Tag, That's It

Monday morning, I got a text that was a surprise for two reasons.  First, Sarah had taken our Mazda to the tag agency to get an Oklahoma tag (that's what they call license plates out here in the old Indian Territory) and second, we had forgotten to change the insurance on the Mazda to Oklahoma insurance.  

The result: One unsuccessful attempt to register our car in Oklahoma as a car needs valid Oklahoma insurance to be registered here.

Tuesday morning, I got a phone call that was a surprise for two reasons.  First, Sarah usually doesn't call me while I'm at school (she texts me) and second, the VIN on our Oklahoma insurance card didn't match the VIN on the Utah title or the VIN on the actual car.

The result: A second unsuccessful attempt to register our car in Oklahoma as a car needs its VIN to match both the VIN on the title and the VIN on the valid Oklahoma insurance to be registered here.

Wednesday morning, I got a text that was a surprise for two reasons.  First, Sarah had successfully registered our Mazda here in Oklahoma, and second, there weren't any problems.

The result:  Our Mazda is finally registered in Oklahoma even though we didn't get the new tag put on the car until Friday.  (We figured we'd run in to some sort of problem like breaking a screw or the holes not lining up with the old license plate so we didn't attempt anything tag-related on Thursday.)

Take home lesson:  If you're going to move, move at the same time as your spouse so you only have to do things like changing car insurance and registration once rather than twice.  That way the likelihood of forgetting something important like actually changing the insurance or giving them the right VIN goes down drastically.

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Reunited Again

Last weekend, I was reunited with two people I hadn't seen for a long time: Sarah, who I hadn't seen for six and a half weeks while she was finishing up her experiments and Brandon, who I hadn't seen since before Sarah and I met.

So, in order to surprise them, I left the door to the apartment unlocked and waited outside to try and get some good live action shots of them really excited to see me.  The only problem I had was that I had hidden too far from the front door to get a picture of them before they were inside.  Then I sneaked up to the front door with camera in hand (glad that none of my neighbors were watching).  Once inside, I realized that they hadn't quite started their search for me.  I hid behind a door and caught Brandon's eye, silently telling him that I wanted to surprise Sarah.  He understood and went along with my plan (some things never change even when you're gone on your mission for two years).  I followed Sarah without her noticing and then captured this intense moment with my camera.

 

 Yeah, I was a little disappointed with the picture as well.  So much for that plan.  (She was just started to text me to ask me where I was.  She didn't think it was as funny as I did.)

Brandon was nice enough to take a picture of our reunion.

 

  

 If you can't tell, Sarah was a little distracted by my beard.  She decided that rather than continuing to hug me, she needed to text our families and show them what I had done while she was gone.
She's not alone in her infatuation with my beard.  (Check out my mom's blog for the most recent beard contest.)

(Apologies to my mom for not getting a picture of the embrace Brandon I enjoyed after everyone received the "Check out Bryan's beard" text.  When you think about it, not having a picture of us hugging can't be that much worse than only having a picture of my butt while we're hugging though.  Apologies to my dad for bringing up that sore subject again.)

I hope Brandon enjoyed his time out here before flying back.  In his own words, "I can't believe I came halfway across the country just to play games.  That's what I was doing all the time in Utah."

It was definitely nice to have Brandon around so we could play three player games, which we haven't done in a while.  We also went and saw The Dark Night Rises and bought some discs and played disc golf until it was too dark.  (Ben would be proud.)

  

 Since we didn't have any pictures with Brandon, we decided to take one with all the games that we played with him during the few days that he was here.  As you can tell from the big smile on his face, he won most of the games.  (Sarah and I are practicing for when we become parents.  For those of you who will read way too much into that last comment, Sarah is not pregnant.  We just wanted Brandon to feel good about himself, so we let him win a lot of the games.)

The last day that Brandon was here, he went to the temple and the zoo with Sarah while I was at school.  The highlights for both of them included the following:

Being told by an older lady at the temple that they would have beautiful blue-eyed children

Brandon getting asked by a teenager at the zoo why he was wearing a white shirt and a tie.  Brandon's response:  "Because we're mormons and we just went to the temple." Sarah then added, "I decided to change afterwards."

Getting to see the baby elephant at the zoo (Sarah was especially excited about this one).

