What Have I Learned Today?

Review of "Redemption" - a movie about the story of John Baptiste

2012-01-29T09:36:00.000-08:00

Me and "John Baptiste" after watching the film

Last night I took Cathi, Jacob and Jonas along with my good friend Josh, and his wife Sabrina out on a group date. We went to the LDS Film Festival where we saw Redemption.

I took it upon myself to study the different accounts online of the story before hand. The movie not only met my hopes and expectations, but surpassed them! I was also a little worried that the film might stretch the story out too long to make a full feature film, but there were no parts in the movie where I looked at my watch wondering how much longer. The actors were ALL very good and portrayed the characters in a very convincing way.

The panoramic views and angles of many of the shots were very well chosen and really did a great job portraying the beauty and lonely expanse of Antelope Island. There were many scenes that made the story come alive for me. I would have to say that this is one of the best films I've seen in the past year.

White Rock Bay

I was surprised that there was no mention of Brigham Young's role in this story. After spending three months in jail, Brigham Young piped up:

"What I would do with him came to me quickly, after I heard of the circumstances... If it were left to me, I would make him a fugitive and a vagabond upon the earth. This would be my sentence." - Brigham Young's Office Journal, January 27, 1862, LDS Church Archives, 341-42.

Really Brother Brigham? Even though he couldn't legally be the one to pass judgement, certainly his recommendation made it to the ears of the executors of the law.

Ever been thirsty or hungry? Try living on a desert island
surrounded by super salty water.

That doesn't sound like justice, but rather vengeance. What would the dead say? Especially when they're facing their own judges with the following doctrine ringing in their ears:

“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

The character, John Baptiste, in the movie made a statement that I agree with completely. When our loved ones die and are placed in the ground, "The soul is not in the ground". When Jesus was in the tomb his body was not there, what happened to his body at that time did not have any influence on the fact that he was busy doing His Father's work.

Brigham Young could have taken this situation and shown great leadership and at the same time taught a great lesson about the basic doctrine about the separation of the spirit and body after death, as well as reminded the "saints" about forgiveness. One of the biggest messages I got from the film is that those we might deem as being wicked and bad, might not be as much as we can expect or wish. Nor are the "Saints" as righteous and good as we can expect or wish. Good and evil is NOT black and white. Before we pass judgement, perhaps we should defer to the only one who can properly do so.

I would highly recommend this movie to help get your own thoughts churning in your own head. It'll change you.

Redemption - film about the story of John Baptiste

2012-01-25T12:48:00.000-08:00

So a while back when I was studying Fremont Island, I came across this story about a grave robber who was sent to Fremont Island as a prison. Here's another version of the story with more details (and sources). And this version which is the most detailed I've found so far, which includes alot of background on Baptiste.

When I spent the night on Fremont Island, I thought about this man. I don't have the full story, but based on the only information available which may be more fiction that fact, it seems the punishment was far more harsh than the crime.

Don't get me wrong. I love Fremont Island. At first the environment seemed so harsh, and so unnatural to this world. I mean the fact that I didn't see a single tree on the island and that it was literally covered in huge orb-weaver spiders gave me the willies. However, if I had enough money to buy the island from the owners, I'd do it in a heartbeat. There is a fantastic mystery and romance about the island that interests me greatly.

Today I just found out that an LDS filmmaker has actually put this story to film and it is going to be shown at a film festival this week! I just bought four tickets to see it this Saturday evening. I am so excited! Having swam to Fremont Island and spending the night there for one night, I feel an indescribable bond that makes me fanatical about the island.

GSL Tech Team Meeting

2012-01-18T14:02:00.000-08:00

This morning I met at the Utah State Building on North Temple for a GSL Tech team meeting. Here's my notes:

Overheard conversation about the results of the red dye study. Researcher was explaining that it was observed that the affects of the selenium contaminated water was concentrated near and about one mile away from shore there was enough vertical turbulence that it was disseminating and not an issue. But that the red dye was mostly staying right around the shoreline.

This is interesting given that swimming along the shoreline rather than heading perpendicular, may result in greater risk of swimming in contaminated water.

Laura Ault led the discussion.

Intros....

* Laura Vernon - update of GSL Comprehensive Management plan draft given to attorneys to review and some modifications. Draft available very soon, after which a 45 day comment period. Will email out notification ice it's available online. Near the end of that 45 day period about 5 meetings will be scheduled for folks to come in person to talk about.

* Wally Gwynn - dikes and causeways on the GSL
Uses: transportation or restricting water flow. There are 9 dikes or causeways in the GSL. 90 miles worth.

In 1969 the north antelope causeway was built. Flooded on 1984-1989.

Willard bay dike is 15.6 miles long and is there to create freshwater recreation area. The dike there is about 4220 so it's high enough to reduce risk of overflowing should the lake rise.

US magnesium started in 1972.
Behrens trench 21 mile underwater trench transports the concentrated brine through gravity. Takes about seven to ten days to get from the west to the east side by the Promontory mountains. It was designed that way so it wouldn't mix much. Its an engineering marvel.

The first 11 miles is the greatest elevation drop. Loses about 20% through mixing. It dissolves just a little with the water.

The pumps on the west at the south end of the Hogup mountains takes water from the north arm. GSLM has permits to use the land right around the pumps and in the contract has agreed to provide the lake water to reach the pumps should it get high enough to run the pumps again.

Morrison Knudsen won contract in 1954 to build the causeway for the railroad at 53 million dollars.

Salinity between south and north between 18 - 28% on the north and 7 - 22% on south.

In 80s Utah breached the causeway to reduce lake levels and it cost $3.5 million. It really caused the south and north water levels to level out.

BREAK

I left at this point as I was already beyond the point where I needed to be to work, but Wally's historical slide show and discussion was VERY interesting!

Primary Program and Stryder arrives

2011-10-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we went to the cabin and I challenged the kids to get in the stream going into Logan river. The water was 43° F and they all did it! I was very surprised. We had a very fun weekend together playing games and enjoying the fall weather.

We went home late Saturday evening so Cathi and the kids could participate in the primary program.

We also got a pleasant surprise that Steve and Meg's new baby boy arrived. His name is Stryder. Here's some video (Hit the Expand icon (The four arrow at the bottom right of the video) to blow up the video good enough for you to see. I didn't zoom in on the video)

My thoughts on Charitable donations

2011-10-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

So some guy facebooked about this news story saying that charitable donations shouldn't be tax deductions. At first I was a little defensive. You know I count on getting a little bit back every February and I appreciate it. But what if the government kept that money and didn't allow me to count it as a tax deduction? Two thoughts:

That would probably really help get our nation out of debt. Imagine all the charitable tax deductions that if the government were able to keep how much more revenue that would be, and hopefully that could be used to reduce the deficit.
Why do you give to charity? I would imagine that most people don't give to charity BECAUSE it's a tax deduction, but because they feel supportive of the organization they're donating to. The tax deduction is a little perk, but if that perk were taken away, would it remove the incentive to donate? Maybe for those who are on the fence about it. But those who feel strongly about their charity of choice would still donate.

In my case, I pay 10% to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Some argue that it isn't a charity and that its a flat rate percentage and mandatory. Mandatory? Define mandatory. Would I lose my membership in the church, No. Would I be branded on my forehead that I'm a non-tithe member? No. Would I have a temple recommend. No, but if I wasn't paying tithing, I wouldn't expect to either. It takes faith to believe in what the temple represents, just as it take faith to pay tithing. So it's absurd to feel robbed of temple blessings by not having a recommend because I wasn't paying tithing. Everyone who pays tithing does so out of choice. The church doesn't have the right to automatically take money out of my account. So the argument that it's mandatory is ridiculous.

If the government decided to remove tax deductions on charitable donations, I wouldn't freak out. I'm not sure if members of the church in other countries with different tax laws are given the same incentive to pay their tithing, and they still pay it. It takes faith to pay tithing, and not getting that perk of a hefty tax refund every February would make the faith to continue to pay more significant and I believe the blessings would be also more powerful.

What are your thoughts?

Family Home Evening at Black Island Farms

2011-10-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

We got a good deal at Fizook.com for Black Island Farm entrance. We got there at 5:15 and went immediately to the pumpkin patch because the line was only about 20 feet long and typically is much longer than that. Each kid got to go out in the field and pick their own pumpkin. There was some pretty impressive ones out there. Jacob picked his out while on the way, and ended up running back about 300 yards to get his.

After that we went in and did the corn maze and all the slides. Lots of fun all evening!

Cathi told me "This is one of the highlights of the whole year!" It was so fun watching all the little ones run as fast as they can from the end of the slide back to where they climb back up. Full out sprints.
I ended up getting them small lightsabers at the farmers market. It was hilarious watching Oliver fight with his imaginary Sith opponent.

We were there until 8:30 and it was dark and cold and lots of kids were complaining that they were too cold, even with their winter coats on. Sams hands were like ice. They all had a ball and burned a fun family moment into their memories.

Here's some pics and vid:

Jacob Gridley, the most qualified marathon swimming support crew person I know

2011-09-06T03:39:00.000-07:00

Jacob is 13 years old, but he's not your typical young teenager. Just like many teenage boys, he enjoys learning and mastering extreme sports: snowboarding, unicycling, pogo sticking, etc... But what makes him stand out is that he has exceptional endurance. He has run six half marathons and is aspiring to run a full marathon very soon.

Jacob finishes the 2011 Pocatello Half Marathon

A recent example of his extreme endurance: Three days ago he ran the Pocatello Half Marathon, then two days later paddled solo in a kayak, nearly 20 miles in grueling conditions, the length of Bear Lake. Jacob is one of the most experienced kids his age, in long distance lake kayaking. Here are some examples:

Paddled nearly 9 miles in the 2011 Antelope Island to Black Rock race for marathon swimmer, Greg O'Connor, director of the Boston Light Race.
Paddled 21 miles in the Great Salt Lake for my English Qualifier.
Paddled 19 miles - the length of Bear Lake
Paddled over 12 miles to Fremont Island and back.
Paddled 10 miles in the Deer Creek Open Water Marathon.
Paddled over 8 miles in my record setting Antelope Island to Black Rock marathon swim
Paddled 6 miles in the 2010 Slam the Dam Grand Slam
Navigated over 7 miles in my 2010 Bear Lake width crossing
Many training swims where he was my support for swims ranging from 4-10 miles

All this starting when he was 10 years old!

With all this experience that he's gained, he is probably one of the most qualified people I could have with me on the boat as I swim the English Channel next year. He's demonstrated that he's got the physical and mental endurance. He's already got a significant resume built up as a valuable support crew member for marathon swimmers. I'm honored to have him on my team!

Don't you worry, there's someone out there for you too!

2011-08-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Don't you just hate those people who seem to have it all? Trust me I don't have it all. I have a yard full of weeds, the carpet in the house all needs to be replaced, and I'm about 20 pounds heavier than what I'd like to be at STILL! But I must say, I DO have the woman of my dreams! I feel bad for people who are still finding the love of their lives and I don't mean to come across like I'm snide, but "I'm sure there's a babe out there for you too."

Mt. Harrison ride/hike/snowshoe

2011-06-27T09:21:00.001-07:00

The annual tradition of Cycling from Albion City Park to Mt. Harrison was again completed! Got up at 5:30am and got everything ready to go up there. I packed snowshoes this time because I knew that the snowpack up there was going to be insane! I was right on, cause they were definitely needed.

I left at 6am exactly from the park and the sun was just coming up as I got to the turn off the highway up to Mt. Harrison. Took several breaks for pictures. When I got about 2 hours into the ride, the smell of the air was extremely refreshing! That alone was worth the trip! If I could can that air I'd be a millionaire. Loved it!

Albion to Mt Harrison Outlook CycloCross (Bike, Hike, Snowshoe) Trip

Find more Routes in Albion, ID

Once I got past Pomerelle, I hit my first snowbank on the road that required carrying my bike. Then I got past the gate on the road and crossed over a couple more snow bank patches on the road. Then I got up to Lake Cleveland and from there I stashed my bike and hiked/snowshoed the rest of the way. I did about 3 miles of hiking/snowshoeing.

I was nervous about seeing a bear up there. Then when I get about 1/4 mile from the top. I saw a big hole in the snow with tracks coming from it. Man was that thought enough to pump my blood even faster! I got to the outlook and noticed that this time, they had locked the deck around the building. I took pics, but no vid from that point since my camera battery was dying and wouldn't let me take vid from that point on. It was a perfect day. No clouds, not very windy, and I left early enough in the morning that it wasn't hot. Plus it wasn't that cold despite the snow.

Absolutely perfect ride! The last time my butt sat on that saddle was last year when I did this ride. I've been focusing so much on my swimming that I really had to blow off the dust on my bike and get it oiled up for this ride. I was sure I could make it, but I knew it would take time. It sure did! And most of it was because of the detour in my planned trip. I back country'd a good portion of it. What an adventure!
Here's all the pics/video in Picasa:

Jacob turns 13

2011-06-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

It's official, I now have two teenagers in my house. Just a month ago, we became a family where diapers were no longer on the shopping list. But with the older boys getting bigger and eating more. The money saved from buying diapers goes right to buying more food!

