No Matter What

Kind of dead.

2010-06-21T23:15:00.001-07:00

This blog is kind of dead. You're more likely to find something from me here.

2010-06-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

The Picture Edition

2009-04-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures since I posted pictures last. I like quite a few of them.

From 4-20-09

From 4-18-09

This one of Jake is easily my favorite picture ever.

From 4-18-09

This is how we spent our first few minutes after we got engaged.

From 12-27-08

I miss me some of this.

This was the last enjoyable thing I am going to be doing for quite a while. I have 2 hour study sessions for chemistry every night this wee, a Biology final on Wednesday, Spanish presentation on Thursday, Chemistry final on Friday. I'm only scared of the Chemistry test - but all I need is a 63% on it to get a better grade than I got last semester. There is finally a light...

A few things later...

2009-04-25T22:29:00.000-07:00

So... Since the last time I posted on my blog and I was almost dead with pneumonia, a few good things have happened.

Good thing one - antibiotics. After I went to the doctor and he took some blood to test for mono and then prescribed a chest x-ray, they decided that I had some cloudy garbage in my lung and he gave me some sweet anti-biotics and an inhaler. Within just a few days I stopped coughing as badly and in just a few weeks I was completely cured. It was good.

I rocked every test during my sick months. It was a dark time, but there were definitely a few bright spots.

A few weeks back - we went to Brigham for conference. It was way fun to hang out with Jake and his family. They always are way nice to us and let us hang out at their house. We even had grandma tacos between sessions on Sunday which are a Daley tradition - corn tortillas with hamburger inside deep fried and then filled with whatever we could find. Way amazing.

Also, that next Friday I hung out with Janet's dad in Farmington and then with her mom and Chuck in Pocatello and they told me it was cool for us to get married. I was pretty happy. We had already found a ring that we liked, and Eileen at Needhams was pretty good at making sure we had everything we needed.

That week was pretty stressful (I had the ring, she knew that it was going down sometime) and I had to get a slideshow ready for Friday when I was going to make it happen.

Friday came, and she knew that I was going to propose. Long story short - it didn't happen when she was thinking it was going to, it did happen afterall, and she said yes. :)

This last week was amazingly busy. I have two finals in this week that's coming, so I started studying, and I never really stopped. I can't remember the last time that a week has flown by that quickly. We had discussed the need that we have for an apartment as soon as we get married, so we stopped by the institute to look at the postings, and set up some appointments for this morning. We went and checked them out - and found one that works perfectly. We're getting married in July, and they're going to be done remodeling it mid June just in time for us to move in. We both have summer contracts, so May isn't a problem, but it was another amazing step towards happily ever after. It's not too gigantic, but it's cheaper than any of the other apartments we saw and it's just right. You'll have to come visit when we get moved in. All we need now is some stuff to put in it.

Ring - check
Permission - check
Yes - check
Apartment - check
Finals - not quite
Another job - not quite, either

We're getting there.

I have lots of new pictures, but my computer hates my complex's internet. Stay posted, I'll get them up the next time I have my laptop up on campus.

This Just In

2009-04-01T22:17:00.000-07:00

...so it turns out it's just pneumonia. Not pneumonia and mono. Who would have thought it possible to be glad to (just) have pneumonia? Phew.

Spring Break

2009-03-13T14:14:00.000-07:00

So, it has been a little while since I posted those pictures of Brian being stuck on the little pile of snow in the parking lot. A lot has happened since then.

In the last two weeks of school, I had four tests. One in Biology, one in Biology lab, one in Chemistry, and another in Sociology. It was crazy. I owned all of them - except one. It was pretty good.

Last Thursday I left Logan after class and headed to Clearfield to hang out with Maria and Audrey and Cory. I got there just in time to help Mer finish the best baby back ribs in the world. I really can't remember eating anything better than those ribs. We got to hang out the rest of the evening and it was a blast.

Mer took me to the airport the next morning and I traveled about 12 hours to Providence RI (including the 1.5 hour delay in Chicago) and Andy picked me up and we headed back to his house and straight to bed.

On Saturday we headed out early to Boston. Everything was perfect. The kids were way happy, the weather was more perfect than we could have asked for, and the town was pretty photogenic. We did everything. We followed the freedom trail around town and I enjoyed every second of it. The cannoli at Mike's Pastries blew my mind and just the fact that we were walking amongst such history was amazing to me. Here are my pictures from the 'Boston' section of the trip.

From 2009-03(Mar)07 -

Man? Woman? You decide.From 2009-03(Mar)07 -

From 2009-03(Mar)07 -

This guy really did a flip over five people. Watch it.

From 2009-03(Mar)07 -

Man. I was going to start to label the pictures, but I gave up. There are just too many.

Sunday we hung out and went for a walk in the afternoon, and Monday we went candlepin bowling. I had never even heard of that before, but it is the same as normal bowling (in principal) but instead of normal shaped pins, the pins are the same size from top to bottom, and the bowling balls are a lot smaller and way less than five pounds each. Here are a few of Andy's pictures.

From 2009-03(Mar)09 - Candlepin Bowling

Needless to say, it rocked. We even found out how to cheat, and broke the machine a little bit. Way fun.

Andy took Tuesday off of work and we hung out with the kids at swimming lessons, fit kids, and we even became more manly with chainsaws in the backyard.

Wednesday morning Heather and the kids took me to the airport in RI again, and Maria picked me up in SLC. What a great family I have.

It was a blast. My family rocks. Here's to the rest of spring break.

Part 3: More Pictures of Brian being stuck.

2009-02-12T22:10:00.000-08:00

Just found some more pictures of Brian stuck in his truck. This time in a parking lot after church.

From 2-11-09

Part 2: Pictures.

2009-02-12T21:50:00.000-08:00

So I remembered a few things that happened that I forgot in the last post. Most of these pictures come from our last shooting trip where Brian brought a girl for their first date...and we got super stuck up in the mountain. Way stuck. A huge truck tried to come save us, but it just got stuck. Here are the photos.

From 1-31-09

The target. It's bloody. Actually, it's tomato-y.

From 1-31-09

Frozen sagebrush.

From 1-31-09

Snowball/valley.

From 1-31-09

The big truck that couldn't.

From 1-31-09

What happens when you go off-roading and you can't see the ruts.

From 1-31-09

More carnage.

From 1-31-09

You can't see the frame stuck on the mountain of dirt.

