10 Blissful Years

A little arithmetic for you -- 1999 + 10 = infinity minus 10

Today, August 6th 2009, marks ten years since I married my sweetheart Cara. She was the answer to my prayers back then and she remains a dream come true to this day. I feel so honored to be with her and blessed to have found her in the first place.

I told Ainsley this evening about our upcoming special day. I said, "Ainsley, tomorrow is Mommy and Daddy's tenth anniversary. That means that we've been married for 10 years!" To which she replied, "So when are you going to stop being married?" I told her, "Never! We'll be married forever."

Forever. That's a comforting thought. There's no one else I'd rather spend forever with than the woman I've spent the past decade falling deeper and deeper in love with.

The happy couple...they had no idea what they had in store for them.

Wow, what a beautiful bride...

Check out that pretty lady...she hasn't aged a day. If she has then she's getting more beautiful as she ages.

Obama's true colors

President Obama...
His wife is unabashedly anti-American. His preacher and "mentor" is a black liberation theologian who wants God to "damn America." Yet somehow, simply because he hasn't "gone on record" regarding his beliefs about racism in America, people didn't know where he stood. He's beyond all that nonsense, people told themselves. He's enlightened - smarter and more mature than the rest of us mooks.

Or not.

Our president - the leader of the free world - officially went on record this week by saying that a Massachusetts police officer "acted stupidly" for arresting Henry Gates, a Harvard professor, in his own home. The police officer, Sgt. James Crowley, cited Gates for disorderly conduct and hauled him off to the station.

With only that much information available to him, Obama essentially said, "well that's an obvious case of racial profiling. Our nation's police officers need to knock that off."

Umm, excuse me? Check your facts before passing judgment dude. In fact, don't pass judgment at all because you weren't there. You don't know what Gates said or did. Everyone who was there, including a black police officer, agree that Gates was out of line. I don't know for sure if that's true (I wasn't there) but I'll tell you what...if anyone was going to get riled up and rail on a white police officer it just might be a Harvard (read: flaming liberal) professor (read: arrogant) who teaches, advocates, and politicizes African American history. I'll bet he's been gearing up for a confrontation like this for the past 40 years. Again, whether this encounter warranted an arrest or not is none of my business, but it would not surprise me one bit.

So, back to Obama. His message is this...to arrest an educated black man is to "act stupidly." Never mind why you arrested him, or what the man says or does to you. Those are inconsequential, circumstantial details. You just don't do it. Uh, ok. Shouldn't justice prevail? Shouldn't we all be treated equally? Or should rich folks and movie stars and anyone else who could give me trouble be treated somehow different? I say no.

Yesterday Obama tried to smooth things over by saying that he should have "calibrated his words" differently. Whatever dude. Now we know what you think. The funny thing about words is that you can't take them back.

IMHO, this provides further evidence for the real Obama and not the messianic, rock star character the media has been shoving down our throats for the past 18 months. He's an elitist; an ultra-liberal American-hater. I hope this further galvanizes the opposition that is quickly gathering for his health care reform bill and the cap & trade legislation.

He can't smile and lie his way out of this one.

Ward splits

Yesterday our ward split...finally. The old Saratoga Springs 2nd ward was absolutely MASSIVE. Every week we filled the chapel and the entire basketball court. Every Sunday was like stake conference. Our ward had two Elder's Quorums, two Primaries, four Nurseries, and a Gospel Doctrine class that filled the entire chapel. So this split was long overdue.

Geographically, our new ward (Saratoga Springs 3rd) is precisely 6 streets wide by 2 streets tall. That's roughly the size of each of the neighborhoods we lived in back in Washington. Of course, in Monroe, Mill Creek and Everett, the most LDS families we ever had in our neighborhood was 3. Now we have about 100+ LDS-inhabited house out of the 120 houses in our new ward. Weird.

Still, I'm excited for the new ward. It's so easy to get lost in such a humongous group of people. Being with a smaller and more stable group will make it much easier to make friends, hold meaningful callings, and just feel more included. Our kids don't do well with big groups so it'll be a blessing for them as well. But more than anything, I'm excited because I won't have to go to the chapel half an hour early to reserve a soft seat in the chapel!

Fourth of July

Growing up I enjoyed the Fourth of July. It was a time for some family fun. I have fond memories of boat outings and sightseeing trips. As a teenager my brothers and I made it a tradition to go watch an action movie in theaters.

Unfortunately, a lot of that magic has been lost since I became an adult. I still appreciate the purpose of the holiday, of course. You gotta be a Michelle Obama-esque America-hater not to enjoy the celebration of our nation's very existence. But while I maintain my love for the reason for the season, I don't appreciate the way a lot of people choose to celebrate it.

