tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72131590065094715592024-03-05T15:03:06.191-08:00Question Your AssumptionsDan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-18202515703602400002010-05-03T21:07:00.000-07:002010-05-03T21:30:39.701-07:00Yellowstone<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_mMfufxxTDlY-7bU6H09rMOF7IFIwaG1Pr93oq77ZOXRG8Ss91pdawDFhf0ifMVo4cEALCajYAQ9Y4WFel0nghj4Av-vXaDdSCTlbN17QOIz8CehqbMa4d7z4tFrjV2NtVFrMYUKkvkmB/s1600/DSCN0304.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_mMfufxxTDlY-7bU6H09rMOF7IFIwaG1Pr93oq77ZOXRG8Ss91pdawDFhf0ifMVo4cEALCajYAQ9Y4WFel0nghj4Av-vXaDdSCTlbN17QOIz8CehqbMa4d7z4tFrjV2NtVFrMYUKkvkmB/s320/DSCN0304.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467267039755775890" border="0" /></a><br />So, as part of my TA duties for field camp, I am in Yellowstone for the week. With highs supposed to be below 30 for the next 2 days, it is going to be a little bit cold, and I am guessing there won't be as many tourists as there have been when I have come in the past. I have all my winter clothes out, so hopefully I can stay warm through this adventure.<br /><br />Since I am in Yellowstone, I thought I would post a bit about my last adventure to Yellowstone with my roommates. There are some parts I don't care to recount (such as getting sick the night after visiting the park...), rather, I would like to share some of the wisdom learned from the Yellowstone trip. The first, and possibly most important thing we learned was how to stop someone from tailgating you. The solution is quite simple... have your passenger roll down the window, tap your brakes, and have the passenger point out the window. Apparently, people are so obsessed with seeing wildlife in Yellowstone (including some of the mangiest foxes I have ever seen), they will stop the car at any hint of an animal. We used this to our advantage several times, and while it may be somewhat mean to prey on people's curiosity, in the long run it was probably better than slamming on the brakes and causing an accident. It also turns out that anytime you are stopped somewhere, people assume you are stopped to look at something. We found this out as we stopped to stretch our legs at a parking lot at a trail we had decided not to hike and had three cars stop in 10 minutes to ask what we were looking at. They were very disappointed when we said, "Nothing".<br /><br />The other lesson we learned in Yellowstone is that if you sound like you know what you are talking about, and you have a few people stand around you and pretend to be interested, other people will stop to get the free version of the tour. Our plan on this one was to read the signs near sites, have one person recite what was on the sign, and see how many people we could get to stop and listen. This worked reasonably well for a while, however the experiment was aborted when one of our group decided to ad lib a bit and shared information that the onlookers recognized as false (for the record, the acid lake should not have a pH of 16...not only do you not find pH of 16 anywhere, a pH of 16 is, as the Asian onlooker put it, "Very, very basic")<br /><br />So, there you go, a few things you can try to have a little fun while you are enjoying Yellowstone National Park. I know we had a good time with it.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-27576609688129057592010-04-18T18:40:00.000-07:002010-04-18T18:54:07.777-07:00Random musings....Well, I have had a few ideas for my post since my last blog post, so I decided to throw a couple together tonight. The first has to do with turning off the lights. When I was a kid, every time I left my room, my mom would always send me back if I didn't turn off the light. I was really bad at turning off lights for most of my childhood. Turns out, all that reminding by my mom must have had an effect, because as I have been at college, I have noticed it really bugs me when a light is left on. Doesn't make me mad at my roommates like dirty dishes do, I just have to turn off any light that is on in a room where nobody is present. I can't stand to see it left on.<div><br /></div><div>The other thing I thought I would write briefly about is my dinner cooking experiments. I, like most people, get bored with the meals I usually eat, so sometimes I pull out the things I have in the cupboard or fridge and try making something I have never made before. Sometimes these things turn out to be failures, although they are rarely inedible, because I don't often try to mix random ingredients. Usually I am just trying to cook something that someone else has made, usually with the few ingredients that I have. I did once mix barbecue sauce and teriyaki sauce together and put it on chicken, and it tastes surprisingly good (I was just trying to thicken up the teriyaki sauce so I could put it on the chicken on the BBQ without having to marinade it.) Tonight I cut a chicken breast into strips, breaded it with flour and egg, and fried them in oil in a pan. I then made spaghetti and put spaghetti and sauce with the chicken (my own easy version of Parmesan Chicken), sprinkled some italian cheese blend I had on top, and it turned out very tasty. I don't know why I like experimenting in the kitchen so much, I guess it is the scientist in me.</div>Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-19827562581965564122010-03-22T22:40:00.000-07:002010-03-22T22:55:56.773-07:00I'm not your Mother...So, this post is my rant about roommates not doing dishes. Anyone who has lived with me from the time I got home from my mission can attest that there isn't much that makes me more unhappy than a pile of dishes in the sink. It has even gone so far as me posting threatening nots and placing roommates on my black list. It probably has to do a lot with the environment in my home, where my mom always tried to make sure that the areas on the main level of our house were presentable so that they were ready at any moment for visitors.<div><br /></div><div>Now, I will be the first to admit that I am not the cleanest person there is, and picture of the current state of my bedroom would prove that point well. I have never for the life of me been able to keep a desk clean for more than a week. But there is a difference between having piles of paper on a desk and piles of dishes in a sink. First off, papers don't rot and smell bad for the rest of your roommates. Secondly, very few people besides myself ever enter my bedroom, while our kitchen could often be used to entertain guests.</div><div><br /></div><div>The last 2 years have been particularly bad when it comes to roommates who don't do dishes. Part of this is because the last two years I have had to live with a couple randomly assigned roommates, so that it was hard to discuss the problem with them. When I moved to my current apartment with Lamar and Pilgram, we all decided to go to the use only one plate system to avoid the dish problems that plagued our apartment last year. Alas, our new roommate (who is 31 and should know better) leaves dishes in the sink for WEEKS!!! Look, I can understand that sometimes you have to eat and run, or you need to soak the pan in water for a bit to get the stuff that you burned onto it out, but after 24 hours, if you haven't washed the dish it is only because you are lazy. The thing that irks me the most is when someone uses one of my pans and then doesn't wash it, so that it is dirty when I want to use it.</div><div><br /></div><div>As you can probably tell from the post, this rant is inspired from a fresh bout. I spent an hour tonight cleaning the kitchen, and when I walk in there now there is MY pizza pan lying unwashed in the sink. Seriously, you can't take a 30 second break from watching your cartoons to wash off the pizza pan you used?!?! Our sink is never without a dish in it for more than a few hours in this apartment, and we all know who the culprit is, since 3 of us only use 1 set of dishes each and don't rely on the dishwasher. I actually got to the point where I threw away a bowl that sat on the counter for 2 weeks with pasta in it. I figure, if you aren't using it for 2 weeks, you won't miss it if I throw it away. Maybe I am a bad person, but you have to learn to do dishes sooner or later...