Brooks Dame Blog

massive update. a little late on most of this. volume 1

2010-02-06T20:01:00.001-08:00

cristi's own little tienda.

a little lunch in suchitoto

super small figurines an El Salvador exclusive.

i bought this and i think we lost it. i have never seen cristi wear it. hmmmm....

sitting back and sipping on a cold drink. nada better.

a little weaving action.

this breakfast brought to you by sprite. pupusas for bfast so good. actually i think i was a little sick that day.

If you get a blessing leave your name on the wall.

joe and bianca ready to party.

at the dinner and dance.

Mandy and Stacey getting ready for Grad night party at the expo.

graduation.

Hanging with la familia eating camarones. muy rico.

who is that mysterious girl?

El Salvador for Alex's graduation dinner not too shabby. nice view of the sunset going down.

world's most expensive hot dog. I had to donate a kidney and then pawn my sf hat to buy this dog. and the truth is not so tasty.
#1 giants fan. ok we bought the hat before the game.

heading to the baseball game on the mean streets of S.F. this was awesome.

this guy was going door to door selling coon skin caps. ok maybe he was just a fashion forward dude i don't know. but it was hot outside.

oak town the city in the bay.
'
obey out in nowhere oregon.

in the arid central oregon.

ski dog.

hawaii

done and delicious.

these guys love jerky too. even when they have lampshades on.

meaty goodness.

making jerky. oh yeah i love jerky and i had to borrow the old dehydrator from my mom.

smithsonian museum a nice stop.

In front of the Obama's house.

had to do it. don't judge me.

Me and Lincoln

HARDCORE guard watching the tomb of the unknown soldier

arlington, VA

Thankgiving night comes to a close.

after dance lessons.

secret garden.

trying on hats. nice. muy nice.

I was going to play one of these in the band at school, but then I realized that it was a little flashy and decided to just play a tuba instead.

no one told us there was a dress code. ugggghhhh super embarrassing wearing modern clothes.

what happens when you have another tourist take your picture. Tall guys get cut out.

grave by the church.

Stepping back in the past. Cool place to visit on Thanksgiving day.

We even got to eat our Thanksgiving dinner there and learned to dance old school style.

Laser tagging for Mandy's b-day in Va.

Starburst car in Va. so official. and juicy too.

Crater Lake trip.

Cristi Crashing on our Oregon Trip.

A little Guapo candid.
a
A little BYU Football

Quick trip to Seattle

india again

2009-05-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from India. Random order. I just wanted to get some up since I haven't posted in forever and a day.
Enjoy.
Maybe more to come.

Just give me another month or two. ok i'll try to do it the next time i hop on, but for now off to bed.

dancers

where they did the wash for the area. crazy amount of sheets and clothing in one area

threading flowers.

the happy couple dancing.

music night. so official.

cristi in her natural enviroment.

i don't know why this made me smile, military guy on a bike. get this guy a jeep or something.

to cross or not to cross. don't cross. ok now cross. wait for this motorcycle
oh wait the bus. ok now cross. wait. ok go.

taxis are soo small. not for big people

train hoppin and diddy boppin'

tell it like it is. I bet no one parks there.

kid we met at the park.

somehow we ended up with like 3 of these drums.

PIECE OF GRANITE MISSING FROM THE ATTACK ON Mumbai in November. This is outside the Cafe where some foreigners were killed.

A LITTLE HOOKA

wiring on the way up. a little sketchy.

dinner at a med

cristi at roof. i picked out the heels thank you very much.

The queens necklace. shot from the roof of the intercontinental's restraunt roof. nice views

dancing. There was a lot of dancing. All fun. We learned a couple of cool new moves. But music and dancing is a big part of the festivities. There was one night that was all dancing and music. And of course good food.

train station after 3 trains arrived
total madhouse. 1 billion people in India=awesome fun.

chillin' after a hard days work. Ok i don't know if he'd been working hard. He was snoozing when we found him. But i imagine he'd been carrying around his basket and was taking a break.

at the amber fort. the architecture here was off the wall. They had mirrors and stars, and some really cool stuff all over.

from the wedding ceremony

ridin' the slumdog train to see where they do the wash in the outdoor wash sector.

da man. I love ghandi. This guy had things figured out.
Nice statue in Mumbai park.

this is a shot cristi took. I took another shot of her taking this shot. I'll see if i can find it. THis was in a market near Victoria station

INDIA

2009-05-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

the happy couple.

IN DA CLUB. 2 HOURS AFTER LANDING IN Mumbai we were out dancing on Valentine's day.

Hypercolor shirt

2009-01-17T23:04:00.000-08:00

Just found on Ebay.

see the description below:

This is an 80's vintage HYPERCOLOR t-shirt. This was mine in the 80's and STILL WORKS! Pink with white tie-dye that turns WHITE when warmed. Yes! IT still works! No holes, no snags. Found it sitting in my parent's closet. Probably been there since the 80's! 100% cotton. Generra brand. Light pink/ white tie-dye. All items are sold as described. No refunds. All items come from a pet/smoke free home. Only PayPal Accepted. Must pay within 3 days or negative feedback will be left.

So, the bid is up to $15 bucks.
If you remember this shirt you were probably the coolest person in your school. I remember when I first saw this shirt. This is the exact shirt my buddy had. It was 6th grade and one of my friends got it as part of his back to school attire. I hadn't heard of these shirts or seen them. He had a small group of girls hanging around him. They were touching his shirt and rubbing it. "What the heck is going on? That shirt is the sweetest thing i've ever seen. It's a cool shirt and girls touch you when you wear it". My friend started breathing on his shirt and with a couple puffs the shirt transformed from pink to white.

In class the attention continued kids kept touching his shirt even while we were sitting there as the teacher was lecturing. I marveled at the shirt all day. I couldn't believe such a wonderful shirt had been created and my buddy had one. The next day he wore a green hypercolor shirt. Then the following day he wore the pink one again. Did he wash it? Is he only working the hypercolor this year. Wait a second. His whole angle at getting attention is wearing hypercolor t shirts everyday. How can I compete with that. I'll never be able to touch that. And if i get a shirt i'll just be biting his style.

I started thinking about it a little more and decided that I didn't want that kind of popularity. It is what I call hypercolor popularity. Which is a false popularity. Plus since I have a gland problem I'd probably sweat and then my shirt would highlight that fact.

So i stuck to my suspenders and bolo tie. Can you say lady killer? Ladies love to snap the suspenders and bolo ties remind them of their grandpas (where do you think i got mine from?).

Ahhh hypercolor you molded me into the fashionable man i am today and you'll never know it.

Maui wowiiiieee!!!!!!

2009-01-08T23:10:00.000-08:00

Some other pics from Hawaii over Christmas. I need to post some.

hawaii coast line on super secret backroad.

super secret hawaii swim spot on Christmas day.

sitting on the beach watching the bros surf.

Late Christmas letter post

2009-01-08T23:03:00.000-08:00

Dame/Norris Christmas Letter-

This year we have had another addition to our family. It’s not another dog or even a child. This year Chuck Norris moved into our home.
Ever since Walker: Texas Ranger was canceled and the Gov. Huckabee thing ran its course Chuck has hit hard times. Cristi and I have always been big fans of Chuck and his entire body of work. Even the infomercials. So let me update you on our year with Chuck or as I like to call him sometime Walker.
I’m writing this on Chuck’s laptop and I just realized there’s not backspace and no ctrl button. Why you ask, because Chuck Norris doesn’t make mistakes and he’s always in control.
This year has been pretty spectacular much like witnessing a roundhouse to the face of an evildoer by Chuck.
We started out this year with a tragic accident. Cristi while bending over to pick up a bone was struck a heavy blow by our dog El Guapo. Guapo likes to jump, and he jumped right into Cristi’s tooth and broke it in half. After some major surgeries and some extensive work Cristi’s tooth has been restored.
Chuck was looking for a job since a lot of his endorsements had ended. Total gym was a good gig while it lasted, but Chuck needed something to really put him back on his feet, plus he eats a lot since he’s gotta keep his energy up. I suggested that he be a toilet paper spokesman, but he looked me dead in the eye with those intense piercing eyes and said, “Brooks I don’t take crap from anyone”. Too true too true, what was I thinking suggesting it?
For my birthday Cristi got me a WII and it is pretty fun. I’m pretty good at guitar hero and so is Cristi. But of course Chuck is the best. He has a mean power stance.
Cristi was working the wedding circuit and shooting photographs for a good chunk of the summer. It seemed like almost every weekend Cristi had a wedding this summer.
We did take a trip or two in the mountains and then got the opportunity to go film a documentary in Venezuela. We worked down there with the Barri and the Yukpa Indian tribes who suffer from lack of medicine. We spent two weeks down there shooting video and photos. We left Chuck at home; we knew if he came down he’d probably have to roundhouse Hugo Chavez.
In the Fall Chuck decided he wanted to go out on his own to pursue the meaning of life. He said, “Brooks, I appreciate your hospitality this year, you have taught me a lot. There have been many times that I have wanted to roundhouse the smile off your face, like the time you made fun of my hit movie Delta Force. But, you have helped me so much this year when I was down and out. Now is my time to go back in the world and make my mark one more time. Thank you my friend. Thank you”. At this point you’d think he would cry or hug me, but Walker TEXAS ranger does not hug and does not ever cry.
In order to celebrate Chuck leaving, we went to Hawaii for Christmas with the family.

Good luck chuck. Good luck. And Merry Christmas.

SKIING IN IDAHO

2009-01-03T22:50:00.000-08:00

We braved the freezing temps to head up to the hill. -1 this morning. we showed up a bit late hoping it'd be warmer. it was got up to 10 on top.

It was a good day of skiing.

Here's to a many more rides this season. Skiing is one of those things that i think i'll do until i die. It's not like the time I started a beanie baby collection, or started taking yoga, or interpretive dance, or sync swimming, or water polo (editors note:I've never tried any of those things, mainly because if i did i'd quit them all). But skiing is one of those things I hope I can do forever. I can go up with fam, friends or by myself and just really enjoy it. good snow bad snow, cold, warm. it's just fun to ski.

Come up to Idaho and i'll take you with me.

vampires are cool?

2009-01-02T22:39:00.000-08:00

So my wife and I saw Twilight over Thanksgiving for my sister in law's birthday.

Vampires are cool. Vampires in love not as cool, but i can't knock it I guess. Some people are into romantic vampires. So over the break we went to Hawaii for Christmas. Cristi decided she wanted to read the books, since we saw the movie it grabbed her attention.

Well she knocked out 3 volumes while we were there. Yes we made 2 trips to Borders so she could buy it. Meanwhile, Brooks reading a historic book on Lincoln "Team of Rivals" is still working on it. When books start getting thicker than the bible i sometimes get demotivated to read, even if its good, I like to read, just mostly shorter books like magazines, do those count. I can read an article and be done in 15 mins and have a good story done with. I actually read an article on Twilight. It's about a girl who falls in love with a vampire. Sorry if I spoiled it for you. I read that in 10 mins and know the whole premise. Saved myself like 2 years of my life.

Now she's filled me in on the story and it sounds interesting. So, that is the other way that I save time. Have someone else read a book that i'm interested in and then just have them tell me about it. i just still can't get over vampires and romance. I think of the count off sesame street when i think of vampires not so much love. So i've posted some pics of Cristi on vacation and a sweet vampire pic as well.

Happy NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

life of a traveling salesman

2008-12-15T00:49:00.000-08:00

So, being on the road can be fun. It can also be a grind. After a long day sometimes it's nice just to crash and go to bed.

So I was in Jefferson City, Missouri last week and I got there without a hotel thinking i'd just grab one. One place wanted to charge me 90 bucks, i was tired, but we are in a financial crisis. I can drop $90 on a nice hotel almost anywhere that isn't on the side of the highway.
So I find the econolodge and decide to stay there. So i go in to check in. First of all it took forever to get me checked in. I should have known the rest of the night was going downhill.

So I get my key head to my room turn on the lights to a weird smell. Walk to the Bathroom and realize, this place isn't as clean as it should be. hey there's towels on the floor. there's a pillow by the trash can. Did someone use this bathroom and not flush the toilet? hmmm.... hey there are no knobs on the shower. yeah that could be a problem in the morning.

