An announcent, an ewok, and a coming out party

And for the announcement that everyone's been waiting for...
Hava now has officially been proposed to (and accepted) as of last wednesday. The official date is March 12. This means that Andrew, as one of the best men, will needs be being there. All the others will needs be invited and want to come.
My own Ewok adventure ended last night as I finally found a copy at Walmart. Now, you all know that I don't support said world wide economy ruining mart of greediness, but it was the ONLY place in town that had a copy. I watched Caravan of Courage last night and was reveling in the nastalgia.
I am announcing a new blog in the works. I will be showcasing my reading list, the dates I read them and also include a little snippet and recommendation. It is not up and running yet, but should be soon, so look for the officially coming out party announced on my blog.

Ok, I'm done for now. Thanks and congrats to the Jarrett.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

First off....CONGRADULATIONS Jarrett! That is sooooo amazingly awsome about your call!!! You get to go to Africa....do you have any idea how jealous I am of you? Probably not, since I really don't know. I just think that Africa is such an amazing place. Anyways...

I'm sitting at my home computer, freezing like a popsicle. The weather is very scary out there. My mother and I decided not to risk driving in those conditions. So, unfortunately I can't go back to Ogden until Tuesday (my ride can't leave until then due to the fact that she is working tomorrow). I shall miss you all greatly, but I think I'll survive. It will be weird missing classes for reasons other than being sick. Oh well. So, I can barely type now...my fingers are too cold. So, have a great week, and I'll see you on Tuesday!

Did someone say South Disneyland?

WOW! WAAAAAAAAAAY COOL! Jarrett, that is very awesome news to hear. South Africa seems so perfect for you to go to, just something about the ancient African culture seems fitting I suppose.

Jason, DISNEYLAND!!!!!!! Yippie!!!!! When do we leave, because you know that I will be going too. Okay, maybe I won't be going as well, but there are lots of waaaay cool Indiana Jones action figures there (hint, hint). Anyway, you'll have to ride the Jungle Cruise and Indiana Jones a few times for me.

Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet up with you this past weekend Jon, but with the holiday and all, it got kind of busy and impossible. Maybe over the Christmas break things will work out better. And your question makes even less sense to me now.

Re: Excitement and company

Well, Jarrett, this certainly was an appropriate venue for communicating your mission call, seeing as we've all been waiting to hear where you're going. South Africa is an interesting place. Yes, they speak English there. In fact, it's quite similar to the Queen's English, but maybe with a bit more of an Australian accent. (I have friends from South Africa.) However, be it an English-speaking mission or not, if you server out in Boonyville someplace, I'm sure you'll get to learn the local language. Congratulations, Jarrett, for getting your mission call. Your mission will change your life.

So, now I find myself just sitting here, perched atop a very squeaky chair with my black keyboard in my lap trying to think of something more to say. So, I guess I'll just say that pacing a train down the freeway at 70 mph is pretty cool. Especially when the train is going through residential zones along the way. Gee, trains are big!

Sighting of the day: A street sweeper truck converted into the world's biggest vacuum cleaner for vacuuming leaves out of the gutters. (I seriously had to do a double and a triple take.)

No, I'm not high yet from the pervasive smell of wood finish in my new office. I hate the hard wood floors because I can FREEKIN' HEAR EVERYTHING IN THE OFFICE! It's especially bad for me when I'm on the phone with a customer and someone else in the office talks. It is really loud.

Anyhow, I think I'm going to bed now. Chat at y'all later!

Yay!! I'm going to Disneyland in a week!! I'm excited. Jungle Cruise, here I come!

Excitement, Nervousness, Curiosity, Impatience

And other emotions I currently (and almost always, to be honest) feel.

Let me begin with the random and say, (iron rooster) would be an excellent name for a Band or Clandestine Organization or simply a way of saying, 'that's strange-seeming but is actually pretty normal.'

Now, as to why I am excited, nervous, curious and impatient.

This seems an appropriately delayed venue for the announcement of my Mission Call - since I assume no one will see this for a little while. I received my mission call today, and opened it (in a very reasonable, calm, dignified fashion. I made my family wait, ah, ah, ah).

