The Exodus; Day 1, 11/19/08.

Late Wednesday morning, Cambra and I began out trek around the western states. It was bound to be our shortest, most familiar leg of our journey and went without, too much, struggle. I forgot my Camera didn't have batteries so this post won't have any pics, unlike the others to come.

As usual, this trip Eastbound on I-84 was going flawless until the hurdle known as cabbage hill between LaGrande and Pendelton, Oregon. The clouds looked ferocious and intimidating, which was strange considering the blue skies that we'd had all week; considering my luck, however, it seemed fitting. To our pleasant surprise it wasn't snowing... it was dense fog. The peacefully white wall allowed us to have visibility between 20-60 feet of visibility from the moment we started the incline all the way up to Deadman's Pass. Since this was a pass I'd been going on since I was a kid it wasn't too frightening but definitely a new experience.

After the mountain pass we made our arrival to Caldwell, Idaho without a hitch. We set-up shop there for the night and enjoyed stayed up late listening to family stories, stand up comedy and playing FIFA on Xbox 360, which I'm horrible at by the way. Our night in Caldwell was a great de-stresser and relaxing especially considering the next leg of our trip which led us to the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.

WINNER!

I know it's a bit late, but here's my "gloating" post. History was made two days ago, the first Black president was elected by a landslide victory over a literal American hero. I've heard many reasons for this happening; the race factor, the Bush factor (the failing economy is included in this). The most overlooked yet most accurate is that Barack Obama was the better choice.*

Months ago, after the candidates were chosen for both major parties I took it upon myself to research them independently. The following are some of the reasons that led me to vote for Barack Obama, contrary to the assumption of upset conservatives who think I'm a brainwashed idiot who has no political prowess and just follows the hype;

• Redirecting tax breaks to the middle class - When I vote, I tend to remember America as a representative democracy and it is our duty to vote for the person who represents us the most. As someone who doesn't have a net worth of a million dollars, I voted for the one candidate who has a goal (remember, these are politicians and there are no magic wands or for sure things)to help out my demographic; the poor college kid who is choosing a career that will cement his place in the lower middle class, below the national average for income. REMEMBER, This may not work; however, I'm more willing to put a man in the white house who will try to help my demographic instead of one who will keep the same faulty tax breaks that save the middle class pennies while the rich save millions.
• Proponent of Americans With Disability Act - This was a plus to me. When I did my research, Barack Obama was the only candidate of the two major parties that mentioned anything regarding disabled Americans. It was only until after Sarah Palin joined the McCain campaign that this became a footnote on their titanic voyage to the white house. That being said, I was very glad to see that Sarah Palin, who couldn't be more different from me ideologically, drew a lot of interest into the political process from disabled Americans, a definite positive result of her presence.
• Energy - I believe strongly that the transition to green energy is the pass into the club of elite countries and Barack Obama shares this vision. Of course, unlike John McCain, Obama wasn't going to rely on potentially hazardous energy sources such as Nuclear Power, although he may not rule it out, and destroy natural environments for Oil just in case the renewable energy thing didn't work out.
• Iraq - I disagreed with the war in 2003. I still disagree with it today because it ushered in a scary era in American foreign policy which is based on unilateral warfare on soveirgn nations. I strongly believe that a timetable is needed for troop withdrawals from Iraq so we can focus our resources on credible threats to our nation's safety. Barack Obama agreed.
• ABORTION - I don't buy into the fear mongering of talk radio hosts who tout Barack Obama as a man who will systematically abort every fetus he sees. I understand that he voted against a ban on abortion. Obama did so to ensure the right to life of women considering that was at stake in the same "gotcha" bill. To call Barack Obama a baby killing candidate would be similar to calling any one who voted "yes" on the same bill a woman killer. It's decisive, partisan hardball that is meant to scare you into voting for crappy candidates.
• Shallow Stuff - He is a good speaker, he is intelligent and he seems down to earth. I also like the idea that he spent time as a community organizer in low income neighborhoods, although some see this as a downside, after graduating from the ivy league with a law degree. That alone shows that he naturally had a different set of priorities than typical politicians. But, this doesn't really matter in terms of politics, that's why it's in the "shallow stuff" part.