So pack it all back up go to the front desk and She says" Oh yeah sorry about that i though they were doing some work in there or something". So, do you have any other rooms?

Yes we have one. It is upstairs. Ok i'll take that. Walk back outside hop in the car drive over to the room, walk upstairs and try the key. Yeah, room 219 won't open. So here comes the front desk lady, "Your key doesn't work does it?" Nope.
Sorry about that. Let me reset it. She returns 5 mins later.

Key doesn't work again. So she pulls out a key from her pocket and opens the door and give it to me.

Me- So is this the master key to the whole hotel?
Her-Yes, make sure you return it.
Me- Uhhhhhhh... ok.

So I get in check my emails and crash, Knowing that the front desk lady hands out master keys to complete strangers i put the chain on my door and go to sleep.

The next morning I wake to the buzz of an alarm. Time to go to work.

I decide against breakfast and opt for my clif bar in my suitcase.

I check out and return the key.

There's a new girl at the front desk.

me- Yeah, the lady last night gave me this key i think it's the master you may want to hang on to that.
Her- What who gave you this?
Me- The lady last night.
Her- Oh she shouldn't have done that.
Me- Well, she gave me a room with no shower knobs and I think she felt bad and It was late.
Her- She will probably get fired for this.
Me- Well i didn't use it i just went to bed.
Her- So how was your stay.
Me thinking to my self- Did you not just hear me. My first room looked like someone got murdered in or was squating and then the front desk lady gave me a complete stranger the master key to the whole hotel.
Me(What i actually said)- Grrrreaaat. Thanks,

I thought about sending these to Econolodge (Something I hardly ever do, sending complaint letters to businesses) but i THOUGHT they may award me with a free nights stay the next time i'm in Jeff city.

I'll pass.

haha. being on the road is fun. Full of stories and adventure. Kind of like Lewis and Clark.

Venezuela pics

2008-11-05T19:40:00.001-08:00

So here are some pictures from Venezuela, I need to upload some new stuff, but have been busy with work and other fun things.

I was reading an article from Hugo Chavez and it made me think of Venezuela. Man oil prices really have to be hurting that guy right now. Silly Hugo.
Enjoy the pictures.

nasty pimple that went horribly wrong. Ok lack of healthcare

caution nudity

getting a sweet hat from my new friend

filming on location

NICE VIDEO ON THE BAILOUT MIXED WITH Batman

2008-10-05T10:25:00.001-07:00

What can be better.

I thought this video was pretty funny.
I was trying to find more info on the bailout and found this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1X6RQLZtoA

I've been watching this whole deal pretty closely.
When we took a 700+ point dip I decided to buy more stocks. So far so good.

Hopefully, we'll get through all this.

It all comes down to living within your means. I hear about predatory lending, greed, etc. And I agree. That is part of it. But really it comes down to people believing they really could afford a 300k house when they should have been in a 100k house.

So, we are all a little to blame. Do I like that the govt. had to bailout the financial markets? No. But, I don't agree to just let it all fail.

Remember that house you bought that you couldn't afford? Guess what now you're still paying for it. Death and Taxes.

new film

2008-08-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

Las Caras de Hepatitis B en Venezuela from Brooks Dame on Vimeo.

enjoy

I'm going to do a longer version with subtitles soon.

Joseph Smith Photo

2008-07-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

So,
Supposedly there's a new photo that has never been released of Joseph Smith. I don't think it has been verified but quite a few experts think this may be authentic. Supposedly, there's a picture of Emma as well that hasn't been released.

I compared it to the paintings and drawings and there are some things that match but not a whole lot. They have matched it to Joseph Smith's Death mask and say that there are many similarities.

It would be cool if it was a picture of him. If not it makes a pretty interesting story.

Here's the pic.

DYSON VACCUM

2008-06-26T10:39:00.001-07:00

So I haven't posted in a bit.
I lost the charger to our little camera so I haven't shot much.

But Cristi did make a video for her new vaccum that i got her for her birthday.

who asks for a vaccum?

My wife.
hahaha.

enjoy

Big Brother is watching

2008-05-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

So, I got onto Google Maps and was looking up some crazy places just to see what they looked like.
And I said to myself, "Self why don't you look at your house". So I did. And it just shows the lot of our house before it is finished. But, then I click on a camera on our street and it pulls up the picture you see above. It is a 360 picture in front of our neighbor's house.

Crazy.

Technology is great.

It's fun to do Hood rat things

2008-04-30T21:20:00.001-07:00

the best story I've heard in a long time.

doggie bags

2008-04-21T22:49:00.000-07:00

So here's my new business idea. I call i doggie bags. They are like big bean bag chairs for dogs. Bentley loves it. He sleeps in this thing all the time. I can't get him out of it.

The dog is crazy.

So this is a multi-million dollar idea right?

either way dogs love 'em this is the prototype. Bentley has worn a hole in it.

It is funny sometimes El Guapo hops in it when Bentley isn't looking and Bentley looks at him like "what the heck are you doing in my bed".

ON YOU TUBE

2008-04-21T20:27:00.001-07:00

So I finally figured out how to post videos on You Tube. So, my life is changed forever.
Ok, I was just excited because it only took like 5 tries. I almost gave up.

So, here's the video. Again.

Why did I post it again. Well I want to get some buzz around it and people can leave comments on You Tube and vote for it. So if I get some buzz I may be able to get some more people involved.

So go onto you tube rank, leave some comments etc.

first warm day of spring

2008-04-04T21:46:00.000-07:00

We took the dogs out to the park right by the house when it got warm. enjoy the pics.

shopping for manatee

2008-04-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

So,

We went shopping a few weeks ago.
And we found the coolest statue. A Manatee mommy and baby.

I wanted to put it in the back yard but Cristi said no. There is nothing more beautiful than the love between a baby manatee and it's mother.

So, no statue in the end but, at least we got a picture.

Since April Fool's was so recent I thought I'd put this on

2008-04-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

If Snoop can pull a prank on april fool's then me too.

The Paparazi got Cristi and I skiing in Aspen. Ok Idaho.

It was too good to be true. see post below

2008-04-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

Snoop Dogg a Mormon? April Fools!
Folks are asking if there's any truth to the CNN report that rapper Snoop Dogg has converted to Mormonism. The answer is no. If you check the date of the story, you'll see it's April 1 -- April Fools' Day. If you look closely at the URL of the alleged CNN article, you'll see it isn't really a valid CNN site at all. And if you look really, really closely at the fine print at the bottom of the phony Web page, it says: "You just got fooled! Snoop's not Mormon... yet!"

Snoop's a Mormon? I still can't believe it.. Ha ha

2008-04-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this still. If this is an Ashton Kutcher Punk'd I'm going to be upset.

But, at least this picture is awesome. That is pretty cool. Good for Snoop. Maybe he'll be watching conf. this weekend.

See story below.

http://cnnentertainment.co.nr/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/01

Tivito's War

2008-03-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

Teaser that I put together for an upcoming documentary.

Tivito was a 19 year old kid from El Salvador who was killed in Iraq.

The story is really about his mom and her grief dealing with the loss of her son.

Hopefully, the documentary will make the film fest circut rounds this year.
I've still got some work to do on the film. I'm excited because I'm getting some additional footage from an Editor of the National Newspaper in El Salvador. I found him on You Tube of all places. So, I think the images and the story are really strong.

Thanks to Joe M. for helping me with the film work.

McCall the niece not the location

2008-02-07T21:53:00.001-08:00

Thought I'd put some pictures of McCall that Cristi took a few months ago.
She's a cutie.

She's supposed to be a flower ferry. haha

This is what you do when you have no kids of your own and you can't post more dog pictures.

Christmas/New Years '07

2008-02-06T22:43:00.001-08:00

Cristi's siter Mandy got a Ferret from her dad and when she pulled it out of the box it looked dead. It was just sleeping.

pit stop on the way back from Utah. Guapo was ridin' shotty.

Pancake house cinnamon rolls. Yeah they're that big.

papason and tan da man.

ski or die.

what? skiing there is nothing better.

last run of the day.

The fam at Brundage

Skiing with g-ma at Brundage, Idaho.

We went up to Sundance Christmas day and on the way up we were going to get some pizzas for dinner but everything was closed. We ate at Dennys. This was cheese fries.
It was really bad. LOOK at the picture and look what we got.
2 hours at Dennys. IT WAS really crowded. who would have guessed.

New puffy coat for Guapo

Cristi's Cousins were up from El Sal. So her little cousin left santa a treat and a message in espanol.

WHEEEEEEE FOR wii. We had a family boxing tournament in Utah. I beat my mother in law but lost second round.

This is my buddy Jordan. He was in SLC from Cali for a visit. Dude is heading to France to live for a bit. OUI OUI Jordan. I just picture him with a little mustach and beret eating cheese and talking about why the french only work 5 hrs a week.

mo' mo-tab.

We stayed at g-ma's condo downtown so we got to go to the mo-tab's christmas concert.

christmas pic.

hERE'S CRISTI AND HER NEW TOY.

Cristi and I at Brighton ski resort. 1 FT OF FRESH POW.

Ski crew in Utah.

Guapo's first Christmas.

For our anniversary Cristi bought me a computer. An apple year 4 is fruit if you do the traditional gifts for ann. I bought her an apple Ipod.

THE HIZZLE

2008-02-06T22:33:00.000-08:00

Here's some pictures of our house.
They are from before we even bought it.

I had a friend ask what our house looks like.

well here you are.

paris is great this time of year

2007-12-06T22:38:00.000-08:00

I see London I see France.

2007-12-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

I hopped a plane for Dubai after this picture. Bye London.

i liked the name of this restraunt. Plain and simple

this is a person not a statue
I've seen this done a lot but this really looked like a statue

i thought this was a clever way to make money. I'm going to start doing this in Boise to make some spare cash.

storm troopers in London? hmmmm....

telephone booth

bad boys bad boys what ya gonna do? i don't know if it was that this guy was a small dude or that he had on that funny hat. If you had to run after a thief would your hat stay on? hmmmm...

picidili circus- london's version of times squrea kinda

the field

chelsea football stadium. they had heat lamps on the field. It was pretty impressive.

lucky guy

the padres in the city of love

the tower at night

the fam at arc de triumph

what's that behind us? a tv antena

inside notre dame

it was a non-traditional thanksgiving dinner but crepes and baguettes under the shadow of Notre Dame was pretty fun to. The Baguettes were really good.

cafe on thanksgiving

A Dame infront of Notre Dame

outside the museum

Tanner presenting the Mona Lisa

mona lisa, mona lisa, I think it is crazy that you can take pictures here. They have all these priceless paintings and everyone can just take pictures.

hmmmm... very nice. i love art

where are your arms

davinci code anyone?

Pic of Cristi and my shadows in front of the louve.

Todd and Mel In PARIS

mc clean. this was at the French train station. UMMM..... I thought that the french were smelly. This was a bathroom that you had to pay for.

since tickets were 400 bones we decided to go watch a pub. that was pretty fun too. Croatia ended up winning and England won't be invited to the Eurocup. The next day they fired the coach. England is pretty serious about their soccer. This was supposed to be our sad face because we didn't get tickets but i guess I was the only one with that idea.

Stadium in London.

i TOOK A PICTURE OF TANNER TAKING A PICTURE.

maybe if our surgeon genral warnings were this big in the US there'd be less people who smoked. Oh that's what it says. I thought that was just the nutritional value.

leaving the castle

not really sure what these guys do. I don't think they can see from under the furry hat. but it makes a great photo op.

our tour guide at the castle.

windsor castle

street near windsor castle

cristi in Windsor England with her trusty camera

Todd bought a little snack at the show. IT WAS cup full of gummi stuff.

outside of Wicked
Todd my pops and me at the show during the intermission

Here's the fam at Wicked pretty sweet for a musical.

outside the gate of the palace.

england's rose. the memorial walk. they love diana in England. I mean i like her too but come on.

walking back from Buckingham palace

this is the gate where the queen came out. I'll have to get a picture of the queen rolling out. I was filming it on the video camera so i didn't get a picture but Cristi did.

the gate to buckingham palace.

