ejournal

And there was darkness, and it was almost as good...

2012-01-18T20:21:00.001-08:00

As I sit here in the electricity deprived darkness of my bedroom, taking care of my 7 month old child as my wife scoops the snow off of our sidewalk, I find myself wondering what it is, exactly, that we did as kids during blackouts instead of tinkering on battery powered electronic devices.

2011-03-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

I'm totally diggin' technology that is coming out these days. Here, you can call me without knowing my number nor revealing yours! Ingenious!

Grateful for my Daughter

2010-10-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

This morning and for the last couple of days, I have noticed that Mckenna (5 yo) will go to her room, shut the door and put on various church/primary CDs. I have even heard her singing along to them behind the closed door. She even busted out "Follow the Prophet" while we were in the car, without any music to accompany her. This makes me so happy, almost to the point of tears. I'm glad to see her clinging to the iron rod of her own free will and choice. It wasn't long ago that she would rail against church or any type of media about church. It warms my soul to know that I and her mother have succeeded in some small way, influencing her for good. I can only imaging how full of joy our Father's heart must be when he witnesses us choose that which is good, wholesome, and uplifting. This is truly one of the sweet mercies of parenting.

Google Doodle Article Response

2009-09-05T13:19:00.003-07:00

Here's the article if your interested...

And the picture of what we're talking about:

Quotes from and responses to the article:

"How much influence does Google have in terms of driving the news?"

Google is HUGE and therefore whatever it does IS news. Google is not supposed to be some non-biased journalist. And Google News isn't a reporting platform, just a culling of reports from other news organizations as a courtesy to its visitors. It is first and foremost a search engine and a software solutions provider. So to answer your question, Google should drive the news if only to inundate the internet with buzz about itself for profit's sake.

"[Google doodle as advertising]"

I say more power to them. I don't think it'll happen though. Google's been around long enough with their own ad agency and have yet to exploit their vanilla homepage as such. If they ever did, it just might be enough to make people switch search engines to Bing or at the very least stop clicking on the doodle.

"But the Google doodle could also be used to advance a political cause as well."

And why couldn't it? Google has the right to free speech just like anyone else. The de facto line is drawn at the point where they start offending/turning-off a large part of their customers/users. Hence it would be bad for business to hard-line such a divisive subject.

"But what if the Google doodle were to be used for more commercial purposes? Would it be a source of controversy?"

What isn't a source of controversy today? Everyone readily vomits out their approval or disapproval about someone else's doings. I don't see why this should be any different.

"Would it give an unfair advantage to those who could afford to pay for it?"

This one actually made me laugh out loud. This question alone reveals the Marxist views of the article's author. To believe that you've done something inherently unfair by purchasing more avenues of opportunity to solidify business profitability is downright diabolical. As the downtrodden masses, unable to successfully make use of the equal opportunities this country provides, should we also demand the abolition of Super Bowl advertisements on the same grounds? And if you'll indulge me... In response to an accusation of unfairness, David Bowie replies in The Labyrinth, "You say that so often. I wonder what your basis for comparison is." Because someone has worked hard and become successful while the rest of us are still in the struggling phase leads the disaffected to declare that some injustice has befallen them. That this is in some way unfair. That we should all attain success together and anyone showing premature promise should systematically be punished or maligned. This idea takes focus off of its proper place, the one. The minute one stops focusing on betting their own situation to take note of others around them, the differences becomes obvious. If the difference seems insurmountable this observation easily leads to envy and a desire to "even the odds" through any number of legal or illegal means. This further breeds the socialistic attitude of equal results no matter the effort or ability.

"Could it create a situation where Google could be accused of advancing a personal agenda?"

Do you call it an accusation of advancing a personal agenda when Coca-Cola comes up with some new marketing plan to net new profits? Or just damned fine business acumen? I bet its share holders want Google to be accused of advancing the personal agenda of maximizing profits.