From 1-31-09

One more shot of what it looked like. Jake showed up with some more tow straps and we were out in like five minutes...after trying to get out for like an hour and a half.

From 1-31-09

The herd of deer that was walking along the ridge. It's not too clear, but it was 20x zoom hand-held.

From 2-12-09

Janet's face is priceless.

From 2-12-09

All four of us at the game.

From 2-12-09

Blaze and Stealth rocking out with the #17 team in the nation. (p.s. we won again tonight in Moscow.)

A little while...

2009-02-12T17:33:00.001-08:00

So with the new semester came an increased focus on studying, and a decrease in blog writing. ...That and now I don't work an 11-2am shift. Anyway, here's what has been up.

- Val, Blaze, Mer, and Auds came and visited last weekend. It was pretty much the best thing ever. They came up on Friday night, ate some icecream, played some games, and Val and Blaze stuck around for Saturday and rocked out at the USU LA Tech game with us. (pictures to follow when I get back to my laptop.)

- We beat LA Tech. We're now ranked 17th in the nation, and if we win tonight in Moscow and Saturday in Boise, we win the WAC regular season title outright. Pretty sweet.

- I rocked my bio test, my chem test, and another sociology test.

- I have a cold. Not a bad one, but it's definitely the first time that I have been sick in about 4 months.

- I am approaching hour 8 of my work day here in the labs. It's definitely been better/faster than any other 8 hour day ever.

- I learned to make TTV images in Photoshop. TTV means "Through the Viewfinder." The concept is that you take pictures with your digital camera through the viewfinder of an old-school camera to get the texture and noise of the old lenses. People do it legitimately like that, but I don't have an old camera so I have to fake it in Photoshop. Tell me if these aren't the coolest things ever.

From TTV

It's pretty fun - and I am excited to see what photoshop can do for me.

- I think I am going to start selling some of my pictures. We'll see how that goes.

- I have access to the golf carts on campus. Enough said.

- I'm headed back up to Idaho for the weekend to hang out with the crew I haven't seen since Christmas. I'm definitely excited for that - as well as going to poky for Valentine's. Probably one of the best weekends ever.

- Pseudophedrine gives a nice little buzz.

- I have discovered about thirty things that I wish I had time to perfect (photography, studying, photoshop, cooking, sleeping). Too bad I don't have the time or the attention span to make it happen.

- It's time to study biology.

January's done

2009-01-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

well, almost. It has been quite a fun week. Some highlights -

- Our basketball team beat San Jose on Thursday and then owned Hawaii on Saturday to get to 19-1 on the season, #1 in the WAC and ranked #27 in the nation. When I say 'owned,' I mean it. They only scored 19 points in the first half to our 36. We play Nevada this Thursday and it's going to be crazy. Aparantly the games only get better as the team gets higher in the rankings because the increased exposure equals more people at the game. We'll see.

- I rocked my sociology test. That felt pretty good.

- I took some pretty sweet pictures on Friday. Friday was the weirdest foggy day in the history of the world. You really couldn't see the other cars if it wasnt for the headlights, and you could only see the stoplights when you got within 10 feet of them. On the way back from Quantum of Solace, Janet saw a shopping cart in a little creek behind Wal Mart that was lit up pretty well by a street light. We went home to grab my camera, but got caught up in a movie instead. So, Jake, Brian and I went a little later. Here are the results.

From Desktop

I took millions of pictures, but only like 15 turned out well. I do love the new camera, and I love that in all of the computer labs we have all the image editing software I could ever want. I'm still trying to learn about how to use it, but just knowing it's there is comforting.

17-1

2009-01-19T00:45:00.000-08:00

Holy cow. So it turns out basketball games are the best things to ever happen to college. Let me explain the situation.

When we got there an hour early, there were already tons of students in line to get into the game. As soon as they opened the doors, it was a mad dash for seats. We got pretty close to the court, but it was amazing how quickly it filled up.

As soon as BSU hit the floor to start practicing, we started booing. There was one specific player, Anthony Thomas, who dropped the F-bomb repeatedly on the student section after their victory in the WAC tourny last year, so every time (seriously, every time) he touched the ball in the game - every one of the 10,000 people in attendance booed instantly. We owned him.

When we sat down, there was a BSU fan behind us wearing his orange shirt. As soon as he was spotted, everyone pointed at him and chanted "kick him out!" It was hilarious. He finally put on a blue shirt.

We owned BSU. It was amazing. I think the night was capped by this. We were ahead by seven when this happened, so we went into the half with a 10 point lead. The spectrum went crazy.

Thomas only made two shots all night.

The lead kind of fluctuated for a while, then with about a minute left, everyone in the spectrum pulled out their keys and started jangling them.

Amazing.

Here are a few pictures.

From 1-17-09

Just the guys warming up.

From 1-17-09

Super zoom. Notice the BSU shirt holding the cup of aggie icecream.

From 1-17-09

This is where it happens.

From 1-17-09

Stew preaching his gospel.

Other necessary links.

A sweet write up of the spectrum. Read it.

A sweet basketball movie guaranteed to make you want to visit the spectrum. (the one on the 7th of Feb's going to be sweet. Come one come all.)

Back to normal

2009-01-12T12:47:00.000-08:00

After the first week of class - it's good to be able to say that everything is back to normal. Here's a little run down of what's going on.

-As far as classes go - Monday Wednesday Friday I start at 8:30 and get out at 12:20, Tuesdays I have a 7:30 recitation for Cheimstry and Thursday my earliest class is billiards at 9:30.

-Work is amazing this semester. I'm the supplies manager in the lab, which means a few things. First, I only have three scheduled shifts in the labs (which coincide pretty well with my schedule). That's way nice. That also means that I get to use the other half of my hours as I need in order to get everything else done. It's very nice and is quite conducive to more free time.

-My roommates rock. It's pretty much a party everytime we're all home together.

-My camera rocks. I went out on Saturday and took some pictures just playing around. Here are some of them.

From 1-10-09

Here is the front of Grandma and Grandpa Stone's headstone. Pretty sweet, I thought.

From 1-10-09

Here's the back.

From 1-10-09

I liked this one, too.

From 1-10-09

Here is some snow on the road where I stopped to take some pictures of the valley. I thought it was pretty sweet.

From 1-10-09

I liked this one lots. It's really not that clear, but it's not supposed to be.

From 1-10-09

Reason enough for anyone to live in Logan.

