the happiest place on earth

You know, for the "happiest place on earth" there sure is a lot of screaming. That doesn't make much sense now does it? Has anyone else thought about this?

I went to Disney World over Thanksgiving weekend with a friend because I had a complementary pass I needed to use and I had the time off. It was enjoyable but I would not call it the happiest place on earth. I saw a lot of unhappy little children while I was there. Several scared childrens too. Who says it is the happiest place on earth? They do. Is that something you can self-proclaim?

If you want to see some pictures you can check out my album.

halloween lights

Halloween Christmas lights? I was talking with my sister-in-law the other day and she was getting ready for a Trunk-o-Treat were instead of door to door, kids go car to car at a Halloween activity. She was asking me how she should decorate her truck because she has never done it before and I told her it did not have to be anything fancy and that she just needed some cobwebs or some...then i said it...Halloween Christmas lights.

That doesn't make much sense now does it? But you know what I am talking about. What are those lights called? They can't be Christmas lights. If I were to call them Halloween lights you would probably get that look on your face that people get when I tell them...we will leave that one alone for now. Anyway, I have no idea what they are called. The simplest descriptive name would be orange Christmas lights but that is mis representative.

I don't know what my sister-in-law ended up doing to decorate but she sure got me thinking about a completely unnecessary thing.

a tense relationship

The opposite of Open is Close and if I open or close a box in the past it is past tense, Opened or Closed. So why when I own a business is it Open or Closed? The tenses are not congruent. When we are open it is true that we are open currently. It may have been closed in the past but too it is close now. Close now is not closed it is close. Right?

hd

HD, its the new i- which was the new e-!

Every couple of years marketing comes out with a new prefix to the latest and greatest tech item. Yesterday on tv there was a commercial for HD sunglasses; they improve your viewing experience. What!? HD sunglasses? HD radio, TV, Binoculars, all sorts of stuff.

In the 90s we had the e-volution. E-surance is still around from those young days of the internet, and email is not going away anytime soon. The new millennium, and Apple computers brought us a new letter- i. iPod. iTunes. iWork. and iAmDoneWithTheLetterI!

Get ready now for HD. Make room I sense he is here to stay for a while. Coming soon to an auto store near you- HD windshield wipers. You just wait, you'll see; I would not be surprised.

mini vans

You remember when mini vans had only one sliding door in the back? I was climbing into the back seat of a mini van the other day on the drivers side and realized this. I wonder if they even make mini vans like that anymore. Probably not. You still have the same number of seats but with the new ones you have two more individual seats instead of a bench seat, and I am sure every parent appreciates the value and serenity of a kids in the back having his or her own seat. "This is my side," "He's touching me!" "Get off me." "OW!" Not to say that all troubles are resolved with individual seats but I can imagine they are definately reduced.

year end goals

I don't believe in New Year Resolutions. I don't have anything to resolve. I set goals, yearly goals. Goals and resolutions do not do any good though if you don't look at them from time to time. So it is the beginning of September, how are your goals coming along? I looked at the goals I wrote down in January today and I think I am going pretty well. There were a few that I did not even remember so it is good that I looked at them. Three have already been completed and the others are on there way, one needs a lot more work though.

Look at your goals, make some new ones. Goals are important so if you don't have any GET SOME. Goals keep you young.

I used to have trouble with goals, thinking they needed to be some sort of elaborate big thing. They don't. you can set big or long term goals but those need to be accompanied but smaller goals, like checkpoints. Big, longterm goals are useless with out these smaller goals. And then with smaller goals you make plans. Now you have to be careful because plans change. Don't let them change to frequently that you don't meet your goals. Adapt accordingly. If a goal is bigger than one task break it down into smaller bites.

Remember SMART goals- Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-based.

car color

I saw a green Jeep today an it just seemed the wrong color. This was not a light green or a grey-green this was GREEN. You don't really ever see green cars and trucks on the road today. I know green used to be more common but I think it is out now. Another color than is out is Purple. Who drives a purple car? The only car you see nowadays purple is a PT Cruiser and that just looks ugly to begin with. What makes a car color acceptable? Who picks car colors? Every year or so you see a new car color, some good, some hideous.

