Listen up leeches...

Hey leeches...you owe me...you know you do.

So, here's what you can do for me...

My cousin-in-law, Jason, is a finalist for an 18,000 dollar scholarship for students with cystic fibrosis.  

And, the winner of that scholarship is determined by whoever gets the most votes.  

So, to clear your conscience and make up for your leechy behaviors, here's what you need to do.

Go to www.solvaycaresscholarship.com and VOTE for Jason E!

You can vote once per email address, so if you have several email addresses, well, be a champ and vote several times.

It will take less than one minute of your precious blog surfing time, I promise.  

Then, pick up your phone (or better yet, phones) and call: 

1-888-305-9808 and vote for #19...Jason E.  

Or, if you are the texting type, text: VOTE19 to 30364.

If you want to know a little bit about Jason before casting your vote, you can just go to the scholarship voting site and read Jason's profile.  

But I'll just save you the time and will tell you that he's one of the coolest, most optimistic, and hardest working people I know.  

And definitely very deserving of this scholarship.

Jason and his wife Geri (my cousin).  I hacked this picture off of their blog, so I really hope it's one they like.

He graduated with high honors (one of the cum laudes...I can't remember which one) from BYU-I and just started Optometry school in California.  And, I don't know much about Optometry school, but I'm guessing it's pretty dang expensive and an extra 18 grand would really come in handy...especially in California.  


He's a super great guy...served an LDS mission, is kind to everyone, plays tons of sports, and loves children and small puppies.  (Actually, not sure about the small puppies, but everything else is true.)


And that, leeches, is why you should vote for Jason.


Okay, now that you've voted two times (via phone and online) for my cousin-in-law, I give you permission to feel good about yourself again...even though you are a leech.  


Later leeches!
Love, Becca


What are you doing still reading this post?  Go VOTE!


And then tell everyone you know to vote as well...even your pretend friends on Facebook.  


Seriously, what are you still doing here?  Get voting already!

Get Out Of Jail Free Card...

I've got to be honest here.

Some Sundays I really wish I had one of these...

a Get Out Of Jail Free card.  

Here's how it works...

High Councilor getting a little long winded?  Sniff your baby's bum, grab the diaper bag and walk out.  Nobody will think you are rude, nor will they question whether or not your baby actually needed a diaper change.  In fact, they will thank you for changing your baby's diaper before they smelled anything (especially true for older babies).  

Dying of hunger or thirst during Sacrament Meeting? Grab your kid, baby bottle or sippy cup, fruit snacks and goldfish crackers, and walk out to the hall for a tasty snack.  No one has to know it's you that is uncontrollably hungry and thirsty and not your kid.  

Having a hard time concentrating in Sunday School?  Purposely let your child misbehave...give them loud or otherwise annoying toys or let them run around the back of the room.  Then, minutes later when they become visibly obnoxious to those around you, take the kid out.  Let your face flush a bit and people will think that you're so embarrassed that your kid is such a hellion, but really you are the hellion who just wants to get out of studying Isaiah.  

These are just a few examples of using the Get Out Of Jail Free card in church.  I'm sure you can all think of more...ones you may even be guilty of using yourself.  I think pretty much every parent uses the card at one time or another.  

And the bad thing about being a childless spinster is that you're stuck...for three straight hours.  Because really the only thing you can do to get out of a meeting in progress is to start coughing uncontrollably.  And, really, you can only do that about once or so a year.  Any more than that and people will start thinking you have tuberculosis and will avoid you.  And you don't want that to happen.

So, you just stick out those high councilor talks and lessons on Isaiah and hope that someday, someone, will come up with a socially acceptable hall pass for people of all walks of life.  

But until then, I'll endure to the end and will use my uncanny ability to daydream as a mental escape in times of need.  

Oh, and am I aware that my nephew is beyond adorable?  Yes, yes I am.  

And, I'm afraid that so is he. 

Just look at Mr. Rico Suave.  Eight months old and already knows how to work a crowd.  

Sometimes I do slightly stupid things...

