Friend Fiesta…

Last Saturday we had a little get-together with my friends down in Salt Lake and we went out to lunch at Biaggi's, a restaraunt suggested by my sister. The food was good, but spending time with friends made the experience. Afterwards we went to Hogle Zoo and checked out the depressed animals. I tried my best to take shots that improved their sad situations.

Finally we ended up at the Wassom's for the After Party playing Rock Band and eating popcorn. It was great to see everyone in person and spend some quality time. I mentioned before how my family often gets together but I also have been lucky to have good friends growing up who know how to have a good time without the negative influences of the world. It is something I appreciate more than they know and something I miss while everyone moves on with their personal families. Thanks for the good times…

-Chris

Grab Life

As You Go Through Life
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Don’t look for the flaws as you go through life;
And even when you find them,
It is wise and kind to be somewhat blind
And look for the virtue behind them.
For the cloudiest night has a hint of light
Somewhere in its shadows hiding;
It is better by far to hunt for a star,
Than the spots on the sun abiding.

The current of life runs ever away
To the bosom of God’s great ocean.
Don’t set your force ‘gainst the river’s course
And think to alter its motion.
Don’t waste a curse on the universe –
Remember it lived before you.
Don’t butt at the storm with your puny form,
But bend and let it go o’er you.

The world will never adjust itself
To suit your whims to the letter.
Some things must go wrong your whole life long,
And the sooner you know it the better.
It is folly to fight with the Infinite,
And go under at last in the wrestle;
The wiser man shapes into God’s plan
As water shapes into a vessel.

I love this poem and I wanted everyone to enjoy it, mostly Chris ;)!

Life is wonderful if that is what you want, from the old saying life is what you make it. In life I find myself constantly looking towards the future. When Chris graduates, when I go to school, when I don't work so much, you get the idea. I have to remind myself that I am living right now, not in the future. I need to grab a hold of life! I love my life and from marrying Chris I have noticed I have a very good out look on life. He thinks I am more of a dreamer and he, more of a realist. But from my dreams I am now going to Europe. Who said dreams never come true?

Another dream coming true is my sister Misty who lives in Virginia is coming to see me for the summer. I have not seen her since I got married almost three years ago and I am really excited to share my life with her. I think it will be different for her especially religiously; she has no faith and I don't know how she will like going to church, but hopefully she will be able to at least feel the peace and happiness that the gospel brings into our hearts. Now that my sister is coming out I have a playmate so we will go hiking everywhere I can think of. I don't know why but seeing all of God's beautiful creations makes me feel so alive and reminds me of the most important things in life. It's funny to me that seeing dirt and plants brings pure happiness. Hopefully I'll get Chris to join me and my sister in life.

Grab life while you can!

-Tiff

Movie Magic…

I love movies, but the majority of the movies that hit theaters are not worth the money that it now costs when I can rent them for a few dollars and watch it on the big screen in the comfort of my home. I am always looking up recently released trailers at the website Movie-List to help me decide what films deserve my money at the box office. Sadly by the time most of them are rated they get a big R slapped onto them which makes me miss out on a lot of great films.

I was looking forward to watching M. Night Shyamalan's new thriller The Happening and another comedy starring Jack Black, Ben Stiller, and Robert Downey Jr called Tropic Thunder but both were put on the Restricted list. This happens all too often but a couple days ago I was treated to a trailer of a film called Australia which takes place during World War II. It stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman and is directed by Baz Luhrmann (William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge, and Strictly Ballroom)

Granted I don't know much about the movie and I don't know if it will be a smash hit or miss, but it has definitely jumped to the top of my must sees this year. I have enjoyed his other movies but what really caught my attention was how well done the trailer was executed. It had the sense of a great classical film from the yesteryears. The type he used for the names and titles had a very classy touch, the way it was directed and shot had really eye-grabbing scenes and the music alone made me so emotional by capturing everything a movie should be about. Sure the trailer music won't be in the actual movie, but I hope it delivers on my own personal hype. There is too much crap in theaters now days and I hope this reclaims some of the forgotten movie magic…

-Chris

The Joys of Snail Mail…

Lately I have decided that I am getting old. If any of you can think back to a time when your parents would complain about the bills they had that constantly came in the mail, well that is now happening to me. Before having responsibility, I would get marriage announcements, letters, magazine subscriptions, packages, etc. Basically anything that would arrive in the mailbox with my name on it was something to look forward to. My how times have changed; now it is either our wonderful monthly bills or invites to open another line of credit.

Luckily God knows how depressed I can get and offered us an easy solution: The Internet. For our trip to Switzerland, my professor decided it would be wise to invest in some good hiking shoes, storage devices for our photos, bags to carry stuff, power converters, etc. Since I live in the small region of Cache Valley my options are slim and sometimes expensive so I resorted to looking for things online. This isn't anything new to me as I often am looking for great deals on EBay and Amazon. So with all of these things we need to buy I have been shopping at multiple online outlets and my first purchase arrived yesterday.

This is the joy of snail mail. Amid all of the junk that arrives in the mailbox on a daily basis my pearl of great price outshines them all. It may be nothing more than a stupid item, but to have it show up at my house already paid in full and cheaper than retail brought a smile to my face. I love checking the mail and finding things of self-gratification rather than misery and endless woe.

-Chris

Note: My sister and her fiancé introduced me to Steep and Cheap where I managed to get some good hiking shoes for 60% off. They have a lot of outdoor equipment and sell one item at a time until it is sold out, so check it out…

It's Finally Arrived…

So I woke up today feeling groggy and with a sore back due to our hike yesterday to the wind caves, and as I walked out to the living room I noticed that my Wii had a beautiful blue glow surrounding the disc slot. This is nothing new as I get messages from friends and notices from Nintendo all the time, but since Jeff was on vacation and his wife would kill him for taking the Wii with them I figured it would be a stupid message regarding another Mii contest on the Check Mii Out Channel. I would have ignored it, but every time that light pulls me toward it and I must view the message.

I was so glad I did, because it was the Nintendo Channel that I have been waiting for for quite some time. Japan saw its release awhile back and it is nice to be able to get it here in the states. It brings the DS download station to your home so I can play demos of games and also view movie clips of upcoming releases for the Wii. Yeah watching videos of other people playing games gives me the same joy as playing them myself; that's why my wife calls me a nerd. Anyway I am so excited for this thing and glad Nintendo made that light so tantalizing.

-Chris

By the way the light is so important to a Wii gamer that Jeff named his new Nintendo blog Wii Blue Light so check it out…

The Countdown Begins…

Lately Tiffiney has been reminding me almost daily that next time this year I will FINALLY be graduated and moving on with life. It is about time, because mentally that is probably all I will be able to take. School is fun for the most part, but it will be nice to get paid doing the things I love rather than paying to learn them. This year should bring with it a lot of other things that I have been dreaming of as well, and so the countdown begins!

I thought I would share with you some of the things that I accomplished last semester with my artwork/design. I learned how to use Flash and improved my skills in Photoshop and Illustrator. You probably won't recognize great work due to my procrastination techniques, but I managed to pull off B grades while rushing to get these projects finished. However you only get a glimpse of the stuff I am proud of rather than the other work:)

These were done in Flash and require a fast connection. I didn't include a preloader so it may take some time to see it materialize. The first one is my game and in order for it to work properly you need to adjust your window to the width of the poles in the animation. The second one is my portfolio website and it may take some time before images start to appear and work properly. All of this could have been remedied with a simple preloader and better web pulishing but once again I rushed things…
Flash Game
Flash Portfolio

This is my magazine layout. I had to make a cover, contents and 4 page spread.