OUTSIDE BUCKINGHAM PALACE. The queen lives there. We saw her cruise out in her Bentleyfor her 60th wedding anniversary vaccation.

cRISTI AND i ON THE BACK OF THE BUS TOUR.

this was a kid's Hummer. It cost $3o,ooo bucks. what? why not just buy your kid the real thing?

this is inside Harrods. The engagement ring of Princess Diana and Dodi was there.

cristi and the double decker

cristi in the streets

big ben. I think the time was off a bit. I guess you don't want to set your watch by it or was it really mine.

the eye of london. On the streets of london with the fam.

the chopping block. off with her head.

the bridge

how come everytime I come around my London London bridge wanna come down? a little fregie ferg.

horse power

Medevil suv. this was one heavy horse.

the chapel with Cristi and I.

ummmmm..... yeah henry was a strange guy.

King Henery. He had a little bit of a weight problem

Mel and Cristi at the tower of London

THE TOWER

tower of london

Well,
here's some of the pictures from our trip to London/France.
The trip was off the hook. We had a good time. We met up with the fam and had a good time.
We did all the good London things:

Wicked the musical
Eifel Tower
Arc de Triumph
Louve
lots of museums
Buckingham Palace (where we went to see the changing of the guard but only saw the queen)
Abbey Road
big Ben
little Ben
Eye of London
Tower of London
uhhhh... that's about it.

I didn't even see any people with bad teeth. England was pretty sweet.

Hey this is Brooks,...

2007-12-06T10:56:00.001-08:00

Hey this is Brooks, I'm sending this message from my cellphone. There's a new service called Jott and basically all you have to do is talk and then it sends the message to your blog your text or whatever maybe so, I am giving it a try and I wanna see how corrected it but I like the service from the stand point that I can a send a text message without(?) having to type [...] in my car. So, it's a little bit safer that way listen

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the great outdoors (delayed post)

2007-11-09T14:46:00.001-08:00

Here's cristi you can see our Campsite and car behind her.

On the trail with Cristi

we made it to the top. Granite look out

this has got to be the best view from an outhouse on planet earth.

living on the edge.

This was the lookout on top of Granite. It has been there forever. It is used to spot fires. There were like 4 different fires going on at the time. The ranger wasn't there because of the fires. Luckily the view was really nice even with all the smoke.

the photographer

cristi overlooking the valley. With camera in hand. Hmmmm big suprise. That camera is like an extension of her body. She just got a new camera too. I'm sure glad she's making money off of this passion, because I have a feeling it could get spendy quick

TOP OF granite peak

Q:HOW DO YOU TAKE A PICTURE WHEN NO ONE IS THERE TO TAKE IT. A: LONG ARMS

BYU vs. TCU OR The mighty cougars vs the horned frogs

2007-11-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

So last night I went to the BYU game with my old buddy Chad. Chadillac as I like to call him is always a good time. I haven't spent a lot of time with him as of late so it was good to catch up.

The kid is a hoot. We always have a good time.

Chad knew some chick that hooked us up with free tickets. It's always good to get things for free. It's like my favorite price. So that was the hook up. I've been away from Provo for so long it was kinda cool to go back. The Gordon B Hinkley bldg was finished (I donated 50 bones to that thing). I'm sure it helped pay for 10-15 bricks at least.

That's a good looking building.

It took forever to get down from SLC we made a few stops along the way, but traffic was killer.

There's always something magical about going to Lavell Edwards stadium. We got there right at kickoff and it was fun to be in the sold out crowd 64,000+ fans. They've had like the last 5 home games sell out. We had pretty crummy seats so we went to the 50 yard line 6 rows up from the field and found some empty seats. Much better. We didn't get kicked out until half time when a big dude and his lady showed up. hahha. Chad told them" we were just keeping your seats warm". They must have gotten stuck in traffic. They were crazy late. I mean 1/2 time are you for reals? We just walked down to the 40 yd line and hung out there the rest of the game.

The game ended up kind of tight but the Cougars ran all over them. They are supposed to have a good defense, but they didn't seem super great. The TCU horned frogs weren't really a threat. The coolest thing about them was their kicker had only one arm. Chad and I didn't catch it until the 3rd qtr. We wanted to see if he'd tackle anyone. But, we didn't see anything too exciting that way.

I might try to grab Cristi and go down to the San Diego game in Dec that was canceled because of the fires. Toddley is in Malibu so we could crash there. We'll see how busy things get and if Southwest has some vouchers they'll let us use for a free flight.

I forgot my camera so no pictures. Chad had on a vintage hat reppin' the cougs. It was cool.

We'll be in London for the BYU U game it's in Provo this year. So maybe I can catch it online or something. The poor U. haha. It's good the U is there for everyone who can't get into BYU. They offer a great service. I hope Cristi doesn't read this. The U is good for beating up on and that's about it.

hahaha.

Charlie and the chocolate factory

2007-11-07T21:48:00.000-08:00

the stork candy machine. why don't they have these anymore.

put in your coin and the stork drops you a present out of his hind end. hmmmmm.. tempting

This is like the first candy machine ever. The scary gnome doesn't make me want to buy a bar.

This was a chocolate display, can you see something wrong with this?

i don't know if an angry employee did this or what? But this really stuck out to me.
Chocolate and the middle finger don't go well together well.

I thought this was a legless gnome so i took a picture now i realize that it is a soccer gnome after scoring a goal.

I Really liked this one because i think it would trick kids into eating vegtables. But after you've eaten a chocolate corn on the cob how can you go back to the real one?

chocolate forms

chocolate getting processed into forms.

This was as close as i'll ever get to the chocolate river like the one in Charlie and the chocolate factory. flowing chocolate tree.

hotel window view from Koln Germany

2007-11-07T21:35:00.000-08:00

Once again I have taken a picture from my hotel window. I'm waiting to get some sweet picture from my hotel room one of these trips.

I guess you have to spend some serious cash to get a cool view.

germany is all about brautwursts and ....

2007-11-07T20:38:00.000-08:00

this is us at the booth at the german show. I had a good time with these guys. One was from Japan one was from Belgium, and one from the UK.

koln at night with my new scarf. I bought 2 scarfs there. Why? I don't know. I was feelling scarfy.

the rhien river in Koln.

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hot car. this is like an a5. I don't know if we get this in the states. I thought it was pretty slick looking. I wanted to see the porsche factory. But I guess you have to sign up 3 month in advance. BOOOO.. SO this was my only german car experience.
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This was the post man's bike. He had training wheels on it. I was kind of suprised to see that they still deliver mail on a bike.

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Do you know what is universal no mater where you go? GOTHS. i LOVE THEM.
THESE GUYS MADE ME FEEL LIKE HOME. A lot of the kids were wearing old german nazi uniforms. it was sweet. They just made me feel so good.

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a german shepard in germany. It's like rain on your wedding day. It's a free ride when you've already paid. I hope I see an english bulldog in England later this month. Then I'll only be 10 pictures away from an ironic dog calander. Be prepared for that. I've got your Christmas gifts covered this year.

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Forever 18??????? I thought it was forever 21. I always like to see the knock-offs when I travel.

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German mickey mouse. It is like he's old school.

Germany re-visited

2007-11-07T19:39:00.000-08:00

Cathedral at night.

German Beer hall. Exactly as I thought it would be except for the Halloween jack-o-laterns haha. Bar maids and everything it was sweet. Beer was flowing like wine and uuuuhhhh i had a water with lemon. haha. They don't serve root beer so that's what I was left with.

Koln which is how it is spelt, but all the info I had said Cologne. I guess that's the english translation.

The Church

in KOLN. I took this as soon as I hopped off the train. It was about 6 in the morning. This church is huge. I have been in a lot of churches in my travels. I always think its interesting to go into a church and just sit and watch people.

why german?

2007-11-07T19:35:00.000-08:00

Well ever since I went to Germany my blog instructions are in German.

uhhhhh...... Crazy Krauts. I finally figured how to change it just now after a few posts.

This is what my instructions looked like:

Brooks Dame Blog Blog anzeigen
187 Posts, zuletzt veröffentlicht am 23.10.2007
Neuer Post
Verwalten: Posts, Einstellungen, Vorlage

sweet

Bianca's show coming in Nov.3rd

2007-10-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

Well, if I've never told you about Bianca's musical talents where have you been?

Bianca is Cristi's sister and has an amazing voice. No I mean amazing. "A lot of people say oh I love your voice or wow you are a good singer".

But, Bianca is legit. Her voice is super good. She also writes her own songs so that adds to her appeal.

go to her myspace page to hear some tunes.

http://www.myspace.com/biancanicolemusic

Cristi also has her songs on her website

http://www.cristidamephotograpy.com/

I'm sure you'll agree that she rocks.

anyways, she has a cd release party coming up. please see the picture.

It is going to be awesome. They have a guy opening and then Bianca is going to rock the stage.

It is going to be at the Wells Fargo bldg. at the top floor in Down town SLC.

so it'll be sweet.

So come on out. it'll be awesome bring your friends.

if you like the cd it'll be on sale.

i got a sneak preview and it is awesome.

I think she sounds like jewel and a bit like the girl who sings bubbly. So if you like that whole vibe you'll enjoy.

If you want me to snag some cd's let me know and i'll bring them back up to Idaho. But, if you are in slc come and get one yourself.

It'll be off the hook.

Her song Grateful was a song she wrote after we visted El Salvador and we spent time in the dumps. So that was a song she wrote for to put on the documentary.

Come on out. It'll be good to see you all. Tell your friends we want to fill up the 23rd floor.

it's a free concert so there's no reason why you shouldn't come. Bring your girlfried or wife and tell her you reserved some really expensive tickets, she'll be impressed.

byu san diego game postponed due to fires

2007-10-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

The San Diego vs. BYU game is canceled due to the fires in so. Cal.

I guess it will be dec. 1. Utah vs BYU won't be the last game of the year unfortunately.

funny website

2007-10-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

I think this is super funny.

When I travel I always take pictures of when things are spelt wrong. I just think it is funny. This website has mis-spellings of english words.

I see these all the time when I travel.

SOmetimes it is just something small other times it is just murdered. When there are sayings or things like that, that's when there are the most problems.

Here's the link.

and a little blurb about it.
Engrish.com
What is it? First of all, this is not a dig at any of the world's peoples. English is a complicated and nuanced language. Many folks in non-English-speaking countries--in the tourism industry, for instance--learn the language in a good-faith effort to communicate with (sell things to) their English-speaking customers. But sometimes it all goes wrong. Engrish.com dedicates itself to collecting hundreds of examples of these unfortunate (mis)usages from around the world, and in a bunch of different categories, such as Signs and Product Packaging.
Why is it funny? For the novice, writing in English can be a walk through a minefield. One misplaced word or poor sentence construction can give an innocent message a whole new meaning.
Bonus: While you're at it, take a look at this small collection of English-language mishaps, assembled by Kaare Danielson. One sign, seen in a Japanese hotel, says: "You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid."

GERMANY= fun, and cool language fun

2007-10-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

uhhhhhhhhh....

I'm in germany.

all my webpages are in German so buttons like send are in german. So I could be hitting send or delete.

German is a funny language. I don't get it. I just keep saying Nein nein. or is it nien nien. Anyways, So far so good, but I haven't really done anything.

I rode the train from Fankfurt to Koln. I sat buy a Chinese guy from Ohio who was going to a plastic show. It was interesting to talk to him since he works in China so much.

Then I came to the hotel and crashed. It was like 2 am in Idaho. Now I can't sleep. It is like 3am here now. crazy crazy.

I'll take some pictures and post them in the next few days. I'm trying to see if I can swing a Porsche factory visit. They only build like 3-4 cars a day at each factory. We'll see if I can pull it off. I guess I was supposed to sign up like 3 months in advance. So, we'll see if I can work it in.

cool plane pics

2007-09-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from a trip. A lot of the intl. airports take you out on a bus and then you hop on the plane. I fly united a lot. I don't know why it just usually ends up that way. I've got enough miles this year to get me upgraded on any united flight. They even gave me a vip card. sweet.

woodgrain's mascot

2007-09-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

This is woodgrain's mascot. Woody. It was designed by Lance Fry a local artist.

