One down, one to go.

I got half of my car fixed today. The damage that was done by the rental car back on Pioneer Day was repaired this last week and I picked it up after work this afternoon. It looks great. Once I (hopefully) get my $500 deductible recovered from that I will spring to get the other half fixed from the hit and run I suffered over the summer.

I'm finally home after spending 10 of the last 11 days on the road. Pictures forthcoming from our trips to Las Vegas and Long Beach.

A hostile takeover of my unconscious thoughts.

I have found myself doing unprovoked ten-second counts at random times throughout the day. I also cannot stand by a mirror for more than a few seconds without busting out my "hit" or "hold" mechanic.

This is extremely annoying to Annette.

My first four games of the season are wrapped up. The first two were sophomore girls, the next two sophomore boys. The first game was solid. The second was a lot more sloppy and more difficult to officiate. But, that was no excuse for the brief circus act I did in the form of an inadvertent whistle.

It really wasn't "inadvertent" per se. It's just that by the time I blew it, the foul I was going to call could not be called. A white team player was pushed in the back before the shot, but she quickly made an uncontested layup. Cue Devon, standing there with his hand in the air like an idiot.

I quickly waved play on while trying to explain that the whistle didn't mean anything. I resolved that next time I have a stupid whistle like that (hopefully never) I'll just run out to my partner and pretend like I'm discussing something important, then return to put the ball in play with everyone thinking I was just double checking something valid.

My first boys game started a little sloppy but the second half cleaned up quite a bit. My partner gave a well-deserved technical to the home coach. That meant it was my job to give him a second one if necessary. It looks bad if one referee dishes them both out. He behaved for the rest of the game, though, and I didn't have to.

The second boys game was pretty good. There were a couple of calls that I could have called differently. Not that they weren't fouls but they didn't HAVE to be fouls.

For example, a player pulls down a rebound, gets a hard bump and loses the ball out of bounds. A foul? Yes. But, it's just as easy to blow the whistle and just give him the ball back out of bounds. That's what an evaluator would tell me to do. It saves time, saves a defensive player a cheap foul, and game flow improves.

There was one other call I would like to see a replay of. I gave free throws to a home-team player who I really thought took a good hit from a defender after releasing a three-point attempt. The visiting-team coach was incensed and was sure it was a flop. In retrospect I probably should've held the whistle. But, if that's the worst I did then I can live with it.

My next three games are all JVs - two boys and one girls. One of the boys is a pretty big 5A/4A matchup so it will be a good test of where I'm at early in my second season.

On Your Marks...

The season is here. The Utah County Officials Association had its first meeting yesterday. For the second half they divided up into two groups - varsity, and JV. I initially went with the JV group but the assignor pulled me and a couple of others out out and said we should stay in the other room with the varsity refs because the JV discussion would be too basic.

I'm certainly not expecting to get any varsity games this year, but it's nice to know they think I'm at least a little ahead of the curve.

After the meeting I went to Canyon View JHS to do a couple of adult city league games. Orem recruits high school referees to do their adult games and pays us a little bit of money. The quality of play (and knowledge of the rules) leaves a lot to be desired, but it was the perfect chance to get the stripes back on and shake off some of the rust. I am hoping to get quite a few more JV games this year and I'd rather get warmed up with some city league stuff than with two full-fledged 5A boys teams.

After four months off I am a bit rusty, and noticed a couple of little things I can work on in my next game. That's exactly what I was hoping for.

Game assignments for the first half of the high school season should be made by Friday. I feel a lot more prepared for this season than I was for last season. I think it's going to be a blast.

The Gym

Two words that inspire an amazing array of emotions in people.

With basketball season creeping up I've hit *The Gym* a little harder than usual to make sure I'm in shape when I take to the court.

My own workout routine isn't all that spectacular. I hit the weight room a couple of times a week, and alternate between speed and endurance workouts.

I've known some people who are big time runners and would regularly lace up and go jogging for two hours. You know, the people who run marathons every year.

Personally, I do enjoy a good workout and I like being active and in shape. But, I'm not sure I could ever reach those heights of dedication and endurance. I was reminded of that yesterday when I had to push myself to finish my little 30-minute treadmill run. For now I'm happy to stick with improving my humble 5k speed and making sure I can get up and down the court/field as needed.

Unhealthy practice?

So I think I might want to take a break from sports talk radio for a week or so. I've realized that it probably isn't that good for me.

Obviously it's not exactly a concentrated haven of intellectual wealth. Especially during football season when it just thrives on hyping up BYU vs. Utah smack talk. It really gets old and stupid pretty fast.

There is never any real news or reporting that goes on. It's all just opinion and entertainment. So if I want to inundate myself with information about this week's upcoming games I wouldn't go there anyway.

I might take a day or two off from listening to it live, and just catch the "Best of" daily podcasts. That way I can hear the 10 minutes of substance the pundits have without the other two hours and 50 minutes of commercials and garbage.

Utah State and RSL

This was the first game where Annette and I actually got to sit together. She has been a real trooper about this whole BYU football thing, even going so far as to wear a Cougar sweatshirt.















