The Hansen Family

I Blog

2011-07-18T22:52:00.004-06:00

Therefore I am.

My kids reminded me that it has been almost a year since I have blogged. In their words...FAIL!

So, I decided to do a post. This way it will not be a whole year. Just close to it.

If I had more time I'd write something profound. Then again, if I could write something profound I probably would.

Suffice it to say...I've never been busier in my life. That's a better alternative than a year ago at this time when I had all kinds of free time and worried about little things like paying the mortgage and putting food on the table. Sometime in the future I want the money and the time to go hand in hand. I'll not hold my breath.

Oh, yah, I now have my own TV show. Hence the being busier than ever before. I've been back and forth across the country several times and met amazing people. Someday when I have time I'll tell you all about it.

I Spied on Percy's Shower

2010-08-13T00:08:00.008-06:00

It wasn't that great. I thought we'd have more action, but I guess you can't complain when attempting that while laying in the back yard of suburbia. It was also quite cold. Personally...I would need it a lot hotter to shower. Anyway, we (McKayla and I) brought a blanket to lay on and gaze up at the celestial bodies. It is unseasonably cool this evening, so we only stayed out about an hour. I turned on the Ron Pope channel on Pandora on my blackberry and we listened to music and saw a few shooting stars. One really good one and a couple semi-okay ones and several that we kind of debated if they were shooting stars, bugs, flashes of light from our neighbors or we have some strange eye disease that makes us see streaks of light. The big Persied Meteor Shower of 2010. It was okay, but I likely won't be awake for the peak hour of 3am to 4am. And I never found the constellation Perseus.

I've been awol and not very blogtastic lately. I looked at the last post and it was early April! Shame on me. I was hoping to use this as a journal of sorts, but it is a weak attempt when I have to brush the dust off the web page each time I try.

So we've been busy. All of us. Koreen, the kids, the one male entity here. It might slow down for about a week and then school starts. That helps me tremendously. It is quite difficult getting things done in my man cave, I mean, office while the kids are out of school. I find myself editing from 11pm to 3ish, because I can usually count on not being disturbed. I mean, any more disturbed than I am already.

I should show you one of the projects I'm working on that I hope as of next Monday's meeting I have some direction and a contract to produce. It would be the one thing right now that I could really sink my teeth into and enjoy. I just haven't been able to get excited about much lately, but this is one thing that would give me that kind of joy.

Who knows....maybe they'll see it and say not to call them ever again.

I also finished another video for a client that I think really is beautiful as far as the filming. The guy I hired to shoot was impressive.

I just narrated a video for the University of Utah Orthopaedic Center. Poor new employees will have to put up with seeing and hearing me orient them.

I have the BYUB meeting next week and a meeting with the Huntsman School of Business the day after.

A friend of mine, Yort Edals, (spell it backwards) owns a clothing company. He wants me to meet w/ his brain trust about doing PR consulting in light of their biggest competitor announcing that they are going to shut all their stores down. Could be a good window of opportunity to pimp the Mod Bod.

I have thoroughly enjoyed working as a census enumerator. I keep getting called back to go on "special projects." I think this is the last one. I was chosen as one of the last 12 for two counties. I felt all special and stuff when they called me. I'm planning on it being the last one, but I've heard that too many times. I wish it paid better, but I love an excuse to knock on somebody's door and get to know them.

I still jog. I just don't keep track of how far I go. I mean, I know how far I run each day, but don't keep a running tally. This evening was wonderful. I felt like a kid again. I was going well above my normal snails pace. A couple of days ago, every step was a challenge. I even stopped and walked a bit and oh, how I HATE doing that. I'm getting a little better at being accepting that I am not a loser even if I'm walking, because I'm still out there making the attempt. I refuse to believe that I can't lose 25 pounds and look somewhat like I used to. It was really the test shoot w/ BYUTV that frightened me when I looked at how large I looked. Yes, for some reason TV makes you look larger, but if I was only 10lbs too large the extra 10 that the camera adds wouldn't be so bad. But when you're _____lbs overweight its just a mess. Oh well, more jogging. I usually enjoy it. Good tunes, great scenery and painful knees.

So, we've done a lot in the last few months since I hung up my keyboard. When I haven't been censusing or editing for different businesses, I have been spending many an hour trying to get my BYU thing just perfect so they would be crazy to say no. It's not perfect, but you can take a look here. More tweaking to come in the next week.

Test Shoot from Todd Hansen on Vimeo.

Let me know what you think. I've had several people look at it and some have made suggestions, some love it, some are probably afraid to tell me what they really think.

These stories have to be told! If not me...who? If not now...when? I LOVE telling these stories. Do you think anyone would ever hear Damien Bear's story and see cute little Fin? What a great story they had. And there was so much more. That's why I'm trying to get these to go from individual stories that randomly appear, to a half hour show where we feature 2-4 stories.

Stay tuned.

I'll try to catch up on events that have happened as of late. I will probably attempt that through pictures since they say a thousand words and I'm not a quick typist. (especially when I didn't know the spelling of typist and had to spell check it). I am not a smart man. Jennay, wha don't you luv mai?

Dirty Rotten

2010-04-13T23:23:00.003-06:00

Scoundrels.

I highly recommend you attend the musical at the Hale Center Theater in Orem. I loved the movie way back when. I'm a huge Steve Martin fan. I was worried this just wouldn't measure up. I didn't expect much, and was very pleasantly surprised.

I'm not sure what the M,W,F cast is like, but tonight's cast was outstanding.

I'm very critical of poor acting and singing. My wife always looks at me afterward and quizzes me on who bugged me. These people were great. It is rare that I attend community theater and don't have at least one cast member really bug me because of poor acting. It is rarer that I recommend a performance.

I get no kickback. I don't know anyone in the cast. Just go and have fun.

Excuse me. May I go to the bathroom now? Thank you. (One of my favorite moments from the movie. It wasn't in the musical.)

A Spirtual Feast 22 Years in the Making

2010-04-02T00:08:00.007-06:00

April 27th, 1988.

It was a day I'll never forget, and it just keeps getting better.

I was a missionary in Brazil, Indiana with a little over a month left before I went back home to Utah. I was with a young greenie who was curious why we always had to walk so quickly. I'm not sure I told him it was because I felt like I needed to make up for lost time that was wasted at the beginning of my mission. If I had a trainer that put me through what I put him through I probably would have punched him, but it also would have been great to actually do some missionary work. I was a shy and weak greenie. I should have been stronger and demanded we do some work. I was just flabbergasted that there were actually missionaries who didn't. You live and learn.

That April day we had tracted three hours in the morning and then stopped for lunch. After lunch we had an appointment, but like so often happened, the person we were supposed to teach was not there. So we went tracting for 2 more hours and got a call back. I remember the lady standing in the doorway with a toddler in her arm. She told us that if we came back after her husband got home, they would be interested in talking with us.

We walked back to our pit (that's what we called our apartments). Some actually seemed like pits, but this one was actually not bad, aside from the occasional cockroach. We had dinner. Most likely a gourmet hot dog or bowl of raman noodles.

It was a half hour walk back to the callback. My comp was not interested in making the walk based on the experience we always had with callbacks. Usually, it was just a nice way of getting us off the porch. They would tell us to come back at a later time, and they would plan on being gone, or just not answer the door. I told my companion that I really felt like this one was different. I had nothing to base that off of other than a feeling. For 23 months as a missionary I had never had anyone who I "knocked into" become a member of the church. I had other baptisms, but they were all from member referrals. Baptisms were fairly rare in Indiana, and baptizing someone from tracting was unheard of.

On the walk over to the callback a scripture popped into my mind. "For after much tribulation come the blessings." Doctrine and Covenants 58:4. I thought to myself Could this be an amazing blessing after 23 months of tribulation? Not that my mission wasn't the greatest thing I had done to that point, but it certainly wasn't easy. Most things that are great experiences aren't usually easy. It was tough, but I also did not want to go home. If I could have, I would have stayed on my mission forever. It was a rerun of my MTC experience. I always wanted to go on a mission, but was terrified to actually go, and hated the thoughts of leaving everyone behind. But the MTC was amazing. I would have stayed there forever if they would have let me. 23 months later, I was not at all excited about going home.

I couldn't explain it, but I was filled with anticipation about this callback. When we arrived they were actually home. We went in and taught the first discussion. I wrote in my journal that night that it was an amazing experience and I knew the family was golden. Again, this flew in the face of everything I had experienced to date in Indiana.

We continued to teach Paul and Vicki Lafferty and the discussions continued to be amazing. I knew they would be baptized. But I also feared, because they were in an area where the church wasn't strong. It was the only area I served in where there was a branch rather than a ward, and there was a great deal of anti-Mormon sentiment in the town. I knew it would be a difficult journey for them.

All I wanted to worry about was teaching Paul and Vicki and to continue to try to find more people to teach. But the cruel reality was that my time as a missionary was quickly drawing to a close. I was making preparations to return home and go to college (another thing that frightened me). We invited some members of the church to sit in on the discussions with the Laffertys. Jim and Marcia Strait were perhaps the greatest members of the church I have ever met. I knew the Laffertys would be in good hands with them.

The first week of June I had to say goodbye to Indiana. I had grown to love the state and the people. I was saddened to leave the "golden" family behind, but trusted my greenie and his new companion would do their best.

Within a week of being home I had a job, I thought my family consisted of the laziest people on earth and I was registering for classes at "the BYU" as my mother called it. Then with lightning speed I started school, got married, graduated, started a family had a career and lost track of the Laffertys. Time flies. I knew they got baptized, but hadn't kept in contact. I always had great satisfaction knowing I had actually "knocked into" a golden family and they were baptized. I had no idea if they remained active.

Fast forward to last Sunday. I arrived in Indianapolis to shoot a video the day before. In booking the trip I made sure I was able to stay a few extra days. I also did some checking on the Laffertys and Brazil. The branch no longer exists. There just wasn't enough leadership to keep it going. Now the members in Brazil have to drive 35 minutes into Terre Haute to go to church. It makes me feel like I should have probably ran from door to door rather than just walked quickly.

I made it into the chapel in Terre Haute with about 30 seconds to spare before the meeting started. In true Hoosier fashion, that was still enough time for two people to greet me. I asked one of them to point out the Laffertys to me. They pointed to a husband and wife that I probably would have never recognized passing them on the street. I just sat and watched them. Paul gave the opening prayer. He then bore his testimony and talked about a coworker who is always negative. He expressed his thankfulness to have been baptized in October of 1988. I would say I was getting all teary eyed, but I'm a tough guy, so it was probably just something in my eye.

I give plenty of talks and lessons, so I don't get up in testimony meeting. I certainly don't get up in a different ward. Yeah, whatever. I tried three times to get up, but each time, someone would get up in front of me right after I got up. I was sitting in the back and they wouldn't see me so I would sit back down. I looked like a yo yo. Finally, with just a few minutes left in the meeting, I sprang into action. "I wanted to take just a few minutes because it has been 22 years since I've borne my testimony...(dramatic pause)...in Indiana." I related my experience of knocking on doors that day in 1988 and how amazing it was to be in Sacrament meeting with the Laffertys. Something else got in my eye.

After the meeting Vicki and Paul and I hugged. It was an amazing feeling. More stuff was getting in my eyes. They have been active and "golden" from the beginning. He was branch president in Brazil for several years and is currently in the high priest group leadership. She has served in Primary as long as she can remember. They were the first people from the branch to be sealed in the temple. All of their kids were baptized.

We talked for about 20 minutes. I had to get my cameraman to the airport, and they had to get back to their meetings.

Before I left Paul told me that he was sure he didn't tell me the whole story when I was teaching them. He said before we knocked on their door they both had the same dream. In the dream they were told that they would lose their daughter (the toddler Vicki was holding in her arm when we knocked) if they didn't get back into church. I wasn't sure what "lose" meant. Physically? Spiritually? He continued saying that Vicki had knelt down and prayed and basically told God that if He wanted them back in church then He would have to bring the church to them. He said they had been to so many different churches but none of them felt right. On April 27th, 1988 we knocked on their door.

They would have brought the missionaries to themselves eventually. I was just lucky enough to be the one who was in the right place at the right time one day in April a lifetime ago.

"For after much tribulation come the blessings."

Stair Sliding

2010-03-17T14:29:00.001-06:00

A sleeping bag and some stairs and you have instant entertainment for a 7 year old.

There's an App for That

2010-03-15T23:19:00.003-06:00

If you're an iPhoner then you no doubt have a few apps. Maybe you're like some friends of mine and you have a few dozen apps. I wouldn't know. I have a blackberry. But I do have some apps for it. Some day maybe I'll graduate to an iPhone.

In the meantime, I guess I can just bask in the glory of being an app myself. Does that mean I've made it? I'm not exactly the app, but the videos I host are the app. I do them for a company by the name of QuickPro. Up until now, they've been exclusively DVDs. Technology is changing everything. DVD sales are dropping dramatically. Everyone wants downloadable and mobile content. With the QuickPro apps they get both. It is basically a fully indexed and menu driven video application in the palm of your hand. So people with certain DSLR cameras can just pull out their phones if they have a camera question and I'm there to answer it via video.

Apparently the apps are selling pretty well and they're adding more all the time. (I've done about 30 videos for them.) Not that it does much for me. I get paid once each time I do one of the videos and I've been cutting the company a huge deal for the last 5 years. Don't get me wrong. I'm happy to have the gigs when the come up. I just wrote, produced and hosted one last week for the Olympus PEN series of cameras...which I'm now dying to have. The camera, not the video. Although, it would be cool to have one of the videos on my phone.

So, go to itunes, pull out your credit card and buy me. If I got anything out of it I wouldn't do such a shameful plug, but I get zip. But, if they keep selling well, maybe they'll keep using me. Especially if they knew I sent you. Maybe there's an app for that.

Why do they always do screen captures with my mouth open and looking dorky?

Feast or Famine

2010-03-06T16:27:00.002-07:00

Lately (only the last year and a half or so) it has been famine. My income dropped by more than 80% when the big housing/lending crisis hit. Fortunately, the income prior to that was great, and we're savers. I sometimes covet when I see the neighbors with the 3 new cars, the Harley, the new boat, the 7-figure home and amazing vacations. But I don't covet the foreclosures and repossessions that follow. I'm grateful that I've been able to continue to overeat, make a house payment and drive my 96 Corolla. (They didn't kill people back in the 90s)

So, as the savings is about depleted, and I've eked out some money over the last few years, I find myself getting more and more busy. I picked up two more projects yesterday and today was asked to continue doing PR for a business I worked with over the last few months. I'm now at the point where I'm not sure I can manage anything else coming in the door. But then again, I work best under pressure.

Back to work.

Trying to Tangle Myself in the Web of wwwwwwwws

2010-03-03T00:32:00.004-07:00

I've had many a domain name over my very circuitous career path in the last few years. There are some that I had forgotten I had. So they just sat. Others were just not quite the name I wanted, but figured I had better grab them up before they go away. I really wanted tripinwithtodd.com, but an "associate" grabbed that one. I think he believes that he'll one day capitalize on my former success. So I have trippinwithtodd.net. I also have toddhansen.info, tkhproductions.info, acuityrecruiting.com. That may be all, but who knows. I've found blogs to be so much easier to manage and post content so I use them. And they're free!
So if you tried trippinwithtodd.net you would not get trippinwithtodd.net. you would get tkhgroup.blogspot.com. If you tried tkhproductions.info I'm not sure if you'd get anything. There is a decent site at www.acuityrecruiting.com.
As far as video production, I'm trying to create a new look with my logo. I've always done things in blue and now I want to break away from that cool color and see what hot does for me.
I've had a couple of projects just finish. Today I started another one. Not great money, but fun videos and I get to take 3 different road trips across the country. We'll keep bread and milk on the table, and that's a good and bad thing. The bread usually gets spilled out of the bag and like a well timed ballet, a dancer swings around from the refrigerator and spills the milk on the table. Soggy bread in milk. It was a delicacy for my dad.
So I'm getting kinda busy. I like the projects I'm doing. I have an opportunity soon to perhaps do some pieces for BYU Broadcasting. Then to throw a wrench into it all, I have job interview in the morning. I would coordinate corporate communications. It would be in sunny St. George. I love St. George at certain times of the year. Other times, I don't do hot very well.
It is good to be busy. It is good to pretend like I'm making some sort of meaningful difference in society.
So take a look at some of those sites. Let me know what you think. If you're interested in buying a turn key recruiting firm at a bargain price, I can hook you up.

I'm Finished With Rehab

2010-03-01T08:58:00.007-07:00

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything. It has been a very busy time. And when I haven't been busy I've been lazy....when it comes to blogging.

During the last two months I've been busy doing some PR for a drug rehab center that just opened in Provo. The first battle was getting the contract and then they actually wanted me to work once they signed the contract and gave me money. I spent more time on it than I stated in the bid. I knew I would. I just wanted to make sure they were happy. I think they are.

We didn't get as much coverage as I would have liked, but we got 2 TV stations and 3 great articles in the local paper. We were the victims of breaking news on the day we had our big ribbon cutting. We also had student news coverage. I don't want to diss those guys. I was one once. That's why I sent the news release to them. They often get ignored. Although, I can't imagine why anyone would want to go into TV news these days with the current state of affairs. One of my friend's from who came down to report on the rehab center says with salary cuts she is making what she made 11 years ago. And they are working her like an animal! I can't believe what she's asked to do during an 8-10hr shift. I digress.....

I also hired a local news cameraman to get some great interviews and facility video for the center. We distributed that to local TV stations as well. I arranged to have the attorney general come down for the ribbon cutting. It was great to see him again. Regardless of what you think about Mark Shurtleff politically, he's such a fun guy to be around. I was very close to working for him years ago.

Here's some of our coverage: Herald Article, Herald Article 2, Early Article.

Fox 13 News

2News (Takes a while for the video to load).

Again, I hope they are happy with what I was able to do. And I really hope they cut me my final check.

While I was working on that I was trying to secure another contract for a project that I start tomorrow. I had to go back to the drawing board a few times. I ended up cutting $24,000 off of my initial budget to make it happen. That drastically downsizes the project, but it will still keep me busy for the next couple of months and keep CheeZits in the house. No, they don't sound very appealing, but my kids love them. Greasy, nasty, cheesy crackers that have the name zits at the end. We've bought other cheese crackers, but they only want the zits. I digress.....

It is good to be busy in a crappy economy. I'm hoping both of these projects turn into more projects.

Now that I'm finished with rehab I may blog more. But then again, I start a new project tomorrow.

Did you really think I was in rehab? Is Diet Dr. Pepper with Cherry really that big of a problem in society? The first step is admitting I have a problem.

By the way, the rehab folks were very cool. And the rehab patients...very cool. I'm glad to see they are getting help because they are great people with a terrible disease. I've always said I'm lucky that I have never tried drugs, alcohol or tobacco. I would think that I would not have the willpower to kick the habit.

