tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44220008529526230942024-02-18T19:20:37.252-08:00Confidential Unrestricted MalarkeyKirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-75722032808993559712020-02-09T13:12:00.000-08:002020-02-09T13:12:38.800-08:00Discovering Evermore Park <div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
My family and I got to experience Evermore Park for the first time yesterday. I would like to give a very brief review from a person who had no idea what Evermore was and entered the park blindly.</div>
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Upon waiting in the line to enter the park you get a major cosplay feel from mostly all patrons who enter into the park. The line was filled with costumed patrons dressed up in a wide variety of themes. I saw patrons dressed as: pirates, viking, Lord of the Rings Elves, Steampunk, <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">Goth, western cowboys, vampires, Link from Zelda, and even the Super Mario Brothers. Some patrons talked to us in character of whoever they were dressed up like and would only respond to their character’s name. Obviously I was wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into?</span></div>
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We finally entered the park and discovered with some difficulty that the actual characters who work at Evermore wear an “E” glowing crystal amulet around their necks. That made it much easier to identify them through all the wardrobe costume anarchy.</div>
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We realized that we needed to get a map of the park which had certain tasks and quests written on the back of it. If we completed that list we would familiarize ourselves better with the park.</div>
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We learned that there are different camps and towns within the borders of Evermore Park that houses everything from: witches, rangers, knights, pirates, dwarves, barbarian known as the Wolves of Winter, and bards. Just to name a few. Each group of characters had their own guilds that you are welcome to join.</div>
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In order to join a guild you are given up to three tasks or quests that you need to complete before the guild’s initiation ceremony which would happen closer to the end of the night.</div>
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Since my 8-year old loves magic we decided to focus on tasks geared towards the witches coven. We were given three good witch tasks. It was a fun experience and my daughter at the end of the day was initiated into the Witches Coven and was promoted to the level of “Seeker” within their guild. If we were to return to the park we would have the option to pick up where we left off and advance further in the guild… or join another one as well.</div>
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My over-all opinions of Evermore Park: The employees are trained to stay in character and encouraged to speak with foreign European dialect. They seem to hire actors with musical or stage combat talents. They are indeed trying to give you a spectacular fantasy experience. Picture LARPing on steroids.</div>
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We came during the tail end of their Aurora Season. Sort of like their Christmas / holiday theme within the park. So we saw some Christmas themed lights. The construction of the park is incomplete, and we were obviously attending during their off season with most of their attractions closed or out of commission, with that understanding, the park has potential and I wouldn’t mind giving it a second visit some time.</div>
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For more information or for ticket purchase please visit: <a href="https://www.evermore.com/" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">https://www.evermore.com/</a><br />
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Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com0Pleasant Grove, UT, USA40.3641184 -111.7385440.267350900000004 -111.8999015 40.4608859 -111.5771785tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-60820692854683569142016-02-15T22:08:00.000-08:002016-02-15T22:08:24.616-08:00Mt. Nebo Half Marathon Race <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEize_-J2n8H66lEaIw-xISjNs1ti8OU2Inhi1fECXWcYbF0qBWrgwcYEvu3v-2_ZtemNNDtomh-unPXwZJ8uOFaFJrrUF6mAAa5k_H2a9OGSIlmg7596ULwhnZRVgA73IBgHcyxKOsP20a3/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-02-15+at+10.32.23+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEize_-J2n8H66lEaIw-xISjNs1ti8OU2Inhi1fECXWcYbF0qBWrgwcYEvu3v-2_ZtemNNDtomh-unPXwZJ8uOFaFJrrUF6mAAa5k_H2a9OGSIlmg7596ULwhnZRVgA73IBgHcyxKOsP20a3/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-02-15+at+10.32.23+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }</style><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Okay so I have been slacking in my
blogs lately... Sorry about that. Time to do some catching up.
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">September 5<sup>th</sup> 2015 I ran in
the Mt. Nebo Half Marathon. Needless to say it was rough, I gained
some weight and had some troubles with Achilles tendinitis.
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was half way tempted (pardon the pun) to sign up for the full Nebo Marathon since it was only a ten dollar
difference. I decided to shoot for the full marathon in a year. I
think that full marathons are crazy, but I at least want to say I
experienced one.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Anyway back to my experience with the
race... They made us all rendezvous at the Payson high school at a
ridiculous hour of 4 o'clock in the morning so they could bus us up
the Nebo loop. The bus dropped us off at a chilly campground where we
had to wait an hour and a half for the race to start. I do not know
why they did that to us.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The race was okay, I liked it because
it was all down hill. Check out my over all results for the race.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD6c48IhqFoaPOZAhyphenhyphen1w-TUQKTtPWY7CtfSRBOvn6FtyV4M9b4QVlBswWF5nBy3bE1TrTybiPBM7ZpOzXiQzL6Q061ZSrxULRQOmb-HtMoCuU7diECreJu1BYXRrQoBSxOShtIgHN8BpTX/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-02-15+at+10.38.31+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD6c48IhqFoaPOZAhyphenhyphen1w-TUQKTtPWY7CtfSRBOvn6FtyV4M9b4QVlBswWF5nBy3bE1TrTybiPBM7ZpOzXiQzL6Q061ZSrxULRQOmb-HtMoCuU7diECreJu1BYXRrQoBSxOShtIgHN8BpTX/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-02-15+at+10.38.31+PM.png" width="640" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOnRf30F3U3WUcRXEIXLxghzUoOgAX_g4qO2rtz1T6c3Yya4qleuxPY7Xi_aIbU-UmDjD9I3O4n6fAsRpZlPZqrPSAab_HACD_e4NPnhcpQd-h-sFMveGbplmU9fsaZ0VJr2Zuw8CgNU3-/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-02-15+at+10.32.08+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOnRf30F3U3WUcRXEIXLxghzUoOgAX_g4qO2rtz1T6c3Yya4qleuxPY7Xi_aIbU-UmDjD9I3O4n6fAsRpZlPZqrPSAab_HACD_e4NPnhcpQd-h-sFMveGbplmU9fsaZ0VJr2Zuw8CgNU3-/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-02-15+at+10.32.08+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-42194102393911966222015-09-20T10:07:00.000-07:002015-09-20T10:07:00.716-07:00Things that must go: cops who pull over bike riders in Provo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx6SpkoclNcgVIWQqrKPwyQ-Th_Q3uje6LjL_gSHFDDjjwYo6EdiILtH2TzNuaq0jezCIfiEoQGq89ipyvI9apgUwn-a8Da2OiBzupZRCAkRSdJ2-rConuA3xuPM7f6oCL3yzrpMmdZcea/s1600/AXnSRzwXmLuoLok3m_-BCGPPZt-R423GHW7RuA-l7kELtJYR3YDNp1Be6MVk090j0WbKExMUTB0mIl_z3LMo4wwZJbtMoVMAPJ6A9lFZsEBV6cxWg50xz3yzMo_kBjtmS5-ral99PuiVnsvtNpdwsfdopEqxyIbBbCXVu0GlCo2i8i9oQrh0UMEq6lByVA71j5wSLs8szaZZOZ9AcGDtuiHVd_4O.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx6SpkoclNcgVIWQqrKPwyQ-Th_Q3uje6LjL_gSHFDDjjwYo6EdiILtH2TzNuaq0jezCIfiEoQGq89ipyvI9apgUwn-a8Da2OiBzupZRCAkRSdJ2-rConuA3xuPM7f6oCL3yzrpMmdZcea/s320/AXnSRzwXmLuoLok3m_-BCGPPZt-R423GHW7RuA-l7kELtJYR3YDNp1Be6MVk090j0WbKExMUTB0mIl_z3LMo4wwZJbtMoVMAPJ6A9lFZsEBV6cxWg50xz3yzMo_kBjtmS5-ral99PuiVnsvtNpdwsfdopEqxyIbBbCXVu0GlCo2i8i9oQrh0UMEq6lByVA71j5wSLs8szaZZOZ9AcGDtuiHVd_4O.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Cops who pull over bike riders in
Provo: </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">I was riding my bike
home from work and had not traveled more then 5 minutes on nothing more
than sidewalks and crosswalks when a cop car turned his lights on and
waved
me to a stop. He said, <i>“I was just checking on you because we
received a call that you were weaving in and out of traffic and I
just wanted to make sure you are okay.”</i> I explained to him I had
only been riding on sidewalks and told him I thought he had the wrong
guy. Then he gave me a lecture anyway about riding safely. </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Cops
that don't verify bike riders before they pull them over must go.