2009-06-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

Okay so major updates here. Just go check out my Picasa Web Albums to see all the wonderful things that have happened recently. But just to summarize, I've uploaded pics from our trip to Mt. Rainier, San Diego, The Temple, and our cat's newborn baby kittens. Enjoy!!!: http://picasaweb.google.com/patrick.connor

Friday Workout

2009-05-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

Today went fairly well. Pounded out my hour. Pushed myself a little more than yesterday. I'm almost done with the Faraday book, probably will finish it today at work. Kenna had a water playday at preschool due to the 78+ degree weather. I got her all sunscreened up and put her in her tankini. She's getting a little to tall and lanky for it though, her belly is finding it hard to stay covered.

In da internets...

2009-05-27T23:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you find something that just tickles you so pink, you have to share it with others. And such it is with:

I'd almost drop $10 on this just to chump on all my friends with an iPhone. The Apps are a hoot, but definitely check out the specs page. You'll roll in stitches, if we have the same sense of humor that is.

This thing really sucks!

2009-05-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

The wife's been bugging about getting a new vacuum lately. We've had the same one since before we were married and it's starting to show. So guess what pops up on woot.com the other day? You guess it a vacuum. Chalk one more item up on the woot board. This could become a very expensive new habit. Got to keep it in check.

Items from the Woot-Off

2009-05-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

The BIG Boom
The little Boom
The gag gift
and
The impulse buy

Woot again...

2009-05-27T23:14:00.000-07:00

More crap!

Picked up a couple of Lappys with the Blu-ray

2009-05-27T23:05:00.001-07:00

Here's the Woot page where I got 'em plus all the info. Kelley wanted one for herself so we got two. That was last month. Mine came with a bum drive so after dealing with Kerpal from India for a few days I finally got a new drive. All is fine and dandy now.

Wednesday Workout

2009-05-27T21:53:00.001-07:00

So today was a fresh start again. Last Friday Kenna was running a fever, didn't go to preschool, hence I missed out on my workout. Then again just this past Monday was Memorial Day (may they all rest in peace) and no school again for Mckenna giving me about 6 straight days without having to go to the gym. I really didn't try that hard today. I was just going through the motions. I don't know if the numbers on the machine are all that accurate. I seemed to be able to hit four and a half miles without much effort, but five miles just seems a little out of my reach even when I give it my all, or my most.

I'm also reading a biography of Michael Faraday, the father of electromagnetism. And yes, I became interested in him after the Character Daniel Farady popped up on Lost. I decided to take it with me to the gym because it is a heck of a lot smaller and less cumbersome than my new Dune novel: House Atreides.

Wednesday Workout

2009-05-20T11:06:00.001-07:00

Kinda wussed out today. First off didn't have any clean sweats so I had to wear some old workout shorts I had. Next came the realization that Kenna's boosterseat was missing and not in my car. Char had taken her yesterday and given the booster to Kelley who then put it in her trunk, where it remained until I went to pick it up from her at her work on the way to take Kenna to preschool. So I was already having an 'off' day. But today is special for me cuz I was only 45 points away from reaching YELLOW LEVEL (the second level) in the Y's 12 week program. Never you mind the fact that I've been in this program since September last year. So Hurray for me!!!

Wednesday Workout

2009-05-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in a while, but I have been working out. Maybe I'll get around to posting the other workouts. Maybe not. Point is that after San Diego I fell off the workout wagon. My iffection that followed shortly after didn't help much either.
I'm not so sure if I still want to try my 5 mile, 1000 calorie, 60 min eliptical run. It just seems a little out of my grasp right now. See the thing is, as I lose more weight, I can run faster. But along with the weight loss it take fewet calories to move a smaller body the same 5 miles. Maybe my goal was just like the futile idea/attempt to travel faster than the speed of light. Allow it is easy to imagine a faster speed than that of light but in reality it doesn't exist! I'll have to do some serious soul searching to seek devine affirmation of my assumption. Wish me luck. If it is true, I need to reevaluate my motivation/goals.

Friday Workout

2009-04-17T11:31:00.001-07:00

Here's Friday's workout. Not my best work but I'm there none the less. I missed Wednesday because it was tax day and I waited as long as I could before having to fork over a big chunk to Uncle Sam. I took Wednesday off work so that I might not be distracted while feeling the full effect of the tightening grip of our government.

Changing the subject. I think I wanna get something to listen to the AM band while working out. I just can't seem to get enough of Rush Limbaugh. My workouts tend to cut right into the middle of his broadcast time.