It is just interesting that you see bright yellow cars and bright red cars and bright blue, or orange car and the occasional bright purple car (term used lightly), but bright green is not a color you associate with vehicles.

What about Brown? If you are driving around a bright brown car you need sit down and rethink your place in life.

proof, resistant, tolerant

Water Proof. Water Resistant. Which is it? There is a difference. I have a watch and it is water resistant. Will water get in it? Yes it will, and it has. Will water get in a water proof watch? Unfortunately, yes it will. So what is the difference?

Here's how I see it. Lets think of two sacks/bags. The first is water proof, the second- water resistant. We fill both bags with water and seal them. So the first is going to keep 100% of the water in the bag. Water tight (or proof) is often associated with air-tight. if no water can escape than neither will air. Water resistant on the other had is not air tight. It may hold water for a long time but it will start to seap or absorb water. Like a child resisting his parents, will he resist, yes, but he will eventually cave to the desires of the parent. My watch is a cheap watch but it tells time. It is water resistant. It did fine in the rain and in the shower but I went swimming in a deeper pool once and I got water build up on the inside, mostly condinsated but water none-the-less. It still worked and I continued to use it up until a few days ago when I lost it on a river trip.

So I went floating down the river the other day with some friends. I took my camera. It is not water proof, or water resistant, and I didnt have a case or bag for it that was. If I were to drop it into water it would probably do unkind things to it- maybe recoverable, maybe not. On this float trip I came up with a new term. I decided that my camera was water tolerant. Many things are water tolerant. Well what does that mean? People thought I was crazy for bringing my camera on the river. They seem to enjoy the pictures now but at the time it was crazy. It did just fine. did it get a little wet, of course; everything on the river gets wet. It got splashed on and was for the most part, opporated with wet hands. The camera suffered no damage and the pictures turned out nicely. Under similar circumstances in the past I did have it fog up between two of the optic lenses but letting it sit and dry out fixed it right up, no problem. That is what I would consider water tolerant.

Humans are water tolerant too. We definately aren't water proof, or we wouldn't drown. We aren't water resistant, every kid knows she sits plays in water and her skin wrinkles and goes "prune." We are tolerant, we can splash around and get wet but don't expose yourself too long.

does birthday mean party?

Different people hold birthdays to different importance. Birthday is a tradition, and with all tradition it is viewed through the scope we are given it from. A birthday, when I was a kid, was another day; a day to be congratulated and honored, but in the end, just another day. So you are a year older, big deal, if not for the 364 (365) days preceding it, it is nothing. We had cake and ice cream at dinner the Sunday before or after in honor of and grandma would do something special with each grandkid. What is so special about getting older? I hear when you do get older everybody wishes he or she would stop having birthdays. Perhaps I just downplay the significance of this special day in my mind to avoid the glamour and attention of it. I am not one for spotlights.

A friend of mine gave me some perspective the other day on the subject. The kaleidoscope of tradition which was passed to her contrasted my own. She told me about how birthdays were the happy days she remembered from her childhood. Her mother had a way of making it a special day, not just a special day but the whole week was one to remember, to honor the birthday girl. It is your day, a day in honor of you. So why not celebrate? Anything less would be evasive and unpretentious.

Everybody deservers her own day. I remember saying once that the most important day of my life so far was the day I was born, and the second most important is tomorrow- the day that (God willing) keeps my life going. I try every day to celebrate my life, to be happy to be alive. I think we all should. Perhaps that is why I don’t set my birthday apart, because I celebrate my life every day. If you do it every day how is it different on that one day each year? It is an anniversary, and anniversaries are meant to be celebrated. So, is your birthday for you? or is it for those people in your life who care about you? Either way there should be a party, right?

If you were to tell a friend that your birthday was coming up I am confident he would say Happy Birthday and ask you if you were having a party. You might say a similar thing in the same situation. I was asked this question. In response I had to ask if I was the one responsible for make sure there was a party; “I don’t know, am I having a party?” Kind of rude in retrospect, but I know I can say anything to this friend. Who is supposed to throw a birthday party? Who does it serve? Is it tradition to have a birthday party? Is it a social norm?