</div>Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-20936954916450603942010-03-10T10:36:00.000-08:002010-03-10T10:43:32.951-08:00Google BuzzMaybe I am just doing this wrong, or maybe nobody I "follow" ever does anything, but I am confused about this whole Google Buzz thing. The only time it ever tells me anything is when I post something. I know when I have updated my blog, or posted a video on youtube, I don't need a new tool to tell me that. It would be nice if it would tell me when the people I am following do something, but so far it hasn't. Murt posts on his blog for the first time in 2 months and not a notice. But when I put this blog post up, Google buzz will let me know.<br /><br />In a related note, I recently discovered the Labs section in gmail. There is a lot of stuff on there that I could use to potentially make my google experience better. The one I chose to enable: when I push the "&" when I am on my gmail homepage, it brings up the classic snake game for me to play. Useful? Probably not. Hours of entertainment when I should be working on my thesis? Definitely. Thank you google labs, for giving me something to do instead of being productive.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-37544306285976587462010-02-26T12:02:00.000-08:002010-02-26T15:38:38.523-08:00Golden BirthdaySo, today I turn 26 on the 26th. In honor of this momentous occasion, I thought I would post 26 random things about me and my birthday in general.<div><br /></div><div>1. I was born at 5:01 am.</div><div>2. I found out that IU shared a birthday with Johnny Cash when one of my substitute teachers for English in high school basically told our class he was going to get high for the entire weekend to celebrate.</div><div>3. Favorite Birthday Cake, if it has to be cake: German Chocolate with coconut frosting</div><div>4. Favorite Birthday Cake, non-traditional sense: Cheesecake</div><div>5. Since I have been back from my mission, I usually go home over President's Day weekend to celebrate my birthday with my family.</div><div>6. When I was young, I got at least one kite for my birthday every year (something about being born close to March). In keeping with tradition, I gave my niece a kite for her 2nd birthday this year, which was on the 20th.</div><div>7. If I had waited a few more days to be born, I could have been a Leap Day baby.</div><div>8. I was baptized on leap day (along with nearly every other LDS person born in February 1984)</div><div>9. Today is also the birthday of Victor Hugo, Steve Blake, Hannah Kearney, and a host of other people, all of which can be found on wikipedia.</div><div>10. The Grand Canyon and Grand Tetons were made national parks on February 26th.</div><div>11. I was named after one of my Dad's childhood friends, not the bible character.</div><div>12. In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed on my birthday.</div><div>13. I used to tell people that the only reason I liked Valentine's Day was that it meant there were less days left in February til my birthday than days that had passed.</div><div>14. I stopped having birthday parties early in my life because it meant my parents would buy me a better present (and really, what can you do at a party in February...)</div><div>15. Most common birthday dinner: when I was a kid, fajitas. Now, steak.</div><div>16. I hate when they sing Happy Birthday to you at restaurants, especially when it isn't your birthday and you are just there because you get a free meal any time that month.</div><div>17. Worst birthday meal: a few years ago when we went to this crappy chinese buffet in Provo, because it was free, and because they had remodeled so we thought it would be better. It wasn't, but it was nice of my roommates to want to do something for me on my b-day.</div><div>18. I did once have a frozen burrito for dinner on my birthday when I was in high school, because the day was so busy for my family that my parents weren't home at dinner time, but we celebrated later on, so not really a birthday dinner.</div><div>19. Birthday presents this year: hiking boots, tool kit, iTunes gift card and $50.</div><div>20. On my 20th birthday, I got a new mission companion and helped a family move out of their home.</div><div>21. In 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Japan.</div><div>22. Favorite ice cream: Cookies and Cream, no contest. I like all ice cream, but given a choice it is cookies and cream hands down.</div><div>23. February is pie month at Marie Calendars, so in recent years my Mom always buys a pie or two when I come home to celebrate.</div><div>24. When I was a kid, I used to set my alarm for 5:01 am so I could celebrate when I was actually born. That tradition has since died out.</div><div>25. Most people don't think I look old enough to be 26.</div><div>26. When I was a kid, we went to mexican food for my birthday pretty much every year (mostly Cafe Ole, then Casa Mexico)</div><div><br /></div><div>So, there you have it. I hope you all have a wonderful day! I think it is the best day of the year to be born on, but I am a little bit biased.</div>Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-68465545849906448452009-11-10T11:26:00.000-08:002009-11-10T11:41:55.243-08:00The Curse...So, this weekend I went home for my sister's wedding reception, and on the way home I confirmed something I have suspected for a long time...I am cursed. What kind of curse, you ask? Well, it is the curse of the chipped windshield. You see, ever since my mission, whenever I have a pristine, chip free windshield, it is inevitably chipped on my next drive on the freeway. I thought at first this was simply a result of the decision by the Idaho Transportation Department to chip seal the freeway, a decision which left loose gravel on the freeway for several months, just waiting to give my windshield a chip. However, that project has been completed for a while now and the curse lives on.<br /><br />You probably want to hear the whole history of the curse, and you are about to get it. It all started when I was living at the Glenwood in the summer after my mission. While driving on one of our many adventures that summer, I got a chip in my windshield that turned into a crack. I ignored it for several months, but finally decided it was worth fixing and forked out the money for a new windshield. My next trip home on the freeway, I got a chip in my brand new windshield. It was at this point that I learned an important lesson about the curse: it only strikes when there is no chip in the windshield. I ignored this chip, knowing that my car was on its last legs and not wanting to put too much money into it. Fast forward to summer 2008, and my car dies on the drive home. I get a new car with a pristine windshield, and you guessed it, promply get 2 chips on the way home. I once again ignore these chips for a while, but as I am out in Boston visiting my brother in June 2009, he gets a chip in his windshield. The curse lives on. He gets his chip filled, so I decide I should do the same. At my next oil change, they offer to fill it for free and I oblige. The day I get the oil change, I leave for home and get a chip in my windshield again. This is when I knew I was cursed. Nevertheless, I got the chip filled when I got back to Provo, and lo and behold, as I am driving home this weekend, I get a new chip in my windshield.<br /><br />Now look, I could blow this all off as chance, but the facts just won't let me. I mean, one or two chips I could accept, but this is beyond the point of anything other than a curse. I went through the first 22 years of my life chip free, and suddenly in the last 3 1/2 years my car windshield has become a veritable rock magnet. I guess I should figure out why the curse started so that I can rid myself of it before it gets any worse.