Also, disgruntled Provo drivers who hate Provo traffic and make calls
like that on bike riders must go.</span></i></span></span></div>
Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-28081038024863726062015-09-18T22:39:00.000-07:002015-09-18T22:39:00.090-07:00Things that must go: Minion pins on Pinterest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxl_WaEjDg1_AC3RlIjFyOktGmcDkUdKBO7PVLapDHwKGb-NXDv88TLHoK5dcHT9rGCyhX6JGqXvoB99io7HIj0RTpRlsGQU0m3sQJILAdBDRk-P_PVjh2wns_P9wUM6JxTvhp6WlTj3tQ/s1600/unnamed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxl_WaEjDg1_AC3RlIjFyOktGmcDkUdKBO7PVLapDHwKGb-NXDv88TLHoK5dcHT9rGCyhX6JGqXvoB99io7HIj0RTpRlsGQU0m3sQJILAdBDRk-P_PVjh2wns_P9wUM6JxTvhp6WlTj3tQ/s320/unnamed.png" width="313" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Minion pins on Pinterest: </b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Anyone on Facebook or Instagram that pins and shares Minion pins must go. (See attachment) Every one of them shows a picture of a minion followed by some witty or clever saying like, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">“I know the voices in my head aren't real....but sometimes their ideas are just absolutely awesome!” </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Pierre Coffin, the director of the Despicable Me movies who also makes the voice of all the minions in the movies, has stated that there is no official Minion language like the Klingon language is on Star Trek. It is all just jibber-jabber.</span><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b><i> </i></b></b><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">S</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">o, implying that mi</span><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nions sp</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">eak in sonnets or li</span><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">mericks is incredibly stupid. It was not funny the first shared pin I viewed n</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">or do the hund</span><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">reds more I am viewing make it any more funny. </span></b><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">These stupid shared Minion <b>p</b>ins on Pinterest must go.</span></i></b></span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></i></b>Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-64357027545743087842015-09-16T23:31:00.000-07:002015-09-16T23:31:00.239-07:00Things that must go: registering our rewards cards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFDMxB4ZLTkjxMlhofNtsvow4yhL11_SF4-xMolCOGZG0T6_GR9Kp13nDlIOCR6lLIZalCM2ZL9gAEJHMozJgVnGMGP0iLb99lJjM4_drYUnnNS9o4EzY0-2IssCQP30hgbxxmOPhmFfcu/s1600/subway_card.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFDMxB4ZLTkjxMlhofNtsvow4yhL11_SF4-xMolCOGZG0T6_GR9Kp13nDlIOCR6lLIZalCM2ZL9gAEJHMozJgVnGMGP0iLb99lJjM4_drYUnnNS9o4EzY0-2IssCQP30hgbxxmOPhmFfcu/s1600/subway_card.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><b>Registering our rewards cards must go: </b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">This goes for all franchises that utilize rewards cards that track how much you spend and then reward you with a free sandwich etc... You do not need to know my personal information to allow me to keep using your rewards system. That is none of your business. After a decade of dining at Subway and using a rewards card the franchise gave me 30 days to register. I just threw my card away. Their bread is not fresh, it is premade, frozen, and then warmed in an oven and they are stifling their 5 dollar foot long deal… Actually, not only can we do without registering rewards cards, but Subway in general must go too.</span>Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-75871971113696799132015-09-14T23:08:00.002-07:002015-09-14T23:09:17.906-07:00Things that must go: panhandlers who assault people in Orem<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #191919;">I frequently post a list of my "Things
That Must Go." For those of you who don't know, this is a weekly segment
that Kerry, Bill and Gina do on The Radio From Hell show on X96 every Wednesday
morning. After paying close attention to this segment I have noticed that 97%
of what I write never makes it on air. Whether it infringes on their sponsors
or they just plain don’t like my list I am not too sure. I decided to do a
topic on my blog called Rejected from X96’s Hell: what never made it on air.
Enjoy! </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFz3BII8UYkKYEzMDonEW5DNpw9j0m4Y_kLvAnpECUaiJaC58UusM0xT_AN9P-1yEbT9-tM0xXnG0HGzvI_USlSmHQcP4-wij71_BGYL-CcMFBYP1iIflbq9VOxMksy7eufkWU8iKJKSxC/s1600/panhandling_1360375430811_370688_ver1.0_320_240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFz3BII8UYkKYEzMDonEW5DNpw9j0m4Y_kLvAnpECUaiJaC58UusM0xT_AN9P-1yEbT9-tM0xXnG0HGzvI_USlSmHQcP4-wij71_BGYL-CcMFBYP1iIflbq9VOxMksy7eufkWU8iKJKSxC/s1600/panhandling_1360375430811_370688_ver1.0_320_240.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #191919;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="color: #222222;">Panhandlers who assault people in Orem: </b><span style="color: #222222;">I was exiting a McDonalds next to Walmart. About 600 feet away is the favored corner where panhandlers shake cardboard signs. One panhandler made eye contact with me. I thought nothing of it and gave no indication that I had anything for him. After entering my car and turning on the ignition I received a pounding knock on the roof of my car. To my surprise this panhandler had left his favored corner and walked the 600-foot distance to my car. I said nothing, just looked at him. He said </span><i style="color: #222222;">“I don't want your money!”</i><span style="color: #222222;"> I was confused but he repeated, </span><i style="color: #222222;">“I said I don't want your money!” </i><span style="color: #222222;">Still confused I replied, “Okay then. ” He then flipped out using all sorts of obscenities like 'mother hugger' and 'a-hole' and something crude about my mother... He then left the while saluting me with the bird raised high the entire way until he was out of sight. I give him an A for dramatic flair. I am still dazed and confused over the whole ordeal. Did he want a beer? Regardless, I did not approach him nor give any signal from far away indicating that I had something for him. It makes me not want to consider giving panhandlers anything ever. </span><i style="color: #222222;">Panhandlers like that must go!</i></span></span></div>
Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-69605884728771453872015-03-16T21:33:00.000-07:002015-03-16T21:33:00.228-07:00Spontaneous nunchuck lessons Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcCXFquGBSm-wHDOmyZndSxDRskO8-doGIFr9pBRaBJCaQQm1MgxU6eHup4vCw3NtM0MXfTAxwH-XEgKBbY4bQsvnLk4AT4RVx1a8Zhqgl39LzvEvr9bdgfwbomGxQfC4GsPvZnP6Y0Ea8/s1600/IMG_1528.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcCXFquGBSm-wHDOmyZndSxDRskO8-doGIFr9pBRaBJCaQQm1MgxU6eHup4vCw3NtM0MXfTAxwH-XEgKBbY4bQsvnLk4AT4RVx1a8Zhqgl39LzvEvr9bdgfwbomGxQfC4GsPvZnP6Y0Ea8/s1600/IMG_1528.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;">Nunchaku, often casually known as "nunchucks,"
are a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon that is made of two sticks that
are connected by a rope or a chain on one end. The Nunchaku make a great
training weapon, which can help you improve your posture and develop quicker
movements of the hands.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I mentioned before my gang and I decided to have a night
out with spontaneous nunchuck lessons. We asked a nice sensei who was very
generous to let us use his dojo and training equipment. He was also generous
with his time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw_SH1R1PU_m3ma7zbcstH4gWLDvZeGIyYScKCUuIR8Y0pIHTjC315qlnExJLRlwWHkro6ehETL-lmOk13TilgfWzjSAZtdyEcwV4vJ60pdUzNXd7O97lpqOFePdhJxxEhMLCtbBWHeZWs/s1600/IMG_1524.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw_SH1R1PU_m3ma7zbcstH4gWLDvZeGIyYScKCUuIR8Y0pIHTjC315qlnExJLRlwWHkro6ehETL-lmOk13TilgfWzjSAZtdyEcwV4vJ60pdUzNXd7O97lpqOFePdhJxxEhMLCtbBWHeZWs/s1600/IMG_1524.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, I brought my homemade nunchucks with me. I made three pairs but I was the only brave one to train with them luckily everyone else
used foam chucks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following photos are the most well known way to hold nunchucks right before you combat with them</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirAfeYkUyquDSCrFEUZdTW-mgSz3GTywqs003KzXXoVRwiw91NeKwDJ5umQcihyDLgYgkLlzMfS7BEHRTYyYPM1mHmkmqt7AiVCwMDuS_nQY6kTINQlksf2yfTrC6XJ-dERGB5frv7Q6vM/s1600/IMG_1529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirAfeYkUyquDSCrFEUZdTW-mgSz3GTywqs003KzXXoVRwiw91NeKwDJ5umQcihyDLgYgkLlzMfS7BEHRTYyYPM1mHmkmqt7AiVCwMDuS_nQY6kTINQlksf2yfTrC6XJ-dERGB5frv7Q6vM/s1600/IMG_1529.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzqk32PKe9WX0-WlyA-ckl92o2iTrm0AoVZ_UogoPFRXlvXBVVGSt16HWTaB6QbqxYgeDKr4-YSx8QTM485uw6TDx5FFZrIk7QBa2a7xWEl-q3ze4__1wEX4plyyNCrX3FeM0mpKpVk4pc/s1600/unnamed1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzqk32PKe9WX0-WlyA-ckl92o2iTrm0AoVZ_UogoPFRXlvXBVVGSt16HWTaB6QbqxYgeDKr4-YSx8QTM485uw6TDx5FFZrIk7QBa2a7xWEl-q3ze4__1wEX4plyyNCrX3FeM0mpKpVk4pc/s1600/unnamed1.jpg" height="313" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you are not intending to fight someone but you would still like to intimidate them you hold them crossed in your arms but still visible</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBSjNv48wmqpXLGhkZY3nljaJeFWwb5TObNdz2MBByfJkGgpjyqnTAvBdb7GNJv8H4M9YUy6eZ5dUABs9q80YzwWxnT4MwVGXFS-RyXLWnN1UYJze6RnNX45OssPM1wYEH7FYwmql36NeP/s1600/IMG_1533.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBSjNv48wmqpXLGhkZY3nljaJeFWwb5TObNdz2MBByfJkGgpjyqnTAvBdb7GNJv8H4M9YUy6eZ5dUABs9q80YzwWxnT4MwVGXFS-RyXLWnN1UYJze6RnNX45OssPM1wYEH7FYwmql36NeP/s1600/IMG_1533.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A less intimidating hold is where you hide the nunchucks behind your arm</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA01XXpgdplQ2M9Q0tOZsmHWJzxle9r11Vtxb1chs46x6yc506V8M7iH71RGtEPI0U44bJnWdF5FAn1SWO9k7l-eejfiCQYDaH4_6luxC2wWqWMGeioiJHjMCoPHyRfPqMKS9WZq-VymHl/s1600/IMG_1534.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA01XXpgdplQ2M9Q0tOZsmHWJzxle9r11Vtxb1chs46x6yc506V8M7iH71RGtEPI0U44bJnWdF5FAn1SWO9k7l-eejfiCQYDaH4_6luxC2wWqWMGeioiJHjMCoPHyRfPqMKS9WZq-VymHl/s1600/IMG_1534.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We started very slowly with some basic over the shoulder,