Jacob is a joy to our family. He is a really hard worker and is great at helping us out. He is so nurturing to the younger brothers especially Oliver. He has especially been supportive to me in my swimming adventures as a support crew captain. I love Jacob!

Yesterday we were able to spend the day at Lagoon and I took a bunch of pictures and video. You can seem them here:

Happy Birthday Oliver!

2011-05-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

Oliver was born four years ago today. What a joy he has been in our family's lives. Here is a short 2 minute slideshow of his life as a 3 year old.

Flashback of scary spitting laughing man on the wall of the cabin

2011-05-17T06:47:00.001-07:00

For some reason I remembered this creepy toy on the wall, with the laugh. I think Grandma had a rule that we could only pull the tie once a day. It kept us kids entertained.

Happy Mothers Day

2011-05-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my Mom and Dad came over for dinner. Austin, Jacob and I were busy making chicken, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, rolls, pumpkin pie. We were in the kitchen for hours! But it was like thanksgiving and it was delicious. Cathi was able to just read to the little ones while we made dinner.

I sure love Cathi. She is a fantastic Mother! We are currently attending a dance class on Saturdays for four weeks. We've learned Foxtrot and Cha Cha. She's so patient with me. I occasionally make a mistake and step on her foot. Plus I wear my normal everyday boots which are steel-toed. Not the best dance shoe, especially for her.

MSNBC edits out profanity from video of Al Jazeera correspondence

2011-05-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

This morning I saw this video on MSNBC, and while the Al Jazeera reporter was talking I heard a male voice I assume coming from potty mouth Joe Scarborough from the MSNBC studio whisper the "F" word a couple of times. They have since edited out that whispering. The editing was so poor that you can hear the clicks of when they removed the whispering. Listen closely at 4:36 and you hear the sound all of a sudden get "smothered", and then a "click" where the whisper removal happens at 4:50.

I am amazed that it was allowed to go unedited for several hours. I had troubles with my Audacity this morning cause I wanted to record it, but gave up after wasting time with it.

MSNBC, make sure your idiots in the studio who whisper stuff for whatever reasons (which is totally audible and annoying), at least use language that isn't obscene.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Bragging on my bro

2011-04-20T11:48:00.001-07:00

Brendon finished the SLC Half Marathon in 1:57:32

I hope I don't embarrass Brendon here, but I'm feeling a little honored to have this guy as my brother in law. Two years ago if he opened a fortune cookie and it read "You will run a half marathon in under 2 hours", he probably would have laughed and said, "Yeah right!".

But as I was thinking about all the obstacles he's overcome, and his willingness to try something like running which at first is pretty painful and takes some mighty willpower to keep doing day after day when it hurts, I thought of a motto that seems to fit him: "Busting down barriers, and hurdling all excuses."

In my opinion, those are just a couple of problems that people have with losing alot of weight and getting into shape. (Speaking from experience being huge and out of shape) I'm sure he's feeling so much happier finding a new life of fitness, healthy eating, and looking good!

Way to go Brendon! Running your first half marathon should definitely be a confidence booster for Ragnar!

Work related post - Don't use NOT EXISTS in query

2011-03-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

Ever need to look for missing data? For instance, the table TLD_HEADER is the header for TLD_SALES_DATA, TLD_MGR_OVERRIDE, TLD_REASON, and TLD_TENDER_DATA. Originally there was no foreign key on these child tables to TLD_HEADER so after years of collecting data, there were some cases where TLD_HEADER records did NOT EXIST for the other TLD_ records.

Once we made it a true parent of the other TLD_ tables, we had a problem and had to create a script to create the TLD_HEADER records in order for the delta that creates the FK to run successfully. (Create_TLD_Header.sql)

This query was used to identify missing TLD_HEADER records from TLD_SALES_DATA:

select distinct site_no, tran_dt, reg_no, tran_no
from tld_sales_data tsd
where NOT EXISTS (select *
   from TLD_HEADER
   where site_no = tsd.site_no
   and tran_dt = tsd.tran_dt
   and reg_no = tsd.reg_no
   and tran_no = tsd.tran_no);

However in a customer's environment it was taking 7 hours and 53 minutes.

A sql guru looked at the script and suggested this query instead:

SELECT /*+ index_ffs(tsd TLD_SALES_DATA_PK) index_ffs(th TLD_HEADER_PK) */
distinct tsd.site_no, tsd.tran_dt, tsd.reg_no, tsd.tran_no
FROM tld_sales_data tsd, tld_header th
WHERE th.site_no(+) = tsd.site_no
AND th.tran_dt(+) = tsd.tran_dt
AND th.reg_no(+) = tsd.reg_no
AND th.tran_no(+) = tsd.tran_no
AND th.rowid is null;

Very interesting. Do an outer join, but where the th.rowid is null? That's kind of weird. But believe it or not this query picked up the same number of records, but did so in 26 minutes. That's 18 times faster! How embarrasing. So if you need to locate records that DON'T exist, use this method where an outer join is used instead of an inner join with a NOT EXISTS!

Russell Hantz gets farted off Survivor

2011-03-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

Russell "the best player ever to play Survivor" was finally muscled out of the game and none too soon. Now I can enjoy the show and not hear this guy run his mouth about how awesome he is.

Anyone else glad or does anyone actually like this guy or respect how he played?

Uncle Karl's interview on the Radio

2011-02-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

I found out about an hour too late yesterday that my uncle Karl was on the radio with X96. Thank goodness they offer free podcasts. So if you missed it and want to hear him discuss the ins and outs of being a football referee, you can listen to it here:

Nice job Karl!

Posting from my nook

2011-01-22T19:00:00.000-08:00

I have been looking at ereaders since Matt D at work gave
me a demo of his kindle. I ended up getting a nook which
is similar and includes 3G free.

bIt isnt the best interface for web browsing,

These Jammies are Fatastic!

2011-01-10T19:12:00.000-08:00

After I gave Oliver a haircut I put him in a warm shower. After Sam's turn getting a haircut I put Sam in and got Oliver out of the shower. Got him dried up and told him to go get some pajamas out of the closet. He came running back and threw the jammies at me to help him get them on. He said, "I love these jammies Dad! Their Fat-tastic!".

I know its a little cold outside, but c'mon guys! Really?

2011-01-01T04:48:00.000-08:00

So this last week I pulled in to work to see a guy get out of his BMW. He had a scarf loosely wrapped around his neck and the wind was about to blow it off a couple times. He struggled with it to get it to stay around his leather jacket.

Then I park my car and I see another guy get in to his Range Rover and yes he too is wearing a scarf that is also wrapped just once around his neck and dangling down to his pants. Coincidence? Or are there more effeminate men in SLC than I thought? Scary.

If you're a guy wearing a scarf (and don't want people questioning your manhood), it better be like 40 below and you also better be wearing a coat, gloves, winter hat, boots and covering the scarf inside your bulky coat.

If you're a woman and you have eyes for a guy who is wearing a loose scarf as a fashion accessory, I question the proper linkage in your brain. Because he's very likely the type of guy who would probably leave you for another man. Just sayin.

Stay warm, and Happy New Year.

Real life Lemmings!

2010-12-29T07:49:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid, I loved to play this game called Lemmings. It was fun cause you had to figure out how to get the little guys from point A to Point B. Here's a demo video of the game:

Today, I was shown this video of some divers. Dude, real life Lemmings!

Where's the nuke button!

PETA is out of touch

2010-12-21T14:48:00.000-08:00

Peta sent me an email with this greeting on it:

I guess they haven't been following my blog. While I do love my dog and cat, the turkey had sad life and for some animal lovers wouldn't land me in the "nice" category.

But I'll take it! Just don't ask me for any money!

Man that rabbit looks yummy!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-26T13:40:00.000-08:00

So the turkey weighed in at 36 pounds and boy was it tasty! It was very moist (we brined it the night before). It took 6 1/2 hours to cook it. It turned out perfect! Here's some video of dinner. Oliver and Sam both fell asleep and missed out on the main dinner, but after waking up got to eat plenty of leftovers!
Click the image below for video....

From Family Videos

Butchering the turkey with Jacob

2010-11-24T22:23:00.000-08:00

Warning - graphic descriptions in this post, so if you're an animal activist or have a sensitive stomach, you've been warned.

So tonight I got home and Jacob helped me tie down the turkey and then butcher it. The turkey was very calm. Jacob went out to the coop, and tied a rope around it's leg and led it along to the garage where it came on in. Then we tied it's legs together and it's wings. However with the turkey being so calm and relaxed, we realized after the ax fell, that those knots were not nearly tight enough. It flailed all over the garage and blood was spurting everywhere! It was jumping all over and I tried to grab it quickly as it was spurting blood everywhere! I finally got a hold of it and turned it upside down neck down into a big 5 gallon bucket. It was kicking and it clawed me pretty good. There was blood everywhere, and come to find out, some of it was mine. That stupid turkey cut me open with its kicking, all without a head.

Then we filled up the garage sink with hot water and dipped it in there for a bit and then started pulling feathers out. Man that turkey was huge! It had thousands of feathers. The part where I couldn't stomach it anymore was the cutting open the bottom area and gutting it. Jacob was willing to do that and I wasn't about to argue with him. He kept pulling things out. "Dad what is this?" "That looks like the gizzard." Then he pulls out the heart. It's still steaming. Then he pulls out, yes the turkey balls. He wasn't grossed out one bit, but me, I'm close to dry heaving the whole time. The smell was terrible. I don't get how he wasn't grossed out. He was smelling it, and touching it. I don't know what I'd do if he didn't help me.

We weighed Jacob (101.4 pounds), then Jacob while holding the turkey (138.2). So that turkey, after being de-feathered and gutted weighs 36.8 pounds. It felt heavier. It's size is like that of a small child. I'm pretty sure we'll have to quarter the thing in order to cook it.

Then we filled up a large plastic storage tub with water and put 10 cups of sugar, 10 cups of salt and mixed it up. Then put the turkey in there and weighed it down by putting a 5 gallon bucket full of water on top of the turkey so that it stays completely immersed in the brine mixture. Jacob then cut off the feet and man those talons were sharp! Jacob said he wanted to keep the chicken feet, which I'm OK with, but he also wants to keep the pair of chicken balls. That seems a little weird. What do you think?

Big Helen does it again!

2010-11-17T12:54:00.000-08:00

Jacob brought in the biggest chicken egg I've ever seen in my life the other day. Here's a couple pics to compare a normal chicken egg we get, and Big Helen's:

The most cherished blessing in my life is....

2010-11-16T04:40:00.000-08:00

Cathi!

I'm so thankful I found her and that she picked me of all people! What are the odds that I'd find the woman that makes me feel so complete and happy? It's just one of those things where everything has fallen right into place and there isn't any explaining how it happened. A miracle and a blessing which I am most grateful!

If I had everything taken from me except one, I'd keep Cathi.

Why I'm wearing purple today

2010-10-13T08:12:00.001-07:00

This post is my opinion, I'm not posting it to start an argument, or a debate. If you believe otherwise, fine. I'm turning of ALL comments on this post just to be fair and to prevent wasting my time trying to read through everyone's comments on whether it is appropriate or not. If I want your opinion (whether I agree with it or not), I will go to YOUR blog and read about it. With that said.....

I've been invited by a facebook friend to wear purple today in recognition of the problem of gay bashing which has resulted in several teens committing suicide as a result of the harassment and bullying they've had to go through. I'm wearing purple in hopes that the bullying, hate and fighting can stop.

Marriage

I also believe that marriage is a three way contract. God makes a contract with a man and a woman. He is the one that instituted it, and [some men] have decided to pervert it millenia later. Just because a government which has been pressured into disregarding the definition of the term, doesn't mean it is right. If every single person all of a sudden chose to become homosexuals, the entire human race would be extinct in less than a hundred years. Clearly from a scientific standpoint, homosexuality isn't natural. Just because there is evidence of homosexuality among animals doesn't mean that it is "natural". Humans are not simply animals. They're children of God and were given commandments for man and women to marry, and then procreate. Not procreate, and then Marry. And definitely not Man and Man to marry. Otherwise he would have made it biologically possible for man and man to procreate. I teach my kids that homosexuality is wrong, just like fornication before marriage is wrong. But that it isn't our place to punish or even mistreat anyone based on their choices on the matter.

Love can exist without marriage, but that doesn't mean that just because of that love that marriage is appropriate. Marriage is supposed to be a sacred union between God, man, woman. Take God out of it, and it really isn't marriage. You can form "unions" that could possibly be respected by man and government, but only marriage can be respected by God. So the problem is that we're messing with the definition of the term. I understand why people are trying to defend the term and its definition. The problem is that we ALL need to be civil in defending our beliefs. There is no room for extending that defense to the next level.

Equality and Human Rights

Seriously, this "equality" thing is getting out of control. Being denied the right to vote, or to go to a school is one thing, but claiming that the term "marriage" is a human right? That's just plain messed up. We're talking about a term, or a definition here, not a human right. It isn't a human right to define something a certain way. Human rights are just that, the way humans interact. Not how a language is used. If a large group of people started wearing nothing but blue shoes and claimed that another group could not wear blue shoes and non violently defended their beliefs, does that necessarily make it a human right violation? Really?

