Pura Vida en Costa Rica

Sorry for the delay.  Thank goodness for Sundays, to give myself a self-imposed chance to step back and slow down.  Last month I had my very first ever official spring break. (Yeah, bet you didn't know there's no such thing as spring break at BYU, did ya?) Thanks to Marcia and her willingness to serve (that's another story...that I would love to tell, if you care to hear it), I got to spend my break in beautiful Costa Rica.  Just to give you a run-down of our adventures...

We first spent a day in San Jose.  Coincidentally, a friend of ours had a cousin living down there, Sheldon, who took good care of us while we were in the city.  He was there to get us from the airport, he showed us around and entertained us, and when we couldn't find our hostel he arranged for us to stay at the one where he worked.  (Hotel Los Angeles.  Great place.  I would wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone.)  

I can't say enough good things about Sheldon.  Chivalry is not dead.  I hope he comes to visit DC sometime so we can return the favor.  He also took us to church the next day and dropped us off at the bus stop to take us to La Fortuna afterward.  (One of the most adventurous and interesting parts of this trip - traveling via public transportation!)

We decided to take a later bus to La Fortuna, so we could explore the city a little.  When we came back to the bus stop an hour later, we learned that it had been the last bus of the day.  Interestingly, this did not even create a hint of panic in me, or in Marcia once I translated the news to her.  We asked the guy if there were other buses in town we could take instead, and he told us we could take the one that was leaving immediately from that station, and connect in a different city.  We stopped in Quesada, got off the bus, wandered around for a minute, and then heard some guy yelling for anyone who wanted to go to La Fortuna and got back on a different bus.  Just like that, problem solved.  It was almost too easy. We even got a sermon from a bus pastor (it was Sunday).

La Fortuna was the adventure segment of our trip.  We rode on ziplines through the canopy (in the rain)...

...went horseback riding (and swam across a raging river to see a waterfall)...

...relaxed in some of the natural hot springs... ...and hiked around Volcan Arenal.  Our guide for the hike was born in the area and was around when the volcano errupted in 1968.  Prior to that, they'd just thought it was a big hill.  When all the rivers started heating up, they didn't know what was going on - and then it just erupted!  It's been doing so constantly ever since. We didn't get to see any lava on that hike (raining), so the next night we tried again.  We got a cab to take us to a bridge where we could try to see the volcano through the clouds.  We thought the cab driver would get bored after 10 minutes and make us leave...an hour later, he was the one still saying, "You just have to be patient, as soon as the clouds move, you'll see lava!"  Marcia and I sang songs to the lava and did cloud dances, and we tried sucking the clouds away.  This was the result: The beach segment of our trip was spent in Manuel Antonio/Quepos.  It was beautiful, sunny, and relaxing.  We even got to watch the sunset!  Even though I spent most of the time in the shade and covered with sunscreen, I burned. Good ol' Scandinavian skin. At least it's consistent. But Marcia trumped me on the sunburn. We also went on a tour of the mangrove with an AWESOME tour guide - by the end, we loved it as much as he did! We also got to see the smallest anteater in the world (it has a prehensile tail!) So, okay, we may have heard about a live band performing and gone out dancing on our last night. I noticed that there are a lot of happy people in Costa Rica - all over the place, we'd hear people whistling or singing. It's just not possible to do that when you're unhappy! I also noticed a LOT of Americans in Manuel Antonio. What's that all about? Over the course of the week, my spanish got gradually better, and I had two milestones to illustrate. I got into a long religious conversation with a woman on a bus somewhere between La Fortuna and Manuel Antonio. We both walked away feeling fulfilled. On the last day I got into a haggling session with a dude at the beach. I walked away feeling aggravated...and then it changed to exhilaration when I realized that I'd held my own in an emotionally-charged conversation in Spanish! I close with a random list of some of my favorite Spanish words:  catarata (waterfall), relampago (lightning), murcielago (bat - like the animal, not the athletic equipment), semaforo (stoplight), and Oaxaca (city in Mexico).

Late Februaryish

Time for the second annual 80's party!!!  I think the pictures do a marvelous job of speaking for themselves.

