriousness) but only because it reminds me of Qbert. This is somewhat artistic, but it is just theft of the Qbert game screen

Maybe it is just my simplistic mind, but what is artistic about a rope, especially if the artist didn't even make the rope. If the artist made the rope, then maybe there is some argument, although not a strong one.

Ok, a piece of fabric stuck to the wall. There is no design on the fabric, no apparent shape to it, it is a solid color, and stuck to the wall. Seriously? Maybe the emperor should have ordered his suit in this color.

This is one of my favorites, in a sarcastic way. Its description is nylon cord and metal brackets. It is a purple nylon cord running through four metal brackets, two on the wall, two on the floor. Wow!

This may come in handy if your kids are acting up, but it is really just a very skinny steel cage.

I have moved and stacked a lot of bricks in my life, I never knew I was being artistic. There are 120 bricks here, stacked in the middle of the floor. I thought they were getting ready to display something on top of them, but no, this is supposedly art.

I think this one was my absolute favorite. I know it looks brown, but that is because I was not using the flash and I don't know how to use the camera as well as Manda so I can't get good color. It was actually black. That's it! No detail. No indentations. Nothing. It is oil on canvas, an it is solid black! What the hell?!?!

These pieces of "ART" (and I use the term loosely) somehow are deemed to be good enough to be displayed in a world renowned museum. Who are the pretentious morons who are doing this? These are being displayed in the same museum as van Gogh's Starry Night, and Warhol art work, along with many other pieces of art that I don't like, but I can at least appreciate the artistic value of them. Art is whatever you can get away with, but seriously, the emperor is naked. Get him some clothes!

The Plays

2009-08-13T10:47:00.004-06:00

Ok, so Amanda and I went to see a couple of plays while we were in New York. The first one we saw was Mary Poppins.

It was really entertaining with great acting and singing. But the real star of the show was the scenery. It was really amazing how efficiently they could change the set without any delay in the play. The massive set pieces easily switched between the main floor of the house and the nursery, then to the rooftops. It was really a fun show to see, but nothing compared to Rock of Ages.

If you are a fan of 80s Butt Rock, you will love Rock of Ages. It even made me like Constantine Maroulis (of American Idol fame). This show features music from Whitesnake, Journey, Starship, Poison, REO Speedwagon, Europe, Bon Jovi, Foreigner, Warrant, Mr. Big, and much more. The acting isn't great, and I didn't feel that story was all that strong, but it is a lot of fun, and extremely entertaining. Be aware, however, that it is a bit risqué so the teenage kids in front of us were a little uncomfortable with their parents right behind them. All said, Rock of Ages was a ton of fun.

New York

2009-08-12T16:26:00.010-06:00

So, Amanda and I just got back from a week in New York. Amanda's sister, Emily, and her husband, Miles, were in New York for the summer and they kindly let us stay at the apartment they sub-let, thereby drastically reducing our costs, allowing for a much more enjoyable experience.
We had a lot of fun on the trip. We went all around Manhattan on a great bus tour, well the tour was great for the first part, the down town tour. For the uptown tour we had a horrible guide who didn't know anything. On that part of the tour we learned a lot of useless facts about Holland, and the Dutch love of sprinkles.
Anyway, we also went to the Met, the Moma, to a Yankees-Red Sox game, to a couple of plays (Mary Poppins and Rock of Ages), Central Park, of course to Tiffany, too much shopping on Canal Street, we walked the Brooklyn Bridge and much, much more.
Here are some pics...

Manhattan from Brooklyn

Inside the Egyptian exhibit in the Met

Me in front of the Guggenheim

Manda in front of the Guggenheim

Me in front of the Apollo Theater in Harlem

Me in front of Grant's Tomb

Empire State Building

Manda and me on the bus tour

In front of the restaurant from Seinfeld

Manda and me in front of the restaurant from Seinfeld

(it was so humid that the camera lens fogged up)

Grand Central Station

Manda and me in front of Grand Central with the Chrysler Building behind us

Manda in front of Warhol at the MOMA

van Gogh's Starry Night at the MOMA

Manda and me at the Yankees game

Yankee Stadium

A-Rod ducking a pitch at his head

Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge

Emily and Manda walking across the Brooklyn Bridge

Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge

Manda and me on the Brooklyn Bridge with Statue of Liberty in the background

If anyone is still checking this...

