Oh I wish I may...

I'm curious; If you were to get three wishes what would you wish for? I don't want to hear about I want world peace or I would end world hunger, blah blah blah. We all know these "PC" answers that every beauty pageant queen would give. I want to know what you'd really ask for. And I don't care if it's even a little bit skeevy like I would wish to be invisible so that I could sneak into the women's showers at the gym. I know there are people out there like that so let's hear it. I know what I would wish for so give me your best list.
There are a lot of things that I would wish for given the chance. I would love to be rich, smart, not so much famous but popular among my group of friends. I never liked the idea of being famous. I would much rather be rich and have no one know who I am. You get to enjoy your money more that way. Smart because I would want to be able to just have fun with my life. I don't want to have to go to school anymore unless it was to share my knowledge. I think it would be fun to teach a highly specialized class on a subject that I felt passionate and knew a lot about. It could be interesting. I could generate genuine conversation, something I try to do with my blog.

So if I wish to be rich and I wish to be smart what else in the world is there that I wouldn't be able to attain? Love? Got it. Family? Got it. Friends? Got it. The ability to perform true magic as seen in Harry Potter? Don't got it. That would be my third wish. It always bugs me that when someone is given the chance to have three wishes they never wish to become magic themselves so that they could just conjure anything they want whenever they want. I could fly, become invisible, be super strong, leap tall buildings in a single bound, etc. What more would there be really?
Another cool thought would to wish that your favorite TV show or movie was real and that you could live in that universe. Yea, I'm going to get a little geeky now. What if you could fly around space on the Enterprise or train to become a Jedi but for realsees? How cool would that be? And it doesn't even have to be sci-fi.
Whatever you want could just be. Live out your wildest fantasies, your dreams, your greatest desires. Everyone has three wishes they would love to have granted. Sit and think about it for about 5 seconds and I'm sure you will come up with a whole lot more than 3. Have fun and remember, I want to hear about your wishes so post replies.

Thanks for reading.

History and Bikes

So how's this for a post: I haven't found any pictures or come up with a title for this one yet. I thought I would just write and when I'm done I'll pull the meaning out and fill the rest with pictures and a title that fit. Haven't done it that way before.

So here I am sitting at work loading images into Photoshop so that I can edit them. Sounds fun, huh? Well to some I know it does sound fun because they took photo classes and know what they're doing. To others it may sound tedious and boring. To me, well...it's both and here's why: while I do enjoy working on photoshop with pictures that I've taken it can get tedious when everything you do is mapped to a hotkey. All I have to do is press one button and all the functions are done. I just have to save it and move on to the next image. And the images I'm working with are just typed pages. Nothing interesting in the slightest. My employees however get to work with some really cool old negatives. They are working on a collection of nitrate film that has started to degrade so we have to scan them and get them all digitized so that we can preserve the history of what's on those negatives. Those pictures are really cool to look at. Here's an example of what we are doing with them:

These pictures were damaged to a point that you wouldn't be able to see what was on the negative because the emulsion is so damaged. We scan them and then we have to play with settings and techniques in Photoshop until we come to an image that we can see. We literally pull the image out of the muck and this is what we end up with. Pretty cool I think. It amazes me how much can be pulled out of some of these. You look at them and think no way is there an image in that mess but once you scan it and see it, it's very cool. And the pictures themselves are pretty cool too. I love history, I always have. I have favorite time periods that I would love to visit just to see what it would be like. A lot of them have to do with war so I wouldn't want to stay long but still I would love to see things take place. I would love to see a Roman army form ranks and attack an unorganized horde of barbarians. I would love to see and hear the battles of the civil war where passion was king. Where it was brother vs. brother and family vs. family. I can't even imagine what that would have been like. And it all hinged on where you were from. You fought for what you believed, right or wrong. Some of those wounds still haven't been healed. I love the 1920's with all the flash and flair and pomp and circumstance that went on then. The parties, the extravagance, the overindulgence that comes from a great economy. Then of course you have the crash in december 1929. I wouldn't mind seeing that. I've thought about doing a photography project where I take pictures to look like they were from that time period. touch them up and tear them down in Photoshop to make them look desperate, desolate, disconsulate. I would love to do that. Recently I took some modern photos of a temple in Cambodia and used Photoshop to make them look like they were taken back in the early 20th century by explorers. I love it because they look like something out of Indiana Jones now. So that's something.

