Day 3... finally

So, here's the last day of my travels to Columbus, OH... late, but better late than never, right? Tom and Angie apparently have a LOT of jerky, so this was a nice snack along the way:


I went right through the city of Indianapolis, and found this bridge:


While gassing up in Indianapolis, I wondered what that vacillating noise was... turns out there's a racetrack right in the middle of the city... I wonder if that inspired the gas station's name:


Welcome to OHIO!!



Driving with the windows rolled down:


Hilliard... *sniff... my home of 6 weeks:


Burke and McKay:

Three Firsts

#1 - FIRST SINGLE ROOMATE IN COLUMBUS:

Today I am moving out of Burke and Julia's and in with Curtis Hebdon. Curtis and I were in the same ward (The Colony) at BYU for about a year and a half. It was a surprise to see him my first Sunday at church several weeks ago... turns out he's starting his first year of dental school here at The OSU. He's been selectively searching for a roomate to help subsidize his mortgage payment (his dad bought him a town home here), and it looks like I was a good candidate. So here you are... my first single roomate here in Ohio:

(btw, he was Buddy the Elf for Halloween this year)

#2 - FIRST FULL SELF-HAIRCUT:

My first haircut in Ohio cost me $20. It was nice, they even shampooed my hair and everything. But say I learned to cut my own hair and instead deposited $20 each month into a retirement account (IRA, etc) invested in a good growth stock mutual fund (S&P 500, etc) for the next 40 years (until I was 65). Assuming I earn a conservative 8% return, compounded monthly, I would have SAVED (40 yrs)x(12 months)x($20 per month) = $9,600 in haircuts and EARNED $60,686 in interest for a total of $70,286!!! So take a look at my little money maker and tell me what you think. Is it $70K worth looking like this?:


#3 - FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH EXPERIENCE

Rebekka, a new friend from the ward, invited me to the semi-annual "Choral Evensong" event at a the Trinity Lutheran Seminary. It was really cool. Their ~200 capacity chapel was filled with people, was dimly lit, and had a tall, narrowing wooden ceiling, allowing for great acoustics. I wanted to find a picture of the inside of the chapel, but this was the only picture I could find of the place:


The program started with a 30 minute prelude with piano, oboe, organ, and cello soloists each performing works by Chopin, Bach, and some other old guys. Then we all sang hymns together (standing) with organ and orchestra. This also included a few scriptural readings and response singings (where the minister would sing/chant a line and we would sing/chant a response)

Then the choir and orchestra performed Hayden's Mass in D Minor (Nelson's Mass). I really enjoyed the music, but it was also interesting for me because I knew most of the words from singing random mass songs in children's choir (Kyrie, Gloria, Qui Tollis, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, Dona Nobis Pacem). The actual mass portion of the event lasted about an hour and included 4 talented soloists that sang together with the choir, or separately on occasion. The soprano soloist was my favorite.

After the choral presentation of Hayden's mass, the minister said a prayer and we did a few more response singings, then ended with a strong hymn called "Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart!" THAT one was my favorite. It was musically powerful by itself, but when you throw on an organ and full orchestra, wow! Not used to singing hymns like that in church.

The last line of the program stated "The greeting of peace may be shared by all", which apparently means that when the minister invited us to do so, we all turned to our neighbors, shook hands, and said "Peace be with you". I'm not sure I put the emphasis on the right syllable, but tried to do my best, as these were foreign words to me.

Overall, it was a great experience. Really cool. Now I'm looking for a really awesome gospel/black choir church to attend some time. :)

Promise

A couple of weeks ago I took these pics thinking of my wonderful family. So here they are... just as I promised:




Also, here's a video to give you an idea of my "living space". I start in my room and end up in Burke and Julia's room. For the most part it's boring, so don't watch it too many times.

Angry

This is how angry you all should be that I haven't blogged for so long:


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Day 2

Well, I didn't have time to post a blog for day 2 of my little road trip, so here's some highlights... I've decided that the blogspot video upload thingy is really lame, so I've created a YouTube account (search for my user name "wilsonkyled" and you can see all my videos) so I can simply embed some of my videos to my blog.

Day 2

So I realized the first day that my iPod battery was drained, and the charger was packed somewhere... so I've been surviving by finding random radio stations, and by listening to CDs like this one:

And by singing to songs like this one. Can anyone guess the name of the group?


For Brett... oops!

Some Highlights:

Cool Train

Mountain in Nebraska


Platte River Overpass

More Cool Clouds

So I saw a TON of corn fields all the way across Nebraska and through Illinois. But I saw this other beautiful "Mystery Gold Crop", as I labeled it, and spent many hours wondering what it might be. I FINALLY figured it out on Day 3, but can any of you tell what it is?