Random Thoughts

2010-02-05T01:35:00.003-07:00

The Youth Conference that Wasn't
It was planned for months. There was a lot of last minute running around. And when I say last minute...I mean I was picking up t shirts that were still warm from the printer 20 minutes before I was supposed to be at the church. I still needed to pack a bunch of stuff. We made it on time. We loaded everything and everyone in and started for the Wasatch Back just as some lovely little flakes started to flutter down. The closer we got to Orem, the more intense the snow became. At the mouth of Provo Canyon McKayla saw the sign of things to come and couldn't have been happier. "SR 92 closed to Sundance until further notice." She was ecstatic. She started texting her joy to everyone she knew. I thought I'd just drive up to the turn off to SR 92 and she how many cars were waiting. Big mistake. It was immediately treacherous. We actually saw 3 cars slide off the road going down the mountain as we were going up. We passed a bad wreck about a mile before the turn off. Ambulances, fire trucks, police cars...all that stuff.
We were able to account for everyone via cell phone so we decided to regroup at the mouth. It was even more treacherous on the way back down.
By the time I got there the Bishop had decided we'd go and have a pizza party and try to reschedule youth conf. So, we're now way ahead of the curve for our May youth conf. I wonder what natural disaster could happen in May. I'm going with the road being flooded out. Aspen Grove was great a few winters ago. Maybe we'll make it back some day.

"If Lilith calls, tell her I'm not here."
That was Fraser talking to Sam because he brought his son into Cheers. Oh, the 80s. What a great time. And it was even great without cell phones. Do you remember when you had to go find a large object that was hooked to a wall and you had to spin your fingers around in different holes to call people. Somehow, I randomly started singing another one bites the dust around my 7 year old. She was clueless. I could not let that moment go away without sharing one of the great rock bands of all time. So I grabbed my phone, dialed up youtube, searched queen, another one bites, and there it was. I can check the weather, see how much more money I've lost on poor stock choices, email friends, buy just about whatever I want and connect with people all across the world. The best part? It has a speaker so we didn't have to share headphones.
And it was all in my pocket. That was pure science fiction when I was my daughters age.

"And this is my master bedroom. It's a big as my former house."
It was Cribs on CMT. I've never watched it before. I was flipping through. For some strange reason I stopped and watched. I could stand about a minute. Perhaps it was because of what I heard earlier on the radio. Local reporters were discussing what it was like on their recent assignment to Haiti. One reporter says he was asked by someone down there how many meals Americans eat each day. He says it was heartbreaking seeing them being lucky to have one meager meal. And here, we can grab our web enabled cell phone in our palatial homes (even the smallest of homes in my neighborhood---mine, by the way) would be a mansion in Haiti. If I ever could afford a bigger, fancier house it would only be for excess. This place has plenty of room for our family. If I could afford a multimillion dollar home like you might see on Cribs...it would be fun. But I could never show it off. I would be so embarrassed, because it wouldn't be "Look at my house." It would be "Look at me!"

Other Random Thought
I really figured 2010 couldn't be any worse that 2009. I had no where to go but up. I've actually got three significant projects lined up that will push me, and hopefully lead to more. Tomorrow should be a really good day for the first project.

Facebook Weirdness

2010-01-17T22:57:00.006-07:00

I've been a registered member of Facebook for about two years. I signed up way back when and didn't do anything with the account. Then one day I was on the phone with a friend in Nebraska who said it would be quite convenient for us to communicate via Facebook. I told him I was a member, but really had no clue how it worked. He had me log on and "friended" me. Within about 90 seconds I had one of his friends, who I also knew "friend" me. It then started snowballing. It was fascinating to make connections with people who have gone in and out of my life over the years.

Technology is an amazing thing. I am an old guy and I remember actually writing words on a piece of paper using an ink-filled device called a pen, putting the paper in an envelop with a stamp and mailing it, in order to communicate. Hi tech back then was using a telephone. But that was only for a local call. Long distance calls were something quite rare, and quite special. If you were really high tech you had a tone dial phone rather than a pulse dial phone.

I digress.

Once I was somewhat functional with this fancy social networking tool, it was very quickly that I realized that a large portion of the world no longer works when they go to work...they Facebook.

I enjoy being able to connect with and get occasional updates on long lost friends. I can see Facebook as a great tool for networking and business. But I also see it was an incredible time waster. I like to log on and see if there's anything interesting that's been posted by my friends, see who may have friended me and then come back another day. I've never been a "chatter" so that doesn't take up my time. Like texting...I think it is so much easier to pick up a phone than to log on and chat.

All of that is fine. If people want to spend hours on Facebook then I say more power to 'em if that's their thing. But what's strange is the strangeness. Are many of these people just weird or am I the weird one? What is a Shadow Conceal to assist me in Vampire Wars? Why is someone sending me that? Why are they wasting their time with something so strange? Who invented this "game?"? I don't know what it is.

Does someone really think I want to join their "crew" in Mafia Wars? What in the *%#@ is Mafia Wars? Do I look like I want an owl from Farmville? What in the *%#@ is Farmville? Oh, but I must admit my excitement about getting the Fairy on the Moon from Glitter Fairies! I don't know if I should be offended or flattered.

Vampire Wars, Mafia Wars, Fairies, Owls from Farmville. Seriously?

I'm not selective about who I become "friends" with. I'll keep them as friends as long as they're not really foul in what they post. There are a few of my "friends" who I don't even know. I think some of it is the TV thing. I'm a few degrees separated from being a formerly semi-known medium market TV news personality guy. I think some people, when they're not embroiled in a high stakes session of Vampire Wars, think it's cool to "friend" someone who is friends with a currently semi-known medium market TV news personality. Then they see that I'm friends with that person and they friend me. It's all very warm and fuzzy.

I doubt I will offend any of my friends with this post since I don't publicize my blog. If so, sorry. Remember, I could be the weird one here.

I'd write more, but I have to get back to my Dungeons and Dragons and then work on my Blingee Book. What in the *%#@ is a Blingee Book?!

Christmas

2009-12-26T10:28:00.002-07:00

Christmas was outstanding. We're poor this year. Maybe that's why. Not poor in spirit...just money.

The kids were great. They really seemed to enjoy the day. Despite that fact that we didn't dedicate as much money to Christmas it sure seemed like Santa exploded in our house. My wife does a great job all year of finding amazing deals. Then Santa gets to take all the credit.

For some reason, we started a Christmas tradition of watching Elf on Christmas Eve. I think it is because of Mia's reaction. It is so funny to hear her laugh. She just looses it. Same with Evan Almighty (which she got for Christmas). I think it is more of a gift for everyone else, for the entertainment value of watching her.

I set a new personal record that I hope to never get close to again. I officially got to sleep at 6:15am on Christmas morning. Technical difficulties. I put together a video for my wife for Christmas. The big plan was to have it ready for the digital photo frame. I thought it was in the correct format, but when I tried it about 1am, as I was ready to put it under the tree, it gave me the dreaded "Unsupported Format" warning. Then I had to deal with conversions. I dumped the video from Final Cut and exported through Compressor. I picked what I thought was the right format. It took 45 minutes! And then I couldn't find it on my Mac. I'm still a bit clueless in the Mac world. So I had to do it again and specify a new folder. Then I found it. But THAT format couldn't work. There was no audio. I really should have known that, but I'm not a Compressor expert. Anyway..... long story not so short... I went to bed a 5am, but couldn't get to sleep! At 6:00 I went to the couch downstairs to watch TV and fell asleep quickly. It seemed about 30 seconds later that my wife was waking me up to see what Santa brought. The kids were wide eyed at 7am. I was excited to see their excitement....but just a bit tired.

Yesterday was very relaxing (aside from assembling the ping pong table). We stayed home and people came to visit us. I can't explain how nice that is. When I was a kid, we'd leave our house around 9am on Christmas morning. We'd hit Santaquin, Spanish Fork, Springville, Provo, Pleasant Grove, and Kearns to visit relatives. We usually got back home sometime between 8 and 10pm. We could take one present with us to play with in the car/van/truck. I guess it made the day after Christmas exciting, because we got to enjoy the presents we couldn't play with.

Another curious thing about Christmas in my home growing up...our presents were never wrapped. Each sibling has a section on the floor or couch and our presents were just there. Within about 20 seconds of scanning we knew what the fat man had dropped off. That was my normal. So when we had kids, and my wife started spending all this time wrapping presents, I questioned what she was doing. I learned that some parents, even many, perhaps most....actually wrap the presents. What a great idea.

Back to Blogging - The Illness - December - Amazing Diet Plan - Eldrick

2009-12-19T11:09:00.003-07:00

Writers block? Just don't care? Illness? Subconscious issue w/ December? I don't know, but it has been a while since I've created a new entry here.

First of all...I was sick. Sicker than I wanted to be. On my last post I had a "plan" to be all better and get going on things. That plan didn't quite work. But the second round of antibiotics finally did. I even actually missed two straight weeks of church. With several extra meetings every week and other responsibilities I hate to miss church, but guess what? Things didn't fall apart. Others picked up the slack.

I know this will sound strange, but it was nice to be able to be sick and just lay around all day being feverish and feeling crappy. Were it this time last year, I wouldn't have had that luxury. This time last year I was dealing with the drama, and trauma, of my parents estate. Estate makes it sound like it was worth something. If it happened to be a few million dollars then it might have justified me spending the entire month of December dealing with the legal drama of siblings and probate. But then again, when it was all said and done in January if someone would have said they'd give me a million dollars if I went through it all again I would have just punched them and told them to keep their money.

Decembers of late have just not been fun for me. If I haven't been dealing with death (my mom died December 10th a few years ago, my dad died December 19th a few years later) then I've dealt with the mess that death left behind. So, I'll knock on wood, since there's still time for someone to keel over before Christmas and be thankful most people I know are still alive.

On a brighter note....I have an amazing new weight loss plan I'm going to market to the world and make millions! I haven't been jogging for about a month now, but I've lost five pounds during that time. I've just got to figure out how to package and sell bronchitis or pneumonia. And make it tasty, of course. Then all you have to do is enjoy the symptoms! It is the magic bullet weight loss pill everyone has always wanted! Despite laying in bed all day and doing nothing....you lose weight! I'll share with you what I call my Super Fat Busting Power Trio: Fever (sweat those pounds away), Nausea (lose that desire to feed your face) and Diarrhea (if you do eat anything it just wont matter!)

I'll try to blog more again soon. There are plenty of fun things to share like all the Christmas concerts we've been to and the big Paxman family Christmas shindig.

And there's so much to talk about.... Tiger comes to mind. (I've never been a Tigger fan. He's always been smug and creepy to me. Ask my wife. She'll tell you I've always cheered against Eldrick Tont Woods. I've always called him Eldrick or Tigger. And that's always bugged her because she's been fascinated with the guy since he came on the scene of golf. If she couldn't see the tournament live she'd have to record it. If Eldrick wasn't playing she wouldn't watch. I blame myself. I introduced her to golf. Prior to that she wondered why I would watch such a boring sport. I sense there wont be quite so much Eldrick-mania in our home anymore. I don't bring it up.)

A week to forget

2009-11-21T01:09:00.002-07:00

It did have some bright spots. The celebration dinner was excellent. Better than I expected.
But the next day was disappointing. My show was rejected as a half hour. They are still very interested in it as an interstitial branding campaign, but won't make a decision until April-ish. I am running out of money and I'm greedy-I want a half hour. So I'm going to shop it around to broadcasters and sponsors. Its too cool not to give it a shot. Concurrently I'll be seeking gainful employment about anywhere I can get it.
Another disappointment is how cruddy I feel. At least its not swine. For the first time ever I've been diagnosed with bronchitis. They hear some stuff in the lungs so they are hoping it does not turn into full blown pneumonia. Been there, done that, got the t shirt, thought I was gonna die.
So I haven't been running all week...another disappointment.
My head is pounding, I have a fever, wheezy breathing, sore throat, cough, blah, blah and I can't sleep. I figured I'd try blogging by blackberry.
My goal is to be feeling great by Monday and to use these disappointments to fuel some fire.

Shattered!

2009-11-16T23:01:00.006-07:00

Last April we were challenged by our Stake Presidency to create an indexing program for our youth. We kicked off our program last month and set a pretty lofty goal for our youth to reach. We wanted to index 17,500 names (350 batches) during the month. As of 2 weeks ago we were a bit nervous. We still had a ways to go. We told the youth that we would include the leaders efforts during the month as well, but wanted them to reach the goal on their own. So in our weekly reporting of how close we were to the goal we only gave them the total of the youth.

Our plan was to have a celebration dinner if they met the goal. The deadline was yesterday. As of tonight we have 360 batches indexed by the youth alone. That's 18,000 names! When you add the leaders it gets kind of fun. When you add family members of the youth, who caught the spirit of what we were trying to do, it gets really cool. We're over 39,000 names!!! We shattered our goal!

This is the very short video I put together for the kickoff we did last month:

We followed the video with vignettes from the Do You Have My Name program. (Google "Do You Have My Name?" if you are interested.) We then explained the tie between indexing, family history and temple work and laid out the program to them. During the month we had to get all of the leaders trained (thanks to the family history consultants) and then all of the youth trained (thanks to the family history library). We had some Indexing Marathons during the month for activities (one where I had 25 young men at the family history library and the system was down the entire time). One other time I had the Priests over to my house for an indexing party and I fried my wireless router when I went I reset it after removing the network password. It seems there was some force that really didn't want this to happen. We then relied on faith.

We were asked to present our program at yesterday's Stake priesthood leadership meeting for those wards that haven't put together a program yet. In addition to the priesthood leadership the Stake Presidency also invited all of the YW presidencies and advisers in the Stake to attend. No pressure. Our YW President suggested we interview some of the youth and put it on video. If that helped to limit the amount of time I had to speak I was all for it. So I put this video together for yesterday's meeting.

We have amazing youth.

I Stick With What I Know

2009-11-10T16:28:00.003-07:00

I purchased some shoes! That's really not a big deal. But how many times have you purchased the exact same shoes? No. They don't look the same, but they are identical twins. One pair has just had a little harder living than the other.

I was way overdue for getting some new running shoes. I tried on 4 different styles and none of them felt as good as my old shoes. And then....on the bottom row of the display I spied my old reliable shoes. The clerk looked "in the back" for my size. Haven't you always wanted to see what's in the back? The only ones they had were the ones on display. But the running fates were on my side...they were my size. I tried them on and realized there was a reason I bought the first pair last year.

The plot twist here is that they will no longer get any of those shoes in. They are last year's style. I should have purchased 10 pair when I had the chance last year!

Digital Drama

2009-11-07T09:47:00.007-07:00

There's something wonderful about email, Facebook, texting and the plethora of ways we are able to communicate electronically these days. But there is also a major problem with all of the above; they make communicating way too easy sometimes. And because you have that digital buffer it is a lot easier to say things that you most likely would not say to someone face to face. This is especially a problem with kids.

We entered the brave new world of children and cell phones and texting when McKayla turned 16. We've had to come up with some rules over the last few weeks, that we should have probably anticipated prior to giving her a cell phone, but she's our Guinea pig.

There's plenty of teenage drama with the cell and texting and then just plain drama with three more daughters and a wife in my house. I signed on for it. I can take it.

But this week, after major teen drama, we had drama from an outside source. I ask you what would you do? As for us, we met with the vice principal at the school and the police. But that's just us. Maybe we overreact. McKayla discovered a Facebook post about her saying, "I will kill her. She better get ready to be harassed." This from a girl she has probably said two words to. From a girl that she never talked trash about. Someone that we never even knew existed because she's never mentioned her. I'm too lazy to explain the whole story about where it was found and what we think the motives are, so if you're interested TEXT me! Kidding.

If it were a post calling names and saying she hates my daughter, then I can let it slide. But when it says, "I will kill her" I get involved. I'm sure it was a stupid girl saying something stupid online, because it is so easy, but even stupid people can't be that stupid these days. When you say you're going to kill someone, and type it onto a page in cyber space, that has to be taken seriously. Especially when she doesn't even know the girl.

We met with the vice principal at the high school and she was great. She happened to be someone I went to high school with 100 years ago. She was able to pull McKayla's records and see 4.0 grades for the last 4 years and no behavioral issues. We explained that McKayla was worried about being at school for fear the "harassing" was going to begin. The vice principal assured McKayla that if the girl should so much as looks at her wrong there will be serious consequences. The other girl will be made to sign a "No Contact Contract" that explains the consequences. She also said they would be contacting the police. So later in the day we met with an officer and McKayla filed a statement. It is just strange that my 16 year old daughter was talking to police about someone on Facebook saying they were going to kill her. It was like we just entered the Twilight Zone. Both the school and the police assured us we did the right thing. And how proud are we of our daughter that she brought this to our attention?! She's a good kid...boy drama aside.

The police were to contact the young "lady" and her family yesterday. When the school talked with the mom earlier in the day the explanation was, "That's just the way these kids joke around." Wow, what a funny joke! I mean, the parent explanation, not the stupid kid being stupid on Facebook. If it were my kid I would ashamedly be on the phone with the other parents apologizing and having my daughter apologize. But again, maybe I overreact.

P.S. I have quickly scanned this post and I believe I would easily share any of it with anyone face to face. Just saying.

The Wheels....

2009-10-28T21:10:00.003-06:00

...are back on. The meetings started at 7am Saturday to get a team assembled to pull off a 1/2hr weekly television show. It's a bit of a unique skill-set. We all know someone who can put together a website for us, or maybe even a wedding video, but producing a TV show is a different animal. Not that it's rocket science, as evidenced by my involvement, but its not something that just everyone has a wealth of experience in.

Fortunately, I know some great people in the "biz" and they're more than excited to be a part of it. We got a detailed budget together with a demo edited and turned in early this week. The goal is to get a pilot funded, and dazzle them with it, and then get 26 episodes contracted.

No word yet. We're praying it happens. It would be such a cool TV show. I know, everyone says that about their TV show proposals, but this one really has something special that's not been done before. Really. I'm not just saying that.

The lawnmower wheel? That's a different story. Still off. But it really wont matter now. Not loving the snow this early. DANG GLOBAL WARMING!

Why can't aint nuttin be easy?

2009-10-24T01:11:00.005-06:00

It's not even worth a write up right now, but this will be my catharsis. Also, I don't want to offend certain parties that might happen to stumble onto this blog.
Short story: great opportunity, competent professionals to pull a pitch together, pitch goes well, broadcast entity wants to fund a pilot, Todd gets pit in stomach re: one person with whom he will work, Todd has the awkward convo, other party chalks it up to lack of communication, I chalk it up to lack of passion and differing expectations. Said entity needs a budget for a pilot, 26 week show and travel budget by Tuesday. Other party inquires if the party is still happening, Todd says he doesn't think so, other party still wants to party. Todd needs to party with other parities quickly to be able to party with broadcast party. This is Todd's baby. Todd will make this party a really fun party. But Todd always tries to be the nice guy. More tough convos must come soon.
See? Life is a big party! It's all about perspective.
Let's all party... as long as we're not parties to lawsuits.

...until the wheels came off.

