5 months ago
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Random Summer pics and Videos
I think these videos and pictures pretty well speak for themselves, and since it takes a while to load and I am trying to multi-task tonight...Enjoy! 
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Economy: Rinse and Repeat
Those who know me know that I am a big fan of capitalism. One of the things that can be difficult about a free economy is the boom and bust cycle that takes place when markets must correct themselves. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on that. I did, however, what to point something out. I keep hearing about how bad the economy is and people wondering if we will ever get back to prosperity. In fact, here are just a few headlines from the past year in Time magazine (including a case for saving GM and a picture of Mr. Change Obama and his "New New Deal"):
The reason I post these is because they remind me of another time. When I was just starting to study journalism in high school in 1992 (a quick shout out to Ms. Beck from Hillcrest High) we were also going through a rough economic time. I remember reading article after article wondering if/when we would ever get out of the tailspin we were in. Interestingly enough, many economists would argue that the '90s were as prosperous a decade as we have ever had. See if any of these 1992 Time covers look at all familiar (including an article about GM and a "Mandate for Change")
I'm not predicting how or when the economy is going to turn around. In fact, given our governments response, I've never been more worried for the state of our nation. However, I do think that a little perspective on how history tends to repeat itself is worth at least a glance.
Monday, February 02, 2009
A Groundhog's Day Worth Repeating (02-02-02)
I have a Groundhog’s day story that I have been meaning to write down for quite some time. This year, I finally made the time.
In January 2002, with the Olympic Games almost upon Salt Lake City, Jamie and my relationship was really humming along. I don’t have time to write the whole story of how we ended up dating (though I do intend to write my version of that story some time as well), suffice it to say that for as hard as it was for Jamie and I to begin dating, it was equally easy for us to become comfortable with one another and fall in love. On January 24, 2002 I was sitting at my parents’ computer working on a church assignment when my inbox flashed that I received an e-mail from Jamie. Always anxious to see what she had to say, I was rather taken aback when all the e-mail said was, “I’m ready.”
“Ready for what?”, I wondered. Did we have a date I had forgotten about? Did she hit send before she finished writing a longer message? Surely this wasn’t her letting me know she was ready to get engaged. Having dated for just three months, I assumed that we were headed to the eventuality of marriage, I just thought it would come several months down the road. Over the next few days I scrambled a little. I made a trip to the temple and prayed about our relationship. I had such a great feeling. Unfortunately, this was not the first time that I had gone to the temple with the intention of getting confirmation from Heavenly Father that this was the right person. However, it was the first time that the peaceful reassurance of the spirit told me I had found the right person.
This set in motion a series of planning. I knew that Jamie would be extremely busy once the Olympics started. She was slated to spend a lot of time at the speed skating Oval as an athletic trainer. I finalized the purchase of an engagement ring that Jamie’s sister Tracy helped me pick out, called and got permission from Jamie’s dad to ask for her hand in marriage and tried to figure out the how of asking Jamie to marry me.
February 2, 2002, or 02-02-02, fell on a Saturday. Figuring that it would make for a memorable engage-iversery date I ordered up a dozen long stem roses and called Jamie and scheduled a date.
It turned out that several of my friends from my single’s ward had planned to all go out to eat at the Garden Restaurant on Temple Square. Unlike in most years, in 2002 the lights around temple square were still up in February (something to do with the Olympics). Early in the day, I drove down to Temple Square with my friend Matt Reading and we picked out an exact spot where I would ask Jamie to marry me. We worked it out that Matt would pick up my roses, store them with someone at the Joseph Smith Building and place them in “the spot” for me as Jamie and I were leaving dinner. That way, Jamie would never see it coming, but I would have a dozen roses that I could magically whip out of thin air.
Later in the day, Jamie called and asked if I would be willing to go on our date a little early and go visit her grandma Fran at the Wasatch Rehabilitation Center. I agreed and we spent a little time with her grandma, who repeatedly told me I was extremely handsome, before heading downtown.
When we got downtown, Matt pulled me aside. None of the Joseph Smith Building employees were going to be on shift long enough to hold the roses for us so he had given the roses to the hostess at the Garden. All this meant, was that somehow Matt would need to get out in front of us without Jamie seeing him get the actual roses from the Hostess. As luck would have it, we were seated right near the front of the restaurant where I could see the roses throughout the whole meal.
The meal was fun. In fact, it was the only time I have ever made Jamie laugh so hard that water came out of her nose. I was totally nervous the whole dinner, but tried to remain relaxed and myself. Finally, after the bill came I decided that I would try to take Jamie out of the restaurant and stall for Matt to get the roses in place.
Seeing as how I am a terrible liar, I told Jamie that I needed to use the restroom, but that I really liked the restroom in the basement of the Joseph Smith Building. She must have known something was up…I still can’t believe I didn’t come up with a better excuse. Fortunately, it was a really busy day and Jamie said that a ton of men came in and out of that restroom. So, she actually started to wonder if it was a special room or something.
Once I was in the restroom, Matt called me to report that he was on his way with the roses and had a good lead. I walked up and told Jamie I thought it would be nice to walk around the Temple once. Jamie, as luck would have it, didn’t want to, “its too cold,” she complained. I literally had to drag her away from the door closest to where we parked and walk her around to the designated “spot.” Even as we walked, I was trying to make it romantic (despite her thinking I just spent like 10 minutes in some special restroom) and Jamie was doing her best to just hurry up and get to the car where we could get warm.
