Words with Friends ... or Enemies??

Rod Works Arizona is opening soon!!!  Everyone should totally check out that link AFTER you finish this blog.  I bring this up because my fabulous in-laws are the owners of this franchise.  This means that they get to open a cell phone account for their employees, one of which is my beautiful wife.   Due to this, we found ourselves at the Verizon store last Friday where they were picking out their new “smart phones.”  Casey got a iphone 4, while my in-laws opted for the htc incredible. 

Now as many of you know the invention of smart phones led to the explosion of “apps.”  There are so many different types of “apps” for almost anything imaginable.   “Apps” can be used for news, weather, movies, jokes, pranks, killing egg-stealing pigs, and my favorite, word games!!!

You see I too am the proud owner of a smart phone (Droid 2) and a few weeks back I started playing a “scrabble-like” game called Words With Friends against my brother in Provo and various classmates at school.  I love it and so it was the first “app” I suggested for all of my in-laws.  They all downloaded it and we spent Easter weekend playing one another.  It was all fun and games until Sunday Night…

My wife and I were playing against each other and she was getting frustrated because I was only using short words, making it difficult for her to find places to play her letters.  I finally used a five-letter word so she would be able to start a new branch with a longer word and open up the game a little bit more.

So what does she do?? She plays a two-letter (QI) word that blocks any other potential moves off my long word!!!  I started joking with her about how she just did exactly what I was doing that got her so frustrated.  She responded by hurling a pillow at me that knocked the ipad I was holding out of my hands and into my face resulting in this:

This is a few hours after “the incident,” but you can still see the result.  Initially, it bled like crazy!  I thought I was going to need a transfusion… okay not really but it bled more than I thought it would.

Anyway, this incident set off a wave of emotions.  My wife felt horrible and was near tears.  I had to ensure her multiple times that it was an accident, and that I was not mad at her in any way.  I was a little mad that I had a gash in my face, but I did not blame her.  I blame apple for making their ipad cases so dang sharp! 

This was the first time either of us had actually physically hurt the other.  She felt bad until the next day when I accidently cut her toe shutting that stupid drawer most people have beneath their oven.  Then we were even.  It was a first in our marriage.  

I hope you all go out and get words with friends (my user name is jordanbrough ßjust like that).  Just beware of pillows and ipad cases if you do.

JB

PS Now go click on the Rod Works link above!!!

Pity the Fool

This Sunday while doing my hair to attend church I realized I was in dire need of a haircut.  My hair was beginning to look like Eric Foreman’s on “That 70’s Show.”

Luckily for me this past January I married a hairstylist and will now get my hair cut for free the rest of my life. (As long as I still have hair.)  I asked her when would work best and she said I could come in on Wednesday. 

Therefore, yesterday I found myself in my wife’s chair at Blossom Salon and Boutique.  As summer is fast approaching my preference was to buzz it all off; Michael Scofield style. 

Sadly, Casey was not a fan of the idea. (Even though she thinks he’s dreamy.)

We made a compromise to do a 2 on the sides and a 3 on top.  Midway through the 3 Casey said, “We should do a Mohawk!”  I agreed wholeheartedly.  Now I have a Mr. T/Puck hairdo!!

Here is a few pictures of my haircut and one of me and my super sexy hairstylist!!

JB

P.S. Casey now has feather hair extensions so if you are interested in getting them done comment below and I will put you in contact with her.

Pancakes and Kills

Volleyball is my new favorite sport.  I do not know how many of you have ever had the chance to attend a men’s volleyball game but I would highly recommend you do so soon.  They are exciting, and where else are you going to find pancakes (placing your hand flat on the floor so the ball pops up) and kills (hitting the ball and not having it returned by the opposition) at the same place? (Other than Saturday morning breakfast at a Halo convention)

I became a big fan a couple of years ago when Landon was the team manager for the Varsity and Dalton was on JV.  Since then I have not missed a game that I was available to attend. (School and Work sometimes interfere, and now that I’m and “adult” I have to prioritize my activities.)

The pace of the game is fast and the energy is electric.  Each team has a variety of chants it does when various aspects of the game happen.  For instance when a player on Mesquite’s team blocks an opposing player the players on the court, as well as the bench, chant “Rufio, Rufio, RUF, I, OOOO.” (You could say they stole it from Hook but most of these kids have never seen that movie.)  Another favorite is when the other team finds itself out of position and the ball drops to the floor for a point.  The entire Mesquite squad waves one of their palms in front of their face and says in a deep, drawn out voice, “CONFUSIOOON.”

My little brothers pretty good volleyball players. (They both start as of yesterday.) Dalton has also contributed in another way to the success of the team. You see Dalton had the flu about a week ago and found himself kneeling before the porcelain god a few times.  He noticed his eyes were burning after he finished and looked in the mirror and saw this:

Dalton Brough

Only it was worse because it had just happened and all the way around his eyes was bright red. (He popped blood vessels in both eyes while he was going “number 3”)  It provides a nice distraction initially to the opposing teams on game day.

Here are a couple more pictures courtesy of www.steinophoto.com:

Dalton Brough warming up

Caleb Brough v. Red Mountain

Dalton Brough v. Brophy 1

Dalton Brough v. Brophy 2

If you want to see them bigger, and less blurry, click the link and look in the Sports Galleries in the Men’s Volleyball section.

JB

Thrust Capacity

At Life Time I coach three different levels of swimming.  I coach a beginning group, advanced group and a Jr. Masters group.  In my advanced group I have a seven-year-old boy named Andrew.  The other day I realized he was doing his breaststroke kick incorrectly.  I stopped him and explained to him the correct kick and sent him on his way.

Now the kick he was using is known as a scissor kick and is faster than the traditional breaststroke kick.  Thus, he was swimming significantly slower and got passed by one of the older boys.  When he finished his lap I noticed he was crying and talking under his breathe.  I assumed that he was angry that he got passed so I told him it was not a big deal; that is was normal for older kids to be faster.  He looked up at me and said, “I don’t care that he passed me.  I hate this new kick you are making me do.  It does not have the same thrust that my old kick did, and my potential speed is much slower.” 

The kid is seven-years-old and has a better vocabulary and understanding of physics than most of my high school age kids.  I had to explain to him that his potential speed would be slower, but that by doing the kick correctly he would not be disqualified for using an illegal kick at meets.  He responded, “So by doing the kick your way it eliminates the possibility of me being DQ’d?”  I explained that he could be disqualified for other things but not for his kick if he did it the correct way.   He asked what other things he could do to be disqualified and I had to explain them all.  The kid is sharp.

JB