2009-10-11T00:26:00.006-06:00

It's a saying I've never really thought much about. Always understood it. But I understand it more now. It was to be a great day. The reasons for the that include the weather and the fact that it would allow me to do the final lawn moving of the year. I started out by chopping down a pine tree that kicked the bucket this Summer. I then trimmed and pruned about 6 other trees. Once that was complete I unlocked the shed and cranked up Ol' Red. I've never called him that, but it seems when you're telling a story you should name things. I backed out of the shed and headed for the front of the "estate." I mapquested it so I could find my way there. I finished about a quarter of the front and started to feel a strange sort up bump occasionally. It was like I was driving over small rocks. Then I took a sharp turn and Ol' Bessie, aka Ol' Red broke her leg. The axle broke and the front of Dependable Carl, aka Ol' Red & Bessie, plowed into the ground. The right tire just laid their waiting for a rescue helicopter and some good drugs to calm him down.
So I had to grab the push mower to finish the job. I don't mind pushing a mower. I grew up pushing a mower. But with our size lawn, pushing a mower take about 3 times as long.

The beautiful irony is where the "lawn tractor" (that's supposed to make the sissy little riding lawn mower sound tougher) ended up. As you see in my video... it's right next to the old Ford. This is how it begins. Where it ends........... research Buhler Ranch.

By the way. I used the gloves the next day. They were fine. It made accessing the walkman a bit clumsy. But I was having mental issues w/ the gloves. I was so annoyed that I needed to wear gloves. Regardless, it was good to run.

Cold

2009-10-05T15:35:00.003-06:00

I've always been a warm weather kinda guy. But given the choice between very hot and very cold--I'd go with very cold. But I don't want to have to make that choice. I want it to be September or May all year round. Maybe I should move to San Diego.

It is unseasonably cold right now in Utah. I enjoy Fall. I just wish we wouldn't skip Fall. Maybe we'll have a warm-up and all will be well for a few weeks, but I quickly see my running being hampered by weather. Even if we do get a warm up it will only be temporary. Snow will be here eventually, and I'm thinking sooner rather than later. That was my big downfall last year. It was so snowy and cold that I could not bring myself to go running. The treadmill is mind-numbing, so I didn't use it. I opted for the no exercise lets see how huge I can get approach.

So I'm hoping for a mild Winter. If not, I need to will myself to get off my butt and run.

I know I'm worrying about something that isn't here yet, but this morning's run was just too cold. A couple of miles in I felt better, but I should have probably worn gloves. Seriously? Gloves? It's only October 5th.

I am also not ready to give up on fresh tomatoes and squash from the garden. Time for a greenhouse.

FTY T minus 15 days until we may know our fate regarding a half hour TV show of random fun.

A Talented Friend

2009-09-28T01:06:00.006-06:00

I just became reacquainted with a friend who I haven't talked with for several years. We were in the broadcast program at BYU together. I've always had such respect for him. He shared with me a project he just finished that is one of the Mormon Messages on YouTube.

It's a great message. Oh, and he's invited me to help produce some of these. Can you think of anything much cooler than that?

The Big Party

2009-09-28T00:18:00.005-06:00

It as the long anticipated, long planned for and long worked for sweet 16 party. We had a red carpet, a walk of fame, we shot scenes, we had a ridiculous cake that looked like Walt Disney threw up on it, a little volleyball, some music and a little fire in the fire pit. I think McKayla enjoyed it, despite a few people who said they would make it not showing.

The scenes didn't make much sense to the participants, but they should be quite funny when I finish editing the epic movie. We'll invite them back for a screening before it is released to theaters.

As a first at a Hansen "Friend Party" there were guys! Young men! Dudes! Non-female people! And so it begins.....

Goings On

2009-09-24T00:44:00.006-06:00

McKayla reminded me today that it has been longer than a month since I blogged. "That's sad," she said. So I thought I might give it a go, even though I really want to go to sleep right now.

I've been silly busy in the last few weeks taking on 5 new projects and doing a fun video for a combined youth meeting in our ward. Two days ago I bolted myself to my chair to get a lot of writing done. Yesterday I sat in front of my computer from 7am until 1am this morning. I was back at it at 9am today, but had a nice break from it all to decorate for McKayla's birthday. It is very difficult for us to come to terms with the fact that we have a 16 year old. It is very difficult because we have been there--and it doesn't seem like it was that long ago. It is very difficult because in all reality is was that long ago and we're just kidding ourselves, but age is relentless and will not allow us to escape it's steady grasp. For instance, the basketball was a lot of fun last night, but it took until about 2pm before I was walking like I wasn't 80 years old.

So it is great that we have young ones to keep us young. There was a thing that happened many years ago when we took McKayla to a particular restaurant and she always wants to go back. The first thing on her plate is the always mac and cheese. Any time there is a special occasion her choice for a place to eat is the old G.C. That's what my homeys call it. Others know it as Golden Corral. And the youngest one loved it as well. They've never seen so much food that they can feast on. And the deserts. They died and went to chocolate covered rice crispy treat, chocolate/vanilla swirl ice cream, fudge, peanut butter bar and whipped cream heaven. I think the seven year old may have eaten more than anyone else.

The big test will be Saturday as we have the dreaded friend party. The theme will be a night at the movies, complete with a walk of fame and a red carpet. But they're not going to watch a movie.. they are going to be in a movie. I opened my big mouth and mentioned an idea that McKayla loved. So I've been gathering random, very funny clips over the last few weeks, that we'll splice into what the party goers act out. They will divide up into 3 groups and come up with skits based on ideas and requirements we give them. Some of it will make no sense until we add the context of the scene we're going to edit in. Once I can get the beast edited with custom music and effects we'll have them back for the big premiere. Sounds like a cool birthday to me. Maybe that's because I have no memory of my 16th birthday. I remember I was excited to drive a car and scared to ask a girl out on a date. 17th birthday... I remember. Another story for another time.

McKayla has now taken a giant leap forward in to the world of hi-tech communication with a cell phone. We held out until she was 16. I think she really likes the phone and already has a wallpaper of her heart throb and one of his band's songs as her ringtone. Ahhhhh... All is right with the world. Someone also added my number to her phonebook under the title Dad of All Dads.

I'm really excited to get these projects out the door and to finish up producing an audio session and hosting a video next week. It's nice to be busy in a cruddy economy. Talks continue and will be much more in depth next month on doing a show based on Trippin with Todd. I can't tell you how outstanding that would be. A real pain in the rear, and a daunting challenge randomly running into what we always fear might be the most boring person in the entire world... living or dead. But we always come through with something that either amazes or inspires, and sometimes a little of both. Stay tuned.

We were challenged by the Stake to put together an indexing program for our youth. We based it off of a program we found from the internet called Do You Have My Name? I put together a short video and then we introduced indexing and how the youth can help. We set a goal to do 17,500 names by November 8th.

Here is the short video intro I put together. Afterward we had families come up dressed in period clothing and tell their stories of waiting for someone to find their name. In one family the little girl was left all alone and had to leave her family... hoping that someone had her name. It was really cool. If you need something to inspire adults or youth re: temple work/family history/indexing this is good.

Music by Kevin Macleod

First Day of School

2009-08-20T23:38:00.002-06:00

High Speed Chase Solicitor

2009-08-19T23:38:00.005-06:00

In my 42 years of life this is a new one for me. Never happened before. Never even thought it could happen. Just never thought about it. We have placed various NO SOLICITING signs on our house. None of them have worked. The nice lady knocked on our Absolutely No Soliciting, Please sign today.

We then went off for a big back to school family fun day before the kids have to hit the books. We went to Jack and Jill Lanes and had a lovely time. Cool shoes, greasy hands, heavy balls... and that was all before we even walked in the door. Sorry... I joke.

After Hansen Blowl-Fest '10 we decided to hit Wendy's. We were just about there when a nice Hispanic man in a large truck pulled along side of us to get our attention. He did the universal "roll down your window" sign by moving his hand in a circular manner. It was either that or he was telling us right off the bat that he was crazy. I wouldn't say he was crazy... just tenacious. Of course my first thoughts are, "What's happened to the super mega turbo luxury minivan now?" As we're driving down State Street he sticks his head out the window to say, "I'm really sorry to bother you like this." That's where it seemed a bit strange for a guy who was just going to tell us the widget arm has fallen off the maniform and our tailpipe is scraping on the ground. What he said next was even more surprising. "I can get that dent our of your fender for a really good price. Save you a lot of money." (The dent: Happened when we took our van in to have a transmission rebuilt. It's a Dodge. Need I say more. The price tag was $2700, but they told us they hit it into another car at the shop and dented it. They got a bid to get it fixed for us for $1,200 and they would pay for it. Or, if we wanted to worry about it ourselves we could just get the money deducted. We opted for the price reduction. It's a minivan anyway. Even without dents it still looks like a minivan.) We shook our heads and told him we had already had it estimated. Then he said, "How about if it told you it would only cost 80 bucks?" Again, we declined. He responded with, "60 bucks. I have my tools with me right here. Pull over at this gas station and we'll do it." We again said sorry and he looked disgusted and pulled into the gas station.

We went to Wendys with four kids who were a bit freaked out. I was surprised, but I also thought it was kind of cool. The guy has a skill and he's doing everything he can to find business and improve the Obameconomy. He's running people down to get their business. I was impressed.... and yet... weirded out. It was the bizzaroland trip to Wendy's where nuggets, french fries and frosties were loved by all.

School starts tomorrow! Two kids are excited and two are not so sure.

The Deer, the Brakes and the Groove Thing

2009-08-16T00:31:00.007-06:00

We left for a little camping adventure this weekend. It's really a cabining adventure. It was the 1st ever Alfred Paxman Family Reunion at the Heber Valley Camp. Those are some great

facilities if you have a good sized group. The best part is the regular toilets, showers, sinks, refrigerators, camp stoves, pavilion, volleyball nets, horse shoe pits, canoeing on the lake and the ropes course. Unfortunately for us, the ropes course was rained out during our scheduled time. But we did get the canoeing in before lightening took over. We took several hikes and saw bambie. And we played a lot of games. The Paxmans are a game playing people. And then there was food and fire and smores. The basics of any great outdoors adventure.I pride myself in my 30 second or less packing. Throw some underwear, a shirt, some socks, pants and a jacket in a bag along with my travel kit and I'm ready to go. 30 seconds. My dilemma was when I got up there and didn't have a pillow. I put it on top of the bag that somehow got out to the van, but the pillow must have been lost in between. Oh well. I just thought of how cushy I had it compared to pioneers.
The ride back down into Heber is interesting. Ir requires a lot of brake. When I started smelling them pretty strongly I put it into low gear to have the engine hold us back. It sure would not be fun to lose your brakes on that steep grade.
Then it was home and hit the shower and off to chaperon a Stake dance. These are interested events that haven't changed much fundamentally since my days of stake dances back in the 80s. There are the jocks who are seemingly so full of ego that they're too cool to dance. My guess is they're actually quite insecure and feel lucky they can hid behind jockyness. There are the unique kids who are so comfortable in their own skins that they are just themselves. He wanted to wear white slacks, white shoes, a white shirt and white sports coat. And he had some really good moves. Either he got off early from his shift as a temple worker, or he's just a kid that doesn't care what others think. There are the guys who wear their sunglasses "at night so they can so they can." I'm thinking they're hiding something. There are several boys and girls who you hate to judge, but you seriously think there's not a good chance at all that they'll make it too church tomorrow. There are the awkward conversations during the slow dances where the boys hands are getting really sweaty and he doesn't know if he should look at the girl or just look away. It gets even more awkward when the dance ends and they have a very haltingly spoken exchange of thank yous.

The music is pretty much the same. At least the songs of today have masterfully captured the beat of yesteryear to make them good songs to dance do. When one of the few slow songs come on you see a larger movement toward the dance floor/parking lot.

It's all so familiar. I was there. I lived it. It was kind of strange. But what I still just can't wrap my brain around, and I've seen this twice now, is guys dancing with guys. I remember girls standing in circles and dancing if the guys were stupid enough not to ask. But for dudes to be dancing with dudes?! We would have never allowed that to happen! Now even the jocks are doing their little girly circle dance. I'll probably have nightmares.

McKayla was kind enough to come over and say hi to what probably looked like the most bored person there out of about 1,100 estimated. And then I was ditched in preference for her friends.

All in all it was a fun and busy weekend. Sometime tomorrow afternoon it will get unbusy for a while.

Then maybe I can fill you in on what seemed to be a very positive meeting where we may resurrect Trippin' with Todd into a half hour show. But we wont call it Trippin. I didn't pick that name. I always thought it was kind of weird. Send me your ideas. If you don't know what the stories were all about do a youtube search for trippin.

I'll let you know how further discussions go. I would be beyond thrilled to do that series again.

I ran a little over 3 miles once this week. It was very painful on my knee and ankle. I must run more.

Hot under my keyboard

2009-08-11T00:31:00.002-06:00

Major meltdown today with my laptop. I was voicing a project and the fan started grinding so loud that I couldn't continue. I took the laptop apart. To get to a silly 30 dollar part I had to remove just about everything. Hard drive, cd tray, wireless card, keyboard, lcd screen, and finally the motherboard. I was able to get it all back together and didn't even have any left over parts or screws! But I could not fix the fan. I bought a chill pad and still have to hit it with a desk fan to keep the core under 55c. I've also hooked up an external monitor so the laptop monitor can be turned off. My portable laptop is no longer portable. I'll have a new fan in a few days, but then have to dismantle the beast again.
After Family Night tonight Sarina, Mia and I watched Herbie goes to Monte Carlo. I kept thinking how great it would have been for them to have gps and cell phones. Then again, I'm overly tied to technology. Hence my typing this on my phone at 12:30.
Don Knotts rules! Its a sweet and simple movie from a much simpler time.

Sunset

2009-08-03T21:47:00.009-06:00

I was out taking pictures for the latest DVD I'm working on and saw this sunset. I had already packed up and was driving home when I drove up the hill and saw this on the horizon. I really had no choice but to pull over and try to get some shots. How often do I have a decent camera on hand when I see a great sunset? Not very. I've always had a thing for sunsets.

Here is one of the other shots I took this evening. After taking dozens of shots of the mountains from SR92 I got tired of that location. I wandered upon a area of Lehi that I never knew existed. It offered some cool views.

Random Notes

2009-08-01T00:20:00.003-06:00

This is an interesting exercise that gives a slice of the type of music you like. If you want to extrapolate you can try to derive different meanings from the songs you choose to listen to. I do believe that, to a certain extent, music shapes us. But I'm not sure how much. I miss the days of getting a new cassette and basically wearing it out that same day. I actually just probably miss having that much time to myself without interruption.

Anyway... I always put my Walkman or phone on shuffle before I go out for a jog. It's always interesting what the Sony Gods or Crackberry Fates will decide for me to listen to. Sometimes it's a great mix. Sometimes I think they're cracked! But then again, they are my songs.

So here's the first 25 songs randomized for me today out of hundreds of songs to choose from:

Redeemer – Nicole Mullen

She’s So High – Tal Bachman

Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol

And We Danced – Hooters

Breathing – Lifehouse

Forever Young – Alphaville

Far Away – Nickleback

Your Song – Elton John

Apologize – One Republic

What is this feeling? – Wicked

What is Love? – Howard Jones

Sausalito Summer Night – Diesel

For Those About to Rock -- AC/DC

Lost – Michael Buble

Forever – Kenny Loggins

Just Between You and Me – April Wine

If You Love – Howard Jones

Love Bites – Def Leppard

Faithfully – Journey

Limelight --- Rush

He Gave His Life – Vocal Union

Stone In Love – Journey

I can’t Unlove You – Kenny Rogers

This is Your Life – Switchfoot

Stop and Stare – One Republic

I'm glad the first one was a church song so you don't think I'm completely terrible when you hit the AC/DC. There's still a little bit of that 7th grader, who's friend Eric tried to get him into hardcore rock. It is amazing how a couple of notes can transport you in time. You can see for the most part I'm stuck in the 80s. That's because I collected music up to a certain point and then life got busy.

And what is most depressing is what has happened lately in my car. My dad takes over control of the presets!!! And he hasn't been alive for 3 years. I've turned into him. I would rather listen to music, but I fear I'll miss something that is going on in the world, so I listen to talk radio. I want to be a responsible citizen. I was a journalist once. I should be informed. What if I need to make a difference? Oh... I forgot. Obama will take care of everything for us. No worries then. I'll go back to listening to music.

I still want to be a rock star when I grow up. Maybe I'll call Sean Hannity and see if he has any advice.

Catching Up

2009-07-31T00:16:00.007-06:00

I know I always say this but I have been really busy. Not like everyone else isn't. I sometimes miss those simple old days where I had a mindless job that I took no thought of after the door hit me in the butt on the way out.

I probably left off at the meeting in San Diego. It went well and that's why I have been busy. We went from script to shooting in no time. The shoots were great. We had a full crew with gaffer, grips, audio, director of photography, director, producers and makeup. Its nice to do things right, but it takes a lot of money. It could have normally been chaos, but we were working with amazing people.

Two reps from Sony were there and seemed pleased, but I still don't think they believe we'll get it finished in time. Fortunately we've completed another 25 or so of these projects
before.

Last week we celebrated Pioneer Day. We've never been big Pioneer Dayers. I ran 3.5 miles that day. Then we went to a movie. Night at the Museum II. I laughed, the kids enjoyed it, Koreen was bored. Then we went to see Kyle and Misty's new baby. Her name is Tatum. She's amazingly cute.

Then is was a hot dog roast and smore roast out back.

I also ran another 3 miles last week.

The week before Sarina and Sheridan were in Cinderella the Comedy. They did a great job and had a lot of fun.

This week has been busy as well as I work on the post-production of the project that can't have a single big setback or it won't happen on time.

I managed to get 3.5 miles in Monday and 6 miles today.

I'm meeting with a group that is working w/ BYU-TV. We are trying to take several project ideas to them to get funded and produced by us. The Bretheren have mandated that BYU-TV becomes the voice of the church and they want a dramatic change in programming. Non-Mormon Centric programming, but value driven. We have a bunch of ideas and a group of amazing LDS professionals who can make it happen. We'll see where that goes.

When there's doubt. There's no doubt.

One aside on that project is my friend's quote... "When there's doubt. There's no doubt." There is one individual in our consortium of creative professionals that I immediately identified as someone I might struggle with. And I'm a guy who can work with anyone. Now the leader of the group is really struggling with this individual. He too had the same concern initially, but tried to set those thoughts aside. Now he's back to his doubt scenario. When he feels that doubt about someone, he's always known there is no doubt that there will be a problem. Again, we'll see.

I also saw my friend Troy and Shellie's newborn boy last week. Can't believe they have a baby at our age! It'll keep 'em young.

That's all of my updating for now. I know, pretty boring. But that's my laundry list.

A Flag with a Story

2009-07-25T22:24:00.005-06:00

This is our flag. We put it up for Pioneer Day. It looks pretty much like your standard American flag. I haven't checked, but I'm guessing there are 50 stars and 50 stripes. Appearances can be deceiving. This is no ordinary flag. Like most things, there is a story behind this flag. It involves snow, the grand canyon, a daredevil, some thievery and a motorcycle.

In 1999 I was given an assignment that I thought was pretty cool. It was certainly a diversion from the mundane everyday stories that you become accustomed to as a reporter. I was asked to go to a remote corner of the Grand Canyon to cover Robbie Knievel's attempt to jump it. It was hard to visualize. How does a man on a motorcycle jump the Grand Canyon?