And we also went to our first soccer game together at Real Salt Lake's new stadium. Annette said she really enjoyed watching the continuous action of soccer. More good news for me.

Zion Pictures

A few snapshots from the weekend:


The long and treacherous climb up Angels Landing...


































Standing triumphantly on the summit...


...and the view of the canyon.















Calling my shot



















At some overlook in another part of the canyon.















Jen, David, and Emily















Annette's new friend















David and I scaling the treacherous water slide...














...and sliding down.














Annette's turn.




















Let's go jump in the pool...

An early fall weekend in Zion...

This past weekend Annette and I took the trip to Zion we have been planning for a couple of months. I was last there about four years ago and was very much looking forward to taking one last warm-weather vacation and getting in some outdoor adventure.

The trip didn't disappoint.

We arrived at the park late Friday morning. The main parking lot was full so we found one virtually unmarked lot right outside the main entrance and pulled in there. The plan was to just pay the walk-in fee. Right off the parking lot there was a well-worn trail with a sign directing us to "Proceed to the Park Entrance" and pay. We followed the trail and next thing we new we were standing at the visitors center boarding the shuttle. Apparently Zion isn't exactly Ft. Knox, and we were a bit surprised how easy it was to just walk right in.

We immediately tackled Angels Landing. I had never done that hike before because in 2004 no one else wanted to go and, in all my trips prior to that, I was too young and Mom wouldn't allow me to join Dad and the older kids. I had always quietly thought that this was more paranoia on her part than anything else, but now I can definitely see why she refused to let me go.

It was a great hike. I had heard about the narrow parts with sheer drops and safety chains, but I had always envisioned that as being a relatively short part of the trail. In fact it's quite lengthy. Still, neither of us ever felt like we were in imminent danger of falling, and we made it all the way out to the point and back down. We felt especially cool when we walked by all the people that just stopped at Scouts Lookout (the part before the chains/sheer drops, etc.) and a few people that abandoned hope midway through the chains and turned back. It was a sunny (but not scorching hot) day and the view was well worth it.

Later that afternoon we walked back to the parking lot, planning on just getting in our car, driving into the park (paying the fee we hadn't paid coming in), and seeing some sights before going to dinner. I was there reminded of how tiny my car really is. Upon arriving at the lot, I looked where my car should have been and saw nothing. This didn't concern me since usually my car hides pretty well behind others, so I just took a few more steps over. But, I still couldn't see it. At this point I was starting to get a little incredulous that Zion would have towed my car from a completely unmarked -- and by all indications public -- lot with no warning. It wasn't until I took several more steps clear around the only car I could see that I finally saw my car's trunk. The car next to mine was just some little four door sedan, but my small, sleek Saturn was totally invisible on the other side of it.

We were staying with Jen and David (Annette's best friend and her husband) at David's parents' house in Toquerville. They had elected not to join us for Angels Landing but we all went to a great Mongolian BBQ place in St. George that night.

Saturday we went on a short hike to a lookout point over the Pine Creek part of the canyon, then to a "Watering Hole" along the river where there are some deep pools for swimming and jumping in. We went back to Toquerville to dry off and change clothes, then David's brother Matthew took us rappelling out in the desert. This was another first for me, but it wasn't so bad. The cliff we went off of wasn't very high and Matthew was very good at explaining the proper procedures and safety precautions.

We left Sunday at lunchtime after a brief (but panicky) search for my missing car keys. I thought for a moment I might have lost them rappelling. But, we found them and arrived back home in time for Sunday dinner with the family.

I'll post some pictures soon so you can all look on jealously. Let me just tell you this time of year is the perfect time to go down there. It was much less crowded than in the summer, the weather was perfect, and we got everything done we wanted to do.

I can't wait to go again next year.

Christmas Plans

So I've been threatening to go to California around Christmas for a few weeks now, and things are finally set in stone - just don't tell my company yet.

Initially I had thought about going the week after Christmas, and over New Years. But, with BYU's win over UCLA and some consultation with Annette, I decided it would actually be better to go over Christmas. So, I'll be flying out the afternoon of Dec. 23, and flying back home the evening of the 29th.

As it turns out, Annette had actually been secretly hoping for a BYU loss because she was afraid a BCS bowl would throw a wrench into my California plans. Since such a loss does not appear to be forthcoming, I chose a week that pretty well covers all realistic bowl possibilities. The Las Vegas Bowl is three days earlier. All the BCS bowls are later. A disastrous invite to the Poinsettia Bowl is the only one not covered (it starts about when my flight lands), but if we lose enough games to end up in that bowl I think I'll be OK missing it. With that sorted out, Annette can now stop secretly hoping for a loss. Although she will have cause to laugh if somehow we end up in the Rose Bowl and I have to trudge back down to Pasadena on New Years Day right after I flew out... maybe I could get my return flight adjusted.