So I've been called to serve in the Johannesburg South Africa mission. The mission includes the northern part of South Africa, as well as Botswana, Mozambique, and Lesotho. It's an English mission (no !Xhosa for me).

I enter the Provo MTC on February the 9th (a Wednesday).

So that's the news.
(iron rooster, eh?)

*****************

And may you all have a most excellent Thanksgiving, and Bach be with you. Remember to be thankful for George Fox and the Quakers and other Congregationalist groups (Such as the Puritans and Pilgrims(who were Puritans that went to Holland and then America)) who gave us this fine holiday, which Washington established, Jefferson did away with(his reasoning was actually good), and Lincoln re-established(again, good reasoning), and Roosevelt put on the fourth Thursday of November.

*****************

Let me say cryptically and on a completely separate thought that once again, there's one less I have to worry about.
(Sound bite: 'Savila se bela loza', a Serbian folk tune)

go STEW A RabbiT

This is just a short question for Jon...and maybe a possible hint for you Andrew. Is the person you're thinking of the actor who did a tv version of A Christmas Carol for TNT, and is also in a tv sci-fi series (another hint is in the title of this blog)? If I'm right or wrong, please let me know. If not for my sake....at least it will help Andrew close the gap a little. :) HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

N E S W (iron rooster)

In vane, eh Ben? Well, some games put a key in your registry which you could take out or modify. Some programs check your system clock and you could set that back if you have admin rights on your computer. Some programs register you with an online database through your .net passport or something similar so that there's nothing on your computer you could possibly do to reset it.

You could always purchase the full version of your favorite software titles, since that's the reason people put out demo versions. :)

Not quite, Andrew. I may be giving you a bit too much with this hint, but if I were trying to solve my complex riddle, I'd start with the bit about the star and the A Christmas Carol performance. It's not Bogart, though.

Today was a very excelent devotional at the Institute. That and the fireside with Gary Poll and Bro. Kent's last class were amazing.

Went and saw National Treasure last night with one of my best friends who I haven't done much with for a few years (even though the dude lives two houses down from me). That just proves that a movie doesn't have to have any of the crud to be an excellent, engaging film. It was one of the more edge-of-your-seat films I've seen in a long time. Some movies are more shock-value thrillers, but this kind was crazy-fun thriller. The bad guys were always just minutes or even seconds behind the good guys the whole time. The historical research that must've gone into writing the story was impressive. Reilly had hilarious lines and acting (like when they left the department store after finding the time on the bill and he was frustrated that they guessed his trivia bit), and Cage's character had a great line ("People don't talk like that anymore.") And I loved how they used so many of the national monuments as sets. There were only a few things that were not very believable (the actual Mission: Impossible antics with stealing the Declaration, and then the heroine's line about the scrolls from the library at Alexandria [how did she know by glancing at one corner of one scroll?]) but the rest was just great.

Ok, time for homework stuff.

Timer Reset

So, I was wondering. I get these free time trial games dl'd from the net and I'm getting sick of the time running out. I know there are some of you out there that have software that disables this and all my Googling to find some has gone in vane. So, maybe somes of you couldst help a poor fellow out! Eh? Eh? Eh?


Later in the grater satyr

Yay!

He he he he he.....I win. :) Anyways. I can't believe that it' s Friday already. I was ready to leave band and then it hit me.....I don't have school tomorrow, nor a football game to march in. I don't know what to do anymore! (oh wait...maybe I should do homework and practice....but that only takes up so much time) .....and my mind just went completely blank. Oh, so here's a weird thing that I haven't figured out. I went to my math class today at 10, and it was very cold, murky and I even thought I saw a snowflake fall. Just a few minutes ago, when I walked out of the Browning Center, the sky was almost clearly clear (don't ask what I mean by that....the sky was just really clear) and it was even warming up a bit. I've decided that Utah has bipolar weather. One minute it's pouring rain, the next minute, it's sunshine. So, there's my randomness (or lack of it) for the day. Enjoy! Have a great weekend and enjoy the nice weather we're having, it might not last too long.

