Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Another Day
It was another day of fun adventures yesterday. We hiked around Beus Canyon in Ogden, Utah for about five hours thinking we were going to make it to Mt. Ogden. Right... There was still about two inches of snow on the ground when we got about four miles in. Thinking (for some strange reason) it was going to go away, we continued hiking for another mile... HA!
Despite the snow, it was a lot of fun. My good friend Todd Ferrell came with us and totally smoked us going up the trail. He is such a great person!
So I was completely dead and then turned around and ran 3.5 miles this morning. My knees are SCREAMING!
Despite the snow, it was a lot of fun. My good friend Todd Ferrell came with us and totally smoked us going up the trail. He is such a great person!
So I was completely dead and then turned around and ran 3.5 miles this morning. My knees are SCREAMING!
Sunday, May 28, 2006
S.O.S
S.O.S. can some one help us??? It was our theme song for the trip. We (Christy, Melissa and I) started out thinking we were going to bike the Old Ephriam Grave trail (20 miles). But I think we pushed our bikes more than we rode. It was so steep, but we had so much fun. That is until I got to about mile eight and I hear "PSHHHHH!" Oh yeah! The valve broke off of my tube and I had nothing to fix it with. The spare tire and tools I normally carry with me, not in the bag... Screwed! So we turned around I I pretty much rode down on a flat tire, with exception of the really rocky parts.
To make the day even better, the tire on the truck separated... So there we were, three girls in the middle of Logan Canyon with no cell phone service. Oh YEAH! Thankfully there were soem people staying at one of the LDS Stake Camps who allowed us to use the phone so we could call for help.
Through the entire experience, Christy sang us S.O.S. I joined her and we were in the middle of the wilderness singing terribly off key. The great thing is that I could not think of any other people I would have wanted to spend the day with than Christy and Melissa. It was a disaster, but such a fun one!
To make the day even better, the tire on the truck separated... So there we were, three girls in the middle of Logan Canyon with no cell phone service. Oh YEAH! Thankfully there were soem people staying at one of the LDS Stake Camps who allowed us to use the phone so we could call for help.
Through the entire experience, Christy sang us S.O.S. I joined her and we were in the middle of the wilderness singing terribly off key. The great thing is that I could not think of any other people I would have wanted to spend the day with than Christy and Melissa. It was a disaster, but such a fun one!
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Unknown beauty
Today I went where no FotoAngel had gone before. I climbed the roads of Big Cottonwood Canyon. It is so entirely gorgeous and I had never been in the canyon before. How amazing is that? I almost want to start taking my camping stuff and going up the canyon after work and staying for the weekend and hiking all over the place.
The Mineral Slab was huge and beautiful. The trees we green and the water was rushing down the river. There was such a wonderful solice with the sound of the wind through the trees and the water trickling down the mountainside.
I thought I had seen some beautiful things, but this definitly made my jaw drop today. As I drove, I thought of all the amazing pitures that stood to be taken.
Let's go play!
The Mineral Slab was huge and beautiful. The trees we green and the water was rushing down the river. There was such a wonderful solice with the sound of the wind through the trees and the water trickling down the mountainside.
I thought I had seen some beautiful things, but this definitly made my jaw drop today. As I drove, I thought of all the amazing pitures that stood to be taken.
Let's go play!
CORRE!... pero esperate...
Life is really interesting the way it throws things at you. Sometimes, there are things you want so bad your teeth hurt. There are other things you want to be cosmos away from.
I believe there are many things like this in life. They all come at us for one reason or another... so we can grow (so the "experts" say). Sometimes I roll my eyes and think, "Oh, great..." But then I have to put aside the pessimism and let the optimism come in and decide what I am going to learn and take away from the experience.
It is strange how I find myself running from those things that cannot be far enough away as is. Then one day, it stops coming after you and you miss it. Maybe that is the animal instinct of the hunt and chase.