I think it is pretty cool.

This

was designed for the Company picnic.

McCall kayak trip

2007-09-20T21:58:00.001-07:00

This was a few weeks back we went out on the Kayaks to do some cruising around the lake. It was a nice day. These kayaks are awesome you pedal them and they can cruise. The dogs weren't so sure about the water at first. Bentley kind of sinks Guapo learned to swim and was fetching sticks out in the water. I was so proud of him. hahaa.
Cristi and Guapo in action on the lake

Bentley getting ready for the trip. I took this picture and then hopped in the boat and Bentley got nervous and started shifting his weight and I tipped over and fell out with the camera in my pocket. So it still works but the screen doesn't work. May be time to get a new digi.

Cristi and Guapo heading out to sea.

MONEY MAKIN' DOGS

2007-09-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

One expensive chew toy.

Guapo and Bentley with their stash. Bentley doesn't look too happy to have the money.

I get money... I get money. I get it. Bentley gets paid.

I think dogs need to pull their own weight. I need these dogs to make some money. Dog food ain't cheap.

Well that won't happen. But, after I sold the VW van I had all this cash and thought it would be a funny picture. Well Bentley started chewing on Mr. Franklin. That was about to be an expensive doggy treat.

I got it out but it was a littl slobbery.

So, here are the pics.

Goodbye to an old friend

2007-08-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

All that remains from Mellow Yellow. A few oil stains on the street in front of the house. Goodbye old friend. You will be missed. The oil stains are your memorial forever in front of the house. Enjoy Washington.

nuf' said!

Mellow in the rain

German engineering at it's finest. The cayenne and the bus. One does 60 mph and one does 160 you figure out wich is which

Well today my ol' friend Mellow yellow is making a move. He's spent a little over a year up in this area and it was time to let him go. I sold Mellow Yellow the VW bus. I know I know. Why? I have to ask myself that. I just felt it was time to move on and let someone else enjoy him. Everytime I thought about selling him I would drive by someone else with a bus and they'd shoot me a peace sign. It happened to me in Arizona and it happened to me here too.

I was taking the vdub for a spin and a guy in a vw eurovan shot me a peace sign as he cruised by. So, it was almost like a sign not to sell. But, Kyle (new owner) drove down from Washington to pick it up. And he's got another vw which is cool. VW owners understand VW'S. So selling to him made me feel ok.

In memory of Mellow Yellow I've uploaded some pictures. Yo'll be missed ol' friend. Lots of good memories, even when your motor fell out.

PEACE!

more of the Dalian Tour

2007-07-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

I just realized the Chinese have a lot of fake stuff. The fake tree these fake giraffes. What's the deal? In this little park they had a ton of Concrete animals. There was also a fake ship, fish, a windmill.

signs signs everywhere there's signs

2007-07-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

The highway this is on a 6 hr drive.
nice scenery. long drive.

Signs in English in China are always funny. This is a ramp. This isn't the best example of a funny sign they had one in the airport that says "watch your steps"

but on this trip they took it down. I was ready to take a picture because I always forget and they take it down.

Bummer.....

HMMMM... where's Brooks?

2007-07-28T14:59:00.000-07:00

People always ask how tall I am in China. This group of guys is actually pretty tall compared to some. They always ask if I'm as tall as Yoa Ming. They love that guy in China. he's the man.
if only I could break into Chinese Basketball. There's gotta be big dollars in that.

The view out my window the first night in China

2007-07-28T14:53:00.000-07:00

I love to take pictures out my hotel window. It doesn't matter so much what is out there, IT IS MORE JUST THE FACT OF THE TRADITION OF TAKING A PICTURE. So usually in the morning or before I go to bed I take a picture.

Sometiemes they are ugly. SOmetiems they have my reflection in the glass. Sometimes they are of another building. I just like to take them. Especially, when I'm in China because it can vary so much. I must have about 30 pictures from Hotels when I travel.

This one I thought was cool because It had the cranes on the buildings. It really goes to show you the growth that is going on in China.

the last supper

2007-07-28T14:48:00.000-07:00

I always have something super American before I go to China. Because I know I won't eat anything like that when I get there.

So the I had to stop by the King and get my whopper on. I don't eat Fast food very much nowdays. But, for some reason that burger always tastes so good before I leave. Makes you appreciate food a little more. Especially when I'm gone for extended periods of time.

I have noticed with each passing trip to China I get better and better at eating all the food.

I'm not picky and I'll try everything, but sometimes I really can't get it to go down. Is dry heaving at the table considered rude? How about gagging? Because there have been some times that I've come close.

Dalian Tour

2007-07-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

Mr. Liang, myself, and Hangter by a big fake tree on the coast line. I don't know why there is a fake tree here, but it is pretty big. I don't really know why they made it but it is pretty big.

HANGTER AT THE BEACH.

Here's the Chinese army marching around. I like the gloves. I guess this was a place that foriegners aren't supposed to go, but I got in because I look Chinese I guess. the height didn't give me away I guess.

This was by the ocean. There were just a bunch of un-manned poles hanging over a 100 ft. cliff.

As we were driving I saw this girl and had to take a picture. I figured since Cristi does weddings a lot she'd find this cool.

Wedding pictures are big deal in China they go all out for them. Which is kind of cool.

The door leading to the outside of the museum. You'd think that you were going to see something really great. but, uuuhhh it's a shell museum.

This place exists they even have a van.

This is Sophia and I at the Sea shell museum in Dalian. UHHHHH..... Seashells are pretty fun..

Ok, a whole museum for seashells. Seems a little crazy.

It was funny, because I asked the office staff if they'd ever been and they ALL said NO.

hahaha.

I got a tour of Dalian my last visit. I've been to the city probably 5 times but have never actually seen it so it was a nice visit. Here's some of the pics that I took on the Sat. tour I took in the afternoon.

I'll try to explain what is going on in the pictures.

Dubai for your eye

2007-05-09T22:19:00.000-07:00

here's the shieks

SUNRISE OVER THE DESERT

This is probably the most famous landmark in Dubai. I didn't get a chance to roll out there. Supposedly it looks like a sail. It is off the shore in the ocean. I was told that originally they wanted to make it a casino hotel and put it offshore so it wouldn't technically be in the Dubai. The shiek said no go.

The view out my window. These are probably some of the most famous skyscrapers in the world.

I've been slacking.

Here's some shots from a trip to Duba a few months back.

Here you go.

2007-03-05T18:34:00.000-08:00

The China office minus mr. Liang in McCall we went to the Pancake house and had some big cinnamon rolls and big pancakes. They thought it was pretty good

Rachel in McCall

Sophia in McCall

Hangter in McCall

Hangter, Sophia and Rachel from the China office Visiting in McCall.

Here's our China office with Reed.

Exercise in China

2007-03-05T18:19:00.000-08:00

So, if exercising in the park weren't enough our host took us to go dancing. I told him that I really had to get back to the hotel and do some work. And I thought we were going to go to some club, but he took us to a classic ballroom dance place where they have employees who ballroom dance with you.
HAHAHA, I really should have stopped him when he was giving me a massage. He was such a funny dude. Hangter took this picture of me dancing with one of the employee dancers. It was so funny. I kept laughing the whole time. The poor girl must have had her feet stepped on a couple of times.

He also bought us all hats. I'm wearing mine. Wow what a night.

I guess the Chinese Vendor thought it would be helpful if he gave me a massage while I was working out. hahahaha. Kind of wierd. He was a nice guy though hahahaha.

Exercise in China is sweet. All the parks have equipment

I'm not sure what this was but it was sweet. I got a good workout on it.

We saw this one night after dinner and a vendor said we should work off our dinner.

Fog in China.

2007-01-13T22:07:00.000-08:00

This was the pictureesque view from my hotel window one morning.

When it gets really foggy in

China they close the roads down. We almost missed one visit because the road was closed all moring. This a picture I took before hopping on the plane in China.

Christmas... Made in China

2007-01-13T22:03:00.000-08:00

This was a dancing santa at a place we went to eat. It is amazing how much stuff is made in China. This year's Christmas brought to you by China. It was pretty cool to see Santa in China. Christmas is a growing holiday in China. We'll see what the future holds for China.

McDonald's in China a special treat

2007-01-13T21:50:00.000-08:00

Deliciousness defined sweet green bean pie from McDonald's. China is the best!

Mcdonald's keeps it real. This wouldn't fly in the US, but In China a tasty treat.

MMM..... green bean pie

Mitt Romney for President??? Why not?

2007-01-13T20:17:00.000-08:00

I've always had an interest in politics from an early age. I've never really gotten more involved in politics beyond running and serving in various positions in of Leadership in Middle school and High School. But, not more than that.
When I heard Mitt Romney was going to run for president I took notice. Mitt Romney is a Mormon and so am I. So, that's probably what peaked my interest in his announcement. So, I thought I'd look into the different candidate and see how they all stack up.

These are the early front runners that I can see so far. It is pretty early but, we'll see.

Obama- When they started talking about Obama a while back. I thought wow, this could be a potential player. He seems pretty smooth knows his stuff. I like the fact that he is young and hungry. His strikes he's young, his voting so far is pretty sporadic. I don't know if race is going to be a huge hurdle or not. I would hope in this day in age that it wouldn't be, but I'm sure it is going to be an issue. One of the things that I find disappointing is his admission to using drugs in his Youth. I don't know why, I know nobody is perfect, but you want those leading you to be or close to it. He was on Oprah and seemed like a smooth guy. I just don't know if he'll get it done.

Giuliani- Seemed to be the darling of the nation after 9/11. I think he handled himself well then after that he seemed to just to drop off the face of the earth. Sure, he threw out a couple of baseballs, but then disappeared. I don't know what I think about him. I don't like the guy had an affair. I mean it bugged me that Clinton did and worse he covered it up. Giuliani did come out and say it was true, but again it goes back to wanting our leaders to be perfect. The ethics of adultery used to be straightforward. "Thou shalt not commit adultery". Alas, it seems that some people missed that memo. I can't vote for him.

Clinton- I don't know what to think on ol' Hillary. I give her credit for sticking with Bill during all his scandals. She did put him on the couch for a long bit in the Whitehouse. It seems like there are a lot of people in her own party that don't like her. I think the popularity of Bill could help us. The fact that she is a woman sadly, will hurt her. I would like to say that our nation is ready for a woman president, but I think that some aren't ready for it. It may give women a great shot at the Whitehouse in the future. She may pave the road for others, but I don't know. She did win her senate race by a landslide, but NY isn't probably a slice out of the Nation's demographic. I'd like to see her run, but I don't think she can get it done.

McCain- The guy already ran once and lost. I don't know if he can do it either. I don't know what he's done really. He's ran his office well I guess. He supports almost all the war initatives that Bush does, which could prove unpopular. I lived in Arizona for quite few years. McCain seemed pretty well liked. There were a lot of transplants from California who moved to AZ for cheaper housing. So, there was a more and more people who didn't seem to like him in AZ. I don't think he can pull it off. He has a lot of political experience we'll see.

Romney- The guy was Governor in Mass. One of the most notable things he did I think was pass the Health Insurance bill. It is basically, like auto insurance. It requires all residents to have health insurance and it is affordable and in some cases free subsidised by the State. Many people are saying the Nation should adapt the same thing because of all the benefits. The guy is a leader. He saved the Olympics in Salt Lake he made a ton of money for Bain when he was the head there. You can't tell me that the economy doesn't need someone with some business sense to get things straightened out and put in sound policy. The guy is well connected in different sectors and has friends all over the place it seems. I don't think that he will have any problem pulling good people around him to fill in any voids or give him advice when needed. He recently held a fund raising campaign and raised 6.5 million dollars. That hasn't been done by anyone before. He did it using technology and his well connected friends. The president of EBAY was there I mean how much more connected do you need to be? Giuliani I heard raised 800k his first fund raising go. The guy is squeaky clean I doubt you could dig up much dirt on him. The thing I don't like is that he has waffled on the issues concerning gay rights, and other hot issues, etc. He needs to stick to his guns and stand up for what he believes. He's been married to his wife for a long time they met as kids when he lived in Michigan. I like what I've seen in him so far. I think that there is a long way to go. But, I always have to ask myself in a leader, Would I follow him? I think I could follow Romney.

