Ethical question

I have a question for everyone,

If you could cheat and win a gold medal in the Olympics and no one will ever find out would you do it?

Think about it, write in your diary about it, and if you want post a comment with your thoughts. I already know my answer and why I feel that way and I want to see what your thoughts are. I will post my answer as another blog entry in a couple days.

Oh and if you are uncomfortable sharing your true feelings then just post as 'anonymous'.

Obama vs. Bryant

So I have been loving the Olympics this year; I have thoroughly enjoyed watching all of the Phelps races, gymnastics, track (just getting under way), volleyball, and so many other events. One thing I was thinking about today, though, was an interview I saw of Kobe Bryant on what it is like for him to wear the USA jersey. The commentator asked him if it is no longer "cool" to be patriotic and proud about one's country, especially USA at this time and Byrant essentially said "it's cool to me". I find that very ironic when you compare his attitude to the attitude of the Democratic nominee for president, Barack Obama and his wife. They are repeatedly saying things that suggest America is a bad country, a down right mean country, and they are finally proud of their country because Obama may become president. All Olympic athletes place their hand on their heart during the national anthem and yet the "messiah", "God's gift to America (according to Nancy Pelosi), Barack Obama does not. Am I the only one who finds it ridiculous that the man running for president and has a very good possibility of being elected does so much to make people question whether he even likes America. He goes to Germany and instead of praising America he is critical of America, talking about all of her supposed problems.

Now back to Kobe Bryant, he cynic in me says he only said those things because he is trying to build up his public image both in American's eyes and Chinese eyes so that he will get bigger endorsement deals and make more money; but if that is true then how twisted is our society that we want our athletes to love our country and we want our politicians to hate our country. I can't be sure if Kobe was sincere or not when he expressed his love for our country but after watching the interview I was convinced and I certainly want to be optimistic about at least some things. Bryant certainly has issues and I don't always cheer for him (especially when he is playing the Jazz) but I don't like to have bitter feelings towards anyone and I have definitely found more to cheer Kobe for. GO USA!!!

Which one

This evening I decided to get rid of my goatee even though I only had it for a couple of weeks. So I decided to try out different facial hair styles. Please comment on which ones look the best on me, Staci thinks the long mustache is the best. She is trying to decide if she wants to say anything right now....still hasn't decided, she just is hoping it will be softer now (hint, hint) ;-)
The soul patch is her favorite, mine too.

Family Reunion

I was able to make it to the Andelin Reunion this week. I was fortunate enough to get my time off of work on Wednesday and Staci and I drove up to the reunion that evening.

We went on a fun hayride right after dinner that evening; it took a little longer than Uncle Kenny had planned for us to drive from the campground we were staying at to his family's ranch but it was a beautiful evening and I think everyone had a great time.

The next day we went horseback riding and four wheeling; Staci is really not a fan of riding horses but we were able to convince her to go on a short ride and she did very well. We had nine horses in the group, three of Uncle Brian's and six of Uncle Kenny's; having that many horses was pretty fun and much easier to keep the horses together.

We played this really fun game in the afternoon; everyone had a short length of 1/2 inch PVC pipe and a bad of small marshmallows and then we went outside and shot the marshmallows at each other using the pipe as blow guns. It got pretty gross because to shoot the mellows the best you had to get them wet by letting them soak in your mouth, then you could shoot them pretty far. But when you get hit the mellows stick to you. I was just glad I didn't have long hair because some of the girls got a lot of mellows stuck in their hair. Staci and I formed an alliance with Dan and Elise so we were able to stay much cleaner then most everyone else. Then again we did stay on the outskirts of the group and we would pick off people coming towards us. All in all it was a very fun game but I am pretty sick of the taste of marshmallows right now.

We had a short talent show during which I was reminded how talented my cousins are. I am more motivated to practice the piano now. It was funny because the first person to play was Jennis Andelin, a cousin who is about 10 maybe, and when she started playing I looked over at Staci and she had this look of amazement at how good she was. I just have to confess that I have a great family.

The reunion was a lot of fun and I am really glad that I was able to make it. It was well worth taking that day of comp time to go spend time with my family and my girl friend.

