Time for some fun!

So, my life isn’t all that incredibly fascinating. Aside from the work, my wife’s amazing treats; doing some graphic design for my wife’s site; planning stuff for my mom’s site, which will hopefully soon be launching completely on diannegamblin.com (more on that to come in the future); going out shopping with my wife; and taking pictures with my brand new camera my life has been pretty chock full of entertainment. So I just want to provide a little insight into my life:

• I went to the emergency room at the Kaiser Santa Clara Homestead facility in Santa Clara, CA on Wednesday morning at 3 a.m. I woke up to an extreme pain in my lower right side of my abdomen, and finally went to the ER at about 3. It turned out to be my 3rd kidney stone in the last few years. I got some wonderful pain killers, a CT scan, an EKG and 2.5 hours in the ER. I got pain killers very quickly (from what my wife told me) and was treated right away. All this for a small co pay. I do love my health insurance. Note: I am now the number one producer of kidney stones in my complete extended family. I have another 3 in there, according to my CT scan. So get ready for some more kidney-related fun!
• I will be going to Salt Lake City, Utah on Monday for an engagement for work. I’ll be there for 4 days and get to spend some time with my sister and possibly catch a haunted forest or house or something fun like that. My sister and I are the only ones willing to go check those out these days.
• We love our camera. Check out some pictures.

    

I do love picture taking. I found this quote from Elliott Erwin on a website:

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”

You can also check out my wife’s blog for some more pictures. I do all of her food pics!

I hope everyone is doing wonderfully out in the blog world. Remember to leave me a comment and let me know you were here! Until next time.

Birthday Commentary

Hello out there.

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog recently. I've been in Austin, TX For the last three weeks. That's right, almost a month sitting out there in Texas for an audit. It was a good experience. Worked with a lot of great people, learned a lot about the audit process, and feel better. However, after a 3.5 hour wait sitting on the plane which was sitting on the tarmac, a sprint to make my connection, and a 3 hour flight home, I now can blog from the comfort of my living room and sleep in my own bed. It's so nice to be home, and I'm glad that I have the chance to be in California. Texas was not a bad place, but it just isn't for me. Crazy thunderstorms including rain out of nowhere; 70 days over 100 degrees with 75% humidity and plenty of more features make me happy to be in San Jose, CA.

Anyway, it's been a good day so far. I woke up early (I'm still on Texas time) and turned on the A's game. It's been good. I know my wife has plenty more planned for the rest of the day, and I'm looking forward to it. I don't know what's going on, but that makes it all the more exciting.

I know that my birthday present is the Canon T1i. I don't know how many of you know, but I'm an avid photographer. I love taking pictures. It's really just a good outlet for the creativity that I have flowing through my blood. I'm not an artsy person, but I have a prett good eye for photos. So, I'm super excited to get my DSLR and learn how to take even better pictures. I can't wait to take food pictures for my wife, who has a new blog, and help to make her a famous goody-making woman. Trust me, her treats are well worth it. And I look forward to taking pictures of people, scenery, and all kinds of other things. It's exciting to me to be able to afford something like the camera and enjoy it. I can't wait ... but I have to wait a few more days.

Other than that, I don't know much, but I'm excited to find out.

Anyway, I'll leave you all with some fantastic photos of my trip to Austin, and hope that everyone is doing well. I have some tech news to run over soon. Lots of stuff has been happening, and I'd like to opine. So, sorry, but you get some tech posts coming soon!

Here are some pics:

Lindsay's b-day dinner at The Melting Pot in Austin, TX.

Our dessert at The Melting Pot.
My wife at the Lyndon B. Johnson Memorial Museum at the University of Texas. We had lots of fun.
Museum Again. Just taking a pic together.

A picture my wife took at the Texas State Capital.

My wife amazed at the huge McKinney Falls at McKinney State Park. Yes, that's supposed to be a waterfall. I guess there's a drought. Sad.

Just about to drop my wife off at the airport so she can head home. Yes, I do look terrible.

Drop me a line and let me know you were here. See you all soon.

Children ...

Hello fond blogging world.

