Summer In The City

For those that don't know, I will be living in New York City for the summer (June-August). I landed an internship with MTV and it's too good an opportunity to pass up.

The bad news: I have to leave my sweetheart wife in Utah. Manda has an amazing job and it's not worth her quitting for a 10-week stint in NYC. It's going to be way sad to not have her with me but I know it will go by fast.

The fact that i got the internship is random, but I applied and had a series of lengthy phone interviews and I guess they liked what they heard!

I will be working in many facets of the network. Working with live events and production, screening music videos and reality shows before they air, ensuring the quality of content, dealing with First Amendment rights, and I'm sure much more.

I'm sure some of you are thinking..."Is this kids just going to be a career intern?" The answer is, no. The reality is, I need to make myself as valuable as possible for my future career, whatever that may be, and internships are where you get experience that puts you on top.

Furthermore, I will take the opportunity I have in New York to network and hopefully do some cool jobs on the side.

It will be an amazing, fun, bittersweet summer and it's a chance I have to take.

New York...Here I come!

Random...

Resistance Bands Upgrade Kit - P90X® Equipment

Up next, my star on the Hollywood Walk-of-Fame! :)

A Little Something I Like to Call...Manners

Just yesterday I visited my favorite health food restaurant (Subway). It was at about 2 in the afternoon so the place was like a ghost town and only had one person working.

As I walked near the door, this short and rather portly fellow, with a horrible mustache walked in front of me, beating me inside. I didn't mind much seeing we were the only customers in the store.

We stood next to each other for a minute waiting for the nice lady to greet us. I just remember he kept letting out these loud exhales. The kind my mom does when she is annoyed at somebody/something...

"Seafood isn't a five dollar one anymore?!" he brutely exclaimed. She shook her head.

"Oh wow! Ok, fine, give me the black forest ham!"

"Now, I want the mustard on the bottom slice of bread..." She gladly puts the mustard on.

"Well, that's the top bread! I said bottom!" She sadly smiled at him and scraped the mustard off.

After he demanded all his veggies he took out his subway points card and then demanded that she add points to it. "I want you to put points on this, ok!!?"

It was finally my turn to be helped. So I thought...

"Do you guys have freshly-sliced lemon wedges??!!" She shook her head.

"Are you serious?!?" he said.

She finally got to start on my sub. Just a simple turkey on wheat with lettuce, green peppers , tomatoes and banana peppers. (The perfect sub if you ask me.)

"Oh, wait, your Diet Coke is out!!" he yelled. She ran to the back to check.

"Oh, wait, maybe not. Let me taste it. Eh, it's decent I guess. Every other drink is bad tasting!"

The worst part about this whole scene is he would look at me every time he said something. I'll admit, a dirty look or two escaped my face in his direction. The dirtiest being the Diet Coke thing. I just wanted my sub and wanted to get out of there.

The moral of this story...don't be a jerk.

A Lesson We Can All Learn From

The other day Manda and I were having a discussion and for some reason I uttered the phrase, "Open Sesame!" Manda replied, "Did you just say sesame??" I nodded and gave her a curious look. She gave me the same curious look. "It's open says me...," she said.

I had a good laugh and was obliged to tell her she was wrong. She didn't believe me, stating the word "sesame" didn't make sense when wanting something open. She didn't believe me until I found this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Baba

It's actually quite entertaining to read but all you need to know about Ali Baba is...

"The young Ali Baba works collecting and cutting firewood (a valuable commodity) in the forest, and one day he happens to overhear a group of forty thieves visiting their treasure store in the forest. The treasure is in a cave, the mouth of which is sealed by magic. It opens on the words "Open, Simsim" (commonly written as "Open Sesame" in English), and seals itself on the words "Close, Simsim" ("Close Sesame"). When the thieves are gone, Ali Baba enters the cave himself, and takes some of the treasure home."

There ya have it.

Love you Manda Bear!

Just For Laughs

Here's a couple videos that make me laugh really hard.

The first one is apparently a phenomenon in of itself but I just saw it for the first time today and can't stop laughing!

Enjoy!

Let it begin...

Tonight I registered for the Salt Lake City Half Marathon. It'll be my second half marathon (second time running the Salt Lake Half) and though the training process is long and tedious, I'm looking forward to reaping the rewards. Plus, two halves make a WHOLE marathon, right? :)

Well, wish me luck. My eight-week training countdown is underway. Photos and updates to come.

Quote of the night

Last night Amanda and I paid a visit to the Olive Garden in Sandy.

When we arrived, the kind host immediately asked, "Party of 3??"

I stopped and gave a quick glance behind me and looked back to the host with a confused look.

He said, "I'm sorry, I have no idea why I said 3!"

I said, "It's because I'm eating for two!"

Again, awkward silence hit. "Did I just say that," I thought to myself.

I had to say something quickly and uttered, "I mean, I'm a big guy and can eat a lot."

Amanda just laughed her head off and I felt like a dope.

Oh well, here's to being able to laugh at yourself.

The Year In Photos

2009 has come and gone. It's been a very eventful year and we squeezed in quite a bit. From Snowshoeing and Graduation to chicken fights and marriages to New York and Hawaii...'09 will be remembered!

Have a look at the best photos of the year!