and then catch it with your other hand under the arm technique like so:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzqk32PKe9WX0-WlyA-ckl92o2iTrm0AoVZ_UogoPFRXlvXBVVGSt16HWTaB6QbqxYgeDKr4-YSx8QTM485uw6TDx5FFZrIk7QBa2a7xWEl-q3ze4__1wEX4plyyNCrX3FeM0mpKpVk4pc/s1600/unnamed1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzqk32PKe9WX0-WlyA-ckl92o2iTrm0AoVZ_UogoPFRXlvXBVVGSt16HWTaB6QbqxYgeDKr4-YSx8QTM485uw6TDx5FFZrIk7QBa2a7xWEl-q3ze4__1wEX4plyyNCrX3FeM0mpKpVk4pc/s1600/unnamed1.jpg" height="313" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then we tried something more aggressive. We would whip the
chucks over the shoulder, wave the chucks in front of us in a figure-</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">eight
motion and then bring it back to this position.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Civo9dBhaWH0PdgyHcCZSMzUR6gPasVTx9l-uSHiBRLNTdeL8ExFAiYjHU1mFQO4DhNidz38h2AMzzNIsjWK1UyqOk-tYGk1Lfno39ErK4rDaNikjrOBKXbAxpRGuFNr2Tp5BEwpNowk/s1600/unnamed2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Civo9dBhaWH0PdgyHcCZSMzUR6gPasVTx9l-uSHiBRLNTdeL8ExFAiYjHU1mFQO4DhNidz38h2AMzzNIsjWK1UyqOk-tYGk1Lfno39ErK4rDaNikjrOBKXbAxpRGuFNr2Tp5BEwpNowk/s1600/unnamed2.jpg" height="231" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of us got more confident and faster as the night went
on. This was not wise for a beginner. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw83cbmyWDdli4r7sxnt6m8p7fk0pW0Zc-UZX6BDdYDPpyPZmR0K79ZOMvVRmgwvLhdoV6RHXQVacafSYeNKHcPWDIlL5mnFFxiGR0McwjMQvvwVDC52bz0L4lYh3Uv5bvLGB-6G0AtcbX/s1600/IMG_1531.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw83cbmyWDdli4r7sxnt6m8p7fk0pW0Zc-UZX6BDdYDPpyPZmR0K79ZOMvVRmgwvLhdoV6RHXQVacafSYeNKHcPWDIlL5mnFFxiGR0McwjMQvvwVDC52bz0L4lYh3Uv5bvLGB-6G0AtcbX/s1600/IMG_1531.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I feel like the lesson was a success. What cool and spontaneous things have you done with your gang?</span></div>
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Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-89067091764012380852015-03-09T21:36:00.000-07:002015-03-09T21:36:07.058-07:00Spontaneous nunchuck lessons Part 1 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvnVB9IaDIngqQP7tIvaSB8E6Z5qFxk0z5XVLg6VC9bGTFgjoQlFmU0JJjaUZ6DJJi0YpnUjWU4WZpr1PCt6i4SajbsBhytniBZZNdn7ZdEike8Tg0nEZEphUsyxh1IO3QxTiOHX3qdiVO/s1600/Nun+Chucks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvnVB9IaDIngqQP7tIvaSB8E6Z5qFxk0z5XVLg6VC9bGTFgjoQlFmU0JJjaUZ6DJJi0YpnUjWU4WZpr1PCt6i4SajbsBhytniBZZNdn7ZdEike8Tg0nEZEphUsyxh1IO3QxTiOHX3qdiVO/s1600/Nun+Chucks.jpg" height="320" width="286" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My gang and I decided to take a crash course in nunchuck
lessons. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wanted to make sure we all had nunchucks to practice with… so I made
some! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Step one: find an old broomstick<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifCrKYyJxHni-RWzXcH8eKmNnazc1BbKbjLQ3Gq5IjoovHHHsmeIYmAhdv-IuT1B0bYH5LQX5mGUUMP_yav6MYYhUgSBem3wmgmgkemeBDRlEehJZ-kMvu5BcFgsBE6KDSs0GWpT21IMDg/s1600/IMG_1522.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifCrKYyJxHni-RWzXcH8eKmNnazc1BbKbjLQ3Gq5IjoovHHHsmeIYmAhdv-IuT1B0bYH5LQX5mGUUMP_yav6MYYhUgSBem3wmgmgkemeBDRlEehJZ-kMvu5BcFgsBE6KDSs0GWpT21IMDg/s1600/IMG_1522.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Step two: saw it down into 11-12” sticks. I was able to
cut six out of this broomstick.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Step three: Go to home depot and by a cheap designer chain: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and some screw eyes:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjibFseLKlneGQe7OTGFZ1P8ZNquy7VgsUIjGYRqKLN8-nVM7_M-hJWmXGN6uGhLBCyKKOGfturzDogBQI1xjehDtBed3nLk9iWJNE3PmBSnKQpMdWTWNGZuzWsvx1hOPx9fCvCwJXCOy-/s1600/003931532_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjibFseLKlneGQe7OTGFZ1P8ZNquy7VgsUIjGYRqKLN8-nVM7_M-hJWmXGN6uGhLBCyKKOGfturzDogBQI1xjehDtBed3nLk9iWJNE3PmBSnKQpMdWTWNGZuzWsvx1hOPx9fCvCwJXCOy-/s1600/003931532_1.jpg" height="97" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Step four: with a drill and some pliers you can attach the
chain to the broom stick handles. My sensei told me that the shorter the length
of the chain the better it is for a beginner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw_SH1R1PU_m3ma7zbcstH4gWLDvZeGIyYScKCUuIR8Y0pIHTjC315qlnExJLRlwWHkro6ehETL-lmOk13TilgfWzjSAZtdyEcwV4vJ60pdUzNXd7O97lpqOFePdhJxxEhMLCtbBWHeZWs/s1600/IMG_1524.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw_SH1R1PU_m3ma7zbcstH4gWLDvZeGIyYScKCUuIR8Y0pIHTjC315qlnExJLRlwWHkro6ehETL-lmOk13TilgfWzjSAZtdyEcwV4vJ60pdUzNXd7O97lpqOFePdhJxxEhMLCtbBWHeZWs/s1600/IMG_1524.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Step five: begin lessons! Stay tuned for next week’s blog on
training with my gang in the dojo!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-8yNS8-Qi6Rhy6fXYBSEi1HCS_xi-RxWfnMfBSlhkxa3QmTh9eIn-4KEn1p_XUCAUaTkEfCBI79HalblQKPN1_QJuiTGZ3588vZT0D1jpvGk-iQY7d638Xz2ndqYox6-XKNwqnIMz757X/s1600/IMG_1527.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-8yNS8-Qi6Rhy6fXYBSEi1HCS_xi-RxWfnMfBSlhkxa3QmTh9eIn-4KEn1p_XUCAUaTkEfCBI79HalblQKPN1_QJuiTGZ3588vZT0D1jpvGk-iQY7d638Xz2ndqYox6-XKNwqnIMz757X/s1600/IMG_1527.JPG" height="640" width="425" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Voilà! Just your own homemade assault with a deadly weapon
product!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This project only cost me $1.35 to assemble. Did you know I was so thrifty?</span></div>
Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-63383989609731897582014-09-07T21:57:00.000-07:002014-09-07T22:04:12.176-07:00Team name <div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A while ago I blogged about how I voted for the dumbest team name at work and how it worked since I was the only one who voted… </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well as you can see by the t-shirt that was made for my group representing our team name, it’s not quite the same name that won the election.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii47lmuYdCB4ycmnOO67B9uoj_U3pAfU9lIR5_uV0TYBdUYMnIJrwnI34yvm-eQpRru8F6H-wpaKq56fbPYqFWOyg0zcTMvAORcBhZ-DPMLczGRRr8v0faVq4b8qo3HGcEF5YIZ24JJe8A/s1600/8.4.14+Super+Shirt+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii47lmuYdCB4ycmnOO67B9uoj_U3pAfU9lIR5_uV0TYBdUYMnIJrwnI34yvm-eQpRru8F6H-wpaKq56fbPYqFWOyg0zcTMvAORcBhZ-DPMLczGRRr8v0faVq4b8qo3HGcEF5YIZ24JJe8A/s1600/8.4.14+Super+Shirt+003.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our team name is DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Too Safe Crew, not the 2 Superman C!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I protested this folly to my team captain he said most of us in the team could never be comfortable wearing that shirt in public.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is just another example why democracy does not work here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you find anything offensive or uncomfortable with the original unaltered name?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #500050; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">http://accordingtokirk.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-day-i-threw-my-vote-away-and-it.html</span></div>
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Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-82826829416232657242014-08-31T21:58:00.000-07:002014-08-31T21:58:00.119-07:00Donating plasma<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOtRKwrUG0i761fGoXa4AbgEJAGNEJ-49ZZwNB_dPa5VBnsa2ypNc6OSyrXwgK-pQRYpHrs4bDOOjyM3VWmcqoeiEQpgOY0abHaiCtcouxorki2Hayliw8R6YANwPTRZqJJbkuAsifUObG/s1600/BioLife-Appleton-5-of-91.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOtRKwrUG0i761fGoXa4AbgEJAGNEJ-49ZZwNB_dPa5VBnsa2ypNc6OSyrXwgK-pQRYpHrs4bDOOjyM3VWmcqoeiEQpgOY0abHaiCtcouxorki2Hayliw8R6YANwPTRZqJJbkuAsifUObG/s1600/BioLife-Appleton-5-of-91.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While going to college I heard of and participated in the local plasma center which gives you money for every visit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what happens when you donate at the plasma center: you enter and take a number, and then you sit and wait and watch a movie in the waiting room. After about 30 minutes they call your name and ask you to enter a small concealed booth where a representative educates you about AIDS and interrogates you to make sure you have lived a lifestyle free from the virus. They then proceed to take a blood sample and take your vitals. They then excuse you back to the waiting room to continue watching the movie. About 25 minutes later they call you into the room where the procedure will commence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They sit you down in a funky chair and a certified phlebotomist pricks your arm and starts an IV that is hooked to a machine that will suck out your blood, extract the plasma from it, and then put the blood back into your arm. All the while you are still watching the movie from another TV in that room.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once they have filled the quart sized bottle of plasma, they bandage you up, and pay you and then you’re free to leave the facility. This entire ordeal takes a little over two hours to do each time.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have not been to the plasma center for a few years and I would like to share with you the pros and cons to donating plasma.<br /><br /><u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cons:<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Everyone gets paid the same amount each time. If you are a big fat guy like me they will keep you on the machine for a long time and milk you until that bottle is full to the brim with plasma.