A new year/A new ewe

I couldn't help it. Well it is December 31st and I am already packed to head back to Nampa on the night of Jan. 2nd. That says something right there.

It has been a great year! A year full of fun, lots of fun, new friends, old friends, family, school, spring break trips, Christmas time, a crazy internship, a new house, good movies, new music, loves/heartaches (not sure), adventures, hikes, reading, pranks, checking things off the "list"(Friendly Freds, Library), and much much more. I thought about doing a Top 10 for 2007 and thought about posting a bunch of pics of stuff that happened throughout the year but I'm not going to. It would be nice, but it is over and done with. We know what happened, we lived it.

So as the clock turns and starts a brand new year, I want everyone to not hold back and let life take over. Go out have some fun, enjoy life, go on an adventure, meet new friends, reconnect with old ones, clean-out your closet, give some stuff away, read more, listen to new/old music, just do something out of the ordinary to spice up life. It doesn't have to be drastic.

I'm just excited to be alive, healthy (other than my healing ankle), and have great friends and a family that loves me. I can't ask for more. I am thankful for the blessings and protection that have been given to me this last year; there were many a times when I could have easily died or been seriously hurt. I can only thank God for watching out for me; I ask Him to continue doing so in the up-coming year. I know we all have a lot on our plates: work, family, church, hobbies, graduation, trips, after school, etc. but don't worry yourself to death. This new year is going to be one of greatness. Live it to its fullest.

Happy New Year to all!

Kudos

This is mainly just me being really excited and bragging. So to preface this, most of you know that I am working on my senior film, "Pandora's Box", and that I am shooting on 16mm film. I applied for a film grant, Oppenheimer Grant, which gives filmmakers a high quality film camera, all sorts of camera accessories, tripod, and much more. I received news tonight that I was accepted for the grant. I am really excited and nervous for this great opportunity. I know that I'll do my best and appreciate all of the work, thoughts, prayers, and encouragement from all of you. I hope it comes out.

(fingers crossed)

Panda, but hold the express please.

So today I went into Anchorage with my dad, who had some work to do, so I tagged along with him, as well as Brad. Brad and I went to malls and shops while my dad went to various meetings. For lunch we went to my most favorite restaurant "Panda", that's it; that's the whole name. It is a local Chinese restaurant which used to be a Dunkin Donuts (my dad always says that to people). Anyhoo. I took Andrew and Matt here when they were up in Alaska (hope you guys remember it). This is where my dad knows all of the Chinese women and they know him. They always come up and say things like "O Mr. Hackett you have such a great looking son." and "O Mr. Hackett you have such a great family."

I just wanted to share my happiness with all of you readers. If you are ever in Anchorage, Alaska and I'm not here, then go to 605 E. Northern Lights Blvd. Across from the Sears Mall and ask for the number 1 with chicken.

enjoy.

Movie Talkers

I just recently saw "No Country For Old Men" again with my dad and Brigid. It was indeed better the second time. That's beside the point here, in our movie, sitting in the row in front of us to the right was this lady and her teenaged son who were continually talking loud about the movie. I did a very good job ignoring them until the very end of the movie, in which they didn't like the outcome and they decided to holler out their opinion so everyone could hear. This is where I just snapped, I was upset with her for ruining my movie experience.

As we walked out of the movie I kept thinking what right does she have to say that the ending was bad and that we wanted to hear her opinion at all. It was just real frustrating. When I was waiting for my dad and Brigid to come out of the restrooms, I followed them and took there picture. Here they are:

Rate Your Pain

Today I visited with the doctor to see what is the deal with my ankle and here is what we found out: I'm a level 4 on the pain scale. I know most of you have heard the Brian Regan skit about breaking a femur and what-not and when the nurse came in, she showed me the above chart to point out the level of pain that I was in. I looked at it for a little bit, then looked at her, then looked at the chart and pointed to the 4 and said "Maybe a four. I'm not real sure about rating my pain; I can't ever justify rating something above a 6" she then made some corny joke about "Well if you were at a 10 you would definitely know." I just looked at her and then I said "Well maybe, I'd probably still lowball it cause I can always think of something a little more painful like a car crushing your body." She wrote something down on the chart (probably about my comments) then she went to get the doctor.

I got some X-rays and nothing is broken, thankfully but I did tear a lot of nerves and shifted my ankle a bit, but he said with some "exercises", daily icing, and an ace bandage it should be back to normal in a couple weeks. While he was looking at my ankle he asked me to take off my sock and I was like "Well I don't have the best feet." he said he'd seen a lot of bad fee, but when I took off my sock, he just stared at my feet for like a minute or two not saying anything just looking and I asked him if there was something wrong and he just said "No, nothing at all." It was very strange.

