Gotta Love them Haterz

The recent protests of prop 8 held in front of the LDS Temple in Westwood, California have brought some very stirring thoughts to mind. Personally, I have found the actions of the protestors in front of the temple thus far to be quite inappropriate. The mere fact that the aggressive behavior of these individuals merited the dispatch of a tactical response team in full body armor and the arrest of at least 7 protestors is manifest of the violence imbedded in their cause.

The Temple on Santa Monica Blvd is a symbol of many things to those both in and out of the Mormon faith. Primarily, and especially to those who have entered in there, it is a symbol of reverence, of sanctity. As the engraving above the entrance reads “Holiness to the Lord”. It is a sanctuary for escaping the chaos and tumultuous storm that is life on earth. The protestor’s outlandish display of mindless fury yesterday immediately stripped them of any cloak of benevolence they hoped to hide behind by exposing the contentious nature of their motives. In unholy and un-American attempts to interrupt the worship of quiet temple patrons, they decry the hate of a reverent people while with passionate ignorance exude the same.

The Yes on Prop 8 campaign was extremely well planned and organized. It was a highly unified, grass roots effort that extended beyond The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. However, since the LDS church is being singled out in this ‘hissy-fit’ of those who childishly oppose the democratic system, it is important to note how the Mormons composed themselves in the campaigning of prop 8. Decisions were made after prayer was invoked. Efforts were made primarily from the comfort of quiet homes over the phone, guided by non-confrontational scripts. Signs were tactfully displayed. Members engaged in conversations via the World Wide Web to voice opinions. And though not perfect, for the most part they tried to be accurate and respectful. Motivated by a love and reverence for the family as well as a trust in their leaders, members of the LDS faith went forth with Christian courage, steady and united in standing for what the media portrayed as an unpopular belief. Had they been motivated by the anger and hate for which they are falsely accused, their actions would be more reminiscent of the opposition to the prop; disorganized, scattered, accusatory, rambunctious and violent.

“….by their fruits ye shall know them.” Regardless of adherence to Christian doctrine, this statement rings true with the logical and sound mind. To paraphrase the late philosopher James Allen, author of the timeless treatise on thought, As A Man Thinketh, people are like gardens. Thoughts are seeds planted in the garden of the mind. The fruits of those seeds that sprout forth are the actions of humans resulting from the thought seeds. To those who accuse the Mormons of hatred and bigotry by their insulting signs, angry chants and threatening shouts I say, ‘Wherein lies the hate?’

Real simple, educate yo-self

I can think of no greater cause to involve myself in then that of protecting the family by helping to preserve traditional marriage. The above video contains comments from a number of friends of mine. I think it's important that the world knows there is a large portion of Millenials who take a more conservative approach to this issue.

About 8 years ago, Californians voted on Proposition 22, the outcome of which defined marriage in the state of California as being between a man and a woman only. Last May, 8 years after the voice of Californians had been heard, the State Supreme Court decided to overturn the proposition, essentially silencing our voice.

As an American, this is my chance to make sure that I excersice my right to have my voice heard. As Americans, we have the obligation to prove that 4 judges cannot simply silence the voice of a majority vote.

Manny's up to bat

I'm gonna bring this one full circle, so don't think I'm just yappin about my weekend, ride it out.

I had last Friday off so I went and surfed County Line (so named because it lies on the border between L.A. and Ventura County). It's a beautiful spot. Way up in Malibu, just across the street from Neptunes Net. It feels really far removed, which is nice. The surf started out pretty nice, some of the bigger surf I've had all summer. I went with my buddy Sam. The surf died after about an hour, but enough time to get some waves in.

Next day, while I'm at the gym, Same calls me up and says "Wanna come fly with me?". He's training to be a pilot and gets hour sessions in small 2 man airplane. This plane we took up only weighed 650 lbs. It can fly at 25 mph and not loose altitude!!! I know this because he told me and then showed me. So, we flew out of the Long Beach Airport. He took us up to 2000 ft. and we cruised out over the Queen Mary, south past San Pedro and out over the Donald Trump Golf course in Palos Verdes. By the way, before we took off, he insisted on taking the doors off the plane. So we were cruising around some So Cal coastline, 2000 ft. in the air with no doors on. I was a little scared, but it was so much fun.

That night we went to see the Dodgers battle it out against the official spoiler/rival team, the San Fansisco Giants. The Dodgers won and it was a great game.

