Michael's Shower

Too much information

After reading Jeremy’s comment on my Big Bang post, bounced a few thoughts off Gary. I started to gear up with information about the red shift and even Stephen W. Hawking’s books.

Then I thought. People have studied this for years. I don’t disregard their findings, because in part, they may be correct. But multiple dimensions, time space continuums, and other quantum physics concepts are more than what I want to get in to.

If what Albert Einstein said, according to my Dad, is true, then it would agree with my idea. I once thought that if you could travel in one direction long enough and far enough, you would end up where you started from. Meaning that the universe eventually converges back on to itself making it endless – just like research on the subject.

My Earth Understanding

Here is what I think happened during the creation of the world. First off, I think it was more or less, organized rather than created. If the bible is to be believed and is translated correctly we read that the earth was without form and void. Aparently, there was water on the surface too.

Meaning what? That it was left over from another planet? That would explain the dinosaur theory and why no dinosaurs are mentioned in the bible. This sounds reasonable.

Now, why this great light when later two major lights were created and the stars were set forth. I heard from two religious scholars a theory of sorts. Each shared the same idea, but were given independently. I asked the later for a reference and he had none.

It gives to reason, and I only speculate, that this great light or when God said let there be light, the used planet, possibly with its hot molten core still intact was brought closer to Kolob where the next few “days” proceeded.

When the lights or stars in the firmament are brought to light, it would seem silly that millions or billions of stars were created that “day”. It would be logical to believe that the planet was again physically moved or what not to its current location or into its current orbit around the other “greater light” that ruled the day.

I have no evidence that this theory is not true. Fortunately it is not pertinent for salvation and is just another item on my list for clarification when I get back.

Detect if in VB6 IDE

Private m_bInIDE As Boolean

Private Function DoIDECheck() As Boolean

'this will only be called in we are running inside the IDE
m_bInIDE = True
DoIDECheck = True

End Function

Private Function IsInIDE() As Boolean

'are we running inside the VB IDE ?
Debug.Assert (DoIDECheck())
IsInIDE = m_bInIDE

End Function

More fun with Corryn

1. She likes her Pooh boots. They got Pooh all over them. That’s Winnie the Pooh.
2. She has princess shoes too. They don’t light up, but they have the Disney princesses.
   We ate at Cinderella’s castle – which is what Walt wanted for the California castle, a dinning hall, but real estate was scarce in downtown Los Angeles. While waiting patiently, Corryn got all excited when Cinderella came out to meet her. As we left, after dinner, Corryn wanted to get another picture with Cinderella.
3. When I first got out here, she would say “help me” a lot. It was definitely hard to say no. Now her parents insist that she is not the Queen, but often she refuses my help on her own. “I do it”, she’ll say.
4. She talks to someone at night because you can hear her go on for a while after she thinks everyone has gone to sleep.

LS Micro rocks

I just got my USB NIC along with my TV tuner card from LS Micro. It was strange that it came in such a huge box.

The NIC works great. My laptop isn't entirely useless, but it is very archaic next to my desktop, whose parts I got from LS Micro for the most part! The TV tuner card has yet to be tested. It came with a remote, so it should be pretty fun.

Today was an early Christmas!! I got a free OAK Management shirt and free lunch!

Don Box's Talk Guidelines

Don Box has some technical guidelines on giving a talk.

It is weird to hear these computer people use the term talk. If I am giving a "talk" outside of a Church setting, I use the terms: speach, presentation, etc. but not talk.

Movie Trailer review

Brother Bear, Disney’s latest full length animation is great for kids. I found it a mixture of the Lion King, Ice Age, Tarzan, and a tiny bit of Beauty and the Beast set in the American west.

The Cat in the Hat looks promising for good entertainment. Dr. Seuss’s works are almost classics, but Mike Meyers goes off the deep end.

The Haunted Mansion looks great. I can not wait to see this commercial for the Disney theme park ride. Eddie Murphy is a funny guy.

Trouble with Hollywood

I get drawn to some actors or actresses’ role sometimes and when I see them in real life or in a different movie or setting, I get all discomforted and question who the real person behind the image is. See my Jamie Lee Curtis post below.

Lindsay Lohan is another mystery. I liked her in Parent Trap and started to like red haired girls, but in Freaky Friday (remake), her hair is kind of blonde!

