July 27, 2008
In Utah, the Fourth of July comes twice a year
I've learned something great. Every 24h of July, the state of Utah celebrates the arrival of the first Mormon settlers to the Great Salt Lake Valley. There are parades, rodeos and it's a state holiday, so many Utahns get the day off. The result is very much like a second Independence Day, with barbecues, games and fireworks. We went to a get-together put on by some people from the Tribune. My friend Clay was in town again on his way home from some field work and he joined us for the world's largest pasta salad, some bouche ball, both public and private fireworks and a little lime Jell-O. Lindsay and I didn't do much on the Fourth, outside of watch the fireworks in the park, so it was pretty nice to have a second go and a real good time.
July 23, 2008
Bad Batman
Like many of our peers, Lindsay and I have been rather excited for the release of the newest installment of the Batman franchise. She was away for the weekend with her family in New York State while the throngs waited in line for the opening day showings, but we got out last night to catch it in a theater in south SLC. We went for an after dinner showing at 9:40 and decided to get some ice cream from the rather well-equipped snack bar. We were sharing, so we upgraded to a 'double' for 75ยข more, and were rather flabbergasted as we watched the young man load an impossible amount of chocolate fudge brownie into the paper cup. The lad at the register was a little slow ringing up the purchase so we were a few minutes late for start time. We ducked into the theater marked "The Dark Knight", me trying to balance the tower of ice cream while searching for a pair of seats. The house was quite full, but we saw two seats together in the first row behind the rail. The film was already rolling, so I felt pretty bad about pushing my way down the aisle, whispering 'excuse me' over and over, and the people I was slipping past seemed more annoyed than typical. I was a little surprised the previews had already passed because we were only five minutes late, but most of my attention was spent vainly trying to contain the drips flowing from Mount Dreyers in my left hand. I thought the beginning of the movie was rather strange, seemed rather serious and low-key for the first scene of an action blockbuster. It finally crystalized when Lindsay leaned over and said "I think we're in the wrong theater." I changed my 'excuse me' to an 'I'm so sorry' as we threaded our way back through an even more annoyed row of moviegoers. We crossed the hall to the theater in time to catch the previews in the theater we were supposed to be in all along. The movie was great and we had a good time. This was just a story of me feeling like an ass.
