Musing Ian

The Pride of Utah

2009-01-07T09:14:00.001-07:00

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Better Know a District - Utah's 3rd - Jason Chaffetz

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Happy Election Day

2008-11-04T08:50:00.002-07:00

Happy Election Day everyone. I can't wait to get home from work and start watching the election returns come in. I'm sure everyone is burnt out on all the political debates that seem pop up everywhere you look (family parties, friendly gatherings, work, blogs, facebook, etc.). So I thought I would take a different angle. I would like to congratulate the writers/producers of The West Wing for predicting almost exactly how this election would turn out. Its remarkable. I don't know how many of you watched that show, but it was a great show. Katie and I love it, and we've watched a few reruns over the past month as we walk and bounce Ella late into the night (thank you, colic).

In the final season (2005), the show shifted much of its attention to a presidential election to replace the 2nd term incumbent President. The primary races featured a moderate republican who held off several challengers who were far more conservative, but had the nomination in hand far before the Democrats. Sound familiar? The Republican candidate then faced a major choice about his VP candidate: pick a conservative to satisfy the base, or go with someone more moderate that he would feel more comfortable with. He ended up going with the moderate, so the show didn't predict that right, but so far we're pretty close.

In the Democratic primary, it started out with the clear "next in line" candidate running on a platform of inevitability. But that candidate started facing an unexpected challenge from a young, exciting, likable, minority candidate. The primary contest became a long drawn out fight, and there was even debate about what might happen if the race wasn't settle by the convention. Really!?! Now that's pretty amazing.

The young, likable candidate wins the nomination and then moves into another long, fiercely contested battle for the presidency. In the end, the Democratic nominee wins.

I guess we'll see tonight if The West Wing got the last thing right.

Some Political Musings: The Republic*ns

2008-09-09T17:10:00.005-06:00

The presidential election is in full swing, and its been fun to follow over the past few weeks with the two conventions coming back-to-back. Stay tuned for my thoughts on the DNC, but here are some of my thoughts on the RNC:

I think Sarah Pal*n is turning out to be an excellent running mate for John McC*in, but it makes me very nervous that she could be Vice President to a 72 year old President. She's a likable person: she's young, vibrant, attractive, and very feisty. She is proving to be a very proficient attack dog, and she has reinvigorated McC*in's campaign. If McC*in foresaw all of this (which I don't think he did), it was a very shrewd choice by him. The only problem is, if she continues to be this effective as a running mate and McC*in wins, we will have her as Vice President. Two years ago, she was the mayor of a town of 9,000 people! And she is going to step in as President if something happens to McC*in? I'm sorry but the story about her putting the Alaska jet on eBay is cute but it doesn't tell me anything about her ability to lead a country.

But what is bothering me the most is her attacks on her "opponents"--as she calls them (who is she, Urb*n Meyer?). I have no problem with these political candidates pointing and hammering home each others' weaknesses. Both sides have serious flaws, and the candidates consistently harp on them for good reason. But that's not what Pal*n is doing. When she attacks, she sounds just like R*sh Limba*gh or Sean Hann*ty, in that she brushes over legitimate issues and relies on clever jests about insignificant facts. Her attacks are more mockery than legitimate disputes about policy. In her speech at the RNC, her biggest punch lines were mocking Ob*ma's time as a community organizer and his autobiographies. She made fun of the Greek columns on the stage of the DNC. She mocked Ob*ma's eloquence (why is that a reason for mockery in the first place?). And she mocked the fact that he has a lot of foreign policy advisers (also, how in the world is that reason for mockery? Isn't it good that Ob*ma relies on a lot of good advisers? Haven't we seen how things turn out when a handful of white males get together and decide the country's foreign policy?).

What's interesting is that Ob*ma actually predicted that this is the tact the Republic*ns would take. He said that they would take insignificant matters and hold them up for mockery, while brushing aside the real issues that are at stake. Pal*n went ahead and did just that, and people are eating it up. Fortunately, I think this Pal*n craze will fade out, and the decision will be between Ob*ma and McC*in.

I only heard the second half of McC*in's speech, but to his credit, he didn't fall into any of the mockery that plagued Pal*n and Guli*ni's speeches. I actually kind of liked McC*in's speech. He has an amazing story, and I think he is a great American that has spent his life serving the country.

If any of you made it this far through my ramblings, I am impressed. Your reward: a little mockery for mockery (thanks to Christopher for showing me the link). But, Mrs. Pal*n, lets leave the mockery for the professionals (Limb*ugh and Hann*ty on one side and Colb*rt and Stew*rt on the other) and start talking about the real decisions we have to make this November.

Nuggets Cordon Bleu

2008-09-06T09:18:00.010-06:00

If your kids liked my Nuggets Alla Napolitana recipe, they're going to love my Nuggets Cordon Bleu. Its really easy. Partially cook the nuggets, top the nuggets with some ham cream of chicken, and then top it all off with some swiss or gruyere cheese. Voila!

Home from the Hospital

2008-08-07T17:11:00.005-06:00

We are home from the hospital, and life is good. Katie is still recovering, but she feels good. We finally decided on a name: Ella Elizabeth Davis. My great grandma's name was Ella Elizabeth, and my grandma Davis's given name is Ella, even though she goes by Joyce. And Elizabeth is also Katie's Nana's name, so it is a very strong family name. Ella is still sleeping a lot, and Grace loves being with her baby sister. She loves holding her and giving her kisses. She has been very sweet and gentle with her. Here are some more pictures:

A Few Early Pics

2008-08-05T15:05:00.002-06:00

Katie went into labor late last night, and at 11:15 this morning, she delivered a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Mom and baby and doing great. Here are a few preliminary pictures. Keep checking for more and better pics. We are still working on the name.

Nuggets Alla Napoletana

2008-07-20T21:49:00.002-06:00

Grace is loving chicken nuggets lately, and I decided to spice them up a little bit for her. One of her favorite meals is now Nuggets Alla Napoletana. Its really easy to make, and she loves it. Just cook up some chicken nuggets, and, when they are just about cooked, top the nuggets with a little pizza sauce and fresh parmesan. Then heat it up a little more until the cheese melts. Its always nice to spice up an old stand-by.

They've Still Got It

2008-06-30T14:47:00.007-06:00

The New Kids on the Block are back, and from the looks of it, they still have the magic touch with the ladies. I have to say, though, that their dancing skills are much worse than I remember. Their choreographed dance at the end of the video is lousy. I think we did more complicated combinations in our N'Sync lip syncs at our BYU ward talent shows. At least they brought back their signature sweeping wave of the arms to go with their all-white suits. Classic.

Book Review: By the Hand of Mormon

2008-06-01T16:12:00.002-06:00

I just finished reading "By the Hand of Mormon" by Terryl Givens, and I highly recommend it to all Musingian readers. It is a fascinating and well-crafted reflection on the Book of Mormon. Givens is an English scholar and academic, so this book certainly has a scholarly/academic bent to it, but I think Givens does a good job of still making it accessible. Givens reviews a lot of recent scholarship on the Book of Mormon, which is really interesting, and he adds a lot of his own insights that are . . . well, insightful. My review can't do it justice, but I hope you will take my advice and read it. It is well worth it.

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-29T21:53:00.003-06:00

We spent Memorial Day weekend down in Moab with Katie's extended family, and we had a great time. We all stayed at this great place called the Red Cliffs Lodge. Its a converted ranch, and it still has a large pasture filled with cows and stunning horses, which Grace absolutely loved. A couple of times, we got a horse to come over and see us. The lodge is about 15 miles outside moab, up the canyon and sitting right on the Colorado River. The views are spectacular, and its very secluded (we had no idea how crowded Moab was until we went into town to buy some groceries). It was a great spot, and we spent most of our time in that canyon. In addition to the cows and horses, there was a family of ducks and plenty of snakes and lizards. Grace loved following Katie's young cousins around as they caught the snakes and lizards. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Insulted by Pandora

2008-05-14T11:04:00.002-06:00

I have been listening to Pandora.com a lot lately at work. Its a really cool concept, and so far, I have been really impressed with the product. For those who are not familiar with Pandora, it is like an online radio station. You can create your own stations based on your own music tastes (just enter some songs/artists that you like, and pandora will find other, similar songs/artists that it thinks you would like). You can further refine your station by saying whether you like or don't like a song that the station plays for you or by adding additional songs/artists that you like. So far, I have created a few different stations with some different genres of music. I can switch between stations depending on what kind of music I feel like listening to. If you haven't checked it out yet, I recommend it.

Anyway, I was just listening to one of my stations that plays songs that are kind of a throwback to the rock music that was popular while I was in high school (Our Lady Peace, Better Than Ezra, Chile Peppers, Foo Fighters, etc.). Then it started playing this crappy Euro, synthesizer-fused love ballad. I pulled up Pandora to see what it was, and it was "Current of Love" by David Hasselhoff. I was so insulted. What had I revealed to Pandora that would make them think that I would like a song by David Hasselhoff? I don't know. I will have to do some retooling to my station to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again.

Arts & Crafts Time

2008-05-07T17:30:00.001-06:00

Here is a fun little video that shows how kids all over the world love to do arts and crafts.

Hangin' with Corbin

2008-04-11T18:05:00.006-06:00

Some of you remember when I blogged about a year ago about a new club at the U law school called the Jackie Chiles Law Society. It is a club formed to explore how the law is portrayed in popular culture. Last year, for their Year-End Banquet, they got Phil Morris, the actor who played Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld, to come speak. From all reports, it was a spectacular event. This year, they hit another home run, and Corbin Bernsen was the speaker and was named this year's Pop Culture Icon in Residence. Corbin Berson is perhaps most famous for his portrayal of Arnie Becker, the lady-killer family lawyer in LA Law. He has also played a lawyer in JAG and Boston Legal. And, in my favorite of his roles, he played Roger Dorn in Major League (the edited version).

My firm sponsored a table, so I got to go to the banquet this year, and it was a treat. It was quite the event. There was plenty of video and jokes about how lawyers are portrayed in pop culture. One of the crazy professors at they U law school spoke and embarrassed herself and the whole school. But then it was Mr. Corbin Bernsen's turn. He got up and started talking and he didn't stop. He got on a roll and just told the stories that popped into his head. He told us how he got the role of Arnie Becker; he told us about a time on a plane when a lawyer asked him to help him with his case (which he did); he told us about some of his upcoming projects that he's working on. But in between all of these stories, you would get a stream of consciousness of tangent stories, many of which never got finished. He was always funny, and he didn't have much of a filter, so we heard all about an ex wife that he hated, some of his sexual harassment suits, how much he hated one of the TV shows he appeared in for a brief time, and his theory on Rob Lowe's most recent troubles. All in all, it was a great time. Now I need to find some old episodes of LA Law.

My New Toy

2008-04-09T11:41:00.003-06:00

We get our cell phones through Katie's dad's work, and when they recently switched providers to AT&T, I couldn't resist. I left my Blackberry in the dust and went for the iPhone. I don't regret it. The iPhone is awesome. It does just about everything my Blackberry Pearl could do and then some. Some of my favorite things to do with my new toy: sitting in bed reading and being able to look up a word on dictionary.com or wikipedia; sitting in bed with Katie and watching American Idol performances on youtube (we got hooked this year with the two LDS finalists, but we are rarely around to watch the show live); being able to look up phone numbers, addresses, and web sites from anywhere.

Video Games

2008-03-27T08:03:00.002-06:00

I really need a X Box or a PlayStation or something. Last night, we had a rockin' Elders Quorum party, complete with Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Mario Cart. And now I see this:

Lunch Break

2008-02-27T13:00:00.002-07:00

Katie and Grace were downtown today for Grace's doctor's appointment, so we got together for a fun lunch break. We went to my favorite taco stand: Tacos Don Rafa. We had a great time eating some great food and hanging out in the Sears parking lot. Grace loved it! She ate about one fourth of my large steak quesadilla, spicy salsa and all. She liked it so much that we had to go back and get her another mini-quesadilla (along with another steak taco for Katie). I don't know if I've ever been so proud. What a great lunch break.

Of serpents and strychnine

2008-02-17T14:04:00.003-07:00

I just finished one of the coolest books I have read in a long time. Its called "Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia." With a name like that, you know it has to be good. Its written by Dennis Covington, a writer/journalist who goes to cover the trial of a preacher in a snake handling congregation who tried to kill his wife by making her put her arm in his rattlesnake cages until the snakes bit her several times. After the trial, he continues to follow the story of the snake handling congregation, and it takes him on his own spiritual journey where he learns about snake handling, religion, history, and his own geneology.

Part of the books appeal, certainly, is voyeurism. After all, one of the main the reasons you're reading the book is because these people and this culture are fascinating. They are poor southern white people living in the Appalachian mountains. They take their pentecostal religion seriously and literally, so literally that when they read verses about handling snakes, treading on snakes, and drinking poison and not being harmed, they take up snakes, tread on snakes, and drink poison at their services. After some preaching and testifying and speaking in tongues, when they get feeling the spirit they pull the snakes out of their cages and pass them around. Some tread on the snakes, others drink strychnine (mixed strong if Aunt Gracie is the one doing the mixing). And they see going to the hospital after a bite as showing a lack of faith, so they either survive the bite or they die. As they see it, its not a bad way to go.