2009-07-16T09:24:00.002-06:00

I know, it has been a really long time, but I have been really busy. I plan on starting this up again in a few weeks.

The End Has Come

2009-05-08T13:30:00.002-06:00

Well, it has been a while since I last posted, so I thought I should do a quick post. The end has come. Today is the last official day of my law school career. I actually finished on Wednesday when I emailed my paper in, but finals end today, and the semester is officially over. One week from today I will be graduating, then it is time to start studying for the bar exam. I have actually already started studying, and it is no fun, but you only have to pass the bar once. Anyway, in the words of London Tipton, Yay me!

Twilight should have never seen the light of day!

2009-03-30T14:49:00.003-06:00

Ok, so I can understand the book being good (I don't know, I haven't read it), but the movie was awful. Amanda convinced me to watch it over the weekend, we got it on Netflix, so I figured I wouldn't feel guilty if I just turned it off, or left the room, but I couldn't. Much like driving slowly past an accident on the freeway, when you see a white sheet over something on the ground, you can't help but look. However, in this case, it wasn't just the white sheet, it was a decapitated body with blood flowing from the gaping wound. I couldn't pull myself away.
You would think, given the success of the books, that the studio would have invested a little bit of money in the movie and produced a decent screenplay, but they didn't. The entire thing was so low budget that I couldn't help laughing to myself numerous times throughout the movie. Oh, did I mention the acting was atrocious too.
Anyway, if you are looking for a good movie to watch, steer very clear of Twilight, but if you are looking for a movie to make fun of, I would probably still steer clear of this one, but you can make a lot of fun of it.

The End Is Near!

2009-03-24T11:32:00.004-06:00

So, I got an email today from a fellow student. This email informed me that there are only about 5 weeks of classes left. I don't have any finals this semester, I just have a couple of papers (3 of them short 2-3 page papers) and a trial to do. It will be a lot of work before I am done, but the end is near. In just under two months I will have a JD, but unfortunately this is the worst time to graduate from school. No one is hiring. So, I guess it is a time for joy at being done, and a time for fear at not having a job for after graduation. Anyway, wish me luck.

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

2009-03-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

I thought this was pretty funny.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Political Speeches

2009-02-25T09:05:00.013-07:00

OK, Amanda was at book club last night, and my kid was in bed, so I decided to watch a little TV. Of course nothing was on Food Network (or at least Alton wasn't on) so I was resigned to flip through the stations, trying to find something interesting to watch. Because of all the cable news channels, and because of all of the big networks broadcasting it, I was bombarded with Obama's speech to Congress. As I will later explain, I found myself so frustrated that I turned to the Wii and played a little World at War (which only heightened my frustration).

My frustration wasn't with Obama, but with the rest of the crowd there. Why is it that politicians can't give a speech in which most of the time involved is not used up by applause? I've gotta say, if I were President I would start my speeches by saying, "please hold your applause until the very end of my speech." Think about the time wasted by the constant pauses required to allow the annoying people to stand up and clap for 30 seconds every 15 seconds. Think how much more quickly they could get back to regularly scheduled programming if they weren't wasting all that time applauding. Think about how much more coherent the speeches would be without breaking up the speech constantly.

Oh and on a side note, how annoying were Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden last night? Pelosi was the instigator of so much of the annoying applause, and did you guys see Joe Biden do the wink and point. What was that all about? Anyway, those are my thoughts.

Maybe next time I will discuss my grievances with video games that trap you on a level and there is nothing you can do, no one to kill (you can't even kill your own guys) and nowhere to go.

Servus.

Hope? Pity party. Sorry, this is a rant.

2009-02-17T11:10:00.010-07:00

I know, I have received numerous complaints, some in person, and at least one on the blog. I promise this post has nothing to do with football, or about how much better the U is than the Y.

Ok, news flash... the economy is in the crapper. The Bush administration kind of screwed us over with the so-called stimulus. It didn't do anything except bail out companies that should not have been bailed out. Darwin was right in at least one respect. Businesses that can't survive should not survive. Let a new, smaller, more efficient company take over and start anew. Don't even get me started on the auto industry, oh, too late.