The team of "Todd Squared" took the assignment. My photographer's name was Todd Hougaard. We flew to Vegas and picked up an RV. Mr. Knievel could not get permission to jump the canyon from federal authorities, so he had to negotiate with an Indian tribe who owned a small section of the canyon. The Hualapai tribe agreed to let him jump. When we arrived, after an interesting drive through the desert in an RV, we saw a temporary city that had sprung up overnight. It was RV heaven. There were also large production trucks and two huge ramps. One take off ramp and a landing ramp. While the gap is something I'd never attempt to jump, it didn't seem to be quite what it was billed. It was just a small corner of the canyon and the gap was a couple of hundred feet. The network said it was a 1500 feet drop. I guess that is if he could possibly have fallen all the way to the bottom of the canyon. Nevertheless, a few hundred feet would have had the same "dirt nap" result.

This was a jump that was supposed to happen on live TV a few weeks earlier, but a freak desert snow storm made it more of a live suicide attempt rather than a daredevil feat. I was glad it didn't happen, because it meant that I got to go. I didn't even know about the earlier attempt that never happened. And I was a huge Evel Knievel (Robbie's father) fan! When I was a kid I had an Evel doll, motorcycle and RV! It was an RV that doubled as a takeoff ramp. I have a picture somewhere of me with the whole setup. I was probably about 8 years old.

It was fascinating to see the world of a "rock star" motorcycle dude. It wasn't quite the world that Todd Squared would fit into, but interesting to see.

As the time arrived for the jump I found myself being nervous for him. I thought how terrifying it must have been for him. And I thought it was pretty much being done for money. I don't know that he was trying to prove anything to anyone. I think he wanted a pay check. I was terrified for his family and saw how terrified they were before the jump.

The jump was much more impressive that I expected. That guy flew a long way! TV just doesn't do it justice. Then we ran down to see the aftermath. He overshot the landing ramp as many people expected. That's because he was going to make sure he made it over that gap. He broke an ankle and I think some ribs, but walked back up the ramp and talked to the fans on live TV. He was then flown to the hospital in Vegas. He's a much tougher man than I.

I interviewed his mother afterward. I was bummed that Evel wasn't there. His health wasn't good enough.

We then rushed to get a story edited and get it on the air. We made it with about 30 seconds to spare. That was all too common in the news business and always made for pre-live shot drama. The live went well and we went to see the "after party" in the camp. It involved a fire, a live band and a lot of alcohol. Todd Squared stuck out like a sore thumb. The producer of the network show thought the Mormon Guys from Utah were pretty cool and befriended us.

That night, about midnight, several of us local market TV crews went up to see the take off ramp. I conveniently "acquired" the flag that was flying at the end of the take off ramp. So that's the long story about my flag.

I have a lot of stories about a lot of stuff. I used to drive my wife crazy as we'd drive around... basically anywhere. I had a story about any particular part of town. There was a murder here, a drive by shooting here, a murder-suicide there, a stand off here. All quite depressing. But after a while it all just blurred into everything else. I'll never forget my first murder story and the nightmares I had for 2 weeks afterward. And I never saw the crime scene or even a body bag. We were kept about a half a block away. I just kept "seeing" what this guy did and it really freaked me out. There were always a lot of details that we could never discuss, often for graphic reasons, on the news.

Fortunately, after many a murder and horrific tragedy I became a bit numb. It just became "this week's murder or stabbing or drive-by." The consequences were horrific for the families of the people involved, but I was fortunate to become calloused to it. I didn't like the nightmares.

Part of why I got out of the news business was because it all became very boring to me after a while. It was always the same person we interviewed who lived next door to the murder victim. The quote was always the same. "We was watching TV and we heard a loud boom. I seen a flash and we was thinkin' it was a firework." I swear... the same person lived next to every murder victim!

So that's why Robbie's Grand Canyon jump was so fun for me. It was different. It was crazy. It was something I never covered before. And I have a cool story to tell about my flag.

Sunday

2009-07-19T23:47:00.004-06:00

Up early to set up chairs. Up on stand to give talk. Youth speakers seem to be keeping it short so we're thinking we'll have time to kill. Not so as the last two gave really good, and a bit longer talks. Then the YW sang a musical number. When our YW President got up there was approximately 7 minutes for each of us. She went over that time. I didn't bother me. I'm the type of guy who just thinks, "Hey, I've got an extra talk in the hopper next time I need one." But It would have been silly to end there. So I got up and gave an abbreviated version of my talk. I think it went fairly well although I was scattered while flipping through notes and trying to salvage some sort of meaning. Maybe that was why it was good... I didn't have time to do what I prepared.

One thing that is so wonderful is that I no longer get nervous to talk in front of a few hundred people. With my sick mind I actually enjoy it. If there was a calling to just go around and gives talks every week I'd campaign for that position. That is so wonderful to be on the other end of major anxiety. Perhaps more than no other thing... a call to talk in church would send me into anxiety hades. I would get so incredibly nervous. Not just up there waiting to speak, but for however long I had to wait after getting the call. It tore me apart. After a couple of minutes up there, when I finally stop speed reading, I would eventually calm down. But if I ran into any snag... like knot finding a quote or scripture.. it was over. I'd get flustered and try to salvage something.

Now it is just fun to go up and talk. And today I was talking to the youth so they were on my level. If I had to direct my comments to the adults about some deep doctrine I'd probably slowly start to fade and then faint dead away.

I started with a little story about a deer hunt from 1985. Here is some of what I wrote, but I had to shorten it up a bit:

There was a time many years ago when I was a deer hunter. I haven’t been for a lot of years, but there is one deer hunt that I will never forget. I was a teenager and didn’t think it was cool to go hunting with my dad that year. I went with a couple of friends. One of whom was certain he knew where we could find a big buck.

We slept at his house in Pleasant Grove so we could get an early start. Sometime before people should be awake we got up and headed out in my all terrain green dodge aspen station wagon. We went up American Fork canyon and parked outside of Mutual Dell. Then we grabbed our gear and started hiking. We took the trail that goes up behind the lodge and hiked all the way up on top while it was still dark.

It started getting light when we reached where we wanted to be. We hiked around for a little while on different trails until we saw what we came for. It was a big buck and we all got excited. There were three of us all standing next to each other and we all raised our rifles at the same time. The deer didn’t have a chance. My friend Matt said, “I’ve got it.” It was a bit disappointed, but he called it. So we all watched it as it walked along… our sights set on it. And we all watched it as it walked out of our view. Matt never took the shot. I’m still not sure why, and I didn’t stick around to ask. I was busy catching buck fever.

I ran after the deer and surprisingly it didn’t dart off into the woods. I caught up to it where I had another great shot like the one we had before. I raised my rifle. A little background on this rifle: My grandfather bought it way back when for $18 new. He had to make payments on it. He gave it to me about a year earlier. I had never sighted it in. I took the shot. The deer looked up at me as if to say, “Are you kidding? That’s the best you can do?” I’m not sure where the bullet ended up, but it may have actually been behind me. I was that bad of a shot and it was that bad of a rifle.

The deer decided to run and I decided to follow. I figured if he stopped once he’d stop again. I left the trail and started trudging through the snow. Matt and Troy just kind of watched me… probably laughing. I caught up to the deer again and squeezed off another shot. This time… I think I only missed by five or ten yards. The deer jogged off and so did I. It stayed just far enough away so as to tease me. It knew it could probably walk up and hug me and I’d still miss the shot. I went down a few fairly steep hills, but didn’t realize how steep they were because I was overcome with buck fever.

At that point the deer decided to stop teasing me and I decided to give up the chase. I tried to hike back up but soon realized uphill in the snow was not going to happen. There was no sign of Troy or Matt. I must have gone farther than I thought. I started making my way across the side of the mountain.. thinking it would be easier. But it was still so steep and I came across cliffs. So I had no choice but to go down although I didn’t know where down would take me. I would lose my footing in the snow and a few times slid over what were fortunately small cliffs. I started getting nervous and started praying. I was lost, scared, cold and embarrassed.

After I didn’t appear after a while Troy and Matt started to follow my trail in the snow, until they decided it was too dangerous to follow.

Long story short… after a lot of scary moments and a lot of praying I ended up right at the car. I was never more excited to see that green station wagon. It was about lunch time and I was starved from my strenuous hike and sought comfort in my lunch that was in the car. And I was so freaked out and the food was so comforting… I ate Troy and Matt’s lunches as well.

About a half hour later they made it to the car and were happy to find me. They were worried they’d have to call out a search party and thankful they saw me, but weren’t too excited about the lunch situation. Our hunt ended abruptly.

My mistake was that I got a little excited and strayed from the path. Despite the snow, the trails were very easy to see. It was only when I started blazing my own trails that I got in trouble and then got more and more in trouble so that I couldn’t get back.

I then when on to relate this to the straight and narrow path and the rod of iron. The topic was how the youth programs help. I didn't have time to talk too much further into all I had prepared. I just encouraged them to come, even though lots of times they really don't want to. We know. It's not a secret youth don't want to attend. But I pointed to what happened on Trek where they all loved it.

Then I kept us an extra 5 minutes over and decided I should shut up.

The YMP was reorganized today. I lost two great counselors and an adviser for a great couple of new counselors and an adviser. We have amazing people in this ward. Makes my job a lot easier.

It's late... 12:08. I have a shoot at 6:30 in Draper. One I can't screw up. So I probably should try to get 4-5 hours of sleep.

My Saturday

2009-07-18T22:47:00.001-06:00

3.5 miles, 2 production meetings, 1 hamburger, 1 headache, 1 repaired fence, 1 prepared talk.

And it is only 10:47pm.

Sweaty Blog

2009-07-16T19:56:00.003-06:00

As I'm jogging I think of lots of things to blog about. Then I get home and have to do stuff. It seems there's always stuff. There's been more stuff lately with a big project I'm working on. So I'm basically writing this entry to record my mileage for the day... 4.5 miles. If I have one of those quiet moments when I feel so inspired maybe I'll write about stuff. Doubt it. My track record indicates that whenever I contemplate writing about something later it doesn't happen.

The extent of my multi-tasking while jogging is listening to music and occasionally taking a call or two. What I really need to do is get a video camera harness thingamabob to record my blogging thoughts while I'm jogging. Then I could have a fantastic, sweaty, out of breath video blog. And anyone who sees me doing this while running would think I'm completely insane. My reality is that I'm only partially insane. But that's MY reality. Your reality of my insanity may be very different and quite complete. Perception is reality to the perceiver. Not sure perceiver is a word.

Post Adrenaline Fear

2009-07-11T18:00:00.003-06:00

Once things were winding down yesterday after the drama I started to fear that fear would rear its ugly head. Having kids and knowing the way they react to traumatic experiences I figured it would come. I was right.

Koreen was angry, Sarina was freaked that people can just walk into our backyard, and Mia was terrified it might happen again. Sheridan seemed okay and McKayla was just bored after the adrenaline surge earlier.

After putting Sarina to bed she inquired if I'd hang out for a while and play catch with the pink pillow. I asked why she wanted me to stay... already knowing the answer. We talked for a while. I couldn't use the old "Those things don't happen around here" approach. That works when they get worried about a random burglary they saw on the news. (We've learned we cannot let our younger ones be in the room when the news is on. Even news promos during regular programming have caused nightmares and sleepless nights. Dang news people!) This time she knew better.

I left her, and promised I'd check back in a few minutes and went to deal with Mia. She couldn't stop talking about it. When any of the neighbors came over yesterday she always wanted to tell the story. This may be the biggest event in her 7 year old life. But bed time is a time for her imagination to run wild. She actually went to sleep, but that only lasted until about 2am. Nightmare. Big surprise.

It's something I've worried about since we moved in. I strategically planted certain trees where they are in hopes of blocking a runaway car. I was about 5 feet too far to the West! Sarina and Mia felt a bit better when I discussed my plan for more trees and big boulders.

You can really freak yourself out when you think about what could have happened. We often have a back yard full of kids playing with our kids.

On a lighter note... 4.5 miles yesterday. 4.5 miles today.

Zen Interruped

2009-07-10T21:47:00.008-06:00

This was going to be a post about the ill-advised practice of jogging with a phone. I had some important calls that I didn’t want to miss, so I took the evil communicator with me. I was 1.5 miles in when the first call came. Then a few minutes later another… and then another. It can ruin a good run. I normally enjoy the bliss of a good sweat combined with some good music. Okay, my idea of good music may be debatable. One of the calls was fortuitous in that it moved a meeting back about 3 hours.

I got home and the girls were eating lunch. Sarina and I walked out back to look at the garden. Well, we looked at the weeds and noticed a couple of plants that appear to be non-weed looking greenery.

I went down to my office, logged on to the fad known at the www, and that’s when the real drama began…..

It was an unbelievably loud noise for a child falling and getting injured. It was similar to when Sarina was climbing up the pantry shelves about a month ago and fell. But it was MUCH louder. The screaming was much louder. It was obvious some thing was very wrong. I ran upstairs with a bit of terror… wondering what I would find. Koreen was already on the phone dialing 911 and frantic and crying. I looked around trying to find the severed limb of one of our kids… or the fridge on top of a kid… or whatever. Koreen pointed out back and it was a surreal sight that caught my eye. A car had run into our house. I ran out the door and saw the driver with his eyes open, but dazed. I asked if he was okay. No response. I asked repeatedly and finally he answered and said he was okay. He noticed where he was and said, “I’m sorry man.” Then he started to back up and drive away. I told him not to go anywhere. I asked if he fell asleep. He said he didn’t know, but maybe. He then started pulling away again. I told him to stop. McKayla was yelling out the door telling him to stop. The police were telling Koreen to get his license plate. He didn’t have one on the front, so I went to the back of the car, hoping he wouldn’t back over me. I told McKayla to grab the camera. I stated taking pictures of him and his car. He then decided to get out and look at what he had done.

The police arrived shortly thereafter and I was grateful to see them and have them take control of the situation.

He went up on the curb a block away, side-swiped our neighbors garbage can, plowed over shrubs and a tree, went through our neighbor’s fence, through their landscaping, through a bench and another tree, then through our back fence, through our bbq and stopped at our house. Sarina and I had been in his path of destruction just a few minutes earlier!

Police say he may have had a seizure. He was up and walking around, but they took him to the hospital to make sure he was okay. We had to take out another section of our front fence so they could get the car out of our backyard. Of course, we were the neighborhood spectacle for the day.

I had to run to my meeting and while I was gone my brother in law came over to look at the damage. He says our foundation is pushed in about a half inch. We’ll see if we can get an inspector over on Monday. We really hope the driver had insurance. He was cited for failure to show proof of insurance because he had an expired insurance card. I hope he’s just like me and forgets to put the updated card in his car.

Our neighbors are on vacation in Yellowstone. We finally got a hold of them later this evening. They, as you might expect, are none too pleased. They have an amazing yard, and a lot of their hard work was torn out. I took a bunch of pictures for them for potential insurance reasons.

So, I’d probably take the interruption of the jogging versus the drama that ensued afterward.

It has been a busy week with my meeting in San Diego and a marathon meeting on another potential project. When I feel so inspired I may share some info.

Oh, and be careful what you post on facebook. I have a friend who happens to be a producer at KUTV. We made the 10pm news.

Random Images

2009-07-06T23:15:00.004-06:00

I've been playing around with, or more like trying to learn, a couple of DSLR cameras over the last week. They are not yet released to the public and it has been fun experimenting with them. I also have 3 lenses and 3 flash units. Too bad I have to give them back when the project is done. Maybe they'll just get lost somehow.

Anyhoo.. I find myself needing to snap pictures.. it doesn't really matter of what.. in order to figure out some of the settings. So here is a collection of random images from my office. And yes.. that's an Emmy award. She is very photogenic.Wall

Emmy

Phone

Karl

Microphone

Knee

Germ Killer

Sadly (NOT!) I'll be in San Diego tomorrow rather than L.A. so I'll unfortunately (NOT!) miss out of MJ's big farewell at the Staples Center. I'll have a fun-filled 8 hours in SD. At least 3 of those will be in pretty significant meetings. We can plan on 1.5hrs for transport, so that gives us about 3.5 hours of fun in San Diego! We'll probably hit Mission Beach and do a little surfing.. chill at Sea World for a while and then make a choice between the zoo or Legoland. The worst part of it all is that I'll miss basketball tomorrow night. We'll probably squeeze in lunch with Thomas Fiss of Varsity Fan Club... a crush of my eldest.

Half Way

2009-07-05T23:17:00.001-06:00

We've made it half way with the 9am church schedule. As a part of the early schedule the YM are in charge of setting up the chairs. It's not bad. We start at 8:30 and haven't (knock on wood) had a problem yet with getting everything set up. I was a little worried this morning as I arrived at 8:40 and saw only 2 young men there. Others joined shortly and it always seems to work out. I would hate to delay the meeting because we're not finished setting up chairs. In six more months I won't have to worry about it. But then I'm sure I'll have morning meetings to attend. When we had 1pm church I had 7:30am meetings. I'll count my blessings. Our Stake Presidency starts at 5:30!

After that was church. It was my week to teach. We have 17 Priests in the class, so its always a challenge maintaining control. Today was pretty good. The topic: Charity. I'm not sure I've gotten through a whole lesson yet. We always run out of time. For punk 16-18 year olds they often have some insightful comments.

Then it was meeting, meeting and meeting and then I had the evening to myself. It's been a little over a year that I've been in my current calling. My wife says it's been a long year. Call me sick and twisted, but I've enjoyed it. Most of it. There are some things that are less desirable... like meeting, meeting and meeting. My theory is that once I actually start doing a good job I'll be released. I'm certainly getting a lot more out of it than the YM.

Nothing profound in today's post. Not that there often is. Just a laundry list of the day's events. Mainly because I'm getting old and I'll likely have no memory of what transpired today after about Wednesday.

Holiday

2009-07-04T23:32:00.002-06:00

The 4th of July to be exact. Independence Day to be more exact.

Interesting day. Stayed up too late last night getting a rough draft of a script done. It was due Friday morning, but the drama of the last two days cut into my time. So I woke up late. Felt terrible. Went back to bed. Slept a little bit. I don't think I've ever fully shaken the illness I started percolating at the start of Trek. Late nights and little sleep haven't helped. It catches up.

Despite feeling bad I willed myself to don the sneakers and battle the pavement. New strategy today: I decided to run downhill at the beginning. It's not much of a grade, but it is downhill. And the "uphill" I usually start out with isn't much of a grade, but it really made a difference. But what that means is that I deal with the uphill all the way back. I still tell everyone I know that I run uphill both ways.

It was hotter than I thought, but I managed fairly well. 4 miles. It is quite astounding how much I can sweat. I remember running around all day in the summer as a kid and never breaking a sweat.

We then tried to play some family games. Water balloon volleyball, water balloon kickball, sploosh ball. But it all disintegrated into a wah fest from different kids at different times. Our kids can't just enjoy the fun of the game. They have to win. In my opinion the best part of playing kickball was getting out because that meant you got cooled off in the form of a water balloon. They didn't see it that way. We called the Wahmulance and had them taken away!

