Family Home Evening

Last night for family home evening we made bird feeders.

We used small water bottles, and one 2 liter bottle. The kids got to paint the bottles, and I cut the holes and put the stick in.


It was great fun.


We also read the last part of the story of Alma and Amulek for our scripture lesson. Mom and Liam gave prayers. Duncan conducted. I was incharge of the scripture story, and the activity. For our tasty treat we had smoothies.








Next week, Liam is in charge and conducting.

Went fishin'

As I mentioned Friday, I went on a fishing trip with the scouts from our ward. I'm the scoutmaster. We went to Silverwood Lake.

We stayed at a campsite there at the lake. We got up at 5am to eat breakfast (instant oatmeal), so we could be ready to be at the lake by 6am.

Got to the dock we would be fishing from at about 6:25. Their were probably two groups on the dock before us. I'm sure things were pretty calm before we got there.

Lines were hitting the water about 5 minutes later, and the anticipation was high that we would be catching fish soon!

It didn't take long before we knew it was going to be a long morning.

Lots of casting and reeling, but no catching. The one group to our left caught a single fish. looked to be about 8 inches or so long. The group to our right said they caught about 4, but they were little, and not worth keeping.

After a few hours, one of our scouts caught about a foot long trout on catfish bait. Yep, you read that right. It renewed our spirits that there would be some catching along with our fishing. But nope, that wasn't the case.

Of our group of 15, the one trout was the only fish caught.

We packed up our stuff at 11am, and headed back to our campsite to break down camp and head out.


Oh yeah, the scout that caught the trout didn't even get to take it home. It was put on a stinger and the stringer was tied to the dock. The kids that were with us, and the scouts, kept pulling the fish up to look at it from the stringer. And each time they did, the knot became a little looser until someone pulled the fish up, then put it back, and the fish and the stringer both went in the water, never to be seen again.

I did get a picture though.

It was a good trip. We didn't do much catching, but the boys had a good experience using the rods, and I think the next fishing trip will be more productive.

Monday Music

This week I found myself listening to some Tegan and Sara, and The Donnas.

I listened to "Gold Medal" from The Donnas. It has some pretty good songs, but it's not my favorite. I like their album "Spend the Night" better.

Here's the main single off of Gold Medal, called "Fall Behind Me"...



That's probably the best song on the CD.

As for Tegan and Sara, I listened to their album "So Jealous". This is the first CD of theirs that I bought, so I kind of like it the best too.

Here's "Take Me Anywhere" (I wanted you to hear the studio version, but that means you have to see a bunch of 'Grey's Anatomy' photos. Sorry about that.)


Here's "Walking With A Ghost"


Here's "Speak Slow"


In case you didn't figure it out, Tegan and Sara are twins. Tegan has the super short bangs and Sara's hair cut is a little more normal. And yes, Tegan of Tegan and Sara is the inspiration behind our little Tegan's name, but I wouldn't say she's named after her. We just liked that name.

Anyhow, that's what I've been listening to. Looks like I've been in the mood for some female lead vocals.

Gone Fishing!

In a few hours I'll be leaving on a Scout overnighter. We're fishing at Silverwood Lake tomorrow. We're hoping to get the boys to pass off a bunch of requirements for the fishing merit badge. Primarily, they'll each need to catch 2 different types of fish. Of the fish they catch (if they catch any), they need to successfully release one, and they need to clean and cook another. The rest of the requirements don't need them to be at the lake to complete.

This will be my first overnighter as the scoutmaster (other than scout camp). So we'll see how that goes. I think we'll have 6 or 7 boys going, and there's about 4 adults going.

I don't think I'll be much of a help with the fishing part. I haven't fished since I was a kid. And even then, my dad took care of most everything, so I'm not even sure how to set up a good working "rig"?

Anyhow, if I get a chance to put a line in the water, I'll let you know how that goes. I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time helping boys with the little bit of knowledge I've pulled from the fishing merit badge pamphlet.

Crazy Hair Day

Today at Duncan and Liam's school, they had "Crazy Hair Day"!

I "fro-ed" Duncan's hair out, and sprayed Liam's hair up. They were happy with that. When Liam's hair sticks up, he calls it "sleepy hair".

I took them to school today, and there were kids with the spray in color in their hair. I thought to maybe do that, but didn't. Maybe next time.

Friday Flashback

Here is today's flashback photo...







That's me with my good friend Eric Morrison. On the back of this photo, I have written "1994".

At the time of this picture, we were in a ska band called "Catch 22". I believe I was the last member to join. The trombone player before me moved over to bass, and they needed a new trombone player, so Eric asked me to join the band.