So, I was trying to make it from Cheyenne all the way to Omaha, NE to gas up, but I didn't check the gas until I was 70 miles away...


This is how low the tank was as I was pulling up into the gas station...

While driving, I found out from Rob that Tom and his wife, Angie, live in Iowa City. A couple of calls later and my motel search was over. Tom just graduated from medical school in Chicago and moved to Iowa 3 months ago to start his residency in Pathology. He and Angie were so nice, and they have a cute little 2 yr old daughter named Madelyn (Maddie for short). They took very good care of me and made sure I was at home.

In the morning I took these pictures of Tom & Angie's new home and the North Liberty (near Iowa City) water tower.

There seem to be a lot of these the further I go east...

Cheyenne

Well, I'm doing just dandy 456 miles and 6 hrs into my road trip from Utah to Ohio. So far it's been a blast! Okay, well it's mostly been incredibly boring... but that's why we have blogs, right? To make our lives appear more exciting than they really are.

I present to you My Journey from "Bubble" to "Real World". Hope you enjoy...

I HATE packing...

Leaving Utah... *sniff*

Most of Wyoming's landscape was pretty much like Utah (boring) with two exceptions:

Windmills

Clouds


My car leaking fluid in the middle of nowhere...

When I got to Cheyenne I had to find a place to stay the night. I've seen Dad do this before, so I figured it wouldn't be that bad. I started investigating motels asking prices and amenities... I stumbled across two types of motels. Guess which one I picked?

#1
#2

After #2 told me the price was $89/night, I told her I would be back after checking out other places. She quickly offered me $75/night. I told her that was very nice and that I would still check the other places, but would probably come back. She then lowered it to $69 for the night if I stayed, so I asked to see the room:

I said "Let's do it!" :) They even had a fitness room upstairs, so I ran a mile before going to dinner. I'm proud to say that I ran the mile in 7 1/2 minutes. Probably leftover fitness from my extremely successful 10 K Freedom Run (refer to previous blog entries).

Promo Pics

Less than two weeks before the show, and we are already running the show top to bottom during rehearsals. We are very on track with an amazing cast and an anal retentive choreographer. This means that the show is going to be amazing!!!

We anticipate that it's going to be quite crowded, and tickets are already on sale, so get your tickets soon. You can get them here.

See the promo pics and blurb:



Welcome to fabulous Egypt…Viva Las Vegas style...as the Biblical saga of Joseph and his coat of many colors comes to neon life with Canaan “a little bit country” and Egypt “a little bit rock ‘n roll!” This high-rolling interpretation of the popular classic has narrators reminiscent of The Supremes, Potiphar as a 1930’s gangster, some Cirque de Soleil performers and much more fun, as Joseph, his father's favorite son, is sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and taken to Egypt, where he rises to second in command. His brothers unknowingly find themselves groveling at the feet of the brother they betrayed, leading to a heartfelt reconciliation of the sons of Israel. Set to an unforgettable mix of musical styles, from country and calypso to pop and rock 'n roll - along with the Pharoah riotously depicted as 1970’s Elvis - this Old Testament tale keeps the heart but adds some family-friendly Vegas humour for a big winner of a show that’s pretty close to perfection! Directed by Jeremy Showgren. Choreography by Shawn Mortensen.

Look What I Won!!!

Isn't it great?!?

My very first running award!!! Here's the email they sent me...

=============

Hello Kyle,

It appears that you finished in position 2 of the Male 20 to 24 age group of the 10K. If you haven't already picked up your award, we welcome you to do so at are at the Freedom Festival Office. It is located.....

..... Given the bulk of the crystals used as awards, we are unable to mail them to you. We will keep them on hand for the next two weeks. If you are out of town, we encourage you to have a friend or family member get the award for you.

All the best,

Scott and Craig

=============

Of course, I let them know that I didn't really deserve the award because of my late start and lack of completing the actual 10K. Still, I am very flattered. Though I must say that I am unimpressed with the fact that they sent me a picture of the 3rd place award, and not my rightful 2nd place award. How do I know if it's worth picking up if I don't even know what it looks like?

From the Horse's Mouth

Before you hear it from anyone else... here's how it went down. If the details start boring you, skip to the last three paragraphs titled "SUMMARY".

I decided to stay up late with some friends that were camping out on University Avenue for the 4th of July parade. It was games, food, fun, etc... I got into bed at around 2 am (hey at least I didn't pull an all-nighter like my friends), and set my alarm for the 7 am 10K run.

I didn't hear my alarm go off at 6:15 (and every 10 minutes after that -- snooze feature), nor did I hear Callie call me at 6:37 am to see where I was.

