7 D.T.V
Posted on July 9th, 2008 at 3:12 pm by Robbie7 day’s till vacation. Just 7. Yet it feels like eternity. Work has been very slow as of late as my team has been on the ball keeping up with technical support cases making sure they all get taken care of rather quickly. I find myself surfing the internet to the same 4 websites repeatedly; Facebook, Fox News, Yahoo!, and The Drudge Report.
Yesterday I went to Target and purchased a blender and a few other random household items thanks to my parents for sending me a housewarming gift. I <3 blending. I will be trying it out today with my protein shake, assuming my back puts up with me working out. Last Saturday I pulled a muscle while doing side bends and it’s been sore since. I know I probably shouldn’t work out today but…. only 7 more DTV gotta keep it up…
Moved In
Posted on July 2nd, 2008 at 8:42 pm by RobbieThis past Sunday I moved from Park City to West Valley to my new apartment complex. The move was absolute hell. It involved a lot of heavy lifting in the PC apt, like, getting Billy’s big ass leather couch off of the second floor balcony with only 2 people. That was fun. I’m pretty sure packing/moving went from 10 AM till about 11:30 PM I felt like I had worked out for 12 straight hours by the end of the day. Anyway, I am now fully unpacked and settling in fairly well. It’s definitely nice getting up at 6:20 as opposed to 5:45 and driving 10 miles to work is fantastic, both for my car and my wallet. I am doing my best to keep myself occupied, without a TV it can get kinda dull so I just keep the music playing on the laptop and I have been playing a lot of guitar (oh yea, and watching LOST on ABC On Demand online).
I uploaded new pictures in the gallery, the first album is of Billy and I’s last night in Park City (at HO’s, where else)? The second is pictures of my new place. Feel free to peep.
Only 13 more days kids, then back in the T Dot.
Change On The Horizon
Posted on June 17th, 2008 at 9:09 pm by RobbieIn case you haven’t heard yet, Billy (my roomate) accepted a transfer position within his company; in New Orleans. I’m definitely happy for him but certainly going to miss his crazy ass and all of his ridiculous comments and stories. I’ve known Bill since 6th grade but we were never really close, I can certainly say in the past 9 months that has changed and I have gained a great friend. Ever since my interview in Utah at PGP back in September the kid welcomed me into his home and knew how to show his visitor a great time. I don’t think I will ever forget the first (of many) HarryO’s adventures. It was on the eve of my 25th birthday and we went to that place and just took shots and partied (and then I missed my plane the next day, awesome!). Yes, it will certainly suck without him here, but on the bright side of things this is giving me the opportunity to move down to the valley and be a measly 10 miles from work (instead of 40). I decided on this apartment complex called Mission Meadowbrook which is just on the border of West Valley City and Taylorsville. It is pretty decent, my apt. is 450 sq. feet (smallest one available) and is fully furnished for about $630 a month (they also are giving me a $200 gift certificate to Target!). The complex is also gated which is good for security and they have a very bad ass gym, indoor racquetball court, pool tables, pool, jacuzzi, the works. Hopefully this will also give me the opportunity to meet more people as I am going to be way out of my comfort zone knowing very few people here. I don’t see myself going to the bar solo but I’m sure at some point it will happen. Who knows, maybe the girl of my dreams will be living above me, but doubtful.
So, with all that in mind, I’m sure the next 2 weekends will be quite hectic as we both prepare to move and I’m sure there will be much partying to send off BT right. This weekend is his psuedo last weekend as the following weekend his work is throwing a bash for him at the bowling alley. Once I get settled in I will get some pics posted no doubt, keep your eyes peeled.
Lord Stanley Returns to Hockeytown!