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) Everyone has to have a physical examination with one of their representatives before officially donating plasma. There is nothing awkward about it, they don’t ask you to drop your drawers or stuff like that. The physical is very basic. But plan on at least 3 to 5 hours of waiting to get this part completed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) Their hours of operation are pretty much open during business hours so if you have a job you will never find a convenient time to go in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4) You have no choice on which movie to watch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5) If the phlebotomist is inexperienced, they may bruise your arm, they then turn you away and you can't donate for a while. Then they make you have another dang physical.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pros:<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) It can be a good source of a supplemental income. If you donate frequently, you can make around $200 a month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) Everyone gets paid the same amount each time. If you are a 90-pound girl they will take much less out of you than the big fat guys. You only have to fill up a quarter of a bottle and you get out of there sooner. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) You get paid to watch a movie.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you like to donate plasma?</span></div>
Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-46433102522173362602014-08-27T21:45:00.001-07:002014-08-27T21:46:11.334-07:00How to annoy a Californian<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAYCc80B5RjMXRtyK3lluF1fWIaWsUm6RvRiIY1eoukfvdaekgSD5z6c-tx6erFQZXNS8P59R_c23KeeVQm7JhCZXmNKop5Y1TqW_QBKz8TjDgajlKMco_19Adm_zFWUuvM0BZM8Jluisq/s1600/1796763_1414107852176315_725521220_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAYCc80B5RjMXRtyK3lluF1fWIaWsUm6RvRiIY1eoukfvdaekgSD5z6c-tx6erFQZXNS8P59R_c23KeeVQm7JhCZXmNKop5Y1TqW_QBKz8TjDgajlKMco_19Adm_zFWUuvM0BZM8Jluisq/s1600/1796763_1414107852176315_725521220_o.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Top ten list on how to annoy a
Californian:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Bash anything Disney related including movies, high
prices etc.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tell them Disneyworld is better than Disneyland.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Picnic at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Walt Disney’s
final resting place).</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ask them, "What is In-N-Out Burger?"</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ask them, "What is an iPhone?"</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Drive around the beach in a rusty old non-emissions
friendly car.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have a picnic on the beach with tin foil dinners
and second hand paper plates.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ask them, "What is Starbucks?"</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wear a T-Shirt that says “Nuke the Whales” on it.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tell them you heard they are reevaluating
Proposition 8 again.</span></span></li>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you agree with
this list?</span><br />
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Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-41679833855660740652014-07-22T22:02:00.000-07:002014-07-22T22:02:07.316-07:00Volunteering at Colonial Days<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAEdh8LMmHyHljGQyyTwD47MGCdZhMCeL8RB4ASqfStDP3a125yDRih0fERIhbKpImIq9wCm3b3F9mH0A0nv4E8xAoIgiFIfw48Cx1KDetbk8uQn9yl0sWxDFlu_WKfZbQ7Sd3MsF_io_Y/s1600/_MG_9336.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAEdh8LMmHyHljGQyyTwD47MGCdZhMCeL8RB4ASqfStDP3a125yDRih0fERIhbKpImIq9wCm3b3F9mH0A0nv4E8xAoIgiFIfw48Cx1KDetbk8uQn9yl0sWxDFlu_WKfZbQ7Sd3MsF_io_Y/s1600/_MG_9336.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As July is about to fade I would like to reflect on an event I got to volunteer for on Independence Day. The city of Orem has many things going on during this time of year, one of which is the Colonial Heritage Festival.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is Colonial Days? I’m glad you asked. Gregg Hardy, the chairperson, sums it up nicely: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>“Meet history face to face! This year marks the eighth annual Colonial Heritage Festival, a free four-day event for the whole family. Travel back in time through our living museum known as the Village at Aubin’s Grove at SCERA Park, and visit our indoor Colonial relics museum at the SCERA Center for the Arts. Visit Colonial artisans, exhibits, demonstrations, and join in the great debates, public trials, and storytelling in the Old South Church. From our grand Mayflower replica and maritime interactive exhibits to the Colonial School, children will be attended to by teachers from the Alpine School District. Children will also be able to play Colonial games and participate in the daily children’s chores. Military enthusiasts can visit the gun displays and experience the cannon firing on the green. Exhibits include the apothecary shop, blacksmith, cooper, broom maker, gunsmith, spoon maker, potter, bobbin lace maker, bee keeper, chandler, wood worker, women’s clothing, home life, frontier life, and much more.”</i></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sara Hacken, and me</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sara Hacken, my friend and neighbor, is one of the main organizers for colonial days and was thrilled to get my help since they are always extremely short-staffed for volunteers. They first had me assist with the children’s chores activity. Then they had me play along in the old south church debate, I then spent the rest of my time helping people suit up in Jamestown armor that the Virginia Company would have worn.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pepper doing children's chores </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pepper and me in Jamestown armor</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had a lot of fun and would not mind helping out in the future if work and family obligations will permit. I saw a lot of extreme re-enactors that participate every year. I personally am torn between two different thoughts, one being that it is fun to dress up and connect with the past, and the other being how some of these re-enactors are just playing an extremely expensive game of cowboys and Indians. Are your thoughts similar to mine on this?</span></div>
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Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-81785066154751242332014-07-14T20:27:00.000-07:002014-07-14T20:27:00.165-07:00Rocks, rocks, and more rocks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjY2rib8X6zIaHvfsf27YCA623VYweTTkEBtszlIWY8h7QWtRij_bcU0YGRzYTN7Al20KwWAeqAEKxlDBBK8INDn4jy9qqQCa6PACzPdk1jIrC-z5KINi_wmg26WpQkCwVdqPvMbJQDZQF/s1600/5.9.14+Delicate+Arch+030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjY2rib8X6zIaHvfsf27YCA623VYweTTkEBtszlIWY8h7QWtRij_bcU0YGRzYTN7Al20KwWAeqAEKxlDBBK8INDn4jy9qqQCa6PACzPdk1jIrC-z5KINi_wmg26WpQkCwVdqPvMbJQDZQF/s1600/5.9.14+Delicate+Arch+030.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I recently returned
from a campout in Moab, Utah. Moab attracts a large number of tourists
every year, mostly visitors to the nearby Arches and Canyonlands National
Parks. It's a popular base for mountain bikers that ride a lot of wicked
trails, and off-roaders that come for the annual Moab Jeep Safari. I was
surprised how popular this small town is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My family and I
enjoyed hiking in Arches National Park and observing all the breathtaking
landscape of the desert. So beautiful! It’s amazing to me how sandstone can
erode into delicate arches, and also form other interesting shapes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Like this one. It had
no name but it definitely has physique. What do you think I should call this
rock formation? </span></div>
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Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-736043135921839082014-07-06T21:23:00.001-07:002014-07-06T21:24:18.043-07:00Got Birds?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJkjyaZJsXGr6gRKfDv-LreA8GVeS-J5d33XVrhqVhD4YLFMB1SPnnff_no10w2LZ3sBINQIb4fnVSU3WGHpNVTY6RkV8ztJzwYwW-cLftfjArwj3HTH1FWsXGxdHz3dAlQndgHyxHaox3/s1600/5.22.14+Bear+River+Migratory+Bird+Refuge+009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJkjyaZJsXGr6gRKfDv-LreA8GVeS-J5d33XVrhqVhD4YLFMB1SPnnff_no10w2LZ3sBINQIb4fnVSU3WGHpNVTY6RkV8ztJzwYwW-cLftfjArwj3HTH1FWsXGxdHz3dAlQndgHyxHaox3/s1600/5.22.14+Bear+River+Migratory+Bird+Refuge+009.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had the cherished opportunity recently to visit the Bear
River Migratory Bird Refuge up in Brigham City Utah.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEOQMYAUFdkoTNSczMTPSsZVXU_-wR_xASWK83oirEOknHptY1n91YAgD6ZWCnxFB1UNEYvR1OY1yqvFVK_lchjmvyZBrDfEbyekrDjVyeL6Og73sOvcP0AHQP-1CZU82wDWAXamLC8HRK/s1600/DSC01480.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEOQMYAUFdkoTNSczMTPSsZVXU_-wR_xASWK83oirEOknHptY1n91YAgD6ZWCnxFB1UNEYvR1OY1yqvFVK_lchjmvyZBrDfEbyekrDjVyeL6Og73sOvcP0AHQP-1CZU82wDWAXamLC8HRK/s1600/DSC01480.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge visitor center</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What are they? Their mission statement says: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #6a757a;">Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge lies in northern Utah, where
the Bear River flows into the northeast arm of the Great Salt Lake. The
Refuge protects the marshes found at the mouth of the Bear River; these marshes
are the largest freshwater component of the Great Salt Lake ecosystem.