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-21210603201104738812009-09-16T16:38:00.000-07:002009-09-16T20:22:04.103-07:00Back by Popular Demand...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaF_VAUd3dGEHaCFwNyBsvHTF0rNXimppiXpO4bFg543ELQ5NdPuYlGRqqA3foK2MiIO5UlVaphVZ6XtlwU24jpeNe_msLMep_WAhpvGApYcgfG-73cFE1wqNb2CZQyzn_AL11Heqx29bh/s1600-h/DSCN0882.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaF_VAUd3dGEHaCFwNyBsvHTF0rNXimppiXpO4bFg543ELQ5NdPuYlGRqqA3foK2MiIO5UlVaphVZ6XtlwU24jpeNe_msLMep_WAhpvGApYcgfG-73cFE1wqNb2CZQyzn_AL11Heqx29bh/s320/DSCN0882.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382270053746287474" border="0" /></a><br />So, given that I had 2 recent comments suggesting that I post again, and I always give the customer what they want, I figured I owed another post. Actually, I was going to post while I was in Prague, but I decided to catch up on my hand written journal instead. As most of you probably know, I recently had the opportunity to head to Europe to do some research for my Master's thesis. We spent our nights in Prague, and our days traveling through the Czech Republic (and even a short distance into Germany and Poland) collecting samples at rivers and seeing the countryside. For those of you who have never been to the Czech Republic (can't think of anyone who would be reading this that that statement doesn't apply to, but you never know), it is green and hilly, a lot like the Eastern United States without the humidity. My thesis adviser claims that they have more castles per square mile than any other country in Europe. Since it would take me forever to write an entry about the whole trip, I figure I will do it in parts, each one containing a few photos and some specific things about the trip. I'll call this first entry, "Things to know while traveling in the Czech Republic". Accompanying pictures likely have nothing to do with the topic of the post.<br /><br />First off, it is a long flight to the Czech Republic. With the time change added in, it takes a whole day to get there. You will be tired when you get there. Lucky for me, I had people to keep me awake so that I only woke up at 3 am the next morning and was fine thereafter. The thing people probably wonder about the most is how we got around without speaking any Czech. Well, just about everyone in the Czech Republic speaks English. In Old Town Prague, their English is typically very good, but the farther away you get from there the less they speak, although they all speak a little bit and every restaurant has an "English" menu.<br /><br />And speaking of the food, there are a few things you should know when going to a restaurant. First off, it is going to take a while, so don't plan on being in and out in no time. Second, make sure they know you speak English when you go in. This may save you up to 30 minutes, since otherwise they will give you a Czech menu that you won't be able to read, and the waiters come by only infrequently. Next, you should know that you have to pay for water at the restaurant, and you only get one bottle, so save some for dinner. Also, make sure you ask for "still" water, unless you want mineral water. And for some reason, water is the hardest English word for them to understand, even though the Czech word is "voda", which sounds almost the same. Lastly, you have to ask for the bill, and since they don't come around often, make sure you ask for it as soon as you are done. Tipping is optional, and 10% is considered a large tip.<br /><br />Other random things to note...make sure you have money with you in case you ever need to use the bathroom, since most cost money. If you park your car on the street, and it has French plates, the tires may get slashed. Even if something on the menu sounds like something you would order at home, it is probably something completely different. The English in the English menus, on the English tourist pamphlets, and on English signs is very poor. Well, I have probably rambled on enough for this post, I'll write more about the trip later. Any questions may be answered in the next post. And now for pictures...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG5bgRf6YXrws7PrDzTfj62U27KYbc8boZkt5ib1CbY_83kBCEsmn0bsjYU1wFi_NBrSw7o5lQEukvwL1ZoCvHmufV3_H8cZEjukZdM8eS0JlwAyy-kvwl9HJDrjIWS0_HMDLvDn11UEpX/s1600-h/DSCN0987.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG5bgRf6YXrws7PrDzTfj62U27KYbc8boZkt5ib1CbY_83kBCEsmn0bsjYU1wFi_NBrSw7o5lQEukvwL1ZoCvHmufV3_H8cZEjukZdM8eS0JlwAyy-kvwl9HJDrjIWS0_HMDLvDn11UEpX/s320/DSCN0987.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382270089462204706" border="0" /></a><blockquote>Me on the Charles Bridge</blockquote><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy6w16FwNyO2pqdwXYuvS0ZkuTLKBsBlGwCkQ_rK_ZEcIrxoluGbw0WkGtp3-KHVNCIxI_TkwpocaV_hOD-rdQUv_HbA8YMlNOED2W8F_4Q3OShHeKyGtOYJkX4GWsYvZRwdzAPQL9EWU2/s1600-h/DSCN0951.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy6w16FwNyO2pqdwXYuvS0ZkuTLKBsBlGwCkQ_rK_ZEcIrxoluGbw0WkGtp3-KHVNCIxI_TkwpocaV_hOD-rdQUv_HbA8YMlNOED2W8F_4Q3OShHeKyGtOYJkX4GWsYvZRwdzAPQL9EWU2/s320/DSCN0951.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382270081568261506" border="0" /></a><blockquote><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy6w16FwNyO2pqdwXYuvS0ZkuTLKBsBlGwCkQ_rK_ZEcIrxoluGbw0WkGtp3-KHVNCIxI_TkwpocaV_hOD-rdQUv_HbA8YMlNOED2W8F_4Q3OShHeKyGtOYJkX4GWsYvZRwdzAPQL9EWU2/s1600-h/DSCN0951.JPG"></a>Me in front of St. Vitus Cathedral</blockquote><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTs4fErxiOe8hQ1u2D1z-i0nMJzsJuofWzeuEH9kcGRW_H1BtdzyFGYQIoZvfPB8dGWDWJ7F54-DqbLLgAD3NUs7C1NzDCCOHEOV2xj1hpiQft27CAtFiCgPtWjbkiLEpgPIoMHDSOjEHZ/s1600-h/DSCN0976.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTs4fErxiOe8hQ1u2D1z-i0nMJzsJuofWzeuEH9kcGRW_H1BtdzyFGYQIoZvfPB8dGWDWJ7F54-DqbLLgAD3NUs7C1NzDCCOHEOV2xj1hpiQft27CAtFiCgPtWjbkiLEpgPIoMHDSOjEHZ/s320/DSCN0976.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382270071789024242" border="0" /></a><blockquote>Adrspach Rocks</blockquote><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hE612pFXzBkW0JNvXstPN5gJuauheNOYbIvtQx-T8ngkfKlRBCbDUnD2o6z_Z7SzGkqzvIvwHrLrskykVzDknVm-jgT0H8-7QnZYiZrg46H7w9UAx4dnvDkgHPr00Ahrc6sD24HZdEAj/s1600-h/DSCN0898.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hE612pFXzBkW0JNvXstPN5gJuauheNOYbIvtQx-T8ngkfKlRBCbDUnD2o6z_Z7SzGkqzvIvwHrLrskykVzDknVm-jgT0H8-7QnZYiZrg46H7w9UAx4dnvDkgHPr00Ahrc6sD24HZdEAj/s320/DSCN0898.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382270061258186914" border="0" /></a><blockquote>Astronomical Clock at Old Town Square in Prague</blockquote>Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-65613930725773952262009-06-15T21:42:00.000-07:002009-06-15T22:07:14.761-07:00New EnglandWell, now that it has been a few weeks since I have posted, and I think nobody reads this anymore, I figure I had better post on what I have been up to the last few weeks. See, my brother just graduated from law school, and it made a good excuse to go and hang out with my 1 year old niece for a couple of weeks. Really though, we went out to see the Northeast, since we may never have a chance to go back.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpq3_ox4YV7J68Ep9kcDE9wqVsOn4o5tIWs2q3OUtywb-itDP0W9_mY9dasx0FDq1bZHOkxh70wJK30Nzifg_Ag2omYXTw9oBJUnS4MaMGPlSS25WTJ8PO6PHTgYSGEhES1bnAmkbmigGx/s1600-h/DSCN0833.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpq3_ox4YV7J68Ep9kcDE9wqVsOn4o5tIWs2q3OUtywb-itDP0W9_mY9dasx0FDq1bZHOkxh70wJK30Nzifg_Ag2omYXTw9oBJUnS4MaMGPlSS25WTJ8PO6PHTgYSGEhES1bnAmkbmigGx/s320/DSCN0833.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347782810399662610" border="0" /></a><blockquote>Me and my niece became pretty good buddies over Christmas. I played with her a lot, and she seemed to warm up to me pretty quickly in Boston. This is the first night we were there. She is even more amazing in person.