I believe we are in a pizza restaurant. I don't recall what city we're in. We played in the restaurant with a couple other bands that night. I remember it was a lot of fun.

Eventually Catch 22 disbanded, and a new band would form called "The Dynamics". I was invited to join that band as well. It was made up of about half former Catch 22 guys, and the rest were from a couple other broken up bands. The Dynamics were a little more successful than Catch 22.

I'm 22/23 in this photo. I think Eric is 16/17 .

In both bands, I think I had the least amount of talent. But I was enthusiastic, and I had reliable transportation, so that's what probably kept me in. I didn't think that at the time, but over the years that's what I've figured out. After The Dynamics broke up, there was another band formed called "Jubilation". I wasn't invited to join that band.

I have some really fond memories from this time.

Mmm, that sounds good. I'll have that.

Carl's Jr. has introduced a "new" burger. It's the Guacamole Bacon Burger.

Don't even think to confuse it with the Guacamole Bacon Cheese Burger! That one has american cheese. The NEW Guacamole Bacon Burger has pepperjack cheese, so it's totally different!

Here's the link to print that $1.00 off coupon. (psst, click the sentence.)

You're Welcome.

Hot Dog Fries!

As many of you know, the boys are on a gluten (wheat), and casein (dairy) free diet. Well, I guess if you didn't know before, you know now. Anyway, that makes meal time a little tricky. We've been able to find gluten free and casein free (GFCF) alternatives for most items the kids like to eat. For example, the boys have brown rice spaghetti noodles when it's spaghetti night, and we just make sure the sauce is GFCF.

One of the other things we've tried to do is make dinner more fun. So if we're introducing a new food, I try to present it in a fun way, so it seems more appealing. You would think hotdogs wouldn't fall into the category of "things kids won't eat", but I think they do get boring. Especially if you can't eat it in a bun. I've cut up their hotdogs into 6 pieces and stacked them like a pyramid, or set them like bowling pins. The other day, I thought to cut them the long way, and called them hot dog fries! The kids took to them right away! Here are some pictures of the kids eating their hotdog fries with some In-N-Out fries. Yummy!

In-N-Out fries are awesome. You would think fries from anywhere would be ok. After all, they're just fried potatoes, right? Not so. Most fast food places now add coatings, and stuff to make them crispier, or to add flavor, and most of those contain wheat starch. Or, they fry their fries in the same oil as other breaded menu items, and that contaminates the oil with gluten. So, in order to eat out as a family, we have to find places that use fresh, or non treated potatoes or fries, and that also cook them in their own oil. In-N-Out is perfect! The potatoes are fresh, and the only thing cooked in the friers. As for restaurants, so far we know Red Robin is Ok, as well as Buffalo Wild Wings (at least the one in Bullhead City, AZ). We know there are others, but those are places the kids like.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. Maybe next time we have "mexican meatballs", another creation of mine, I'll take some pics, and share that as well.

Monday Music Mayhem!

(Not really, but that's what popped into my head as I sat down to write this.)

It's monday, and that's the day I like to share what music I've been listening to of late. (Don't for get to pause the music at the bottom of the page.)

This past week I've been listening to Interpol. Specifically their album Interpolantics. Good stuff.

Here's "Slow Hands"



Here's a fan video for "Not Even in Jail"



This last one is titled "C'mere"


I also listened to The Shins' album "Oh, Inverted World". Oh man, it's so good.

Here's the first track on the album, and quite possibly, my favorite one. It's called "Caring Is Creepy" (music only)


This album also has their most famous song on it titled "New Slang". This is the song from the movie "Garden State"... (music only)


Here's "Girl Inform Me"


Here's "Weird Divide"


Here's "The Past and Pending"


Ok, I have to stop or I'll end up putting the whole album up here. I think you get how much I enjoy this album.

Well, that's what I've been listening to this week. I hope you enjoy it too. Let me know what you think.

Hai-Yah!

Actually they say Key-ah!

Duncan's back in Karate. We didn't have him do the summer session because we knew he'd miss a lot of classes. But now that he's back in school, and things are in more of a routine, he can continue his karate lessons. He has class once a week on Saturday mornings. He's now a 3rd degree yellow belt (still a beginner).

Duncan does his karate through Young Champions.