Monday Workout

2009-04-06T11:27:00.001-07:00

First time back to the Y since vacationing in San Diego. I was sweating like a pig. I could only hit up to 45 minutes, mostly because my bladder started acting up around the half hour mark. I must be out of practice because I never have potty issues on the eliptical machine. So I'll probably be back up and running my usual time on Wednesday. I'll also have to install itunes on my new laptop to workout a bpm set as suggested by Roseanne. Also look forward to my blogging about our vacation to SoCal and our trip up to the big hill called Rainier. Until then.

Wednesday Workout

2009-03-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

Just finished my eliptical run. As you can see, just shy of my goal again. Does anyone know of a good free program that'll analize your current collection of music and tell you what each song's bpm is? I'm really gonna need that to create progressively harder workouts for myself.

Monday Workout

2009-03-23T18:51:00.001-07:00

I missed the gym on Friday so I was kinda off of my game today. I just need to take some time and put together a 'mix tape' that runs around 142-145 bpm. That's so I can hit my goal. I need that constant pounding beat to push me and keep me in the lead. It's also cuz I get a little clumsy at the higher speeds and need something to balance me out.

Workout Frustrations...

2009-03-20T16:01:00.010-07:00

So I usually hit up the gym Mon/Wed/Fri while Kenna's at preschool. Well, today, I slept through my alarm and didn't even get up until after 9:15am. Kenna's perschool starts at 9. Then I was freaking out cause I couldn't find any workout clothes. So Kenna was 45 min late to preschool and I didn't go to the gym. And to top it all off, I couldn't get the day off so my friend David could come up from Vancouver to hang out. It's been a really tough day for me. Mostly I think because of that monkey wrench thrown into my workout routine.

Wednesday Workout

2009-03-18T16:24:00.001-07:00

Don't get too excited. I kinda cheated to hit 5 miles. I checked where I was at the 60 minute mark and saw that I had hit 4.66 miles and barely 900 calories. I was so frustrated to find that this was exactly where I was at 60 minutes on Monday and if I kept with my regular 5 minute cool down, I'd not hit either of my goals. So I decided to go all out in the cool down phase. I broke 5 miles but still the 1000 calorie mark eluded me. I would have been too discouraged if I hadn't made any progress so I pushed the envelope and the rules, but just a little. It'll take a lot more to hit my goals under 1 hour exactly, like 143 strides a minute continuously to make the 5 miles! It might take me longer than I'd like but I'll make it

Monday's Workout

2009-03-16T10:56:00.001-07:00

Looks like I'm on track to hit my goal on friday. 5 miles - 1000 calories in an hour!

Political Censorship at Best Buy?!?

2009-03-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

After my workout today, I had some extra time on my hands before I needed to pick up Mckenna at her preschool. I used this extra time to head on over to Best Buy to just browse around, I never actually buy anything. I consider it shopping therapy. I can window shop for hours and hours. It's a disease.

On my way to Best Buy I was listening to Rush Limbaugh's CPAC speech being rebroadcast on KTTH 770 AM. I have been wanting to looking for an audio download of this speech for a few days now. As I walked into Best Buy I noticed a kiosk in the front of the store, set up for anyone to use. All of a sudden I got an urge to search the net for that audio file.

After opening up IE and being expectantly directed to Best Buy's homepage I ventured out on the net to google to begin my search. I typed 'Rush Limbaugh' and hit enter only to find that and and all results for that search term were block by Best Buy's firewall/security. At first I thought little of it. Maybe the store blocks all web pages except for it's own. I tried Circuit City and found that was also blocked. This didn't surprise me all that much. Why would they allow access to their competition's site? Then out of curiosity I typed 'Barack Obama' and got results returned to me. Very curious indeed. I was intrigued. I tried more terms...

Joe Biden: Allowed
Michael Medved: Blocked
Republican: Blocked
Democrat: Allowed
Conservative: Blocked
Liberal: Allowed

You can understand my shock! Was this intentional or just a fluke that all these opposing terms, people, and ideas were blocked or allowed? Was it the decision of Best Buy 'higher-ups' implemented nation wide or of the person that installed that particular kiosk or firewall/security measures at that particular Best Buy Store?

