BYU 20, UofA 7

I just got back to Denver from my 'vacation' in Utah. It was an expensive little trip, But I'm glad I went. I would have been bored to tears out here. As it is, I totally forgot about Labor Day and should have extended my stay another day, as I don't think there will be any installs to do today.

The game was fun. It was really hot, but I went prepared with sunscreen and lipbalm, so I wasn't totally fried. There were alot of questions going into this game. How well would Max Hall step into John Beck's shoes? Who would replace Curtis Brown at runningback? What about the tight ends without Johnny Harline and Daniel Coats? How much rust does Austin Collie have after two years in Argentina? How would BYU handle Arizona's new offense?

Hall went 26-39 for 288 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Not bad for not playing in an actual game in four years.
Harvey Unga made a strong case for himself filling the role Brown left, running for 68 yards on 15 carries, and catching 9 passes for 127 yards. He scored two touchdowns on the day. Tight end play was solid with Vic So'oto and Dennis Pitta combining for 66 yards and 1 touchdown. While he didn't have a huge game compared with his freshman year, Collie showed some moves on his 4 catches for 41 yards. BYU's defense was up for what turned out to be not much of a challenge. Arizona had implemented an offense very similar to BYU's over the off-season. It was somewhat reminiscent of BYU's first game with their offense two years ago against Boston College. The only score came when there was less than a minute in the game. Arizona's O will get better as the season progresses, but no one should have expected very much in it's first game.

BYU faces a bigger challenge in UCLA next week in Pasadena, CA. They will be facing former Cougar and star recruit Ben Olson, who transferred to UCLA after serving his mission. Olson threw five TDs against a weak Stanford team in a 45-17 blowout. I just need to find someone with the cable station Versus so I can watch the game.

Roll Credits

"Cause

Two (two) heads (heads) are better than one
(woo hoo hoo)
It's double the pleasure babe
It's triple the fun
I said
Two (two) heads (heads) are better than one
(better than one)
It'll make you come undone
Two heads are better than one"

-Power Tool, end credits Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

At this time I have two days to get three installs. I don't think that it's going to happen frankly. So that means staying out here a little while longer to solidify that install total and insure my pay bump. This makes me unhappy, because I really wanted to be back on Saturday for the BYU vs. AZ game. They are also retiring Ty Detmer's jersey at halftime. So to both get my installs, catch the game, and take a quick breather, I found cheap last minute plane tickets on Orbitz. Roundtrip tickets and a rental car for two days will run me about $250. That'll also give me a chance to take as much time as I need to get my car checked out, pack, and drive back instead of rushing around like a chicken with it's head cut off. My flight arrives about 10am on Saturday and leaves about 11am on Monday. I decided to go with a rental car so I can be completely free to come and go and not force anybody to be my taxi service. So I hope some of you are available for hanging out after the game and on Sunday. See you soon.

Five Golden Rings! Bada da da...

Workdays: 5
Installs: 137
Average to finish: 1.6

Well, It may be five and a half work days, at which point the average to finish would be 1.4545455. Apparently noon on the 31 is the last scheduable slot. I also should have my car serviced before heading back, there is a maintenance required indicator on my dashboardand it has gone from green-yellow to orange, and in the last week or so, to red since being out here. Probably just needs an oil change as I've gone over 180,000 miles. I was kind of hoping to have the whole day on the 31st to take care of packing up and leaving to make it back for the 3:30pm Kickoff for the BYU vs. AZ game on September 1st. Now it'll be pushing it. Oi vei!

Seven Swans a Swimming...

Workdays: 7
Installs: 133
Average to finish: 1.7142857

So I've been rather disgruntled about my time in Denver. Long hours, high expectations, not enough work, I could go on or a while. Anyways, I've been looking forward to the time I could leave the company behind. Last night the head technician who is in town starts talking to the other guy in my apartment about coming back as a lead tech next year. There are alot of incentives. The other guy feels even more strongly about not coming back than I do. Well, he starts thinking about it after hearing some of the details. And I think to myself, "Nothing can convince me to come back." But then I think about the incentives, and decide if they open an office in Philadelphia that I might think about coming back. Then I go to my first install today and it takes 10 hours. The sales guy told them it would take 1. I had to re-talk them into getting the system at one point. But I wasn't so sure that our system was better than theirs. But I did it because I need the install to make my goal before I leave. I didn't like that feeling at all. After talking things over with the head tech we found a way to make things better for them, but I still don't like that feeling that I had to re-sell the system when it wasn't going to be what they were lead to believe it was. Ick.

...Four and Four Make Eight...

Workdays: 8
Installs: 132
Average to finish: 1.625

9...

Workdays: 9
Installs: 131
Average to finish: 1.5555556

10...

Workdays: 10
Installs: 129
Average to finish: 1.6