 

 Good thing she bought a year-long pass while they were there.  Something tells me I'm going to be seeing more of this baby elephant.

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Favorite Shirt

  

 

This is my new favorite shirt.  Why is it my favorite shirt, you ask?  Because of the fun experiences I have when wearing it.  As background, Beta Alpha Psi is an international accounting fraternity (or "professional service organization" if you're at BYU) of which I was an officer at BYU.  I can't remember if only the officers got these shirts or if all the members did, but that's where it came from.

Now, on to story #1:  When Sarah and I were getting ready to move, we made a couple trips to the U-Haul store to buy some picture boxes and other moving supplies.  When we got up to the counter to check out, the guy looked at my shirt and then said, "Beta, alpha, pounds per square inch.  I don't get it."  I cracked a smile and responded, "Oh, it's actually the Greek letter psi (pronounced 'sigh').  Beta Alpha Psi is an accounting fraternity."  Silence.  Then scanning of bar codes.  Finally his response:  "Man, I feel stupid."

Sarah got mad at me for laughing out loud once we got to the car.

Story #2:  Monday morning, I sat down on the bus and continued reading on my iPod.  Then I hear someone say "Hey!"  I'm on a bus full of people, so I figure that they couldn't possibly be talking to me since I know next to nobody here in Norman.  A moment later I hear from the same voice, "Hey, are you in Beta Alpha Psi?"  I look up to see this guy looking intently at my shirt.  I reply, "I was during my undergrad at BYU, but I'm not in BAP here at OU."  Now the funny part.  This guy stares at me, puts out his hand and gives me the curling index finger as if to say "come over here."  I did one of those look-side-to-side/is-he-motioning-to-me type actions then look back at him.  He gives me the finger again.  I go over and sit down next to him.  

He pulls out his accounting homework and asks me, "Do you know what a classified balance sheet is?"

I think to myself - classified balance sheet...let's see, we don't really complicate things in accounting - it usually is what we say it is.  "You mean like a balance sheet where things are classified as current or long-term assets or current or long-term liabilities?"  He opens to a page of his notes, which confirms my suspicion.  (I also looked it up online after I got to school to make sure I hadn't led him astray.)  He then mentions that he had been looking through past exams in preparation for the exam they had that day and the professor had asked about an unclassified balance sheet.  Going of my same logic, I said "That's probably a balance sheet that doesn't have the assets or liabilities classified by their time horizon.  Maybe they're not even classified as assets or liabilities, but I'm not sure why anyone would do that or whether that would even be considered a balance sheet."  His blank face told me that he was confused, and to be honest, so was I.  I didn't know why someone would ever ask about an unclassified balance sheet and I didn't know why wearing an accounting shirt could lead to so many adventures.

I'll have to keep you updated with any more adventures I have wearing my new favorite shirt.

(If at any point while reading this you wondered, Does Bryan realize how big of a nerd he is? the answer is yes.)

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Pictures and Details

Sometimes I am convinced that all of us are extremely similar, we just express our thoughts, emotions and feelings differently.  I think that deep down we all have the same desires and aspirations.  Other times, I am convinced of the exact opposite - that the only thing we have in common is that we try to communicate with one another, with varying degrees of success.  Today was one of that latter type of days for me after I got a phone call from Sarah.  It went a little bit like this:

"So, Jennie (Sarah's sister that she's staying with) just reminded me that she owes me a picture.  Originally I was just going to have her paint a nature type scene for me, but then I thought I should probably call you because you actually care about home decor and how things look." (I was going to put "emphasis added" until I realized that the way she said it put the emphasis there for me.)

We talked about it and decided a nature scene would be grand, which then got me thinking.

Why is it so surprising that I care about the way things look in our apartment?

This took me back to when we were putting up the pictures in our apartment.  I think Sarah got to the point where she was thinking come on, Bryan, let's just put the pictures up and be done with this already.  While I'm thinking these pictures are going to be here for at least a year.  I can't have a picture bother me every time I look at it.  If the matting doesn't match the rest of the room, it very well may bother me whenever I look around the room.  The frames need to match if we put the pictures by each other.