I liked Drew Barrymore’s role in Ever After but was kind of affronted when I saw her in real life and learned she had been in a dirty magazine.

Funny story

I don’t really like Jamie Lee Curtis. I was watching this Arnold Schwarzenegger, future California governor, movie True Lies. I liked her role in that movie. At the time I was watching the movie on TV, I had voiced my opinion that I liked that woman.

Then this cell phone commercial came on and Curtis is just very annoying. I then stated that I hate that woman. Seconds after my first announcement the commercial aired.

Everyone turned to me and said it was the same woman!

Big Bang Theory

This theory is erroneous and illogical at best. It presupposes that spectacular and grand organization can come from chaos. I’m not saying that something simple and useful may result from a random act, I am just not agreeing with that such complex systems as a solar, molecular, and all of life as we now it can come out of some Big Bang magic act.

Since this theory can not be proved it is easier to reject. But even better is to prove that it can not work. I give three examples.

Let’s take a million lines, give or take 100,000 lines, of C++ code. It doesn’t matter what they are: for loops, conditional statements, class definitions…etc. Now, let’s randomly sort them.

According to this theory, it will compile without errors or warnings and will give us WindowsXP Professional. Amazing! I wasn’t expecting it to be any more functional then Notepad.

Next example. Let’s make a Thanksgiving feast. Take a big bowl, add to it a turkey. Doesn’t really matter if it is alive or dead. Toss in some vegetables, cranberries, a pumpkin for the pumpkin pie, add something to drink… put it in the oven say 1000 degrees or whatever. Give it 30 minutes.

According to this theory, we got the best Thanksgiving ever.

The latest calls for a random substance to be poured onto a medium such as a paper. This paper is then to be folded several times and stomped on….etc. When unfolding we should get something Michelangelo could have painted, but I am afraid it isn’t even worthy of Picasso.

The Seg Way

I think I might get one of these. They look pretty cool. Weird, but cool. I think I saw one down in Florida when we were down there, but I can't recall where I saw it exactly.

Trouble with rides

Last night we had a party at our apartment. My roommates are terrible planners and bought twice as much food as was needed. I probably would have done the same.

There were a lot of nice ladies and my friend Clay Cook showed up. It was pretty fun. I’d go to s lot more parties if I could drive. The last thing I want is to be stranded because I missed the bus or the metro, etc.

Rides are nice, but they don’t give you as much freedom. You pretty much have to stay as long as your ride does or you have to leave when your ride does. Impulse explorations are almost out of the question.

My roommates said that this was the most social they have seen me. After they wasted 20-30 minutes figuring out who owes what, I am still waiting for my tab. I think it would have been a lot easier just to pull some number out of the air and if it seemed fair enough to stick with it.

Church Almanac

I recently got a 2003 copy of the Church Almanac. The last, and first, one I got covered a lot on the pioneers. 1997 was an interesting year. Going over the brief news pieces, it seems like that last couple years have been interesting too.

I wanted to get the book so I could look up some facts. If there can only be a few 100,000 more members of the Church in California, I would have to declare that it can no longer be known as a Utah Church.

I wasn’t able to share this book at work, but I was able to lend out the Ensign that was dedicated to Temples. I’m not sure what they all thought about it, but I hope it answered some questions. I was kind of impressed how eagerly the magazine was sought after. I make it sound better than what it was.

Trouble with Theory

In order to refute some items noted in the Universe of Energy post, I must establish where I stand on theory in general. When I speak of theory it means the conceptual understanding or abstract thought.

Theory is an important part in the scientific method, but is not the "end all" answer to be so easily accepted. Theory itself is meaningless.

To be accepted by science, a theory needs to be proved. And such proof would justify the theory if the results were consistent. That is what science is all about; explaining phenomena.

I suppose I run into trouble when I accept gospel related truths as facts – which truths may be arguably viewed as theories by another.

Lost Memories

I have been waiting to see posts of the Florida trip on the Mannings web site or even emails with pictures! I have not seen the pictures my parents took either.

One movie I want to get is this one about my niece licking her toes. It’s discusting but funny.

