Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Couldn't Think of a Post Title!

Even though I have the worst post title in the world, it's been a FANTASTIC couple of days!!! Saturday and Sunday were a fabulous Christmas Eve and Christmas! After two years of being gone, I was able to spend a great Christmas together with my awesome family! Life doesn't get much better than that! :)

Since then I've had another job interview (unfortunately they won't be able to tell me yes or no until two weeks from now... not cool) and went on a couple of Best Buy runs. A couple because the thing I went to buy was the wrong one because I didn't think to read the box first. So I had to go back and return it and get the correct one. Here's to my favorite store! Yay!
Best Store Ever!
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Time for the Mission Picture and Story of the Day!!!
My Incredibly Painful Ankle
Yes indeed, this is the dreaded story of the Volleyball Injury. Most of you who read my blog (I assume) know about my ankle I broke on my mission. If you don't, however, I'll tell you! This is THE VOLLEYBALL INJURY PART I!!!!

I was playing Volleyball at a Sports Night the missionaries were in charge of, and let me say this. When it comes to volleyball, I'm definitely not a klutz. Volleyball is my favorite sport, and I'm actually fairly ok at it! (as opposed to basketball or some sport like that where I am the worst player in the universe) So I was playing, and doing quite well, when someone set me the ball, and I jumped to spike it. Well spike it I did (and I scored a point too!) but on the way down, another kid who wasn't so familiar with how you play, came into my space right under where I was coming down. So my left ankle slammed down really hard on the edge of his foot. Well, to make a long story short, I twisted my ankle so bad that I completely collapsed right there. I tried getting back up, but I could put no weight on it. So they carried me to the side and my companion ended up having to carry me back home on his back. (it was quite funny actually) So that photo shown above is a couple days after the incident, (when I finally thought to take a picture) and unfortunately it's not as swollen as it was the first day. Sure, that's big, but the first day it was seriously the size of a large apple! But I'll continue the Saga of the Volleyball Injury in my next post.
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So awesome news! I got a SWEET new phone! Unfortunately it's not quite a phone yet... I haven't gotten a SIM card for it yet or anything. That'll wait until I get a job. ;) But here's a picture of it!
Look at that AWESOME Windows Phone!!!
Yes indeed, it's the amazingly awesome WINDOWS PHONE!!! Not to be confused with the not so awesome Windows Mobile. This bad boy has the best mobile operating system available right now. (no argumentative comments please) ;)  But basically it's a beautiful phone. I'll happily show it to any who would like to use it in all its glory. Just let me know. It will convince you of its awesomeness.

Anyway, so I'm really happy about getting that sweet new phone. It made my day yesterday. Then I got to hang out with some good friends as well, which was awesome. But that's all for now! Tchau tchau!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!!!

'Tis the Season to be Jolly! Christmas Eve and Christmas are always two of my favorite days of the year! They are days of much joy and happiness. (and incredibly good food!) ;) It's great being able to celebrate the birth of Christ, our Savior, and remember His life! I loved last Christmas in the Mission Field, although there is obviously something special about spending Christmas with your family. But it was most definitely an incredible day!

Hopefully everyone had a great Christmas!!!

"Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King!"

Friday, December 23, 2011

Awesome New Design!

As you can see I've updated the design of my blog. I believe it looks a lot better. (before I just had the very simple template... goodbye boringness!) So I had a good time doing that today.

Also today I've been reading up on the extreme awesomeness of the amazing Windows Phone 7. This bad boy is by far the best smartphone operating system out there. It takes a whole new approach to your home screen. Instead of pages and pages of icons and folders, WP7 has a beautifully simple start screen with large squares called Live Tiles. These tiles are always updating and changing to show you real-time information about the weather, how many emails you have, missed calls, to name a few. It also has perfect integration with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, which all come together in what's called the "People Hub." The operating system is brilliantly original, not copying from other well known smartphones. It's one heck of a beautiful phone.
Aaaaaw yeah!
I just realized that that paragraph turned into a Windows Phone review! Well, it's because it's a SWEET phone! So there! Also a very refreshing relief from the generic grid of icons in the iPhone or Android operating systems. (please don't post comments arguing about which is better. This is merely my opinion) :)
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It's time for the Mission Picture and Story of the Day!!!
Posin' for the picture
Yeah, ok, so I look kind of ridiculous. This was a super fun day, we were helping a member of ours to move from one apartment to a new one a few blocks away. Well, I found sunglasses and a cowboy hat, and of course had to put them on and wear them around. So it was pretty sweet, I wore those while we were in the house getting all the stuff out of the basement. It's just one of those weird things you do as a missionary just for the heck of it. :)  Ok, so the story was slightly boring, but that's ok! It's part of my mission!
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So I just got back from a sweet Best Buy run with my bro Davo. We do these Best Buy runs rather regularly. (or at least we will, now that I'm back) They're extremely fun. I also bought the last two presents for Christmas. It was a very fun trip! We listened to some sweet tunes during the drive.