I simply do not understand why lighting things on fire, making tiny, unimpressive explosions, and littering your neighbors' yards with the resulting trash is a great way of celebrating the nation's independence. Uggh.

A few years back - this was 2003 I think - I had a run-in with a neighbor that pretty much solidified my position on this topic. This was back when Cara and I lived in Monroe, WA. Our house was in a cul-du-sac and apparently it was a tradition amongst our neighbors to light off fireworks in the street until the wee hours of the morning. At about 1am I finally got fed up with it and went outside to ask the group to shut it down and go to bed. City ordinances said that fireworks had to be wrapped up by 11pm, so I felt I was making a legitimate request.

Long story short, one hot-headed neighbor didn't appreciate my request and came bolting over to my driveway to explain his position. Mind you, this guy was about 6'2" 245lbs to my 6'0" 170lbs so I wasn't exactly looking to exchange blows with him. But he felt the need to explain his pyromania to me from about 2 inches away. I hope I never have that much of another man's saliva spattered on my face ever again. Blech.

Anyway, if your weekend plans involve some form of firemaking, have fun and be safe. Just know that I'll be somewhere else, doing something else, with someone else. So enjoy. And God Bless America.

A Baptism in St. George

One of the best things about having moved to Utah this past year is that we now have frequent visits with Cara's family. I'm getting to know Cara's sister Jessica much better, as well as her boyfriend Lee. My girls have also enjoyed spending time with their Utah cousins, especially Adree, Jessica's only daughter.

On Saturday I had the great privilege of baptizing Adree. It was the first time since my mission that I had performed a baptism. It had been so long that I had to break out my "white Bible" to review the words of the ordinance. Luckily, I got the words right and everything turned out OK, or at least that's what the witnesses said. If I screwed anything up, it's on their head now, right?

The baptism was in St. George. Cara's aunt and uncles from her Dad's side were there, as was Cara's mom (obviously) and brother Sterling. Quick note: Sterling looked like the bum from Happy Gilmore (the one who was Adam Sandler's caddy), but we were glad he made it.

Anyway, I am very happy for Adree. She is the sweetest kid. She has a perpetual grin on her face that is utterly infectious. I only wish my girls could spend more time with her so she can have some girl playmates and so some of her cuteness can rub off on them.

I'm excited that she has joined the Church. She's blazing the trail for her family to follow and I'm confident that she made the right choice. It's a big deal to make the commitment that she just made. It really is. It's not an easy thing to do. I've often thought it strange that Heavenly Father allows children, at a very young age, to make such a life-altering decision. Do they really know what they're getting into?, I've asked myself.

I think they do. I think they know enough and have felt enough of the Spirit to have "planted the seed" as Alma put it. And that's all that really needs to have happened at that point. Besides, in God's eyes we're all little children, and we need to strive to retain the trusting and loving nature of youth. This weekend reinforced that for me. It was a testimony-builder for me. It made me want to be more like Adree - to be willing to make commitments to Heavenly Father and to be an example to those around me. I wish her and her family all the best.

Thanks for giving me that opportunity Adree!

I'm still a man, right?

I watched a movie today that made me cry. Well, technically my eyes just got a little watery. No actual tears appeared, but it was darn close. This sort of thing is, I assure you, a very rare occurrence. In fact, I can think of only two other movies - Schindler's List and Charly - which evoked this level of emotion inside of me. Hopefully this doesn't mean that my man-ness isn't on the decline. After all, after two days I was winning our office mustache-growing contest. That's proof enough, isn't it?

The reason I'm blogging about this isn't necessarily to show my tender side. Rather, I feel the need to explain it because it was such a surprise. I never would have guessed that this particular movie would choke me up.

The movie is Valkyrie, Tom Cruise's recent drama flick. It chronicles the last and most famous assassination attempt on Hitler's life made by German citizens. I hadn't intended to even watch the movie since I more or less already knew the about this unsuccessful coup, but more so because I think Cruise is a loony and I hate most of his self-promoting movies. Aside from Last Samurai, I can't think of any Cruise movie I've ever really enjoyed. Regardless, I got the movie from Netflix and watched it this evening.

Long story short, I enjoyed the movie. I found it to be a very compelling drama and a fascinating "what-would-you-do ?" character study. However, it wasn't until the credits rolled that I felt a knot in my throat. Up until then it was just a story. But there at the very end - after seeing or being told the fate of each of the key conspirators - it hit me. And here is what it was:

These men gave their lives for the greater good of their fellow men. They had families and they were certain that if the coup failed, not only would they die, but their wives and children would suffer as well. But they chose to do it anyway, because it was the right thing to do.

They knew, as did virtually everyone at the time, that it was only a matter of time before the Third Reich would be gone. The writing was on the wall, so to speak. They could have taken the easy way out and simply waited until someone else fixed their problem for them. Or they could have taken an even more cowardly position by convincing themselves that they were not in control of their own destiny, or put another way, they had not other choice. Someone else was choosing their destiny for them.