********
Recently, a good friend of mine from the BYU Stats days, Lorenzo, came to town for a conference.  I hadn't seen him since we graduated in 2005, so this was a great surprise.  We got to hang out and I showed him all the monuments, and he also joined me for Dinner in the Dark, where he introduced himself to everyone as "Mario Cart."  (He's very quick on his feet with the humor.  He cracks me up.)  At this activity, we literally had to eat in pitch blackness.  Light was not allowed.  It was actually a great time.  We all learned to depend much more on our other senses...and everyone else there.  

At the end, they gave us a "surprise" - everyone had glow sticks taped to the bottom of their chair!

Since we were always in the dark, I never actually got a shot of Lorenzo.  You'll have to take my word for it that the jump-roper is him.  If he sends me any pictures, I'll post 'em.

Lights back on - "Whoa, didn't realize the place was set up like that!"  "Look how messy everyone was!"  "Hey, we had egg rolls sitting right by us the whole time?!"  "Wait, there are TWO tables??"  "You're all the way over THERE?"  "Ouch, my eyes!  Turn the lights back off!"
*******
It snowed again!  And this time, I took advantage before a layer of ice could form over the snow and built myself a snowman!  
...but the snow was a bit dry, so my little man of snow was a little squatty.
I shall call him Mr. Stubbs.  My favorite is the Lifesaver eyes.  That was Kassandra's touch.

That is all.

Februaryish

I need to catch up before Spring Break.  You'll see why, after Spring Break.  (13 days!)  Lots has gone on!  In no particular order...

I went to see The Killers with Jeph.  Naturally, it was amazing.  It was the kind of concert that gets me excited down to my bones.  It's hard to explain the feeling.  It's the closest thing to spiritual that I've ever felt, without it actually being a spiritual thing.  I've been to one other Killers concert right after I moved to DC - that was back when they only had one album, and now they have four!  (Yep, I've been here that long.)  

I just love watching Brandon Flowers. When he talks, he's awkward on the stage, like he just doesn't know what to say.  But when he's singing, he is in his element and you can't take your eyes off him.   (We wanted to make t-shirts that say, "I'm Mormon, just like Brandon Flowers!") 

At one point in the show, some helmet-clad dude jumped up on the stage and started strutting around like he owned the place.  He even gave Brother Flowers a big hug.  It wasn't until he stopped singing and said, "Who is this guy??"  that the security guards came running and hauled him off the stage.  Of course, after the song ended, he made it a point to get a big round of applause for the Fairfax security guards and to say hi to the dude, since they just sent him straight back into the crowd.  (We then changed our minds and wanted to make t-shirts with a drawing of helmet dude and "The Killers" on the front, and "Who is this guy?" on the back.)

My first friend in the DC area and longtime Census/workout buddy, Lauren, moved to North Carolina a few weeks ago.  It's hard knowing she's not here, but it's like with family - I know I'll be seeing her around.  Just not as often.  But I did throw her a big Census dinner party before she departed.

I've started getting back into the Salsa scene lately.  On Valentines weekend, for example, I actually went dancing both weekend nights.  My date was Marcia.  :o)  The skills are coming back to me.  It's bliss.  Kassandra dressed up like she was going to an 80's prom.  Doesn't she look hot?

I've gone to three birthday parties in the last two weeks.  All of them have been on Thursdays.  What's that all about?  During one of them, I won a contest and my prize was that I get to be Shark's BFF for the next year.  As you can see, he's very excited.
At another, I made a contact that could potentially lead to an incredible summer internship - but I'll tell you about that if it actually happens.  This pic has nothing to do with the internship, it's just some fellow birthday partiers.  (If you're curious, the guy on the right won - after about 5 minutes and two breaks.)
The third party was for my dear roommate, Jossy.  
There ended up being two birthday cakes, so we just sang to her twice.

Just a word about school - a few weeks ago we had a case competition, which is really just a big opportunity for all the students to get a little exposure, show off their presenting/analysis skills, and network.  Just like everything in business school.  It's all about the networking.  Basically, they give us a case and we have 3 days to prepare a presentation with all our solutions, then we present it to a panel of judges on day 4.  But this comes in the middle of all the regular classwork, so you can imagine the good times.  It was by far the most intense week I've had in school yet - I was either in class, doing homework, at a church function, or sleeping.  But my group was delightful.  