I need to post something

As the title indicates, I am feeling pretty lazy for not having written anything on my blog for a while. As a default posting I thought I would complain about politics.

So now the government is not only bailing out homeowners who made poor decisions i.e. bought homes with no money down, a floating interest rate, and no income and now have to foreclose because they can't make the high mortgage payments from drastically increasing interest, but our "friends in Washington" have decided to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest financial institutions involved in mortgages. (I can't think of the term for them but I do know what they do, a bank supplies a mortgage to an individual and then the bank sells that mortgage to these other companies). The congress has moved to allow these two private companies to have an unlimited line of credit (temporary but no time specification on how long temporary will be) .... Actually I just decided to post a couple paragraphs from a conservative email I receive regularly that explains these issues much better than me.

On Wednesday, the House passed its housing bill by a 272-152 vote. The Senate will vote in coming days and send it to President George W. Bush, who has dropped his veto threat. The multi-provision bill became even more of an “emergency” because of trouble at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which, between the two, own or guarantee almost half of the nation’s mortgage market. Along with the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie and Freddie accounted for 90 percent of mortgages originated in the second quarter.

The Washington Post reports, “The measure would grant [Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson immediate but temporary authority to extend an unlimited line of credit to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or to buy their stock if their financial condition deteriorates sharply before December 2009.” Paulson will also have wide latitude in setting the terms of a bailout, though the bill’s primary author, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), cautions, “You have to protect the taxpayer.” Protect taxpayers by using their money to bail out irresponsible lenders and borrowers? That’s Democrat logic for you.

In line with that bit of fiscal irresponsibility, the bill raises the national debt ceiling by $800 billion to $10.6 trillion to make room for any bailout. The Post reports further, “In addition to the rescue plan for the mortgage-finance firms, the package includes a plan to rescue more than 400,000 homeowners at risk of foreclosure by helping them trade high-cost loans with rapidly rising monthly payments for more-affordable mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration.” That little gift will cost as much as $300 billion.

Furthermore, nearly $4 billion will go to local governments to purchase and restore foreclosed properties; $4.6 billion will go to tax credits for first-time homebuyers; and $5.3 billion will go toward more low-income housing. Concerning the overall cost of this boondoggle, The Wall Street Journal said it best: “Even conservative estimates by the Congressional Budget Office say the cost for this bailout will run to $41.7 billion, with $16.8 billion offset by higher taxes. No one has any idea of the real cost.” What was that about “protecting the taxpayer” again?

Of course, missing amid all the furor over this behemoth bill is one simple question: Is it constitutional? (compiled and written by Mark Alexander)

Honestly, what ever happened to individual (and corporate) responsibility for ones actions. These people made poor financial decisions, I don't want to have to pay higher taxes and have less savings to put toward a down payment on my first home so that some bum can stay in his $800,000 home subsidized by Uncle Sam. Let them lose their homes and move into an apartment, maybe they'll learn not to buy what they can't afford. Now if there are not-for-profit organizations willing to assist some people get through these hard times more power to them, that is a very laudable endeavor; but that is not the government's responsibility.

Another thing that is really bugging me is how certain members of congress don't seem to have any common sense when it comes to the energy crisis in America. One of the biggest arguments I have heard coming from capitol hill against drilling in ANWR and off shore is "it won't even produce any oil for 10 years". First of all, one of the main reasons it would take so long is all of the federal loopholes that oil companies would have to jump through to start drilling. Second, experts are saying the drilling could go much quicker; and third, even if it does take ten years then all that really means is we should hurry up and drill. Are these politicians really that dumb? They said the exact same thing 10 years ago, and do they not think we will need oil in ten years? If all farmers had the same mindset as politicians (not doing anything without an immediate payout) then we could say goodbye to our food industry; these politicians are like the man lost in the desert who came upon a pump that needed to be primed and he had just enough water to prime the pump but instead of investing the water in the pump to get an unlimited amount he drank the water and died. They must not understand the way the oil industry works, that the price of oil is driven by future expectations of the price. All of these companies involved in the oil trade buy and sell futures, which means they estimate that cost of oil in the future and then lock in that price for a given amount of time. If it is determined that there will be a large increase in oil production then futures prices will decrease. And yet our "friends in Washington" don't seem to understand that ever so simple principle. Now they are proposing an increase in the gas tax and guess why; with the increase in oil costs people are buying less oil and the government's precious tax revenue is decreasing. Instead of increasing taxes thereby increasing fuel costs and decreasing consumption why don't they work on increasing supply thereby decreasing cost. I swear, if they would all just go to an Economics 101 class they would learn these basic principles.

