Story of the Year coming to U.V.S.C.

Utah Valley State College gets ready to wrap up the semester by hosting a concert with the bands Story of the Year and The Bravery playing at the McKay Events Center in Orem.

The event will take place Tuesday, April 8 at 7:30p.m. and doors open at 6:30p.m. The tour is part of a promotional campaign for Story of the Year’s new album release “The Black Swan” which is scheduled to his stores April 22.

The Utah concert is the third stop in their spring tour. The show was originally scheduled for the Salt Lake Fairgrounds, but sponsors relocated it to U.V.S.C. to better accommodate the audience with the unpredictable April weather.

The concert is sponsored by X-96, The Daily Herald, Ken Garff, Spring, and Novell who have been hosting many ticket and prize giveaways as the concert grows closer.

“Its great, I got five tickets from X-96 when I went in to their studio. They were just giving them out for free. You just had to spin a wheel to see how many you would get,” said U.V.S.C. student Dan Eicher.

Story of the Year has headlined many big shows in Utah including the Vans Warped Tour and the Taste of Chaos Tour. Many U.V.S.C. students seem to be excited for the tour to arrive.

“I am excited to see Story of the Year. They always seem to put on a good show and it is a good break during the end of the semester,” said U.V.S.C. student Carrie Andrews.

Story of the Year has had great success with their 2003 smash debut album “Page Avenue” and their second release in 2005 “In the Wake of Determination.” The 2003 single “Until the Day I Die” received platinum awards for their album sales.


The bands The Spring Tour will include 40 shows ending June, 2 in Melbourne, Australia.
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Brooke dragged me to the stupidest thing ever right now and I am very luck to have my computer so I can complain about it. After we got out of class Tuesday night Brooke went in to watch this stupid ballet dancing practice in the Reagan Theater. I was forced to go because I did not drive to class today. Now I am regretting every moment of my entrance into this room. There are stupid, bad dancers prancing around the stage in front of me. Swaying and swinging to some Latin influenced music. I am so fortunate to have my laptop with me so I can at least get something productive done and write my last and final blog entry.
I can’t believe it; school is almost out for summer. I have so much to do as the semester winds down to an end. All of the difficult things that we have learned in the semester come to this challenging climax as all of my teachers assign the biggest most difficult assignments to try to have us, students implicate the many things we were supposed to retain through the semester. All I can say is that I am excited for it to end and take a break this summer. I can’t believe what I am in for this summer. It is going to be fun, and exciting with many new things to face. The summer starts out by me going to California for Brooke’s sister’s wedding. Her poor parent dealing with two daughters getting married within three months. The next adventure and the biggest (possibly the biggest ever in my life) is my own wedding. I get married June 7 and immediately following my wedding I leave on a week cruise to the Mexican Riviera. The following week I will stay in San Diego and have another wedding reception in Escondido. After that two-week vacation I will return home for two weeks. The next adventure I have planned is my annual family Lake Powell trip which happens to be one of the best vacations one could ever dream of. My family is so cool and we always have a good time together. Later in the summer I will go to Northern Idaho to my mothers lake house. Then I will go to San Diego and Phoenix one more time to conclude my summer before I begin my fall semester at UVU.

Tonight is poker night. Every so often on thursdays we get a group of people together who are interested in playing poker. Some individuals in the area are against it because it is gambling. I do not seeit as this because it is a form of inexpensive entertainment the way we play. If you think about it a typical movie is about $8 now and that only lasts 2 hours. Our poker tournaments are $5 buy in Texas holdem tournament so we play to the end. We usually start at around 9 in the evening and often go past 1am. That is ofer 4 hours of entertainment. If you break that down that is about $1.25 an hour and you get the opportunity to sociaize, meet new people, and play a fun game together. There are few forms of entertainment that cheap that would get a group of 10 or more together week after week. If you look at it from the sense that you may win, you could make money. If the winner takes all and 10 people play every week, you would only need to win 1 time evert 10 weeks to break even. If you did it more than that you would be ahead. For a cheap form of entertainment I would reccommend a low entry tournament of texas holdem. With this in mind, I wish you all good luck and happy betting. Go make a new friend, have a poker tournament today!

