Thanksgiving Day Parade 2010

It is Thanksgiving Day 2010! And that can only mean one thing… The EricDStokes.com Thanksgiving Day Parade is back! This parade not only delights children of all ages but it also highlights some of the most exciting moments of my 2010! The parade is about to start its two and a half mile journey so hopefully you’re all bundled up and ready to cheer!

This year the grand marshal of the parade is… Jack Shepherds eye!



That’s right after six confusing seasons LOST has finally come to an end. You will remember the series opened and closed with the image of Jack’s eye, and within that “blink” we were introduced to a Smoke Monster, polar bears, and a giant four toed statue. LOST you will be missed.

Next in the lineup appears to be Mark Monson and Brett Andrews fast asleep.



This entry commemorates the Spring Break trip I took with the roommates to Disneyland. And what did we learn on this trip? Roommates get tired when traveling with Me because I like to speed walk from one ride to the next… And wake up early to hit the park first thing… The only time I wasn’t speeding during this trip happened to be on the 10 hour drive down to California and back.

Making its way down the street is a HUGE diploma!



This year I graduated from Utah State University with a Masters degree in Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences. And what do you do with a degree in Instructional Technology and what is Instructional Design in general? Well our next two entries should help explain…

It’s a giant balloon explaining the definition of Instructional Design!




If there is one thing I have learned this year it is that no one knows what my job title means. It usually takes 5 – 10 minutes of explaining for people to even begin to give a faint nod of the head signaling they might have an idea about what I do. (Which is somewhat concerning in that I’m supposed to be able to teach effectively… And yet I struggle to explain my job title. And sadly it looks as if this balloon even has some typos... So maybe this won't help the situation.) Following the Instructional Design definition balloon is another entry that requires some explaining… SwRI is the wonderful company that hired me on full time right after graduation. The full name of the company is Southwest Research Institute…. I could go on but it looks like the crowd is getting a little restless. Hopefully the next few entries will liven things up.



Coming to us from our friends at YouTube are two of my favorite characters from random viral videos. We have the classic Antoine Dodson and Marcel the Shell with Shoes on. If you haven’t seen the clips these two balloons are based off of do yourself a favor and check them out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9-sEbqDvU and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtZfW2z9dw

And our last entry officially signals the start of the Christmas Season…



That’s right it is the return of Christmas Fedora! Out of all the Fedora’s I own this is the one most rarely seen! So be glad you were here today to witness this moment!

Well it looks like that is the end of today’s EricDStokes.com Thanksgiving Day Parade. Hopefully ya’ll enjoyed it! And hopefully you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I personally have a endless list of things to be grateful for… From family to friends to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ… I’ve got it all!

Much Love,
Eric D. Stokes

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.