But the book's voyersims is balanced by Covington genuine care for these people. During the nearly two years that he spent with them, he became close friends with many of them, and he's not writing the book so that we can all sit on our perches and reflect on how odd they are; he is writing the book for us to get a glimpse into their way of life and to, in a way, appreciate it.

The book is always interesting, and its filled with great quotes. At one point, a snake handler explining the process to Covington says "There's serpents, and then there's fiery serpents." At another point, Brother Charles imparts some helpful wisdom to Covington about snake handling: "You might be annointed when you take up a serpent, but if there's a witchcraft spirit in the church it could zap your annointing and you'd be left cold turkey with a serpent in your hand and the spirit of God gone off you. That's when you'll get bit. So you really watch and remember what Brother Charles tells you. Always be careful who you take a rattlesnake from." Sound advice, which served Covington well when he did eventually take up snakes. Finally, Aunt Gracie, one of the old-timers who has been handling snakes for decades, explained that she stopped handling snakes in July because she had been bitten the previous two Julys. "I decided I'd just handle fire and drink strychnine that night," she said.

Poor Mitt

2008-02-08T11:26:00.000-07:00

A lot of people are a lot more broken up about Mitt dropping out of the presidential race than I am. But for those people who have been left asking "why", Lettermn came up with ten reasons in yesterday's top tn:

10. Harsh midwest weather was murder on his split ends
9. Wants to devote more time to rap persona P. Mitty
8. Polls show public doesn't want a president who looks like a casino greeter
7. Just couldn't compete with the Ron Paul juggernaut
6. Unveiling a new line of honey-roasted Romnuts
5. That bastard Zogby had it in for him
4. Apparently America is not ready for a white male president
3. No number 3 -- writer suffering from Mitt withdrawal
2. There was that little problem of nobody voting for him
1. Lost all of his money betting on the Patriots

A lot of these are lame, but I especially like 7 and 4.

Flashback

2008-02-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry to have been such a delinquent blogger the past few weeks. My laptop crashed, and the desktop computer is now in Grace's room (the only room besides the kitchen with a working phone jack), so I can never blog at night anymore or I will wake up Grace. Combine that with being busy at work, and you get a serious lack of blogging. But I just got a work laptop, so I should be able to blog more now.

Anyway, I just had a total flashback to my mission. I got to work this morning and went into the kitchen to fill my water glass and found the kitchen floor covered with dead (or dying) cockroaches. They must have had an exterminator come and spray for them last night or something. It was pretty gross, but it brought back fond memories of my mission. We used to buy a can of Raid, and right before bed, we would use up almost a whole can spraying it everywhere around the kitchen. The next morning, we would wake up and the whole floor would be covered on cockroaches. I hope we sanitized after these exterminations, but I doubt that we did. Another testimony of how missionaries are blessed in ways they can't (at the time) imagine.

Sorry for the gross post, but I have been meaning to start writing down more of my memories as they come back to me. Katie has an amazing memory and can recall almost any memory on demand. I usually need something to trigger my memory. So now, when something triggers my memory, I'm going to try to write the memory down. It was just bad luck for you readers that my first effort in this area turned out to be gross.

Carribean Cruise

2008-01-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

Katie's grandma (Nana) was extraordinarily generous and took her whole family (minus great-grandchildren) on a Carribean cruise to celebrate her 80th birthday. We had a great trip, and it was nice to be able to spend so much time with family so close to the holidays. My parents were also very kind to watch Grace for us, and Katie and I took full advantage of the time we had to relax, read books, talk, and sleep. Here's a little montage I threw together with some of the pictures from the cruise.

Book Review: Possession: A Romance

2007-12-08T13:32:00.000-07:00

I'm not the first one to say this, but Possession: A Romance is a brilliant book. I would highly recommend it to anyone with a serious interest in literature. I started the book expecting an intellectually engaging experience (which I got, and then some), but I wasn't expecting the narrative to turn out to be as compelling as it was. It is a story, essentially, about a pair of English scholars who make an important discovery that a pair of Victorian poets (one famous and one lesser-known) had a relationship that no modern scholar had discovered. A story around the two scholars develops as they discover the story behind the relationship between the two poets. Both stories are fascinating and compelling, and Byatt proved that she has a real talent for story-telling on top of her talent for creating an intellectually-stimulating book. You wouldn't expect a book about a pair of English scholars researching a pair of Victorian poets to keep you up late at night because you can't put it down, but it did.

That's not to say that it doesn't have its lulls. The book is brimming with references to and uses of British literature and literary theory, as well as long, complicated poems and long letters and journal entries. I'm sure I only picked up on and understood a small fraction of the literary allusions in the book, and because of my poor poetry-reading skills, I skipped some of the longer poems embedded in the book. I also skimmed over some of the unearthed letters and journals when they went long. Still, trying to catch some of the many literary allusions was part of the fun (at least for me), and if I didn't have the patience for something, I had no problem skipping or skimming. As my recommendation implies, this book is not for everyone. Byatt is brilliant and erudite and she expects a lot of her readers. But underneath it all there is a truly compelling story with one of the most perfect endings that I have ever read.

Sounds of the Season

2007-11-27T22:02:00.000-07:00

We just got back from the annual Christmas tradition of attending the Utah Chamber Artists Christmas Concert. The Utah Chamber Artists is a fantastic chamber choir and orchestra directed by Barlow Bradford, and they do several concerts a year, including a Christmas one the week after Thanksgiving. My parents get us tickets every year, and it always does a great job of kicking off the Christmas season. There's something about Christmas music that gets you in the mood for Christmas (for both the secular and spiritual aspects of it). The concert was great again this year, and I came right home and put on some Christmas music. I'm excited to break out my favorite Christmas albums: the Niel Diamond Christmas album (great Christmas music with a Jewish flare) and the John Denver and The Muppets Christmas album (brings back great memories; my parents had this on a record when I was very little). What are some of your favorite Christmas albums?

Book Review: Rouhg Stone Rollnig

2007-10-21T15:07:00.000-06:00

I finally made it through Richrad Bushman's Biography of J Smith (I am intentionally misspelling or abbreviating names/words because I don't want a bunch of anti posts on my blog). It took me a while, but I really enjoyed it. I thought Bushman did a nice job of managing all the information out there about J Smith. Its a cultural biography, so Bushman spends some time giving some historical background to J Smith's story. Bushman's historical biography approach was a mixed blessing. Sometimes, I thought Bushman's historical background was mere apologism (I'm not sure that's a word, but you know what I mean), which I didn't especially like (i.e., talking about how many males of J Smith's time had hot tempers to explain away some of J Smith's less-than-model outbursts at people questioning his methodologies). But sometimes, I thought Bushman used the historical background to make some really interesting observations. For example, when discussing the BOM, Bushman talked about how much patriotism and pride in the United States' form of government there was at the time the BOM was being translated, especially in the northeastern states, where many residents, including J Smith, had ancestors who had fought in the Revolutionary War. Then Bushman pointed out how the governmental structures that the BOM singles out as ideal are monarchies and systems of judges, which were models following the Old Testament, and which were a far cry from the secular, republican democracy established in the United States. If the BOM were a product of J Smith's cultural heritage, instead of translation, one would expect to find, Bushman argues, more favorable discussion of democracies.

The other point I wanted to make was that, while I really enjoyed this book, it was not always easy to read. I say this as a credit to Bushman. I don't refer to the fact that it was long and dense, but rather, that Bushman does not shy away from some of the things about J Smith that are more difficult to swallow, particularly the stuff about polygmy. This book is ultimately faith-promoting, but to say it wasn't also faith-challenging at times would be, at least for me, untrue. Bushman faces these challenges head on, and ends on a very positive and uplifting note. I'm glad I read the book, and I feel that I have a fuller testimony of J Smith, the BOM, and the church for having read it. It was especially cool to be able to read a large chunk of it while I was back in Missouri and Nauvoo at the church history sites with family this past summer.

Celebrity Sightings: Looking for Lindsay Lohan

2007-10-09T12:05:00.000-06:00

Who cares if one of the newest Nobel Lauretes lives in Utah. Our beloved State's most famous new resident is none other than Lindsay Lohan! That's right, celebrity fantasy leaguers beware, Lindsay is returning to her good girl ways, and her first step in that process is becoming a resident of Utah. She's trying to stay away from the L.A. party scene that keeps dragging her down into the depths of addiction. Here she is in her own words: "I'm staying in Utah until it's time to shoot 'Dare to Love Me,' and then I plan on returning to Utah so I can stay focused, and avoid other distractions." (see http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7127670). Musingian welcomes Lindsay to Utah and hopes she finds peace. Look for Lindsay Lohan at the next multi-stake regional dance!

Facebook Superstar

2007-09-18T08:26:00.000-06:00

In my ongoing quest to expand my online presence, I have started a facebook account. Blogging is a great way to stay connected with people, but I have a lot of friends who facebook and don't blog, so I decided to expand my horizons too. Plus, its so hot right now. I'm still trying to figure out how to do it, but it seems pretty cool. Any tips from you experienced facebookers out there?

Mesa Falls Marathon

2007-09-08T13:13:00.000-06:00

Many of you know that I have spent much of the summer training for a marathon. I can't say its been the funnest thing to train for--way too much running. I think its much better on you body if you mix your exercises up a bit. But the day finally came to run the marathon, and I did it. I can't imagine a more beautiful place to run a marathon. The marathon started at 6:30 am in the middle of Targhee National Forest. It was about 40 degrees outside, but it didn't feel too cold because the adrenaline was pumping. We got started, and the first nine miles of the race was on a national forest service dirt road through the forest. It was so beautiful. You would be running through thick trees and would round a corner to find a stunning mountain meadow. And to the East, the sun was rising over the Tetons. Just seeing the red sunrise over the Tetons was worth the price of admission. You would also occasionally hear a moose or wolves greeting the morning.

After the nine miles in the forest, we ran down a paved road past Lower Mesa Falls, which was also quite pretty. Just after mile 13, I was Grace and Katie, who were there cheering me on. Their cheers were needed because we then dropped down into an old railroad trail that ran along the Warm river. The views were spectacular again, but my lack of training on trails caught up to me, and my IT band flared up. My knee just killed. I quickly downed the advil that I had in my pocket, and I had to stop and walk a lot of the trail (which I didn't mind because it was so beautiful).

After the trial, we had a three mile long climb out of Bear Gulch, which was killer. My knee was still killing, so I had to alternate walking and running every five minutes or so. But after climbing out of the gulch, it was only six miles of rolling farmland to the finish. I had to stop and rest my knee fairly often, but I kept plugging away, and Katie, Grace, and my parents were there cheering me along.

We ran through the booming metropolis of Ashton, Idaho for the last mile of the race. I was feeling good, and I thought I was there. But at mile 26, with .2 miles left to go, I encountered an unexpected obstacle--a train crossing with a train beginning to cross. I was shocked. The train was being pulled along very slowly by a tractor. I looked down to see how long the trail was, and I didn't see an end to the train. At the slow speed that it was moving, I was going to have to sit and wait for five minutes for the train to pass--unless I could beat the train. I summoned all of my strength and began to sprint (not an easy feat after 26 miles. I had to veer left to make sure I had plenty of clearance, but I made it. After that, it was an easy .1 mile to the finish. What a great feeling! It was fun being cheered by family and friends.

I made a little video montage commemorating the event. Enjoy:

Nauvoo

2007-08-13T19:19:00.000-06:00

Katie's parents were generous enough to bring us along on their trip to Nauvoo. It was so much fun. We flew into Kansas City, Missouri and saw the sites in Missouri (Independence, Liberty, Far West, and Adam Ondi Aman). Then we drove to Nauvoo and spent a few days there. My favorite part by far was the temple. It is so beautiful, both inside and out. Its such a great tribute to the early saints who built the first one. It was fun seeing all the other historic sites as well.

We also got to see plenty of musical theater, which Grace loved. She would just sit and stare at the stage, amazed, while the actors sang and danced. I've never seen her sit still for so long. It was a great trip and a great testimony builder. We took a ton of cool pictures, so I put them together in a little montage. I hope you enjoy it.

Fun in the Sun Valley

2007-07-28T17:16:00.000-06:00

Last week, Katie, Grace, and I made our first trek up to the Utah State Bar convention in Sun Valley, Idaho. We love Sun Valley, and I got the firm to pay for enough of the trip to make it worth it to go. We had a great time. I spent the mornings in classes that were mostly boring, but I need to attend a certain number of continuing education classes to stay licensed. While I was in classes, Katie and Grace got to lounge around the hotel. When I got back from classes, we walked around town, went on some runs, ate good food, and bought some ice cream. The weather was great, and we had a great time. We had to come home a little early so that we could go to Nuavoo with Katie's family (watch for a forthcoming post on that), but we had such a fun time, we'll have to go back.