I don’t pretend to know the answers but my view of birthdays has changed. One small chat with a friend and you never know what can happen. Birthdays are anniversaries. A special day to think about where you started, to ponder on the direction you are headed, and to celebrate your amazing life. So whether you choose to celebrate with a bunch of roudy friends at a party, or with your family around the table at dinner, or relaxing on a white beach in the brilliant sun, make sure you have a good one. I will!

shopping carts

How often do you go shopping? Once a week? Twice a week? Once every other week? Do you use a buggie (shopping cart)? I wondered today as I pushed one around, how many people have pushed this same cart? How many different hands have touched this same handle? You never see anybody wash shopping carts; at least I never have. Interesting! Other things don't raise such a thought in my mind because I see people wash them, or know that there is a person in charge of washing them. But what about shopping cart handles? Perhaps that is how pandemics spread.

unheroic

The heroic nature is dying, de-idolized, regarded mockingly. There is a scripture in the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ that says “The day will come that people will call good bad and bad good.” I think among other things this condoning of heroism is one small part of that. What is a hero? Most of the time hero is thought of as superhero. I thought the idea of Pixar’s Incredible is enlightening, the idea of suing a superhero…what a self-centered, one-track world we live in. And you know if superheroes existed today they would be sued. It is sad that there exists in this world people whose soul purpose seems to be to go around finding things to sue people for.

something to offer

Kids are spellbound by peoples of authority, peoples in uniform. They are eager to ask their parents “Mommy, who is that man?” or “Daddy, why is that man wearing that?” Policemen, firefighters, soldiers and pilots, there is a certain wonder and awe of a uniform- especially one that sticks out in a crowd. To the pure and childlike eye the uniform embodies a hero. Power, authority and influence. It represents, as it should, the values of honor, devotion, and sacrifice.

What do you offer? What can you offer such an awe struck impressionable child? These days there are so many self serving ill-intending people in the world that it is hard to offer any act of shear kindness anymore without arising a cautious suspicion- especially in the eyes of loving parents of the young. I remember as a child receiving Delta Wings from a lady in a Delta Airlines uniform as I went to the airport with my parents to deliver a sibling to his waiting flight.

As I traveled recently I met such a curious little kid. Is a handshake and a greeting enough? Is there something more to offer? Something to let him know he can believe in heroes? I don't begin to consider myself a hero but that is what the uniform represents. When a policeman is seen in uniform every action reflects that force- not just the individual. Every time a soldier is seen in uniform she is praised for the ideals she is living and the efforts of all people, past present and future, who choose to wear that same uniform.

So what is there to offer?

create

What do you create with? Everybody creates. It is an inherited trait of out heavenly, spiritual Father. To create is the essence of art, but art has a million mediums; pencil, pen, charcoal, paint, oil, watercolor, pastel, finger-paint, chalk, digital paint. And all that is but a few common paper mediums. What about food, furniture, woodwork, etch-a-sketch, words (stories and essays), architecture, landscape, and so many more.

The ability to create is something all are born with. As a little girl entangles her mothers hair in efforts to put it up in some fashion she is expressing that urge to create. As a young boy gathers all the pillows and blankets in the house stringing them here and there over the backs of chairs and couches he is expressing that urge to create. As you walk down the toy isle in your favorite store how many toys on the shelf have anything to to with creating? From the doodle-pad to the doll with the interchangeable outfits, from the tool belt to the plastic dump truck so many toys are to satisfy that urge to create. As we grow some choose to suppress this miraculous gift but still more choose to explore and develop theirs. The world would die if people did not create.

The most holy of creativity is the ability to create life. The seeming simplicity and assumed lack of talent required to do so has regretfully demeaned the value of this creative gift in the eyes of many creators. Undeniably, this is a demanding creation, so much so that the paints, the catalyst, are guarded by a simple lock requiring two (a man and a woman) to open. Each miraculous masterpiece requires a duality of artists.