So he pulled, twisted, and shoved my ankle all over and it popped a couple times then he put some sticky pads all over my ankle and did some sort of electric shock therapy. It felt like my foot was falling asleep, it was all tingly. They wanted to have it just below a level of discomfort so they would turn up the level then tell me to say "when." I wanted to see how much I could endure so they were just turning it up and looking at me and I just looked at them and they turned it up more until the electricity was so much that it was making my toes move by themselves so I told them to back it off a bit cause it was indeed hurting. I've never done that sort of stuff before so it was pretty neat. I just laid there and watched my toes curl up and twitch; I was laughing out loud in this room; then a nurse would walk in to see if I was alright. They probably thought I was crazy.

All in all I will be fine. I just thought I'd tell you that I'm a level 4.

(I took this pic with my cell phone, while the nurse wasn't looking; wasn't sure what their policy was)

Birthday Wrecker

Yes, today was indeed my birthday. I would like to thank everyone for the gifts, calls, texts, facebook messages, and even blog posts (Andrew). I really enjoyed Andrew's blog posts, they made me laugh.

So today, a group of us went "sledding" up at a local mountain pass, to be more specific Hatcher's Pass. We brought 2 cars full of people and sleds and hot chocolate. It was perfect weather conditions, clear and no wind, so I was thinking it was going to be a great time even though I forgot my snowboard helmet and goggles at school (my usual gear for sledding). This is not any old sledding hill, this is Mile 16 trail where there are random boulders, creeks, drop-offs, dips, large bushes, and even moose between you and the parking lot at the bottom. It usually takes about 8-9 minutes on average to sled all the way down this "tail", a very loose term. There are many different paths you can take, and they all lead to the same area, some more challenging than others, but no signs to say that.

On our first run, I grabbed the new red plastic toboggan and headed down the steep drop-off at the beginning with snow spraying in my face; right then I knew it was going to be a good day! Getting back into the groove of carving with this sled, I decided to get more adventurous and go on my knees (more speed, better control) it all sounded good in my head except I didn't take into account of how long the toboggan was. So as I would go down a quick drop-off, and then there would be a jump, the long toboggan would come to a dead stop not being able to go any farther (not sure if this makes sense, but it sure does to me) and it would send me flying and one time my knees smashed into a boulder. Anyway...

In years past I would always be real careful and wear protective gear, helmet mainly, because I once flew off my sled and hit my head against a boulder, luckily that was the year I got my helmet. Cheese! (No clue). But this is a new year, I'm older, more "crazy" so I decided to go down a part of the mountain that I normally don't go down. Along with not having my glasses on (messing with my depth perception) and the fresh snow (so you couldn't really tell when bumps and jumps were coming along) I went for it. I ended up soaring down this drop-off and smashing my body into a boulder, with my right foot flying out front to try and "hit the break"; my foot hit the rock and my body came crashing into it making my toes touch my shin (most people know that I am not flexible anyway (i can't even touch my toes)) I heard a pop and felt a crack in my ankle; needless to say I laid on the ground for a good 10-15 min frustrated knowing that I wasn't even 1/2 way down the mountain and I just hurt my ankle. I tried to get up, but the pain was too much to handle at first.

To make a long story short, my ankle is really swollen, not sure what's wrong with it but I'm going in tomorrow to get it looked at. I can't put much weight on it but I'm sure its fine (positive mental attitude). Sadly I ended the fun sledding time making everyone finish up there run and then we headed home. Wish you were all here to experience this fun time, no really. I mean this; it was a beautiful day and would've been fun. O-well I ruined my own birthday, fancy that.

Merry Christmas!

I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas! I hope you have a great day with your friends and family. Take advantage of this time with your loved ones. Remember the reason for our celebration:

Isaiah 9:6
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Also there is a little humorous truth in Blink-182's song "I Won't Be Home For Christmas". I felt like this a couple times so far. (This one is for Andrew)

It’s Christmas time, again
It’s time to be nice to the people you can’t stand, All year
I’m growing tired of all this Christmas cheer
You people scare me
Please stay away from my home
If you don’t want to get beat down
Just leave the presents and then leave me alone.

Old Bands

Tonight as I was surfing the internet, I wanted to listen to something that I haven't listened to in awhile so I remembered a couple of bands that really influenced me as a youth and I looked them up since I thought they were no longer bands anymore. Well I was wrong; one band, Slick Shoes, has started another band called Sigmund (they're on myspace) then the other band, Dogwood, is still a band. It is great to find out that these bands are still around making the same old music they used to play. They both have new cds or ep's, which really excites me. I have now started listening to these bands' older songs to get me pumped for them again.