They do sparing, even with the younger kids. Today was a sparring day. Luckily, we bring all of Duncan's gear every week. When his sensei told them to get their sparring gear on, Duncan came over to me and we got his gloves on. Usually, when I know it's a sparring day, I have Duncan put on his athletic supporter and cup on at home, but because I didn't know, Duncan didn't have it on. His cup was in his bag, but I didn't want to shove it down his pants in his underwear because he's not really worn his cup that way, plus, we needed to hurry. So I figured he'd be ok, since no ones gotten close to punching him there. Well, as you may have guessed already, he took a shot to his "private".

It was a pretty stiff punch, and it put him on his bottom with a thud. The other boy felt bad about that. Ironically, the boy that Duncan was sparring with at this time was hurt earlier by a punch to the stomach from a different sparring partner, and didn't want to spar anymore. Duncan helped to convince him to spar again. Then he ends up making Duncan cry. Duncan took a minute to calm down. His sensei is very encouraging. And he got up to finish his bout. I was very proud of him for continuing. He ended up losing 3 points to 2. Afterward, the sensei congratulated Duncan on his sparring. She didn't realize the punch was under the belt till Duncan told her.

That was actually Duncan's second bout. He gets pretty excited about sparring, and is always volunteering to go next. His first bout was against a girl that was his height, but a little older, and an orange belt. I forget the order the points were scored in, but it was 2 - 2, next point wins, and the girl got the point. Duncan hates to lose at anything, especially sparring. He sat back with his team and looked over at me very sad. I signed to him that he did very well, and that I liked what he had done. That helped a little, and the sensei saw that Duncan was taking it hard and also told him he did well. He felt better after that too. Then it was near the end when Duncan was chosen to be the hurt boy's new sparring partner. Duncan was ready to go. Again, I don't recall the order the points were earned, but it was 2-2 when Duncan got hurt. Once he got back up, and they continued, the other boy scored the final point. Duncan was very sad. Not only had he gotten hurt, he lost two times.

I did my best to remind him of the good things he did. He sparred using combinations of blocks, punches and kicks. He avoided contact when he could. He had fun. He got to spar two times. Only two or tree kids got to do that. I asked him if he tried his best, and he said he did. I told him that that was good enough for me. I've been working with him on the idea that when we lose a game, we learn something for the next time we play, and we get better at it. So losing isn't a bad thing. The next time he spars, he'll be a little better.

Anyhow, when it's all said and done, he says he had a good time, and that he likes karate, and wants to practice more. I stopped at an am-pm on the way home and got him an icee, and let him know how proud of him I was today. The icee made everything better.

Duncan with his white belt.

UFC Fight Night report card

Wednesday night was UFC Fight Night.

I did horribly with my picks. Out of the 10 fights that night, I only successfully picked 3 winners. Probably one of my worst report cards for a set of fights ever. Just goes to show that anything can, and often will, happen during a fight.

Most of the aired fights went the distance, so we didn't get to see too many of the 10 that took place. On UFC.com you can see the unaired prelim fight between Joe Lauzon and Kyle Bradley. It's pretty good.

My next chance to redeam myself is October 18th, UFC 89. It will be free on SpikeTV, so that's good.

Friday Flashback

Here is today's flashback photo...

Yep, it's Anna. Pictured with her is her old friend Shelby Mekeel. And I believe that ear belongs to my brother Kevin.

That picture was taken somewhere in the time frame of May or June (maybe even July) of 1994. It was taken in a booth at a restaurant called Twohey's, in Alhambra. The picture was taken by my good friend James Morrison, who was sitting right next to me on my left. We were sitting across the table from Anna and Shelby. That puts me on the right side of the point of view of this picture. (How's that for specific details?) I believe they are looking at a note James wrote to them. I used to remember what is said, but I don't any more.

At Twohey's, this is the second time I've seen Anna ever. I knew Shelby (kind of), because she was the younger sister of my friend Kenny. I knew Kenny through the Pasadena Institute, and Sarah and Jeannine Peterson. I was going to PCC and met all of them there. Anyhow, Kenny had just been set apart as a missionary, and we were out for one last get together before he left the next day.

Anna would have been just 18, and either finishing or just graduated high school.

There's a funny story that goes with this picture. At the time of this photo, Anna and I don't know each other. I knew this was the second time I had seen her. The first was after Kenny had given his farewell talk. His dad's not a member, and took a bunch of us out to eat afterward, and Anna was Shelby's guest. So there we are at Twohey's with a bunch of friends, Shelby invited Anna, and I know everyone else there. In fact, our friend Jason is just to Anna's right, out of frame. I know we talked to them, but as I recall, it was just small talk, and being funny for the girls. James was good at that stuff.