I know that I have launched a particularly long absence on my poor reading public recently. While that may be a very small minority of individuals in this world, I have been getting a few requests to get something out there to provide a few minutes of entertainment to those who happen to occupy some work moments with reading my little blog. So, here I am. Saturday night. Looking over some stuff on my wife's computer and looking at the house. The house has three little specialty beds set up in various parts of the living room. We have cupcakes in the oven. I'm a touch sunburned from being outside at the park today. I'm exhausted, but not because I've been doing anything particularly strenuous. Nope. I'm just babysitting. Now, some of you may not take pity on my lovely wife and me for a simple matter like babysitting. Some may scoff and think that it can't possibly be that tiring. You, my dear reader, would be wrong. Going from no children to 3 overnight is nothing to laugh at. Obtaining children that are 8, 7 and 5 overnight ... that is a lot harder than it might sound.

So we've spent the day at the park, trying to pick out a game at Target, and watching more episodes of The Legend of Zelda TV show than I ever thought I would see in my life. I ate frozen french fries and chicken nuggets last night, something I haven't done since my days as a college bachelor. Our life has been flipped on its head, as we go to bed at 9:00, beat from the day of keeping siblings from attacking and punishing each other for being on their side of the seat in the car. We've averted near disastrous cheating at hide-and-go-seek, and managed to entertain and impress with our small, but useful 1-bedroom living space.

It's been a crazy weekend so far, and there are still two more days to go.

I think we might have found the best form of birth control.

Opportunities

#1: Yesterday, I received a phone call from a co worker and friend that I worked with for the first 2 months of my job. She called me to ask if I wanted to come back and work on a client with her in San Francisco. The opportunity would actually be to come work with her on a lot of her clients as the advisory staff who work on those clients all tend to move between them. They are a lot of advisory clients within the SF bay area. I was surprised to hear from her. It was really a fantastic opportunity and one that took a lot of thought and analysis. The clients that she has provide the opportunity for potential international travel to Germany, England, France and other countries. It is the opportunity to do real advisory work, including internal audit and data analytics opportunities that are potentially in the pipeline. It's exciting. I decided to take advantage of it, and will be moving most of my time to work exclusively for this partner and the team. It's very exciting and I'm looking forward to being able to work with this team. It'll mean more responsibility and potentialy some demanding projects. But that, my friends, is what I need out of my work.

#2: I recently had the opportunity to drive into San Francisco again. It reminds me of how beautiful and fantastic it is to live in the SF bay area. Living just 45 minutes south of a famous city, having a job, and being able to call this fantastic weather my home is yet another wonderful thing.

#3: I recently had the opportunity to apend the weekend with my wife at my parent's house. We were actually alone, as my parents had taken residence at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas (in a 1400 sq. ft. suite, but that's another story) so we adopted their home and took care of Rubi for a couple days. We heated up the pool, went for a swim, laid out (Lindsay has the burns to prove it), ate at Tex Wasabi's. I got the smoked pork ribs, and Linds got the "hulk" sushi roll. Yup. Southern barbeque and sushi. It's Guy Fieri's restaurant, and it's wonderful. If you find yourself in Santa Rosa, check it out.

Just remember, if you have opportunities in this life, no matter how small (#2), how large (#1), or how fun (#3), take advantage of all of them. Life's wonderful. It's hard sometimes, but it will all make sense in the end.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the "Not-so-Lame"

Time for a movie review. And this is one that I've been looking forward to all summer. Well, even all year: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. That's right. The blockbuster sequel to one of the more fun movies of a couple years ago has arrived and it stormed into theaters. It's riding very low on Rotten Tomatoes right now (20% Fresh), but what do the laymen think of the movie? Being one of those every day people, I'd like to throw in my two cents. I'm going to try to stay as spoiler free as possible.