What I really want to talk about though is the last statement I made about the flight. I honestly am afraid of heights. I think I always have been. I'm also scared of big waves. Nevertheless, I love flying, skydiving, surfing, cliff jumping and other action sports. I'm lead to believe that one of the reasons I love doing these things is because they scare me.

While talking with a friend last Sunday, we began to discuss the notion of how being afraid of somthing could make you like or even love it. The conversation wandered into the realm of relationships. As I'm sure many people have, I have often found myself doubtin and afraid in some of my relationships, which has caused them to not work out. And then it dawned on me, if being afraid of the many risks and dangers involved in the sports and hobbies I enjoy can make me love them more, why couldn't the same principle apply to my relationships? This would take some meditation to see how it might work.

I started to write the conclusions I came to on the subject, but it got pretty long. I'll finish that in the next post. For now, go Dodgers. Go Joe, go Manny! The magic number is one. October baseball is just around the corner. See you in the playoffs!

Double D

Last Saturday I went to see a guy called Aesop Rock with my buddy Josh. He was performing at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. Aesop performed with a guy named Rob Sonic. Rob was easily + 300 lbs. but moved around on stage like a feather weight. One of the opening acts was a guy named Busdriver. He was like an eclectic, indie, LA underground hip hop sound. All his beats were performed live on stage. Worth checking out.

Mack Dawg Productions has created some of the best snowboard videos ever since the sports conception. Some of my favorites have been True Life, Stand & Deliver, Chulksmack, Follow Me Around, People, From ____ with Love, Jibbing with Jeremy Jones, and more. This year marks the 20th aniversery of their making and releasing some of the most inspirational snowboard films ever. The title of this years comemorative production is appropriately titled Double Decade. One of the things I miss most about Utah is being apart of the crowd that follows around all the new snowboard movie premier events. Pros show up to sign autographs, sponsors give away free stuff and kids fight over boards and jackets that get thrown into the crowd. The scene for stuff like that down here is pretty meger. Nevertheless, as soon as the movie premiers, wherever it does, I'll be there.

I was running on the beach yesterday. I could smell that summer was ending, fall was here and winter was on its way. The beach has begun to seem more peacful, more like I have it all to myself again. Winter time on the LA beaches is much different than the summer. It has a beauty that I wonder if most people who live here ever stop to appreciate. I won't say that I totally prefer winter time at the beach to summer time, but I am anxious for October to come.

Yataa

About 3 years ago I wandered out of my apartment bedroom in Provo Utah into my living room to find my roomates watching the second episode of a telivision show called 24. I was all ready for bed, dressed up in my pj's, but somthing about Jack Bauer locked me in like a junkies first shot. It was season 2. I'd never seen season 1. I didn't need to. I was hooked. From that moment on, I spent a better portion of every day watching episode after episode. It was the first for me, the first tv show that I got addicted to. I swore that when that season was over, I would never watch another episode of 24 again, and to this day I never have. But it didn't end there.

A year and a half later I got ahold of the Prisonbreak season 1 DVDs. Watched them insatiably. Then came season 2 and 3, and I watched them all. Whenever I get started on a cliff hanger tv series like that, I just can't stop. So, recently, I got hooked on Heroes. My roomate brought home the DVDs for seasons 1 and 2 and I finished them both in about 2.5 weeks. Several years ago, I may have been ashamed to admit that I watched these shows with such obsession. Now, however, I am open about my addiction and allow my inner nerd to shine forth on occassion.

But seriously though. This show is sick. Hiro Nakamura has got to be one of the top 10 tv characters of all time (p.s. I'm pretty sure he might be Peter Patrelli's half brother!!!!). My obsession takes me beyond what NBC broadcasts over the television network. I get into the back story or, the mythology if you will. The Heroes website provides a series of graphic novels and webisodes that accompany the basic storyline and dive deeper into the Universe of Heroes (For example, a personal inner quest by the Haitian to be reconciled with his Father and ancient religious traditions). Further insight into subplots and secondary characters can be found on the deleted scenes on the DVD sets (i.e. A demonstration of Hiro's father's - Kaito - power!!!).

The Hadron Particle Colider started firing this week. This particle accelorator is the largest of its kind and is being called the most expensive experimentation ever. By smashing particle together at these amazing speeds, scientists hope to break them apart in search of the heart of all matter, the God Particle. If you don't know about that, get on it. Time to brush up on your quantum physics, string theory, theory for everything and knowledge of basic elementry particles. One of my favorite websites to learn about this stuff and anything is http://www.howstuffworks.com/.

