Magic does happen at Disneyland!

Had a great trip! More to come.

What A Great Life!

As I wrote on my grateful blog, today I am just happy to have the life I do!

I guess alot of it has to do with the fact that I made it to work in one piece. The roads are slushy and people were just going tooooo fast! I thought, better slow down a wreck is coming and sure enough before a mile the traffic slowed to a stop and we crawled along until we passed a 6 car wreck. People are so stupid. Any way more about being happy!

I am glad I have the job I do and the life I do.

I am way excited to become a grandpa! I have not told Jo and Josh how excited I am but I think they know...it is just a cool thought to think that the family is continuing on. Also, this kid is going to have the 2 most bestest grandpas that any kid could have. They have not announced the name yet but I think they know what they want. I have my favorite but am not saying, (if it is my favorite then my sons will immediately stop joking about the name or I will unleash my full power of making fun of them.)

Anyway, life is good. Last week while in El Paso I finished anew Pern novel and wasn't as pleased as I had hoped with it. But I will not give up on the story lines.

Battlestar Galactica ended on Friday. They did a good job, I was happy with the way they tied up loose ends and ended it.

I am happy that I was able to download for free onto my iPod quite a few books from Robert Howard, (Conan, Solomon Kane etc) They will be a joy to read while in line at Disneyland.

ebooks are great!

As I was growing up, all through Jr High and High School and even after that, I could usually be found with a paperback book shoved in my back pocket. As I entered the work force and the Franklin day planners hit it big I always got a binder that would allow me to have a book in it.
When the Palm hit the market I got one of the first ones, a whole lot of memory of 56k!!!! I upgraded as I could and each time I would add books on the memory. Now that I am using my iTouch I was excited to see the programs they have using books! One called classics has 12 of the great classics, Frankenstein, Count of Monte Cristo, Time Machine etc. In addition I have all of the works of Shakespeare and I found a new program called Stanza, it was free and has unlimited amount of books that can be added, many at no cost. It also allows you to add your own files.
Now I know I won’t read all the books at once but I am glad to have them.

Broadway on DVD WOW

Check out my grateful blog for some thoughts on Broadway on DVD

Love of books!

Maggie has discovered part of the magic of books. She will all of a sudden be quiet and we will look over to see her surrounded by her books and going through them.

What a great blessing a love of books and Reading is!

I also had to include the last picture because she looks so darn cute.

Things from 2008 I don't want in 2009

While I have a lot to be grateful for from 2008 there are a few things I will not miss and hope not to see as much in 2009.

Political ads and comments
My broken wrist (Working in the garden stunk)
Gas over $3
Replacing the engine in the Honda
Trips for work to Juarez Mexico. (I will miss the steak house just out side of El Paso.)
Being Jealous of iPod touch (Nat gave me hers as part of my Christmas)
Cody living in Denver
My daughters miscarriage (I will be a grandpa come May)
Violent news and problems (I no longer turn on the news)
Waiting for the comic book geek summer. (Hulk, Iron Man, Dark Knight) (Now it is the wait for Harry Potter 6, Iron Man 2, Wolverine, etc.
Trying to read Twilight (I tired and tired…I even tired on cd but only got ½ way through)
Wondering how Terry Brooks was going to finish the latest book The Gyspy Morph. (I love the anticipation and am sad that this was my last “wait for book” I now have no books I am dying to come out)
Having a goofed up laptop

Just to name few

Old Time Adventure

For my birthday I got a DVD set of a Robin Hood TV series, from the 50’s.
Even though it is in Black and White and the quality is not as top notch as some of the new dvd sets I enjoyed it. There are no special effects, the fights are sometimes funny, (Several times while Robin is fighting 2 men one will swing his sword and stop mid air and wait while Robin moves to hit it. The Story lines are good and the writing is godd as well, the acting is sometimes funny and it is neat to see where the same actor is playing 2-3 parts.

Some times I think we forget the magic TV was back in the day.

You know you are getting old when...