I don't think homosexuals are bad people just because of their sexual preference. I definitely don't believe it is right to mistreat them or harass them because of their choices (and yes I believe homosexuality is a choice). They've made their choice. So leave them alone. No need to persecute them for it. What what Jesus do? I don't think he would have his followers tasked with doing any type of punishing anyway.

In Summary

Thus I wear purple in support of treating homosexuals with kindness and not persecuting them. I don't agree with their choice or support their opinions. I just want PEACE and eliminate hate.

Detailed history of an open water legend in Utah - Orson Spencer

2010-10-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

I received a treasure in the mail today! Orson Spencer's grand-daughter sent me several newspaper articles as well as some personal journal entries from Orson's mother. Here is the letter she sent me:

October 6, 2010

Dear Mr. Gridley,

I appreciate your interest in my father and his swimming accomplishments, as well as the Great Salt Lake Swimming events. I apologize for being so slow at getting this information to you.

I have copied a few of the articles we had in his personal history and typed an entry from his mother about his swimming that might be interesting. If I come across any more, I'll forward them on to you. I understand that many of Utah's newspapers are now online and can be viewed and copied. I found a list of many articles from the Ogden Standard Examiner. A list of dates of those articles is as follows:

9 Dec 1926, 22 Apr, 23 Apr, 9 Dec 1927, 8 Apr 1928, 25 Aug 1929, 16 Apr, 19 Apr 1930, 11 Apr, 28 Oct 1931, 31 Jan 1932, 27 Apr 1933, 20 Apr 1934, 29 Mar, 30 Mar 1935, 19 July, 5 Sept 1937, 15 Apr 1938, 29 Jan, 14 Apr, 7 Aug 1939, 6 Apr 1940, 26 Mar, 27 Mar 1941, 26 Mar 1943, 2 Apr 1947, 7 Apr 1960. I imagine that other newspapers on similar dates would have also had articles as well.

Entry written by his mother Hazel V. Spencer in his history:

"On July 20, 1941, Orson won a two mile race at Pine View lake (fresh water), Ogden. We were so thrilled to see him beat five of Utah's best swimmers so soon after breaking his arm. Then Aug 3, 1941, on his mother's birthday he won the race from Antelope Island to Blackrock. It was a terrible day, be he battled the high waves alone, when all other swimmers quit, just because he had promised his mother he would win. The man who followed him in the boat looked like he was made of salt; and he said, 'It would take one better than a fish to swim the lake today.'"

As to the reason the race stopped, my mother agrees with the Harbormaster of the GSL, that it was because of the war.

I was thrilled to see your blog on your swim and your mentioning my father, as well as seeing his name with yours on the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame record. Thanks for your interest and efforts in bringing back the Antelope to Blackrock Race.

Sincerely,

Nancy S. Woodbury

Here are the many newspaper articles that she sent me which I have scanned and typed up below....

August 15th, 1938:

Spencer Wins Salt Water Swim
Paddles 8 Miles in 4 Hrs. 36 Minutes

Choppy water, which makes swimming in Great Salt Lake a constant battle to avoid strangulation, failed to keep Orson Spencer from successfully defending his Antelope to Black Rock marathon swim championship yesterday.

He negotiated the 8 miles of turbulent brine in 4 hours and 12 minutes to finish far ahead of Ken Lyman whose second place time was 4 hours and 36 minutes. The time was 22 minutes slower than his record of 3 hours and 40 minutes last year.

Bill Armour won a spirited race from R. L. Rigby, Magna mill worker, to finish third in 5 hours and 12 minutes. The other three starters(sp) failed to finish.

Crowd Cheers
Lyman matched Spencer stroke for stroke half way, but thereafter fell steadily behind. The winner received an ovation from a large crosed assembled at Black Rock Beach to witness the finish.

Will Receive Trophies
The Black Rock Beach Company will present tropies to all who finished the race. George Knepp, deputy sheriff, supervised boating the swimmers. The race was supervised by Dr. Munn Q. Cannon, chairman of the Intermountain A.A.U. swimming committee which annually promotes the swim.

August 4th, 1941:

Orson Spencer Alone At Finish Of Black Rock Swim

Conditions Worst in History of Race

At the start of the annual Antelope Island-Black Rock Beach swim yesterday, Orson Spencer was just a convalescing ex-champion whose complete recovery from injuries received in an automobile accident was so doubtful as to make his part in competition a distinct question mark.

When the 8.12 mile swim - through the worst conditions encountered in the history of the race - was over, Orson was not only the winner, but the iron man of the gruelling swim, so completely recovered that his strength and stamina was notably ahead of anyone else's and his position in local swimming circles restored.

Swimming the course through mountainous waves that often kept the contestants out of touch with their boats, Orson required five hours, seven hours and 22 seconds - an hour and one-half slower than his own record for the course - but could have taken twice as long and still won, for he was the only man in a starting field of six who finished.

WIND MAKES BIG WAVES

At the start of the race, the water was calm and the going smooth, but it was not long before a heavy wind came up to whip the surface into mountainous waves and made the going both difficult and perilous. Ned Winder of Granger was the first to drop out of the race, and shortly afterwards Ed Watson, who won the race two years ago under highly adverse weather conditions, was taken sick and he had to be hauled into his boat.

Key Lyman, defending champion, was battling with Spencer for the lead in the race, but when the waves got bigger and bigger he gave up the attempt, leaving Spencer, Peter Leavitt and Wayne Christensen in the water. Leavitt was the next to be taken out of the turbulent water, sick and shortly afterwards Christensen swallowed a mouthful of brine and was all through, leaving Spencer in the water alone with nearly two miles to go.

REFUSES TO STOP

Officials urged Orson to call it off and accept a "victory by elimination" but the swimmer kept grimly on under his own power until he reached the finish line unaided.

"It's Mother's birthday, and she's my trainer and coach: I have to giver her a real win for a birthday present." he said when urged to quit the swim before the end of the course.

It was Spencer's sixth win of the gruelling race. He holds both the three-hour-40-minute-52-second record for the present course, set in 1937, and the record for the old Antelope Island to Saltair course, two hours and two minutes.

July 22nd, 1956

Veteran Swimmer Gives Distance Race Slants

Great Salt Lake is a unique body of water - and distance swimming in it is a unique sport.

And if you're going to enter this season's Antelope Island-to-Saltair swim, you'd better start with the fundamentals-such as breathing.

That's the advce for this season's candidates from Orson D. Spencer, the greatest distance swimmer the Intermountain Area has produced, and one of the best in the sprints as well.

Spencer's career is almost a unique one, from his 1919 memories of the first "race" over the course by veteran instructor C. S. "Prof" Leaf, to Orson's final appearance in 1941 freshwater swim at Pineview Dam.

Prospective entrants for the July 23 race this season would do well to listen to the six-time winner of the Antelope classic, whose still-perfect condition, carries him through a program with the Wasatch Mountain Club, and plenty of skiing activity at Alta in the winter.

The swimmer in the Great Salt Lake is of a different breed.

He has no rhythmical breathing as does the ordinary swimmer - he must "breath with the waves" - if they are choppy, his breathing must be choppy; if they are big and slow - then he'd better breathe big and slow.

Because a mouth full of salt brings a definite choking sensation; and two or three mouthfuls take away all sensation, in short order.

And the stroke also is governed by the waves - the freestyle goes over the wave, so that the splash is back of the face, away from the eyes and mouth. Goggles are good only for a short time, beacuse they get covered with salt.

Spencer also learned that most of the work is done with the arms - the legs are so high because of the buoyancy that they are kicked only to maintain circulation.

Stories of Spencer's remarkable condition are legend, but perhaps the two best are these:

THE FIRST, concerns the time when, at 15 years of age, Orson hiked from Saltair north and then along the shoreline to Antelope Island, a distance of about 10 miles, and then swam the five miles back that afternoon and evening - all by himself. Orson wants this story to be forgotten, for it violates every rule of safety he has stressed for so many years since, such as requiring an accompanying boat for every swimer.

The other story concerns the time, a few year later, when he and Paul Swain rowed over to the island in 2 hours and 30 minutes - and Orson swam back in exactly the same time, that afternoon.

Highlights from Orson's career: He still holds the prep 220 free record of 2:32.2. He set a number of other prep marks, but they have since been bettered... He still holds the 150 backstroke record for colleges, at 1:45... He also holds the 300 AAU medley record of 4:04... As he recalls the Antelope swim development: "Prof" Leaf swam the distance in '19 as a dare... Chuck Mitchell won the first AAU race in '26... and Orson won in '30, '31, '32, '37, '38 and '41...

Orson sounds like a must for the Intermountain Area's sports hall of fame.

December 5th, 1962"

Swimming Now a Weighty C..."

Orson Spencer, in his day good enough to represent Utah in the nationals in the backstroke, couldn't make the prep traveling squad today, unless he shaved 10 seconds off his best time.

As a star swimmer for LDS High and the University of Utah, Spencer dominated the local scene for almost two decades and at the age of 32, he finally called it quits. Under today's stepped up swim program, Spencer would be a rarity because of his longevity, but his records would have to improve to merit consideration.

"I swam the backstroke in 1:07 and went to the nationals, where the event was won in 1:07.4" Orson laughed as he visited the Ute workout.

"Now, the high school record for the distance is 54.5 seconds."

There's a reason for this tremendous youth surge in swimming, and Orson is the first to admit it.

"Coach Don Reddish has his Ute swimmers going a mile in the morning, two miles in the afternoon and winding up with 1 1/2 hours of calisthenics in the afternoon. When we were swimming, we were lucky to get in two swims a day, total of maybe a half mile" Orson added.

The age factor is a difference now.

"When I was 15, I wanted to enter the Great Salt Lake swim to Antelope Island, but my dad believed I was too young and I was 20 before I had the chance," Spencer continued.

What a pioneer he was! I am truly blessed to have been able to contact his family who had these wonderful records to share. I truly hope that his love for the sport, and his successes can be appreciated by fellow Utah swimmers and that the Great Salt Lake gets more attention like it once did as a highly respectable open water swimming challenge and adventure.

Raising our own Thanksgiving Dinner

2010-10-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

Per many requests of friends and family. Here is our thanksgiving dinner that is still a good 6 weeks away from being at 100% capacity. He's already too big to fit in our oven. I was checking the size of his muscles and man he's gonna be good eatin! I can't wait!

Beware of Pride v.2

2010-10-04T08:29:00.001-07:00

Austin, Jacob and I went to a meeting house in St. George to view Priesthood Session. I thoroughly enjoyed this session! President Uchtdorf for the fourth time now wins my "Favorite talk" awared. His topic was on avoiding pride. It was very thought provoking.

Here is the audio version of his talk.

Gords

2010-09-22T08:13:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of gourds that I got in the Black Island Farms box. Very cool and unique. Alot like the real Gords.

Haha

Bay area Table Tennis kids

2010-09-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

Whenever I go to Nationals or the Berkeley Open, I see these kids from ICC and the Bay Area. It's weird cause I see them so much that I forget to realize that these are superstars! Kids like Krish and Ariel are going to represent the USA in the Olympics one day, and they may just end up on a Wheeties box, and these are kids I see playing right in front of me at tournaments. We have a ball that Ariel signed for us at last years Berkeley tournament hanging on the wall next to our table in the basement where we have a picture of her and Jacob. Watching these kids play in person is indescribable. Their control and instincts are inhuman!

PONG from California is a place. on Vimeo.

I love Krish's priority list for playing:

1) Having Fun

2) Passion

3) Fight

4) Win!

Austin's list appears to be completely backwards. It really depresses me when it causes him emotional distress when he doesn't win. When he doesn't win, he stops fighting for every point and gives up. He loses his passion and he definitely doesn't have fun. His face says it all.

But how can you teach that? You can teach drills, but how can you get a player to adopt a mindset like that?

Oliver's morning routine

2010-09-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

Last night poor Oliver wasn't feeling so good, he was coughing and whining and wouldn't sleep in his own bed so I had enough and gave him just a tiny bit of Nyquil. Wow that stuff really worked. He quit coughing and slept really well. I slept in with him and Cathi got back from her run and woke us up. Oliver woke up happy. I got in the shower and was talking to Cathi when she looked back in the bedroom and started laughing and yelling "Go Oliver!".

Oliver was doing pushups on his own without being asked. What gave him that idea. What a stud! Here's a video clip of him doing 10 reps....

My favorite beverage in the whole world!

2010-09-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

I love this stuff! This is my Mountain Dew. Seriously, it keeps me a little wired with the natural sugar, but it doesn't have caffeine and so I get a similar effect without feeling like I'm a jack Mormon for drinking it! So tasty!

Especially full of potassium to combat those leg cramps.

What's your favorite beverage?

Damn you Gordon! My name has been tarnished!

2010-09-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

Just to make it clear, I am NOT a sex offender. But apparently there is another Gordon Gridley out in Florida who has now smeared my good name. What a jerk!

By the way, what guy is 6'0", 178 pounds and has a double chin like that!? That can't be right. He should be also charged with falsifying his weight when he got booked into jail.

