The Lobster Chronicles

Sorry its been a while

2007-09-23T20:14:00.000+04:00

I havent updated this blog since March, sorry guys. Got busy with 50 million things at once as usuall. Just got back from Tallin, Estonia, above is the statue that got moved a few yards by the Estonians and sent the Russians on another tissy fit. It is pretty cool up close though. Estonia is pretty small city but fairly advanced...the whole city is connected by free wifi, if you can beleive that. There is an old town with taverns and such, I didnt get to see as much as andria as I was working, but even so it was a good break.

Andria has been putting our pictures on Snapfish so you guys can view them. I have created a group room so you can look at all of our photos in one place. Click on this link: www.lobsterblog.snapfish.com

and then just sign into snapfish. If you dont already have a snapfish account, there is a link on that page that you click to create one, its simple. When you have signed in you should see a ling on your page that says group rooms. If I have added all of your email addresses correctly, you should be able to click on that and find the LobsterPhotos. Let me know if you cant find it I may not have your email address correct.

Once you do that you will always be able to see our photos from now on. This is going to be easy from now on to just dump all our photos from our camera over easily, etc.

I am meeting this week with doctors on my back, etc, so hopefully we will have an update as to when we will be back to SLC, probably end of this year for at least a month. Will keep you posted.

Other than that work is busy, Andria is getting really good at cooking, I am looking at next posts and jobs, and trying to enjoy denmark. We took a drive up the coast today and it was stunning, what is just a 45 minute drive from our house. We went to the northern tip of our island, and found a place that reminds me alot of california coast line. Although not summer its still pretty mild, walked around the beach for a while. We didnt have much of a summer here this year. There is so much to see and do here, I really hope I can start getting freed up from work and things and make some time to see it all.

How are things in SLC? I eventually want to get back there permanently, so I am looking for job opportunities, but its difficult being over here and not there, so if anyone has any contacts or hears anything can you send it my way?

My Halo 3 will be here any day now I hope...I need to start using this 360 more to justify it, I really only play Halo anymore. All you SIX BOBS better get this game soon or I will beat you, I will fly down from here personally, jet lag or no, and track you down! The nice thing is that with Halo 3 you can record all your games you play easily and put them on your computer. I wont have to use vegas movie studio anymore to make the Six Bobs movies, and more than that, all you bobs can record the same games and if you send me your clips I can put them in and get your perspectives, etc.

Well it was good writing again...if I am going to email you I might as well just do it like this on the blog anyway. Hope this finds you all well. We miss you all alot!

LB

This is the Place...

2007-03-10T19:35:00.000+03:00

I can't believe this is the place that started it all! If your going to go to all the trouble of inducing a city wide riot, do it for a building that's worth something.

I'm sure most of you heard about these riots in Copenhagen on the news, it was a big deal here. Fortunately we live in an upscale area of the city so we werent near this at all, but being a relatively small city here, we could have drove to the center of the action in a few minutes. We could hear police cars all over the place, that was about it. Mostly Andria and I just watched the news as these kids made complete idiots of themselves on national television. For background, they had been evicted (legally) from this building, Ungdomshuset (The Youth Center), which had been a center of a lot of left wing and political actions from these youth groups.

Watch this video clip I found on You-Tube, it is great...I even like the background music, puts it into real perspective.

DENMARK RIOTS VIDEO MARCH 2007

I think that sums it up. Just know this kind of behavior is out of place for copenhagen...there is almost no crime here. We love this city, especially now that the weather is getting warmer and its looking like its going to be an awesome summer. So yea very out of place.

Made a few updates to the xbox section of my blog, so all you six bobs can see your info now, courtesy of gamercard.net. You dont have to sign in with your passport account either, so you can easily see who is on line or not, what games we are playing, etc. Hopefully this will help us decide what games we all want to get/play much easier. I know we have all been busy lately and havent been playing much but we have the new halo maps coming out this month, etc. SO I will be sending out an email date soon.

By the way, leave me a comment or shoot me an email if you have a webcam set up at home. I have one but have not set it up because havent used it yet. Been using the camera for the xbox though and thats great for talking to you that have it, but for all family to stay in touch it would be cool every once in a while to have face to face conversation instead of just phone...might as well use technology to the fullest. So just let me know, I have heard you just set up your camera to work with instant messenger, but I have no idea what the quality would be.