The answers to these questions may never be known, mostly due to the time constraint I had to go pick up Mckenna. But also because I didn't really want to call a store manager over and make a big scene questioning him about something he probably knew nothing about. That and the kiosk, while available to all who come in the store, does not promise the free and full access to the entire web. That's not why it was installed.

It's just interesting how far some people will allow their ideology to creep into their jobs and interactions with others, thereby blocking what they consider to be unauthorized for consumption of others. But then again, I could just be over-paranoid and a conspiracy theorist. You decide.

Friday's workout

2009-03-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

oooooh! I'm so close to my goal of doing 5 miles and burning 1000 calories all within and hour (with a five minute cool down, of course)

If you looked into my soul you'd see...

2009-03-12T15:36:00.001-07:00

I swear I'm not as big a nerd as you think I am.

Okay, yes I am.

Cardi-HO!

2009-03-11T19:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my Mon/Wed/Fri routine! I drop Kenna off at preschool and head on over to the Y for a couple of hours. I used to do cardio and lift weights but I have become more and more discouraged about the weights recently. I don't know if it's the smell in the weight room or the fact that I have to stand around waiting for machine that are in use, which throws off my groove. I think it's a combination of the two. I still do my cardio three times a week and that's what you are witness to in the above video. This is an example of a typical cardio workout for me. In this particular one I ran on the eliptical machine for 1 hour with a 5 minute cool down period, finishing just under 5 miles and burning more than 900 calores. Yay me!

I just hope all this time isn't wasted on my weighted waist. I have lost 10 pounds since I started in September. Fitness, here I come!

blogging by phone frustration

2009-03-11T03:07:00.001-07:00

The bearded one

2009-03-11T02:46:00.001-07:00

I finally figured out how to post to my blog from my phone. I feel like I'm in the know now.

This year our ward (Gem Heights) starts at one thirty. And seeing as I have to work every other weekend like most people in health care. I only get to attend my ward every other Sunday. Recently, I've been a little more lazy than usual and only shave on the Sunday mornings I get to go church. By this time I have a good layer of growth. Well, this last Sunday I was a little more lazy than usual and didn't shave before church. So now I'm debating if I should shave soon or wait til the next Sunday I don't work, which would put my boyish man beard at four straight weeks of unbridled testosteronal scruffiness. Just take a look. What should I do

Mckenna and Dad sing!

2009-02-23T17:42:00.000-08:00

This was just AWESOME! Did you see how fast she changed her lame attitude when she sat up? Can you top that cuteness?

It's fun to stay at the...

2008-09-20T11:50:00.000-07:00

It's true. I've finally joined up!
Mckenna started preschool a couple of weeks ago and her school just happens to be close to the Y. I figured I could spend the two hours trolling around stores in the area, go back home, or take the advice of my wife and work out at a gym nearby. And so I find myself in sweats and a t-shirt signing up at my YMCA on Friday. Forty five minutes later, complete drenched in sweat, I hobble off the elliptical machine I just abused (or was it the other way round) and realize that I should have stretched FIRST before starting my workout. Silly me. Live and learn. I now have a plan to work out during the time that Kenna is at preschool, which is Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9 AM to 11:30 AM. At the Y there is this room where all the equipment and machines are all hooked up to a central computer that keeps track of your exercising. You can set goals and monitor your progress. Plus you get to win t-shirts with every achievement level you progress to. I'm hoping that the t-shirts I win will get smaller with each level. Wish me luck!

I cleaned the church building today!

2008-09-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

The title says it all.

No, but seriously folks. Serving is a blessing. I am going to be teaching Elders Quorum tomorrow on Lesson 13 in the TPC Joseph Smith Manual. In preparation I have been listening to the lesson over and over on my PSP in MP3 format to get me more acclimated to it for when I actually sit down and try to plan the lesson, say an hour before church begins. (slacker, i know) Well, there is this one phrase that Brother Joseph uses that seems to stick every time I hear it. It is, "No month ever found me more busily engaged than November; but as my life consisted of activity and unyielding exertions, I made this my rule: When the Lord commands, do it."