</blockquote>So, we flew into Boston and then went up to Bar Harbor Maine. I wish I could post some pictures, but they are all on my brother's or Dad's camera. It was very beautiful. We took the long way back to Boston through New Hampshire and Vermont and visited the Joseph Smith Birthplace. Then it was graduation time. After the graduation my Dad, my Brother and I hiked about 50 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Then we packed up a moving truck and drove it across the country in 3 1/2 days, sleeping 2 of the 3 nights in the back of the truck on a mattress. So, if you have missed my random musings or reports on what is happening in my life, I apologize.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOqHDBwHAqdnCFHiqXo_2p4YDSrWKBRZqbqOssa_IkzphhZD17cOnh2DDH-cM4V_jt23XwnRSdcrVJ-ekU9t2BahkiahAMqOfy4-Bwab9W7rayxgmMbDa8M6mRBc-vv-U0PI4pJJ9mUSR2/s1600-h/DSCN0881.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOqHDBwHAqdnCFHiqXo_2p4YDSrWKBRZqbqOssa_IkzphhZD17cOnh2DDH-cM4V_jt23XwnRSdcrVJ-ekU9t2BahkiahAMqOfy4-Bwab9W7rayxgmMbDa8M6mRBc-vv-U0PI4pJJ9mUSR2/s320/DSCN0881.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347786914700606354" border="0" /></a>Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-76884339337755265662009-05-10T22:11:00.000-07:002009-05-10T22:26:58.247-07:00Always wear sunscreen...So, once again, I have taken a month off from posting. But you all know how it is...life gets busy, you have 2 final papers to write in 2 weeks, you take your only final and get out of town so your roommates don't kill you because you are sitting around the house in your pajamas all day long while they are headed up to take their finals, you then have to put everything together for a week of field camp, move out of your apartment and into a new one all in the same day, then go TA field camp, and then you forget anything interesting that you could blog about because you waited so long and are now working 7 hours a day and not eating lunch because you forgot to buy mayonnaise when you went to the store. Also, I am not as good at manufacturing things to write about as some of my blogging counterparts.<br /><br />So, as far as getting out of town went, I went down to Capital Reef National Park with my Dad for a few days of camping and hiking during finals week. We put in quite a few miles and had some sore feet, but we saw some beautiful scenery. I wish I had pictures to share, but unfortunatly I need new rechargeable batteries for my camera, so my Dad took all the photos and I don't have any. What I do have, though, is some advice all of us have been given throughout our lives...don't forget to wear sunscreen. Many of the readers of my blog may even remember a song that came out a while ago that shared that message, way back when I was in high school. I did not, however, follow this advice on this particular trip and I paid the price. On our first hiking day, my Dad and I hiked about 12 miles unprotected from the sun, and I got the early summer pink that we all need after a long winter of long sleeves. I knew the next day I would need sunscreen to prevent pain, but we didn't have any, so I went without. I actually hiked with a jacket on in near 80 degree weather to save my arms. But the sun still got the better of me, burning the tops of my ears and the backs of my legs. Being pale and prone to sunburns as I am, I knew if I took a cold shower that night my sunburn wouldn't hurt as bad. Well, that worked, except that a few days later my ears started to peel. So much skin peeled off that they started to bleed. Two weeks later they are finally done peeling.<br /><br />Now, I know the title of my blog exhorts you to examine your preconceived notions to see if they are holding you back. However, in the case of sunscreen, I don't recommend testing the advice you have no doubt received many times. When going out in the sun, learn from my mistake and put on some sunscreen.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-81568920284487459342009-04-01T15:58:00.000-07:002009-04-01T16:20:45.073-07:00April Fools' DaySo, I woke up this morning and realized that today was April Fools' Day. It got me wondering where we came up with this crazy "holiday" where people try to make other people look silly and most people spend the whole day being skeptical of anything anyone tells them. So I went on a very brief search to find the origins of April Fools' Day. My search began and ended on Wikipedia, where I learned it has been a holiday for a long time and nobody really knows the origin. Who knew?<br /><br />So all this work looking for the origins of the day reminded me of the only time I have really been involved in an April Fools' Day prank. It is a funny story, so I figured I would write it down for the few people who read my blog to reminisce about the good old days (if you weren't involved in this, feel free to enjoy the story for the first time). Probably the best thing is that while this was supposed to take place on April Fools' Day, nobody who was pulling the prank had the guts to pull it off when the day came, so the prank was actually pulled of a couple of days later. As I remember, the story goes something like this (feel free to add your perspective/rebuttals in the comments. I actually had very little to do with the whole thing so I won't be offended).<br /><br />It all started as we headed up to Lamar's house for our semiannual conference weekend retreat. Kip was driving, and for some reason we stopped at Wal-mart. As Kip went to find whatever he was after, I split off with Clint to see what we could find in Wal-mart (there may have been a 4th person in the car, I only remember the three). As we got out of earshot, Clint tells me that when he had been in Wal-mart months ago with Med, they had found these dog cookies that looked like real cookies and had decided they would e a great April Fools' Day joke. So, we went to the pet section and he bought the cookies. I guess if I hadn't been with him I wouldn't have been in on the joke, so apparently I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjlJg9GVkzTVZRuVwAUWalXQQBntC_YrqxXGQ6WrRB4JTWY6QjGSCcrbyoMoCFmQVJRZfoa5ETTGwW8BWH_t6HhqdkViYwVM7oenqKZK7037qXNr9yBCOprtKFhYyQwiZCdJkB2qZIRaF4/s1600-h/Lick.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjlJg9GVkzTVZRuVwAUWalXQQBntC_YrqxXGQ6WrRB4JTWY6QjGSCcrbyoMoCFmQVJRZfoa5ETTGwW8BWH_t6HhqdkViYwVM7oenqKZK7037qXNr9yBCOprtKFhYyQwiZCdJkB2qZIRaF4/s320/Lick.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319864149640481458" border="0" /></a>So, as I said before, we were too chicken to pull the prank off on the day at Lamar's house, so we waited until we got back to our apartments. It seems to me like it must have been a Sunday afternoon when it finally went down, because everyone was around, but I could be wrong. Since the whole thing was Clint's idea, and since he was the one who had money invested, it fell to him to take the cookies to the apartment across the hall (where everyone was for some reason) and offer the cookies to the roommates. I was laughing too hard to try it anyway. So, he went across the hall and gave the cookies to everyone, and surprisingly everyone took one with only a little suspicion. They all ate them, and apparently they tasted fine because nobody said anything. Clint went back and offered everyone another, which had to raise some suspicions, but pretty much everyone accepted again. So, Clint decided to leave the box on the table and tell everyone they could have more, so they would read the box and see they were dog cookies. As the legend goes, Murt happily obliged to take another cookie, and while looking at the box remarked "Lick 'n Crunch, that's a funny name" and proceeded to eat another before anyone realized the implications of the statement (don't know if this was the second or third cookie, could have been either). We all enjoyed a good laugh afterward, and got some good mileage out of what was left in the box. The best was the person that came over and just took a cookie without asking if he could have one. So, that is the only real April Prank I have ever been involved in. Not great, but it sure made me laugh at the time.