Graduation

Great news! I graduated from Utah State University with a B.A. in Finance with an Economics minor. Photos. Even better news: A Record Year for Layoffs in Finance!

Photos

These are some photos Jessica's dad just sent us:

This is at the grave of Jessica's great grandma.

Salt Lake Temple

On the Alpine Loop with Jessica's Dad and step-Mom, August 2008

Galveston, TX in August 2007

1st Round Playoffs

Well, we came out strong in the first round of the playoffs winning 12-1 against the Ice Monkeys(who beat us twice this season). I scored 3 goals and had 1 assist. I just hope our team doesn't get cocky and lose the next game.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, as usual. Jessica and I played in the family's annual Turkey Bowl football game plus we ate lots of good food and played lots of games.

Gearing up for the Turkey Bowl!

Hockey Playoffs to Begin Next Week

We wrapped up the regular season with a 7-3 win over the Ice Monkeys. It was a big win for us, we haven't played that well all season so it's a good way to head into the playoffs. I had a goal and an assist in the game and finished the season with 8 goals and 4 assists in 9 games. Our team finished 5-3 with a 3 game winning streak heading into the playoffs which begin next Thursday.

Back in the U.S.S.A.!

In tribute to president-elect Obama, here, once again, is the proposed new national anthem of the U.S.S.A: (courtesy of Glenn Beck)

Halloween!

For Halloween Jessica dressed as a communist and I went as a hockey player, sort of. Actually, I had a hockey game on Halloween so I dressed up as a hockey player for that. We won 7-6 and I had 2 goals and spent some time in the penalty box for taking someone down, and I later found out it was a woman! I was called for hooking because I used my stick to pull her stick away from her and it made her fall down. Oops.

Logan Canyon

Jessica and I wanted to add something to our blog that was about us so we decided to take a drive up Logan Canyon to see the scenery and get some photos. These were taken at second dam. Click here for more photos

Things that Make Me Want to Vomit, Vol. 4

BARNEY FRANK, ECONOMIC GENIUS - Massachusetts sure knows how to pick 'em.

Things that Make Me Want to Vomit, Vol. 3

Ok, you've probably received the e-mails that say Barack Obama is a Muslim, or that he doesn't salute the flag, or that he eats puppies. Well, here's something that's actually true. This is an article about Obama's stance on the abortion issue. I've never read a more interesting analysis of the politics of "pro-choice." Read it here.

Things that Make Me Want to Vomit, Vol. 2

This one will probably make you laugh before it makes you vomit. This is a video of some people who are awfully fond of trees.

Hockey Update

After the first game I was traded to Napoleon's Dynamite because they didn't have enough players. I've posted some photos of our most recent hockey game, which we lost 7-6. I'm #11. Here's how our other games have gone:
W - Dynamite 9, Transformers 1
L - Dynamite 5, Razorbacks 6
W - Dynamite 5, Ice Monkeys 3
L - Dynamite 6, Transformers 7

I play forward, mostly left wing and center. I have 4 goals and 3 assists so far this season.

Things That Make Me Want to Vomit

I thought I would add a series to this blog called "Things that Make Me Want to Vomit" since it isn't very hard to find these things in the news these days.
Today's entry is from congress (go figure) where they are talking about removing the tax benefits from 401 K's that encourage individual retirement planning. The congressmen even called the lack of taxing this money "subsidies." WARNING! This article may cause excessive vomiting. Read it here.

We were tagged, by Celeste!

This is part of Celeste's picture tag, go to her blog to see what I'm talking about.

1. Kitchen Sink - It's actually pretty clean, the bowl is from breakfast today and that jar used to have Grandma's delicious marmalade jam in it

2. Laundry Room - Yep, that's right, we have SIX washing machines!

3. Fridge - Pretty boring stuff: last year's USU football schedule magnet, visiting teaching assignment paper, old receipts, and the not so boring stuff like my hockey schedule and a Total Care Wellness Center magnet.










I also thought I should include this cool thing made by my mom because we use that as our second fridge.










4. Bathroom - Very exciting, eh?










5. Closet - I like this feature of our apartment, we have an entire wall of closet space. Celeste said we weren't supposed to clean anything up so that's why a certain piece of protective equipment that I wear for hockey is hanging off one of the doors. Sorry.