I often refer this analogy to boys. They enjoy chasing after something as long as it seems hard to get. But the minute the prey turns around and comes after them, the hunter pats its paw on its mouth and flops in the shade. The thrill and uncertainty are gone.
Sometimes this is a necessary tactic by prey, but often it is one of the biggest mistakes made by prey. A lot of times there is no chase when it is thought there is one (girls mainly being the ones in this frame of mind). I can say this because I was, at one time, president of this club.
Patience is the key word, and if those who are chasing, or being chased, are patient enough then good results can come of it. It is also sometimes favorable because one or the other realizes it won't have good results.
Patience... patience...
I believe there are many things like this in life. They all come at us for one reason or another... so we can grow (so the "experts" say). Sometimes I roll my eyes and think, "Oh, great..." But then I have to put aside the pessimism and let the optimism come in and decide what I am going to learn and take away from the experience.
It is strange how I find myself running from those things that cannot be far enough away as is. Then one day, it stops coming after you and you miss it. Maybe that is the animal instinct of the hunt and chase.
I often refer this analogy to boys. They enjoy chasing after something as long as it seems hard to get. But the minute the prey turns around and comes after them, the hunter pats its paw on its mouth and flops in the shade. The thrill and uncertainty are gone.
Sometimes this is a necessary tactic by prey, but often it is one of the biggest mistakes made by prey. A lot of times there is no chase when it is thought there is one (girls mainly being the ones in this frame of mind). I can say this because I was, at one time, president of this club.
Patience is the key word, and if those who are chasing, or being chased, are patient enough then good results can come of it. It is also sometimes favorable because one or the other realizes it won't have good results.
Patience... patience...
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Food for thought
If they know of him at all, many folks think Ben Stein is just a quirky actor/comedian who talks in a monotone. He's also a very intelligent attorney who knows how to put ideas and words together in such a way as to sway juries and make people think clearly. The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, 12/18/05.
Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?
I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.
Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.
If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.
Next confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crèche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?
I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.
But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)
Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.
And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"
In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.
Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.
Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.
Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.
Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing?
Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?
I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.
Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.
If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.
Next confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crèche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?
I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.
But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)
Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.
And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"
In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.
Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.
Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.
Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.
Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing?
Triple A Farm Club graduation
According to an annonymous source (I have always wanted to write that) I have graduated from the Triple A farm club of Ogden. On Monday I started at the Deseret Morning News and they put me to work right away. Yeah!
I have been given some interesting stuff to do, all of which you can read about in the paper. ;) The summer should be a lot of fun and full of story hunting. I feel like I will be able to turn on my thinking cap and run. There is a lot expected and I think people alreay have a pretty high bar set for me. This scares me a bit, but I know I can do it.
I have been given some interesting stuff to do, all of which you can read about in the paper. ;) The summer should be a lot of fun and full of story hunting. I feel like I will be able to turn on my thinking cap and run. There is a lot expected and I think people alreay have a pretty high bar set for me. This scares me a bit, but I know I can do it.
Soundtrack of Life
It is an interesting experience to wander around downtown Salt Lake City and observe people. It is a rare sight to see someone walking without an MP3 divice or iPod.
People are walking down the street and driving in their cars to the soundtrack of their life. We accociate events with music, or somekind of other media. My cousin couldn't stand to listen to Kelly Clarkson for months because that is the CD she was listening to when her tire separated and she spun off the road.
It is amazing how media so effects our lives. We imagine romantic music when something special happens; I rock out when I am angry; listen to calmer music when I am having a good day; and listen to the news when I am feeling in a smart mood.
Music is a great influence. What is the soundtrack of your life?
People are walking down the street and driving in their cars to the soundtrack of their life. We accociate events with music, or somekind of other media. My cousin couldn't stand to listen to Kelly Clarkson for months because that is the CD she was listening to when her tire separated and she spun off the road.
It is amazing how media so effects our lives. We imagine romantic music when something special happens; I rock out when I am angry; listen to calmer music when I am having a good day; and listen to the news when I am feeling in a smart mood.
Music is a great influence. What is the soundtrack of your life?
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