First Fruits

2007-07-18T16:47:00.000-06:00

We planted a little vegetable garden this year, and it has really done well. I didn't expect much because I just dug up some irises that were being overgrown by grass to make the garden. I thought it would take a while to bring the soil along. I just worked in a few bags of fertilizer at the beginning of the year and have been watering with miracle grow regularly, and the vegetables have really taken off. The tomatoes are going crazy, and the zucchini is huge. The pepper plants are still a little small, but they're starting to bear fruit. We picked the first ripe cherry tomatoes yesterday, and they taste great. Can't wait to eat all the fresh summer vegetables picked fresh from our garden.

Odes to Chuck

2007-07-10T14:02:00.001-06:00

One of the highlights of Youth Conference was hiking around the Double Arch and telling Chuck Norris facts. I heard some that I hadn't heard before, and we were all laughing pretty hard. I am guessing that you all have been enlightened by at least a few Chuck Norris fact, but just in case you haven't, I decided to dedicate a post to it. Chuck Norris facts have become an online rage and are pretty pervasive now. There are thousands and thousands of "facts" about Chuck Norris all over the internet, but I think this is the main site for them. Here are some of my favorites:

There is no chin under Chuck Norris' beard. There is only another fist.
Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
Ninjas want to grow up to be just like Chuck Norris. But usually they grow up just to be killed by Chuck Norris.
Most people have 23 pairs of chromosomes. Chuck Norris has 72... and they're all poisonous.
Someone once tried to tell Chuck Norris that roundhouse kicks aren't the best way to kick someone. This has been recorded by historians as the worst mistake anyone has ever made.
Chuck Norris is the only human being to display the Heisenberg uncertainty principle -- you can never know both exactly where and how quickly he will roundhouse-kick you in the face.
When Chuck Norris falls in water, Chuck Norris doesn't get wet. Water gets Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris ordered a Big Mac at Burger King, and got one.
Hellen Keller's favorite color is Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris eats beef jerky and craps gunpowder. Then, he uses that gunpowder to make a bullet, which he uses to kill a cow and make more beef jerky. Some people refer to this as the "Circle of Life."
Along with his black belt, Chuck Norris often chooses to wear brown shoes. No one has DARED call him on it. Ever.
Chuck Norris can set ants on fire with a magnifying glass. At night.

And my favorite: Chuck Norris has counted to infinity. Twice.

There are tons of them and most are pretty entertaining. What are your favorites?

The Strength of Youth

2007-07-05T11:45:00.000-06:00

I spent last weekend in south eastern Utah with the youth in our ward for Youth Conference (I am the secretary of our ward's Young Mens organization). We camped in Green River State Park, which is right on the Green River in Green River, UT. It was a nice campground. We spend one day rafting the Green (the rapids were pretty wimpy, but its always fun to spend a day on the river). And on Saturday, we drove down to Arches National Park and did an early morning hike to Delicate Arch, followed by quick hikes to Double Arch and Devils Playground.

Everyone had a great time, and I was yet again amazed at how good these kids are. All the kids got along really well with each other, they stuck together, they were grateful and helpful, and they happily did everything we asked them to do. We never had to get on them for staying up too late, for being too loud, for texting or listening to iPods while we were talking, for straying too far from the group, etc. Basically, they made it really easy on us leaders. One night, some Young Women leaders from another camp came up to us and said that they had found out that their girls were planning a midnight rendevous with some boys from another camp. We didn't even sweat it because we knew our boys wouldn't do that. And they didn't. I love being in Young Mens because I am consistently blown away by how good these kids are. They're smart, they work hard, they are kind, and they are very sensitive to spiritual things. I love it. They're great examples for me.

Catching Up on Movies

2007-06-26T16:24:00.000-06:00

I don't know why the flu is going around in the middle of June, but it is, and I got it. It was miserable, but it did offer me an opportinity to catch up on some movies that I have been meaning to see. I sent Katie to the nearest Redbox to pick me up some movies, and we got Rocky Balboa, Casino Royale, and Stranger Than Fiction. I had heard good things about all of these movies and was excited to watch them.

I started with Rocky Balboa. I have been excited to see this one for a long time, and it didn't dissapoint. Even Katie enjoyed it. I got the sense that Stalone was trying to channel the first Rocky a little more (bringing back "little Marie," spending most of the screen time on exploring characters rather than fights, having Rocky flash back to all the good times from the first movie, having Rocky lose the bout but win the battle). I have to admit, as good as the first Rocky was, I missed the formulaic but exilerating plot where Rocky overcomes incredible odds to beat the bad guy. I didn't especially like that Rocky lost the fight in a split decision. I wanted him to knock Mason "the Line" Dixon out. I also didn't like how they tried to make Mason "the Line" Dixon a good guy. Make him a cocky, arrogant punk who needs Rocky to teach him a lesson.

Then I watched Stranger Than Fiction. I thought it was entertaining and fun. I thought Will Ferrel did a nice job making his character so likeable, which had to happen for the story to work.

Finally, I watched Casino Royal. I thought it rocked. It had great action sequences, but you didn't feel like there were so many action sequences that there wasn't any time to develop a plot (or that they were trying mask the lack of a plot). I thought Daniel Craid was an awesome James Bond, way better than Pierce Brosnan. He was everything James Bond should be: tough, cool, simmering, smart-alleckey, etc. I had a hard time believing that he actually let his guard down and fell in love with the accountant, probably because we've seen so many James Bond movies where he gets the girl but he doesn't let his guard down. Still, it was a good flick.

New Camera

2007-06-24T20:18:00.000-06:00

Since Grace was born, our picture-taking output has increased exponentially, and I have been dying to get a new camera. We have a great little point-and-shoot camera that does a great job--and I have no room to complain when there are starving children in Africa--but it would kill me when we would miss a great picture because our camera was so slow. We would get Grace to smile for a moment, but by the time the flash geared up and the camera warmed up, the smile was long gone and Grace was looking off elsewhere. It doesn't take the clearest, most colorful pictures either. So, after much longing, much research, and much saving, I finally said goodbye to shutter lag. I bought myself a new digital SLR. I opted for the Nikon d40. And now that I have a nice camera, I imagine I will channel my inner photographer more, which means that I will probably be posting pictures more often on my blog. I hope that will be an improvement. We've tried the camera out a little over the weekend. Here are some of the results.

Curse Bush

2007-06-18T21:33:00.000-06:00

I'm posting a link to this great article that appeared in Time magazine last week. It is really interesting and really well-written. It talks about a recent decision by a federal court of appeals (one step below the US Supreme Court). In the case, the FCC had fined a number of stations that aired a live awards show that featured Nichole Richie, among others, using profanity. But the court said that that the fines were unreasonable. In making its decision, the court looked at societal norms and determined that profanity wasn't such an uncommon thing as to warrant these large fines. But the interesting part of the decision was that, in saying that profanity wasn't such a big deal, the court cited to recent profane gaffes by President Bush and Vice President Cheney (hence my clever title to this post). Basically, the court said that if Cheney can drop the F-bomb on the Senate floor, then Nichole Richie can do so on an awards show. The article riffs on the irony of the court's decision to use this administration as an example of profanity and how we can now curse Bush, who won two elections by playing strongly to the morality/family values card, for making it possible for Nichole Richie to drop the F-bomb with impunity.

Real, China, the First Amendment, and International Diplomacy

2007-06-11T22:08:00.000-06:00

The other day, I went with my dad to a Real Salt Lake soccer game where they played the Chinese national team. It was a fun game. The weather was a little cool but not too bad. We sat in front of a couple of really funny guys, who kept cracking jokes. Real won on a pretty cool goal (assisted by our friend Chris Brown). But what made the game really interesting was that some of the officials from the Chinese national team stopped the game midway through the second half because some hecklers were waving Tibetan and Taiwanese flags. The Chinese officials threatened to stop the game if the hecklers didn't put away their flags. The hecklers also had Chairman Mao masks and signs that read "Defect Here," but what really made the Chinese officials mad was the flags. Eventually, Real's event staff made it over and made the hecklers put away their flags, but the hecklers weren't happy about it.

It got me thinking about the interrelation between free speech, political protest, and hospitality. I think these guys were just hecklers and weren't necessarily serious about making a political statement, but lets pretend that they were protesting in earnest. Do they have a right to be protesting here? I think they might; its a private sporting event, but its on the campus of a state school (which means the First Amendment might have some teeth). But is this the appropriate forum for them to be protesting in? The Chinese national team was here as our guests. Is it part of our duty as hosts to put aside political protest while they are our guests? I get the sense that its probably bad form to invite guests and to then allow them to be berated. I can see the argument that developing strong relationships with China will allow us to gently advocate, as a friend, for causes that we feel are important and that allowing protests might disrupt that agenda. At the same time, I'm sympathetic to the political causes of Tibet and Taiwan, and I think its a legitimate cause to be protesting. If you were the philosopher-king, and someone came to you and said that some people were going to be at the Real vs. China soccer game waving Tibetan and Taiwanese flags in protest, what would you do? I don't know what I would do. I would be interested to hear from any of you that are interested. It may turn on your diplomatic philosophy.

Anyway, sorry for the stream of consciousness post, but I think this is a pretty interesting question.

Saturday Morning

2007-06-03T15:01:00.000-06:00

I took this picture yesterday morning while we were waiting for Katie to get back from her long run (I ran Friday night). When it was about time for Katie to get home, Grace and I went out front to wait for her. Grace played on her blanket while I weeded our front garden and our lawn. Then, we just sat on the blanket and waited for Katie. It was a great morning, and Grace was excited to see Katie running home.

The Best Pizza in Salt Lake?

2007-05-25T15:43:00.000-06:00

Thanks to the small business financing power of Keler and Mountain West Small Business Finance, we have a great new pizza shop here in Salt Lake. Word is starting to spread, and word on the street is that it is the best pizza in the city. Better than The Pie, better than Pizza Factory, better than Little Caesars. I had to try it out myself, and, as Katie is a pizza lover as well, we decided to go there for our anneversary. Its called Settebello, and it specializes in authentic Italian pizza. This review by the Salt Lake Tribune's food critic probably says it best. This is real Italian pizza. They cook the pizzas in a wood fire pizza oven that was made in Naples and cooks the pizzas in a minute or two because temperatures hover around 900 degrees. The flour used to make the pizza dough is imported from a famous Italian mill, and many of the ingredients are also imported from Italy and Europe. The dough is covered in crushed tomatoes and olive oil (not tomato sauce) and large chunks of motzarella. Don't come expecting lots of sauce and processed cheese covering every inch of the crust. If you're importing special pizza flour to make the dough, you want people to be able to taste it. I loved my Settebello pizza. It was full of flavor and quality ingredients. Katie doesn't like this kind of pizza as much and would stick with Pizza Factory. My biggest qualm with the restaurant: there's no desert menu.

So, is this the best pizza in Salt Lake? I would say that it is. But I will have to qualify that and say that if you don't like a more authentic Italian style of pizza, then you won't think this is the best. Juddy and I (and whoever else wants to come) are going to try it again on Saturday before the Jazz game, and then he will be able to lend his discerning palatte to the question of whether this is the best pizza Salt Lake has to offer. Stay tuned.

Wheeler Farm

2007-05-18T09:41:00.001-06:00

Grandpa would be proud. With Spencer, Allison, and Owen in town, my mom had the great idea of going to Wheeler Farm on Monday night for family night, complete with picnic dinner and frozen twinkies. It was a lot of fun. The farm is a lot smaller than I remember. Grace liked most of the animals (except for the sheep) and even pet a horse. Being there brought back a lot of great memories. Here are a few pictures.

1) Having fun with dad
2) Playing with Grandpa (notice the Aggie headband)
3) Surrounded!
4) Grace loved playing in the chicken coop/playhouse.
5) Grace did not like the sheep.

Marathon Update

2007-05-13T16:14:00.000-06:00

Marathon training is in full swing in the Davis household. We ran 10 miles yesterday. That was our first venture into double digits. I don't know how I'm going to do 16 more miles. Katie's dad dropped us off 10 miles up Immigration Canyon, and we ran down. I'm not used to running down hills, so my legs are really sore today, but it feels good. We're right on schedule. Next Saturday: 11 miles.

St. George

2007-05-10T22:51:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Its been a little crazy around here. One of the things that's kept us so busy was a trip to St. George. It was nice and sunny and a great vacation. We borrowed my dad's camera so that we could get some good pictures, and I think we succeeded.

Book Review: The March

2007-04-18T17:02:00.000-06:00

I just finished The March by E.L. Doctorow. I was excited to read it because Ragtime is one of my favorite books, and I really like Doctorow's style. His novels are fictional, but they are often driven by a compelling historical setting (the early 1900's in Ragtime, and end of the Civil War in The March). He has fictional characters interact with historical characters (often taking a good amount of authorial privilege in representing the historical characters in a way that fits into his fictional narrative). Historians blast him for being historically innacurate, but I never saw where he made any claims to historical authenticity. He is telling a story. He also tells the stories of a fairly large number of vastly different characters whose lives criss-cross within the backdrop of the historical setting. This technique is becoming all the rage in Hollywood right now (think Crash and Babel), but post-modern novelists like Doctorow have been doing it for decades.

