Awesome Video Saturday CLXXXIII

It's been almost a month since my last post! This video is great.

Awesome Video Saturday CLXXXII

You're welcome.

A few favorites

Favorite image from today-
Isaac begging for a peach, doing a little dance of desperation at Lacy's feet.

Favorite statement-
Joseph saying that his name should be "Joseph Constrictor" because he is such a great hugger.

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Faith

The prominence of Mitt Romney, and to a lesser extent Jon Huntsman, has prompted tremendous media attention toward my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I have always been an active Mormon, participating in meetings and activities. I served a two-year mission, attended church-owned BYU, msrried my wife in one of the Church's temples and serve actively in my local congregation. My experience is not uncommon, but reflects certain choices.

Not everyone makes those choices, but that does not make their faith, or their heritage based on that faith, any less valid than my own.

Brandon Flowers, lead singer of The Killers, grew up in the Church. He has not been as devout, or followed as orthodox a path as I have, but as he explains in this video, his faith guides his choices and he still has a belief in what he was taught as a boy and young man.



As someone who has experienced the traditional pattern, I appreciate his words and experience. We are a diverse faith, more so every day, and I am proud to belong.

Awesome Video Saturday CLXXXI

This looks fun-

Time to Say Goodbye

After 11 years with my beloved Honda Accord, it was time to say goodbye. On Monday I visited the local BMW dealership to take a second drive in a used BMW 335i. I intended to have them appraise the Honda, not to buy the car that very day, but as I pulled back into the lot one of the salesmen asked me for the keys so that he could take another prospect out for a drive.

After eyeing this car for several weeks, seeing the price drop $2k, I wasn't about to let it slip away, so after a short bit of haggling and the always-longer-than-expected business, I drove off with a new car.

It's been a fantastic choice. I spent 9 hours driving on Wednesday to see some clients and I was always glad to get back behind the wheel. The car is fast, has precise handling, and great seats.

Unfortunately I picked up a large screw in one of the tires this morning. The car has run-flat tires, which cannot be patched, and are expensive to replace. Fortunately I purchased a road hazard warranty, and am now waiting in the service area of the dealership. Unfortunately, the Wendy Williams Show is playing on the television. Ugh. Fortunately, I have my iPad.

Here is the old girl and the new girl.

I don't miss the old one.


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Death of an Icon

As you already know, Steve Jobs has died. I thought this New York Times obituary was excellent.

He was an incredible innovator.

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Conference Time

We've spent much of the last two days viewing the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This post explains why the Church holds these semiannual meetings.

It is something we look forward to, as it provides a periodic opportunity to receive wise counsel from Church leaders and to reflect on our own lives.

You can find more information, transcripts, and videos at LDS.org.

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Awesome Video Saturday CLXXX

This made me laugh... a lot.

Awesome Video Saturday CLXXIX

Most of you may have seen this, but it's a great video.

A War on Beef

I am fond of calling myself a meatacheesatarian. I like meat and I like cheese, so it is an apt description. Lately I've been mostly a leanmeatcottagecheesatarian, but it still works.

While at the HiddenOakChick-fil-aSpiritNight, Joseph noticed that Chick-fil-a now has an iPad app. Joseph is adept at convincing me to add apps that appeal to him, and I thought, why not add this one? I love their delicious chicken and waffle fries. I like that they close on Sundays. The cow thing is a good gimmick. I agreed to download it and we decided to check it out at bedtime.

Included in the app are several comics featuring superhero cows. We received a few of these last year when they were part of the kid's meal. In my recollection they were pretty innocuous, so we read Gristle Missile first. I didn't realize how strong their message was. Mr. Cathy, the CEO and son of the founder want us to believe that the moral of the story is to have initiative. The true, hidden meaning is that eating beef is evil.

I had to answer uncomfortable questions tonight:

"Daddy, why is he taking the hamburgers?"
"Why doesn't he want people to eat meat?"
"Is he going to break into our house and steal our beef?"

The last question actually hasn't come up- yet. Do you see where I'm going? In Decibell, the evil mastermind is the proprietor of a "beef buffet," whose aim is to hypnotize the city into eating only his food.

