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.

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

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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.

Find a project that means something to you and work on that, don’t just do it because it’s simple or a quick means to an end.

That goes for Wood Badge Ticket items too.

I absolutely love snowmobiling.  I’ve basically been riding them since I was a year old.  To me there’s really nothing better than a ride to the top of the mountain, taking a lunch break and sitting on the top of a peaceful mountain enjoying the surroundings.

I understand what the Environmentalists are trying to accomplish, I really do, but can somebody PLEASE come up with a compromise.  This has been going on for so many years that it’s getting to be a bit frivolous if you ask me.

Having been laid off from my last three positions, I’m not 100% sure that I would want to go back to those companies.  Of course, two of them are out of business at this point, so there’s no chance there and the one that’s still in business I think that I’d be looking over my shoulder the entire time waiting for the ax to fall again.

I doubt that they’d start me back at my old salary, give me my seniority, benefits, etc. back either, so really there wouldn’t be a lot of incentive to go back for me.  Sure there may be a huge benefit and cost savings for them as they get someone who’s essentially been with the company for 6 1/2 years already, but I’m at the point in my career where honestly I want to know what’s in it for me too because if I don’t see a clear path up the ladder then it really isn’t worth it to me to spend my time there.

If I remember correctly, IBM purchased a piece of myComputer.com (predecessor to Omniture) several years ago and now Adobe is purchasing the rest of it.

This is one of the Dot Com companies that made it big and was still around and is now going for a pretty penny.

If only I had come up with the idea first…yeah right!

See me privately for details.

Sadly this year, every where that I went it seemed more like any other day.  Even I had wanted to put up several flags in my front yard, but my plans never materialized.

All I can say, is Thank you to all who have defended the freedoms we cherish in this country and all I can do is hold my family a little tighter and love them a little more.

Many people think that it’s strange, many others have picked up the habit and love it.

Now look at what Dreyer’s has come out with.  I think that Roger should get some sort of royalties on this one.

There’s been a lot in the media lately about the speech delivered by President Obama this morning to the school children throughout the country.  It’s caused quite an uproar, which I think is ridiculous.

I completely agreed with my friend Nichole’s comments here (and even my own response to her post).  What a great chance to talk to your children and to this schools that opted out.  Your students missed out on a great chance to hear the President of the United States speaking directly to them, the youth of America.

You can see the text of his speech here (looks pretty controversial doesn’t it?).