Cycling Trip

This morning I woke up and thought, "what do I want to do during my summer break?" Then it hit me! I want to cycle from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Golden Gate Bridge and then back home to Orem, Utah. The total mileage would be 3,694 miles. At 100 miles a day, I should have the entire trip done in 37 days.

Now comes the hard part. Besides to obvious of buying a one way plane ticket to New York City, and starting my journey, how do I go about doing this? What do I need to know? What are all the details and how long will it take to plan this out to ensure that this trip is a success? Do I want to do it just because I don't want to be stuck in Utah all Summer stuck behind a cash register or should i find a charity that would sponsor me? So much to do. If I end up doing this I will start on the first of July and be done by the sixth of August. I registered myself Couch Surfers Web Site a few minutes ago, I just need to figure out how to use it.

Any thoughts or ideas on how to make this trip a success are welcome.

Red Dead Redemption: A Review

Last week Rockstar Games and Take 2 released their latest video game titled, Red Dead Redemption. It is a wild west themed video game. As one of my good friends said, "Red Dead Redemption is Grand Theft Auto IV meets The Oregon Trail." I could not agree more. I spent part of last weekend playing this game and love it. The best part about the game though is not the story although, main story is pretty cool and you meet some pretty interesting characters and strangers as you progress through the game. The best part is the multi-player over Xbox Live or the Play Station Network if you have a PS3.

Sunday night, I decided to play Red Dead Redemption and mess around in the multi-player mode. Once I was in the free roam world of the game. I started hunting wild animals. Some other things you can do is heard cattle, hunt and bring outlaws to justice, do some horse wrangling or be part of a Mexican Standoff. There are so many options in multiplayer mode and I have only listed a few.

Anyway back to my story. I had not been hunting five minutes when bullets start whizzing all around. I turned my character around to face the direction of the incoming fire and saw a posse of seven cowboys, galloping at me full speed and trying to kill me. They did and continued to keep hunting me down and kill me for the next two hours.

I never seemed able to outrun this posse. Finally I managed to escape with only one of the posse members right behind. He chased me across the map and once we reached the other end of the map, I found a ravine which had a campsite at the bottom. I ran to the bottom and the single posse member followed me down. As he was searching for me, I made my way back up to the top, got a good angle on him and start shooting at him.

I had this guy pinned and he was not going anywhere. After five minutes of taking cover from my rifle fire, he calls on the other six of his posse members to ride as fast as they could to where he and I were and help him. He then proceeded to whistle for his horse.

I was set on not letting this guy escape so I shot and killed his horse. He whistled for about seven or eight more horses and all met their end with bullets from my rifle. By this time another five or ten minutes had passed and I saw on the map that the rest of his posse was almost caught up.

I shot at the single posse member a few more times and then mounted my horse and rode to the nearest stagecoach and had it take me to the nearest town.

Upon arriving in the new town a torrential rain and lightening storm blew in. I found myself horseless and walking down the middle of a deserted street lit by only a few street lamps.

Suddenly the posse of seven turns the corner and they start trotting towards me slowly and then they come to a stop. We face each other and it looks like the calm before the storm before an epic western shootout goes down like in the movies.

The posse member I had pinned and hiding rides to the lead position and tells his posse to "Stay here, I'll handle this."

So there we were me standing in the middle the road, rain and lightening everywhere and seven mounted cowboys all with their guns aimed at me.

The single posse member starts galloping towards me at full speed and looked like he was just going to trample me to death with his horse...I was not about to let that happen.

I drew my six shooter and put six rounds into his horses chest killing it instantly. The horse buckled throwing it's rider face first onto the ground, stunning him. I used this to my advantage. As he tried to stand up I shot him five times and he did not go down. He drew his weapon but I was faster. Seeing that my revolver had only shot left, I drew my double barrel shotgun and plugged him with both rounds which not only sent him flying back towards his posse who were idly watching but also killed him. His posse members began to freak out. "What! How did he kill you?" The single posse member then says to me "Good job." I then whistled for my horse and rode away before they decided to resume the hunt.

Events like this are what make playing this game fun. If you are thinking about buying this game. Think no more and go buy it. It is well worth every cent spent!