In conclusion, I must reaffirm my love for this country and my belief (albeit hard to remember at times) that there are good men and women working in the government who understand these problems and the solutions available through the constitution.

The rest of the trip

Well I'm sorry for slacking off on the rest of the trip. It was a ton of fun but I just was finding it harder to be motivated to write all the entries.

On Saturday we went whale watching and had a ton of fun. We set off at 10am and were out for about three hours. I was a bit annoyed by one thing though; as we were getting on I asked some of the crew members where they thought the best place to be was and it was so hard for them to give me an answer. I find that often people are so nervous to give their opinions on things such as meals at a restaurant. It's like people are scared that I'll get upset if I don't agree with their opinion, which I guess could happen with people at times. But I enjoy getting to know what other people think when I'm making decisions. On the boat we had the option to be high or low and they were so hesitant to say anything other than "it depends". All well, we had a great time and found that indeed the front down low was much more enjoyable than the top.

We saw five humpback whales in total, two cow and calf combos and one bull. We actually got a lot closer than I thought we would but not as closed as I wished. We were probably twenty feet away at the closest. I learned that whales do not drink any ocean water, if they did they would die just like us. But instead their bodies create all the water they need from their blubber. Also they use half of their brain at a time. One half is used for normal stuff like swimming, eating, etc. and the other half turns on when they are "sleeping". Its only function is to breath and swim. So each half gets rest while the other is functioning.

We then went to a famous seafood restaurant called Boston Legal Seafood. Apparently it has won a bunch of national restaurant awards. The food was really good, I actually had swordfish for the first time and I really liked it.

Then we went to the Boston temple. It was very peaceful and relaxing going to a session and walking the grounds. I'm happy we were able to go there, of course it's always nice to go to the temple but now I have one more temple crossed off my list and I'm well on my way to visiting all the temples in the world (well, maybe that's a bit ambitious).
On Sunday after Church we decided to drive up to Maine to take a walk on a beach. We heard about a place in Ogunkuit, Maine called Marginal Way. It was a very beautiful walk we were able to go on. On a part of it I saw a dogfish that had been beached and subsequently thrown back in the ocean by some people. The dogfish was way weak and you could see it trying to swim. I have my doubts that it survived, it seemed too weak to swim out to deeper water and even if it could I'm not sure it would be able to catch any food. Still, it was fun seeing it and getting really close.

The next day we headed up to Vermont to check out Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory and also to go to Sharon VT and check out Joseph Smith's birthplace. Ben and Jerry's was pretty fun. We saw how ice cream is made there and also learned about their company (nothing I didn't already know from all the projects and lectures we had on that company for my business classes, Marketing, Strategic Mgt., Organizational Behavior, etc. We must have mentioned Ben and Jerry's in over half my classes in the business school.)

We also stopped at a maple syrup farm that was close by. I learned that it takes 40-50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. No wonder it's so expensive. Also sap looks like water when it comes out of the tree.
The Joseph Smith Birthplace memorial was great. Did you know that the actual obelisk is one of the largest single pieces of granite in the world? The entire monument stands 38 1/2 feet tall, one foot for each year of the prophet's life. It was very relaxing there, we arrived towards the end of the day and had a personal tour by the senior missionary there, Elder Mckinnon. He was great and very entertaining. Afterward he invited us to attend FHE with all the other missionary couples there. It was so much fun. There were about 20 people there including us and we had an American History trivia game. Some of the questions were: when was the Pledge of Allegiance instituted? What city was the original national capital? Who wrote the Star Spangled Banner? When was the Declaration of Independence signed? What is the first line of the Declaration? How tall is the Statue of Liberty? What was the population of the 13 colonies when they declared independence? So everyone reading this think of the answers and then see if you're right, the answers will be in a comment.

