Birfffffday

I know what everyone is thinking...how is this guy 28 years old? I look barely 20 in this photo!

We were at the theater close to an hour before and we were only able to get the back row. We did get a lot of comments about our shirts though!
This was right before we got drenched in the sudden downpour while golfing.

Here are some photos from the big day yesterday. It was a lot of fun which included donuts for breakfast in bed, getting dumped on during golf, Cheesecake Factory and of course a midnight showing of Batman.

Lab Rats

So earlier tonight Jenny treated me to a night at the lab. She has told me for months how she performs surgeries on rats as part of her PhD studies. I told her that I wanted to see this first hand to see what it is that she does all day. So I met her outside the Basic Science building at G-town and she took me to her lair. We went downstairs to pick up our rat that she ordered weeks ago. He was buck white and too innocent to be taken to the grave later that night. So Jenny injected him with some some anesthetics to put him down. There he lay flat on the tray as I picked up the scissors and tweezers...and the gouger! See below.

I then made the cut on his underside and cut him open, making the incision about two and a half inches. It was at this point that I got light-headed and not thinking straight. I then blacked out and hit my head on the granite table. I was quickly recessitated and back in action to perform the surgery. Okay maybe not...I didnt even step back. Then I made a tranversal cut and peeled back the skin to see his inards. I then cut through the tissue to see all his organs. I about choked on my own throw up but swallowed it quickly. All this time, he is still alive, just sedated by the sweet juices. I was promised he was not feeling any of this...hmm. He started to twitch as I made some cuts. It reminded me of the time I killed a rat while in the Phili's but this was a little different. Jenny then proceeded to explain to me all the organs and what not. Later she removed the heart and placed it on the tray as it literally continued to beat, unattached, for a good five minutes. She then removed the brain and showed me that, including how the brain works. After a bit, we dropped him in a bag to be disposed of and we were out!

All in all, it was quite fascinating learning about all the organs and performing surgery on a little rodent. Maybe, there will be a second time!

Out West

So a few weeks ago, I went home to Utah for a week to spend some time with the fam and see some friends.

Here are some photos from the weekend that included lots of hiking, beating all my buddies in golf, tons of donuts, tennis, Hangtime, goldfish throwing, storytime, Nielsen's concretes and just plain kickin it. The sure highlight was seeing four grizzly bears while waking up at five in the morning to see some grizzlies. It was money int he cash bank. Dad, you taught me well after all those years of waking up and going to the EconoMart in West for Hostess donuts and chocolate mile on our way into the park to look for grizzlies.

Sorry for the lack of text in this post but I had to rid my blog of the Duck Beach. (That's for you Amanda!)

DUCK BEACH

DUCK BEACH 08!

So this last weekend was the annual Duck Beach extravaganza. This was my second time going down to check out the scene. The first time I went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, I thought it was money. I drove down strictly for the reason so I could take my truck on the 4 wheel drive beaches...otherwise known as the Dunes. Let me just tell you that it was money...I'm talking 401k style. The weekend had a lot of good highlights but mainly just being a beach bum for four days. The weather was great and the beaches were even better. Here are a few of the photos from the weekend. For some better accounts check out my peeps Rachel and Destiny for their take on the weekend.

Beach football...count it!There was some serious Rock Band had

Baked potato line

Party at our house that broken up by the cops at 11:30

Colton getting stuck outside and trying to get him out
Cruisin up on the Dunes and seeing the wild horses

Chillin on the Dunes!

Marathon Saturday

So this last Saturday, my friend and I Michelle woke up at the crack...literally before the crack of dawn to go downtown to shoot some sunrise shots. This all sounded like a good idea but when you stay up to watch the Jazz beat the Rockets when the game starts at 10:45 and ends after 1:00, the 4:50 alarm comes a little quick. I zipped downtown and got there about 5:30...yeah I was tired. We took some shots up by Iwo Jima and then went down to the Lincoln. After that we zipped over to Union Station to finish up our shooting. Union Station was a little tricky but still fun. Anyway, Michelle thought it was funny that I was having a hard time closing one eye while focusing the camera. I'm still working on closing one eye but for the time being, I had to do what I had to to get it done. I'd do it again if I had to. This is all an effort to get me closer to buying my own Canon 40d which I hope will be shortly because when I go out, I want to be able to use my own weapon andn become more and more familiar with it! All in all, it was way fun and can't wait to go out again! Oh, and by the way, I shot with a Nikon...I'm not a fan.

After shooting, I had intentions to play golf but it didn't work out but I was still able to squeeze in two different tennis matches sandwiched with an epic ping pong battle that lasted over an hour. Then topped off with a Chipotle burritto...yeah life was good!