Lah-dee-dah-dee

This weekend I was privileged to receive a visit from two good friends from up North, Mike and Jay. Mike's getting married in about two weeks and wanted to go out on one more (last) adventure. He's recently got hooked on surfing and decided that for his last hoo-rah he'd come down this way and surf for the weekend.

We got some slightly better than typical, LA, early morning surf on Friday down at El Porto. The main objective however, was to surf San Onofre on Saturday. I managed to put together a small crew to go down for the day. Mike and Jay were in of course; Mike's buddy Sam who lives down here in Gundo (El Segundo); my friend Leanne and; her out of town friend Jess. We got to Old Man's at about 7:30, only to find that there was a huge line of cars waiting to get down to the beach. Rather than wait, we continued on down south to Trails. We got in the water by about 8:00 and stayed out for a long time. With the exception of a few breaks, we stayed out till about 1:00. The surf was just about perfect for some of these guys who had never gone before, or had only surfed a handful of times. We all had a blast. It was a great crew, positive attitudes, down to have a good time, everybody getting along, etc.... We swapped boards around, giving the girls a chance to try different longboards, funboards, and whatever, to see what they liked best. They were such champs. Despite pearling 9 out of 10 waves, they never gave up.

The best part of the day was the realization that it was the group of friends I'd brought along that made this so fun. A lot of times you get a group where some one is easily discouraged, or has a defeat-us attitude / dooms day mentality. Someone who would have been really upset at the fact that Old Man's had a line and we couldn't get down at our original spot. Could have had someone get all down and bummed that it was overcast to start the day (the sun eventually came out). It almost seems expected that one of the girls trying it out for the first time might have gotten discouraged because she kept falling, but they didn't. It was as if all aspects of the day had been taken into account before hand and a group of people who's personalities were perfectly hardwired to optimize happiness for that experience were hand selected and the entire day was orchestrated by a divinely omnipotent maestro. The crew we brought along was perfect for the day. It made for a perfect day.

Good friends are hard to come by. I believe I've been blessed to have many. I hope to have many more. I hope to have many more perfect crews for perfect days.

Sleep when I'm dead

Last weekend I got to see Zion I and Haiku D'Etat perform at The Western Conference in Echo Park. I was real excited when I found out these guys would be performing together in LA. The last time I saw Zion I was back in 2006 when they were touring with the Grouch, performing hits off Heroes in the City of Dope. They were great back then, and great this time around too.

The show started at 8:00 with about 4 openers. At 6:30 I still had no one to go to the show with me. I've learned the hard way that underground (real) hip hop is an acquired taste (i.e. most of my friends don't like it and wouldn't have any fun at the show). At 7:00 pm, the night of the show, I remembered my friend Ben down in Huntington Beach was down with good Bay Area hip hop. I called him up, he pulled some strings, got off work early, picked me up and we went to the show.

Echo Park is ghetto. It's really a sketchy place at night. We got there at 10:00 pm. The headliners didn't start till 11:00, so we had plenty of time. Haiku (Myka 9 and Ab Rude) were great. Zion I apparently wasn't as well known here in LA as they are anywhere else, cuz they really didn't get much love from the crowd. I felt bad for them. The plus side was Amp Live and Zumbi brought a guy name Deuce Eclipse with them. He's a Latin guy who raps faster than anyone I've ever heard. I got to talk with Zumbi when it was done. I could tell he was slightly bummed, but I guess this is just part of the job.

Ben dropped me off at about 2:00 am. I started watching Heroes on DVD (cuz it's like Heroin and once I started watching, I couldn't stop). Before I knew it, it was 5:30 am. I hadn't been up that early to surf in a while, so I decided to get in my car and drive down to Huntington. The surf down there was 10 times better than it has been up here all summer. Unfortunately, exhaustion overcame my body after about an hour and a half of surfing. I had to keep slapping myself in the face to stay awake on the drive home. I got there just in time to meet up with my Buddy Matt who came to stay with us for the weekend. We went straight down to the beach to play some volleyball. We played 2 on 2 for about 2 hours and then got lunch at Patricks Roadhouse (named for the Dirty Dancing and Point Break Surfing Patrick Swayzee).

We came back to my place and met up with our other buddy Josh. After briefly reminissing, we cleaned up and got some amazing Thai food in Santa Monica. After that, we hit up a little house party (mind you, I still hadn't slept since Thursday night). When we got home, I hit the luv sac and was out like a light.

The point of this is that eventhough sleep deprivation is a bad thing, at least I made good use of my time. The truth is that you just can't catch up on sleep. It's not possible. Besides, I can sleep when I'm dead!