6. Favorite Room - Hmmm, there were so many choices, but I had to go with our livitchen room, since that is where we eat food and read books. (The kitchen is the other side of this room.)







7. Favorite Shoes - This seems like such a girl thing to do, but it was pretty easy since I don't have very many shoes to choose from. I wear my black dress shoes every day, my $3 flip flops are very comfortable, and I love hockey. The combined price I paid for these shoes was $73 before tax.





8. Self-portrait - Again, Celeste said we weren't supposed to clean anything, so I didn't comb my hair.








9. Children - This is the closest thing we have to a kid since our fish died: Commy-Pig!













10. Dream Vacation - I would love to go to a couple of my mission areas, Puerto Vallarta and San Blas, and see all the things that I didn't get a chance to see.

Aggie Football

Yesterday, Jessica and I went to Romney Stadium to watch the #22 ranked (AP poll) Utah Utes play the Utah State Aggies (who are ranked 6th on ESPN.com's bottom ten). It was pretty exciting for the first few minutes when Utah fumbled a punt and Utah State recovered and ended up scoring the first touchdown of the game. Well, that was the only one they got and the final score was 58-10 for Utah. MORE PHOTOS

There's a really good chance Utah and BYU will both be undefeated when they meet in November. If that's the case, it may be the most important Utah-BYU matchup EVER, with the winner probably ending up in one of the BCS bowls.

Hockey!

I joined an adult hockey league this week. The name of the team I'm on is the Ice Monkeys. Last night we played against Napoleon's Dynamite and won 7-5. It was a close game, it was tied 4-4 in the 3rd period. I was a little rusty but had 2 assists in the game. It was tons of fun. I'll keep you updated as the season progresses. I'm wearing jersey number 30 in the PHOTOS.

Labor Day

Jessica and I went on a little hike on labor day. We went on the Bonneville Shoreline trail that takes you above the golf course where I work. It was a pretty day. Click here to see more photos.

Baptism for the Dead

Here is an interesting article written by a columnist for the Belfast Telegraph. The columnist is an atheist. Click here to read it.

Sarah Palin

Some people say part of the reason McCain picked Alaska governor Sarah Palin was to appeal to Hillary Clinton's female supporters, but I think it appeals to another demographic, the one that decides all elections, the white male. She's an attractive, moose-hunting, church-going NRA member. Finally, conservative men have someone to gush over like women did over Mitt Romney.

Obama Anthem

Since the great Barack Obama is giving his acceptance speech today from Mt. Olympus, I thought it would be appropriate to share his anthem with you, you can view the video below:

Bees game and Senator sighting

Yesterday Jessica and I went down to Salt Lake to meet up with some of my friends from high school(Nelson, Taylor, Jacob Coats, and Scott Nixon). We ate dinner at Cafe Rio in SLC with Senator Orrin Hatch. Well, not exactly with him, but he was eating dinner at the table next to us (he was sitting in the corner near the bathroom with his wife and another couple, so I sent a few people to the bathroom to confirm that it was actually him, and it definitely was).

After dinner we went to a Salt Lake Bees game. We got tickets for only $5, which included fireworks after the game, and a free huge strawberry limeade drink from Sonic after the game because the Bees had at least 7 strikeouts. Not a bad deal!

Taylor and his girlfriend Chandra











Scott Nixon's son Tyler

Jacob looks happy

Obama-Biden

Barack Obama selected Joe Biden as his running mate today. I was kind of hoping he would choose Governor Tim Caine because then all the bumper stickers would say "Obama-Caine," which sounds like some kind of medicine. I can just imagine the SNL skits, "Can we get rid of your pesky underarm rash, YES WE CAN! Use ObamaCaine!"

As far as the republican ticket, I'm going to make a prediction: It's going to be Romney.

-Michael

Sheetrock Party

This weekend we went down to Fillmore to help my dad sheetrock their garage. Celeste and Spencer and Adam were also there to help. Friday night we went to the driving range and hit some golf balls, which was fun. I can't believe how good Jessica and Celeste are at golf!