Posted on June 4th, 2008 at 10:00 pm by Robbie
That’s right, the Detroit Red Wings are once again the champions of the National Hockey League! After a heartbreaking triple overtime game five loss the Red Wings returned to Pittsburghs’ Igloo to take on the Penguins in a thrilling game six. The Wings came out fast and furious in the first period where Brian Rafalski scored a powerplay goal and then Valterri Filppula doubled it up in the second period. In the third, Henrik Zetterberg ripped a shot that trickled under Marc-Andre Fleury’s pads, as he attempted to fall back on the puck he ended up pushing it over the goal line to give the Wings a 3-1 lead. Of course, this game wouldn’t be interesting without a powerplay goal being scored by Marian Hossa with 1:27 left to cut Detroit’s lead to 3-2. In the final seconds, Detroit failed to clear and “Cindy” Crosby put a backhanded shot onto goal where Hossa nearly knocked it in but Chris Osgood, who had 20 saves and improved his playoff record to 14-4, got just enough stick on it to not allow the goal as time expired.
The Wings celebrated behind their net and then went forward with the traditional handshake at center ice. Afterwards, the Conn Smythe Trophy (MVP) was awarded to Henrik Zetterberg who had a goal and assist in the final game. Personally, it was a toss up for me between Zetterberg and Johan Franzen, who had 13 goals in the playoffs but suffered from concussion-like symtoms and missed a couple games, if not for this I believe he should have been the MVP.
Finally, the Stanley Cup was brought to near center ice and awarded to Red Wing captain, Nicholas Lindstrom who raised the cup high above his head for the fourth time in his career as a Red Wing. One of the best parts of the night was Lindstrom handing the cup off, second, to Dallas Drake who, before this, was playing his 14th season without ever winning a Stanley Cup.
This team is seriously unbelievable, I have great respect for coach Mike Babcock, whom also is relishing his first Stanley Cup victory and is proving to everyone that he will further carve Detroit’s name into the history books (and the Stanley Cup). This team has a great core of players both veterans and rookies and I believe they could repeat next year (not to get TOO ahead of myself or anything). Another reason I am so happy for this is because Detroit desperately needs something to cheer about. The city is struggling as most people know and this 2008 Stanley Cup Championship will give the people of Detroit a reason to be happy, well, at least until they watch another dissapointing Tigers loss anyway.
Congratulations Wings! You made this Detroit boy in Utah incredibly happy (and proud) to be a hockey, Wings, and Detroit fan! Hockeytown is shining once again!!
Nalette’s Invade Mormon Town
Posted on May 31st, 2008 at 2:02 pm by RobbieIt’s been quite a while since an update (which is becoming a normal trend now and days) but a lot has been going on out here in Mormon Town the past few weeks so I suppose I can fill everyone in.
The most significant headline to start out with would be my family coming to Utah last week to visit me. That’s right the entire fam: mom, dad, Amy, and Laura all made it out to the wild west last Sunday to get some insight on where I live and what I see on a daily basis. They ended up getting here on a Sunday so after they went to their condo (200 yards from mine) we immediately started the Utah tour since I would have to work the next 2 days (but took Wed-Fri off). They rented a Jeep Commander and of course I was going to drive so I could show them around. We started by going down through Park City and then through Heber to Provo Canyon. Going through Provo Canyon is really pretty and the fam loved it. Towards the end of Provo is Bridal Veil Falls, a very large waterfall that attracts quite a few people. What’s cool about it is that you can basically hike up to where the first fall hits and go in the pool it creates. We weren’t really prepared for rock climbing (shoe-wise) so that didn’t happen but we did hike up a little and took some good pictures. Which by the way are right here.
After Bridal Veil we continued on through Provo Canyon and into the city of, you guessed it, Provo. Provo is the biggest Mormon spot in all of Utah and it is also the home of Brigham Young University (the Cougars). We didn’t do any stopping in Provo as there really isn’t a lot to see other than the university so we continued on course to hit I-15 to go back north. We took I-15 up to Draper and stopped at PGP so I could show the fam where I worked, since I had my ID badge and I have hand print access we were able to go into the office even on a Sunday.