We stayed that night at Camp Joseph, a Church run camp right next to the memorial. It was so incredibly peaceful there, the weather was perfect, we had a nice fire and roasted marshmellows, the night was clear and we could see a ton of stars (when we stepped away from the fire of course), and there were fireflies that we tried to catch (well I caught two of them, I was very happy), living in the west we don't get the joy of fireflies like east coasters do, they were a lot of fun. The camp was really really great, the missionary couple running it, the Wallaces, were great. They provided us with everything we needed, matches, flashlights, and firewood. It was a great change from Boston.

The next day we drove through New Hampshire and stopped at the stonehenge of america. Have you guys never heard of it? Yeah, me neither and we found out why. Well not for sure but for starters they were charging $10 admission. None of us wanted to pay that (maybe $3 dollars) so we took a picture of the sign and took off, we couldn't see the actual place because of the woods. I did see a sign informing me that if I wanted to go on a ghost siting trip I should come back for Halloween. But I would need to bring my own recording equipment to be sure to capture my siting on film (seriously, I saw a notice for this). Apparently this place has an underground paranormal activity following. We wanted nothing to do with that so we went to the beach.

The waves were big enough so I was able to do a little body surfing, I'm not very good at it but I did catch a couple good waves and from what I saw I was the best that I could see (OK I admit it, there were only like three other people trying).

That night we went to the perfect conclusion to a Boston trip, a game at Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox play. It was such an awesome game. Fenway was so much fun, before the game Jed and I went down to the front row right off of third base and took some pictures. The national anthem was incredible, the girl singing it was amazing and the setting was great, I got a ton of chills. The game itself was really good. We scored in the 1st (and when I saw we I mean the Red Sox) and then the Twins scored three in the third. Long story short this game had everything except for an in park homerun and someone stealing home and a fight and someone getting tossed (Ok so it didn't have everything but it had a lot). There were stolen bases, triples, broken bats, and a home run by Manny Ramirez (Boston) to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth inning. That stadium was so loud, you'd think they just won the World Series. Boston won 6-5, what a great way to end our trip there.

The next day we flew home in lowly old coach (no upgrades this time, but I did fiddle for someone in first class).

Cutest blog my eye.

I have been a bit concerned that ever since I found this new background for my blog I have had an advertisement for "the cutest blog on the block". I want everyone to know that I still prefer to not have the adjective cute describe things about me (unless it's the girls I date of course). This was the least feminine blog background I could find on that website and I think it looks really cool. I'll probably change it sometime though.

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Independence Day!!!

The Fourth of July here in Boston has been quite something else. We started this morning at the flag raising ceremony which included the national anthem, the pledge of allegiance, a message from the mayor of Boston, a performance by a band, and also by a drum and fife group. There were a bunch of Navy and Coast Guard there and also the Captain of the Swiss guards stationed at the Vatican. At the end of the ceremony we paraded down to the old cemetery where there was a short program at the gravesites of certain patriots including Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. I was really touched towards the end when a bugle was playing taps; it sounded beautiful in that crowded yet quiet and peaceful city street and I looked over and say an older gentleman probably in his 60s who was brought to tears. A funny thing that happened right after that was I was listening to a couple people speaking and I could almost understand what they were saying, so much so that I was certain they were speaking some Italian dialect. So I asked them what part of Italy they were from (in Italian of course) and the guy informed me I was wrong and he was actually from Spain but they were speaking Catalan. It was incredible how well I could understand them, we had about a five minute conversation me speaking Italian and he and his wife speaking Catalan and the only holdup I had was when they asked about fireworks. I was pretty proud of myself.

We then headed to the old city hall building to here the reading of the Declaration of Independence but unfortunately there were a lot of people so we couldn’t really understand what was being said, there were way too many echoes.

The next item on our agenda was to find a place to see the 21 gun salute to the nation from the USS Constitution. That proved more problematic than we thought it would be…. I just realized that so far too much of these blog entries have been simple story telling. I will try to be more creative in how I say what I’ve done from now on, I hope I haven’t been too boring.

