ioV Disneyland Day 1

We had a very early start, 4 am…ouch! However, I fell asleep on the JetBlue flight. We had the best legroom I’ve ever had on a plane. I watched Cash in the Attic from BBC World in the back of the head rest in front of me. All seats had ’em…not bad. Funny pilot, good stuff. I was almost distracted enough to forget my complete love of observing the world from 30,000 ft. Over Long Beach Mindy pointed out the window to me. Brilliant red sunrise similar to the one I saw on the back side of Mt. Timp this Fall.

We landed in Long Beach Airport after several times circling in the runway because of a noise curfew in the area. Palm trees, Christmas music, small outdoor baggage carousel, so cool! The airport wasn’t a big nice facility, if felt like we had landed on an army base on a Pacific island…very cool!

Once we met up with Brig we walked to the front of about several rides including Pirates of the Carribean, Indiana Jones, Super Railroad with Rattlesnakes, and etc.
Afterward a small lunch break with Mindy we got back together with the rest of the ioV crew and headed to Tomorrow Land. My personal fav so far has been the Buzz Lightyear ride/game. You get to ride around and shoot targets. At game’s end you can see your score and email yourself a picture of it for free.

By the time we got to Space Mountain I felt like a kid again…VERY cool & very fun! Got the picture of that too.

We’ve had a great day. Thank you ioV for the fun! We’ll see you again tomorrow!

When You Say Nothing At All (Spoof)

When You Say Nothing At All Spoof

A long time ago in an Old Mill apartment far away there lived two great minds that would forever change the course of history…at least the course of a popular love song. Shoni and Ryan needed a tune to fill in the time between film productions at the local ward film night. So, they set off to create a version of the popular “When You Say Nothing At All” that no one would forget. It was not a large stretch of character for Ryan to sing the slightly altered version and so the show went on. It was revived by Ashlee and Ryan to perform at the ward UN-talent show.

Send it to all your friends and family! To watch it on YouTube go here: When You Say Nothing At All

FaceBook it, bookmark it at del.icio.us, and for those of you who have a Digg account and would like to vote for it, go here: When You Say Nothing At All

 

Performed at the BYU 208th Ward UN-Talent show. Let’s hear it for Ashlee and Ryan!
Performed by Ashlee Patterson & Ryan Mendenhall
Written by Shoni Winkle and Ryan Mendenhall

Robbins Vs. Colbert

Let me take you for a brief moment inside my head. Let me take you inside my dreams…

…enter puffy dream sequence cloud and harp arpeggios…

In the early morning or late evening, I couldn’t tell which, I found myself at a small round kitchen table where two bearded jolly men were going to teach me how to play Knights and Pokers (apparently the “poker” referred to the knight’s joust). There was a young lady there who seemed just as excited as I to play this game of strategy. She was excited for this was a game of intense strategy and popularity. It was bigger than “The Office”.

Sometime between setting up the board and me shuffling the card that weren’t supposed to be shuffled together I saw a big grin on the face of the lead jolly. He had a mission for me that seemed rather odd, but the jollies together convinced me that it was not only necessary, but urgent.

The next thing I knew I was talking to the front desk clerk of 24 hour fitness. I heard in my head the instructions as I head myself telling the clerk that I needed to see his bosses, two gentlemen I was pretending to know well. The mission monologue played in my head as a loudspeaker announcing the day’s school lunch menu.

I ended the conversation with insisting on my usual accommodations including luxury room and board. I told left and told him that I’d be back at 8 and to make sure that everything was taken care of.

I walked away confidently as the desk attendant seemed obviously abashed, yet making arrangements for this insistent and confident man.

When I returned my bags where taken and the same clerk showed me to a car. He asked me where I was from. When I said Boston he seemed to know the area and followed up with, “Oh? What part?” I told him the northeast part. Again he asked where. With my best Boston accent I tossed out a made up county name. “You heard of it?” “No,” he replied.

Now in the car I felt that something was up. We pulled up to the entrance of what looked like a junk yard. The driver clerk casually locked the doors and tightened the windows.

Now entering the yard I could see that amidst the rubble and piles of dirt was a very nice patio encased with glass walls. Within the walls of the patio was the man I had insisted on seeing. He was lounging in a jetted jacuzzi.

Obviously annoyed with the interruption from the attendant he looked up as I walked in and began to act as if I knew him. After fumbling a little to search his thoughts and after realizing that I was an impostor he smiled as if to say, sure I’ll play your little game.

Some words were exchanged and before I knew I was banging their heads together and taking off in the car we had come in. I’m not sure why seemingly smart men leave the keys in the car in movie scenes like this. I guess it’s so the “good guys” like me can escape when they’re found out.

