Why my life sucks at times...

So let me tell you of a little story about a series of tragic events that happened to me on this fine Thursday. Before I begin, let me give you a little background that will make this story even better and help you understand why my life really sucks today! So I am enrolled in this business law class this semester. At the beginning of semester I went to purchase all my books. I only needed to buy three of them and one of them cost me about $50. My grand total from all my books would have come to about $450!! If you do the math, two books tallied a total of over $400, which I thought was absolutely absurd. So I did what most would do, boycott. I didn't buy either of them. I went as long as I could before it became necessary to buy the books. Two weeks ago I purchased my investment book, luckily one came in that was used so it only cost $150, instead of over $200. But my business law book was still looming at $192, no option to purchase a used one (something I was hoping for!). Which brings us to today.

So I had this test looming in my business law class. It was based solely on the text and is an open book test. Naturally it would be dumb of me not to purchase the book. So I go to the bookstore this morning to buy the dreaded book, which I still feel is the same as robbery. I find the shelf where I see the book. Look at the price again, sigh in disbelief again, reluctantly pick it up and and walk to the counter to purchase it. Spend my 190 big ones and boy did I feel like poop. To make matters worse, on my receipt the cashier stamps this huge "ALL TEXTBOOK SALES ARE FINAL, NO RETURNS!" right on the receipt. This pretty much sealed my fate. I walked out of the store and off to class with my shiny new book, still in the plastic.

As I get to class, I notice that some of the books that others have are different than mine. I think to myself "it must be an earlier addition," or something like that. I didn't think anything of it until I noticed that everyone's books are the same except for mine! All I can think about is my receipt that says "NO RETURNS." After my test, I pull up the syllabus and check to see what all this mess is about. Sure enough, I needed a different book. I go back to the bookstore to find the right one hoping they will understand that I made an honest mistake and that I would be allowed to switch out the books. I go back to the shelf where I got the wrong book, and their is no other book. My class has two sections, and apparently I got section 2's book, why they are different I don't know, both professors share the teaching duty so we have both of them. None the less, I have the wrong book and the book I need is not available, oh and just in case you are wondering, they are the exact same price. So I find an employee of the bookstore, inform him of my situation and ask two questions. Do you have the book I need? And, am I screwed having purchased the other one? He checked their inventory and told me that they would have to special order the one I needed, and even though my receipt said "NO RETURNS" on it that if I had the receipt I could exchange my wrong book for the right one when it came in. Hooray!!

Wait, don't get to ahead of yourself, this story isn't over, remember, my life sucks at times. So I walk back to my bag and proceed to walk out of the bookstore when panic strikes my heart. The receipt! It was in the bag my book came in, which I took out of the bag as I got to class and then promptly threw into the trash can!!!!! I even thought to myself "normally I hang on to these for the receipt but you saw what it read in big red bold ink, 'TEXTBOOK SALES ARE FINAL, NO RETURNS.'" I quickly new my chance for salvaging my money and my book was on the line. $190 dollars is a lot of money and I'll be darned if I let it slide! So I run back up the stairs to the library, go down three floors to the trash can outside my classroom where the receipt lay in wait for me. With students all around me wondering why I am so anxious to tear through the trash can, my worst fears are realized, my bag with the receipt is not there. In that 2 hour window, the can had been emptied and my receipt was gone. My $192 down the drain, and I still have the wrong book and most likely will not be able to exchange it for the right one. I have concluded that all the information I need has to be in the book I currently own and that it can't be that bad if I just use it, after all, its used in the other sections class. My life really sucks at times

OK, OK... I'll write something

So all our friends are really good bloggers and always have good things to write about. SO... I thought we would jump on the band wagon . . . and let everyone know . . . we can blog too! Ha, Clayton if you are reading this, I know what you were thinking, sucker. Truth be told, Gina and I actually do some pretty cool things, but when it comes to pictures of what we do, I always ruin them. Don't believe me? Look at these:

Wait, it gets worse...

and yet even worse!

So a couple weekends ago, Gina and I went up to a friends cabin. Gina is the YW pres in our ward, so she took all the girls up to the cabin too! We had a great time, sledding, snowmobiling, playing in the snow and lots of other things as well. Unfortunately my head got really wet and added to the creepyness of these photos. Now the last photo I hope you all know that I meant to make that face! Unfortunately, those other ones I just happen to look like I have horse teeth. All and all, the weekend was fun and we loved it. Stay tuned for more excitement from Ross and Gina's adventures!

Cable, Internet, Macintosh, OH MY!!!