I could go on but this is already too long. There are many more reasons why I voted for him and, judging by the sheer size of his victory, there are many who feel the same as myself. But here is a very important warning to all who voted as I did. It is our civic duty to remember that politics isn't something you take part in every four years. It is our job as Americans to make sure that this representative remembers his priorities and remembers those who put him there. We need to stay aware and involved in the political process throughout the years so when the next election comes we can decide whether or not there needs to be another representative to take his seat.

Ending my long shpeel, I've embedded his acceptance speech just in case you missed it. I'd also like to ask all my readers to remember who you are, a vital part in a democratic society, and how much of a blessing it is that you're able to live in a country where authority can switch from one leader to another peacefully.

* as a matter of personal opinion.

UPDATE-DIZZLE!!!

Since my last update I have:

• Fallen in love with Organic Fruit Leather.
• Eaten Thai Food out of a trailer.
• Voted for Barack Obama.
• Read Ron Paul's The Revolution: A Manifesto and realized he isn't that cool.
• Thought of every possible Christmas present that would come my way and still can't conclude what Cambra has planned.
• Laughed at Matt's suggestive banana costume on Halloween.
• Re-Discovered NPR.
• Found my CD case filled with old demos of bands Misled Mayhem played with.
• Lost my IPOD.
• Started painting again only to abruptly get bored with it and return to sculpting.
• Laughed at this video as well as this one.
• Ate cotton candy.
• Discovered I mention food a lot when I blog.
• Started reading 1776 and decided it's awesome 90 pages in.
• Continued my loathing of Internet classes, especially those that are science related.

So I Don't Pay Tithing On My Tips From Stripping?

When I read the following article I was suprised to find that it wasn't our church denying to accept the tithe of a lottery winner, it just goes to show that giving money earned through non-christian acts to a christian church is looked down upon among most denominations.
Click on the link for the First Coast News report.

I promised I'd share silly things again.

Buyer Beware: University Courtyard, Rexburg Idaho

I've debated quite a bit on whether or not to post this but I decided it'd be important to make a post for prospective renters to find when researching Rexburg housing. This is my first serious post on this blog I believe, I apologize to my readers I'll return to posting crappy satire and videos of Kerri Strugg soon.

Rating: 1 out of 10; the reason this apartment complex receives a one is simply due to it's location across the street from the BYU-Idaho campus and it's newer condition. All other factors of this complex are negative and shows that the owner has one thing in mind; take money from the married Mormon college kids who have limited choices in terms of housing.

Why you shouldn't give this apartment complex your money:

1. Unethical business practices; in order to maximize their profit margin they have a revolving door of tenants that allows them to make substantial profits off of the $300 deposit each new tenant has to provide. They achieve this revolving door by requiring a 90 day notice to renew the lease and since these leases correspond with the terms of BYU-Idaho a tenant needs to make a decision to renew one month after living there before they sell your apartment to a new group of tenants. One could sum up their procedures as putting new tenants, who will need to pay the extra deposit, ahead of the current tenants on the priority list; where as all other apartment complexes in Rexburg, or in the galaxy for that matter, do it the opposite way.

2: Bad management; the managers, though amazingly nice people, are no help and do not have your best intentions in mind. Beware, if you're still silly enough to try this place, the Internet the managers want to sell for you is as slow as a dial-up modem and works 45% of the time. Not to mention, the managers will want you to put down one of those lucrative deposits on their Internet as well; there is no plausible reason for a deposit on Internet, perhaps they need to clean the internet's carpet as well.

3: High Rent: The rent for what you get at University Courtyard is preposterous. When we were there we had to pay $520 a month for what appeared to be a hallway with a kitchen and bathroom in the middle. Don't think it's the market, you can get two bedrooms in Rexburg for that price, in fact other Rexburg complexes with the same layout as Univervisty Courtyard go for around $375 a month and put their tenants first.