So it was with this same determination that I answered the phone at 8:15 this morning to the sound of my father-in-law, Rod, asking me to show up at the church to clean. And so it was done. I just wish I could be as diligent in cleaning my own house.

Parenting and Ponies

2008-09-13T01:39:00.000-07:00

I once remember a wise man (who is actually my good friend Jared Newlun) say to never make a promise (aka - threat) to a child and not follow through. And so it was today at Mckenna's preschool that these words of wisdom came flooding back to me in the moment when I began to say, "Mckenna, if you don't apologize to Trevor for kicking the cars he was playing with, you won't get to ride the ponies that your teacher paid to come to school today."

Now, up until this point, at least for a few weeks, I had known that ponies were going to be there that day and wanted nothing more than for my daughter to be able to ride them. In that heated moment, I decided that I was in control and if Mckenna didn't want to do the right thing, and apologize then she certainly didn't want to ride the ponies.

My heart was crushed when the words spilled forth out of my mouth. I had to place all my faith and hope in my little girl that she would choose the right. Not only so she could learn the principle of compassion but also so she could enjoy the ponies later.

She fought me with a fury that I had only seen previously in her mother. Stubborn as all hell and just as determined. About half of her class had already had their turns on the pony and her name was called to go next. She still hadn't said sorry.

I excused us from the classroom and Mckenna and I had a little talk outside. I told her again that if she didn't want to say sorry then she didn't want to go on the ponies. Secretly and earnestly I was pleading and yearning in my heart that she would break, all the while trying to communicate to her with my body language and facial expressions that I didn't care if she got on that blasted pony or not.

Parenting & teaching correct principles = mental anguish (sometimes)

Final, after asking many times if she was ready to make restitution she agreed. We made our way back inside and crossed the room to Trevor. By this time just about all the kids had taken their turns on the ponies and Mckenna's turn was coming (and going) fast. As we both stood there facing Trevor in an eternity of silence, I found myself craving a pair of vocal pliers to pull that five letter word up through Mckenna's timid body and out of her vice clamped mouth.

When it seemed that almost all hope had been lost along with her pony ride, Mckenna offered a muffled 'stharry' into the corner of her elbow aimed at Trevor. She had barely redeemed herself and her pony ride.

The whole ordeal had taken it's emotional toll on her. She almost 'lost it' a few times before even sitting on the pony for a picture and also while she was on him, but that was mostly to Oreo swatting at imaginary flies and moving around alot more with Kenna on him that any other time. The pictures will turn out awful. That was very frustrating to me, you know? We worked so hard to make it all the way here, now here is a place that we don't want to be. Poop. She did better when it came to riding around on Ranger though.

Then we went to the library. Fun!

Our House

2008-07-01T20:41:00.001-07:00

Kelley and I finally got that house that we've been after. In the end it went to auction at the end of May, we were turned on to an investor (who we convinced to buy it then sell it to us), and lastly closed the deal on the 26th of June!
Yay, were home owners at last. We had both had enough of the one-bedroom apartment living for more than 5 years. Besides, if I hadn't maned up and bit the big one, Kelley would have taken drastic measures. I neither know nor want to know exactly what those measure would have been.
Rod, Alex, Kenny, and Jared Newlun all helped us move on the 27th. I was somewhat surprised yet relieved to find that everything which encumbered out one bedroom apartment fit in our garage with room to spare. We will move everything into the house once we get our walls painted and the flooring done, carpet upstairs (for me) and hard floors downstairs (for her). There is still some stuff at the apartment that we will move when we return from camping at seaside with Char & Ryan. I will blog about the adventures that we are currently having in the next entree. I'm blogging on location in our campsite. Yes, this places has free wifi, which is one of the many amenities here. It's hardly 'camping' at all, execept we are sleeping in tents.
For now we are sleeping in the living room on our tempurpedic mattress with Mckenna in her Dora bed at our feet. I wonder how it will be adjusting her to her new room, seeing if she will stay in her room all night instead of coming in to mommy in the wee hours of the morning. Her room is already painted a 'Cinderella Blue', but it still needs one more coat.
the downstairs consists of a living room, dining room and kitchen all open to one another with out any walls blocking any part of the view from one room to another. The kitchen counter is the only thing separating the kitchen from the dining room. And I would like to add that the vantage point from the kitchen sink to the gas fireplace, whereon sits my 42 inch plasma television, is unobstructed making it a much more desirable thing for me to do dishes. There is also a half bath downstairs, just off the kitchen, with just a toilet and a sink. Oh, did I mention the ceiling downstairs is about 9 feet high? It's awesome, it really makes it feel larger, which I love. I always thought I wanted a house with vaulted ceilings.
The upstairs has 3 bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms, and a landing area. The master bedroom has a double sinked bathroom with an alcoved bathtub/toilet area separated by a door. Finally Kelley can do her makeup and not have her nostrils offended. There is also the biggest walk-in closet I have ever seen with his and her sides. We will probably use one of the bedrooms as an office, mostly for Kelley, and the landing will probably be used for a computer area or bookshelf/reading area.
There are a few more things we will periodically want to improve or change, but all in all, we are very satisfied with our house. I will add pictures once we have a computer hooked up to post them.