From 1-10-09

These horses were pretty excited to run up to the side of the road. He was easily the best looking.

More later, don't even worry.

It has been a while...

2009-01-07T17:13:00.000-08:00

So, I just read my last post and realized that I said I was going to post when I was at home over break. Well, I didn't. It was a crazy couple weeks, here are the highlights -

- I worked at toys r us over the break. It rocked. I love those people and I love the fact that they love me enough to let me come and work for a few weeks. They run a tight ship and it was a good time to be able to save Christmas daily.

- My family rocks. I think that the three weeks I spent at home with them just kicking it rocked. Mom doesn't think twice about just doing everything possible to make sure everyone has the best time possible, and she does a bang up job.

- I got to see Janet 3 times. She came and surprised me the first week of break and then we traded visits the rest of the break. She rocks.

- My new camera - most of my Christmas was a contribution to my camera fund and I've had some fun taking some pictures. Here are a couple. It rocks.

From 122708

This is me saving Christmas by holding up the tree while it was getting fixed.

From 122708

One of my first pictures, I liked it lots.

From 1-6-09

Monday night's game against U of I. Notice the far basket and the people standing underneath.

From 1-6-09

Here are those people standing under the far basket, using the 20x zoom. It rocks.

Those are the only pictures I have so far from that camera, but here are a few other gems I found on my computer.

From 12-13-08

This is Jake all wrapped up for his big birthday dance for our neighbor Erica. It rocked.

From 12-13-08

Cousin Maragaret did us a huge solid and got us tickets to the Christmas concert in the conference center.

I no longer have a 2 am shift in the computer lab, so I probably won't be able to post quite as regularly. But, I'll do my best.

December is in full swing...

2008-12-08T22:17:00.000-08:00

And with it finals. I'm pretty much hating it. I had a final this morning at 7:30 - the earliest possible final on the earliest possible day. Have to love that. I don't have a final until Wednesday now, so I have a little time to recover. The last one is on Thursday - then it's home free. Hopefully I can pull out some sweet A action. We'll just have to see how everything falls into place. Last Saturday, Janet, her roomies, and I went to Salt Lake to check out the lights. Here are the pictures.

From 12-06-08

Here's the tree in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was way fun to see - it's a little blurry because I had to take the picture way super fast as there were constantly people in the way.

From 12-06-08

A pretty sweet self-portrait.

From 12-06-08

I'm pretty much professional. Yeah right. I hate taking pictures of things at night with my camera - it really doesn't do well at all. All of my pictures end up being at a strange upward angle because I have to set my camera on something so it looks halfway decent.

From 12-06-08

Did I mention Im pro?

From 12-06-08

This is what Christmas looks like on acid.

From 12-06-08

None of them were really in focus - this was the best one that I took. I love the bright green light.

From 12-06-08

This was the first time in like 30 years that I got to go visit the statue of Christ. Loved it. There were approximately 45,000 sister missionaries lining the ramp up to the upper level and it took all I had not to give in to them and watch the Christmas movie with an uplifting message about Christ.

It was a good day - and we finished it off going to Provo to Brittney's birthday party and getting to hang out with Scott, Kevin, and Devin. Good people.

It was a sad day, as well, because of our loss to the cougars. Read this. It's a pretty good run down of the game. It was way super intense in the last few minutes when Cummard (their star guard) fouled out of the game with only 6 points. They kept missing foul shots and we kept not capitalizing. But, my favorite part of the whole ordeal is in that article when Cummard makes the most blatantly rediculous statement (and I quote)' "Both fans are crazy," said Cummard. "Their fans are crazy; our fans are better. I'm glad we got the victory. Their fans have a lot of mean things to say and our team didn't let it bother us today." ' Maybe the rest of the team didn't let it bother them, but his six points (after scoring 30 points a few nights before) says something a little different.

The next post will be from home. That sounds nice. No homework, no stress, no finals. Until then...

2008-12-01T22:10:00.000-08:00

So - this has turned out to be one of the craziest weeks ever. It all started last week with a sweet visit to Idaho, then one day of classes, followed by a drive down to Clearfield to go to dinner with Mer and Cory and crew, and catching the 9:45 flight out of SLC to get to AZ at 11:45. We got picked up just a few minutes later by a shuttle driver who had good intentions and a super thick accent. We dropped off the lady who was riding with us, and he turned to us and asked, "You know where you live, right?" His GPS wasn't updated and he had no idea where we were going. Mom was pretty sure she was going to get hate-crimed, and had a look of sheer terror on her face for the ensuing 30 minutes until we arrived safely at Louisa's house at around 1:30 am. We had a really fun time there - lots of time to play with the kids and a really amazingly delicious thanksgiving dinner. I'm glad I got to go. Thanks again Louisa! And happy Birthday! I didn't get to call her today because of how crazy life got between FHE and work - so I hope a sick blog shoutout will make up for it. :) Here are my pictures from the trip

From 11-27-08

This is one of the flowers that was growing in Louisa's neighborhood that I snapped while we were on a walk.

From 11-27-08

Here's the Thanksgiving Day spread. Delicious.

From 11-27-08

Here's Tyler at dinner after he had gotten enough food on his shirt to merit taking it off. Not to mention the sick hair-do...

From 11-27-08

Tyler putting the last touches on the nativity scene. It was way fun to get to put up Christmas while the temperature outside merited the use of the AC inside.

From 11-27-08

The Fontanini nativity.

From AZ From Mom

Found this on mom's camera. Knew it needed to be on the blog. He didn't come to AZ with us, but this picture did.

From 11-28-08

Another picture of the nativity.

From 11-28-08

More of the lights.

From 11-28-08

The temple at night.

From 11-28-08

I couldn't get any good pictures of the floating lights themselves, so here they are just included in the picture instead of being the focus. Pretty cool, I thought.

From 11-27-08

These represent about half of the rolls that we made. The best thing ever.

From 11-27-08

Little Kara enjoying her dinner.

From 11-27-08

Tyler again. He was rocking some sweet hair all week.

From 11-27-08

Kara wasn't too sure what to think of me.

From 11-27-08

Audrey's newest pet.

From 11-28-08

We got to go to the initial igniting of the Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple. This was part of the nativity there.

From 11-28-08

The lights around the temple.

From 11-28-08

View across the reflection pond towards the visitors center.

From 11-28-08

More lights.

The trip was way relaxing - just the thing I needed before hitting "dead week" here at school and the impending doom that next week's three finals hold for me. Prayers are welcome. And money. And love. Good luck to all in the same boat.