The movie opens with a great battle, and then starts the plot forward with a few uttered words near the end of the battle. We find out that man and machine have a tenuous alliance but that not everyone is happy about that. The story then focuses on everyone's favorite fast-talking dude Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) and his trip out to college. Of course, his college is full of basically the most beautiful people ever in the world, but that is short lived as he loses his mind during one of the classes. That truly sets the story in motion as he charges across the world trying to figure out what the symbols in his head mean and why Megatron wants them. That's about as close to the plot as I can come. It's not overly complicated, but it does violate the "show not tell" policy that movies should adhere to during a lengthy exposition of what's going on. I'll break it down:

Plot: While not the movie's strong point, the plot is serviceable. We are talking about alien robots that come from a planet full of alien robots, after all. The plot serves to get the characters where they need to be, although I wish that the final action scene had taken place somewhere more impressive than where it was staged. I was a little sad about that. Likewise, I wish that they had spent just a touch more time to develop the story and why it's so important rather than wasting time on some lame jokes that were present all throughout the movie. Unfortunately, the comedy seems to be aimed at 13 year-olds. It's very juvenile, but I did find myself laughing at times. I'm afraid of what that says about me. Overall, The plot is definitely a weak point, so I say 5/10.

Acting: I don't think anyone is going to be blown away by the acting. They are playing exactly the roles that you expect them to play, and they are exactly the roles from the first one as well. Sam is the same fast-talking charmer, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) is quite literally just there to be exploited. She runs a lot in slow motion, and her lips have to be fake. Agent Simmons (John Turturro) makes his return as Agent Simmons. I do wish that he wasn't played strictly for jokes. I think that he could be a reasonable character if he wasn't just there to take off his pants once or do some other ridiculous stuff. There's another guy, Sam's roommate, who played another annoying character just there for laughs, but honestly, I never expected Oscar-worth performances here. Overall, a 6/10 for acting because everyone does their job.

Action: There is some amazing action in this movie. There's a fight in the forest that everyone is talking about, and for good reason. The end action scene is good, if a bit incomprehensible. The opening act is pretty awesome as well. Seriously. Just remember the phrase "air drop". That moment is so incredibly cool. But I did find myself missing some action in the middle. After the fight scene in the forest, the action dies out for awhile. If there was a better developed plot, this wouldn't have been much of an issue. However, as discussed, that's a problem, so I did get bored for a bit in the middle. Overall, however, the action and special effects are to notch, 8/10.

Overall: This is far from a movie that I hated. While I won't laud over it because it has too many weak points, and about 40 minutes could have (and should have) been eliminated from the middle, I found it to be great escapist, summer entertainment. Things blew up. Characters were in peril. And ultimately, I really enjoy the action of the Transformers. I'm going to give it a final of 7/10 and tell you to go and see it, as long as you do it in a nice theater to take advantage of the good projection equipment and the large screen. I don't think you'll regret it.

Side Note: There are some kind of crazy stereotypes in this movie. And there's a lot of robo-leg humping. You've been warned.

What did you guys think?

Memorial Day and Sister-in-Law’s Graduation

Hello the whole entire world. So, I’ve been the worst blogger as of late. It’s been supremely busy, and I’ve been quite exhausted doing all of the different things that we’ve had going on in our lives. While it might not seem like much from the pictures that are about to get posted, it’s been busy. But enjoy the pictures anyway:

Me and Linds at her parent’s house before the graduation.

Me and Linds’ cousin at the graduation.

Sun setting over the graduation during the ceremony.

Chelsea was happy to be done. Can you tell?

Chase, Lindsay and Chelsea.

We went up to my grandpa’s house. He’s 89, and looking good!

Lindsay’s latest cake. She’s really quite amazing.

Anyway, these are just some of the adventures. I don’t really have too much else to say these days. However, I love my life, and so does my wife. It’s really been a lot of fun and we’ve been really enjoying our lives together. We have been married for more than 6 months now, and things just keep getting better. I don’t think I could have been more lucky.

That's all for now. You know where to leave the comments. And please do. I'd like to know that you are visiting.

Mother's Day

Hey guys.

I've been trying to think of some things that need to get posted, and couple things did come to mind. Most importantly, seeing as Sunday is Mother's day, I decided that I would get my wife some stuff that she would need as she continues to develop her talents as a cake decorator. She is very naturally talented, so we went out and bought her a nice cake turntable for her (future) Mother's day present. It's going to help her become an even more amazing cake decorator.

As for the rest of what's been going on, I'll include some more pictures. Check out the life.

The cake that Lindsay made as practice. I told you she was good.

Me and Linds at her Grandparent's house for Easter.

The kids doing some Easter egg hunting. She found one hiding in the old stove outside.

My beautiful wife. I absolutely love this picture.