I hereby excommunicate you from your name. You have to EARN the right to be GORDON GRIDLEY and you really blew it. Your new name is Paul Hornswallow.

The sexiest crossing guard in the world

2010-08-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

It really should be illegal to have crossing guards that make men turn their heads when they're driving down the road. Kids could get ran over! My wife decided she wanted a little extra cash so she got a job helping kids cross the street before and after school. Only 1.5 hours per day, and she likes to get outside and smile at the kids. She's such a friendly woman.

One of my favorite pictures. I love kissing Cathi!

So today is our 16th anniversary being happily married. Every year I seem to love her more and more. I love doing her hair on Sunday morning. I take about 25 minutes to use a hot straightening tool to make her look super foxy. The cool thing is that it lasts all week long! Bad thing is, she gets lots of comments from ladies, "I love your hair! Who does it?" This is bad for two reasons. First, If ladies are commenting, you KNOW men are also going, "Woah, check out Sister Gridley! Hubba Hubba!".

Second bad thing is, I'm starting to get a reputation in the neighborhood for being a hairdresser. I'm starting to talk with a lisp now and sit with my legs crossed and get junk mail from beauty colleges. J/K.

Anyhow, I'm very blessed to have such a wonderful woman. She works hard around the house. Does laundry EVERY WEEK and doesn't let it build up. She doesn't demand that I hoot and holler when she does her part keeping the house in order. She's very loving to the children and to me. I just don't get what I did to get such a wonderful mate. Seriously, I hit the super jackpot!

The league of ignorant and assembly of indifferent

2010-08-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

This particular "vent" post has been deleted to avoid being interpreted as a personal attack upon people who shouldn't feel like that.

Bottom line - this post was about how to be better about sincerely communicating with people we love and care about. Everybody can improve in this area, especially myself. So if you were one of the few who had a chance to read this original post, please excuse my "poor me" attitude.

I was in a particular pissy mood this morning and took it out inappropriately in this post and wouldn't want certain parties to take it personal and get their feelings hurt. Hopefully I can improve my own actions in this area too.

Time for a haircut

2010-08-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

You know it's time to cut the kids hair when they wake up and look like a munchkin from Wizard of Oz.

Oliver just woke up and was a good sport as Jacob took several pictures of him and his cool do.

And then Mom couldn't resist giving him a few kisses

Looks like we'll be giving haircuts tomorrow after FHE.

My Leia meets Chewbacca

2010-08-06T07:27:00.000-07:00

My princess over the past several months has been on a quest to find Chewbacca. Sometimes I'd go into my office and find her looking at pictures of St. Bernards. I'd tell her, "No Way woman!" I was at the time only thinking of the massive dog turds in the back, or clumps of dog hair floating gently in the air throughout our house.

I told her to quit looking. "It's like looking at porn Cathi! It's something you're never gonna get!" But she persisted and her hunger only grew. Over time my resistance to her intensifying desire started to breakdown. She did her homework and finally found one that had just the right background, and being sold at just the right price and she nabbed him.

We went out together to Tooele to get "Max", our new St. Bernard. He's two years old and HUGE! No lie, It's like having a four-legged Chewbacca in our house! Cathi just loves him to death. She seriously hasn't stopped smiling since yesterday morning. It's funny to see Cathi cuddle up and hug this monster of a dog. He's so gentle. He's fantastic with the kids, and with other animals.

We took him on a walk yesterday and he met our friend's dog Maggie. Which he was fine with. He totally ignores the cat and the chickens in the back. The cat just about jumped and clung to the ceiling when she first saw him. I didn't think a cat's back could bend up that high. But now she just sits a few feet from him staring.

Cathi's dream has come true. Already Max's favorite is Cathi. If she leaves the room and everyone else is in there, he'll follow her. I'm happy for her. All the kids are jealous that he's picked her to be the Alpha female of the house.

Ethical Suicide?

2010-07-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about my Grandpa alot lately. He used to be such a fun person to be around. I idolized him as a kid and a young man. He was wonderful with people. He had such a fantastic sense of humor that made him fun to be around.

Now he has gotten old, lost the use of his legs, and his bowels. I feel bad for him. My mom told me a long time ago about a humorous comment he made a long time ago. Something like "When I get so old that I'm shitting my pants, that's when I hope I go." When you get to that point I can imagine that can be a struggle with your self esteem. My grandpa has drawn inward so much now that he hardly speaks.

I tend to put myself in his shoes. What would I do in this situation? Or in the situations leading to this part of his life? I have rather contrary views on a few things than my wife and parents. One of which is how I feel my old age and end of life should be handled. Is it ethical for someone to decide for himself, when his life has been completely used up?

I read this document that expanded some of my thoughts. This one took more of a statistical and scientific approach. When a horse breaks a leg, often they're shot, or when a dog gets so old that he can't go up stairs or get up very well, he is euthanized. I know humans aren't animals, but why all of a sudden is a human supposed to live his life until it ends completely naturally, even at the expense of himself and others. I would argue it's an individual decision and shouldn't be a blanket thought that its wrong for everyone in any situation.

Troubleshooting when Retailnet doesn't come up

2010-07-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

I was having trouble getting Retail.net to come up for tmx275, but not tmx249. I asked Nate Hamilton and he suggested I clear my Java Cache. What? Java cache?

Control Panel -> Java -> (Under Temporary Internet Files) Settings -> Delete Files -> OK.

Once I did that, it worked. So it might not be a bad idea to clear the java cache when you're having troubles.

Hiking with the kids

2010-06-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday after my long swim at Bountiful Lake, I thought it would be a perfect day to take the kids on a hike. Cathi was gone to Ragnar's Wasatch back with her girlfriend runners, and I was home with the kids. So we went up to the white rock.
\"The Rock\" hike
Find more Hikes in Salt Lake City, Utah

I had a small cooler with Gatorades, water, and some cereal bars. Leftovers from my planned swim. I put Oliver and Sam in a wagon and pulled them from the base of the City Creek gate, up a little over a mile to the trailhead for the short little .5 mile hike up the mountain. The kids had a ball. They were very obedient to the command to stay on the creek side of the road to avoid head on collisions with bikers coming down.

I told them about Brooke Hopkins, the college professer who came down to fast on his bike and swerved to miss some hikers who weren't following instructions, and fell off his bike and died much later due to his injuries. So they were surprisingly good about staying on the correct side of the road while walking up single file.

Nobody complained and they all were excited to make it to this "famous rock" where I took Jacob once before. When we got there, we took an empty Gatorade bottle and put $1.75 in it and buried it under the other rock next to the white rock.

When we got back to the car we still had a couple hours until our Father's Day celebration at Chuck a Rama in Bountiful with the Lows. So we went over to the Capital building and walked around in the basement. They took out all the cool displays! It was so boring in there compared to what I remember. So we didn't stay there for long. We ended up going to a park in Bountiful and played on the playground.

Thank goodness for 100 spf sunscreen! The kids ate a ton at the Chuck A Rama and I did too. Much more than I should have. But hey! It's Father's Day and I had given the kids a wonderful day instead of just sitting at home watching TV waiting for Cathi to come back home. Plus I just swam for 3:15 that morning, so I don't need to be down on myself for indulging a little.

Human Foosball

2010-06-17T08:49:00.001-07:00

The other night when we had our combined activity the Beehive Leaders introduce 'Human Foosball'. They hooked each person to a piece of PVC pipe and taped the floor. The rule is they had to stay on the line. Then used the basketball court and a couple of small goals. It was so fun to watch them move side to side to get the ball. Using the walls, and passing to each other just like a good foosball player would. It was entertaining to watch.

Jacob scored a goal as the back defender by kicking it lightly up and over the field and right into the goal. It was a very lucky kick, but he did a funny victory dance afterwards.

Welcome home Cooper

2010-06-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

Jacob and Cathi were very busy today looking at dogs online. Cathi looking for St. Bernards, Jacob for Beagles. Cathi found a St. Bernard for free, but we had to go to Minnesota to get it. Jacob found one for $200, but we had to go to Ogden to get it. Jacob definitely had the better deal. Plus in reference to my last post, I think a Beagle would be much easier to clean up after. I don't want cow pies in my back yard.
So Jacob and Cathi went to get Cooper, the new dog for our family. Jacob paid the $200 himself out of his own account, so technically it's HIS dog. Although we counseled him not to use it as a power struggle and let the other kids enjoy him and treat him as the family dog.

He's house trained already and 3 years old. He's a little pudgy (like me) and has about 5-10 pounds to lose, so we're being strict with the kids about not feeding him human food and leftovers. Annabel could get away with that, but not this dog.

Jacob loves him and is happy as a bird.

Love your dog, but not the poop?

2010-06-11T21:40:00.001-07:00

Cathi and I saw this bench at a corner in Boise. Love it! The type of people to be too grossed out, or careless about picking it up, aren't probably the type to pay a dime to have someone else do it. I'd love to know how much that business is making.

A company success story - Treat your customers right and you'll get more business!

2010-06-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

So this week I read about a good man who was badly injured in an accident. I've nearly had a similar life threatening accident happen to me and I know how fragile life can be! In sympathy for his situation I thought a small bouquet of flowers would be a nice gesture and brighten his day, and ordered some online. Oh boy was the company I chose a good move!

I went online and found ProFlowers. I did the order with the address that I got from anywho.com.

The next day when the delivery was supposed to take place, Cathi got a call from ProFlowers saying that the Order couldn't be delivered cause the address I gave didn't exist. What? So I did some more intense investigating. Found out a partial address from an Intelius report. I was still not sure of an East or West coordinate, so I ended up just giving in to traditional methods and called Joey Emig's house to get the address. I was hoping to exercise my PI skills. But I had already spent alot of extra time being an information gathering nerd.

I called ProFlowers back with the address to see if they could salvage the original order, but they refused to do that as they mentioned that the original delivery was probably not in a condition to be received, and said they would pay for another order as well as rush the delivery all at their expense. What! The wrong address wasn't their fault. I couldn't believe my ears.

So now they're probably losing money cause of me. The whole process went smooth and they were very kind. I'm definitely going back to ProFlowers should I ever need to deliver flowers again. That was a very refreshing experience considering a few of the last very crappy experiences I've had with customer satisfaction (I'm still pissed at you SquareTrade!)

Courage or stupidity

2010-06-09T07:56:00.001-07:00

Last night at the stake youth activity, they had the youth do several activities such as:

1) Climbing a ladder that wasn't leaning against anything, just people at the base holding it vertical.
2) Climbing another ladder about 4-5 feet high and falling backwards to a row of friends with locked hands to catch.
3) Swinging a cement block that was tethered to basketball stand. It starts placed just below the persons face and then when it swings back, don't flinch.

Here's a picture of Jacob doing the cement block swing:
Well he must have been leaning backwards when he dropped it, cause he was brave, didn't flinch and it actually hit him in the chin. Not too bad. But it definitely did hit him. It didn't appear to hurt him.

There were a few others where it hit them in the chest. And there were some who totally flinched. This exercise was fun.

Afterwards they showed a clip of the Hoyt son and father who did an Ironman. It gave me inspiration for this weekend's 70.3. I'm excited and looking forward to it!

Jacob turns 12

2010-06-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

This morning I took Jacob out for a birthday outing. We went to Walmart and got him a new outfit including a new watch, hat, sunglasses, shorts, shirt, shoes, socks, underwear. The works. He was very pleased. Then we went to Warren's for breakfast and he ordered a monster breakfast.

I hope I'm not spoiling him. He said Thank you several times. I have to treat that boy right, cause he's volunteered to be my support boater this year, including tonight at BL. Good thing I got him some biking gloves, otherwise he would get some serious blisters on his hands from rowing.

Happy Birthday Jacob, you're a good kid. And I'm excited to have you in Deacon's Quorum! You're very mature for your age and always so willing to help. I like how you're athletic and I can tell other boys your age like you and respect you. You represent the Gridley name very well. I love you.

I've lost my ring!

2010-05-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while swimming out in the Bountiful Lake I lost my wedding ring. I'm sad about that. That water was so murky there was no way I would find it. Dang it!

I just hope that in a few hundred years a couple of hobbits who might find it while fishing there at Bountiful Lake, don't fight about it so viciously as these guys did.

America screwed up

2010-05-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

Biggest loser - So last night the guy I voted for was NOT picked to go to the finals of biggest loser. Koli did win the "At home" challenge of losing the most weight. A whopping 53% of bodyweight.

Mike, who started at 525 pounds did lose 50.1% of his bodyweight was the biggest loser as far as the game goes.

It's too bad though that the game allows the real biggest loser to not win the grand prize. The game has turned into survivor where you can vote people off, but isn't the game about losing weight, not gameplay?

I mean, if the biggest loser didn't lose the most percentage of body weight, he ISN'T the biggest loser. Let him have the big check, whatever, cause the show isn't about the money. It's about losing the weight. Give Mike the $250, but the biggest loser title IS Koli's.

Not to take away from Mike or anyone else on the show. They still lost a ton of weight. Good job to everyone on the show. My favorite was O'Neil. That guy had some fire!

Chicken butt!