Since these marshes are in turn surrounded by arid desert lands, it is little
wonder that they have always been an oasis for waterbirds and wildlife. </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So
in other words they love nature, they really love birds and try to provide
birds with pristine hospitality. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The visitor center is filled with avid bird
lovers who are anxious to answer any questions you may have about the world’s
fowls.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While
I was there I saw this display which really cracked me up. I got such a big
kick out of it I had to take a picture of it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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is a close up of the plaque.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfZMcP1_TtytmrlHn70lgpJCexBBh6Ezua8it-4HTl-5R5wq3BD5-i3jNA7fx3IGtMDRJmNWPSQdPbWZT3u29VUYCp3McAXU72FLeCcMU6SSFMbdiW9sssnMEpWVtpn2Fme_OHFsevWmKz/s1600/5.22.14+Bear+River+Migratory+Bird+Refuge+010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfZMcP1_TtytmrlHn70lgpJCexBBh6Ezua8it-4HTl-5R5wq3BD5-i3jNA7fx3IGtMDRJmNWPSQdPbWZT3u29VUYCp3McAXU72FLeCcMU6SSFMbdiW9sssnMEpWVtpn2Fme_OHFsevWmKz/s1600/5.22.14+Bear+River+Migratory+Bird+Refuge+010.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can
you see the irony that I found in this display?</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-90559594711950940512014-06-29T11:52:00.000-07:002014-06-29T12:00:59.908-07:00Sick of being sick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those of you who make up my favorite followers on this blog are probably wondering where I have been for the last month. I have been sick. Right after my half marathon, I was suspiciously drained of all energy for about five weeks. This soon followed with nausea and a constant fever of 101 that would not break for a week. On Saturday during Memorial Day weekend I was encouraged by close relatives to seek medical attention at Urgent Care. This is how my visit went:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like the way every visit to the doctor goes, I was first interrogated by the receptionist who asked me about my symptoms and why I was bothering them on Memorial Day weekend. Then after a long wait I got to tell the whole story over again to the nurse, who made sure to ask me if it was allergy-related.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had the mistake of getting a doctor in the past who noticed that I had allergies and then entered it into my medical record. Now every time I go the doctor every one of them asks me “Are you sure it’s not just your allergies?” Or "It's allergy-related, just take Claritin and get out of here.” This is why I am reluctant to ever go to the doctor unless I can arguably prove that it is not just allergies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, then the doctor who is a nice and bewildered old lady with a European accent comes in and once again asks me to explain why I am there that day, and "What are my symptoms again? And are you sure it’s not your allergies?" I’m pretty sure a fever is not allergies!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She got very frustrated because she could not diagnose exactly what I had. Because the lab was closed that day I would have to come back on Wednesday when my real doctor was in and so I could get some blood tests from the lab.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A funny bit of dialogue that went on between me and the doctor:<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Dr. Anderson: On a scale of one to ten, ten being the most pain you have ever felt before in your life how would you rate the pain you are feeling?<u></u><u></u></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Me: Well if you would say ten is equivalent to excruciatingly I would have to say …<u></u><u></u></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">Dr. Anderson: Excruciatingly I like that word. Nurse give him a shot of toradol in his hip!!</span></i><u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: blue;">Me: Let me finish, I would have to say I have a high tolerance to pain and so I would have to say I am more around the area of five to (nurse sticks the big needle in my butt) hello!?!</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Doctor was able to give me a blood sugar and mono test, both tested negative. So she gave me a whole bunch prescriptions to fill and sent me on my way.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the prescriptions she gave me was to help treat allergies.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Luckily my huge fever broke two days before I saw my real doctor. I got sick with cold / flu a day later because my daughter got it from another kid at daycare. That’s a fact, if you have a toddler in daycare, be prepared to be sick all the time. Other than an annoying cough that still lingers, the symptoms of my current disease are bearable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Needless to say I am sick of being sick.</span></div>
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Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-30266077216119370162014-04-30T20:07:00.000-07:002014-04-30T20:07:31.809-07:00Thanksgiving Point 2014 Results and Reflections from the Race<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the second time I participated in Thanksgiving Point’s half marathon: all 13.1 miles of it! According to my personal iPod that tracks my distance, it was actually closer to 14 miles. Anyway, I woke up with a late start and had to speed from Orem to make it to Lehi before the gunshot. It was almost a tuck and roll situation. Luckily my wife can drive really fast. The weather was extremely rainy the entire time. I ran by Thanksgiving Point's Noah’s Ark exhibit and thought how fitting it was for the day. I wore a waterproof jacket with a hood but after about 6 miles with the excessive perspiration and the rainfall the jacket was rendered pointless. (I think I will now look into upgrading my running clothes since my baggy gym shorts don’t stay up too well when they are waterlogged.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The tulips and Italian gardens were once again breathtakingly beautiful to run through at dawn. The rain was a nice touch to that scenery. The main reason why I choose to run the Thanksgiving Point half marathon instead of all the other options available in the valley is because they offer admission for two into everything their giant facility has to offer once you have registered for their race. I like this because even if something bad happens and I am unable to race then I haven’t just blown sixty bucks that can be added as a charitable donation to <a href="http://active.com/" target="_blank">active.com</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last year I didn’t train well and I walked three of the 13 miles and I had one bathroom break and I finished with the time of 2 hours, and 20 minutes. I am a little depressed and can’t figure out the mystery of this one but this time I trained harder, didn’t walk at all, and I didn’t take any bathroom breaks and I finished with the time 2 hours, and 21 minutes?!? I blame the rain because that just makes no sense to me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At least I made par. My pace was decent at about 10 -11 minutes a miles. You need to be going at least 16 minutes a mile to be considered a finisher. They take the clock and finish line down after 4 hours, and open traffic up again. I guess you could say even though I am not the best at races I still love them and hope that I can still do them in my old age.</span></div>
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Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-30015615466000546862014-04-27T20:37:00.000-07:002014-04-27T20:37:41.266-07:00Dealing with Tendonitis<div class="im" style="background-color: white;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those of you who follow me on Facebook I mentioned about how I was dealing with some minor complications while training for another half marathon. I discovered a chronic pain in my lower right ankle. I saw what looked like a goose egg that had formed on the back lateral part of my heel. The goose egg would swell and cause me to limp like Tiny Tim all day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally after dealing with the pain and the limping for over eight weeks I finally went in to see my doctor. I discovered that I have a mild form of Achilles Tendonitis. This is caused when too much weight is constantly impacting on the heel of your foot. This can cause minor ruptures within your tendons and other joints in your foot.</span></div>
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Illustration of Achilles Tendonitis <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Luckily I found that there is a cure. I was instructed by my doctor to take ibuprofen before I ran and to wear what is called a Strassburg sock.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My sexy leg wearing the Strassburg sock</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Strassburg sock is pretty much a funny looking sock with a splint that you are supposed to wear on your foot for 2 weeks. I felt like I looked like an elf in rehab. This foot splint is supposed to keep your toes suspended upward all night long so that the tendon's ruptures can heal more efficiently. Imagine a cut on the knuckle of your finger. If the knuckle is always moving the wound will take forever to heal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Long story short, the limping stopped after two nights of wearing the funny-looking sock. I still feel some tenderness down there and the goose egg has not completely vanished but my doctor thinks I can still run in my half marathon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the facts of life for a long distance runner is you are constantly dealing with some sort of pain or sickness. They say it’s just part of the game. With that in mind when I am running in a race I don’t feel so much like I am competing with the other runners. More so, I am competing with myself to see if I can endure the miles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have you ever seen or heard of the Strassburg sock before?</span></div>
Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-74081931051489204622014-04-07T21:22:00.000-07:002014-04-07T21:22:00.030-07:00The day I threw my vote away and it worked<div class="im" style="background-color: white;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I mentioned in blog "Safety starts Now!"</span> <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my company takes safety to insane measures.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://accordingtokirk.blogspot.com/2014/01/safety-starts-now.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My company has now divided everyone into groups, like a safety buddy system in teams. Our assigned groups are supposed to watch out for one another in our teams and help keep them out of harm’s way. Now we are collectively rewarded as a group when we can go a full calendar quarter with no recordable injuries at work, and thus we are also collectively punished if one of us gets officially injured.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To reward us, at the end of each quarter our company treats everyone in our group to lunch from our choice of caterers. In preparation for our very first lunch our CEO asked us all to select a team name that we can all rally behind. Via email, some people submitted inspirational names and a few submitted really stupid names. If you know my opinions on democracy most of the time I exercise my right to vote and throw it away when I feel that there are no good options. I picked the stupidest name on the list.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A week later I was surprised to discover that my stupid vote won the election. The CEO stood up and said, "I am surprised by the involvement in this election. Out of the ten teams that represent ACME’s safety standard’s only one team actually followed through in making a decision. I am pleased to announce that this team's name is 'DJ Jazzy Jeff and the 2 Safe Crew!'" Apparently I was the only person who voted. Because this joke is now official, they are actually making our own official team t-shirts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a first for me, having my vote actually count. Have you ever thrown your vote away? Or have you done anything in jest only to have a seriously official outcome?</span></div>
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Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-85976015806296191082014-03-31T21:10:00.000-07:002014-03-31T21:10:00.605-07:00Peter Pan is the Bomb???<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you haven’t figured it out from my last few blogs, my family took a spontaneous trip to Disneyland. Before our trip we followed tweets and other recommendations on what some must-see things in the park are, especially with a toddler. All Disney fanatics both local and professional all said this: “You gotta see Peter Pan's flight ride. It’s the bomb! Make sure you do that first thing when you get into the park because the line grows quickly.” I found that was the same recommendation for every demographic. If you’re on a date… go to Peter Pan! If you are proposing, go to Peter Pan! If you are celebrating grad night… yup, go to Peter Pan!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I vaguely remember going on this ride when I was young and I remember my thoughts after the ride were: “That was it?” Now with every professional opinion emphasis I thought, <i>What the heck. I’ll give it another shot.</i> Our first day of three days spent at the park started with a mad dash to Peter Pan’s ride only to be introduced to a forty-five-minute-long line. We patiently waited with an impatient toddler and the ride was over in less than three minutes. I am sad to say that my overall reaction to the ride this time was the same as last time I rode it as a child.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The professional Disney fanatics argue that the reason why the Peter Pan ride is the bomb is because you are in a pirate ship, and it really feels like you are flying above early 19<sup>th</sup> century London. I guess I missed that feeling all three times I rode it. I felt like I was on a rickety tram that carried me into less than ten rooms with horrible lighting. Yes you could see the little cute model of London below with Big Ben and all but it looked like the glow in the dark paint used on the model was overdue for a major recharge. We could barely see anything down there. What little animatronics they had in the ride seemed out of place and rushed (to move you along to a particular moment of the movie).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Disneyland has improved with some of their newer rides where they know you will be standing in line for at least an hour (which can entertain the waitees by creative obstacles to walk through etc.) You don’t get that with Peter Pan. It doesn’t matter what time of day it is, you will have to wait in an extremely long line for a short class-C ride.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #500050;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you agree with me on this or do think the Peter Pan ride is the bomb? Please explain. </span></span></div>
Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-74716366488314028302014-03-24T19:36:00.000-07:002014-03-24T19:36:00.108-07:00Innoventions Tragic History<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj98KwzIy2HPubrVv_86PVzGoUTJ5PxYg2PhDJ4t4dTbEimyk3Sja_Am2b0xr0c9BTCe6DRr3OAbmyYQWkLUTF71DXdH1BAu7oDNPVcjP83coD00jvo5mLFzMd6-14fw6ek_rYAB5DW7q-5/s1600/IMG_8369.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj98KwzIy2HPubrVv_86PVzGoUTJ5PxYg2PhDJ4t4dTbEimyk3Sja_Am2b0xr0c9BTCe6DRr3OAbmyYQWkLUTF71DXdH1BAu7oDNPVcjP83coD00jvo5mLFzMd6-14fw6ek_rYAB5DW7q-5/s1600/IMG_8369.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was 1974. Disneyland
wanted to do something special to commemorate our country’s bicentennial.
The Disney company constructed a giant </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">carousel </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">theatre in Tomorrowland that had a rotating stage. “America Sings” was the attraction and in this theatre
the audience sat stationary while the stage rotated showing six different
scenes with animatronics figures that sang various patriotic folk songs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPGb26qSqsSE4flRqo9iAI1IDKyF_8z8WhJ3J0DmioI_qGGshBHRHGnyE93CfcWm9Simy7rT7-UmlqKTyjTUvz72AOfXKFF_HNk8-6dSVq_VpdEk6PGqa3g78n8Z1qObrauJxCGiskGq1x/s1600/America+Sings_DL_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPGb26qSqsSE4flRqo9iAI1IDKyF_8z8WhJ3J0DmioI_qGGshBHRHGnyE93CfcWm9Simy7rT7-UmlqKTyjTUvz72AOfXKFF_HNk8-6dSVq_VpdEk6PGqa3g78n8Z1qObrauJxCGiskGq1x/s1600/America+Sings_DL_Cover.jpg" height="320" width="234" /></a></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: justify;">Animatronics figures in America Sings</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Deborah Stone was an 18 year old cast
member from Texas that was supposed to greet and farewell the audience
attending the show. When the lights went out, and the show began, and the stage
began to rotate, you could hear horrific screaming. Deborah had gotten too close
to the rotating walls, she was pulled into them and was crushed to death. This
attraction was briefly closed to clean up the accident, and it reopened 2 days
later and continued to run until the 1980’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Around the 1990’s this
theatre reopened, this time calling the Building / Theatre “ Innoventions” this
time to follow suit with the Tomorrowland theme. The rotating stage no
longer had all the patriotic animals (they were placed in Splash Mountain) and
replaced them with a creepy looking robot name Tom Morrow who was the host of
the new show in the theatre. He was to help show off futuristic technology that
we would see shortly in our own homes in the near future, “The Home
of Tomorrow. ” Cast members always complained about how Tom Morrow would
malfunction, and come on in the dark and at times when no one was around or
controlling him. Some people think it was Deborah letting everyone know that
she was still there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3iedeFNrpiNpPGKf1b-sMzAEZOHcA2RHVDbR3aWDnEbf_0D7dNZhJrkJwzS9VIjBkWXWxq7aYV46EZncxsWh1dmWOlqAVxGAHHPsUgWB6uYwVzCQDzzjinxwY2FCyDgiWA-RKFYauTwwQ/s1600/IMG_0139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3iedeFNrpiNpPGKf1b-sMzAEZOHcA2RHVDbR3aWDnEbf_0D7dNZhJrkJwzS9VIjBkWXWxq7aYV46EZncxsWh1dmWOlqAVxGAHHPsUgWB6uYwVzCQDzzjinxwY2FCyDgiWA-RKFYauTwwQ/s1600/IMG_0139.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom Morrow</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I got to see creepy Tom Morrow back in 1998 and my family still
has footage of him buried deep in our archaic VHS collection. Upon my return to
Disneyland last month I discovered that they have once again changed
“Innoventions.” The building is still called Innoventions but they have gotten
rid of both creepy Tom Morrow and the huge rotating stage. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Jvq-gfso5SULQFTm6rrYJY-y_SPItXrsB__NXWsc6OVjo4kqOJQcvqr8dWrfXBSWmuxjPE8BOO-my3Xgd2Un-SCmWDSTCKvpP3Rotw7179SwaMTzmQ-WM-MgTWHVwdrtwyqmaKq73_4t/s1600/Iron+Man3+hall+of+armor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Jvq-gfso5SULQFTm6rrYJY-y_SPItXrsB__NXWsc6OVjo4kqOJQcvqr8dWrfXBSWmuxjPE8BOO-my3Xgd2Un-SCmWDSTCKvpP3Rotw7179SwaMTzmQ-WM-MgTWHVwdrtwyqmaKq73_4t/s1600/Iron+Man3+hall+of+armor.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Iron Man props now can be seen in Innoventions</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that Disney has
bought Marvel, they have now put in all sorts of props from the Avengers in
there. They still have futuristic technology that you can explore on the lower
level but unfortunately most of their “future” presentations are now outdated.