I will continue by saying this, the next time I come to Boston for the Fourth of July I will know exactly what I want to do and how I want to it. I will be able to accomplish so much more in so much less time and it will be so much less stressful. Our plan was to catch the ferry over to the naval shipyard and watch from there; everything was going to plan and we had plenty of time until we realized that at 11 the Coast Guard closed down the harbor in preparation for the sailing of the USS Constitution. We missed the last boat across by 6 minutes. We started walking over and were trying to figure out the fastest way over, we couldn’t find a bus and we weren’t sure if there were any trains going over so we took about 45 minutes to finally get to a place where we could see. We found out that there was a train that we could have grabbed and we would have saved about 30 minutes. Ah, it’s so annoying. But the adventure was worth seeing the cannons being fired.

After a long nap back at home base, we headed out to find a spot for the fireworks show on the Charles River. We got an awesome spot right on the center of a bridge.

I love this country, and not just because we have the largest economy in the world, or because we dominate in the Summer Olympics (which I’m really excited for, go USA), or because we give more than any other nation in the world to charitable organizations, or because our military is the best armed forces in the world and is completely made up of men and women who join on a volunteer basis, or because we have some of the brightest minds in technology and science, or because we are ruled by elected officials who operate in a system designed to not let any one group of people become too powerful, or because any one who has the desire can become successful in life. No, all of those are great things about the United States of America but the reason I love this country is because it was established by the power of God and it is by His Hand that we may continue to succeed, as Benjamin Franklin said in reference to America, “if a sparrow cannot fall to the Ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid?” The Founding Fathers recognized our Savior’s Hand in the roots of this nation, we would do well to remember that as well. God bless America. However, this doesn’t come with its hazards. I was reading a book by Hugh Nibley, “Since Cumorah”, and in it he mentions the song “God Bless America” and the thing I got from it was that we cannot arbitrarily think that God is always in favor of what America does. It is very dangerous to be so arrogant to think a certain nation, or state, or group of people, or person can do no wrong (one exception does exist of course). What we need to remember is the promise this land has been given, which is “if ye keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land—but if ye keep not his commandments ye shall be cut off from his presence” (Book of Mormon, Alma 37:13). It has been said that the most important thing we can do for our country is to keep the commandments because by doing so we make this nation more eligible for the blessings from the Lord and that is the only thing that can really help us.

The fireworks were amazing; I enjoyed singing along with the Boston Pops to the tunes of Take Me Out to the Ball Game, as well as a number of patriotic songs including “This Land Is Your Land” and “God Bless America”. Also Rascal Flatts was there performing and they are always great. The actual fireworks lasted for about 30 minutes but it sure went by awful fast, some of the fastest 30 minutes of my life.

I hope you enjoy some of these film clips I took from different things today.

Hm, I've been having issues with loading these video clips. Once I get it figured out I'll post them. Check back, they're worth the wait. At least I think so.

Day 3

Today was another good day, we woke up at a reasonable time of about 8’oclock. I had a couple funny dreams last night; in one I was batman, always fun, in another I woke up to find a bucket of mealworms in the motel room and also a couple boxes of mice and rats that were all getting out. Then in my dream I woke up and realized I needed to check on all my pets, snakes and lizard and so I went home to make sure they were all doing OK, then I really woke up. Staci pointed out that I must be missing my pets; I suppose that’s possible but not certain.

We first went to Providence, Rhode Island and we stopped at the Roger Williams memorial. I found out that he was the founder of Rhode Island. He was the one who acquired the charter from England to start his own colony. I find it very curious so much of American history is centered around religious persecution. The pilgrims left England on the Mayflower to practice their Puritan beliefs; Roger Williams left Massachusetts to escape religious persecution from the Puritans. I sure others left as well to form various colonies. And of course so many of these colonies/turned states played a part in the persecution of the Latter-day Saints and caused them to flee to the West. It seems people quickly forget how their people once were treated. Too often in life do the persecuted become the persecutors. I really think that we as Latter-day Saints need to pay heed not to do anything that would lead others to believe we feel superior to any religion. A couple religions that I think are being unfairly criticized are Scientology, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Muslims (and yes, I do think there is a difference between mainstream Muslims and radical Islam.) We should make sure we don’t criticize others for their curious beliefs; Latter-day Saints should be the last ones to do that for more than one reason.