grrr

2008-06-07T01:44:00.000-07:00

ask me about the house sometime

Wii(eeeee!)

2008-05-28T19:16:00.001-07:00

Posting from my PSP again.
I recently purchaced a Wii and am loving it! I haven't even touched my
PS3 in a couple of weeks. Don't let Kelley read this, she went through
a lot of trouble to get me that PS3. Those Wii games are just so darn
fun! Especially the Mario games.

Father/Son Camp Out

2008-05-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

So, once again I went on the father/son camp out for my ward despite the fact that I don't have any sons of my own... ...yet. I had actually called up Jared Newlun to see if he wanted to go see Prince Caspian with Kelley and me. He said he couldn't because he was going on the camp out with his 4 sons. So I had a feeling that I should call my sister Stacey to see what was going on with her boys. I had taken Nate, my nephew, on this camp out a few times before in years gone by. Stacey reminded me that Jason was in Japan to attend his grandmother's funeral and that her boys, Nathan and Jack, would love to go on the camp out.

We headed up in the morning on Friday to Zion's Camp. On the way we stopped at Crazy Eric's, a one-stop-heart-attack-shop with the greasiest burgers and fries still not outlawed by the FDA. I had the 'bogfoot' meal which consists of two patties side by side on a hogie roll with the works. So good. But a word of advice, once it cools off, the congealed fat dimishes the taste quite a bit. And on we went, another 10 minutes and we arrived.

The campground is a church owned property and one that Kelley and I stayed at before we were married as part of a Young Single Adult activity. There's a huge field to play soccer/football, a rope swing, and new additions such as an archery range and more.

We camped next to Jared and his boys and Sean (the brother of Jared) and his boys. Shortly after arriving we set up the tent. I borrowed almost everything we need from Stacey. I tried to include both boys in this endeavour handing them tasks that suited there ability.

With the tent up and both boys lathered up with sunblock, we all made a mad dash for Lake Deveroux. Arriving down at the lake we were greeted by a flock of Relief Society sisters sunbathing. Thankfully they left shortly after we descended to the water. Tannis, Deacon & Xander (Jared's twins), and Jack all took turns using the four floatation devices that we brought. But the show stopper was a huge rope swing that was tied to a tree overhanging the lake. I was about the fourth person up on the platform to go, the whole time fretting that my newly added weight might break it. As I sat on the edge of the elevated dock, the rope between my legs, I hesitated ever so slightly. I had a revelation in that moment about the prominent role that fear has played in my life. I'll have to think more about that one before expounding. I leaned forward and felt the pull of gravity do the rest. It was a blast. I even coaxed Nate to go on it once. I'm sure he loved it. Towards the end of our lake time Nate went to hunt salamanders with a few of the other boys while Jack was just contented to keep playing in the water. We stayed out there for some time, enough for me to turn a little pink anyway.

Upon returning to camp, we visited with others camping close by. One of Nate's friends took Nate to the archery range while the rest of us stayed behind to start preparing dinner. Shortly thereafter along comes some guy to anounce a 'fireside' or something and said that it was starting in like 5 minutes. Jared replied that we were in the middle of making dinner and if there had actually been some kind of iternerary we wouldn't be caught off guard with food in the fire/coals. So none of us went to the meeting. There was way too much food. We had hotdogs, ribs, deviled egg salad, brownies, juice, chips, potato salad, and the list goes on and on. Nate got back towards the end of dinner and had what was left of the ribs.