Universe of Energy

One ride a DisneyWorld that I actually put my hands over my eyes, like what Corryn had done on another ride she got scared on, was this slow moving ride about Energy. It starts out with a Jeopardy show with Ellen DeGeneres (or Ellen the degenerate as I always thought it was.)

I admit I don’t like Ellen, but I did like the movie she stared in with Harrison Ford. Six days seven nights I think it is. Well, I be. It wasn't her! (See the link...it was Anne Heche. They look like each other! Kind of like Michael and Janet?)

The ride isn’t scary; I’d been on it before.

This ride has prompted several thoughts of consternation and irritation that I will probably post entries on it. Thoughts on the Big Bang theory, theory in general, dinosaurs, Disney and energy conservation…etc.

Anyway, Ellen goes back in time to the dinosaur age. I used to like dinosaurs and all sorts of creators. I blame Jurassic Park for this phobia. Oh, and my Mom.

The end of the ride, or the Final Jeopardy answer was that this sort of power will never run out. The question: What is brain power? This assumes that if the sun does burn out, people or some creature with a brain will survive or is it simply alluding to the fact that there is life out there in the universe.

Time has flown

It came at some surprise, ironically enough, when I sought shelter from the sun this after noon at the bus stop. I had used this little tree many times before, but now there were no leaves on him. Have I been here that long that the seasons have changed?

I have tied Morgan City, LA for the longest I’ve ever stayed in one place besides Orem, UT. October will be the sixth month out in Virginia. I can’t believe it! I even miss that stupid dog named Boots.

What, I can’t believe I said that. I don’t like creatures crawling all over or next to me. Those things give me the creeps. The best memories though have been shared with niece and her parents. Too bad these times won’t last forever. I got to make the best of the future!

Small World, Dr. Jones

It truly is a small world with the members of the Church. I lost track of a friend in Chicago, but I could call around and someone would know someone that could help me.

In Florida while waiting in line, Stacey Corley a former Half back for BYU started talking to us. I think he was just doing his missionary work. It was cool to met someone who played football with Ty Detmer.

At any rate, I sent out an email request to these young single adult wards out here. I was looking for some fold away chairs. I was hoping for a good deal or at least a ride offer to get some. I got some good feedback and I ordered my first purchase from IKEA. My brother-in-law will be proud.

Anyway, the best response was from Naomi Frandsen, an awesome lady, I met in a singles ward in Utah last summer. I was glad to hear from her. It is great to know she is out here doing an English masters program at Georgetown.

3 pounds of chocolate

I made a mix of rice chex cereal, dried pine apple and one and a half pounds of M&Ms for the Florida trip. I ate half of the three pound bag of M&Ms before I left and finished off the mix. I had a little help with mix.

My niece would pick out the M&Ms and eat them from my hand when I offered her some of the mix. At least she was smart enough to refuse my offer after a while. But I can believe I ate the whole thing!

Yummy!

Stupid computer programers

Don Box has a blog site. I think it is lame for the most part. My brother-in-law states that there is a reason he doesn't allow comments. Yeah, because I would be posting how lame every entry was.

Don Box is the man. Well, he is a freaking nerd with a huge pay check I'm sure. It bothers me that we are probably the same age. Only he understood years ago what I am learning now.

Microsoft has this Professional Developers Conference for nerds who understand all this crap and who can afford it. I'd like to go, but the information would be more than I could bare and it does seem likely I'd never use it professionally for another couple years.

They even have a blog site for this event. It's is pretty lame, but here I am struggling with this old school, Active X control in VB 6.0

Virginia is for lovers?

If that is true, what am I doing here?

I found out Julie, a very nice lady who I made the mistake of not getting serious with, is in her first year of law school at the University of Utah. That is where the General is too.

Anyway, sometimes I dislike being at work almost as much as I dislike being home. I’m out here for the money and that is why I hate spending. I need to get worthwhile goals, but I figure it is a lot better than no goals as I had last year.

Out a computer

I was with out a computer for most of the day at work. I am sure I am to blame, but it was going to get ghosted anyway. The image they tried to put on didn't work as I would have guessed. We did a bunch of images when I was at Novell and they were very hardware specific. The image came from a dissimilar machine.

I even went to my favorite store while I waited for my machine to get fixed. It was a two hour trip on a stinking bus!!! Oh, well.