OK, I’m off my soapbox now, but no promises that I won’t get back on. We also took a walk around the capital building in Providence, we figured we should get a picture there seeing how that really the only reason we came to Rhode Island is because it’s a state. I also went into a church and played a couple hymns on the piano.

We then headed over to Connecticut and of course the first place we went to was the state capitol. Well actually we were headed for the capital and took to detours after we parked. There is a 94 year old carrousel that we rode on for $1.00. And also we stopped at a Civil War memorial, the first national monument that wasn’t an obelisk (like the Washington Memorial). It was built to honor the union soldiers who died at Antietam Creek. I found that especially neat seeing how I went there last year.

The state capitol building was amazing. It is very cathedral like complete with stained glass windows.

We then went to the Travelers Insurance Tower, have you guys seen the commercials with the guy and the huge umbrella that he uses to help a bunch of people? We went to the top of the tower and had a very nice view of Hartford, CT.

Another thing I love about New England is all of the old buildings everywhere, as we were walking over to the Traveler's Tower I saw this building and thought it looked picture worthy, what is it exactly? I have no idea but that adds to my point that there are things everywhere to see, if you put that building in Idaho it would be a huge state attraction but sitting here in New England it doesn't even get a second glance. (luckily I took the picture on the first glance)

We then headed towards Coventry, CT to see the home of Nathan Hale. He was the man commissioned as a spy for George Washington who was caught and hung by the British in New York. His dying words were “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” I didn’t realize this but that is a quote from a Shakespeare play that was fairly well known at the time. Unfortunately the place was closed today so we just took a couple pictures on the outside. It was a very relaxing place to visit nonetheless. It was nice to get out in the countryside and explore a bit.

We then headed back to Boston and are currently chilling back at Kristy’s place watching the Olympic swimming trials.

Day 2

Today was a really fun day, although it was potentially really annoying. We slept in a little bit, I couldn’t help but sleep nine hours to make up for not getting any sleep the night before. It’s not as much as Jed slept though, he was out for about 13 hours, lazy boy. Staci managed to get her beauty sleep in just eight hours, but she did sleep the night before on the plane.

Kristy’s generosity has continued to make this trip wonderful, her latest favor is she let us borrow her car for a couple days. We left Boston this morning to visit Cape Cod. I must admit, driving in Boston has brought back a lot of memories about driving in Italy. The roads are much narrower here and also the rules for driving are much the same, which is another way of saying, there really are no rules. I like it much better this way, people are much more attentive and logical when they drive.

We made a short stop at Plymouth, MA where the Mayflower landed. We decided not to pay the $10 to go inside and check out the ship, maybe we would have if we could climb up into the bird’s nest or walk the plank, but just looking around would have been boring.J

Our next stop was Race Point Beach at the tip of Cape Cod, MA. This beach was a ton of fun, the water was a bit cold but I had recently been to Lake Tahoe so I had already been habituated to the cold water. Jed decided it was too cold so he didn’t go in and Staci wouldn’t go in because she just washed her hair (I don’t understand but maybe my sister-in-laws can explain it to me). She actually went in most of the way, just not past her neck.

When we were taking a walk on the beach Staci noticed large splashes in the water, as I was going in to figure out what they were from we saw the head of a seal pop out of the water. It was then that we realized the seal had round up a bunch of fish and was hunting them. They were jumping out of the water to try and get away from the seal. Some of these fish were huge, I was able to get close enough to get a good view of them as they would splash around and as far as I could tell they were around four feet long, small for the ocean but large fish from what I’m used to. It was a bit unnerving to be that close to a seal while he is eating, I was probably 50 feet away when it popped its head out of the water and it very well could have been much closer, and I think I saw some of the fish swim past me. Either way it was definitely the highlight of the beach trip. I just wish I had my snorkeling equipment.

Here is a pic of the seal, you can barely see its head out of the water, we later found out that this is a fairly common siting, but it was exciting for us.

We then went to Provincetown and if I had to describe that place with one word it would be “gay”. Why you may ask, simply because there were loads and loads of gay people. Apparently, it is a favorite vacation place for sexual orientation challenged people. There must have been a 4-1 guy girl ratio. And all the guys were walking around in short shorts and no shirts. Well, most of the guys, there were some fathers there with their families, and me and Jed of course. Staci kept trying to get a picture of us on the beach we wouldn’t have any of that, not in Provincetown.