We also dropped by Red Box (that movie rental place thing) and grabbed Kung Fu Panda 2! I haven't seen it yet and I heard it's really good! So I'm just waiting for my brothers to finish their Doctor Who episode down there so I can watch this great looking movie!

Ok, so this post was written yesterday, but I forgot to upload it... But it's supposed to be yesterday's post. So where it says "today" or something referring to right now, that right now was actually yesterday. :)  Perfect. Anyway, this is John signing off!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Unboxing finally.

Today I finally tackled my room full of boxes of stuff from before my mission. I didn't have the courage to before, and today only got the courage because my Mom offered to help. :)  So I finally unpacked a crazy amount of stuff (I had no idea I had so much junk!) and left thinking I was a champion. Then my Mom told me there were several boxes in my closet that I hadn't seen which still needed unpacking... So my courage has failed me temporarily, but I'll most likely conquer that tomorrow.

Anyway, it was a daunting task. I'm just glad it's mostly over. I hate packing and unpacking. Packing means I'm leaving somewhere. Unpacking means I've left somewhere. Not fun! But tomorrow it'll be over with! Yay!

I was going through some old pictures today and found a treasure trove of pictures from Brazil. I'll admit, I got really homesick for those days. Seeing all my friends, seeing the places, the activities, the missionaries, all that made me quite nostalgic! It was a sad but wonderful trip down memory lane.
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Time for the Mission Picture and Story of the Day!

Attempting to clean suit coats.
That's a glimpse of the hair...
So I don't know if you can see it very well. (I think you can click on it and it'll bring it up full size) This is a picture of me and Elder Lima in Bowmanville. We had just gotten out of an appointment with a less active member and her investigator daughter, and they have a couple of dogs that shed like nothing else. It was ridiculous, we got inside, I sat down on the couch, and watched as hundreds of white dog hairs flew from all over the couch and magnetized themselves onto my nice black suit. Yeah, it was bad. Well, we had those lint roller things in our trunk, but after using several sheets of them with no success, we had to go home (luckily we were close) and vaccum our suits to get rid of all the hair! It was so much hair everywhere!!! But it was really funny as well, we had a good time laughing about it. (we also had to repeat the process every time we went over to her house, because the house was coated in dog hair!) It was crazy, but funny!
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So I haven't heard back from the MTC yet. They said they'd let me know today, but then again, the last job I applied for told me that too... I didn't find out from them for a week. So hopefully it'll be less than a week before I find out. :)  For now, though, I'm still jobless! Wooh, exciting!... Not.

Although, in my spare time (which at the moment I have nothing but...) I've been able to begin a really good book, work on my programming skills, write in this blog, see some people I haven't seen in years, and soon I'm going to watch a hilarious movie with some friends!!! So it hasn't been all that bad. (though at the time it's not always the greatest) I think I'm slowly adjusting to the fact that I'm home and I just have to get used to it. So I might as well make the most of it!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Massage Mania

Hello! I'm afraid to say that I blew it today! Why is that, you ask? Well, my post title says what it's about. I went to Chris's Cuts or something with that name, it's the $7 BYU haircut place. Anyway, I went and got my haircut, and it turned out nicely. Well, as she was getting rid of all the hair, she asked me "Would you like a massage?" Well THAT threw me off! I'm FINALLY getting used to giving hugs to females, and suddenly there's this girl asking me if I want a massage???? The only response I could blurt out was "Excuse me?" She said "A barber's massage. Would you like one?" Well, a combination of nervousness and fear of paying extra I said "No thank you." So I paid and left.

Well, I got home, and one of my friends is here with my little brother, and I asked him about it, and he said "Oh yeah, didn't you love it?" and I said no, I didn't do it, doesn't it cost? He then proceeded, with a shocked face because I didn't get one, to tell me that it's free and comes with the haircut, and it's apparently REALLY good. So I was then not happy at all because I lost a free massage!!!!! I considered going and saying "I need another haircut!"... Ok, not really. I wouldn't do that. Not even for a massage...

Anyway, I was really sad about not getting my free massage. But that's ok. I'll just get it next time.
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All right, time for the Mission Picture and Story of the Day!!!

