The First Time I Heard a Celia Cruz Song

If you haven't seen Google's homepage today, they did a tribute to Celia Cruz, because it would have been her 88th birthday today. She is regarded as the "Queen of Salsa".

Which is why this is a good time to share the story of the first time I heard one of her songs.

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I was serving a mission for the LDS Church in Guatemala, and I'd been there for around a year.

On a Mormon mission, usually the leadership moves you to a new city with a new companion every 4-6 months. After two months in the Provo MTC, I'd been in the coastal city Escuintla to start (#1); then Boca del Monte, a suburb of the capital (#2); and now I was serving in a mountain city, Sololá (#3).

When we needed to travel farther than we could walk, we'd either hitchhike in the back of a pick-up truck for a small fee, or use the public transportation--otherwise known as the famed "chicken buses".

Beautiful, aren't they?

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked laying out the background info.

It was a Monday (our one-day-per-week off from proselyting), and my companion and I were riding on a chicken bus down to Panajachel to hang out with the other missionaries and eat lunch together.

Usually the buses play the radio, which was heavily skewed to Los Tigres del Norte, Hermana Shaki (Shakira), and the Brothers Maná, but a song came on during this ride which I'd never heard before. It was upbeat, catchy, and fun, so I asked my companion if he knew the band or who the guy singing was.

Yep, I asked about "the guy" singing.

We got a good laugh when he didn't know but someone sitting nearby informed us that it was Celia Cruz, a woman famous in the Latin music scene for decades.

I heard that song a lot more during the rest of my time in Guatemala, and I always thought of the funny story of when I first heard it. I'd recommend searching for a song or two of hers on YouTube, like maybe "La Vida Es Un Carnaval".

Listening to it now, I can hear clearly that it's a lady, but I guess my ear wasn't tuned quite right that day.

Happy 88th birthday, Celia. RIP, and thanks for the memory!

Delightful Disneyland and Dodger Days

Disneyland. It's the happiest place on earth.

So we took our family vacation on the road to Anaheim, CA, for a couple days of fun.

Once again, this post will be mostly pictures. Hope you're ok with that.

Day 1: Disneyland

Breezy's first roller coaster ride. Like a champ!

Zonks' first roller coaster ride. Like a boss!

Meeting the big cheese.

With the first lady.

G-unit is an official Jedi padawan. Even defeated Darth Maul.

So excited to meet their favorite!

They tried so hard. Guess they're princesses, not kings.

Day 2: (Mostly) California Adventure

My #carouselfie shot. Yep, that's a thing now.

Day 3: Both parks

A Mickey beignet? Yes, please!

My sister's friend Jillian was super cool, and doesn't she look like Emilia Clarke from Game of Thrones?

Cruella de Vil was a total crack-up.

Caught up with some friends in Downtown Disney.

Day 4: Huntington Beach and the Dodgers game

Our hardcore surfer dudes.

Great game! Dodgers beat the Giants in extra innings.

After such an action-packed adventure, I only have one question:
Is it too early to start planning our next family trip?

Never Too Old for Prom

My last prom was 14-ish years ago.

I had a great time that evening, I really did.
But I'd figured that would be my last prom (unless I chaperone future kids' proms).

Not so, Aaron. Not so.

My friend Melinda invited me to be her date for a prom-themed birthday in the Bay Area, and there is no way I could pass up such a fun opportunity.

So I took TRAX out to the SLC airport, and flew to Oakland.
Sidenote: It's super awesome that mass transit has reached the airport, but UTA needs to extend the weekend hours.

We had a tasty tapas-style lunch on the patio at a beautiful winery, and then practiced a prom pose for later that evening. What do you think? Don't worry, we had a couple other poses in mind for picture time.

After eating, it was time to start prepping for the big night.
So Melinda got her hair did.

She maybe didn't love how tight it was, so her roommate Sarah saved the day by taking out the 'do and replacing it with a loose, fun sort of ponytail.

Next was makeup, and I sat in a park and listened to some local bands while Melinda got this done:
Hubba hubba, am I right?! Yes, I was lucky to be on her arm all night.

We headed into the city, and the party was just getting going when we arrived.
In fact, we arrived just in time for Melinda to help the birthday girl with her grand entrance.

The ladies "brunch bunch", minus one member who was out of town

We did a whole lotta socializing and a whole lotta dancing, and apparently we also picked a great color to match each other as well as other couples at the party.