We had a bbq. Chicken, hot dogs, grilled corn on cob, grilled pineapple. We then shot off parachutes. 2 out of 8 actually opened in flight.

Then we had a little fire and made smores. The kids wahed more. Then fireworks and more wahing.

The wah-fest was our punishment for allowing them to have a sleep-over last night. We don't allow sleep overs w/ others, but our girls have them regularly by themselves down in the family room. They stayed up too late, but their body clocks wake them up at the normal time so they were wahers all day.

Now I've finished my lesson for tomorrow and I'll try to get to bed at a respectable hour so I do the weekly chair setting up before church.

Happy Independence Day!

Making Peace

2009-07-03T19:16:00.005-06:00

Okay, I'm no Jimmy Carter, but I was successful in bringing two contentious parties to a peaceful agreement. Is there big consulting money in solving internal disputes among businesses? I think I'd be pretty good at it. I am usually able to quickly see the "big picture" of an issue and that helps solve disputes. I'm much better at the 30 thousand foot level than the intimate details. I'm often pretty terrible if I have to deal with the small details, but when you dig down it is usually something quite petty that initiated the dispute. In this case it was a major lack of communication and expectations. Feelings got hurt and then people buried their heads in the sand.. refusing to budge because of pride.

Let me just say... the meeting was surreal! I really can't go into details, but it was interesting to sit there and listen to people talk to other people in a way that I would never consider. I would then restate what was said and add a, "but here's what I think you're trying to say." I then had conversations with one party--about the other party--in front of that other party--as if the party wasn't there! It was bizarre. But effective. I think another tactic that had a big impact was informing them that I was prepared to walk away unless it was guaranteed that we could work as a team. There was a lot of talent in that room and it would be a shame if it wasn't put to good use. People like hearing that other people think they're talented... it's an instant diffuser. I reminded them that they had completely lost focus of the fact that this is the biggest deal and biggest client they have ever had!

At the end of the meeting cooler heads prevailed. People shook hands and agreed to move forward. I encouraged the two disputing parties to have a separate meeting later. I then stayed and talked w/ one of the parties about expectations before the two met.

So when you boil it all down... it's no different than dealing with my kids. These kids just happen to be in their 30s, 40s and 60s. I actually play this role quite often at home. Four daughters and a wife... LOTS of drama!

I was thanked later by the owner of the company for making peace and bringing the two sides back together. I guess it also means I'll still be with the project and have an opportunity to make some money. That's always a plus in this economy.

It's not personal...

2009-07-02T22:16:00.007-06:00

It's just business. At least that's the saying. I disagree. I think everything is personal. If only because it always involves people! I just think that's a very weak cop-out saying.

Why do I bring this up? I'm glad you asked. I've been working on a project for a very large client. I mean... humongous! The biggest client I've ever worked for. I'm sub-contracting through a local company I've worked with for many years. I'm writing a script for the aforementioned humongous company and acting as executive producer for the video. Well... at least that was the plan. I'm having serious reservations about the production management. I've spent several hours on the phone today dealing with the internal strife from the aforementioned local company. It's really quite strange that they have picked battles that are, in my opinion, pretty high school. Especially when the focus should be on impressing said humongous company in hopes of repeat business. You may infer that I'm not willing to mention either company.

This company does not accept ANYTHING sub-par, and I'm watching the local company spiral into chaos. The international big shots know me and the work I've done. I don't want what I assume may be a positive view of my work to be tarnished with a half-baked production that won't be acceptable to them in the end.

We have a meeting of the minds tomorrow where I'll either walk away from the production, and potentially more work down the road, or they will commit to play nice with themselves. That kinda sorta doesn't sound right.

Things cannot just be simple. Greed and power-plays factor in and change people in an instant. I've seen it before and I've been caught up in legal battles in business because people can't act like adults and be decent to one another. Is a couple of bucks, or even a couple hundred thousand bucks, really worth it in the end? I guess for some people. But there are usually many who get stepped on along the way. But hey, it's not personal, right? Business is always personal!

Oh, by the way, I ran today. I didn't have time, but I wanted the diversion. 4.5 miles. It was great. Saturday was 3 miles.

Oh, and I don't have time to be writing this.

Air Head

2009-06-27T09:56:00.003-06:00

That's what I've become. Many who've known me for a long time would argue that there's no "becoming" involved. They would say that's just what I've been. I will not protest that fact.

But lately I've become an air head as it relates to jogging. Or maybe its a lack of air. Whatever the case, I've found myself quite light headed while jogging lately. I think I referenced that once before in this blog.

It has generally been something that's hit me near the end about a mile from home. Two days ago it hit with a full two miles left. I really really really hate stopping and walking. I feel so defeated when I do that, so I haven't for a long time. Until Thursday. Once it started I went about another mile, but just couldn't keep up my already snail-like running pace. I walked for about a quarter of a mile and then ran the rest.

Yesterday I adjusted the mileage a bit. Instead of 6 miles like Thursday I only went 5. It was better.

It might have to do with the fact that I'm still fighting a cold that just wont release itself. Or I may have to adjust my time for jogging and my eating schedule. Lately, when I get up I head straight to "work" and get things done. I don't even think about breakfast. Then I think about jogging, but don't want to eat anything before I go. Around noon or 1 I take a "break" and go running. So I'm basically running having not eaten anything all day. Then I will eat my first meal of the day after I get back around 1 or 2pm. I'm no nutritionist, but that's probably not the best diet plan.

Warning: Very Graphic!

2009-06-25T11:48:00.003-06:00

It’s probably not what you think. I'm actually quite sure it's not what you think. What are you thinking?!

This post really just has to do with graphics. A LOT of graphics. I was up late last night… or this morning… finishing a 12 page graphics list for a DVD. I had no idea how many graphics were needed! I’ve never really watched one of them closely. I generally show up and read a teleprompter and then don’t watch the finished product. In this case, I wrote the script, did the on-camera narration and was just asked to put a graphics list together for editing. I thought it would take a couple of hours at most. I told them I’d get it to them this morning. I did some preliminary work on it the other day and as I dove into it last night after our mutual activity I realized it would be a late one! I take for granted how much others do to make a video look good. When things just magically appear on the screen I’ll think more about how much goes into making that magic work.

BTW here are some more Trek pictures.

We Survived!

2009-06-21T19:52:00.007-06:00

Trek was outstanding! It was a physical and spiritual task that was wonderful. I enjoyed all of it--even when it kicked my rear. We were not sure what Trek would hold for us because of all the rain. There was talk that we might have done more camping than trekking, but the weather cooperated. The overcast skies on day one were much appreciated. It kept the temps and the bugs down. About 5 miles in the skies unleashed. We were slammed with rain for about 15 minutes and huddled under tarps and handcarts and whatever we could find. There wasn't a tree for miles, so we couldn't escape the wrath. Unfortunately, my concern over the well being of my camera took precedent over my desire to snap pictures in the rain. So I'm hoping one of the other 8 photographers got some good rain stuff.

After the rain storm we trekked in mud for quite a while until we got to an area where the rain didn't hit as hard. Depending on who you ask we went somewhere between 12 and 14 miles that day. Camp was a very welcome sight! The whole time I thought about my pioneer ancestors who made the real trek without the comforts we had. Not that porta-potties are all that comfortable, but it beats the great outdoor alternative. We also had all of our meals prepared for us, and we had sleeping bags, modern tents, hand warmers, flashlights, etc. We are mere sissies compared to what the real pioneers went through. And they dealt with it for 3 months or more. We had three and a half days.

I felt all of the 12-14 miles. My feet, ankle and knees were begging to be put out of their misery. Fortunately, it rained all night the first night. Okay, it was fortunate for those of us who didn't want to go another 12 miles the next day. It was unfortunate for those who's tents didn't keep out the water. Many sleeping bags were being hung out to dry the next day. McKayla decided to stay in my tent, and it's that was a blessing for her. All but one of the girls in her tent were soaked the next morning.

We occupied the next day with a lot of games and some lessons. In the afternoon President Cosgrave led us in a prayer where everyone joined hands and knelt in a huge circle. I mean 650 people huge. We then started on a short trek. We just did a loop of about 1.5-2 miles that brought us back to camp. About 1/2 mile in, right at the first big hill, they pulled all the men aside and started with the Women's Pull. Many times in the evenings the women and children were left to pull the handcarts alone while the men went out hunting. The ladies were amazing.

On day three we were up at 6:30 and on the trail after breakfast and tearing down camp. We went about 10 miles. At the lunch break I went on ahead and stopped near a small lake for my Ephriam Hanks story. I told the story, as if I were Ephraim, of when he first came across the Martin handcart company and delivered buffalo meat to them. I did it for 6 different companies. I got quite emotional on all but one of them. I was surprised it hit me like it did, as I had read through it many times before. Some of the Mas and Pas told me it was the spiritual highlight of the trip for them. The Spirit can do amazing things even when a dorky old guy is telling a story.

We had full sun and heat on day three. The mistake I made was not filling up my water bottle at the lunch break. Once I had done the story for the last company they were on their way and so was any hope of water. I dragged into camp with some classic dehydration symptoms. I had also started to get sick on day one and it was catching up with me in a big way. I had enough energy to set up my tent and then I crashed. It was so hot in my tent that I went over to the food tents, that weren't enclosed, so I could get some shade and some air movement. One of our ward members thought I was going to keel over. Again, I thought of my ancestors who didn't have Gatorade, Advil and antihistamines. I felt better later in the evening for the fireside. Then the companies split up and went to have a testimony meeting. I didn't want to cause McKayla any undo pressure one way or the other, so I went back to the tent and got our beds ready. I was tempted to sneak up to the meeting, but they were high on a hill and it was dark. I wouldn't have been able to do it stealthily.

The next morning my cold was in full force, but I knew we only had a few miles to get back to the buses. The hike wasn't bad as we had great overcast skies again. When I got on the bus I was wasted... fever.. headache.. etc. It was great to get back home and see the family and have a shower. I appreciate running water, electricity, a bug-free environment,

and clean clothes. I did not miss for a second my computer, TV or cell phone.

The big payoff for me was in today's Father's Day card from McKayla. The teenage girl who took major convincing to go on trek said she had SO much fun and thanked us for "making" her go on trek. It likely has more to do with a handsome young man she met there, but I'll just keep telling myself she is most grateful for the spiritual feast she enjoyed!

There are a lot more stories that I'd like to think I'll share in this blog, but I imagine I'll continue trying to keep up with life.

I took about 500 pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.

Hand Carts Ho!

2009-06-16T23:06:00.008-06:00

We'll be up at the crack of sometime I don't particularly appreciate for an adventure. We had our pre-trek kick off tonight. All the kids got to meet their Mas and Pas and brothers and sisters for the 1st time. McKayla is in the smallest group. They had 2 drop out at the last minute. They're trying to do some shuffling, but we'll see. I thought she might have to be my "project" during the ordeal, but she's already identified a young girl she wants to help. The girl just doesn't want to be here, and you could see tears well up in her eyes when she said it. That will make McKayla's burdens seem so much lighter. She's also decided she needs to be a leader in her family. I'm proud of her. She's come a long way from... NO! I DO NOT WANT TO GO! Maybe she just decided she'd better keep an eye on dear old dad. I really do enjoy hanging out with her. She even gave me a hug at the big event today! We've gone through a phase of late that has outlawed hugs. They're back, so I'll take advantage before they're not cool again.
One word we heard today it that is may be so messy up there that we may not trek at all. We'll basically have a religious camp. It all depends on the weather. We'll pray for at least one day to get a tast of what our ancestors did to make it possible for us to be here today.
Busses ho! At 5am!

Beauty and the Beast and blogging and behind

2009-06-16T00:41:00.006-06:00

That's the story of my life these days. I seem really busy, but I really just don't take the time to ramble on with my blog. I know that's a huge disservice for all those who are anxiously awaiting word on all things Todd.

So I'm way behind on blogging...AGAIN. We've had Koreen's birthday, that happens to be on her brother Kyle's birthday and their brother Kraig's birthday is the day before. I"m not sure when Kirk's and Keldon's birthdays are. As you can see, they are one of those families that made a Kommittment early on to spell every name with a K.

We're still waiting on Sarina's birthday for our neighbors pool to be in working order. Should happen next week.

I've been busy field producing some shoots for the Utah Department of Public Safety. Luckily they didn't discover any of my warrants and take me away to a new friend named Bubbah.

I re-voiced a project for UDOT and think that project is finally done. Knock on wood.

I need to write some pretty technical and hopefully some pretty fun scripts soon, but haven't' had a chance to do much research.

Tonight we really didn't have the time to do it, but we went to the Scera Shell to watch Beauty and the Beast. It was nice, but it was long and all I could think about was all the Trek stuff that still needs to get done.

We've been all things Trek the last week. Getting myself and McKayla ready and making sure everyone else in the ward is ready to go. We have 2 days before our 5am gathering to head out on the buses. I'm excited to go. Mckayla... not so much. I couldn't beg borrow or steal to get my wife there. I'm anxious to see just what Trek 2009 will hold in store for us. As of a few days ago one portion of the Trek is impassible. It is supposed to rain Wed., Thurs. and hopefully not Friday. In all of this I will get to document what I see. I am on the photography committee and have a new DSLR that I want to try some fun things with. I also get to play the part of Ephriam Hanks to two of the companies that come through. I'm excited. I figure if there's terrible weather and we just hunker down and survive it's going to be great. If the weather's nice and we can walk in the dirt and dust for 12 miles a day it is going to be great. It's all what you make it. It'll be more fun because my daughter is there. I can keep an eye on her and check in with my young men because I'm a photog rover. I'll report afterward with hopefully some great pictures.

BTW In the midst of all this I've come to the realization that I might want to get a real job. I know! What am I thinking! Working from home is great! Being your own boss is great! But the reality is the economy stinks and my work is dwindling. So, I have a job interview in the morning and it may be something I would really like. I thrive with structure, and my working from home, many days in my pajamas, with kids screaming and barging in my office just isn't the structure that seems the most productive. We'll see.... 9 to 5? Working FOR someone? My dad would think me a sissy.

On the running front... 7 miles Saturday. Very lightheaded about the last mile. Hoping it was just because it was 1pm and I hadn't eaten anything yet. Today I went 4.5 miles. Felt good. Finished strong. I'll try to get a run in in the morning and then basketball tomorrow night, bit I might call bball short since we have to be up for Trek at 5am the next day. But then I'll get plenty of walking in the next three days. It'll be great. Have I said it will be great. I love self fulfilling prophecies!

Then I need to continue with the exercise. It's so easy to just stay in bed... then roll over to the mirror and be disgusted. I'm actually a much better looking man with 30lbs of lard off of me. Not that that matters at this age. No body's looking. But at least I'll feel better.

Quote of the Day

2009-06-08T20:56:00.003-06:00

During tonight's Family Home Evening lesson on speaking kind words Koreen asked who knew what complaining means. Sarina and Mia both raised their hands. When Sarina started to answer Mia declared, "I do that all the time. I know better than you!"

FYI 6.5 miles Saturday. Painful toe.

Barefoot in the Dark

2009-06-05T13:06:00.003-06:00

Sorry. You get to see a picture of my foot. Or at least a couple of toes. I'm not sure I took this picture from my good side. Not sure there is a good side down there. Unless you like feet. And if that's your thing then... well... your weird.

This was my lesson learned the hard way about running barefoot in the dark. It was actually less running and more speed walking. Here's your scene setter: Dark and lonely on a Summer night! Actually, that's from an Eddie Murphy SNL skit from the 1800's. In this case I was downstairs watching Deadliest Catch on Discovery. It is really a stupid show. They go out on a boat and fish for crab. Each episode.... they fish for crab. And then they fish for more crab. And yet I feel compelled to watch. It was a commercial and I ran upstairs to get something and did not want to miss any of the program. I rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs as I have done thousands of times. It was dark, but there was no need for a light because my feet know the way to my couch potato heaven. Earlier in the day Sarina and Sheridan decided to make a hut. The sheet that was stretched out hid the metal folding chairs they used to hold it up. My middle toe found one chair! I hopped around for a while, but didn't scream or cry or yell. Then I quickly sat down and watched the rest of the show. It ended dramatically with the fishermen catching some crab and I went to bed. When I woke up in the morning my toe really hurt. I remembered my chair incident. I looked down and it was black and blue, a bit crooked and about twice the size. Oh well. What can you do about a broken toe? FYI This is the second toe I've broken on this foot. In 5th grade I was playing soccer at recess in the middle of a snowstorm. I ran to kick the ball, slipped, missed the ball and nailed Cindy Rassmussen right in the shin! Broke my big toe. She had a large bruise.

So I didn't wear a shoe for a few days and tried running on it for the first time today. Painful. I went slowly and only covered about 3 miles, but it was good to run.

The morale of this story.... don't ever move your butt from couch potato heaven!

Expensive Click!

2009-06-03T18:40:00.000-06:00

We’ve all been there. We’ve all been warned. Our computers try to give us the chance to back out. “Do you really want to delete this/these item/items?” Most of the time we confidently click “OK” and carry on. Even if you suddenly realize you shouldn’t have clicked “OK” you are usually OK, because of the nature of the recycle bin on a PC based system. You can simply hit “Restore” on the file in the bin and it is magically returned to it’s original location. Such is not the case when you are reformatting a memory card! You are given the warning, but there’s no fail safe recycle bin.

You know where this is going. Fortunately it didn’t happen to me, but it was footage that was shot of me last week in Logan. I received a frantic call Monday asking if I could make it up there today to re-shoot some stuff that was lost. The memory cards the company uses are about a grand each, so they prefer to dump the files to an external hard drive and keep the cards in circulation rather than buy more cards. In this case the card was reused and erased before the contents were backed up. I can imagine the immediate panic that must have been felt when the realization was made. Fortunately it was something that could be re-shot, but it gets expensive. As badly as I felt for them, I still don’t work for free. Okay, that’s a lie. I do free stuff for people all the time. And I usually don’t charge enough when I do get paid. Anyway, since it was all the way back up to Logan I charged my normal day rate. If it was a quick trip to a local studio it would have been much easier for me to do a half rate. In addition to me there was a model that had to be paid and three crew members and a location charge. And then the post production gets set back another day with a deadline looming.

It is likely a mistake they will only make once.

Video Shoot

2009-05-30T11:27:00.003-06:00

Chris, Alexis, Jeremy, Holly

Jeremy, Chris, Alexis

Lauren, Chris (Notice how Chris always gets to be either Mr. Sunblock or Mr. Sun Reflector)

We finally finished a couple of weeks of marathon shooting days. Call times were 7am and the scripts were long. Since good light is important, mornings and evenings work best for outdoor shoots. The daytime hours were filled with indoor shoots. I'm normally stuck inside a studio all day, so it was nice getting out and about, especially in Cache Valley's amazing weather this time of year. But it is also challenging having so many location changes. Another major challenge with any shoots outside the studio is noise. Planes, trains, automobiles, lawn mowers, birds, heavy equipment, wind, dogs, peacocks, chickens, thunder, and cell phones are all things off the top of my head that we had to deal with. In some cases you can just ask nicely for 5 minutes of quiet to finish a segment. Sometimes $20 is enough to halt a half dozen lawn mowers at USU for 5 minutes.

