Contrary to Popular Opinion

Why is it that when I mention my plans to attend BYU Idaho, people start shivering and spouting out warnings and reproofs about the evils of cold weather? I realize I'm in Arizona, but are we all that naive?
I happen to know several people attending BYU Idaho, and several other people living in that state who, to this point are still living and breathing.
I could more easily understand the "cold weather is the devil" attitude if I had announce intentions to hike the banks of the Snake River into the Canadian Rockies. But I didn't. I'm going to be attending school. Our church, in a bold attempt to keep up with the conveniences of the modern age, has furnished the buildings of their institutions with heating and cooling! I know, I found it hard to believe myself. Here I was, all ready to sit through class in a heavy coat -still trying to figure out how I was going to work my graphing calculator while wearing mittens.
Furthermore, for those who may have forgotten, I spent 2 years as a missionary in Southern Alberta (for those of you yankees who don't know, this is the Canadian province NORTH of Idaho and Montana). I braved 2 winters there and came back to tell the tale. You might consider this before you begin with the lecture on the dangers of frostbite.
I might add that missionaries are exposed to more cold than most -they proselite on the street and walk most places. As a student, I'm sure the faculty will allow me to remain indoors during my studies during the winter session.
Yes, I have an ample coat. Yes, I know how cold it can get. And yes, I'm going to be just fine.

...To the Nines

Here's a shot from Annie's reception (thanks to Jay for sharing his pictures). It was fun serving with Lindsay, Jay, and Tia.


The reception was beautiful -especially after the rain stopped.

A picture with the lovely bride and her new man!

Now I divulge a secret: I'm on a mission to get in shape -and stay that way. I always have great intentions, but never quite stick to good habits. (Remember the posting about no soda? Yeah. It's all connected) So I'm eating a lot less, avoiding the sugars, and drinking a lot of water.
The good thing is, I'm feeling great and I'm not feeling hungry. And I've been working out pretty regularly. I'm looking forward to having a fitness center to use at BYU-Idaho -and a pool. That makes me "super-duper excited".

My goal:

This may be the last post before I leave for Idaho, this Sunday at 3pm. So, with all the hassle of starting at a new school, who knows when I'll post again. Check back with us later.

What Once Was Lost,

In the past 3 months, I have moved three times. So, I guess it's reasonable to expect things to go missing during all the transporting. But there were a couple of things that turned up missing that just made me want to break down and sob like a pregnant woman watching Charlie: my newest Jack Johnson album, and a stack of 3 pairs of my American Eagle Jeans.
It's not like I can't live without these things, but they sure make life nice, and in the case of the jeans, modest. I had just arrived at the point of "oh, well. There goes more of my stuff lost to my stupidity and disorganization. Guess I'll just go buy some more to replace it" when, to my astonishment, the items were found!

I had left the jeans in a stack, neatly folded in the bedroom of the apartment I just moved out of, and I found the CD in the bag I normally use for schoolbooks. This was joyous news. I can now move forward without the nagging feeling of, "I wonder where I put...." and "where could it be?".
I know where my stuff is, and I'm gonna take care of it.
Did I mention I'm moving again at the end of this week?

Moving will be considerably less-stressful because of the amount of stuff I got rid of at the yard sale my sister and I had on Saturday. We made quite a bit -especially for having just thrown the stuff together sort of last-minute. With the stuff that didn't sale, I put a bit of it back into storage, and the rest went to the "First Step Workshop" thrift store. It feels so good to let go of all the stuff that's been with me for so long for no good reason.
I can now start fresh.

I Declare War

I've come to the conclusion that soda drinks are the syrup on Satan's pancake stack. They're evil! They taste so cool and refreshing -especially on a hot August day in Arizona's heat, but they never fail to sabotage my body's endurance levels. I can see it best when I try any sort of cardio work-out; I set out to really push myself, keeping a good pace to the end, and really work it. But despite my glimmering intentions, my "jog" turns into an "oh, my gosh" and then an "I'll just take a breather" and finally, a "walk".

