Theme: What I did for my spring break

Had to take a chance before classes started here and compose a little of what's been happening in life over the past two weeks. As most all of you know I recently had my spring break and mom and dad planned a trip for me to go down to New Mexico to see family and interview LH about his experience in Korea and some of his history. It was the best spring break to day even though I havn't ever enjoyed to many due to the fact that I generally take advantage of them to just do extra work. It was a great trip and everytime we travel through moab to ship rock I'm always amazed at the beauty of that this not so green part of earth has to offer. We got

                                 





LH and Jeans baby Rusty the cat keeping on eye on it's bunny out the window who helps keep the lawn mowed for them.

to spend the first night in Gallup and while unloading the car out in the parking lot of the Ramada Inn sure enough I was accosted by a drunk Navajo. Awwww the joys of New Mexico! I assure you that none of my peers who were enjoying their spring breaks on cruises in the Carribbean or on sunny beaches somewhere warm could say that they were accosted by a drunk indian. Had the opportunity there to see lots of family there in Gallup and have a good time before we moved on to Silvercity. Arriving in Silvercity we got to meet up with Chuck and see his outrageously large and custome house which was very very nice but to much. There we got to meet up with LH and Jean and I just ended up going home with them. I hadn't had a chance to see their new home yet so I laughed when Jean stated that it was the last one behind Hamilton Construction with concentina wire.

LH and Jeans wonderful house

The best part was that they weren't joking! Gate, concentina wire and complete fenced in perimeter! A white supremistists dream home almost! All except for the cute landscaping features, gardens, and windchimes that LH has put up around the house. LH didn't actually put up the fence though come to find out, it came included with the property since his house is actually inside the Hamilton Construction fence line.

I was nervous at first on how to proceed with LH and getting the interview started. I didn't want to come across like a jerk just wanting an interview. Luckily once me and LH started into talking about guns the ice was completely broken. I got to show him my Kahr 9mm(a Utah CCW liscense is good for New Mexico too) and pictures of my Beretta carbine and he showed me all of his and told me of his recent exploits with his mossberg 500 shotgun against a fox, a skunk, and a pack of wild dogs roaming the neighborhood. I have to laugh because he reminds alot of the Garth and Hub from second hand lions.

During my stay with LH and Jean I was treated like royalty everyday. They fed me non-stop and made sure I had no wants. Jean even made me a corn bag and heated it up everynight and put it in my bed! Mom's probably rolling her eyes right now thinking of the amount of enabling they did to me while I was down there. Like I said the best spring break ever! I got to spend alot of time with LH, Jean, and even Spencer. I had a great time asking LH questions about his history and learning about who he was and how that has influenced who he is today.

LH on the right with is favorite boots and hat. This was during LH's first job search as a bull rider which ended prematurely due to a bad ride into a fence that helped LH decide that bulls were much larger than him and therefore could do alot more damage than he originally thought they could. Since they didn't have his size boot in basic he actually had to wear those cowboy boots in basic and had to march around in them all day until he his feet were swollen and he couldn't take them off. He used those boots until he wore them out in basic and got his combat boots. He really loved those boots.

LH on the left with good buddy in Korea

LH digging into the side of the hill

He had alot of great stories to tell about growing up and his life experiences. I guess this must be universal with geneology and researching history, but it seems the more you learn about someones life and the experiences that made them who they are the more you want to learn. Recording a small part of LH's history was wonderful and fulfilling...but in all truth it's not enough. I'm not satisfied with the 2-3hours of history that I got. I want to know more and get it all every last detail, but that I know is an unrealistic desire. So it's strange to come back from my spring break and feel somewhat unfullfilled. I feel like I've been reading through the first part of a good book but am unable to complete it at this time. It was tough to say goodbye and head back to Utah after having spent that much time and learned as much as I did. Again reading a good book you tend to relate to the main characters and grow attached to them. And when that book or series of books ends it's a tough break to say goodbye. Maybe I'm just crazy or maybe I just have to deal with some heavy seperation anxiety I dont know. 

