Planet Hardy

Yesterday was another nail biter. We once again braved Interstate 80 during a winter storm. Luckily for us it was the middle of October, the ground was warm, and the trip was not impossible nor did they close the roads. It was kind of miserable because we had to travel through some adverse weather.

My most non fond memories of I-80 are terrible weather and trips through it. For instance, there was the time that Bonnie and I just about went off the road and were swaying out of control on I-80. Then there was the time that we went through a ground blizzard for 20 miles on the highway in January. We have stopped many times in Rawlins, Rock Springs, and Laramie, on the road and that wasn’t always fun. I hate to think that the I-80 travels for the next little while are going to be always evaluated based on the weather. Tonight was OK. Next time may not always be so OK.

When we visited the Mariposa Grove of big trees in Yosemite National Park, there was a lot of emphasis placed on the National Parks “Burn Policy”. We heard a Park Ranger go into great detail explain and defending this policy. The interesting thing about the burn policy is that at one point, the Park Service went a little too far.

It was the summer of 1989 and Yellowstone National Park was on fire. As a family, we had visited the park the previous summer and had enjoyed the beautiful greenery of the Park. When the fire first started, they treated the fire as a natural occurrence and decided that they should just let it burn so the ecosystem would eventually be balanced out.

Instead, the fire got out of control and the park was burning so badly that Old Faithful Inn, and other man made treasures were in danger of being burned and much of the park was burning out of control. Finally, man stepped in and intervened. I think that since then the Park Service has decided that sometime man must step in and make a difference. We went through the park two or three years later, and it was amazing on how quickly things were starting to recover. It appears that the limited burn policy in Yosemite National Park is starting to make a difference. They want to burn away the underbrush that protection has created, and which can lead to a catastrophic fire of Yellowstone proportions. This could particularly hurt the Giant Sequoias if they didn’t make the change.

Because, well, for a guy who works for a Entertainment company.. I don’t have TV set up…

I plan on that in 2013 as well..

But my boss told me to watch this, and well, it cracked me up.

I love to write. I don’t do it very well. I don’t have the style that my son Chris has. I don’t have the ability to use prose and to be intellectual. I can’t always seem to get my thoughts down like I would like to do. I can’t always seem to move people by my prose, but regardless, I love to write. I picked that up somewhere. I write diaries. I keep my thoughts to myself. I also write this blog, and tell people what I am thinking, again often not doing much of a job. At this age in my life, I doubt that I will ever be able to excel at writings, but still I like to do it, and the few, the very few, who read my ramblings will have to endure my passion. I doubt anyone ever reads this blog, but if they do, I want them to know, if they haven’t guessed it by now, that I love to write.

So.

The House.

I keep getting asked “Are you all moved in?”

If, by moved in, you mean “Do you have boxes and boxes of stuff squirreled away in the other rooms, to make it look like everything is unpacked?”

I’d have to say yes.

Otherwise, I’m just slowly moving towards emptying boxes. Maybe a box a week. So, I should be done and “moved in” sometime in 2013. If I counted the boxes all correctly

And I don’t get anymore boxes.

And I never clean.

Or make food.

Or go to work.

On the plus side, my interior decorator, Jill (she is available for consultation), has done a pretty good job at figuring out how to show my personality in the home. In the next few weeks, I’ll try to get some pictures posted to show the amazing job she’s done.

I really needed the help because the house would be, well, more bachelorrific, without that (like the house would just be a transplant of my old apartment.)

Except for the appliances.

Ohh the sweet sweet appliances.

And thanks to Jill I’ve got some kicking porch chairs..

Take a look

Behold the ski chairs.

This weekend we decided as a couple to get away from the ongoing hustle and bustle of our lives and spend some time together in someplace other than home. You see, when we are at home you feel compelled to take care of all of those chores that have built up and which demand that you take care of them. There is always a house to clean, a floor to scrub, tomatoes to put up, or some other such project.

We thought Wendover might be a good place to come. First, we hadn’t really been there in a real long time. Second, it was far enough away from home that we were getting away (about 2 ½ hours drive time) but it wasn’t so far away that we would overly tire our aging bodies (getting old is a drag, and it is placing limitations on us and our ability to travel). Next, there would be food, and lastly, time to be together.