So, time will tell it's a long road ahead. I just look online and see so much junk out there and figured I might as well post my opinion as well and post some of the facts I've seen so far. I will probably post any new info as I see it come up if it catches my eye.

Hunting in China

2007-01-04T18:44:00.000-08:00

Gayla and Hangter with bb guns locked and loaded.

This vendor we visited bought hats for Gayla, Hangter, and I My hat is obviously not in this picture. We shot bb guns at ballons one night. It was fun.

BYU football is Back. I claim Oregon but Bleed BYU Las Vegas Bowl

2007-01-02T23:02:00.000-08:00

Game OVER!!!!

After the game the fans rushed the field. So, we joined them. Cosmo the Cougar was feeling it. Putting the ducks out of their miesery

Da fam at the game.

Cristi and I at the game.

Deb and McCall.

McCall showed up with her game face on. It was good to see the little one being brought up right.

Tanner and I after we purchased our sweet VEGAS BOWL shirts from a bootleger on the strip. Las Vegas isn't my favorite city. I like to go there but, once I get there I'm ready to leave. Not a fun city if you don't gamble. Roller coasters would be cool if they weren't like 20 bucks a ride. But the shirts were cool and we bought blue visors too.

Cristi with Tanner talking it up on the celly. We arrived to Vegas in the P.J. to cheer on the mighty cougars.

Mellow Yellow's Sister?????

2007-01-02T23:00:00.000-08:00

This is a pink vw that was parked in Boise on the side of the street.

Sweet.

Crazy pictures from China

2007-01-02T22:37:00.000-08:00

Every trip I like to take pictures of things that are crazy or just looney. So these are some of the funny things I saw. Enjoy.
Now this doesn't see to crazy but, this is China. I mean it's a communist country. There aren't even many churches at all in China and the only ones that do exist are controlled by the Red Party.I thought this was interesting. I mean a bible at a hotel is no big deal, but this is China.

Sorry this is sideways. Ok let me explain. Below is a river. Above is a bumper car ring. I'm not the smartest man in the world but, I know long falls, electric cars, and water isn't a good combination. This was crazy to me. But, while I was there I didn't see anyone take a ride.

This isn't too crazy. But I stayed at a hotel that was a hotel/art gallery. These were some crazy wierd statues. Anyways, take it for what you will.

This is pretty easy. I debated if I should even post it because it was too easy. This was in my hotel. It wouldn't be so bad, but my hotel was kind of classy. And I walk in and see this huge ornage hand chair. Nothing says class like a huge orange chair.

China temple in Fujian Providence

2007-01-02T22:25:00.000-08:00

This is the coolest place. You come here to dream and gather your thoughts. The best time to come is in June. If you are a local you can stay at this place for a small fee. If you are a foriegner you can stay at the temple for free. Next time I'm coming in June and going to get my dreams in check.

ROOF SHOT OF THE TEMPLE

Inside the temple

Chinese Dragon at a temple we visted

New pictures

2007-01-02T22:09:00.000-08:00

I had a 5am flight from Boise and sat in the airport for 4 hours waiting for my flight. So, I tested my camera.

San Fran Airport waiting to hop my flight. United is my airline of choice. I love economy class. I always sit by a bunch of Chinese people drinking Tea. My first trip I learned a lot from the people I was sitting by. This trip I tried to watch movies and sleep. I watched like 4 movies but got no sleep. By the time I got to China and to my hotel after a flight after I got to China I hadn't slept for 36 hours.

New Year New Gear (Our New year's letter)

2007-01-02T22:00:00.000-08:00

Dame New Year Letter 2006

As I write this letter Chinese is blaring over the loudspeakers in an Airport somewhere in the middle of China. Although, There is a big Picture of Santa in the newsstand window and a huge fake tree in the middle of the airport it doesn’t quite seem like Christmas. Maybe because here in China Christmas is a new holiday adopted from the West and they haven’t quite perfected it yet. Maybe because I’ve been here for 2 weeks eating fish heads and donkey meat and have missed all the goody plates chocked full of chocolate delights from friends and neighbors. Maybe its because in the place of eggnog I’ve been drinking corn milk (Yes it is as bad as it sounds). But mostly, I think it doesn’t feel like Christmas yet because I’m not with the ones I love. But not to worry by the time I get home I will have an entire week to soak up the holiday spirit and even go watch my beloved cougars play in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Cristi asked me to work on the holiday New Years letter Cristi and agreed to go back and fill in anything noteworthy that I may leave out. Note: Cristi’s Corrections and Clarifications in Red.

We decided to start the 2006 New Year off right and went to an Exotic south of the border location on New Year’s Eve (We went to Nogales, Mex. a 2 hour drive from our condo in Scottsdale, the stray dogs and the border patrol spotlights were a nice touch). We partied with the locals and ate exotic foods until the wee hours of the night and rang in the New Year with style (We got there and there was nothing to do besides buy fake Rolexes and wresting masks so we bought some tacos from some street vendors while a lone mariachi played his guitar. We also bought some fireworks which got confiscated at the border). We invited some tight acquaintances to revel in the experience with us (My family happened to be in town). What a way to start the year off right (Note to self: Never trust Brooks to plan New Years festivities).

A lot of people talk about getting in shape for the New Year, Cristi and I took our resolution seriously and signed up for the Disney World Marathon (We were peer pressured into it by Brooks’ brothers). We trained like you wouldn’t believe (Neither of us ran more than 6 miles at one time before the race- if that). I must have worn out 3 pairs of sneakers just during my training (Brooks bought a new pair of shoes the day before the race because the ones he was wearing were pretty thrashed. I ran in a pair of black-market Nikes that I bought in Mexico that said Air on them but doubt that they much of anything in the sole). When the race came, we were in the best shape of our lives. (um…once again we didn’t do much training) The gun sounded and we ran like the wind. I set a personal best and never even slowed down and Cristi finished pretty well in our group as well (Brooks set a personal best if you consider stopping to stretch, then cramping up, taking a break at the medical tent, taking pictures with Mickey and Minnie and other Disney Characters along the route and walking, not slowing down then yeah, he never slowed down. I beat all 5 men running in our group and finished close to an hour and a ½ ahead of Brooks, the last one of our group to cross the finish line. I think he may have beat one of those guys in a wheel chair and a 90-year so he made me proud). The Vaseline that was distributed throughout the race was a welcome relief. If you don’t know what I’m talking about I’ve got one word for you- Friction. However, having those medals around our necks was worth it all (Brooks was too numb to feel anything at that point). The race was pretty easy to be honest (Please see comments above). I’d do it again in a second. I felt great the day afterwards and ran a couple of miles just for fun (Neither of us could walk let alone run and Brooks had 3 huge blisters on his feet because of the new shoes he bought the day before the race, who does that?). I would recommend a Marathon to anyone (But he’ll probably never run another one himself).

Cristi got a job doing therapy with kids in their homes and on the weekends she was hired to be on the design team for scrapbooking.com magazine. She also was asked to nanny a 4 year old a few days a week who needed some assistance. Now he had a real serious medical condition, strep of the buttocks (I’ve never heard of this but I guess it is a real medical condition) and was traumatized and couldn’t control when he went the bathroom! So Cristi spent the next few months wiping his bum (Umm…Ok, that’s true but I used my psychology skills on him and am glad to say he is better and now going on the toilet! I am also glad to say that job is now over.). During this same time Cristi started shooting photos of newborns and got to be quite busy between all her jobs. She decided to start her own photography business and Cristi Dame Photography was born, she’s really quite good and has been perfecting her skills ever since then (My website is now up and running so, visit my website at www.cristidamephotography.com).

During this time I was just going to school trying to finish up all my Graduate classes and working really hard so I could get my MBA in International business (Sleeping through classes is more like it). I also started shooting a new documentary on the Arizona/Mexico border with some upstanding citizens who were protecting us from the influx of illegal aliens (Brooks went and signed up with the minutemen who for the most part are crazy gun toting retired guys who don’t have anything better to do with their time). It was pretty exciting to be on the front lines helping to make our country safer (He really signed up to get some good footage and interviews but I wouldn’t call sitting around in the middle of the desert pulling each others fingers making the country safer).

There were some major changes the last few weeks of spring. We decided to go and work for the family business and move to Idaho. So we sold our small condo and moved temporarily into a great new place that I had grown to love earlier in my life (Temporarily has turned into 5 months. We live in the basement of his parent’s house. We are sleeping in the same bed he did in high school). It’s really a great set up, and I couldn’t ask for anything better. (How about our own house?) School played a major part in both of our lives towards the end of spring. Cristi applied for grad school and was accepted to ISU’s masters of counseling program. I graduated with honors magna cum laude from Thunderbird (Hmmm… maybe we should just leave that at: “graduated”.)

As summer came around we all got excited about my Mom’s birthday because we were going to celebrate it on a boat, in Europe. Sound sweet? Well it was besides the minor incidents of my backpack getting stolen and our bags showing up 8 days after we had set sail. But I have to admit that I made the Celebrity Cruise shirt I was given by the front desk look good over those 7 days. They did loan us some formal wear on formal night so I didn’t have to wear my shorts, Cristi’s loaner dress to was stunning (It had shoulder pads and looked like a tuxedo dress). She really dazzled everyone within view.

The trip it’s self was awesome. We had lots of fun with the family and enjoyed all the great stops. We took a romantic gondola ride in Venice (As romantic as you can get with Brooks’ parents and his grandma in the boat with us, and his brothers and their wives in a boat beside us but it yes it was nice) and saw David, the Sistine Chapel (which dad kept calling the Sixteenth chapel), and cruised around on mopeds in Greece. A really memorable trip and we took some great pictures (In every picture we are in a new location but, Brooks and I are wearing the same thing since we didn’t have any clothes for the first part of our trip- it’s awesome).

Currently I’m working in the family business (Woodgrain) and have lots of opportunities to travel and work with a lot of great people (And leave me for extended periods of time).
Cristi is working on her Master Degree and keeps pretty busy with school and her business. We were both called to work in the Nursery at church. I’m not sure why they decided to do this. I don’t know if it was supposed to encourage us to have kids or remind us why we don’t have any (The kids are really cute they all have their own personalities and interests but watching 12 infants at a time has been a great form of birth control). We are looking for a new house in the Boise area and are just waiting to find one that feels like home (The only problem is that to Brooks, his parent’s basement does feel like home). So, once we have our house you are all more than welcome to come for a visit, our door is always open. Boise is a pretty hot destination, do you like Potatoes? and….. ummm tater tots?… Napolean Dynamite was filmed here and uh…OK, I’ve got nothing. Just come and visit us, the skiing is pretty great up this way (We really would love to see all of our old friends, so come on up and we’ll show you a good time).

Well, I’d better wrap this bad boy up. The lady on the loudspeaker is saying something in Chinese, I think she is saying the flight is on time or it is late I’m not really sure at this point (What I wouldn’t do for a baked holiday treat right now). It’s with great joy that we wish you all the happiness in the world this upcoming year and maybe a few fruitcakes (I think everyone could do without the fruitcake Brooks. Happy New Years we hope that life finds you happy and content, we couldn’t ask for anything more (well, maybe except for moving out of the basement)).

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year,
Love the Dame’s,
Brooks & Cristi

Cool concept

2006-10-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

Go to this website

www.kiva.org

This is a cool idea. The idea is to lend money to a entrepreneur in another country.
Then they pay you back the loan. And you can re-invest in another business or get your money. It's micro-enterprise loans taken more mainstream.

I like it.

Brooks 2.0

2006-10-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

Brooks 2.0

UDY'S and Brooks

Brooks and Brooks No I didn't stutter.

Well The Udy's told me that they used to go on my blog all the time and then they stopped. Why did they stop. Well it is simple really. I started slackin' and not posting new material. So, I figure that the best way to bring back my loyal viewers is take pictures of them and their kid who shares my name.
Sound like a GOOD PLAN? Well, that's what I did.