Also another music related thingy. Last night, my dad and I watched a Paul McCartney concert on tv. It was awesome! He played so many great songs from The Beatles, Wings, and then from his regular band; we both sat around singing along with the Paris crowd. That is a concert that I would love to go to someday. There is something about being older and going to a concert and singing along and being just really pumped about being there; that's how this crowd was like and that's how I'd like to be when I get older.

So I challenge you to look through some of the music that you used to listen to and look them up or just go back and listen to some of these bands that shaped our lives whether it be AC/DC, Blink-182, DC Talk, Michael Buble, Michael Jackson, or Larnell Harris (only some of you will know who he is).

In the words of my good friend Andrew Stout, "A deal's a deal!" (no clue but it sounded good)

Does it seem like Christmas?

Today as I rode into Anchorage with m dad and Brigid, I totally didn't think that it was Christmas Eve. It just didn't seem like it was almost Christmas time. So throughout the day as we ran last minute errands and watched a movie, I kept on having to remind myself that it was Christmas Eve. Weird I know. It just didn't feel like it because of a lot of different things: not the typical white christmas that I always have pictured in my mind, it is still real hard adjusting to having Brigid and her kids around, our house is not in the usual decorations (which I like how Brigid decorated), none of the usual Christmas goodies, frosted sugar cookies, candy cane cookies (sorry Becca), no holiday puzzle to work on, no opening of a present on Christmas eve.

I know that times have changed since my mom passed away, but there are just certain things that make it Christmas time for me and I miss them. I know dad and Brigid work really hard to make it seem like home and Christmas time, but it just feels like I'm in someone else's house. As Christmas morning is approaching I can only try and remember how our Christmas' used to be. Brigid is going into work tomorrow for a couple of hours so my dad and I are going to wait for her to come home before we open some gifts, then we are going to wait for her 2 kids, Brad and Kim. Just not the norm for the Hackett family.

To change gears a little, I want to tell of what our Christmas traditions and Christmas day used to be like. Well on Christmas Eve the whole family would get to open one present from a non-immediate family member. We would always work on a holiday Thomas Kincaid puzzle (mom would usually be the only working on it and leo would help; I would only do a little cause puzzles frustrate me but I liked to hide a piece so I could finish it). Mom would make special Christmas cookies as mentioned above and I would eat them by the handfuls cause they were sooo good.

On Christmas day, we would get up and open our stockings first, then break for some breakfast then gather back into the living room. Usually a person (me) would be Santa and give one gift to each person and we would open gifts up from youngest to oldest (i always started). We would open up a gift at a time and write down on our own pad of paper what we got and who we got it from so we could write them a thank you letter until we were all out of gifts. Dad normally takes a picture after every gift and makes you grudgingly hold it up and smile in your best morning hair look. We clean up then mom and dad start cooking lunch/dinner.

I'm not sure how it is exactly going to go tomorrow/this morning, but it'll be similar to the way I mentioned it a couple paragraphs above. Yes it'll be a little awkward and hard, but that is life and we must continue onward.

Have a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy your family and remember why we are celebrating.

Journal Thoughts #1

As I stated before, only if you read the previous post, that I bought a pocket journal and have started jotting things down that I need to remember, things that inspire me, things that baffle me, and so on. Get the point? Hope so. I just want to share a few things that I wrote down today:

The first is from the famous Christmas song "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" which was sung at church this Sunday morning. The phrase: "Born that man no more may die". This just really meant a lot to me during this season; Jesus came as a baby so no more people would "die". He saved us from eternal death, giving us everlasting life. I just really like it.

There is a great Christmas song that was sung during church this Sunday, but it wasn't done with justice (sorry Dad and Brigid, they were in the choir). An a cappella group that our family grew up to, Glad, was all I heard while the choir was singing it. I love how it talks about his birth but then to his plan here on earth then to his resurrection to his return. I love the words of the third verse. Good stuff. Here's the words:

In the first light of a new day
No one knew He had arrived
Things continued as they had been
While a new born softly cried.

But the heavens wrapped in wonder
Knew the meaning of His birth
In the weakness of a baby
They knew God had come to earth.

As His mother held him closely,
It was hard to understand
That her baby not yet speaking
Was the Word of God to man.

He would tell them of His kingdom,
But their hearts would not believe
They would hate Him and in anger
They would nail Him to a tree.

But the sadness would be broken
As the song of life arose
And the First born of creation
Would ascend and take his throne.

He has left it to redeem us,
But before His life began
He knew He´d come back not as a baby
But as The Lord of ev´ry man.