I'm guessing that at some point in your earthly existence you've all received that forward about the World's Most Dangerous Road, aka: Yungas Road, or Death Road in Bolivia, which contained pictures like this...

and this...

and this...

and this...

and this...

and this...

and this.  

The forward goes on to give you all sorts of scary facts about why this road is called The World's Most Dangerous Road, or Death Road.  Like the fact that in 1983 a bus ran off a cliff and killed over 100 people...all in one tragic accident.  Or the fact that an estimated 200-300 people died per year on the road from the time the road was built in the 1930's until 2006 when a new road was built that bypassed the worst of the old Yungas Road.  

The forward also lets you know that the road is only 10 feet wide in most places, has only four short guardrails along the entire 40 mile road, has several waterfalls running through the road, has 2000-3000+ foot cliffs (that's 6-10 times the height that I bungee jumped...yikes!), and often has rain, fog, and or dust creating visibility problems.  Oh, and it's a dirt/gravel road.

And, although in the rest of Bolivia people drive on the right side of the road, on this road you drive on the left side, so that the driver is always close to the edge of the cliff and can stick his head out the window and see exactly where his outside tire is in relation to the cliff.  

Anyway, I've received this forward several times since forwards became a means for sharing "useful" information with friends and family.  And I've always thought 'holy crappoly I never want to be anywhere near that road...if I go to Bolivia some day I will avoid that part of the country!'

But, in the end, what did I do instead?  I not only went on the road but I mountain biked the road...for 40 miles (fortunately about 90% of the ride was downhill).  

So, how did I go from shaking in my pants just from reading a forward about the Death Road to riding a bike down Death Road?  

I don't know.  

I guess sometimes I just do slightly stupid things.  

My friend Kate, as well as the 15 other people from our group that did the mountain biking somehow convinced me that I should do it too.  

And, I didn't want to miss out on potential fun.

And, I might only be in Bolivia once.

And, I know for sure that you only live once.  

And, I'd rather die living then live like I was already dead.  

Plus, the road has gotten significantly safer since the new Yungas road was completed in 2006 and most of the traffic was diverted to that new road.  Although on average they still lose a biker or two per year.  But, a biker already died in 2010 so I figured the odds were with me for living.  

And, I figure that as long as I don't have any offspring who are dependent on me or a husband who would miss me, that I may as well continue to do slightly stupid, but really fun things.  

Okay, my reasoning sounds kind of dumb when you write it all out like that, but it felt like really sound reasoning at the time.  

Anyway, the Yungas Road starts near La Paz at an altitude of over 15,000 feet.   

This is what the beginning of the road looks like.  At 15,000+ feet not much grows so it's pretty barren and desolate.  

One of the coolest things about the bike ride is that in 40 miles you descend over 11,000 feet.  That's a big enough change in altitude to sky-dive!  Yeah, I know, crazy.  

So, as you go from 15,000 feet and end up several hours later at around 4,000 feet above sea level, you get to see quite a change in terrain.  You start in the Altiplano region and end up in the Amazon jungle.  

This is a picture at the end of the road...it was very Jurassic Parkish.  

Oh, and lest you forget that what you are doing is slightly stupid, they have these...

all along the way to remind you.  

We biked down the road and then drove back up it to get to La Paz.  Our driver loved stopping on the way back to La Paz to show us different crosses or memorials along the road and tell us things like, "this is the area where two buses went off killing everyone inside," or "this memorial marks the place where some men from the opposing political party were thrown off the cliff several years ago," or "see where all the vegetation is crushed?...yeah, that's where a van of 16 people went off the cliff last week."  

But, despite the dangers of the road, it was a beautiful and amazing bike ride. 

And, here are a plethora of pictures to prove it...

This "curve ahead" sign is maybe the understatement of the century.  The road takes pretty much a 90 degree turn (or else you go off the cliff) right into a waterfall and all they give you is a little curvy road warning?  

Here we are at the top of one of the cliffs.  The cliff is so tall that you can't even capture it all in one picture...the bottom went way farther down than this picture shows.  