The weather has now turned warm. To all of you who have been whining about how cold it was and that it was snowing in May, Bite me! I miss the cool weather. I love waking up to 50-60 degree mornings and having the temperature not go above 75. Now it's going to get too hot and it will be uncomfortable. That just sucks. I can't wait for fall. Yes, already. I don't like hot weather. I like warm weather but not hot weather. It makes me feel sick to be in the heat for too long. I know, I'm weird. But one good thing comes from summer weather:

getting my butt off the couch and in the mountains to ride my bike, my baby. I have missed you. And, thanks to Chauntay, I have a biking buddy. She loves it about as much as I do. I've found some new trails to ride that I'm really excited to try out. Some new early season rides that are out on the mountain face where the snow will melt quickly. Can't wait to take Chaunie out and have some fun. Planning on Friday. Hopefully my knee feels better by then. Really wish I knew what happened there because I don't feel old enough to have bad knees like that. See ya in the mounatins.

Thanks for reading.

Slaughter of the Innocents

I know the title is kind of off-putting but I will make my point and you'll see why it's appropriate. I am growing continuously tired of the stories about small children being abused and killed. These kids are killed and abused by people they trust and love. Mothers, fathers, and step versions of them as well as close family friends and aunts, uncles and cousins have all been to blame for these heinous crimes. What's been bothering me is the story of Ethan Stacy. There really isn't anything about the story that is unusual for a crime like this. The problem I have is that when I heard the circumstances with his father in another state and the court forcing him to send his son here to visit his mother it made me sick. I immediately put myself in the father's shoes and wondered what I would do in that situation. How would you react to that? How would your world change with that phone call? I can't even imagine. I have said before that if anyone did anything to one of my kids I couldn't be held responsible for what I end up doing to that person. My kids are too precious to me to let something like that stand. I don't know what I'd do because I don't plan on these things happening. I just know that at least in my mind and hopefully in the minds of some of my readers justice would be served. I have the same feelings about kidnappers, child abusers, anyone who commits crimes against children. They should be removed from society and probably never returned. Now I'm not talking about 19 or 20 year olds having sex with a 16 year old or anything like that. That should fall under a different category. Yes they are all crimes against children but the crimes I'm talking about have zero consent. a 16 year old can say yes to sex with a 19 or 20 year old but a 4 year old can't say yes or no to their step mom that wants to abuse them in anyway. The people I want to see removed are the ones who kidnap small children, rape them, abuse them, kill them, and bury their bodies with little to no remorse. People who loose control with a baby that's crying and decides the only way to get them to be quiet is to throw them against a wall. You see what I'm saying. These are all physical abuses. There are also mental abuses that are just as damaging to a child. How about a child who is told everyday that he isn't wanted, that he was a mistake? How is that going to affect them the rest of their life? I want them removed from society and possibly the world. I'll be the one to pull the trigger if I have to. These are crimes against the most innocent of society. It's not right in any circumstance.

Now everyone can agree that this is a terrible offense and the title applies without question. The second part of my post will take some explaining. The Texas Board of Education is voting on changes to textbooks, specifically history books. Well, let's look at some of the changes they are making. They would like to minimize the role that Thomas Jefferson played in founding the country. Because he considered himself a deist and wanted the seperation of church and state. They would also like to say that the founding fathers created this country using Christian principles. Here is a quote from their proposal,"References to Ralph Nader and Ross Perot are proposed to be removed, while Stonewall Jackson, the Confederate general, is to be listed as a role model for effective leadership, and the ideas in Jefferson Davis’s inaugural address are to be laid side by side with Abraham Lincoln’s speeches." That's kind of frightening to me. They would also like to change the definition of our form of government from Democratic to Constitutional Republic. They want to remove the establishment clause that was used to outlaw school-sponsored prayer and affirm separation of church and state in the U.S. They wanted to remove any mention of a 1949 study that said you can't legally segregate schools for Mexican-American students. We can see why Texas wanted that gone because the practice was very popular in Texas for decades. But does that apply to the rest of the country?