Anyway, I really enjoyed The March. Good characters, good stories, interesting historical setting.

The Jackie Chiles Law Society

2007-04-15T09:46:00.000-06:00

I wanted to give some props to a new club up at the University of Utah's law school: The Jackie Chiles Law Society. It was started this year by some second year law students, and it has taken the law school by storm. I'm just sorry it wasn't started earlier so that I could have been a part of it. Its named for Jackie Chiles, the hyper-stereotyped attorney on Seinfeld. This is the club's mission statement: "The Jackie Chiles Law Society seeks to analyze America's view of the Law based on how popular culture portrays it. To accomplish this goal, the organization engages legal students, scholars and professionals in meaningful discussion about music, television, movies, and other forms of popular culture that touch on American legal issues." Among other things, they have had criminal law professors deconstruct the trial of Crusty the Clown, they have had one professor talk about Hank Hill's philosophy of federal and administrative law, and they have had an intellectual property professor talk about what we can learn about fair use from Nirvana, Seinfeld, and Uncle Tom's Cabin. But the capstone event was their end-of-year banquet, where Phil Morris, the actor who played Jackie Chiles, was the keynote speaker!

Here's a link to the society's web site. Its actually pretty fun to peruse. They have about 20 officers, including some who are designated experts in certain areas of pop culture (Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Boston Legal, Arrested Development, music, etc.). They also have a video invitation to their end-of-year banquet that is pretty clever.

Their banquet has garnered some media attention. Here's an article about it from the Deseret News, and here's a link to an interview on KCPW (the local NPR affiliate) with the society's founder and with the faculty advisor (the interview is a about 15 minutes long, but its really interesting).

I May Have Missed My Calling in Life

2007-04-09T09:59:00.000-06:00

Last Wednesday, Katie and I went to the bakery at Welfare Square to fill a welfare assignment. The bread had already been made earlier that morning by the employees and service missionaries, and it was up to us to slice and bag the bread. I manned the industrial slicing machine. A service missionary fed the bread loaves into the machine, and I worked the pedal that sliced the loaves. After being sliced, the loaf would fall down to me, and I would slide the bread into a bag that was being filled with air by a fan. I would then hand the bagged loaf of bread to Katie, who would make sure I hadn't punctured the bag and then put a twistie-tie on the bag. Slice, bag, pass to Katie, slice, bag, pass to Katie . . . . It was a delicate waltz, and I was Strauss.

I had to leave a little early to get to work, and as I was leaving, another volunteer approached me. He said that he had volunteered at the bakery for years and had never seen someone work the slicer machine so expertly. I may have missed my calling as an industrial machinist.

A Few Thoghts on Writing

2007-04-03T09:21:00.000-06:00

One of my judge's favorite quotes on writing is by Elmore Leonard: "I try to leave out the parts that people skip." Its a great quote, and its great advise. I have the good fortune to spend a good portion of every day writing. I write memoranda recommending dispositions on the various cases we hear at the court, and I write drafts of opinions that we publish announcing the results of the case and explaining the law supporting those results. I feel like I have progressed as a writer in my time here at the court.

My judge is an exceptional writer, and I have learned a lot of good things about writing from him. I have learned to leave out the parts that people skip (overwrought "roadmaps"); I have learned not to start a sentence with "however" because it sounds too ponderous; I have learned not to let writing get too easy (in legal writing, there are lots of terms that are so overused that they are almost cliches, like the word "progeny"); and I have learned that it is worth your time to incorporate metaphors and tropes into your writing.

Metaphor and trope is my judge's specialty. He spends a lot of time editing our draft opinions and adding what he calls his "rhetorical flourishes." Here is an excellent example: "Arguments based on symmetry have a superficial appeal because they appear to be linked to equal treatment and thus to fundamental fairness. But more often than not, symmetry is quickly exposed as a false prophet of fairness. This is one such case." State v. Robison, 147 P.3d 448.

Here's to good writing and to all of us continuing our blogging (or starting to blog) as a continued outlet to sharpen our writing skills.

Cheney at BYU

2007-03-28T15:56:00.000-06:00

I don't know how many of you have heard this, but Vice President Cheney called BYU and asked if he could speak at their commencement. No other school was willing to take him, but, for some reason, BYU was. I think it is a poor decision that reflects poorly on BYU and on its friends and alumni. Aside from his office, I can't imagine how Vice President Cheney--who, among other things, championed the war in Iraq under questionable terms, awarded no-bid reconstruction contracts to friends and donors, and calls anyone who questions him "unamerican"--could be considered a good commencement speaker.

If you also think that it is a bad idea to have Vice President Cheney speak at BYU's commencement, then you can sign this online petition asking the BYU administration to decline the Vice President's request to speak at commencement. I just signed it, and I was 1,099th to sign. Here was my comment that accompanied my signature: "BYU should respectfully decline Vice President Cheney's request to speak at its commencement exercises. Over the past six years, the Vice President has repeatedly demonstrated political mediocrity and moral flexibility. A commencement speaker should be an enlightening and inspirational figure. I will be sorry if the class of '07 is not afforded that opportunity."

W. Speaks on Global Warming

2007-03-23T11:16:00.000-06:00

I'm glad the president finally came out with a statement about global warming. I was beginning to get a little tired of Al Gore's junk science and hypocritical powerpoints.

Basketball Weekend

2007-03-19T11:31:00.000-06:00

It was a pretty good weekend of basketball. Here were the highlights for me:

Best game: Texas A&M v. Louisville. This was a real heavyweight battle that felt more like a elite eight or final four game than a second round matchup. Both of these teams were really good, and the entire game was closely contested with each team making one big, clutch play after another. Even with fifteen minutes left in the game, it felt like every shot/play was huge.

Best moment: When the little point guard from VCU, who had been getting into it a little bit with Duke's annoying point guard Greg Paulus, took over in the final few minutes and lead VCU to victory. After he hit the game-winning shot over Paulus with one second left, he just stared Paulus down. It was great seeing the Dukies go down hard.

Most disappointing game: BYU v. Xavier. BYU blew it. BYU had its best team in years, and it had several solid leads throughout the game. But it gave the game away. See Jayme's post.

My bracket: this is one of the best brackets I've had in years, probably because of the real dearth of major upsets. For the first time that I can remember, the two teams that I picked to be in the championship game are still alive, although I'm starting to second-guess my Texas A&M pick (they are playing great ball, and I really like their team, but I think they have the hardest road to the final four than anyone).

March Madness

2007-03-14T16:54:00.000-06:00

Let the madness begin. I can't wait for tomorrow. I have carefully deliberated my bracket picks, trying to pick the right upsets and to predict the ultimate champion. Here's a brief summary:

My final four picks: Florida, Kansas, Georgetown, and Texas A&M (I have Kansas beating Texas A&M in the final).

Upset specials: in my most daring upset special, I picked Texas A&M Corpus Christie to upset Wisconsin (sorry Cblakes). I will either look like a total genius or a total idiot on this one. A&M Corpus Christie beat Northwestern State in their conference tournament final to get their bid, and I really like Northwestern State (they played Utah State really close last year, I picked them as an upset special in last year's tournament and they came through with a win over 2-seed Ohio State, and they destroyed Utah State this year). So I've got a good feeling about them. I also picked Winthrop over Notre Dame (a common pick), VCU over Duke (another common pick), and Albany over Virginia (Albany beat Utah, Utah beat Virginia, therefore Albany must beat Virginia, right?).

Helping Hippies

2007-03-12T16:27:00.000-06:00

Sorry to post about another Utah Supreme Court opinion, but I'm pretty proud of this one. We worked pretty hard on it. It provides protection for pot smokers everywhere. You should all be proud. Its a pretty accessible opinion, so even you non-lawyer types would probably enjoy reading it. But if you don't want to wade through the opinion, here's a link to an article on the opinion from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Staying on the topic of helping hippies, I went to a pretty interesting place for lunch today. Its called One World, and its like stepping into Haight-Ashbury circa mid-1960s. The restaurant is based on two core philosophies: everybody eats and eliminate waste. There are no set prices for the food; you pay what you feel the food is worth, based on what and how much you eat. If you can't afford to pay what you feel the food is worth, then you can work for them for an hour to pay for your meal. Also, they have some rice and beans up front that is always free for whoever wants to eat it.

To eliminate waste, they don't have any serving sizes. You ask for as much as you think you will eat, and they ask that you eat it. You can always come back for more if you want more. And when you clear your dishes, you clear the food that you haven't eaten into a compost bin.

The atmosphere is also very unique. The employees--all first or second generation hippies--are extremely nice and helpful. There is a selection of soups, salads, and vegetables with ample vegan and vegetarian samplings (if there was meat on the premises, I couldn't find it). The dishes and silverware are all of the mix-matched, thrift store variety. The decor is equally eclectic and likely taken from various thrift stores. Instead of one large eating area, there are several separate rooms with comfortable seating arrangements.

The philosophy behind the place is actually really cool. I had some black bean soup. It had black beans and some other organic-looking things floating around in there. They kind of looked like the mosquito larvae that would sometimes end up in your water cup in Argentina. It was pretty bland. They should have found some organic peppers to spice it up a little. I also had a mixed green salad, and a carrot salad with some organic yeast something-or-other. It was ok. If the food weren't so bland and meatless, I would probably go there more often.

Anneversary

2007-03-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

Musingian celebrated its one year anneversary on Saturday (March 3). Its been a fun year, and its been fun being a blogger. Here's what I love about blogging:

Interacting with family and friends on an almost daily basis
Being able to brag about Katie and Grace
Keeping a journal-like record of what's going on in my life
Discussing interesting and important social topics
Recording past memories
The self-satisfaction that comes from making a clever joke or writing a good sentence.
Keeping up my writing skills
Getting excited when a post generates good discussion
Opening my blog to find that a new comment has been posted
Linking with blogs of friends and family
Coming up with new ideas for blog posts
Seeing that people from all over the world have visited my blog
Seing my blog's readership consistently increase

Thanks for visiting my blog and for commenting often. Here's to another year of blogging.

New Vocabulary

2007-02-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

I saw a cool special on some evening news show that was talking about the power of YouTube and how people are using it to launch themselves into stardom outside of the normal channels of distribution. It seemed like everyone was using one word to describe it: viral. I thought that was a really cool use of the word (sorry, I am a nerd and I do think about cool word usage). They used it to describe the phenomenon of how a video will get passed on from email to email and gets linked from blog to blog and will cover the world in a matter of days. So if you put a video on YouTube that becomes really popular and people get it passed to them in an email and then they pass it on themselves, then your video "goes viral," analogizing, of course, to computer viruses sent over the world through email, etc.

Here's a good example. The tv special highlighted the music group OK Go and how they used YouTube to launch their music career. They had been around for a while and had a funny video that one of the band members sisters had choreographed. That video had been somewhat popular on YouTube, but then they came out with the song "Here It Goes Again," and they got the same bandmember's sister to choreograph their video for that song. She had the idea of doing a dance on treadmills. They did it, and the video went viral. Many of you have probably already seen it. The video has almost 12 million hits on YouTube, the group performed their song and dance on the MTV Video Music Awards, they have sold tons of records, Nike has a marketing campaign using their song, and now there's a supermarket comercial copying the video using the checkout belts instead of treadmills. Anyway, I thought the use of "viral" was interesting and worthy of Musingian's attention(I'm referring to the blog, not to myself in third person).

Interesting Decision by the Utah Supreme Court

2007-02-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Fairly regularly, there are some really interesting and important cases up at the Utah Supreme Court. Jones v. Barlow is one of them. In the case, a lesbian couple decided to have a child together. They did everything they could to approximate the family relationship (civil union, etc.). But after a few years, the birth mother decided she didn't want to practice that lifestyle any more and removed her daughter from the situation. The non-birth mother wants visitation rights, but the birth mother doesn't want that to happen. This case is about whether the non-birth mother has standing to petition for visitation--i.e., whether the non-birth mother has a legal right to ask a court for visitation. The Utah Supreme Court held that the non-birth mother didn't have a legally-recognized relationship with the child and it declined to create such a right on its own. Chief Justice Durham dissented, arguing that the court should have created such a right on its own. Here's an article from the Salt Lake Tribune about the case. I think its a poor article. The reporter wasn't able to see through the parties' rhetoric to the actual substance of the opinion. Here's a link to the article. And if you're interested enough to read the actual opinion, here it is.

