These boots were NOT made for walking...

I love my cowboy boots. They are perhaps my favorite pair of footwear, but it was a grave lack in judgement to think they would make worthy walking boots. I guess in my mind I rationalized saying that cowboys walk all the time, so I could handle walking to work in mine.
By the time I reached my destination (only about 4 blocks away) my feet were throbbing. Either these boots were not made for walking (and Nancy Sinatra is a liar) or I haven't worn mine enough to break them in...

Either way, my feet hate me today.

Some of you may be wondering why I walked to work at all. Being that I only work 4 blocks from our house, I would like to be able to say it is because I am very self conscience and want to watch my weight in a country that is on average overweight. Unfortunately, I can't say that. Normally I would take the lazy route and drive, but my walking comes out of necessity rather than initiative.

Yesterday I lost a dear friend of mine, Ben. For those who don't know, Ben is (was) my 2001 Nissan Frontier. I bought Ben in August 2004. We had been through a lot of moving and drive-ins.

Unfortunately, it became necessary to sell my beloved truck. We need the money that would go toward his monthly payment to save for Amy's and my future.

In actuality, we'd been trying to sell Ben for a while now. I'll be honest, I'd been reluctant to sell him and my whole heart was not into selling him. Not to mention, we hadn't gotten much response to the various ads we'd placed (autotrader.com, craigslist, etc.)

In the past week though, I fully realized the necessity of selling Ben and, despite my attachment to my truck, I put forth the concentrated effort to sell him. The biggest problem with selling was that I owed more on the loan than the worth of the truck. Lowbook price was lower than my balance (although, not very significantly). Plus, I didn't want to sell my Ben to just anyone, I wanted to give him a good home.

On Monday I received a phone call from David. He seemed like a nice enough guy. I gave him directions to my house, we weren't going to be there, but I told him where the truck would be so he could look at it if he wanted. He didn't end up coming on Monday, but called again on Tuesday and asked if he could come. I told him I would be there and to come by. He came with his dad. Turns out David just returned from a mission... and his brother lived in our ward. It was definitely a small world moment. I drove around the block with him and he afterward he made an offer. It was the lowbook price, which I was kind of expecting. But more than that, I just felt good about this kid. I could tell that Ben would have a good home with him. So, I agreed to sell.

Wednesday I secured financing for the difference between the selling price and the loan balance. Thursday evening David came back with his dad and they took Ben away. It was sad to clean out my belongings from the Ben and remember all the good times we'd had with Ben. Regrettably, He'd never been so clean as he was that day. But, I'll miss him.

One of the pictures that was on the Cars.com ad.

Look closely, you can see Amy taking the picture in the reflection of Ben...

Boca Jrs. vs. Real Salt Lake

June 24th marked the 60th anniversary of the pioneer's arrival in the Salt Lake Valley. That means the famous 24th of July festivities.

I love state holidays, especially because I get work off. Unfortunately, Amy did not. So she went to work and I stayed home and watched the parade. Luckily Amy got off work early, so we made plans to go to the Boca vs. Real Salt Lake soccer game. I'd wanted to go to a Real Salt Lake game before. Soccer is my favorite sport. Boca Jrs. is an Argentine superteam. I believe they won the South American cup last year. I had heard Boca was coming a while ago. Even though I am more of a River fan, I still appreciate a fine Argentine soccer team (I served my mission in Argentina), but knew the price would not be cheap...

Then I found out that good 'ol KFC offers amazingly discounted tickets. The Coronel has always been good like that. We jumped on the chance. When we arrived at the game, it was fun to see all the Boca jerseys and Argentine jerseys. Made me wish I'd worn my Argentina jersey.

They were supposed to have fireworks following the game, but because of the recent forest fires Utah has had, two from the 4th of July, the fireworks were canceled - Downside. Upside - We got a voucher for $5 tickets to tomorrow's game against the New England Revolution... GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!

The game was great! Even if it did end in a 1 to 1 tie. Amy didn't see the whole game, she was reading the new Harry Potter book, which according to Amy, is great.

It started to rain a little bit during the game. Good thing Amy had her handy, dandy polka dot umbrella. She's reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She just couldn't put it down, even for Boca.

It was an intense game... both teams were great and even though it was a low scoring game, it was still great.

Boca player #3, Claudio Rodriguez, took quite the foul. The was taken out for the rest of the game.

The game ended up a 1 to 1 tie. And even without the fireworks, it was a wonderful night.

TMI Disease

Now, i'm no doctor, but I can tell when an epidemic has swept the nation. When I find an article on the internet to support my theory, I know i'm right. Click here to see the article.

TMI, or formally known as Too Much Information Disease, is something that frequently occurs fequently in everyday conversation. I was a victim of TMI today.

