Off-Road Civic

So so far it's been a pretty interesting week.  Casey and I have our usual morning dream report and mumbling session.  I will not disclose Casey's dreams on this blog (younger children may read it, not that they are inappropriate, just disgusting)  I've been working out/running every day so I feel pretty good.  I also volunteered at a rehab center where I'm going to do a little presentation on Jamaica (because I know all about Jamaica...) it should be fun.  I'll also be reading to an older disabled gentleman.  Aapparently he likes to be read from some of the "LDS" stuff, but also from some of the "Seventh Day Adventist" stuff... that will be interesting.  Anyway, on to some more exciting things.  Yesterday I went with the institute out to Jackson and went to the Bar J Chuckwagon Supper.  It's a pretty sweet gig they got going on there.  Basically what it's an all you can eat country ho down (without the dancing).  What they do is load you up into big Barn.  I did the math (I had a long wait and got a little bored... yeah, I'm a nerd) and you can fit about 800 people in this place charging each of them 25-35 dollars a plate.  They do this every night from Memorial Day until Labor day totaling about 80,000 people over the summer. So basically, they make bank every summer.  When it's time for dinner they have you line up and then you go through a serving line where they SLOP (they may get a little on you) on a bunch of food on your plate.  When you are done eating that you can go back for seconds.  Following the dinner they have a little show where these cowboys get up and play their fiddles, guitars, basses, and banjos to some old country songs my grandmother probably has never heard of.  All the while cracking jokes.  It's actually a lot of fun.
 That night I ended up sleeping at a friends house in St. Anthony and we were going to go up to Table Rock today.  We ended up not going there and decided to try and find the Ice Caves instead.  You would think when directions to a place consist of passing over cattle guards and looking for piles of rocks that roads probably aren't all that great.  However that didn't stop me and my civic.  The Ice Caves are like that island in Pirates of the Caribbean that you can only get to if you already know where it is.  You turn immediately after you pass a 3rd cattle guard onto a little dirt road that could be easily mistaken for a small ditch on the side of the road.  Well we did find this "road" and turn onto it thinking (hoping) it would be just a smooth dirt road that would take us straight to the caves.  Well, it wasn't smooth, and it definitely wasn't straight.  It was filled with ruts and rock where I'm sure many a civic had lost a muffler, or popped a tire, or just plain died.  But not my civic.  You see, my civic (shirley is her name) is indestructible and will probably never die, even when I want it to.  She tackled that road like a beached whale inching along the shore with the tides.  I: spent 45 minutes maneuvering over the road, trying to avoid the tire paths. They were carved in and if I would have used them I probably could have passed for a 4 cylinder bulldozer.  However, the only thing that would have been dozed would have been my car.  I think I had a top speed of a blinding 4 miles an hour.  Somehow, we made it to the caves, which if you aren't careful you could drive into.  It's basically I giant rocky crater with a cave at the bottom of it.  It's called the ice caves because all the way through it you are walking on Ice.  Water apparently drained into the cave and froze leaving giant Icicles and walls of Ice all through out the cave.  It's actually pretty cool (no pun intended).  After gallivanting around the caves, trying not to get impaled by the rocks and ice chunks that hang down we headed back to the car and drove back, narrowly escaping with Shirley's life.  when we finally made it back to the road I checked her out just to make sure she still had all her fingers and toes and after re attaching the muffler, we headed back.  I don't recommend taking a civic that is only about 6 inches off the ground off roading... at least not on that "road."

Lights upon the Water

I had a restless night last night, I was thinking about some things.  On Church on Sunday, the focus of the lessons seemed to be on doing service and being an influence on others.  This caused me to think about some of the things I am doing in my life and the influence I have on other people.  A well known scripture speaks of being a light set upon a hill and giving light to all those who see it.  I thought about what kind of light I am displaying in my daily actions.  Am I using my knowledge and experience to bless the lives of others?  Am I being a positive influence on other people?  A movie I recently have seen is "Soul Surfer," a movie that speaks of a teenage surfer in Hawaii who was attacked by a shark and lost her left arm.  Despite this tragedy she found a way to turn her experience into a blessing for others.  She became a light unto others, helping them gain a new perspective and to give them hope.  I have never had such a tragedy occur in my life, I still have all my limbs and live in good health; yet, I have the light of the gospel in my life.  I have specific experiences and challenges that I have overcome that I can glean from to help other people.  Despite these blessings, I still find myself coming up short when it comes to being a light to other people.  At times I feel like a light upon the water that is being tossed about the waves or sitting idle upon still water.  How could I be a light to others when my position changes based on the wind?  What I need to be is steady, fixed and immovable, like a lighthouse.

In a similar vein, I started reading Franklin Covey's book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and it's caused me to think about a few things, particularly about what principles and laws our lives are based on and how to change them from the inside out.  One particular example he used struck me as particularly significant.  It speaks of a battleship at sea in dense fog who sees a light in the distance appearing to come right at them.  Assuming it's another ship the battleship signals to the light to change it's course.  The light signals back that the battleship needs to change it's course and after some heated exchanges the captain signals that he is a battleship and the light needs to change it's course.  The light responds by saying, "I am a lighthouse."  With this added understanding and new perspective the battleship changed it's course.  The point of the story was to relate how often, in order to change, we need to change our perspective.  I use this example to illustrate how those who are sure and steadfast can influence others to change their course by standing in their place, refusing to be moved.

