Barry Ricks 101

Vacation Baby!

2009-01-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

So one of my best buddies got hitched this last weekend up in Utah and he was so kind as to invite me to be one of his Groomsmen. Luckily I received a generous end of year bonus which allowed Krystle and me to attend. On Wednesday the 7th Krystle, her brother Dann, Grayson and myself traveled in one go, up to Utah. We took a small detour through Wyoming to Drop off Dann so he could visit with friends and then he would join us in a couple of days. We made it to Utah around 11:00 pm when we left at 6:00 am, long trip. In the morning, thank goodness it was at 10:00; we went to the Jordan River temple and witnessed my friend Brady and his now wife Amanda gets sealed for time and all eternity. It was a nice sealing. We took pictures in the very cold morning afterward, and then went to lunch with some of the other groomsmen which were also my good friends from High School. We spent the rest of the relaxing. Friday we went to IKEA with Jeannette and my Mom, that place is pretty awesome. We then went to lunch at Applebee’s for Mom’s birthday which was last month. Dann came down after that and then we went to the wedding reception which was the day after the wedding. We had a great time and I had the chance of making new friends. It was a blast. Dann didn’t really have a really good time, but I can’t blame him, he didn’t know anyone, so he mainly stayed to himself. Krystle and I felt really bad about it. After the reception we called it a night and went back to Mom’s to crash. In the morning we went bowling with a bunch of the family and had a great time again. Then we ate at the PIE, which is a must when we come up to Utah every time. We went to Mike and Kathy’s new home and it very nice indeed. Then we dropped off Grayson to take a nap at Oma’s and Dann, Krys, and I went to the mall to go shopping, we don’t have one in Carlsbad so we like to go even if we are just looking. We were able to buy Grayson his first belt and 2 first ties; we’re excited to use them. After the mall we went to Gamestop, which is a must for me basically. I renewed my Gameinformer subscription and bought myself my very own DS. I had Christmas money to do it, (thank you Krystle’s Grandma) so I didn’t have to spend my own money. I have always wanted one so now I do. It was one of the highlights of the vacation, I know I’m lame and a big Geek, but a geek with his own DS now. WOOT! That night we went over to Kenny and Jeannette’s and played Guitar Hero world tour and then the guys played a little resistance, it was awesome. We got to bed around 11:00 pm and then woke up the next morning at 4 am to make the long trek home. We made it home by 9 pm and went strait to bed. It was probably one of our favorite vacations so far; we had constant fun the whole time. But who knows when we will be able to back up again. It was tons of fun though. I look forward to the next vacation which will be this summer to Alabama I believe.

My New Years Resolutions

2008-12-31T08:17:00.000-08:00

Resolutions are a funny thing, everyone does it, but I bet 80% of people don't keep them. Well like anyone else I going to make my resolutions here so that my friends and family can see, so that can check up on me to see if I'm keeping them. So here they are.

1. To pray and read my scriptures every night.
2. To write either on my blog or journal more. ( I won't say everyday, because that won't happen)
3. To not procrastinate on any of my school work.
4. To pass all my classes and get into the Nursing program.
5. The classic "Get into better shape".
6. Drink more water and less soda/ eat better as well and cut back on the sweets. (this will be the one I probably fail...hehe)
7. To read one book at least every 3 months.
8. To stay in better contact with my Family and Friends.
9. To be a better Husband ( Not that I'm bad or anything)
10. To be a better Father (Dido)

Well there you have it. Now let us see if I can do it, wish me luck.

I small little update.

2008-12-31T07:53:00.000-08:00

Wow it's pretty lame when I have taken over 7-8 months to write on my blog again, now only if people still remember that it's here.

Well Christmas was awesome, my loving wife bless her heart bought me some more video games.....you would think she doesn't want to spend time with me. "Here take your games and play and leave me in peace." Just kidding, I know she just wants to support my geeky habits. She bought me Rock Band for my Wii and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for my PSP, and I love both of them, I already have some good hours on Star Wars. It's a pretty sweet game.

My brother-in-law Dann is in town for the holidays, and that means one of many things. Anime. His has the largest collection of anime of anyone I know. So he lets me borrow several shows at one time. I have already finished one show and it was fun watching them. Of course Krys doesn't watch with me, because she hates anime, so she reads her books while I watch my stories.

What else is new? Well I will back in school starting Jan 14Th full time, while working Full time, so back to no social life, it's all good though. I'm taking 3 classes, Chemistry, Math, and Beginning Spanish......fun huh? We will see how that pans out. I'll then be taking one class in the summer plus 2 tests and if I pass everything I will be in the Nursing Program this next Fall 09'. Wish me luck on that.

I have recently been on this kick to play D&D, but there are no hardcore gamers down here, I have gotten a few people that said they would be willing to give it a shot, but then I got to thinking, these guys probably wont even be able to get away enough times in the month to make a gaming group worth it. I mean I don't want to meet just once a month, if we are going to meet once a month it might as well just be a all night Halo night or something along those lines. But first I would need a Xbox 360 or a PS3 for Resistance. Like that's going to happen. Yeah pretty much my wife would kill me if that ever happened.