Marmalade and such

1. "I want to get lout."
2. "Is he coming?" she asked her mother as she was pointing to me.
3. "My cool" is my name. She started to say it towards the end of the trip.
4. "Marmalade" means little mermaid.
5. "Watch wiz" means watch Wiggles.
6. She can recognize shapes and it appears as if she can read.
   Isn't that what reading is? Recognizing shapes?
7. "What's that?"
   I don't know what was so funny about that phrase but we had a great laugh about it. I think it was the echo off the brick wall that made it sound funny.
8. "Boobies!" She said this as I came up out of the pool.
9. She loves to point out the moon and each and every bus.
10. "Oh my goodness."

Fun at work

After reading Don Box’s lame (but cool as computer nerds are concerned) blog eateries on what he gets to do at work, I was thinking about doing a blog on work. I figured it was borderline on giving away trade secrets or what not. So, I will only show you what I made at work. It doesn't have a whole lot to do with anything I was hired to do, but it was pretty fun.

I figure I also need to watch what I say about some people. I suppose blogging technically doesn’t apply to slander or libel laws, but I better be careful.

ISTC

No tale of the DisneyWorld vacation can be complete without the tale of the Mission: SPACE ride at Epcot.

This ride was awesome!!! It was a simulation of a rocket launched, space mission to Mars. We were part of the International Space Training Center (ISTC) for the day. It was a life-like changing event for the day and possibly the entire week!

Epcot is pretty boring I think and this particular morning was not starting out as a very pleasant one and this time Jonathan wasn't around on whom I generally blame my irritation on.

This ride set me straight. I had a great time that day and the rest of the trip. Lisa-Marie, however, got sick and never seemed to recover.

We tried to make a quick run a second time a few days later, but the line was longer than expected and they were having technical difficulties. Oh well, I didn’t want to take away from my first experience!

Arabian Knights Show

I was looking for a good Knight battle. It was actually Arabian Nights dinner show. I’ve only been to one Pirates dinner show. I was not there when my family went to the Medieval Times one.

At any rate, I knew what to expect this time so I didn't get angery when we weren't seated right away and we literally chilled out with our drinks waiting to be seated. It was cold. The acrobats and the dancers where great. I was hoping to learn more about the sultan and Arab countries.

The arena we were taken into was like a hockey rink and just as cold. The show started and it was spectacular when all the houses came out. When they stated to sing, I knew they wouldn’t win my heart as it stated on the glass we got from the first room.

The dinner was good, but the show was quite lame. When I learned what the book was about, I had reservations about totally writing off the show. The book sounded lame too. Lame book, lame show.

Mannings

Here is a great image of my favorite niece and her parents at "grandpa's Florida house" as it was called.

I think Corryn liked the condo better than DisneyWorld. She loved the little park and the pool. One night we got home from dinner and the second she was inside, she tore off her clothes and grabbed her swimsuit. Another time, I understand she jumped in the pool with her clothes on!!!

Towards the end of the trip, Corryn would say my name more often. It sounds more like "My cool", but it is better than being referred to in a third party as in "Where did he go?"

Doctor Feel Good?

Sounds like a song I heard once?

Diets don't work!!! I have heard bits and pieces of Dr. Phil's The Ultimate Weight Solution The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom by Dr. Phil McGraw

Almost like what I hear against Stephen R. Covey, Dr. Phil seems to preach common sense. Maybe that is what people really need.

I heard and can not prove at the moment that it is only physically possible and healthy to lose a handlful of pounds a month.

The Formula

I never would have thought VeggieTales was so interesting. Well, I doubt I’d ever be caught watching it with out my niece. The “Little Joe” video had a cool scripture at the end of it. It was phrased in part to the scripture I called the formula. I think I may have referenced to the Romans verse in my little write up I created but I don’t have a copy of it here n Virginia.

On a similar note, Gary and I talked about buying bibles once. Why buy one, when not only does the LDS church give them out, but they put it on the Internet!

Anyway, here are the scriptures.

Romans 8:28

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.

D&C 90:24 - The Formula

24 Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another.

Close to Home

I got back to my apartment/room today. It has been a fun vacation. The power was out at my sister's place and I believe their adventure is not over yet. I made several entries in my hard copy journal and I hope to migrate some entries.

