Orionids

Watched the Orionids meteor shower last weekend with some friends.

California 2011

Here is a little video recap of my California trip this summer. Even if we didn't make it to Santa Cruz, Colin and James gave us the LA experience! We had a great time eating Korean Tacos, Bacon Wrapped hot dogs, we surfed, body boarded, went bike riding along the coast, saw the Tim Burton exhibit at LACMA, road roller coasters at Magic Mountain and much more. Every trip we take is unique so enjoy this little video.

Update-Orion in my lens

Update-Here is a stacked image of 2 photos I took of Orion. I just downloaded Gimp and the difference in color is amazing. I can't wait to see what more I can do.

I'm proud to show off this incredible photo of the Orion nebula that I took. This one is going on my wall.

NASA - NASA Announces Design for New Deep Space Exploration System

NASA - NASA Announces Design for New Deep Space Exploration System

The Man Who Stole the Show

I celebrated Freddies birthday on Monday by listening to Queen and posting a series of videos and pictures on facebook. There is not much I try to convert people to and music seems to be a little silly to take as seriously as religion and science. I don't think people know how important art is in their lives. The man who changed my devotion towards music did it all. It's weird that we have these devotions. Some people worship invisible Gods, or burry their heads in the lab, and others enjoy life through the fruits of their fellow human beings. In 1985 Freddie Mercury held the world in his hand for 20 minutes. Here is how Freddie got the worlds attention towards fighting aids.

First Photo of a Galaxy!!!

I am very proud of myself today. I stayed up late while camping in Joes Valley and was very determined to find a photograph the Andromeda galaxy. After paying close attention to star positions I found the faintest fuzz that I thought was a smudge on my telescope. I decided to piggyback my camera on my telescope and open the exposure and sure enough it was the Andromeda galaxy I saw. So I mounted my Camera to the view finder to get a closer look. This is what I got.

My Summer Summary

Too much has happened this summer for me to catch up in multiple posts. I have decided to pick out one photo per event that shows how busy I was and how much fun I had. My summer was great because of the people who I spent it with.


I visited and got to really know my last surviving grandparent


Krystal and I made and sold quite a few wands at Springville Art City Days


I volunteered my telescope for an astronomy festival in Bryce Canyon


I went tumbling with friends


I celebrated the final film in the Harry Potter stories


I hosted a few BBQ's to keep the summers real


Completed a few projects to keep the apartment comfortable


Made good use of my Dads paddle boards


Visiting James and Colin is always a high priority


We went down to Vegas for Mandi and Seths first competition together.

Brandon Flowers, Right Behind you

I found this gem on youtube this morning. He is still my favorite modern day song writer and I hope he continues to give me hope for real meaning in music.

Snow Canyon and Gunlock Reservoir

I found out that I had two days off of work in a row this week so Mandi and I decided to make the best of it. Although it would be raining in most of the parks in Utah, we found out the weather would be nice down in St. George. Most of the campsites were full in the area so we had to camp in an overflow group site in Snow Canyon. It rained a little bit in the day but we were still able to get a short hike in on the butterfly trail.
The next morning we woke up hoping to stay one more night in Snow Canyon but the overflow was booked by a group. So we headed 20 miles over to the gunlock campgrounds and found that there were tons of spots open. The park ranger from Snow said that Gunlock was very primitive camping. Give me a break. We had bathrooms near by, a fire pit and a picknick table. That's more than enough. The lake was pretty and the dam made for some great waterfalls on the red rock. We headed back over to Snow Canyon and did some more hiking during the day on the white rock and lava flows trails. Here are some photos from our trip.

Clark Planetarium

Mandi and I went up to the Clark Planetarium over the weekend and had a chance to watch the Hubble 3D movie. Pretty inspiring. We walked around and looked at all of the exhibits and went out for ice cream. Here are some photos. Enjoy!