The Flux capacitor that is.  You see on the evening of September 28th, 2009 I met a friend in the local mall parking lot.  He showed me his latest invention, a totally tricked out Delorean.  Long story short, some thugs showed up, I ended up in the car trying to get away from them.  I hit 88 miles an hour and suddenly I'm in 2011.  How crazy is that? So it's not that I had totally forgotten about updating this site, I just wasn't around to update it.  Sure the family is a bit older, things are a little worse for wear, but other than that life is pretty much the same. Uh oh, that crazy flux capacitor is acting up again, if I don't see you soon, hopefully I'll see you in the future.

She's exhausted, but it sounds like she had a great time in New York.  If she lets me, maybe I'll post some photos later.  For now, I'm going to bed.

Spent the day with a bunch of Scouters in our District's Vanguard training helping them to become Trained. If you're looking for a Wood Badge Ticket Item, I highly recommend volunteering to serve on staff for a Training Course.  Not only would it benefit the yourself (aka, your Wood Badge Tickets), but it may just benefit your own son someday.

I pass by this building going to and from work all the time, so it's kind of cool to see the transformation.

It's apparently why I had a 7 year stretch that I was never asked the speak in Church (for you non-LDS people out there, that's considered forever and quite lucky), of course I've got another 2 year streak going now so hopefully we'll eclipse the 7 year streak. It's taken over 5 years and the last 2 of those of having a post every single day, but this is post number 1,000.  Not that it's any accomplishment, I just needed something to post today :D

My wife is gone (no she didn't leave me permanently, though she would have probably been smart to have done that 14+ years ago). She and Nichole flew out late tonight, bound for their All Girls New York Weekend.  It was their Birthday presents from their loving adoring husbands.  Ok, maybe we just wanted a peaceful weekend to ourselves and were too dumb to have sent the kids with them. Hopefully they have fun and are able to relax.

The Stadium of Fire people are asking the general public to suggest who they would like to see perform. Overall it's kind of a cool idea, but when it comes right down to it I'm a bit suspicious, only because I really wonder if they can pull off getting the top choices. So I'm thinking are they that arrogant thinking that they can get the type of names that Joe Public is going to vote on for a Holiday like the 4th of July (their saving grace might be that July 4, 2010 is on a Sunday, and Stadium of Fire is in Provo, Utah, which means that it will be held on Saturday, July 3, 2010 or Monday, July 5th, 2010 so I would guess that the "talent" would be a little more available than they would be on the 4th), or it's something to gather more publicity, or it's a combination of both.

In late Spring/Early Summer 1994, I was serving an LDS Mission in the town of Mt. Joy, Pennsylvania.  It was my last area and I would be going home soon.  I was a Saturday Morning and my companion and I were walking down Main street.  There was a Street Fair of sorts going on and we were somewhat looking around at the different booths and seeing what was going on, along with contacting people and heading off in the general direction of where we were going to be working for the day. When all of the sudden we heard a voice say "Elders!".  Of course, hearing that we stopped and spoke to the young man.  As it turned out, he was also LDS and had somewhat recently returned from a mission (Arizona, I think).  He was from Maryland and was there selling the paintings of an artist, Eric Mohn, who (if I remember correctly) was was his step-father and a quadriplegic. Eric painted with the brush in his mouth.  He had been injured in an accident many years ago and I remembered thinking how remarkable it was that he was able to paint such beautiful paintings.  Many of them were of scenes that I had grown to love during my time in Pennsylvania.  He had painted Amish scenes and of countrysides and many others. After a few minutes of speaking with this young man, he insisted that he give us each a painting.  So we each picked one out.  I brought mine home with me and for years, I kept it stored away until I could get it framed and hung. It now hangs in my bedroom, but I'm getting ready to move it to my new completed office in my basement.  I've occasionally kept track of Eric's work on his website www.ericmohn.com and a couple of years ago, my wife purchased another of his paintings for me. Now that my office is completed, I'm getting ready to have it framed and will hang it near the one that I was given all those years ago. There's another couple of them on Eric's site that I've recently found that I'd like to have and to hang in my home, and I hope to purchase them soon.  Sadly, while browsing his site recently I found this small addition to the About the Artist section: "Sadly, Eric passed away suddenly Nov. 25th, 2008 of complications stemming from his longtime paralysis." If you get a chance, check out his site.  I think that my next purchase will be "Father's Farewell".

It will be officially Autumn, soon.  Which means like it or not, the Holiday Season is fast approaching. This is a great time to start some family traditions, or to continue some that you may already have.  We have some in our family that we very much enjoy. There were also some that we had started at old employers, that hopefully are continued on. One of the things that we can all do is donate a few hours or our own time to something.  I'm sure that there is something that we're interested in that we can donate time to somewhere. No matter your current situation in life, you can always give a little of yourself and I promise that you'll feel a little better and whether you call if Karma, Blessings, or whatever you will find that you will benefit from it in someway. Whether you do it yourself, with your family, a Scout Pack/Troop/Team/Crew, for a Wood Badge Ticket, whatever it is volunteering especially this year at this time of year is something that we can all do. Check out the Volunteer section of 211ut.org for opportunities in your area.

One of the things that I'm seeing more and more is irritating me more and more. I realize that it's a silly little thing, but it's still something that I think is a bit ridiculous. When I see able bodied people walking up to a set of doors (office building, grocery store, etc.) and specifically going out of their way to walk over to the door with the Disabled access button and pushing the button. You know which one I speak of.  The one where you just push the button and the door opens for you automatically, rather than manually opening a door. It's not that they are using a technology that is specifically there for the disabled members of society to use.  The odds of this piece of equipment, not working when truly needed because others have been using it are pretty slim. No, what bothers me is that people are really becoming that lazy.  I understand using it if your arms are full and you just can't open a door by yourself, but to just walk over push the button and wait for the doors to open because you're too lazy is inexcusable.