We ate at a restaurant on the beach and I had some really good seafood. I must admit though, although it was great food I can’t stuff myself with seafood the way I can with other kinds of food, my body gets tired of it after a normal sized meal. What I mean to say is it’s great but I can’t eat too much.

After dinner we went shopping for a couple souvenirs, Cape Cod stuff not Provincetown stuff of course.

Then we drove on to Rhode Island and found a motel to get ready for tomorrow.

I love being around all of this history. Everywhere I look there are more things that remind of things I learned in my American history class. Today we saw signs for the Roger Williams landmark. Does anyone remember who he is? See I don’t even really remember exactly who he is, he founded Rhode Island or something, but it is still cool to see all this stuff.

Day 1

I am so tired right now. We spent all day touring the different Revolutionary War sites, Paul Revere’s home (we didn’t go in), the Old North Church (where the lanterns were hung), Bunker Hill, the USS Constitution (one of the first six ships built for the US Navy and the oldest commissioned, sailable ship in the world, built in 1797), little Italy (we got some great gelato), a couple cemeteries where a lot of the revolutionaries, and some other stuff that I don’t feel like listing right now.

This is Paul Revere's tomb, the small one is the original and the large one was made when people thought the original wasn't good enough.

I like this view of the cemetery, there were a lot of people buried here, Benjamin Franklin's parents, Mother Goose, the victims of the Boston Massacre, John Hancock, and many others.

We rode a ferry from Boston over to Charlestown, it was very refreshing to feel the ocean breeze on top of the boat. And we got a good view of Boston.

It is really hot and humid here, we were already exhausted from lack of sleep and add on top of that the humidity we were pretty tired, then as we were walking back to the subway we got caught in a total downpour. It was pretty fun running through the streets of downtown Boston getting soaked, but then again we did get soaked.

This is a long ranged cannon on the USS Constitution. The cannon itself weighs about 5800 lbs. and with everything else, it weighs around 7800 lbs. Pretty heavy.
Here is a monument to Paul Revere, if this were a better picture you would be able to see the North Church in the background. The quiz for the day is how many lanterns were hung there and what did that mean?

Staci’s friend is taking really good care of us, as I’m writing this she is just finishing up with making fajitas for dinner, I’m excited. We’ll eat, give massages and then probably crash until tomorrow when we will go visit a couple other New England states.

Boston or Bust!!!

I have arrived in Boston with two good friends, Jed Brown and Staci Wilcock. The trip to Boston was fairly uneventful however there are a couple things I thought would be fun to write about.

While waiting in the SLC airport we were presented with the opportunity to upgrade to first class, three for the price of one. We decided that for a five hour flight (from Phoenix to Boston) it would be worth $50 to have bigger seats and more leg room. While waiting to take off I decided to get out my laptop and make some money while the lowly coach people were getting on the plane, a la Brian Regan.

I had the unfortunate luck to be seated next to the only nursing mom ever to be allowed into first class. (no I’m not bitter). She was really nice and had first class for pretty much the same reason we did. Her child, who was about 18 months old, was fairly quiet most of the time but it was a bit awkward when she was still breast feeding and the mom didn’t always use a cover blanket. Oh and she changed the diaper right there at the seat. All well, I had the window seat so I just turned on my ipod and tried to get some sleep, which I didn’t.

Now we are at Staci’s old roommates pad getting ready for our first day in Boston. I’m pretty stoked.

Who would have thought

As you can see by the pic, I have finally accepted the fact that I live in Utah and am a resident thereof. I registered my car and got a UT drivers license. This was a long time coming but I kept dragging my feet and didn't want to give up my Nevada license plate. But in the end with my Nevada drivers license expiring it seemed wise to become a resident of UT.

This isn't all bad though, now I can make questionable driving decisions and people will write it off to me being a UT driver. (ha ha) Also I can now purchase guns here. I love exercising my 2nd Amendment rights.

I am pretty sure, though, that I will be teased now by certain members of my family whom I used to tease about being from Utah (Natalie). All well, I'm ready.