I'm not altogether banning the stuff -I mean, what's Christmas dinner without a glass of Martinelli's? But I'm not going to let myself slide back into the habitual imbibing.

For those of you who disagree with my stance, I recommend the old BYU movie "Uncle Ben". It will teach you the evils of "the drink". Or was that alcohol...?

Let it be known that, from this day forward, I Steven Hansen will abstain from binge-drinking of all carbonated beverages.

I'm serious!

Monday, Monday...

I just came back from my trip to Lake Powell. It was good to see so many of my Flagstaff friends again before I head to Idaho. I'm certainly not going to miss living in Flagstaff. But I'm going to miss all the cool people there a lot.

I picked up my mail from my old apartment while I was in Flag. One of the letters was a photo-radar ticket. H!!!

Until now, I'd never been issued a ticket for anything ---a model citizen. So I guess the money the government gave me back for a tax return will now be returned to them to pay my fine. I do take satisfaction in one thing: it took a camera set up to catch me. They've still never caught me in person. In my defense, the speedometer in my car doesn't work anymore. I usually just go with the flow of the traffic and go along nice and easy. I think they got me at 59 in a 45 going downhill on the dang Beeline Highway in Star Valley wherever the heck that little dumpy place is. So be aware of the speed-trap if you're travelling that way. I never thought our government would stoop so low to get at our money. I should've known.

This week's main focus is this: the big Yard Sale.

This Saturday, 7am, at 8166 Porter Ave.

I'm getting rid of so much of the cool stuff I've acquired over the years. So if you're in Joseph City on that day, please come by!

The Daily Blah

It's one of those days when I don't really have anything to write about. So I'm just parking my fanny and writing about whatev. (I had a friend text me that once "whatev" and I haven't stopped using it since)
I went for a jog Monday evening -just as the sun was setting. I learned a very important lesson: mosquitoes are out in full force.
So once they started swarming me, it was too late to turn back. If I kept a fast pace, they would leave me alone. But if I ever slowed down to take a breather, they'd be on me! It was horrible! I wasn't jogging on my own terms anymore. I was running to escape the blood-suckers nipping at my heels! The crazy thing is, I was wearing repellant.
I haven't ran that hard for so long in years.
Today, I'm going shopping for storage bins. Isn't that exciting?
That about does it.

The Final Score

This should settle it. I've been putting off the final 20 in my list of things about me. It's hard for a guy to tell 100 things about himself. That's probably why some of mine are of the "I hate" and "It annoys me when" category. In my frantic scurry to fill in the 100 blanks, I'm gonna run into some negative stuff that might as well sit down right next to the "happy" and "I loves". That's the way it sits in my brain, it just looks uglier when it's laying in front of you. I think this is an easier task for ladies -especially mothers. Not only do they have their own cute attributes to talk about, but every sweet thing about their husband, and every cute thing about the rugrat(s). And it could just be the fact that girls, in general are more used to talking about themselves. Not that that's a bad thing. Guys just don't really tend to do it. For most guys, talking about personal stuff is almost as excruciatingly invasive as a visit to the Doctor.

Without any more intro, here's the list:


81) I lose sunglasses so often that when I lose a pair, I never even flinch -hardly ever even search for the lost pair. I just surrender to the notion that they have slipped off into the dimension of lost eyewear. Then once in a great while, a pair will show up again and surprise the heck out of me. My Aviators! They're my favorite! They fit so well, I should just call them my "Faviators".


82) I think there's something cozy about having a lot of clean towels in a big basket in the bathroom. Call me crazy ---but when I have a house of my own. . .


83) It's been so long since my last list of twenty, I don't know whether I'm repeating stuff. Oops.


84) I am blessed with awesome siblings -they're all amazing.


85) I do like a lot of hip-hop music.


86) I don't like much country music -though the right stuff is sure sweet.