Mozzarella & Basil Stuffed Chicken

2007-02-15T21:24:00.002-07:00

I got a few requests for the recipe for the meal I fixed for Katie for our early Valentine's. It was easy to make and quite tasty. Katie and I both highly recommend it. Thanks to the good folks at America's Test Kitchen, here's the recipe:

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup minced fresh basil [I just used dried basil]
2 T. heavy cream [I substituted milk]
1 T. lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 T. Mayonaise
1 cup fresh bread crumbs [I choped up a couple pieces of bread in the food processor, but you could just buy the bread crumbs]
2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Combine cheese, 2 T. of basil, cream, lemon juice, 2 tsp. garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste [adding the cream or milk to the store-bought mozzarella is supposed to bring out more of an authentic, dairy-like flavor in the cheese].
2. Cut pocket in [in the thickest part of the ] chicken breasts [because there's no marinade, the chicken gets a lot of the flavor from this stuffing, so make sure the pocket you cut goes deep into the chicken breast], stuff with cheese mixture, and seal [with toothpicks]. Transfer stuffed breasts to 13 by 9-inch baking dish and spread tops evenly with mayonnaise [the mayonnaise is just there to make the bread crumbs stick, so you don't need much].
3. Combine bread crumbs, remaining garlic, remaining 2 T. of basil, and 1 T of oil [I used a little more oil]. Sprinkle crumb mixture over chicken, pressing lightly to adhere.
4. Toss tomatoes with remaining tablespoon oil [I used more oil here, too. I think if it were summer and the tomatoes were a little more juicy, you wouldn't need as much oil because you would have more tomato juice], 1/2 tsp. salt, and pepper to taste. Arrange in baking dish around chicken. Bake until crumbs are golden brown and thickest part of chicken registered 160 degrees on instant-read thermometer, about 25 minutes [I only had two really thick chicken breasts, so I cooked the chicken for a little longer; I covered the chicken with tin foil for the first 10-15 minutes, so I wouldn't burn the bread crumbs and the tomatoes, then I took the tin foil off and baked the chicken for another 25 minutes]. Serve.

Book/Play Review: Arcadia

2007-02-10T00:07:00.000-07:00

I got a collection of Tom Stoppard's plays for Christmas (cleverly titled 5 Plays). On Christmas night, I took the collection with me up to Katie's family cabin up at Alta, and I read the entire first play, Arcadia, the next day. It was phenomenal. Sometimes plays are hard to read, and understandably so since they are written to be seen. But this play was a delight to read. It reminded me a lot of Oscar Wilde's plays. Like Wilde, Stoppard continuously plays with words through puns, double entendre, and other wordplay. But while Wilde's plays are playful and farcical, this play is playful, farcical, and philosophical. Stoppard incorporates and plays with theories from math, history, psychology, literature, and landscape architecture to explore themes about the meaning of history, what motivates us to act, and the determinability of the present, and it is all fascinating (you would think that a play that dives into a little basic calculus would be terribly boring, but you would be wrong).

The play itself takes place in a single house/estate in England, but it switches back and forth in time from the present to the early 1800's (in the heart of the English Romanticism period). Some of the characters in the present are academics trying to uncover what happened in the early 1800's in a series of events involving Lord Byron. And in the scenes set in the early 1800's, we see what really happened. Think Possession by A.S. Byatt but funny. It is quite funny and quite brilliant.

A note on Stoppard: he has written a number of plays, many of which are supposed to be as fantastic as Arcadia, but he has also done some screenwriting. He won an Academy Award for screenwriting for Shakespeare in Love. And he is rumored to have assisted George Lukas to polish up the dialogue in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (which I could believe because the dialogue is quite good) and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (which I can't believe because the dialogue, although improved from Episode I and II, is still terrible). He is currently working on The Bourne Ultimatum.

I highly recommend picking up Arcadia or another of Stoppard's well-regarded plays.

Mesa Falls Marathon

2007-02-07T17:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right. I have resolved to run a marathon. I have always wanted to run a marathon. I remember when I was quite young my Uncle Cory was training for a marathon (I believe; my memories of my childhood are far from perfect), and I thought it was really cool. Since then, I have always admired people who ran marathons. My resolve to run one strengthened at BYU when one of my roommates ran the St. George. We lived together over the summer, so we saw how hard he trained. After the race, he couldn't stop raving about what an awesome experience it was to finish the marathon. Ever since then, I really wanted to do one, and I added it to my list of 100 things to do before I die. I did a few minor biathalons (swimming and running) while at BYU, but I have never been able to fully gear up for a marathon. I have always had a good excuse: I refused to run in the winter (I still stand by this one), I was studying for the bar, I was too busy with work and school, I didn't have an iPod, etc. But circumstances have lined up this summer in a way that has melted away all of my previous excuses: I won't have to train in the winter to run a late summer marathon, I don't have school, I have a flexible job, and I have an iPod. I figure its now or never, so lets get it on.

I decided to run the Mesa Falls Marathon. It is a small marathon, but it is supposed to be an absolutely beautiful and well-organized race. It is a late August run that is mostly downhill. It starts on a Targhee National Forrest park road and works its way down towards Ashton, Idaho. Along the way, there are amazing views of Targhee, the Tetons, the Warm River, and Lower Mesa Falls on the Henry's Fork of the Snake River. Ashton is about 40 minutes from West Yellowstone, so I am planning on spending a few days before the race exploring the area. It will be a great time (aside from the excruciating pain often suffered by marathon runners).

I am excited to run it and am recruiting other participants (one of the interns from our court's chambers has already joined with me because he is from Ashton). There is strength in numbers, so you are all welcome to join in our training. There is also a half marathon for those of you who don't want to do the full marathon. And, of course, even if you don't want to run, you can come explore Yellowstone with us and then fish or sleep or something while we are running.

To My Fellow Bloggers

2007-02-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

More and more of my friends and family are joining the blogosphere (Chantalle being the most recent, but hopefully not the last), and I think it is awesome. It is such a great way to share pictures, to keep up to date with people's lives, to keep up on our writing skills, and to engage in witty banter among friends.

I would like to recomment Google Analytics to all of my fellow bloggers. It is a cool program that tracks the visits to your blog. The coolest feature (at least for me) is that it has a big map of the world, and it shows where the people visiting your blog are visiting from. Just this week, I got a hit from the Philipines, which was a first. I have had hits from Spain, England, Sweden, Argentina, and Mexico, along with many others from across the United States. Its amazing how easy it is to connect with people all over the world.

Google Analytics also tracks how many visits you have had in the past week (I get about 75 per week, many of which are probably my own hits). And it will tell you what search terms people have used to find your site (my post about midevil names has garnered the most search engine attention by far, with many people searching for midevil name ideas (I'm glad we offered up some good ones)).

Its really easy to install, and I think its a fun little thing to keep track of. Enjoy.

Pilgrimage

2007-01-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

As the only member of the family (that I know of) to have made a pilgrimage to the land of our fathers, I feel an obligation to share my experiences. For those readers who are not family members, you probably already guessed this (based on my feather-light feet, my antelope-like quickness, and my keen hunting instincts), but I am part Native American. Yes, it is true. My family descends from the Indian princess Pocahontas, daughter of the great chief Powhatan. We have suffered some persecution because of this noble ancestry. When Amber told her elementary school teacher that she was related to Pocahontas, her teacher ridiculed her, and, since that scarring incident, Amber has ridiculed the rest of us for our 'foolish belief in the traditions of our fathers.' Still, many of us remain proud of our noble heritage.

A couple of summers ago, I went with Katie's family to the D.C./Williamsburg area, as Katie's dad had some meetings back there. We saw the sights in D.C. and spent a day in Williamsburg (which is one of the coolest places I've been). But we also went to Jamestown, the first successful settlement in the New World. It was there that our noble grandmother pled wither her father, the great Chief Powhatan, to spare the lives of the settlers. It is beautiful country. The marsh grass is green, and the trees are as ancient as the stars. I can only imagine how beautiful it was before the white man scarred the land with his buildings made of stone and steel. It had a familiar feeling, like a place you would go to in a vision quest. It felt like coming home, and I felt my blood running strong that day, like a herd of bison.

We heard the tour guide speak of the hardships suffered by the settlers. There was a statue of Pocahontas that had been erected in her honor. I had to laugh that the white man chose to memorialize her with cold, hard materials (the same cold, hard materials that they had used to drive the Native Americans from their native lands). Still, I appreciated the gesture of the statute, and I paid homage to these great people, my ancestors.

But what may have been most rewarding was the validation of my family's claim to being descendants of this great tribe. Next to the statue, there was a sign describing Pocahontas' life. It explains her intercession between the settlers and her father, her marriage to John Rolfe, her trip to England, her return back to America, the death of her only daughter, and the survival of her only son. The sign concludes by noting that many Americans claim to descend from Pocahontas through this son. I interpreted this to mean that my family's claim was not some romantic dream created to excite the imagination of the children in the family, but a legitimate ancestral claim.

Book/DVD Exchange for Christmas '06

2007-01-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

Amber's book recommendation in her comment on my last post gave me this idea. Because my family didn't get to do our book exchange this year at Christmas, I would like to do one here. Every year, on my mom's side of the family, we get together on Christmas Eve (attendance has grown more and more scarce as we have married and have other families to visit, but it still generally happens). Part of our Christmas party is a spin on the white elephant game. We basically use the rules of the white elephant game, but instead of bringing a gag gift, we bring one of our favorite books or movies. It can be one or our all-time favorite books/movies or it can just be one of our favorites out of the books/movies we have read/seen in the past year. It is quite fun, and we all walk away with a cool new book/DVD and lots of other ideas for good books to read.

So, because we didn't get to do our book exchange this year, I would ask everyone to comment and suggest a few books/movies.

I will start. I would probably bring the play Arcadia by Tom Stoppard. It is absolutely brilliant! I finished it just after Christmas, and I haven't gotten around to reviewing it here yet; stay tuned for that. I might also recommend Elder Maxwell's biography, which is very interesting and well-written (a major plus, since many biographies about LDS leaders aren't very well-written, I feel). I also liked All Over But the Shoutin', which I reviewed here. As for movies, I really liked The Prestige, although I am not very qualified to give movie recommendations because I haven't seen hardly any since Grace was born.

Book Review: Cities of the Plain

2007-01-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

If there is a better living American author out there, I would like to know about him or her. Cormac McCarthy is just so good. Cities of the Plain is the third title in his Border Trilogy and is equally good as the first two books in series, All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing. As with the first two novels, you have a story set in the Southwest, near the Mexican border, where underspoken cowboys live in a changing world that is starting to phase them out. You also have McCarthy's standards: excuisite writing, a blind sage, brutal fights, and interesting asides into philosphy. This book brings together the main characters from the first two books--John Grady Cole from All the Pretty Horses and Billy Parham from The Crossing. John Grady falls in love with a young Mexican prostitute, who he wants to marry and bring back to the United States. He must wrest her away from her Mexican owner/pimp, however, which is not a rosy proposition. The story and the dialogue are always deceptively simple but endlessly interesting. I would love to read some literary criticism on McCarthy's novels because you always get the sense that there is more there than what you can get out of it on the first read.

In related news, McCarthy just came out with a new book called The Road, which is supposed to be awesome. We got it for Spencer for Christmas, so he'll have to let us know what he thinks of it.

State v. Bradshaw

2007-01-05T23:28:00.000-07:00

The first opinion that I did a lot of the work on, State v. Bradshaw, just got published (here's a pdf viewable online if you're interested: www.utcourts.gov/opinions/supopin/Bradshaw2122906.pdf). I wrote a couple of early drafts. Then Justice Nehring did some substantial editing. Then I did another strong edit or two, and it was ready to go (after being read and edited by the other Justices and law clerks at the court). Its a criminal case involving the Utah communications fraud statute. We had to define what a "scheme or artifice" was a little better. I have to be careful about what I say about it, so I'll just let the opinion speak for itself. Its a fairly interesting case. We've got some more interesting cases coming down the pipeline here soon, so I'll let you know when those come out.

Ian & Katie's Costa Rican Adventure

2006-12-30T19:44:00.000-07:00


I wanted to try loading some video onto my blog (inspired by Cblakes), so this is the video you get. This is a little video montage I put together of our trip to Costa Rica. Its over a year old, but I still think its a pretty cool video with some pretty cool pictures. Maybe it will inspire some of you to take a trip to Costa Rica. Pura Vida!

The Canadians Hoarked Our Idea, Eh

2006-12-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

Cblakes and I did a lot of smooth things while we were down at BYU together, but one of the smoothest things we did was to make a romantic fire video. While languishing away in our little apartments during the long months of Provo's winter, we longed for the comfort of warm fire. We longed to curl up in front of a cozy fireplace with a book and a warm cup of cocoa. So we decided to do something about it. We made our own fireplace. With the help of either Mike or Judd (I can't remember which one of you was on a mission and which one was helping us at this time), we got a camcorder and recorded the gas fire at Jim and Jane's for about an hour or so. While we were recording the fire, we played smooth, romantic songs for background music. The finished result: a video of a warm, inviting fire that we could play on our apartment TV that played smooth love songs in the background. We were very proud of it. Tell me that idea and execution were not brilliant. What girl could resist such charms?

