More Seattle Stuff

Okay, so I finally found the card that had my pictures from our Seattle trip on them, so here are a few more. Something funny I need to add, is that I have more animal pictures from that trip than I have of Jakob and I or Jakob and his family. I really like animals I guess. Either that or it's easier to get them to be in front of the camera. Yes, there are a few pictures of me in here too. I'm not that illusive. . . . . . . . . .or am I. hmmmmmmmm





View from the Space Needle

A silhouette of us and the space needle. It was too sunny out for anything other than something like this, but I think it turned out kind of fun.

Water falls! I love them!

More riverside pictures. I'll spare you all the scenery pictures I took. Maybe another time I'll post a few. I really like taking pictures of nature.

And riverbanks are beautiful.


Funny little idea a friend told me to do if I ever took a picture in front of a waterfall.

This is a stump driftwood that was on the edge of the river. I took a couple of scenery shots and Jakob asked me to sit on it. It turned out pretty good. (and i don't photograph well)

Pikes Market!! I could have stayed there all day looking at all the different shops.


I was happy after we went to the zoo and I got to see the tiger. Yay!

We went to the Museum of Glass. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, but this was a fun sculpture on the outside of the building.

Wilderness trek. Jakob wanted a picture of the two of us.


Really cool tree growing out of a old stump.


More riverbank. Pretty huh?

Whats been happening . . . .

I've been such a slacker when it comes to updating the blog, but I have a semi-good reason. They block blogspot at work, so I end up typing what I'm going to say into google docs and then I don't have a reliable internet at home, so I never know when I can actually update everything. So, this may turn out to be a long post. But I'm hoping to break it up with some pictures!

Life has been interesting lately, but when is it every boring. Jakob just finished with his show. He was great as the 80 year old Shallow in Merry Wives of Windsor. I'm making a portfolio reel for him with that part. He was just too funny. If anyone could hold attention on stage, it was Jakob. Not to be critical about the casting, but now that the show is over . . . I didn't agree with a lot of it. There were too many that didn't hold my attention as the character because they didn't change anything. From the minute they stepped on stage, it was almost as if their character was a flat as some of the scenery. Their face didn't change and the voice rarely had any inflection. They just weren't fun to watch. There there were the other people who made you watch them because of the way they carried themselves or the way that their face and voice changed to meet the scene. I know that it is a form of "community theatre" so you have to use what they give, but with BYU being right here, I can't believe that they can't find any other people (better actors) to fill the roles. No, I don't think I'm being biasis because Jakob and a few friends were in the show. I'm looking at this as a theatre goer and giving my honest opinion. Yes, even Jakob at times had to overdo it to make up for the lack on stage. There were times that I found myself looking at what was going on behind the main characters because two of them couldn't hold my attention. It just wasn't easy to watch. Their lines seemed forced and there wasn't any flow to their lines or character. But I filmed it and took some pictures, along with a few othe people who took pictures. I'm thinking theirs turned out better because my camera was giving me a hissy fit! Grrrr, sometimes I wish I would grab my film camera instead of my digital one.

Here are some quick pictures of Jakob. I'll post more of the entire cast later.

Funny old man, huh? ;)

I've been making musketeer costume mock-ups. They have certainly been entertaining. I'm using a stretch velvet and as much as I love the look it gives off, I HATE sewing it. Luckly my newspaper trick works and it isn't too much of a pain and these are the times that I absolutely adore my serger! Now, all I have to do is save up for a embrodiery machine and I'm set. The boys have been enjoying the finished product though. As soon as I get some pictures with Jakob or Adam wearing it, I'll post them. I do know that I'm going to try a version with a bit longer sleeve. I like the way the shorter sleeve that I drafted looks, but I want to see how the longer sleeve will effect the whole look. And I still haven't decided if I'm going to put the signia on the sleeves (I need to redraft it because I don't like how it came out. This is where an embrodiery machine would come in handy).

Work has been moving along. I'm starting to fall into a routine (which I hate) but at least I have time to read or write or just do what I want at work. As long as the computer carts are delivered on time, the network is up and running, and I don't have to be in a classroom, I'm allowed to do what I want to do. Oh, and if anyone is looking for a job like mine, I think there are a few openings coming soon in the provo school district. You just need to have a knowledge of computers and computer programs plus a bit of networking and you have to be able to function in a classroom setting.

We're thinking about moving, well I guess it's more like me thinking about moving because the apartment that we're living in right now is falling apart and we don't have enough income right now to afford a home. The land lady is nice and finally fixed the roof, but the plaster and paint on the ceiling is beginning to fall off--in chunks! So, I've been looking around at apartments in the Provo/Orem/Lindon area and is it just me or are the majority of the apartments small and overly priced for the sq footage and the state of some of the apartments are appalling. Eh, I'm thinking that we may be where we are for the next 6 months or so until the income actually starts stabilizing and we can jump on the housing market. But who knows, maybe by then the market will have jumped and we'll have to stay with that apartment. Eh, at least I'm looking around.