As part of my job, I track payments posted to student accounts. One of our Enrollment Advisors (the people who recruit students to the school, we will call her Sue) asked me if a particular student had paid her initial tuition payment. I checked and, sure enough, she had. I told Sue it was posted and she didn't believe me. After a thorough convincing, I was able to assure Sue it was paid.

I talked to her supervisor, who we will call Cindy, to make sure the program was running smoothly and to ensure I wasn't the only one that could see the payment. Cindy confirmed the program was working fine. I proceeded to relate how Sue had approached me about not being able to see the payment posted.

I then got an earful about how Cindy was so sick of Sue complaining and how she's had to put up with it for 13 years. I didn't know what to say... I mean, what do you say, I'm sorry didn't seem appropriate.

Everyday we experience TMI, or overshare. It is a painfully awkward feeling from too much pent up frustration. Please share your frustrations with a loved one so that we don't hold others victim to our TMI.

Newlywed Update

Welcome to another update from your favorite newlyweds. Not much has changed for us. We are still just working along and counting down till we are done with school. It seems so close, yet so far away. I have 3 more weeks of my class and 3 more editions of the school newspaper to publish. It's going well, nothing pulitzer prize winning, but at least I've made the front page every week. I am also working for the college run television station as a producer for our movie review show. A bonus is I know all about all the upcoming movie releases. We went and saw Nancy Drew on Friday with my friend Wes and his wife, Lindsay. All of you who were a fan of Nancy Drew books will find this mystery engaging and entertaining. It was cute, clean, and witty. I found myself laughing out loud at various times during the movie.

Last week was the Amy's mom's Family Reunion. I know you were all sad to miss that. It was fun times and it was fun to spend time with the family that did come to the reunion. Unforgettable memories include Dad and I winning the pie eating contest in our respective age divisions, 105 degree weather, and grandma showering the family with starbursts. I participated in a friendly game of ultimate frisbee and about had a heart attack. (ok, not really. But it painfully reminded me how out of shape I am.)

We were honored to have our first houseguest this past weekend. Amy's mom decided to stay the rest of the week after the reunion to clean out the Provo storage unit. It was the end of an era as we sorted through the boxes and cleared out the keepsakes. I suppose it comes from being the last to use it, but Amy had a lot of boxes in that storage unit. Just when I thought we were finishing, she pulled out another one. But we found a lot of hidden treasures. I was particularly amazed at a teal sequin dress I was told was Cinda's (Amy's sister) and a turquose lace full length night gown that we speculated was Jenny's (Amy's sister). Wow, just wow. Anyway, Mom spent the night Saturday night. Our apartment is small, but we made it work. Mom came to church with us and then being the wonderfully kind person she is, came with us to my step-cousin's homecoming. It was fun having her spend the night. We love you all and can't wait till we get to see you!

Love-Zach and Amy

IMAX disappointment...

Harry Potter mania has swept the nation. On opening night, the movie made over 12 million dollars alone. That has to be some kind of record. Despite some not so good reviews, Amy and I went to see the new installment last night in the IMAX 3D Theatre.

We went with my good friend Wes and his wife, Lindsay. The concept and idea of the illustrious IMAX theatre seemed to flash in our minds and eyes like those cartoon characters who have dollar signs when they are being greedy or hearts when they are in love. Our pupils had turned into little 3D glasses.

We bought our tickets a week in advance to ensure a good seat. so, we had all week to build up the excitement. When last night came, we were running late... actually not surprising. I seem to be running late a lot. But we counted on the previews to buy us some time.

Side Note: I love the previews. I don't know what it is about them, but I like to see the upcoming attractions so I know what to look forward to.

Anyway... back to the IMAX. We got there and I ran to get in and see the last of the previews while Amy went to get some eats. To my surprise, the movie had already started! We were late, but only about 5 minutes. I found my friend and our seats and asked him what was up. He said there were no previews, the movie just started. Well, that kind of put me in a bad mood. I don't like coming into a movie late. You feel lost and not sure what's going on.

Regardless, the movie was phenomenal. I was very impressed. I have never read the Harry Potter books like Amy has, but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Not a bit boring. I have no complaints about the movie itself. The theatre on the other hand...

Now, the purpose of the IMAX theatre is to give an added experience to the movie. The bonus of IMAX is the huge screen and added 3D effects. Well, the screen was definitely huge, no complaints there. But the 3D effects left me unsatisfied. First of all, it was only 15 minutes of the movie at the climax... and they weren't even that great... "Meet the Robinsons" in 3D was much better.

My other complaint with the theatre were the hard as a board seats. When you go to a movie theatre, you want to be comfortable. These seats were NOT comfortable. My only thought is that they were trying to keep you awake to watch the movie.

I will definitely think twice before seeing another movie in the IMAX theatre, and I hope you will too.