Now why is this a problem? Why should we care about how Texas educates their children? Texas is the second largest textbook buyer in the country. The books they produce are frequently bought by other states including ours. So I can't just sit around and let them do this to our children's education. Some of their proposals aren't bad. But the way they want to eliminate parts of our country's history because it doesn't fit perfectly with their own brand of religious beliefs is just wrong. It's our history. You can't just erase that. My kids need to have their founding fathers intact so that they can see the diversity of the men who helped craft the Constitution. You can't change history. It happened. It's not like we're making great new strides in history like we do with science and math and law. This is history. Don't water down education we want for our kids more than it already is. This is history but more than that it's our history. We should be proud of it, not ashamed. We should own it, live up to it, as patriots of our country and it's diversity. That's why it was created, not because of religious persecution but because of persecution of all people whatever their beliefs. Leave it alone. Shame on the Texas School Board. This is akin to mental deprivation. I would even say it could be a form of abuse. Brainwashing.

Thanks for reading.

I'm Sorry

Ok, I know in my past blogs I wrote that I hate following a blog that doesn't get updated regularly. I havn't posted since we got back from Disneyland. Plus, this is the first post in May. How 'bout that weather, eh? And the Jazz? Ok. Now that's over with let's get down to business.
Cheryl has made me give up politics because it makes me too angry. I hate listening to people who claim to be bringing you information that just turns out to be sensationalism or flat out lies. The Birthers, for example, are a group who still insist President Obama wasn't born in the US and there really isn't anything you can do to convince them otherwise including showing them over and over Obama's birth certificate. Then there's "Obamacare" and "Obama's recession", etc. I can't take it. And people believe it! That's what really bothers me. I have said before research your candidates and the issues. Come to your own opinion about everything. Don't just listen to radio shows and news programs to get your information. Read the bills that are put out by congress. Inform yourself before going and blindly voting for something. But I don't want to make this a political post. As I write this I am making more and more mistakes because just thinking about it is getting to me. I just want to say this and I will be done with politics (at least for now): I am not a Republican, I am not a Democrat, I am not a Conservative, I am not a Liberal, I don't subscribe to any one political party, I don't listen to right wing radio shows and there aren't any left wing radio shows to listen to, I don't watch Fox News and I don't watch CNN, I am not a communist or a socialist (as much as some people would like to believe), I don't agree with everything Obama has done and I am very glad that Bush is gone. Just so none of you get any ideas about me or my beliefs. I would also like to throw out there that you can disagree with your church's political activities and still believe in the teachings that you get from said church. I disagree with the way the LDS church has handled some political issues in the state and others but that doesn't change my belief in the doctrine of the church. I just don't think ANY church should be involved in politics. It's just like parenting; you teach your kids the right things and give them the tools to make good decisions and then you send them out in the world and hope what you did stuck with them so that they can make those good decisions. You can't force them to make the decisions you want any more than the church should be a factor in law making. So there you go. If you want to know my opinion on anything particular email me and I will tell you about abortion, gay marriage, school funding, or whatever. I won't get into it here.
So for now I will be writing about other things that interest me. I will talk about vacations we are going to go on not because I want to keep you up to date on everything my family does but to give insight into small changes that might occur in the relationships between family members. I will talk about things that I find interesting like the way certain things strike my fancy. You see a different city when you ride Trax downtown or up to the U. I really enjoy that. You also see more things when you ride the bus because you don't have to concentrate on the road. I get a lot of reading done on the train and the bus. It's all for pleasure reading not school work or anything like that. I enjoy all of my comic books that I am currently reading. It will be things like that from now on.
So here is the first new topic for May; Cheryl's new hair style.

