Making a blogging comeback...

WOW!! I thought I was bad before, but this is ridiculous! It has been 9mos since my last entry, and I figured I should update this although it's not read much. I promise if I ever get married, my "family" will be actively involved in the friend blogging sensation. So let me catch up anyone who might be bored enough to read this.
Over the summer was another fabulous beach trip to San Diego with fam and friends. The Bridges came again (I hope they are regulars from now on) and the Slades even showed up. Of course Hoop was there and our buddy Jared and his wife Candace came from Vegas. I also took a girl to the beach for the first time in 20 yrs of going! She and I were connected at the hip for pretty much all summer. Things appeared to be moving along nicely until a month ago. I decided after 5 mos of "hanging out" on a daily basis, we should be able call ourselves a couple or at least 'dating'. She is apparently still not over her EX and not ready for a serious relationship. So I was tired of walking, talking and acting like a couple if she couldn't put her heart in it too. Now I go once again into the wonderful world of singles dating...this shiz is getting WAY old!
In other news, work is wicked hard right now with the market in the crapper & everyone thinking we are headed for The Depression of '08-'09, but I'm hanging in there. The savvy investors are dumping money in & gonna be stupid rich 10 yrs from now, when this is all over! I also finalized my insurance licensing today, so anyone needing Life Ins, let me know.
My madre has a man-friend named Dave, whose pretty cool & they are kinda getting serious. The only thing that bugs me about him is the way he smacks his gum, but if that's all I can find wrong...that's pretty dang good. My sis April just had her second baby a while ago, boy number 2, named Graham.
That's pretty much the scoop for now. Headed to Vegas this weekend to compete in The World Series of Poker tournament, so wish me luck! It's a $20,000 buy in so I hope to at least make that much back. Poker at Quentin's house has taught me a lot over the last year, so we'll see how it goes. Yes it's a gamble but the winner gets 9million! And crap, the 10th place still gets like 750K.
- Life really is what you make of it. We can choose to be happy, or wallow in our self-pity. If life hands you lemons....trade them to someone else for oranges or apples or something else you really want. - ReT
Oh...and I was just playin about the poker. Lol.

Do I Push Your Buttons?......

Well, I just got back yesterday from a quick trip through Las Vegas and Utah. I'm between jobs right now and don't want to get hired on anywhere for only two weeks, so I used some of my tax return money and took a trip! I figured "why not go!? Do something spontaneous!" So I thought I'd either go to Texas (where the Sis, Bro-in-law & nephew live), San Jose, CA or Utah. Seeing that the first two are some 20 hrs away (and I'd be driving alone), I went with Utah. Besides, I figured that way I could do a little snowboarding, hang out with some friends, take out a way cute girl on a date (which didn't really pan out...) and enjoy colder weather (it is winter in the rest of the country you know). First, I rolled to Las Vegas for a night and stayed with some friends, while making my way north to Utah. They're a younger married couple who are always fun to be with. After a night of cards, steak and chatting I went up to UT.
I had a bunch of things planned while I was up there, but none of them really worked out... Nobody was available to go boarding, so I almost went alone, until I remembered that I try to do crazy things and could likely get hurt without any help around. Then that cute girl I mentioned got stuck out of town overnight, which canceled the fun group date A Lowe and I had planned. The next day (Sunday) I was going to drive to Milad, ID to go flying in a private plane (a friend from my mission is LOADED!) but the weather was too ugly. Monday, everyone went back to school and work so I decided to drive home.
Although a lot of my "plans" didn't work out, I still had a good time. I hung out with Aaron Lowe a lot, watched "Lost" for the first time ever, saw the movie Be Kind, Rewind (with Jack Black), and even managed to spend a few hours with the cute girl Sunday night. We chilled at her place and talked a lot. She says I like to push peoples buttons, and I analyzed that on my way home (I'll save that for another post...coming soon).
I did TONS of thinking this trip! About life, work, family, future, etc. I took two audio books with me; one by the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad and one called Think BIG and Kick Ass by Donald Trump. Both were good and got the brain juices flowing. All said and done, I'm glad I went. The thinking lead to a lot: I have a new idea for a book I'm going to write, decided that I wished the cute girl lived in AZ, figured out that American Idol is not for me, realized that I try too hard to do everything on my own, figured what my 3 wishes for a genie would be..., how to whistle using two fingers, figured out how to retire before 50, and that time travel really is possible with the curvature of the earth, space time continuum and one secret additional thing...
"Be a man of the sea.... not a man of the land. A man of the land simply follows the roads, but a man of the sea must chart his own course" -Ret

Just call me Hoover....cause I SUCK!!!!