So I had this picture from that day in with the other pictures I have from that day. Then, flash forward a few years. Anna and I happened to be looking at some old pictures, and came across this one. She was very confused as to how I have a picture of her from this day. I told her that James took it. Turns out, she didn't remember that it was James and I that were sitting across from her that day. In her mind, it was just two friends of Kenny's she didn't know. I then told her that this was the second time I had seen/met her. That the first was after Kenny's farewell. Again, she remembers being there, but doesn't remember that I was there too. I was just one of Kenny's friends she didn't know. She thought the first time we ever met was at the institute. She was pretty blown away by it all.

Anyhow, it's one of my many favorite pictures that I have of Anna.

D-land

We went to Disneyland last night. It was the first time this month.

And boy, what a difference "Off Season" is!

Right away, you can just visually tell there's fewer people. We walked right in at the entrance, no line. It was about 6pm.

We went on:

Buzz Lightyear- less than 5 min. wait.

Nemo (non submarine)- no wait.

Jungle Cruise- 15+ min. wait ?!

Pirates of the Caribbean- no wait.

There was plenty of room to walk at your own pace. You didn't have to keep up with the flow of traffic. In fact, Duncan kept asking, "Why are we walking so slow?" We were able to stop in at the Nightmare Before Christmas shop in New Orleans Square, and be the only ones in there. It was a nice visit.

Started making our way to the exit at about 7:45pm.

We were home a little before 10pm.

We look forward to going again in a few weeks.

More

I thought some more Raveonettes would be good, don't you agree?

Here's a clip of them singing a popular song of theirs titled "Attack of the Ghost Riders".

I like it.




The video for the song is disabled on youtube, so you'll have to go there to see it. Here's the link.

You're Welcome.

UFC Stuff

It's been a little over a week since the last UFC PPV. It was UFC 88 Breakthrough on Sept. 6th.

I did make some formal picks this time in UFC's fantasy league. I scored 165 points, and ranked 73 out of 21,402 registered leaguers. That might sound impressive, but I think every person that scored 165 points has the same ranking, so there's probably hundreds, if not thousands of people with my same ranking.

I was SO close to getting more points and bonus points in 5 of the 9 fights. There are 4 variables for each fight, and for 5 of them, I only had one variable wrong. That's pretty good. For one of the fights, I had nothing right though. And another one, I only had one thing right. So I still have some room to get better.

Good fights.

But this week, we get some free fights on Spike TV on Wednesday night. It's UFC Fight Night. There are some pretty good match ups slated to take place. Also, just after Fight Night is the premier episode of season 8 of the Ultimate Fighter. That's the UFC's reality show, looking for a couple a new fighters to give contracts to. That all happens Wednesday night on Spike TV.


Back to Fight Night. Here are some of my picks...


Nate Diaz vs. Josh Neer I'm going with Nate all the way. He'll find a way to end it either later in round one or in round two. He's a bit of a slow starter, but once he gets his head straight, he finishes the fight. He'll end it with a submission.


Clay Guida Vs. Mac Danzig This one is a little tougher to call. Clay usually comes out super aggressive and energetic, and has pretty good cardio. Mac is a really smart fighter. He likes to pick his opponents apart, and exploit the gaps in their game. So if Mac can weather the storm, I think he'll be able to get the win. I'm going with Mac.

Ed Herman Vs. Alan Belcher This is a tough one too. Both of these guys are good fighters. I'm going with Ed Herman by decision. I'm figuring it will be a war.


Houston Alexander Vs. Eric Schafer I like both of these guys, and in separate fights, I'd probably pick them both to win, but that's not the case. I think Houston will be able to overpower Eric early, and finish with either a KO or TKO. I don't know that Eric will be able to get in and take Houston down before getting pounded on.

Me and Houston Alexander (my pinky looks like it wants to 'hang loose' but my thumb didn't. I look like a dufus.)

Alessio Sakara Vs. Joe Vedepo I really hove no idea about this fight. I've seen Sakara fight quite a few times, and though I think he's got some of the best tattoos in the UFC, he isn't that impressive of a fighter. He gets knocked out, or gets his bell rung, pretty easily. That leaves a big opening for the other guy to jump in and finish the fight. But he has dropped to a lighter weight class, and with that, his ability to win increases slightly. Plus I think he's tired of losing. I'm picking Sakara to win, probably be decision.

Joe Lauzon Vs. Kyle Bradley This should be a pretty exciting fight. Two really good lightweight fighters meeting in the octagon. But I'm going with Joe to win, probably by submission, but TKO is a possibility too.

After that, there's not much interest in the other 3 or 4 under card fights on my part. And unless there are quite a few early stoppages, we won't see very many of these fights anyway. I'll let you know how I did in the UFC fantasy league soon afterward (I hope).