Slope Style Competition at The Canyons

Skiers and snowboarders push it to the limit at The Canyons annual Slope Style Competition.

The event was held yesterday in the Upper Respect terrain park at The Canyons ski resort. The only qualification to compete was a $20 entry fee to be entered in to the competition and the will to try the best tricks one would dare do.

Local Rider Preston Weekes at The Canyons terrain park.

Riders of all ages were sorted in to age groups to compete in their sport. The day was a cloudy day, but it did not stop the show. As riders started to group at the top of the run to begin, other fellow riders speckled the sides of the course waiting to watch as the event kicked off.

The snowboarding groups went first starting with the younger age group of 15 and under. Many of the spectators were impressed at the determination and skill of these younger competitors.

“They are so crazy it amazes me,” said a proud parent and spectator, Al Heaton.

After the younger group was finished the 16 and up group followed raising the bar with new more technical tricks. Many of the spectators would show their respect and support through the cheers and whistles.

“This is a fun laid back competition that allows people to push it as big as they want. There is not a lot at stake so it is more fun,” said Josh Maza, a competitor in the 16 and older skiing group.

“Anyone can enter, but you need to throw a big trick to win,” said Maza.

The three top ranking people in each group were awarded prizes. First place won a cash prize of $500, second place won a free night stay in the Grand Summit Lodge, and third place won two free day ski passes.

The Canyons has hosted the annual Slope Style Competition for 5 years. Over the past 10 years there has been a push at ski resorts to expand terrain parks for riders to test their jumping and rail riding abilities in these designated areas.

The past few years Park City has been rated as the top terrain park in the world. With all this notoriety Park City has received, it has pushed some surrounding ski resorts to expand their terrain parks. The Canyons has a larger terrain park than ever before with 36 different features to test your skills on and 6 natural half pipes.

The competition to have the best ski resort is likely to continue benefiting the local skiers and snowboarders that like to test their ability in these areas or watch from the side as others perform difficult feats of skill.
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Car companies seem to be in a race to create the best energy efficient, low emissions automobile.

Most of the major car companies in the world have become much more competitive in making “green” cars.

“Gas prices have created a lot of complaints from customers, but they keep buying gas because they need to drive,” said Clint Cristiansen from Crest Gas.

The cost of fuel over the past 10 years has had almost a 300% increase in retail costs. With the depletion of the ozone and global awareness on the rise, more means of alternative power are tested daily. There are several more reasonable solutions under testing such as E-85 Ethanol, Bio-Diesel, Electricity, and the possibility of Hydrogen powered cars.

The Saab 9-4X Bio-Power Concept has

a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder turbo Engine

created for E-85 fuel to give 300 hp.

Each of these sources of fuel has benefits and disadvantages. E-85 is described as an alcohol fuel mixture that typically contains a up to 85% denatured fuel, ethanol and gasoline. E-85 Ethanol produces far cleaner emissions than standard gasoline, but the amount of fuel the world consumes is greater than the current capability to reproduce this fuel and keep up with current demands. E-85 is basically a fuel produced from corn oil. This form of fuel is available in the United States and is very common in Sweden.

Bio-diesel is an incredibly efficient form of fuel. Biodiesel is a fuel similar to petroleum derived diesel fuel, but manufactured from vegetable or animal fats. This is a low emission fuel that is very economical because the efficiency that can be achieved in a vehicle. There are a few problems with this fuel that is under testing. The fuel can wear out rubber gasgets and hoses in older engines of vehicles in automobiles made 1992 and earlier. Newer diesel vehicles use a non corrosive rubber substitute.