Me and my dad at the A's game. I got a nice sunburn. But the A's won. And we saw Giambi's first (and only, so far) homer of the year. The A's have been down for a little bit right now, however, don't sleep on them in the end.

That's all for now. You know where to comment.

Fun Life

So, I've been meaning to get up here and post some stuff on my blog. So let me give you a couple quick bursts of information, with more detail to come in later posts (I'll get back to regular posting, I promise):

• My wife and mother got together and did some extremely high qualilty catering for a wedding. They made petit fors, strawberry flowers and some other goodies. The food was amazing, and the lady was very impressed. My mom hopes to spend more time in catering, so please let us know if you'd like to talk to her about potential work for any event that you may be having soon. We have the pictures and recommendations to prove it. Not only that, but the prices are reasonable. Seriously.
  
• Lindsay and I have a wonderful Friday night activity: Willow Glen Frozen Yogurt Company. It's down the street from our home, and it's amazing and cheap. It only takes cash, but if you live in San Jose, you owe it to yourself. Their wow cow (one different flavor a day) has only 9 calories per ounce. Love.
• A project that I was working on at work was extremely well received and the CFO of the company is excited about what I produced. No more details than that, but I was/am well pleased.
• I recently went on a diet, the flat belly diet. I did it before, during the summer last year, and lost 22 pounds in a mere 6 weeks. It was very effective, and I went down by 6 inches on my pants and stomach. Since I've gone back up in weight, I need to take care of myself. So I am.
• Matt Holliday hit a towering home run today. Bout time. His first of the year, and I'm sure first of many to come. My dad and I went to a game on this past Saturday, got Holliday jerseys, and sat fifth row on the ground from right field. It was an awesome game. Giambi hit his first homer of the year and the A's stomped all over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It was so, so much fun. Baseball season is in full swing, and while the A's haven't been the best so far, things are starting to look up for them.
• We want a dog. But still don't know if that'll happen. But we'll keep you guys informed.

Much love to everyone. Leave me a comment to let me know you are reading. I'd love to hear from you.

I'm going to be posting more.

Till next time.

Roku Netflix Player and Life with Pictures

I LOVE my Roku Netflix Player. It's the coolest device that I've ever spent a hundred bucks on. Let me run this down for you.

• Dead simple to use. Seriously. You plug it in to the wall, the router, and the TV. Enter a code on your netflix account (that has unlimited streaming) and Wham! It syncs up and downloads all of the movies that you currently have on your "Watch Instantly" queue.
• You scroll through the movies by picture, select it, and then you simply press play. I've never had to wait longer than 15 or 20 seconds for a movie to load (6-12 Mbps Comcast cable internet) and the resolution has been great. I haven't had a chance to put it on a huge HDTV yet, but the picture quality is certainly close to, if not on par with, DVD.
• The selection is actually quite impressive. Over 12,000 titles are available through Netflix. And a whole bunch more content can be rented or purchased through Amazon Video on Demand. While I don't use Amazon, I currently have over 60 movies and full seasons of TV on my "Watch Instantly" queue.

This device has met all of my requirements to be a great edition to my AV setup. I'm planning on upgrading to an HDTV relatively soon, so I'll let you know what I think of it after that. Meanwhile, let me tell you this much: buy it. It's a hundred bucks. If you have a Netflix account with unlimited streaming, it allows you to get so much more for your money. I've watched 2 full seasons of 30 Rock (I can't recommend this show highly enough. One of the only shows that me and my wife actually laugh OUT LOUD at while we are watching it. The writing is sharp, witty, and current.), numerous hours of Law & Order SVU, and tons of movies that I can just turn on at the press of a button. As the selection continues to expand, this is only going to get better and better for the mere 100 bucks that it costs.

On another note, I bought it on a Saturday, and received it on Tuesday. It shipped late Monday night and was at my door on Tuesday (Shipped from 40 miles way in CA. :) ).

Ultimately, buy yourself one. You owe it to yourself. Expand your horizons, and enjoy your Netflix account again.

Life update: Things are very well in the Gamblin House. We spend time watching movies, going out to shop, and finding wonderful new places to eat and enjoy our time together in wonderful San Jose. We travelled out to Santa Cruz a week ago for a FANTASTIC Saturday date. It was seriously so fun. We were able to hang out and get some cotton candy and salt water taffy. The weather was perfect. Today was even better. 75 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. I love living in this state, as it provides the greatest summer weather you could ask for.

