Jurassic World

I saw Jurassic World on Saturday.   I just felt I had to write about it.  This isn't really a review, because how could I possibly write something objectively about a movie with dinosaurs, and also Star Lord^* leading a pack of velociraptors.

Let me repeat those two things in all caps so that you can really grasp them.  DINOSAURS! STAR LORD LEADING A PACK OF VELOCIRAPTORS!

If that all caps business didn't make you say, "I will not close my eyes to sleep until I have seen this movie," then you are clearly dead inside and nothing can be done for you.

So since we know this movie is fabulous due to the all caps reasons stated above, I won't bother reviewing it, but I just had to share some random thoughts about it.

1. I thought the movie was super cool.  I'll admit that I would have thought it was super cool if it was just footage of those 2 kids wearing a GoPro around the park and showing what they see.  I would watch 12 hours of that, including the parts where they stand in line, because DINOSAURS!

2. Also, can we all just agree that if a park ever opens with live dinosaurs that I am clearly going?  Look, I totally understand that people seem to die regularly in those kinds of parks.  I get it.  But I think it's worth the risk.  When those 2 kids were in that little bubble ball driving through dinosaurs, the only thing I wanted in my life was to be them at that moment.

Look how happy we were being chased by a fake tyrannosaurus.  Imagine our joy if it were real.

4. Can we also agree that if we have a park filled with 20,000 people and a dinosaur breaks out of its pen, the solution is not to release more dinosaurs and get them to fight?  I'm not disputing the coolness of watching them fight.  That is what is known as epic.  I just think they could have had better plans such as sending all of their asset control people with lethal weapons so that they didn't all die in the first 30 minutes.

5. I'd like to thank Henry Wu for fixing a concern I've had with every Jurassic Park movie.  He said, "If any of these dinosaurs had pure DNA, they’d look a lot different."  I know they talked in previous movies about using DNA from modern animals to fill in the genetic code.  However, this statement made me realize that these animals are a product being sold to customers, so they are specifically made to look a certain way.  I am no longer offended that velociraptors are too big and they lack feathers.  Well played, Dr. Wu. Well played.

6. Oh, another thing we all need to agree on:  the coolest thing that man can achieve is to be the alpha in a pack of raptors.  This coolness reaches its apex when riding a motorcycle among the pack while on a hunt.

7. Indominus Rex was super cool, but I kind of agree with Star Lord when he said, "They're dinosaurs.  Wow enough!"  His point was that there is no need to genetically engineer the dinosaurs to make them more cool.  They're already pretty dang cool.  I think it would have been super cool if this movie just showed us some new species of real dinosaurs that have been discovered since the last movie was made.  There is plenty of super cool stuff in the real world without making up fictional dinosaurs.

That's all the random thoughts in my brain right now.  If you haven't seen this movie you need to, because DINOSAURS!





^* Some of you may be offended that I refer to him as Star Lord, even though his given name is Chris Pratt.  However, if you watch the biographical documentary titled, "Guardians of the Galaxy", you'll see that his preferred name is Star Lord, so I choose to honor that wish.

Donut Falls

As you know, (or at least should know) I recently had a birthday and turned very old.

My BFF Jared W generally doesn't get me a gift for my birthday.  Instead, he usually gives me an adventure.  We had planned on a longer hike to Lake Blanche but he wasn't feeling super well so we did a little bit shorter hike to Donut Falls.  I'm super glad we did!

I had only been to Donut Falls once before, and we had done a night hike so I couldn't experience the full coolness of the falls.

The thing about this particular waterfall is that to really experience the coolness of it, you need some light and you have to be willing to get a little wet and cold.

The hiking part of it is only about 3/4 of a mile each way, but to get to where it's really awesome you have to do another couple hundred feet of climbing through the river.

Jared striking a pose in the water

Just clambering up some rocks.

When you get up there, you can see that the waterfall is pouring through a whole in the rock that looks like a donut.  (Hence the name.)

Sometimes it's important to look precious in front of the donut.

However, the really cool part is that you can crawl inside the donut and see it from the inside.  However, doing so requires wading through 1-2 feet of pretty cold water.  It's way worth it, though.

Jared and Breanna were way precious next to the entrance of the donut.

After stepping inside, Breanna realized it was way too cold for her, so she fled back down the river to where Robyn was waiting (she realized it was way too cold for her before we even began climbing through the river.)