Cleaning Out the Cell Phone Pictures

2008-11-24T23:00:00.000-08:00

So I realized a lot of my history is on my cell phone - and I also realized I have a program that steals the pictures off my cell phone so I can have them on my computer. It works nicely because a few of my close friends have some pretty compromising pictures of me, and I have a few of them - and now that they are on my computer they can't get to them. Anyway, here they are.

From Cell Phone 11-24-08

This is when Blaze took me out to play golf and I wore my sweet Grandpa Harris hat.

From Cell Phone 11-24-08

People who love me know that I love pumpkin cakes.

From Cell Phone 11-24-08

Just give Kermit a call if you want to kill that lamb at his house.

From Cell Phone 11-24-08

The quad in fall.

From Cell Phone 11-24-08

Chuck Norris at the ward halloween party.

From Cell Phone 11-24-08

Jake's dad is probably the manliest man alive, so Nate dressed up like him for halloween. Pretty sweet.

From Cell Phone 11-24-08

Speaks for itself.

From Cell Phone 11-24-08

I wonder where I got it from.

From Cell Phone 11-24-08

Right before she pulled the trigger and ended up on her bottom.

From Cell Phone 11-24-08

Janet rocking the skeet.

From Cell Phone 11-24-08

Val was pretty much the best shot in the entire world.

What a week. I had two tests in my biology classes, and about a million other things that needed to be done - and they all seemed to be needing attention at the exact same time. Thankfully - everything went better than planned, and Janet and I got to spend the weekend at home with the fam in IF. We got home on Friday night and devoured some potatoes and stroganoff that mom had fixed, and then watched Glory Road. During dinner, my position at work was discussed and we also discovered that my 88% in Chemistry wasn't quite up to par. :) It was pretty funny. Saturday we got up and headed out to the Skyline debate tourny to see my beloved debate coach, and then made it over to Taylorview to visit Blaze at the wrestling tourny he was running. We dropped by Toys R Us to discuss Christmas break employment, and made it home just in time to catch some sandwiches and head out the door to go shooting. Mom bought some clay pigeons and a thrower to use to test out her new shotgun - but it turned out that it was physically impossible for anyone except me to throw the clay pigeons. I tried to throw with one hand while holding the shotgun in the other so that I could rock out - but it didn't work too well. All of the shooting pictures are from saturday. We ate some bajio's for dinner, and then went to Forgotten Carols. It was amazing. After watching Get Smart with Val, we went to bed. Sunday was church, dinner, a stop in Poky to visit Janet's family, and home. It was quite the weekend.

Today in the Statesman, I read this story about a kid here in logan who had no history of any alcohol at all dying of an alcohol overdose that is apparently linked with a frat initiation. Who needs that? My condolences to all of the families involved.

48-24.

In just a few short hours, I'll be in Arizona with some of the cutest little kids on the planet. Needless to say, I'm pretty pumped for that. I'll be sure to post some pictures of our adventures.

Hope everyone has a good thanksgiving. Until next week...

A few weeks in pictures.

2008-11-17T23:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, so not really a few weeks in pictures, but at least the last one and a few other various photos from my goings on. Here they come.

From 11-6-08

One day coming home from school, it was raining, but just barely. It was way cool to me because there were leaf-shaped patches of dry cement, and leaf-shaped stains on the concrete. These are a few pictures of that day.

From 11-6-08

This last Saturday, we finally had the chance to gather everybody up and go shooting. Nothing too special - we just had a few extra moldy pumpkins that needed some help bio-degrading.

From 11-6-08

World, meet Jake Daley.

From 11-6-08

What shooting trip is complete without a self-portrait?

From 11-6-08

Just plinking some targets. Notice Jake and Brian's position.

From 11-6-08

Same picture, just a few seconds after Jake and Brian realized that the 9mm was a little louder than their .22s.

From 11-6-08

The group afterward. World, meet Jake Daley.

From 11-6-08

Sick action shot. We call this poor-man's skeet shooting. Jake and I have a big plastic sack that we would load a hunk of pumpkin into. On the given count, we would launch said pumpkin dozens of feet into the air, at which point Brian would blast it into little pieces with his shotgun. He missed the first time. Que verquenza.

From 11-6-08

Off of the hood of the durango. The crew.

From From Andy

Sunset over Yellowstone Lake. It has been a while since I've been there.

From Blaze

I miss this man. Like a fat kid misses cake. Minus the cake. Add a hotty.

From Mine

Probably the best picture I have ever taken.

Other happenings of notice -

Our football coach got fired. It's about time. Seriously. Read this. 8-38? I could do better than that.

Our basketball team tore up Montana this last Friday. It felt good to be in the spectrum with so many screaming people. I would really hate to come play there, especially if I was BYU (who won't come to Logan, hence the game in the Energy Solutions Arena).

I'm pretty pumped for this weekend - home with the fam and some forgotten carols. It's going to be a blast.

That's about it.

Crazy night in the lab

2008-11-10T23:58:00.000-08:00

So... A lot has happened over the last few weeks. I went to Pocatello for a weekend, I've been rocking school hardcore, and I have just solidified my knowledge that I can't study if there is anything going on around me. It's 1:03 in the labs right now and there are about sixty people in here right now that are trying to register for classes. As it turns out, they can't. The website is down. Most of them are kind enough to realize that it's nothing that we have done/can do, but there are a few whiners that I'll probably have to pick off before the night's over.

long time gone

2008-10-27T22:22:00.000-07:00

So... I really dont know what has gotten into me these last two weeks that I have worked the late shift and have allocated my time so poorly as to not even write a sentence about my life. Probably because I have had some seriously huge tests and lots of other things besides blogging on my mind...

1 - Biology. Who even cares? Seriously. Sometimes it feels like the only reason he teaches us some 'important concepts' is so that he can weave his little web 0f lies thick enough to where he can spring grade-level-dropping amounts of random questions in the tests. Frustrating.

2 - Pumpkin shakes at Charlie's. Only $1.99 right now and easily the best thing I have eaten in months.

3 - Pictures. Check out these way sweet pictures I have taken over the last little while. Since it's fall and there are lots of leaves around, you might be able to find a running theme.

From Goodness

The majority of these pictures come from Adam's park right by Grandma Stone's house. It still seems strange to me to not go back to her house after playing in the park. I can remember walking down the street with Val and getting lost on our way back. And, I remember when the entire Stone family met up in the park before we went up to Grandma's for a birthday party. Great times with great people.