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-73764121554882681132009-03-21T21:06:00.000-07:002009-03-21T21:16:31.618-07:00In Like A Lion...Well, it is that time of year...the weather is nice for a week, then it snows (for all you who have been enjoying 70 degrees, just wait...). All of the geology classes take field trips (ours was to Honey Lake. I would post pictures, but my camera is out of battery so I can't upload them...maybe later). Spring research conference is in the air. And we have to figure out where we are going to live for the summer and the fall.<br /><br />So, I spent 4 days this last week on a field trip... 2 days of 10 hour drives, 1 day of field work, 1 day of sight seeing. The drives were long, the field work was good, and the scenery in the Sierra Nevada mountains was excellent. I am sure you don't want to hear about the TDS of thermal springs and where the wells were in relation to the playa and the alluvial fan, so I will spare you. We did do some cool things in the Sierras though. We hiked through a lava tube (don't worry,the lava was long gone). We saw Mount Lassen and Mount Shasta. We visited a cool waterfall called Burney Falls. And we visited the Allen Telescope Array, a SETI run array (definately a highlight of the trip). All in all, a good trip.<br /><br />So, now it is back to trying to survive until finals are over. On top of school work, I am to the point where I am getting close to finally having a thesis topic, which means writing and research starts soon. We also have to make the difficult decision of where we are going to live for the spring and summer and next year. Always tough, especially now that we are all old guys and are tired of living in young wards. Sometime the search will end, we will sign a contract and be done with it. Until then, just another thing on the plate. Welcome to spring I guess.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-14743476514299672842009-03-09T09:02:00.000-07:002009-03-09T09:24:35.739-07:00More sideways stories...Due to the popularity of my last post of random thoughts, and because I stay awake at night pondering these things (no, really...), here comes the second installment of random thoughts by Dan Ritter, only this time I am not extremely bored and running a fever.<br /><br />First off, why in the world is it called "Daylight Savings Time"? I mean, we aren't saving any daylight, just moving it from one place to another. I actually looked it up on reference.com this morning, and it had no answers. I did find out that in Europe it is called "Summer Time", but in Provo that doesn't seem appropriate since the time has already changed and summer is a long way off. I guess "More daylight in the afternoon and less in the morning time" just doesn't have the same ring to it. The funny thing is, the entry at reference.com says that daylight savings time "causes problems for farming, entertainment and other occupations tied to the sun." How exactly does this create problems? We aren't changing the amount of sun in the day, just when it occurs. In fact, wouldn't this benefit people who rely on the sun, since they don't have to get up as early to catch the sunrise? Anytime I lose an hour of sleep, I am going to seriously investigate the process that caused the loss, and daylight savings time seems a little dubious to me.<br /><br />In other news, sometime this month is the one year anniversary of my last date. This won't really surprise anyone who knows me. I don't know the exact date (that would be a little weird), but I know it is sometime in March. So by now you are wondering, how in the world has he gone a year without going on a date? (Okay, I know, most of you know <span style="font-style: italic;">exactly</span> how it happened, since I am pretty sure everyone that reads this knows me pretty well). The truth of the matter is, I enjoy going on dates, but I hate asking people on dates. I hate calling people on the phone. And with dating, after the first phone call, the pressure just keeps going up. I trace my hatred of phone calls back to an incident in my childhood. As with all little kids, I enjoyed answering the phone. That is, until one fateful day. In my memory, it was in the evening, although it really could have been any time of day (and who knows whether it was during daylight time or standard time). The phone rang, and I ran to answer it. In my haste to answer the phone, proper answering dialogue slipped my mind and instead the words "Dear Heavenly Father" came out. Needless to say, the story was told in my family for years, and answering the phone has never had the same excitement. Now, when I go to make a phone call, I pace around the room, my palms get sweaty, and I have to plan out exactly what I want to say and practice it several times in advance. That is a lot of work for me to go through to go on a date, so I usually won't do it unless I am really motivated. Hence, it has been a year.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjLRU0G6K8fq0OdhCHx82gK8HLMQoz6Se3Z8Y2jktB1X3xUMkY5SiigbJVPBaGqdPf6yJdrC2KYVWDe7vXB9kQLJFVX9qxRW9re3BtGyxPYnPfmSx_W4RiRE02Bf89LSTkuspfbF6dzwFL/s1600-h/DSCN0457.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjLRU0G6K8fq0OdhCHx82gK8HLMQoz6Se3Z8Y2jktB1X3xUMkY5SiigbJVPBaGqdPf6yJdrC2KYVWDe7vXB9kQLJFVX9qxRW9re3BtGyxPYnPfmSx_W4RiRE02Bf89LSTkuspfbF6dzwFL/s320/DSCN0457.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311223639001938898" border="0" /></a><br /><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">This is an actual picture of me calling someone to ask them on a date. Notice the panicked look on my face. A look of sheer terror, to be sure.<br /></div></blockquote>Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-70646438490179125342009-03-01T10:06:00.000-08:002009-03-01T10:14:00.463-08:00QuarterlifeWell, as anyone reading this probably knows, I turned 25 this past Thursday. That means if I live to be 100 years old, a quarter of my life is gone. I can't say that I regret too much from my first 25 years. Sure, there are things I wish I had done differently, or things I just wish I had done, but overall, my life has been pretty fulfilling so far. I know life has a lot of ups and downs, and probably even more of just the stuff in the middle where you aren't ecstatic but you are in the dumps either, but when you look back at it after the fact and from a distance, the bumps are smoothed out a bit and the bad times are hard for me to remember. Sure, my life hasn't been perfect, but it sure hasn't been bad. Hopefully after the next 25 years things are just as bright.<br /><br />A few random thoughts about 25...I am the same age my Dad was when I was born, and I am the second child...guess I am a little behind! Also, after you turn 21, there are very few birthdays that give you more freedom, but I guess turning 25 makes your car insurance lower and lets you rent a car cheaper in most states. So, in case you are wondering, I am a safer driver now than I was last week.<br /><br />P.S. I found out after I posted my last post that I had a fever the night I wrote that, so if there is anything particularly weird in that post, I blame it on the fever.