The donut from the inside

The donut being eclipsed by my preciousness.

With no womenfolk, Jared and I had to be the cutest couple in front of the falls.

But lest you think the womenfolk weren't having good time while we were getting really cold and wet, there are selfies to prove of the good times they were having.

Look at all that gladness.  (This picture also shows how many people were climbing up to the waterfall at the top.)

Ever since doing this hike at night, I had added "See donut falls during the day" to my bucket list.  So I got to cross off another item.  It was a great adventure.  Thanks be unto Jared W for a fabulous time!

Oh, and since Robyn was underrepresented in some of the pictures, here is a picture of her on the hike up standing in a meadow filled with preciousness.

Birthday Festivities 2015

My birthday was last week.  I turned old.  That's a lie.  I was already old.  I turned 34 which is definitely a new level of old.  It's over 3% older than 33, so that number right there tells you I'm pretty old.

We didn't do a lot of celebrating on the actual day of my birthday.  (Robyn did take me out to dinner that night, though.)  Much like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, I celebrate my birthday the Monday before the actual day.  Most people call this day Memorial Day.  I call it, "My birthday observed."

On My birthday observed, Robyn told me to wake her up 30 minutes before I want to eat breakfast.  I actually thought that meant that it would take her 30 minutes to do her hair and other such womanly activities.  What it actually meant was that it took 30 minutes to drive there.  She took me to The Original Pancake House in Draper.  I the most delicious breakfast burrito known to man, as well as some fantastic pancakes.

Before I tell you the next activity Robyn had planned for me, I should tell you that Robyn takes her students on all sorts of field trips, and I always tell her that I'm jealous and I want to go on a field trip.

So she took me on a field trip to the Living Planet Aquarium.

Field trips are so great!

We took selfies with sharks

I got to touch a ray.  (I've done it before, but it's super cool so clearly I did it again.)

I took a selfie with the arapaima.  (If you don't know what an arapaima is, you need to watch River Monsters.  It's the only fish that really scares Jeremy Wade.)

We had selfies with penguins.

I even got to pose with the napping otters.  (Incidentally, a little kid 3 or 4 years old was put in this same spot by his dad.  When he saw the otters, a look of pure terror came over his face.  It was precious.)

There were also important things that happened that weren't captured in selfies.  (I know.  You wish there were more selfies in this post.)  The first is that when I saw the octopus, I got up really close to his little tank and whispered, "Cthulhu fhtagn".  Doesn't that just seem like something an octopus would want to hear?

The second was when we watched the guy swimming into a giant tank filled with sharks and rays.  He had food with him to feed the rays.  The rays would come up and eat out of his hand.  The sharks knew he had food so they kept swimming up and trying to get it from him.  He would just grab them and push them away.  I kept thinking, "That guy is totally fighting off hungry sharks.  Best job ever!"

I hear you have to have a degree in marine biology to be the guy that fights off sharks.  I guess I'll just have to stick with my computer programming job.

The Final Ingredient

I'm so totally ready to be a real backpacker.

As you know, Robyn and I have been getting more into backpacking in the past year or so.  As you may not know, we have been slowly acquiring supplies to become legit.

We had already acquired things like backpacks, a tent, a sleeping pad, a backpacking stove, etc.  There was one item on the list that I had yet to acquire.  I had not yet purchased a sleeping bag.

I should be clear, I own a sleeping bag that I acquired as a teenager.  It is plenty warm, but it is large and bulky.  It would basically take up the entire space available in my backpack.  What I needed to acquire was a sleeping bag designed for backpacking.

This past weekend, my BFF Jared W let me know that Liberty Mountain was having their big sale.  This was the time to make the big purchase.

We went in and selected one that seemed like it would be warm enough and big enough.  Naturally, I had to try out how well I could sleep in it.

Good thing the store has a cot for just this purpose.

Aren't I precious?  In a real camping situation, I won't have a price tag attached to my face.

If you can't tell by how precious it made me look, I'll just let you know that that sleeping bag and I were meant for each other.  Naturally, I made the purchase.  So now I have everything I need to be a real backpacker, and I don't need to borrow anything from Jared W.  (That doesn't mean I won't need to continue to acquire cooler stuff, let's not get crazy.)

Now that I have everything I need, it's time to plan a trip!

Robyn and I are thinking about doing a 3 day backpacking trip in Oregon this summer.  I'm a little intimidated, but it's supposed to be super beautiful.  Do you think I can handle it?