Who do you got?

Music Monday

This week I've been listening to a couple different albums. I usually listen to them while I'm washing the dishes.

Here's who I've been listening to this past week... (don't forget to turn off the music at the bottom of the page)

The Raveonettes, "Pretty in Black". The Raveonettes are from Copenhagen, Denmark.

This song is called "Love in a Trash Can"





Korn, "Untouchables". Korn is from Bakersfield, CA.

**Well, it looks like I don't have anything here that you can play directly. All of the videos for the singles off this album have the code removed from their youtube locations, so I can't copy them to here. And aparently, I can't have two playlist.com windows on the same page, so that didn't work either. So, I'll put a couple of hyperlinks here, so you can go there to hear the Korn songs. Oh well. I hope to have better luck next time.**

Here To Stay That's the first track on the album.

(I've spent waaay too much time on all of this. That's the only link I'm putting up.

And we've all been listening to a CD that Liam's teacher gave him with all sorts of fun and silly learning songs. Unfortunately, I can't find any of them on youtube or through the playlist.com search, which is too bad because they're really good. And the kids like them a lot.


Happy listening.

Friday Flashback

from left to right: Me, Scotty, and Claron

Today's flashback goes back about 10 years, give or take a year. That is Claron (Anna's brother), our friend Scotty, and myself, in Claron's 1936(?) Ford Roadster, in the parking lot of the Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake (west Burbank area). Anna and Sara(Anna's sister), both worked there as "car hops". You parked in a certain area of the parking lot, and they would come out and take your order at your car, and bring your food out to the car, so you could eat it there in your car. No, they didn't where roller skates, though there were times when they claimed they wanted to.

Anna and Sara usually worked the weekends at Bob's, and Claron, Scotty and I would go there after band practice. Yep, I said band practice. We were The Basement Brothers. But that's a different story. Anyway, we would go there after practice and visit Anna and Sara, and they could usually score us a big discount or free food.

This particular night, for some reason, we put on some "different" road gear for our visit, and someone had a camera, and "click" here it is. Good times. Good memories.

School Fundraiser

Liam and Duncan's school is having a fundraiser. It's a boring catalog type fundraiser. The kind where you look through a book of all sorts of things looking for something cheap. Yep, that's the one. (I think I need to work on my enthusiasm.)

The good news is, each class gets access to the funds that their students raise. I know Liam's class has 3 field trips each year, and the money his class raises can be used for those. So that's good.

If you'd like to help out, go to http://www.gafundraising.com/ Once there, you click on the bottom left oval that says "support your school". That will take you to a page where you'll need the school code: 1043140. When it asks you the student's name, enter either Liam's or Duncan's name. Then it puts you back to the page with the ovals, click the same one as before, and it should take you to a "start shopping" type page. Hopefully that's not too confusing. I know the catalog boasts of having over 135 items under $10, but I'm guessing there's even more online.

The boys are suppose to turn in their collected cash orders on September 16th, but I'm not sure about the online orders. It's probably best to try and place an order before then, just to be safe.

If you can help, that's great! If not, no biggy, we can still be friends.

Thanks.

It's Fair time!...

One of the things I forgot to mention in my ramblings about September is the L.A. county Fair. I've been going to the Fair since I was a kid. My parents would take us every year. Then as a teenager in High School, and in band, we performed at the Fair every year, so I have lots of fond memories of going to and being at the Fair.

Now as parents, we like taking our kids to the Fair each year. It's kind of expensive to go to the Fair depending on when you go. Luckily, the first day of the Fair, it's only $1 per adult until 5pm. That's the best deal they have, so we try to go that day. It's usually pretty crowded, but that's something we can handle.

This year, we left the house just after 4pm in hopes of getting there around 40 minutes later. The fair grounds are in Pomona. Well, as luck would have it, there was an unusually large amount of traffic heading the direction we wanted to go. I got on the 10 freeway by habit. I should have taken the 210, it would have probably been much faster. As 5pm gets closer and closer, there's no way we're going to make it in time, so we call my mom, who we knew was going to the fair as well. She was in some traffic herself, and wondering if she would make it in time too.

Turns out there was a spilled pile of bricks on the freeway a couple miles away from our exit, and that's what held up traffic. Then once we got on the streets to the parking gates, the traffic is just as crowded. When we got near the ticket booths from the street, Anna hoped out to get in line while I continued in the traffic leading to the parking entrance. It was about 5:36 when Anna got to the ticket window, (she knows that because the ticket seller told her), and was told she couldn't buy any $1 tickets. Anna's pretty good about raising a "stink" about stuff, and asked for a supervisor. The supervisor mentioned it's all done by computer and he couldn't do anything, but said that the far booth had printed a large amount of "extra" $1 tickets, and if they still had some, Anna could buy some. They did, so Anna did.