Well gotta go for now, but will write more later. Hope you enjoy the post.

Lobbs

Return of the Lobbs...and Andria of course

2007-02-09T23:58:00.000+03:00

This is the part where Jerom decides he's had enough...he needs some stress release. So its time to blow up some aliens! Nice job Jerom, glad to see another one has discovered the theraputic benefits of gaming...for his efforts, I am going to make him an honorary member of the SIX BOBS clan. Congrats!

Well, the return of the Lobbs (Lobsterboy) was well recieved, and wanted to let all of you know how much fun we had spending time with you in November. Sorry it has taken so long to get this update in...most of you know about my "crappy" experience that put me in the hospital when we got back in December, so I will just leave it at that. I have downsized my blog to make it easier for me to be able to post more often by deleting my photoblog. But you can still view all our pictures, I just moved the posts to this blog instead. From now on I will just put photos in my posts directly.

Speaking of which here are some of all of you, or at least the ones that turned out. I especially like the one of dad (nice). I take no responsibility at the content.

I cant believe I missed my chance to have a photo-op with Steven Seagal...thats right, fatty himself. Apparently he came by work as a courtesy visit while in copenhagen, but he was really there to perform at Tivoli with his Blues band...yea thats right, blues band. All I heard was he was ok at playing the quitar, etc, but his singing really crapped out.

Glad I missed that concert.

Well the weather is getting a little colder but its been a mild winter here. Andria has put in for a few more jobs, and the job that work was basically creating with her in mind has been approved, just waiting on the stupid budget to be passed before they can officially do it. Church is awesome...we had all 11 missionaries in the ward over for dinner the other night, they were all in shock...I dont think they get fed much over here, understandable when a soda pop can cost you 5 bucks. Went to an elder's activity the other night too, they were all playing xbox...pretty interesting to watch the bishop play project gotham racing and beat everybody. So I really enjoyed it when they switched to playing Halo and I was able to anhiallate them. This is why I go to church, to be humble and play xbox...

No seriously we are making a nitche here and loving it, but we miss all of you and the comforts of family and home everyday. Please leave me comments on these posts so I know your reading them, plus just like hearing from you even if its a one liner!

I'm tired...Lobster's are not known to be writers. I need to get Andria to start writing some of these posts, in fact I think I will have her write the next one. Bon Voyage everyone, hope your well and stay safe!

Brian

Cyprus Photos

2007-02-07T00:14:00.000+03:00

Just testing out the photo posting with some favorite pictures from our trip to Cyprus last year. The waterfall pictures were taken on our 4x4 excursion into the mountains. There is also our favorite picture of an old monastery that we visited, and some other poses of us acting like dumb tourists....let me know if you have problems viewing these or saving them. I have more pics of Cyprus might add more later. LB

Moscow Winter Photos

2007-02-07T00:11:00.000+03:00

Well here are a few photos of what this winter has been like. There are some outside views of our apartment...note the level of snow in relation to our front window. There is some shots of Andria at her little adventure on the carraige ride, and also some photos of just the general country side. Also took some pictures of the now frozen solid lake...snowcone anyone? LB

DC & DisneyWorld Photos

2007-02-07T00:07:00.000+03:00

well here are a few pictures of our recent trip back to US soil. First are pictures in DC at the smithsonians...and thats about it for DC, we didnt take many shots there. Then on to Disneyworld in Florida. Mostly we took pictures at the epcot. We were pretty anti social this trip so we didnt ask people around us for pictures for the most part. Also there are pictures of the animal kingdom park and, my favorite, the mgm. Towards the end theres a picture of me and my associate Arnold, a picture of what I like to call my 'last supper', and finally a picture of what a good jet lag looks like. See my archived post "lobsterboy goes to the moon" - LB

Rome Photos

2007-02-07T00:03:00.000+03:00

We did take more photos in Rome than we usually do...here they are. Starting from the beginning photo - these first shots are of a cemetary andria stumbled upon while I was in class...the poet Keats was buried here. Next are numerous shots of my favorite ruin, the colosseum. Next are a few photos around town, the military museum. Then theres the picture andria got of the spanish steps, quite a feat. Next are shots of Tivoli and the gardens. And finally shots of the vatican area and the largest church, the basilica.