One near-hitch in plans came this week when I was talking to my co-worker Bob. He is planning a trip to Japan with his (Japanese) wife and newborn child around that same time. There is one day, Friday the 26th, where he thought I would need to be at the warehouse to fill in for him and get some things shipped out. I think he could sense my complete disgust with the idea that the warehouse would actually open back up for that one day, right after Christmas and right before the weekend. He said he would "talk" with the higher-ups and see if we could stay closed that day.

Sufficeth to say I was disgusted enough by the idea that I had Annette go ahead and book my flight without waiting for an answer from the higher-ups. If they try to tell me I have to work that day I'll just say my girlfriend already booked my flight so I'm stuck going out of town, "Sorry, but you'll have to cancel your precious Friday shipping day for one week - the DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS."

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to the trip. It will be fun staying with the Marengos. I haven't been to California since Fall of 2001 right before my mission. I haven't been to southern California since Christmas of 2000 when the whole family hauled down to San Diego. So, rock on. Maybe I'll get to see Meredith or Julie if they're not in Utah that whole time.

Time to hang up the notebook?

The thought crossed my mind about midway through the second half yesterday.

I was covering a girls soccer game at Timpview. It was just like the dozens of other girls soccer games I've covered for the newspaper in the last three or four years. It was a bit chilly though...

The thought I had was that I don't really look forward to a lot of these games anymore.

Now, obviously girls high school soccer has never presented any special thrills, but I've gotten to a point in the last year or so where most high school games I cover in any sport don't get me all that excited.

There are exceptions, of course. I really enjoy the playoff games for football, boys soccer, and boys basketball. There are a couple of regular-season games every year that are entertaining and fun to watch too. But, 80 percent of the time I'm just going to a game, going through the motions, and hoping it doesn't go into overtime.

On Saturday Jim, my boss at the D-News, called and said they needed some help in the press box for the BYU game. It's still cool sitting in the press box in some ways. The food is good, the running stats are nice, the TV sets and internet are convenient, and interviewing the players and coaches is interesting. But even after that, I found myself thinking that sitting with the commoners in the stands is just fine by me.

What does get me excited, however, is refereeing. I had more fun refereeing some sophomore and JV basketball games last season than I did covering most of the varsity games I went to, and I find myself a lot more enthusiastic about the two club soccer games I'm going to work Saturday morning than any of the three high school games on my calendar this week.

There are a couple of reasons for my difference in attitude toward the two. As a referee, you still enjoy the spectacle of the sport and the spirit of the competition, but you're also involved hands-on in what is happening. You're actually on the field with the players and you become part of the game, instead of just a spectator. Also, reporting involves deadlines, interviews, feature stories, box scores, etc. Little things that make it less convenient and more of a headache most of the time.

So, I think I'm about ready to hang up the notebook. For now I don't think I'll completely retire from sports reporting, but my big focus is going to be on refereeing. I'm going to make refereeing my No. 1 priority during basketball season, and only sparingly cover games for the paper. I'm also going to get on with boys high school soccer this spring and look at doing football next fall.

The Deseret News has been good to me. I've worked for them since 2000 and had lots of memorable experiences and fun times. And, covering the BYU football team for the Daily Universe in 2006 was awesome (I'll always prize that AP picture of Johnny Harline's catch with me in the background). But, juggling both sides is getting more complicated than it's worth. Monetarily it's probably a wash, but I'm definitely enjoying refereeing more, and that also has more future potential in terms of opportunities, money etc.

I told Jim I could promise him my availability through this fall, but not after that. I think my days as a dedicated sportswriter are coming to an end. But, my days as a dedicated sports official are just beginning.

Let me check my planner...

I've decided that I actually like being busy. I didn't believe I did for a very long time. Most of my memories from about age six to age 16 involve me wanting to do one thing, and my Mom telling me that instead I had to mow the lawn, do my violin/piano practicing, mow Brother Betts' lawn, make my bed, sweep the basement stairs, dust the family room, etc.

Now it wasn't that I was assigned lawn mowing and chores, because in retrospect none of the jobs I was given were all that egregious (except the annual "clean the basement" assignments). But they were always presented like it was a sentence. I imagine a judge sitting in his black robes saying something like, "Devon, we all got off to a late start today and there is a lot of work to do. I'm sentencing you to pick up the apricots and have your bed made before I'll feed you lunch. Then you can mow the lawn this afternoon. May God have mercy on your soul," followed by the banging gavel.

So naturally I remember thinking anything that made me busy was to be dreaded and avoided at all costs. Oh how glorious were the weeks when I went to scout camp and I got a free pass from my violin practicing.

As time has gone by, there are more and more things that fill up my schedule, to the point where there isn't much unscheduled time anymore. But, what I've found is that more things are things that I have put there myself. Working out time, refereeing, newspaper assignments, scripture reading, etc. They're all my own devices. And, on rare days where I actually have some down time, I feel bad for being so unproductive.

I suppose life will always schedule a lot of things for us that we wouldn't necessarily choose if we were just given a clean 24-hour slate every day. But, my attitude is much different now than it was back in the days when I loathed the sentence to trim and haul off branches from the pyracantha bush.

