More Postage Due

Yes, Well that is the way things seem to go now isn't it. Yesterday I had a good day. I was invited to go on a hiking trip with the older scouts, Melissa invited me to go paddling down the Provo River with her and her boyfriend Adam and some friends from church invited me and Miki over make some music. Any time I get to be on top of a mountain, paddle and surf a river and play bass it's going to be a good day.

For a while I've been super busy with work and class and scouts and haven't had much time to do much else. I guess that I was feeling lonely even though I had lots to do. You know, everyone expects you to do this or that 'cause you are supposed to or 'cause it is your job or your church calling. But somehow I was feeling lonely because it just didn't seem to me like anyone was thinking "man, I'd sure like to hang out with that Rob Allen dude." Then I get invited to do three different things in one day. Cool.

Here are a couple of pictures from the hike. 

This is from the top of Y mountain looking down into the Rock Canyon with Timp and Lone Peak in the distance.

Me and Trent looking down over Provo and Utah Lake and our house (see middle left).

If you really want to get ya some more of that dish called "what the heck is that Rob Allen dude up to," you can read my posts on our Scout Troop Blog Wahoo782. I post there about every month or so when we are camping or doing something worth taking pictures or writing about. Here is the post about the Y mountain hike and camp out. Thanks for looking! and hey if you ever want hang out with that Rob Allen dude, just let me know.

Crazy Busy Summer

Man what a crazy, busy summer this is turning out to be.

In May I formed a paddling team to compete in the Vertical Challenge to raise money for the First Descents charity for cancer patients. We took first place in the Class III division and raised about $500. Our team logged over 8000 vertical  feet. Which was a lot more than I thought we could starting out.

Then we had a family reunion for all the Allen relatives that I organized. That was a lot of work and emailing and phone calling and such. We had about 75 people show up for it. Most from Utah but some from Texas, Oregon, Maryland, Arizona, and Idaho. This is me and some cousins on a little hike up to Battle Creek Falls.

Next I had a week of summer camp to plan and shop for. My great assistant scoutmaster's wife had a baby two days before we left so I had to line up other leaders to be up there with me and the boys. It seems like we went through 10 or 12 people before we got the 6 days mostly covered. It was good to get away from everything for a week but not so good to have to nag, discipline and pick up trash after 12 boys for a week.  It was definitely a great experience for the boys and that is why we do it right!?

Next week I will be going to LA for the annual Siggraph computer graphics conference. There is always some new cool stuff to learn there.

Then in the Fall I have a new teaching assignment. So there is a whole nother set of lectures and assignments to plan, create and grade.

Busy busy! thanks for looking and please leave a comment.

Rob-

Amazing Places

I got to go to Goblin Vally and Wild Horse Canyon for the first time today. They are both pretty amazing places to explore. Here are a couple of shots that turned out alright. Let me know what you think about them.

Also a few days ago I was paddling with friends down the Provo River, West of Bridal Vale falls. It was late afternoon and the sun was just barely above the canyon walls. A few times we would come around a bend, riding waves and dodging rocks, and the sun would be lined right up with the river, creating some intense highlights and refractions through the water. After the run we were talking about how beautiful the water is like that and it popped into my head that that is how the sea of glass would look in the celestial kingdom. Intense light mixed with deep shadows, shifting and swirling beautifully as we glide along our journey.