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-50725599351142283482009-02-20T20:38:00.000-08:002009-02-20T20:50:33.343-08:00Random Musings After a Month Off of BloggingSo, this semester has been a little crazy for me, what with working 20 hours a week and doing classes (I know, some people's lives are a lot worse, but 9-5 everyday is unusual for me, ask anyone who knows me). So, since not a lot of people read my blog, I figured I didn't need to update it for a while. And, honestly, I don't think anyone wants to hear about life in the hydrogeochemistry lab or my weekly advanced hydro papers (if you do, just let me know)<br /><br />So, the month of February is upon us. If you don't like February, don't worry, it is already almost over. Lots of amazing people have been born in February throughout the years...George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, et cetera. I myself came within a few days of missing out on being born in this amazing month. Of course, if I had waited a couple of days longer, I would have been born on leap day, every kid's worst nightmare. I turn 25 this year, but honestly, after you turn 21, nobody really cares anymore exactly how old you are except for car rental places and insurance companies. Actually, my niece turned 1 today, and I think I was a little more excited to shop for her birthday than I am to celebrate my own.<br /><br />As long as we are on the subject of February, we might as well talk about Valentine's Day. I have never been one to celebrate the holiday much, having never had any real reason to, and this year was no different. But, as Valentine's day came around this year, I decided to move away from the "hater" mentaltiy I have always had towards Valentine's Day. I mean, I guess it isn't the worst thing in the world, and someday I will find joy in it. But for now, it passed much like any other day.<br /><br />Since this post has really turned into a crazy stream of conciousness, you should probably know that I have a cold right now and I am pretty tired. I may regret some of what I type when I read it after I am fully cognizent. I guess you should never be bored and sick at the same time. Hopefully life picks up a little in the next few weeks so I have something more to write about.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-28080248685046473482009-01-07T18:18:00.000-08:002009-01-08T21:16:39.919-08:00California Here I ComeSo, this holiday break I did something a little unusual... I spent only the first 10 days at home, then came back to Provo and went with Lamar to his family's condo in Huntington Beach, CA. Good times were had by all, so I figured I would detail it on my blog. We drove down on Monday, December 29th, stopping on the way at Excalibur in Las Vegas to partake of their buffet. The only problem with the buffet was that on the outside of the building they advertised 2 for 1 from 2 to 6 pm, but when we got in we discovered that they had suspended 2 for 1 until after January 2. We ate there anyway and got on our way to the beach.<br /><br />Tuesday was hang out at the beach day. Lamar took much of the time we were there to build a sandcastle. I built a smaller one, but I took less time and Lamar's sandcastle skills are far superior to mine. He actually had some little kids stop and admire his, then come back an hour later to admire some more. We caught a sunset on the beach, then headed to a street fair on main street.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY_ZQdRPlJz8DeWiu0f0jsdPh49639wTqEfoXKhQx_f8uEnBUyeW43Q-G7wqq4ZUTHhziTW5kM1jvC8BJ_QgDit2irv8h97wFnGXtVzWRZdw6Bhb6rIu16pNs1XEaDaZrNB0wk79RetQve/s1600-h/1230081604b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY_ZQdRPlJz8DeWiu0f0jsdPh49639wTqEfoXKhQx_f8uEnBUyeW43Q-G7wqq4ZUTHhziTW5kM1jvC8BJ_QgDit2irv8h97wFnGXtVzWRZdw6Bhb6rIu16pNs1XEaDaZrNB0wk79RetQve/s320/1230081604b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289156160154556914" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUBsB2ACCQe5EVAIEhfFPic6TZ3yWUJwYpPqADGEf3dVi9msHd7l4O986UroobYJzZa9X843twlV81wvhLN4cNGXYJUDL-n4OsGFAZ6pxmRUiST7eZeC09OZ_7c7dLKaVVVRr53ok_76NW/s1600-h/1230081650.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUBsB2ACCQe5EVAIEhfFPic6TZ3yWUJwYpPqADGEf3dVi9msHd7l4O986UroobYJzZa9X843twlV81wvhLN4cNGXYJUDL-n4OsGFAZ6pxmRUiST7eZeC09OZ_7c7dLKaVVVRr53ok_76NW/s320/1230081650.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289156166414324434" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">Lamar with his Castle...and the Sunset from the beach<br /></div></blockquote><br />Wednesday began with a long bike ride along the beach path. We ended up in Newport Beach, and there were some pretty cool houses there, some of which had their boats docked basically in their back yard. We went to lunch at Lamar's Aunt's house in Laguna Beach and spent the afternoon there. After a quick dinner, we headed up to Downtown Disney to spend New Year's Eve and catch the fireworks at midnight. There were some musicians there and we walked through the shops. When the hour came, the fireworks went off, but we couldn't see them because the fog was so dense. Made for a fun (i.e. scary) drive home.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ewcvQ6LHfSPGXPJzNcWMix_dq77sAuzRNUEEJPJHUkNm-sNs3SvJC-k9ofSi5nUE-EienSlhkIRbzgzHU03vjUdpSZmcjN16IQHacsTL3LNVmMvXaiW4TFAqrwwTuRgziix7bjgcBith/s1600-h/n518560071_5444289_7440.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ewcvQ6LHfSPGXPJzNcWMix_dq77sAuzRNUEEJPJHUkNm-sNs3SvJC-k9ofSi5nUE-EienSlhkIRbzgzHU03vjUdpSZmcjN16IQHacsTL3LNVmMvXaiW4TFAqrwwTuRgziix7bjgcBith/s320/n518560071_5444289_7440.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289157639368419634" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4_s7_wvKqkHQR97uo-JVl8lYr-DW0VJecsr7rRQ9hyphenhyphenNmnYUm2bCeI9wmiTy-vONgPtbZpFUSb2oFOB8tiIUDh2aAunJV05k-pdgDg6i6YAzg-MMLu5Em3vbLu4wbnUIllcfOuKURrhd9/s1600-h/n518560071_5444290_7747.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4_s7_wvKqkHQR97uo-JVl8lYr-DW0VJecsr7rRQ9hyphenhyphenNmnYUm2bCeI9wmiTy-vONgPtbZpFUSb2oFOB8tiIUDh2aAunJV05k-pdgDg6i6YAzg-MMLu5Em3vbLu4wbnUIllcfOuKURrhd9/s320/n518560071_5444290_7747.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289157639613390770" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote>Downtown Disney... and Lamar with brother Yusef (fog, not snow).</blockquote></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Thursday we got up late, and went back to the beach for some boogie boarding. We both tried surfing once, but the waves were pretty big and it made it a lot of work. That evening we went up to Long Beach to the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was a nice aquarium, and we got in for $10 because we went after 5, but they were open late for the holiday season. Good deal.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXKMQ4N6Bm-scNOy_14gSbWn6jyMKub55_3jx1p_X6e_RxKUTlmd5p_mVMg0qV7cAD06RfDOvhpn_D9F9e7ExM35zAmea0JhZgdqxtENdzCyBHUw_-655hoRbpe0QoDw5R_JaL3aac_5zn/s1600-h/n518560071_5444296_9533.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXKMQ4N6Bm-scNOy_14gSbWn6jyMKub55_3jx1p_X6e_RxKUTlmd5p_mVMg0qV7cAD06RfDOvhpn_D9F9e7ExM35zAmea0JhZgdqxtENdzCyBHUw_-655hoRbpe0QoDw5R_JaL3aac_5zn/s320/n518560071_5444296_9533.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288997866703966754" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote>Boogie Boarding<br /></blockquote></div>Friday we went to lunch at Crystal Cove with Lamar's Aunt, then headed up to Knott's Berry Farm. We rode all the roller coasters there (we got there at 4 so that we could get in for half price), then made it home in time to watch the 4th quarter of the Sugar Bowl.<br /><br />Saturday we got up and left. We stopped in Vegas again, but this time we got the 2 for 1 discount at the Excalibur buffet. We nearly turned the car around several times and headed back to California as the car thermometer started reading negative numbers in Utah, but ended up coming back to Provo.