Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Sidewalks and Streetlights


I am from a very small town. Very small. 500 People, give or take. Let me give you a little taste of what I am talking about. I just completed the trek from "The city that never sleeps" (Provo) to Cowley "The city that has more Simmons and Godfreys than it does Gas Stations.". This summer, I returned home to Cowley for a little under 2 months and worked in a Bentonite mine (for more information about bentonite, check out http://www.cetco.com/). During the time that I spent here, the main street in town was completely torn up. They had heavy road construction going on for months. I forgot about this, and expected to see Cowley as I had always known and loved it when I pulled in late last night.

What I saw took my breath away.

To get to my house, you simply take your very first left as you come into town, and we are the first house on the right, after you go past the lumberyard. However, I was so enraptured in the beauty of the new additions to my town, that I drove the entire main street just enjoyed how nice everything looked. Granted, Main street goes on for less than a mile, but still I enjoyed every second.

It took me almost to the very end of the town to figure out why everything looked so good. Not only did we have a new beautifully paved highway, but I also noticed that for the first time, we had sidewalks and streetlights the entire length of Main Street. Imagine that! A sidewalk right by my house, and classy streetlights to boot!

Home will never quite be the same.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Yeehaw!!!

One day Jory had to transcribe some fiddle music for a class (or something like that). His homework is so much easier than mine. He just has to watch YouTube clips of musicians all day. In his defense, he actually has to study music, so I guess it's all right. Anyway, he said, "Tyler, come in here." I went. He showed me a video of some guys playing this song. Then we just played it. Random. Cool.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

I scream...you scream...Tyler screams for ice cream!


This last Saturday night was a night of revisiting and creating old and new memories for me. Tyler and I were naturally hungry (we being men, and surely hadn't eaten anything for over an hour), and we set off to see what the city that never sleeps had to offer (it being only 8:00) by way of gluttony. Our destination: A little place called Doc's Pizza.

Doc's Pizza is a little place off of University Parkway in Orem. It is remarkably similar to another popular pizza buffet chain that I am fairly well acquainted with called CiCi's pizza that we frequently dined at on my mission in Tulsa Oklahoma. I have heard rumors that there is one, or there are plans for one in Utah.

A lot has changed since I last ate there. Back in the glory days (as a freshman before my mission) we frequented the buffet for its incredibly reasonably prices. $4 per adult! It was almost too good to be true! We probably spent more on pizza than we did on tuition, and even more on gym memberships to counteract the effects of the pizza. Not much has changed in that department, besides the fact that tuition has gone up. Luckily, so has the price of the pizza. Would you believe me if I said that the current price is $6? Granted, that does include salad, bottomless soda, and ice cream...

...segue...

We finish our meal-It was great, by the way, that hasn't changed. They do charge you a dollar now if you leave any food on your plate at the end, which is definitely ghetto. It makes sense though, as a freshman we used to go in and pile all of our crusts on a napkin in the middle of the table, and we would leave with an enormous pile of crusts spilling all over the booth, so I guess I can't complain too much... Anyway, we finish our meal, and Tyler says: "Are you going to get more pizza, or what"? To which I replied: "Nah, lets get some ice cream".

"No thanks" said Tyler, while Doc's breathed a collective sigh of relief. "I don't really feel like ice cream". "Pffffft. What do you mean you don't feel like ice cream"? I countered. "its free"!

Long story short, I of course prevail and Tyler saunters back over to the table with a tall ice cream cone in one hand, and an empty cone in the other". "I really like cones" he said.

As it turns out, thats not all that he liked.

Over the next 15 minutes, my friend who "didn't feel like ice cream" returned not once, but four times to the ice cream machine.

We may or may not be welcome back.