In turning 50 last week (I had hoped to keep the number a secret but…) a lot of thoughts went through my head. (I forgot most of them…after all I’m 50)
Here are some that I do remember

You remember people getting upset when gas went up to 25 cents a gallon
You cried when Davey Jones was going to leave the Monkees (on the TV Show)
Walking on the moon was really cool.
You played army with sticks for guns and the honor system for dying
You always wanted to ride in the back of the station wagon so you could be bounced around more
You would worry being bounced out of the back of a truck if the driver took the bumps too fast
The idea of a square hamburger (Wendy’s) was unheard of.
Paperback books cost under a buck
Drive in movies were cool
Watch videos at home what’s a video?
Every home movie started out with dads head looking into the camera to see if it was on.
Johnny Carson starting on the tonight show
Gilligan in Black and white
Sesame street was the hit with the JR High crowd.
People dying in Vietnam
Quad was the greatest way to listen to music
Grandma refusing to get a micro wave afraid it might blow up
Pocket calculators being as big as a book
Carrying books to and from school without a bag or backpack (they were huge and only for hiking)
The thrill of Major Matt Mason
Every year watching the special announcing the new Saturday morning cartoons.
They wisdom and Joy of Top Cat or Johnny Quest
Arguing over what TV shows we would watch at grandmas since they had a color TV and we did not.
Tuning in the TV by turning a dial
Remote what’s a remote
Neighbors’ actual sitting outside at night and talking
Not worrying if you left your car unlocked or not.
Getting upset that the party line person would not get off the phone so you could use it.
Not being afraid to answer the phone since telemarketers had not been invented yet.
Always having change in the car in case you broke down and had to walk to a pay phone to call.
Knowing you could fix your truck with wire and duct tape if needed.
You remember the first time each of your children smiled and you get emotional about it.


Wow I’m tired from all this thinking, guess I better take my medicine and have a nap.

Peace in the family

I really don't care about sports....but I am grateful that the U beat BYU or my kids would not be in good moods this week...............

The future

Mid November, it seems weird that the year has gone by so quickly.
Maggie is 9 ½ months old…wow. It is hard to remember our life without her and it is very exciting to think of our life ahead with her in it.

Natalie, Randy and I went and did dance pictures for one of the local high schools Sat night. We have been doing this along with Jo and Josh for a few years now.
The kids are an interesting bunch. As I hear people talk on how worried they are about the future and how bad the kids of today are I just smile. They are not that bad, well, at least not all of them.
Each dance we see the same types or groups of kids; the want to be tough kids, the very popular kids, the geeks, and those that are on their first date. Sometimes very definite gang kids. Some of the gang type kids are scary, but I don’t think they will be around long if they keep to that course. At each dance a few stand out that you can tell these are great kids.

I don’t worry about the future. We will survive.

ipod shuffle says alot

At the gym tonight I went through a very interesting shuffle on my ipod. I decided to come home and write down the next 10 songs that came up to see if it said anything about who I am...
"crying from the dust" by Jeff Goodrich (LDS modern)
"Ninety and Nine" by Michael McLean (LDS)
"Bach suite #3 air on G string" by Bach
"Siberian Sleigh ride" by Trans Siberian Orch (Christmas)
"Night of Anguish" Les Mis
"Oh Hush Thee My Baby"by Primary songs (LDS)
"Moves like an Ape, Looks like a Man" by Mark Mancina from Tarzan
"Voices in the sky" By Moody Blues
"Let it snow" by Garth Brooks
"Aqualung" by Jethro Tull
BONUS 2 More just for fun
"Take me Home country Roads" by John Denver
"Lady" by Styx

So I really don't know what this says about me, except that no one wants me to play my music when in the car.

It runs in the family

Maggie is a writer in the making...she loves my old typewriter I got when my Grandpa died.