At the end of the photo set are two links for video in quicktime (.mov) format, one of the Tivoli fountains and the other while we were inside the basilica. Right click on the link and select 'save target as' to save to your computer. Then open the file in Quicktime Player to watch video.

See my recent post on Rome - LB

Trivoli Fountain Video

Inside Basilica Video

The Time Has Come...

2006-07-29T15:42:00.000+04:00

The time has come for us to say goodbye to mother russia and pack our bags for Denmark. I am glad we are moving at a good time of year this time, instead of the onset of winter. If you need to get a hold of us you can still email us. I will send out an email when we get to Copenhagen with new contact info.

Theres a huge party going on outside right now, for another person who is leaving...maybe I should go celebrate as well?

We will be back home in November so looking forward to seeing you all...

Sorry this is so short but even though we dont have to pack out we have to get ready to pack out, which takes a lot of organizing. Especially when you only get 20 kg allowed of onflight luggage, you really have to think about what you want in your air shipment and set it aside.

I know I am way ahead of myself, but things are progressing for us having an office in Fiji...It will probably take a few more years, but I should have a real shot at finishing up this program there. After that I will probably make career changes and move on to other interests.

As far as missing this place...I will miss friends and church associations, but I wont miss the crappy traffic, crappy weather, crappy attitudes and crappy prices. Did I miss anything? Moscow was recently voted the most expensive city in the world. Not that Copenhagen will be any cheaper...all of you keep that in mind that are already planning on coming to visit.

I am looking forward to seeing a different European culture and getting to know and help these people.

Hope all of you are enjoying the blog...I made the picture files too big, I apologize for those of you having trouble downloading them, I was in a hurry. Next time they will be smaller and easier. I have also downscaled it alot since I dont have a lot of time anymore (who does?).

Speaking of time I am being yelled at from downstairs to go outside and get some barbeque...thats a good enough reason for me to end this here. Take care and be safe!

LB

Always had a soft spot for Rome...

2006-07-04T16:32:00.000+04:00

Looks like this guy had a little too much to drink. Out of all the fountains, ruins and sculptures we encountered in Rome, however, this one was far from the wierdest. That said, it was pretty cool to walk around streets with modern buildings and ruins right next to eachother. Only there for a week but we got to see the tourist sights (and there were a ton of tourists) like the colluseum and basilica, vatican, spanish steps, etc. You get a sense of history here, but for the uninitiated into this genre, quite frankly, there are only so many ruins you can look at before you go mad. Its when you talk to people in the streets, try to get to understand the history and life behind these things left behind from once the most powerful empire the world had ever seen...that was the interesting part for me.

And another tip as with other places in Europe...you got to watch your step around the motorists and the motorbike riders so-dubbed the motorini. Russian drivers still take the cake, but by far the most dangerous part of rome is getting run over by these guys. Its surprising that you can walk around the city and see quite a bit...its not that big. We walked around some of the non-tourist streeets and just ate at the next italian hole in the wall restaurant...truly its the best italian food you could ever have (next to Kent and Terra's) just amazing. Euro's...what can I say the exchange rate stinks but not as bad as some other places weve been like cyprus.

We didnt shop much the fashion is so high end nothing really appealing...we didnt go there expecting a gap. But a lot of souveniers, and I was able to pick up a few things for you guys, I will get them out when I can, especially Kent and Terra - got you something I think you'll really like. Can you believe, no pope on a rope anymore...you plain cant find it. Someone told me they think its because the last pope thought that it was inappropriate that people were washing themselves with a figurine of his likeness...guess I could understand that. I mean, how would I feel if everyone was washing themselves with a figurine of Lobsterboy?

You can get an idea of the things we saw in the photo section on rome, we did take a lot of pictures. I really need to find an easier way of putting the pictures on cause this took a lot of time, so I may be changing the way I do that soon. I dont have time to put captions on all of them, but when you click on the images there is a short explanation by how I named the photo file, you should see it in the address line of internet explorer. Mostly self explanatory.

