Pardon The Delay...

I know I've left you all hanging in suspense to see what happened next on our trip, and let me tell you - day 1 was amazing, but there's been a small glitch in acquiring the photos I want to put on the next blog. Ashley burned the photos from her camera and sent me the CDs already, but there's a couple folders that refuse to be uploaded to my computer! We're now going about a different way to transfer the needed pics. Keep checking back!!

May 22nd and 24th: On Our Way

Yes, read that title again. This blog is about May 22nd AND May 24th, not May 22nd THROUGH May 24th. May 23rd didn't exist for me in the year 2009. I'll explain later.

Ashley flew in to LAX from Salt Lake after working in the morning, and I met up with her not long after she arrived. Having lightly discussed what we'd do for dinner before our flight, I had my brother take me to the airport by way of In-N-Out, one of Ashley's favorite places to eat when she gets the chance. She finished her food as I checked in my bag at the airline counter.

We had given ourselves plenty of time to chart out a route on a map to the cities we wanted to visit and then resorted to pacing the airport terminal in anticipation of the 12 hour flight. By the time the very LARGE plane made it's way to our gate seating room had filled up and we resorted to sitting on the floor - we didn't mind though, we were excited for the chance to use our passports again!

I LOVE Qantas Airlines! They seriously know how to take care of people on an overseas flight. We made our way to the 68th row of the airplane (there were 75 rows total on the lower level) and found our seats prepped with a pillow, blanket, headphones and a zipper pouch filled with all sorts of goodies: socks, a lanyard, a miniature toothbrush and toothpaste set, and an eye mask - which we promptly used. Add movies on-demand and a couple of Tylenol PM's to the mix, and we were OUT.

Like I said before, our flight was 12 hours long. We left after 9pm on the 22nd and flew all night to land bright and early (well - not bright, the sun wasn't up yet) at 4:45am local time. Here's the kicker: we had crossed the International Date Line somewhere over the Pacific Ocean and had therefore travelled forward in time. It was 4:45am on the 24th. Saturday the 23rd completely disappeared!

Since the shuttle running from the airport to our car rental company wouldn't open until 8am, we busied ourselves talking to a couple of the locals to get their opinions of places to visit, laughed at the way the restrooms were called toilets and that the lock on the stalls said "engaged" rather than "occupied," and waited for the real adventure to begin.

May 19-22: Los Angeles

For the first leg of my trip I headed to Los Angeles to spend some time with my brother Diego

and his wife Mariela.

LA was relaxing. My brother and I rode their beach cruisers (bicycles) from Venice to Santa Monica Beach one day where I was able to work on my tan and play some volleyball.

The next day I got to be a model for Mariela at work and got my hair high and low lighted (yay!).

That evening all three of us got to spend an evening at the climbing gym. It was the first time I'd been climbing since before my mission... I did okay.

It wasn't long before I needed to pack up my stuff and head off to the airport!

Travel Log

As many of you already know I just returned from the trip of a lifetime! For years and years I have dreamed about taking this vacation and even made a pact with Ashley P (one of my mission companions) that we would go together; and now, thanks to the recession, we were finally able to find an incredibly cheap flight to the destination of our dreams! I have decided that I'll post pictures and stories from our vacation here, but I'm going to do it in small chunks as to not bore everyone with yet another fantastically long blog. My goal is to post up a few pictures from each day and explain what adventures Ashley and I found throughout our trip. Be prepared to enjoy!!

Falling in to Place...

Last week the anticipation of spring break was easily felt by students and professors alike- especially because this year's spring break was scheduled MUCH later than normal. Although homework became increasingly harder to commit to finishing and one had desires to linger in the sun a little longer instead of arriving to clases promptly, last week was AMAZING! I really saw some blessings that assured me that my being patient and following a prompting I had last year to "stay and finish what I started" has been the correct thing to do. Why am I being blessed so much?? I don't deserve it.

On Tuesday morning registration for Fall semester opened up online, and I went to work trying to plan out my (supposed) last semester at UNLV. I was disappointed to see that TWO of my required classes weren't even scheduled to take place during the Fall semester. Not getting exactly the classes I had on my advisor-provided list meant a delayed graduation. That's NOT okay with me! I internally fumed about it for about a day, and then set off to see what could be done.

Having dealt with various departments of UNLV administration in the past, I was prepared for a fight. I stopped in the Hotel College's advising office and explained my predicament to the receptionist. She double checked the class listing for the semester, confirmed that there were no sections being offered, then handed me two substitution forms and sent me to the person in charge of my specific classes - the new department chair of travel and tourism. "Great - a new guy... how much can he help?" I had thought while knocking on his office door, but OH - how I was wrong about him! He quickly reviewed the classes, told me another section of the capstone class would be opened up online within a few days (he had just authorized it earlier in the day), and provided a substitution for the second class, signed the paperwork and told me to turn it back in to the advising office. Done! I was officially set to finish my classes in December, and it only took me about 20 minutes!

The next step?? APPLY FOR GRADUATION!!!! And believe me - it feels GREAT! The only thing that was nagging at my brain was the fact that I had been unsuccessful in finding an internship - the last hurdle that could delay graduation.

During the last full week of March I had once again attended a job/internship fair held on campus looking for a potential position, but hadn't been hopeful because of what I'd seen at previous job fairs - there's rarely an entertainment company in attendance, and if there is, they typically aren't offering positions I need. There were TWO companies there this time, and the fair was at best one fifth of the size of the last one I had attended. I put my best foot forward even though I was dressed in jeans and tennis shoes - I had forgotten to dress up that morning - and left my information with David Saxe Productions. I didn't hear from them for a whole week, and was getting ready to contact them and ask if they'd made their decision when I got an email from the company. I GOT THE INTERNSHIP!!! December graduation, here I come!!

To understate it all - it was a good week! I would have been more than happy if that had been the whole of it. But.... it wasn't.

I met someone. Someone quite intriguing. A handsome, funny, older than me someone. Someone who only after briefly meeting earlier in the week at the institute building walked clear across campus to run an errand with me in order to continue our conversation that had already been in progress for more than an hour. Someone who was incredibly open with me about what makes him who he is. A fascinating someone. It felt like I'd known him a lot longer than four days. No name dropping quite yet - I've got to see where this may or may not go... and I'll keep you updated!