So now I have this money burning a whole in my pocket that I was going to spend on D&D books, but now I don;t know what to spend it on, I'll probably just put it into the house some how, even though it's my Christmas money it still goes to a good place.

Tonight should be a fun night, we are going to spend the new years with friends I believe, either way we will have fun to usher in this new year.

Birthday Dilemma

2008-04-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

Birthday shopping can be a dangerous business. Krystle’s B-Day is coming up and I still need to decide what to get her. Do I get her this or that? I know no matter what I get her she will be happy because she is a wonderful person and honestly enjoys anything that she gets, much like me. (I wonder if she has the same dilemma) I think I know what to get but I can’t help to think that this other thing might be better, more exciting, and more of a surprise. Either way no matter what I get I will have that nagging feeling that the other one would have been better until B-Day gets here. Oh well, I guess she’ll get over it if she doesn’t like it. HeHe.

Following in Big Brother Foot Steps

2008-04-10T09:50:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start teaching Sword down here in Carlsbad. There are a couple of reasons for this.

I have missed the fighting and fun that came with class.
I think it would be good for the kids and adults to have something new and different to do this summer, maybe it could keep some of them out of trouble.
I think it’s important to be a part of your community.

Krystle has been very supportive about my decision and I’m grateful for that. I hope that there will be enough people in this small town that will be interested. I’ll probably have to put signs up in the near by towns as well. My good Brother Mike will be helping me along the way with material and advice since he instructs himself up in Utah. Maybe if I do this I won’t suck so badly and I can not get my butt kicked when I go up to visit.

I hope all goes well with this, and if not, it’s not that big of deal. I’ll do my best to get people interested. Wish me Luck.

Excitement or Stress

2008-03-07T12:02:00.000-08:00

Krystle and I have been wondering what musical the community theatre is going to put on this summer and we needed to find out dates and times so we could plan our vacation to Utah. Krystle calls the director up yesterday to find out she does have a show picked out and that she wants it to cast in about 2 weeks or less. So out of nowhere she tells Krystle, “You and Barry can audition on Saturday morning for me that way I can see if I need you and pick a part for you.” So exciting right? Well except for the fact that she wants us to pull a memorized song from out of nowhere in 2 days. Doesn’t really give us any time to practice does it. The only good thing is that we get to do our audition with no piano, so just by our lonesome selves. Why is this good you ask? Because we can go off key without the director even really noticing, unless she knows the song by heart that we are singing, but I doubt that. So we are freaking out trying to pull something together. We pray that our audition will go well and that we get good parts.

The show we are auditioning for is CLUE. I didn’t know it was a musical either, but it sounds like it would be fun. After all if it’s anything like the movie I know I will love it.Well I guess we will find out more on Saturday morning

Crack Girl

2008-03-06T10:05:00.000-08:00

Every Monday and Wednesday I go to my English class and I happen to sit behind this girl who happens to wear the lowest cut jeans you can wear. Sure enough when she sits down half of her butt crack hangs out of her pants. Although I hate it so much I can't help but to stare at it the whole class period. It's just there and saying "Look at me, I'm not suppose to be here." Yes it can talk OK. Sometimes the conversation is weird but we'll look past that for now. I have a feeling lately that this girl knows I'm staring because she is now constantly pulling down her shirt. Then I think to myself, why wear something that you are constantly adjusting.

Luckily I only have to put up with it twice a week.
You know what the funny thing is? Turns out she lives right above us.
Ironic huh?

Great Opportunities

2008-03-03T11:45:00.000-08:00

Sunday evening Krystle and I are watching a movie when my phone rings, as it always does when we're watching a movie. It was a local number that I didn't reconize and unlike most people I still answer those calls even if I don't know the number. It turns out that it was a man by the name Bill Miller who works for Blackberry Institue of Fine Arts I believe he said. Anyway he talked with the local community theatre director here and she sujested Krystle and I for this job. Bill wants us to be in or perform a show at a theatre camp for Elementry and Jr. High school age kids. We felt really honored, but here's the kicker. He said "Now this may conflict with the summer musical at the community theatre this summer because the director has parts picked out for you already." Krys and I where blown away, we wanted to do something this summer and now we have 2 different people wanting us to be their shows. Isn't that awsome!!? I thought so anyway. We have no fine details yet, but we hope to find out soon enough.

Wife Smokes Pot

2008-03-02T21:48:00.000-08:00

So it's Sunday evening and Krystle and I are trying to decide what we are going to have for dinner and of course we can't think of a thing. So Krystle goes and grabs some Beef Stew from our food storage and starts making some garlic bread. She turned on the oven to have it ready for the bread and about 2 minutes later we smell something odd. All of the sudden Krystle says "Oh my gosh the pots!" She runs over to the oven and opens it to find 3 of our pots just lying on the rack. Later I find out that Krystle had put them in there because we were expecting company and didn't have time to clean them. I love my Wife, she makes me smile and laugh.

P.S. The pots made it out just fine.