Pizza after Zone Activity!
This was a FUN day!!!!!! For Christmas, we each (in our Zone) got one of those cheap Nerf Guns, and the Preparation Day after Christmas, we all went to the chapel's gym and had an AWESOMELY SWEET Nerf Gun War!!! We set up lots of obstacles, and commenced with much shooting!!! It was incredibly fun!!! We did that a few Preparation Days, and once my Zone Leader fell in the Baptismal Font which had accidentally been left with water in it. So he was a little wet. :) Anyway, they were great activities! That was when we were eating pizza afterwards. Fun fun!
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I had a job interview today with the MTC Referral Center! I thought it went really well! Actually, it was funny, my interviewer was a missionary who served in my Dad's mission in Recife Brazil! So I knew him quite well! It was fun to see him again!

So I had my interview, and they said they'll let me know tomorrow... So here's hoping I get the job!!! It's possible! Wish me luck!

Well, that's all I can think of today. Hope everyone's having an AWESOME Christmas Week!!!! :) Tchau tchau!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Still No Job!

Hello Hello Ladies and Gentlemen!!! This is John Woodruff! (obviously)

Anyway, so as you can probably guess, I still don't have a job. Yup, that's my life right now! But that's ok, because looking for jobs is fun! (sometimes) (not really) (ok, not at all) Oh well. I just did my teaching evaluation today for the MTC, which I applied to. It was pretty cool, the two returned missionaries who were my evaluators were Elder Murray and Elder Moreno (I think that's how his name is spelled....) from Preach My Gospel: The District 2. (that's one of the training DVD's they use in the mission) So it was pretty cool, I got to actually meet the guys that I sat and watched, praised, criticized, and evaluated who knows how many times on my mission. Fun stuff! So I taught them about Accountability, and I thought it went pretty well, we'll see what they think.
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Mission Picture and Story of the Day! Here's the picture today!

Korean Grill!!!!!
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a photo of me and my companion in THE MOST DELICIOUS RESTAURANT EVER!!!!!! Ok, maybe not ever, but it's absolutely incredible!!! It's called The Korean Grill. For lunch you pay 8 dollars, and you get all you can eat DELICIOUS meats and rice and all kinds of other stuff! They bring you the meats raw in an amazing marinade or seasoning or something, and you then cook it at your table. Yeah. It's ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!!!!!!! This picture was the day I went to the CN Tower with the other Office Missionaries, it was super fun! I've rarely encountered a restaurant I love as much as this one. (one of the only exceptions is Hires Big H in Salt Lake City!) (Shown below in all its glory!)
Aaaaah yeah!!!!! SO GOOD!!!!
Anyway, I'm now absolutely dying of starvation, so I'll definitely move on.
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So I was thinking the other day about when I lived in Brazil. Those were good days!!! We did all kinds of craziness there!!! Made tons of movies, hung out with all those Brazilians, and just had a smashing awesome time! :D Here's a picture from those days!
Good Times...
Actually, that was sort of from the end of those days.... But this was a main hanging out group!!! The cast and crew of Dungeonman 2! Classic film...

Anyway, those were great days. I wish I could re-live them. That'd be sweet. Ok, I'm just rambling now, so I'll sign off! Tchau tchau!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Blog Name Change

Random quick post. I decided after consulting with others that the name for my blog that I came up with was exceptionally lamo. So therefore, I decided to rename it! As such, this blog has been officially renamed to "Here Come the Geese!"

Why Here Come the Geese you ask? Because in Toronto Canada where I lived for two amazing years, there were TONS of Canadian Geese! And twice a year we would watch the Geese in MASSIVE flocks flying through the sky honking. It was a spectacular sight! And I love geese. :)  So that's why I chose that name. Much better than "Blabberings." I did say that that name was merely temporary until I thought up a better one. Ok, the end of this tiny post!

Computer Chaos

So today I decided that it was about time I work on my computer, the one that I built several years ago. It apparently took a turn for the worse while I was on my mission, which is very sad. So I decided to figure out once and for all what the issue is... To make a long story short, I still haven't figured it out, but I've had some great ideas, and I'm hoping that what I'm doing will help it and bring it back from the dead. Basically I opened it up, took it apart, then took apart the family computer, and decided I might as well go all the way, so I went and got the old family computer and took that apart too! Yeah, I had a great time! It was much fun, and then a friend came over, so I didn't finish my project. I guess I'll have to leave that until Monday!