Frankly, I was glad to get home. There was about 300+ emails waiting for me and I got to chat online with someone from Pakistan who read one of my articles at CodeProject.com

I have a happy heart because I am thankful to have power. I barely missed out on Hurricane Isabel.

I am also glad I am not in Iraq. Florida was hot enough for me and I was not being shot at.

Andrew the roommate

I noticed the other day that the TV in my apartment was the same Andrew had when he was living in my Condo. Funny, I thought he was a bad roommate.

I mocked his fascination with Japanese cartoons. I got tired of doing his dishes sometimes. He was a procrastinator and a bit absent minded but in retrospect, he was a very good roommate.

I need to call hom one day to see what he is up to. He is from Virginia Beach. I wonder if he went back?

Almost there

I was busy yesterday packing, getting money from the ATM, and what not when the Nazi showed up. OK, now I am beating a dead horse. Bryan purposed again the idea to charge us for cleaning. This time it was more nicely put.

"I won't pay, that's the problem." "I told him and cleaned the bathroom after locating some decent cleanser.

I didn't mop though. Nor will I wash his stupid rugs on my tab.

Anyway, I left earlier this morning when I noticed all the mopping crap was laid out. I unloaded the dishwasher before.

I'm out of there and dread coming back. Oh well, life is a bi-otch. Just kind of wish I was living with one.

I went to my favorite store again because I wanted a treat and McFluries are a bit too expensive and not very good for me. I also wanted to check for a better camo hat. The one I got works great for a wooded area, but my BDUs are mostly green and black.

The bin of hats had that nasty green, almost florescent green aura to it. It's not very enticing but I rummaged around and found the perfect match!

Less than 24 hours

In less than 24 hours I will start on a great adventure. First stop, Rosslyn to meet up with Jeremy. Than off to Woodbridge to be with my sister and her wonderful daughter!!!

Friday morning we set out to Orlando where we will meet up with my parents. We will be driving so it will be interesting. We have geared up with lots of DVDs. It should be fun.

I kind of asked for the last two days off. My supervisor went out to California for CDR with Raytheon. I hope he checks his email before I leave or he is cool with it when he does get the message. I'm not coming back from Florida without the Mannings.

Work Cycle

I spent most of the day adding to my understanding of VB 6.0 ActiveX controls and COM. It was pretty fun.

Gary and I are too much alike and it is pretty scary. One day we discussed how much time is used to keep up with technology that is going away. Or arguably already gone.

Don Box was on MSDN TV the past week. He told some history of interest to computer people and how he was helping to create the stuff I might be struggleing to learn years from now.

Bryan the Nazi

I didn't have a good come back for my brother-in-law’s Nazi comment, but I still think Bryan is one. I will not be surprised when the day comes when he tries to regulate the oxygen produced by his plants. He is just that anal.

I went out to buy some stuff to appease the terd and found a great deal at CVS, but I wanted to check my favorite store, the $1 store.

Well, I found an Ok camouflage hat to go with my Army BDUs. I than went back to CVS grabbed the items I wanted and checked out. They wanted to know of I had a Red card. I didn't. Then this lady started bugging me if I wanted one.

I have enough cards already and I don't use them. Maybe I should have wasted the 20 minutes to fill out the stupid card just so I could have gotten the deal on the stuff I wanted.

You know, I didn't need a gay member’s card to shop at my favorite store! Or most places for that matter.

Learning Italian

My Berlitz Italian books came along with 3 CDs. I ordered them from Amazon and got free shipping!

I was kind of shocked how there were some phrases, numbers and such that sounded just like French and Spanish - which languages I don't care to learn.

Almost Two Years Ago

With respect to my brother-in-law's post, I thought I'd post a few comments and tell my story of September 11, 2001.

I had a couple interviews up north near Hill Air Force base. It was cool to see and hear the sounds of freedom flying over head.

The guy on the radio was very excited to report the plane crash into the World Trade Center. I was lying there in bed, dreading to get up and follow the same vain pursuits of finding a job.

The DJ wouldn't let the subject go. In fact, he shouted at me to get out of bed and turn the TV on. So, I rolled out of bed just in time to see the second plane.

My Lord what is going on? This isn't right. The first could have been an accident, but never two in one day.

