UMOCA and Frontrunner

My friend Jean had an art show in Salt Lake this past weekend so I went up there with some ward-friends and my little-cousin Kemarie. Once upon a time when you wanted to go to Salt Lake you had to drive your car, but thankfully we are not that barbaric anymore and now can take the pinnacle of transportation--a train.

Tables, WiFi, and Electricity. The only way to travel.

The opening itself had a lot of great peices and, while I tried to engage my eight-year-old cousin in the art, some of it was just weird. Jon McNaughton (Obama burning the constitution) had a few of his pieces there which were hard to explain and then there was some very modern art which is a bit more inaccessible. The two most memorable works were a collection of Jesus portraits done by a large variety of amateur artists and also a series of painted wasp nests (Jean's).

So many paintings of Jesus!

By chance Kemarie ran into one of her best friends from Provo and I had the pleasure of watching Kemarie go around and explain each artwork to her pal. She is still struggling to go beyond the narrative of the work but I can see a glimmer of understanding starting to unfold as she continues to partake in art.

Snacking and Observing

Flaunting the glasses and sticker.

One part of the exhibit had several tables of different activist pamphlets including such groups. One of the tables was offering free sunglasses which I gladly accepted and put a pair in my jacket pocket. It wasn't until we got on the train to leave when I took them out and noticed that they had a big sticker on them saying "DO NOT REMOVE, TABLE PAIR." I'm an anarchist at heart.

Since it was late when we headed back and the windows held no interest for us we decided to explore the rest of the train. We went head to tail and found the most beautifully vintage (train) car. The conductor informed us that it was built in 1976 and was named the "Comet Car." Luckily I had my blazer and glasses on for some real vintage shots.

Thanks to Mirielle Sanford for all the photos in this post. She was the only other person in our group who was wise enough to take the train up.

Bus Rodeo

This is a week old but oh well, last Saturday I was an official judge at a bus rodeo. I had no idea there was such a thing until I was asked to help out by a family friend (can I have family friends when my family is one person?) but I did it nonetheless.

My co-judge and I. The green vest indicated that I was the score-keeper.

The jist of the event was that the drivers were required to go through several obstacles designed to test their expertise at controlling the vehicle. My specific event was the Right-Hand Reverse parking in which the drivers were required to reverse into a parking stall on their blind side. Mostly everyone did fine but there were two highlights.

Some of the drivers decided it would be worth it to plow directly through a cone so they could directly back up into the stall. It was a valid strategy but caused an issue with one bus as the cone started going up into the engine block. Fear not though, I bravely dove under the automobile to save the poor thing.

I ended up scraping my knuckle pretty bad but they invited me back to judge the state competition so it was worth it. However, my favorite driver and moment was a woman who started backing up a good twenty feet before she was supposed to, started to turn completely around, and then gave up and drove away.

It wasn't paid but they did pay for us to eat at Chuck-O-Rama and as gross as that might be I couldn't turn away from a free meal. I just ate a bunch of scones with honey butter and felt sick afterwards.

The Great Outdoors

I went hiking a few times this weekend.

During Graduation weekend, BYU lights up the "Y" on the mountain. Some friends and I decided it would be fun to go up there while it was lighted since none of us had ever done so. I am mostly telling you this so I can post this picture.

Photo credit: Claire Sanford

That kicked off the rest of the weekend of hiking in Zions with Cousin Drew and Uncle Michael.

On Saturday we hiked up Angels' Landing. I expected this hike to be an adrenaline rush due to fatalities in the past but it turned out to be quite easy.

On Sunday we hiked the Subway. Its an eight hour hike which involves rappelling and swimming. At one point our rope wasn't long enough so we jumped onto an adjacent tree and climbed down the branches. Unfortunately I did not take my phone so I have no photographs but here is some stock photography.

Climb-Utah.com

It was one of the most beautiful natural locations I have ever experienced and incredibly exhausting. If I end up getting some of our pictures I'll post a few.

Edit: My uncle's camera died so I'm the only one who has pictures.

Five Minutes of Fame

Here's my quote--its mostly accurate to what I said.

The Daily Herald 

Many of the younger faces in the crowd had the biggest smiles. Provo resident Christian Otting, a BYU graduate student looking for work, said, 'I have been a local defender of the fiber network. This announcement is cementing my belief. This is why I want to keep living in Provo." 

Suprise, I'm a graduate student!

I found two published pictures with myself which isn't too bad. If I were famous, this blog would just be pastes of every article and pictures I was in.

Photo Credit: Salt Lake Tribune

Photo Credit: KSL

Epic Provo

You may have heard that earlier today it was announced that Google would be bringing Google Fiber to Provo. Assuming I get a job that will allow me to live here in the long term this is great news. They are buying up the controversial iProvo network already in place and upgrading it to meet current technology capabilities.

I had nothing better to do so I attended the announcement. It was very cold and windy.

Naturally the mayor drew out the announcement as long as he could much to our annoyance. We love him though--you don't get 93% approval by just looking nice.

The Governor made some remarks including how this was "gooder" then our current network and how excited he is for the "gigaspeed" capabilities.

Kevin Lo from Google then got up and gave a wonderfully eloquent and corporate speech about how this step is equivalent to moving from dial up. He also made the poetic and oft quoted line "broadband will flow like water." 

Who wants a shirt?

We ended up getting interviewed by the Daily Harold. We had acted as a wind break for the reporter on scene and in return she took our statements. I probably geeked out a little in my interview and may have called Mayor Curtis my man-crush so we'll see how I come across when it gets published.

We met Miss Provo and when we said good bye she fell down the stairs. :(

— Chris Otting (@chrisotting) April 17, 2013

Belated Birthday Gift

Its a known fact that I have a small passion for maps and map related items. In my more pinteresting days I had an entire board dedicated to them. About seven months ago I stumbled on a pin detailing how to make a wooden world map.

Source: thehappierhomemaker.com

I mentioned it to my Mother--mostly to use her crafting experience as a gage for difficulty. I pinned it as a future task for when I had walls of my own to decorate.

My birthday was in January and my Mother mentioned that she was working on an elaborate project for my gift but it wouldnt be done until a few months after my birthday. I was satisfied with a card but I settled on that idea of getting a quilt or other useful item coming from her excelled seamstress skills. It turns out she remembered the map and even improved on the idea.

All the water has been chiseled down slightly giving the land a raised edge for a wonderfully sense of depth and texture and the choice of a triptych presentation adds a stronger visual interest.

A big thank you to both of my parents for such a great gift.

Additionally, thank you to the other family members who assisted in carving it, namely: Mike, Kathlene, Debbie, Kevin, Justin, Tanis, and Rowan. (AND SETH)

Morikami Gardens, December 2000

Recently

I happily woke up this morning to a car sized love note.

There is entirely too much candy in my house since Easter. I binged on so much of it on Friday that my tongue feels like it is burned days later. We ended up going to three egg hunts in which I was invited to join in one and now everywhere I turn there is a bucket of candy staring me in the face. Even now I hear the whopper eggs whispering to me to gorge.