So what do you create with? Creation is a necessity of life and each person has her own creative outlet.

on swinging

I love to swing. There is something magical about it, sitting in a park swaying back and forth watching the world go by. I have some good memories on the swing. I have some sad memories on the swing. Most of all I have some soothing memories on the swing. The swing is one of my favorite places to go. No matter what the mood a swing will accentuate the positive.

There is no telling when you might find me on a swing. I might be sitting on a swing in the morning, mid-day, or evening; perhaps most commonly in those still hours of early morning at the very start of a brand new day. In a former occupation I would on occasion stop by one of many parks on my way home to sway on a swing and reflect on the day, or on the world, or on eternity.Next to swaying to and fro beside a lovely young lady this is my favorite swing activity. The night is so pure, so still. It relaxes you. You can forget any troubles you might be burdened with. You can be alone with your thoughts, to open your mind and reflect. You can watch the world pass by slowly. And you do all that while flying!

A former prophet has said that an important characteristic in this life is to possess the ability to Be Still. The swing set provides me this sanctuary to escape the noisy traffic of the world and sit quietly, reflectively. Giving me an opportunity to understand me and the small part I play in this universe.

Swinging reminds me of my mother. We all know of the young child who is soothed as he is rocked gently in his mothers arms. Perhaps the swing is those soothing arms of a distant mother. Perhaps it is the loving rock of her protecting fold. There is something about that swaying, rocking motion that calms, relaxes, and pacifies. And the first place we experience that feeling is in the arms of Mother as she takes her new born baby in her arms and lovingly sways that gentle rhythm. It is no wonder then that such a motion has such miraculous power to calm. I wonder then, do mothers do it because it calms, or do children calm because mothers do it? I am willing to assert the later.

flash of genius

Here is my synopsis- it is a true story yes, but it is not a heroic story. Who is the real villain? who is the hero? Sure he won the case to correct the record and defeat big business, but at what expense? So who is the hero? He is no hero; I would say there is none. And what kind of story is it without a hero? Is a sad story worth telling? What kind of moral should I expect my kid to take from this? It is okay to sacrifice my life, my love, if in the end I come out the winner? It is okay as long as I triumph over the corporate giant? No, when the dust settles there is no winner, just a loser and a loser with a lot of money. Perseverance is important but not at the expense of responsibility. Our hero seeks to restore, or gain integrity, the whole time eroding it from the inside. I may be wrong but I would say that he is his own villain. Obsession is detrimental. You might get what you wanted in the end but you wanted the wrong thing.

I guess in the end the movie says to me, “a lot of money and 'setting the record straight' is worth more than 12 years of your life, your loyalty to your family and the love of your wife.”

...and that is the world we live in.

wall paper

Do you tell your kids not to write on the wall? Sure you can erase it but before you do have you ever ask yourself "Why?" Who decided it was unacceptable? If wall righting was socially acceptable then I would imagine that more walls would have scribbles much higher than just 3 feet up.

"If these walls could talk," is often said with a sigh. But they could talk, if those same people would allow them to be written on. My dad has written numerous times on the hood, and other available spots, on his truck. My oldest brother is seen on occasion with on his pant leg in, seemingly upside-down, artistic patterns and notes. That truck hood talks, it tells of the hypotoneus of a roof truss or the measure of a board to be cut or the price of several bags of concrete. It even might tell of the principles behind a rocket engine. The jeans talk too. They speak of the wearer. He is a doodler. He is a creator. He gets board with the mundane. He has a knack for drawing. He is a problem solver, an innovator.

At the Googleplex, Google's Headquaters, they have whole walls of whiteboards for random doodling; drawing pictures, jotting down ideas. Why not?