Hear the angels as they´re singing
On the morning of His birth
But how much greater will our song be
When He comes again
When He comes again

Hear the angels as they´re singing
On the morning of His birth
But how much greater will our song be
When He comes again to Earth

When He comes to rule the Earth!

Then the second to last thing was that I forgot Becca's birthday. It was in July and I want to say sorry and that I have it written down and inputed into my calendar so I hope I do better this next year :)

The last thing I want to share is something else that happened in church today. My dad and Brigid were in the church Christmas choir, and they did great! Except I don't think my dad got the memo, e-mail, text, or something about the dress code. Most of the people were wearing a variation of reds, blacks, and whites, but my dad wore a BRIGHT green sweater. It was hilarious; he was right in the middle of the group so he wasn't really hidden. When I saw this I knew I had to jot it down and share it. It was really funny. If Adam was there he would've said something like "Oh Herbie!" (my dad's name is Leonard, not Herbie).

PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST!!!

A lot has happened

Well a lot has happened since last post. It warmed up to about 25 F. WOOHOO!! So I spend all my day outside on our lake plowing snow for an ice rink, then I shoveled it, then I hot mopped most of it. Not the best ice rink I've ever made but its alright. I then skated out on a different part of my lake for a couple of hours and I fell once making a nice mark on my knee.

I finished all of my Christmas shopping; went into the ole Anchor-town with my buddy Mike and finished the job while getting some stuff of my own. I got a sweet little pocket journal to jot stuff down. Try it out, it is pretty sweet. I have to shout out to Ian and Nate cause I saw them doing this at school (you guys are awesome!). I'll get back to that in a bit.

Mike and I got lunch with my great Alaskan pal, Mr. Nicholas Hale. We had a great time telling stories and laughing. He's a great man! I'm trying to convince him to come on Spring Break with us, so we'll see. (Fingers Crossed)

I have skated a lot, all over the lake. I saw 5 frozen fish in the lake. Pretty cool, but they were small fishies. I would put on my princess leah headphones (as Andrew likes to call them) and listen to my iPod when I skate. So relaxing. I just go around from open spot to open spot looking down into the lake looking for something, anything. Then if I find something I'll lay on the ice with my face pressed against the ice observing. I'll have to take some pics maybe tomorrow.

Well it finally snowed here today!! It snowed about 5 to 6 inches. It was really pretty. I tried to catch some snowflakes in my mouth but I think I was unsuccessful, don't ask.

A lot has happened, but there is still more to come.

A favorite American pastime

Well yesterday, Friday, night my best friend, Mike, came and picked me up from home and we went into his part of town, Peter's Creek. We went down the road to a middle school where we usually go ice skating. When we got there, there were 3 other people skating but we noticed that the ice was the best we've ever seen. It was like a zamboni was just there. PERFECT CONDITIONS, except it was a little cold but luckily we were wearing long johns. If you don't have any, go to Wal-Mart and go buy some, they're the best. We played a pickup hockey game with the three people there, so it was Mike and I vs. an older guy, a younger boy, and a younger girl. We won! Mike and I had a lot of fun playing. I wish all of you could come up and go ice skating, it was so great! Enjoy some pics.







Here are 2 pics that I took yesterday. This is my dad with Mr. J on his lap; then this is Matty sleeping on the back of the couch.

That "What If..." Game

Well to be honest I do not really enjoy the "What if..." Game. I have a hard time cause I'm so realistic in my thinking but hey this'll be fun.

What if I had a real superpower: I like the idea of flying (it be sweet), super strength (would be nice for flipping cars over, i like that idea for some reason), but I think I'd like to teleport. Let's be honest, flying seems to be the fan favorite, but after awhile it may get boring so a quick zap and you're there would be nice. You don't have to worry about taking pee brakes or constantly changing the time on your watch.

What if I could live in any country for a year which one would it be: Good question! I had to break out an atlas to freshen up on my countries. Well I have 3: China, India, and Italy. I feel like each country has so much to offer with large cities, vast wilderness (Italy has the Alps), and great culture. I did consider Djibouti, Algeria, and Tajikistan, but I probably wouldn't fit in real well.

What if I could be in a band, which one: The first band that came to mind was Blink-182, I love them, but I don't think that's the right one for me. I think a jam band, kinda like the Collective, is where I'd most enjoy. Dave Matthew's Band and Red Hot Chili Peppers came to mind. I know the Chili Peppers aren't known for being a jam band, but they have so much energy that it would always be such a great time playing. I think my ultimate choice would be Dave Matthew's even though I'm not a real big fan of them. I like their older stuff more, but the Live in Central Park cd is fantastic. They know how to jam.