You can still see the track where the notorious stage ran on in the lower
level. Even though I was not able to see an apparition of Deborah or experience
any paranormal activity, I simply had a solemn sense of reverence for those who
accidentally passed away while working here. I am not the type of person who
would try to entice a paranormal experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you think the Disneyland cast member rumors of this
attraction being haunted is legit? </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-69054529505883529052014-03-17T12:34:00.000-07:002014-03-17T12:34:00.688-07:00The Bad Fortune Teller<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqk7Pi5RdZbXNByAUjOfYjcpZ3TuqOjDfz5h0UQTh9SQYPDwVg7dX8JR4qE0QLys3EfcKN0bDvA_dDPox_GxXpWecqSvYmaE-3FlTaGhUvBmlJ-Ksl3pz2s9KBcngU2nsZTufq-Ld8G_K8/s1600/Esmerelda+fortune+teller+machine+at+Penny+Arcade+in+Disneyland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqk7Pi5RdZbXNByAUjOfYjcpZ3TuqOjDfz5h0UQTh9SQYPDwVg7dX8JR4qE0QLys3EfcKN0bDvA_dDPox_GxXpWecqSvYmaE-3FlTaGhUvBmlJ-Ksl3pz2s9KBcngU2nsZTufq-Ld8G_K8/s1600/Esmerelda+fortune+teller+machine+at+Penny+Arcade+in+Disneyland.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Legend has it that when Walt Disney was young he had a fortune teller give him his fortune. It wasn’t good. She promised him that he would die a painful death at the young age of 30. Even though that fortune never came to pass, it affected him negatively for the rest of his life. When his imagineers were designing and constructing the Penny Arcade on main street in Disneyland, he was reluctant to put in Esmerelda (the fortune-telling arcade game) unless they could promise him that she would only give out good fortunes.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The legend or rumors in Disneyland is every now and then Esmerelda has been known to give out a bad fortune. That is why Disneyland cast members frequently drop a quarter in her slot to see if they will be one of the rare people to get a bad fortune.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether this legend is just a business scheme (or not) I had to try my luck with the machine to see what I would get. This is what it said:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUXTy_708VUHPBHlPOXY5xLplygs-tOw2UtoiGVTdnEO77JtVvzMEpM9KXk-KFMCRhgOwV1Jix5q5AIEqbrK4tQ_FtQT2T89LEADu2mUjeSdsFWecp9CZ-ANAnZcPrzKSZCSR_XsKkCrC1/s1600/fort.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUXTy_708VUHPBHlPOXY5xLplygs-tOw2UtoiGVTdnEO77JtVvzMEpM9KXk-KFMCRhgOwV1Jix5q5AIEqbrK4tQ_FtQT2T89LEADu2mUjeSdsFWecp9CZ-ANAnZcPrzKSZCSR_XsKkCrC1/s1600/fort.jpg" height="640" width="379" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have you ever tried one of these things before? Do you think it’s full of it?</span></div>
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Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-4713370149463021732014-03-10T12:40:00.000-07:002014-03-10T12:40:00.286-07:00Pranking with Darling Facaden<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 15pt;">“Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” Benjamin Franklin</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 15pt;">This is another important rule to pranking. Anonymity is a difficult factor but if you can accomplish it in your prank it can multiply your success. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have a nephew by the name of Darling Facaden, he is best described as unstable pack of nitroglycerin just waiting to explode at any moment. He loves to be loud, he loves destroying things, or making messes. Here is the closest picture I could find that best describes him.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvxjX9eo9kFFxRdDHflPMI690MwkuAGx_mTgHuvS36yZKAOU192V2JVm5KbYDXAvjuww4hyrQOoK3fHts64OE1tZfoOTaIUB9CMhwgKsbJeGskS1W6CK9MOls3GJcCWGYaxcD1BXO_AZ2O/s1600/Despicable-Me-DVD-Clip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvxjX9eo9kFFxRdDHflPMI690MwkuAGx_mTgHuvS36yZKAOU192V2JVm5KbYDXAvjuww4hyrQOoK3fHts64OE1tZfoOTaIUB9CMhwgKsbJeGskS1W6CK9MOls3GJcCWGYaxcD1BXO_AZ2O/s1600/Despicable-Me-DVD-Clip.jpg" height="198" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am always trying to find cute and creative ways to smuggle silly string to this boy for I had the hypothesis that Darling Facaden plus silly string equals a big mess! I had arranged a correspondent to plant a can of silly string in his bedroom. I wanted my helper to hide it in a spot that would not be discovered for a few days. Here we are two weeks later and I have gathered information on how the results of that prank turned out. Sadly this mission was a failure.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The silly string was delivered successfully. None of Darling Facaden’s family suspected a thing... Until my wife told them.<u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two weeks later my wife gets a voicemail message from Darling Facaden thanking her for the silly string present. He found the silly string, presented it to his mom who told him to go use it outside.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So remember my dear friends anonymity is your ally if achieved successfully. The less people who know of your plot the better off you are. Stay tuned for more tips from my pranking travel log.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have you ever had success in keeping a secret with more than two people?</span></div>
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Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-48471731278014261492014-02-10T19:13:00.000-08:002014-02-11T20:49:12.150-08:00Some things I learned at my runners clinic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwl8zWyOdYW9W5LtY7t_WB3t3ecumyVmsYiHWSiN_BVPg_f9Tpri50X8huJ06WoHStPaUCQ8TK5cDnbdVHbvdW7AgueWEaG4bZgs6RmU-eCXpNDvNjSk2V4Zf_z0x8sTDp1xk6X5ZiHiJm/s1600/Utah_Valley_Performance_Sports_Training-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwl8zWyOdYW9W5LtY7t_WB3t3ecumyVmsYiHWSiN_BVPg_f9Tpri50X8huJ06WoHStPaUCQ8TK5cDnbdVHbvdW7AgueWEaG4bZgs6RmU-eCXpNDvNjSk2V4Zf_z0x8sTDp1xk6X5ZiHiJm/s1600/Utah_Valley_Performance_Sports_Training-logo.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A year ago, I went to a runners clinic hosted by Intermountain at the Utah Valley Hospital. This was a clinic that was free to the public for anyone who has an interest in running as a hobby or for sport. They taught some helpful hints that have improved my running. As I said before, I am an amateur runner and since I am the lone wolf in my family with any interest in running, I have to really search for whatever help I can find. At the clinic a gift card was given out to all in attendance and was good for a training session with one of their sport trainers at the Utah Valley Sports Performance Sports Training center. I finally booked a session earlier last month and this how it went.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My athletic trainer's name is Dan. He first wanted to know what my struggles and concerns with running were. I told him hydration and cool downs. He sympathized with my concern about hydration. In reference to my earlier blog post in training for a half marathon, you are supposed to keep yourself hydrated constantly, especially on long distant runs. I was told to drink a few ounces every three miles or so. Electrolytes are encouraged. Whenever I drank a ton on the run I would have to urinate more often. Have you ever drunk a Powerade or any similar sport drink? They seem to immediately run right through you! Dan said that instead of gorging myself while on the run with water and electrolytes to try focusing more on hydrating myself prior to the race, lightly during the race and frequently for the rest of the day. After gathering my size and weight he estimated that I would need at least 72 ounces of water daily. He also said that when I am feeling dehydrated to try running with a stick of gum in my mouth. Something that would keep you salivating. I am still trying out these new recommendations and I will let you know how they turn out for me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As for stretching, for warm ups and cool downs he emphasized the recommendation to only do dynamic stretches for warm ups and static stretches for cool downs.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is dynamic and static stretching? I’m glad you asked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dynamic stretching is more like getting your legs and body moving really fast. Check out this video for a good example of dynamic stretching.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Static stretching is the more famous one when you are not moving but stretch your legs and body like so:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He then filmed me running on the treadmill so I could see my posture and how I was laying my feet down in order to make adjustments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He gave me some other helpful workout tips for my time in the gym as well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am supposed to follow up with Dan <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1375975870" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">6 weeks from now</span></span> to see if my running form has improved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hopefully with all of this new knowledge I can have better results in my next race.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you have any helpful advice for me as well since I am an amateur runner?</span></div>