Taco Tuesday got moved to Wednesday in LA

Just down the road from my apartment is a Mexican Restaurant called Don Antonio's. They have a $1 taco night on Wednesdays. Kinda weird, but I suppose you don't need to compete with any other Taco Tuesday promos on a Wednesday. The place was packed. I guess I was the only one in LA who didn't know Taco Tuesday got moved to Wednesday.

This Friday there is an amazing underground hip hip show going on in Glendale. The Western Conference featuring Zion I, Haiku d'etat and more. I'm real excited about it, I just gotta convince someone to go with me. Finding kids who appreciate underground hip hop in the adult world is somewhat of a cumbersome task. I'm not looking forward to that.

I saw Zion I about 2 years ago, and they were amazing. I've really liked Haiku d'etat for a while also, but never been able to see them live. What I really appreciate about this class of hip hop is the poetry of their craft. In 20 years or so, when they begin to add American Poetry of our day to the history history books, there will be no doubt that recognition must be given to the underground hip hop artists of this day. They have certainly joined the ranks of some of the most prolific and profound writers of this country. Perhaps the crowd they draw and clothes they wear masks the reality of their talent. Maybe the lifestyles they and their fans live deny them the literary recognition they deserve. Nevertheless, in time, when the dust of subjectivity and stereotype has settled, a future expert of American literature will have no choice but to give this classification of hip hop its poetic plaudits.

Spottieottiedopalicious Angel

Yesterday was the reception for my brother's wedding. The best part about it had to be having all my brothers (real, half and informally adopted) around to watch the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal Basketball game last night. I have logged many fond memories with these brothers watching Laker games; and despite the fact that Laker superstars were on both sides of the U.S. vs. Spain, the family remained undivided in it's allegiance to Redeem Team USA and Kobe Bryant (sorry Pau, but we're Americans). At one point, durring the hard fought game, Kobe get's fouled on a 3-pointer, and makes the free-throw, completing a four point play. Yoshiki and I went super-doodoo-dookie dumb (there really is no other way to describe it) when he hit the shot.

I mentioned earlier that I've been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash lately. I have an odd connection to him, in that my middle name is Cash, and to the best of my geneological understanding, it comes from the same family. The maiden name of the Mother of my Great-Grandfather, Charles Cash Rampton, aka Grandpa Cash (yes, he was loaded) wash Cash. Apparently, that's where the connection is. Cash has been the middle name of the first born of every boy since Grandpa Cash. It's a good, powerful name, and I love it.

Johnny Cash had a way of putting emotion into a song, the way no one else did. The instrumental aspect of his music was simple. His voice however was original and powerful. The unique aspect of his voice rivals the likes of Bob Dylan, as does his song writting. Throughout his life, professional career included, Johnny felt a deep connection to the working class. His songs struck a familar chord in the hearts of those who knew struggle, strife, vice, hard work, pain and simple pleasure Johnny Cash certainly is a great American Icon.

It's like that and a....

I went to Utah last weekend for my brother's wedding. This beautiful occasion will long hold a place in my heart. Truly, my younger brother has set both precedent and example for me, a wandering soul.

I stayed with my good friend Patrice, who lives in Sandy. I needed to get my hair cut the morning before the wedding, and using my Iphone, found a barber shop open at 7am. I had Patty drop me off there on her way to work. The place was and old school, dumpy looking establishment. Most people don't even notice it as they drive by. The guy who cut my hair must have been 70 yrs old. He took forever!!!! On top of that, he did a bad job. Totally botched the job. I think I'll shave my head.


I was priveleged to comiserate with some close family members as well as old friends at the wedding and luncheon held thererafter. Lots of huggin, hand clappin, picture snappin and "what are you up to's?". I like that stuff in small doses.

That night, I made the short trip down to Provo for the evening. This is very much a pilgrimage for me. It was fun to see old friends and walk the streets of that small, quiet and safe town. It's different in the Summer time. Quieter, more exposed for what it really is. You can walk down the streets at 2 in the morning, barefoot, and it's totally safe and quiet. Peaceful Provo.

I woke up late the next day (no doubt a result of my shoeless parading the night before) and went up to Park City for a hike. It was a hard hike. I met up with my cousin Rick, his wife Emily and little brother Nathan. We rode the Alpine sleds and almost made road kill out of an obease rodent of some kind (possible marmot). After the downhill race, we got some desserts at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory: 3 apples and an ice cream for Nathan, who apparently is forbidden by his mother to eat sugar. He conviniently failed to mention that to me until after he asked me to buy it for him. As soon as his mom's car pulled up, he scurried to the nearest trash can to throw away his remaining ice cream and enter the car with an innocent smirk on his face. Classic!