4 - My giant pumpkin rotted. When I was home a few weekends ago mom and I made a trip to Sam's club where she bought me a giant pumpkin. Said pumpkin lived happily for a small while in my living room, but then started to get a little smaller, and a dark green color appeared around the stem. The green color has since moved to the majority of the pumpkins surface, and you better believe that it smells horrible and is sitting right outside our door. Pictures to follow.

5 - It's 1:39 am and there are still six people in the lab with me. A new record.

6 - Mom bought me a sick cowboy shirt in Pulman. Can't wait to see it.

7 - I had an amazing birthday weekend in Idaho Falls. I really dont think it could have gotten any better. I went home on Thursday (Friday was off because of Fall Break) and we ended up rocking out that night with some Guitar Hero and we discovered that Audrey (Maria's daughter) knows the words to the "Rock and Roll All Night" by KISS. Interesting. Friday I made some pita bread with Audrey and took it to Brandon at school and swung some by Val-Dawg in her sick office. Her office wouldn't be nearly as cool if it weren't for my DI skills. I headed to Pocatello for a Secondhand Serenade concert, and got back in time to wake up to go golfing with Blaze. (It turns out that golf is actually pretty fun, and wearing sick golf hats only makes it more fun.) (Blaze is actually a pro, and shot at least 14 holes in one) We came back for some lunch and then Blaze and I hit the mall. Dinner was my favorite pizza, and the best cake in the world. On Sunday morning, we all had crepes, went to church, and then had some roast and potatoes for dinner. Really, I cant think of a better weekend. Ever.

I think that's about three weeks worth of goodness. Everything's good here - hope everything's good everywhere else.

October is here. Finally.

2008-10-06T22:46:00.000-07:00

so... it turns out that of the 12 months of the year, October just happens to be my favorite. Maybe because everything important in my entire life has happened in October. (life begain in October, my life is celebrated every October, Halloween happens in October, I left for my mission in October, got back from my mission in October, general conference happens every October, USU dropped BYU's ranking in October, thirty of my friends were born in October, etc.) And, because this is the first post of October, I thought it was necessary to make those facts known.

I don't think I have had a dull moment in about a year.

Last week started off with a trip to Clearfield to hang out with Mer's crew, plus Louisa's bunch. It's always fun to be around my perfect family, because I always get reminded of how much they rock. These are a few pictures I took with my computer web cam - sometimes Tyler's smile needed to be coaxed a little.

From Oct 08

Needless to say - that was a blast. I love those little kids. And, obviously, they love me too. More than any other uncle, at least. Just ask Carson.

My "year" mission reunion was last Friday in Salt Lake. It was kind of a mixed bag affair, mainly because I tend to forget lots of things that happened in Texas - but when I saw a lot of faces that I hadn't seen in years, all of those things came rushing back. It was also grand to hear President Scott teach from the scriptures again. Love that man.

Friday was also the BYU USU game. (look at the signs in the pictures. :) )Needless to say, we lost. But, 34-14 isn't too bad when you consider the fact that we have won a grand total of 4 games in the past 3 years... And the fact that our two touchdowns dropped BYU's ranking. That's a W in my book. And, you still live in Provo. (When I was looking for some cool pages to link to about the game, I found this one about how our cremery rocks BYU's)

Blaze and Stealth took me out to breakfast with our buddy Robb on Saturday morning, which also rocked. It was good to see them. I decided at breakfast that the more cool people you have together in the same spot, the better. IHOP was rocking Saturday.

That's pretty much it. Until another rediculously late shift in the computer lab...

started early, probably going to be a long one...

2008-09-29T22:56:00.000-07:00

Man, what a week. Such a week, in fact, that I think this is going to be a post for the ages.

I find bulleting things therapeutic.

School is crazy. Add seventeen credit hours, a job, random SI's, social-ness, and family, and you have a recipe for disaster. Or lots of stress. Either way.
I find sometimes that people can suck. And, whenever I feel that way, I read this poem by Mother Teresa. (emphasis added)

DO GOOD ANYWAY...

"In the Final Analysis"

by Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered...

forgive them anyway

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives...

be kind anyway

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies...

succeed anyway

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you...

be honest and frank anyway

What you may spend years building, someone may destroy overnight...

build anyway

If you find serenity and happiness, people may be jealous...

be happy anyway

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow...

do good anyway

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough...

give the world the best you have anyway

You see, in the final analysis, it's all between you and God...

it was never between you and them anyway

I read it for a few different reasons. 1 - the place I was in and the people I was with when I heard it the first time. (A dark mountainside near palisades with some of the most important people in my life) 2 - Life must have been pretty tough for someone so small. If she could do it, I can do it. And 3 - It's pretty inspirational. It makes a lot of sense to be nice to people even if it's just so that you can have a clean conscience and maintain confidence enough to continue being social.

We had a ward-wide FHE tonight in which we all built hobo houses out of cardboard boxes and tape. We totally rocked the competition, but we failed to receive due recognition. The highlight of our house was the 20 foot steeple we built that we had to anchor to Jake (who was amazingly well outfitted in hobo gear). Pictures to follow. We had discussed strategy ealier and decided that we either had to go for hobo-ness or for elaborateness. We went for the hobo look, and lost.
I went home this last weekend, and it rocked. We went to dinner on Friday night, then I took a friend to lunch on Saturday, then I went to celebrate a birthday at a restaraunt that sells all-you-can-eat steak. Those who love me know that I like to eat. :) Looks like Val and Blaze and mom and dad love me lots. Even more important than the food, though, was how good I felt as I drove home from Idaho Falls after being with people who I love who love me back.
I bought a shirt for the big BYU game this weekend that says, "YBU" on the front and on the back it says, "Win or lose, you still live in Provo. 'Nuff said." It made my day when I bought it, and it still makes me laugh when I think about it. My favorite thing in the world is that we never have anything football-related that talks about us winning. All of our shirts/cheers/posters just have insults just like that one that infers that we are going to get killed, but it's okay because we still live in the best city in Utah. Just wait for basketball...

where has it all gone?