I felt safe in Utah. Why would anyone ... or rather could anyone attack so far inland. Why Oklahoma City... stupid terrorist.

Anyway, I got a bit anxious for news from my sister. My grandparents were to fly on that day, but I admit they were the last people on my mind.

Probably the most awesome display of the “Fourth branch” of government's power was when the FAA grounded all flights over US airways. (I’ll explain later.)

I watched the towers burn. Amazed to see them stand for so long. When they came crashing down it looked like the scene from Independence Day. Any hopes of repairing the building, not to mention rescuing any one stranded on the top levels, were lost.

I put on my FBU t-shirt that day. It wasn’t the cheep acronym shirt you can make yourself, but it had the real FBI seal on it. Incidentally, the tag which also bore the emblem was fixed in my window by the door.

Some lady from the state of Utah came by. Census bureau I think. I heard her give her little spill about whatever and then she turned to me and said “It’s terrible that we can’t protect ourselves from this?”

Did she know I watched the news all morning? Why was she asking that? I looked down, and in comprehension I stated “We do what we can.”

You know, I stand by that today. I don’t work for the FBI nor do I believe it is worthy of such ridicule that I have against the Welfare system of this country.

I saw a heart throbbing commercial the other day that was about this guy's son who died in one of the towers and that this father had nothing good to say about the FBI and, I quote: “...They can’t tell the difference between a terrorist and a common citizen…” Boo, who, whoo…

Neither can you, you stupid Moron. Get of the air!!!! I didn’t say Moron and I know a better place for him to go (Canada -- kidding), but you get the idea.

Bethesda

I found the definition of Bethesda in the Bible Dictionary the other day. Hey, I thought. There is a Bethesda, Maryland. I googled it up and found the city web page Bethesda.org.

I had an interview there. I laughed then, and I laugh now. The interviewer said I was asking for too much. I think I am getting more than I asked him for with my current job.

Anyway, looks like it was named after a church. The site also stated the Friendship Heights metro stop is the heart of the city and it very well may be. There is an Embassy Suites there at that mall/metro stop. It was a very nice mall called Chevy Chase Pavilion.

Funny I went to embassy suites web site and noticed they used a whole separate address. Marketing the DC area and staying clear of the whole Maryland issue?

Once I got out of the downtown area I was in a dumpy area. It took over an hour to get to and from my interview because cabs stink and the building was not clearly marked. It looked like it was condemned. Than again, the whole block did.

Maryland is a hole. That was my second experience there and neither ware positive in any respect.

Orem uses Novel Groupwise

Orem City uses Novell's Groupwise email system like the rest of the state of Utah no doubt. Novell started out in Orem, UT. I remeber the building they had right off the Center Street I-15 exit.

I found that Orem uses Novell by typeing "orem.org" then clicking go.

What a worthless peice of information, I know.

More on blogging

Everyone wants to get a blog or online journal of sorts. It's the latests trend? I seem to be one of the last to get on board most every thing.

In the MSDN magazine for October 2003, Marco talks about writeing an ASP.Net blog application. The article is not online yet, but the demo is.

I'm using a prebuilt CGI version, my friend wrote his own PHP version, and I've seen others.

Xtal City Ward

I saw someone call Crystal City as stated in the title. I went to that ward this morning. They were the first to meet in the wacky, old building on King Street.

The Langley Ward was having Stake Conference so even if I could bum a ride, I might not have liked to have gone anyway. Sacrament meeting or just partaking of the sacrament is the best part of the whole thing. Miss that, and you might as well just skip out on it all entirely!

It was a nice ward. Not as huge and crazy as the Colonial. Besides, I like getting Church out of the way. Especially on Fast Sundays.

The bishop, Bishop Arceneaux, was awesome. He ran the meetings with perfect understanding and was very sharp on delegation. He had to remind a few about the announcement that they were reminded to make.

I need to transfer my records so I can be more active in the Church. By definition, or on paper, I would be considered inactive.

The Alexandria ward meets later and I should probably go there.

Trouble with Corryn

Click on the image to see a larger version.

The trouble with my beautiful niece is that she is growing up too fast. I wish I could stay with the Mannings more often.

Despite the fact they say I am always welcome, I guess I am hypersensitive as stated by my brother-in-law, I feel like I am intrudeing. After seeing the Simpson episode where Moe was pretty obsesive about being with Maggie, I thought I should be more sensitive about crowding in.