I parked, got the kids and our stuff unloaded, and headed to the gate. Anna would be meeting us there. (Anna had also gotten a ticket for my mom and took it over to here, but that's another whole story.) The kids needed to go potty, so we went over to some porta-potties. I'm pretty sure this was their first experience with a porta-potty, and I think the boys liked going in the side urinal thing. Jennan didn't do as well. I think she didn't get up on the seat in time because when I opened the door to helper her out, her pants were all wet. Oh well.

Anna joined us just outside the entrance, and as we approached, I noticed that people with $1 tickets were being told they couldn't get in with them. I think it was just after 6pm by now. Anna got her game face on, and as we were next, before the girl at the gate could say anything, Anna unloads with something like, "Don't even tell me this ticket isn't good, I had to get a supervisor to buy it, I'll get another one to get us in!" The girl didn't say anything, and we went right in. (btw, Anna gets it from her mom [thankfully].)

Once inside, we enjoyed the animals very much; pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, cows, horses, etc. Then we moved on to the kids' building. There were tons of activities for them to do. There was a very well done insect section, stuff to build, trains to play with, science activities, artistic activities, and so on. There was a building with winter activities, and the kids went down the snow slide a number of times each. We also walked through a few of the retail buildings before heading home. It was a fun time.

Here is some photographic evidence...

Checking out the dairy machinery.

Tegan looks happy to be there.

With the animals in the petting zoo.

Liam wanted to give them hugs.

Then he wanted them to wear his hat.

Then Duncan did too.

Gentle Jennan.

Liam and the wild thing.

Waiting to slide.

"cheese"

Even though on Wednesdays and Thursdays, admission to the Fair is only $5 after 5pm, I don't think we'll be going back this year. Maybe if we got a babysitter, and only Anna and I went, I think we might consider it, but otherwise, we look forward to next year.

Monday Music Spotlight...

Wow, that sounds kind of official.

Anyhow, I was up late the other day (actually most days) and I happened upon Vh1's show called Nocturnal State. It features "alternative" or "Indie" type videos, so I'm usually glad I come across it. I tend to like finding out about new or up-and-coming bands or groups and solo artists, and Nocturnal is pretty good about showcasing those kinds of acts.

Long story short, when I switched over to Nocturnal State, this video was already playing, and I liked the sound of the music right away, so I continued to watch and listen. As it ended, I thought that I really liked that song, and looked to see who it was from. It's from a band called "The Airborne Toxic Event", and the song is called "Sometime Around Midnight". (Here's their MySpace page.)

Here's the video I saw... (don't forget to stop the page music at the bottom of the page)




I really like the sound of the music and the vocals on top of it. I haven't decided if I like all the actual lyrics yet, but I like how their sung.

What do you think?

RIP Don LaFontaine

Who's Don LaFontaine? Millions and millions of people have enjoyed his work. Here's a better hint...
(you can mute the blog music at the bottom of the page to hear the video clips)




Don LaFontaine is the "voice" of the movies. Not only movies; movie trailers, commercials, special events, etc.

Here's a commercial where you get to actually see him...



Lets learn a little more about Don...



Here is a list of some of Don LaFontaine's more memorable trailers(click the sentence).

Don Lafontaine died earlier this week. He was 68. The movies will never be the same again.

This guy does a pretty good impression though...



A sad week for movie trailer lovers everywhere.

Friday Flashback

Here are this week's (yep, there's two) Friday Flashbacks!

This first picture of Liam is probably one of my all time favorites of him. It's so clear, and colorful. We were at Sea World. In 2006, we had passes to Sea World. I think we went 2 or 3 times that year. Liam is just about 3 years old in this picture.

This second picture of Liam was taken about a month earlier than the first one. Liam was building this tower, and it had gone past where he could reach from the floor, so I showed him that standing on the table would help him build his tower higher. I quickly grabbed the camera and took this shot as he continued to stack his tower taller. He was not so sure about standing so high up on the table, but he had to keep stacking it taller.

2006 doesn't seem that long ago, but to think that Jennan is older now than Liam is in these pictures is wild. That also means, that Liam is now older than Duncan was when these pictures were taken, and Jennan was around Tegan's age now. At the time of these pictures, we hadn't even been in our house a year yet. Anyway, fun stuff.