2010-05-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

Last night I could help but laugh when I heard my little Oliver on his last day of being a two year old ask his older Brother Jacob, "Guess What?" Jacob said "What?", Oliver then yells in his cute little two year old voice, "Chicken butt!". Then everyone laughs out loud together.

This morning I got up and got all dressed to ride my bike in to work. I topped off my tires and was about ready to clip in when I could hear Oliver inside. He was awake and crying, "I want my Dad!". Jacob was trying to calm him by turning on Sesame Street. Cathi had already left for a run and Oli wanted some love by one of his parents. So I went back in and exclaimed, "Happy Birthday big boy?" He smiled and I hurried into my work clothes and we went to Warren's for pancakes.
He was so happy. He chose the booth to sit in and we had a wonderful breakfast together. He got syrup all over his arms and shirt, and the shoes I put on him were Sams so they kept falling off.

So after breakfast we washed up in the restroom and went over to Walmart and got him a new outfit including shoes. He picked out some cool shoes and a nice Ironman shirt and shorts combo. Then we stopped by the toy aisle and he picked out a pack of cars that he took home and played with. What a fantastic morning. He was very happy and said "Thanks Dad". What a joy to be a Dad to these cute kids!

Here's Grandma Low's traditional Happy Birthday singing.

First blog from ipod

2010-05-18T10:48:00.001-07:00

Today I took Jacob's iPod to the apple store and they replaced it. The new one works fine. I thought I'd make a blog entry with it.
The typing interface will take some getting used to. I think I will get me one someday soon.

Running is in her genes

2010-05-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

Cathi finished her 29th marathon yesterday. She did great. Anytime she gets under 4:00 is a good marathon. She got 3:47. A couple minutes from being another Boston Qualifier. Jacob also ran the half marathon. He was determined to get under 2:00. He got 1:58 and took first place for the 12 and Under category. When he puts his mind to something he fights to the finish! Plus it doesn't hurt that his Mom is a running machine.

I'm so proud of these two people in my life! Congratulations Cathi and Jacob. You guys did so good.

From Cathi's Marathons

Russell Hantz did NOT win Survivor Heroes vs. Villains

2010-05-07T15:08:00.001-07:00

I read today that Russell Hantz was arrested for hitting some guy down to the ground at a festival in Louisiana.

Based on this I can infer that he did NOT win Survivor Heroes vs. Villains because to a guy with that big of a head, if he won, he wouldn't be frustrated. This tells me that he's having so much frustration with his outcome (and his life) that he has to resort to violence because he isn't happy.

Poor guy.

Can I just say I can't stand Russell Hantz? Survivor's biggest villain and fool. If he wanted to win, he'd win over a few people instead of make everyone on the jury hate him. It's not who makes it to the end alone. It's who makes it to the end and has enough people on the jury who will vote him as the sole survivor.

I would have thought he would have learned that the first time, when he lost to some girl that I can't even remember anymore.

Goodbye Facebook

2010-05-07T08:37:00.000-07:00

So our Stake President who is probably the most inspiring speaker I've ever heard, mentioned last Saturday in a session of conference, the problems presented with Social Networking. He said, "I'm not telling everyone to get off of Facebook, I'm just saying, be careful." He went on to give examples of problems that people often stumble over with its use.

I decided that for me, I would just get off it. It really is a waste of time, and also encourages big egos. So I'm done. I'll still keep my blogs though as they are really a form of keeping a journal.

What do do when deploy fails in OC4J App Server

2010-05-05T15:42:00.001-07:00

First of all, this post is WORK RELATED, and not intended for friends/family and is completely boring so feel free to hit "mark as read" now.....

I found NO help whatsoever in google for this issue, so I'm hoping that this post might help some other poor soul trying to figure it out.

Trevor tried deploying TomaxCMAdmin in 10gR3 OC4J App Server and kept getting this error:
"Operation failed with error: oracle.oc4j.admin.internal.DeployerException"

I was able to deploy the same war file to my standalone OC4J just fine. I compared settings, deleting the CMADMIN OC4J Instance and recreating it, but nothing worked. Then I asked the hero of the day: Sudhakar Pyndi, and he had an immediate answer. Man I really respect guys who have a photographic memory!

The fix for this error: "Operation failed with error: oracle.oc4j.admin.internal.DeployerException" is in the second page of the deployment in OC4J.

On the "Bind Web Module to Site" option, DO NOT select default-web-site. (I put it that way because that is how it is set in my standalone OC4J which does deploy properly). But in the OC4J App server, this needs to be set to null. Once I did that, it deployed properly and without errors.

Hoping that this helps someone else out there.

Flashback of bullies and Austin's Piñata

2010-04-16T08:57:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I had an experience that made me have a flashback of an encounter I had with a group of bullies:

I was about 11 or 12 and walking to the store from my house when I had to walk past a group of about 5 or 6 kids that were rough kids. The kind that used foul language and often got in trouble at school. They were hanging out on a corner where i had to turn to get to the store. I decided to walk past them and not show fear, cause they sense that and feed off it. So I walked past them. One of them said, "Hey where you goin? You got any money?" Stuff like that. I decided to just keep on walking rather than turn myself into a victim. Then the group started following me. They got up right next to me. I had to make a move, so I turned up a driveway to a house the I deliver newspapers to. The family had a couple of smaller kids not my age, but school age kids. One of the bullies said, "You live here?" I said no. I went up to the door and pretended to ring the doorbell. The bullies pretty much walked off and out of sight. I then resumed my walk to the store and didn't have any issues.

So bottom line. Don't show fear, and just modify your planned route momentarily if needed to throw off the enemy.

What caused this flashback? Layton Police department. I took the first Layton exit and was heading up to Gordon, when there was probably 3/4 mile of cars all lined up to get through the intersection at Fort Lane and Gordon. I wasn't in the mood to wait for 10 minute to get through there so I turned into the MASSIVE fort lane parking lot to cut through. I noticed after turning in that there were, no lie, about 8-10 cops on motorcycles and cars chasing other cars who were also cutting through a minute before me. Lights were flashing all over the parking lot. I knew I was busted. This was a traffic cops dream. Lots of impatient people like me trying to bypass all the old people who mosey on through.

But then I had the above flashback and had an idea. I had to throw off these bullies. One of the few remaining shops of that dying block was an authentic Mexican shop. I stopped and parked. Went inside thinking I wouldn't buy anything, but just come out a couple minutes later. But then I saw some very cool looking piñatas. Austin's birthday party was this evening so I bought one with Shrek and donkey on it. I then went back to my car, put the piñata in the back seat and made my way to the north end of the parking lot (still taking advantage of the cut through).

The few cops who weren't already issuing tickets were eyeballing me. I bought my way through that parking lot! It was way cheaper than a ticket and dealing with an underpaid and aggressive bully. Screw you Layton cops!

Layton should hire more construction workers to get that nightmare construction done with, rather than cops to give tickets, chasing people down like cats. But that doesn't bring revenue in for Layton does it?

So I stopped at All-A-Dollar and filled up the piñata with candy and small toys and what a party we had with the kids and a bunch of other neighbor kids. They had a blast and enjoyed all the fun toys and treats.

So what originally was a diversion actually ended up being such a great activity for Austin's party.

Qwest (and other phone bullies) better wise up, or a little kid called Ooma is gonna kick them where it counts

2010-04-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

I am very excited to announce another step away from the "financial tyranny of phone companies". Today I got my Ooma system which I bought on Amazon.com for $180. The Ooma system allows for telephone charges that are free. That's right free! Not a penny or two a minute. Nothing!

Within 4 months, the system pays for itself. That's a kick butt ROI.

Installation was simple. I plugged the box into my DSL box, and then from there to my network router. Then my main wireless phone receiver into the Ooma box. Then within a few minutes of setting up an account online, I got a dial tone and could make free calls.

A couple of minor catches:

I have to pay the one time fee of $39.99 to port my old phone number - but that's worth it.
At the start of the second year, the calls are still free, but I have to start paying the yearly $11 tax - I was wondering about tax. Can't really get around that, but $11/year for phone service isn't bad.

The phone system is only as reliable as your internet - which so far has been pretty reliable, although overpriced.

I called Qwest to cancel my over $50/month phone service and gladly told them I'm going to be paying $0/month for phone service. They tried to cut me a deal, but they couldn't come close to free. Can't wait to hear about more people jumping on the Ooma bandwagon and really make the big dogs sweat!

You gotta check them out. Ooma.com

My son Austin is a brain

2010-03-29T14:05:00.001-07:00

Austin has done something that I have NEVER done in my schooling career.... earned a 4.0 GPA in a term.

Last quarter he was struggling, mostly with getting organized and staying on top of his assignments. This quarter, I helped him by keeping a very close eye on his assignments and reminding him when he even got behind one step. It paid off, and he is so happy. I think his days of not caring and getting lazy scholastically are over.

I'm proud of that young man!

Red sky in morning, sailor take warning

2010-03-11T09:00:00.001-08:00

As I was heading in to swim a couple morning's ago I noticed a nicely colored sunrise going around the corner at the end of Bluff Road and turning onto Gentile at the bottom end of Syracuse.

From Panoramas

Everytime I see a red sunrise I remember a disney movie where a couple guys tried driving around the world. The saying "Red sky in morning, sailor take warning" came to my mind. Sure enough that afternoon it rained like crazy.

My favorite Little House Episode - Albert is on drugs

2010-03-04T09:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday when I got home from work the TV was on while Cathi was cooking dinner. I noticed immediately that my favorite Little House on the Prairie episode was on. It's the one where Albert is addicted to Morphine.

He beats up a kid in school, hits his teacher, runs away and tries to steal more drugs from Doc Baker. But Doc Baker and Charles are too smart and trap him. Then Charles takes him up to a remote cabin. Then the fun really begins.

Albert goes through some withdrawals like seizures while he lies there screaming for help. Charles looks like he's going through the same amount of pain himself. They both scream and hug real tight. Then Albert claims to need some air so he can breath, or he'll die. Charles helps him outside when Albert pushes Charles down and runs off in the night. Charles catches him and carries him back to "rehab".

Then Albert goes through more seizures and screaming. It's hilarious. The acting is fantastic. It's so dramatic. Cathi hates it. Albert throws up white goo all over Charles and it's great.

But Cathi has had too much drama and makes me turn it off.

Dang!

Fingerprint gun

2010-03-01T09:16:00.000-08:00

Last night I had a dream of this invention, that I thought was pretty cool. The last time I thought of a cool invention, it didn't get too many raves: A clear see through toilet for locating clogs.

It took me two hours to get back to sleep cause I was thinking about some details of implementing it. But I have no background in firearms, or in fingerprint identification software.

Anyway, it looks like someone else already thought of it. Sure would be nice if this was something out on the market. My biggest reason for NOT buying a handgun is that it could get into the wrong hands, but with the fingerprint scanner on the gun itself, that would eliminate any disasters.

Cops would love this cause it would prevent someone taking their gun and using on anyone else. It would also help in solving murders. It would help with little kids finding a gun and using it accidentally to kill their friends or themselves. Also if the gun was more digital in that for every round fired, it left a digital fingerprint on the casing and slug, logged the time it was fired, the direction it went and the fingerprint used to fire it. All this info uploaded automatically (the gun would also need to have wireless service integrated into it) to a server instead of on a chip on the gun, which could be hidden or destroyed. Also when the gun is fired without calling a service number, then the service center that logs the firing of the gun, would call 911 which would include the location of the gun and all the other data.

The cost of the gun would probably be 2 - 3 times what a normal handgun would be, but would have so many protections built in, that it would be worth it.

If I were Aladdin

2010-02-24T08:12:00.000-08:00

And I got three wishes, my first one would be this:

I would have the ability to transform my car into a highway patrol car anytime I wish while driving on the freeway in order to teach a little about traffic courtesy and safety. Here's my simple little chant for the day: When possible, stay in the right lane.

I realize there are alot of people who think they own the lane they're in. That includes overly aggressive drivers, as well as overly retarded drivers. Whenever you are on the highway and there is more than one lane in each direction, every driver has the obligation to drive courteously. That includes allowing those who wish to drive faster (even if they are speeding) to pass on the left.

Nobody has the right to slow down drivers by braking in front of them. That is cause for a moron slap (more on that later). If you are being passed on the right that is cause for a moron slap. Everyone has the OBLIGATION to move to the right so that those who wish to pass can do so on the left. If you are in the leftmost lane and you are going the same speed as another car at your 3 o clock, and there is a car immediately behind you, as a courtesy you should speed up and pass the car at your 3 and then move to your right at a reasonable distance in front of them. This allows the car behind you to resume they're desired speed.

The most desirable behavior is if everyone was constantly on the lookout for cars in front, behind and to the side of them, and make passing on the left the utmost priority. If you simply like to drive slow, stay in the rightmost lane.

Now back to my wish. I have no desire to make people suffer (at least financially). So as a part time Highway patrolman, after explaining the above courtesies, I would administer a moron slap. The offender would expose they're bare buttocks and I would deliver a firm slap on the bum. I believe that may be enough to discourage those who like to drive oblivious to anyone else.

Semis are one of the greatest offenders of this courtesy and they all deserve moron slaps. I realize they probably don't like merging with incoming traffic, but deal with it.