But I guess I'll start trying to compile what I have and the next chance I get hopefully record some more history from LH. Thanks mom and dad for giving me that opportunity.

Not so Totally Awesome Computers

Well a new blog here is well overdue so I figured I had better get back on and update you on what's happened with me over the last few weeks. Here at the tail end of Februrary I had my first national guard drill in Ogden at the special forces facility there. First day we had our PT tests to see where we stood and where we needed to improve. I did pretty good in some of the tests and awesome in others. After that it was to the classrooms to educate ourselves on the fundamentals of military protocol and operating procedures. I had a alot of fun during the two days of drill there and especially relished all the pushups, the PT and marching we got to do. I've always wanted to be apart of a large formation that turns and moves in perfect unison. I suppose that is a strange dream to have for most normal people. But as far back as I can remember watching Star Wars I've always been enamored with scene from the throne room when luke, Han, and Chewy are getting their medals and the entire rebel congregation turns on cue and stomps their heels  in unison! I've always wanted to do that! So every time we move to attention and the heels of our boots click together and we stomp in unison it always makes me smile. I think I'm really going to like my military experience. 

From there It's just been back to school and trying to squeak by in calculus. Figures that the most universally used and important subject of the universe has to be my weak link. Needless to say the issue is in doubt. As for the other subjects of my higher education like economics, business managment, and dating are going well even though I'm increasingly more lazy with them.
                As most of you probably know by now I have a job up here at a computer store called Extreme Computers which sounds like a closely related cousin to the once great Dell Shanze: Totally Awesome Computers Empire that once flourished across the land. Luckily for me and Utah the owners of this small store are good men firmly anchored in reality. They were generous enough to bring me on as a beginning tech to help out and learn the trade in their repair room as the tide of blue screens of death and totally jacked-up computers has increased beyond the small stores capacity. So we actually have guys working nearly around the clock to keep up with the influx of computers. This came at a time when I desperately needed to find a job. The lord has provided for me yet again and then some. This is a dream job for me as I get to work as many hours as I like in a great environment and learn how to fix computers and the common issues that they face. Kind of like working on cars but not as dirty;) A skill that will be useful for the rest of my life.

luckily I don't work for that

This weekend I had a chance to go home and spend a little bit of saturday night and sunday with mom, dad, cooper and smudge. It's always so wonderful to go home after being away for a little while. I love home and I love those that make it what it is. Even though it is kind of like the Hogget farm from Babe at times with chickens that lay golf balls, A dog that eats tail lights-N-rosebuds, 

 and a cat that thinks it is just another fixture of the household. It's a wonderful place made extra wonderful by those who call it home. Mom, Dad, and I watched Joe Versus the Volcano and got to have dinner together. What a wonderful blessing that was for me. Next week I'm looking forward to spending my spring break with them down in New Mexico interviewing LH and visiting with family down there. If anyone has any good ideas for questions to ask about his life as well as his experiences in Korea please post them and I'll include them in my list of questions to ask. For me personally I know very little of LH and his history.

He's always had a soft spot in his heart for me and casey and choking back tears has let me know on several occasions how much he loves me and casey. I'm glad that he is willing to share his history with not just me but all of us and our posterity. I'm really looking forward to this trip and getting to spend time with one of my heros and record his history. So any extra input from my wiser and more learned siblings and loved ones will be greatly appreciated.

A fairwell to soul patches!

Had time to sit down here on a friday night and wanted to catch up with what is happening in my life. It's been about a week since I was processed and suffered through the MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) and enlisted with the National Guard. The ASVAB wasn't as bad as I had stressed it would be and I scored descent on it. I wasn't sure what to expect for a score until I started hearing what many of the other enlistee's were scoring. I heard everything from 25% to as high as 65% and I figured that I would end up somewhere in there. Sgt Klimack sent me a txt informing me that I had actually scored an 87% and was eligible for any job in the military with that score. What a blessing! Who would have thought that I would have done as well as I did. I'm greatful for the lords help there and i'm also greatful to be done with the MEPS.

