Harebrained Hybrids

So last Monday I had my first encounter with one of the new Hybrid cars. It was my duty to take Rob to his Softball game on Monday. He had just gotten back from his trip to Ohio and his parents had his van that I usually drive. So to get him to his game we had to use his parents' new Toyota Prius.
Now, I've never been in a hybrid car, but I assumed it worked like every other car, where you put the key in the ignition, shift it to drive or reverse and press on the gas. Ha ha ha....yeah....that's NOT how it works.

So we get into the car and Rob hands me the "key" it just looks like a square block with buttons on it usually used to unlock and lock the door from afar. There was no key coming out of it. I looked at Rob with uncertainty and confusion...what am I supposed to do with this?
He told me it was the transmitter. The car doesn't use a key, it uses the block to transmit a signal to the car so it can turn on.....ok....cool....so how do I turn it on? Apparently there is a power button near the steering wheel....really? a power button?

Hmmm....that seems kind of cool, right? So I press the power button and the green light comes on but I don't hear anything, just the fan comes on and the radio. I try to put it into gear, and nothing happens. Rob suggested I press again, which I did, nothing happened. We played this turning on the power button at least for 15 minutes before deciding to call his sister to ask how to turn on the stupid car. I just wanted to drive and get him to his game, why does this have to be so difficult? So his sister tells me that I have to make sure that all the seatbelts are buckled in and that all the doors are sufficiently shut and all the windows have to be rolled up, and my foot has to be on the break and the e-break has to be off before I can start the car.....WOW, a little unnecessary right? I can understand the e-break and seatbelts, but the windows and my foot on the break, really? So after about 20-30 minutes of trying to figure out how to work this stupid car, we finally got it running and headed off his softball game.

What an experience, it was kind of frustrating. It also didn't help that during the time we were trying to figure out how to start the car it was like 90 degrees outside, and since the windows have to all be up it was really hot and dreadful. So I've come to the conclusion that although Hybrids are supposed to "save" energy and gas, the amount of time and energy that is put into figuring out how it works turning it on really doesn't save you anything. We should all just drive regular cars because these are just harebrained hybrids.

Phone Updates

So I was looking at my blog and I realized that I really don't post a lot of things. A lot of things happen to me, and then I get in the mood to write about them in my blog but then I get busy and forget and never get around to it. So I was looking through my phone today and I was looking at all the pictures and videos I have on it. That's when I remembered everything I was going to write about at one time but never got around to it. So I'm just going to go through my phone in bulk and write about the different things that have been going on. I'll call this my "Phone Update".

So the first thing I'll write about is what happened when my best friend from PA came out to visit me. We had a lot of fun, a really busy week for me though. She came out the week right after I finished finals. It was her first time anywhere not on the East Coast, so it was quite different for her. The first day she was here we just chilled out and she came to Family Home Evening (FHE) with me. The next day I had Jury Duty, but afterwards we went and hung out at the pool. Wednesday we went to Centerra and went shopping for a while, we also hiked horsetooth that day. It was her first real hike. She was exhausted. Haha ha ha, lack of air for her.

Then we headed down to Denver and I showed her around the city. We hung out a lot downtown. There is a lot of abstract art around downtown so we look at all of it and then we even ran into Rocky the Colorado Nuggets' mascot. There was a convention downtown to win Playoffs nuggets game tickets.











































After our full day in Denver, we went clubbing at suite 152. I'm not really clubber, in fact it was my first time. But suprisingly, I had a lot of fun. It was latino night so they played fun good music and I think it helped going with the right kind of friends. So I think Amanda's stay was very exciting and thrilling for the both of us. I wish she could have stayed longer.