2008-09-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

so... my Spanish teacher informed us today that we are already in the 5th week of classes. Time goes by crazy fast. My highlights -

We won a football game. Not only did we win, but we owned the Vandals. Who loses to USU? That's embarassing. We were ranked as the 6th worst team in the nation, and the vandals as the 10th, so as you can imagine it was quite the contest. I admired the fans that came to support the vandals because driving so far to support your football team that loses that often is quite the act of faith. I doubt they'll ever play again.
I had three tests. One of which I am happy with.
It is already starting to get cold in Logan. I did enjoy my two weeks of warm weather.
I had crepes for breakfast on Sunday. Thank you France.
Logan is way cooler than Provo. Hands down.

monday night 1:25 a.m.

2008-09-16T00:24:00.000-07:00

Well, as yet another 11-2 shift closes down at the TSC, I have made a few very important discoveries.

1 - it is 301% impossible for me to study if I have a computer in front of me.
2 - the true friends are the ones that still communicate with me at like 12:30 to make sure I'm still awake.
3 - This week with three tests is going to take a lot out of me. Math Wednesday, Chemistry and Biology on Friday. We'll see how that goes.
4 - Staying up late Friday nights with staff meetings at 8:00 am on Saturday mornings, and then not getting enough sleep on Sunday mornings = tough 11-2 shifts Monday nights.
5 - #4 can lead to some pretty fun experiences. For example, today I had two classes in the ESLC. The best drinking fountain on campus is right outside the bathrooms, and who can pass up a bathroom visit between classes? Well, it turns out that I made a few trips into the restroom today, and each and every time I did, I was surrounded by guys with really long woman-hair. It scared me to death that I had gone into the wrong bathroom both times. Pure enjoyment.
6 - Exercise is nice. Even more nice when it becomes an outlet.
7 - Stake luau home evenings can get really awkward, really fast. "Hi, my name is Whitney, I'm going to guess your major in three tries."
8 - Mom's cinnamon bread is delicious when microwaved.

I think that's enough inspiration for one evening.

The football game on Saturday was pretty good, if you're a Ute fan. Admittedly not as fun as the basketball games where personal insults shouted at the players are understood and have more of an effect, but fun none-the-less. Especially with good friends. Speaking of which, my favorite basketball game would have to be this one because every time that guy Nelson would touch the ball for the rest of the game, we would all shout his name. I think he scored like one more basket. Watch the angry gestures from the crowd after he gets stuffed.

We had a really good dinner yesterday in our apartment. Brian made up a few crockpots full of elk roast, I made some bread in the machine, and we invited over the neighbors and feasted before the fireside. And - after the fireside, our neighbors rocked our worlds with brownie-sundae-banana splits. Amazing. Add that to the three other dessert parties that were going on, and you'll understand why continental is such a great place to live.

what a day...

2008-09-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

So, Sunday I went to dinner with my cousin instead of the fireside, with all intentions of making it to ward prayer at 8 to remain social. Well, it turns out that they moved ward prayer to directly after the fireside, and I missed it. My roomates thought it would be really funny to play a joke on me and all text me telling me how funny it was that I was the new fhe dad. I didn't really believe them, and when I got back to the apartment, I asked a few other people and they confirmed that they really hadnt made any assignments for parents. My roomies did a good job with it all, and even had a girl from upstairs text me about a good time to get together to prepare a lesson. I finally got it out of them.

Tonight, after going to the gym, our ward clerk came by and told me that I needed to go to the church for an interview. Guess who the new FHE dad is? AND - guess who the mom is? Yeah. Pretty amazing.

Oh, and I tested out our neighbors taser tonight on Jake - I'm slowly making up for what happened on Sunday. I have some movie I'll post a little later.

another 2 am shift in the computer lab...

2008-09-08T23:48:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly enough, this shift has been pretty productive for me. I've successfully caught up with all of my facebook friends, I've read up on my Spanish, and I still have another hour to go. I guess that's life, eh? Oh, I also made a picasa album with all of the pictures from this latest trip to Yellowstone. Nothing too special, just playing around a little. Some day (when I make $500k a year) I'll buy a nice camera and my pictures will be worth talking about.

a few weeks later

2008-09-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

So, over these last few days, I have realized just why I love college so much. Here are a few of my top reasons -

1 - I can be as social as I want, when I want, where I want, how I want.
2 - I am constantly surrounded by people my age who (for the most part) share my happiness for being alive.
3 - At least half of #2 are of the female persuasion.
4 - Some of my best friends are my roommates.
5 - Betos.
6 - Cousins who feed me and take care of me.
7 - Studying for school and doing well in classes is a higher form of satisfaction than I have experienced for a while.
8 - Working in the computer labs rocks my world. Thanks to an older brother who rocked the computer world while he was here.
9 - Something about being a Stone in Logan just feels right.
10 - Something about going to school somewhere other than BYU-I also feels right.

Ten is good for now. As for a few of the recent goings-on -

* Just got back from Yellowstone on Monday. Mer and Cory were kind enough to pick me up in Brigham and save me thousands of dollars on gas by taking me with them to Idaho Falls and also allowed me the high honor of playing leapster with Audrey in the back seat. Yellowstone is easily one of my favorite places on earth, and it seems to only get better as time goes on. This last excursion was one of the best yet because Blaze and I had planned according to our soda addictions, and between the Manzana Apple, Fresca Peach, and Fanta Orange, we were constantly bibbing. Good times.

Highlights -

Taking pictures with Blaze

Singing loudly with Blaze

Eating breakfast in the Lake Hotel

"I have my yellowstone hair, he has his..." "And you have yours!"

"We're going to starve to death before she even gets back."

The Fishing Bridge general store

As far as school goes - it has been a crazy week. Monday Wednesday and Friday are just crazy days. Even though I am all done with classes by 2:20, it still feels like I have been on campus all day. Fridays are the craziest of the bunch - Chem recitation, Biology, Math, Spanish, and Chemistry starting at 8:30 with only a few minutes in between has made me appreciate even more my one-class Tuesdays. I have a pretty good lab partner - it is definitely going to be a little more of a fight than it was last semester when the three smartest chemistry students were my lab partners. My apartment rules. Between Jake's mom's cookies, Brian's home-made elk jerky, my magic bread maker (which worked a lot better this last time around btw) and Nate's mom's brownies, we have a constant supply of smell-good-come-to-our-houseness that usually attracts crowds into the late evening/early morning. Also, last semester we didn't have a tv in our house at all. Thankfully, that problem has been remedied and I have been introduced to Seinfeld and Arrested Development. Math is pretty easy so far, Spanish is easy if I do my reading, Biology will probably end up killing me along with Chemistry as a few of the first tests are on the same day...but what can you do.