It took a while, but in my early adult years I have finally discovered that work isn't necessarily a sentence. And, being busy is usually a lot better than the alternative.

No. No plans. And it's definitely the other person's fault.

Living in Utah, Annette and I have reached that stage where everyone starts asking. Some people approach the subject with more tact than others, but it generally follows the same pattern.

Instigator: "Are you two engaged yet?"
Devon: "No" (or some form thereof).

*brief pause*

Instigator: "Do you think you will be soon?"
Devon: "No plans" (or some form thereof).

*longer, more awkward pause*

Instigator: "Oh. Well, that's OK" (or some other stupid form thereof).
Devon: "Yep."

Now, frankly, I don't mind this exchange. Usually the other person just ends up feeling a little stupid and quickly runs out of things to say. And they're typically deterred from broaching the subject again.

I prefer it this way. I don't see any need to discuss in detail the progress or direction of our relationship. If and when there is an engagement, it will be announced on our terms. Annette, however, pointed out a result of such limited, conversation-stifling communication.

The longer the dating relationship continues with no definitive end in sight, the more people are going to start talking amongst themselves about why Devon and Annette aren't engaged yet, and who is holding the process up.

My instinct is that people will decide it's the other person's fault. In other words, the one they're not directly connected to. A friend or acquaintance of Annette is probably more likely to think Devon has some commitment issues and is stringing her along. An acquaintance of mine is more likely to conclude that Devon has some legitimate reason for not being engaged yet, and it must be something to do with her.

Either way is just fine with me. I think for now I'll just leave it up to everyone else to speculate. It's much more fun.

Graduation Day(s)

Well, the big day(s) has finally come and gone. I add the '(s),' of course, because they always make university graduation a multi-day affair with the general commencement AND the convocation.

I think I liked commencement a little better, although it did require standing out in the 90-degree heat while we were lining up for the procession. The whole marching in thing is a bit long, but kind of fun, and the KBYU-TV cameras lend it a sense of importance. Elder Scott spoke and gave a good address and an enjoyable time was had by all. Mom, Dad and Annette all came, and Thor was there representing Sarah and Jared's family. The rest of you will have to live with the shame of not sending an emissary (although come to think of it the only graduation I made it to was Sarah's).

I wasn't too excited about having to get up early for convocation this morning, but it wasn't so bad. This time we just had to line up in the cool, air-conditioned confines of the HFAC basement. The De Jong Concert Hall was pretty full.

Being summer and not being a particularly large college, the name reading didn't take too long. The other presentations and speeches were good and appropriately brief. There wasn't even much weirdness from the theatre arts and music majors. There were no post-convocation refreshments, however. I see it as an ironic reflection on the lack of financial resources most degrees in the college of fine arts and communications offer.

I was a bit taken aback by the behavior of one particular former professor. I had a single class from the guy more than a year ago and had a brief but unpleasant run-in late in the year (involving him losing his temper and storming out of the classroom).

Anyway, I've since seen him on campus several times and always smiled and said hello, with varying responses. When the faculty lined up to congratulate us as we left, I got to him and he immediately looked away and ignored me. Later, I left the building and was walking alone to my car when he hurriedly brushed passed without bothering to acknowledge my existence. I hear he didn't get his tenure. Maybe student evaluations had something to do with it...

Alas those days are now over. I still have to tie up a couple of loose ends with internship paperwork, but that's that. I will next darken the doors of a classroom when I go to business school in the next two years or so. But my undergraduate days are done, and not a moment too soon. I do turn 26 next month, after all.

The picture was taken outside the Marriot Center yesterday.

Cloaking Device Activated

I walked out the family room door and across the street to my car to go to work this morning. I stopped cold in my tracks when I saw a big chunk of my car body laying on the ground and a gaping hole in the front driver's side.

Yes, sometime between 1:30 and 10:30 this morning, I was the victim of a hit-and-run. Besides being PO'd at whoever left a big, obvious crunch in my car and drove off, I'm also wondering if my Saturn came equipped with some kind of Klingon technology.

On Pioneer Day I was pulling out of the parking lot at work and an out-of-state driver in a rental car back up a good 10 feet right into the opposite side of my car. I'm still trying to figure out how he didn't see me. Now that both sides have their own battle scars, I'm thinking I might unknowingly have a cloaking device installed in my little Saturn.

I'll need to have that checked out when I take it into the shop. That device sure could have come in handy when I got pulled over for speeding in Saratoga Springs the other night. The cop pulled me over for going between 55-60 in a 45 zone (after midnight). He only gave me a warning, though. I think he felt sort of stupid because he'd followed right behind me for maybe five minutes, and by the time he finally flipped his lights on and stopped me, I was about 20 feet away from a 55 MPH sign.

I also picked up a rock chip on the freeway on Saturday, but I'm not complaining about that too much since that won't require a $500 deductible.

This is the damage done to my car on Pioneer Day.