Say what you want but I think she looks good with no hair. It's interesting and different but she's still the love of my life. And if you read my last post she's still sexy. Everyone at her work said that she is their hero. She was the only girl at her work to shave her head. In the picture is Mary, the one with cancer. She is grateful for all the support that she's been given and she thought that Cheryl and the IT guys shaving their heads was great. She had a great time with it all. When Cheryl told me she did this I had to join the party. I don't have any pictures of me with no hair yet but I will post them when I get them. Check back for more pictures. I'll post them here.

Thanks for reading

Supporting Your Friends

As I think I've posted before Cheryl's boss has breast cancer. She is already a survivor of a brain tumor. She was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She has had a mastectomy and is now going through chemo. As you all know, when you go through chemo you lose your hair. She has wigs but hates wearing them because they itch. It is just very uncomfortable for her. To help show support for her condition a few employees are going to shave their heads. They include the IT guys and Cheryl. She made the decision to shave her head. I told her I'd support her in this. We'll see how she looks when it's done. I think it's going to be kinda hot but that's just me.
So to help Cheryl with this decision I have found some pictures of sexy women with no hair. Let's get started.

This is a picure of someone that I don't know but she looks very good. No hair. You don't really notice until you make your way up to her head. She has a very pretty face. I don't think Cheryl will have a problem because she also has a very pretty face. She just won't have hair to cover it up.

Next up, one of my favorite actresses. She is pretty no matter what she does. She shaved her head for a movie (one of my favorites) V for Vendetta. She was hot in that movie. And she looks good with a shaved head. Very pretty. You're drawn into her eyes. They become the center of her face and the focal point. It's what I notice first. Cheryl has beautiful eyes and I hope she will bring them out and accent them when she does this.

I am kind of excited to see how this all turns out. I really don't think Cheryl will have a problem with her looks. If she feels nervous I hope that this helps. You are not beautiful because of your hair, your hair is beautiful because of you. If you have no hair, you are still beautiful (and sexy) so don't worry about it. It will be an interesting experiment for her. And if she doesn't like the look, the hair will grow back.

Love you Cheryl.

Thanks for reading

I'm back!

It's been a while since I wrote on here. I have had a busy week since I got back from Disneyland trying to catch up with everything since I left. So I've been trying to get back into the swing of things at work and at home. So I decided to write something today to keep everyone satisfied because as I've said before I hate it when there are large gaps between postings.
So I'll start by saying how awesome our trip was. It was so much fun. It's been 7 years since my family went. Jacob was 4 and Chaunie was 2. It had been 14 years since my dad had been. TJ and Mercedes have never been. It was fun. I got TJ on some rides that I thought he wouldn't get on like Indiana Jones (loved it), Splash Mountain (hated it), Tower of Terror (hated it), Star Tours (loved it), and a moving car on the ferris wheel (loved it). Sadie was a different story. She fought us on pretty much every ride we went on. Roger Rabbit, Indiana Jones, Star Tours, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Snow White, Splash Mountain, the list goes on. She even started screaming,"I don't want to go!" when we were in line to go into Universal Studios. I have to say it was pretty funny. I could tell mom and dad were getting tired of it though. I had a great time as I usually do in Disneyland. It really is one of my top destinations for vacation. We stayed at a nice condo in Oceanside which is about an hour from Disney. We had to drive there everyday but it really wasn't that bad. We met up with Cheryl's sister Kathy and her family who happened to be there the same time we were for a wedding. It was a complete coincidence. We didn't plan a thing. So we did a couple things with them but not much. They weren't there as long as we were. And they didn't go to California Adventure which is what we did on the second day there.
So we Disneyland for 3 days and then we went to Universal Studios. That was cool but it's harder there to plan your day because all the shows are at such specific times. It's hard to show hop and hit the rides. We saw the Waterworld show which is always cool. We found a new attraction there that is a water playground outside and inside they have a bunch of air guns that shoot soft balls. The kids had a blast there. I don't know how long we were there but we lost track of time and had to hurry to the back lot tour. When we got on the tour we found out that a lot of the back lot was destroyed by fire including King Kong. Bummer. But they were rebuilding everything and next year they will have a new and much improved King Kong. Still pretty cool. Then we went on the Simpson's ride. It's where the Back to the Future ride used to be. I liked it but mom and dad had their fill of Simpsons while waiting to get on the ride. And Mercedes hated it. Then it was down to Jurrasic Park. The one ride at Universal Studios that I had been talking up to the kids the whole time. We walked right down onto the ride. It started out and we went through the first part of the ride. Then the second part starts and I start getting excited and showing the kids all the cool things that are about to happen. We come around the corner where the truck is pushed off the wall and splashes you. The truck starts it's descent and...WTF!? No splash. The dinosaurs that squirt water at you don't shoot hard enough to even reach you. Up into the building we go. OK, we still have the final drop to look forward to. Plus the raptors coming out at you and the T-Rex coming down from the ceiling. They slowed down the raptors so there is no jumping and the T-Rex doesn't come down anymore. It just sits at the same level too far away to be scary. Then the drop approaches. Please redeem yourself Jurrasic Park. The boat drops and...nothing. I didn't even get wet. What THE hell just happened? They dumbed down the ride. Why? They screwed it up. Oh well. So off to the Mummy ride. All I have to say about this ride is you just need to ride it. There really isn't an easy way to describe it. It was great though. My favorite ride there.
Then it was off to Seaworld. That was our last day in California. It was just a nice relaxing day filled mostly with looking at fish and watching shows. There were only 2 rides we went on. The only dissapointment I had with Seaworld was the Shamu show. They don't let you go down to the front row anymore so you don't really get that wet. We sat in the soak zone and didn't even get a drop. The tricks weren't that great either. The Dolphin show was closed because they were remodeling the stage for a new Dolphin show. Other than that it was fun. After Seaworld we went to Mission Beach and spent the rest of our day there watching the sun set and letting the kids play in the ocean. Perfect end to a perfect trip. It really couldn't have gone much better.
I hope my family will remember that trip when they are my age. I always remembered those family trips we took. Not just the ones we took to Disneyland but all of the family outings we had. Camping in the Uintas, the Wasatch Mountains, going to national parks, Moab, Lake Tahoe, etc. I want my kids to have the same kind of memories that I have. We will be doing some camping this year. Disneyland was our big trip for the next couple years. We can fill in the rest of the time with short trips here and there. We can have a lot of good quality family time. And we can have some fun with it too.