We shot 6 new videos. Four of them are general photography tips videos that walk the viewer through all kinds of ideas like white balance, ISO, composition, indoor/outdoor light, shutter speeds, aperture, depth of field, etc. The other two are camera specific tutorials for the new Nikon D-5000 and Canon EOS Rebel T1i. It is a tall order for the editors and graphics people to get them finished by the deadline next month. My long days are over. Theirs are just beginning.

A Child's Prayer

2009-05-25T10:45:00.005-06:00

Our girls sang that in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. It was amazing. McKayla soloed the second verse and then sang combined with the others to finish.

People were crying. I think that means it was good. I took a few seconds of video with my phone one day when they were practicing. I'll try to get it posted, but there's nothing like the real thing.

When I sing people cry, children scream and everyone covers their ears. I think that means I'm bad.

I Want Mommy! Lawn Is A Highway

2009-05-23T23:03:00.007-06:00

It's much easier blogging life as it happens. Again, I'm hoping to catch up on all the activities I haven't blogged about, but I just couldn't end the day without posting this picture.

After major misbehaving today Mia was sent to her room. When that happens we often find notes slid under her door. Generally it's one... maybe two. She was giving her pen a real workout today. Apparently she wanted mom to go in. Dad wasn't happy, so she wasn't anxious to write me any notes. Oh, and she wanted to make sure we understood that she was sad, sad, sad, sad, sad.

Also, McKayla needs to learn to drive. We've stalled the inevitable long enough. She's a bit concerned about driving a large vehicle, so we're taking baby steps. Today was her first time on the old red lawnmower. She was a bit nervous, but ended up enjoying it. I've kind of kept it too myself. It's my one guy thing in a world of women. I pretend mowing the lawn is a hassle and I've convinced everyone in the family that they really don't want to deal with it. Instead, I'll be the stand up guy and sacrifice. The truth is that I enjoy hopping on the manly "lawn tractor" and turning on some tunes with the noise canceling headphones.

Don't worry, once McKayla officially starts driving a real vehicle we'll alert the media to make sure everyone is off the streets!

I May Like This Month

2009-05-22T23:34:00.002-06:00

Sometimes life comes at you all at once. That’s what the last few weeks have been like. Actually, it’s pretty much the story every May in our home. Correction: it starts the last day of April with one birthday. Then we have two more in May and one at the first of June. We combine with that every school performance, dance recital, gymnastics recital, choir concert, school project and a host of other things that all occur during the month of May. Add some pretty significant video projects I’m working on and it sometimes seems unmanageable. I’ve been working on some long and complicated scripts, voicing a project for another client and I spent three days this week in Logan with some marathon shooting days. After about 12 hours of standing in front of a camera “projecting,” my voice is usually gone and I go back to the hotel and crash. On a positive note—Logan has an outstanding new Marriott hotel. It’s only been open for a couple of weeks. (I get four more days there next week.) And the weather there was perfect!

In addition to everything else going on I have a calling that can sometimes take more hours than expected. Then there are all the “shoulds” that just aren’t happening. I really should focus some energy on my other business that’s dying a slow death. I really should mow the law and spend some quality time “at one” with the weed eater. I really should get a garden planted. I really should clean up my office. I really should do some spring cleaning in the garage. I should paint the trim on the shed and around the opening of our garage (a project that’s about 2 years overdue). I really should get that old beast of a truck running. I really should apologize to the neighbors about my yard and my truck. Nah! I really should go jogging.

I’m not looking for sympathy. It’s nice to be busy and feel like a somewhat productive member of society. As busy as some days seem I still manage to watch a little TV and waste plenty of time. I probably have a lot more free time than most people with a “real” job. I caught the 4th quarter of Cleveland V. Orlando tonight. Lebron for three! And I’ve had some time to play around with my new DSLR camera. After more than 20 videos instructing people how to use their DSLRs I finally actually own one. I’m not a camera expert, but I play one on TV.

Over the years I have always loved the month of May. It seems I have a lot of great memories from May. As a kid, May was always a fantastic month because it meant no more school for a while. But it is also the time when it seems we can finally count on not having anymore snow. The weather gets warmer. Everything greens up. We get outside more. There’s an occasional rain storm. I have always loved the smell of a rainstorm. It’s just kind of a fresh feeling month if that makes any sense.

I’m behind on blogging all of the activities we’ve enjoyed this month and hope to get some pictures and maybe some video on this silly site. If for no other reason than “a record of all our proceedings” during this month. I see some light at the end of that tunnel in about a week an a half (I’m projecting about June 4th) where I’m going to be bored and looking for something to do. But that’s only 2 weeks away from Trek so maybe not!

May-be I’ll have a boring evening next week in Logan where I’m back at the hotel by at least 7pm and I can fill in some details.

Here’s to May!

4.0

2009-05-14T15:26:00.004-06:00

This is nothing more than a bragging post. It's what parents do.

Last night we went to an "Evening of Excellence" at McKayla's school. We got the invitation the day before, so we didn't quite know what to expect. It didn't say much.

Long story short--she was given an award for being a 4.0/high honor roll student. In addition, she is one of only 16 in the school who has maintained a 4.0 for the entire 3 years. It's just what she does. She's one of those great kids who very rarely needs to be reminded of homework. She always works on projects early and wants them to be the best they can be. So far so good. If only all of our kids followed her example.

It hasn't been without some drama. Biology! She was at an A- for a while and was determined to bring it up so she would continue to have a spotless record. She basically had to ace her final test, so there was a lot of study drama for a few weeks.

I consider myself highly intelligent, so I'm sure he gets it from me! :) Actually, I'm not sure I recall bringing home a book to study in high school. I'm sure I did, but I was not scholarly. I was far too interested in my social life versus school. And I have the grades to prove it. I did much better at BYU than high school. By then I understood the importance of education. Koreen, on the other hand, was always a great student. Fortunately, McKayla inherited her discipline for schooling.

Now all we need is three more years of 4.0 and we'll welcome the scholarships! No pressure McKayla. :)

SLJMS

2009-05-11T13:11:00.001-06:00

It’s an acronym. No, it will not become popular like LOL and BRB or OMG. It’s my simple way of voicing my approval for one of Utah’s newest laws that will take effect tomorrow. Texting or emailing while driving will be illegal! It’s fascinating to me that it has to be outlawed. You would hope that the danger of texting while driving 80 (also illegal) down I-15 would just be understood and avoided by all. But a lot of people just aren’t smart enough to figure that out, or think they’re invincible. I guess that’s why we have laws.

Most of what goes on at Capitol Hill (nationally and locally) is a waste of time in my opinion. I don’t know that I’ve ever met a meeting that I liked, but lawmaking meetings take the cake! Perhaps the most bored I’ve ever been as a journalist was listening to lawmakers lawmaking. The time and expense is ridiculous. And they love to hear themselves talk! And it’s often for a law that is nothing more than a pet project of a lawmaker who wants to get his/her name in a book that says they sponsored a law. OMG!

But this is a law that I have to agree with. Cell phones, makeup and Big Macs are bad enough without throwing texting into the mix. Until we can outlaw stupid people we will just have to make laws to try to protect the stupid people from themselves and us non-stupid people from them as well.

SLJMS Some laws just make sense.

A Day of Rest

2009-05-09T21:04:00.002-06:00

There is never a Sunday where I don't have extra meetings beyond the regular 3 hour block. Even the 5th Sunday is not exempt from extra meetings. I'm not complaining. Call me sick and twisted, but I've enjoyed my current calling, even though I regularly have very busy Sundays. With 45 young men, 23 of them Priests, I can always do more. Heaven knows I need the blessings.

But tomorrow all of the pre-church and post-church meetings have been canceled for Mother's Day. I know my wife is looking forward to having me home and helping with the girls. That's the downside of my calling--being away on Sundays. Mormon mothers have way too much to deal with without having their husbands gone all day Sunday.

It will be strange to be home all that time on a Sunday. It will be kind of like that day of rest thing that I've heard about. I hope I don't start pacing the house. Maybe I can call a clandestine tele-meeting just for fun! Kidding. I'm the guy who holds as few meetings as possible and always trys to have them completed in under 1/2 hour. Doesn't always happen. People like to talk.

Jogging: I did not jog yesterday. My excuse is that it was a busy day with our 11 year old's birthday party and a bunch of girls running around our house. (Pictures coming soon) Today I tried a new route. 6.5 miles. I thought it was at least 7, but paced it off in the car later.

Mutual in the 21st Century

2009-05-07T21:25:00.007-06:00

This is a video we did last month for a mutual activity. If you're looking for a great combined activity this is one. We divided up into about six teams and each team was given a Book of Mormon story. The goal was to shoot a "movie" that brings the story to the 21st century and likens the scripture to the youth. We have a little over an hour and could go anywhere and use any props we wanted... provided we got done in that time-frame. We kept the videos under six minutes and then showed them for the the next month's combined activity on a big screen and had goodies. It was a big hit with the youth.
We were given the story of the brother of Jared and this what we came up with. I felt like we cheated because this is what I do. I tried to restrain myself and not get too fancy with it, but I really enjoy this kind of thing.
And I was extremely impressed with the acting talent we had!

I don't remember doing anything like this when I was young.

For the record: Six miles today. Sun burn.

Blog Jinx

2009-05-05T23:03:00.003-06:00

I just HAD to write about playing through pain! And I just HAD to say "we'll see how basketball goes tonight." I jinxed myself.

It was probably due to today's run. About an hour into b-ball as I jumped to take a shot (maxing out an outstanding vertical leap that must be at least 3 inches) both calf muscles cramped up on me. Otherwise known as a Charlie Horse. I remember that happening once in high school while I was shooting hoops out in front of my house and once in HS football. I forgot how painful it was.

So, thinking about my silly post from earlier today, I wasn't about to stop playing. Each time I would jump I'd cramp up. It must have looked funny. It is kind of funny. The fates are wise guys.

It Hurts Coach. Take me out.

2009-05-05T13:04:00.009-06:00

Problem is... my coach is a jerk. He has this thing about not quitting. He won't even let me walk for a little while. I always have to be jogging. Today was another one of those runs where I just wasn't feeling it, but I just kept swimming. I got home, looked in the mirror and went easy on my coach.

In fairness to myself, I've never told a coach to take me out of anything. I have hobbled, crawled and been carried off of various fields and courts. I even tried to go back into a football game once after being carried off of the field by coaches. It turned out being the last football play I ever ran. There are touchdowns I scored that I can barely remember, but this blown-out knee play will be etched in my mind forever. I ended up having major knee surgery the next day and spent an unpleasant week in the hospital. The morale of this story: If your leg just sort of dangles below the knee, don't try to go back in the game.

While at BYU I was playing basketball and came down hard on my ankle. I walked around on it for another year and a half before I couldn't walk anymore. Two ankle surgeries later and it still hurts every day. The morale of this story: Go to the doctor!

A couple of years ago I went to work and had an upset stomach. It progressively got worse. That night, actually about 2am the next day, after a little prayer, I knew I'd be having surgery. I wasn't sure on what. I woke my wife up to tell her I was going to go over to the hospital to get checked. I assured her it wasn't a big deal and I'd call her to tell her what's up. I just didn't want to be a bother and make anyone come over at 2am to watch the kids. At the hospital they took me in for an emergency appendectomy. My miscalculation was that I didn't realize I wouldn't be able to drive myself home. What made it worse was the number of mistakes they made and the pneumonia they gave me. I self-diagnosed my pneumonia and they confirmed it. I have never felt closer to death in my life. I seriously thought that if I got even a fraction more sick I would not be able to get better. What a surreal feeling. Plenty goes through your mind. After a blessing from my neighbor and friend I turned the corner. I missed more than a month of work and when I went back it was quite apparent to everyone it may have been too soon.

I don't share these experiences with you to make you think I'm tough or have some abnormal pain tolerance. Quite to the contrary, I am one of the biggest wimps I know. BUT... I'm not a quitter. We'll see how basketball goes tonight.

3.5 miles.

It seems that as jogging goes so goes blogging for me. No jogging... no blogging.

Uphill Both Ways!

2009-05-04T14:09:00.002-06:00

I swear... it was uphill and into the wind during my entire jog this afternoon. I know that's impossible, but that's what it felt like. Just one of those days. And to add to my frustration my left earbud kept falling out! Can you imagine what a difficult life I lead?!

It would have been 4.5 miles, but I met up with my daughter on her way home from school, so I walked with her the last .25 mile. Not many 15 year olds walk home w/ their daddy from school. She seemed cool with it. She's a good kid!

Catching Up

2009-05-03T22:46:00.007-06:00

My blogging has been inconsistent at best lately, so I thought I'd try to catch up a bit. At least... with pictures. Besides, does anyone really want to read what I write anyway?
Aside from Shamu and the dolphins, the one thing I remember from visiting Sea World as a child was holding the star fish.

Mia has become quite the gymnast. She battles us, but then enjoys it each time she goes. And she's quite good, but I'm her dad, so I have no objectivity.

Our baby just turned 7! Impossible!

Trying to injure myself at Laguna Beach.

McKayla was in Guys and Dolls. She didn't enjoy it all that much. It was probably really cool in the 50's and may have had some residual momentum in the 60's, but 2009 is probably time to stop performing Guys and Dolls without a major overhaul to the script and music. Name one song from Guys and Dolls. See? I knew one song. They were going to do Into the Woods, but then at the last minute the school decided to change. We weren't fans of the choice.

McKayla enjoying sunset at Laguna.

The girls jumping at Laguna. Mia was really into it. It looks like she was trying a backflip.

There's A New Sherrif In Town

2009-05-03T17:56:00.002-06:00

and he rides a purple pony.

This was a picture taken at the daddy/daughter date a few weeks ago.

And people think Clint Eastwood looked tough in a cowboy hat!

Jogging

2009-05-01T12:40:00.002-06:00

It was a perfect day for a run. 4.5 miles. I really must keep it up. I've been really busy and really lazy. Tired of looking like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. What a great movie though!

Boot Scootin

2009-04-27T16:10:00.005-06:00

Last week for a Daddy Daughter date we learned the Boot Scootin Boogie. It was a western themed event.
We had a lot of fun, but sadly, I was the one holding the cell phone to record Sheridan and Sarina dancing. Most unfortunately, that means my dancing was not captured on video! Sorry for the poor quality. I'm waiting for an HD quality cell phone camera!

Sea World Part Deux

2009-04-17T00:48:00.003-06:00

Based on our experience Tuesday and with kids of our ages... 15, 10, 8, 7... we figure Sea World is a 1.5 day kinda thing. We saw everything we wanted to on Tuesday and left the park by about 4:30... knowing we were going another day. Today was much better. The weather was still cold, but the wind was not blowing like crazy. There were A LOT more people there. We got there at 1pm and did a couple of shows that we hadn't seen and went on a couple of rides we hadn't seen. McKayla was dying to visit Mission Beach because that's where he latest crush surfs a lot. So we drove over there and took some pictures, some video and she stopped my when I started yelling out for "Thomas!" She thought that was embarrassing.

We then decided there were only a few things left we wanted to see.. including Shamu Rocks at the end of the evening. So we went to a few stores and went to IHOP for breakfast for dinner. My preference would have been some scary beachside mexican joint on Mission, but no one would have eaten there with me. My wife and kids do not eat mexican!!! And yet, I survive.

We then returned to see the sharks one more time, go on the Arctic helicopter ride and run over to Shamu Rocks. I think we had the most fun before the actually performance clapping and singing to the songs they were playing. We will, we will.... rock you! I love rock in roll, so put another dime in the juke box baby. I wanna rock and roll all night.... and party every day. And a guy played one of my childhood faves.... Eruption on the guitar by Van Halen.

Then the whales did their thing to music and lights and then we watched fireworks. It was a good day. Much less to do than at Disneyland, but like I said, a good 1.5 day activity.

Sure am not missing 10 inches of snow a home! But it would be nice if it wasn't so dang windy here. Tomorrow, our last day on the beach, is supposed to be better.

Life's a beach!

Sea World

2009-04-14T20:05:00.002-06:00

A day of fun at Sea World... despite the cold. I think we brought the cold Utah weather with us. It was in the 50s and we got rained on! In San Diego?! Its more like a misty kind of Hawaiian rain, but we still got wet. And, of course, us tourists all wore shorts. I did force the kids to take jackets. They wished the took parkas!

More Ocean

2009-04-13T20:57:00.002-06:00

Easter at Dana Point and flying kites at Pacific Beach.

Seeing the Ocean Again

2009-04-11T21:47:00.002-06:00

Our girls love the ocean. Even when the water is cold.

I Feel Pretty

2009-04-10T00:17:00.005-06:00

Our theater week continued tonight with West Side Story. This was off, off, off, off Broadway at AFHS. The cast did a great job. The main singers were great and there was some very good acting. One of my priests from our ward was in it, so he was happy to see us there.
I think it's time to update the creepy 60's music, the songs and some of the dialog, Sporto! Can you dig it?

All that said.. I really do feel pretty.

Wicked Post

2009-04-09T23:59:00.004-06:00

It was a wicked show. The kids had a fantastic time and I had a fantastic time watching them have a fantastic time. I also watched the production. I was blown away with the talent. Everything. The special effects, the lighting, the acting and the singing. And the story telling...so clever! These people who put this little thing together kinda know what they're doing. Defying gravity at the end of the first act was ridiculously amazing. McKayla was near tears.
The acting and the singing were spot on, and I'm usually quite picky when I spend good money.
My one negative critique was the audio. Since we were under the balcony the audio guy says the best sound hits the balcony and bounces forward. They have some speakers up above us, but it didn't seem they were turned on. We could hear the singing and the dialogue much better in the 2nd act. Beg borrow or steal to get to Wicked tickets. It's pretty cool.

Conference

2009-04-05T09:18:00.002-06:00

I thought General Conference yesterday was outstanding. This will be a quick post as I'm getting ready for this morning's session, lunch at the in-laws and the afternoon session.
The trio of Uchtdorf, Eyering and Monson at the Priesthood session last night was san-fran-tastic.

Touching History II

2009-04-03T00:34:00.008-06:00

So the situation was our quarterly Court of Honor for the scouts in our ward. I have an interesting relationship with scouting and courts of honor. I've never quite been into either. As a youth I did the cub scout thing and never thought too much about it... good or bad. I went along and did the activities. That changed when I became a boy scout. I probably would have had a similar experience in boy scouts as I had in cub scouts had the powers that be (leaders) not decided initiation was needed. I'll call it hazing.

There was great fear for my friend Eric and me in the days leading up to the first camp out. We knew that's when it would likely happen. We had no idea what, but got ourselves prepared once we arrived at camp. We planned an escape route up the side of the hill to the west of our camp. We also created booby traps along the way. The person in the rear would trigger the traps and either rocks or logs would tumble down onto our assailants. We were confident in our preparation and were pleased the we could honor Baden Powell by saying we lived the motto: Be Prepared, even if we killed a couple of scouts in the process.