If you would like to see a reenactment of this epic showdown. Let me know and I will get some of my Xbox Live friends to assist me in this reenactment.

Wow this took me by suprise...sort of.

This past Winter semester one of the university classes I enrolled in was called Human Sexuality.
Several of my friends had taken this class in past semesters so I thought I would try it out. The class and professor was a blast. The professor is very educated on the topic of sexuality and human relationships.

In the class there were two hispanic students. Me and another guy named Edwar. From the start of the semester Edwar always acted like the "player" or "God's gift to women." In the halls of the Liberal Arts building where a couple of my classes were held, I would often see him flirting with women and it was always different women he was flirting with or walking with down the halls.
However one of my talents is the ability to read people and know what they are like just by looking at them. From the start I always got an eerie feeling when I saw him. I knew there was something not right about him. Others felt the same way as well.

Edwar missed class for a couple weeks and I figured he did not wake up on time after all our class was held on a Saturday morning. Then this past week a news story on ksl.com caught my eye and made me say "No way and I knew there was something not right about him." Here is the news story.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Just a week or two before in class, we were discussing the dangers of sexual assault and now here is one of my classmates being arrested for sexual assault. Several other women have spoken up since the news story broke and females in his classes have been encouraged to speak up if they were also victims and many have come forward.

As this case develops I will update this post.

CleanFlix Documentary Update!

This week a documentary film that was co-directed by one of my best friends, Andrew James, will have its US premier at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana. Andrew will be at the festival to field questions from the audience, media, and will also be speaking at a forum at a nearby high school.
Many of you who are fans of the film on facebook have asked when a trailer will be available. Well that day has arrived. Here is the teaser trailer for CleanFlix:The Movie! Enjoy!

Max Hall, A Cocky Classless Lying Quarterback

Many of you know that for the longest time I have disliked BYU for their 1950s current state of policies, their unequal treatment of women, their self righteous, elitist, and holier than thou state of mind. That university is riddled with self hypocrisy and once again, another one of BYU's most treasured athletes added himself to the list of people who give BYU and the LDS Church a bad name.

First it was the students who ousted one of their own. A student named Julie Stoffer was expelled from Brigham Young University for living in a co-ed apartment while participating in MTV's reality television program, "The Real World." Second, were the students who protested Carl's Jr. for it's "sensual" commercial that stared Paris Hilton. Third, was the group of BYU students who protested Gold's Gym for showing movies and music videos that were "R-rated and pornographic."(See my blog about that event for more info) Fourth, was once again, a bunch of BYU students protesting Victoria's Secret on University Parkway and State Street in Orem. They held signs that demanded that the said franchisee store make child friendly ads, and that they would not shop there till ads and commercials became child and family friendly. Hello, you puritanical bastards, it's a woman's underwear shop! This finally brings us to numero cinco, BYU's treasured quarterback, Max Hall and his habits of lying, hate-mongering, and of course, hypocrisy.

The BYU Honor Code Association started in the 1950s by a group of students and since its birth, has harassed and mistreated many innocent students who did not deserve to be treated like they were by members of this "Honor Code." Students who protested the Iraq War were expelled or put on long term suspensions. Students who were advocates for Civil Rights, were expelled and put on suspension. Students who questioned the president of the university and his policies were and are treated harshly especially under Cecil Samuelson. Students who decide to attend this university and are accepted are usually to excited to read the small print of the Honor Code. They, without even knowing it sign their life away. The BYU Honor Code itself is filled with hypocrisy and irony. The word Honor does not belong its name at all because there is nothing honorable about it. The BYU Honor Code is more like the Patriot Act and its members are mirrored images of the Nazi Gestapo. Recently one female student was reported to the honor code office by a male student for the way she carried her purse. He said that purse strap was going across her chest and brought attention to her breasts.

Are you serious? Millions of women carry their purses and satchels in this manner. My question for the Honor Code Office is as follows. Why didn't you write up the male student who reported this woman? I mean he was staring at her breasts for crying out loud! Instead of ignoring her, he felt guilty for staring at her breasts, convinced himself that it was her fault for the manner in which she was carrying her purse and to justify his perversion and to help himself feel better and get over his guilt, he reported her to the Honor Code office.

