8 Glorious Months

New York
Originally uploaded by travisghansen

Well, here we are again...8 months since my last post. It's scary that time has flown by that quickly. Somehow, as they say, time does seem to move more and more quickly. Despite the speed of time (or my perception of it's speed) I have been very busy and productive the past few months. I will try to remember all that has occurred.

In May I spent most of the month training for the summer months of triathlons and for my first half-marathon. Right now, due to the amount of snow outside, I am mostly remembering how green and beautiful it was this past spring. I usually run near River Bottoms Road here in Spanish Fork which is an amazing country-style road with a majestic view of the mountains. This spring the mountains were green and lush and particularly beautiful so my training was all the more pleasant.

In June I was extremely busy, it seemed like every week I had something going on. I believe the most important part of June was heading up to Bozeman, Montana for Brent's (Atkinson) wedding. Brent asked me earlier in the spring time to be his best man to which I was honored and gladly accepted. Brent and Leslie were married on the banks of the Madison river in a secluded setting. On the drive up to Montana I stayed the night in Island Park with my aunt and uncle Donna and Duane at their cabin. They (as always) treated me like gold and it was very relaxing. Every time I see Donna she reminds me of my grandmother Ruth Hansen which always conjures up great memories. I also stopped in Rexburg both on the way to Montana and coming back from Montana to Utah. During my first trip I stopped off to break up the mundane road trip. I veered off the road to find myself a golf course which I quickly found :) A few buckets of balls later on the driving range and I was ready to hit the road again. On the way back I stopped briefly to look at the newly constructed LDS temple. It looks amazing sitting up on the hill and I just wanted to see it up close (although it wasn't completed yet). Having quenched that desire I left and finished the trip home.

July was amazing as well! In mid-July I visited the east coast and had a blast. First off, Jeff Johnson and I were able to fly (first class) into NJ where we caught the air-train into Manhattan, NY. We arrived in the middle of the night and so ended up walking up the streets near Time Square with our luggage. It was rather amusing to see all the people out and experience New York for the first time in that scenario. The original purpose of the trip was to watch a concert being put on by Dispatch. They have not played together and a number of years but got together for this African charity concert. The concert was absolutely AMAZING! Madison Square Garden was a wonderful venue. It was especially interesting to listen to all the chanting pre-show. The members of Dispatch are originally from Boston so they had quite the following come down from Boston to watch the show. Well, we all know how much Yankee fans like Red Sox fans and vice versa. Interestingly the Red Sox fans won out in my opinion.

While in NY I also visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ground Zero (site from 9/11), Battery Park, Central Park, and numerous other places. On my final night there I decided I wanted to have some adventure. I had not exercised in quite some time and decided I wanted to see what Central Park was like at 1:00 a.m. After getting on all my running gear I hit the street and headed up to the park from my hotel. I started to cruise through the park and to my surprise in the distance I heard some music. My curiosity overtook me and I started to head toward the music and eventually arrived. I was greeted by quite the group! A mixture of hippies who mentally were still in the 60's, some Haitians, Columbians, and others. When I arrived I quickly noticed the local convenience store (a man sitting on the bench) was open for business and selling plenty of alcohol and who knows what. Ultimately I had a great time there and was called "a cracker" and "the blackest one here" in the space of about 15 minutes in the midst of a fight.

The next morning I split with the rest of the gang (Jeff, Brett, and others) and headed off on the business side of the trip. First I went to NJ to visit with one of our clients for the day. After visiting with them all day I was rushed to the airport to catch a plane to the Raleigh-Durham North Carolina airport. After an hour or so delay on the runway we were off and and hour and a half later there I was in NC. I was slated to stay the night in Garner and in my infinite wisdom I managed to drive the complete wrong direction for a half-hour or so. I eventually got headed in the correct direction and made it to the hotel around 2:00 a.m. The next morning I awoke and visited with more clients for another day and left around 6:00 p.m. to head for Fredericksburg, VA. I was exhausted and wanted to get there quickly, however, having left my appointments for the day, and still being in the "South" I wanted to have some dinner at Cracker Barrel (one of my favorite restaurants). After enjoying the absolutely beautiful view of NC I finally stopped at one of the restaurants and had an amazing dinner! Southern hospitality is amazing and the stop seemed to make the rest of the trip so much better.