Because the specs for a child change on a daily bases (Thank you Data for that insight) it is no wonder they trip over their own feet at times. Corryn likes to flop around like a fish out of water sometimes. I can’t explain why she is so trusting that someone will catch her before she hits the ground.

Other than this, she is the greatest kid in the world. Not just great, but the cutest and the smartest. She must have gotten the last part from her Dad.

Changing of the guard

It was a pretty solemn feeling walking among all the grave stones in Arlington Cemetery.

We watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown solider. As with my view of guards around the Pentagon, I think it is pretty cool to see tax dollars at work.

Arguably the cemetery guards are not guarding anything of real value and are more of a tourist attraction. I’d go far to question they even were in the military.

Anyway, this lead up to my question: What would they do if someone, possibly some stupid high school punk, rushed him or went on to near the unknown soldiers burial place. What if it was a group of punks? He couldn’t detain them all. I doubt he is authorized to shoot.

I looked around and noticed a bunch of cameras. The punks might think they’d get away with their prank, but I think they would be caught later.

No zoo trip?

My roommate and I went on a short tour. Our tour went from Arlington Cemetery to a Jazz Festival in Rosslyn to the DC Mall. He went on to an Orioles game, and I went home. I had already been shopping and washed my clothes hours before he got up.

I was hoping that my sister would call and invite me to go to the zoo with them. The Shenandoah trip over Labor Day was attributed to being my idea. My intention was just to find out where it was. It was advertised quite a bit on TV.

Anyway, I was very suggestive about the zoo because I heard my brother-in-law mention it once. He thought he wanted to take his daughter to see it. I should have known no news was bad news.

Screw that!

What’s this all about? Some charity seeker on the DC Mall stopped us and gave us some stickers that said smile. The day was coming to an end and we were tired.

Anyway the guy asked for a donation. I gave the two coins in my pocket. He then procedded to give us some other stickers. He pulled out one that I assume had something to do with fun, social drinking.

“Thanks, but we don’t drink.” Nate said.

“Oh, good Christians?” The guy asked.

“That’s right.” I snickered.

“Would you like these ‘I love Jesus’ stickers?”

“Screw that. I’ll take a US flag sticker though.”

I didn’t say the word ‘that’, but the guy smiled and my roommate thought I was going to get stuck by lightening. I didn‘t mean to be sacrilegious. I just think those people with those ‘Jesus’ stickers/signs/etc. are really retarded. If I wasn’t Christian, those stupid stickers would turn me away from it all.

TGIF

I am glad it is a short week and next week too. Soon I will be in DisneyWorld! Not that I like the place as much as my Dad, but it will be fun to get away for a while.

I called my friend in McComb, MS before leaving work. Howard was kind of surprised to hear from me during the middle of the day. I usually call on weekends or in the evenings where my rates are low on my cell phone.

Howard is awesome. I met him as a missionary. He became blind over time. He lived a good life and now enjoys being a grandfather.

At the apartment complex I returned the new key I bought because I found the old one. I got a discount on next months rent. Sweet.

I then proceeded to the post office to pick up a piece of certified mail that couldn't be left in my mail slot. I wasn't expecting a package nor am I lucky or important enough to get Anthrax sent to me.

Oh by the way, I got or rather we (Elder Hank Adams and I) got a prank package in McComb once. It was full of all sorts of erotic books. Pretty strange stuff for missionaries. We tossed them out instead of passing them on.

Anyway, the envelope came from the Metro. It was my adjusted fare cards! Sweet, I thought that money spent on them was gone for good.

It was a good day overall.

Trouble with the news

The trouble with keeping up with world events is that it takes my time away from keeping up on my own interests besides the media is tainted with negative outlooks and full of cynicism and paranoia .

So the controversy is being ignorant on how the world is so screwed up and being happy or getting sick of heinous crimes or events and being depressed.

Not in Utah anymore, again

I went to look for some DVDs to take to Florida. I needed to find some that my two year old niece could watch.

The second I walked in the store, I was asked what I wanted. I was also looking for the Simpson’s third season set – which unfortunately has been banned from the Manning home. Well, only when Corryn is around. She loves it though. “Simsons” she would say excitedly.”Simsons. Simsons.”

