One time, I climbed a mountain

Apparently I am on a retro kick with my posts...

Back in 2006, when I was in my prime, I climbed to the top of Mount Whitney. For all you non-hikers (like myself) Mount Whitney is the highest peak in the lower 48 states (I like to say 49 because Hawaii doesn't have anything higher than Mount Whitney either).

I just recently discovered these pictures in my iPhoto albums. Please enjoy them.

Made it to the trail crest. Very excited.

This picture could honestly not have been timed more perfectly. In the back, you see someone crouched down. That is Luke. He got altitude sickness on the top of the mountain (yes, it was really that high). He is literally throwing up at the very moment this photo was taken.

At the summit you get to sign your name. If you click on this image and enlarge you can see what I wrote, for those of you who are lazy, you don't get to know.

This is one of my favorites because you can see my true body shape at the time. (Also, if I can hike this mountain, seriously, anyone can. Don't underestimate yourself)

This is about 4 miles from the finish of the hike. I look happy right?

I Used to Be Fat...Really Fat.

About 10 Years ago, I took a picture that has become famous among my friends, and it's a picture that I still use every day of my life. My driver's license. Majority of people who see it don't believe it is me, but, I promise you that this is a picture of me: 

Now, while this may be a funny photo of me, I have a few others I have been able to round up, and in no particular order, pictures of me when I was fat: 

This is my first day of 7th grade, September 4, 2001 school uniforms and all. A sight for sore eyes if you ask me: 

This picture is one of me at In-n-Out, we have not yet been able to pinpoint the timing of this photo but my guess is I was about 16 so this would have been about 2004. 

This one is me and my brother on a family vacation in Park City, Utah. I really don't even have a guess for a year, but I am thinking I was about 13 or 14. (I am on the right if you couldn't tell, but notice also my brother's awesome hairstyle)

Christmas Break in California

For the first time in 5 years I was able to spend Christmas in California. Here are some photos highlighting my trip.

My good friend Adrian and I took his little brother out to Balboa Island for ice cream.

 This is Xavier, Adrian's little brother.

Ooops....School Started

     A long time ago I promised myself I would regularly post on my blog. As you can clearly see from this post, I have failed at that. Life is great. School has started back up and the adventure has already begun. I am in my senior year at BYU and am excited to graduate, but for some reason, my desire to be a teacher keeps coming back. I began looking into the process and have found that it is possible for me to get my teaching certificate after I graduate. I have a meeting with the media and technology department tomorrow to talk about the requirements and I am extremely excited.
     I did end up purchasing my bike, and I love it. I ride as often as I can and have already had to replace a pedal because I ride so hard. Just kidding, but I did replace the pedal. I hit it on a rock after falling over on a mountainside. Not as cool as it could have been.
     I have new roommates, Matthew, Jacob and Greg. They are all fantastic. I moved into a new apartment which also means a new ward. This was a good thing for me, I needed a change of pace. The new ward is extremely active and social. I love being around the people in the ward.
     Life is good, and positive things are happening.

Selling My DVDs to Buy a New Bike...

Hey followers, I am purging all my DVDs. I want to be more active so why not sell off what keeps me inactive and buy something to make me more active! If you are interested, check out the list below, they are all between $2-$5, so not too expensive at all. Check out the cool bike I want to buy too...it's called the Raleigh Talus 3.0.  (click on the image of the movie list and it will enlarge)

In the last 28 hours...

I am unbelievably tired right now. This morning I woke up at about 7:30 to drive to Salt Lake to work an event out in West Valley followed by another one in Salt Lake, then I had to drive down to South Jordan to work an event at the Real Salt Lake soccer game. I was there until about 7 pm, drove back to Salt Lake to drop off the work vehicle, picked up my car and drove home. I got home and sat on my couch until I arrived at my second job at midnight. I now sit at work, 6 hours into my 12 hour shift, blogging in order to stay awake. I may or may not need to take it easy on working. When this shift finishes I will have worked 24 hours in the last 28 hours. I am tired!

For the love of Apple

     There aren't many products on the market that will draw a cult following, but one company has gathered a cult following for nearly everything they create.
     Apple Inc. has been able to grasp consumers with their cutting edge design, integrated products and easy to use interfaces for years, but it wasn't always like that.
     The first line of Macintosh Computers was launched January 24, 1984 and some may even be familiar with the tagline made famous by Apple Inc. in their commercial, stating that 'you'll see why 1984 wont be like "1984."'
     According to Ken Polsson, in his book titled, "Chronology of Apple Computer Personal Computers," the Macintosh line of computers launched by Apple Inc. were the first line of personal computers to use a mouse and a graphical user interface, stepping away from the previously used command-line interface.
     For some time, the computers were extremely popular, until the early 1990s when consumer demand changed to the Wintel platform, or what many people know today as MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows.
     After a few years, Apple Inc. changed the game, and created the iMac, or the all-in-one desktop that consumers loved, and profits for Apple Inc. skyrocketed.
     But what exactly is it that creates the cult following the Apple Inc. has developed for its products?
     Brett Bird, a senior from Spokane, Wash., studying Film, and an avid Mac user, said Apple challenges you to think differently.
     "Apple has shrouded their product releases in secrecy, while most companies are very public with their releases," Bird said. The aesthetics of their designs and the principles they use in engineering are completely unique. While PC's are basically a collaboration of the cheapest components, Apple has basically engineered the entire experience from purchase to recycling."
     Bird continued to say that it was Apple's rock-solid performance and aesthetic design that drove him to "convert" to becoming an Apple user in 2003, and he hasn't looked back since.
     But the feelings aren't the same across the board.
     Adrian Grow, a senior from Newport Beach, Calif. studying psychology uses a PC for his school work and psychological research.
     "Certain programs don't exist for Mac's, you have to have a PC if you work in a certain field or occupation," Grow said. "Macs cant do everything, they are limited and they aren't for everyone."
     In a recent BBC documentary, "superbrands" like Apple Inc. and Google Inc. were studied and researched to find out why these brands have such a huge following.
     An article written by Emil Protalinski on techspot.com said Apple imagery has the same reaction in a consumer's brain as a picture of their own religious deity might have.
     "UK neuroscientists have found that Apple imagery activates the same parts of the brain in Apple fanboys that religious imagery does in followers of that religion," Protalinski said. "In heated arguments on the Internet, some users sometimes say that Apple is like a cult, and it seems there might be at least some truth to that."
     According to the article by Protalinski, the phenomenon of a religious response to a brand or product has only been confirmed for the Apple Inc. brand.
     But still, the questions exists, why is this happening.
     In the LDS Church, we have a spokesperson; the prophet,  counsel; the Ensign and other various forms of church media and new information that comes out; generally every six months at General Conference.
     For Apple Inc., they too have a spokesperson; Steve Jobs, counsel; the instruction booklets with their products and new information that comes out; generally every six months at the World Wide Developers Conference.
     Certainly, this does not insinuate that Apple Inc. is following the pattern of the LDS Church but at the same time, the structure of the "brand" is the same.
     The announcement of a new product may create that same stir as something an LDS Church member looks forward to hearing at general conference.
     In no way does this trivialize religion, but Apple Inc. may have been intrigued by religion and how they have achieved so many followers in something so many have never physically seen.
     When Steve Jobs announces that something new is on the horizon, technology junkies' ears perk up, just like those of members of any given religion perk up when their spiritual leaders speak.
     It may not be a spiritual enlightenment, but something is certainly happening in the minds of Apple consumers.