Max Hall

Anyway, last weekend BYU and the University of Utah played against each other on BYU's field. BYU had the lead most of the game until the fourth quarter. BYU always plays lousy in the 2nd half of the game and Maxy Hall cannot play under pressure if it his life depended on it. The Utes tied the game at the end of the fourth quarter taking the game into over time. BYU ended up winning the game by 3 points. When ESPN interviewed Max Hall, Maxy stated, " I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, their fans. I hate everything. It felt really good to send those guys home." He then claimed that Utah fans threw beer on his family at last years game which many Utah fans have come out and said that that was an out right lie on Max Hall part. Max Hall also claimed that the Utah football players purchased a sex doll dressed it up and made it look like his mother and "raped it." Once again another lie from Max Hall.

To truly understand a person like Max Hall and the front he puts on when in front of the camera or with friends or fans, one must study his character and personality.
First off Max Hall puts himself before anyone else. That can easily be seen just by looking at how much of a little bitch he becomes when the refs penalize BYU when he throws a bad pass. His interview where he spewed words of hate against Utah also proves he is a hate monger. He is a habitual liar as well as a hypocrite. His speech is filled with hypocrisy and lies and yet BYU and their fans revere him? As a representative of BYU and the LDS church, Max Hall gives both a bad image.

The first two bulletins in "The Mission of BYU" state, "All students at BYU should be taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. An education is inadequate which does not emphasize that He is the only name given under heaven whereby mankind can be saved. Certainly all relationships within the BYU community should reflect a devout love of God and a loving, genuine concern for the welfare of our neighbor. Because the gospel encourages the pursuit of all truths, the students at BYU should receive a broad university education. The arts, letters and sciences provide the core of such an education which will help students think clearly, communicate effectively, understand ideas in their own cultural traditions as well as that of others and establish clear standards of intellectual integrity.

Did Max Halls comments sound like it reflected a devout love of God, a genuine concern for the welfare of his neighbor, or sound like a person of intellectual integrity? Not in the least bit. Max Hall shamed BYU and upset many fans who realized what an absolute prideful douche bag he is and made his team and the school he represents look on world wide television.

Max Hall is a very prideful and angry person. Both teams played very hard and very well that night but BYU played a little harder and ended up with the win. Max Hall is also very self centered which can be seen just by watching how he interacts with the refs and the language he uses when on the field. As a student of BYU and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day-Saints, swearing is strongly frowned on. But wait a minute, whats this that Max Hall is doing and saying in this video?






I don't know about you all but that looks like he said either "Fuck, man!" or "Fuck me!" Either way you look at it, is this how a representative of BYU and the LDS church should conduct themselves on the field or television? Is that how a classy sportsman and university conducts itself on the field? Good job exemplifying the motto and standards of your university.

Also if he hates everything about the University of Utah, then he also hates their alumus which includes the majority of the leaders of the LDS church (which he is a member of) including the prophet Thomas S. Monson, and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles all of which graduated from there and are still attached to the university.

Hate is a strong word Maxy. Are you sure you hate all those people?

Because of his comments about the University of Utah, he got in trouble with the Moutain West Conference and was forced to apologize to the the conference and to the University of Utah. Was his apology sincere? Not in the least bit and you can tell just by watching the video of his so called apology. I mean this is the person who falsely claimed that the Utah football played raped a sex doll that they bought and made to look like his mother. What kind of person thinks this kind of disgusting stuff up?

Max Hall has some serious issues and should seek counsel from a shrink. It is said that he put off a mission to play football. In the LDS culture if a male does not serve a mission he is looked down upon. However the truth is that he attempted to serve a mission but did not finish and was sent home early. Usually when a person is sent home from an LDS mission it is because of some very serious offense was committed. I don't know what the offense was but in my mission and the majority of missions around the world, the only thing you get sent home from is either if you are deathly ill, require some serious surgery, or have one of The Ten Commandments.

I don't know about you but it does not look like Max Hall he was deathly ill or had to have some kind of intensive surgical procedure. Am I right? Or maybe he is just a big sissy mamas boy who could not hack it as a missionary.

Anyway you look at it, Max Hall is not the great football player everyone thinks he is. Just look at his record. Remember last years game? BYU had the lead over Utah and what did Max Hall do? He threw five interceptions all of which lead to touch downs and an embarrassing defeat for BYU.

