Have you been to Asylum 49? (Part 1 of 2)

 

            Last October, I had the opportunity to interview Kimm Anderson, who is the owner and founder of his own business that he runs, and loves every minute of it. He says it’s so much fun it doesn’t even feel like work. In the outskirts of town in Tooele there is a creepy old hospital that is located at 140 East 200 South that was built in 1943 and finally closed its doors in 2002. Kimm was lucky enough to buy the building when it first came to be available on the market. Kimm, like me loves the Halloween holiday.

 
As a youth he grew up working in the March of Dimes Haunted House, and followed his childhood dream, which was to eventually run his own haunted house professionally for Halloween with employees and revenue he could enjoy after the month of October. He claims he was a troubled youth and therefore he likes to hire on young adults. He feels he can relate to them and gives them a chance to work in a fun environment. He claims, “There isn’t much to do in Tooele as youth. I want to keep them off the streets.” He has one rule and that is they must get good grades in school: if they can’t do that, they are off of his staff until the grades improve. He also enjoys teaching kids handy work and different techniques in construction and working with tools.

Last year he claimed he had no problem keeping up and even met his scheduled deadlines a month ahead of schedule. He loves marketing and has worked well with getting his company out in the public eye with advertisements on the radio. He even had a promotional activity that involved the Utah Blitz, a women’s football team. Kimm matches my current career goal because he owns his own business, enjoys it, and is progressing in business during a bad economy. The following is his interview.

What Experience prepared you for your career choice?

“I worked for a Haunted House (March of Dimes) when I was a kid and loved it. I eventually helped start Nightmare on 13^th; I really wanted to start my own haunted house.”

What type of degree, if any, would benefit in this position?

“A Business Degree” Do you have a Business degree? “No, I wish I had one” I’m still envious of you, my teacher in my career preparation class pretty much told me that my degree is worthless and it’s not what-you-know but who-you-know. So instead of rigorously studying expensive books for the past decade I should’ve been kissing up to Larry H. Miller or something like that. “In Utah that seems to be the case but I’ve found that out of Utah say like New York, that “who-you-know, what-you-know” statement is reversed.”

Why did you decide to enter this career field?

“I love doing it so much! It’s not a real job.”

If you had to do it over, would you make the same choice?

“Yes.”

What advice would you give a novice in this area of work?

“Do what you love, then it will be better then everything out there.”

What do you enjoy most about your current position?

“I’m my own boss.”

What do you like least about it?

“It doesn’t last all year.” Why not is there a law against it or is it just business is business? “No, there’s no law against it. It’s just as you said, business is business. Utah is a very funny state when it comes to the seasons and the holidays. They are really big into being scared and love Halloween and will go all out for it, but once October is over then they want something else like Christmas or whatever.” I’ve heard of some haunted houses that are open in September and October, and some stay open a little into November have you ever tried that? “I have, and both September and the first week of November was completely dead. We do, however, offer ghost hunts in the hospital starting in January and we have that open for a couple of months. We offer classes on ghost hunting as well.” Is the hospital really haunted? “Oh yes.”

What are your most difficult challenges to succeed in your current career?

“I don’t have one, anything is possible.”

Where do you see yourself in the next five years?

“Being the best haunted house in the nation!” That’s great, Kimm, I’m sure you will be someday.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed meeting Kimm Anderson and was very grateful for his time in giving me an interview. I’ve learned through Kimm that if you have a ton of ambition you can accomplish a lot of things that you want to do in life. I also sadly learned that when it comes to succeeding in your career in Utah, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. I hope that I can take Kimm’s example to heart when I start pursuing my career after college.

Do you think in order to succeed in Utah you need to know someone important or is a college degree worth it?

Kirk’s Family Feel-Good Merchandise

 

We all know about Covenant Communications Inc. which happens to be the primary provider and publisher for Deseret Book, and Seagull Book and Tapes merchandise. 
Every now and then I get a brilliant business idea that I want to pitch to them in hopes that they will mass produce it and put it on their shelves. I usually don’t reveal my brilliant ideas to the public until after I have created it but I want your feedback on it. Take a look at the diagrams below and please tell me what you think. I did this while I was in my daughter’s playroom.

You may or may not have seen these dopey pieces of wood that has inspiring faith building words stenciled on them. Words like Faith and Families are Forever... yeah, you know, kitchy feel-good stuff like that. Imagine this hanging up over your mantel. Your house is definitely the home of a celestial family now. I think I’m going to bypass Covenant Communications all together and sell these myself. Who wants one? 

More Tribute to Porter Rockwell

While I was attending Salt Lake Community College I had to take an introduction to drawing class as an elective. We had to pick a final project that would take us a few weeks to finish. Since I seem to like drawing pictures of ugly hairy men I chose to sketch a photograph of Porter Rockwell. I learned one of the big secrets to drawing hair is to never just do lines.

I got an A on this project and in the class. I am debating on whether or not to enter this into next year's Springville art show. What do you think? Is this showcase worthy? 

I was Slaughtered by the Hog!

I have been defeated! In one of my previous blogs I mentioned about how I was a food challenge champion because I conquered the 24 incher challenge at Sensuous Sandwich not once, but three times.

I was then challenged to try “The Hog” at D Boys barbecue and grill restaurant. The hog challenge is where you have only 20 minutes to completely consume a huge burger, a large bowl of fries and a 32 ounce soda. If you win this challenge then the 20 dollar meal is free, you get your picture taken, and you receive a complimentary t-shirt which says “I slaughtered the hog.”

Since I normally eat a lot of food anyway I thought I could beat this challenge. Let me describe to you what the hog burger looks like: It was about six inches tall and included

·         2 huge chunky beef patties

·         coleslaw

·         2 huge clumps of bacon

·         4 huge sausage links

·         About 3 ounces of pulled pork

·         1 tomato

It was also drowning in barbecue sauce mixed with fry sauce. They allowed me to fill up my cup with PowerAde instead of soda. They allowed me to temperature test the fries. They took my picture before the timer was set, and then I was into it.

Since the burger was physically impossible to bite into I grabbed a fork and worked my way down from the top. I thought I had this challenge beat until I came to the hideously huge sausage links that grossed me out. After that I was nauseated the rest of the time. The first beef patty was too fat and took a while to swallow. They then told me I only had six minutes left. I grabbed fist fulls of fries to try to take this pate down but the sausage links' aftertaste still lingered in my mouth and I had to fight back dry-heaving.

So unfortunately, my dear friends, I think my food challenge days are over. If you think you can slaughter the hog you are more than welcome to try. Please let me know how you did.