Just like you can tell a lot about a person by what he wears (or what is drawn on what he wears) imagine what you could discover about a person as investigated what was doodled/scribbled/written upon the walls as you visited her in her home? Those walls certainly would have a story to tell, and if kids you might even make out their journey through the ages, a timecapsule of art and thought.

swing life away

What do you think about as you lie on your back in an open field staring up in to the deep sky, or sit atop a western cliff and watch the sun fall beyond the Pacific, or as you leisurely sway back and forth on a park swing at one o-clock in the morning? I will tell you what I think about. I'll tell you what I think about, I think about me. I think about what I have done, what I need to do, where I can do more, why I have been so blessed in my young life. I ask questions of myself. Sometimes the posts you find here are a product of those thoughts.

There was more to be said here but this is a fragile thought and was interrupted in its recording by a man who asked my assistance. And I obliged. Perhaps the thought is lost forever, never to return. Perhaps you might unknowingly read about it later in a future post. But I dare not write on in efforts to conceal this fractured thought. With some thoughts it is doable, and has been accomplished in the past...but not this one, this one is fragile. I am not sure why, but I recognize that it is.

Thoughts are seen in perspective, and perspective changes. Even with only a slight change of view the understanding of that observed thought can be spoiled, irrevocably changed. The thought might still live on but your understanding of that thought in that moment is lost. All because someone in need asked my help. It is called sacrifice; and those that don't loose much more than thought.

prophet, seer, revelator

It is not about ability it is about authority. Can you imagine for a moment a man today with the same authority as Moses or Abraham, of the Bible, to speak with God in behalf of the whole world- every person alive today? Can you imagine the huge responsibility of such an individual? I am here to tell you that there is no need to imagine for such a person exists. And thank God for it. God has seen a need for such a spokesperson, a seer, since the beginning, throughout time- but why?

Everybody has his own opinion. Everyone sees the world just a little differently. You, me, and Fred could all witness the exact same event any each of us would have our own views and interpretation of it. First of all we each will witness a different perspective and secondly we each draw on our own past experience in processing it. Consequently we see the event differently. In literature we might read the same passage and each come to a different conclusion of the authors intent. This is true for literary novels, science journals, play scripts, and the Bible. We see it amongst the plethora of of Churches and denominations of Christianity today.

So a spokesman could be the moderator. If he speaks with God he knows what the Authors intent is. He knows what the correct interpretation is. I know that such a man exists today. He will be speaking to the world tomorrow in a world wide conference to all of heavenly Father's children, you and me. All those willing to listen. What a great blessing and privilege to hear the voice of prophets and apostles, to learn from their mouths the truths of eterninty. The truths of Jesus Christ's gospel. The truths of Salvation.

I love my God and thank him every day for his love of me.

I invite you to join me. See what he has to say. You can believe me or not but I know and I know that if you listen and ask Him who knows all things you can know too.

Listen to the prophets voice.

rabbit ears

Where did they start? Who decided one day that sticking his fingers up behind some friends head while taking a picture was fun? More importantly, who saw it and thought that it would be a good idea to imitate? The oh-so prevalent "bunny ears." And then we have moose ears. (or horns) but that tent for a seperate season.

What if rabbits were hi-tech, digital-age, picture snappin' critters?

rabbits don't lay eggs!

~For the lazy reader skip to the bottom and read 'In short'~

What does a bunny, a florescent pink, and chocolate have in common? Nothing! that is why I can't quite seem to wrap my head around it. What deranged marketing analyst came up with the Cadbury Bunny?

Here is something I did not know. A Hare is not a Rabbit. They are different genus of the Leporidae Family. I always just assumed them to be different names for the same thing (that's a song). The European Brown Hare is the critter to which we can attribute the Cadbury scheme; that, and the plover.

The hare breeds on the ground in a nest rather than in a burrow as a rabbit would. All members of the leporidae family as they prepare to have a litter build a nest for their young. The nest of the hare is modest, perhaps a small brim of dirt, some twigs, matted grass, and a little fur. This closely resembles the nest of the plover, a resident ground dwelling bird of the same countryside as the hare. As spring dawns and eggs are discovered in nests on the ground in the fields where hares are now active playful in the day time, they get pegged the culprit. It all spirals down from there into a cream-filled chocolate confection and a rabbit that clucks...

Why does that rabbit cluck anyway???



