Tuesday, June 14, 2011

17 Years and Counting

Happy Birthday, Claire! Its my sister's birthday today, and I am so happy for her. She rocks my socks. She blows my mind with her awesomeness. She... She is always on my side. I tell her I took a girl on a date, and she instantly loves the girl. I tell her the girl said no to a second date, and she instantly hates the girl. I can always call her and know she will side with me. Its good to have such a dependable source of support in your life like that. Seventeen years have gone quick. I still remember the day she was born. I remember the exact moment, actually. Mind you, I was not there in person. I think that sort of experience would have been too much for 5 year old Eric. BUT, I remember where I was when I was told Claire had entered our familyI was outside in our backyard running around doing who knows what kind of mischief, when my Grandma Hardester came outside to tell me that Claire had been born. I was so excited to have a sister that I yelled, "YEESSS!!! YEEAAAHH!!" and did a cart wheel. It was a sweet cartwheel, too. Best I have ever done, probably. And she deserved such an awesome cartwheel, definitely.
        This also brings up a bitter sweet moment. I am going to graduate this April! I decided that last week, got permission yesterday, and signed up for the senior classes last night. Now, this is awesome. I will be done with school; free to go off and work on sweet things in sweet places, or go learn more sweet things at sweet schools and get a graduate degree. However, this also means I will not be going to school with Claire when she comes to school here in a year after her NEXT birthday. There's the bitter part. Claire, if only you had been born one year earlier. Actually, that's not your fault- Mom, Dad, you should have had Claire a year earlier. So unless I decide to stay at BYU for my Master's, no school sharing. We'll see what happens. A lot can happen in a year ;) . Anyway, the other cool part of that story is that with this senior class I am signed up for now, I will have a year long project working on a real engineering problem. Got an email this morning about a particular project that will involve designing a super efficient car. They need someone who is short and not too heavy to be the driver for the car, someone between 5' and 5'6" and 130lbs or less. For once, my vertical challenges may actually end up working to my advantage. I sent an email back to let them know that I fit this criteria and would love to be a driver for such a car. We'll see what happens! Life is AWESOME. and again... HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!!!
          

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Fiery Attraction

      I took a chance this week. I went for the gold. Actually, I went for the Smokey Joe- I bought a Weber Grill! Last weekend, many adventurous souls took the opportunity to go camping, and everyone knows, camping is really just an excuse to sit around and play with fire. A few of us not heading out into the woods got to talking and decided that you don't have to go camping to play with fire; in fact, we could play with fire in front of our apartment with a fire pit. So, we searched ksl and craigslist that afternoon to no avail. However, on a warm wednesday afternoon, nestled between two random foreclosure houses for sale, I found what I was looking for: a small portable Weber Grill. I called the current owners and quickly made arrangements to become the new owner. And within a few hours, it was mine.
       Now for the gamble. I had a feeling that if I just lit a small fire in that thing in front of my apartment, anyone and everyone within the smell of the smoke would join in staring at the mesmerizing flames with me. And guess what? THEY DID. That night, just like the bugs that hover around our porch light, people began climbing out from behind trees and under rocks to get close to my magical source of light, warmth, and entertainment. Soon, there were 20 people, marshmallows, and a guitar. What did I decide after that moment?

Fire=Instant Party

       This has proven true yet again, when my cousins and brother returned from watching "Limitless" (which, by the way, was an awesome movie and made me feel pained for the seconds wasted at the traffic light as we waited for it to turn green) at the dollar theatre to have our own little fire. And Evan, being the survival man he is, wanted to start it with lint from our dryer and his flint and steel kit. It TOTALLY WORKED! I did help it with lighter fluid though, not completely trusting the lint. Sure enough, within 5 minutes of the fire starting, we had 4 more people emerge from the shadows, and at the high point, we had 10 people, marshmallows, and a laptop with a playlist of requested songs. So I state it again- Fire=Instant Party.  So, anytime anyone wants to be a part of these magical moments, just let me know and I will be glad to satisfy that fiery attraction of yours.

And here is the trailer for Limitless, and yes, it is as cool as the trailer.





Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Alcança- Achieve Anything

We did it! We finally got a permanent name for our company! Alcança ( [a']l-kän-s[a'] ). It is Portuguese for "reaching" or "achieving". It came at about 12:30am last Wednesday. We needed to come up with a name we could stick with so that we could design some sort of logo for the upcoming Y2K race on Saturday that we were making shirts for. I tried a thousand different names that never quite felt how we wanted it to feel. And Blair, while I'm drifting into a splendid slumber, sleepily tells me, "Eric, I got a name. 'Alcança'." I told him it sounded awesome, then fell asleep. The next morning, it still felt good, so we kept it! We made waterbottles with the logo on it, we put the logo on the shirt, and all was well with the world. 
              Now what is the Y2K? Only the greatest race ever conceived and accomplished in 1 month's time. My friend, Hank Taylor, being the entrepreneur he is, realized that there are many races in Provo, but none that tackle the Y trail. So he made one that does, the Y2K. It is a 2k race from the bottom of the trail to the top (yep, comes out to 2k's). It has a 1076ft elevation climb and a recently recorded time of 15:21 to beat. Up for the challenge? Start training because there will probably be another one in August. 

Here are pics of the shirt and of the race. All the other sponsors were all of Hank's other business ventures, Red HaikuDisc Golf Guru, and one which should have also been included, the Provo Monster Mile. Also check out Aerobic Workout Music, which has instrumental hymn arrangements that are perfect for working out to. In fact, the MTC plays it at its gym for missionaries to listen to while they have gym time. And I can't forget the shirt we made for "Clash at Demonhead", an ultimate frisbee team that wanted team jerseys. Check it out!