So what do I find out the other day from my cousin Whitney's (the Canadian) blog (http://whitneyjdavis.blogspot.com)? The Canadians have hoarked our idea. Not only do they have a cable station that just plays video of a fireplace with Christmas background music, but you can also buy DVDs that do the same thing! I'm not sure whether to be mad because the Canadians hoarked our idea or to admire them for their brilliance.

Welcome to the Blogosphere

2006-12-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

I hope you will all join me in giving Katie a warm welcome into the blogosphere! She has started a blog, and we have been working on getting it ready for the public for the last couple of weeks. It is now ready to launch. Enjoy: www.katiecafe.blogspot.com

Stupid Microsoft

2006-12-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

This is a really funny video review of Windows' new operating system, Vista. It compares Vista with Mac's OS X. Its short, and I promise you will like it. It appears that this guy does weekly video reviews of technology-related things for the New York Times, and the few that I looked at were pretty funny. This might be a site to bookmark, especially for technology buffs like Cblakes (I don't know why the URL is so long, but it works).

http://video.on.nytimes.com/ifr_main.jsp?nsid=b26f34614:10f8c404286:-3172&rf=sitemap&fr_story=d14603c1e23e6ce37920a8134a2e27b1405a4991&st=1166290646873&mp=FLV&cpf=false&fvn=9&fr=121606_120614_26f34614x10f8bf8e912x694d&rdm=999742.9494534861

More Pics

2006-12-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I posted any pictures of Grace. She is now 4 months old. She got her shots yesterday, and she has been a little fussy, sad, and lethargic. We feel like she is getting pretty big, and she has grown, but she is still only in the 2nd percentile for weight (she's in the 40th percentile in length). But the doctor said she is healthy, so we're happy. She is really aware of her surroundings now and gets excited to see you, which is awesome. She will also "talk" to you with her "goooo"s and her "coooo"s. She loves music and will sometimes "sing" when Katie plays her violin.

Some of these pictures are from Thanksgiving and have Owen in them as well.

Movie Review: The Prestige

2006-12-08T14:27:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, I went and saw The Prestige with Darth Spencer, Rumbler and TJ. It was really good. Its hard to review because you don't want to give anything away. Basically, its a cool story that takes place in an interesting context (19th Century magicians). There are all kinds of twists and turns, which keeps things interesting and keeps the audience guessing. I thought the film-making was quite nice. The cinematography, set design, and costumes were excellent, creating rich images of 19th Century England. And the editing/directing was masterful: the director managed to simultaneously tell the story from three different time periods without confusing the audience and without resorting to flashing dates up on the screen each time the time period changed. The acting was excellent and engaging. My only complaint is that the story seemed to leave a few loose ends, but that flaw is understandable considering how much subject matter the director managed to fit into the 2 hours. Overall, I would highly recommend this movie.

Thanksgiving Ham

2006-11-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

I like turkey, but I like ham better. So this year, I took matters into my own hands and made sure we had ham to go along with our turkey at Thanksgiving dinner. For about a year, I have been wanting to try a ham recipe with a secret ingredient: Dr. Pepper. That's right. I found a recipe for a spiral ham with a Dr. Pepper glaze (I'll provide the recipe at the end of this post, for all those eager to try it). So for Thanksgiving diner this year, I was in charge of preparing the ham, and I made it with the Dr. Pepper glaze. I thought it was quite good and would be interested in anyone else's honest opinion on it. It was really sweet, but I didn't think there was enough of it. You could really taste the glaze on the pieces of ham that were near the bottom of the pan that got soaked in the glaze while it cooked, but the rest of the ham tasted like normal ham. If I had to do it again, I would have doubled the glaze recipe and had half of it available (warmed) just to spoon onto your ham when you dish it onto your plate. Anyway, here's the recipe (thanks to the good people at Cooks Illustrated):

1/2 cup Dr. Pepper
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 Tbs. fresh orange juice
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 spiral-sliced, bone-in ham (7-10 lbs.)

Bring Dr. Pepper, sugar, orange juice, and mustard to boil in medium sacepan. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until mixture is syrupy and measures 3/4 cup, about 8 minutes.
Remove ham from packaging and discard plastic disk that covers bone. Place ham in plastic oven bag, tie bag shut, and trim excess plastic. Set ham cut side down in 13 by 9-inch baking dish and cut 4 slits in top of bag. (If you don't have an oven bag, place ham cut side down in baking dish and wrap tightly with foil). Let stand at room temp. for 1 1/2 hrs.
Adjust oven rack to lowest possible position and heat oven to 250 degrees. Bake ham until center registeres about 100 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours, depending on weight of ham.
Remove ham from oven and roll back sides of bag to expose ham. Brush ham liberally wit glaze and return to oven briefly until glaze becomes sticky, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, brush entire ham again with glaze, loosely cover with foil, and let rest for 30 to 40 minutes before carving.

Two War Novels

2006-11-11T09:12:00.000-07:00

While I was reading All Over but the Shoutin (the book I just reviewed), I was also reading All's Quiet on the Western Front. I did not expect two war novels--or, more accurately, two anti-war novels--but that is what I got, though the styles varied vastly. All's Quiet on the Western Front is a traditional war novel, taking place (mostly) in the trenches of World War II. It tells of a group of young German soldiers and how they deal with the war and how the war deals with them. Everyone I know that has read this book rave about it, but I'm sorry to say that I never really got into it. Maybe I'm used to more modern, in-your-face anti-war novles/stories, which I love.

All Over but the Shoutin' probably couldn't even be labeled a war/anti-war novel--Bragg (the memoir's author) only tells one story early on in the book about his father's time in Korea. But that story is told with such skill that it really evokes that gut-wrenching feeling that makes you feel that war is never good. For me, that one story was much more effective than the entire book All's Quiet on the Western Front. But what made Bragg's book even more effective as an anti-war novel was the stories he told about what happened after his father returned from the war. He left a good, decent man and returned scarred man whose only refuge was alcohol. He was always drunk and made his wife and kids live in squalor and in fear of him.

Still, the best anti-war piece I have ever read is a short story by Tim O'Brien called "How to Tell a True War Story." It is a short story in O'Brien's collection of short stories about war called The Things They Carried. There are a lot of very good, highly regarded short stories in this collection, and I would recommend it, though it would probably be very depressing to try to sit and read it cover to cover. This story, more than any other anti-war story/novel/movie/documentary I have ever seen, makes you feel how terrible war is. It doesn't just describe war; it makes you feel it. Its cathartic in that sense--its tragic and sad, but it invokes feelings that, while unpleasant, are good to have because they remind us how terrible war is. I found a link to a pdf (thanks to the University of Wisconsin) of the story if you're interested in reading it: us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/pdocs/obrien_story.pdf.

Book Review: All Over but the Shoutin'

2006-11-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

I just finished "All Over but the Shoutin,'" and it is the best memoir I have ever read (and I've read a few good ones: Life & Death in Shanghai, When I Was Puerto Rican). It is written by Rick Bragg, who is a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist. He has had an amazing life. He grew very poor in a tiny little town in Alabama. His father was a Korean War vet, an alcoholic, and a terrible father. But he had an amazing mother. Most of the book is really about her.

Bragg is an amazing storyteller, and the book is really just a series of well-told stories. The book is very well-written (if a little over-punctuated). He tells stories about growing up poor in the South, about the Korean War, and about his mother. Then he tells stories about being a journalist and the stories he covered. He specializes in telling stories of sadness and heartbreak, and he shares many such stories through his memoir. He only had 6 months of formal college education at a tiny little community college near his home, but he was a talented storyteller, and that took him all the way to a Harvard Fellowship, to a job at the New York Times, and to a Pulizter. I would highly recommend this book. Its only about 200 pages long, its easy to read, and its quite worth the effort.

BBQ Sunday, Anyone?

2006-10-27T09:43:00.000-06:00

I know that I have already crowned Pat's BBQ the best BBQ in Utah--and that still stands--but new information has come to light that solidifies Q4U in second place: the BBQ sunday. Yes, Q4U features a BBQ sunday on their menu. It features a fine blend of pulled pork, beans, and coleslaw. Can you think of anything more appetizing? This is pure genius.

More Halloween Pics

2006-10-25T18:09:00.000-06:00

As promised, here are some more pics from the Halloween party. That way you can see all of the costumes/contestans. Here's the link to Allison/Owen's web site: http://web.mac.com/spencerallison/iWeb/Owen/Halloween%20Party.html. Enjoy

Gracie's Blessing

2006-10-22T19:04:00.000-06:00

We blessed Gracie a few weeks ago. Sorry I'm a little slow getting these pictures up. It was such a privilege to be able to bless her, and we were very greatful to all out friends/family that traveled to be there. Gracie did great. She did not cry, and when I held her up to show everyone how cute she is after the blessing, she flashed her winning smile. We had everyone over after the blessing for a brunch/open house. We had breakfast caseroles and sticky buns to go along with the fruit and the pina colada slush. I think everyone had a great time. Here are some pictures of the day.

Colbert + LOTR = Hilarity

2006-10-19T16:26:00.000-06:00

This is funny, especially for those LOTR buffs out there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZnxNfBVr0U

The Annual Halloween Party

2006-10-15T15:06:00.000-06:00

Spencer and Allison hosted another succesful Halloween party this past weekend. The theme was "The Amazing Race," and, after enjoying some hourdorves at our home, the couples were pitted against each other in a race across Salt Lake. The first stop was the church near our house. There, the contestants got their first clue, which directed them to find Mountain West Small Business Finance. At MWSBF, they had to show off their dance moves, and no one could advance without advancing a few levels in "Dance Dance Revolution." After MWSBF, the couples had to go to a store and buy a quart of ice cream and take it to the church by Katie's parents' house. Each couple had to eat the whole quart of ice cream before they could advance. To speed up the process, most couples microwaved their ice cream and drank it. Keler tried to cheat by spooning ice cream into the garbage can, for which he received a penalty. Then the teams had to race to my parents house in Bountiful, where they had to complete a 100 piece puzzle. We enjoyed more snacks there, and the winners of the costume contest and the race were revealed. I am pleased to announce that, for the first time, Katie and I won the costume contest. I don't have pictures of everyone's costume. If I get more from Allison, I'll post them (Or, if she posts them on her web site, I will provide a link). For now, I'll post what I have.

Katie and I as Kip and Lafawnduh.

Gracie as a cute bunny

Keler and Melissa as Sergei and Petrova, Russian figure skaters.

My Midevil Name

2006-10-06T16:37:00.000-06:00

The other day, I overheard someone talking about seeing The Quill and the Sword club (Q&S) down on BYU's campus. For those of you who don't know, The Quill and the Sword is an awesome club down at BYU for those fascinated with the midevil period. As a rule of thumb, if you see someone walking around campus wearing a cloak, a large, puffy dress, chain mail, or armor, then they are members of The Quill and the Sword. You will often see them practicing their sword-fighting skills with their wooden lances in the early afternoons. I always longed to join them. Twice, I went to lectures by professors on Lord of the Rings-related subjects. The lecture was awesome, and I was surrounded by Q&S members. It was awesome.

Out of curiosity, I googled them and came across this fantastic web site: http://clubs.byu.edu/qands/. It appears that the larger club is broken up into smaller "guilds" according to area of interest (i.e., armory, dancing, cooking, and web design). What I find even cooler, however, is that it appears that each member of the Q&S takes a midevil name for him or herself. There is 'Ravishing Pixie' and 'Isabella Slayrock,' among others. That got me thinking: I wish I had a cool midevil name. So I started thinking of what my midevil name would have been had I shed my false pride and joined the illustrious Q&S. I think I would have liked being called 'Ian, Bright Scales,' or 'Ian the Gray.' Perhaps I would have totally dropped my name and gone as 'Durin Stonerocka' or 'Sir Blade.' Any of those would have been cool.

If you were a member of Q&S, what would your midevil name be?

General Conference

2006-10-03T17:12:00.000-06:00

I thought General Conference was great. We say that every year (or, more accurately, twice every year), but it is always true. The major theme that I saw emerge was a general need to do more. At least I felt consistently motivated to work harder at work, to do more community service, to become more educated, to do more missionary-related activities, to put more into my church calling (when I get one), etc. Maybe that's just what I needed to take away from Conference because of my own personal sloth, but it seemed to be a recurring theme. Anyway, there were plenty of great talks, and I'll enjoy listening to them again on my ipod over the next few months (http://www.lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,49-1-646,00.html).

Some more pics

2006-09-26T21:20:00.000-06:00

Gracie is growing fast. She is now up to 8 pounds, 3 ounzes. That seems like a lot to us, although I realize that baby Lukas (congrats, Jayme & Katie!) is over one pound heavier and he was born this past weekend! She is starting to smile a little bit, which is really fun.