Ok, so we did it.  Gina and I finally gave into the whole being somewhat "technologically advanced" thing.  Hold your breath and sit down cause I am about to knock your socks off!  Today, this nice man came to the door and introduced himself as the "comcast man."  I let him in and he spent some time doing who knows what while I folded some laundry.  When he was done, he told me we had some thing called cable and that I could now access the. . . i-n-t-e-r-n-e-t?  It took me a while to figure it out, but this is what it boils down to.  1) Our TV now as a bunch of channels vs yesterday when only channel 13 would work. 2) The TV now has a really clear picture instead of being all fuzzy with diagonal lines going through the screen.  3) I can now write this blog from a computer in my own house instead of having to say, drive all the way to my parents house, take the lap top to a nearby parking lot where a wireless signal was available, or go up to the U where the "internet" is everywhere.  That "comcast man" was something special to have done all those things in such a short time.  Anyway,  this being the first post of the "technological Quigley era"  I just thought I would share my thoughts.  Oh and also, now that we have the internet, we went out and bought this fancy new computer.  I have never owned a Mac before and to be honest, I am quite confused with the whole thing.  I was able to figure out how to use the camera that is built into this thing to take some pictures for ya'll. 

This was my face when I turned on the TV and 

saw that there were multiple channels with such 

a nice and neat picture!  First thing I watched 

Channel 76!  76!!  Wow!

This was my face when I turned on the computer 

and saw that the "internet" was now available

from inside our own house!  This is frickin' amazing!

 

This was what happened when I tried to figure out the 

camera thing on our new mac.  Still don't know what is

going on and how to do things with this computer, but

I'll learn!  How did it take four pictures? It's pretty cool though, eh?

Update!

OK, so I was a little discouraged after our last post because no one commented any ideas on what Gina and I should be for Halloween. Well, there were a couple, so thank you. However, because of the lack of response I figured no one would mind if it took a while for us to get around to posting something new. So a month later, here we are and plenty has happened since then. So here is an update to catch you all up on what we have been up too.

First off, I neglected to remember to post about Gina's birthday! Don't worry, I didn't forget all together! Gina's birthday is kind of fun because it is a little different than the normal birthday. See, she doesn't do the whole sugar thing, I still am not sure how, so the traditional cake is out of the question. What do you do? I asked myself this many times, but Gina does have a love for something sweet, fruit! So I made her a fruit cake! err... salad. It was really fun, I got to use a melon baller! Anyway, Gina is officially 24 as of last Oct. 1st. Happy B-day again!

Next, even though we didn't get many ideas for Halloween, we came up with a pretty good costume. Even though we couldn't find anywhere that had nose puddy, our Christmas Who outfits turned out pretty good. Gina makes a really good who. You'll never ever guess how she gets her hair to stay up like that! Those of you that just looked at the picture and thought "I bet she ..." your guess is wrong, I guarantee it. I however, don't make the best who. Putting on the sparkling makeup, doing may hair all crazy and wearing green fish net stockings made me feel more like a Christmas cross dresser! We had a fun time though! We spent the evening at a party with some friends who had some nice costumes of their own.

Football! Can you say crazy? That is how I felt about the TCU Utah game on the 6th! It was a long miserable cold game in all regards until about 2 minutes left when the Utes finally woke up and put together the game winning drive to stay undefeated! Those of you who don't know, the Quigley's (minus Gina) are huge Utah fans. Fall Saturdays are all about football and the Quigley boys (Ross, Dad and Clayson) are usually found somewhere between sections 25 and 24 in the north end zone of Rice-Eccles Stadium! Go UTES!

Those of you who know Gina know that she is an active girl always doing fun things. This summer she was introduced into biking and has been trying me to get into it as well. I finally did and I really really like it! I got a bike and all the gear, yes that includes tight shorts and even a pair of tight pants for cold weather, and have been out a few times! My first ride ever I went for a 25 mile ride to the mouth of Big Cottonwood canyon and back. I was a very tired boy when I got home! It is really fun and I am really glad Gina convinced me to get a bike! Thanks Sweetie! Oh, and she is twice the rider I am so I have some work to do, I can't let her out do me for too long, right?

So Gina spends a lot of time at work these days, its not easy being a sugar momma! She is the best sugar momma around though! Anyway, speaking of sugar, while she is at work she should hide the sugar because I just can't be held responsible for what happens while she is gone! Yes, that thing on the plate is a ginormous cookie! Yay for cookies!