87) I'm pretty good at impersonating voices -but don't ask me to do it for you.


88) I get excited for the seasons to change, every season, every time. It never fails. I sometimes want to hold on to summer a little longer, but then I think of Fall.


89) I've decided that All American Rejects are one of my top most favorite bands of all time ever. I can list to any of their stuff anytime. I'm starting to like Motion City Soundtrack the same way.


90) I've always wanted good solid abs . . .but how? I think I'll work on that this Fall.

91) I never used to watch much television, but my roommate Devin changed all that my last year at EAC. I'm now pretty much hooked on Prison Break, LOST, 24, House, and the new addiction, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment.

92) I love fish tacos. I never would've tried it, but my brother Mike talked me into it. The idea didn't appeal to me at all ---but one taste was enough. I was hooked ---line... sinker. . .

93) I wrote my first book when I was about 6 years old. It was made of memo-pad pages from an auto parts-supplier stapled together and written and illustrated with a BIC ballpoint. It was about Pink Panther going fishing and catching a shark. My Mom still has it somewhere.

94) I get amazed by clouds, probably more so than the average grown-up.

95) I'm leaving my car behind when I move to Idaho. As much as I love my car, I'm not sorry to be parking it for a few years.

96) I hate Instant Messaging. Oops! There's another one of the "I hates." Sorry.

97) I love cilantro. There. That's better. I really do love cilantro. I just made some fresh salsa last night, and Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. iQue rico!

98) My favorite recent Lacy words are:
"PETS-ah" (pizza)
"sweety" (the way she says it does the word justice)
"BAY-con" (I swear, she learned this from some old camp-cook out on the cattle trail. She says it with full western twang.)

99) Oh, look! I'm nearly done!

100) YEAH! I made it. Only a real man could do it. I learned something during the process -never commit to bloggin 100 points of anything unless somebody is paying you to do it.

And so I bid farewell to my days of being a slave to numbers, and drift back into the happy valley of my own style of blogging. They may not make creamy ranch dressing from fresh ingredients there, but at least they never talk about lists of 100.

Keeping my Word

I am posting a real post. I've got an hour, so here we go.
My travels have taken me all over Arizona and even into parts of Mexico. Rocky Point was a definite highlight.
My friend Anders was having his wedding reception on the 2nd in Ajo. Ajo is so small and isolated and so far south, that in planning the trip, the idea of making a day of it in Rocky Point emerged (MaryAnn, you genius). So we did it. Me, Tyler Clawson, MaryAnn Haws, and Katie Elliot piled into MaryAnn's car and left Mesa around 6:30am. At 10:30am we were in Rocky Point. We shopped around the marketplace, played at the beach, and had a blast.
We stopped at the "Super Val" in the actual town portion of Rocky Point, and bought some Mexican soda and fresh-made warm tortillas. The staff there didn't speak any English (as opposed to the street vendors down by the beach, who had it down pretty well) so I got to use my Spanish a bit. "Quiero doce tortillas por favor. No Puedo comprar solo doce?" And, "En dos bolsas, por favor." Then, at the checkout, "No puedo usar dolares Americano?" We managed just fine.

Here's a picture of mi amigo Carlos. He made me a bracelet with my name on it in under 5 minutes. I was impressed. I added the bracelet to my pile of souvenirs: $5 sunglasses and a Nacho Libre luchador mask (very cool).

So there's my very dry travelogue. Now I can feel better about having updated the blog.

I Promise

I'm not dead. I'm not even in a debilitated state in a hospital bed. I'm not in a reclusive "I don't wanna blog" state.
I have been travelling, working, recovering a bit, and studying geology in preparation for the upcoming semester.
In short, life has kept me away from the computer -as God intended us all to live, I'm sure.
So I have scads of blog-worthy material, corresponding pictures, every intention of blogging it all, and an unfortunate lack of opportunity.
The day will come, and I will share ot all. I promise. But today is not that day.
Please continue to hold.