The Last Hurdle

As if four-and-a-half years of classwork and tuition, it would seem that there is one last great hurdle that must be overcome in order to graduate college - that is the bureaucracy of BYU department procedures.

I have enjoyed my time at BYU and value the education and degree I am about to receive, but it is difficult to imagine a more convoluted, watered down process filled with signature lines and office phone numbers of countless employees (many of whom seem to collect substantial salaries while serving a single mundane purpose, deriving a sense of usefulness by making an otherwise simple task immeasurably more complex and time-consuming).

But alas, I am now down to a few simple steps that must be taken before I "walk" next Friday. I have to get a cap and gown, I have to turn in some assignments to the bureaucrats at the communications internship office, and I must show up at the proceedings.

Assuming the transition to full-time work here at Access TS goes alright, I'm then a full-fledged college graduate. Time to go buy the Princeton Review book and get started on my GMAT studies...

New Office

My supervisor, Aki, called me into his office the other day and asked if I would move locations and take over responsibilities for someone they would be "letting go" (he ended up quitting first).

I'm now typing from a new desk in the company warehouse in North Orem. I still have the same basic responsibilities as I had before, but now I'm learning some of the warehouse functions and I'll be doing more work dealing with the receiving/shipping aspect of things.

I think this is ultimately a good move. It will give me the chance to do real full-time work and give me more experience in different aspects of the company. I'm not working in the main office anymore but I'll still drop by a couple of times a week and they guys there still need me to do some things no one else knows how to do.

I'm working with a couple of interesting characters. Bob is the de facto "manager" of the warehouse and the idea is for me to basically learn all of his responsibilities. He seems to have some mild ADD, though. I've never seen the guy sit still for more than about five seconds at a time. He sits at his desk with music playing and is always making some kind of noise.

There's some older woman named Gloria who works here as well. Apparently she's been a warehouse worker for more than a year and does most of the manual labor with the packages. She has been showing me the system for receiving and shipping. Gloria is the type of person that makes me tired within about five minutes of talking to her. She speaks with a voice moderately above a whisper, very slowly, and it's painful watching her work. She'll show me something that theoretically is supposed to be complex (like how to measure the cubic inch volume of a box and divide it by 166), but then spend the next five minutes showing me how to accomplish such a task at an excruciatingly slow pace.

Apparently Gloria wanted to take over for the guy who got fired/quit and learn the managerial responsibilities. Bob told Aki that he didn't trust her enough because anytime she starts doing things with the computer she completely messes it up and causes him more work.

So, this is probably where I'll be for the next year or so. I'm trying to determine exactly what my job title is. I think it's something along the lines of Account/Logistics Manager. I have to talk to Aki about getting company benefits, and I'll probably ask for a raise since I've been here more than a year now.

Assuming those things fall into place I'll be happy to stay here for a little while after graduation. It offers me the scheduling freedom I need to fully pursue my refereeing career this winter, and also do some newspaper work on the side if I need to.

Off the Grid

The last two weekends I spent "out in the sticks" so to speak. Last week I spent Thursday through late Saturday night at our big family reunion up Spanish Fork canyon, and the weekend before that Annette and I were at a cabin near Cedar City with a friend and her husband.

Neither of these places had any cell phone coverage and, although they're not exactly isolated, it's a significant change of pace from even the hamlet of Utah County. I think the division between places with and without cell phone coverage is significant in our modern society.

Both weekends were really fun. I like all the camping, swimming, and hiking in appropriate doses, but it's also interesting to notice how seldom I checked to see what time it was, worried about being late for something, or thought about what time I needed to wake up in the morning.

When you're out in the sticks, you go to sleep when you're tired, wake up when it's too light outside to sleep anymore, eat when you feel like it's time to eat, and go about the day at your own pace without worrying about matching everybody else's.

In his book "In the Eye of the Storm," John Groberg talked about being a missionary in Tonga and what the tiny island he was on called "boat days." This is when a ship would arrive periodically with news, mail, etc. Those days were big events and he described how it was a community experience with everyone sharing the joys and sorrows of the news and letters they received together.

Later in the book he talked about going back home to California and being impressed with the incredible hurry everyone seemed to be in. Groberg commented that perhaps heaven would be more like "boat days" back on his remote island than the frantic world we spend most of our time in.

I imagine there is no need for cell phones in the life beyond, but I also wonder if the times we spend out in the mountains with family and friends, unmolested by 24-hour news networks, voicemails, supervisors, and the unyielding demands of schedules are more a reflection of the society we'll have in heaven.

Referee Camp

This past Thursday, Friday and Saturday was the big summer referee camp I've been looking forward to this off season.

It's the same one I went to last year, sponsored by the SWAC (Scenic West Athletic Conference), and held in conjuncition with Dave Rose's camp for high school teams at BYU. Referees from whatever level pay and register to go work the games over the 2-3 days and the SWAC brings in some of its top officials (one had just been hired by the MWC last year, another is a Pac-10 and FIBA international referee, and one is even in the NBA D-League) to watch, mentor, and critique us. Most of the referees there are already at least at the varsity high school level, some have broken into JC or lower college divisions, so I was definitely among the youngest.