Electricity has a no emission output used by itself. The benefit of electricity as a power source is that it is instant. It does not need to build up power like other engine fuels such as gasoline and diesel. As soon as you require it, it is there. This makes fast accelleration possible. The problems with electricity starts with distance capabilities, time recharging, and the heavy weight of batteries. The technology has been increasing, but is not where it needs to be.

Hydrogen is another potential form of alternative fuel. This is a benificial source because it is not carbon based so its emissions are very clean. Hydrogen has been deemed by some critics as the most expensive and least efficient means when compared with other tested alternatives.

Toyota Prius has sold more

than three times any other

hybrid in the U.S.

“The Prius has been the highest selling hybrid in the U.S. from when they were introduced through 2007.” said sales representative Mike Terry of Brent Brown Toyota.

Many manufacturers are conquering the issues of these alternate fuel sources and combining the options as they do in Hybrid cars. Companies have combined resources such as an electric powered car that has a small efficient gas generator that can constantly recharge the battery source while using minimal fuel.

Find more information at:
http://www.hybridcars.com/
http://www.autobloggreen.com/

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Proposing to my love -Part 2

We left The Melting Pot and I told Brooke I wanted to try something new as we headed to the car. I never typically tell her what we are going to do when I plan a big date so she is used to it. All I tell her is what she needs to bring and what to wear. We drove around the streets downtown in order to disorient her with her surroundings. She is one to rarely know where she is with her navigation skills and I used this to my advantage on this night. I parked on this street downtown after driving around for about 10 minutes. I parked and told her we need to walk from here. As we took off down the sidewalk, I made a left in between some buildings commenting on how I thought we could cut through here. We walked across the east end of the Salt Lake L.D.S. Temple toward the Reflection Pond. My heart started to pound as we grew nearer to what only I knew was about to happen. I said to her, “Lets take a picture here.” Some sister missionaries happened to be walking by at the late hour and Brooke suggested they should take the picture of both of us. They kindly took the picture and started to walk away. I took the camera and told her I wanted to take a picture of her and instructed her to stand on the edge of the short pond wall. She stepped up on to the wall and I traded the camera in my hand for the ring box in my coat pocket. As soon as she turned around I knelt down on one knee. I had planned for several days what I would try and say and thought I would be able to pull this off with ease. All thought in my brain seamed to cease at that moment. I could not remember basically anything for that small moment in time with my heart rate pumping at maximum capability. Then I realized I needed to kick it in gear and I started to talk. I did OK saying some of my thoughts and feelings that I wanted to say. I asked her to take my name, be my wife, and marry me for time and eternity. She was in total shock and kind of mumbled out “Is this really…” and I started to nod my head. Tears started to pour form both of our cheeks as she jumped off the wall in to my arms and we spun around, kissing, her in my arms; like you would see as a perfect ending in one of those love movies. She popped her head back and said, “Let me see the ring,” with excitement in her voice. I still had the box in my hand. I responded, “you need to answer me first you never said anything.” She said, “Yes, yes, of course.” We stayed there holding each other close looking in to each other’s eyes slowly taking in all the excitement and try to start to grasp what just happened. I had other things planned for that night, but we did not do any of it. We drove around downtown for about 30 minutes then decided we had enough and just wanted to go home and play video games together. On the way home we called our parents and siblings letting them know the good news. We have now planned our wedding to take place 6/7/08 in the Salt Lake Temple right where we first officially committed to each other to spend the rest of our lives together.