On a different note, can anyone see where my chin starts in this picture? This desk job is really killing my good looks. I hate to admit this but I think I need to start exercising regularly. Although I've been pretty active my entire life, I have never really had to exercise to keep from getting fat. Sad day.

Real men

I've been thinking about a lot of things recently. To start out I would like to tell a story about one of the times I drove from Sparks to Provo. It was after Christmas break and I was driving back alone as I often did when I got pulled over by a highway patrolman just outside of Elko, NV. I was frustrated as we all are when we get pulled over and went through the normal routine of getting out my license and registration. The police officer said the usual things about if I knew how fast I was going and why I was in a hurry and where I was going. Then he said something else that really changed the way I saw him. He said something to the effect that it was getting colder, the roads where getting icy, and he didn't want to have to respond to my getting in an accident. As I was driving away with my ticket I found it hard to be upset with the cop because he spoke to me in a way that I really felt he was acting in a way for my best interest and not just because he was on some power trip or because he had to fill a quota by the end of the month.

Daron (one of my brothers) is about to graduate from the police academy in Reno, NV and I have been amazed at the methods his instructors are using to teach him and the other cadets. Well, not just the methods but how rigorous of a process it is for him to become a cop. This made me start to wonder why he is going through all of this (getting beat up, getting sprayed with MACE, etc.) just to get a job where almost everyone with whom he comes in contact will be mad at him, people will constantly call him names, he will have to interact consistently with the filth of society, and people will even try to kill him. I asked him to write down for me why exactly he is going to be a police officer, and here is (in part) what he wrote:

Couple things here, 1) I feel like it is a calling. It is something I have thought about for a long time. It feels right. It is what I was meant to do. When I think of what other job I would be doing or would need to do if I was not in the academy, I cannot think of anything. Nothing else appeals to me. (2) I love the idea of protecting people. Not necessarily being the "hero" but a protector. I know I will have to work on Sundays and there will be times I will not be able to attend church. But I am ok with that. Here is why. I know that my family will be safe to attend church because I am on the street catching crooks. (3) I want to catch crooks and put them behind bars. THere are people out there that need to be caught and put away for a long time. (4) I believe that being a police officer is more of an act of service than a career. It is a way of life. It is who I am and it is making me a better person. (5) I want to make a difference in the world. I don't want to be the average Joe Blow citizen who doesn't notice people in need: Or if they do notice they don't want to help. Well, I want to help. I notice things that need to be fixed or changed and I want to be a part of correcting wrongs. That is just a few of the reasons why, and honestly as I am in this job longer, more things come to me that reinforces my decision. Things just make sense to me. I want to be the guy that runs to gun fire. I want to be the first one in the school during a Columbine or V.T.


I try to be realistic and I must admit that I don't think all police officers have such noble intentions every day; they are not perfect and have made and will make mistakes. But I have to believe that the majority of police officers are doing what they do for more than just a paycheck every two weeks. I have decided to write about this is to get all of us to reconsider our views of police officers. I have to work on this just as much as the next guy. I struggle with the feelings of loathing for cops because they are looking for the bad in everyone, they plague me with worry whenever they drive behind me because I feel like they are just waiting for me to make a driving mistake. But I have been trying to have a paradigm shift, to see them on the same level as the Armed Forces. The military protects us from enemies abroad and police officers protect us from enemies at home. And if we just happen to get a speeding ticket or some other moving violation then I am trying to see that as a small price to pay for having the security of knowing there are people in every city and county in the USA who are willing to give their lives to protect us.

In conclusion, I invite all of us to be more appreciate of police officers; pay anonymously for their lunch, don't complain when you get a ticket (it will be hard I know, but it's not like we don't know the law), and simply treat them like the good guys that they are. I am glad that Daron will be a cop; it makes me happy to tell my friends that my older brother will be a policeman. And now finally when I get pulled over in Reno I may be able to talk my way out of getting a ticket. :-)

Defending the Family Name

I want you all to know that I was able to uphold the family name last night in the Elder's Quorum ping pong tournament. I didn't go undefeated but I won more than I lost. There were two guys who were decent at the game; we played a bunch between the three of us and I was above 500 on both of them. It had been awhile since I had played and I had forgotten how much fun the game is.