In closing, all I am trying to say is that Max Hall is the poster child for the hate, hypocrisy, and bad sportsmanship that thrives at Brigham Young University.

Metallica 11/03/08 Salt Lake City,Utah!

I cannot believe I forgot about this post!

In October of 2008, one of my coworkers at Blockbuster told me she had won two tickets to see Metallica in November at the Energy Solutions Center in Salt Lake City. I thought that was cool. She also told me that she was taking her mother to the concert since her mother is an avid fan of Metallica as well.

The first Metallica song I ever heard was on a campout back in 1993 or '94 we were at Benson National Park in South Texas and one of the guys had brought a discman and the self entitled Metallica album also known as the "Black" album. When "Enter Sandman" began I was instantly hooked to the song and had a feeling that the rest of the album was going to be amazing and it was! All the rumors and things I had been told about heavy metal music growing up was a lie. There was and still is nothing satanic about Metallica's music. I remember in 1st grade there was a rumor going around that Metallica was coming to town to kidnap all the kids in school and the school even thought about canceling classes for a day. I laugh about that incident now and even at that age I thought what would a rock band do with a bunch of kids?

In high school my music taste went from pure country and oldies which I still love, to classic rock and heavy metal. I bought every Metallica album that was released during my high school years. In the early Summer of 1998 I had just graduated from high school and the local rock station was giving away tickets to see Metallica perform in Dallas. I did not win the contest but am pretty sure I came pretty close. After my two year LDS mission in Las Vegas, I returned home and much to my parents dismay, the first music cd I wanted to listen to was my Metallica albums. My mom said, "Oh darn I was hoping you would throw away those cds when you got back." It was funny, but how could I toss away the albums of one of the greatest rock bands ever.

In late October of 2008 Alex, the coworker who won the tickets called me up randomly. At first I thought she was calling to see if i could cover one of her shifts but to my surprise, the conversation went something like this,

Alex: Hey Xavier, what's up?

Me: Not much just here at home chillin'. What's up with you?

Alex: I have a favor to ask that will benefit both of us.

Me: Ok, what is it?

Alex: So remember how I won two tickets to see Metallica in November?

Me: Yes?

Alex: Well my mother can't go because she has work the next morning, my husband does not want to go and I don't want to invite Micah (another coworker) because he is always mean to me so, would you---

Xavier: Yes, I would love to go to see Metallica!

Alex: Awesome!

The concert was on November 3rd and man what a concert. I have always been told that Metallica puts on a great show but actually seeing it was amazing! Camera's were not allowed in the venue but I found some videos from the concert from people who managed to sneak their cameras in. Needless to say, my ears were ringing for the next 2 and a half days! It was well worth it!

Then to top it all off, Activision announced that same Fall that Guitar Hero: Metallica would be hitting video game stores nationwide in March so I pre-ordered my copy and in March came the game and it was a amazing! Shortly after it's release, I left for a new Summer job in Texas. If the count down timer and my recent Facebook status post don't give it away I am excited to return to Utah. I need to find a job in when I get back, I have a couple places in mind, Best Buy, PetSmart and Gunnies are all places I plan on applying at.

Here are a couple of videos from the Metallica concert in Salt Lake City.

Enjoy!

Creeping Death


One

Summers End

I cannot believe how fast time has flown. These past three months have flown by for the most part. The season is over, and I have spent the past week deep cleaning the house here in Austin so the realty company can lease it. There were many days when the seconds, minutes and hours seemed to drag on and on and on and the many days where Annoying Guy was there only made the days longer. However, each passing day was also one day closer to returning back to Utah to my family and friends there. The highlight of my Summer was last week when my brother in law, sister, nephew, and mother came to visit. The best news however, was when I found out that Clean Flix, a documentary film I have been working on the past 3 years, will be premiering at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival this September. I will be in Toronto to support the film and its directors, my best friend Andrew James and another good friend of mine Josh Ligairi and photograph the events there.

This last week in Austin I will spend with one of my other best friends who I have known since I was 5 or 6. I touch down in Salt Lake City in a week and half and I look forward to catching up with my family and friends there.