So confused.....

Jon, is it Casablanca? I think I have the correct album and the correct television seial, but I can't see where the titles match up. Just tossing out this guess..

I am the barber of Seville!

That would be correct Jon, but you weren't supposed to use IMDB! That is cheating. I hope you can live with yourself after that shameful act.

Nah, just kidding. I would have done exactly the same thing. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale wrote the screenplay to 1941 while they were still in film school.

Ninteen Hundred Forty and One

Is that closer, Andrew? And it was Speilberg. Hooray for IMDB.

Here's the music joke of the day:
Q: What is the definition of perfect pitch?
A: When you throw a soprano sax off a cliff and it lands exactly on top of the bass clarinet.

Well, since that failed to be funny, I'll sign off now. But I'll be back for more triva soon.

There's a fine line

between fishing and standing on the bank like an idiot.

There's also a fine line between poorly worded and obfuscated. The obfuscation was intentional. If I had worded it that way out of carelessness it would've maybe been poorly worded.

The movie transfer was just that after we downloaded film in the DPA lab that Mark Maxon decided that it wasn't an academic use of the computers and since he had to leave for a lesson he didn't let us dump the file to my hard drive before leaving. We'll get it soon enough though. Actually if you have firewire cable we could do it directly. Maybe I'll just buy one though. Then I'd have it, which might be handy.

Right on both counts, Heather. I might add this to clarify the answer. For more info on red sprites and other fun stuff like pixies, trolls, elves, blue jets, and more try this site out. And you thought that clouds were just marshmallows in the sky.

Ok, so more in the time that is called later.

What the?

Jon, your obscure question is poorly worded. I have no idea what the question is asking. As for the Oak Island question, too easy! You should take the link off the margin, then ask the question. The answer is 13 feet in diameter. I have no idea what Asimov story the two lines are from. Also, your answer to my question is not correct. Please try again.

You need to tell the story of film transfer day! I am intrigued and also wondering when I may get my CD to play with.

Okay. Don't forget to wash througholy.

I have a question...I mean, an answer!

Ok, the first question...the movie trivia....too easy! Jon himself said it in Jinglesthula. Now as to the second question...the science trivia...I am going to attempt to show my answer, rather than tell it. I found an awsome picture online (that's why). http://umbra.nascom.nasa.gov/spd/sprites.html
That's all for now (I'm not that smart right now...) Ciao!

Ding x 3

That is to say, we have a winner. Andrew, your second guess is correct. Han is the man. The instance is in the Episode IV Special Edition where Jabba visits the hanger where the Falcon is docked and Han says, referring to a group which included Boba Fett, "Look, Jabba, next time you want to talk to me, come see me yourself. Don't send one of those twerps."

So, yay for trivia. Also, I might mention that while movie trivia is fun we should have other categories and perhaps post questions and answers with the category name in bold, thus:

MOVIE trivia: What movie is this line from: "Is he the one that delivered the milk last week?"

SCIENCE trivia: Cousins to lightning bolts, red sprites occur near the edge of what?

MYSTERY trivia: The Oak Island Money Pit is how many feet in diameter?

TRIVIA trivia: What is the name of Pom Pom's rarely seen canine pal?

and this one I just can't resist and since it's so obscure, if you can actually tell me the right answer I'll buy you lunch at Gandolfo's or Jake's or the Pie:

OBFUSCATED OBSCURE POP MEDIA trivia: In the TV serial starring a man who has also singlehandedly performed Dickens' A Christmas Carol, sixteen episodes before the one which has the same name as one of the songs on Bela Fleck and the Flecktones' bass player's first solo album is one that has the same name as what interestingly linked movie?

ETC. trivia: And so forth...

YOU trivia: get the picture.

Except for those last two, I'll let the rest stand as actual trivia questions. Post answers as you find them. Andrew, I'm guessing either Used Cars or I Wanna Hold Your Hand for Spielberg.

Marching band uniform turn-in today. And getting Mr. Maxon's goat. Too bad. Too bad.

PARTING SHOT trivia: Those last two sentences were, aside from describing the film transfer experience today, also the last two sentences of a short story by Isaac Asimov titled what?