I just feel that the pictures don't do the sheer terror of the cliffs or the beauty of the scenery justice. 

Most of the girls who did the ride.  

We had to wear the bright orange safety jackets...not just so cars could see us but so they could find us if we flew off a cliff.  That's comforting.   

On the far right of the picture is one of the sharp curves we had to go around.  I think they call it "Postcard Point" or something because it's so picturesque.  But, photographers beware...some dude accidentally backed right off the cliff (and died) while he was taking a picture.  

Me, not backing off a cliff and not dying.  

Since cars on the road drive on the left side we were technically supposed bike on the left side too...mere inches away from the cliff (no exaggeration here). 

I, however, have heard of tons of people on bikes surviving getting hit by cars, but have never heard of anyone surviving biking off a 2000+ foot cliff.  So, I decided to take my chances with the cars and biked on the right side next to the mountain.  I think I made a wise choice.  

Just taking a break.  We had lots of breaks during the ride so we could unclench our hands from the bike breaks, stretch our legs, take some pictures, get instructions about the terrain ahead, and, just look around at the scenery.  

They encourage you to not look at the scenery while riding, but to stay focused on the road instead.  I guess people have ridden their bikes right off the cliff while peacefully observing a butterfly, bird, or beautiful vista.  

And, here we are at the bottom.  Not all 17 of our group made it to the end.  Nobody died or anything but one guy in our group did fly off his bike, face-plant, and end up with 45 stitches or something like that.  I'd show you a picture of him but my mom doesn't like blood, and, as my mom is both my mother and one of my best blog fans I will not gross her out this early in the morning.   

But, luckily for our face-planting friend, we had an ER doctor with us and he, as well as a couple other people, accompanied the face planter back to the hospital in La Paz where he got all stitched up.  

In conclusion, I'm really glad I did the Death Road ride but I hope no one I care about ever does.  


The end.  

Getting technical...

Sometimes people say, "hey Becca, how many countries have you visited?"  


And I want to know exactly because it would be nice to have a definite answer instead of "Um...I'm not really sure...60ish?" 


There are just some places I've been that aren't really countries but aren't just territories either.  


Like for example:


Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales...Wikipedia calls these all countries.  Some people don't consider them countries but just say that they're part of the UK and count that as one country.  So, I don't know whether to count England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland as one country or as four.  


Isle of Man...considered a British Crown Dependency.  This is not a territory.  The Isle of Man has its own government, own currency (sort of), own healthcare system, own tax laws, own welfare system.  They just rely on England for military protection (and pay them for it).  So, it's not a territory, but is it a country that just hires out the dirty work of war or just a nice place to spend a summer day?  


Vatican City...some list this as a country others call it a city-state.  I call it awesome.  Vatican City is so cool.  I even saw the Pope when I was there.  And, the pope-mobile, of course.  


Liechtenstein...most list this as a country but some list it as a microstate.  It's so tiny (and beautiful) but is it a country or just a little bit of land smashed between Switzerland and Austria?


Some places are more obvious and easy to categorize.  


Like Guam or Puerto Rico.  I wouldn't count those as countries I'd visited if I ever went there, because, even though they are very different from the United States, they are still territories of the United States.  So, you might feel like you're in a different country, but you aren't...as is the case with Texas.  


Or, Antarctica...that is obviously a continent and not a country.  And although several different countries have made claims on portions of Antarctica, those claims aren't recognized universally.  Even though Antarctica wouldn't count on my list of visited countries I really, really, really want to go there.  Someday... 


Anyway, I know I'm getting technical with all of this and that it really doesn't matter.  But, I just get asked the "how many countries have you visited?" question a lot and I'd like to have an answer.  


So, what do you think the definition of a country is?  How would you count some of the places I listed above?  What makes a country a country?

KSL does it again!

Deputies: Man shoots goat while high on spice

CACHE COUNTY -- Sheriff's officials arrested a Clarkston man accused of shooting a goat after smoking spice.