I think I've mentioned before that I sometimes get to show people around who are considering attending AU, to try to woo them to the program.  I'll take them to class, feed them, give them a tour of the campus, and answer Q's.  It's fun.  Now they're talking about putting us up on the Kogod website so people can contact us directly.  (You can see it here.  Just scroll down a little, you'll be able to see a few more of my attractive classmates.)  As a bonus, we got to take professional photos to go on the website.  So, now you can all see what I'd look like if I were ever a professional.  :o)

I recently learned about a massive service organization in DC called Greater DC Cares.  So, the other night I attended orientation so I could start getting informed about all the service opportunities out there.  I was very impressed with (1) how organized this thing is.  It's very large scale, covering a lot of different areas and types of service, and it's all volunteer, which can get messy.  But they've got it down to a science.  (2) how many other people were attending orientation!  It's just a really happy reminder that there are a lot of people out there who want to do good things, and all they really need is someone to take the lead and give them opportunities.

This weekend we had a big ice skating activity for Institute.  The place was packed.  I was playing tag with some people on the ice, but after awhile it was so full of people that we couldn't play anymore.  

The only downside is that the ice was only zamboni'd at the beginning.  3 hours of 300 people going in circles doth ruts in the ice make.  I actually took a pretty ungraceful spill (when I wasn't goofing around to deserve it) and now my right side is all bruised up.  Totally worth it!

Phew!  Caught up again!  Keep checking back for more birthday and ice skating pictures.  

Oops, I got behind

First off, I'd just like to take this time to say: IT SNOWED!!  And it's about time, too!  I'm enjoying it while I can - it'll probably be gone tomorrow.

See that layer of ice on my car?  This is what winter is like in the East when we actually get some precipitation.  Same as the last picture - note that I'm actually standing on top of a layer of ice that formed on top of the actual snow.

Now, let's see if I can get caught up.

MLK weekend was a whirlwind.  I spent a few days down in Raleigh, NC helping Lauren and Yuriy do some painting.  (You can imagine the wild times.)  But I think they now have the most awesome-looking laundry room I've ever seen.

That same weekend, Marcia shared a birthday with MLK, Jr.  So, of course, we had a party!  An Indie dance party, with Gibby as our DJ.  I was impressed with the indie selection - I'll have to get the playlist.  

We did our best to dress the part, which includes all the crazy eye makeup, some purple tights, and my Music Snob tee.  

The next day was the Inauguration!  I decided to brave the masses and walk into town (7 miles round trip!  Not bad!) so that I could see history made.  I told the story on my family's blog, but suffice it to say, it was the most polite, well-behaved humungous crowd I have ever encountered in DC.  And after all the stories I've heard from my friends who also attended, we definitely chose wisely when we mapped our route into and out of town.  Here is my pictorial documentation.

I will now add to the randomness by bringing you to this past weekend.  

I attended a PostSecret seminar with some friends from my ward.  It was put on by the founder of postsecret.com, Frank Warren.  Just to give you a little background, this guy started a community art project that basically consisted of him walking around town and handing out blank postcards that were addressed to him.  The instructions were: Tell me your secrets!  So they did.  It started as a community art display, then he turned it into a blog, and then he started making books of them.  And then when he stopped the project, the secret postcards just kept coming to his house.  He realized that it can be very therapeutic for people to share something they have never told anyone else.  It can be a sort of release for them, and also for others who see someone else's secret and can relate.  Sometimes they're funny and sometimes they're very serious, but I think it's all very interesting.  

Lastly, I attended a Roller Derby with some classmates.  I had never actually seen one before, so this was new for me.  All I can say is, do not mess with the chicks with the skates.

We spent the first half of the game trying to figure out the rules, and the second half trying to figure out who would want to play if we decided to set up our own league (since we all have so much freetime), and what their names would be.  The players we were watching had names like Carnage Asada and Condoleezza Slice.  Obviously, this is going to require lots of serious brainstorming.

The rest of this week is looking to be equally awesome, with a little bit of The Killers, a little bit of some Census, a little bit of some Salsa...but I'll get to that later.

P.S. Why didn't anybody TELL me how much of a tax refund hookup it is to quit your job mid-year and go back to school?!

Christmas Break extended

I want to be sure to cover my last bit of Christmas break excitement.  School just started up again (it'll be a real interesting semester.  And I mean that in the most sincere, non-loaded sense.)  and I figure I should get all caught up before things really start picking up and I lose my chance.