We went on a tour of tivoli, a small city built on a hill not far from central rome but enough out in the country to get a feel of what other parts of italy must be like. We went to an old mansion there where there is a huge garden and waterfall...owned by somebody pretty high up in roman times, the mansion, pretty much a castle, was very well cared for. Theres a small town there not much else. The people were for the most part very friendly, something we are definitely not used to. This place was huge...you could get lost in this garden your first time around...take a look at the photos.

Rome was a good break. I'll have to go back now and watch Hudson Hawk again and see if I recognise any of the places. Only six weeks left for us here. Its the fourth today, went to the store and bought a new vacuum, but couldnt find any fireworks. Shoulda had you guys send me some...I'm sure fedex would have been ok with that. Well, I cant wait to get to copenhagen where I have stuff to do again, but man I really would have loved to shoot some m80s off tonight or something, just to irritate my russian neighbors. I'll have to go now, gotta think of something...

LB

LB goes to the moon...no, not really

2006-06-03T18:16:00.000+04:00

This is as close as Lobsterboy will ever get to the moon. However it was satisfying enough to be back in the USA. This was the third time for me going through the Smithsonians in DC, so Andria and I didnt spend much time there. In fact the highlight was spending 4 bucks for a big mac at the Air and Space Museum. Guess we better get used to that as it will probably cost about 5 in Copenhagen!

We had fun in DC and shopped around the malls etc. We were there for a few weeks, then after our training we headed down to DisneyWorld in Orlando. In a nutshell, I think we decided afterward that Disneyland was better, as far as the Magic Kingdom goes, but what was definitely worth going there for was the Epcot Center (Bryan and MK, you were right!) You get to walk around this huge lake, and they have miniature towns representing different countries along the way. The best ride...mission - space. It was like actually being in a space shuttle and taking off vertically. It also had the most warning signs I have ever seen for a ride before you went in too...I wouldnt go if your a clostrophobe, the control panel wall actually comes forward against you, along with your controls, and monitor. And there is a point where all your power goes out and its pitch dark...I wont spoil it for you, spend a few thousand bucks and fly down there and go through it yourself.

Jet lag...I am never going from moscow to atlanta again.

Were back in wonderful Russia now and into summer, and the long days that go with it are pretty cool in my opinion...its staying light right now till about 11pm, it will probably get to around before 12 at peak of summer. Then it gets light around 5:30am.

Going to add photos of the trip to the picture alblum soon so look for that. Learning how to use Photoshop CS now instead of stupid paint, so it should be a lot easier to do.

Going to Rome soon and we will be sure to take pictures there. Ill make sure to get all of you a nice 'pope on a rope' or something. A lot of people here have been there so Andria has gotten a pretty good idea of how to get around already. Someone told me today that you can actually get these little tourist go carts to drive around in...that could be the highlight of the trip right there, besides the pope on a rope. Kent/Terra - let me know asap if theres something you want me to bring back for you.

We will be seeing all of you guys soon...November looks like. I will get you an email out when we know for sure.

Other than that just getting things in order to get out of here. We will probalby be making a trip out to Ismailova soon, the market, so if you want something specific be sure to email to me...Dad I will look for your CCCP hat there.

Thanks for the comments on the blog too! Well keep in touch...

Care for a Swim?

2006-03-24T21:24:00.000+03:00

I finally figured out how to survive the cold winters of Russia. Make yourself colder...

Well actually I dont plan on trying it anytime soon. They should seriously put a caption on this picture 'do not attempt this at home'

Actually I think its starting to warm up. Hope you all are enjoying my final updates to the blog...should be fairly easy to keep up now that the major work is done.

Just FYI, you can write me a message to each of these posts by clicking on the comments link at the bottom of each post. You can leave an anonymous message or tell me who you are, doesnt matter but I would love to hear comments from the peanut gallery. Especially, let me know what movie quotes you would like to see in the qoute section, going to try to update that and the pictures once a month or so.

Its been busy but good here, but anxious for a break. I think Andria and I will go out now and build a snowman, or maybe even a snowpeck...then we'll have a snowball fight. Actually Andria's favorite thing lately has been punching the iciles off our porch overhang...one of these days I have a feeling one of thems gonna come down on my head. Oh well, that would be better than the coconut that almost hit my head in Fiji...

I wish you all well and will write more later, feel free to peruse the site.