UFC 88 Breakthrough PPV picks...

The next UFC PPV is UFC 88 Breakthrough this Saturday night. That means I better get to picking my fights... so here are my picks:

The main event is Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans. I think this will be a really good fight. Rashad held his own with Tito Ortiz earlier this year (in my opinion, he should have won), and showed he can hang with the "top" 205ers. Rashad's still on the up-swing of his career, and he could give it a huge boost with a win over Chuck. But Chuck is a former light heavyweight champion, and not a push over. He's was very dominant as a champ, and is looking to get his title back. A win over Rashad would put him pretty close to a title shot in the very near future. With that all said, I think Chuck will probably come out with the win, but I think it will be by decision.

The other huge fight on the card is Rich Franklin retuning to the 205 weight class and fighting Matt Hamill. Matt Hamill is a bear to wrestle with. He lost an extremely close fight to Michael Bisping (and in my opinion probably should have won) last year, but has taken that loss and used it to improve his skills. His striking has improved by leaps and bounds as of late, and that makes him more dangerous. Rich Franklin back in the 205s adds a lot to that division, and I'm excited to see him fight at that weight. He has a ton of experience over Matt in MMA, and is a very smart and technical fighter. This fight has the chance to steal the show. I think it will go the distance, and probably a split decision in favor of Rich.

I'm interested to see the Martin Kapman vs. Nate Marquardt fight. I think Martin is underrated as a fighter. There's not been a fight I've seen him in that I didn't like. He uses quite a few of different techniques in his fights, particularly on the ground. His win over Drew McFedries is one of my favorites. Martin's been sidelined with some injuries the past 6+ months, so I'm sure he's pumped to be back in the octagon. Nate Marquardt has really turned the corner in his career in the past year. His loss to Anderson Silva was an eye opener for him. I think he should have won against Thales Leites back in June. The ref took unnecessary points from him during that fight. I enjoy watching both of these guys fight, and often route for them, but I think I'm going with Nate to win. I think he'll be able to out punch Martin, and on the ground, I think he'll be stronger. I think it will be a TKO victory.

Karo Parisyan vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida. I'm not a big fan of Karo, so I'm going with Yoshiyuki to win by TKO probably somewhere in the 3rd.

Dan Herderson vs. Rousimar Palhares (Kyle might have to give us the phonetic pronunciation in the comments section). Dan Henderson lost both of his Pride titles last year. He could really use a win. Rousimar just made his debut in the UFC recently with a quick win over Ivan Salivary. He looked very dangerous on the ground (BJJ black belt), and will be a hand full for Dan. But I think Dan can win if he keeps it standing and throws some heavy hands at Rousimar, and defends the takedown. If he does end up on the ground, I think he'll be able to do some damage as long as he stays on top. Dan to win, TKO.

Thiago Tavares Vs. Kurt Pellegrino. Thiago has shown he gets tired in the later rounds, and Kurt is pretty close to the top of the lightweights. I think they're both coming off losses, so I win would be very important. I think Kurt will pull out the win, probably with a submission.

Tim Boetsch Vs. Michael Patt. I think Michael Patt is making his UFC debut that night. That's a lot to handle, and then he also has to fight Tim Boetsch. I'm going with Tim to win with probably a TKO.

Dong Hyun Kim Vs. Matt Brown. Everyone on the last season of TUF steered clear of Matt Brown, but he was beaten. I think he has a ton of heart, but I don't think he'll be able to beat Dong Hyun Kim.

Jason Lambert Vs. Jason MacDonald. I like both of these guys. They've both had great fights in the UFC. Lambert's had a string of bad luck in his fights with getting caught, and MacDonald has also lost a couple tough fights as well. I think this will be a good fight. I'll be looking for MacDonald to try and catch Lambert on the chin, so I'm sure he'll try to keep it standing. As strong as Lambert is, and as heavy as his hands are standing, I think he'll do best to try and get this fight to the ground, and pound out a victory. When It's all over, I think MacDonald will have the "W", either by KO or armbar.

Roan Carneiro Vs. Ryo Chonan I think these guys are both coming off of losses, and need to get a win. I'm going with Roan.

Well that does it. Those are my picks. One of the exciting things about MMA is anything can happen. So everything I just said here, the opposite could happen just as easily. Even the guy who looks like he's beating the snot out of his opponent can get caught and it's all over. Or the reverse... One guy may be taking the beating of his career, but be able to catch his opponent with one punch or quick submission, and pull out the win. Good stuff!

Roadshow...

A couple of weekends ago, our Stake had a roadshow weekend.



"A roadshow weekend? What does that mean?"