After spending a day or two in Fredericksburg I headed up through Washington D.C. to Baltimore to vist Jared and Christina for a couple days. While there Jared and I went to Lancaster, PA to enjoy the smorgasbord at "The Shady Maple" restaurant. Wow! is all I can say. PA is beautiful and the Amish are an amazing people. We stopped off at a fresh fruit stand and while there I got a bit of a laugh when I saw an Amish man ride by on his bicycle carrying a can of gasoline in the back basket. Seemed a little ironic using human power to carry something that was obviously going to be used to power some machine. I must say, although I don't fully understand the doctrine etc, it is refreshing to see a people so peacefully following their teaching and trying to do good...especially in our increasingly indifferent (religiously and otherwise) country. After a couple wonderful days in Baltimore I finally caught the plane to come back home to Utah.

August was amazing as well. In mid-August I quit my job at Novell after over 3 years of working there to work solely on projects with Jeff and my own projects. After quitting I was able to go home for 2 weeks which was wonderful. I haven't not be able to spend much time home since I left for college in 2000. While there I was preparing for an upcoming race. That's right! I ran my first half-marathon this summer and it was a great experience. I ran in the Hobble Creek half-marathon which is up the canyon near Springville and Mapleton. Ryan Whiting and I ran together and after it was over I think both of us wanted to puke. However, we kept our food in and after a couple days both realized we liked the race than originally expected. We are now prepping for the Salt Lake marathon in April 2008 (I think).

After running the marathon in August there was a small break and then classes started again in September. This past semester I took two classes...Accounting 241 (business law) and Religion 212 (second half of the New Testament). I was extremely busy as always and didn't put near the amount of time into the classes as I should have, however I believe I will pass both of although that has yet to be seen. For example, in late September/early October I took my second trip to the east coast this year and went to NJ. This was again for work reasons and only lasted a few days. In late October both Jeff and I went to Orlando for an ADT convention which wasn't too bad. Jeff left the convention to come straight home (on Halloween day) and I took a detour to Reagan airport in DC and subsequently down the Fredericksburg, VA for a conversion. Aside from the normal headaches involved with a conversion all went well and eventually I was on my way back home. I think after the 3rd trip to the coast I had enough travelling under my belt for the year.

Before even leaving for the convention in October I was asked to try out for a part in "A Christmas Carol" at the Hale Center Theater in Orem. After explaining to the owners that I don't sing/dance/act, they still wanted me to try out for the part. After reading a few lines etc, they sent me on my way and in the coming days I was notified that I'd be in the play. It ran from November 28th to December 22 and I had a total blast. My biggest part was the role of Topper who is a very lively guest and Fred's house during the Christmas Present part of the show. It felt almost too natural for me to be on stage, I don't ever remember being nervous. After a few performances, all of the characters in the scene really got a feel for what we were after and we made it amazing. I was even told by some patron who watches the show yearly that I was "the best Topper I've ever seen." At any rate, it was great to add acting to the resume and I think I'll try it again in the near future. If only I could sing and dance a little better I'd have a better chance of being in some other productions.

Now I haven't had a ton of time to get into the Christmas spirit this year however the play was wonderful for that. Also, I have continued my tradition of sending some money down to Brazil to bring some Christmas cheer to a people I dearly love. This year I have coordinated with Ana to have a "Papai Noel" visit the kids and give out some small toys and a Christmas dinner for 2 separate orphanages. I'm excited to see the pics and if everything goes as planned at least a twinkle of the spirit in some of the children's eyes.

Looking back it's been quite the year and everything only seems to get better. I absolutely love where I'm at and what I'm doing! I'm thankful for the many things I have and desire to do more in the future.