The Office

2006-09-22T15:17:00.000-06:00

What did everyone think of the season premiere of The Office last night? I thought there were some funny parts, especially Dwight's gay-dar, but I was a little disappointed. I guess I was bothered by the fact that the opted to go with a major cliff-hanger at the end of last season and that they just told you how it got resolved over the summer as part of a sub-plot in the first episode. This episode would have been more satisfying, I think, if it were the second or third episode of the season. Everyone wanted the juicy details about what happened with Jim and Pam.

Stuck in an Elevator

2006-09-21T15:36:00.000-06:00

The other day, I got stuck in an elevator. I was heading home from work at about 5:15 (ah, government hours) and hopped in an elevator and pressed the button to take me to the first floor. Well, the doors shut, but the elevator didn't move. I pressed all the buttons there were to push, but no luck. I had to call maintenance and wait for almost an hour and a half while the elevator maintenance guys came and got me out of there. It was miserable. You might think that being stuck in a broken elevator on the fifth floor alone for an hour and a half might have caused one to do some self-reflection or soul searching or something like that, maybe turn into a life changing experience (kind of like a near-death exprience). But it didn't. I wasn't scared; just bored and glad I didn't have to use the bathroom. Maybe if the elevator was shaking or something; that might have lead to a more significant experience. But I just sat around and scared Katie by pretending that I might run out of air (at least my phone worked).

Gracie

2006-09-20T11:25:00.000-06:00

She's making a funny face here, but I thought this was a cute picture.

Soccer and YouTube

2006-09-15T13:53:00.000-06:00

As some of you know, especially Katie, I really got into the World Cup this past summer, even after Argentina crashed out of the tournament. And momentum has carried my interest into the current European club soccer season. I like keeping tabs on the Argentinians playing abroad and on things generally. The problem is that I don't have satellite and I don't have Tivo (which makes it almost impossible to watch any games). But I have found that highlights from most of the major games get posted on YouTube. So, every once in a while, I will search for the names of the teams that played and get to see a few highlights.

Here's a good example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrREN6kzm-w. The early stages of the Champions League started this week, and Lyon beat up on Real Madrid pretty bad. I searched in YouTube for "real madrid lyon" and it brought up a number of different highlight videos. I thought I would share this one because it has some really cool highlights (mostly from Lyon b/c they dominated almost the entire game). The other thing that makes this link awesome (at least for Spanish speakers) is that it is taken from an Argentinian highlight show (at least the announcer is Argentinian--you can tell because his accent is way cooler than any other spanish accent imaginable!). He's got some great expressions.

But you can find more than just highlights of recent games on YouTube. I have also found some cool highlight videos on certain players--just search for Leo Messi, Carlos Tevez, Cesc Fabregas, Ronaldinho, Steven Gerrard (this one's awesome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWzQn-FpEOU), Maradona, Zinadine Zidane, etc. There are also highlights of teams as they have made their run through tournaments and seasons.

Book Review: All the Kings Men

2006-09-12T10:21:00.000-06:00

Just in time for the release of the new movie, I finished All the King's Men. When I started the book, I actually didn't know that they were remaking the movie (there was a movie made in the 50's I think), but the movie has quite a star-studded cast (see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405676/). I haven't heard any buzz about the movie, but I hope its good.

I quite liked the book. Robert Penn Warren (America's first poet laureate) wrote the book. At times, he gets a bit wordy and goes off on long meditations/diatribes (I found myself skimming fairly often, especially the first 50 pages), but, still, the language is spectacular. The book is most often sold as a political masterpiece (its loosely based on the life of Huey Long, the Louisiana governor/demagogue who rose to power by championing the cause of the lower classes), but I read it much more as a classic character study. The characters, especially the main characters, are all rich and deep. They are complex and real. The book charts the reactions of these characters, who are all very different and who act very differently as they encounter a variety of circumstances. The political/historical background is only an instrument that Warren uses to explore the psyche of his diverse characters and to explore rich themes such as fate, right and wrong, the nature of justification.

The book is fascinating and highly enjoyable. I recommend that you all read it before the movie comes out.

The Power of the Internet

2006-09-05T15:26:00.000-06:00

So here's a cool story: my friend Rob flew into SLC from Florida last Thursday and we met up for some lunch. After considering a number of options, we decided to revisit Pat's BBQ (in addition to having great food, it had the advantage of being out of the downtown area, which was a little hectic b/c of the visit from our good friend Bushie). Anyway, we went and had an excellent meal. It confirmed the fact that Pat's is the best bbq in Salt Lake (see my previous post). But the cool part of the meal came when we went to pay. As they were processing our cards up front, I was looking around the restaurant. They have a wall where they have posted newspaper articles, thank you notes, and, apparently, blog entries--including my blog entry! I was shocked. I started reading one that started out, "Judd, Cblakes, and I . . ." and my jaw dropped. It was my post on the best BBQ in Utah. I have no idea how it found its way into Pat's restaruant itself, but I was very excited. I know Cblakes gets a lot of outside traffic because of his movie reviews, but I thought my audience was always pretty limited. At least in this instance, I was wrong. Anyway, I thought that was cool.

Here are a few more pics of baby Gracie. She is going great and is so much fun.

Book Review: Death and the Penguin

2006-08-29T15:34:00.000-06:00

Upon the recommendation of my esteemed Cousin, Jayme, I picked this book up just after I finished the bar. I finished it a few days ago and quite liked it. I'm not sure I liked it as much as Jayme did, so I invite his comments on what he liked about the book (unless he is planning to do an independent post on his blog). And anyone else who has read the book should also feel free to comment.

The book takes place in post-Soviet Kiev (Ukraine) and, in large part, is an illustration of what life is like for the average Ukranian. The main character is a writer who has adopted a penguin from the Kiev Zoo (because the zoo couldn't afford to feed it any more). The book traces his life as he gets a job as a obituary writer for a local newspaper and comes into contact with a variety of interesting characters, some likable, some bizarre, and some sordid. For me, the book got a little boring at times, but Misha the penguin is very loveable, and the last 50 pages are quite good. The book deals primarily with themes of death and depression (the penguin--far from his natural habitat--is quite depressed). But the book also explores the post-modern idea that things and occurences have multiple meanings and that it is difficult to know what is real.

Overall, I would recommend the book.

Daddy Time

2006-08-18T11:02:00.000-06:00

Baby Gracie is still doing great. She keeps Katie up most of the night, which is too bad, but she is so cute its hard to begrudge her that. Katie manages to sneak in naps while Grace sleeps during the day, which helps. The benefit of the situation is that, when I come home from work, Katie is pretty tired, so I get to spend a couple hours of good, quality time with baby Gracie while Katie lies down or takes a bath. I get to sit and rock her in the rocking chair, read her books, tell her stories, and take her on walks (sometimes Katie joins us for the walks). It is so much fun. I always thought that little babies were a little boring because they just sleep all day. I was always much more excited to have kids that were 2 and older because you could play with them. Boy was I wrong. Maybe other people's kids are a little boring in longer doses (for other people, not for the parents), but I could just sit and hold Gracie for hours while she slept, and I would be having the time of my life.

Little Gracie

2006-08-17T12:00:00.000-06:00

Here are a few more pictures of little Gracie. I think these ones show how little she really is.

Baby Gracie

2006-08-16T14:21:00.000-06:00

At long last, baby Gracie arrived. She was born Saturday night around 8:00. She weighted 5 pounds, 6 ounces. She is a tiny little thing--her premie diapers don't even fit her--but she is healthy and fully developed (she doesn't even have jaundice). She is still sleeping all day an all night, except for every few hours when she wakes up to eat and to tell us she needs her diaper changed

On a side note, Gracie was born during the Real v. Real game, and I take it as a good omen that David Beckam was gracing the soccer field at the time of her birth and that TomKat (that's right, Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes) were present in the stadium watching the game. I suppose that TomKat's baby, if, in fact, they really did have a baby, which is debateable, was also in town. With all that star-power just a stone's-throw away at the time of her birth, I figure that she will either be a brilliant soccer player, a famous acress, or a scientologist (after all, Katie (Davis, not Holmes) is certified in Dianetics).

Bratfest '06

2006-08-08T10:36:00.000-06:00

In honor of Chris, Emily, Mary, & and unnamed baby boy leaving us to go to grad school in Wisconsin, we held Bratfest '06 at our home over the weekend. It was, by all measurements, a huge success. We had Wisconsin cheese (ok, so it wasn't Wisconsin cheese, but I am sure that it is very similar to the cheese you can get in Wisconsin) and crackers for appetizers. Judd provided a nice selection of root beers drafted in the Wisconsin area. Then we moved on to the main course where we sampled Bratwurst and some spicy Italian sausage (the faint of heart opted for masterfully grilled hamburgers). Then for desert we had ice cream and root beer cookies. That's right, root beer cookies. Katie found a recipe for them, and we had to try them. They were actually really good. I think the next time we serve them, we will serve them hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, kind of like a root beer float. But I can't think of a good name for such a desert. Any suggestions?

Anyway, everyone had a great time, and we missed those who could not attend. Chris, Emily, Mary, & baby will be missed. We'll have to hold the next Bratfest in Wisconsin itself.

Katie Davis, Registered Dietitian

2006-07-28T13:15:00.000-06:00

I would like to congratulate my wonderful wife Katie. She took and passed her exam to be a Registered Dietitian today. She has been working hard for three years and has studied hard for the last two months, and now she is official. She can even sign patient charts at hospitals now. Now we are off to her family's cabin up at Alta to celebrate our new-found freedom.

Back from the Dead

2006-07-27T20:36:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry that I took such a long break. July was a crazy month. We bought a house, packed, moved, unpacked, studied for the bar and took the bar. But I finished the Bar yesterday and it feels great. I feel pretty good about it, but you never know with such a difficult test. More than anything, I'm relieved its over. To celebrate, I went and saw Mission Impossible III late last night and I saw Pirates of the Carribean this afternoon. On a more unfortunate note, I also had a large, infected, pussy abcess under my arm drained by the doctor this morning. All I can say is, "thank goodness for pain medication." I knew it wasn't going to be pretty when the doctor asked the nurse to hand her the goggles.

Anyway, while I never made time to write a blog in July, I did think about a few ideas, so watch for some upcoming posts! For now, I have to go to one of Katie's showers.

gooooooooolllllllll

2006-06-10T15:43:00.000-06:00

Let the World Cup begin! I don't follow soccer closely enough to make any predictions about who will win, but it will surely be fun to watch. I am cheering for the US, Argentina, and England to do well (all countries where I have lived, if only for a time).

We don't have ESPN at home, so I was worried that I would miss most of the games or have to ask my dad to TIVO the ones I really wanted to see. But thank heavens for Univision! It turns out that Univision is televising almost every single World Cup game, and you don't need cable to get it.

And as an added bonus, watching soccer in Spanish is way more exciting than watching in English. I watched the first half of the England v. Paraguay game this morning on ABC, and the announcers were so boring. The play-by-play guy knew very little about soccer (the extent of his commentary was that David Beckam is married to Posh Spice) and was not a bit animated. I switched to Univision for the second half and was very entertained. The announcers are so much more animated and make watching the game so much more exciting (but you do need to speak some Spanish to get the effect). There's nothing like an announcer yelling "Goool, goool, goooooooooooooooooollllllllll, goooolllllllaaaaassssssooooooo" for several minutes after a goal, or even yelling "se le fueeeeeeeeeeee" in a near miss. The Spanish announcers also have clever phrases. In Argentina's game this afternoon, Argentina had a breakaway, but the Ivory Coast's ("Costa de Marfil") defender was so fast that he recovered in amazing time (it truly was amazing how fast he was), and the announcer said, "Mira como se recupero el Marfilseno. Que rapido" and then yelled, "Como se dice ferrocarril en Costa de Marfil!" It was really funny.

Anyway, I hope everyone can take in a few World Cup games this time around, and, for you Spanish speakers, do it en Espanol.

Vamos Argentina!!!!!!

Best BBQ in Utah

2006-05-28T21:18:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, Cblakes, Judd, and I met up on a Monday night and headed out looking for the best BBQ in Utah. We went to a place called Pat's BBQ (www.patsbbq.com) first. I had been there before and knew it had some amazing BBQ. It's location is a little sketchy, which, as it turns out, is a pretty good indicator of good BBQ. You drive up, and it looks more like a warehouse than a restaurant (that perception isn't helped by the fact that its in an industrial zone). Katie was very skeptical, but I went in to scout it out and found it very clean inside, so we went in and ordered. It was awesome! I ordered a half rack, but the ribs were so huge that I could only eat three. The ribs were nice and smoky, and they had a variety of sauces available at your table, so you could sample a number of different sauces. In addition to the great food, the atmosphere was outstanding. The tables are nice picnic tables to eat at, and there is a large bag of peanuts available to snack on while you are waiting for your food. They also have cool blues music playing in the background. Right then and there I declared Pat's BBQ the best Q in Utah, and I was looking forward to repeating the experience with Cblakes and Judd. But, unfortunately, they are not open on Monday nights, and we were turned away disappointed.