I made it back down to SLC that night to go to the Hieroglyphics show with my old friend and brother Skyler. It was a sick show featuring the likes of Elucid, JC, Knobody, Tanya Morgan, Blue Skolars, and of course, Hieroglyphics themselves (Souls of Mishcef, Casual, Pep Luv, Extra Prolific, and of course Del the Funkee Homo Sapien). With the exception of the audiences liberal canabas fumigation, it was a sick show. They closed by playing You Never Knew.

I've been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash lately and playing with my Iphone.

PEACE

Tick.....tick...BOOM!

At 9:30 pm on Friday night, I got a call from one of my good friends telling me to come down to San Onofre to camp for the night and surf in the morning. He was alreadydown there with two of my other best friends from high school. I think I finally left the house at 11:00 to make the 1.5 hour drive down there. One of the guys had requested I bring my camera. The battery was dead, so I decided to charge it in my car with a converter.



I like multi-tasking, even if it becomes hazardous. So, I tried plugging my converter and battery charger in while driving. At first, it didn't work. On the second try, I realized that I needed to flip a certain switch on the converter. As soon as I did, this light went red and started blinking. Immediately it started sounding "Beep.......beep....beep...beep..beep.beepbeepbeepBooom!" like a time bomb had just gone off. It killed my radio!!! Initially I thought it was a fuse. Unfortunately the same fuse that protects the radio also protects the dome light, and the dome light still works. Thankfully I had headphones and an iphone to entertain me.

The guys and I woke up and started surfing at 6:30 am. We surfed for about 2.5-3 hours. It was small surf with the occasional medium sized set. We were deffinately the loudest guys in the water. It was great to surf with the entire felony four again.

As soon as we got out, ate breakfast and took down camp, I started heading back so that I could make it in time to go hiking with a friend. We were going to the Santa Monica mountains, starting at a trailhead that I know of in the Pacific Palisades. We were a bit pressed for time, but determined to make the most of it. We hiked for about an hour and were priveleged to see some beautiful sites. We had an ocean view almost the entire way, and an amazing view of the city when we stopped for water. It was a lot of fun.

I cleaned myself up, went to a birfday thing for three good friends of mine, sat in the hot tub for about an hour, came home, ate some Ben & Jerry's and fell asleep watching Transformers.

Good weekend.

The grass IS greener

I got my new iPhone today. It's great. It's the white, 16 Gig. I really dig having the internet whenever I want it. It was a pain to let everyone know about the number change though. I went with the white because I figured most people would go with the black, and thats the kind of guy I am.

So, while it was taking my phone 45 minutes to send a text to every contact in my phone, I got to sit down and watch some tv. Oddly enough, there was a Warren Miller movie on: Impact. Like all good ski / snowboard movies, it made me feel nostalgic. It caused me to long for my winter days again. Now, that doesn't sound too wrong does it? The only real issue is that I'm smack in the middle of summer, surfing bare-back for two hours after work each day without getting cold. I should be totally loving the now (i.e. the grass on this side of the fence). You know what though, I love surfing now, and I love thinking about snowboarding later. Maybe the grass is always greener when it comes to my seasonal board sports, but I don't care. I hop the fence whenever I feel like it.

Kobe Diem

In latin they say "Carpe Diem". It means "cease the day". In L.A. we say "Kobe Diem". It means "Kobe will win gold in china, come home, win the MVP and the NBA title".

If I could design the perfect woman, baring a few intangibles, she would be Brazilian and speak English with a British accent, ghetto fabulous, 5'10" and blonde. That's it.

Long time, get busy

I haven't posted a blog in a long time. Mostly since life as I know it has been relatively uneventful. I've recently commited myself to a few more worthy tasks that might be of more interest.

I work for a very large aerospace company. Large companies like this always have big, important CEOs who stand at the head of them. Most of us who work for the company may never have the chance to see the man in person, let along engage in dialog with him. My co-worker / friend / partner in crime Chris who started with me at the company, posed an interesting idea. He heard that if you emailed this particular CEO of a $30 billion a year company, he tends to write back. I figured that since most of this spineless corporation would never take the chance we could, we might as well go for it. So, we drafted an email to our CEO to open a discussion regarding the increasing generation gap and what the company might do to better prepare to recieve the Millennials as the flood the American and Global workforce.