What if I could have any animal as a pet what would it be: Well this one is easy but yet hard. I would love to have a dog of my own, but that is just boring. Ever since I was in high school I have always wanted a pet pig (his name would be Hodge Podge) and a little penguin (his name would be wilbur). I think if they were friends it would be the bestest duo of pets.

Well I think I'm all out of good ones; I thought of some other ones but they weren't good enough to get written down. If you have any other what if's let me know.

Mr. & Mrs. Right

I've been thinking about Andrew's post of the conversation between him and his sister as well as some things happening around here. I used to be really self-conscious about what I wore, how I acted in public places, and around just being around girls, but I say "why can't I be me?" I feel like I have been straying away from this falsity that society has been trying to push on us and many have fallen into. Who cares what people at stores think of you? I'm not going to change who I am to try and impress someone at a store.

Andrew's sister is most likely just looking out for her daughter and her little brother's well-doing, but I say let your hair grow Andrew; you'll find a great girl who will love you for you. Matt, if you love Jeopardy, CIV IV, and fast food, don't change (as much as we give you a hard time) cause a girl is going to come into your life that will want to sit down and shout out answers with you while you watch the ole Trebek. Kyle, you love math, like you really love it; you'll find a girl who may or may not be interested in math, but will like your loud laugh and the way you jump in your bed when you get really excited (heck! she'll probably jump all over the bed too). Grant! Well I know Grant will find a girl who loves him for him; she'll like the internet but probably not as much as him; I'm not sure if anyone can love it more than him.

I'm just saying, be yourself and don't worry about trying to please all these people. It's impossible. If people can't accept you for who you are, then they may not be worth your time. We need to be patient, the right girl or guy will come along. *(that guy part was not intended for Matt, but for any single female readers).

Garden State

I just watched Garden State and there were a couple quotes that I really enjoyed. Thought I'd share it with yall:

This is when they go to the canyon to the boat, they're actually leaving while its raining. (Only Living Boy in New York starts to play)

Andrew Largeman: Hey Albert
Albert: Yeah?
Andrew Largeman: Good luck exploring the infinite abyss.
Albert: Thank you, and Hey, you too


This is when Largeman and Sam are in the pool together:

Andrew Largeman: You know that point in your life when you realize that the house that you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of the sudden even though you have some place where you can put your stuff that idea of home is gone.
Sam: I still feel at home in my house.
Andrew Largeman: You'll see when you move out it just sort of happens one day one day and it's just gone. And you can never get it back. It's like you get homesick for a place that doesn't exist. I mean it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something. I miss the idea of it. Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people who miss the same imaginary place.

Just one more thing

If you haven't read Andrew's latest entry, you've gotta. It makes me laugh out loud. I'm serious, not many things do that, but this does. I could see this conversation happening while they are trying to take this picture. Check it out.

Things I love about the cold...

Since I've been home, I think this is like Day 2, I haven't really gone outside because it is stinkin cold here. Today, I think the high was just barely in the teens. So my dad and I went out for a walk after dinner, and I think it was 1 degree out...did you read that right? 1 DEGREE!!! It was really cold out and my dad wanted to go for a walk so I bundled up and it wasn't that bad. So here are some things that I love about the cold:

(No particular order)

1. Windows have a glaze of ice over them, so the world looks completely different.

2. My face gets really tight and I can't talk correctly (kinda like when we went up to the Cross in Boise)

3. My dogs have short hair so when I let them outside to go to the bathroom, they do their business really fast so I don't have to wait long.

4. The fear of getting frostbite and having a sweet story to tell.

5. When I inhale through my nose and my nose hairs freeze (All-time favorite!)

6. Seeing my breath

7. Collecting ice on my face

8. Crunching through snow (I love powder too)

9. Parking far away and walking really fast (not a run) but more like a speed walk with you hands in your pockets and your head trying to get inside your coat.

10. Walking out on my frozen lake and looking down and seeing the bubbles and the seaweed frozen.

11. Being able to come in from the cold and wrap up in a blanket, sit by a fire, and drink something warm, like hot chocolate (I'm just not a coffee fan, sorry)

If you have some favorites about the cold let me know, write a comment or something. Bundle up.

3.881

Well I just checked my grades (you should check yours if you haven't yet). I am writing this because I want to let you know how I got here. I'm not talking about it to boast or complain; I am grateful for what I earned. So I looked at my grades, hoping for all A's this semester, but instead there were 8 A's and 1 B+. The B+ came in Digital Design with Prof. Hubble.

Why? How? All questions that initially ran through my head, but then I remembered some reasons why I might have gotten this grade.