Just as with celebrities with pet causes, I'm looking at you Bob Barker, I don't want to be told what to think. I want to be ENTERTAINED. I want to have a culinary experience at Chick-fil-a, not be preached an exclusionary, anti-hamburger message.

Just make me my chicken. I'll do the rest.

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TV Review: The Sing-Off

After the blessed miracle of getting all the kids in bed before 8PM, Lacy and I settled down to watch a little television. We settled on the NBC show, The Sing-Off.

The show started, and there were a lot of people on the stage, in fancy clothes, hair-dos and happy faces. They sounded pretty good too. Then something started to happen... I remembered that I generally don't care for a capella groups.

It's not that I don't respect the talent required, or enjoy the occasional performance. I think it stems from this period when I was at BYU and a capella groups seemed to spring from everywhere, unbidden. It's the cutesy, themey, look-at-me aspect that annoys me.

Fortunately, Lacy decided that the over-long intros of the judges was boring, and I agreed. 5 minutes in and we were done. I hope you have enjoyed my review.

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Austin

For the purposes of this post, the game which took place in Provo last night did not occur. I prefer my happy memories.

We recently returned from Austin, TX, where we watched BYU play Texas in a close game, and I thought a travelogue was in order. We were fortunate to have our friends Matt and Amber Nielsen with us. They have been great friends for a long time, and Matt and I go back to freshman year at BYU over 14 years ago.

Austin is a great town. As soon as we arrived, we went to see the Texas State Museum. Did you know that Texas was once it's own country? If you didn't, you would after about 1 minute in that museum. and if you missed that mention of it, you would have an opportunity to hear it again every 10 steps or so. Texans do not do small. It was a very nice museum, with some very nice artifacts.

We were hungry at that point and headed to a restaurant that I found on Urbanspoon- Curra's Grill. We had an outstanding meal with excellent service. Each of us ordered enchiladas, choosing from something like 15 different sauces. I chose a Mole sauce that was fantastic. We had great tamales and guacamole. We were very full.

After that we watched the bats feed underneath the Congress Bridge near downtown. It was interesting, but anticlimactic given how highly it ranks as a tourist attraction. There were a lot of bats.

We had breakfast the next morning at The Magnolia Cafe. Delicious. Seemed a favorite hangout of many of Austin's quirkier citizens. We met some very friendly Longhorn fans.

We enjoyed visiting some off the quirky shops in the SoCo (South Congress) area, especially a candy shop, the name of which I don't remember. I learned that there are many, many, many used boots for sale in Austin.

We then toured the state Capitol, which was more interesting than the museum. Did you know Texas was once it's own country?





We had a decent lunch before the game at Darrell K. Royal Stadium. It is a giant stadium, and we were at the very top. Here we are, with a fortunate backrest.



The fans were great, very welcoming, and despite the sad outcome for BYU it was a great trip. I hope to return.

We were fortunate to have my sister and brother-in-law welcome our three kids into their family of 6 for the weekend. We were grateful to know that the were in such good hands.

Awesome Video Saturday CLXXVIII

A born storyteller:



Arcing, sparking, blowing up.

01 to 11

I love The Boston Globe's online Big Picture series. They pick a theme, in this case photos of Ground Zero from 9/11/01 to 9/11/11, and tell the story in pictures. Often these are breathtaking and moving, and the edition I've linked to above is no exception.

Legooooooo!

This a great video about a guy who loves Legos, and has made a career of it.

More than Football

Coming off an exciting day of college football, I have enjoyed this article about the men who were playing for Army and Navy on Sept. 11, 2001.

They would take their fight to real battlefields soon after, and their stories and reflections are worth reviewing as we contemplate the legacy of that day.

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Awesome Video Saturday CLXXVII

Four Pinnochios

That is the verdict on a claim that President Obama made the other day, in a speech on jobs and the economy.

According to The Washington Post "Fact Checker," Obama's claim that he helped engineer the "biggest middle-class tax cut in history" is untrue. They come down especially hard on him given their belief that this was a willful twisting of the truth.

Be prepared for more of that in this evening's speech.

Moon Junk

It looks like we made a mess on the moon. Or at least left some of our junk behind.

The cool thing is that now you can see it, for yourself, through the eyes (lens) of the Lunar Observer.

Click the link for more.