Honest Scrap Blog

My wife forwarded me a request to write 10 honest things about myself. The instructions are little vague as to what really is considered honest about oneself. So I've thought about this over time and here is my list.

1. I've had just one major car ordeal. I was 16 years old. During the summer I worked as a carpet layer for a member in our church named Brian Snokes. This job required me to drive to Tremonton, UT every morning. I drove a blue astro van that James Morgan and I called the Blue Ox. Being new to driving I wasn't up to speed on the necessity of oil changing. I'd never done it. I had noticed my oil light come on but then go off. I thought it was a short in the wire. I thought nothing of it and didn't check the oil. A short while later I was driving home from Tremonton with several work guys when all of a sudden the car shook like an earthquake. It made a loud noise too, loud enough to wake those sleeping in the back. I pulled over and we took a look. Turns out I was out of oil. There was not even a hint of oil on the dipstick. I had seized the engine. I hitched a ride to Brigham City, called my Dad, who brought the red truck to tow us home. I don't recall how the other guys made it home that night but they didn't come with me. And they never drove with me again.

2. Shortly after getting the Astro van back from a complete engine replacement (which I remember my Dad saying to me "Scott, we'll take care of it this time but if it happens again you get to pay for it), I had my first near death and so far only near death experience. I was driving up a street to turn left on to Orchard drive. I hated then and still do turning left especially on busy roads. Orchard Drive in Bountiful can be that way. Well, a large white truck passed and I saw my opening, however small it was. I gunned the engine, turned into the middle lane, looked behind to speed up in front of the car speeding up behind the truck. When I looked forward the large white truck was attempting a U-turn in the middle of the road. The middle lane was blocked as well as the first lane and some of the second lane. The car behind me was not slowing down and I wsa going too fast to stop. I was going to hit the truck and the impact would be severe. At nearly the last second I swerved to the right into the second lane barely missing the truck my mere centimeters I'm sure and the car behind me by about the same gap. I quickly served back to the left lane. The light ahead was red. I stopped, looked right, and was witness to the most beautiful display of foul body language one close to death can muster. The man in the other car was visibly upset with me. I smiled.

3. I lied about the the only near death experience. I recently had another. I was flying to Philadelphia for a TMS implementation. We had just taken off and was only in the air for a short time and still ascending when suddening, without warning, the plane dove. My stomach nearly came out of my mouth. The lady next to me gasped and grabbed my arm. There were several shouts of alarm. I don't recall how long the plane dove but it was about 10 seconds. The plane then leveled. We all looked around wondering what happened. Then the plan dove again for nearly the same amount of time. It then leveled off again. The cabin was in panic. I remember thinking this was it. I was going to be a plane wreck casualty (yes not a pleasant thought). The captain came on a few minutes and explained what had happened.  We had dropped nearly 10,000 feet.  A military plane coming into the Charleston Air Force base was coming in. This particular commercial airplane and I think all planes are equiped with a sensor that picks up when other planes are close. This military plane was in our flight path. Our plane reacted and dove to clear the path of the military plane. Man it was scary!

4. My wife often pokes fun of my dating life, or near lack thereof.  I tell her I didn't have to date lots of women to find the perfect one for me. I do find it funny that of the few woman I did date that it just happens that I dated a second woman named Jessica, who was from Southern Utah (Kanab), who I had met on www.ldssingles.com. My wife is also named from Jessica, from Southern Utah (St. George), and I met on www.ldssingles.com.  And I'm glad I met the second Jessica who agreed to marry me after only 1 1/2 months of dating.

5. Until high school I had never really heard of The Beatles. Then a good high school friend named Ben Lawrence introduced me. It was the same time The Beatles Anthology came out on TV. I watched the whole thing and then bought The Beatles Anthology on both DVD and the music. My first Beatles album, though, was Rubber Soul. It remains still today as my favorite Beatles album.

6. When we were little I watched my sister Trish push my little brother Kelly from a dock on a lake. My Dad reached down and with out arm yanked him from the water. Kelly's first words when out was "that fish almost got me." We went back to our RV to eat and our poodle Peaches had eaten the raw hamburgers. I don't remember what we ate instead. By the way, my sister still, to this day, denies pushing Kelly in the lake.

7. My favorite stuffed animal as a young boy was a stuffed seal named Sparky. It's possible my Mom still has him somewhere. I remember one day when my Mom asked me to clean up my room and put in the D.I. (for those outside of Utah it's like Goodwill) pile including stuffed animals. I struggled with Sparky. I could not put him in the D.I. pile. It's probably this reason I still get sentimental with Easton's stuffed animals. I hope my wife never plans on getting rid of those. They are priceless.

8. I love eating chicken hearts at Brazilian churrasaria's. I once was afraid of them until I tried one while living in Brazil. Now it is a must eat when I go. Usually I'm the only one in the entire restaurant who wants them so I get an entire skewer. That's just fine by me.

9. I cannot burp my ABCs. In fact, I find it rather repulsive.

10. For my Eagle project I helped create 200 feet of the Great Western Trail. For those interested, here's a link regarding this trail. It's one of the longest trails in the United States. It stretches from Canada to Mexico. Thanks to my scout troop we had nearly 15 young men come and we were finished within 2-3 hours (before lunch) of starting. I still remember the faces of other scouts as we left to hike back home.

This is as honest as I can be with my faulty memory.