Our twin couple (he is also named Aaron, and they're rocking the teal too)

And no prom night would be quite fulfilled if we didn't do some prom posing.
Here are a couple classic poses. Which do you like more?
The trip was a short one, but we had so much fun celebrating and rockin' our fancy outfits.

I had to take a pic on the flight back to SLC

Who knows when I'll have another chance to wear a tuxedo and dance the night away, but I hope it's as entertaining as this prom-themed birthday. Thanks again for such a fun time, Melinda!

The DFW Monorail

Ah, Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW).

Every time I go through this airport and have to switch terminals, I have the opportunity to remember the classic 'Monorail' episode of the Simpsons.

If you've never seen it, you need to look up a clip or at least read the lyrics. Actually, no, only watching the clip will suffice.

For example, it includes such lines as:

Apu- Is there a chance the track could bend?

Salesman- Not on your life, my Hindu friend!

Just go watch it.

Update: Since I love you guys so much, here is the clip.

Lecorpio User Conference 2013

Our company held its first (annual?) Lecorpio User Conference on Friday, and it was a dandy.

The Utah team got to fly out to the Bay Area for it, which was cool, other than having to wake up before 4 am to make our Thursday morning flight. After landing in Oakland, we drove down to the office for conference prep and also to get our company shirts.

I think he doubles as a shirt model in his spare time

Our hotel was in Burlingame, so we'd be close to the conference in the morning.
For convenience, we hit up a restaurant in that area for dinner. Mmm, I love a good steak.

Everybody was at the venue early on Friday to set up, and we started meeting the clients right off the bat.

There were various speeches, presentations, and panels throughout the day, including giving the attendees a chance to air their thoughts and requests for updates to the software. Good stuff.

Thanks for a great time at the conference, Lecorpio friends and attendees! See you again in 2014!

Canyons and Arches and Indians, Oh My!

The beauty of Utah's national and state parks is undeniable.

So when Becca invited me to join her down in Moab a few weekends ago, I jumped at the chance.

Here are a few pics from the trip.

With my limited mobility, we could only do short hikes and scenic outlooks. Sorry, Becca.

We started with Gemini Bridges, which kinda made us nervous with its lack of guardrails.

But the arches and views were a great warm-up for me prior to the main parks still to come.

The story behind Dead Horse Point was interesting and tragic, but the views were majestic.

Perfect timing for the Asian tourists to show up

Next up was the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands. More beautiful country!
Upheaval Dome has a couple different distance hike distances; we did the shortest.

We think the salt dome theory is more likely for Upheaval Dome's creation

You might have been wondering where the Indians from the blogpost title fit in.
Well, we stopped by Newspaper Rock along the way.

In Canyonlands, this distant view of the Needles was great with the fantastic evening skies.

Dinosaur tracks! They were trickier to reach than we'd expected, but well worth it.

Fulfilling my childhood dream to be like Indiana Jones

And a final excursion to Corona Arch, which was a kinda tough hike in my boot.

And no, we didn't use the Corona Arch like a humongous swing, like the guys in this video:

Awesome.

Just like our time spent in Moab and its surrounding parks.

Weekend Escape to Park City

Park City is lots of fun, and it's even more fun when you're going up there with someone who hasn't been before. Plus, if they're going up for a conference and you get free dinner, that's a major bonus haha

Becca had meetings for a lot of the day, but she had a little break on Saturday, so I met up with her and we walked Main Street for a little and had lunch in a little Thai restaurant.

Banksy was here

After lunch, I showed her a couple of the ski resorts, which had snow but weren't scheduled to open quite yet. Just a couple more weeks until they do, but I sadly won't be able to ski anyway.

Later that evening, Becca's program hosted a dinner at Cisero's. Very tasty!

Fancy dinner, complete with pumpkin decorations

Since socializing is a big part of work conferences, we joined everyone in walking down to High West Distillery, and everybody had a good time. I particularly thought some of the drink names were fun.

For example:

• Dead Man's Boots
• Licorice and Smoke
• Blood and Sand
• Rattlesnake

Aren't those awesome?!

Cool branding and poster design

PS - While we were all chatting, I noticed this song playing, and I thought it was hilarious.
That Willie has a great sense of humor, and I enjoy the clever number wording.