Avatar

I am a movie buff. Plain and simple.

However, that doesn't mean that I love every movie that passes by on a wagon. On the contrary, my love has given me a critics eye that allows me to distinguish the muck from the marvelous.

Movies are meant to entertain, inspire and show us a world that is different from our own. Allow us to forget our worries and get lost in the story.

Avatar does just that.

Before I saw this movie, I didn't know too much about it. I knew the very basic plot behind it but that's all. It's the first film James Cameron has done since Titanic so, I figured it was worth it.

It was amazing! It's over 2 1/2 hours long but unlike other long movies, it didn't feel like it. I was so caught up in the amazing world that Cameron had created that I didn't want it to end!

It takes place in 2154 when Earth is drying up and needs a precious resource that is light years away in space. A coalition of scientists and mercenaries are hired to obtain the substance. The humans attempt to infiltrate the indigenous people on the planet by using Avatars, a genetically-grown body made up of human and the native DNA...

Here, have a look at the trailer...



Sure, the movie is make-believe and sci-fi and all that. But, if you can accept that you are at the movies and not watching CNN then you will love this show! It has a very gripping story and the special effects are unlike anything you have ever seen before. In a time when Hollywood is popping out horrible movies like Zombieland and New Moon, Avatar is a breath of fresh air.

It's the best movie I have seen in a long time and give you the Sanchez Guarantee that you will like it, and we all know that the S.G. is as good as gold!

...The Latest...

So, I have been busy at work for the Jazz as of late.

I'm interning for the Jazz in the game operations dept. In a nutshell, I coordinate everything that happens at a game. Contests, promotions, dancers, give-aways, performers, videos, all of it. It's a great job and I can't believe how lucky I am when I work. I never want it to end!

This is me at a game wearing the famed headset.

I also have another job with the Jazz. I write blogs for the Jazz's website, jazzbots.com. It's great and I have a platform to express my opinions/views and it's sweet. Most people think writing for the blog is in conjunction with my internship but the jobs are completely unrelated and I landed them in different ways.


This is the jazzbots team. I'm the tall one in the middle.

In fact, what's to follow will be submitted as a blog for jazzbots.

I have been writing a string of blogs that have to do with my experiences as an intern. This is some of my experiences and observations that I've had thus far...

*First and foremost I want the world to know that I love my job and can't believe that I get the honor of working so closely with the world's greatest athletes.

*The majority of the team is so nice and will always stop what they're doing for a quick chat.

*C.J. Miles works extremely hard and I see him run line-drills by himself before every game.

*Baron Davis' beard is real. I overheard a conversation in which Marcus Camby accused him of using rogaine on his face. Baron playfully declined.

*Shane Battier is a really good guy. He took a break from shooting around before a game and sat next to me. We talked for a good 5 minutes about Utah, Duke, and how much he loves soccer.

*Ronnie Brewer is humble. I asked him what his favorite part about playing in the NBA is and he said how nice everyone is. Something like, "I'm just a kid from Arkansas..."

*My job is to coordinate all the promos, contests, performers, etc during timeouts. As a fan, it looks like everything goes off perfectly and it's so well-done. That may be the case but you'll never believe how often things come together at the last second. For example...during the Indiana Pacers game on 12/4, I was running a contest on the court during a timeout and once it was over, I had to sprint to the ticket lobby to meet the people from tucano's who would be giving food away to a lucky section during the very next timeout. We barely got them to the portal with about 3 seconds to spare.

*Dwight Howard really does have the broadest shoulders this world has ever seen.

*My favorite part is always standing on the court during the national anthem and introductions. Goosebumps.

*Memo Okur is the best dressed player on the team. He always color coordinates his sweaters with his sneakers.

*Carlos Boozer is easily the funniest player on the team and is always cracking jokes.

*I know the true identity of the Jazz Bear. I will say this...he's a good guy and a little crazy.

*Patrick Ewing is a class-act. I was standing about 5 feet away the other night and he walked up to me stuck out his hand and said, "I'm Patrick, it's a pleasure to meet you." I was speechless and all I could do is smile and I think I got "likewise" out. Wow.

*Craig Bolerjack is just what you think he would be like. Funny, nice and just all around cool. I take every chance I get to talk to him about anything/everything.

*I work directly with the Jazz Dancers and they practice A LOT and are great dancers. They don't get the credit they deserve.

*I'm the guy that picks the contestants for the contests during timeouts and the whole experience is a good time. (I plan to post an entire blog about this soon.)

*I overheard Tony Parker and a Jazz fan have a conversation in French. I took two years of high school French, so I couldn't make out too much but it was more or less trash talking. and it was hilarious!

*Matt Bonner of the Spurs spends more time shooting before games than anyone I've ever seen.

*When the Kings were in town, I was standing near a group of Kings discussing the altitude in Utah. They wanted to know how high up the were and I leaned in and said "ya know how they say Denver is a mile high? Well, Utah is 3 miles." Each one of them believed me and Tyreke Evans gave me a look that can only be classified as horror.

*Wesley Matthews is the best thing to hit the Jazz in a long time. Not only is he a quality player but he's a quality human too. Always so polite and willing to help me or the marketing dept with anything.

I could go on forever and perhaps I'll do another observations post in the future.