I guess Wendover didn’t know that we were expecting a lot. We thought we might find shopping (not here). We thought we might find some movie theaters with current shows (not here either). We thought we might find some other forms of diversion (not a chance). We thought we might some an oasis in the desert (not here at all). What we found are some casinos, food that is passable, but no shopping and no other things. It is isolated, but we are in a desolation. We did find the Bonneville Salt Flats. They were flooded as it is the wrong time of year. We found a lot of rain.

Despite all of that, we have had fun.

Elder Joseph Wirthlin gave what I consider to be an excellent talk on Adversity. He told us that when we are faced with Adversity, we need to work hard at overcoming the adversity, have faith in the Lord and the Savior, and then leave the rest to the Lord.

Our nation faces much the same type of challenge. We need to do everything that we can to solve the problems, the trust in our Lord and Savior and have faith in him and leave the solutions to him. We have to do that now. We have to make sure that we do our best, and then trust the Lord that the solutions will come.

Our nation is faced with Adversity. It is now time to trust in the Savior.

Once every six months members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This is a renewing time when it is possible for each of the members of this church to listen to God’s word and to learn of his will for us. I love this opportunity, and seek to listen wherever on the surface of the earth that I may be found.

Of course, I would love to hear that a temple is being built in my back yard. However, despite the fact that this fall that announcement has not been made, still, I love listening to what the Apostles and Prophets have to say. It is a spiritual feast.

God bless this wonderful country, the USA. I love this country. I love the National Parks. This summer I visited one of the most wonderful parks in the country, Yosemite National Park. It was beautiful. It was breathtaking. It was majestic. It was an experience that comes maybe once in a lifetime.

The vistas of this country are wonderful. I love the cities, the deserts, the mountains, the snow, the rivers, the highways, the fall colors, the smell of spring and the growth of summer. I love the blue skies, the fluffy clouds and the blazing sun. I am so in love with this country.

The people of this country are terrific. We have such wonderful people. I am so glad that I am American. We have wonderful people who serve this country and who love this country. I am so grateful for the people who make up this country.

Having said all of this, I am so grateful for this county. We are at a time of great crisis. We are facing challenges that this generation has never seen. This country needs leaders who will step and save this country and all the vistas and all of the wonderful things that make it so special. With the partisanship that exits in this country, we will pull apart unless we start to pull together. I love this country, I do hope that someone else loves this country as much. I love the following song about the USA.

If tomorrow all the things were gone
I’d worked for all my life,
And I had to start again
with just my children and my wife,
I’d thank my lucky stars
to be living here today,
‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom
and they can’t take that away.

And I’m proud to be an American
where at least I know I’m free,
And I won’t forget the men who died
who gave that right to me,
And I gladly stand up next to you
and defend her still today,
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.

From the lakes of Minnesota
to the hills of Tennessee,
Across the plains of Texas
from sea to shining sea.
From Detroit down to Houston
and New York to L.A.,
well There’s pride in every American heart
and it’s time we stand and say:

that I’m proud to be an American
where at least I know I’m free,
And I won’t forget the men who died
who gave that right to me,
And I gladly stand up next to you
and defend her still today,
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.

And I’m proud to be an American
where at least I know I’m free,
And I won’t forget the men who died
who gave that right to me,
And I gladly stand up next to you
and defend her still today,
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.

I don’t quite know what kind of a country we are going to be passing on to the next generation. We are seeing events of truly historic proportions right now, and they are not good things that are happening. As a nation we are mortgaging the future of our children through irresponsible financial management of the nations economy, and through our own personal mismanagement of our own financial futures.

We have been told time, and time again that debt is not good. We are seeing first hand the results of a nation that revels in debt. We must change our habits or risk destruction as a country, as a people, and as individuals. These are unprecedented times. They are going to require unprecedented leadership and solutions to the problems and challenges we face. The fact is, we must change if we are to survive.

Wait.

I am the guitar player.

If I was the singer.. Well.. Somethings are better left said unsaid.

I recently bought the follow up to rock band named rockband 2.

The name of the game really should be RockBand: I am woman hear me roar.