Proposing to my love -part 1

I have finally done it. I am going to bite the dust as they say. I proposed to my girlfriend of over two years. To my skeptic friends who never thought I would do it, ha, you were wrong. To my friends that thought it was going to happen sooner or later, yes it did. I am so, so excited. I am marrying the love of my life, the girl of my dreams, and my soul mate. I love her with all my heart. She is amazing and every moment I spend at her side is never long enough. Yeh, all you guys think I am cheesy at this moment and maybe I am guilty of that. So what? I just don’t really care what most people think of me I have never really been one to care that much about those sort of things.
To get in to the story, I will tell you about the night I asked my fiancé to marry me. It was Valentine’s Day 2008. I had planned an evening of potential cool activities and nice dinner planed ahead with reservations made at multiple restaurants just in case some plans went south. I had planned this day to be the one I asked Brooke to be my wife since the beginning of December. I wanted it to be as perfect as possible. It was not possible to do exactly what I wanted to do because we are both full time students and Valentine’s Day was on a Thursday. When all of your classes are on Tuesday and Thursday, it makes those days very busy and difficult to miss or schedule around. Back in December I had ordered the construction of a custom made engagement ring. Brooke and I had looked at a few places and I had an idea of what she liked. I did not worry too much because our taste is very similar in a lot of things. This gave me the confidence to follow my own idea and get the ring made exactly how I wanted the design. I am somewhat of a perfectionist in certain areas of my life (most things besides cleaning and organizing). I ordered the ring and the company said that it would take four to six weeks to complete it. After patiently waiting I did not get the ring until two weeks before the big day. The dilemma was that I ordered a ring without a stone. I needed to see the ring to get the stone because it has a fairly specific placement to fit in. It added a little bit of stress to the whole situation, but it worked out. After waiting for all of this to come together, the ring did not get fit with the stone by the required date so I went to Wal-Mart and bought a temporary ring to ask with. After class ended that afternoon we headed out to Salt Lake to have diner at a restaurant called The Melting Pot. We had always talked about eating here, but never went because it is too expensive. This was a good of night as any to justify the splurge. It was perfect; we had the front corner table in the restaurant that had windows on two sides looking down Main Street in downtown Salt Lake. It was a four-course meal starting with a cheese dip, followed by salad, then the main course, ending with a delicious dessert. The total bill was $160 and if I never pay that again for a meal for the rest of my life I will be content. Dinner was finished off with a picture taken by the waiter that was attached to the menu and a rose for any girl that came to eat there that night.

Ok, so I have been staying with my grandparents the past few months and it gets a little old, but they are not bad. I am pretty much never home so it works out pretty good and you can’t ignore the best part about it… it’s free! It has been great because the past few days they have been out of town in Florida. I have re-arranged the furniture to optimize video watching. Guess who has their car in the garage… yes, me. I have never in my life had the wonderful ability to enjoy a garage. I have owned well over 50 cars and no garage. Sad. I can’t wait for the day when I buy a home with a garage. I look forward to it more than I should. I have two storage units to keep my belongings and motorcycles in and I have a moving truck I have full of things from my last apartment. Its kind of crazy I know, but basically I need a big house. That is partially why I moved from my last one bedroom place. I need at least two bedrooms because I have too much crap. I don’t even know how I get it all, but I do.
There is one main thing that has really been only able to describe as amazing! Since my grandparents have been out of town I can BLAST my music again! I have lived in apartments for more than the past two years and I had to be quiet. Being forced to be quiet when you are a loud individual at heart sucks. I like my music like you hear it in a concert, loud and in your face. I want to feel the bass vibrate my soul and hear the highs penetrate every receptor in my body. By the way did I mention that I love music! Yes, I am one of those obnoxious kids you were pissed at because someone else’s music in the car behind you was making your rear view mirror shake. Its though, you got over it. Basically if you get the hint I am excited right now because I am home alone rocking out to very loud music, singing my heart out with no one that can hear me or complain about the volume (or poor singing). I like to sing, but only in showers and cars. If I ever had a band I would have to name it showers and cars as a tribute to my singing practice sessions. Well, I am done rambling for now and a good song just started so have a nice day.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. I am so excited for the snow. I moved from Arizona to Utah for the snow. I love to ski and snowboard and it is a way of life for my family and I. My dad raced mogul downhill skiing and two of my uncles raced G.S. and were ski instructors. Most all of my family skis and it has been a family tradition for a long time.
This winter has been so good! Utah has been at some level of a drought for a while now and I am so happy to see a change this year. I hear so many people talk about how Utah needs more snow, but now that we are actually getting it people complain about living in it. I guess it is a double edged sword. All I have to say is you won’t hear me complaining. This is what I came here for and I am happy. Growing up in Arizona, we never saw snow where I lived. There was one time where they said it snowed in Scottsdale, where I lived, but it was more like a 4 minute light hail. I remember the “cold” days there when the news would warn people about once a year that it may get below freezing at night so people had to cover their flowers to protect them. Now that I live here in Utah, I still get as excited as a little kid on Christmas day, when it snows.
This week is a great week because it is the annual Weekes challenge. Once a year all of the good skiers in my family get together at Snowbird and have a family ski day where everyone pushes it to the max showing off their best talent as our herd skis down the hills. It is such a big deal with my family that all the non-locals fly in from out of state to participate in the activities. My uncle Brent comes from Phoenix. My uncle Jim, aunt Nancy, and cousin Lindsey come from Colorado. We will have about 10-15 people showing up together for our day of fun in the snow.
We have many very good skiers in the family, but I started a revolution of uprising snowboarders. I was the first one in the family to try out that sport, and though some will not try it, about half of us have given it a shot. I am the type of person that does not like to limit my options. If it sound half way reasonable (and sometimes not reasonable at all) I will probably try it out at least once.I will try to post some cool pics from the Snowbird day so check back

