Goblin Valley

I feel one of the most unknown places in Utah is Goblin Valley. I think its safe to say that very few people have gone there. This is good for us in that each time we have gone the past three years, rarely do we run into any other people while exploring. So please do not share this secret jewel of Utah. This is an amazing place that my family has visited since I was a little boy. It was always one of my favorite places to go and play in between the goblins. It is so much fun to take my family back there and watch them enjoy goblin valley.

View of the goblins.

Small cave we found exploring.

Kids playing on the goblins.

Goblin Valley campground.

We hiked up Little Wild Horse Canyon. We hiked about 2 and a half miles round trip and the kids did great. I love this picture where you can barely see Isaak.

I love hiking slot canyons... They always amaze me.

In this picture you can see a log lodged in the canyon wall. This was the water level when a flash flood came down the canyon.

Youtube Friday.. one billion cajillion faffilion shafadabalooooilion...

one billion cajillion faffilion shafadabalooooilion... yen!

I am still not sure what to think about the possible 700 Billion dollar bail out that our government is planning.. There was such a push to get it done quickly. I am glad that has not happened. Better to get it right than to get it done quick.

I see our economy sinking fast without the bail out and with it more of a soft landing.

I tried wraping my tiny little brain around the immensity of 700 Billion dollars..

Consider this:

One million (1,000,000) seconds ago was about 12 days ago.

One billion (1,000,000,000) seconds ago was about 32 years ago, January 5, 1977. Jimmy Carter was two weeks out from his inaugural and the Reagan Revolution — that led to financial industry deregulation and distrust in the government that is now coming to the rescue of Wall Street — had yet to materialize.

700 billion (700,000,000,000) seconds ago was 22,197 years ago.

Hey Mr. paulson... When you get your checkbook with $700 billion in it, I know where you can get a steal of a deal on a struggling company.   Utah Soft water can be purchased for only $500,000. 

Yearbook Yourself

Janie and I have been playing with yearbookyourself.
Just upload a photo of yourself and it will take you through what your yearbook pictures would look like every couple years starting in 1950 and ending in 2000.


1956


1968


1970


1974


1976


1980


1988


1994

The funniest part is that I graduated in 1989 and I have a picture identical to the one they displayed in 1988. Janie's looked also identical of her school picture in 1993.

Modern day segregation

Every so often I like to go to the school and eat lunch with the girls. Last week I went to Abbys school to eat lunch with her. Off in the corner is a special table... A table for peanut intolerant kids. Apparently there is a huge problem with this these days. When we went to Jacies back to school night, all the parents were sitting in the classroom meeting the teacher and the teacher asked "who in here has children that are allergic to peanuts"? Half of the parents raised their hands and others named off other nuts that their kids could not eat. What is it with kids these days. I remember hearing about these "peanut allergies" about 10 years ago and just laughed. Really? allergic to peanuts?? wussy kids. It seems to me that we go to the extreme to vaccinate our kids these days and keep them from the evils of all diseases.. I think we are making their immune system think that it doesn't need to fight anything anymore.

While I was sitting there eating lunch I had this vision of one of the kids getting up, grabbing his lunch, looking at the other kids as they shake their head no to him and he walks over to a peanut eating table and sits down... He turns back to take a quick look at his fellow peanut intolerant classmates and proceeds to eat his lunch.. thus breaking the segregation that he was forced into.

Either that or hand Abby and her friends a hand full of peanuts and tell them to lob them towards their table.. Just kidding. That will happen in high school.

Patriot Day

What more is there to say about Patriot Day?  We all know the events that happened that day. We all know the feelings associated with that day.  Each year we get to remember this day the events.  It is also a day that we get to talk to the kids and try to explain what happened that day 7 years ago.  

For the past 3 years we have gone to the Healing Field in Sandy.  Sandy City sets up flags along a large grass area that represents each person lost in the attacks. In the past they had a name and short paragraph about the person the flag represents.  Its truly amazing each time we visit and walk through the fields.  They host a small program and the military are out there talking to people and handing out flags and pins to people.  Visiting the Healing Field has a somber yet patriotic feeling.  The flags will be left up through the 15th.   If you get a chance, stop by and take a walk through the fields. 

The days following the attacks was interesting.  Constant news on the attacks and buildings falling.  After a couple of days of constant news reports, I became sick of the reporters and tired or drained from it all.  There were two surprise reports of the days following September 11th that really affected me.  Those two surprises were from John Stewart of the Daily Show and David Letterman.  

John Stewart Post 9/11

David Letterman Post 9/11

Youtube Friday

The classic Kristin Wig
(NBC videos take a minute to load)

New Orleans Levee System

In August of 2005, Tropical Storm Katrina hit New Orleans head on and devastated the area by flooding the entire city.  The nation was on high alert this past week when tropical storm Gustauv headed straight towards New Orleans.   I feel horrible for the people that live in this area mostly for how the government, namely FEMA handled the situation after Katrina hit.  It seems as though not much has been done to help the people of New Orleans rebuild in the past 3 years.  All are relieved to see that the levee system did its job and held back the storm surges that came with Gustauv.  

Tonight I started wondering about the levee system surrounding New Orleans.  I only know a couple of things about New Orleans with the first being that 70% of the town is built below sea level.  So I started thinking "there must be a pretty impressive levee system built that holds back water to protect one of the most well known cities in the U.S.".  With a bit of searching this is what I found.

I started with this basic illustration of how New Orleans is protected....  Parts of the city are 10 feet below sea level.  There are two levee systems that protect the city.

I was then curious what the walls looked like up close.   

17 foot, cement walls protect this entire city from flooding each and every hurricane season. I see more impressive walls built driving around town.  No wonder it broke and gave way.  And in their rebuilding efforts, the Army Corp of engineers rebuilt and repaired 41 miles of damaged wall.  And the people in New Orleans are expected to trust this and move their families back into this volatile area?  Each hurricane season are we going to evacuate the entire city?  So then i wondered what could be done...  

The Netherlands has the Delta Works that protects the 60% of the population that live below sea level.  This is a pretty impressive project that has been named one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

Good work Dutch people...  

England has the Thames Barrier that prevents London from being flooded by high tides and storm surges.  Also pretty impressive.

So why cant we....  or better yet...  why don't we build something a bit more impressive than a cement wall to protect such a big part of our American culture in the south??  Does it cost too much money??  To difficult to build??   Can anyone out there help me understand?