The yoga babies project is now complete! Photos by me, audio by Anna. Make sure to hit the play button. Also make sure you don’t have a shotty brower like IE.

Meet Garfield, quite possibly the ugliest cat in Summit County… and maybe even the entire state of Utah.

Not satisfied with his ugliness? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Click here to see Garfield in all his glory.

Yesterday, Carolyn and I ventured off into the Uinta Mountains for some cross-country skiing. We got a late start, but we had plenty of time out and about. After an hour or so, we took a quick break to jump in the snow.

When we landed, we found ourselves shoulder-deep in it. After resuming skiing, we skied over water, and found a little shelter that we crawled into and I imitated Punxsutawney Phil. We also abused our cross-country skis by taking them downhill. It is very hard. We pretty much wiped out every time.

They say cross-country skiing burns around 500 calories an hour. If that’s the case, we probably burned nearly 2,000. So when we got home, we downed a midwestern meal of mozzarella sticks, beer, and ice cream, among other things (healthy living at its finest). I’m pretty sure we got those calories back.

Earlier today, local elementary students traveled to the county courthouse to partake in a mock trial and learn about the justice system. Snow White was on trial, accused by her wicked stepmother of trademark infringement for stealing the title of “fairest one of all.” Here, “prosecutor” Sully Tesch yells out a hearty “objection!” as county attorney David Brickey coaches him.

After the jury delivered a not guilty verdict, the 23 students in Ms. Westrop’s 5th grade class crammed into a holding cell… and the bailiff locked them in.

It’s been snowing now for about four days straight, and it’s about time. Not much is settling in town, but the mountains are getting puked on and I guess that’s the imporant thing. Just keep coming!

Last night, a gunman went on a shooting spree in a shopping mall two blocks from my last apartment, killing five people, and critically injuring many others. Hundreds more no doubt emotionally shot in the head after having witnessed the event. There were dead bodies scattered across the mall, people hiding in closets and bathrooms, and a teenager behind the gun opening fire on anyone he saw.

If you’d asked me how my day was, I’d have said the world was perfect yesterday. I don’t think life could have treated me any better. So while I was basking in the glory of my incredible day, others were huddling in fear, dodging bullets, and losing their loved ones. And that’s how life goes. An incredible day for me will always be a bad day for someone else. The worst day of someone’s life will always be the best day of someone else’s. Life’s a dance between the good and bad, tugging and turning in all directions. It’s unfortunate that tragedies happen all the time, but luckily great things do too. All you can do is know that nothing is ever expected - the good or the bad. And that’s what makes the good so good and the bad so bad.

Today is February 8th. It’s been ten years.

I always used to be conscious of the date, letting it ruin what might otherwise be a normal day. But a few years ago, I started finding myself at the end of February 8th realizing I had gone through the entire day without a single thought of it. And after I finish writing this, I’m sure this year will be no different. February 8th is finally just another day.

Rarely do you remember an event in its entirety. Usually we remember a feeling, a sight, maybe a sentence - which, when combined, form a semblance to a complete memory, though it is far from. Thinking back on the morning of February 8th, 1997, it’s as real as if I were living it right now. It’s the most complete memory I have. Unfortunately, it’s also the worst. I walk down the stairs, down the hall, to the back door. I let Huckleberry outside. I turn around and see my mom at the end of the hall, not crying, but she obviously had been. We sit down, and I’m convinced our eldest cat, Sassy, must have died. I try to comfort my mom. When she first mentions my dad, I assume one of his cats must have died. When it is made completely clear what has happened, I say no, and fall to the ground. The crying begins, and from that moment on, everything is black. I don’t remember anything from that day other than those two minutes.

It’s now been a decade, and before too long, I will pass the point where he will have been gone for most of my life. Even now, he’s such a distant memory, it’s nearly impossible for me to get sad thinking about it. The only thing that does it, that still manages to kill me, is my memory of those two minutes on February 8th - not the day it happened, but the day I found out.

Ten years ago, I never thought I’d get over it. I’d never have believed that as stupid and hard as life gets, it always manages to get amazing again. These days, it’s proven to me on a daily basis. As sad as it is, as he was, I’m glad it happened. My life would have taken a very different path had it not, which although I’m sure would be just as great (and probably better in a lot of ways), wouldn’t put me where I am now. And for what I have and who I am now, I wouldn’t trade anything… not even my dad.

These kids ordered some pizza after school, waited around for the incredibly late delivery driver, and thought they finally saw him here. But alas, it was not him, and he would not arrive for another 10 minutes.

Also, tons of new animals arrived at the shelter today. This is one of the many… a really, really cute one of the many.

They say foreign language skills are good skills to have, but I got sick of learning Chinese and German a long time ago. I was never very good at conjugating my verbs. Feeling like photography was my only job skill, I figured it a good time to revamp my language skills. But I’m not talking about Chinese or German. The ones I’m talking about are the languages spoken in the land of computers. A lot of people consider HTML and CSS to be Greek to them, but maybe we could drop the R and it’d be even more fitting. I’m revamping my Geek.

I’d call my HTML conversational, possibly proficient - sometimes in need of peeking in a language dictionary… Google. My CSS is ridiculously poor, and is mostly trial and error. And my java-script skills are about on par with counting to three in French. I’m also reviewing my Flash, which is so different than anything else, I think it must be a lot like learning sign language… or braille. We’re going to start doing audio slideshows at work, and I have to master my Flash skills. Some examples of what I’ve been putzing with are now located in the photos section of this website.

The way journalism is shifting online, this all seems pretty logical stuff to learn. Plus I like it most of the time. I try to minimize the time spent on it - maybe one coding session every few weeks, in order to not murder my brain. I did one tonight, and my brain is now so fried, it hurts just typing this.