Ok, well we were down in Utah and we had lunch with my good ol' mission companion E. Udy and his lovely wife and their son. It was a lot of fun. We hadn't seen them in a while. I also haven't met their son Brooks. That's right Brooks. Same name but he's only about 1 year old.

So, these pictures are outside Cafe Rio with the Udy's and Brooks 2.0

Enjoy Udy's I'll do better and keep my blog updated more often.

more pics from Russia

2006-10-03T21:54:00.000-07:00

D and K after our delicious sunday lunch.

Does this car look like its from London? Well you are correct. I had a layover and had to check my bag. They only let you carry on a 3inch by 10 inch bag. So I had to go outside and say Hey, I'm in London. So I took a picture of this Taxi. And when you are in London you have to say Rubbish So, I said this is rubbish that I can't see the city. I think I used that right.

Church in Krasnyarsk. There are 3 branches in the city. The members there were very nice and they spent a lot of time talking with me. After this we went to Konstantin's apartment and his mom made us dinner it was good.

Train

This a picture of a guy on a train. This was boxcar. Boxcar is the worst possible way to travel. It is kind of community style. You don't have any privacy. You sleep in the car with everyone else. It was an interesting experience.

From Russia with Love

2006-10-03T21:31:00.000-07:00

My bed. It is only about 6 feet long and that doesn't work when you are 6'4"

Inside our train cabin. This was my home for a couple of days. 2 weeks of traveling and I only stayed in a hotel for 4 nights I think.

This was our mode of transportation through Russia. That's right the train. I flew into Moscow and rode trains the rest of the time. Trains are kinda fun. Well when you don't ride them for 38 hours. We rode one leg for 38 hours all the rest were a little less.

This is Krasnyarsk a really beautiful city where our Russian office is. This is from my hotel room. Traveling by yourself mean that you have to take all your own pictures.

I took this picture in the train station in Moscow. The lighting was really cool so I took a picture. We were going to go to Red Square but we got caught in a traffic jam. So, we didn't get to see it but, maybe next time.

I've been really slackin' I've got about 4 months worth of adventures that I've not posted. I guess I'll have to at least post some pics from My Russia trip.

I've got to post my europe trip for my mom's birthday and China as well.
I've been slackin' so I will try to catch up and get some stuff posted. I really don't have any really interesting pictures from Russia. But,anyways I'll try to keep this up a little better.

Here are the Russian pictures enjoy.

Slackin"

2006-09-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

The dump workers get homes

2006-06-21T20:10:00.000-07:00

carlos and his delecious bread. He sent me back with tons of bread. I stopped by the community before i had to catch my flight.

We went to the dumps while in El Salvador and found a suprise. The dump was closed by the government. But a non-profit came in and built small metal houses for some of the workers.

It was cool to see them in their own homes even if they were small and with dirt floors.
A lot of the kids had grown up so much since the last time we saw them.

Here's some pictures of the community.

There are some pictures from the bakery that we help fund. Carlos makes over 500 little loafs of bread a day. He also payed back 100 dollars of the 500 dollar loan.

Tivito's story

2006-06-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a story I read about a Salvadoran Soldier who died in Iraq. He may be the poorest soldier to die from the coalition forces. After I read this story I contacted the journalist who wrote this story and thought that it would be a great story to tell to the world. I took my camera and my Brother-in-law Joe to see if we could capture the story of Tivito and get to know his family, and in the process allow them to tell the story of their son and brother. I haven't even had a chance to go back and look at the footage yet. I think that it'd be harder to watch the second time for me. Sometimes filming something is easier than actually witnessing it. It's like the camera creates a barrier. I hope to turn the footage into a short documentary and get money for Tivito's family.

Here's the article:

"To the naked eye, the village of Tacuba, in western El Salvador, resembles any other isolated, poor Central American mountain village defined by timelessness and obscurity. Mangy dogs lounge lazily near rutted roads stirring only when a rare vehicle rumbles by, and only the roosters who crow at daybreak seem eager for another day of poverty and struggle to begin. The affairs of the outside world would appear to have little bearing here.
Yet this remote outpost near the Guatemalan border has not been isolated from President George W. Bush’s war on terrorism. Having joined the United States-led “coalition of the willing,” El Salvador’s president, Antonio Saca, has sent a force of 380 soldiers to fight in Iraq. Nearly 10 percent of them hail from the rural towns of Tacuba and Guaymango near Ahuachapan — three hours by travel in rickety “chicken busses” west of the capital, San Salvador, and almost impossible to locate on my map without a microscope.
Even though Saddam Hussein never posed a threat to Central America, and the national security of the United States is a concern only to those Salvadorans lucky enough to survive the harrowing migratory journey to “El Norte,” some 35 local boys have fought side-by-side with the American armed forces near Najaf, north of Baghdad.
The war in Iraq has given them a chance to see the outside world and meet people far from the dusty streets of their home villages. Many have returned with the spoils of war from the deserts of the Middle East, along with eye-popping stories.
Only one, Natividad de Jesús Méndez Ramos, didn’t make it home. “Tivito” died on April 4, 2004 in Najaf when his 16-member squad ran out of ammunition while fighting Iraqi insurgents. His body now rests in an elaborate gravesite in the cemetery outside of Guaymango, which was given by the Salvadoran military. Tivito’s mother, Herminia, received condolences from her government, but today she struggles to continue forward. She is a widow and mother of five living in a humble dwelling where sickly chickens and flea-infested dogs compete for every inch of shade and drop of water.
When Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited El Salvador on Nov. 11 of last year to thank this tiny country for its assistance in Iraq, he mentioned Tivito’s death, but he did not visit Herminia. That would have entailed flying to the air base near Ahuachapan and then jolting down a series of unpaved dirt roads to face a poverty that few soldiers in the coalition of the willing would recognize.
A British photojournalist named Kat and I visited Herminia Ramos, who lives in Guaymango, in early April, accompanied by our driver, Manolo, who lives in nearby Tacuba.
Amistad con los Estados Unidos
The first thing one notices walking into the office of Joel Ernesto Acosta, the mayor of Tacuba, are the American and Salvadoran flags proudly displayed side by side on his desk. The man dresses in conservative western attire — in a pressed blue collared shirt with pens protruding from his breast pocket, wire-rimmed glasses, and a finely combed part in his dark hair. Acosta could be an accountant in any town in the United States.
He shakes my hand with eagerness and points with pride to framed pictures of himself attending various mayor conferences in Florida. During the subsequent interview, he uses the word “orgulloso,” which means proud in Spanish, no less than seven times.
“Tacuba is tiny, but the people here, their valor is great,” he beams. “We are proud to help the American army because we practically owe our freedom to them. We don’t look at ourselves as independent or separate from the United States, but as a country that stands together with them. That’s why our flags fly together.”
In this country there are two distinctly different ways of interpreting the United States’ role in El Salvador’s bloody, 13-year civil war that ended in 1992after the United Nations helped broker a peace agreement. To the revolutionaries, students, workers and priests in the Catholic Church who preached liberation theology to the masses, and sometimes paid with their lives, the United States under President Ronald Reagan, armed and funded the military death squads who used a scorched earth campaign and killed tens of thousands to quell the uprising.
Weeks before he was assassinated in March of 1980, Oscar Romero, the archbishop of El Salvador, wrote a candid letter to Washington asking the United States to stop funding the Salvadoran military because it was “killing our children.”
But to Mayor Acosta, a member of the traditionally right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena) party, which triumphed over the Faribundo Martí National Liberation (F.M.L.N.) rebels in the civil war, the Americans were the only reason El Salvador didn’t fall to Communism; the elephant to the north stopped the bloodshed and helped the country regain its dignity.
Perhaps more importantly, the United States poured in millions of dollars in aid money after a devastating earthquake hit western El Salvador in 2001. If a poor man remembers the most recent act of kindness the most, then there should be no mystery as to why the mayor of Tacuba and his constituents all but worship the United States. For this village is a stronghold of Acosta’s party — put simply, the pro-American political option in this country. Just contrast the state of the Arena party’s headquarters with that of its rival, the F.M.L.N. party. On a sunny day in early April the Arena stronghold’s doors are open to the public, just two blocks away from the clean and inviting Parque Central. Nearby on the street local boys jam out to boom boxes, and soldiers sit on doorsteps, cradling their automatic weapons in their laps and relaxing in the midday sun. There is life here.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town the F.M.L.N. revolutionary party’s headquarters is closed and padlocked. Paint on the building is chipping away, and the whole place looks abandoned. Next-door is a sleazy discotheque where an obese, sweaty woman in a tight skirt dances by herself next to an overbearingly loud jukebox. Outside on the street a skinny dog lies in the dirt.
Walk up and down the streets of Tacuba and one can’t help but notice several dozen houses lined with sparkling new coats of white paint that stand apart from the others like immaculate churches in the slums. Near the front door, each house boasts a plaque from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAid) in, naturally, the colors red, white and blue. These are homes that American money built after the old ones were completely destroyed by the earthquake.
“The people here already lived in great poverty,” Acosta continues. “Many worked in the coffee plantations, but when the price of coffee fell the families suffered. There is no other source of income.
“And then the earthquake destroyed so much. If it weren’t for our friends in the United States …”
Not to mention the Salvadorans who now call themselves Americans. Largely to escape the civil war, nearly two million live in the land of opportunity, and almost every family here knows someone in the United States. Acosta, himself, has a brother and three nephews in Los Angeles. And the family that runs the Mama and Papa Guesthouse, where tourists in Tacuba stay, married their daughter to an American colonel who was stationed in Ahuachapan in the late 80’s to train the Salvadoran military. They now live in North Carolina, and happy pictures of the colonel in uniform, the bride in her white wedding gown, and two lovely, dark-haired children now adorn the living room’s walls.
No News Is Good News
It is a vicious cycle, these soldiers going off to war and then returning six months later, if they are lucky, so others can take their place. Tivito’s battalion represented the second Salvadorans to land in the Middle Eastern sands. The third group, which just came home two months ago, is still gallivanting around Tacuba with smiles beaming across their faces and welcoming parades of extended family and friends into their USAid-funded houses to show off their war trophies.
In the corner of Pvt. Wilfred Galese Amagoña’s living room is a display reaching clear to the ceiling that could belong to any middle-class Middle Eastern family: stuffed camels and tigers stare down from the upper level of a green and yellow shelf table. Below them is a strategically placed Amstel beer can that was purchased in Kuwait. Behind the table on the white brick wall hangs a flowery curtain from the orient, and above that framed tapestries of the holy mosques at Mecca and Medina, lit up at night. Off to the right are posters of the Real Madrid and Barcelona professional soccer teams, and above that a plastic replica of a Kalashnikov rifle.
Amagoña’s wife sits on a couch watching an old rerun on a poor quality, black and white television, and occasionally entertains her impatient young children. The soldier is not home. He went off with buddies to throw back a few beers.
But outside of town at the home of Hilda Dalila, whose sweetheart Juan Antonio Gonzalez shipped out to Iraq in February, and isn’t expected back for another four months, the scene resembles that of Herminia Ramos, the mourning mother of Tivito. Worried anticipation and sleepless nights plague Hilda, who lives with her father, Angel Cortes Zacarias, and her and Juan’s children, Mario Adilson, 4, and Elvis Aviel, 2. She only hopes she will be able to celebrate like the family of Private Amagoña when her own returns to Tacuba, unscathed.
Like Herminia, Hilda’s family lives in a virtual shack under a sheet metal roof far enough outside of the village that one needs a durable jeep, hiking boots and a body slender enough to fit through the narrow opening in the barbed wire fence to access it. They all but live on the soldier’s salary, which is deposited monthly into a bank account in Ahuachapan. If something were to happen to Juan, that money would dry up and leave the family in trouble. But right now they aren’t thinking about finances, they just miss him.
“It’s sadder for [4-year-old] Mario because he doesn’t understand where his father is, and he cries often,” says Hilda. Sure enough, Mario begins weeping during the interview, until his sobs become wails, as if he is having trouble breathing. “I told him that an airplane took Daddy away. Now Mario and Elvis want to fly away too, and go visit him. They haven’t seen their father in almost two months.”
Hilda thinks about Juan mostly in the evenings, when she is preparing dinner and the kids are running around the house looking for entertainment. They received one letter from him, from Kuwait shortly after he departed, stating that everything was fine … but nothing since. The family has no telephone, and they realize that any news would be bad news. They are aware of what happened to Tivito, the poor boy from nearby Guaymango, but don’t like to think about it too much.
Hilda likes to pull out photos of Juan when she is lonely: proud shots of him posing in his army fatigues and holding various weapons, several pictures of him marching in San Salvador or playing soccer as a boy, and even a baby photo.
“He’s handsome to me,” she says with a shy smile. Hilda and Juan have been together for five years, and they plan to marry in the local church in Tacuba if he returns … “when he returns,” she says with a smile.
The Poorest Coalition Soldier to Die in Iraq
In the morning we leave for Guaymango, following a smooth new highway toward the Pacific Ocean. Suddenly the jeep turns and lurches down a dirt road fractured with washouts and potholes. Mango trees appear in the fields along the road and the jeep pauses so Manolo can get out and urinate on a stick fence.
Five minutes later, on the road again, Manolo rolls down the window and pulls over to the side of the road: “¿Donde está la casa de Natividad Mendez … el soldado que murió en Iraq?” he nonchalantly asks an old woman with a cane, as if getting directions to a popular tourist attraction.
She obediently climbs in the backseat and beckons the jeep to halt behind a concrete building just past the Canton San Andrés country school. The woman, Manolo, Kat and I disembark and squirm single file through the narrow opening between a barbed wire fence and the corner of the house, then walk down a dirt path to yet another concrete house with a corrugated tin roof. A welcoming party of skinny chickens, suckling dogs and four filthy pigs greet the visitors.
Here lives Herminia Ramos whose son Natividad de Jesús Méndez Ramos bears the dubious distinction of being the poorest coalition soldier to die in the Iraq war. “Tivito” fell on April 4, 2004 when the ammunition his superiors had supplied his 16-member battalion proved tragically insufficient, forcing them to use knives to fight the enemy. Only four brave soldiers fended off the Iraqi insurgents after Tivito was killed and 12 others were injured, prompting the Spanish counterparts in their brigade to dub them “Los Guacamayos,” a takeoff on their hometown. Prior to this, the brigade had been given the unflattering name, “Winnie the Pooh.” The national newspaper, El Diario de Hoy, ran two articles about Tivito on March 31 of this year, commemorating the anniversary of his death and calling him a national hero.
But any pomp or sense of national pride clearly missed the turnoff to Herminia’s humble home. Her life of manual labor and raising children goes on, as if there never were a terrible war being fought on the other side of the world. When we arrive, unannounced, Herminia is out looking for bread to feed her family tonight. She has left her eldest daughter, 23-year-old Maria, to look after the toddlers, 6-year-old José Antonio and 4-year-old Marcos.
The young woman is deathly quiet as she scrubs dishes and clothing in the outdoor stone basin called the pisa, and says little about her fallen brother. The old woman with the cane, Herminia’s neighbor, picks up the story.
“Maria was married, but her husband left. She had a child, but it died,” the old woman refers to Maria in the third person as if she wasn’t within earshot. “She traveled to the capital along with Herminia to retrieve Tivito’s body. It was a difficult experience. She doesn’t say much.”
If it weren’t for the two boys swinging on the hammock and giggling at the strange, tall, pale white visitors, the awkward silence at this moment would be unbearable. One wears dirty, tattered shorts. The other wears nothing at all. At their sister’s request, they use an open-faced plastic jug to shake loose several sweet hocote fruits from a nearby bush, and feed their guests.
“He was a boy on the verge of becoming a man,” the old woman says. “A hard worker. This boy helped out his poor mother and worked for the good of the household.”
She pauses a second, as if in deep thought, then continues: “In these parts the household is your one resource. You need to bring something home for the household every single day.”
Tivito’s monthly salary of $120 from the Salvadoran army was crucial for the family’s survival given that his father died when he was young, and the soldier inherited the role of “man of the house.” Now that he is dead, those funds no longer arrive. Unlike the United States, this country does little to compensate the widows or mothers of its fallen soldiers.
The United States paid for Tivito’s journey in a body bag back to San Salvador, and the Salvadoran government arranged for Herminia and Maria to pick up the corpse in the capital. But neither government paid for Herminia’s hospital visits resulting from the subsequent heart troubles and stress at the loss of her eldest son. According to El Diario de Hoy, Herminia paid $60 and $40 for two doctor visits, but didn’t have cash to pay for a third. She will be without federal assistance for another nine years until she reaches the retirement age of 55.
When it came time for the burial, Herminia and Maria cooked more than a hundred corn tamalitos for everyone in the village, in keeping with local traditions.
“People Die Here Every Day”
To kill time before Herminia returns home from her daily food hunt, we return to the jeep and visit Tivito’s resting place in the cemetery on the other side of Guaymango. His casita is easy to spot because the one-room mausoleum built and financed by his compañeros in the Salvadoran military towers over the other gravestones. Tivito’s grave is a popular draw this week during the one-year anniversary of his death, as evidenced by the two chickens pecking rudely through the arrangement of ribbons and flowers, looking for anything to eat.
Like any Latin American graveyard, this one offers an immaculate display of colors intended to please the dead as they ascend to the afterlife. Vast resources have been allocated to make this cemetery beautiful. But a closer look reveals how poor this community really is. The marble tiles on the floor of Tivito’s mausoleum are clearly fake, Kat points out to me, and will be hard-pressed to last another year without cracking. The flowers on headstones are all plastic. And the ribbons tied to crosses are made out of old Ranchero chip wrappers.
Tivito’s death has convinced some local men that war is not all glory and exciting travel opportunities, as Domingo Mendoza, the major of Guaymango and cardholding member of the leftist-F.M.L.N. party, admits afterwards in his office. Not unlike the truth behind the colorful facade in the cemetery, I think.
“There has been resistance to joining the army after Tivito’s death, but sometimes that fear is overcome by the need for food,” he says matter-of-factly. Guaymango is the poorest town in the area, and significantly worse off than Tacuba. A whopping 93 percent of the town’s populace lives outside of the village, in the campo, and Mendoza refutes any suggestions that Guaymango is somehow responsible for helping out Herminia Ramos financially in the wake of her son’s untimely death:
“People die here every day. We can’t just hand out money every time it happens.”
“Far Away From Me”
We return to Herminia’s house in the late afternoon and find her leaning against the pisa in a mint-colored dress, looking exhausted, but washing clothes nonetheless. She boasts a dignity in her stature, despite all she’s been through. And suddenly this story is no longer about the complicated matters of controversial wars or financial compensation, but about the simple, naked tragedy of a mother longing for her child.
It’s clear that she’d rather not talk about Tivito, given that guests like us will be arriving all week for the one-year anniversary of his death. But something in her eyes, her tired, mournful eyes, wants to speak.
“I don’t want to remember how he was,” Herminia says in a whisper. But Manolo and I encourage her to continue, prodding at her unhealed wound before the sun sets into the mountains.
“Did he work hard? What kind of work did he enjoy? Where did he get the nickname Tivito?” Her youngest son tugs at her waist, needing his mother. “Was Tivito as handsome as this little one?” I ask.
Finally a response, and a smile: “He was a little chubby, actually … he worked for five years in the fields before joining the army … harvesting milpe and corn.” She is speaking slightly louder than a whisper, and only the iPod recorder picks up every word. “He liked the army … told of how he made good friends there.”
“Did he write letters from Iraq?”
“Yes, he told of how everything was fine … a very beautiful place where he was … he didn’t talk about the people of Iraq, though … he was there for two months … went with the first battalion … yes, there was a Salvadoran priest with the battalion … every group that goes brings one with them …”
The child nags, needs something. Herminia’s voice rises, she is becoming impatient, frustrated.
“The army has basically forgotten about us,” she says. “We went to retrieve the body at the airport … soldiers from certain bases arrived here to pay their respects … but no one from the United States.”
“The community?”
“Hasn’t helped.”
“The mayor?”
“No, tampoco.”
“No one is helping me. What happened, happened. And now we are forgotten.”
“What do you think about the war in Iraq?”
“I am Salvadoran … I don’t know why a Salvadoran has to be fighting a war in Iraq when no Salvadorans are dying there.” The straight face and posturing Herminia offered the national press, the military and the government is gone. At this moment she is a mother, and wearing it on her face.
“There’s no reason for Salvadorans to go and suffer in another country. The Salvadoran needs to stay and protect his own country … If President Saca hadn’t signed and sold out El Salvador to the United States, then that battalion wouldn’t have been sent away …” She begins weeping.
“Are you proud of him?” I ask.
Her anguished face, about to collapse from the weight of the question, and the tears in her eyes offer the answer. But the recorder also picks up the faint words, “Far away from me,” and maybe, just maybe, if it isn’t just an echo, “He is so … far away from me.”
Manolo motions to us that it is time to leave; the iPod recorder clicks off; and Herminia resumes washing clothes in the pisa.
Overcome by guilt, I pull out a $20 bill and subtly hand it to the grieving mother. I am violating a cardinal rule of journalism, but the pain erupting inside of me at this moment overshadows my professional obligation. Guilt for reopening these wounds with my prying curiosity, guilt for the poverty to which she awakes every day, and guilt for the blue passport with the bold white eagle on the front stuffed in my back pocket. I want to tell her that this war is wrong, that she has every right to blame the United States for her son’s death, and that someone, perhaps Donald Rumsfeld himself, should have visited her home the day Tivito was buried in Guaymango.
But I don’t. I just hand over the $20 bill and apologize.
She thanks me and asks her two young boys to fetch a bag of sweet hocotes for us visitors before we leave.
Neither Kat nor I are able to speak on the drive back to Tacuba, so Manolo pulls over at a tienda and we force ourselves to enjoy the pungent hocotes while drinking a round of beer and toasting to Herminia Ramos, the mother of the poorest coalition soldier to die in Iraq".

This is Tivito's mom, his sister and 3 brothers at their home. The tall guy in the back is me. The family was really nice.

Another picture of Tivito

Here's a picture of Tivito in basic training in El Salvador he was 18 in this picture.

These are some monkeys that live in a cage on the way out to Ahuachapan at a gas station Joe and I stopped to give them some food.

Joe learning how to wash clothes in a Pila. This is the Home of Tivitos mom. This is how we got to know her and she later took us to the grave site of her son who was killed in Iraq.

ANTIGUA GUTEMALA CITY OF DREAMS

2006-06-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

arch at night

arches in a monestary. It's the perfect place to take pictures

the fam at another church/monestary

famous church in guate
they used to use egg yolks to get the yellow color
now they just buy yellow paint
but it's called the cake church because it looks like a frosted cake

the famous clock tower arch

woven hackey sack balls

We went to the local market and I saw these hats for sale.
Now What a BYU hat is doing in Guate is beyond me.
They are obviously black market but I thought it was funny that is was a byu hat and not a soccer team or bball team
Veronica ended up getting one and at 3 bucks it was a steal

If we ever lost Veronica it wasn't too hard to find her all we had to do was look for people trying to sell stuff and she was usually close by. This is by the parque central and the govt. offices in Antigua. The arquitecture mixed with the native indigenous groups makes the city really great. I've been to antigua at least 7 times.

Bust of Jesus

fountain in a monestary in antigua

cristi's camera is almost like an another apendage when we are on vaccation

We were singing down in this room that has great aucoustics at a monestary and Veronica started singing and couldn't stop laughing.

Antigua guatemala.
It's a great place
If you've never been you should plan a trip to guate as the locals call it and stay there for a few days and then catch a plane or bus up to Tikal some of the coolest ruins in existence today.

Here are some pictures from our trip to Guate

coon hunt

2006-05-31T10:10:00.000-07:00

lowering of the cam

joe preparing the coon cam

After graduation we packed up our stuff and headed north. We stayed a day in Salt Lake the night we got there the Van Leeuwen's were having a problem with some racoons in their chimeney. We saw a racoon on the roof he jumped to a tree and then fell out and ran off
there seems to be family in there.

so my brother in law joe and i went to check it out. we ended up making a coon cam to send down the chimeney by putting a video camera in milk jug

here are some pictures
the video turned up nothing. i think the coon was out checking things out or hunting for food.