First off, Adam and I were in the class together in which we ALWAYS talk with each other. And if you know Adam, he is one of the loudest people ever...he's a McFarlane so its ok. We were threatened many a times to get separated and even thrown out of class; our final presentation in the class. Ooops. (Mistake #1)

We would always pretend to kill each other in the middle of class because we know the programs pretty well. One would attack the other with a pen or pretty much anything and the other would try and stop the attack but in the end one person would "die" and then we would fall out of our chairs and onto the floor where we wouldn't just get up, we would wait there a second to pretend to be dead. This is all during class time and we sat in the front part of the room. (Mistake #2)

I don't know if it is against school policy, but for our last big project in the class, we had to make 2 pages out of a cookbook and I knew right away that I wanted to make it a complete joke. So I pretended with the professor that I love cooking and that I was going to break out some old family recipes. I knew one of my dishes and I was excited to see if I could pull it off. A new twist on coffee: honey, sugar cubes, hot coffee, melted chocolate, and saran wrap. Yes I made a coffee called A Hot Cup of Carl. (Mistake #3)

Well these were 3 instances that I can remember from class that probably didn't help with my grade. O-well I did my best-ish.

An Alaska Welcoming

I woke up today and looked outside and was just blown away by how pretty it is up here. I originally saw the sunrising around 10ish this morning but it was too cold to go outside at the moment. So here are some pics of what I saw looking out my dining room table (but these are actually taken on our dock).

Long drives, northern lights, and dogs

Well I made it home tonight (if its Sunday) or morning (if its Monday). But I am here nonetheless. I arrived at Boise airport with my good friend, Matt; we hung out for a bit which was good. We said goodbye to Kyle and wished him the best of luck with being at home basically alone.

I want to first off commend Matt for a job well done. I hope you're glad you did it.

Well I read a lot of Crime and Punishment on the plane, but it is getting a little boring (Jenna you were right!), but I will press on. I did buy a book in Seattle and am almost done with it; it is really interesting and easy to read. So I'll finish that here shortly. I slept a little on the flight from Boise to Seattle, but non going up to Alaska. I just mainly read and listened to Josh Ritter (love him and yes Matt I might marry him).

My dad was there to pick me up, let me just say that one of my favorite feelings is having someone waiting to pick you up from the airport; you know like standing out past the security gate. It's just nice to see them and hug and say hi. It was good.

So from Anchorage to Wasilla its about an hour drive so my dad and I caught up which was nice. On the drive home we saw some Northern Lights (they were green and dancing); they were really pretty and I was so glad to see them. I hope to see them again and take pics of them to share with all of you who are not able to see them.

Once I arrived home, I brought in my bags and placed them in my "room". Its more of a workout area, which I hope to do a lot of. But then my dad let our dogs out of their room and they jumped all over me. Another one of my favorites in life is seeing my dogs; I just laid on my bed and had them run all over me and sit on my chest and lick me. I love them so much!

If you are at home, I hope you enjoy it and if you aren't (Kyle) then I hope the best for you to manage until you get there. More from me later, but now I must sleep :)

mom

During the holiday season, February, mother's day, my birthday, and random times throughout the year, I really think about my mom and how I miss her dearly, how much she has impacted my life, and how I can use my life to impact the world like she did.

I sit and remember how she took care of myself and my two brothers. She was meant to have boys cause she was a hockey, soccer, baseball, football, and basketball mom. She was there to root for us, take us to practices, congratulate us on games won, and pat us on the backs for games that we lost. I sadly have a hard time remembering times with her and any time before high school. I am not here to reflect on every little instance, but want to let you know how she has shaped me into the person I am today.

My mom was a mother, wife, daughter, sister, pastor, youth pastor, teacher, friend, colleague, and servant. She seemed to devote her life to people: not only to her family, her church, youthgroup, but also community and state. My mom worked very hard to minister to the youth; this is where her passion was. I feel like she was very successful especially remembering her funeral where hundreds of college-aged, high school, and middle school kids gathered to pay their respect to her and thank her for everything she's done for them. My mom inspired people to go to college and get a degree, to serve in church and the community, and to not ever get discouraged if something didn't happen the way you wanted it to turn out.

I would never have been here at NNU if it wasn't for my mom and dad forcing me to apply here. I thank them because they knew something that I didn't. She was supportive in everything that I did and was there for me when I was frustrated and when I had a great story to tell. There was something about her that when I was having a bad day or something was on my mind, she could sense it in my voice or see it in my eyes or something and call me out on it. I miss that dearly.

My mother instilled in me a life of love, a high respect and concern for family, a need to cherish friendships, and to live my life pleasing to God. I feel like I have stayed close to each of these, but as like in everything, I could use improvement.