It's times like those that I realize how different I am.  I like to tell myself that it's a good thing that I'm so into the details of life because I think it helps me understand and appreciate the bigger picture more.  I could be completely wrong and it could be that I just get distracted by the details.

I'll share another example that happened just yesterday.  I drove up to the Oklahoma City Temple yesterday morning and decided to take some pictures of the temple after the session.  I was trying to get everything just right (trying my hardest to get the temple level and not crooked in the picture) when I took the picture.  Only problem was that a couple was walking out right when I took the picture.

 

 For some people, this picture may suffice.  They may say I got a picture of the temple and I'm happy.  I won't even notice that couple when I look at the picture.  Not me.  Every time I look at this picture, my focus immediately goes to the couple walking out of the temple.  So, rather than making them feel awkward, while I hold my camera and tap my foot impatiently waiting for them to get out of the picture, I decide to take a lap around the temple and see what other pictures I can take.

 

 I decided one of the temple name would be nice.  Now when I look at it, I notice how bare some of the plants are around it.  What you won't see a picture of is the fountain on the back side of the temple.  When I got around to that side, there were a bunch of kids running around and a very exhausted looking father with them.  I decided it wasn't worth an attempt at a picture to try to get that dad to round up all of his kids for me.  I have a feeling that some day I may understand how that father felt.

 

 Here's the east side of the temple with the stained glass windows of the Celestial Room.  Not the most beautiful picture but I kind of felt bad walking out on to the grass, so I didn't walk out that far.  (Not to mention, there isn't much of a lawn around the temple and I'm not sure where the property line is between the temple grass and the neighbor's lawn - the temple is in the middle of a neighborhood, and yes, the lawn is shared with the house next door.)

 

 Finally, I got around to the front again.  However, there was a man walking out of the temple and his wife was waiting in their car.  I tried to move to the side and get a picture really quick without him or the car in it.  I succeeded in that regard, but the temple wasn't centered in my picture.

 

 So, I waited until they left and took another.  That sure was an adventure just to get this one picture.

 

I then thought that it would be nice to have a picture that isn't straight on, so I took one from my car.  I know there is a lot of sky in the picture, but it is because I was trying to not get the cars.  Alas, I failed (but didn't notice until now).  So, if you read this post and noticed everything I did about the pictures, then maybe we are more similar than I thought.  On the other hand, if you read it and thought to yourself man, Bryan is weird then I'm glad that at least we try to communicate with each other.

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Happy Birthday Bryan

Since today is Bryan's birthday and because his wife isn't around to do anything for him, I decided that I would take it upon myself to make this day special for him.  So, last night when I realized that I didn't have cake mix or frosting (and because I don't have the home-making or culinary skills necessary to make them in a reasonable amount of time), I made a quick trip to Walmart to get everything I needed.

Also, since it was Bryan's special day, I decided that I wouldn't wake him up, but rather let him sleep as long as he needed to.  The only problem with that plan was that he didn't wake up until 9:15 this morning and church started at 9:00.  Luckily for me, he choose to stick around for the next ward's sacrament meeting after getting to church half an hour late, which gave me more time in the kitchen to get things ready for him.  Nothing quite like a surprise birthday cake on your birthday.

So, after slaving in the kitchen (yes, it is slavery for me to add water, oil and eggs to a box cake mix, bake it, let it cool and then frost it), I had a wonderful birthday cake for Bryan. (Unfortunately, I couldn't find the candles at Walmart last night, plus there is a state wide burn ban in Oklahoma, so I wasn't sure it was legal and I didn't want Bryan to see that many candles and realize how old he is getting.  Everything considered, I thought it was pretty thoughtful of me to not include the candles.)

  

 He seemed pretty excited for the cake, even though he gave me that obnoxious smile of his, feigning that he was more excited than he really was.  I told him he wouldn't want that picture on the blog and that he needed to sit up straight, so he gave me a more decent picture.  (I also told him that he needed to shave, but his response was "It's my birthday!", so I let it go.)

  

 With the fear of offending all those loved ones who sent Bryan a birthday card, I've included a picture of his favorite.  (He didn't tell me if it was his favorite because it was from his wife or because it has his dry sort of humor or some combination of the two.)

  

Since his wife wasn't around to give her permission to post pictures of the rest of the card, I haven't included those.