I hear he's still up there in the chimney.

GRADUATION

2006-05-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

the gang at raelynn's blessing

Close up of angel c. t-birds pres.

SHIMPS NAO AND I after graduation

Here are some additional grad pics I just got back from El Salvador and finally uploaded my pictures from my camera
enjoy.

I'm sure they'll be some el sal pics soon to come

GRADUATION

2006-05-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

dave dodge ean and myself right before we walked in

mug shot

JENI MYSELF AND Ean

grandma and I

I'm a little behind.

I've been in the process of moving trying to sell my car, house, and go to El Salvador before I start work.
I still need to download the pictures from my camera. There will probably be more pics to come.

So,
it's been a busy couple of weeks.

Here are some pictures from graduation. It was nice to have family in town. Graduation was bittersweet. NIce to be done. Sad to say goodbye. I really made some great friends from all over the world who I hope to see soon.

I'll be posting PICTURES AND THOUGHTS from other fun adventures soon.

Enjoy.

Recent pics & Finals

2006-04-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

Da boys earlier in the day (st. patty's) we went to a spring training game. Seattle against the Padre's.

A few weeks back we went to dinner with our friends for Ean's bday here's a shot of all the girls Ean's wife Ali was prego at the time and so was Jeni. Jeni is expecting after graduation and Ali and Ean just had their baby a few weeks ago.

McCall IN JAIL. Ok she's at the Padres house on the stairs I don't know what that look means

CRISTI AND HER Cousin Hilda on a recent visit here in AZ
Well, Thunderbird is almost in the rearview mirror. I would be lying if I said I wouldn't miss the place. School has been incredibly insightful for me. I've really enjoyed it. I think it opened my mind to new things and really broadedened my global mindset. Graduation is in almost 1 week. It's getting crazy with final projects and finals. I've got 4 major papers due this week and 2 presentations. I've already knocked out one final and one presentation. It's really getting down to it.

I'll miss Thunderbird and the people I've met here. I'm sure I'll see some of them soon but, It's been a great cultural melting pot on campus and I've learned a lot from the people I've gotten to associate with as well as my Profs.

So, anyways

I decided to post some recent pics as well because I haven't done so in quite a while.

Enjoy.

Immigration March in PHX

2006-04-18T03:15:00.000-07:00

These are some pics from last weeks march

das tor family biz article

2006-04-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

Here's my most recent article in the DAS TOR for family business and the family biz club that we started on campus this trimester.

Enjoy,

http://www.dastoronline.com/media/storage/paper330/news/2006/03/22/Campus/Family.Business.Club.Helps.You.Fight.The.Odds-1764430.shtml?norewrite200604121356&sourcedomain=www.dastoronline.com

Update

2006-04-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

I've been slacking on the blog. I won't lie. I've been pretty busy. Last weekend I was up in Idaho, house hunting. We're heading up there after graduation so, that should be fun.
School has been pretty busy. I went to bed at 3 last night. Why? To finish some crazy paper and the teacher ended up being sick and didn't show up for class.
Great!!!!
I've been up to a few little interesting things. I went down to the Immigration march in downtown PHX because I really wanted to see what it was all about and I didn't have class. It was crazy. They say like 150,000 people at least. They don't have exact numbers still. But, it was wild. It is the biggest event of it's kind in PHX. I went out and shot some video and took some pictures I'll post those sometime soon. Maybe this weekend.
so stay tuned.

Cousin Matt's article

2006-04-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

Here's an article that my Cousin Matt is in about how Oil Co's are hiring grads at record numbers and offering nice paychecks. It's an interesting article and has a big picture of Matt at the start.

I knew I should have paid more attention in geology class.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12271749/

Mid-terms & Random thoughts

2006-03-14T17:46:00.000-08:00

Well,

I'm in midterms right now. I kinda don't like tests but, I guess they want to see if you have learned anything. School wise this has been my best semesters when it comes to growth, learning, and useful information (It's all useful but, some seems more useful than others). Favortie class has to be New Venture. New venture is an entrepreneur class. We are working on business plans and that's actually a lot of fun. Becuase it seems like something that i'll use use. I'm not creating a spread sheet for microsoft's accounting practices. I'm creating a plan that is my idea. That someday I may actully do.

That's pretty cool.

But a lot of good classes this trimester.
Hard to believe I'm done in May. It seems like I had just got to Thunderbird yesterday.

It's really interesting as people are getting jobs. It seems like the number one thing driving their decision is Money. I can understand that we've got some debt to pay off. But, com'on if you don't eve really like the company or the position why would you take it. It seems to me that many graduates want to be on the fast track to success. They get and MBA and think that means they should make 110,000 dollars a year just because of that. Some may command that type of salary. But, many don't have the experience to back that kind of salary up. The old days of making an honest days living and deserving your promotion seems to have past. Our generation wants money and power quickly and if they don't get it they complain, quit, sue, etc... It's really pretty lame in my opinion. I mean how can a CEO who has worked his whole life to biuld a company and get to where he is at feel comfortable promoting someone who has been in the company for 5 years to a position that maybe took him a lot longer to achieve. I can see how they feel threatened.

I read an article in Fast Co. a week or so ago about how our generation doesn't know how to fail. We've been told we can't fail and when we have failed our parents have been there to back us up etc... etc...
Anyways it was talking about a Harvard grad who got a bad performance review and was about to cry. Then he got his parents involved and the guy's mom called the HR department to say there had to be a mistake, becaus her son didn't deserve that type of rating. We are a generation who wants instant gradification and to be honest we are a little greedy. It's sad to say that I'm part of it. I would hope that we get to the point where we can learn from those who have gone before us while implementing our own knowlege and style to the workplace.

I guess time will tell on where this mentality and attitude take us but, I don't think there is going to be a meeting of the minds with baby boomers and gen yer's, gen xer's.

Take care,

pictures from the border

2006-03-05T18:59:00.000-08:00

Here are the long awaited photos from the border 2 weeks ago with the min. men. Another educational experience.
Anyways,
I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Ean and the Virgin

After hanging out on the border we went to Mexico to get some Tacos. We stopped by the virgin in order to bless our trip. Ok Ean had to use the bathroom.

This was our buddy Richard. He had a big truck and was actually a pretty funny guy.

Working real hard with his bag of Peanuts

Here's Ean spotting on the border. Pretty sweet

New articles in the Das Tor

2006-02-28T10:48:00.000-08:00

I've got 2 new articles in the latest edition of Thunderbird's newspaper.

One is on the marathon I ran and the other is about China.

Here's the links

ENJOY!

http://www.dastoronline.com/media/paper330/news/2006/02/25/TbirdsInAction/Why-We.Run.Peer.Pressure.Or.Willpower-1637647.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.dastoronline.com

http://www.dastoronline.com/media/paper330/news/2006/02/25/TbirdsInAction/China.Changing.We.Are.Not.That.Different.After.All-1637649.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.dastoronline.com

New Cristi pics

2006-02-21T11:27:00.000-08:00

brinlee and ali

Brinlee and her mom ali.

Here are some recent pictures that Cristi took. I'm turning into one of those guys that doesn't have a kid so I talk about other people's kids as if they were my own. Cristi has been doing more and more photo shoots. Pretty soon I'm sure she'll be getting a good amount of customers.

I think we are going to be attending a wedding or 2 that she will be shooting as well. So that's pretty cool. She's gotten really good at using her camera and throwing in all the tricks.

There are some of our friend's daughter brinlee as well.

ENJOY THE PICTURES

Naco and the minutemen

2006-02-21T11:25:00.000-08:00

Well this weekend I was back at the border with my buddy Ean and the good ol' minutemen. They were a laugh a minute. It was good to go with Ean, We were crackin' up the whole time. I've got some good video footage and some pics that I'll try and download later.

It has just been a bit since I've got on here.

So be on the look out for new pictures and exciting stories.

Hahahahaha

Gator land

2006-02-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

Cristi and the gator without the muzzle gaurd.

me and the gator

Mari holding a gator.

gator wrestlin'

kissing toads

This was a picture of the animal show. Cristi has a fear of scorpions. When she was younger she lived in AZ and got stung by one and couldn't talk. So she was the worst one for picking to show off the scorpion to.

on the river

gator alert

This was one of the airboat operators. He kinda reminded me of a pirate.

one big gator

Hi from Gator land

The gators were killing me. It was hillarious he was telling me a crocodile joke. Gators hate crocs. FUNNY I'M TELLING YOU GUESS YOU had to be there.

Me and the fellas just having a good time chattin' it up.

Mari and Cristi with GATOR GUYS.

Here's a trip to GATORLAND.

Sweet place for seeing gators.
We took an air boat ride and saw some wild gators and we also got to see some cool birds.

It was a lot of fun.

Afterwards we got to see some gator wrestleing. that was pretty cool.
Holding a gator was also cool. They feel really smooth and cold to the touch.

Anyways, Enjoy the pictures.

Wheels of Steel

2006-01-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

These are dubs on steroids. I just love that this car probably doesn't cost as much as the wheels. This thing was sweet.

Key West is the BEST!!!!

2006-01-28T15:48:00.000-08:00

This was ap picture I took of the moon and some lights driving back from Key West. It was an awesome moon but Couldn't figure out how to snap a picture of it.

Sunset on the highway.

Sunset

Hemmingway spent a lot of time in Key West fishing and ended up building a house there as well. Interesting guy.

You gotta love superman.

Oh no Sponge man. You gotta loves sponge man, he's just an old softy.

On the docks at Key West

Let me see. If you are driving a Bentley I don't think anyone is feeling too sorry for you. But when you put a liscence plate that says tuf life I just think you're asking to get cut off more often than the average guy. I like when people have cleaver plates on their car but, when your car cost more than my house that's when plates should show a little class. Anyways, I thought this was pretty funny.

This was a car we saw on the way down to Key west from Miami

Miami Beach/ South Beach

2006-01-23T12:25:00.000-08:00

Sunset over Miami

Vette at the car show at south beach.

So-be as the locals call it is a really nice beach. I'm not going to lie.

This picture was just a classic. There are a lot of dogs on South Beach mainly small dogs. I hate small dogs. I guess I shouldn't say Hate. There are a few I could roll with. I just hate she-she dogs. The ones that are with their owner and their owner's kids and the dog looks better than the kids. Laced up with Diamonds and all that. That's too much for me. Dress your kids then your dog. In that order.
Anyways, this picture was just so funny. Here's the biggest dog in the world and the smallest. The big one looked like he was going to eat the small one.

Mari and Cristi I have no clue who the tall lady is.

Finished empanada

Cristi and the pizza master Mari outside of Sopranos.

Mari's pizza place on South Beach. If you are down that way check it out. It's on Washington 2 blocks from Ocean Dr.

Cristi on South Beach

view from Mari's apartment

Art deco style on south beach

FLORDIA FUN

2006-01-23T11:34:00.000-08:00

Space the final frontier. We went to the space center while we were out in flordia visiting the distriburion center there. Cool place. The day we were flying out they were supposed to launch a rocket to Pluto but it got delayed because of Wind.

Brinlee and Cristi at the fish tank.

The BASS PRO SHOP FISH TANK. This is Brinlee checking out the fish.

Here's a picture of our friends in Flordia. The took us to this great little town. It's actually the area where the Truman show was filmed. It was a picture perfect town.
We had a good time with the Williams because they showed us some southern hospitality.

MARATHON AFTERMATH

2006-01-19T16:07:00.000-08:00

I don't know how this one happened but the bottome of my little toe is just one big blister.

3 blisters on this foot.

Well,

I've been asked what a marathon does to you physically. Good question.
The best way to explain it is with pictures. I mean of course you get sore joints and muscles but this picture will give you a better idea of what the race did to my feet.
I bought brand new shoes that had never been worn from the adidas outlet because I had some old shoes that I was going to wear that were basically just worn out. I've heard that you never run in new shoes and I've heard other people say that it doesn't really matter. I just have big feet. Nike makes a pair of shoes that are super light and you actually just wear them for the race and then chuck them. So who knows.