I picked up a lot of things over the course of a few days that immediately made a huge difference in my game and will help me improve a lot during this coming season. The camp wears you out though. We started off Thursday afternoon and I did three games, not getting home until 10:30 or so. I had to be back at the Smith Fieldhouse at 7 a.m. Friday for a classroom session and did six games that day, again not getting home till after 10:30. At 7:00 Saturday morning it was back in the classroom and three more games before finishing up that afternoon.

The highlight for me was the second-to-last game I worked early Saturday afternoon. The last day of the camp they organize the teams into tournaments and I was working a varsity quarterfinal game with Mountain View and Alta. I was a bit apprehensive because I've had some unpleasant experiences with one of the coaches, but I went in trying to focus, work hard and apply the lessons I'd learned from the camp, and my previous times dealing with the coach.

Don't tell the kids this is just summer league, they wanted to win and the game was very intense. I was working with two great partners, though. We had a good crew chemistry and we all worked hard and did a good job managing things. I felt very comfortable and really started to get into a good flow after my first one or two whistles. The coach was in my ear from start to finish, but he was in everybody else's ear too and it made it easier to deal with knowing he was giving all of us the same dress down.

I reserve the right to brag a little bit here. I made what I think is one of the most beautiful calls I've ever made. An offensive foul on an MV kid driving toward the basket from my 'C' position. If you're ever interested in learning about three-man mechanics I can give you more detail, but to put it simply making a call like that from the C is one of my weaknesses right now. But, man it was beautiful! I had worked hard to get into the perfect position, I stepped down to follow the ball in, and when my whistle went off I sold it like a brand new Mercedes. It felt GREAT.

It wasn't a perfect game. One of my partners and I made somewhat of a hash of selling an intentional foul (right call, bad communication and mechanics), and I was a little sloppy in rotation at times, still being pretty new at working a three-man crew. But I was really in stride and made some other solid calls and managed the players and coaches well when I needed to.

As it was, the close, intense game came down to the last shot. MV had the ball, trailing by one point with less than 10 seconds left and the length of the floor to go. I had once again rotated over to the C at this point which meant I was responsible for watching the clock on the last second shot and determining of any made basket was good or no good. During the preceeding timeout I thought to myself that there was a very good chance the ball would come right down my side of the floor and I had to be ready to get in position, see the play and make the call. I could not afford to make a mistake here.

Just as I expected the ball came right down in front of me. I followed it down as the player went up for a running eight-foot layup. The shot missed but another MV kid jumped up and tipped the ball off the rim and in. I saw the tip, I saw the clock, I heard the buzzer and immediately made the call - the basket was good. I turned to the scorers table, made the big prerequisite gyration and threw my arm down indicating the shot counted, capping off all the drama.

It may sound a little silly, but after shaking hands with my crew, congratulating each other on a great game and spending a few minutes with the evaluator, I grabbed my bag and walked off the court with the most amazing adrenaline high. Going through all the twists and turns of a good, close game like that, being at the top of my game and getting it right at the end was an incredible buzz. It's what any referee lives for.

I've still got a lot to work on and many more hard learning experiences in front of me, but it feels good to see my effort and experience paying off in becoming a better referee. Unfortunately that's the end of the camp season and I have to wait till November or December to start doing games again.

Referee camp... and to think some people just spend their summer afternoons at boring barbecues.

Be it ever so humble...

Yesterday I left the BYU testing center for the last time. As of August 15 I will officially be a college graduate, which means it's high time I moved back out of my parents' house.

I spent two eight-month stints living in Provo between 2004-2006, but even since I've been back home saving money and getting through school debt free (with the exception of my car).

Leif, Davide, and I (I just realized how weird it must sound to introduce two friends with those names) have been checking out some places down in Provo and we've found a promising neighborhood of duplexes. The first one we checked out is nice, with four bedrooms and lots of space, but apparently the owner isn't big on lawn care. By that I mean I've seen better landscaping at abandoned properties. We also found one with the same floor plan a few blocks away that looks kept up much better and has rent about $40/month cheaper. We're pretty set on moving into that neighborhood and are just looking for a fourth roommate.

After looking at those places yesterday we dropped by another friend's apartment in Provo and I started thumbing through their BYU ward directory - you know, the ones with everybody's mug shots, a.k.a. "The Menu." Perusing the photographs neatly organized by apartment sure brought back some memories. Even in the small thumbnail-sized pictures you could tell all the girls looked awkward and nervous, and all the boys tried to look "cool" or "funny." I'm not the biggest fan of BYU singles wards and the complex Mormon sub-culture that accompanies them. I don't know if sociologists have ever done studies, but I'm sure there is a gold mine of research into bizarre and inexplicable human social behavior that could come out of observing your average college ward in Provo.

The neighborhood we're looking at doesn't have the high-density housing and huge complexes which usually means an older group and hopefully a slightly different ward scene. Either way I can't stay at home forever. At least this time I'll have the benefit of moving in with people I know and things presumably get a bit more stable when you're out of college and aren't wrapped up in the dating scene.