So, as strange as it may sound coming from me, I just wanted to let Bryan know that even though he is far from loved ones that doesn't mean he is far from being loved.

Happy Birthday Bryan!

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Goodbye For Now

Due to the comments from 50% of the readership of our blog (my mom), I've included pictures of Sarah and me in front of our new apartment.  Please disregard the blue at the bottom of the first picture - that is from our car, which was nice enough to hold the camera for us.

  

 On a more somber note, I took Sarah to the airport on Wednesday so she could go back to Provo to finish up her research.  We're not sure how long this is going to take - it could be six weeks, it could be a few months.  All I know is that it's going to be hard not having her around.  I've been trying to keep myself busy so I don't have to think about the fact that she's not here.  I'm hoping that strategy will work and that the time will fly by.  If the time doesn't fly by that probably means there is something we both need to learn from this that will strengthen our character and our relationship.  Writing about it makes me a little sad and lonely, so I'll end on a happy note.

Here's Sarah at the airport: 

 

 Here's Sarah at the airport after I told her that she didn't want that sad picture on our blog:

 

So, despite the difficulty of being separated, I'm sure that we'll be able to find that happy silver lining.

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Home Improvements

On Tuesday, our new kitchen table and chairs arrived at our front door.  Sarah tried to get the box into the apartment, but unfortunately either the large shape of the box or the fact that it weight over 140 pounds precluded her from getting it inside.  (In case my dad is reading this and thinking Why didn't she use that new hand truck you just bought?, the answer is that she did try but some combination of the size and weight yielded her efforts fruitless.)  After texting back and forth, we concluded that Sarah would go outside and periodically check to make sure no one had stolen it until I got home.

Luckily for us, the thieves were also unable to move the box because of its size and weight, so it was waiting for me when I got home from school.  Then the building process began.  First we put the table together and then I started on the chairs.  The reviews online had complained about the difficulty of assembling the chairs, so I was expected vague instructions and hours of assembly.  As it turns out, it wasn't nearly as bad as I was anticipating and I think the whole process was done in an hour or so (it's kind of hard to keep track of time when you are doing manly things and you get really into it - ask Einstein, it's the whole theory of relativity thing).  

I think we were both pleased with the end result.  (I know that I definitely prefer eating at a table compared to eating on the floor or sitting on a folding chair and have my plate on my lap.  As for Sarah, I can't speak for her, but I think she enjoyed her two meals on the table.)

  

  

  

 

 Since the new table and chairs weren't enough, we decided to add more to our apartment.  The next day, we had our new stackable washer/dryer delivered.  (To be clear, it's not "new" - we bought it from an appliance repair shop that sells appliances they have fixed.)  I know what you're thinking, which is the exact same thing the lady at the appliance repair shop said when we talked to her: Why would you want a stackable washer/dryer when you have the space for a full-size?  The answer:  The space for the washer/dryer in our apartment only has a 220v outlet, and Sarah wasn't too keen on the idea of an extension cord running along the floor to the washer.  Plus, the cost of the washer/dryer was about the same as renting one for a year, and we can keep it longer than that, or sell it on Craig's list and more than break even.

So, without further ado, here are a few pictures of our washer/dryer:

  

 

 This last picture is to give you an idea as to where the washer/dryer is in our apartment - next to the shower in the other bathroom.  (It is on the other side of the wall with the clock, wedding picture, and mirror on it in the last picture of our new table.)

The final home improvement to our apartment this week was curtains in the bedrooms.  (We've ordered curtains for the main room - they just haven't gotten here yet.)  I'm not sure how exciting this is, but it was a home improvement nonetheless and hopefully I was able to hang both of them level enough.

 

 

I finally got the set of blinds for our main room in the mail the next week, so I got those put up as well.

 

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Norman Highlights

 Here are a few highlights from our first week or so in Norman:

Highlight #1: Somehow we have managed to go to Walmart almost every day:

Friday: Milk and strawberries

Saturday: Cable modem for internet

Monday: Mustard and salad dressing

Tuesday: Towel rack (apartment didn't have one in bathroom)

Wednesday: Return towel rack (maintenance installed one for us), picture hanging hardware

Friday: Redbox (located inside Walmart)

Saturday: Mop

So, in the ten days we've been in Norman, we've gone to Walmart on 7 of them (and that includes two Sundays).  Lucky for us, Walmart is just around the corner.

