Beard or Bust

Gordon Hayward’s pre-pubescent beard may remind some of you of J.D. from Scrubs but his growth, shot, and understanding of the game over the second half of the season kind of reminds me of a hybrid of Jeff Hornacek and Matt Harpring (weird right?)

When Hayward got drafted, people began to second guess the Jazz organization, which, let’s face it that is something to be considered with their track record. Me, I knew that this kid would grow into something. I know that it is too early to really start making any pre-conceived notion as to what he will become but if you just take one look at the before and after of the season, you can’t help but believe that he is going to help this organization out.

Since the passing of the torch from one coach to the other, Hayward has been given room to grow and gain some sense of confidence in the shot we saw him possess at Butler. Corbin has is giving this rookie a chance and it worked. Yes, the Jazz have to rebuild and had a lot of emotion conflict in the middle of the season when they had a shot at making the playoffs but that doesn’t change the fact that next year this will be a good team and Hayward will be a good starting player.

March 7^th, his stats increased from 4.8 ppg at the end of February to 16.4 ppg at the end of their season. His assists have gone up from 1.1 to 3 apg. He is not selfish but he will be, trust me. He can create; he’s learning to handle the ball better and comes off screens ready to shoot with a very quick release.

I believe now but then again I always have. Too bad I have to wait 6 more months to see if I am going to eat these words.

"We should know by the end of the week!"

Over the past few weeks I have come to hate, HATE, this phrase and people have told me that only the devil has the power to hate.

This phrase has been uttered multiple times by employers that I interview with. Am I the only one that gets this reaction from people interviewing for a job? Or, maybe it is just I am so badly qualified for the position they are just letting me feel better for a split second before making my world come crashing down again? Possibly, it could be that they actually haven't made a decision and really do need some time. I would hope that the positive side in me (the side that no one sees) would like to believe the third option. It has come to my attention recently, though, that this phrase is is only uttered here in Utah and to me so I think that the third option isn't the route I will be taking.

My friend in the northwest has told me when they interview someone, the person coming in will meet with three people and each interview will last about 20 minutes. So for one hour, the company will get an idea of the personality, experience, and overall status that the person wanting the job has to offer. At the end of the day the team meets and decides on who they want to hire. That is really simple and I guess the concept is one that is hard to grasp.

It's a waste of time to wait isn't it? Don't they need to fill these positions ASAP? That's why they posted the job listing. Taking the time slows the process for them meeting deadlines and it makes me stress out more and possibly cry myself to sleep on my over-sized pillow.

So, with these two interviews I have just had, I will let you all know by the end of the week if I have a job.

"We should know by the end of the week!"

Where have all the scary movies gone?

This week has been a week of movie discussion and debate. I went to the movie theaters as well as had a back-and-forth argument about some of the best scary movies of all time. This does include bloody as well as your classic thrilling, climactic ending but it made me think, where have all the good scary movies gone?

Great question, Alex! You bring up such a good point. Mainly this was brought up because I went and saw Insidious this week. It was a fun movie. They used a common scare tactic but it was more cheesy than scary and that was the scratchy violin, or whatever it usually is. There were a couple of scenes that made me jump, reminded me of the old Halloween movies a little bit. I almost expect a goat to start talking at one point of the movie though! (I hope some of you reading this get this reference.) This isn’t a movie review though. It is meant for all the fans of being scared out there.

Don’t be Afraid of the Dark looks really good! I am excited because it seems like a movie that will grab me because of its director, (Guillermo del Toro is directing it). Finally! Too long have I covered my head and plugged my ears only to see disappointment on the screen. Too often has the girl next to me grabbed my arm only to be followed by a shaking of disappointment from me. I just want a classic movie to come out and make me lose sleep. Is this too much to ask? I might be.

If any of you have some recommendations, please let me know. I also enjoy a cheesy one every once in a while too.

In addition to this, how many of you would like me to start posting parts from my books/stories on here to read? It might be pleasing to your eye-holes.

So I don’t have a podcast going on anymore and I am sure most of you are grateful for this. Instead, we will go another route and you will continue to see many useless and impractical pieces of writing that emanate from my brain. I continue to amaze myself with my dazzling and gleaming intelligence.

This time I decided to break down some of my favorite video games of all time. This came to mind while playing StarCraft 2 with my friend Cameron Baker and I just thought it would be fun.

Here are my top 10 favorite video games of ALL time. Please note that every single person will probably disagree with me and this isn’t based on any statistical application but personal opinion. I think when I determine what makes the Top 10, I judge more on what games my friends and I played growing up.

10. Resident Evil 3 + 4 (Scared the CRAP out of me)

9. Mario Kart (N64)

8. Super Metroid

7. NES Mario Bros.

6. Final Fantasy VII

5. Goldeneye 007 (N64)

4. NES Zelda

3. NBA Street Vol. 2

2. Halo (covers all series because then they would take up 3 of my top 10)

1. StarCraft

(Honorable Mentions) Half-Life, Smash Brothers (N64), Metal Gear: Solid, DOOM, Tetris

As you can see I didn’t put GTA in here which I could care less about.

To Bombast Helps Me Relax

What’s wrong with the world? Too much to blog about that is for sure. Though many of you know me and my personality can be a little undesirable and downbeat at times, I still am trying to figure out what the world has come to.

As a religious person, in any religion, I am drawn back to the saying “the signs of the times,” but it still doesn’t answer the unfriendly and distasteful disasters that are going on around us. We attacked another country, that’s a big one. Why we did I still haven’t heard a good answer about that yet. I know it has something to do with a bad guy, like always, but as I talk to the same people who put Bush down for his attacks are not saying the same things about this Obama character. Why? Again, I continue to ask the people I associate with these questions and they can’t really justify the actions of them or their liberal counterparts. Too bad really, I thought maybe they could make me feel stupid again like they did many years ago. Personally, I think the best part is now people are asking Obama to give back is Nobel Peace Prize. The saying I am drawn back to this time is “for the win!”

So besides that, I continue to have an internal struggle with the oil prices. It seems to me that when gas is high, people spend less money on the necessities and wants of life. High gas = less vacations, less spending on living expenses (food, clothing, upgrades on the home to maybe expand the living situation for the addition of another family member), less of everything. This strains the economy, causes inflation of prices and tempers, and is really so inconvenient. SO . . . with this in mind, and with my very limited knowledge of economy and math, it seems like maybe lower gas prices might promote more spending which in turn, wait for it, helps, sustains, and strengthens the economy. Of course these liberal-hippy-pot-smoking-tofu-eating non-wipers won’t let us drill in America. Now, please consider this; these are the same people who think it’s bad to milk a cow because it hurts them. I would love to discuss THAT part of this further if any of you want to go at it. I may not know much about anything but I know enough about dairy farms to put you to shame.

That’s all. I just wanted to write a little bit and this has been a great way to do it since I can’t get paid to make useless comments. I guess for now I will just do it this way and lose everyone’s respect for free.