Anyhow…So after I drove through the fence that had been closed behind us and a high speed automobile chase I found myself in an arboretum of sorts. I felt safe from my predators there as I biked quickly around the lake at the center of this forest.

I’m not sure where I got the bike I was riding on. I guess my attention was more focused on escaping those that sought the destruction of me and those I loved. I’m also not sure where I caught up with a pretty girl and how I had become responsible for protecting this new friend, but is was so. And lastly, I have NO CLUE when the the one dedicated to hunting us had turned into Tony Robbins. Bizarre

After rounding the arboretum several times and realizing that we may have been led into a trap, sent in circles until Tony Robbins catch up, I suggested retracing our steps to find our way out. Upon doing so we came upon a dried storm drain that we hadn’t seen before.

After climbing up the loose rocks to the top of the drain we walked around a cement slab. There I was accosted by a man. With my back towards him I assumed that it was the dreaded Mr. Robbins. On the contrary. It was my pleasure and relief to see Steven Colbert greeting me, saving us from the anxiety and fear that had griped us just moments earlier. The first thing that I told him was that I was going to vote for him in the Presidential Election. We smiled and talked some. He was nice in person.

Looking back at it all, I’m not sure what this adventure had to do with the game Knights and Pokers, but in the end I’m sure that there something to learn from this. If you have had any lessons on the interpretation of dreams, it’s time to shout them out! Leave me a comment and let me know.

Peter Jay on “Making the Grade”

How can a student not known for their academic prowess perform seemingly miraculous feats of success in college? In this monsterously in-depth interview Peter Jay tells it all. How do I make the most of my time at school? How can I shift my thinking ever so slightly to see that even I can achieve great things? What’s at the heart of scholastic success? Join us now to get the answers to these vital questions!

Peter: Did you finish UVSC yet?
me: ha!

will I EVER finish UVSC?
we’ll see.
no, I’m slated to graduate Fall 2008
and I’ve also started some premed classes.
it’s a lot.

Peter: Studying for the MCAT?
me: not yet.

just trying to learn the ropes of keeping up in my classes.
haven’t learned how yet [smile]

Peter: Yea, I didn’t figure out until my fifth year at BYU and then I went from getting a C average to getting an A average

me: how’d ya do it pete? what was the difference?

Peter: There were several things. I decided to treat it like a game, trying to get points, because that made it more interesting to me.

I also decided to make sure I did my homework every day before I did anything else, and I realized I still had as much time to have fun and hang out with people, before I was just being lazy and then hanging out with people

me: keep going…

this is good stuff…

Peter: Then I made sure that I was above the 90 percentile on every assignment and test, and then in the end it all adds up to an A

me: I’m going to quote you on my blog…

Peter: Alright [note: by this one word Peter Jay hereby relinquishes any and all claims to financial compensation or ongoing royalties from the profits of this blog post. That includes anything from AdSense too Pete, though I’d feel cool buying you and Kira a lunch when you come out in December.]

me: [smile]

so, those were the three keys to beating the college game?

Peter: Yea, you just have to make sure you really study and know the stuff. I started spending about ten hours studying for each final where I would go over everything and make sure I understood it from the beginning of the semester to the end

And I would try to memorize everything
But, yea, that’s about it

me: how did you organize all your assignments and make sure you were studying for everything/doing everything?

Peter: I usually tried to take good notes in class and then I just followed that. For the tests I would read through and memorize my notes and I would also quickly review the chapters of the book, if there was something I didn’t understand I would spend more time on it until I did

I really put in a lot of time for the first semester I got A’s, after that I kind of figured things out and it got easie
In Calculus I memorized three pages of calculus formulas and after that it was as easy as algebra, and I got an A

me: Did you work too those semesters?

Peter: That semester I didn’t, but later semesters when I got A’s I did
me: was that any harder?

Peter: It is kind of just a distraction, one more thing to think about. My grades went down a bit that semester I was working on the PlayCroquet.com site because I spent my time doing that instead of studying, I think I let that consume more time than I should have though, since I could sit in front of the computer for hours playing around with websites
me: Right.
Peter: I still get distracted easily by that.

Thank you Peter for opening up so freely about how to succeed in college. Your study strategies, tips and aids are sure to help even the down and out college student.

If you’d like to have Peter as your own personal study buddy, forget it, he’s in law school and doesn’t have time, because he’s using the above mentioned study strategies. However, feel free to post any comments you may have for Peter here. And, if you’re looking for some help getting into college, remember Zinch.com is helping high school students stand out in the college admissions process . There college search feature is reason enough to join the Zinch revolution.

thoughts & musings of a would be king