Shortly after that I had the opportunity to swear in at the guard facility in Ogden. After a long day in MEPS, of standing in many lines and stressing about when I would be able to contact mom and update her with time table,  I was happy for some other scenery and to find mom there waiting to support me. I swore in with another kid who was only 17 and still in highschool named Arthur. The whole thing happened so quick as it was the end of the day and everyone wanted to be done and home. I would have liked to have had something of such great significance, as all great life changing moments, progress at a slower pace so that I could have absorbed more the impact of the moment of taking the oath. I can't speak for mom's emotions at the moment but it was all I could do to get through that oath without allowing the tears of great gratitude to run down my cheeks as my voice quavered through that oath. It was truely a...unique and unforgetable moment of my life that I will not soon forget.

It has now been a week since I enlisted and that's given me lots of time to digest the consequences of my actions. I'm excited about what may happen here with the next couple of months now that I've taken the plunge. I don't feel a great miraculous confirmation of my decision, but the weight of the choice has been removed from my shoulders and the dice has been cast. Now I have a designated path that I'm going to move down and make the best of it all and enjoy myself. I'm very excited to see what adventures this chapter of my life will bring me.

Tomorrow morning is my first drill at the Ogden RSP (recruit sustainment program) unit. It's a pre basic training course that enlistee's with delayed ship dates do in order to to get ahead of the curve and hit basic training ahead of the curve and more prepared than the other enlistee's. It ought to be alot of fun and their even paying me to have fun! That sounds like a win win situation to me;) So I write and dedicate this blog to the loss of my dear friend the soul patch that I've worn for the last few years and have come to like considerably. I'm going to miss it even though i'm sure mom will certainly be pleased to see it go, a fringe benefit of the military for you mom :)

A picture of me in my uniform right before I                                               finished shaving

                                            

A big move in ANY direction

I wanted to sit down briefly and kind of finish up this blog that I actually started creating months ago with the help of tyson the holtkamp. Now as my life prepares to take a major move in the direction of the military I am motivated to finish this and get it "fully operational!" As i'm sure all of you know i'm joining the national guard and subsequently the ROTC program up here at Utah State. Tomorrow I head down to salt lake with Sgt Klimack to take my ASVAB, get my physical,

and take the oath at which point there is no turning

back and I will have contracted for several years. Am I

nervous? Absolutely. Is it the right thing...well time

will prove me right or wrong but I'm going to go off

the advice of my blessing in that "we can grow where ever we are planted." This process has been

a nerve wracking one and has caused me a great deal of anxiety over the last year and a half. The military has always been a dream of mine but i've always been afraid of doing it for fear that I was being irresponsible, selfish and simply misguided. But I've come to a point in my life where I'm finally tired enough of not making some sort of forward progress. So after many long hours of thinking and debating with myself and picking the minds and wisdom of my loving parents and siblings I feel ok about doing this and seeing where it takes me. I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to share their life wisdom with me and have helped me along with making this choice of direction with my life. I'm generally a very cautious, slow going guy when it comes to making decisions. When considering between a box of lucky charms VS a box of fruit loops it has at times takin me upwards of 20min to decide which. Now with major life decisions...maybe upwards of 20 years! So this is it, me making a big move in A direction. We can grow in any setting and situation if we make the most of it. I ask for all your prayers and support as I now begin this new journey in my life.

Making history

Due to the overwhelmingly creation and demand of family blogs I have now joined the ranks of blog making peoples. Things will be changing greatly in the upcoming months for me and I've decided this the best way to stay in touch and update the fam to my where abouts and happenings. Hopefullly I can soon hit the same level of professionalism as my older siblings have. For the name...well I wanted to reference logan as being the frigid wasteland and I have affectionately connected myself with one of my favorite games growing up, MECHWARRIORS!
***Disclaimer***All who choose to follow this blog are hereto forwarned that the sheer awesomeness of my personality and sense of humor will be set loose and as a result I understand will not be universally appreciated by some. That is a personal problem of them and no matter of mine. I create this blog to express my feelings and have all my wildest dreams come true by boldly sharing what's happening in my life,  displaying my peculiar sense of humor and writing about what's on my mind.  Ye be warned