In short:
Hare builds nest. Bird builds nest. Bird lays eggs in nest. Hare gets blamed for it. Hare mistaken as rabbit. Bunny sounds cuter than rabbit. Bunny lays brightly colored eggs and gives candy to oblivious youth.

(not so) lucky rabbit

This is a lucky season. With Leprechauns and pots of gold; with four-leaf clovers and rabbits feet? What? What is the deal with rabbits feet? When did a rabbits foot become lucky? and why are they bright pink and techni-colored?

I guess it is some sort of hoodoo thing. I am getting contradicting stories; some say it is African-American and some say from Europe. I don't know. To me it has just never seemed very lucky for the rabbit- the graveyard dwelling, shot by a silver-bullet under a full moon rabbit that is. Unfortunately, it is only the left hind foot of the rabbit so all you gullable ones out there who were sold the right foot or worse, the front foot, you are just SOL. And all you people with the fancy colored ones- when have you ever seen a coral red, or brilliant blue, or even fuchsia rabbit? You deserve whatever extravagant circumstance comes your way.

Is that mean? I am sorry. I just got carried away there for a second. To take a part of a creature that is considered lucky does not seem very...it's just not right. I mean, I consider myself a pretty lucky individual and I am not sure how I would feel for someone to come along and start chopping off my body parts and wearing my finger on a keychain or keeping my toe on his nightstand. That is just disturbing. ...it gives me the jeebies!

traffic patterns

I wonder if in Europe people walk around in the malls the opposite direction?

It occurs to me that in malls foot traffic seems to flow in the same manner as vehicle traffic. It is not a strict pattern but for the most part what ever mall I seem to step in to, opposite direction traffic is on the left and the stores closest to the right- a counter-clockwise direction of travel. So if other countries people drive on the opposite side of the road than we do here in seemingly backward land of America than which way do the great people of those lands wander around in their malls? I would find it peculiar if the majority wandered in a counter-clockwise manner. People naturally fall into patterns they are familiar with. Here in the states people are comfortable with generally counter-clockwise movement. Other countries are not as familiar with this motion so I would expect the majority of citizens to wander their malls in a generally clockwise direction.

simply made, made difficult

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. This is an adage used often in the military. What exactly is it saying though? The principle is understandable and entirely logical: If you do something slower than you will do it better and it won't be messy, preventing you from making mistakes that will slow the process or have to be done over. Simple enough but I have always been one for math. It doesn't quite line up so nicely algebraically though. There is a simple rule in algebra: If A=B and B=C than A=C. This is logical right? if both A and C are equal to B than they must be equal to each other so you can ignore B all together. If we apply this to our sentence above Slow=Smooth and Fast=Smooth so we can eliminate "smooth" and say that Slow=Fast. Wait a minute, that doesn't make sense! Slow can't equal Fast they are opposites, bookends, they are as much the same as microwaves and four-leaf clovers. So how can this make sense? The adage is both logical and illogical at the same time. It is simple yet defiant; caught between a world of logic and irrationality. You were probably fine with the first explanation until I ruined it with my algebra that you are probably trying to forget anyway. I guess I just think too much.

the game we play

I had a motivation class the other day in which we discussed a large amount of theory. It is interesting to study the psychology of motivation. I find it very fascinating. We discussed Abraham Maslow's 'Hierachy of Needs' of which I have been familiar with but we also discussed two other theories, one of which was similar to Maslow's but was condenced in to 3 needs (Existance, Relatedness, Growth) as opposed to Maslow's five (Physiological, Saftey, Social, Esteem, Self-Actualization). There are parts of both theories that I believe and other parts from either one that don't really agree with each other. The intreguing thing that I picked up on in the class was the simple ability to get some one to do what you want them to do in the right environment with an understanding of the principles of motivation and human needs. You can realistically stay one step ahead of an individuals moves as you expose that person to different situations. You will see him react very specifically. The key word being react. It can be quite a scary thing as you think about it that someone can know how you will react to certain situations and then make the effort to place that infront of you and as a series of dikes and channels lead you exactly as they want you. Like a game.