Referees Are From Mars, Coaches Are From Venus

The months of May and June offer a little fun in the form of off-season high school basketball camps. Coaches take their prospective teams for the next year to colleges and schools who host some three- or four-day semi-competitive "tournaments."

Most of these camps pay a little bit of money for HS referees to come and work, and the UHSAA formally sponsors some of the bigger ones and turns them into "referee camps" where we register and get mentored and critiqued by college officials and the HS higher-ups.

This week I've been working Dick Hunsaker's camp at UVSC to make a little cash on the side. These tournaments lack a lot of the formality and intensity of regular season games, but it's still remarkable how competitive some of the games can be, and we referees are certainly not immune from getting yelled at...

"How on EARTH could you call that a charge?!?"
(with hands thrown in the air and a look of incredulity that you'd expect from someone who'd just been told they were adopted from China)

"That's a foul! Hey!... Hey!... That's a foul!"
(repeated three times with accompanying foot-stomping and pointing)

"You're KILLING me! Turn around and watch when you're running down the court!!"
(sorry coach, I'm still working on being able to rotate my head a full 180-degrees)

Yes, it's all part of the fun. But the most interesting to me was a comment I got from a coach that wasn't coaching at the time. Hunsaker (UVSC's head coach) was sitting at the scorer's table watching the game I was doing Tuesday morning, when I called an offensive foul for an illegal screen...

"That's a good call! Good call. That's a GOOD call..."

It was a good call (and an easy one to make, the dumb kid was shoving the defender right in front of me), but I found Hunsaker's praise a little humorous. I've watched him coach enough to know he rides the officials as much as anybody, but he still took time to congratulate my "good call."

Most of the coaches I know are perfectly reasonable and personable off the court. I've interviewed a lot of them working for the newspaper and have never had any problems. There's just something about stepping into the competitive arena of sports that changes things. Normal standards of behavior do not apply.

I've learned that this also applies to referees. Since you can't expect coaches and players to act as they would off the court, I have to change the way I act and react as well. In a highly competitive environment where the No. 1 objective of everyone (but me and my partner) is to win, I've got to change my natural mindset to maintain control and respect.

I've learned that, most of the time, there's no need to (and in fact it's best not to) respond to a coach's or player's shouts of protest - it seems obvious, but it's not what we're naturally accustomed to doing in social settings. When a coach asks a legitimate question, I've learned to keep my answer accurate, but concise, and to resist the temptation of over-explaining myself in an attempt to "convince" the coach that I'm right. He'll never agree. I've also learned it's actually OK to just end the discussion and walk away at those times. As soon as I start arguing I lose respect and control. We naturally learn to make ourselves likable in society, but in refereeing, you can't be worried about people liking you. You can only be worried about making sure you're given proper respect.

It really is a different world when you step on the basketball court. But, the mental, physical, and emotional work of managing a good game between two competitive teams brings a lot of satisfaction, and I continuously find officiating to be an absolute blast - especially the better I get at doing it.

Sage Words of Wisdom

The last class I'm taking to graduate is a course titled "Principles of Journalism." It was started as an introductory course to new and prospective journalism majors, but I've landed in it as a capstone. The bureaucracy of the communications department abruptly changed the graduation requirements in the middle of my major and then simply eliminated one course that was required when I started. So I'm stuck in this class to make up for it. It's really not so bad. The professor is helpful and the coursework is relatively light. But, everything we have studied and learned so far has only increased my cynicism about the journalism industry and my desire to continue my education in some other field.

The latest assignment we had to do was interview a current media professional and write a report on our findings. I actually interviewed two local media professionals, an entertainment critic at the Deseret News, and one of the prominent sportswriters at the Salt Lake Tribune.

Both interviews were good and fairly informative. The last question I asked them was what advice they would give students studying journalism. Below are quotes of their respective responses.

Deseret News Writer: "Don't. That sounds overly simplistic, but this is a horrible time for journalists because of falling ad revenue, buyouts, layoffs, etc. On the other hand, I think if you learn how to write well there are any number of jobs you can do."

Salt Lake Tribune Writer: "Changes majors. OK, I'm kidding -- but only slightly. Journalism is usually thought of as a profession of passion, and you definitely need that to survive a career. Make sure you REALLY want to be a journalist or you will probably be miserable."

Sage words of wisdom from some mentoring voices. Sometimes I can't help but chuckle to myself about the major I chose...

Fun with journalism...

One of my last requirements before I graduate involves completing an "official" and "approved" internship through the BYU communications department. My high school work for the Deseret News qualifies for this, so it's not a huge concern.

I'm currently "officially" (you can see how happy I am with the bureaucracy of my department) registered to receive credit for the work I'm doing from May-August. June/July is usually when there's more down time with sports and so I've been in contact with the paper's Utah County bureau chief to see if there's stuff I can do outside the sports section, since I'm technically supposed to do the same amount of work every week I'm registered.