I was able to see parts of World of Dance this weekend. Well done Thomas! I really miss doing all that stuff. I was happy for a few of my friends who I saw up there, but I was angry and disappointed at a few other things and then I just became depressed when it dawned on me (once again) that I will probably never do that again unless I started my own studio. I've been wanting to get back into the clogging arena for a while now and it seems that most of the teams within the area either aren't taking new people or I don't hear back from them, or I would be put onto an "adult" team and I don't know how much I like that title because if the "adult" team is anything like when I was competing, I don't know if I want to do that. . . . those were the teams that were difficult to watch. Eh, I'll keep trying around. Maybe I can hook up with someone and get a duet or something going.

But, I'm just happy that it rained today.

Stupid meetings. . . . .

WARNING: I'M GOING TO GRIPE

I know that meetings are sometimes necessary and when you go into a new job they think that you don't know what is going on, but recently I've had to sit through some really annoying meetings. I have a secondary technology teaching license . . . I'm pretty sure that I know how to use most programs that are available through school district, I shouldn't have to sit through annoying useless meetings. Okay, let me give you an example: I went to my meeting today and was fairly open minded because they were (supposed) to talk about YPP and I haven't had too much exposure to that. He talked for 20 minutes about how to use a mac and what computers are available in the schools and then he started complaining about how some teachers have asked to use open office instead of switching to another word processing program. Well, open office is free it works closely like word and the office suite. But it is free. Eh, I guess they need to do what they think is correct. Then after I asked about what was really on the agenda, he got huffy. Luckily enough the board went out at that time and he spent the next 5 minutes trying to get it to work again. We all could see what he needed to do to get the board working again, but we kept our mouths shut and let him grumble until he finally got it up and running. For about 10 minutes he actually had something worth listening to because he talked about server access and the registration codes for each of the schools. Then it was back to showing up how to use the mac. Needless to say . . . I took a nap.

Eh. I just hate meetings . . . especially when they are meaningless for me.

Alternate Blog to read. . . because it's worth it

I'm having fun on a different Blog I had to create for a class I'm taking. Check it out:

http://jakobticeedpsych.blogspot.com/

Stuff

Normally I'm not a very big football watcher. Depends on the teams playing. Since I married into a football watching family, it's been kind of interesting. Jakob is pretty adamant about watching BYU football, so last saturday we went over to my parents to watch the BYU vs Washington game. I almost feel asleep watching it. I had to start snacking in order to stay awake (there went my diet). But for the first couple quarters, the game was fun to watch and even funnier to listen to Jakob watching it. Oh, don't get me wrong, I had my moments there too, but mostly I was complaining about how the referees were treating the BYU team. I don't believe that the refs couldn't see any of the holding that was going on with Washington. When it comes to that ending few seconds, I still think that they finally got it right, at least when it comes to the call against Washington. Throwing the ball up and over your head is the same thing as throwing the ball to the ground. It should be called as unsportsmanlike. I realize that after all that work you'd like to celebrate, but there is a rule about excessive celebrating in the endzone. That was the right call. BYU blocked the point after attempt beautifully! I don't think the kicker realized what was happening until he actually looked up. The minute the ball was snapped, it had no chance of moving beyond that line. BYU did make a mistake by leaping off the bench after the blocked kick because they should know that the clock doesn't start on the point after attempt, it didn't make any difference when Washington kicked the ball again because they weren't going to go anywhere.

One thing that really bugged me was the TV commentators. I know that most people think that the mountain west isn't a good conference and that we don't compare to the big leagues, but we've shown that we are just as tough as those other guys. According to an article I read on byucougars.com "Saturday’s victory over Washington marked the second straight win over a Pac-10 opponent, dating back to a 17-16 win over UCLA in the 2007 Las Vegas Bowl. BYU has won of its last five games against teams from the Pac-10." Doesn't that mean anything? I know that ESPN has an issue with the mountain west because they started their own television network to show the games, but I'd rather watch it from our network because the commentators for our network have done their research and they know the team well and don't give stupid comments or uneducated comments.

But getting off of football, life has been moving along. Jakob's show is almost finished (one more week) and he started his class today. UVU is under fire for not accepting many credits from other universities. Apparently the other universities in the state are taking them to the Utah Board of Education because of it. UVU thinks that they can now be "snobbish" and not accept other credits because in the past, many of the other universitiess didn't accempt credits from UVSC. Well, there was a good reason for that: the classes at UVSC didn't meet the standards that other universities had set up for specific programs (and we're talking about credits from specific programs only). Now that they are a so called "4-year university" they have to be in line with the other universities and their program standards. This should be interesting.

As for me, life has gotten itself into a routine. It seems that when I finish with work and go home, I don't have any energy to do anything else other than sit. There are times that I really don't do much at work; I end up reading or watching old TV programs on the net while computers are reimaging, or when my supervisor isn't around, I have fun dancing (I have a big space with a cement floor, so I can get my sounds out and I have room to move). So I don't know why there isn't any energy left to do what I really like to do after work. Jakob wants me to finish up his musketeer costume (he's been on a musketeer kick since he started writing his screenplay) so I've been doing a lot of research. I've also been trying to figure out what it is that I want to do for myself because now I have a dressform and can fit things to me! I've been thinking of doing a southern bell gown or a couple of other movie costumes. Eh, hard decision, but at least I have time to do some image research.

Cheers!