Looking through my phone I also noticed that I didn't blog about my fishing experience with Rob. Rob is a client I work with on the weekends. I'm a direct care provider for him because he has Cerebral Palsey and is in a Wheel Chair. He is loads of fun, we do a lot of activities together. This one day I worked with him in particular he wanted to fix his fishing rods, so we went out in front of his apartment to a grassy area nex to the parking lot. We spent about half an hour trying to fix his rods and fishing lines. Finally we did it, he wanted to test it out so he reeled it back and the line ended up going in the parking lot and hit one of the cars. He thought it was hilarious. So for the rest of the time together we fished for cars. Below is a video of him catching his own car. Ha ha ha. I told him next time he needs to catch me a good car like a Mustang or Ferrari.



Now, most recently....last weekend, it was "Taste of Fort Collins". This event is huge during the summer, we have a bunch of bands come and perform and rides for the kids, they have a market where all the fancy (and not fancy) restaurants let you try their foods for a low price. There are some free samples like a farmers market and really just a lot of local activities and shops to explore. It's really fun. Last year I went with Mallory and Jon Hummer. This year, Jon was out of town, so I went with Mallory and our friend Adrian (Ade). It was a lot of fun.
This year Sugar Ray and the Gin Blossoms and Single File played. I was right up front by the stage to see the performances.
I was surprised with the Single Ray performance. I'm not really a Sugar Ray fan, but I was pleasantly surprised by how he presented himself and how he performed. It wasn't like any other concert I've been to. He tried to make the audience get involved as much as possible and made it feel like he really wanted to be there. He also didn't just perform one song after the other, there was some DJ mixing in there and he even had people go on stage and do Karaoke with him. It was pretty awesome.





So that is pretty much all for my phone update for now!

My More Active Lifestyle

So this Summer I decided to take a more active lifestyle, for two reasons. The first reason is to be more in shape of course, the second reason is to keep myself busy cause I tend to get bored during the summer. So in this new active lifestyle I've become more involved in sports and running. I'm learning new sports and trying to play on a somewhat organized team for fun. So I've been practicing basketball and softball right now, on top of my ice skating that I've been doing since January.

As it turns out, I'm terrible at basketball and softball. I'm not good at shooting hoops and catching the ball in basketball, and I'm not very good at batting, catching or throwing in softball. This has been very discouraging and I've felt like giving up. However, I've decided that would be silly of me to give up these sports just because I've never really played them before and it would be silly of me to expect to be great at them with the little experience I have with them. So I'm determined to practice and get better at them.

I've also discovered that along with this determination in practicing and increasing my skill in these sports that it is package deal with injuries. So far my injuries have consisted of a concussion from ice skating and a hurt elbow, bruised legs, sprained ankles, and twisted arms. I've come to the conclusion that becoming good at sports come with this territory and I should just get used to having these injuries. Good thing I have health insurance!

16 Hours of Relaxation

From this last Friday at 11pm to Saturday at 2pm I had the most relaxing time. It has been a VERY long time since I've felt so relaxed and at peace. It was amazing. It was something I really needed. I've been so high strung, busy and stressed that I probably would have exploded soon.

Water has always calmed me. The sound of rain, the sound of a waterfall, but most of all being out on the lake or the ocean. Boats are so soothing to me. I just feel like I'm so far from all of my stress and my life in general. It helps me take a step back and just clear my mind and rejuvinate my body.

One day I'll be able to own my own boat and not have to rely on my good friend Aaron. He was explaining to me about how much speed boats run, they are about the same as a new car, depending on the kind of boat. I think I'm going to start learning more about boats. Maybe I'll start up a boat fund. ha ha ha. I have so many other funds, why not?

Today I started looking at power boats and speed boats. I've come across the one I really want I think. Here is a picture of it.


Isn't it pretty? It is called a Supra Gravity 24 SSV. It has 340 HP and holds up to 16 people. AWESOME. This is now my dream boat. SOOOO PRETTY.

One day you'll find me out on the lake or ocean just chillaxing on this pretty baby. Oh yeah.....be jealous.

It'll be a while before I can afford it...I'm still in school....but even if I don't get my dream boat here, I will get a boat. It's the one thing I know that relaxes me. The material item in life that I'd really like to have. So one day, my 16 hours of relaxation won't be so limited.