The American auto industry is just about worthless, so why did we just give them billions of dollars? To delay the inevitable collapse, of course. The first thing that needs to happen with the auto industry is move them from Michigan. Either move them to a non-union state or change Michigan into a non-union state. The UAW (along with most other unions) is the devil. All unions do is create job security for workers who no longer have motivation to do a good job. Wait haven't we seen this before, oh yeah, in the USSR, it is called communism and it failed. No surprise the auto industry, hampered by the UAW, is failing. See the Chinese form of communism seems to be working somewhat because those workers still have motivation. It isn't that if you do a good job you will be promoted and earn a good living, it is that if you don't do a good job you will be thrown into a prison for the rest of your life and be tortured. That can be great motivation.

The big three auto companies should be merged into one. Get rid of the bad apples and start with a new, more efficient company called American Motors. Think of the advertising dollars that could be saved just on the trucks alone. No other company truly competes with the big three on trucks (for about a year Honda tried to, but that appears to be over, and Toyota has a nitch in the market, but the vast majority of the market is tied up in Dodge, Ford and GM). If the new company took all of the good things from each of the trucks and created a new model, without any of the bad issues, there would be multi-millions saved each year in advertising costs alone. I know, there is the slight issue of a monopoly, but we can work around that. And the issue of jobs lost by those who now work for the big three? Give them a few months to prove they deserve a job. If they don't, fire them! That's the way it works in any non-union industry, and it is the American way, isnt it?

New topic. Any company that has received any amount of bailout should be unable to give anyone in the company a bonus for at least 5 years, or until the company pays the bailout back. Also, all executives should be limited in salary to no more than $1 Million annually. Since when does anyone deserve $700 Million in salary and bonuses. I don't care who you are or what you do, that is absolutely unreasonable, especially if you are then turning to the government and requesting money so you can buy a few new jets and take everyone to Vegas for a "retreat."

Hope??? I consider myself a conservative. I'll tell ya, I even voted for McCain. (On a side note, I didn't like either of the candidates.) But I came in to this administration with hope, isn't that what we are supposed to have with Obama in the White House. So why is it that the Democrats, now that they are securely in power, are doing the exact thing they accused Republicans of doing, fearmongering? Why is it that Obama insisted on passing this new stimulus bill that almost no economist, outside the administration, believes will be effective. Isn't that just adding debt to an already bad situation? Oh yeah, if it doesn't pass now, a catastrophe will occur. Isn't that exactly the type of language Democrats hated Republicans for using? I know they are all politicians and will say what they need to, but you didn't even wait one month into the new administration to start the fearmongering, the exact thing you despised in the late administration.

Now, for anyone still reading, we are all in a bad situation. The economy sucks. Jobs are scarce. Get over yourself thinking that everyone should pity you. Everyone's situation sucks right now, so quit being so selfish and assuming that your situation is so much worse than everyone else's.

For anyone still reading (i know I used that in the last bit, but I am using it again). This has been a stream of conscience post. Sorry for any ill-thought out ideas. Sorry for any grammatical errors. Sorry for wasting your time. These are just a few thoughts I had.

Servus

Where Are You?

2009-01-06T14:54:00.003-07:00

I know, I haven't posted in a long time and this is yet another football post. I am not going to discuss how Utah dismantled the supposed powerhouse Alabama team, I just have one question...what happened to all my extremely vocal BYU friends? I know at least a few of you were very vocal about how Utah was going to get killed by whoever they played, especially if it was an SEC team. Why so silent?

Hitler reacts to BYU's spanking at the hands of the Utes

2008-12-03T09:21:00.001-07:00

I thought this was pretty funny. Thanks to Cody for sending it. It is a little long, but pretty funny. Go Utes!

New Saying?

2008-11-24T10:10:00.010-07:00

Well, for the past two years I have had to put up with some really annoying sayings. First, "Harline is still open." Second, "It's fourth and eighteen, do you know where Austin Collie is?" or just "4th and 18." I have a question. What is the new saying? I was thinking maybe, "Hall back to pass...it's picked off! Again!"

I was talking with my brother-in-law, Daren about the game yesterday. I told him it was a good game all the way to the end of the third quarter, then it became a great game. I do have to admit, Utah has been outplayed for almost entire games throughout the season, only to come through at the end of the game. That was definitely not the case on Saturday. Utah outplayed BYU in every aspect of the game. Being plus 6 in turnover ratio tells the story of the night. The Utes manhandled the kitties to clinch a BCS bowl birth for the second time. And to top it off, assuming Utah doesn't drop in the next couple of weeks, Utah is still the only team to qualify under the old BCS rules, and this is the second time they will do it.