After a few minutes at PGP we continued north to I-215 and then started to head east toward Big Cottonwood Canyon (BCC). BCC is one my most favorite canyons in Utah as it goes up very high and goes through a national forest, its quite amazing. We went all the way to the top to Brighton Ski Resort where we took a few pictures, the family was amazed as there was still quite a few feet of snow at the top (in mid-May)! After BCC we continued north east on I-215 where we picked up I-80 which takes you back to Park City. I-80 goes through Parley’s Canyon which is a fair to medium sized canyon that I drive through everyday to get to work. About mid-way up there was a random traffic backup, we soon learned that this was going to cause a major kink in our dinner plans that night. Apparently, some guy went off his rocker in Park City and led the police on a chase down Parley’s, then back up, then down again, and then on his way back up he purposely slammed into a back of a semi tanker carrying ethanol killing himself on impact. As you can imagine, this was a big deal. They closed I-80 COMPLETELY in both directions for about an hour and then reopened the west bound side but kept the east side closed, so we ended up having to get off at the exit that takes you to the Mountain Dell Recreational Area (see pictures as I have been there a few times). Essentially, we ended up going on a 80 mile detour to get back to Park City when we were only 10 miles away to begin with when we got off the freeway. In hindsight, it was a good idea for us to not wait for them to reopen the freeway because that didn’t happen until midnight that night!
Monday and Tuesday I had to work so the family was trying to take advatage of the great weather those days. On Monday they went back to BCC and went hiking and on Tuesday they went to Antelope Island in the middle of the great Salt Lake where the girls went horse back riding. Finally, on Wednesday I was once again able to join them on their adventures but unfortunately, the weather wasn’t so great. We did a lot of shopping Wed. and Thurs. and on Friday we had decent weather so we went back to Provo Canyon to try and go to the Timpongos Caves, some of the biggest caves in the region. The caves were closed due to the unbelievable amount of snow fall we received this winter but we were still able to go hiking up Mt. Timponogos where at the top there were 4 waterfalls cascading down the side of the mountain, quite stunning. See pictures in the album.
Anyway, it was great to see the fam as it had been since Christmas and luckily I will get to see them and the rest of my family and friends in just a few more weeks when I head back to Michigan for vacation in mid-July! Check out the pics, here’s that link one more time: Nalette’s Invade Mormon Town.
Switching gears to Detroit sports, how about them Red Wings? Those guys are unbelievable, even machine-like. If they can pull the away victory today there is no way in hell they are going to lose game 5 in Detroit, which would mean that I’m subtly implying they could potentially win the Stanley Cup again and in Detroit. *knocks on wood* Too bad other Detroit teams can’t take notice of the heart and determination of the Wings, *cough*Pistons*cough*Tigers. By the way, where the hell was Tayshaun Prince the entire series against the Celtics? That guy was a complete no show. I am, however, going to give HUGE props to Rodney Stuckey, Jason Maxiell, and Antonio McDyss who all played great in the conference finals for the most part. It makes me happy to know that those two young players (Stuckey and Maxiell) will be around for quite a while and hopefully will be able to take off where our starters leave off once they retire or move on. Too bad our starters couldn’t follow suit (Rip doesn’t count in that comment because he was money the whole series).
I can’t forget to mention one more thing. How about the season finale of LOST? How awesome is this show? I think the single greatest thing Billy and I accomplished this winter was watching every episode of LOST on DVD so we could be ready when new episodes started again after the writers strike. This show is both awesome and frustrating as everytime one question is answered ten more arise. I’m not going to get into the show and the finale since not everyone watches it but I will say if you have the time, go rent seasons 1-3 on DVD and get down on that you will not be dissapointed!
Finally, I wanted to touch on one more thing. I don’t usually write about my dieting and exercise habits, but as many of you know I have lost some weight over the past year and a half. To be exact, 72 lbs. (265 to 193) and 14% body fat (34% to 20%). I decided recently that since I have thinned down a bit that it would be a good idea to start trying to pack on some lean muscle. With that in mind, I have jumped into the world of supplements head first. I have been doing a lot of reading online in bulletin boards and muscle and mens health magazine websites to find out the best stuff to do. I ended up getting GNC Pro Performance Amplified Creatine 189, Muscle Milk, and a mens daily multi-vitamin. I am new to all this so I am continuously reading more reviews about different creatine and protein mixes so I’ll keep you updated on how this new adventure goes for me.
Whew, if anyone is still reading, congratulations, this is the biggest blog post I’ve ever written I think. I’m going to make an effort to update more often, this should be easier since its now summer and the weather is good and I can go out and do more stuff, so keep checking back!