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-9335469118107567312008-12-15T21:07:00.000-08:002008-12-15T21:17:57.354-08:00Finals weekAnyone who has spent any time around me while I have been going through finals knows that finals week is probably my favorite time of the school year. I know several people don't share my enthusiasm for finals, but I try to remind people that throughout the semester they have to take tests and write papers while they are still attending classes, whereas during finals week, they don't have classes to get in the way. This usually results in me spending a lot of time during finals week in the apartment playing Guitar Hero and a little time studying and taking tests. This finals week has been markedly different for me though. I only have 2 classes this semester, and only one final, so that part isn't really that different. I have been spending a lot of time on campus this week, however, and no time playing the usual games. The reason for this is that as a graduate student, I have to write a thesis. Unfortunately, I do not have a thesis topic. So, this last week, instead of spending all day in my pajamas loafing around the apartment, I actually have been getting up early and going to campus to do some experiments for possible thesis projects. The good news is that things seem to be progressing, and I should have a clearly defined project by the middle of next semester. The bad news is I haven't been improving my Guitar hero skills at all.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-19516141527635391052008-12-02T21:24:00.000-08:002008-12-02T22:12:53.491-08:00As Promised...Here it is, the most recent, and most likely last, live performance of Love Machine, in all its glory. Enjoy!<br /><p align=center><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" artvalue="http://www.youtube.com/v/-4mq_LYM1HM&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-4mq_LYM1HM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-4099190904806169052008-11-30T20:37:00.000-08:002008-11-30T20:44:02.505-08:00Almost FamousSo, I went home for Thanksgiving this last week. While I was at home, I had occasion to look through my high school yearbooks (I had a good reason for pulling them out and looking at them, but the reason is not important to the post). Of course, as I flipped through the pages, I looked at a lot of the signatures and notes people had written in the on yearbook signing day (I won't tell you how many signatures were there, just know there were enough to pretty much fill the front and back cover, but not so much that it would take me more than an hour to read them all). As I read the things people had wrote, I thought it was funny that so many people told me I would be famous someday. The justification seemed to be that I was smart, so I would be famous someday. I don't know who came up with that idea, but I am pretty sure that intelligence doesn't equate to fame. So, I hate to burst the bubble of all those people from high school, but I will probably never fulfill their desire for me to get in touch with them when I am famous. I don't think any fame is in the future for me, and I am perfectly fine with that.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-40044884229290412772008-11-24T10:26:00.000-08:002008-11-24T10:38:55.851-08:00Love Machine, Part 2Well, for some reason it is an annual traditions in Singles Wards everywhere to have some form of talent show. Our ward this year decided to pair it with Thanksgiving dinner. Last year, our ward did a similar thing a little bit earlier in the earlier in the semester and with a chili cook off instead of turkey. So, last year we took a song we recorded on Lamar's computer freshman year and made a live version of it (I am sure all of you have seen it by now, but if not go <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNtmY0xh1ZA">here</a>). That turned out well, so when it was announced that there was a talent show for our ward this year, we decided to do it again. The only problem was that several of our performers were gone, so Pilgram had to learn how to play the bass, and we couldn't find a drum set, so Lamar's computer had to fill in for a drummer. So it wasn't as good, but it went okay (I will try and post a video of the performance sometime). We didn't win the talent show, but the prize was a pass to a rock climbing gym, so we weren't too disappointed. We did gain some more fans, which was the ultimate goal anyway. We think after this that live performance of Love Machine have been put to rest.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNtmY0xh1ZA"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></a>Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-49584065149914994482008-11-20T20:02:00.000-08:002008-11-20T20:14:22.954-08:00Life Off, Game On.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/Utah-Jazz-Photograph-C12270851.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/Utah-Jazz-Photograph-C12270851.jpeg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I know what you are thinking...what in the world, he doesn't post for two weeks, and then all the sudden he posts four days later. Well, suffice it to say, my week this week has been a little more interesting than the previous few. And (a little teaser here), it should continue to be interesting, at least through tomorrow night. So, my Dad came into town this last week for a training for work. He was staying in Sandy, and when he first told me he was coming down, he suggested we could catch a Jazz or BYU basketball game. Since there was no BYU game last night, it had to be the Jazz game. I had only been to one professional sporting event previously, an Angels game. And I was so young when we went to that that up until I talked to my brother on Tuesday, I didn't think I had ever been to a professional sporting event. So, it was fun for me to go and witness a Jazz game in person. We were in the upper bowl, about 18 rows up, but we could see pretty well from our seats. I learned something from the game though...I am not really a Jazz fan. I like it when they win, but there was a time yesterday when they were down by 10 points and I didn't really care all that much. It is interesting because I am such a huge BYU fan that I hate whenever they are behind in football and basketball because I can't stand to see them lose. I pretty much hang on every shot or every play. My roommates will attest that I can get pretty angry when the BYU football team makes a dumb play. So it was interesting last night to just be able to watch a game and not be too terribly concerned about the outcome.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-87932083294603261852008-11-16T18:55:00.000-08:002008-11-16T20:38:22.573-08:00You always get lucky in West WendoverSo, starting a blog has made me realize something. Each day for the past couple of weeks, I have looked at my blog and thought "I really should post something, I haven't posted in a week (or whatever length of time it had been)". But I really had nothing to write about. Most of my weeks are fairly uneventful, and I pretty much do the same thing each day of the week. A friend suggested that I take the mundane things and make them sound interesting, but I am not blessed with that creative gift like he is. So, I went two weeks without posting. Finally, this weekend I broke form and did something out of the ordinary. Saturday morning, I got up bright and early to head out to Pilot Valley to do some field work for a Professor. I spent all day on a playa (a dry lake bed) helping to drill a couple wells and put some instruments in them. It was a long day, but afterward we went to a buffet in a casino in West Wendover. Later, after I came home, I was watching television with my roommates and we saw a commercial for West Wendover touting "You always get lucky in West Wendover". I guess since I got a buffet dinner for a few hours of work, I got a little lucky in West Wendover myself. Hopefully I can have a little more excitement this week.