The day my mother passed away, I was the only one in the room with her; I am so glad to be there with her especially since I just arrived home the morning before. I sat with her and talked with her about how much she meant to me and how I love her as well as my great adventure driving up to Alaska. She wasn't in the normal mindset, but I know she heard me. After talking with her I just sat there with her listening to some of her favorite songs, this is where she really inspired me. Even when she was not in the normal mental state, she could still sing along to praise and worship songs. She lived out her faith even up to the very end praising her Lord and Savior. Her last breath was singing. I can only hope to do this.

With this holiday season approaching, I am trying to stray from the normal consumerism/materialistic thoughts and ideas that I usually have, and really come back to the basics. I am thankful for God sending his Son to save a sinner such as I, who may be one of the worst. I am thankful to be able to spend this time of remembrance with my family and friends as well as reflect on past memories.

Amigos

As I sit in my room alone, I had the opportunity to go hangout with some friends which I knew would be fun, but I wanted to stay at home and not leave the house. As the house is basically empty, Grant is downstairs conquering the Internet, I am thinking how I really take advantage of my friendships. The guys I live with here are great; I love each one of them and don't know what I'd do without them. I really respect Alex McCandless, but I feel like if I ever went on a journey such as his, I would need to have a good friend with me because I would want to be able to share the experience with someone else and talk with them. Adam and Andrew have left for home and they are missed. Kyle and Matt are gone to Boise and they are missed as well. I miss the Grant that's not always on the Internet. After school I am going to miss each of them and I hope that another day we'll meet up and have a great time.

Idaho Sunset

So once we got done shooting today, Andrew took us to a place that he found one day when he was out driving. It is a sweet little spot where a bus sets on top of a hill overlooking some foothills and farmlands. When we got up there the sun was setting so we decided to soak it up. It was really beautiful. I can't wait to come back to it in the spring. Enjoy some of the pics/videos.

Living Room Wall

I just want to thank everyone who has contributed to our living room wall at our house. We have a lot of different things and I for the people I know I would like to thank the sophomore girls for the polaroid photos, Amy Carroll for her door name plate, Darby for the hand drawn picture, Nate for his Crew Pass, Mikey B. for the sweet black & white photo of us in our hockey jerseys, some random person who left their license plate out at Pickle Butte, and the Sutherland dorm for the glow in the dark mask. If I forgot anyone I'm sorry and if you have anything else that would be cool on our wall bring it on over. Thanks.

Age of Innocence

So today, was a day unlike most, today was the first day of Christmas Break and no school. A great day, I'd say! Other's would come to remember this day as Ryan and Claire's wedding day, but not really for me.

We all got a late start on the day in which we got up, took "quick" showers, and headed down to the Dex where we heartbrokenly saw that the Dex was indeed not open anymore. We went home and scrounged through our food to make something for breakfast. This is besides the point really of what happened today, but it is just nice to know :)

Matt was sadly at work for most of the day. So while Andrew, Kyle, and I were laying around in our living room we wanted to do something but only had the usual things to do: watch a movie, burn something, etc. We somehow got on the subject of guns and remembered we have a .22 pistol so we looked around the house for anything we could shoot at and we grabbed an old computer monitor, a pumpkin, and an old fan. We then drove to Wal-Mart where we were being drilled with questions about our activities, since we really don't know much about guns we did seem a little suspicious. We got a box of 550 bullets and drove out to Pickle Butte.



We crossed over some frozen water and over a hill to a secluded area where we setup our targets and proceeded to puncture holes in them. It was a great time; we laughed, got scared, and froze our butts off (not me so much; I don't have much of one). The gun was a lot louder than we expected and I think each of us are still recovering from not wearing ear protection. (Always wear protection!). Lesson learned for the day. We saw a frozen bird, found a license plate for our wall, and had a great time together.









Once we were done shooting, because some 4-wheelers and dirt bikers came along, we decided for the last hoorah we would blow up the computer monitor. So we put a "works" bomb in it and waited....and waited...and waited...and waited some more. We basically waited for almost 10 minutes when Kyle and Andrew walk with their backs towards the monitor to see what was going on. They saw that it was almost ready to blow so they ran back just in time to not get killed, but it wasn't the explosion we all hoped for. Hope you enjoy the videos and pics.

It might be Thursday for you, but for Matt it's Friday

Matt stayed up all last night studying/playing a game, I don't know what he was doing, but he didn't sleep so this afternoon he came home and fell asleep. So Andrew and I always try and convince him whenever he takes a nap that he slept for 24hrs and that it is the next day. On our way to lunch, we were trying to think of how we could convince him that he did sleep to the next day; we tossed around the idea of printing a newspaper or getting a hold of a tape or something of a fake evening news for the next day. While thinking, Andrew had the great idea of possibly drugging Matt with something to make him actually sleep for 24 hrs. So if you know of any drugs or anyway to convince him that he may have slept for 24 hrs let us know cause we really want to do it.