Lt. Chad Jensen with the Cache County Sheriff's Office says 28-year-old Ryan Lee was high on spice -- a legal type of synthetic marijuana -- when he got into an argument with a friend around 5 p.m. Friday. During the fight, Jensen says Lee pulled out a revolver, walked into a nearby building on the property and fired several shots inside and outside the home.

One of the bullets hit his friend's goat.

When deputies arrived, Lee came out of the building but remained combative. After several attempts to get Lee on the ground, deputies tried to use a Taser on him. When that was ineffective, deputies fired a bean bag round from a shotgun and were able to take him into custody.

Lee was taken to Logan Regional Hospital for evaluation, then booked into jail. Jensen says criminal charges are pending.

The goat survived and was taken to a local veterinarian for treatment.

Think this article is funny?  You should read the comments.  Classic KSL...Mormons, illegals, Obama, gun control, legalizing marijuana...pretty much everything but Sarah Palin.  

See, I told you reading the KSL comments was fun.  

Thanks to my sister-in-law, Kim, for bringing this article to my attention.  It's the best KSL story I've seen in a long time.  

So, thank you Kim, and thank you KSL, and a special thanks to the morons who comment on KSL!

Oh, and thanks too to the guy who smoked spice and then shot the goat...without you we wouldn't have a story.  And, a super extra special thanks to the local veterinarian who saved the goat's life...you have the hands of an angel.  

Becca goes to Bolivia 2010

I must, and will catch up on blogging.  I don't like being behind on blogging.  I feel like I can't go do anything else fun or blogworthy until I have blogged about all previous activities.  And, I like doing fun and blogworthy things.  


But, hopefully all this blogging will be worth it someday when I can print off all my blog posts and, voilà, have a history of my life.  And, by doing all the hard life-history work now, when I get old I can just sit around and knit and watch game shows and stuff (must re-learn how to knit first) and not worry because practically every second (both meaningful and meaningless) of my life will have already been documented via blog.  


So, put on your seat-belts people...in the next couple of weeks I will be on a blogging frenzy and will be inundating you with a plethora of pictures...more than you may be able to handle.  


Please allow me to start off with a little summary and explanation of my Bolivia 2010 trip.  


I went to Bolivia with a group from SHe Humanitarian that works in conjunction with Choice Humanitarian to do various, you guessed it, humanitarian projects.  They work in Bolivia, Kenya, Nepal, and Guatemala.  


SHe stands for "Singular Humanitarian experience."  It is an NGO started by one of my mission companion's brothers (that's how I found out about it) and a bunch of his friends.  They wanted to provide opportunities for LDS singletons to travel and serve at the same time.  


All of the SHe volunteers are single, all are LDS, and pretty much everyone is in their late 20's or early to mid 30's.  So, it is a perfect group for me because I fit right in age-wise, and I got to meet people who share my love of travel and humanitarian work, and people with my same marital and social status.  


I didn't anticipate that one of the best things about going on the trip would be that for the 10 days of the expedition (plus some) I would get to feel completely normal.  


And, it has been YEARS since I've felt completely normal.  And I loved feeling normal, even if it was just for a short time.  That's just not a feeling you get to have very often as a older LDS singleton.  Moments of feeling normal get more and more scarce as the years go on, and I rarely feel like a normal human being or get to have a moment of forgetting that I'm single...forgetting that I'm different. 


Every year I feel more and more awkward and out of place in the world, in the church, in my family, and just in general.  And it's not really anybody's fault.  It's just the way things are.  Because I'm not normal.  I don't fit in.  I am out of place.


I can't relate to most people my age because I'm not married and I don't have kids and I don't know what that's like.  And since I'm missing out on so many of the experiences that make up adulthood I don't even really feel like a real adult.  It's like I'm stuck in some weird limbo.  I'm not a child or teenager anymore, but I'm not really an adult either.  I'm a singleton...and a Mormon singleton, the worst type of singleton you can be.  (Except maybe the Amish...I'm betting single Amish have it pretty bad too.)


But anyway, I'm not trying to have a little blog pity party.  I'm just trying to explain why it felt so absolutely refreshing to get to be in an environment where I fit in, because I don't really feel like I fit in anywhere anymore.  