Some exceptions would be if there is an exit in the left lane, or when not on the highway (cause people need to turn left all the time), or if you are a legitimate moron.

And the world needs them. They're the first to go when a serial killer is in town or when aliens need to abduct someone.

Still no improvement on the ear

2010-02-18T10:38:00.001-08:00

Still deaf, but totally pain and pressure free.

Cool thing is, when I breathe, because of the hearing issue, I can hear my own breathing and I sound like darth vader. Even though my respiration is clear as a bell, I can hear my own breathing inside my head just like I was in a space suit.

Valentines 2010

2010-02-13T18:40:00.001-08:00

Back in January I looked at the Stake Calendar and it had a valentines dance for Saturday 2/13 at 7:00 pm. I put this on my calendar and planned on having a great date.

So on Tuesday this week I called and got a corsage ordered at Jimmy's floral. I picked out the dress Cathi was going to wear and got the same color flowers to match.

We went out to dinner at 6:30 and then drove over to the Stake center, no cars parked there and lights out. Drove to all the other buildings and same thing. Man was I disappointed. What happened? I went back to the Stake Calendar and the dance isn't listed at all. They removed it.

So what ended up being a dream date, I had to salvage by just going home, helping put the kids to bed. Burn a movie and try and make the date more than just like every other night.

Eulogy of Lady Annabel Boslooper Gridley

2010-02-10T15:51:00.000-08:00

Lady Annabel Boslooper Gridley
(September 22, 2004 – February 6, 2010)

Annabel joined the Gridley Family on November 20th, 2004 and was a valued member of our home. We took her on walks, tried breeding her twice and took her to the cabin several times.

Annabel was a lively and aggressive soul. She was constantly trying to show her superiority with other dogs and would often rough them up. But on the inside she was a gentle thing. She learned to accept two kittens in her life, but not quite so gentle with chicks. Her instincts kicked in when close to chicks and she had two in her mouth before she was promptly scolded and spit them up. One survived.

Annabel was well known for terrible gas, and was often the scapegoat for others in the family who wanted to conceal their guilt. Annabel often went on walks in the neighborhood, and on hikes up at the cabin which she enjoyed thoroughly. The children, specifically, Austin was always willing to show love, to Annabel’s constant need for affection and often gave her rubs and let her sit on his lap. Annabel was always willing to give affection and great with all children. She was beautiful. Her colors and physical qualities were admirable.

She died on a Saturday evening, possibly due to the cold weather. She will be missed and remembered for all the great qualities she possessed. We hope you enjoy running around in the fields in heaven with Sadie. I’m sure you two will have quite a time exploring and finding animals to chase.

We love you.

Love Me, But Don't Show Me

2010-02-06T23:34:00.000-08:00

So I made this little music video of one of my favorite Sons Of Provo songs.

From Movie/Music clips

It only took me about 6 hours to produce this thing. Geez. I kinda feel like it was a waste of time. But it was a little fun and I might try it again one day. Who knows.

Winter Sports

2010-02-04T08:36:00.000-08:00

Isaac and Jonas have been playing on a basketball team. Jonas is quite the shooter, and Isaac is quite the defensive guy. Although he doesn't fully realize the importance of not fouling when defending the basket. If he steals the ball and gets a foul he still jumps up and down and says "Yes!"

The kids have been having fun outside lately with snow ball fights, making sled runs, and other things. Oliver loves to go outside and play with the other kids. He looks so cute all bundled up.

I'm home sick today. My ears and neck are in severe pain with this ear infection which I've had for a few days now. The pain meds aren't really lasting long at all and I can't overdose so I'm praying that it ends soon. I had a little fun with our cat on the computer this morning:

From Family Videos

Ear Infection

2010-02-02T10:50:00.001-08:00

Yesterday morning I woke up feeling like I had dove to the bottom of a 12 foot pool. (I'm not very good at going deep underwater). My ear drums felt like they were in a vice. It was very painful.

I took a leftover Lortab from my nose surgery from a couple months back. That helped a little, but not much. I was hoping it would just go away, but it got worse. Last night I couldn't sleep more than a few hours. The pain was so intense. I tried taking a hot bath at 4am. I let my mind wander and I envisioned myself on the dock at Mike Orem's boat at Dover early in the morning before the sun came up. I began to say a prayer just before my swim expressing gratitude for all the events leading up to the big swim. I almost started crying right there in the bathtub.

I heard Isaac knocking on the bedroom door to come in. I let him sleep in my bed in my place. I got dressed and camped out at the clinic. I didn't have an appointment, but I wasn't going to leave until I was seen. I felt like my ear drums were about to rupture.

I saw Scott Beckstead and sure enough I had an ear infection in both ears. He said it's rare for adults have them. I think its because I have a cold and the new areas of my sinus' going up into my ears aren't used to the issues that come with having a cold. Anyhow, I am now on Amoxicillan and some numbing ear drops. Man I went from a 90% pain level down to a 5% so I'm a very happy camper right now.

Not fat, but STOUT

2010-01-26T09:07:00.000-08:00

Per request, here is a picture of me as a baby. I was STOUT and apparently had a self contained food storage.

From Gords

Big Helen's going for a record

2010-01-25T17:55:00.000-08:00

The kids were excited when I walked in the door. They had to show me the XXXL egg that Big Helen laid today. Woah, now that's ginormous (for a chicken egg).

This week one of the chickens disappeared, which is really strange because they stay in the coop the whole time. There were no signs of Annabel going on a rampage, and there were no tracks in the snow. So now we only have four chickens.

I will be placing an order soon to get some chicks in the spring. Anyhow, the kids have had fun with egg collecting every day.

I do not think it means what you think it means

2010-01-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

I recently used the word "Brevity" thinking it meant something related to being brave. I've not used the word before and looked it up already using it that way, and duh, it has nothing to do with being brave! It's about using concise, short descriptions to make a point. Oops. Truly something I learned today.

My top ten most embarrasing moments in my life

2010-01-19T08:32:00.001-08:00

10. Getting speeding ticket on my last day with security - On my last day working security for the church, I was so happy and excited about my career change that I got a ticket on the way home that night from work for speeding.

9. "He called me a name!" - Making a big deal about a coworker comment that was just a misunderstanding - Craig Butts discussing with Debi Fluckiger at his desk about rejected CCN's. I heard my name and got deeply offended. Complained to my manager who found out it was a misunderstanding and I just overreacted.

8. Depeche Mode concert disaster - took Cathi to a Depeche Mode Concert that failed miserably.

7. False Start - My senior year of High School swimming I was on the blocks for swimming a 500 free at the State Championship meet at BYU. I false started and there is no second chance when you false start, so I was disqualified. That was a major disappointment and so embarrassing!

6. Fly Down - I once went to a High School Prom dance with Patrice Bolyard. I excused myself to use the bathroom, and after a few dances afterwards realized I left my fly down. Wondered the rest of the night how many people noticed and laughed at this doofus.

5. Locked into peddles - my first time riding my triathlon bike to work. I came to a stop sign, had clipped out of my peddles and then rested my foot back down thinking that I had to clip in, but just resting on the peddle actually clips you in. Well I came to a stop and couldn't pull my leg back up off the clip and just fell on my side. A school bus full of kids were right there and the whole bus looked to the right and laughed at me as I struggled to get unclipped on my side with my right knee bleeding and my face all red.

4. AI - as in the crappy movie by Steven Spielberg. In 2001, I was excited about this movie's potential and asked my in laws to go. This was a terrible movie with alot of inappropriate sexually suggestive stuff. Cathi and my Mother In Law walked out. To this day it's an extended family joke that I thought AI was such a great show.

3. Getting caught with my pants down - I was upstairs in my bedroom preparing to take a shower. I was fully in the buff, with my bedroom doors open, when Lucy's new friend comes upstairs looking for Lucy. She got more than she wanted to see at the Gridley house that day. That friend has never attempted calling Lucy again. We now have a family rule that no friends are allowed upstairs (where there isn't anything except bedrooms).

2. Sleeping on the job - When I was working graveyard shift for the Church, I finished my rounds in the South Visitors Center on Temple square (about 4am), I sat down on a couch in the dimly lit basement and stretched my legs out. Next thing I heard some alarm in my ear-piece going off along with a voice "Gordon! Gordon!". The shift manager was right there shaking me trying to wake me up. I was in a DEEP SLEEP. I was so freaked out that I actually pissed myself a little. I was nearly fired. I was put on probation and everyone in the department now had looked at me with "SLACKER" written all over my forehead. Because my services were needed checking people into an event starting at 6am, there was a line building and quite a hold up. This was probably the worst day of my life.

1. Putting my foot in my mouth - When I was in the 8th grade, my new best friend was Mike Phillips. We were standing in line at lunch when one of the new lunchroom assistants came up to Mike and was hassling him about something needlessly. I whispered to Mike, "What a bitch!". After getting our lunch and sitting with our group of friends, someone mentioned to Mike, "Hey Mike, how is it having your mother as one of the assistants?". Oh man, what an idiot I am! I asked him, "Mike is that your Mom?" "Yeah, you didn't know?", "No.". That friendship never blossomed as to this day I still feel a little guilty over that stupid comment.

Do you dare post your top ten most embarrassing moments?

The adventures of Naughty Wilson and Crazy Lawrence

2010-01-12T11:34:00.000-08:00

A couple nights ago I resumed telling the boys bedtime stories. I created this character much like Curious George. A monkey that always seems to get into trouble. After describing the character to the boys and just before announcing his name, Jonas filled in the gap and said, "Naughty Wilson". I laughed cause it fit just perfect.

Then the next day I had to give Naughty a friend, so I added "Crazy Lawrence" to the stories. Here's a picture of the two guys giving their best Naughty Wilson and Crazy Lawrence impression.

From Family

This picture was shot by their cousin Melissa while waiting to watch a show on the Disney Cruise.

Merry Christmas from the Gridleys

2009-12-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

We wish you and your family a merry Christmas. Some highlights this year in our family:

Gordon
- Making good progress on his English Channel swim training for 2012. Up to 12.5 miles. (over 6 hours of swimming)
- Still enjoying working with the Scouts.
- Established an egg production enterprise for our home. 5 egg laying hens in their own coop in the back yard.

Cathi
- Ran the Boston Marathon last spring. What a fun trip that was!
- Completed her 13th marathon this year (26 total), with two of those being Boston Qualifying time marathons.
- Now is serving in her favorite calling so far - Primary Music Chorister.

Austin
- Is still improving in Table Tennis and won the gold medal in the Class A division at the 2009 Utah Summer Games. Also gold in the 17 & under division.
- Busy with Deacons and scouts and earned his Life Rank. Now for the Eagle project!

Jacob
- Ran in two half-marathons this year and plans to run a marathon next year.
- Is doing very well in scouts and is very close to completing his First Class.
- Learning how to play the Base.

Lucy
- Preparing to participate in this summer’s Wizard of Oz/Wicked musical. She's a natural performer.
- Enjoys her Activity Day events.
- Started taking piano lessons and did fantastic in her Christmas recital.

Jonas
- Quite a good reader in the 2nd grade.
- Such a loving and kind big brother to his 3 younger brothers.

Isaac
- Very energetic and loves being in kindergarten.
- Tall for his age, Jonas and Isaac were on the same soccer team this fall and everyone thought they were twins.
- A whiz on the computer, and a two-time farkle tournament champion.

Sam
- Just watch, this boy is going to be a football star. He's a tank. He’s only five pounds away from both Isaac and Jonas.
- Very smart boy, he loves "school". He meets twice a week for playgroup where they learn stuff and have fun.

Oliver
- Loves playing with his hair, mom's hair. He loves hair.
- Learning to talk so well, it’s funny all the new phrases he’s picked up. (And some other ones that aren’t so funny)

Bah! Humbug!

2009-12-15T07:37:00.001-08:00

With all the Christmas music on the radio which I usually enjoy, there are a handful that make me want to throw up in my mouth. There are three presets on my car radio with Christmas music-playing stations. This morning I heard #2 from the list below, changed the station to one of the other ones and they were playing it too! So I changed the station to the last remaining station and they were in commercial, when the commercial finished, guess what they started to play? You got it, #2! I wanted to go #2! What is it with you people who like these songs! Cause if nobody liked them, they wouldn't get played!

I'm about ready to throw in the towel listening to the radio, and just play my mp3 the rest of the month!

Gords' Most hated Christmas songs in order of suckitude:
(Links provided in case you need to build up some rage for a new bench press max, or something)

Santa Baby
Santa Baby - Madonna

What's up with this girl who sings in baby talk trying to be sexy. It's simply annoying! If I was Santa and some airhead chic sang that song to me I'd give a good beating for Christmas.

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas time
Wonderful Christmastime - Paul...

Musically and lyrically, this is one of the most retarded songs ever.

My Grownup Christmas Wish
Grown Up Christmas List - Ayla...

One can only handle so much cheese! What! You trying to make me cry with all the sentimism? Give me a break! Oh, by the way, props for world peace.

This is why I go to the Theater!