Christmas Shopping Anyone...

Well Adam and I used spray adhesive to mount our cookbook pages to some foam core for our Digital Design final project then we mixed it with an open flame then we mixed it with a shopping cart. You know we're done with finals and we're just living life to the fullest. Grab a roasting stick and some marshmallows and enjoy!

The Prodigal Son Returns

Well I am going home in 4 days and I'm really excited cause its home. There are friends and family that I can't wait to see and hangout with.





First off, I'm really excited to see my dad, Herbie Hackett as some guys call him. I haven't seen him since the beginning of summer, even though Andrew said that my dad was down visiting a couple weeks ago at Starbucks. I must've missed him. We'll have a great time of playing with Mr. J, he's down the ladder, watching TV, shoveling snow (I hope there'll be more), and anything else that he wants to do. Also with dad, I am excited to see Brigid, I don't have any pics of her but it'll be nice to see her again and have some home cooked meals!



Next on my list is my bestest friend, Mike, or whenever I tell a story about him to anyone, my friend Mike. We'll play hockey on my lake and at the school by his house, we'll go see movies, sled, snowboard (maybe), play video games, whatever we want. It'll be just great to see him again!










Of course I couldn't forget about my two dogs, Jerry and Matty. First off let me clarify something, we call Jerry a lot of different names so if you ever hear me talk about him he may be referred to as Mr. J, Gerald, fat boy, Gerard, there's lots of names. But it's always great to see them, especially Matty (the white one) cause she's my dog. She is getting real old and probably going to die soon so this may be the last time I'll see her. Jerry and I will play a lot of rope and kong as well as chase (basically me chasing him around the house and him running scared). Matty and I will take naps together and I'll pet her a lot too!






Every time I come back home I always always always have to go and hangout with my favorite Alaskan, Mr. Nicholas Hale. Great man! It's always a ton of fun seeing him whether we cruise Anchorage, go to a hockey game, go sledding, hot tubbing, or whatever. It's going to be a time of laughter and good times. He already told me we were going out on a man-date so I need to make sure my schedule is clear for that!



And it will be great to see the Becca and the Dushkin's (I don't have a picture of Alex and Shelly). I love to go over and talk with all of them, and Grandma Jackie and Grandpa Ed about school, my summer, and anything else that's going on.

Top 10 Things I Will Miss Over Christmas Break

10- Matt boxing things around the house and singing "The Boxer" by Paul Simon

9- Grant talking about Internet stuff

8- The puppy across the street (he's so cute!)

7- The Matt Gilroy Collective

6- Tickling/Picking on Matt

5- Making fun of Andrew going to bed early (being an old man)

4- Hanging out with the sophomore girls

3- Nate (that should say enough)

2- Laying on Andrew and Matt's floor

1-Hanging out in the Dex (Living for the next meal)

M-A-T-T

M-USICALLY GIFTED (can play a mean CCR song!)

A- NNOYING (it's true, especially when I need to write a paper and you're up in my grill playing a song like "Alex is Gay" but I have to sing along to it....everytime)

T- ONGUE TRICKS (He can lick his back I think, I know I can't. That's a gift)

T- OTALLY GREAT FRIEND (as much as I make fun of him, I wouldn't trade him in for another friend...except maybe one of those robotic vacuum cleaners)


Minutes before departing for our killer Spring Break trip! Playin' some ol CCR!


Matt hasn't changed too much from freshman year. He's still sniffing! LOL


Matt and Loma. We miss her so...


Just bein' Matt. This is in San Francisco ontop of a little building on the water. CHEESE!

If You're Red...You're Not Dead...You're Rockin' the NHL

Pavel Datsyuk



Osgood





Zetterberg


I haven't blogged in awhile but I am a fan of the Wings and I am just so proud of them lately. I know it is still early in the season, but I love what they're doin! Osgood is really stepping it up with a GAA of 1.75 and a record of 14-1-1. Keep up the good work. My main man Zetterberg (if I ever have a little boy I'll probably name him Henrik) is doin great as always; he's got 21 goals (2nd in the league) and he's got a killer beard! Datsyuk is assisting like CRAZY with 24 thus far. I would also like to officially welcome Brian Rafalski...you are an asset. I have sadly only been to one Red Wings game, but I do plan to go again more throughout my life. Keep up the hard work and lets not forget that they are leading the NHL with 46 points with Ottawa Senators in second with 39. LOVE IT. LET'S GO WINGS!