But on my Bolivia trip with Singular Humanitarian I got to feel like I was normal...even if it was just for 10 days.  Because we were all in the same life situation, and in that little micro-environment we were all temporarily normal (except that one weird guy).  And, it was awesome.  Fitting in feels so great.  I can't even imagine what it would be like to get to feel like you fit in all of the time.  Those of you who get to live normal lives have no idea how lucky you are.  


Singular Humanitarian is going to Nepal in November.  And, although it would be a lot of money, I'm so tempted to go...even if it would just be for that temporary fix of fitting in for a moment...because feeling normal felt so good.  


Humanitarian trip to Nepal= thousands of dollars
Getting to feel normal as a singleton= priceless? (I'm still trying to decide)


Anyway, I actually spent three weeks in total in Bolivia.  I got to La Paz a few days before the expedition began since I was coming from having spent nearly a month at sea level with my parents and most of my time in Bolivia was going to be spent between 13,000 and 15,000 feet above sea level.  I needed to give my body time to adjust to the altitude so I wouldn't get severe altitude sickness.  


Then I met up with the SHe group and we spent a day in La Paz getting ready for the expedition, eight days in the Altiplano region of Bolivia doing various service projects (of which I will explain more later), then we headed back to La Paz and some people went home but a bunch of people (including me) stayed a few days extra and biked the World's Most Dangerous Road and then went to Isla del Sol for a couple of days.  Then after that, everybody went home except one other girl from the expedition and me, and we went down to southern Bolivia for a few days before returning to La Paz to fly out.  Anyway, somehow that all added up to about three weeks.  


And, it was a good three weeks.  Pictures soon to follow...

News...

This just in...

A CTR ring was found at the Old Town Saloon in Rigby.  If it's yours, give them a call.  

Haaaaaaa I love Idaho.  This ad was in the Jefferson Star newspaper today.  I'm guessing it's a joke, and if it is it's pretty funny, and if it isn't, it's even funnier.  

Also, if you lost some boots by the road or are missing a turtle, or are missing your dog that just gave birth, you are in luck...someone found those as well.  

I also thought these articles from a recent Post Register were sort of funny and ironic.  The top article says "Job growth on horizon" and just below it an article is titled "Joblessness inches higher."  So, what is it Post Register?...am I doomed to a life of joblessness or not?  

I'm just wondering if Obama or some other politician is writing for the Post Register, because the articles seemed very poiticianish...like, we don't really have a freakin clue so we're just going to give contradicting information so you'll get all confused and will stop trying to understand the economy so we can just do whatever we want like spend more and more money to "stimulate" the economy.  Whatever.  

And, speaking of government waste, I went in today to renew my car registration and they made me buy a new license plate because mine was seven years old or something...seriously?  My old plates were in mint condition (except for some dead bugs plastered to them), I really liked my license plate number, I had an 8B (Bonneville County) plate so I wouldn't get made fun of as a 1J (Jefferson County) driver, and the new plates cost me 6 bucks!...come on Jefferson County, we're in a recession and I'm funemployed!

Anyway, truthfully the reason I'm mad that I had to buy new plates isn't the money, the wastefulness, or the fact that I now have 1J plates...it's that the new plates are SO ugly...they just print the numbers on and there's no dimension to the plates...they look cheapy and look like I drew on the numbers with a Sharpie.  I nicely told the car registration lady that I thought the plates were ugly.  So, maybe she'll put in a complaint for me.  Hopefully.  I worry about Idaho's future if we have such ugly licence plates...it just poorly represents our state when we travel.  I'll get over it sometime soon I'm sure.  

Anyway, I also found this...

in the Post Register.  I just thought it was funny because if you look above the 50 it says in small letters "Belated."  So, "Happy Belated 50th Birthday!"  I just think 'come on people...if you are on the ball enough to actually put an ad in the newspaper to wish someone a happy birthday then at least get the ad in on time.'

Newspaper birthday ads aren't for underachievers...99 cent Hallmark cards are. I'm just saying...save yourself the money next time and buy a funny belated birthday card.  

