It is near official

So I have set a date for the chocolate thing. I am looking at the 9th of January at the Wymount Multipurpose building. I think that getting 25-30 people signed up is a very real possibility. I have already gotten about 20+ people who have told me they are in. I am excited. More as it develops.

Withdrawals

Carrie can attest to all of this, but it may be more comfortable to not ask her opinion. I am suffering from 2-wheeled withdrawals somethin fierce. This snow is about to make a not-swear-er start rippin off lots of naughty-list-making words because of this dang snow! Whys is so freakin cold and everywhere!

Rain goes away. Maybe you get 2 weeks of rain, but then it drains. Snow, especially in stupid Utah valley, just sits on the roads, in driveways, in piles left by the plow idiots on the back of driveways blocking people in, EVERYWHERE! Except empty parking lots where it is useful. And, I'll have you know, I have gotten to put my snow idiocy to use in some situations where the car did not want to turn normally, so I got to play mode and stayed safe. It works.

But anyway, last Tuesday, Carrie and the girls and I went to Salt Lake to see the temple lights and buy chocolate at Caputo's. And, while we were going anyway, I requested a stop at the Triumph store in North Salt Lake. I got to sit on several short-list dream bikes and make engine noises in my head. I have been looking at so many bikes online, Carrie wants to throw a heavy, dull object at the computer. Well, at me - the computer is rather inanimate and therefore impervious to blame.

I am day-dreaming all the time about the first 10 bikes I want to get when I theoretically finish school, get a job, and start getting paid. I want comfortable air shooting up my sleeves and up the front of my helmet as I waft along straddling a big piece of machinery. I love sliding my butt off the seat and leaning into turns. I love taking off from stoplights with my feet dragging until I have to shift. I love smoking idiots in cars who are actually trying to race, then backing off and letting them fly by in a fit of attempted glory. I love being so involved in the whole process and feeling the camaraderie with other fools like me on the road - but not scooter riders. They are wannabes. The left-hand-down, two-finger wave between brothers on bikes feels good.

I don't showboat, and I don't push things. I don't have close calls anymore - not since week two, really. But I do have my bike under a cover under a foot of snow, and it bites. If snow was a person, I would probably fight him.

Where are the good bands?

I think the newest band I like at all released their first record in 1999. I got a bunch of iTunes money for Christmas, and I bought a bunch of stuff from the '90s and one album from a band who released their first 12" in '93 (though the album was from 2004).

Why aren't there any new bands coming up that are worth anything. There are some bands that I tolerate, and maybe even some whose music I can drum along with on the steering wheel, but new bands just don't get my blood moving. Am I turning into a newfangled version of my parents? I am I going to treat my kids' music like Mom and Dad treated mine? The problem is that I really liked the music from the '90s, and I think the music was more "real."

That sounds cheesy, I know, but bands then often played with real conviction, and it seems to me that more recent musicians are so formulaic. And while I decry self-indulgent solos, I still like some showcasing of musicianship. I do like some "recent" (coming onto the scene since 2000-ish) artists, but not in the same way. Here is a sampling of newer people I like OK:

One Republic
Alicia Keys
Chris Brown
Kelly Clarkson
Paramore
Natasha Bedingfield
Black Eyed Peas
Blue October
Chevelle
Coldplay
Death Cab for Cutie
Gavin DeGraw
John Mayer (electric era)
Los Lonely Boys
Maroon 5
Mars Volta (though they were around before, sorta, as At the Drive-In)
Modest Mouse (they made it big relatively recently, though they have been around forever)
Shinedown
Wolfmother

Several of those are artists that I probably wouldn't have ever heard of or listened to if not for Carrie. I want more Muse's, Mars Volta's, Clutch's, COC's, Down's, CKY's, Pearl Jam's, Nirvana's, AIC's, Soundgarden's, Rage Against the Machine's, Audioslave's (it's hard to count them as "since 2000" as the previous bands are so familiar to me from long ago), Bush's, Institute's, etc.

I really need to get my band going. I can cure the world with ROCK!

Can I live in Utah?

So I was positive I was going to leave Utah when I finish school next year up until a little more than a month ago. I had my world turned upside down as far as that goes the day before I had my chocolate world turned upside down.

A guy by the name of Jason Perry came and spoke to my professional seminar class thing at school. Jason happens to be the head of the Governor's Office for Economic Development, and he reports to Governor Huntsman daily. He and his office are trying to turn Utah into a brainiac and manufacturing hotspot through incentivizing companies to come here. They are offering significant tax breaks to companies IF they hire people from Utah (as I am a registered citizen/voter here, I count as that. Please hold the jokes.) and pay them at least 200% the county average where they show up.

I thought that no amount of money could keep me in Utah, but for the first time, I had concrete-ish figures. He looked me in the eye and told me $90-95K is perfectly plausible straight out of school. I wasn't even going to talk to companies in Utah before that. Also, the places where these companies are going are far away from the parts of Utah that substantiate my stereotypes, which I like. So here is a pro/con list:

Pro (for Utah):
Money (in theory - if not, then I am gone for sure)
Twisty Roads
Racetrack
Great Chocolate
Good outdoorsy things
Strong/stable economy
Strong entrepreneurship/investing culture and resources
Educated populace
Low crime
Really low gang activity
Tons of temples

Cons:
Provo
All that stereotypical piety
Snow
Cold
Drivers
Lack of long-term family (depending on how long they take in school)
We would definitely move at some point - moving sucks
BYU
Costs of living and housing


I am open to feedback about the situation. In fact, please send it my way, so I can add to my list. I may need to apply weights and rate each category for various places and narrow down that way. But I really don't know.

More chocolate

I freaking love chocolate.

Thursday, me and a couple coworker friends/classmates went with me to a chocolate tasting class at Tony Caputo's in Salt Lake City. I think I have officially been ruined on crappy chocolate. Real/good chocolate SO much better. When we were about 2/3 of the way through the course, the teacher dude gave us some typical American "dark chocolate" you can pick up in any number of grocery stores. First, we smelled it, and it smelled like fake vanilla - but not chocolate. Then we put it in our mouths, and there was a universally murmured "ugh" around the restaurant area. Matt, the guy teaching, said "it tastes like dirty peanut butter" about the same time I noticed it tastes like peanut butter. It was wrong, and it was not chocolate.

Anyway, when we were looking around afterward to see where to blow our money on fancy chocolate, Rob, one of my buddies, said that I should have a little tasting class down in Provo since I have received chocolate instruction twice. Clearly I am a pro, so I waved it off as ridiculous. Then today, we were talking, and I mentioned it would be cool to host some friends in teaching them about chocolate. Rob naturally pointed out that he said that exactly 4 days ago.

So now I am wondering how to go about having a chocolate class. I am thinking that I can find interested parties and have them chip in some money to get some good chocolates and then explain the funness about chocolate some evening. I am just wondering if I should do that, or if I should try to get Matt Caputo down to Provo to host something like that here.

Tonight it occurred to me that maybe I could get one of the guys from Amano in Orem (the makers of the best chocolate in America) to come and teach us and give us some of his. I figure that if I were to get like 5-10 bars, I could spread the price around the people to get a good assortment of good chocolate, and maybe some bread to cleanse pallettes between chocolates, expecially if I torture everyone with some crappy Dove midway through. Though, that is a bit rude.

I think that could be fun. I love chocolate SOOOOO much.