Democrats and Republicans Unite

I don’t really want to make it a habit of diving into politics on this blog. As I read other blogs that discuss current political topics and read the responses and comments individuals leave it is clear that when hiding behind a computers screen some of us are prone to say things that we would never dare utter to someone in a face-to-face conversation or debate.

Even with a desire to avoid politics the fact of the matter is there is one current political topic that I MUST discuss. President Obama has made a number of tough decisions over the past year. Conservatives complain that he is being far too liberal in his agenda. Liberals may feel that he is not being liberal enough. With unrest on both sides President Obama was recently faced with a choice that would negatively affect Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, every race and religion.

I now quote an article from the January 7th edition of the “Daily News”:

“TV viewers want President Obama to get “Lost” after reports that the State of the Union address may be moved to Feb. 2.

No one seems to have told the White House that the highly anticipated premiere of "Lost’s" last season (according to ABC) is set for the same date.”

(Also check out

this article in the Washington Post)

No matter what your politics may be I think we can agree that having the “State of the Union” air instead of the Lost season premier is “Change” that no one wants to believes in. Upon hearing this news I began writing letters to Congress and buying large amounts of poster board and paint for the rally’s and protests that would surely ensue.

Thankfully before things got out of hand the White House came out with this statement:

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: "I don't foresee a scenario in which millions people who hope to finally get some conclusion with Lost are preempted by the president… You can quote a senior administration official."

So I for one want to thank the Obama Administration for making this bold and brave bipartisan move! Now I can worry about more important things… Like the whereabouts of Charlie and Boone.

Unnecessary Stress…

A number of television programs, newspaper articles and websites have been devoting time and space to discuss what has changed over the past decade. Yet I haven’t seen any coverage of one change that has caused me to have nightmares… No joke. Years ago basic cable introduced me to “The Learning Channel”. At that time the purpose of “The Learning Channel” was pretty self explanatory, it was to help you learn different things. A number of shows were “How to” shows in which hosts would show viewers how to do home repairs, gardening techniques, craft projects, etc. If you know me AT ALL you realize that I’m not a “Handyman”… Yet even I loved watching how in just a few episodes an entire house could be built or a yard completely landscaped with waterfalls, trees and flowers.

Over the last decade however “The Learning Channel” has chosen to distance itself from the “How to” programming niche, they have even distanced themselves from their original name by only referring to the channel as “TLC”. So why would this cause me to lose sleep? Two words…

The Duggar’s

(This picture was taken several years ago...)

If you aren’t familiar with the Duggar Family, they are the family featured on “18 Kids and Counting” (formally know as “17 Kids and Counting”… That is until they had the 18th kid). In this post I’m not mocking or belittling the Duggar’s for any reason. I feel fine about their very conservative values, their desire to have as many children as they can, etc. Of course I may have a slight issue with giving each child a “J” name (Josh, Jana, John-David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy, Jedidiah, Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer, Jordyn, Josie… It’s now 19 kids since 12/10/09) but that’s just me. In my mind I tend to put myself in whatever situation I’m watching or reading about. And as I watch this show I feel stressed out about constantly being around that many people, the noise, the laundry, food preparation and keeping track of everyone. One would think I could just stop watching this show to relieve this unnecessary stress. Sadly the Duggar’s have begun making appearances in my dreams… And usually our interactions with each other aren’t pleasant (in one recent dream all 18 kids, 2 parents and 1 daughter-in-law cut in front of me as I was waiting in a line).

This isn’t the only TLC program that is causing me to stress out; some of their health specials which focus on individuals with rare or extreme health problems are much more intense. I never even watched the “special” about “The Tree Man” (a man with a rare skin condition that makes it look like he is turning into a tree), but the commercials terrified me so much that on a regular basis I have to sing a song in my head to get rid of the mental images that have been burned into my head. Don’t even get me started about the night I watched the primetime lineup of “Half-Ton Man, followed by Half-Ton Mom, followed by Half-Ton Teen”.

(I was going to include a picture of the half-ton mom and the tree man... But I don't want ya'll to go through what I have been going through)

Yes, as TLC has evolved over the past 10 years there have been some additions that don’t stress me out… “What Not to Wear”, “Little People Big World”, and “Jon and Kate Plus Eight” come to mind... On second thought the Dad on “Little People Big World” often stresses me out with all of his big ideas and plans and the Jon and Kate divorce also made me feel sad. So I’m guessing well over 90% of the things aired on TLC causes me to shake my head or increases my stress at least a little. So what is the point of this post? I’m not really sure… But hopefully getting this off my chest will cause the dream versions of the Duggar family and the Tree Man to leave me alone for a bit.

Thanks for a good time ’09… You have a lot to live up to Twenty Ten

Without a new “High School Musical” movie debuting on the Disney channel or in theaters one may think 2009 would have been a year doomed to mediocrity. Thankfully for me ’09 was a very good year… I want to list just a few “Lessons Learned” in 2009:

The first few months of the year I spent a good amount of time planning and preparing for my last summer with efy. As with every year efy was a blast. This summer was special for many reasons, the team, the counselors, the youth, the numerous miracles and so many other things made me feel very good about how my career with efy ended. It’s slightly weird to no longer be an active part of efy. Over the last five years I have put a large amount of my time and effort in hopes of helping to improve the program and those who would be a part of that program. Now I’m left with a lot of brightly colored polo’s that I will never have the desire to wear in public and that I don’t have the heart to throw away… So what is one of the lessons I learned from efy this summer? Oft times I’ve questioned if I can be the type of person that can throw his whole heart into things such as relationships, friendships, a career, etc. My time with efy has clearly illustrated that I can throw my whole heart into those things… It’s just a matter of finding the right fit.


With the passing of Michael Jackson this summer I heard and read many individuals on news programs, the internet and radio stations explain that Michaels passing is a reminder of how fragile life really is, and what really matters most in our lives. In my mind his passing more clearly depicted how fickle people can be. For the past 10 years or so I remember Michael being less talked about for his music career and more for his changing appearance, legal and financial trouble. He had been often mocked by people who would later be singing his praises after his passing. So what’s the lesson? Even if you are the butt of every joke and constantly being mocked today… it’s possible that one day people will be going crazy for you, even crying over you. (And if you are like Michael you might have a seemingly disproportionately large number of Asian individuals crying over you.)

Getting ready for my final year at Utah State Dru Brown and I decided to live in the same apartment… We found a place that already had two other guys in there; we signed the paper work and planned to move in at the start of the school year. On the day we were moving in we found out that our apartment manager had moved Dru and me to a totally different apartment with two individuals we had never met. Understandably I was a little ticked at the situation… it wasn’t what I had agreed to or prepared for, and certainly the manager had to be breaking some law by changing our contract without any forewarning. Yet as the semester progressed I began to have fun and enjoy this group of roommates just as much, if not more than any I have had. (And if you know how old I am you understand that I have had a lot of roommates.) Therefore what? Even when you have every right to be ticked that things didn’t play out as the contract you signed said they would… It might be for the best.

So those are three little lessons from ’09… And what lessons does 2010 hold? I’m not sure but I’m excited to find out…