But then our leaders took us for a hike several miles away from camp. We didn't have a plan B for off-site hazing. Along side a camp road and right next to a river they struck. I won't go into details aside from saying our clothing was removed from us by force, but they let us keep our hiking boots on. There were two sad things about that... first of all... it was done under the supervision of the adult leaders... also my priesthood leaders. If you priesthood leaders stumble upon this blog... what in the &^%# were you thinking?! Seriously. And I don't swear! Do you think that would inspire further participation in scouting from a 12 year old who just was traumatized? Was this the cool thing to do? Was it the funny thing to do? Did it show how to live with honor? What it accomplished is it inspired me to never want to go back, and I became very judgmental about scouts and their funny green socks with tassels and the goofy pseudo militaristic uniforms that even adults wear and what is it with all those knots? Needless to say Eric and I did not become a coveted eagle scouts. And I was okay with it. In a different time.. in a different ward.. maybe I would have. The second sad thing is that I was afraid to say anything about it to my parents. Why not? Why didn't I stand up to the leaders? My leaders would have likely been arrested. Then again, it was the early 80's, so probably not. I probably need some serious post traumatic scout camp counseling.

In my current calling it is important that I support those scouts who want to achieve in scouting. I don't share their passion, but if it is their thing... I'll help them out. So, courts of honor have never really been a big thing for me, and I've honestly tried to avoid most that I could.

This one didn't afford me an opportunity to find a way out. I attended and was happy to give out a bronze palm to a scout that has gone well beyond his eagle and really loves the stuff. It's quite an accomplishment to receive what is his 4th extra palm.

The payoff for me was the guest speaker. He is a historic document collector and has worked a lot with the church. He had some fascinating stories from history about the civil and revolutionary wars and had original documents to support them. He also shared an original copy of the Book of Mormon. I love this book, but the oldest copy I had ever touched was the one my primary teacher gave me in..... ummmmmm.... 1977 I think. It was amazing to see intact, albeit obviously water damaged, but readable. "I Nephi, having been born of goodly parents....." I checked just to make sure. The big difference was that no verses had been added yet and the chapters were random. There was also a preface by Joseph Smith asking for the stolen manuscripts to be returned. That was 1830. No one has come forward with the Book of Lehi.

I held a letter signed by Abraham Lincoln. I held a letter signed by George Washington and another by Thomas Jefferson.

It was a privilege to see, read and touch these documents and think of caliber of the men who helped create them and the other outstanding contributions they've made to all of us.
It was all really cool. I'm glad I went to the event that I normally begrudge.

Sorry about all the background of my 12 year old scouting experience. I didn't need to share, but did anyway. I pray that things like that do not happen anymore. I know scouting has become more sensitive to hazing. Two-deep leadership is a standard. Although we had two leaders at that particular camp out. I still just cannot comprehend how they felt that was a good idea.

You never know the lasting impact you'll have on a young person, good or bad, so lets make it positive people! It is an honor to work with the youth in my ward.

Touching History

2009-04-01T22:45:00.004-06:00

2 posts in one day after such a long layoff?! No way!

This is actually more of a teaser, and a reminder for me to give an adequate write-up for what I'm so excited to share.

Here's the tease... It involves one of those events that you really aren't excited about attending, but it also involves Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Joseph Smith. And I got to hold it in my hands! Errr... THEM in my hands. Not them personally. That would be kinda weird since they're dead and all. But stuff of theirs.

And if this were an appropriate news promo I would add.... "and we're all gonna die!" But it's not, so I won't.

I have pictures and more verbosity to share later, but I'm planning on being tired now and going to bed. But I was really excited to share and want to be as excited tomorrow when I tell you all about it, so for now you'll know that I was at least excited for a while.

I think I worry about my vast readership and what they think a little too much. I guess readership might be a bit misleading, but vast reader might be insulting for the one person who stumbles upon my mumblings once in a while. That might be interpreted as an enormous or immense reader. And that would be rude.

Stay tuned.

Blog is not Dead

2009-04-01T13:16:00.004-06:00

Although it may seem so. It has been "a space of time" since I last made an entry in the ongoing saga of The Hansen Family. It just seems like I've been so busy. I'm probably not nearly as busy as many people, but I'm inherently lazy, so anything seems busy.

Archuleta
As far as standout events go, I guess we need to update the Archuleta files. The big concert was last Friday. The drama was who McKayla would go with. We had 2 tickets, and going with a parent was apparently completely out of the question. After all, "I want to have fun" is what we got when bringing up that possibility. How could you possibly have fun going to a concert with a parent?! She ended up going with a friend from her Beauty and the Beast production. As my wife had a basketball game that night, I got to drive the teenager to the Ecenter. It was interesting listening to their conversation on the way up and back. Was I like that? I probably was. Except for the talking about boys part. It was quite fascinating. I thought about going shopping during the concert, but also took along a DVD to watch while I was waiting. I ended up watching a DVD. Secret Window w/ Johnny Depp. Boring. Predictable. Supposed to be scary. Just kind of dumb. Then I went over to the front of the arena.. hoping that Archuleta would be about finished. I saw from friends from Fox 13 who were doing a live shot for the news. They informed me he just went on. This was 2 hours after the concert started! So I chatted w/ them for a while and then waited for another hour and a half.

The reviews were fantastic. I wouldn't presume to try to describe how it was a for a 15 year old who is hopelessly in love with the boy wonder from Murray. It quite possibly may have been the best night of her life. For me... I'm glad she had a good time. I had a lovely time with a boring Stephen King movie.

Dislocation
At the same time as the concert, in the 2nd quarter of the 1st game, my wife dislocated her finger. Apparently it was pretty disgusting looking. A doctor happened to be on her team and popped it back into place. She taped it to the other finger and finished the game... which they lost... so she had to play another game... which they won... so she had to play Saturday morning. They lost, so she can now go easy on the finger. It looks terrible! Gotta love church ball!

Calling
I've been quite busy with my young mens calling. This last Sunday I was so excited that I had no extra meetings and didn't have to be in charge of anything during church (5th Sunday). But then before church I was told I needed to meet w/ the Bishopric for a PPI. Then after the PPI I met w/ the 1st Counselor for another half hour. They were actually good meetings, so I won't complain. My family used to wonder when I'd actually be home on Sundays. Now they just don't ask.

Jogging
I started jogging again, but was quickly derailed by the beautiful white spring weather. I put the treadmill away for the SPRING and I really don't want to dig it back out again, so I'm just waiting out the snow. I hate running when its really cold.

San Diego
We should escape the cold as we are heading to San Diego for a week. But you never know. We'll probably get to experience the only April snowfall in the history of So. Cal.

Wicked
We're also looking forward to Wicked. We bought tickets four months or so ago. We're going next week. I'll give my review after we attend. But I'm going in with a bias. I hate the Capitol Theater. It is beautiful, but I've struggled with the seating there in the past. Depending on where you are on the floor, you have a good chance of not seeing over the person in front of you. Not sure how the little ones are going to enjoy that.

Caught a Cold
As my last topic for this post I'll share with you the fun I've experienced over the last week with a virus my kids downloaded on their computer last week. It was 6:11pm last Wednesday that our computer was hit with SWP2009. It tries to fool you into purchasing virus protection software saying that your computer has become infected. The second part is correct. Apparently the first part just takes your money and leaves you with the virus. It then tries to capture data for bank and credit card accounts. It also redirects your browser anytime you do a search. I found some of the files and deleted them and ran a full scan. Our McAfee Virus Scan seems to be garbage, by the way. Why didn't it catch it? And it can't remove it. Now the virus has taken over the execution of any virus scan/removal software. I tried the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool, but the virus prevents it from running. I tried HiJackThis, but it does not work. I tried Malwarbytes, but get the same result. Housecall by TrendMicro won't work. My latest attempt is AVG. It actually installed and started running. It is scanning right now, so we'll see if it actually removes the viruses. (I'm sure there are several.) My last resort is to back up all the data we want and reformat the hard drive, but I really hate to have to do that if I don't have to. I imagine someone who knows what they're doing could probably have it all back to normal in a few minutes, but I'm not a real hi tech guy.

Death to Hackers!
It is my opinion that anyone who creates and distributes a computer virus should be hanged, then shot, then stabbed and then punched in the face. Maybe its time to get rid of all the PCs in the family and go for MACs.

And this all has nothing to do with the dreaded Confiker virus that it supposed to go nuts today! I'm sure we'll get it. We are a sickly family. We catch anything that goes around.

Bored?
This is all painfully boring information and I apologize that you took some time out of your day that you will never get back to read it! Thanks for following the blog!

Temple Open House

2009-03-13T08:41:00.002-06:00

Because we had 3 out of 4 kids sick a few weeks ago we rescheduled our reservations for the Draper Temple open house. Our mistake was rescheduling for the last week of the open house. We had anticipated a short wait when we arrived at the church. Not to be with the number of people attending the last week. If you haven't been... here's the process: You park at a nearby church, watch a 12 minute video, board a bus that takes you to the temple for the tour. Sounds pretty simple.
We were escorted into the gym at the church that had a lot of people. We were told it was about a 50 minute wait. That was on the outside of our time-frame to get kids to gymnastics, but it would work. After 45 minutes we started doing the math. With the number of people in front of us, and a video being shown every 12 minutes in the chapel, then waiting for a bus, we were still about 2 hours from beginning the process of watching the video.
We heard that there was much less waiting at 2 other nearby churches. Apparently everyone was going to the church we were at because it was the first church they saw after exiting the freeway. Unfortunately, they were supposed to actually read the address of the church they were assigned to. And no one was checking when they arrived at that church. ATTENTION! If you are still going this week, make sure you go to the church you are assigned to visit. Chances are you'll get in to the temple much more quickly!
So we went down the road to a different church (we were assigned to be at the first one, but couldn't wait another 2 hours) and got right into the chapel. We waited about 5 minutes for the video to start and about 10 minutes after that to catch the bus. But we were happy to be able to make it. We wanted all of our kids to experience the temple and see its beauty. We took McKayla for the open house of the Mt. Timpanogos temple, but the others weren't around yet.
They were awestruck with the beauty. And they were great kids! It was a crazy day, but they were very patient.
We hurried so fast that we didn't even have time to snap a single picture. It turns out we were too late for gymnastics anyway. Three and a half hours after we started the process we finished.
Now we can wait for the Herriman temple to open and try to avoid being there on the last week of the open house!

Just Shoot Me

2009-03-10T01:42:00.002-06:00

This is one of our most recent shoots for QuickPro Camera Guides. We do hour long DVD tutorials that help you learn how to use that really expensive Digital SLR camera you just bought, but have no idea how to turn it on.

I host the tutorials and stand in front of a teleprompter with a white backdrop and instruct. We also use a model on occasion to show some different poses/lighting techniques. It is also important to have someone nice looking in the video, so they aren't stuck looking at me the whole time.

Paying a Visit

2009-03-10T01:36:00.002-06:00

I paid a visit to some old friends a couple of weeks back at Fox 13. It was great to see them. It is great to be out of that environment, but I do miss a lot of the people.

I took my group of Priests (which has now grown to 21, by the way). They were excited to meet the TV big shots and see what all goes into making a successful newscast. I often forgot how much was going on around me and all through the day to make it possible for me to sit on the desk and make some sort of sense.

And that's the way it was...

Silence

2009-03-07T23:16:00.007-07:00

At least that's what there has been from me for a while. I haven't blogged in a bit, and even when I did a bit ago, it was pretty lame. I give myself a D- for effort and a solid F+ for content. I was also out of town (lovely Las Vegas) for 3 days this week and made the decision not to blog or facebook.

Since it's been so long I thought I'd check in, albeit in another brief bit of blogification.

Last week's big stress was hearing on the radio that they decided to add a David Archuleta concert at the last minute. The radio said tickets go on sale Saturday at 10. It was 10:30! No luck. I guess they sold out in 15 minutes. How would it be to be a teenager and be selling out concerts in minutes. I would probably not be able to handle it. So, with some Internet research, a shady drug-type-looking deal in a gas station after dark, and more money than they're worth we acquired 2 tickets to see wonder boy perform. If you don't understand the drama behind this please look at some of the older posts about McKayla's obsession with all things Archuleta.

Then I went off to Vegas for 3 days. I have a love/hate relationship w/ Vegas. I love to hate it. It is the second on my list of top two places to hate. Number 1 is New Orleans. Vile, disgusting, crowded and does EVERYBODY have to smoke?! It is written in the state constitution that you cannot allow a visitor to leave Las Vegas without them reeking of cigarette smoke and cigar smoke? Do cigar smokers ever look in mirrors? I can't see how the smell or taste is appealing, and add to it the look of picking up dog doo from the grass and placing it in your mouth. Oh well.

The convention was great. Very different from years past. Activity was down dramatically. It was interesting to go in high level meetings with the likes of Sony when the big shots we're talking with aren't even sure if they're part of the 5K layoffs recently announced. It's a time for many people to take the opportunity to reinvent themselves. All kinds of things could come out of our meetings, or absolutely nothing. It depends on follow up and some forces outside of our control.

It is interesting to compare the QuickPro booth (above) to some of the major manufacturer's booths. In many cases the major digital camera companies (Nikon, Canon, Sony, Pentax, Olympus, Kodak, Fuji, etc.) have what are called "cities" at PMA. Their "booths" cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and include a great deal of space and numerous meeting rooms.

Last night we went to the Grand Concert at the Jr. High. McKayla is in Concert Singers. They did an excellent job. There is a ton of talent in that school. Maybe they'll share with me some day.

Today I changed the brake pads on my car, and changed the oil and filters on the car and the van. I also put new wipers on the car and a new rear taillight. Those repairs and maintenance are about the extent of my mechanical abilities. I don't know if my father (a 35 year mechanic) would be please or embarrassed with me. I just didn't get into it when I was younger and he always wanted to show me how to put widget arms on maniforms and the like. But I don't mind doing thinks like brakes myself and saving $100 and avoiding waiting up to 3 hours or more to get it done. Brakes are about a half hour job on my own, so it's worth it in the time savings. The last time I got just a simple inspection on my car it took almost 2 hours. They told me it would take 45 minutes. When I came back after 45 minutes they told me they were just about to pull it in. Next weekend I'm shooting for changing the brake pads on the van. But the rotors might need turned, so I'll have to take it apart first and look. If they're too bad I may just get all new rotors.

I know this is all very fascinating stuff, but that's the extent of the excitement. I could have had plenty of exciting things to report about Vegas, but homey don't roll that way. The fountains at the Bellagio were cool, but I didn't get a picture because my memory card was full. The sushi at the Bellagio was great, but I didn't bring any home to share.

The weather was great! And I'm really upset that I didn't bring that back to share! Winter must go away. Now I must go to bed. I get to get up at 6:30 tomorrow morning. Sunday meetings should all take place after my afternoon nap. The meeting really isn't until 8, but we have to set our clocks forward an hour, so it will feel like all of 6:30.

It will get warmer. I will jog. If I will jog I will lose weight. If I will lose weight I will feel better. If I will feel better I will look better. If I will look better I will get a role in a major blockbuster film playing the devastatingly handsome, rugged, yet romantic super hero. Or maybe I'll just get to be Jabba the Hut in the next Star Wars movie.

75/25 Rule

2009-02-23T21:31:00.003-07:00

Our 75/25 rule usually means we have 3 out of our 4 girls happy at any given time. In this case, the rule has reversed itself. We have 3 out of 4 girls sick. McKayla is our lone healthy child. #2 has been sick for a week. #3 has been sick for two days, and #4 decided 5am was a good time to start throwing up.
Our grand plan was to go to the Draper Temple open house today. We've rescheduled for a few weeks down the road. We'll cross our fingers that we can go back to the regular 75/25 by then.

Dreamin' 'bout Larry

2009-02-21T20:23:00.002-07:00

I very seldom remember my dreams. If I do it seems it's only for a brief moment right after I wake up and then it's gone.
Not so this morning.
I was saddened yesterday to hear about Larry H. Miller's death. He did a lot for the community outside of solidifying the presence of the Jazz in Utah. I had a few occasions to interview Larry over the years, and we chatted a few times at games. What I loved about Larry was that if you didn't know... you would never know. Meaning... if you didn't know he was a multi-gazillionaire you would never guess. He never put on airs. He treated everyone the same. That's why he'd give a dorky reporter the time of day.
He and I had an interesting chat last night. That was my dream. We were in some sort of work break room or something. The way I knew for sure it was a dream was because he had a suit and tie on. I was just a very casual conversation. It was apparently not strange at all to me that I was talking to a guy who had just died. He talked about the decision to go home and die and how it was to discuss that with others before he died. We also talked about Joseph Smith.
Now, if it wasn't a dream I would ask that you consult some professional help for me soon, or sign me up to work for Psychic Friends.
Why I remembered this dream I don't know.
Larry is a good man. Aside from wearing a suit and tie I wonder what he's up to right now. Probably yelling at the refs. (The 2nd half of the Jazz/New Orleans game just started)

Long time no blog

2009-02-18T02:32:00.006-07:00

I've been busy. I've been sick. I've been sick of being busy. We've stipulated I'm an insomniac, so here I am at the computer past 2 am. This is not a good thing since I have two full days of shooting ahead of me where I need to look bright eyed and bushy tailed and sound like a professional. Oh well.

A lot has happened and just a little has happened. It all seems to be a blur. I've been quite busy with my calling lately and that seems to take up more evenings than usual. Then there's the whole trying to make a buck thing. And we've got a lot going on w/ the kids... musical theater, gymnastics, dance, science projects.

I've been on a retro-fest lately cleaning out my dad's house and finding a bunch of really old pictures. And then finding pictures of me in high school. I had such a great time in HS. But it's been odd. I wonder if I'm thinking back more fondly than what it really was. Or maybe it was just an outstanding time. I'll go with the latter. I was a simple naive kid surrounded buy a bunch of great people in my life. If anyone has any idea what I'm talking about feel free to clue me in. Or just have me committed.

So, to step back in time not quite so far... I found a fun little movie trailer I was in. And if you are patient... the movie will hit theaters in 2005! Well, that's what the trailer says. Still being patient.

Missionary Days

2009-02-04T17:13:00.001-07:00

Pictures of my first two missionary companions... Mulvey (top) and Warner.

I found lost and then misplaced it!

2009-02-03T23:18:00.003-07:00

I used to have TV shows that I faithfully watched. If I missed them I would record them and watch them later. I know it's an incredible waste of time, but I miss having a TV show to look forward to each week. Remember when we were kids and we just couldn't miss an episode of Family Ties? And if you did there was no VCR to record it. Unless you were one of those rich kids. It basically went into the airwaves and was lost.
Life is so busy that I just haven't had time to follow a show regularly. I swear we've had something every night of the week for the last forever weeks.
Anyway... I was always intrigued with the promos for Lost. But I never took time to watch it. Then one day I decided I would look it up online. It turns out ABC had the 1st three seasons on the website. Using the Utah company Move Network's technology by the way.
I was quickly hooked and found that I could watch it at my leisure after the kids were in bed. I finally got through all of the episodes and was looking forward to the recent season premiere. I knew it premiered the week of the 20th and was excited to watch my first episode of Lost at its regular time in HD and 7.1 surround!
I always knew that Lost was on Thursday's so I looked forward to that. I notified my wife and alerted the media that I would watch Lost that evening. My wife then informed me that she thought Lost was on Wednesdays. I thanked her for her help, but assured her Lost is on Thursdays. And then I checked......
I am occupied every Wednesday with the youth in our church so I haven't seen any of this season yet. Don't tell me what's happened! When I'm not wasting time writing meaningless blog entries about bizarre "Gilligan's Island meets the X-Files" TV shows I'll pull it up online.
I'm just happy we live in a time where TV shows are not LOST once they've been aired. My kids just don't comprehend life with out VCRs/DVDs/DVRs, only 3 TV channels and we actually had to get off our butts to change the channel!