With the email drafted over the period of one work day, Chris and I clicked the send button on the email account without reservation. The great principle we had learned of 'Asking for forgiveness rather than permission' seemed to give us courage. Little did we know we would be asking for forgiveness that very day (within 3 hours of sending the email).

Much to our suprise, the email was responded to within several hours. Much to our dismay, we were lightly chastized in the name of mentorship. Though, dispite our mild verbal flogging, we were given several high level contacts, with whom we could work. We promptly appologized for our approach, though in all honesty, we prided ourselves in the bold manuveur. Re-reading over the email, which I had origionally drafted, we saw how our attempt to convey urgency, might have been mis-read as critisicm, demmanding or innappropriate.

Amongst other things, we were accused of possible naivetae in the area of our concern. Chris and I have taken it upon ourselves to become experts in the field of generational gaps in the corporate world so as to supremely dominate any such conversation we may engage in.

Don't ever email the CEO of a $30 billion a year company when the email may appear to tell him how to do his job, unless your ready to feel the whiplash. I wasn't ready for it, but I handled it and both Chris and I agree that we are better for it.

When later explaining the story to our ex-manager and long time mentor / friend Ben, he promptly asked "Did you guys smoke a bowl before you sent this thing?!" We reminded him that he was the one who encouraged us to push boundaries and ask forgiveness rather than permission. I think he's all the more proud of us for having done it.

$30 billion a year or not, he's just a man and I might even intimidate him!

Surviving the knife

This week I had my first surgery. After having a finger broken twice, it was time to go in and fix it up right. The Dr. re-attached a piece of my bone that had broken off and removed some scar tissue. Right now I've got two pins in my hand, which I've never seen. My hand is wrapped up real good, so I'm only typing one handed (slowly). I'll get back to blogging as the hand heals.

A Good Man Gone

Today marks the passing of Gordon B. Hinckley, beloved prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. President Hinckley died at age 97. He has spent the last three years of his life as a widower. Without a doubt, he is now over-joyed and relieved to be with the girl of his dreams once again.

For those of us who loved and revered him, we cannot be overly dismayed by his passing. Though his presence will be greatly missed in all gatherings wherein we might expect to be received by a welcome smile followed by a wave of the cane, we wish him not to be trapped back here in this tabernacle of clay. He's left us for a holier sphere. One in which he has begun an eternity with his sweetheart.

He lived such a full life, marked with temple dedications, buildings erected, barriers broken down, hearts opened and lives changed. He was the prophet who when the twin towers fell, when persecutions arose and when evil men sought to threaten our faith and freedom, he like Elijah of old could say with assurance and love "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them" (2 Kings 6:16).

For me, he was the prophet as I passed from adolescence to adulthood. He was the prophet when I came to believe that there was more to this church than a massive body of saints. He was the prophet who signed my call to serve a mission in Brazil. He was the prophet I testified for 2 full years to be God's living mouth piece upon the earth. He was a man of great accomplishment, to whom I would listen for guidance and encouragement. He knew so well the issues facing us, not only as a church, but as an entire world. Though a man of great knowledge, he was given power to speak comfort to those whom he never knew personally and to understand issues he may never have suffered from himself. He truly was God's prophet to the world.

I feel it appropriate to quote here and excerpt from his last address to the world as a whole in the October 2007 General Conference. He said:

"May the windows of heaven be opened and blessings showered upon you as the Lord has promised. Never forget that this was His promise and that He has the power and the capacity to see that it is fulfilled. I so pray as I leave my blessing and love with you in the sacred name of our Redeemer, even the Lord Jesus Christ, amen."

Many times it would seem that President Hinckley was bidding us a more permanent farewell. And even though it didn't seem that way in this last address to the world, in retrospect these sweet words are as beautiful of a parting message as anyone could have hoped for.



For further information on the late President Hinckley, please visit http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/

May we all keep the memory of this great servant alive by reading his words, doing the things he asked us to do and becoming all that he asked us to become. Great as he was himslef, he had no personal agenda. He only relayed to us what God wanted us to hear.

Fu Mandle Bar Shoe Stache

A little less than a month ago, I started growing what I initially believed to be handle bar mustache on my face. Shortly thereafter, I was brought to the realization that the intended facial hair design was falsely dubbed, but was more accurately referred to as a Fu Manchu. As if I hadn't had enough startling corrections, I was yet again reprimanded for my less than thorough understanding of mustache nomenclature. As it turns out I most definitely do not have a Handle Bar mustache or a Fu Manchu. The style of mustache I had chosen to dawn some 20-30 days ago is simply informally referred to as a 'Horse Shoe' mustache! How silly I feel after having so stubbornly insisted that my superior comprehension of contemporary facial hair led me to believe what I had grown was a Fu Manchu and contrary to popular belief, not a Handle Bar mustache. For further validation on my comments, please refer to the following wikipedia articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu_Manchu_moustache
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handlebar_moustache
I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize to those of you whom I may have mislead. I openly acknowledge the fact that I was wrong to ever call my mustache a 'Handle Bar' or 'Fu Manchu' mustache.

