A night on exchanges.  Never felt so alive!

I tried the mustache thing not too long ago and it was a flat out failure. I grew it just under 2 weeks. It was the longest I had ever attempted facial hair. Take a look and let me know what you think.

The last time I checked, I was not Rachael Ray or Emeril. I am just a plain and simple boy. I own a George Foreman Grill. I went big and have the George Foreman Grill, next generation one. I own a little 3 cup steamer/rice cooker as well. See my set up. I do like to dabble in the kitchen. If I had to guess I would say I cook about 97% of my meals. I love vegetables and fruit. I appreciate the seasonal veggies and fruit. I wash them, dice and chop them up for salads or for a side. However, I wish I was in a tropical place where they have nice papayas, mangoes and guavas. Our imported ones, especially in Utah do not due justice. Anyway, I thought I would post last nights dinner because I am proud of it and I know my father would be too :>. This salad is a mans salad. Is there such a thing? It was loaded with salmon, 2 pineapple slices (grilled on Foreman Grill), broccoli, yellow peppers, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, snow peas, tomatoes, craisans, cucumbers and a splash of walnut cranberry dressing.

I will post other meals and pictures of them later on "The Deez Abides," blog.

Have you ever wanted to be a kid again and grab a big wheel? Well, I did just that earlier this year at a church activity (BYU 240th Ward). I believe it was in April '08. Enjoy the clip everybody.

This past NBA season I had the opportunity to go to two regular season Jazz/Lakers games in Salt Lake City, UT. The first game on November 30th the Lakers got their butts kicked (96-120). D-will could not be stopped in that game. Even though the Lakers were getting stomped all over the place I did not leave early like a lot of the Lakers fans there. I stuck it out. The first game was before the Lakers traded for Gasol. Bynum did play and had 8 points and 10 rebounds. The second game was on March 20th and the Lakers won (106-95) despite Bynum and Gasol being injured. I sported a nice Lakers hat that I got off ebay.

Then I had the opportunity to go to one Jazz/Lakers Conference Semi-Finals Game 4 in Utah with my roommates. Before tip-off I ran into Stu Lance (Lakers long time broadcaster). The game was awesome despite the Lakers losing in overtime (115-123). Turiaf got ejected for elbowing Ronnie Price.

I also went to the Lakers/Celtics Finals Game 4 with my brother Eric. This was my father's first year having Lakers season tickets. Instead of selling the tickets and making a profit, he gave the tickets to Eric and I. I wore a retro 1988 Lakers Championship shirt and Eric wore a Magic Johnson player shirt. The scene outside of the Staples Center was great. We ran into Woody Paige, who is sports columnist for the Denver Post. He also is a regular panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn. I think he is a hilarious guest. I asked him who he thought was going to win and he replied the Lakers. Of course I agreed. There was also this red bus with people playing their band instruments. I am not sure if this was a high school band playing. Besides the playing, they were throwing out t-shirts. Eric caught two and I caught one. Of course none were our sizes. I really liked the Lakers starting five introduction. The game was exciting. The first half Lakers were unstoppable. They had a half-time lead of 18 points. They let it slip away in the 4th quarter and ended up losing 96-91. It was the biggest blunder in NBA sports history. Talk about ups and downs. It was as if two teams showed up. In some of the pictures you can see Jack Nicholson and the comedic genius, Larry David.

The bottom line is this, I went to 4 games this past season and the Lakers lost 3 of them. Maybe I am their bad luck charm? I had fun at all games though and I cannot wait for next year.

*Attached are pictures and videos from all 4 games