Where the first game was a testosteronefest of KISS songs and wonderful Boston songs, this time around there is an actual balance of women bands. Fleetwood Mac, the Go-Gos, and Alanis Morisste to name a few.

Obviously Harmonic has a few more people dedicated to making it more enjoyable to women.

Which isn’t that bad.

Once upon a time, in a land long ago, a new entity was born. This place was called a mall. It was a huge, magnificent building that was constructed for the sole purpose of selling goods in an atmosphere of comfort for the buyers. These buildings were the result of cheap fuel, transportation systems (automobiles) that allowed people unlimited mobility and opportunities to leave there homes and travel somewhere to shop.

Later on, a new concept arose called an Outlet Mall. The shoppers desire to get those name brand goods at ever cheaper prices caused outlet malls, so named because they were name brand stores in an outside mall, to sprout up all over America. These “new malls” grew up quickly in vacant fields, and were few and far between because they were supposed to be special.

Quickly they stopped growing because of several new changes. First, fuel became more expensive and the cheap outlet malls became more common and less competitive. Then, a thing called the internet grew up, and the new mall became the monster mall in cyberspace. Now, the ever diligent and suffering shopper can buy his or her goods without ever having to leave the house. All one needs is a good computer, a marvelous modem, and lots of band width so one can shop at ease without leaving the home. Now, we can all shop in the cyber mall and the physical mall is becoming a thing of the past.

One of the great curses of being part of a Bishopric in our church is the fact that it should be impossible to fall asleep in church. As my wife will attest, that is one of my favorite activities. When I was sitting in the congregation, one of the things I really liked to do in the past was sit in a pew that was against a load bearing wall. Once the meeting got started, I would lay my head against the wall and voila, I was asleep, catching some well deserved rest. My wife, being the good woman she is, realized that I should actually be learning something in Sacrament meeting, so she would wake me up. When she realized that was not going to keep me from getting some shut eye, she told me that I was forbidden from sitting next to the wall.

Next, she even refused to sit there and therefore we would sit in a row of chairs (not a pew, which was way too comfortable for me) and then we would try and listen. My eye lids would prove to be way too heavy and I soon would be having my head fall forward and sometimes that would wake me up, and sometimes it wouldn’t. That is how I learned just how sharp my wife’s elbow could be, as she would jab me in the side so that I wouldn’t embarrass her.

Apparently my heavenly father didn’t appreciate me falling asleep in church, so I was called to a position that would force me to sit in front of everyone in the ward on a row facing the congregation. Now I was trapped, with everyone watching whether or not I fell asleep. Unfortunately, even sometimes in front of a lot of people I would fall asleep, but I must admit that I probably fall asleep less in church.

I looked out the window this Saturday morning. I saw evidence of the changing of the seasons. I guess there is nothing so constant as change, and now the season are a changing. I love the fall colors. I just don’t like the winter that follows the colors. They say that the colors are due to the shorter days and the trees starting to change and prepare for winter. I long for a warmer climate, which I guess is an indication that I am getting older too and that the seasons are changing for me. Is that why we change colors, from uniform beautiful tans to blotches on our arms where we have pigment spots. I love the fall. I just don’t care for the winter.

Going to a Family Reunion is one of those Life’s Balancing Acts that we all experience because we are human beings, raised in families. On the one hand, you want to be with family, enjoy their company, and have a good day. Yet, you know that you are getting together with people all of which have different and unique personalities, interests, and opinions. It is at this point that it becomes one of those balancing acts.

You hear something said that you know is crazy, not true, or maybe is an outright fabrication and you want to jump in and correct that person. If you do, that is when the fireworks start, the feelings get hurt, and perhaps those people will never come to another Family Reunion again. What do you do?

Being the type of person that tends to want to make everyone happy, and make sure that no one’s feelings get hurt, you tend to try and avoid making a direct confrontation that will bring that eventual heartache. However, I also find that as I get older I am less likely to suffer fools or their opinions, and am willing to risk hurt feelings to make sure that what I believe is truth does prevail. I don’t know what the right or wrong thing is to do. I just know that it makes going to a Family Reunion or a more challenging experience than the ones I attended way long ago, when I was a child, each reunion a new adventure, and cousins were people I played with and had a grand time. Why can’t it be like the good old times? Perhaps the good old times were not that great. I just don’t know the answer to these questions.