I took a trip down to Broadway!  And spent some quality time with the Broadway Croshaws.  We had a grand time.  And I finally got my baby fix, thanks to cute little Asher.  You can just tell how good-natured and happy he is.  That little guy is so loved, and he just knows it.  I could see it in the smiles he graced me with.  I know that much of a baby's smiles are just the baby mimicking, but that doesn't make it any less endearing when it happens.  And in my unprofessional opinion, Asher must be getting smiled at a LOT for how quick it comes to him.  

Can't you almost read his thoughts here?  I think he's saying, "Honestly??  I'm stuck with rice cereal while you guys get to dine on this culinary masterpiece?  Man, I can't wait to grow teeth!!"

And what a talker Asher is!  I love talking to babies.  I always wonder what deep and inspiring things I'm being told by these tiny beings that are so close to God.  It wasn't so long ago that they passed through the veil.  I wonder if they're trying to tell me what it was like in the preexistence, if only they could make their mouths work to formulate the words to tell me about it.  If such words even exist in English.

Valerie and I got bonding time over her Wii.  (Sorry, no pictures.  I was too busy defeating galaxies.)  All I can say is...you can get dangerously hooked on that thing.  It's intense!  We were so into our game, she and I didn't get to do any of the stuff I thought we were supposed to do that day.  But in a way, I'm sort of glad.  I heard this theory recently that you can learn a lot about a person by the way they play video games, so I was putting it to the test by watching real close when Valerie would take her turn.  I think it's a valid theory.  I feel like I know her better now.  :o)  And besides, it gives me an excuse to go down again, so we can follow through with our original plans.

And as an aside, I got to see Matt laugh harder than I've ever seen him laugh before.  Seriously.  Ever.  Crystal was tickling him.  It was priceless.  I love her so much more, for making my brother laugh like that.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2009!

Naturally, I spent most of my extra-long Christmas break in Idaho with the fam.  Or should I say, a teeny portion of the fam.  This year it was just me, Leslie and Alex, and the parents.  Definitely a quieter, low-key Christmas.  

Let me paint a picture for you. Christmas Eve: we went to a movie, and when we got out of the theater we realized we didn't know what we were doing for dinner that night. It was after 6:00, so we just drove around to see what was open. Maybe Costco dogs? Nope, closed. Fast food? Good luck. The typical neon lights of Yellowstone were unsprisingly dark. Oh, look, the bar at Mama Inez is open! And Dominos! When all was said and done, our Christmas Eve consisted of cheese crisps, pizza, and Dad winning at Phase 10. (I was happy for him - he's such a trooper when we play Nirtz.)

Anyway, we all enjoyed ourselves, with lots of trips to the taco truck (I miss that Mexican food), the movie theater (I never see as many movies as when I'm at home), and Lowe's (naturally, we worked on a few home projects...we repainted the kitchen and it looks AWESOME. And Alex and Dad went to work on installing a cabinet. And I started peeling off the wallpaper of the upstairs bathroom!! Is anyone else really excited that this room is finally getting some attention??).

And I got to take a trip to Pebble Creek and get my skiing fix!
It snowed a LOT! Which I really loved since DC seems to have a definite shortage of the fluffy white stuff. Doesn't Chink's Peak (yes, that's the real name) look like a painting?
Dad and Alex had to snowplow the driveway more than once. The walls of snow on both sides of the driveway were at least a foot and a half tall!
The downside is that it snowed so much that we couldn't go to Spokane to see the SpokanderLouws. The days before we were supposed to go, it snowed about 2 feet (or 3? 4?) in Spokane and PLENTY in Poky. This was a bittersweet tragedy for all. We needed our kid fix. I missed the nieces and nephews. And since none of them were around, I realized how much of my time I usually devote to the kids in exchange for the adults when I'm around my family. Interesting.

I also got to visit Sarah-Dawn in Costa Mesa. Yay, Southern California, warmer weather! Right? Not so much. But we still had a great time. She literally lives minutes away from the ocean, which is basically her dream come true. We went to a couple of beaches...

...had a bonfire (most efficient fire ever made) and made s'mores on one of the beaches while we watched the sun set...

...went hiking through a canyon...

...and watched the fireworks and played with hats in Downtown Disney.



And we ate at In-N-Out and got Boba drinks. Twice!!