BYU fans, maybe next year you should get on Austin Collie's home teaching companion, and make sure they are magnifying their callings so that God will bless them to win the game.

Here are a few pics from the game.

Touchdown!

That looks like a facemask to me.

Johnson played the game of his career as he tore apart BYU's defense.

I told you he hadn't really seen a defense this year, before TCU.

Oooooo, cold! But Phoenix won't be!

Maxi-pad, don't cry!

Wow, roles were reversed this year. Isn't Austin supposed to be the one holding the ball?

How many BYU players does it take to stop the Utes offense? Don't know, but it is more than 11.

See picture above for caption.

What a b-ute-iful sight.

Go Utes!!!

2008-11-21T14:00:00.002-07:00

I am really kicking myself for not having ponied up the cash to get Muss tickets this year. I wish I was going to the game, but I will be cheering, probably much too loudly, from home. GO UTES!

Disneyland

2008-11-18T09:23:00.007-07:00

I know this is way late, but I wanted to get some pics up. From October 28 through November 2 we went to Disneyland. Amanda and I took Spence and some of my family came too. We traveled to Anaheim with Papa, and Spence threw up 3 times on the plane; once on mom, once on the floor and once on Papa, I was lucky.

Papa left us at the gate to the park on Tuesday and the three of us went in. There was no one there and we could have basically walked on to every ride. Too bad we couldn't leave Spence. Tuesday night Jenny and her family (Steve, Abby, Tyler and Makenna) came up from San Diego, and my mom, Mindy and Jessica flew in. Wednesday we all went in together. We had a lot of fun on the trip, but for now, I am Disneyed-out.

I am a Utah Man...

2008-11-07T15:14:00.006-07:00

but I have to admit, I went into last nights game thinking we would lose. I am sorry for being such a faithless fan, but thankfully our players were living their lives the way they should, so we were able to get the win.

I have been meaning to write this all day long, and I hope I remember all the things I wanted to say.

Last night the Utes showed, once again, that they can play an awful game, but as long as Louie and the Defense keep it somewhat close, Brian Johnson can put together a last-minute game-winning drive. The commentators were saying, as the Utes got the ball back for the final drive, that if you had to put the ball in anyone's hands, at this stage in the game, Brian Johnson was the person you wanted to have the ball. He proved it in the Oregon State game, and he proved it again last night. TCU played a great game, and I really feel bad for their kicker, but not bad enough to wish he had made either of those field goals. Our defense really kicked it into gear after that first quarter and won the game for us by continually giving our offense chance after chance to win the game. Anyway, it was a great game, a real nail-biter (and i have the bloody fingers to prove it) and if you missed it you missed one of the best games of the year in college football.

What I really wanted to talk about were two issues with the game last night. First, what the hell is up with a referee watching a player be knocked to the ground while the ball is in the air, and not calling pass interference? I don't see how that missed call was possible. I guess you could say that the ball was uncatchable, but how could you know that with the positions they were in. You can make that call when the ball is going out of bounds and you wouldn't be able to come down with it in bounds, but in the middle of the field and the receiver is dropped to the ground while in full sprint and the ball lands within 10 yards of him, you can't say he couldn't have caught that ball. Thankfully that and the next botched PI call were not game changing.

My real beef is with the moron at the MWC who has negotiated our television deals. I have cable, basic cable, but I get the Mountain, I get Versus, I get ESPN and ESPN2; but guess what channel I don't get...CBS College Sports. Oh, not to worry, you can watch the broadcast online, but wait, it cost $20 for the one game. Why the hell can't the MWC get a half-way decent TV deal. ESPN would have killed to show that game last night. Two top 15 teams battling it out to determine who still has a shot at going to a BCS bowl. Of course they would have chosen that over Maryland and VT. Thankfully Amanda's parents have satellite and I was able to go over there and watch the second half, but seriously, our TV situation sucks. Just wait, if the same guy is working our TV deals it won't be too long before BYU-Utah is not broadcast. I say fire that jackass and get us a deal that shows most of our games. That deal should include an automatic broadcast of any game in which two top 25 teams are playing, and make it a long term deal so we know what type of television broadcast to get (satellite or cable).