2009-12-07T08:39:00.001-08:00

Since my last encounter with the theater which didn't go so well, I decided to take Cathi to The Blind Side which came out this week. I liked it. It wasn't far fetched, funny and inspiring. Cathi and I both enjoyed it thoroughly and hope that Sandra Bullock wins an Oscar for her performance in this film. Definitely a must see!

Septoplasty - it's done!

2009-12-01T22:10:00.000-08:00

So this morning I got up and went with Cathi to the surgical center in Bountiful to get my polyps removed and my septum corrected. Was there waiting for about 2 hours before finally getting in there. Cathi and I talked and flirted in the prep room for a good 45 minutes. It was fun. They put the IV in and it was my first time with an IV. Not a big deal at all.

When the anesthesiologist got there and explained everything he injected the anesthetic into my IV and I was gone in less than 10 seconds. I don't remember a single thing. Next thing I remember someone asked me for a pain scale. "7" I said and they gave me something and it went down to about a 5.

It took me a good 3 hours after initially waking up to get to where I wasn't dizzy. Right now I'm feeling fine except I can't breathe through my nose, but that isn't something I'm used to anyway. Just trying to control the bleeding. I should be able to breathe through my nose in a couple days.

The kids have been so loving and Cathi has been such a great nurse! I'm sure blessed to have such a great support system.

This is why I redbox

2009-11-19T09:16:00.001-08:00

Last night I sacrificed my evening swim to watch the new Star Trek movie. I must be really picky cause I think this movie sucked. The plot and story line was pretty good compared to previous Star Trek movies. But the acting (or rather than directing) sucked.

The characters were all exaggerated. Jim Kirk was a total horndog who had a big head and no real skills except a big mouth. Bones was a complete whiner.

The two characters that weren't completely annoying were the young Spock and Scotty.

I'm so glad I didn't fork over more than $1 to watch this film. What a waste of time. I feel bad for missing my swim.

Square Trade - concluding failure

2009-11-13T13:59:00.001-08:00

So I finally have an update to my concluded dealings with square trade. Here's the background.

UPDATE: The technician reviewing the Garmin claimed that the battery was left in too long and that the repair wasn't covered.

My Response to that conclusion: It wasn't like I left the batteries in there for years and left it in a drawer somewhere. I used this thing several times each week and it had a normal flow of new batteries going in. To me if a normal battery leaks and the product fails because of that, is that the product that failed? Probably not. OK I see the point, However.... what happened to going the extra mile. I mean seriously, the repair would cost about a penny, and here's how...

Take a paperclip, straighten it out, and then coil it up so it looks like a battery terminal, then solder it to the battery terminal backing. I did this (except the soldering) before I sent it in and the Garmin was working, but since I made a big stink about it, figured the "professional" should do it, since I paid for the coverage. So I sent it in two weeks ago, and just today was told the technician made his judgment.

So it looks like this actually goes back to the inability of square trade to make a tiny little fix even though they claim it's outside they're responsibility. This 5 cent "extra mile" has the potential to make customers happy, but that's not the goal. It's the small print and the financial risk that square trade wants to protect itself from.

Guess I'll just have to do it myself. Next time, scrap the warranty since they're concern is more about saving a few pennies, than making the customer happy.

Wake up call

2009-11-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

I'm telling you, I'm fired up about this Muslim guy who went on a shooting rampage at Ft. Hood. What makes me mad is that people knew about this guy and his messed up mentality, but he wasn't detained or investigated enough to stop it.

When 9/11 happened, and other events (which were caught before tragedy), traveling by air has taken a radical change. We can't pack toothpaste or take a tiny little pocket knife on the plane. OK whatever.

But when a soldier who is Muslim and has obvious anti-american views isn't kicked out of the military, or detained when he takes steps to cause a slaughter like this, really bothers me. I guess now the military will go into extreme reaction mode much like the airlines. Which is a good thing. But it really is too bad that steps weren't taken BEFORE the tragedy. There have been many cases where bad things were caught BEFORE they happened, and this is a really bad one that slipped through. My heart goes out to the families of those affected by the shootings.

This guy was a US Soldier who turned into a terrorist, coddled and ignored for the sake of political correctness. He should be charged with treason. His act speaks for itself and his completely messed up extremist views shouldn't be given any light whatsoever. The firing squad should really start cleaning their guns. The US military ought to take steps in the future to ensure nothing like this happens again. It's bad enough when our guys are killed over there in those places of the world, but to be killed from muslim radicals from within? C'mon! That's idiotic.

Firefox is a pig, Chrome is faster and thinner, but doesn't work well with Ultramon or Jira (Rich Text)

2009-11-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

For many years I've preferred Firefox over IE, but now Google Chrome comes into the picture and I'm getting fed up with how sometimes my computer doesn't respond as fast as I'd like. Well today I looked at the task manager and Firefox was in the top three apps using up the most memory. So today I decided to do a little browser comparison:

Browser	Startup time	Memory with 5 fav tabs
Firefox	20 seconds	169 Mb
IE 8.0	3 seconds	93 Mb
Google Chrome	3 seconds	42 Mb

So it looks like Google Chrome is fast and simple. Nice! Problem is that Chrome doesn't use a normal Windows window. I use Ultramon which includes a couple additional window manipulation icons on every window so I can move windows from one desktop to the other with a single click. With Google Chrome those icons aren't visible, and the "Move to other Monitor" option when right clicking on the title bar on the window doesn't do any thing.

Moving windows from one desktop to the other is a feature I use hundreds of times every day. So moving a Chrome window around is going to be a pain, but I think it might be worth it to have the same things running in my browser with 1/2 to 1/4 of the memory used up.

I've since noticed that Chrome doesn't work well with Jira. A documentation and issues tracking tool. The Rich Text tab doesn't show up in Chrome. And when creating a new jira task, it doesn't respect the dropdown value selected. Jira and Chrome don't work very well together at all. Jira and Confluence I also use predominantly throughout the day, so Chrome right now isn't a complete solution for me! C'mon Mozilla, fix your memory issues, and C'mon Google, get your browser to mature faster!

Happy Birthday Isaac!

2009-11-05T09:04:00.000-08:00

This morning I didn't swim. I made breakfast for Isaac who celebrates his 6th Birthday today. This kid is so fun. He got the royal treatment this morning. Then he went out to the garage and we gave him his main present. A new bike. His old one had the back tire ran over by the van so it was bent really bad. It would rub against the frame and slow him down. It was funny to see him able to ride it with it so wobbly. But this new one is fast and has a big horn on it. He was all smiles this morning with the big pile of pancakes with strawberries and bananas smothered all over it with half a can of whip cream spray.

Isaac is such a lovable kid. Plus he's very gentle considering how big he is for his age. Poor Jonas has just been passed up in size by his younger brother. Isaac is a smart kid and has neat handwriting. Happy Birthday Isaac!

From Family Videos

Faithful Questioning

2009-11-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

My awesome Stake President, President Brandt, the past year has emphasized a need to ask questions in faith, rather than faithlessly. For instance someone who has a problem with the Word of Wisdom might ask in a whiny voice, "Why do I have to give up my Coke? I mean caffeine isn't mention in D&C 89 anywhere." But a faithful question on the same topic might be "How can giving up caffeinated drinks benefit me both physically and spiritually?" Then searching for the answers.

Well today I had a couple questions while attending the temple. It had to do with the methods used in the 1)observance and 2)teaching of Adam and Eve while they were on the earth. Heavenly Father is omniscient. Why did he use angelic servants to supposedly get information regarding Adam and Eve's faithfulness? Then the answer came to me nearly immediately in thought while in the Temple. I wanted to document them cause I have a terrible memory and wanted to record my experience.

1) Observance - Heavenly Father uses earthly leaders to help us become accountable for our actions. Since Adam was the first man on earth, there wasn't another mortal on earth to hold him accountable, so Heavenly Father had to send angels to do that.

2) Teaching
I have had many examples of people who have tried to teach me a specific gospel principle. There are many techniques used in teaching. Some include:

Harsh words and a blunt approach to invoke fear, or guilt

Self Righteously - The one teaching using himself as an example to follow.

Teaching out of love and concern. Teaching truths in humility and without self grandeur. Providing encouragement to avoiding problems without casting judgement. The spirit can best teach under this situation than the previous two examples.

Those who use methods other than the third one (In Humility, using Love and encouragement) are much less effective. I mean if their purpose truly is that of teaching a concept, wouldn't that be the best method? What is the ultimate goal of teaching? To help the person desire to learn and heed the teaching. If the person being taught is being yelled at, or made to feel guilty, or is being "preached to", is that going against the real purpose of helping the person gain a desire to grow?

Many times in the Old Testament I get the impression that Jehovah is a strict god, that goes to extremes. Killing a majority of the population with a flood, Sending famines, wars and destruction, etc... But the chance he gave Adam to learn and grow, rather than striking him dead upon eating the fruit (which he told Adam while in the garden would be the consequence), shows me a different side of the God of Genesis that I've initially been exposed to. He truly is all powerful and all knowing, but he often chooses methods to observe and to teach which allows for accountability and forgiveness.

Just makes me think, I have so much to learn! There's more to each story, than the story itself.

Finishing the Chicken coop

2009-11-01T13:32:00.000-08:00

We built the coop earlier this summer, but since it's been getting so cold decided to finish the coop with a nice nesting box to provide some much needed protection from the cold. It is basically a 4 ft by 2 ft box that is fully insulated with 6 inches of fiberglass insulation inside a bigger box. It is built of wood with shingles completely covering the outside of the box. It is just outside the coop with a hole where the door is.

Jacob, Cathi and I spent about 10 hours total building this. We got our first egg out of it. The chickens are laying about 3 eggs a day now. So we shouldn't need to go buy eggs again. In fact we might need to start giving them away.

I skipped a couple of swim sessions to get this project over with so I hope the chickens appreciate the sacrifice not to mention that the material cost about $200. Not cheap. We should break even with the money we're saving on eggs in, oh about 10 years. I'll feel better about sleeping in my warm bed, when the chickens have this nesting box that should keep them plenty warm in the winter with two heat lamps out there and tons of straw for covers. I'm just glad I don't have any roosters.

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

Everyone except Austin and Cathi went Trick-or-treating for candy. Here is a picture we took just before we went out plundering! What a fun time we had. Lucy went out with a friend and so did Jacob (who let Jonas come along). Man did they score! I went out with Isaac, Sam and Oliver.

Jacob was a "Deathrider". Lucy was an egyptian princess, Jonas and Isaac were ninjas, Sam was Spiderman, Oliver was the Fantastic 4 rock superhero.

Darth Gords

2009-10-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

So this morning I got up early to get my costume put together. The horns wouldn't stay on with the spirit glue that I got from Halloween USA. I tried applying them several times, but they just weren't sticking good enough so I went without horns. I had to get Cathi to help me with the blue part of my face. The black I did completely myself.

Turned out pretty good. We'll see how it lasts at work. Tomax has been getting pretty good prizes lately for Easter and Halloween. So hopefully I get something cool out of this besides some strange looks.

Vivid dream again - cliff jumping

2009-10-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

Well I had another extremely vivid dream. The last dream I had like that was a tragedy type dream. This one was more enjoyable. It started out where I heard about this new cliff jumping camp. It consists of a small group of people who rent a humongous warehouse get a pool, and build a rock wall (which also had rock climbers on it) and then at certain points along the wall was an opening where you could take stairs along the back side of the wall, then come to the opening and jump into the pool.

The camp consisted of 10 total jumps, the first one starting at 10 meters and then progressively getting higher. But get this, the last three jumps are so high they have to take you outside to specific points somewhere in the world that would allow for such high jumps.

So I heard about this camp at work and Sylaja (my boss) and I paid the $100 to join the camp. The first few jumps were cake. Once I got to the 30-50 foot jumps it was a little challenging mentally to do it. But the camp director (who happened to be the director at Scout Camp Loll) gave us tips to overcome our fears. Once we got to the 100 foot and higher jumps you would jump into a stream of water that also went down to the point of entry in the water. This helped the landings to be softer.

Once we got the 8th jump we had to go to the edge of the Grand Canyon. There was a large river that went over the edge. We were supposed to jump over the edge into the waterfall going straight down. It was so far I couldn't see the bottom. I was like "How far is this jump?" The camp director overhead me and said to Sylaja and me, "It isn't about how far it is people! It's about how much fun your havin!" One of the assistants, who happened to be Rex Brimhall then went up to the edge and without a moment's hesitation walked over the edge into the waterfall going down to the bottom.

I then followed him. The fall ended up being about a mile. It was amazing how long I was just falling in the mist all around me. At first it was scary, but after a few seconds, this was fun! After about a minute, then the mist got thicker until I could tell I was getting near the bottom and I could hear a huge roar of water. Then I entered the water at the bottom. It was a soft entry. Softer than even the 50 foot jump. What a thrill!

Then I woke up. Dang! I wanted to see the last two jumps! What a crazy dream. Made me think, "If I can overcome the fear of jumping into a fall where I can't see the bottom, the English Channel is something right up my alley. Being prepared physically and mentally and having the right support team is all there is to it. Sounds easy, but I really believe I've got the metal to do it.

I really wish I could plug my brain into a computer and record video of that dream, it was so real. Extremely thrilling and what a fantastic view!