As a side note, on one of those Walmart trips, I saw a lady walking in with a hand full of one dollar bills and a smile on her face.  I mentioned to Sarah that if we were in Vegas that lady would either be walking into our out of a casino, but here in Norman when people have a few extra dollars, they run to Walmart with a grin on their face.

Highlight #2: Oklahoma doesn't have a DMV.  

Instead, they have tag agencies (privately owned businesses that you can get vehicle title and registration from) as well as the Department of Public Safety (DPS).  So, on Monday, Sarah and I got to the tag agency before it opened, thinking there would be a huge line like at other DMVs and there was nobody there.  We drove over to the DPS building and there was a huge line, so we decided to head back to the tag agency before anyone saw us and figured out where the shorter lines are.  We got there just before it opened and were the first ones in line.  We registered our car and got our new Oklahoma title per Oklahoma state law (which we got in the mail on Wednesday or Thursday - talk about efficiency).  Since everyone there was so nice, we decided to ask if we needed to get an Oklahoma driver license or if we could wait until our Utah licenses expired.  They said legally we didn't need to change them but that the Norman police are pretty picky and only give you 10 days from when you move to Norman to change your driver license.

With that warning, we decided we would try the DPS early on Thursday morning since I had TA training on Tuesday and Wednesday.  It opened at 7:00am, and when we got there at 6:30 there were about 30 people in front of us in line.  We didn't find this out until hours later (since it isn't posted anywhere in the building), but apparently the first hour (7-8am) is for scheduling driving tests, followed by people who failed the test and wanted to retake (walk-in basis).  Then, once all of those people are scheduled, they start going through everyone who had taken a number.  (Even though there were about thirty people in front of us in line, we were the fourth one to take a number because everyone else just stood in the line to schedule a driving test.)  They finally got through the scheduling at about 9:00am and we were out of there by about 9:30, but it would have been nice to know that we could have grabbed a number at 7 when they opened and come back two hours later.  Thank you, DMV, I mean, DPS.  I guess no matter what you call it, they are always the same.

(I felt really bad for the guy in front of us in line.  He is a gymnast at OU and had to leave at 8:00am to go to practice.  He traded his number with someone when he was leaving so he could come back after practice and hopefully they wouldn't be past that person's number.  I hope it turned out for him.)

We also met a couple other people who had just moved to Norman for school, one of which graduated from BYU and we're having them over for dinner tonight, so I guess the DPS can't be that bad, right?

So, I guess that's another highlight in Norman: You make friends, not enemies at the DMV DPS.  Oh, and in case you're curious, after you get a piece of paper from the DPS, you take that over to the tag agency and then they actually process getting you the new driver license.  All the wait time is just to get your information in the government database before you go get the driver license from the private tag agency.

Highlight #3:  I managed to beat the individual challenge on Blockus

For our Friday night date, we played Blockus.  After playing each other a couple times, we decided to do the individual challenge together (get all of the pieces on the board, following the rules for piece placement).  Sarah gave up after a few attempts, but I wouldn't go to bed until I figured it out.  Once I was victorious, Sarah decided it was blog worthy, so here it is:

  

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New Apartment

Here is our new apartment.  If you want to know our address, call me, email me or do the same with my mom and I'm sure you can get it.  Anyway, we'll start with the outside.  Our's is the door on the right.  The door on the left is an indoor staircase leading up to our neighbors above us.  All the windows on the ground floor are part of our apartment (yes, even the one on the other side of their door).
 

Backing up a little bit, this is half of the building we live in.  There are eight apartments on each side, so it's this same thing on the right as well as on the back.
 

Here are some pictures of when we first moved in:

  

  

  

  

This is what it looked like for our first night:

  

  

  

  

  

 

As you could see in the pictures from our first night, we didn't unpack our pictures for a little while.  This was mostly because we weren't sure what the complex's policy was about hanging pictures because there were zero nail holes in the wall from the previous tenants.  After checking with them, they said it was fine, so we got all of our pictures hung up. 

  

  

  

  

 

If you can't figure out the layout from the pictures and are dying to know, feel free to give us a call and we can give you a personal Skype tour of the place.

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