Anyway, after getting the DVD set I proceeded to look around. The first thing I noticed was a huge section of DVDs with that colossal warning symbol of the white playboy bunny. What in the world?

I picked up one of the DVDs behind the bunny. It was the kind of thing you look behind your back to see if anyone saw you. Well, if you were in Utah.

Honestly, I was pretty disgusted. I dropped the DVD back and went to the children’s section. This is much better.

One of the first revelations I had that I was not in Utah was this pizza and beer lunch party we had at work.

More Harry Potter crap

I went to the bookstore to look at foreign language tapes or CDs. I went to the sorry one at Landmark Mall not to far from my place. It’s not the greatest mall, but what can I say? I tried to get myself to Borders or Barnes and Noble.

Anyway, I saw this box of every flavored beans like that in the Harry Potter books. That’s cute, I thought. Turning the box over I noticed the Jelly Belly logo. Figured as much. Actually, they stole my idea.

Then I noticed these add ons to the Harry Potter saga. Books from Hogwarts? The science of Harry Potter? My goodness what’s next? It’s getting as pathetic as Star Wars or Star Trek!

I heard some university is teaching Klingon and the Ewok language as liberal arts credits.

I started to listen to the books again for lack of things to listen too. I hesitated at first because it just doesn’t feel the same now that I know the story up to book 6. Besides they get longer and longer, this next one will be as long as Gone with the Wind!

Labor Day Weekend

I haven't posted anything on our trip to the Shenandoah National Park. It was fun, but a bit cold. We didn't go on the hike either and I honestly was looking forward to it.

I took a few pictures, but haven't posted them yet. I need to shrink them down because I put them at a higher setting for the Mannings are more critical about stuff like that. Me, I find it easier to take a bunch of good quality 640x480 pictures that are pushing it filesize-wise for my dial up viewers if they exist.

My camera is great for quality. I like it is anyway. It is poor on storage though. 8Mgs storage isn't very much at all.

Anyway, I enjoyed the mountains. It felt like Home for a little while anyway.

Trouble with the United States

I love this country and I have no real intention to bad mouth it as a whole. Is it a perfect? No, it is not. And for good reason.

Although its creation was God inspired, it is left to the fallibility of men. Alternative governments fall short in comparison to this great country.

It has come a long way from its founding. I understand we still get a bad rap from past events like systematically wiping out the natives.

I find it hard to take it personally because I wasn't there and I believe it was a fulfillment of scripture.

1 Nephi 13:14

14 And it came to pass that I beheld many multitudes of the Gentiles upon the land of promise; and I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren; and they were scattered before the Gentiles and were smitten.

The Constitution established the law as a living creature. As it grew to what we know it today, there have been several bumps in the road. Those bumps have built character, I suppose.

Had the Church been restored today, I assume it would been quite easy to get help from the ACLU, there would be no Missouri extermination order... there would be no inspiring tales of west ward migration of the pioneers.

Wonderful World of Disney

I remember with fondest, for the most part, the weekly Disney broadcasts of family oriented movies. My Dad, a Disney nut, taped a bunch of these movies. I was going to sit down and watch them all one time a long while ago, but realized I could probably do something better with my time.

Entertainment is one thing. Vegetating is another. If I had kids, I’d love to sit down with them and watch some of these again. Or, I just might look at netflix for myself.

• Angels In The Outfield


• T he Mighty Ducks


• The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again


• Now You See Him, Now You Don't


• The World's Greatest Athlete


• etc.

So many movies

Here are a few reasons I don’t like movies.

• There are just so many of them, I could spend all my time watching them and still miss out on the “best”.


• The “best” change with the seasons, but that is just marketing.


• I am hypersensitive and I tend to live in the past.


• My interests change

New Air Marshals

Another waste of funds? Read WTOP's article on U.S. to Add 5,000 Armed Air Marshals

I think so. Have the other Marshals done any good? I heard that a bunch of them had quit because it was such a boring job.

New Fees on the Block

I liked the article in the Washington Post about netflix, an online move rental. I don't watch enough movies to subscribe, but I didn't like how Blockbuster basses it's revenue on late fees. Not that I have ever been late the two times I ever rented a movie.