The Stake roadshow was done over two nights, at two locations each night; Friday and Saturday. The two locations were the Stake center and the Highland building. Each ward would perform their first show at one of the two locations, and then pack up and head to the second location, and perform their roadshow there as well. Then the next night, they did it again, but not in the same order, and starting at the other location than the night before. So we got to do our show 4 times.



In the show, there's a point where we're recreating a reality "audition/performance show" like American Idol or Dancing With the Stars, and I played the "Simon" type character. I did my best to use a "Simon-esque" sounding accent, to deliver my lines. The crowd usually liked it, so that's always the best feedback.



Anyway, here's a picture of me on stage...

ps- I didn't have anything to do with the name on my stand.

Tribe...

This past weekend I completed induction into the Tribe of Tahquitz. I am an "Honorary" member of the Tribe.

This will help explain: (from their website)

About the Tribe of Tahquitz

Tribe of Tahquitz – The organization was created in Idyllwild,back in 1925. It consisted of 15 honor scouts, which were chosen to start and maintain a perpetual volunteer summer camp staff at Camp Tahquitz. To keep active during the winter months, the Tribe has developed an extensive Indian Lore, backpacking and service program. These programs benefit the Long Beach Area Council and surrounding community and give the Tribesmen unique youth leadership experience. The Tribe is particularly known for the Indian Lore ceremonies that it's members perform throughout the year at Scouting and civic group meetings. A great sense of dedication and many traditions has been developed throughout the 80-plus year history of this great organization. The Tribe exists only in the Long Beach Area Council.

Tribe of Tahquitz Membership Requirements – To be eligible for membership, a Scout must be at least 14 by December 31 of this year; hold the rank of First Class or above with two of the following merit badges: Backpacking, Camping, Cooking, Hiking, Wilderness Survival; and have at least two long-term camping experiences, one of which must be at Camp Tahquitz. Scouts who will be 13 by December 31 of this year and are at least a Second Class Scout meet the requirements for Neophtye membership of the Tribe. All adults (18 years or older) who spend a full week at Camp Tahquitz with their troop are eligible to be Honorary Tribesmen.

Tribe of Tahquitz Membership Invitation – Near the end of the week of summer camp that a troop attends, the Tribe camp staff, along with scoutmasters present in camp, meets at Tribe Rock. There they discuss all of the Scouts present in camp who are truly “Honor Scouts.” Then, after a democratic vote, those Scouts are offered an invitation to join the Tribe. The Tribe announces and invites its new Tribesmen, Neophytes and Honorary members at the Friday night awards campfire. In order to become regular members, Tribesmen and Honorary Invitees must complete the Annual Induction ceremony held at Camp Tahquitz over Labor Day weekend.

One thing it doesn't mention is, you don't have to be from the Long Beach Area Council (LBAC) to join Tribe. I'm in the California Inland Empire Council (CIEC). Camp Tahquitz is only a 40 minute drive away from Highland, so that's really convenient. There are a few YSAs in my ward that were in Tribe as youth, and are still active in Tribe as honorary members.

It was a very cool experience. I'm happy to be a tribesman. I highly recommend Camp Tahquitz to any scout troop.

September ramblings...

Seems so weird that it's September. August went by super fast. When September starts, it always feels like the end of the year is so close. It definitely feels like the middle of the year has past, and the second half of the year always seems to go faster than the first.

Every September I start thinking about Christmas, and starting some shopping earlier rather than later. Plus I start thinking about the items I would like to make as gifts, and that I should start those soon. (Then I put them off till it's practically too late, and cram in the time.)

September is when Halloween stuff starts making it's way into the stores. But because I've got Christmas on my mind, Halloween seems to become more of an after thought each year. And each year I seem to care less about my own dressing up, and whether or not there's a "spook alley" at the ward party.

When it's September, it always feels like the weather should be cooling off, but that's rarely the case. It's usually as hot as the rest of the summer has been. Then on the news you'll here, "unseasonably warm" and "heat wave", but if it happens every year, isn't that then the norm?

Duncan and Liam started back at school today, and Anna's been back at work/school for a week already, which means today I'm back to only having Jennan and Tegan during the day. It's a bit quieter with just those two. Jennan's already asked me at least 6 times where Duncan or Liam are. She misses her older brothers already. But I don't think she minds getting to choose what shows she watches, or toys to play with.

Well, I think that pretty much covers what I'm thinking about on this, the second day of September. I gotta go and make some Christmas lists, decide if I'm dressing for Halloween and if so, as what. But it's so dang hot!

Happy September everyone.