That's about all there is on my mind.

I'm going to post my yellowstone pictures as soon as I can use my laptop up on campus again.

so it begins. again.

2008-08-25T22:46:00.000-07:00

So, here I am with an hour left in my 11 pm - 2 am shift in the computer lab with a little time left after learning the names of some of the mountain ranges in Spain. I thought that one of the more productive uses of my time would be a quick run down of my classes and the goings on of the past few days.

Friday - woke up early enough to get everything put into my car and mom and dads car, and drove to Logan and unpacked. It was really nice this time to be the first one in the apartment and have first dibs on anything I wanted. I got the bed I wanted, the cabinet I wanted and even the roommate I wanted. Doesn't get too much better than that - especially after last year where I just randomly bought a contract and jumped into a place where my only option was to fill in the cracks where the others hadn't overflowed. Our roommates (besides Nate, Jake, and Brian) are Seth (back for a month from his mission to Brazil) and Derek (back since last monday from chicago). Good kids.

Sunday - Church was fun after a lazy morning, and dinner at Nate's house was exceptional. I stopped by the farmer's market on Saturday and picked up some corn and Nate barbecued a delicious tri-tip roast and made a killer rhubarb crisp to go along with it.

Today - I for the first time was able to say that I am truly grateful that I don't have a 730 english class m-w-f. My first class starts at 930, and as it turns out I know at least a few people in each of my classes, so it's going to be pretty fun. Biology and Chemistry are the only two classes that really worry me, and my Spanish and Math classes are going to be somewhat enjoyable I think. (Even though my math teacher is from lebanon and speaks with a semi-crazy accent and my Spanish teacher speaks with the theta and vosotros ((for those of you who know what that means and how it is just pollution to a perfectly good language and makes it almost impossible sometimes to understand him)) and turns out to be quite the LDS poet. Go figure.)

I spent a grand total of $100 on my books for this semester. Say a few hail maries for Half.com. Life saver.

I work some crazy shifts in the computer lab (mainly just this one until 2 am) but I can't really complain because I got all of the hours I asked for, and I got all of the important times during the week off as well.

That's about it. Probably more than most of you wanted to read, and probably not enough for others.

I think more than anything I am excited just to be back in the extremely social environment of my apartment complex and meet new people and make new friends. I thrive on social energy, and it is definitely more prevalent here in Logan than it is in Idaho.

The Olympics

2008-08-13T00:31:00.000-07:00

This one's pretty detailed. I think I'm going to number my list as to not cause confusion.

1 - What's better than every country in the world sending their best to battle it out on international TV? During the other 50 weeks of 2008 and the ensuing years until the next olympics, international differences will be settled by diplomats and summits, but for these two short weeks hegemony will be determined by who's faster/stronger/better at badminton. (not even kidding. watch it, and you'll be a believer.) Everyone says that the olympics are all about sportsmanship and world unity, but who trains 24/7 and travels across the world to lose? No one. You say that you train and go to the olympics just to prove to yourself and your family that you're capable? Here's your gold star, now you're going to get stomped by someone who's there to win.
2 - How cool is it to be an American and watch the USA completely dom everyone else? Sure we don't win every event (girls team gymnastics) but at least we don't cheat (that chinese girl is totally 12).
3 - Beach volleyball.
4 - Michael Phelps.
5 - The instant connection you feel with anyone who is from your country. Even people you've never heard of before become your best friends if they've got your flag on their back. And - after that connection is forged - your desire for them to own everyone else. (refer to #1)
6 - Crystal Bustos - her sick homerun, and also her uncanny resemblance to that girl scout in the movie dodgeball that is disqualified for taking beaver tranquilizers.
7 - Watching other teams try to play the redeem team.

Catch Up

2008-08-12T23:15:00.000-07:00

Blogging regularly is obviously not my strongpoint. Oh well.

Today at work a few more people quit to get ready for school. It seems like all summer I've just been waiting for summer to end so that I can keep moving forward, and that wish is about to be granted. Part of me wants to feel bad that most of the crew is leaving at the start of the school year, but the other part of me (the part that is excited for school) (the bigger, more dominant part of me) is numb to that. School is a welcomed break to the monotony.

All of that aside, I noticed a few things today at work I found noteworthy. First things first - quote of the day. When I exchanged pleasantries with an older gentleman today, he told me that he was doing, "just right." Not well, not badly, "just right." I thought that rocked and took a mental picture of his tropical-print shirt and polished dentures so that when I reach that age, I'll know just what to do to achieve just-right status.

Secondly - I was reminded of a few things from the people magnet book that I blogged about before. In one section it talks about the importance of being a good listener and how to change listening strategies depending on the gender of the speaker. It says that women feel like you're a good listener if you empathize with them and do your best to justify their feelings, whereas men expect solutions to problems and unless a plan of action is suggested - they feel like you're wasting their time. And, if you try the opposite strategy on the opposite gender, you'll lose friends. Totally true. (at least in a retail setting.) Try it sometime. If you're already a good listener, you probably already practice those techniques. Good times.

Blue Dinner Rolls

2008-08-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

So, it turns out that blue dinner rolls taste exactly like white ones. Who would have known?

People Magnets

2008-08-02T00:19:00.000-07:00

So, I just finished reading all I want to from a book called "How to be a People Magnet - How to Find Friends and Lovers - and Keep Them for Life" by Leil Lowendes. I think that this book was partially what triggered my interest in watching how people act. I know that the work is definitely copyrighted and that I couldnt make random copies of it and try to sell it, but I thought that it would be beneficial for everyone involved if I pasted some quotes from it to the blog. And, after reading them, you'll never be able to approach social situations the same way. If you look for the things she talks about in normal every day encounters, you'll see it works. Most of it is common sense, but it's fun to read her interpretation.

Before People Magnets speak, they ask themselves,
“What is my listener thinking and feeling right now?”
Then, whenever appropriate, they speak from their
listener’s perspective. For People Magnets (PMs), scowls
turn to smiles, dullness turns to delight, and no turns
to yes!

As they go throughout their day, People Magnets
miraculously transform nonpeople into VIPs with an
extra moment of eye contact. They give the painter an
extra pulse of the peepers. They give the seamstress an
extra shot of the shutters. In an eye blink, they alter the
encounter from ordinary business-as-usual into a special
one. At the end of the day, the twinkles in their smiling
eyes will probably have added up to less than one
minute. But it makes a world of difference in how
people respond to Pms.