4: They will break the law in order to make money; this fact is probably the most disturbing of them all, although I'm truly at fault for actually being naive enough to think that these land-lords in BYUtopia would act as humans and not businessmen.

In our situation the owner denied us the ability to renew our lease even though we had a legal contractual agreement that said we could; for those of you who read reason number one you'd know why. In our lease there was a discrepancy on days to renew our lease, the first page stated 90 days but the inner-pages stated 60, and we asked to have our lease renewed before the deadline of 60 days which resulted in us being put on a wait list for our own apartment that had been sold to new tenants. This act was illegal. In terms of law, if there is a flaw in the contract that flaw goes against the contractor when being interpreted; thus meaning we legally had the right to renew our contract.

Of course, when I brought up this concern up to the manager personally he stated there are usually people in my wife and I's circumstance every time the leasing period ends. Which showed me that they've put forth effort to create this revolving door of tenants and also that they don't fear any legal action considering the tenants they exploit are college students who are in debt to their eyeballs thanks to tuition.

In conclusion; if you have any choice between University Courtyard and any other apartment, choose the other apartment. It is a sincere hope that Brigham Young University Idaho takes a hard look at the housing situation for married students, especially in regards to regulating them, because if they don't this could put a wrench in the gears of the growth machine we've been seeing since the school became a 4 year university. Feel free to comment and add your horror story or call me a complete and utter moron.

Related Links:
University Courtyards Official Website
Better Business Bureau - If you were treated in a similar fashion, report them.
BYU-Idaho's Community Housing Page - Encourage the University to regulate married housing to prevent the exploitation of their students.

Oregon Lured Us Back

It didn't take long for Oregon to lure us back; Cambra and I have decided to move back to the land of fertile lands and large rivers to continue our schooling. Rexburg isn't a bad place at all; Oregon is just better. The main factors that allowed us to come to the decision to downgrade schools were cost of schooling, scenery (potato farms and deserts got nothing on cherries and Mt. Hood) and last but not least my freedom to wear shorts and grow facial hair; take that honor code.

It hasn't taken us long to re-socialize to the Oregon lifestyle, we've already attended Saturday Market in Portland, climbed Multnomah Falls, had two separate tie-dye parties, got jobs working on one of the local fruit-lines and vowed to make the leap to organic food when we make our "for-reals" move. After proof reading that list I want to kick my own butt for sounding lame. Anyway, here are some pictures from our adventures back in the greatest state in the union.

From the Bridge looking up
The Columbia River on the way up
Multnomah Falls Lite
Top of Multnomah Falls

Do You Remember....

When this happened?



I sure do! This past weekend has given me a chance to really look back on America's great moments and of course the American hero Kerri Strug came to mind. Nevermind the rebel philosophers that decided on the final draft of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, were they battling a broken ankle? I think not.

I hope you still get goosebumps from this video; if not, you're un-American.

I'm Ready For Vacation

I should be studying, taking a quiz and/or doing my reading for religion. That would be possible, if I wasn't Mike. I would be a horrible marathon runner, in terms of my academia I come out of the gates on fire and then meander my way across the finish line. With that personal confession out of the way you can understand that I am ready for a break now that we have one last full week of class before finals. My cynicism has increased dramatically.

The glamour of being in a four year school has vanished, I am now beginning to notice a bit more the annoying idiosyncrasies that exist among people -- I'm not all high and mighty, I know the fact that I mention it makes me guilty as well -- and it's really making me scoff on a regular basis. Let me explain.

In high school, there was approximately 10-15 people I didn't like out of a school of 400. I believe on all levels of education there is a consistent number of annoying people. If I then take the 1:40 ratio and apply it to 11,000 at BYU-Idaho for summer semester that means there are approximately 275 people on campus that possess annoying traits in my cynical eyes.

Did I mention I'm ready for a vacation?

Bright side, things aren't bad in any sense. I am enjoying my time here at the university and am meeting some awesome friends. That shouldn't be too suprising considering I find 10,725 people to be pleasant.