Anyway, sorry for the ranting. Please feel free to call me a moron if you think that is true. Go Utes!!!

President Obama

2008-11-05T15:44:00.005-07:00

So congratulations to President-Elect Obama. But, did anyone else notice how he is already trying to weasel out of responsibilty for actually changing things. First he said that change had arrived in America. I guess that's true, we elected the first black president, but he's almost as white as McCain, so that's not real change. I want to see real change, just like he has been promising for two years. But he went on to say that it might take a long time, it might even take more than one term (he's already campaigning for 2012). But, Mr. Obama, you have no excuses for not getting things done, your party dominates both houses of Congress. So, get things done.

On a side note, does anyone else think that it is sad that the two candidates for President were McCain and Obama; how disappointing. Are there no better people out there that want to be President of the United States? Hopefully in 2012 we will have a better candidate to run against Obama.

***I was told that this post makes me sound pissed about the Presidential election. I am not pissed at all. I truly hope that Obama can make the country a better place. Much like I thought with McCain, I don't think Obama will be a great President, but I hope that I am wrong. Just don't turn us into a socialist country (I have seen first hand what socialist medicine looks like) and don't give me excuses, you have a strong majority in Congress, get things done. Good luck. I would have totally redone the post, but I don't know if all of the comments would make sense, so I left it.

Re: Anonymous Comment on BYU/TCU Post

2008-11-03T09:48:00.005-07:00

Dear Anonymous BYU fan,

Thank you for telling me that my wife and I are the reason you hate U fans. You reinforced my hatred of BYU fans. The majority of you think that you are better than us, you are self-righteous pricks who think that because you got into BYU (assuming you did, which is very questionable) you are smarter than we, who chose to attend the U. It looks like Austin Collie must have been fasting and praying to pull out that game against Colorado State. I guess he hadn't done his home teaching before they played TCU. Here's hoping he doesn't pay his tithing before the U game, so that God won't reward him with a win because he is living his life the way God wants him to. Maybe I will fast and pray for a Utes victory so that Heavenly Father will bless us, because we all know He cares who wins the football game.

Right now all BYU fans are pissed and bitter because they lost, oh, sorry, they were completely demolished by TCU. The funny thing is, TCU needed only one thing to beat BYU, a defense. Bad news BYU, the Utes have a defense too. Our offense didn't look great against New Mexico, but as we have seen the past few weeks, BYU has no defense.

Anyway, thanks for commenting on my blog, I warmly welcome all comments, even if you are too much of a chicken to leave your name.

BCS Ranked

2008-10-23T09:26:00.002-06:00

I know, I should leave it alone, but Tyler sent this to me and I thought it was pretty funny. Special thanks to 1280 the zone for a funny song. Give it a listen.

http://1280thezone.com/images/uploads/audio/10-23-08%20p1%20jared%20ute%20parody.mp3

I know I shouldn't be happy, but...

2008-10-17T10:05:00.006-06:00

As a U fan, I know I shouldn't be happy about BYU's spanking at the hands of TCU, but I am having a really hard time getting this smile off of my face. Of course it would have been great to have the Y and the U both be undefeated on November 22. We would have had College Gameday back in town, there would have been huge implications for the game, not just the MWC title at stake, and it would have been a great game. However, the U has been receiving no love in the polls of late, and as a result we have no shot at making the National Championship Game, BYU had a shot, however slim.* As a result, the best the U can hope for is a trip to a BCS game (our second trip), at our current ranking and assuming we do go undefeated, we don't need BYU to be undefeated when we play them. As a result, I am absolutely ecstatic to see BYU's BCS dreams once again go down the crapper. Go Utes!!!

*As for whether a MWC team deserves to be in the National Championship Game I will reserve my tirade, but suffice it to say that as long as there is one undefeated from a real BCS conference (none of this ACC or Big East crap) and a one-loss SEC team, there is no justification for having a MWC team in the game. I don't know, but I might even think that a two loss SEC team would deserve it more, depending upon against whom those two losses were received. I'm not saying the in the future the MWC could not be justified in sending a team, but we need more seasons like this where we beat up on the BCS conferences. It needs to be consistent for us to be taken seriously.

Happy Birthday Spence!