A long long time ago...

...In a galaxy far away, Naboo was under an attack.
Well, I thought me and Qui Gon Jin could talk the federation in
to maybe cutting them a little slack.
But their response, it didn't thrill us.
They locked the door and tried to kill us.
We escaped from that gas
and met Jar Jar and Boss Nass.
We took a Bongo from the scene
and we went the Theed to see the Queen.
We all wound up on Tatooine.
That's where we found this boy...

Oh my, my this here Anakin guy,
May be Vader someday later,
Now he's just a small fry.
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye,
Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"
"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

I would have to guess Jango as well for the answer to Jon's question and if that isn't right, my second choice is Han (who else would use the word "Twerp"?)

The answer to Jason's Bond question is Liam Neeson, since none of you attempted to answer it (besides Ben). That means I need to post a question of my own....

Robert Zemeckis is a pretty famous director nowadays (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future, The Polar Express, etc.). Before he was famous and while he was still in film school, he and writing buddy Bob Gale wrote a screenplay for a very famous director. I'll give you a hint, the year the movie came out was 1979. What was the movie the screenplay was for and who was the famous director?

And alow me to add a shameless plug for my blog....
My reviews are all up except for "The Polar Express" which will be added shortly. I also have begun to make picks for Oscar Nominees which will be announced as soon as January.

Well, have a great great day and remember, you're only as clean as your underwear...

Whack-a-mole

Well, I really shouldn't be doing this right now, but that question has got me going. I'm going to take a whack at it....if I'm wrong...oops(no else has tried to answer yet). If I'm not mistaken it was his father Jango Fett. If it wasn't Jango, then it was Obi-Wan. Have a nice day!

Blog blog blog blog...

...blog blog blog blog.

Yep, that's what I'm thinking right now. I just have to blog. I don't know what to blog about. Well, I could blog about the fact that Desperate Housewives is not on this evening and has been preempted by the music awards. Hmmm. Oh well, not a big deal, I suppose.

I guess I could also mention the fact that I now have a USB hub for my computer, thus facilitating the simultaneous use of my USB keyboard, USB mouse, and USB CD writer. :) I love USB. It's a great system to use to connect devices. What's really cool about it is that you can daisy-chain 127 USB devices together and they will all work. Now, who in the world has 127 USB devices that they can daisy-chain?

Moving is a grand adventure. You never know what will be in store for you or what new things you might get to experience. Insight Software Solutions moved their office this past weekend. I, of course, helped in the move. We moved me into the front office and got my desk all set up with my computer Friday afternoon. Then on Saturday morning, I helped move the rest of the stuff from the old office to the new office. This included like five desks, four computers, a couple of printers, countless miles of phone and network cable, mice, keyboards, monitors, and paper. I don't know why they don't make nice CRT monitors lighter. Man, those big 17-inchers are heavy! Anyhow, it was a lot of fun moving that stuff around. I always look for something out of the ordinary to do with work.

Okay, I thought the band sounded and looked really good on Saturday. Sure, the game may have been a loss, but the band did well. And, to top it all off: we kept our energy through the entire game! I thought it was awesome!

After the game, I went and met my dad up in way North Ogden to take my sister's car back to her in Kaysville. It was nice driving another Saturn so that I can compare how the two cars drive. I must admit that hers drives better than mine. Also, if I had it to do again, I'd get a manual transmission because I really liked the way her car handled. Mine's an automatic and it seems to bog down easily, but the stick was easy going the whole way. The only thing about me driving her car is that I felt like a freakin' flamer because I was driving this little car with flower graphics on the windows. I hope no one thought that I was some weird guy or something. And, yet, even if they did, I don't care. I will doubtlessly never meet that person.

Well, I think I am done blogging for the evening. Must pay homeage to Clucky, our friendly neighborhood chicken who was captured by Animal Control last week.

Take it easy. I have no answer to the trivia question about Boba Fett as of yet. But, if I come across any info, I'll be sure to post it. Peace out!