Does this look like a guy who can hike 25 miles through a rainforest with a backpack on his back?

The British Date

My wife is an epic date planner.  Last week she told me that she was planning the most creative date she's come up with yet.  I didn't know what it was, but when I got home from work, I discovered this precious little note on the door from the garage to the house.

You are cordially invited for tea to celebrate DATE NIGHT!  April 24, 2015 6:30 PM At home!

The first thing I saw was the plane ticket.  At first, I thought it was real.  But, I couldn't fathom that she had booked us a trip to London without even talking to me about it.  Then I read the note and realized it was a very cleverly created fake.  (Seen closer below.)

How cool is that?  A plane ticket that to a London themed date night.  That's as good as the real thing.  (Almost.)

Here is Robyn showing off her brilliant fake plane ticket.

The date was really fun.  Robyn had the Beatles playing in the background, and we started out with having a tea party.

Look how fancy.

Robyn bought her fancy tea set at a flea market when we were in Germany.  I've been bugging her for five years to invite me to a tea party.  It finally happened!

After experiencing my first tea party, I have to admit that herbal tea is not my favorite thing in the world.  But I loved all the appetizers that came with it.  Cucumber sandwiches are one of the greatest creations of man.

As I said, the tea party was full of appetizers.  That means there was still a real meal in the works.  It should be noted that the English are not really known for their great food.  However, fish and chips is still pretty good, even if it's not as amazing as the food found in other parts of Europe.

Not quite as fancy but still delicious.

After consuming our delicious fish and chips, it was time to watch a British themed movie.  We watched The Theory of Everything.  Stephen Hawking is cool.  And he's British!  So it totally fit the theme.

Isn't my wife such a good little date planner?  Of course, my turn came next.  We watched The Avengers for my date.  It wasn't as creative, but it included the Hulk, so it was pretty great.  However, even with Iron Man, I think Robyn wins this one.

Tim Cook Hates Me

The day was April 10th.  It was a long awaited day in the tech universe.  Rumors had been flying for over a year that Apple had been working on a new gadget.  Those rumors had been confirmed for over half of that year.  The day had finally come that the mythical device would actually be on sale.

Robyn was out of town visiting family, but she had told me which of the Apple Watch models she wanted me to order for her.

For past devices, I have tried different strategies for making the purchase on opening day.  Only once have I actually stayed up until midnight to be the first to purchase a device.  It was for the iPhone 5, and it was a nightmare.  The website didn't work.  I couldn't get on to order it.  It took me around 3 hours to finally get in and make my order.  By the time I had done that, the device was already back ordered and the whole exercise of staying up late was pointless.

I did not want to do that again.

So I got up at 6:30 AM, and ordered 2 watches.  I ordered the white one for Robyn, and a black one for myself.  It said they would both ship in June.

Sadness filled my soul.

Fast forward to this past week.  April 24th (last Friday) was the official opening day of the Apple Watch.  I figured the day would come and go with no changes for me, because mine was back ordered until June.

But then I noticed that they charged my credit card.  However, they only charged it for the price of one watch.  I logged on to my account online.  Both watches still said they would ship in June.  However, Robyn's white watch said it was "preparing for shipment."  What does that even mean?

Were they planning to prepare shipment for a whole month? It made no sense.

They sent me an email saying that they were shipping it and it would arrive Monday.

However, Friday morning came and I got another email saying that Robyn's watch was out for delivery!  Miracle of miracles, it was coming opening day!

I filled out the form that allows them to drop off the watch without a signature, and told them to deliver it to the back door.  I didn't tell Robyn it was coming, until I got home.  I just told her she should look out the back door.  I filmed her reaction for your enjoyment.

From June to April 27th, to April 24th.  It seems that Apple likes to deliver disappointment followed by pure excitement by giving it to us when they promised everyone they could get it.

She opened it up, put it on and booted it up for the first time.

Isn't it pretty?

Since then she has demoed lots of neat features like activity tracking, remote control of her music and camera and many other features.  She has let me play with it, but it's just not the same when it's not my own little toy.

Apparently black is the most popular color for the watch and it's still very much back ordered.  This is what Apple says now about the delivery time.

There's really only one possible explanation for Robyn's watch being here already, and mine still waiting until the end of May or the beginning of June.

Tim Cook hates me.