This Is The Place?

I'm back. Been back for a few days. I drove up with Kira on Monday and then flew back on Thursday. Although the flight I got was a really cheap internet special on Southwest, I think I'm at the point in my life where it's worth the extra fifty bucks or whatever it is to go ahead and get the direct flight into Orange County, or I guess Long Beach works. My total travel was about five hours on Thursday. Kind of a hassle. Whatever.

Utah is such a funny place to me. This was the first trip back in about two years. The worst part about the trip - I didn't even get to eat at Smokehouse. Does anyone want to open up a franchise with me in a couple of years? They have some information on their website about it, but they aren't looking to do it until about 2008 or 2009. I think that is pretty good timing. Just think about it. I'm not giving up on this franchise thing. Plus this place is awesome and you're a dirtbag if you don't love it. Anyway...back to Utah being a funny place...

But before I get to that, this guy we drove up with, Jorge...we were talking about what words we liked in Spanish and Kira said cacahuetes, and my favorite word is cochino. For example, a mom screamed, "Cochina! Sacate la mano de alli!" Which means, "Filthy girl! Get your hand out from there." There, in this instance, was crotch. But then he was like, my favorite word in English is "anyways." I never really thought about my favorite words in English. Anyways...

Utah is a funny place. First, I think towns are weird that are built around a Main Street, or Center Street. I guess I'm just a kid who grew up in the city, or the bigger suburbs of Irvine, CA. Driving around Utah is like driving around in the 909: everyone seems to have raised trucks, and is really obnoxious about getting ahead or around you. I guess the difference here is that a person might pull up on your rear pretty quick, but they will just as quickly speed around you. But in Utah they will just ride your tail for such a long time. Bugs. And then in Utah, EVERYONE is white. It's weird being in a place with little cultural diversity. I forgot about that. I'm a mix of like everything, so I don't really feel any allegiance to any particular race, but it's just funny. You know where you feel it the most? BYU campus. SO WHITE. And everyone dresses kind of funny. And most everyone is very clean looking. Mormon girls are also the prettiest girls, by the way. But in Utah it feels like the pretty girls all have the same exact look. I can't really put my finger on it. I was getting a J-dawg one day and I saw a girl and she was really cute, but if I had to pick a BYU girl out of a line-up, it would have been so easy to spot her. I don't know what it is. You get what I mean though, right?

In spite of how weird a place it can be, I really love Provo, especially as it pertains to BYU. I have a testimony of BYU. It really is such an amazing place. It has an almost unlimited amount of resources, and above all else it really does provide such an amazing combination of academic achievement as well as morality. And spirituality, of course. I spoke with the graduate coordinator of the program I am looking at and I really think it will be a good fit. I already have a couple of professors that I think I'd like to hitch my wagon to, and I like the breadth of the program. I am still interested in the I/O psychology and OB stuff, but I like the more psychology specific dimension that this program provides as opposed to what I was getting in my program.

Of all the places I wanted to eat - Cafe Rio, Smokehouse, J-Dawgs, Saigon Cafe, Tucanos, Bajio - I only had Cafe Rio and J-Dawgs. Karen was trying to tell me that a friend of hers said J-Dawgs was only as good as Weinerschnitzel. That's bull shoot. She also said her friend is a big dude and knows this kind of stuff, but I beg to differ. If you're a fat guy, then it's because you're not very discriminating about the kind of food that you eat. Those hot dogs are the best. Better than Costco hot dogs. Maybe not a better deal because nothing beats 1.50 for a dog and a drink. But this one has the best sauce in the world. The sauce is what makes the dog. If you don't get the sauce then you're missing the whole point. Then I might agree with Karen's friend. I've always been fond of the sauce/onions/jalapenos combo. It's a delicious mixture of sweet and spicy. Hit that link above if you're trying to figure out where it's located. It's a freaking delight. You won't be disappointed, unless you're an idiot. Cafe Rio was good, but it didn't knock my socks off like it used to. I think that's mainly because you can get really similar stuff at places almost anywhere. The tortilla in the salad is awesome, but even that dressing isn't entirely unique to Cafe Rio anymore. It's still good, but from now on, Smokehouse will be the first meal I consume in Provo. Damn that was a bad move on my part. It wasn't that I didn't try to go. I tried, twice. Both times it didn't work out because of other people. If it were just up to me, I would have went. I should've just gone solo...sorry...I'm just disappointed in myself for not making it there.

I don't have much else to say about the trip. I stayed with Eric one night. I really dig on his place. All in all, everyone was SO COOL about hooking me up with places to stay and rides and everything. I didn't even have to ask to stay anywhere, or even rides anywhere. Once people found out I was coming up, they totally offered before I could even say anything. Eric let me use his extra car the whole week. Dave even just volunteered to give me a ride. I didn't even ask him. I'm really lucky to know the people I know. So thanks to everybody.

I've got a lot more to post on, but I guess I'll stop with this one here so as to keep the posts focused on one particular topic, as much as possible.