The Twenty-Fourth Year - 2003

During the summer of 2003 Matt and I had a great time working together. There were several weekends he and I would cut out of work on Fridays and head out to California to surf in Carlsbad. Matt had a few friends that were working selling pest control there so we had a free place to stay when we went down. Matt had just gotten a new Honda Civic too, so gas was pretty cheap. I never got super good at surfing, but the trips were great. My first time out it was FREEZING. I remember shivering so hard in my wet suit that I couldn't even hold on to my surf board. The next few trips were much better. On one trip my younger brother Brandt came with us. On the way back, I was driving, only going maybe 95mph (with the flow of traffic that day). Unfortunately, the road up ahead was lined with state patrol cars pulling over speeders right and left - it was by far the most expensive ticket I have ever gotten... I think that was that last surfing trip I took - couldn't afford it after that.

Later that summer I started the hunt for a car. I searched every listing, in print and on line, for weeks. I knew I wanted a Honda - best car maker ever. I found a '93 Accord that I went to test drive. I didn't LOVE it, but it seemed like it would be an okay car - but I wanted to sleep on it. The next day, I found a '97 Civic. The ad was posted just moments before I found it. The seller lived just down the street. I contacted her and JoLynn drove me over to test drive. I fell in LOVE the first time I got in. She was perfect - she was "precious to me" (Gullom). The seller said she had just gotten a job out east and was not taking the car with her. It had 133,000 miles on it - most of which were open highway miles from going between AZ and Cali. She was the car's second owner and was asking $5,500. I told her I have $5k, I'll take it right now. She accepted and I drove Precious home.

At the end of the summer I headed back up to BYU. Everything I owned fit in that car - in fact, up until I got married everything I owned still could fit in that car.

Back at BYU, I got a new apartment with the same roommates I had the previous semester - Will and Buddy. They also brought with them another Canadian, Jason Low. the four of us lived in FoxWood Apartments, unit number four. I loved living with those three Canucks. We spent almost every night watching Sports Center on ESPN. We also played BYU intramural basketball together. It was always fun playing with Will, he was tall, but lazy, and refused to jump because it was "a waste of energy." Buddy's laugh was infectious. He used to get a kick out of mine and Will's long toes - sometimes when Will and I were laying on the floor watching TV Buddy used to try and get Will and I to "hold toes." Lord of The Rings, The Two Towers came out in 2002. The four of us loved the movie (Buddy and I used to talk like Smeagal and Gullom to each other). The movie had finally gone to dollar theaters and we went to see it - at the WORST dollar theater in the world. I think it was in American Fork (the only dollar theater showing it at the time). Half the chairs were missing from the theater and it was flooded (hopefully just with water) down by the screen and the chairs had NO padding... literally. Despite all that, we stayed the entire three plus hours to see the movie.

I think 2003 was the year I spent Christmas alone. I had just started a new job (quit my remote job with PracticeMax) in October. I started working as a receptionist for Trophy Homes. I didn't really have time off, or the money, to make a trip down to AZ to be with family. So I stayed in Utah and just spent the holiday alone. It was interesting being the ONLY person in the entire two buildings at FoxWood for almost two weeks. I went three days straight without leaving my apartment or seeing another human being. I basically spent the time watching Finding Nemo (my parents sent it to me for Christmas) and all my other Disney animated movies. As sad of a Christmas as it could have been, I actually liked the experience, but I would never want to do it again.

During the winter semester of 2004 (January - April) I started looking more into the idea of going into occupational therapy for a career; even did some job shadowing. The University of Utah was one of few schools that still offered OT as a bachelor's degree so I decided to transfer to the U to try and get in the program. Of course, physical therapy was actually my preferred choice, but I really didn't want to sacrifice the time to get a four year degree in something else in order to try to get into a master's program for PT. So I decided to settle and make the move. After winter semester ended I started my applications to go to the U.