When People Magnets say “thank-you,” they give the
pleasure that the word intends by explaining why they
are thankful. They give every thank-you a little
padding. Big smiles are always the PMs reward.
It is transitory, yet it contains the potency of an
embrace. It is ephemeral, yet it invokes strong
subconscious emotions. People Magnets use the trifling
touch tastefully and judiciously to create a subconscious
excitement between them and the people they touch.
Fifty percent is visual, 30 percent is
sound, and only 20 percent comes from someone’s actual words.
Reply first to the body language, then to the sound of their voice, then lastly to their words.

People Magnets listen with their hearts by watching
people carefully to see how they feel about what they
are saying. PMs listen to their gestures, listen to their
fidgeting, listen to their skin flushing, listen to their eye
contact, and listen to everything else they can see about
the person who is talking.

You don’t need to go around posing all over the place or
you’ll look like just that, a posie. But you do need to
start paying attention to how you move. Strong
masculine movements are in. Have a good stride.
Courteous movements are in. Stand up when she comes
back from the ladies room to the restaurant table.
Protective movements are in. Offer the lady your arm
when you cross the street. Loving movements are in.
Straighten her collar or adjust her hair after putting her
coat on.

Clause #17:
React Faster, Answer Vaster
I’ll practice the “winners’ ” conversational style:
1. keeping the energy level up by not allowing long
pauses,
2. talking longer or giving longer answers to
questions, and
3. throwing the conversational ball back to the
other person by asking a question.

The secret lies in the questions we ask ourselves. Your
brain is a colossal computer. You ask it a question, it
will find an answer. If it doesn’t find an obvious one, it
keeps searching and searching and searching—even if
it has to go back to when you were two years old. Still
no answer? Well, the brain is so determined, it will give
you an answer, even if it’s the wrong one. To have total
control over their minds, PMs learn how to ask the
right questions.

Or keeps you on track with your dreams when you falter, or
believes in you when you’ve ceased to believe in yourself. “A friend
is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back
to you when you have forgotten the words.”

People Magnets know if they want dynamic friends
drawn to them, they must keep growing. When people
become too predictable, boredom sets in and the
relationship suffers.

To draw more friends and lovers to me (and/or be
a better friend and lover to those I have), I will
consciously grow my gifts in all areas—appearance,
knowledge, finances, personality, prestige, and, most
importantly, character.

I will open my eyes, look around, and find someone
way less cool than I am (or someone who is not as
accepted by my peers as I am). Then I will reach out
and genuinely befriend them. I’ll let some of my
stardust rub off on them.
Wow, there's a lot more quoted than what I thought. I just went through and whenever anything stuck out to me, I copied and pasted it. Pretty interesting, eh? Definitely some things to consider. It's interesting to me that a lot of the ways we are treated by others are conscious choices that we make for ourselves. And, it is also very interesting that a lot of how we feel is just our perception of other's actions that we usually over analyze.

Favorite Pictures (that aren't ranger related)

2008-07-15T23:07:00.000-07:00

Yellowstone rocks. That's probably why we go every year. Here are a few other of my favorite pictures. I do love pictures.

Yellowstone: Revisited

2008-07-15T22:35:00.001-07:00

As I was looking through my pictures from Yellowstone I realized that I didn't put the best ones in my facebook album. So, here are a few more I thought were net-worthy and a few stories that make them so.

No, I don't stalk rangers. To spice up the Yellowstone experience a few years before my mission, we decided to see how many pictures we could take with rangers. In the years since, I have realized that rangers are actually vain creatures and taking pictures with them is not a challenge. So, this last year we upped the stakes and different point values were assigned to different physical contact achieved during the picture. We were a little afraid at the beginning, but as you can see as the weekend went on, we warmed up to the rangers.

So these last two were the winners. With the old man, if you look closely you can see my hand on his left shoulder (5 points) and the younger dude he was obviously pretty excited and actually initiated contact (100 points). That was pretty funny - he was waiting outside to lead a hike or something and when I walked up to him and asked him if I could take a picture with him he said, and I quote, "He## yeah! Call me Ranger Rick!" He then proceeded to grab my shoulders and make a really weird face.

props to the sisters

2008-07-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

So I always knew that I came from a pretty talented family, but this proves it. My sister Louisa has proven her photoshop supremacy by taking this picture of my niece and myself

and turning it into the sweet header on my blog. Ten points. She has a few other really cool edits too, like this one of the entire family at Jackson Lake Lodge -

And to top it off - Maria created the only online personal dating ad that I've ever had. Props to both of them.

no matter what

2008-07-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

So finally my quest for a blog has ended. The only real thing that was holding me back was a title worth putting by my name and something that would point me in the right direction whenever I sat down to pen some thoughts.

Here's the story - One of my new favorite things is to watch different people in different situations, or different people in the same situation, or the same people in different situations etc. and just see how they act. In my current line of work, it's my great pleasure to have the exact same conversation with hundreds of people a day (such is the joy of retail) and the dialog is pretty pointless. A little small talk, some good probing questions, and a good bye. But then the other day, someone said something pretty profound. We had said our goodbyes and she said, "You have a good day," and without breaking eye contact added, "No matter what." It was kind of an epiphany that day because I was hating life (badly) and it helped me put things into perspective. Happiness is a choice (as is success, physical and spiritual well-being, etc.) and I decided that I was going to achieve all those things, no matter what.

One of my favorite quotes of all time from a speech given by Martin Luther King (no one really knows who said it first, but they argue pretty convincingly here) kind of illustrates this state of mind -

We need more people who are competent in all areas and always remember that
the important thing is to do a goodjob. No matter what it is. Whatever you are
doing consider it as something having cosmic significance, as it is a part of
the uplifting of humanity. No matter what it is, no matter how small you think
it is, do it right. As someone said, do it so well that the living, dead, or the
unborn could do it no better. If your son grows up to be a street cleaner, sweep
streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote
poetry, sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have
to pause and say, 'here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well'. If
you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill be a shrub on the side, but be the
best shrub on the side of the hill. Be a bush if you can't be a tree, if you
can't be a highway be a trail, if you can't be the sun be a star. It isn't by
size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are...

He speaks of conscious choices to be great. Decisions define us. So that's what this blog will be dedicated to - my own experiences and those of others with the 'no matter whats' in life.