A big part of my life has been the sports I have been involved in. My first passion I had for a sport was racing bikes. When I was young, my father raised me for the most part. He had a great impact on my life because of all the time that we would spend together. It was sort of like we were best pals. I would go to work with him and draw pictures by his side all day long because that is what he did. I wanted to be like my dad. He was the best architect in the world as far as I was concerned. My adoration for him was great with his work, but my favorite thing my dad did was race motorcycles. I wanted to be an accomplished rider and go on to race some day, following in my role model’s footsteps.
One day my opportunity came and the chance was right in front of me. I had grown an interest for riding bikes and I did it every day. I built jumps with my friends across the street from my home and loved every second of it. I was a fanatic. I had a subscription to the most popular B.M.X. bike-racing magazine and memorized every published paper that company produced. It was my life and my dad supported me completely. My main goal was wanting to race just like dad when he was young, but my only thing keeping me back was a proper race bike. I wanted one so incredibly bad. I did research on the bikes memorizing all the companies, parts, prices, specifications, and ratings. We would go out to the track to watch the racers. My dad would always talk to them and ask them questions about bikes to learn about the sport.
Then I found my first true love. It was the Auburn CR-20RX, the top rated bike for the past 3 years. I wanted one more than anything a 10 year old could want in life. My dad was so patient and dedicated as a parent that we would spend long days about three days of the week driving around Phoenix stopping at every bike shop in the city. I am not sure if you have ever been to Phoenix, but there is a lot of bike stores. Shop after shop, I could not find my bike because this was not your “run of the mill” bicycle. It was a sheer racing machine not meant for your average neighborhood boy. This bike was special.
One day we were out looking around and as I fumbled through the phone book. I came across a new bike store we had never visited. I wrote the address down and we were on our way. On our approach of the store, its appearance was not promising at first sight. It looked like a typical mountain bike store, not a B.M.X. shop. Entering the store, I immediately proceeded to the back where the smaller bikes were. To my complete amazement I found a brand new Auburn CR-20RX exactly like the one I wanted. It stood in the display rack beckoning me to ride it. It was beautiful, love at first sight. The search was finally over and we took the bike home. That was the beginning of my B.M.X. bike-racing career. That bike eventually took me to second place in the nation in my race class fulfilling my dreams of becoming a racer.