He has informed me that they are looking for two part-time community beat reporters to work a couple of 16-20 hour/week shifts this summer. The problem is three-fold. First of all, the shifts they need filled all involve evening and weekend hours that would basically scrap any plans I had outside of working for the entire summer.

Second, I'm paid quite well for the sports correspondent work I do for them. I haven't actually been told how much these part-time positions pay (the chief didn't mention that), but I talked to a classmate who had worked one of them. In his words, "you're basically working for free."

Third, although there are certain benefits that could come with the experience, my disenchantment with any and all journalism outside of sports is one of the big factors that has pushed me away from wanting to be a career journalist. I am simply not attracted to the idea of spending an entire summer writing about crime, citizen complaints, and community festivals.

With these apprehensions, I e-mailed the bureau chief and asked if I could come into the office to find out more. I received no response for almost a week, at which time he sent me a message only asking if I was "still interested" and saying they're in "dire need." I once again responded by saying I'm interested but would like to meet and sit down for a few minutes to find out more, when can I catch you in the office? - no response. This exchange leads me to believe they're mostly interested in finding a BYU student who will click their heels, salute, and jump at any offer with no questions asked.

Not to sound snobby or high-maintenance, but I'm just not that desperate for experience. For now, I doubt I'll be accepting one of the shifts, especially if it's this hard for the bureau chief to even tell me when I can come by to see him. I would like to see if there some other on-call or correspondent work that can be done until sports season starts. We'll see.

I just don't feel like it's worth sacrificing my entire summer to do assignments I have no desire to do and get paid next to nothing for it.

In the meantime, I think it's time I start prepping for the GMAT...

Covert Operations

Ok, so the rumors you're hearing are true.

I am dating someone, and actually relatively seriously this time. For the last couple of weeks I've chosen not to go public with this. Mainly because whenever the parents find out I'm dating someone, the questions about which girls are present at my social activities stop, but the "when are you going to invite her over for dinner?" type questions begin.

I'm currently dating Annette Reddoch. I think you all know her. She is Ricky Marengo's little sister. She's obviously well acquainted with Sarah and Jared, and also John and Michelle through Fieldstone Homes, the retaining wall saga, etc. And she's met the rest of you at one time or another.

Jared first mentioned her to me several months ago and asked if I'd be interested in him setting us up. It finally happened earlier this month. She lives in Saratoga Springs which is about a 30 minute/mile drive from my abode, but not a bad trip to make once or twice a week.

We both enjoy hiking and similar outdoors stuff, and she was even nice enough to help me go shopping for some new pants on Saturday. She professes a love for college football, but I've warned her the limits of this passion will be truly and severely tested come August.

She has a great view of the lake and the mountains from her house... although she does not have Comcast or DirectTV which I informed her will drastically decrease the amount of time I will spend at her house during football season.

These obstacles aside I have enjoyed dating her so far and look forward to continuing the relationship and having the rest of you all get to know her better as well.

Three months to graduation...

With the encouragement of a few friends and family I have decided to join the rest of you in the blogging world. I don't imagine that my life is especially exciting, but I do enjoy reading all of your blogs and I suppose this is a good way to stay in touch - especially since I seem to be the last one to ever find out news.

So in case you need an update on what's going on with me lately...

I am set to graduate in August. I'm currently taking the last class I need and I'll probably take at least one more in the summer just to pad the GPA for future graduate school applications. I've decided that career journalism is probably not for me, for different reasons. After graduation I would like to find a job locally and work for a couple of years before following in John's footsteps and getting an MBA - BYU would be my first choice.

I'm working part-time at a company called Access Technology Solutions in Provo. I've been with them for about a year. My job can best be described as international eCommerce logistics support. We do the middle work for retailers looking to sell their products internationally via the internet. I do various stuff dealing with that. A lot of our business deals with Japan so most of the people working here are Japanese or served missions in Japan.

I'm still doing high school sports coverage for the Deseret News. I'm as busy as ever with that, especially this time of year when all the state tournaments are going on. This could be the last year I do any of that, but I've enjoyed the ride.

My other "job," I've taken the greatest interest in lately. I've picked up refereeing more as an avocation, but I'm slowly getting addicted to it. I joined the local high school basketball officials association this past season and worked several dozen games as high up as the 4A JV boys level. I'm also a certified soccer referee through the US Soccer federation. I've gotten into it this year doing some games for the youth club teams.

The higher-ups in the basketball association have apparently been impressed with my first year and I've been told they have their eye on me. The assignor told me I can expect to get some bigger JV assignments and they'll be interested to see how I do with those. I'm excited about that prospect. I'll be going to a couple of camps over the summer and working hard to improve and get ready for the next season. This is something that I could continue doing indefinitely alongside whatever career or schooling I land in, so it's worth pursuing.

If you're interested in my dating life -- heaven knows Mom is, every single time I walk out the door to go somewhere she starts peppering me with questions about what girls will be there -- there's nothing I feel like reporting to the family gossip machine yet. But, there could be something soon. That's the best teaser I can come up with...