I recently learned something at a bank branch staff meeting (a truly odd event) that made me think about the two animals that have lived in my house recently, and have passed away. They are buried in the ground near a rock wall in our back yard.

According to some Jewish tradition (if I have this correct), rather than bring flowers to a grave site, they bring small pebbles which are placed there. These rocks symbolize the intent to always (like a rock is steadfast and immovable) that we shall always remember the deceased who has passed on.

I guess the two animals of which I speak (TB and Snowball) will always hold a special place in our hearts in our family, not because they necessarily were super animals, but because in their own way they showed love to this family, and we likewise, with rock steady steadfastness, shall have a place in our hearts for them. They were special to us, and I don’t think I will ever forget them.

So

The house.

Well.. I told my boss that I would have to make less trips home once I had the house.

He laughed and said ok.

And now I understand why. While doing the final walkthroigh I noticed that there was a crack in the door jam. I told them to fix it.

Now after hours missed at work, watching the entire door frame being replaced, the accompaning swearing that was involved when he realized this door was not the right build and I have to come back for another appointment.

Still, even though it has it out foot me, I like the house.

And no

I haven’t been working in the coal mines all day either.

After a very stress full friday (except for the Greek festival, where there was Greek food (sadly no Italian)) I zoned out for most of the weekend.

Then way too early Monday morning I has an itchy throat. Now I have a sore throat, have a humidifier making boiling noises at me and I have smeared vapor rub all over my chest.

This is so fun I tell you

Takes away all the fun of playing Rock Band 2……..

At least once a day I walk out to the garage. Whether it is to check the garage door to make sure it is shut, or to make sure the light is off, or just to make sure everything is OK, I have the same type of experience. I expect to hear a loud meow of the garage’s inhabitant, either demanding food, a litter box change, or just wanting to be let out for a while. I keep hearing our departed cat. I suffer again every time I go to the garage. Perhaps I will never go to the garage again for a while. The car needs to be moved out to another location.

The World has truly changed in my lifetime. Nowhere is this more evident than in Las Vegas, but you can see it everywhere. When I was young, children had to know how to play because organized sports and activities for them were few and far between. We would play baseball in someone’s backyard, or on the street, or at a play ground for hours. We had a great time. We had snowball wars, we built snow forts, we played catch, we played hide and seek.

There wasn’t much to watch on TV. We only had three channels, and often times the TVs were not working because we had electronic tubes in those TV’s, that had rabbit ears, and they were darn expensive to replace. Of course, black and white TV was the norm and you only dreamed of color TV, that we heard the rich people had.

We had one phone in the home, and it was hooked to a party line. We got our information from newspapers and from talking to people, and we “weren’t in touch”.

Now, we live in a world where nearly everyone has a cell phone. On that cell phone you can get live internet feeds with news, entertainment, text messages, and of course, you can talk on the phone. Text messages have taken over as the way to communicate, rather than talking to someone live. We are detached as a people. Everyone has color TV, and of course, they are big, huge flat screen TVs, sometimes hung on a wall in the living room and taking up a whole wall. You can view hundreds of channels (with absolutely nothing worth seeing on them) and the selection of various channels available is mind boggling.

A major event around the world is known by everyone in a hurry. We are a people in touch, yet strangely enough, I believe we are more out of touch. People want to interact with other people less, preferring to be able to text message each other where they can measure and edit their responses rather than talk to people live.

We have huge buildings and massive ways to entertain ourselves. Everything is programmed for us, and nothing is spontaneous. I miss a lot of the old world. I think we had a lot more fun then. I am not sure our change has brought us happiness.

I like to keep this blog…

Well, light and fluffy..

Like a French Pastry..

Or a delicious non French Pastry (if there really is such a thing.. That can be another blog post)

But at this point, I’m going to just say. I love SNL. Tina Fay, as Sarah Pailin, well, I love even more.

From the evening news tonight you would have thought that the entire financial structure of the United States had just quit functioning. I have to admit, it was an interesting and also stressful day at the bank. It is not every day that the DJI loses 500 points. The DJI Average lost that much in October of 1987 when the market was a lot smaller. We recovered.