I'll admit, I felt some real emotion and very real admiration for the men and women characterized in that movie. Even if 99% of the story was fabricated or embellished (this was Hollywood afterall) I still have to recognize the sacrifice that they really did make and I thank them for it.

Musings on E3 2009

In case you don't know, E3 is the Electronic Entertainment Expo. It's by far the biggest and most significant trade show for the ever-expanding video game industry. Having been a gaming enthusiast for a few years now (perhaps two full decades) I keep a watchful eye on the yearly E3 spectacle.

If you want a full run-down on the event, check out these sites:
http://e3.gamespot.com/
http://e3.g4tv.com/e32009/index/
http://e3.ign.com/

I won't bore you with a half-hearted wrap-up, especially since I, yaknow, wasn't there. I'll just give you my thoughts based on all the news I've read and videos I've watched.

First of all, this year's show wasn't half bad. After last year's all-around snoozer, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all brought their A game to the floor. Well, their B game anyway. In Sony and Microsoft's case their unveilings of motion-sensing technologies seemed more like a B-movie, but more about that later. All in all the show was great, with equal parts of exciting new hardware, software, and services being shown.

Sequels, sequels, and more sequels. The video game industry has officially gone Hollywood with a slew of sequels and remakes which account for every single major game announcement at the show. It's as if the entire industry has either lost its creative muscle, or it has developed a severe case of risk aversion. The Big 3 (Sony, MSFT, and Ninty) are by far the chief offenders, but big Third party publishers such as EA, Activision and Take Two didn't far any better. In fact, I can't think of a single significant game announcement that was new IP. Not one. If you can think of one, please correct me.

I wish I had the Xbox 360 Arcade. The steady stream of remakes keep on coming to Microsoft's online store. I couldn't care less about the 360 and its core titles, but man am I jealous of the classic games that are being ported and remade on their 360 Arcade. Castlevania: SotN, Bionic Commando, TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-shelled and Perfect Dark. The list keeps going. At least Contra Rebirth is coming to Virtual Console. Sigh.

Me too meets waggle control. It was inevitable, but Sony and Microsoft made belated responses to the venerable (and well established) Wiimote. I kind of think it's too little, too late, but time will tell.

Microsoft's Project Natal is a video-based sensor bar that promises controller-free gaming. When I saw the demo of the guy waving his hands around to "hit" the balls on-screen, I instantly thought of Sega's the Sega Activator, an infrared octagonal controller that read a user's motions as they passed a hand or foot or buttcheeck over the infrared beams projecting up from the ground. That pricey peripheral had a couple of games released for it. I predict a similar fate for MSFT's Neo-Natal add-on. Not because it isn't an exciting new technology deserving of some success. I just can't think of any wildly successful add-on for any gaming console, much less one that was priced about the same as the console itself. I'm looking at you, 32X. And you too 64DD.

While Microsoft's anti-controller was cool, if a bit pie-in-the-sky, Sony's motion controller was pure comedy. Having already botched one release of a pseudo-motion controller, the Sixaxis, Sony dropped the traditional two-handed controller design and essentially took a Wiimote and put a colorful pulsating ping-pong ball on top of it. Seriously. And like Natal, it was essentially vaporware - a technology with attending tech demos. Weeee!

Call me when you've actually got something to show guys.

Oh, and btw, Nintendo also made a motion control announcement, launching a $25 add-on that increases the Wiimote's sensitivity. Somehow I think this one has a chance for success. Maybe.

Nintendo releases a 1.5 release. Wow. That pretty much sums it up for me. Nintendo, to me, is the Disney of video games. They have this market figured out like no one else. It's not even close. But as a gamer, it's absolutely infuriating. What am I talking about, you ask? It is that Nintendo's business model and release schedule look basically amount to this:

1) Launch a new console
2) Release one game per franchise for the system.
3) Sell many, many, many copies of each of these games at full-price for the life of the system.
4) Launch new console. Rinse, repeat.

What this means is that we see a new Mario, Zelda, Metroid, whatever, but once every 5-6 years (the tired Mario Party series being the lone notable exception). This as opposed to everyone else's release schedule which requires that their game franchises see a sequel once ever year, or two years in some extreme cases. For the most part those sequels are nothing more than new levels on the exact same game.

Amazingly, Nintendo announced the forthcoming release of Super Mario Galaxy 2, which Miyamoto admitted is a 1.5/expansion-pack sequel to probably their most significant game of this generation. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I sat that this announcement from Nintendo is a mini-miracle. I'm ecstatic about it! Maybe, just maybe they'll do this sort of thing with some regularity. I'm not holding my breath though - I'll bet you a million yen that it's a one-time occurrence.