Luckily my body naturally woke me up at 7:09 am. My heart sunk. I got myself over to Kiwanis Park as quickly as I could and started running at the 10K start line. I didn't get my mark for starting time because they had already moved the electronic pad, so I knew my time was already botched. I thought I could at least finish the race for my own sake. Fortunately I had seen the route on the internet and knew where to go (generally).

Pretty soon I met hundreds of 5K runners going the opposite direction. Some of their comments indicated that they thought I had already finished the race and was going backwards for fun. I found a couple of people that I knew who said hello. If the fact that I wasn't going the same direction as the 5K-ers wasn't obvious enough, I finally reached Center Street and confirmed the true direction for the 10K (I saw a 10K runner going toward Seven Peaks).

At this point I decided to NOT run the rest of the 10K backwards (meaning my friends on University Avenue would be looking for me in vain), so I turned around and headed toward the finish line. Before I reached Kiwanis Park again, I decided to turn around and look for Callie. After 1 or 2 laps going up and down 9th East, I found her and yelled out to her, but she didn't hear me as she was listening to an iPod.

I ran a half a block more, then turned around to catch up to her. When she saw me, you should have seen her face. I caught her walking, and she immediately started running again. We ran the last half-mile together and this time I actually crossed the finish line. Some people realized I was a 10K runner by my number and shouted out praises for finishing so quickly (...oops).

I learned later that Callie wondered if I had actually caught up to her, and I'd like to think that this inspired her to run faster at the end of the race. This, of course, is far from the truth. I would have had to run a 4-minute mile to be able to catch her, twice my current pace.

SUMMARY:
I didn't wake up on time and started running 22 minutes late, ran BACKWARDS, DIDN'T run past my friends on University Avenue, FALSELY inspired Callie and other runners, ran only 2 miles of the total 6.4 miles, STILL got the shirt, water bottle, and fruit at the end (YES!).

Having run only one-third of the race, I consider myself only a partial failure. The only good thing that came of starting late was being able to run with Callie the last little bit and past the finish line. I am so proud of her! I don't have her exact time, but she finished in about 35 minutes. VERY good for your first 5K!

I heard there's another 5K next Saturday somewhere nearby that is free. I feel obligated to run it, and I think Callie might do it with me as well, so we'll see.

Freedom Run

After completing my first running event last August (Hobble Creek Half Marathon), I thought my running days were over... Based off of my exercising habits, you would have thought the same. Several weeks ago, however, I was feeling very spontaneous and had a sudden urge to join this year's Freedom Run on the 4th of July, and started training for the 10K. While I am not as fit as I was during the half marathon, I have surprised myself at how quickly I am still able to run.

I got Callie on board for support (she's doing the 5K), and so here I am announcing my second running event ever, the Provo Freedom Run!




Click the picture if you'd like to join us in the running fun... it's not too late. You can do a 10K, a 5K or a 1-mile run.

Education Week

I just found out tonight that we are performing Joseph at the De Jong Concert Hall at BYU for Education week, so you can see me there Aug 18 - 21st if you want as well. Tickets go on sale June 29th. More info click here.

Fuzzy Face

Why am I trying to grow a goatee??

Reason #1: No more BYU!


This means no more more Honor Code :) -- don't worry Mom and Dad, I won't break the Law of Chastity or anything. I am officially DONE with all my classes at BYU. I have applied for graduation (August), but I don't know yet if I'm going to "walk"... I'm not one for paying $40+ just to wear some thin robes I don't get to keep and stand in a long line. Maybe I'll regret it some day. Who knows?

So what am I doing with all my newfound free time?!? This leads to reason #2 for my new grooming habits: I am doing my second theatrical show ever!


I have been cast as Dan in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Our choreographer has us doing the most intense dance moves... I think I've lost 5 pounds in the last 2 weeks. In addition to the health benefits, I am having a BLAST! Theater has proven to provide a release for all the "special" energy that I tend to have on occasion.

The show runs at the Scera Shell Theater July 31 - August 15th.
Click here if you'd like to come and see me make a fool of myself.

Candace

Candace and I had our first date in March 2008. It was the best first date I have ever had. Conversation was excellent, laughter was abundant, and everything was very relaxed. We had Border's hot chocolate and walked around having random conversations about books that we saw, etc...

Q: So why did it take 1 year to have the second date?!?
A: I'm a dating idiot :). Really at the time I wasn't very focused on dating, and my priorities were not set as they should have been.

Repentant of my past, here I am 2 months into an amazing relationship, and we are taking the concept of long-distance to the extreme. Here she is in Egypt:

Though we only dated 1 month before she left for the Jerusalem Center, it has been very difficult to be without her. We communicate by phone, gchat, and gmail.

I have never found anyone who I have felt so comfortable around, who complements me so well, nor who inspires me to become my best self more than Candace. I am so lucky to have met her.