a little about Preston

Now that I have told you a little about my family I will give a little insight into me and where I am at in life. I have worked in the past off and on for about nine years in the architectural and construction field. I grew up doing it having a dad as an architect and 4 uncles that are contractors. I have done plans for homes all on my own and have supervised construction on large projects as well. I worked it an architectural office in north Orem for over 2 years.
I am now a car dealer because I love cars. I run a small Internet and local car dealership with one other guy. My days constantly consist of posting ads, responding to emails, and talking on the phone all day. Any time I am not doing this is spent with my girlfriend, Brooke or on the slopes skiing and snowboarding. I also meet with people from all over the country that fly here to buy my cars. You would be surprised to see how many people I deal with that fly from back east to buy a truck and drive it home. The only inference I can make is that I must be pricing them right. I pick up and drive around clients all the time. Often many of them are people I have nothing in common with or don’t care to meet them in the first place. This really has pushed me to expand my communication skills, otherwise sales would not go well for me and test drives in the cars I sell would be much more awkward.
I expect to graduate in less than two years, which is late for a 26 year old, but I have worked my way through college to pay for it. I am a Communications, Public Relations major. I am not certain about my career goals, but I would like to start out with a company on a salary and work in to my own company. I will always sell cars for fun on the side or full time. I will make over $1,000,000 a year, at least one time, within 20 years. I am a constant investor and have an entrepreneurial spirit always open-minded to learn about a solid investment. I love cars like I said before. I usually own about 10 to 15 at a time, but I only have four that I keep. I have a 2001 Toyota Tacoma crew cab, a 1999 Audi A8 on 22” rims, a lifted 1991 Jeep Wrangler, a lifted partially restored 1957 Chevy 4wd. pickup.

This is my blog and I am new to this whole thing so I am going to start out by writing a little about me and who I came from. My dad is Bruce Weekes and my mother is Crystal Bowen. They were divorced when I was two years old. My mother re-married when I was five to a man named Mike Dwyer. My dad waited 20 years to find his soul mate. He married a woman named Nancy Witbeck.
My dad and Nancy currently live in Provo, UT and my mom and Mike currently live in Phoenix, AZ. I did most of my growing up in Phoenix until the young, ripe age of 15. At this point in my life I ran away from my mothers house and moved to Utah. My dad followed and moved here immediately after dropping everything, including his established career, to be with me.
My dad’s parents were large range and ranch owners that grew up in a country type atmosphere. My dad’s biological father owned very large percentages of Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and some land in Wyoming. In Utah alone he owned a range that stretched somewhat along I-15 north of Cedar City up to around Fillmore totaling over 640,000 acres. He lost that land in a bad business deal that took place in Nevada resulting in an immediate liquidation of the property. If that never happened I probably wouldn’t need to be in school or work today.
My mother’s parents were big family high rollers with a bloodline of attorneys and ranchers. My mom’s dad kept the occupational trend alive as a hotshot attorney. I remember when I was little, going to visit my grandpa and everything he had seemed so nice and expensive. He drove cars like Rolls Royces and he had his own jet. At one point he owned the 46th floor of some large building in San Francisco where he lived for a while. I remember riding around in his huge gold car that always smelled of leather and fine cigars. He even owned a ski resort at one point, which I was not around to take advantage of.
Now my dad’s Biological father has passed away without ever getting to know me, his grandchild. He spent his life too entrenched in making money to care about his family. My mom’s dad resides in northern Idaho out in the wilderness away from all of the fast paced life of the city. He is chasing his cowboy roots when he is not caring about his 8 kids and 25 grandkids.
I have a very large, 60% Mormon, family that is full of amazing people that are very closely knit. My dad’s stepfather, who I never actually think of him as a step, is the rock foundation and cement filler that has created the amazing bond with our family group as a whole. I have to admit that I am proud of who I am and am so fortunate to have all of the amazing people in my family to influence my life.