Back too football!! Do I need to say anything? Utah has completed an undefeated season, again, and will be going to a BCS bowl, again, and I couldn't be happier! This past weekend has been just absolutely great! All week I wasn't able to concentrate on my school, work was meaningless, and I could barely sleep I was so excited for the Utah BYU game. And all my built up excitement was worth it! What a game. Utah wins 48-24 in what was probably the biggest game ever played between the two. Utah not only won, they won the Mountain West Conference Championship and a BCS bowl bid is likely to follow! I love it. Gina is being a great sport about it all too. My family is a little crazy about Utah football, and Gina being a BYU fan gets to hear about it a lot! However, I have to say that she is being really good about the whole thing and isn't making excuses, but is happy for the Utes success. It has been a great year for Utah football and to be a Utah fan. At the Utah BYU game, I was going crazy, screaming all game long, jumping up and down, high fiving anybody and everybody I could get my hands too, and even trying to pick up my little brother! It was awesome! At the conclusion of the game, Clayson and I rushed the field (no we weren't part of the morons who ran on the field with 2 minutes left to play). It was awesome! There were so many people that it was impossible to stand in the same place. Before it was all over, I gave Freddie Brown high five, slapped Matt Asiata's shoulder pads, and stood belly to belly with Alex Smith! It was absolutely one of the greatest moments I have ever had as a Utah football fan. The best ever was when I was just a kid and Utah beat BYU 34-31 for the first time. I was at the game with my dad and when that last field goal went through, he picked me up and threw me into the air! I ended up a few rows up, but it was awesome! GO UTES!!!

Oh and in case you all were wondering, I did not rush the field with my shirt off, but rest assured that I was ready and prepared to do so if it became necessary to do so! I am a Utah man sir... are you? (Gina, I made the picture small as to try and not embarrass myself or you!! Love you!)

Halloween Costume Ideas

So Halloween is just around the corner and every year the decision on what to dress up as can cause lots of stress. So this is your chance to help us out and pick what Ross and Gina's costume will be for this year. Think about what you have always wanted to see us dress up as, and then let us know. If your idea is clever enough, we just might use it!

Scooter Man

I don't know this man's real name but I'm going to refer to him as Simon, it seems appropriate.

It all started a few months ago when Ross called me on the phone laughing hysterically about this guy who he just saw on the UofU campus. He choked out a description of an older gentleman decked out in a suit wearing full pads and helmet over top. The guy had a scooter(the kind 10 year old sport on the neighborhood block) which he rode extremely slowly. One push and he brings both legs onto the scooter, waits until he is at almost a complete stop and then he would give another push.

This sounded pretty funny but I couldn't really appreciate the greatness of this story until Ross and were driving on state street near the freeway entrance Friday. I looked to my side and saw a great sight. I started jabbing Ross and when he looked over we were both overcome with joy. I don't know how Simon rode that scooter all the way from the U, but it must of taken him a long time. There Simon was dressed to the 9s, covered with knee and elbow pads... and of course his helmet. I give Simon mad props. He is true scooter die hard.

I can't help but have my curiosity raised by this sighting of Simon... how far does Simon ride that scooter everyday, weekly, monthly, and can you imagine yearly. Please if you spot Simon and his scooter let me know. Maybe if we map out his sightings we can estimate his travel.

I hope there are many more Simon sightings to come.

OCT. 17, 2008

One year ago to the day, I married the most beautiful girl in the world. After a long courtship with a few ups (Hawaii) and downs (Texas), and lots of pressure from Erika, Gina and I decided to tie the knot on the 17th of October 2007. (Erika, we would have done the same without all your pressure, just so you know!!) It was a great day. Our Wedding wasn't until later in the morning which allowed for us to take our time getting there. There was no crack of dawn alarm clock. Just a simple morning to prepare for the best day of my life. We got to the temple only to find that we, er Gina, had forgotten a few items that were needed to get into the temple. No worries, we got it all figured out and the Wedding still happened as scheduled! It was so wonderful sitting in the temple together and I will never forget looking into the eye's of my sweetie and telling her I love her. She looked beautiful in her dress. The weather outside was not the best, but it cooperated when we needed it to. It drizzled only for a moment or two, but it retrospect, it made the colors in our photos stand out even more!! They turned out really well. Our reception took some last minute preparations by Gina and I and a few of our fabulous friends who we could never thank enough. We got everything all put together just in time for us to start meeting our guests. Because of the weather we were a little cramped inside the Gallivan Center but it was so fun to share our day with so many people! The rain finally started to stop its cooperation just as we were leaving, which actually once again resulted in a really cool picture. However, the rain was not friendly to me when I tried to use my windshield wipers to clear off the water on my windshield. They failed miserably due to the outrageous number of oreos some people had stuck to the windshield. It was so bad I had to stop at a nearby gas station and use their windshield cleaner thing to scrape off the oreos! That night we had a great room in the downtown Hilton that my cousin hooked us up with, the Vice Presidential Sweet!! It was so cool! All and all the day was one to remember!! I will always remember that day and the promises I made to my sweetie. She is the love of my life and she is the greatest thing to happen to me, ever. I love you Gina! Oh and the thing I think will be in my mind as one of the most memorable things we did that day was how we occupied the time after the ceremony and before the reception! We went to lunch at Pier 49 pizza downtown and had lunch at the place we had dinner on our first "real" date! Come one, what did you think I would say!!