Thats how I roll,

LB

Chronicles of Halo #2 - Six Bobs Wild Ride

2006-03-22T19:17:00.000+03:00

Lobsterboy naturally loved the ocean. So when he spawned beside it on the flat pebbled beach of Zanzibar, he couldn't help but feel a sudden sense of nastalgia.

"Home." He paused, breathing in the salt air, thinking about his fellow lobster minions in the sea...

"No time to smell the ocean, Lobsterboy," came YoniMon's voice crackling over the radio. Lobsterboy turned around. Yonimon was already manning the massive rear mounted gauss cannon on the back of the now idle-humming warthog. The driver seat was empty. He sprinted towards it, snatching up a battle rifle lying in the sand along the way.

Climbing into the hog, he caught a glimpse of Thrawn traversing up the steep backside of the large, now crumbling seawall. Going for the sniper rifle, Grand Admiral? Lobsterboy mused to himself. As if on cue, Thrawn shouldered the long gun and headed around the wall, out of view. “See you beauties on the other side!” he shouted.

Lobsterboy jerked the hog forward towards the arched seawall entrance, white sand spewing behind them. “O.K. Thrawnboy,” he replied, we’ll m----“

“Ghost blocking the entryway!” Yonimon cut in. Their setting up a chokepoint, Yonimon thought as he swiveled around the gauss cannon to bear on the hovering ghost. Even as he aimed he could see the other two – one on the left of the archway with a battle rifle, the other on the right with…a rocket launcher.

Yonimon instantly changed target to the manned rocket launcher as Lobsterboy spun out the hog to give him a clear strafe of the now crowded entrance. Leading to the left, he fired the first ferro-titanium round right below his targets feet. The blue team member flew backward, arms flopping like a codfish, the rocket launcher falling safely to the sand.

Bolts of fiery plasma energy slammed the side of the hog as the ghost now advanced, mingled with slicing rounds from the battle rifle. The hog was holding up, but shields were dropping – fast. Time to kill two blue’s with one stone, Yonimon grinned. He squeezed off a single round to the right side of the ghost, perfectly striking its fuel pod. The blue team ghost splattered to the left, exploding into clouds of blue energy, smashing violently into the other un-attentive blue team member with the battle rifle.

“Nice job,” came over Yonimon’s headset. Lobsterboy had already jumped out of the hog, grabbed the rocket launcher, and was crawling back in the drivers seat. With the only launcher on Zanzibar now in their possession, the biggest threat to their hog was neutralized. “Lets storm the base Lobsterboy.” Hopefully Thrawn was surviving and holding the sniper tower, bless his little peck heart, he thought.

…Thrawn had slow-crouched his way to the base of the tower…which was already occupied by a yellow team member. Crapola, he grimaced. He stooped over to the plasma grenades lying next to the warcrate…at least they hadn’t been picked up yet. Carefully he shifted to the right, till he could see the back steps leading to the doorway of the tower. We’ll smoke the monster out…he sang joyfully to himself as he flung a plasma through the opening. The yellow team member didn’t notice the sizzling ball of energy soft landing on the ground behind him…bursting into a flower of electrons, it sent him wheeling off the tower and smashing headfirst into the adjacent windmill structure. His body writhed as it slid down the side of the windmill to the grass valley floor below.

“Yes,” Thrawn whispered triumphantly…he was about to start up the steps when the telltale sound of battle rifle rounds began to pelt his armor from behind.

There were two of them, teammates of the yellow guy he just annihilated. Probably pissed, Thrawn considered as he switched to his battle rifle and honed in on the closest attacker. He fired. Three-three round bursts struck the vulnerable helmet section of the yellow guys armor and took him down instantly. The other yellow continued to close the distance, hoping Thrawn’s shields were getting low…they were. He glanced at his HUD…about 25% remaining. Wouldn’t last if yellow aimed well. He backed up to the left and up the steps for cover, and chucked a frag against the opposite wall.

Yellow’s momentum carried him mercilessly into the outskirts of the explosion, shrapnel taking most of his shields down.

Time to join your buddies, Thrawn smiled to himself as he jumped through the residual cloud of debris from the grenade and meleed the yellow to the ground. Finally. Quickly he hoisted himself up the stairwell, grabbed the active camouflage, switched to his sniper rifle and crouched, looking at his perfect view of the windmill base tucked against the side of the valley wall. Now, where the hell are my crap-lousy teammates?