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Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-75845707546703304862014-02-03T15:48:00.000-08:002014-02-05T20:43:56.954-08:00Musicals are stupid<div class="im" style="background-color: white;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Musicals are stupid. This is an odd statement coming from a person who grew up loving the arts and even lettering in theatre in high school. But I guess people change. I can’t really put my finger on the moment this changed for me but I do know some incidences that occurred that helped this along.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14.4pt;">While I was changing my major for the fourth time in college, I became a theatre major for two semesters. Why only two semesters? Because when I asked the academic adviser over the theatre department and the counselor at the career center at UVU about how I could make a living as a theater major, they both said, “I don’t know.” Another reason was it was mandatory that all theatre majors at UVU had to watch all of UVU’s productions and critique them for all the theatre classes. One musical that I was forced to see was called</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14.4pt;"> </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14.4pt;">Chess</i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14.4pt;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Chess</i> is a musical with music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (formerly of ABBA), and with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story involves two chess grandmasters, an American and a Soviet, fighting over a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other all in the context of a politically-driven, Cold War-era tournament between the two men. Although the protagonists were not intended to represent any real individuals, the character of the American grandmaster was loosely based on Bobby Fischer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m not surprised that <i>Chess</i> premiered on Broadway in 1988, but only lasted for two months. Yes, it’s that bad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“This is the seventh UVU production I’ve had the opportunity to see and I’ve finally realized two things: 1. I hate musicals, and 2. They have (the not so popular) scripts tucked away in the theater archives never to be put on production ever again for a reason. I think I would rather passionately make out with a diseased warthog than to have to sit through a second production of <i>Chess</i>.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I still passed my classes regardless of my blunt critique. Here are a few points I have come up with to pinpoint what bugs me about musicals and how they are being performed among us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. “We need another pointless musical number!” I believe that a musical number in a production is intended to accentuate critical points of the plot. Some writers do this, and some, I think, are just adding musical numbers into their play for the heck of it. If that is the case, then they are just wasting the audience’s time. I don’t have to be familiar with the play to feel that a musical number is about to start. If the musical number is actually relevant to the plot then the second challenge is trying to understand what is being sung by the amateur performer and /or the bad microphones and sound system. If no one can hear or understand the lyrics the performer is singing, then this also is a waste of the audience’s time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Overdone productions: Rodgers and Hamerstein material needs to go away. You might have seen one of their famous productions on video. <i>South Pacific</i>, <i>Cinderella</i>, <i>The King and I</i>, <i>Oklahoma</i>... they are all long, and have been circulating through arts councils and other theaters in Utah for decades, and are, in my opinion, beaten beyond the life of a dead horse. <i>Fiddler on the Roof</i> and <i>Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,</i> although not written by R and H, are also overdone and need to go away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Amateur performers: The state of Utah has a small pocket of people who are passionate about theatre. Most performers around the valley are nowhere near as talented as what you would find on Broadway in New York City. So when you have lead performer who is tone deaf, and can’t sing or dance, you are stuck with the amateur for the next two to three hours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Awkwardly exiting the theater: Hale Center Theatre is big on this and other smaller arts councils mimic them. When a musical has concluded and you are exiting the theater you have to make your way through the horde of the performers you just saw because they are all at the door as you exit. This stupid Utah tradition is highly unprofessional; I was told that it is never proper etiquette to wear your costume off the stage. It is awkward as well. If you are indifferent to the performers and were not impressed with their performance you feel obligated to say something to them anyway before you can pass by them because it is only polite to cheaply compliment them. To me this is a pathetic way for amateur performers to desperately fish for praise and adulation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are the four points I could come up with. Do you have anything to add to it? How do you feel about the performing arts and the undying musical trend?</span></div>
Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422000852952623094.post-53702511042997045242014-01-13T20:06:00.000-08:002014-01-13T20:06:00.418-08:00Safety starts Now!<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyone who is employed in any industrial job gets to hear a safety schpeel the first time on the job. It's usually about how their company is all about safety and how employees need to do their active part in keeping themselves safe so that they don’t critically hurt themselves and that all the shareholders can rest assured that their money isn’t going to medical costs for the company (mostly the latter).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The company I work for currently has taken this safety policy and blown it way out of proportion. Before I go off on this tangent I would like to make it clear that I love my job and can lovingly laugh at all the maniac quirks that go with it. My friend from Geneva Steel said that he, too, had some odd safety practices and procedures he was supposed to live by then said this (which I agree with), “First you laugh at it, then you follow it.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because my company had a higher number of recordable injuries last year, all of the big CEOs took safety at ACME to the next level and then beyond that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My company has become so safety crazy that they have trained us all on how to walk properly in the safe company way. This is called the ACME technique to help avoid slips, trips, and falls. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They are listed as follows:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">Take your time</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">Pay attention</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">Adjust your stride to the task</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">Walk with feet pointed slightly outward</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">Always make wide turns</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So imagine walking like a duck or Charlie Chaplin. This is how we are required to walk while we are on company time and on company property.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAP63dfbNWDzPNj1B8dJ5-UW-ssmhwyMQPfyMKxg3yHMX37aa42YJLClP2vdH3vGIcsB4c6-oln7-tA7NnfcdjDDWU5gdaJ9r1QvD3AVyKh2kbg6C-DHpUeUzmigOMOJQ4mIha2adFDDa5/s1600/Charlie-Chaplin-Birthday-April-16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAP63dfbNWDzPNj1B8dJ5-UW-ssmhwyMQPfyMKxg3yHMX37aa42YJLClP2vdH3vGIcsB4c6-oln7-tA7NnfcdjDDWU5gdaJ9r1QvD3AVyKh2kbg6C-DHpUeUzmigOMOJQ4mIha2adFDDa5/s320/Charlie-Chaplin-Birthday-April-16.jpg" height="320" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new ACME walking technique</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They also have a technique for walking up and down the stairs to help avoid slips, trips and falls. See the picture to get an idea.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjMwQWxRm9eTOib1-7x7cqecqSPxrR-qlrASwDMm23eE_mX8Jva3HVQx8iN5jvq9dTZtpNyVELErfuEAY5ZA4CN_A61H6awVMHzaAf5CFC4z6Ct3sxxbQ_FqTQpXCleTfZeH4hiAl5Jhn/s1600/acme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjMwQWxRm9eTOib1-7x7cqecqSPxrR-qlrASwDMm23eE_mX8Jva3HVQx8iN5jvq9dTZtpNyVELErfuEAY5ZA4CN_A61H6awVMHzaAf5CFC4z6Ct3sxxbQ_FqTQpXCleTfZeH4hiAl5Jhn/s1600/acme.jpg" height="293" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we have a flawless quarter with no recordable injuries at work then every employee gets presents from our corporate staff. Last quarter's safety present was a multipurpose flashlight that was made in China with really cheap batteries. Some operators found out that once you put the batteries in the flashlight and turned it on, the entire flashlight would get extremely hot and burn the hands of whoever was holding it. Our managers then strongly encouraged the rest of us to take our safety presents home and to not use them while at work for fear that we would hurt our safety numbers for the next quarter.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD7tw_NBDvQIi6iRMkg9-XFcsrmUFYfXxCUykwHwYzNC_rW80ykOxvO3d1UsxjUWiC6Agw7uAzSeeddukdZIfWmS7Oq4QW102MHXhVvaf0i5o36cXz9bGzn4-_TOuUxOHgneyQAUoJ062I/s1600/IMG_7947.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD7tw_NBDvQIi6iRMkg9-XFcsrmUFYfXxCUykwHwYzNC_rW80ykOxvO3d1UsxjUWiC6Agw7uAzSeeddukdZIfWmS7Oq4QW102MHXhVvaf0i5o36cXz9bGzn4-_TOuUxOHgneyQAUoJ062I/s1600/IMG_7947.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My safety reward!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What do you think next quarter's safety present will be?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have altered my companies name in this blog for privacy </span></div>
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Kirk Baxterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694309173873953953noreply@blogger.com2