Management Hollywood style

The other day I was asked where I learned my management style. I have been told I have a unique way of dealing with people and problems. I smiled and replied,”I watch a lot of movies and TV”

Apollo 13- I learned team work. Remember the scene where the guys are in a conference room, one holds up two pieces of equipment saying, “We need to fit this into this only using this…”He then dumps out a lot of pieces of other equipment.

Braveheart- I have a sign on my wall that has a picture of Braveheart along wioth the saying “Management is doing things right…Leadership is doing the right thing.” The different styles of how people manage teams and others is reflected in the characters in Brveheart. Some are like Old Bruce, sneaky and win at all costs, some like the barrons others like the English. And a few are like Wallace.

Winnie the Pooh- Teams are made up of personalities. Each of these types of personality are one of the characters in Winnie the Pooh. Owl, rabbit, piglet, tigger pooh and the rest are all how people approach tasks or problems.

Highlander/Sharpe/300- all teach honor.

Jack Black- any job has humor in it if you look hard enough. Just look at his movies.

Just a few of many other examples I have learned from.

His Greatest Miracle (another inspiration, see previous post)

Sitting at the opening,
I stare at the
vast blackness
Highlighted with
shiny pearls
Of light.

How can He who
Created all this,
Have time to care
Feel and love me?

He caused the light
To shine,
The wind to blow
Countless miracles
In countless lives.

Yet His greatest
Miracle is that
He does have the
Time to feel, care
And love
Me.

Picture inspired! (see pervious blog)

The view never ceased to make him stop and look. Each night, for as long as he could remember, he had walk the steps with the men to the cave opening high above the valley floor. They entered from the other side of the mountain and were greeted by the starry sky from the cave opening each night. The tiny white points of light that filled the night seemed to move in and out as he looked at them. The large white patch of stars, like a snake, cut the sky in two. He was shaken from his thoughts as the team begun to fill the stone circle on the floor. Pot after pot of water would be poured in, 30 in all, till the circle would fill and the water would trickle out the side and down to the waiting families.
They would fall to their knees and thank the gods once more for the water. He smiled. His fathers, father father had been doing this same nightly ritual. His son and their sons would continue after he was gone. He could hear the chanting raising up from the valley floor, the water and started to fill the pots at the bottom.
He took one last look at the sky before him and wondered if there just might be someone behind those lights, standing with his sons as his father had done. Holding a torch to holes in a wall so that the light could come down to those that would stand and look at it.
It was late and he needed to sleep not think thoughts like this. That was the elders role in the tribe. His was to oversee the water each night and do his daily items.
He could not help but look once more as the wall door closed and wonder.

Small inspirations can happen

I found this on a blog and it just started thoughts going through my head for stories etc.
How often do we ignore the small inspirations we are given?
I know I do it way too much.
So here is my deal...I have decided to put some of the thoughts I have from this picture and I will share them here when I am done....(really I will)

smile for the day

How can you not smile when you look at this face!!!!!!!!!

Power of Music

Today as I was coming home from the library I once more was reminded on how powerful music is. (I seem to be going more and more to the library since Natalie stopped working to be a stay at home mom. The extra money for books is not there. So glad I have a library card)
I had picked up a few new books as well as the sound track from Pirates of the Caribbean 3.
As I put the cd in the player to listen on the way home the first song was where the little boy starts to sing yo ho then the group joins in. I was instantly taken in my mind to the scene in the movie and felt once more the power of it.
Wow that happens seldom but when it does it is great.

Another book done reading

So I finished the new Terry Brooks book that ends his Shannara set. I was OK with most of it. Sometimes lately it seems that he has a set formula and cranks out a book a year according to it. Well it works cuz I will still read every book he does and once they hit paperback i will buy it.

I have now decided to start a new series called Fablehaven that I have heard great praise about.

I also am still sketching out my own outline and plan on start writing this weekend.

long wait over

I have a few set of books that I can hardly wait until the next comes out. Harry Potter was one of these. I was very sad as I ffinished the last one and knew that there were no others.
Terry Brooks is another one I follow with great anticipation. The problem I have is that once the newest comes out I devour it and then begins the long wait for the next book.