When we did finally reach the bench where the roses were, I pulled Jamie aside and told her I wanted to take her with me to the temple. I started getting down on one knee, but had placed myself too close to the granite bench and I bumped hard into it, so I sorta half-kneeled and half stood and asked her to marry me. (She still ribs me about my less than proper knee-job and in retrospect it certainly wasn’t very slick on my part.) Jamie said yes and I whipped out the roses as a few people around us applauded. We still have those roses, dried, on a shelf above our stairs in our home.
As we drove home, Jamie called her family and was really excited. It was certainly not the smoothest proposal ever, but it certainly was a Groundhog’s day worth repeating.
Now I tease Jamie's sisters that they need to get engaged on repeated dates. Here's looking to 09-09-09!
In January 2002, with the Olympic Games almost upon Salt Lake City, Jamie and my relationship was really humming along. I don’t have time to write the whole story of how we ended up dating (though I do intend to write my version of that story some time as well), suffice it to say that for as hard as it was for Jamie and I to begin dating, it was equally easy for us to become comfortable with one another and fall in love. On January 24, 2002 I was sitting at my parents’ computer working on a church assignment when my inbox flashed that I received an e-mail from Jamie. Always anxious to see what she had to say, I was rather taken aback when all the e-mail said was, “I’m ready.”
“Ready for what?”, I wondered. Did we have a date I had forgotten about? Did she hit send before she finished writing a longer message? Surely this wasn’t her letting me know she was ready to get engaged. Having dated for just three months, I assumed that we were headed to the eventuality of marriage, I just thought it would come several months down the road. Over the next few days I scrambled a little. I made a trip to the temple and prayed about our relationship. I had such a great feeling. Unfortunately, this was not the first time that I had gone to the temple with the intention of getting confirmation from Heavenly Father that this was the right person. However, it was the first time that the peaceful reassurance of the spirit told me I had found the right person.
This set in motion a series of planning. I knew that Jamie would be extremely busy once the Olympics started. She was slated to spend a lot of time at the speed skating Oval as an athletic trainer. I finalized the purchase of an engagement ring that Jamie’s sister Tracy helped me pick out, called and got permission from Jamie’s dad to ask for her hand in marriage and tried to figure out the how of asking Jamie to marry me.
February 2, 2002, or 02-02-02, fell on a Saturday. Figuring that it would make for a memorable engage-iversery date I ordered up a dozen long stem roses and called Jamie and scheduled a date.
It turned out that several of my friends from my single’s ward had planned to all go out to eat at the Garden Restaurant on Temple Square. Unlike in most years, in 2002 the lights around temple square were still up in February (something to do with the Olympics). Early in the day, I drove down to Temple Square with my friend Matt Reading and we picked out an exact spot where I would ask Jamie to marry me. We worked it out that Matt would pick up my roses, store them with someone at the Joseph Smith Building and place them in “the spot” for me as Jamie and I were leaving dinner. That way, Jamie would never see it coming, but I would have a dozen roses that I could magically whip out of thin air.
Later in the day, Jamie called and asked if I would be willing to go on our date a little early and go visit her grandma Fran at the Wasatch Rehabilitation Center. I agreed and we spent a little time with her grandma, who repeatedly told me I was extremely handsome, before heading downtown.
When we got downtown, Matt pulled me aside. None of the Joseph Smith Building employees were going to be on shift long enough to hold the roses for us so he had given the roses to the hostess at the Garden. All this meant, was that somehow Matt would need to get out in front of us without Jamie seeing him get the actual roses from the Hostess. As luck would have it, we were seated right near the front of the restaurant where I could see the roses throughout the whole meal.
The meal was fun. In fact, it was the only time I have ever made Jamie laugh so hard that water came out of her nose. I was totally nervous the whole dinner, but tried to remain relaxed and myself. Finally, after the bill came I decided that I would try to take Jamie out of the restaurant and stall for Matt to get the roses in place.
Seeing as how I am a terrible liar, I told Jamie that I needed to use the restroom, but that I really liked the restroom in the basement of the Joseph Smith Building. She must have known something was up…I still can’t believe I didn’t come up with a better excuse. Fortunately, it was a really busy day and Jamie said that a ton of men came in and out of that restroom. So, she actually started to wonder if it was a special room or something.
Once I was in the restroom, Matt called me to report that he was on his way with the roses and had a good lead. I walked up and told Jamie I thought it would be nice to walk around the Temple once. Jamie, as luck would have it, didn’t want to, “its too cold,” she complained. I literally had to drag her away from the door closest to where we parked and walk her around to the designated “spot.” Even as we walked, I was trying to make it romantic (despite her thinking I just spent like 10 minutes in some special restroom) and Jamie was doing her best to just hurry up and get to the car where we could get warm.
When we did finally reach the bench where the roses were, I pulled Jamie aside and told her I wanted to take her with me to the temple. I started getting down on one knee, but had placed myself too close to the granite bench and I bumped hard into it, so I sorta half-kneeled and half stood and asked her to marry me. (She still ribs me about my less than proper knee-job and in retrospect it certainly wasn’t very slick on my part.) Jamie said yes and I whipped out the roses as a few people around us applauded. We still have those roses, dried, on a shelf above our stairs in our home.
As we drove home, Jamie called her family and was really excited. It was certainly not the smoothest proposal ever, but it certainly was a Groundhog’s day worth repeating.
Now I tease Jamie's sisters that they need to get engaged on repeated dates. Here's looking to 09-09-09!
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