The Andersons, Jeff and Brad, showed up late so we shared our food with them and let them stay in our tent so they wouldn't need to find a place to set one up so late. After dinner we all just sat around our campfire and talked about everything and anything. I had the makings for smores but was just too tired to get out the stuff, that and I didn't want to deal with the mess of little boys flinging marshmellows all over the camping chairs. With Nate, Jack, and the rest of the boys in bed, the men stayed up till just after midnight, continuing their talking. Jared was almost obligated to tell the classic stories of our times together with the young men on their fifty miler up to Ross Lake. I'm convinced that trip has entered into the annuls of local church lore. I'll write about those exploits later, just for posterity's sake.

After a night of tossing and turning every hour due to the rough hard ground, I was awoke to what sounded like the thundering of a thousand native birds performing their mating calls. I couldn't fall back to sleep for the life of me. The minutes just ticked away as slow as possible until my alarm went off. Cleaned up, packed up, and we were off to set up tables for the pancake, sausage, egg breakfast that the Samoan ward was preparing.

Breakfast was alright, the sausages tasted a little off but that dissapointment was offset by the addition of chocolate milk. Before we left, Nate played some volleyball and Jack just played with sticks.

On the road we had to stop to pay the toll to go over the new narrows bridge. Definitely not worth the $3 they are charging. All in all, it went well. It was only after the fact that I learned it was Jack's first time camping. I just hope I didn't traumatize him too bad into not wanting to camp in the future.

PSP blogging attempt #2

2008-05-14T17:44:00.001-07:00

I'm now trying to post with my PSP at work using the "post-by-email"
feature. Gmail works fine by PSP. Did it work?

Blogging frustrations... ...already

2008-05-13T23:44:00.000-07:00

So, I was at work this evening. The person I was doing a 1:1 with had fallen asleep and I decided that I would take a break from trying to read thru the Priesthood Session of General Conference by try to blog on my PSP. PSPs are notoriously horrible for entering text because it's input format is set up like a phone keypad and it doesn't anticipate what you're trying to type so you end up pushing about 20 some odd buttons just to get one word out! Okay, so the thing is, my blogspot page opened on my PSP and I started to enter text and when I was done I tried to submit it but it wouldn't submit or allow me to save. Needless to say, I had just wasted 30 minutes trying to post something, the same size as this, to no avail. Lesson learned. Only blog with normal computers. The end.

So much Church, so little time...

2008-05-13T00:31:00.000-07:00

So I'd just like to share some indulgences I have been having as of late. Namely, the Church's many websites and what they have to offer. I love, and I mean LOVE, the LDS Church's compressed audio web page. I've been downloading anything and everything lately and listening to it in the car, at work, at home, you name it. It's great, it gives me the spiritual pick-me-up I need when I just don't have the time to sit down with the scriptures themselves. Another sin-less pleasure I've been enjoying is the Church's distribution website. I have bought all, and I kid you not, ALL of the DVDs available. I figure if I can't stop watching TV on the Sabbath, at least I can make it something spiritual. Lastly I have started getting the itch to do genealogy. Hence my final plug for the Church's genealogy website. I just downloaded the program that goes along with it, Personal Ancestry File. I know that Rod, my father-in-law is really into this stuff, so if I should run into any hiccups, he's the one to call.

Profile Update

2008-05-11T18:51:00.000-07:00

Just dropped by to update my profile and add a pic. I think I will seriously start 'blogging' here now because both of my sisters-in-law (Laura and Bonnie) do so, and in no other place but here. So I join them in their quest for the meaning of life through family history preservation. And now my wife, Kelley, just brought me some food so, I'm outtie! p.s. Happy Mother's Day!!!

English 103 Rough Draft due Monday

2007-06-02T17:06:00.000-07:00

I got distracted by this blog thingy and now I need to get back to writing my rough draft that's due Monday. Mckenna threw up this morning a couple of times but she's fine right now, taking a nap. As is Kelley.