Things are changing fast, that is for sure. Lehman Brothers disappears over a weekend, with Merrill Lynch being purchased by Bank of America. What some people, the ignorant, and most of the populace of this country don’t understand is that the investment banks are not the same as the commercial banks that they equate banking with. The commercial banks and the majority of the banks in this country are much safer than the country realizes. It is going to be a wild ride for the next little while as the markets sort out all of the problems that have come because of the greed of a few who put together mortgages that were not good, and then the populace of this country who wanted a home without paying the dues required and who wanted to profit by using constantly rising home prices as a way to build their equity.

Yes, it will take a while. Those of us who have 401k’s and the such will need to hold out for a while, but I believe that this country will recover. In the meantime, we have a Presidential Election in process and the candidates will beat this to death. We also have basic problems that need to be resolved, the IRAQ war, Social Security, Medicare, and budget deficits. Whoever is elected President has a real challenge on their hands. We will recover from this supposed financial meltdown.

So.

I got an email

All that was in the subject was “You have three off most of these, don’t you?”

I am not even going to tell you what the voices in my head are telling me to do.

I saw a machine in Las Vegas which must be the rage of the city. I haven’t seen them anywhere else, but in Las Vegas I saw them in the mall, in the casinos, and in many other places. They are a massaging machine that is run using jets of water to massage the people wrapped in the machine. It was an interesting, but strange thing to see.

That title above is reserved for a booklet and program that exists within the youth program for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is to that program, that I do not refer. Instead, I refer to the feats of youth, particularly those of my son. Michael this morning ran in a 10K and had a personal best time of 51:45. While that is by far not the best time that was run this morning, it is an improvement of his previous personal best. I love the youth that can move forward and improve and become better. For me, it seems that each minute, each hour, each day, month, and year, finds me physically getting a little bit worse and worse. Ah, to have the strength of youth again. I just now need to find a Fountain of Youth.

I had a disturbing conversation with a friend and business associate the other day. We were discussing the disturbing state of affairs in the United States and the World with regard to crime, drug abuse, and particularly, the safety of our homes and our children. That thought immediately took me back to my childhood and my experiences.

I remember days of playing outside during the summer, and the winter, and not having a care in the world. I didn’t have a care, and while I am sure my parents had cares, they really didn’t need to worry much about the safety of their children playing in the neighborhood. Those were days of playing baseball from morning till night. Those were days of building snow forts and having neighborhood snow ball fights for control of the imaginary turf states that we held. Those were days of not worrying about strangers coming along and either kidnapping us children, or of trying to get us to use substances that would be bad for our health. When I became older, I knew that there were bad things in the world, but my neighborhood and my home were a fortress held inviolate and bad things of the world did not find me there.

How times have changed. I remember the first fear in Detroit in the 1980s, where we lived in a neighborhood that had drug houses across the street, and where we had a man stop and try to get our daughter to get into a car. It was only the speedy reaction of my wife that saved our daughter in that instance.

We had a respite in Cheyenne, when our children could go out and play and we didn’t feel the pressure that we felt in the “big city”. We moved to idyllic Payson, and also heard the screams and yells of children other than ours now, playing in the neighborhood, and it was music to our ears even though our young kids by then were grown and gone.

However, not all is well in Zion, or anywhere else for that matter. We also hear of a huge meth problem, or drug use going rampant amongst even the “good kids”. Neighborhood homes are broken into randomly, probably by friends of neighborhood kids who may have a drug habit to feed. You can’t leave your garage door open anymore for fear that a lawn mower, a car, or something else may disappear. You have to be careful about the appearance of your house. You can’t let you daily living habits signal to “bad” people the times that you and your aren’t at home. You have to worry about your house getting broken into, and putting in security systems that may or may not secure your home. What have we allowed this world to come to. The big problem is, we could trade our freedoms for guarantees of security from the government. If we do so, we will have neither security nor freedom. We indeed live in perilous times, and other than convincing the world to live according to the precepts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I have no idea how we can cure the world of this disease. Yes, if fear that there is “No Safety for our Children”.