Superbowl

2009-02-03T23:09:00.003-07:00

We had a small gathering at our house for the big game. It was great to have a family dinner, and the side benefit was a game that got exciting in the 4th quarter. No one in the room really cared who won, so we all decided we'd cheer for Arizona since Pittsburgh has been there so many times. So we were disappointed at the end, but the pork roast my brother-in-law cooked up was excellent! And a good time was had by all....

Pleasure Postponed

2009-01-27T00:09:00.003-07:00

I had a good time this last weekend de-junking more stuff. I look in some boxes and wonder why I've saved some of the things I have over all these years. One was my Biology 100 Syllabus from BYU.
As you can see, it was Fall Semester 1988. The wise old professors were Barnes and Bradshaw. Maybe they thought having 2 teachers for over 1,000 students would somehow make it easier for us. Maybe that's the impression they just wanted us to have. Maybe we were a psychology experiment. We were certainly a weeding out experiment. Create a very hard class, make it huge, make an actual one on one conversation with a professor impossible and wish them luck. If they can muddle through this, perhaps they can handle this BYU stuff. I muddled through. I don't know how. It was annoying. I don't remember what my grade was, but I'm certain it was not an A. As a matter of fact, my friend Troy and I tried an experiment of our own. We each had different lab aides, who basically did all the work for the professors. Each time we did an assignment, that we always did together, he would get a better score. Where I would be docked is in the "explain how you got to this point" portion of the quizzes and worksheets. So we wondered what would happen if we each turned in the same semester paper word for word. You guessed it. He got a higher score. Of course we couldn't call the university on it for fear of academic repercussions. They may have made us take it over!
But all I cared about is moving on from that class. I didn't realize Troy would move on and desert me at BYU. USU in Logan? Really?
So... long story shorter.... I had fun destroying my Biology Syllabus this last weekend and placing it in the recycling bin. I don't know why I held onto it for so long, but the postponed pleasure was..... pleasurable.

Adventures in Bread Making

2009-01-23T21:34:00.005-07:00

This all begins with my Christmas list. It is as follows: A hand-powered wheat grinder. That's it. That's all I really could think of that I wanted. Call me a simpleton. We have had all this wheat in our storage that we really haven't quite been sure what we'd do with if we ever had to live off it.
So I thought I'd get back to basics and get a grain mill. I figure if the power is out and we're living off of wheat there is no point in getting a mill that you plug into the wall.
So here is Mia helping with the grinding process. A small amount of wheat makes a surprising amount of flour, and a small girl has a surprising amount of stamina.

That was several days ago and I've been too busy to put the newly milled flour into action. Tonight was the big night. The recipe was pretty straight forward and my wife just sort of giggled as she walked by me in the kitchen. I've always professed to not being able to cook... let along bake. I've actually successfully baked cakes before, and even cookies, but those were from mixes. Once on my mission I thought I'd be nice and bake a birthday cake for one of the missionaries in our district. We didn't have a 1/3rd measuring cup so I just used the 1 cup measuring cup and estimated 1/3rd. The problem in my estimation is that I correctly estimated 1/3rd down from the top of the cup. Unfortunately, that created 2/3rds of a cup of oil. The cake looked more like a brownie and was not edible. But I digress.....

My concern was that the dough would not rise. I think that's a common concern among amateur break makers. So, before starting the oven, I captured photographic proof that it raised.

Once the oven was preheated it was an anxious 36 minutes before I had any idea if it worked. Even then I wasn't sure. It pretty much looked like it did when I put it in.

But it tastes great! And it's light and fluffy. Even the kids enjoyed it. My wife's comment: "I'm shocked." Now I've pretty much ruined my "I can't cook" argument.

My successful attempt at baking bread for the 1st time.

Now I need to figure out how to accomplish this feat if the power is out and I don't have an oven. I may as well have asked for an electric gain mill!

Watching History. Trying to make a little.

2009-01-20T22:42:00.008-07:00

I cannot blog on this day without mentioning the inauguration of our 44th president. It is amazing to live in a country that has matured to the point that we can have an African American elected president.

I watched it from my little office in my basement on my ancient TV. It was actually my grandma's. Not to worry! We have cable, so our digital transition will go smoothly. I know you were concerned.
It was amazing to see the excitement and the hope in the eyes of so many. My hope is that Obama is everything that he and his supporters say he is.
It was fascinating to watch all that went in to the ceremony of the day. I was reminded of the times I covered presidential visits here to Utah. Those were "small" events, but the logistics and the security were impressive. Today was about a million times more complex.
I was okay with the ceremony minus Aretha Franklin's butchering of My Country 'Tis of Thee (but the hat was sweet) and the benediction that made a mockery of prayer. In a race that was devoid of talk of race (at Obama's insistence) it was interesting that the prayer was so racially divisive. Just my opinion. The sacredness of prayer seems tremendously diminished when it invokes cheering and laughter. It seemed more performance than prayer. Again, my opinion. I'm preaching and being judgmental. Where is my rameumptum? Some day this white man will embrace what is right, man.

This evening we got to participate in politics, but on a much smaller level. We attended a city council meeting regarding the Town Center development. It was a packed house which was great to see. Many of us are concerned with the council's proposed plan for high density residential, max allowable height, parking and traffic. It's not so much a "not in my back yard" issue... I think. Although I don't want it in my back yard. It just seems the powers that be are trying to create an identity and lasting legacy for a community that already has a great identity and has a legacy of outstanding citizenry. I see it as the proverbial fixing of something that's not broken. The more they compromise the integrity of what brought us all to this community, the more they'll drive us away and make it much less appealing to others. I still just don't understand their motivation.
Enough of my preaching. We had great attendance and we are early in the process, so we are hoping we can help shape things correctly for the future. The truth is... I've accumulated so much junk that I just never want to have a reason to move from this community.

That's my take on today's events.... minus the pickup basketball tonight, but there's not much to get excited about there. Okay, my team did win all four games and I played pretty well, but I don't' think the Jazz will be calling anytime soon.

Stay tuned for.... my first attempt at baking whole wheat bread.... with wheat flour milled personally. We call that a tease in the news business. We had one producer who suggested that our teases and promos were sensational to the point that we might as well go over the top. He suggested, "...and we're all gonna die" be added at the end of every promo.

"Stay tuned for my first attempt at baking whole wheat bread... with wheat flour milled personally... and we're all gonna die!" It might actually happen with my cooking ability!

Pioneering Discovery

2009-01-12T11:22:00.009-07:00

One of the amazing things that has come out of the drama that has been my life in the last few months regarding my father's estate is the knowledge I've gained regarding my ancestors. It is surprising what I've found and puzzling my parents never discussed this with me. Perhaps they didn't know.

Quick Summary:

My great, great, great grandfather John Wesley Norton was chosen to be one of the 144 original Mormon pioneers to travel with Brigham Young. He immediately returned to Council Bluffs to bring his family to Utah. He was later called on a mission to Israel and then sent to strengthen LDS settlements in Southern Utah.

My great, great, great, great grandfather Issac Morley was one of the first members of the LDS church. Joseph and Emma Smith lived with him during the winter of 1830-31 before building a home on his farm. He was called on a mission by Joseph Smith and is mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants (Section 64). He came to Utah as a pioneer in 1848. The Isaac Morely farm is a church historical site in Kirtland.

My great, great, great grandfather Albert Smith was friends with Joseph Smith's family and worked with Wilford Woodruf. He helped build the Nauvoo temple, was driven out by mobs, started the pioneer trek west with Parley P. Pratt and then joined the Mormon Battalion. He later met his family in Utah. He was called to help settle Manti and build the temple there.

My great, great, great grandfather Jens Peter Hansen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, served in the Danish Navy, joined the church, served as a missionary in Denmark, came to the U.S. and made the pioneer trek to Utah in 1858. He helped settle Sanpete County.

I have a lot more information regarding everyone but Jens Peter Hansen. There are also other pioneer stories.

One thing my parents did tell me was that I was a descendant of William Draper, who settled the city of Draper, but that was through a polygamous wife. There is actually a story of where my great, great grandfather James Draper ran into some man on the street. The man asked him who's child he was. He said, "I'm William Draper's son." It was William Draper who was the man on the street asking. Father didn't know son and son didn't know father. That's because it was one of 50+ kids through several wives. All of the previously mentioned ancestors are direct relations that are not through polygamous wives.

Being a direct descendant of these people is quite significant for me. I remember sitting in seminary classes and a church history class at BYU learning about pioneers. I remember students being asked if they were descendants of pioneers. I was jealous of those who were, and thought it would really be something to be related to pioneers. Little did I know.

One thing missionaries are asked to do these days is to search their family histories for stories of their ancestors. I wish that had been a recommendation to me when I went on a mission. It certainly would have made a difference to know then what I know now. Not to say that my mission wasn't amazing, but it could have been even more meaningful.

When I reported on the 150 year anniversary of the Pioneer Trek from Winter Quarters in 1997 it was very special to me. Imagine how much more special it would have been had I known I had a relative in that group. I remember interviewing Elder Ballard and hearing him talk about his ancestor who made the trek. I thought how meaningful that would be to be related to someone who was an original pioneer. Little did I know.

Pioneer Day each year will have new significance in my life. The Pioneer Trek I attend with my daughter and the youth in our ward this summer will have extra meaning. My church membership has extra meaning. I'm the same person I always was, but it is very powerful to know where I came from.

Now lets hope I don't run across some legendary axe murderer who happens to share my bloodline! That would ruin the whole moment I have going here.

Homework

2009-01-07T12:24:00.002-07:00

I just love that I have a camera with me pretty much all the time (cell phone). It was great to see three of the goos (oh, for some reason we call them the goos) anxiously engaged in homework. Goo #2 was off at musical theater (She's going to be Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz).
We have the occasional battle over homework, but not as much as previously. They've come to realize it is not optional. McKayla has always been very proactive w/ homework. The others have needed those gentle reminders.... "Your homework gets finished tonight or you're grounded until college."

Not Beverly

2009-01-03T15:47:00.003-07:00

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Yes, it is an ugly truck. Yes, it is rusted. No, it doesn't exactly work. Yes, my family thinks I am crazy. Yes, I'm going to keep the truck....for now.

The teenager is mortified we have the old beast parked out front. She says we look like hillbillies. I figure it's good for her.

My grandfather purchased that truck new in 1967. It is the exact same age as me. He gave it to my dad sometime later. I went back and forth several times on whether I would "acquire" the truck. I finally decided that I would most likely regret it if I sent it off to a junk yard. I may regret keeping it, but I can always correct that decision.

It needs a battery, some fresh tires and a new oil pan. At that point it will be an old beater that we can use once in a while. Once Ed McMahon stops by I can restore it like my dad always wanted to do.

Call me a hillbilly. Call me sentimental. I have a really crappy old truck, but it comes with a lot of great memories.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-03T15:40:00.005-07:00

The sad truth is that we've decided to start our kids smoking. It was one of our resolutions. We're always trying to think outside the box. We figured we should set a goal of something that is attainable. Seriously, it does look like our 10 and 15 year olds are smokers, but they are really noisemakers (the things in their mouths, and the children themselves). That is Sheridan and McKayla just after the clock ticked to 2009. I'm going to try to upload a cell phone video, but I'm not sure this blog site supports the 3gp file format. We'll see.

Happy New Year!

I can't tell you how glad I am to see 2008 in the history books.

A Better Picture

2008-12-31T02:00:00.002-07:00

I finally captured a better picture of the house with lights. Again, I want proof that I did it and everyone saw it for the next time I complain about putting them up on the house. They look great and the fresh snow is really cool.

I still feel cruddy, but I think I'm on the downside of the crud. Just in time to make all those new years resolutions. Eat less and more (junk and veggies), run less and more (for the Twinkies and down the street.... actually I brought the treadmill into the family room), read less and more (stupid stuff and scriptures), pray less and more (for the utter destruction of anyone who has wronged me and for patience and love for all), be a better dad, husband, neighbor, friend and improve my talents. Anyway... I'm pretty tired making out that list. I think I'll take a few months off to rest and get started to plan my procrastination in the spring. Then I'll have procrastination that will most likely get me through August...maybe September. At that point I just might as well start planning for 2010.

Maybe I'll just take it day by day. I get through this day and I have some momentum built to battle the next.

I'm rambling and babbling. It's 2:10am and this illness has wreaked major havoc on my circadian rhythm.

Kutcher, Korver, KK and AK

2008-12-29T13:49:00.002-07:00

First of all, let me say that I haven't been this sick in a long time. I actually even went to the doctor! I try to avoid that until I'm quite certain there is nothing I can do myself that will keep me above ground. So I'm hoping these antibiotics I got on Saturday will start working and be the difference. I at least now I have energy enough to type.

Against my better judgment, being sick, I took McKayla to the Jazz game the day after Christmas. I was not feeling well, but neither was Koreen, so I decided to take her. This would be her first time to see Ashton Kutcher (aka Kyle Korver) in person. She was beside herself with joy. I enjoyed being there with her and love that she actually knows basketball these days! If only we could find some handsome football player that she would fall in love with so she'll watch football with us. I also especially enjoyed seeing Dallas get spanked by the Jazz and Nowitski get thrown out of the game. He is among my top two least favorite NBA players. The other starts with a Ko and ends with a be.

I decided that we might as well make an event out of it and I told her about the player's entrance outside. Only two problems with that--it was 25 degrees and I was sick. But again, we are not Jazz regulars, so we decided to make it worth the trip.

We saw coach Sloan, who McKayla only wants to punch in the nose because he doesn't play Korver more. We saw Koufos, and Brewer stopped for autographs. McKayla was forced by the crowd up against Andre Kirilenko's car and was urged by security to "Get off the car!" And then the big moment..... a small sedan... I think a beamer.... drove up... tinted windows... you could barely make out someone in the driver's seat... and it drove right past and didn't stop. McKayla said she could tell it was Korver. And then we drove home. She had a great time!

And I've been in bed ever since.

As for the title of this entry... I was going for a K theme. Kutcher=Korver, KK is what McKayla called herself when she barely started talking and couldn't pronounce her name, and AK is Andre Kirilenko. I'll add KO for my current physical wellbeing... or lack thereof.

Waking Up

2008-12-26T10:25:00.004-07:00

I feel like I'm just sort of rolling over, stretching and waking up from a long dark nightmare. I still have that bad taste in my mouth--morning breath--but that will just need a good brushing.

There is still more to do, but I have a hard time getting the motivation to make it happen. At this point the house is in new hands. They are going to make it beautiful. I spent another day there Christmas Eve to help clean the disgusting mess that was left behind. It is horrific. And, of course, even though I haven't lived there for 20+ years I knew it wouldn't get done without me doing it. So, it just didn't get done before they took possession. Fortunately, the new owners are going to gut the place and remodel everything. It was nice to see it in a sort-of clean state...at least the upstairs.

Yesterday was the first day in I don't know how long that my cell phone didn't ring once. I dealt with no estate business--although it was top of mind all day as I enjoyed Christmas with the family. It is great to watch the kids and see the innocence of Christmas morning. They don't have a care in the world other than getting a box opened so they can play with something.

I have a few more things to wind down with the estate, but the major drama and childish games are over. Knock on wood. (Picture me hitting myself in the head)

Now if only I felt better. I haven't been sick in a long time until now, but maybe it's the let down after running on adrenaline for so long.

We had a great Christmas!

When I have the energy I'll share with you some immediately apparent thoughts on why we and others may have been chosen to deal with the garbage we did in the last little while.

Saga

2008-12-21T08:11:00.005-07:00

The 36 month saga is not over yet, but it is getting very close. With a flurry of legal activity last week that would make your head spin we are closer. The outcome will not be fair, or right, but it will be over. At this point that's all that I care about so we can move on.

Friday was three years to the day that my father died. It was another day of legal madness. I did not feel at all compelled to write any special anniversarial tribute in the blog. I would take the joy of planning another funeral at Christmas over all of this.

I can't wait to get back to writing about nothing of any particular importance.

Light

2008-12-18T19:53:00.002-07:00

There is a long dark tunnel. It's full of twists and turns and a few drop-offs that I haven't been able to see. But there may be some light at the end.

Lets hope its not a train..........

Escalation

2008-12-17T23:13:00.002-07:00

Every day, usually multiple times a day, the legal battle escalates.
If anyone can tell me what I did in a former life or current life to deserve it all I'd like to know.
I'm so done.

Speaking Too Soon?

2008-12-17T01:03:00.003-07:00

I'm famous for that. It's really quite funny. If I say something, the opposite will happen. If I'm playing basketball and a shot goes up, I will always run to the wrong side for the rebound. My inaccuracy is pretty much spot-on 100% accurate. People should take me to Vegas and ask me how I would bet and then do the opposite. They'd make millions! And even when I second guess myself and try to outsmart myself it doesn't work.

It was a great day until 11:23pm and the latest legal salvo was launched. The last phone call, I hope, was received at 12:40am. That explains my blogging after 1am. It's a bit cathartic, so I type.

So I almost made it through the day without any major disgruntlement. But it's very close to being at the point of beyond caring. It's kind of like the good old "TV boy" days. If, with a controversial story, each side ended up hating me when the story aired, I figured I did my job well. And so it is with my family. If they all hate me then I guess I've been equitable. I've always tried so hard to be liked by people. But I've learned over the years it is impossible to please everyone.. especially in an impossible situation. I've decided this is an impossible situation and I'll likely resign my executorship. I agreed to do it because it was what my parents always told me they wanted, but they left me with no direction and feuding siblings. By me agreeing to this nightmare I was going to be able to save all of the heirs a lot of money in legal fees. I'm afraid that's another miscalculation on my part. I'm actually quite shocked it's gotten this bad, even with the dysfunction that is my family. I think the court needs to make all the decisions at this point. We'll see what my attorney advises in the morning. Wait! It is morning!

Too much info for everyone? Sorry... remember... it's my catharsis.

Put all your money on red. I'm confident that's the right move!

Self Fulfilling Prophecy

2008-12-16T20:42:00.004-07:00

Today was a better day. I actually worked. At my profession, not on the estate. Well, at least not the entire day on the estate.

I also shoveled snow and it was outstanding to perform a mindless task.

Then, of all things, after the non-stop moving of an estate that I've been doing for a month, I helped move a neighbor tonight. Strong back. Weak mind. It works well in assisting people moving. It was nice to have a break from being the person in charge.

And in about 15 minutes I'll be playing some hoop.

I'm not a psychologist, but I imagine the fact that I said it would be a good day played a large part in the successful realization of said state of mind.

Now if only the neighbor's dog would stop barking........