Thanks for reading.

The Time Has Come!

That's right folks, we are heading to Disneyland tomorrow morning. YEEHAW! We've been planning this trip for over a year now and it is finally time. I know I'm really excited and I don't know how well I'm going to be able to sleep tonight. I'm just a big kid. I love Disneyland. I don't care what anyone says but I believe it to be the happiest place on Earth. I love everything about it. I love the rides, the sights, the enormity of it all. I even love California Adventure (the stoning can now commence). I don't care what you say, I love it all.

This will be the first time for my little TJ to go to Disneyland. Jacob and Chauntay have been once before but they were 4 and 2 respectively when we went. I don't know how much they remember. They claim to remember a lot but we'll see when we get there. I am also excited because all of my kids should be big enough to go on all the rides. Jacob and Chaunie couldn't when we went before. That was a bummer. No Indiana Jones ride back then. But we've been filling their heads with all kinds of stories about Disneyland from the times we've been and I hope they are getting really excited to go too.

We are also going to Seaworld and Universal Studios. Not as exciting to me but still really fun. My kids have never been to Universal Studios but a couple years ago we all went to Seaworld for a couple days. That was fun. Chaunie I think had the most fun because of all the animals. She is an animal freak.

But I think I am most excited for my mom and dad because they haven't been to Disneyland for 12 or 13 years. A lot has changed since then. And I can't wait to see my dad act like a little kid with his grandkids. It will be hilarious. I just can't wait. Plus they really need a good vacation.

We get to stay on the beach in a three bedroom condo. It's a full condo so we have a kitchen and a living room, a couple bathrooms, pool, all the trimmings. Sure it's a ways from Disneyland and the other parks but to be able to stay in comfort, cook our own food, and save some money that way will more than make up for it. It's going to be great.

I'm sorry if I made anyone jealous that they don't get to go with us. But it is going to be awesome. Can't wait 'til tomorrow morning. Whoohoo!

Thanks for reading.