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-32137051607997510272008-10-27T20:55:00.000-07:002008-10-27T21:41:29.052-07:00Going for the Gold<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">So, this last weekend was parent's weekend at the Y, and, as usual, my parents came down to see me and to catch a football game. We don't usually participate in many of the parent's weekend activities (last year was the exception, when we went to the "Blue-au" dinner and pep rally). There is one parent's weekend activity that we have participated in every year I have been at BYU-the 5K. This particular 5K is unique because not only do you run individually, but you can compete with your parent as a team. Every year since my freshman year my dad and I have ran together. My freshman year, we were good enough to to get third place, a feat which we duplicated the year I got back from my mission. Two years ago, we moved up to second place. Last year was a dark time for us, as illness and lack of training led to my Dad and I not finishing in the top 3 father/son teams. This year, things fell in our favor. First off, the father from the team that had won the last several years had a broken foot, so their team was out. This left the door open for me and my Dad. Unfortunately, I am not the best at training for running events, and all I have done all semester is run a mile every Tuesday and Thursday, so I knew I would be a little slower than my best. However, after the race was won and the times were added together, we finished in first place. After 5 years of running this race and always finishing behind another team, we finally reached the top of the mountain. We do have one more year to go, but at least now when there are no more parent's weekends left for us, we can say we won it once.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRyxk4wIyl_aJbDaAGhjTBrVsrAZARgYsHeYPeoteIGl0zhOawXISEEkrH_zb2x8l5kN8yo7egVQubwOlgxJkodSGjVsbTJAf9kvNFvu-LlMMuRmpMeGZme1xjsA_wbRARW0eMDkTgOEb9/s1600-h/DSCN0795.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRyxk4wIyl_aJbDaAGhjTBrVsrAZARgYsHeYPeoteIGl0zhOawXISEEkrH_zb2x8l5kN8yo7egVQubwOlgxJkodSGjVsbTJAf9kvNFvu-LlMMuRmpMeGZme1xjsA_wbRARW0eMDkTgOEb9/s320/DSCN0795.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262059840850276946" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote>The Gold Medal<br /></blockquote><br /></div></div></div>Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-90356110477901964842008-10-20T20:38:00.000-07:002008-10-20T20:47:44.351-07:00Somebody's gonna win...So, this last Saturday I got up bright and early (5:50 am, well before any person should ever get out of bed), and headed down to Monroe, Utah with one of the geology professors to help collect some rocks. Apparently this area had been incorrectly labeled as bedrock on a map when it appeared to be glacial till. The purpose of the trip was to collect samples from some of the rocks to see if they could be cosmogenically dated to determine the age of maximum glacial extent. We went down to Monroe, rode the department ATVs up the road and stopped at the moraine to search for rocks. When we found rocks that were good specimens to sample, we had to beat the rocks with a hammer to try and get about 1 kilogram of sample from the top of the rock. As it turns out, one of the rocks I found was very hard. We pounded on it for probably two hours and made very little progress. When asked about a half an hour in how I was doing, I just said, "Well, at some point either the rock will win or I will." We did eventually get a fair amount of peices off after we were about to give up. We did have quite a few laughs on the trip from several situations which I won't recount. I guess the takeaway message is if you pound on a rock with a hammer long enough, you will eventually get it to break.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-41068550416115853762008-10-14T20:43:00.000-07:002008-10-14T21:14:16.831-07:00The MazeLast Saturday we went to a corn maze with some friends. I have been to several corn mazes in my life, and been hopelessly lost my fair share of times. There are a few things I have learned about corn mazes in my time. First, the correct path always leads over the bridge. I have never been to a corn maze where I didn't cross that bridge you always see. Second, large groups inevitably split into small groups in the maze. Third, as fun as a maze is at the beginning, it always gets frustrating at some point and you just want to get out. This last experience in the maze was unlike any other I have had, however, for a few reasons.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB2MNTXVCkuGMrA32VcbgnGe2dYl4JVB9t5nB4zt6xdDLbfRyQAbT_4lyZQZv_p9FmzQLECAkCbFDHYkKpBfj-3RfYm-zpAQfqMm1nESGHyk56NnuBRSsRIoAD5TWau1STk2OIOhhFU1ph/s1600-h/maze_2008.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB2MNTXVCkuGMrA32VcbgnGe2dYl4JVB9t5nB4zt6xdDLbfRyQAbT_4lyZQZv_p9FmzQLECAkCbFDHYkKpBfj-3RfYm-zpAQfqMm1nESGHyk56NnuBRSsRIoAD5TWau1STk2OIOhhFU1ph/s320/maze_2008.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257228141463032402" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote> The Maze we got lost in at Cornbelly's<br /></blockquote></div><br />It was obvious as we started the first "phase" that the wind had blown over some of the corn, and lots of people had made paths in the corn that weren't actually paths. This led to us going back and forth between the two "phases" as we followed paths that weren't really paths. We did make it out of the first phase, thankfully, so I am not sure how many of these wrong paths we took, since we got to the right exit. When we decided to go into the second "phase" of the maze, we decided to get this piece of paper that was supposed to give you hints on the right direction to go. This was accomplished by having numbered boxes throughout the maze that corresponded to numbers on the paper that had multiple choice questions (ours were about TV/movies). A correct answer supposedly gave you the right direction to go. We ran into a few problems with this, however. The first box we ran into was in the first phase by number, so this is when I figured out we had been taking false paths. The second box we ran into was in the second phase, but it lied to us. After answering the question correctly and taking the path it told us to we went in a circle that brought us back to the box. We repeated this action 3 times just to be sure. After having poor results with another box, we finally just took whatever path led us back toward the entrance and found an "emergency exit" to get out of the maze.<br /><br />We had lots of fun after that jumping on their giant air pillow and riding their pedal go carts. I think we maybe should have skipped the second "phase" and just gone straight to the other stuff.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7213159006509471559.post-36909186253411818802008-10-09T11:41:00.000-07:002008-10-09T13:55:36.038-07:00The Buffer Zone PrincipleWell, since I haven't had a blog for the first 24 years of my life, and since I have been thinking for as long as I can remember, I have lot's of random thoughts I can post to keep my blog interesting. Since I have 20 minutes to kill before I have to give some poor, unsuspecting Geology 101 students a test, I figured I could blog about an issue that I have harped for a while now. That issue is one I like to call the "Buffer Zone Principle" (or theory, depending on how much you believe my evidence). The basis behind the principle is this: when you walk into a room where you must choose a seat, you will sit with at least one, and usually two, seats between you and the next person unless you know that person. Church is an exception, especially for the first 4 weeks after a new semester begins in a singles ward. Happens all the time. The sad part is, even though I recognize this happens, I just go with the crowd and sit in seats with the buffer zone, even if it means uncomfortably crawling over several people to get to the seat with an empty seat on each side.Dan Ritterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06929735484113851070noreply@blogger.com1