Way to be proactive Feds!

2009-10-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

I'm sure glad to see stories like this one where terrorists are caught BEFORE they carry out their terrorist activities. As 911 demonstrated if we wait until the crime is committed, dozens, hundreds and even thousands of lives are in jeopardy.

I fully support a government that aggressively hunts down terrorist plans and nips them in the bud before they are acted out. Problem is what can you do to those who are caught? If they acted out their plan of mass murder, it would be generous to give them a lethal injection. What can you do to prevent them from becoming a threat in the future?

Scary moment this morning

2009-10-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

This morning Cathi told me we had the carpool. I was about to leave for work and she asked if I would take the kids. I agreed since I was on my way to work, and could just take them on the way. After picking up the three girls, and going down 2700 S., only 30 seconds or so into the drive with all the kids, I heard one girl in the back seat say, "Hey are you OK? What are you doing? What are you doing?" I looked in the rear view mirror to see one of the girls white as a ghost with her face completely clenched breathing fast through her nose and her eyes rolled back. She was leaned over onto one of the girls sitting in the middle. It was quite shocking to see. Her hands were clenched into fists and she was convulsing.

I immediately told the girls to just relax and make sure she could breathe. I turned the car around and took her home. At the same time I called 911 and talked to dispatch. We arrived at her home and one of the girls went up to get her Dad. He came out and by that time she was no longer convulsing and was just passed out in a relaxed state with her breathing calm. The active seizure probably lasted about 30 seconds to a full minute.

When the officer arrived he asked the Dad about medical history, diet, etc... She was slowly coming back to alertness and was able to be assisted out of the back seat and back in her house. I then took the remaining three kids to school.

Back when I was at Deseret gym there was a boy who had a mild seizure. This one was pretty intense. According to the parents, this was a first incident and not a recurring thing. For me as the adult in the group and the one responsible for the safety of the kids on the way to school, it was a little disturbing and glad that it wasn't so bad that she stopped breathing. I was afraid that my tunnel vision would affect my driving. So I tried to focus on getting back to the house instead of trying to drive, talk to dispatch and provide care all at the same time. I'm still a little in shock over the whole thing.

I hope the other kids in the carpool are respectful of the situation and the young woman's privacy in keeping the story quiet. I left a voicemail on Austin's cell phone to be quiet about what happened, but who knows if he'll listen to it. Hopefully he uses good judgment. I'm sure the young lady will be embarrassed when word gets out and hopefully people will respond in a caring way without making her feel "broken" or different.

Publicly denouncing Rammstein and praising Infected Mushroom

2009-10-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

For the past decade I have been a fan of Rammstein. That is until now. Their latest album cover is simply pornographic. I've tried overlooking much of Rammstein's past indiscretions in their videos and concerts. But they seem to focus so much on shocking their audience with their lyrics and antics than in the quality of their music. With how the world is going though, they may get more popular with their disgusting behavior. Not with me though. I'll be playing deaf to their next album.

So I publicly denounce Rammstein as my favorite band, and replace them with a new favorite: Infected Mushroom. If I were to stand before my maker I would feel very much that he would agree in my appreciation of their music. They focus on music quality, and their lyrics aren't offensive.

So go check them out: Infected Mushroom rocks!

Here's some samples:

My quest for a full breath

2009-10-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

Ever since around spring of 2007 I have never had 100% clear sinus'. I had springtime hayfever and went to see my allergist, Dr. Allen Edson who prescribed Nasacort for my nose. I tried it and it cleared me up fine, but over time, didn't have the same effect. Today it has no noticeable effect whatsoever.

Ever since fall of 2008 it has been 50 - 90% effaced. What is strange is that it switches sides. One side is typically 80-100% clear, while the other is only 30-50% clear. Then it switches sides. Up till now I've just learned to live with it. I get a new hypoallergenic pillow every 4 months or so, change the bed sheets often in case of dust mites. And it really isn't that tough to keep my distance from Annabel (which I have a very slight allergic reaction to according to tests). Austin gives her enough love for the both of us.

Yesterday I went to see Dr. Edson hoping that I could have surgery instead of have to take nasal sprays for the rest of my life that don't really work. He looked in side and said that he can't see any polyps because I'm so congested, so I have a CAT scan scheduled for next Monday.

He gave me a different nasal spray which I tried this morning and a extreme antihistamine drug called prednisone which I'm only taking for a week. I put this off to avoid any possible conflicting surgery and recovery time with any races I'm doing. After the SDRC swim meet on November 14th, I'll be free and clear and shouldn't have conflicts, other than my training which hopefully any surgery won't interfere very much with.

Square Trade - quick to google itself?

2009-10-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

This morning I wrote a nasty little post about Square Trade because of the denied claim on my GPS unit which failed at the start of last Saturday's 160 mile ride.

They said on the phone that my claim was denied because the warranty doesn't cover water damage. Which I told them had never had water on the inside. It corroded because of old batteries. But they pretty much said sorry.

About 2 hours later, and after I posted my nasty blog about their service, I get a call back saying they are re-reviewing my claim and asked again for my story which I retold. They said, "Oh, well if it never had water damage on the inside and it was due to batteries, then that is different". So they're sending me a shipping bag to put the GPS in and send to them for repair.

So I ended up deleting my nasty blog post and have this one now. This could be a good ending afterall.

So now I'm wondering why they did they review and reverse their initial claim decision? If it had anything to do with my initial posting, then that would be great. But that would be too cool.

The basic reform plan with no fluff

2009-09-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

Here's the deal:

So we won't even have an increase in taxes and nobody who already has coverage will have to change, and this won't be a government takeover of healthcare? Looks like this is taking alot of the hot air out of some of the anti-reform claims. Thing is, if any of these basics are NOT actually met, then that will backfire on Obama and may turn me back to the "light side".

Another miracle - I'm spared again

2009-09-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday on the way home from work I decided to stop in at Walmart (sorry Kenny) to get a couple of things. I decided to turn left from Hill Field Road in the parking lot from the North. I was heading west and the eastbound traffic was backed up clear to the light in front of the DI. The light they were all heading to had turned red again so they weren't going anywhere. On coming traffic were kind enough to leave a gap for me to turn left. There are two lanes of traffic and both had stopped and left me a gap to turn.

I started through the gap when all of a sudden BOOM! Some guy sped through the outside turn lane and hit me probably around 30 mph. He was really going fast. He hit me right on the front right corner. The impact pushed my car clear to the other side of the turn lane. We almost hit another car pulling out of the Wal-mart parking lot, but missed it by inches. I just sat in the car with my hands on the wheel for a good 30 seconds. I knew that people often react too quickly and shock settles in. So I decided to sit there, and do a very careful mental assessment and inventory of my physical state. I was unharmed. The other driver got out of his car and asked through my window if I was OK. I also asked if he was OK. Both of us were unharmed.

I was fearful that I had done something wrong, but realized that it was clearly his fault. He was speeding around stopped traffic and had gone straight through the outside shoulder which was supposed to be for turning in and out of Walmart.

My car had stopped at the impact. It struggled to start back up, but I tried moving and it sounded like an old man with a broken ankle and wouldn't move. So we both pushed it off the side of the road and onto the sidewalk. His car was able to move, but the windshield was completely shattered and both air bags deployed. It was obvious that because both cars were fairly aged, this totaled both of them.

I called 911 and within 20 minutes an officer arrived. I called Lyn Baskum's office and his assistant told me to take pictures and get names and numbers of witnesses. There were three kind people who stopped and made statements for the officer as witnesses. One of them also had a camera phone and took these images. The other driver's mother came and was kind. She didn't try to blame me and wasn't mean to her son either. She did ask him, "So did you get a ticket yet?" I didn't hear the answer, but the officer did tell me that his insurance card was expired and he would be cited for that. His mother told us that it was still active, just an expired card.

Anyhow..... I'm fine and thankful to again be alive. Although this accident was more unlikely to result in death, I was left completely unharmed and not even sore from this. My head did hit my arm, but not even bruise or soreness. Very blessed.

Dr. Alice Kripin goes on TV this morning!!!!

2009-09-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of I am Legend. At the beginning of the movie Dr. Alice Kripin goes on TV on the Today show and is interviewed. She explains that she created a virus which essentially kills cancer. After which you see "Three Years Later" with scenes of New York abandoned.

Later in the movie you see Dr. Neville say the date, September 5th, 2012. So that would mean that the date of the Alice Kripin interview is today! September 4th, 2009. Here is the interview.

From Movie/Music clips

Checkout my Song Of The Day for a cool song from the movie.

Who needs an alarm clock when you can just get a kick in the face!

2009-09-03T07:09:00.000-07:00

This morning I was planning to get up early to swim in Bountiful Lake one more time this week. When it was time to get up, instead of the alarm clock I got a kick to the left side of my face, thanks to Oliver who was sleeping. Man that is annoying. All the kids are off track in school so they decided to sleep out in the back in tents. In the middle of the night they came in and went straight to our bed. Not because they wanted to cuddle with Dad, but because of Mom. She's the celeb in our house! And where the heck was Cathi? She moved over to the big red chair in our bedroom. Poor woman. That's where the kids should be!

Close encounter with a moose

2009-08-30T14:26:00.000-07:00

After the Bear Lake Triathlon yesterday we went back to the cabin to clean up and have some lunch. Now I've had close encounters with antelope, deer and even Bison, but this was my first encounter up close with a Bull Moose. I was cleaning a few dishes at the kitchen sink when I looked out the window to see a big Moose trot over the lawn towards the bridge from the west side of the cabin. I hurried over and got my camera. By the time I got to the back door it was already in the water making its way to the other side. It was very exciting to see such a majestic large wild animal.

Here is the video I took. But the video quality is poor. Sorry.

SLC Depeche Mode Concert Review

2009-08-26T06:52:00.000-07:00

So last night I took Cathi to Depeche Mode. I surprised her with the tickets earlier this summer knowing that when we were young she liked them. However, she told me many times before the concert that she wasn't that big of a fan and shouldn't have spent the money and rather I taken someone else.

So we went with our friends Duane and Jen Ralphs. We enjoyed their company on the way in and back home.

The opening band was not terrible. I previewed their music before the concert and noticed that one of their songs was loaded with the F bomb. I warned Cathi and sure enough they played it. But they only played for 30 minutes and then the stage got setup for Depeche Mode.

When they came out the first two songs were from their new album which I'm not really familiar with yet. But the third song and most of the songs after that were from previous albums. Two of my favorites they played were: In My Room, It's No Good, and Never Let Me Down Again, and Enjoy the Silence.

Behind the stage they had a huge big screen monitor. During some of the songs they had some visual trippy stuff, and sometimes a video. During Enjoy the Silence the big screen played a video of the band just standing in space suits rotating every minute to the center. Pretty boring, but added a cool touch to the song.

I was really getting into it and having a ball at this point! Great concert. Then after 90 minutes they went off stage. The crowd cheered and bellowed for a good 5 minutes and then they came out again. We really should have left at this point. Because when they came back on stage it quickly went downhill. They played Stripped, and Fly on the Windscreen which wasn't terribly bad, except for David's habitual pelvic grinding of the mic stand.

Then they started to play Strange Love along with a video of some lesbian activity. As soon as I saw the screen with a woman in lingerie laying on a couch and another lady entering the room and walking over I sat down in my seat and let the tall guy to my right who was standing, block my view of the big screen. I could only see the front part of the stage where David was singing. I was afraid to look to my left where Cathi was sitting knowing she didn't have someone to block her vision, and I knew she was getting angry.

She isn't a big DM fan and this was only making her hate me for taking her. After the song she got up and left. I could only imagine what she saw and how offensive the video must have been considering the song. I followed her out and she kept telling me to go back in as I spent $70 dollars for my ticket. She was so mad at me! She wouldn't stay within 10 feet of me and wouldn't look or talk to me. She kept saying "I don't want to be with you!" There wasn't any one around us except for a few people off in the distance, but it was getting to be quite a dramatic scene so I backed off.

I was embarrassed for several reasons. We must have looked like dumb quarreling teenagers. I didn't have a clue they were going to do that. I kept reassuring her before the concert that they only have a few raunchy songs and that perhaps that they would do their homework about SLC and not play those songs. I was wrong, dead wrong. It's one thing to play those songs, but to show an R rated sex scene. That's pathetic.

So they probably only played for another 20 minutes while Cathi and I sat outside on the grass (ten feet apart again, as every attempt I made to apologize and console an angry conservative woman failed and she would move away in a huff making me look like a fool). I texted Ralphs that would meet them at their car. By the time they showed up Cathi put on her fake "I like Gordon afterall" look.

Apparently Jen Ralphs was furious as well. Hopefully Duane wasn't in trouble like me. We had a good talk about triathlons and Duane's job on the way home.

It's the last time I take Cathi to a concert. It's just too risky. I'm never sure of what's going to be sung or shown on a screen. I guess I'll have to wait until the Millenium when perhaps John Denver will do another tour. Only then will I be confident that Cathi will enjoy herself at a concert.

Happy Birthday Cathi - can I come out of the doghouse now? I love you and sorry about the crappy evening.