And lastly, to complete this post about things in the News, I just have to say that if any of you out there have not yet had the pleasure of reading the comments that people leave on KSL.com articles, then you should...because they are hilarious.  Just go to KSL.com, chose pretty much any article and click on the "comments" button to read what people have to say.  It doesn't really matter what the article is about because the comments may start off pertaining to the actual article but no matter what the subject matter is the comments will inevitably end up being about:

Mormons versus non-Mormons

Conservatives versus Liberals

Dog lovers versus dog haters

Climate change believers versus those who think Al Gore is full of it

Glen Beck lovers versus Glen Beck haters

Atheists versus Believers

Gun lovers versus gun haters

Hunters versus non-hunters

Citizens versus Illegal Immigrants

Latinos versus Whites

Whites versus Blacks

Blacks versus Asians

Obama lovers versus Obama haters

Christians versus Muslims

People who think Sarah Palin is an idiot versus people from Alaska, 

and etc!

If you don't believe me, just go look up a few articles...very funny.  Currently I recommend the article about the pastor dude who wants to burn Korans on September 11th, any article about child molesters, any articles about the LDS church, and, my personal favorite, the article entitled "Dogs have their day at West Valley pool."  

The article talks about how at the end of the swimming season they have a day at the West Valley pool where you can bring your dog and let it go swimming.  Supposedly they clean the pool thoroughly afterwards but it still sounds pretty disgusting to me.  But, then again, I'm not really a fan of public pools even after just humans have been swimming, I'm slightly OCD, and I am not a lover of dogs.  

In closing let me just share some direct quotes from the comments left from the "Dogs have their day at West Valley pool" article.  I haven't changed anything...spelling, grammar, anything, but I have added italics for emphasis.  Enjoy! (comments may not be suitable for young children) 

How is that inappropriate its the truth i would rather swim with my dogs than an illegal. at least they are checked out by a vet for diseases which is more than you can say for the average illegal

Yeah,like we don't know the way they clean! a hookworm can get inside of you, trough your pores and the sole of your feet ,and it will travel to your internal organs like the kidneys and liver,and they will even invade your pupil's ! google it! I dare you!

Umm, don't beleive eerything you read on the interwebs. And if you do, just google "hookworm chlorine". Chlorine kicks the hookworm's butt!

Hookworms,Saliva,Feces,Anus. All the crap that yo get in the tamalies illegal aliens sell in the Walmart parking lot.

Then all you have to do is ,STOP eating them! and go and drink the water from that swimming pool! hehehe...

Yeah, take some water from the swimming pool (AFTER THE DOGS SWIM IN IT) and use it for ice water for your family!

I have a Mexican lady make me Tamales at my house and it is ssssooooo ggggoooooodddd!!

WOW....Your life must be so miserable. You need to get that treated. Germaphoebe. I bet your a hermit that never leaves her house and constantly uses the hand sanitizer.

id rather swim with an illegal than beck but id still rather swim with my dogs than either of them

I will swim with my 2 year old golden retriever, way before I swim with your 2 year old child.

I think I saw a dog there doing the "person paddle"

So yeah, somehow we got from diseases dogs would bring to the pool to illegal immigrants, to tamales from the Walmart parking lot, to Glen Beck, to babies pooping in pools, and we ended with a joke.  Where do these people come from, seriously?  

I can't believe there's someone out there who would rather swim with a dog then an illegal immigrant...and one guy would rather swim with a dog before swimming with either an illegal immigrant OR Glen Beck.  

I, personally, know a lot of illegal immigrants I'd be glad to go swimming with.  And, Glen Beck wouldn't be too bad either.  I don't see him as the "goes to the bathroom in the pool" type so I can't see what would be so bad about swimming with him.  I guess he does cry a lot...but tears are the least disgusting body fluid there is...so a few tears shed in the pool wouldn't be too big of a deal for me.  

So, Glen and all the illegals out there...pool party at my house!  

That is when I get a pool.  Oh, and when I get a house.  

Someday. 

The end.