Umm

I can't remember if I reposted this already, but here it is again in case I didn't:

Trivia question of the day: (and I quote)

Trivia time: Who was the only person in the Star Wars saga to refer to Boba Fett as a twerp? Post responses or just say them (preferably when someone is around to hear).

But yeah.... that's what it was. And it's pretty easy, especially with the way I worded it.

Good concert, y'all. Take a bow. From a string instrument. That'll get 'em hoppin' mad. Or maybe just take a bow. That might be better.

English.

Peace

Perhaps today

So I'm sitting here trying to get tickets for the choir concert. Internet is not the best.

Love is many things to many people. To me it has several meanings. The most important one is that when you love someone you desire their happiness and well-being. This is the love God has for us and the love we should have for everyone. It's almost the same as unselfishness. There are other kinds of love - love of parents and children for each other, love that a couple has for each other, love you have for your friends as aquaintences, love you have for a pet, and so on and so forth and so fifth, etc. Each of those is a bit different. Each of them usually includes familiarity by extended association, respect, and at least some of the first kind of love I mentioned. As Heather mentioned, it's too bad that so many people use the word love for so many different things, some of which are quite different from each other. Eskimos have n (not sure, but it's quite a few, like 50 or something) different words for snow. There should be different words for love like that. Charity is a good one and I think it's what the first type of love named above is. That way you could say that you love someone and not have people think you were weird because they would know exactly how you meant it and wouldn't think you were using the word in any of the other ways it is commonly used.

Well, I read about 1/2 of Alice in Wonderland last night. Whoever said that it was all mathematical and not nonsense at all was partly right. In the opening poem Carroll mentions that one of the three children who requested the story insisted that there be nonsense in it. (I suppose that Carrol could've just been being creative and the kids didn't get it and took it for fun nonsense and so requested more of the same since it was entertaining.) But there is definitely math in it. And social commentary, such as with the Duchess beating the child and severely calling it a Pig, which it became. And the math: The gardeners were numbered 7, 5, and 2. 7-5=2 I'll have to go back and re-read that bit to see if their comments to each other also suggest the same.

Oh good. The tickets are now available. Yay.

Would you like fries with that?

So, here I am, sitting in the computer lab trying to waste time until ward prayer. I want to email my friends, but all I can think of is The Moldau (sp???) by Smetena, that is running through my head. Just thought I'd let you know that. So, I've discovered that when you have short hair, you don't necessarily have to have a professional cut it. Why not cut it on your own? It saves money and you learn something new for the day. I'm all about learning something new! I'm not sure why I shared that with you, but anyways. So, who's ready to take on another week? I am! I think I finally cooled off from my semester burn-out. I'm not ecstatic, but I'm ready to get this semester over with and show that I have survived yet another challenge.

I've heard that at least one of you (Jon...or was it Aaron...I can't remember now, sorry if it wasn't you Jon) has seen the preview for the next Star Wars movie. My jealousy is beyond description. :) I have to admit that I am a big fan of those movies.

So, Jarret...do you really want to know what our opinions are of 'love'? I can give you a shot at it, but I'm not sure that it's possible to actually describe love. It's an emotion that is felt differently by each person. Some people say they 'love' something/someone, but it's nothing more than lust or an obsession. Others may say that they love something/someone, but that word does not even come close to what they actually feel, because there is nothing that can describe it. There is yet another 'type' that I could describe, but I'm not too great at expounding on it much more than saying that there is the unconditional love or charity that our Elder Brother has for us. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) So, that's all I have to say. If I went on a completely different tangent than you wanted to hear, I'm not sorry for saying it, I'm just sorry that you had to read it. ;) Have a great week folks! See you all in the band hall! (I'm almost a poet!)

Poem for today

Poem: "Listen | 014," by Miller Williams, from Some Jazz a While: Collected Poems (University of Illinois Press).

Listen | 014

I threw a snowball across the backyard.
My dog ran after it to bring it back.
It broke as it fell, scattering snow over snow.
She stood confused, seeing and smelling nothing.
She searched in widening circles until I called her.

She looked at me and said as clearly in silence
as if she had spoken,
I know it's here, I'll find it,
went back to the center and started the circles again.