The hog’s monstrous wheels skipped the sand and landed on grass, picking up speed as its engine whined higher. Lobsterboy pointed its nose towards the lower left portion of the gigantic human windmill, at the gap in between the slowly counterclockwise turning louvers. Gotta time this right, he thought cautiously as he increased speed slightly to clear an approaching louver on its upward ascent.

Like a typical lobster, he didn’t speed up enough.

As the hog entered the gap, the approaching louver effectively high centered the now motionless vehicle, catching it in the center between the front and rear tires.

Idiot, Lobsterboy muttered to himself as he fought the controls to clear the louver…

And now a brief moment of retrospect. Sometimes, the crapiest situations in life turn out to be your best friend. Not always, and certainly not often for our dear Six Bobs, but it does happen. On this sunny afternoon on the shores of Zanzibar, it just so happens that it did. Now the rest of the story…

…Lobsterboy didn’t clear the louver. In fighting the controls, he effectively balanced it. The giant arm slowly slid the hog into the air, like a spoon. The hog continued upward, like a car of a ferris wheel at your local county fair.

“That’s awesome, keep it steady man!” Yonimon yelled out. He could see the surprise of the advancing teams now below them who were probably thinking they had the hog trapped. Turkey shoot, he thought as he steadied the gauss at multiple targets below. Wham!!! The cannons magnetic coil hurled its first of many high-density slugs with electromagnetic force toward the ground below, sending two greens sailing and others running for cover into the base in front of them. Yonimon continued to mow the lawn, so to speak…through the wavy film of airborne gas particles released from the cannon, he could vaguely make out other attackers creeping out onto the ledges of the second story base. Probably going for the auto turrets, Yonimon smiled. The hog was even higher now, giving him even leverage with the second story. He swiveled the cannon straight ahead, and obliterated one of the auto turrets to dust before a blue could get to it. Desperate, the blue tried chucking a frag at the elevated hog. It sailed passed Yonimon even as he fired another supersonic round at the blue and plastered him against the far base wall.

The louver was reaching maximum upward swing now. Not even Lobsterboy could defy the laws of gravity. “Hold on!” Lobsterboy shouted. As the hog slid down the louver, it pitched forward. Down went Lobsterboy, Yonimon, and their beloved hog, twirling in the air like some freak of nature till it smashed on its side right outside the base. A gigantic thud followed by showers of sparks spewered over the already gauss-blackened landscape. The Six Bobs wild ride ended as crazily as it had started.

“Bunch of goofy-a retards,” mused Thrawn as he zoomed in on two blue’s advancing through the jagged rocks towards the fallen hogs location. He had been watching the whole wild ride fiasco from the concealment of the tower, sniping all attackers that were too busy fussing with the hog to notice him. He fired one scoping round at the lead blue, then led his reticule slightly right to catch the second one. Enough of this, he thought. Jumping straight off the tower he glided down to his fallen teammates, who were amazingly still alive.

Lobsterboy’s HUD was flashing red and he could hear the shields down warning beeping incessantly through his headset. He jumped out. Two greens on the right, coming right at him, dual smg’s hitting his faceplate. But wait, oh yea, still got this, mocked Lobsterboy as he spun around his unused rocket launcher, ran backward and fired one round at the greenies, scorching them to the cratered ground. He then looked up to see Thrawn’s smiling face walking up to him.

“Last score right here,” Yonimon’s voice over the comm. Lobsterboy and Thrawn whirled around to see Yonimon take his newly acquired shotty from the ground and point it in the face of the last charging yellow. “Aaagh!” was the last thing the yellow said before he joined his buddies in halo heaven.

“That’s how I roll,” said Yonimon as the game voice gave its usual “GAME OVER” through the comlinks.

Thrawn laughed out loud. “You guys have your fun down here?” he grinned. Lobsterboy walked quietly over to the seething pile of metal that had provided so much enjoyment over the last 10 minutes. Thrawn and Yonimon were already looking happily at it. “I miss my hog,” he sighed.

Yonimon smiled. “I’m sure they’ll give us another one, Lobsterboy.”