Once again I have taken forever to update anything in this blog. A couple of people have mentioned they actually miss reading some of my colorful remarks, so I guess I'll start up again.
As some of you may have already read on Scotty's blog, I have been offered a position ad Edward Jones as a Financial Adviser. I am in the process of accepting, and I'm actually going to get fingerprinted as soon as I finish writing this entry. I quit my job about two weeks ago and have been riding out a severance deal, while waiting to hear back from EdJones. I've stayed busy (and sane....well as sane as I can) with other things: cut down a tree in Mom's backyard, fixed a quad, rebuilt a carburetor on a motorcycle, cleaned out my closet & dressers, cleaned out the fridge, was an MC at a huge charity event, DJ'ed a high school dance (I was looking for a wife, but no luck....j/k), etc... I just found out I can't start at Jones until March, so I'm going to be looking for a temp job this week. I was thinking 7/11, so I can have all the Slurpees I want... or maybe QT, where the fountain drink combos are virtually limitless... or maybe one of those guys that stands on the street corner twirling a sign around hoping people will stop at the business being promoted... or maybe I could work for Jamba Juice and stand on the corner wearing the big banana suit! Either way, I have a month to kill until I start at EdJones.
As for the rest of life, I doing fine. Still single and not dating that much anymore (and for those of you who assume, NO I don't have any make-out pals either). There's nobody around that I'm very interested in. I'm excited to start this new job, however I understand how difficult (and low paying) it is in the beginning. But, I know how rewarding it will be in the long run!!
I'll stop for now; Rachel F. once told me my blogs are WAY too long so that'll be it for now and maybe I'll post the rest tomorrow.
Shoot for the stars! That way if you come up short, you'll still land on the moon! - ReT

Below 100 degrees!!! Winter must be here!

So I have been way too neglagent with this blog! And as my friend Rachel has pointed out, its time for a new post. Sorry to get so behind, but I mostly blame langdon and heather! They always say they'll show me how to post pictures, attach friends, etc... but like most married couples do with us single shlubs...they blow me off until its someone's birthday and I have Rumikub! Nah...just kidding you guys know you're my favorite.
Anyway, I still havent found a perminant ward to go to yet, and I think some people are starting to get concerned. The old stake president has been calling and checking up on me, and every week my mom asks where I went to church. It's kinda nice being the guy that people can pin down. I go to a ward, make some random comments and then dont get seen for a few weeks...haha. No worries though, I know what I believe.
I'm going to leave it at that for now, but will have more to say (as always) a little later.

If you want something that you've never had before, you must something that you've never done before. If you always do the same thing, how can you expect a different result?...

"Time To Move On"

So I just got suggestively removed from my singles ward of almost five years. The new bishop called me in his office two weeks ago, and said some pretty...... shall we say.... interesting things. He basically said "I think you should leave this ward", without actually saying it. Things like: "I think you're too mature for this ward" (are you kidding!? I'm the immature goofball), and "it seems like maybe you don't belong here anymore", and "it might be time to move on." So the next week, from the pulpit, I told everyone that I was giving my last Sunday School lesson; and that was the end of my Horizon Ward life.
It has caused me to reflect on other things going on in life. Sometimes when we're most comfortable is when we need to change something. If we're not failing, we're not trying. And if we're not trying, we're not doing. And if we're not doing, then why are we exsisting? For me personally, I'm going to sack up a little bit and try more new things. We all have wants and desires that we keep to ourselves or even express to others: that house we want, that boat we want, that vacay we want to take, that girl we want (Hooper & I...... Ha, sometimes even the same girl!!), that new truck we want, etc... But what exactly are we doing to go get them?..... If we would put as much effort towards those things as we do thoughts, we would all have our every desire!
So when life tells you that its "time to move on", take that as an invitiation to find something new; maybe better. Your ward, your job, your ex, whatever. When one door closes, if you look hard enough, you'll probably find three more opening. So rather than saying "screw you! you rat bastard to that bishop, boss or ex;....say thanks....a-hole and keep a smile on your face!

Bouncing Around

Over the 4th of July, my family always goes to camp at the beach in South Carlsbad, CA. This year marked our 21st year doing it!! Of those 21 years, I have only missed 3 times, so you can see how serious we are about it. A few years ago, Langdon went with me a couple of times and I have been trying to get him back ever since! Finally, this year he and Heather made it out there for a few days! My roomates & buds Hooper & Brian both made it too. We had 16 people on our site, so it was packed, but that just means more fun!! One of these days I'll learn how to put photos on here & really have fun with it.

I also just got back from Midway, UT where we had a family reunion. I hate to telll everybody this, but I have the cutest nephew in the WORLD!! You can argue if you want, but once you see hime you'll agree! April & Andy did some good work!! We blessed him this weekend while we were all up there together. I better get back to work, and stop posting on the clock...

Isn't life interesting though...it takes so many twists and turns that we can't prepare for, but just have to roll with it. Family, careers, dating life (well for me anyway) and friends can all produce different challenges that we must face with. It's then up to us to see how we handle them, and either succeed or fail. Blessed are the flexible...for they will never get bent out of shape.

Don't hate me because I blog...

So Ryan Hooper has already begun making fun of me for starting this blog. So, here I can throw him under the bus without worry of him saying anything back. And just so the rest of you know... he's making fun of all the rest of you too!

As for me, I can't stand my ward. Sitting there today, I realized just how much I dislike being there. Why is it that so many Mormons aspire to be "someone" in the church? We have Bishop who had been campaigning for the calling for years. He has one of the tallest soap-boxes I've ever seen. Today he stands and comments that he has born testimony every fast-sunday since he was called five months ago. And they always last at least ten minutes. He loves to hear himself talk. So lets all make sure we remember that we go to church to learn, and become better; not to be seen and heard. We should tell others how great they are, not tell them how great you are.