Determined, we called Katie and had her look up the address of the only other BBQ place that could compete with Pat's--Q for You in West Valley. We headed west and found Q for You in an appropriately sketchy, although not industrial, area. Fortunately, it was open, so we went in and ordered ourselves a couple racks of ribs. The ribs were just as large as those at Pat's, and they were nice and smoky, but they only provided one kind of sauce. The owner was a huge ethnic guy (I couldn't tell if he was black or Polynesian) that would walk around the tables and shoot the crap with other cool dudes, which was pretty cool. We were very satisfied, but, in the end, I must give the edge to Pat's. It had a greater variety of sauces, and it had a much better atmosphere. I found myself longing for Pat's peanuts, picnic tables, and blues music, while I was sitting in a ghetto table/booth, surrounded by rain forest decor (complete with a fake parrot), and lame music.

So, until proven otherwise, Pat's BBQ retains its title as best BBQ in Utah.

Neglect

2006-04-24T09:36:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry that I have neglected my blog lately. This is finals week, so things have been really busy lately. On top of studying for finals, we've been house-hunting, which is very time consuming (especially since we're trying to do it without a realtor to save some money). But my finals will be over this week, and I'll soon be back to making regular posts. Until then . . .

Congratulations to Katie

2006-04-11T22:56:00.000-06:00

If you will allow me to brag about my wife for just a moment, I just wanted to say a quick congratulations to Katie. She was awarded the Utah Dietetics Association Intern of the Year Award today at the Association's annual conference. I got to go to the conference's luncheon today, where they announced Katie's award, along with a few others. Basically, she was recommended by her teachers at BYU, and the Utah Dietetics Association chose her from a number of other interns who were nominated from BYU, Utah State, and the University of Utah. Its a great honor, and she has worked very hard, even when she was terribly nauseous from the pregnancy. She very much deserves the award. I have often said that during her two years in her dietetics program and one year in her internship, she has worked much harder than I have in my three years of law school. That says something about the rigorous nature of BYU's dietetics program, but it also shows what a great worker Katie is. She really knows how to wear herself out for a good cause.

Of course, in her acceptance speech she thanked her wondeful husband because, if he hadn't regularly ironed all of her shirts, she would not have had anything to wear to her internship.

Book Review: Devil in the White City

2006-04-07T11:24:00.000-06:00

Upon Jayme's recommendation, I checked this book (on CD) out of the library and listened to it as I drove around town. The books full title is Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America. It is extremely well-written, especially for a work of non-fiction, and is filled with interesting tidbits. I now find myself a little more educated in a wide array of different fields.

Its hard to say what this book is about because it covers so much ground. Principally, it is about the World Columbian Exposition (the Chicago World Fair held in the early 1890's) and its influence. Basically, after the World Fair in Paris (an enourmous spectacle that brought us the Eiffel tower), we (the US) wanted a fair of our own that would outdo the Paris Fair. This book is about our efforts in that vein. But you could also say that the book was about one of Chicago's greatest architects; one of America's first serial killers; America in the 1890's; the city of Chicago; American architecture in the 1890's and its effect on subsequent architecture; landscape architecture; the invention of the Ferris Wheel; the American spirit; Buffalo Bill Cody; and much more.

Because the book covers such a wide variety of topics, you are sure to be more interested in parts of this book and less interested in others, but because the writing is so good, all of it is readable.

Overall, I would recommend the book. Here's the Amazon.com link. You can check out some other reviews there, if you're interested.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375725601/sr=8-1/qid=1144432365/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-3306506-0480060?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Ears to Hear

2006-04-03T14:03:00.000-06:00

Katie is now almost 20 weeks into her pregnancy (that's half way, I think). We went to our 19-20 week ultrasound last Friday to check to make sure that the baby is developing on schedule (two arms, five fingers, two ears, four chambers of the heart, one brain, etc.). Everything looked great.

And this weekend, we read in one of our pregnancy books that babies start being able to hear at about 19-20 weeks. For us, that means two things: (1) Katie needs to start watching her language (just kidding, Katie ;)) and (2) we can start reading to her. So last night, she was exposed to her first bits of literature (yes, we are fanatical first time parents; at least we aren't trying to use flash cards). We read her Wordsworth's poem Dafodills and then Curious George Goes to the Museum. I'm sure she liked them.

Guest Worker Programs

2006-03-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

I've been tracking the recent stories about the immigration debate and whether we should have some sort of a guest worker program. It's a topic that really interests me. Many families that I met on my mission in Argentina are now living here in Utah (some legally, some not), and I regularly work with Latino immigrants at the Guadalupe Legal Clinic.

I am in favor of adopting some sort of a guest worker program, but only as long as that program has a path towards citizenship/residency in it. I like the idea of recognizing that our economy is driven by immigrants who do all of the jobs that we are too prideful to do, and I like the idea of allowing immigrants to come out of the shadows a little bit. But I think that the guest worker program needs to put the immigrants on some sort of a path to citizenship/residency. A guest worker program without such a path would be fundamentally flawed. It would presume that immigrant workers will return to their home country after their work visa expires. I don't see that happening.

I like the bill that Senators McCain and Kennedy co-sponsored and that, with the help of Senator Spector, got pushed through the judiciary committee largely in tact (Senator Hatch voted against the bill, which may prompt me to write a letter). It puts the guest workers/immigrants on a kind of citizenship/residency track, and it requires that the immigrants pay back taxes and a fee, learn English, stay out of trouble with the law, and a few other things. This country needs immigrants. There are a lot of bad immigrants in this country (caught up in drug trafficking, ect.), but there are a lot of good ones too. The good ones work hard, stay out of trouble, contribute to the economy, and their kids go to college and become professionals. I think this kind of a bill would do a lot to help the good ones, the immigrants who really deserve it. It rewards immigrants who come here willing to work hard and stay out of trouble, and its incentives help the immigrants to participate in society (speaking English, paying taxes, not always worrying about INS, not being afraid to stand up for themselves at work because their employer threatens to them you in to INS, etc.). I can't tolerate bills that seek to punish/segregate immigrants without distinguishing between the good ones and the bad ones, and this bill does not fall into that trap.

The Senate's bill is definitely better than the racist/elitist/protectionist piece of legislation that the House passed and that Senator Frist is trying to get, which would make it a felony to be an illegal immigrant (now it is only a civil violation), and it would establish civil and criminal penalties for anyone employing or assisting illegal immigrants (I can't tell if that would apply to all of us at the Guadalupe Legal Clinic or not).

The one counter-argument that I find persuasive is that this kind of a program is unfair to those who are in their home countries, going through the appropriate channels to get work visas, waiting their turn. I agree that this is unfair to them. The way I would remedy this unfairness is to make the fee/fine for illegal immigrants who are currently in the country and who want guest worker status significantly higher than for those who have come here or who are waiting to come here through appropriate channels.

Here are some links to some interesting news articles on the subject:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-immig26mar26,1,7374804.story?page=1&coll=la-headlines-frontpage
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/politics/26cornyn.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/27/AR2006032700684.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/28/AR2006032801223.html?nav=hcmodule
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/24/AR2006032401719.html?sub=new

Movie Review: Good Night, and Good Luck

2006-03-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

Katie and I were up at my parents' house Friday night and, after watching UConn hold off Washington in the Sweet Sixteen, we popped in Good Night, and Good Luck. All I knew about it was that George Clooney directed it and had received a nomination for Best Director. I was pleasantly surprised, as the movie began, to find out that it was about Edward R. Murrow and how he took on Senator McCarthy when no one else dared. I had studied bits about the McCarthy era and his Senate hearings before--in law school and in an American Literature class (while studying The Crucible (a play inspired by the McCarthy hearings))--and I had heard a kind of tribute to Murrow on NPR that talked about how he had challenged McCarthy. So I already knew a little about the subject. But beyond the fascinating subject matter, the film is really well done.

The history of this movie really interests me. I think it's a fascinating time in American history. The movie takes place in the 50's, right when the Cold War was really beginning to heat up. McCarthy went after anyone in a military or governmental position that had had any affiliation (or whose family had had any affiliation) with communism or socialism. As the movie shows, quite a few people had had some sort of an affiliation with the communist party. You will notice that most references to a connection with communism came "20 years ago," or in the 1930s. That's so because socialism and communism actually became moderately popular in America in the '30s. We were in the middle of the Great Depression. Capitalism, it seemed, had failed. And on the other side of the world, Russia, which had been communist for almost 15 years, was putting out what turned out to be propaganda about how their economy was thriving under a communist system. That climate lead a lot of people in the US and all over the world to explore communist or socialist ideas. They would attend a meeting or a rally or sign up to receive a communist brochure or publication. That was all it took, and, 20 years later, McCarthy labeled them communists and ruin their lives and the lives of their families.

Really, the movie is about publicity (not as in publicizing a movie, a book, or a celebrity but as in keeping things open to the public). There are obvious warnings about the dangers of news outlets not being free to report the news as it is (either as a result of pressure from sponsors, fear, or a desire to please a certain demographic/political philosophy). The public, essentially, only knows what it does from what it gets from the media, and if the media isn't free to report the facts as they are, then that's a problem. In a similar vein, one major problem with McCarthy's methods were that they were secret. The hearings themselves were public, but neither the accused communists nor the public were allowed to see the "evidence" McCarthy had against them.

Besides the interesting history and themes, I thought the movie itself was well done. The acting was convincing, and the directing was excellent. The movie used actual footage from the McCarthy hearings and from Murrow's news stories, which I really liked. It made the movie seem so authentic. And since the whole movie was done in black and white, the archival footage blended right into the movie. Unlike Forrest Gump, where the archival footage was more of a novelty, this historical footage was used to make the movie really feel like you were seeing something authentic. Sometimes you couldn't tell what was actual footage and what was not.

Anyway, I highly recommend the movie. I hope you like it.

* Interesting tidbit: In one of the first few scenes of the movie, it shows the group of news reporters around a table discussing the news. You can hear a distinct reference to "Benson." They say Benson said something or did something (I don't remember exactly what they said he did or said, but you hear a clear reference to "Benson"). They are referring to the then-Secretary of Agriculture, Ezra Taft Benson. He was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve already, but he was permitted to serve as Eisenhower's Sec. of Agriculture.

Letting Our Lights Shine in Our Closets?

2006-03-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Since it is Sunday, I thought I would do a religious post. I'm mainly going to pose a question and see if anyone has some good insights on the matter.

For the last few years now, I have struggled to reconcile a couple of verses of scripture, both of which are in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:14-16, it reads "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Fahter which is in heaven." But in Matthew 6:1-2 , it says "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward."

Its hard for me to reconcile these scriptures. I started thinking about this a few years ago when I was reading a Conference talk and one of the Brethren (Elder Holland, I think) said something about how when we are parents we should be conspicuous in practicing the gospel in order to teach our children by example. This struck me as odd because I had always focused on the instruction to not do your alms before men (yes, I recognzie the irony of me taking about how I don't like 'doing alms before men' in this public forum). Making sure that someone sees you doing a good act, even if it is your children, seemed odd to me.

I can now see how it is probably good to be conspicuous in your gospel practice, especially around your young children, so that they can see how gospel principles are applied in real life. But what about outside the family context? How can we follow the commandment to be good examples? To to hold up a candle or to set a city on a hill implies, I think, some degree of publicizing, which strikes me as odd. Maybe "alms" can be defined narrowly to only include religious rites like baptism, the sacrament, or prayer and not more general acts like honesty, kindness, and charity. But the footnotes (the Greek translation) define "alms" more broadly: "righteousness, acts of religious devotion." Maybe the distinction is in your personal motivation: if you are are doing an act of kindness so that people will think that you are a kind person--i.e. your own personal glory--then that would be wrong. But if you did it to set a good example and to inspire people to be better--i.e. to glorify God--then maybe that is ok. But in practice, at least for me, that's a hard line to draw.

Anyway, those are just a few thoughts. Its been helpful to write them out, and I think its an intersting issue to think about. That's one of the reasons I started the blog. Comments are welcome.

Raptor Red

2006-03-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

I recently became possessed of an exceptional piece of literature--Raptor Red. It is a work of fiction by a paleontologist (most notable for his discover of the very large Utahraptor) who consulted Spielberg et. al. during the filming of Jurassic Park.

Allow me to quote from the back cover: "'A pair of fierce but beautiful eyes look out from the undergrowth of conifers. She is an intelligent killer . . . .' So begins one of the most extraordinary novels you will ever read. The time is 120 million years ago, the place is the plains of prehistoric Utah, and the eyes belong to an unforgettable heroine. Her name is Raptor Red, and she is a female raptor dinosaur." As People magazine aptly said, "Michael Crichton may be a great storyteller, but he even wouldn't have the nerve to write a dinosaur novel told from the dino's point of view."

I was a little skeptical at first--I wasn't sure how good a book told from the perspective of a female velociraptor could be--but it got great reviews on Amazon. I think this just might be the best little known work or science fiction since The Accelerators (written by Jenny Carter of MWSBF's brother and which also received rave reviews on Amazon).

I will keep you updated, and you can all borrow it after I am done.