2008-09-14T20:30:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday Spence,

Your mom and I are so happy we have you, and couldn't imagine our lives without you. This past year has been so much fun because you make us so happy. We couldn't ask for a better baby, and now you are turning into a great little kid. We love you so much and are so glad you are a part of our family.

Love,

Dad.

On Saturday we had a little bbq with family at Amanda's parent's house. It was a good time, and Spence really enjoyed the cake when he finally got it. He didn't care too much about opening presents, but he is now really happy about all of the new toys that he has. Thanks for everyone that was able to make it. Here are a few pics.

Back to the Real World

2008-09-02T14:54:00.006-06:00

Well last weekend I had a short trip to Ann Arbor to watch the Utah-Michigan game. It was a lot of fun. The fans were on the whole, very polite (unlike BYU fans) even when we had won the game.
Of course the Utes decided to give us all quite a scare by giving up the majority of their 15 point lead late in the game, but the defense stepped up and was able to hold the Wolverines to win the game. The Utes made a ton of stupid mistakes, predominantly mental errors resulting in penalties, so there is plenty to work on, but the season should be a good one. Anyway, here are a few of the pictures I took inside the Big House. Go Utes!!!

Going to the Big House

2008-08-28T14:21:00.006-06:00

I know it has been a really long time since I posted, but alas, I have been busy. Actually, the reason is, I haven't had much to post about. Anyway, tomorrow morning Amanda's dad is taking me and two of my brothers-in-law to Michigan for the Utah-Michigan game. Go Utes!!!

So when you are watching the game on Saturday, look for me. It should be easy to spot me because not too many people come to games at Michigan.

No Motivation

2008-07-10T14:46:00.002-06:00

So, I finished a big project I was working on for work. Now I have a couple of small projects that are "no rush" so I can't bring myself to work on them. I was told by one of the people I work for that I should get everything done today so that tomorrow we can have fun. As you may have heard, the state is going to four ten-hour days soon. Many people are already starting the process. As a result there won't be many people here tomorrow, so we will probably go do something fun. Probably see a movie, because that is easy. I wish I worked for a big firm and we could golf at the Country Club, but I'll take a paid movie too.

More pictures of the trip to Mexico will come, oh and we have pics of Spence's first swim on the Fourth. I'll try to get around to them soon.

Missing Mexico

2008-07-01T12:49:00.009-06:00

Well, for any of you who read any of Amanda's, Doug and Heather's, or Tyler's blogs you will know a bit about our trip already. I had planned on doing a post earlier, but alas, I have only just been able to take a little time. Anyway, Amanda and I went to Mexico with Doug and Heather, and Tyler and Jaime. Doug's dad is a partial owner of a house in Cabo and he allowed Doug to have the house for his week; Doug and Heather were kind enough to invite us (although this point is somewhat debatable).

We had an amazing time. The house is perfect for those of us who went. It has three bedrooms all with private bathrooms. The living area and kitchen are not huge, but plenty large for the number of people who can stay in the house. There is a pool and a patio, and it is just one house up from the beach, so that was a quick walk. The house has a new Ford Explorer, which has actually made me rethink my aversion to Ford. All in all it is a very nice house, but the best amenity can not be described. You can talk about it and try to describe how great it is, but until you experience it, you will never know. That amenity is (or those amenities are) Maria and Pascual. Maria is the cook and Pascual is her husband and the care-taker of the house. They are a very nice couple, who have a very good set up. Maria gets her ego stroked all the time and Pascual spends the day with his wife that he loves very much. Now my comment about Maria's ego is not to say that she is egotistical, it is a comment about how amazing her food is. There is never a meal that she prepares that is not profusely praised. Amanda's family eats at Tres Hombres thinking that it is good Mexican food (and I agreed before eating Maria's food). I told Amanda's parents that Maria's food makes eating Tres Hombres seem like eating at a Taco Bell that has been shut down for health code violations. But that still doesn't do her food justice.

Anyway, enough about Maria (although I could go on and on). We had a blast just hanging out by the pool, having my head slammed into the beach because I didn't quite jump over the large wave crashing on top of me, trying to barter with the locals, on a never-ending snorkel adventure, seeing what Costco is like when there aren't a million people in it, and many many more things. Here are some pictures, like Amanda's page, they are stolen from the others we went with. I will add more when I have internet access and time.