I called her two more times before she came
slowly, stopping once to look back.

That was this morning. I'm sure that she's forgotten.
I've had some trouble putting it out of my mind.





Courtesy of my "Writer's Almanac" Email newsletter.

Aphorism of the day:
"The consciousness of good intentions disdains ambiguity."
---Alexander Hamilton, in "The Federalist" #1.


Philosophical-question-you-all-should-answer-so-I-can-write-my-book for today:
What is 'love' in your concept?

Time for Band!

Stew

That's what I'm eating here at work for my dinner. And speaking of work, I'm applying for a web developer job later this week. I'll have to tune up my resume first, though.

Jason, that bit about the chicken was very funny.

Well, All Hallow's Eve Eve was a blast. Andrew and I had the same idea for costume-age without even knowing it. The RS&RB concert was also a blast. That is the second of their shows I've been to and I just couldn't pass up getting a couple of their CDs. I think I like Hey Hey Hey better than their Live! album, but I haven't finished listening to Live! yet, so I'll hold off on my opinion til then.

Horay for voting and horay for the candidates and issues that won the day. I haven't found out yet on all the ammendments, propositions, and so forth, but I hope things went well there too.

The future is comin' atcha. Look out! Be prepared. Be optimistic. And for goodness sakes - don't look down. At least when you're on a rope bridge over a chasm.

song of the day: Oh how I miss you by Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand (nice percussion)
event of the day: the gauntlet
hooray of the day: Bush winning
movie of the day: Arsenic and Old Lace
snow-filled divit of the day: the one on the practice field (this is, coincidentally, also the funny thing of the day)
post of the day: Uh... this post. I guess.

Happy Day After Election Day

Oh, what a great thing to be able to exercize my Constitutional rights to vote! It is such a privilege. I just can't see a reason not to vote when elections come, either local or national. After all, it is by us, the people, that our government is run. I know that there are those out there who feel that their vote does not count for anything, but it really does. I am even among those who feels, at least to some extent, that my vote was not considered. However, because I voted, I have the right to complain and change those things that I disagree with.

Anyhow, I just wanted to let you all know that they came and took my chicken away today. There was a chicken that ran around near my workplace for the last couple of weeks and this afternoon, the animal control came and picked him up. Alas, we won't be seeing any more of our chicken friend. Just thought y'all ought to know that. Chao!

Happy Election Day!

Well, the election is finally upon us. The word is that it is a record turnout this year. This may well be one of the most important elections of our lifetime. I just feel like I need to encourage you to get out and vote if you havn't already. The polls don't close til 8:00 tonight so there is still plenty of time.

As far as candidates, I plead with you to cast your vote for President Bush. The President has demonsstrated great resolve in the face of great challenges. The economy is recovering, 3 million jobs have been created, small businesses are thirving and he has made groundbreaking work on our Homeland Security. The President's record speaks for itself. He made promises four years ago, and every single one of them has been fulfilled. He is a man of integrity and a man who loves God and has a great spiritual relationship with the Lord.

On the other hand, you have Kerry. Kerry wants to make abortions be funded by tax dollars, he supports partial birth abortions. Kerry's plan actually costs 1.3 trillion dollars more than Bush's, but Kerry says he can balance the budget in TWO years despite that. He says rolling back on the tax cuts for the upper class alone will provide enough money, but if you think about it, that math just does not add up. He would have to roll back on EVERYONE'S tax cuts. Under Kerry, small businesses would not recieve the benefits and incentives they enjoy under the Bush administration. Kerry has proven time and again that he is a man that will say and do ANYTHING to get elected. He switched possitions on Iraq, gay marriage, no child left behind, and other issues. He even went as far as attacking Dick Cheney's family. What a bad man. Kerry wants to push Japan, China, and South Korea out of the peace talks with North Korea. Kerry says he wants to create strong foreign allies, but at what cost. In exchange for France, he would get rid of Japan. Does Kerry really represent YOUR values?

Just had to get that off my chest, but I really could go on. Anyway, go vote! And when voting, vote for Bush!