Also, I'm currently installing "Myst IV: Revelation" on my computer! It's a SUPER fun game! I'm not normally one for many games on my computer, I prefer programming and such, but this is an incredibly fun game, because it's a super difficult puzzle type game! So it doesn't make you more stupid! It increases your puzzle solving skills! Great fun!
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It's time for the Mission Picture and Story of the Day!

Pumpkin Head!!!

There's me with a pumpkin head! Woo! This was on Halloween Day of 2011. It was a Monday, which is our Preparation Day. So we had a Zone Activity for the afternoon, and we each got pumpkins to carve! It was super fun! This is the Pumpkin I carved. He has a sad face. For some reason I always do pumpkins like this. I think it's a nice departure from the typical ripped apart scarred pumpkins. Anyway. That's random. So we then went back to our apartments. On Halloween, our mission rule was to be in our apartments by 6 pm and stay there the whole night, because it's rather dangerous and iniquitous in Toronto on Halloween night. So it was interesting being inside the whole night! But it was a really fun day!
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So I'm now about to go to the wedding reception of a girl I've been friends with since before I can remember. It's really crazy to think that people I grew up with are getting married! Let me say, time passed REALLY fast! I spent my whole life looking forward to my mission, and suddenly I've been on my mission and have come home! Now I'm a Returned Missionary, and I've got to begin my life! (of course, I would LOVE a job for that beginning!) ;) I think I'll probably post about not having a job pretty much every time until I actually get one. Fun fun!

Well, that's all I've got to say today! Have an awesome weekend!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Singing and Signs

Just got back from singin' in the chapel! I'm singing in a quintet for this Sunday's Christmas Program. It's a really nice song, I'm hoping I don't mess up. It's very possible. ;)

Today my parents are down in Saint George seeing The Forgotten Carols or something like that. So here I am, sitting at home, just me and my sister. We're hanging out. Well, sort of. Once I finish this blog post, then we'll hang out! :) Did I ever mention she's cool? Ah yeah!
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Now for the Mission Picture and Story of the Day! (I should really figure out a shorter name for this section... Like the MPSD... except that's a lamo acronymn... Well, I'll figure one out one of these days)

See this is all its glory!
Check it out!!!! Yes ladies and gentlemen, I actually found a "Woodruff Crescent" in Canada!!! It was awesome, I was driving by this one place one day when I was in the area of Pickering and Ajax, and I checked the map to see where this contact lived, when suddenly I saw a little street with a familiar name. I couldn't believe it! So of course, being so close, I HAD to go check it out! Yes indeed, we found the street called Woodruff Crescent!!! And I also found on the other side of the street a much cooler sign than this one!!! Check it out below!

Yes, isn't this amazing?
That's the coolest thing ever!!! So that's my awesome mission picture and story of the day!
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 I just found out about this AWESOME job that I could easily get!!! It's at the MTC! And so I'm going to do my evaluation test thing on Monday, and schedule an interview! I'm so excited!!! Hopefully I get it, then I won't be sitting at home doing nothing all day! :D Woopdeedoo!!!

Anyway, this is the end of my random post. Have a wonderful day!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Missin' the Mission

Awesome news!!!!! My two younger brothers got their mission calls last night!!! WOO!!! Andrew is going to the Brasil Curitiba Mission, and Matthew is going to the Brasil Sao Paulo South Mission!!! WOOPDEEDOO!!!!!!!!!!

So basically, with all this craziness of brothers getting mission calls and preparing to leave, it brought me back to the good ol' days when I got my mission call to the Canada Toronto East Mission and began preparing to preach the gospel for two years. It was a very fun time, and now I get to watch others go through the same process. Sure it makes me wish I could go through it again, but that's not realistic, and besides, it's awesome being home and now I get to be able to start my life and make something of myself! So while it's an exciting process for my brothers, it's also an exciting process for John! Yay!
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To continue with this theme of mission, here's the Mission Picture and Story of the Day!!!
A sweater I decided to buy at Honest Ed's!
So this photo comes from my Seventh Transfer in the mission field, in the deep downtown area of Toronto! My companion and I on a Preparation Day decided to go to this massive store called "Honest Ed's." At first sound of the name, "Honest Ed's" you're already thinking, all right, this place is going to be a dump. It was actually one of the coolest stores I've ever been in! It's massive, and the inside is seriously a maze of stuff. There are pathways going up, down, around, over, underground, everywhere! It was incredibly fun just being in the place! Also everything is super cheap!!! The reason being that the factories would find small defects in the packaging of the product, so Honest Ed's would buy it cheap and sell it cheap! So I found that awesome sweater there for about 4 dollars, and of course bought it! It was an excellent buy!
So thus ends my Picture and Story of the Day!
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I feel bad, because I'm kind of stealing my brother Davo's idea of those line dividers for my blog... He does the same thing, though much better than me. I just couldn't think of anything different... So when I do I'll change it and stop plagiarizing. :)

So basically, it was an awesome day yesterday! Mission Calls, lots of tasty treats (such as my dear mother's amazing peanut butter and chocolate rice crispy treats!!!) as well as an excellent episode of Doctor Who. A quick note on that, it's an excellent show that's very funny, and is of excellent quality as well. Plus the theme song is awesome.