On a much lighter note, good luck to the Lakers tonight. They will be playing the San Antonio Spurs. My guess is if Kobe keeps playing like he did two nights ago against the Nuggets, we have a very solid chance of beating the Spurs, despite current injuries. This Laker team became very deep after the first part of the season. They are fortunate enough to be able to win against good Western Conference teams like the Nuggets without the likes of Andrew Bynum (left patella subluxation) and Trevor Arriza (broken foot). To help make up for this loss, the Lakers have extended a 10-day contract to 7-foot center D.J. Mbenga. Though not quite the big name center that some of us Laker fans would have liked Mitch to have acquired, we must remember the following: Few, if any of us, had heard of Trevor Arizza before he came to Los Angeles. There is a good chance that Mbenga will contribute some valuable minutes to this team. In any case, it's 5 extra fouls we can afford to give if Kwame or Ronni gets in trouble.

I'm loving life, the Lakers, my family, my friends and the fact that the pain in my partially finished root canal has subsided. Unfortunately, I will need to have the procedure finished tomorrow. That means, I will be in some sort of discomfort for the weekend. Nevertheless, I will enjoy life!

Sundance baby, Sundance.

Today was my first day back at work after a beautiful weekend in Utah. While in the beehive state, my time was evenly divided between Provo, home of my alma matre, and Park City. For the last 4 years of my life I have attended the Sundance Film Festival. Until this year, I have hosted friends from across the U.S. at my apartment in Provo durring the festival. This year I have returned to Los Angeles and thus, traded in my status as a Park City Local for a tan and blonder hair.

Needless to say, I was not about to let the distance nor the cost of the trip detur me from returning once again to Utah for the Sundance Film Festival. For me, the experience is not so much in the films, parties, celebs or music. It is the reunion of good friends and conversations shared amidst the cold air and chaotic mess of Hollywood vacationing in Utah.

Personally, I take advantage of the location of the event and spend most of the day time snowboarding at Park City Mountain Resort. Along with my regular attendance to the festival, I am a regular season pass holder at PCMR and as such, make as much time as possible for riding on the mountain. With the extreme cold and large volume of snow to date, I really enjoyed the beauty of the outdoors streaking into my peripherial as I tore down the mountain.

I only saw one movie and spent one and a half days on the mountain. I had a toothache on arrival to Utah. I blew more money on food and other people than I probably should have. It was cold and I came home without my snowboard. I slept on a mildly comfortable couch for four nights. And even though I make mention of these things, they are not the things I most consider. What has remained in my mind and migrated into my heart, thus becoming part of me, is the time spent with my brother. Getting to know his girlfriend and the things that make them happy and laugh. Seeing my other brother enjoy himself in a way only a young man who is only now becoming a man can do. Bumping into old friends on Main St. and making festive promises of future, out of tradition, meetings and outings. Making unlikely friends with unsuspecting fellow wait-listers. Listening to a good friend pour his heart out about his family and other things personal to him. Attending church in Spanish. Eating dinner with loved ones, old and new. Speaking Portuguesse with Brazilians on work exchange programs. Hitch-hiking around Park City. Walking across campus with a backpack on and feeling like a student again, with a hunger for learning that I could only get in a University setting. Sitting in on a class and taking notes. Congratulating a long time friend and his wife on their recent conception. Loving, laughing, sharing, sleeping, listening and growing. It was all I wanted it to be.

"Ooh Child....."

Just before getting back to work last week, I spent 90% of my two and a half week winter vacation traveling. I was in Las Vegas, Park City, Salt Lake City, Cancun Mexico, Aspen Colorado, and Mesa Arizona. It was a lot of flying and driving. I enjoyed it all..... well most of it. Since nothing really eventful happened this weekend (with the exception of my pending root canal) I thought I'd post an older story from my journal. Here it is:

As a part of my recent travels, I needed to make a flight from Denver Colorado to Phoenix Arizona. I was coming from a day of snowboarding in Aspen to my cousin’s wedding. I was pretty tired from lack of sleep and long flights. Prior to my day in Aspen, I had spent a week in Cancun Mexico with my family. All the time changes and long flights had started to wear me out. Then to spend a day on the mountain, really wearing myself out and drive 4 hours to the airport only to miss my flight by a few minutes really just made me feel frustrated and down. I had never missed a flight before. I got stuck in an awful snow storm while driving through the Vail Pass. I had planned for this and even after slowing down to between 30-40 mph for about an hour, I knew I could still arrive on time. It wasn't until I hit a traffic jam created by the police that I began to realize how late I might be. They were trying to diminish the volume of cars going through this one tunnel on the I-70 headed to Denver. To do so, they literally stopped traffic and made us wait for an hour. By the time I got my rental car returned my flight had taken off. So, I was able to get my flight refunded. Still, I needed to be in Arizona that night. That meant that I would need to get another plane ticket. I tried to get a little lady who worked at Frontier Airlines to make a deal for me (which, without going into much detail, wasn’t all that far-fetched). It didn’t work, so I had to forfeit over a lot of money to get a last minute flight. Even then, I needed to run to the gate to catch it. I had been traveling without my cell phone for about two weeks at that point. I had no real way of contacting anyone to tell them that I would be coming in at a different time. So, I was a little stressed, tired and frustrated as I waited for the tram to take me to my gate. As I waited, the most interesting thing happened.

I was standing at the loading gate for the tram, tired and hot, holding my two bags. As I stood there, in a crowd of about 15 people, I heard a man approaching with a rather brisk step. His pace was quite reflective of his attitude, cheerful and confident. I heard him begin to sing, and as he walked on by me, he looked right in my eyes, from about 10 feet away, and without breaking his step sang the intro to the song Ooh Child by the Five Stairsteps. The words go like this: “Ooh Child, things are gonna get easier. Ooh Child, things are gonna get brighter.” He didn’t stop to talk, he didn’t even wait for a reaction. He just motioned towards me with his hand as he strolled on by, singing and looking right at me. The words of that song hit me and I really couldn’t help but smile. It was then that I realized that God was just finding a simple way to comfort me and lift my soul. That song will always have a greater meaning to me now. I’m thankful for the hand of the Lord in my life that day.

The Roots (canal)

I didn't write yesterday because I realized that I would need an emergency root canal today. So.... that's really lame. It totally puts a damper on my day. I wanted to go surfing this morning. I suppose I could have, but I was just really bummed. Maybe this will motivate me to wake up early and either surf before work, or surf after. I'm really bummed because this procedure will take more than one visit. I leave Wednesday night for the Sundance Film Festival. I would really like to have everything done before then. Hopefully I will. I've never been to this dentist before, so I'm not sure what to expect. I'm really lucky to have found a close to home dentist, in my insurance network, open on Saturdays that does root canals. It was a crazy rush last night to find him.

As far as the typical events of yesterday went, it was a long boring Friday at work. I was glad when it was over. I was sad when I realized I wouldn't be going out because there was a gaping whole in my back left molar. I'm hoping that I will feel well enough to go out tonight.

I watched the Laker game last night. I love the Lakers. I love it when they win. Last night we beat the Milwaukee Bucks. Historically, they've caused us some grief. Interestingly enough, the last time they won a championship, Kareem Abdul Jabaar was sinking un-defendable left handed hook shots for them. Despite the historical performance between these two teams and Kobe Bryant's viral upper respiratory infection, the Lakers came away with a very decisive win. It was a good game. The guys are really picking up some momentum right now, which they will need to get them through the latter half of this months schedule. I'm excited to watch the team stand up to some of the best in the Western Conference, and see how we measure up.

So, this entry was boring and probably not worth reading. I'll put something a bit more exciting in later tonight. At least I can post a cool design. PEACE

Sour Kraut & Equal

The most bizzare thing to ever be eaten is sour kraut with several packets of equal poured over it. That's what I saw Dan eat while we waited for our food at Nate 'n Al's Deli in Beverly Hills.

I was really bored at work today. And despite the insurmountable opposition to my creativity and productivity created by large corporate office politics, I refused to be found indulging in a mind numbing session of Spider Solitaire. For some reason I'd rather shamelessly lay down on the floor in my cube and sleep before playing simple desktop games. Thankfully, I had to leave work early today to accompany my brother as he went through the LDS temple for the first time. This he did as part of his essential preparation for a two year missionary service in Mexico City. It was a very pleasant experience. I always feel great peace in the Los Angeles LDS temple.

So, nothing to exciting today. I'm tired and I want to sleep now.

Blog Bandwagon

I wanted to start a blog. So I did.