Go Nuggets!

I'm not a huge NBA fan. Give me the NCAA tournament any day. But yesterday I watched the Denver Nuggets and LA Lakers go at it. I was very happy to see the Nuggets pull it out. Mainly cause I don't like the Lakers (they're like the Yankees of basketball to me, although they haven't won as much).

But also, the Nuggets have the former Sonics head coach (from their glory days in the mid 90's), George Karl, it's pretty close to Utah, and Chauncey Billups seems like a cool guy.

Did I mention I really can't stand the Lakers.

Guitar Skills

This kid has some amazing skills. This one was pretty impressive.

Some of the other ones I like that he does is Moon River, l Will, Billie Jean, and a few others. Check 'em out.

City Museum

This is definitely not a normal museum. It's a giant play-place. The toys are old recycled junk (at least it looks like it). There are long metal slides, all sorts of dark spaces and caves to crawl through (many places I couldn't fit in to), ball pits, all kinds of windy things to climb on, and a hamster wheel. A lot of the places to climb on and in and out of looked like modern art. Here are some pictures to give you a better idea--but you have to be there to really get a feel for it.

Walking into the mouth of a giant whale (which leads to all sorts of places).

Danny looking at us from a little nook up above.

Jared comes down the slide, then me. I go a lot faster then him. It's like some kind of weird bum massage.

Craziness

Looking out from some cave.

The little kids giant ball pit. My brother Ryan is about to bonk his son on the head.

The little hamsters in their wheel.

My favorite part of this is the bus coming off the top of the building.

I don't know how this place passes safety regulations, but it was definitely a fun place--especially for the kids.

St. Louis Visit

My nephew, Jared, learning to ride a motorcycle.

The Arch (as wide as it is tall and taller than the Space Needle)

Sitting on a giant turtle. This place is known as Turtle Park. We almost didn't want to leave to go to the zoo.

Danny on a turtle or snake. I'm not sure.

Welcome to the St. Louis Zoo. A very large, free zoo.

Jared with his dad's sunglasses.

Me with cutie patootie. My mom bought the same pair of sunglasses for her three sons this last Christmas.

Here is the actual reason we all got together. My brother Jason can now be called Dr. Hochstrasser. The second in the family (although my mom's is a Ph.D, not MD).

Other fun things I got to do.

-Go swimming in a pool that was part indoor and part outdoor. I've always wanted to do that!

-Eat as much popcorn as I wanted provided in the hotel lobby.

-Play tennis in super windy weather.

-Ride the metro to the airport.

More pictures to come of this place we went to on Friday morning called City Museum. It's nothing like what the name says. In fact, it's nothing like anything I've seen.

Off to St. Louis

I'll be gone tomorrow through Saturday to St. Louis for my brother's graduation from medical school (St. Louis University). Yay for seeing my nephews and niece!

Jerusalem

Elder Hochstrasser,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary--oh wait, scratch that. start again.

Dear Jordan,

Congratulations! You have been given initial placement on the 2009 Fall Semester Program at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. Dates of this program are from September 1 to December 17

Your official acceptance, however, is pending until you have a Final Admission Interview with a member of the Jerusalem Center staff. Applicants who have received initial placement will be admitted for study at the Jerusalem Center based on their preparation for and ability to benefit from study at the Jerusalem Center, as well as their ability to contribute to the success of the experience for others in the unique Jerusalem Center setting.

etc.

My friend (Suzy) tells me that the interview is just a formality and that you most likely won't fail that. (I sure hope I don't now, or I'd look pretty dumb.) So this is pretty exciting news.

Nicknames

Nicknames are a funny thing. People can become known solely by their nicknames. I never called my old roommate Brian, only Bwood. I've had many nicknames over the last few years. Some of these nicknames were widespread, but usually it was a certain group of people that called me it and others outside the group would be confused if they heard it. Here are the ones I can remember from most recent to earliest:

Jor Jor (my current ward, started by Nathan)

Jordan Bjorgason (pretty much just Jeff Ward calls me this)

Hawktrowsers (an elder on my mission called me this)

Das Lichtenstein, Das Licht, or The Licht (I think it was Kevin my freshman year that made this up because it was long and sounded German, like my last name)

Uncle Buster (my brother-in-law Christian came up with this for my nephews to call me, and it's stuck)

jho (12th grade choir)

hogtrotter (11th grade choir)

Jo

Jo Jo (only my oldest sister ever uses this anymore)

Anyone else have any interesting nicknames? My personal favorite of my friends is Michael T. Barney (all I did was add a T because he doesn't have a middle name. But we often refer to him as just Michael T.) Then there's B-Master Flex for Bryan Tanner. Our EFY kids came up with that when we were co-counselors.