Tchau tchau!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

My Blog's Title is Lamo

Hello, this is John Woodruff signing in.
Ok, so I've decided that my Blog Name is super lamo. So therefore, I'm trying to figure out a new name for it. If anyone has any awesome ideas, I'm very open to suggestions. If you can think of anything, let me know. :)

As a point of information, I HATE having a numb mouth! Yes, I just went to the dentist today. Not only that, but I also went to the Orthodontist today! So in the midst of having like 5 or 6 people messing around with my teeth, they numbed me up to fix a filling that had cracked. The awesome news is, I didn't have any cavities my whole mission!!! Yipee!!! So while I hated having my mouth numbed up, that's luckily the only time I'll have to have it numbed up for the next long time. (here's hoping!)
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Random Mission Picture and Story Time!!! (I should make this a regular part of my blog!)
The most monstrously amazing burger!!!
This monstrosity you see before you (the burger, not John) is a "Sweet Steak Sandwich" from a little hole in the wall joint called California Sandwiches, located near the deep downtown of Toronto. My companion and I were one day starving... Actually, that happened on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis. So we were in Downtown Toronto, and were going down a certain street. Well, we found this little place (told to us by someone we were teaching) and decided to try it. Yeah. The rest is history. I've never regretted it or looked back. (except those rare moments I had the courage to weigh myself)
Basically, it's a massive slab of steak with cooked onions in this incredible mystery sauce thing, all on a humongous bun. Sounds good, eh? It's better than that. It's most definitely amazing. So now since we're all salivating because of how incredible that burger is, I'll finish this portion.
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Yeah, I'm still jobless. Whoopdeedoo.... But I got a second interview which was awesome, and I'm just waiting to hear back from him! So here's hoping! If not this job, I think it would be awesome to work at the Missionary Training Center.... Or as Canadians would spell it, Centre. They say it adds colour to the way things are written. Ok, not really, but it's funny how Canadians spell things, eh? I lived there with them, so I'm allowed to joke. ;)

Ok, so there's most likely no one reading this blog, but for the poor unfortunate soul who stumbles across this and has read until this point, I commend you and appologize for my lack of creativity or coolness.

And this is John Woodruff signing out...

Friday, December 9, 2011

Job Hunting and Other Random Stuff...

Well, as the title says, I'm hunting for a job... And it hasn't yielded results as of yet... I've applied for a lot, had one interview, and am waiting to hear back from them. Let me tell you, it’s been an interesting time of transition. I always knew that the transition from mission to home would be a little difficult. I just need to find things to do to keep myself occupied!

So that’s exactly what I’m doing! I try to go to the temple often, I’ve been a few times this week, and that’s of course great. (except when I’m there and there’s a massive group of missionaries also attending the temple… Then I start thinking about how I should be there with them) So besides that, the temple is a very positive experience.
As stated, I’m searching for a job! It’s definitely not easy… So I’m really hoping I’ll get one soon! That would keep me nice and busy. (while earning a dollar or two at the same time) I’m brushing up on my programming, which I’m loving! That’s something I missed while on my mission! Programming! So now I’m having a great time re-learning the things I used to know, and putting them into practice!
Today I got to go with my Dad to his work! That was an awesome experience! Here's a lamo photo!
Yup... Lamo picture. But fun office!
It was way fun being able to see where he works, what he does, meet all his co-workers, it was great! We then went to go pick up Daniel (my oldest brother) from the airport, because he’s coming for several days to stay with us! Great stuff! It was awesome seeing him again after two years!

Well, I know, this is a pretty lamo post. Like I said, they'll hopefully get better as I have more stuff to put in them. But until then, bear with me! :)
Tchau tchau!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

First Post!

Well, I thought it would be pretty cool to have a blog... Plus my brother David kept telling me I should have one... So here we are!
I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to be putting on here, but I imagine as time goes on this blog will evolve into something more than just randomness.
But for now, enjoy reading this most boring first post!