The screen faded black on the Six Bobs, once again…

Day After Tommorrow in Moscow

2006-02-26T18:22:00.000+03:00

This image about sums it up for the end of February in Moscow. The coldest consecutive days on record, and the coldest temperatures for the region in over a hundred years. It was great! Imagine walking outside your door everymorning, and within around 5 seconds having every one of your nosehairs frozen so solid that your forced to breath out your mouth, only to choke cause the air is about the equivalent of dry ice fumes...very enjoyable!

But I must say I have great respect for what these guys put up with here in this climate. And the summers are long and great, which is what we are counting the days down to now.

Ive made a few changes to the blog as you can see, but still havent gotten to the photo album.

Andria and I and some friends went to the circus this week...wasnt quite what we expected but parts were pretty entertaining. I was very dissapointed in the fact that they didnt show what I thought...when we walked in the complex they had a lion, bear, and monkeys with people taking pictures. I thought cool, they are going to have these animals in the show. Wrong! instead they showed some dogs, some parrots, and horses.

Thats it for now, just making it through the last winter. Take care and be safe!

Happy Holidays From Russia!

2006-01-01T13:03:00.000+03:00

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Well I had a little too much spare time, so I put this blog together. Its a work in progress and I have had to put much of it together from scratch, trying to remember HTML and Javascript coding from my web design class almost 5 years ago...The main thing I am working on now is the photo alblum, I want it set up so that when you click on any thumbnail it links to the main source image file, so you can see the photo in the actual original size. I know how to do it, just need to get the camera software installed and get to work. I am also going to work on more links and putting some sound and video clips in. Let me know if you have any suggestions...the internet is pretty much our link to the outside world, so I will update this often and set it up so that every update sends an email to you to let you know there is a new message on the site.

New Years was pretty cool here, although I was dissappointed that no bottle rockets hit my house this year. That one that hit just outside my window last time really livened it up. But they spare no expense with the fireworks here, and it was quite a show...lasted from about 12 to almost 2 am, two hours solid bombardment, I kid you not. And these were the cannon fireworks, big ones.

Well hopefully today since the sun is out, I can brave the frozen tundra and get a picture of the lake to post in this message. If you dont see a picture, then I have froze to death.

As for Denmark, just starting on getting organized...work should take care of most of it, all I have to do is sign here, sign there, etc. Its pretty expensive hotel wise to stay there, but we would like to take a small trip out there when it gets warmer to check out the job and, most important, the housing.

Hopefully we will be back in SLC for Christmas this year, if it goes the way I plan. I will keep you posted.

Well the Branch is going well here, Andria is busy with Primary and being Sunday School President is not too difficult but keeps me going. Being in a small Branch again reminds me of how much I liked the small branches I served in Fiji...although they were much smaller there. In Denmark they have wards so it will be different but a good change.

Well Andria and I dish out our best wishes to you for this new year!

Peace on Earth, and goodwill to Lobsterboy...I mean everyone...oh well

Chronicles of Halo

2005-12-31T12:33:00.000+03:00

Chronicles of Halo - Episode I

"I love beaver creek", Lobsterboy thought to himself as he carefully maneuvered onto the rock ledge above him to grab the coveted rocket launcher. Only to his dismay there was one small detail missing...

The rocket launcher wasn't there.

Instinctively he quickly looked down only to see his reticule go red and the name 'Thrawn2' flash before his eyes.

No time to think. Close the distance or run. Lobsterboy jumps downward at his opponent, switching to his shotgun and chucking a plasma in his path, hoping for the best...

"Nice try Lobsterboy", Thrawn2 thinks as he menacingly aims the rocket launcher, right at lobsterboys head. He fires.

The rocket flies by Lobsterboy, now in midair, and for just about a nanosecond, he breathes relief. But today is not his lucky day.

The rocket slams into the cliff directly behind him, hurls him forward into the air like superman, all the way onto the top of the bunker, and then straight through the glass window, till his lifeless body finally comes to rest right on the altar amidst shards of broken glass. Needless to say, he's dead.

"How do you like how that works?" comes Thrawn2's joyful response through his xbox headset!

Lobsterboy respawns at the far edge of the river. Right next to the overshield.

He smiles. "not over yet."

- The chronicles will continue, as well as the game!!!