In conclusion, we are all both battleships and lighthouses.  We are all trying to improve our course each day while still trying to be a positive light unto others.  Whatever light we have, the question is, how hot and how high does it burn.  Another question is, how do we increase the light we shed forth.  My answer is put God first in all that we do.  If we can do that, everything else will fall into it's proper place or drop out of our lives.  We will have an increased measure of the spirit, even the light of Christ.  Our love of the Lord will increase and so will our recognition of the Lord's love for us.  Our self esteem will increase along with our confidence, and we will have the capability to do all things and accomplish much good. 

Bro-ness

Guys... are all alike, except for the fact that we are all different...  Some guys find it awkward, weird, or just plain "gay" to hug another guy or show any type of closeness whatsoever.  Others may not be so uptight and will welcome a hug from another guy (or perhaps more often initiate a hug).  Most probably fall somewhere in between.  In all cases however, I'd say guys aren't as "touchy" or "cuddly" with other guys as girls are with other girls.  I know many girls who find nothing wrong with cuddling together, laying together, holding hands or hugging each other.  Obviously then there is some hormonal differences between guys and girls that cause guys to be more distant from each other.  However, I feel other factors contribute to how close guys allow themselves to be to other guys.  Guys seem to have something called a "bro-meter" that measures their "bro-ness" as it relates to another guy.  How does it work? well, the higher the "bro-level" you have with another guy, the closer you are to them and the more likely you are to have some sort of physical contact (never, however, to the level of girls).  What contributes to a guys Bro-ness?  Well, What makes any type of relationship work?  Time, energy, sharing interests, mutual respect, listening, working together, having fun, and avoiding trying to date the same girl.  If effort is made in these areas, a guy will move up on the bro-meter.  When a guy achieves a high level of bro-ness with another guy, then suddenly it isn't weird to give a hug now and then, or even on occasion say I love you (the love I speak of is brotherly love).  And you know what, That's ok.  Why do I talk about this?  I find it interesting to observe how one guy (such as myself) may find it totally natural to hug one guy, but find it totally awkward to hug another.  I spent some time today with a Guy who I'd say is pretty high on my bro-scale, perhaps higher than anyone else, we've spent a lot time together (mainly before he got married, now... not so much), we have a lot of the same interests, we can talk about just about anything, and as far as I know, we've never tried to date the same girl.  I would feel comfortable giving him a hug just about any time and not think a thing of it.  On the other hand, there are my room mates...  They are great guys, and I don't have a problem with them (usually) but they aren't nearly as high on my bro-meter (no offense to them). We simply haven't spent as much quality time together, we haven't worked hard to really achieve something, or really had to rely on each other all that much.  Do we talk to each other, of course.  Do we occasionally share what we are feeling? Yes, but always at a distance.  Should that change?  Probably.  Will it? who knows.  Of course... there are the exceptions when for seemingly no apparent reason, your room mate comes in to your room and touches your ear... just to see if it would shock you then proceed to place bubble wrap on you face... For that I deduct 3 points off the bro-meter....  All in all, Bros will get close to other guys based on what level they are on their bro-meter.  For some guys, moving others up their bro-meter is quicker than for others, some have different ranges of where their meter extends, but I think all guys have a bro-meter of some sort.  Anyway, I've blabbed on and probably confused you all enough.  I'll leave at that and call it a night.  Until next time, keep smiling.

Howdy Y'all!

Hey there, so I've decided, since I've suddenly found all this time in my life (something that hasn't been to existent over the last few years) to start a blog.  I'm really not sure if it's a good idea, or even if it will be interesting enough for people actually to read.  I hope so, the fact you are still reading is a good sign.  A few things I'm going to try and do with this is paint a little picture of what goes on in the day of the life of a Joe, that is, myself.  I anticipate a variety of topics I'll talk about as I comment on the events of my life ranging from the mundane to the extravagent.  I've never done this before so in all honesty, I don't have a clue what I'm going to write about.  My goal will be to give people the opportunity to laugh with me at the plight of life and the little things that go on that make it interesting.  With that I hope to make you laugh, sometimes I hope you cry, all in all, I hope in some way I can brighten your day.  With that I give you... today.

Have you ever had those mornings when despite how much sleep you just got, or what time it is, you just don't want to get out of bed?  It was one of those mornings for me.  I woke up around 9 AM, a typical hour since school let out.  As I laid in bed I thought about all the things that I didn't really need to do right away and continued just to lay there, contemplating if I really needed to get out of bed.  Eventually, my head made the decision for me as the usual "you've been in bed too long" headache started kicking in.  So I got up.  Now, let me outline a typical day for me...  After I wake up I usually walk out to the kitchen and mumble something to my room mate Casey.  At this initial time of day my attempts to communicate with other people is next to useless...  I feel sorry for my future wife who, when she's going to want to say something important to me in the morning I'll respond by mumbling something incoherent, have it misunderstood, and get slapped in the face.  Maybe.  Anyway, after that I'll usually stall as long as possible before finally motivating myself enough to go to the gym and work out.  I started working out this week. I've been saying I need to work out for the last three years... now hopefully I'll keep doing it.  The rest of my day has been rather uneventful, I went to the store, bought some milk and cookies (to satisfy my cookie fix), and created this blog.  Now, as I type, my room mate is begging me to shave the back of his neck... what?  I didn't sign up for this when I signed a year long contract to live with him...  for some reason he wants to look good... (and me shaving the pigmy mullet off the back of his neck is supposed to help)  Okey Dokey.  Anyway, that's about all for the day, until next time, hopefully I will survive this next ordeal.