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

The past 5 months…

So I have been ever so slothful in keeping this blog up-to-date and for that I apologize. I have numerous “Lessons Learned”, thoughts, humorous stories, etc. all written out… But I always find myself being overly wordy and I really like to refine things before I post them. So every so often you will still be seeing one of those fatty posts pop up on my blog. But hopefully you will see many more little random thoughts here and there… Today’s little post will simply be an update on what I’ve been up to the past few months.

-I graduated from school (again) and this time got a “hood” with my diploma. That’s right I received a Masters Degree in “Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences”.

-Moved back to Bountiful.

-I began to check the internet daily for more than peoples status updates and sales on American Eagle… Yes I was searching for a job.

-I watched LOST come to an end. And LOVED it! (Yes it did take me some time to understand, but it was way good!)

-Began to attend a University ward in Salt Lake City.

-Went on a family trip to Disneyland.

-I applied at Southwest Research Institute (Swri), got a call for an interview, went to the interview, was offered a job, accepted the job, flew down to Texas for training, flew back to Utah to start working, currently working up at Hill Air Force Base and loving it.

And those are the “big” things that have happened over the past few months… I’ve been very blessed and things have turned out even better than I would have guessed as my time at USU was coming to a close. Makes me excited for what is still ahead!

Much Love,

Eric D.

Lost Premiere Party

So I promise to have a more meaningful and thought provoking post in a couple of days… But until then I thought ya’ll might enjoy some pictures of my apartments “Lost Premiere Party”:

Sawyers Fish Biscuits (Also in this picture is one of our cans of Dharma Root Beer... And yes it does say "Root" on the can...)

Sun’s Garden Salad with Hurley's Ranch Dressing

Claire’s “Welcome Back” Peanut Butter Cookies

Juliet’s the Bomb Chocolate Cake

We also had “Locke’s Pulled Boar” and the neighbors brought over some delicious fresh fruit.

We had some special guests make the drive up from Provo and Salt Lake City.
The dinner wasn’t only brilliantly themed but it was really delicious… At least I thought. And the new season of Lost was mind blowing! All in all it was a great night! As far as the food goes "Claire's Welcome Back Peanut Butter Cookies" were a huge hit... You can the recipe here. (And yes... The name we gave to the cookies is better than the name that site lists.)

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.