I start playing EY basketball on Tuesday. I'm so out of shape, but can't wait to get involved playing ball again. Friday I'll be at the in laws, and then the week after that my wife and I will head up to my parents to help my mom cater a wedding. My wife can't wait! I'll include some pictures here. They are from my phone, so please excuse the poor resolution!

My wife made this cake. It's a bust of my dad's head. She's amazing. And for hire! Call us. Serious. :)

About to ride the Cave Train Adventure. So lame. But so fun.

Anyone want one? Yuck.

This ride is fun, but headache inducing.

This was in MARCH.

We love our state.

Leave any comments. We love them. Comment for the sake of it. So I know you are alive. And if you have a blog, and I haven't linked you, give me the link. I'd love to add you to the blogroll!

Science and Religion: Not Mutually Exclusive

So, I read some internet forums. While I realize that the anonymity and assurance of “privacy” encourage relatively abnormal behavior, I am always impressed by the hatred of religion that they tend to express in some internet forums. They blame and yell at the “religious-conservative-fear-mongers” for most of the woes and problems of the world. It always confuses me. I only read them to try to get more of an understanding for why there is such a disgust of religion and people who believe in God. They choose to say that they are uneducated and foolish, people who choose the “easy way out”, believing that there is a God and trying to find a meaning in this life. They frequently say that religious people do not believe in science, do not understand politics, and are pretty much just ignorant people. I have never understood this, and I want to attempt to talk briefly about it in the post.

First of all, science and religion do not hate each other. While some people would have you believe that religion and science do not get a long that is simply not a fact. In fact, I find that science actually confirms and supports my faith and helps me to know more and feel better about the beliefs that I have. Science, by discovering these new innovations, these new inventions, and new theories that are espoused every day help to confirm and grow my faith. From the discovery of the atom, to the foundations of, gasp, evolution, I feel that lots of these discoveries have helped me to confirm my faith and reaffirm to me that there is a pattern in the world and in life. My faith does not force me to believe that everything about evolution is a lie. We have seen evolution. It acts on this world. Don’t get me wrong, in no way to I think that I evolved from a monkey. However, I have no doubt that humans have evolved to be better humans, and that many other creatures have likewise done so.

Other complaints I hear are involved with miracles. While some would purport that miracles do not exist because science cannot explain them, I would simply counter that we do not have the science to explain them. Our science has not reached its pinnacle. We do not know everything about the interaction of certain elements of our universe. What if miracles were simply operating on scientific principles which we do not yet understand? Is that so out of the question? Have we grown so arrogant as to assume that we have discovered all that there is to discover?

Second of all, science is never “sure” about anything. That is the whole principle behind a theory. The definition of theory is “a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena” (http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=theory ). I think the key is that it is “well substantiated”. Theories have been shown to be true, using the limited knowledge and resources that we might have available to us. However, theories are being changed and disproven every day in our new scientific reality. Not too long ago, we were sure that the atom was the smallest particle. Hundreds of years ago, scientists were sure that the world was flat. These were accepted scientific facts. Yet, look what we know today. Imagine, just imagine, what we’ll know tomorrow. (UPDATED: When I wrote this line, I remembered that it was from something that I had read or seen. Bryan reminded me that I adapted this last sentence or two from Men in Black.)

Third, and finally, I really detest the claims that those who are religious simply “take the easy way out”. There seems to be this thought that by being religious, and believing in God, that we (those who have faith) just take the easy way out justify it with God or the devil. I do not know a single religious person who does this. I do not discourage scientific exploration, nor dissuade them from trying to understand our natural world. I would argue, actually, that the reverse is true of those who “take the easy way out”. I would argue that it is 10x easier to only believe in that which you can see. To believe that nothing governs our behavior. To believe that you can do whatever you want and there is nothing else to worry about. In my estimation, believing in a God, pushing to do what is good in His sight, and believing not only in that which can be seen, but in that which cannot be seen is much more challenging than the opposite.

I am not trying to position myself as elitist, or correct. I’m just trying to explain some of my feelings on this issue. Being religious is not easy. It’s hard. Some may find that it is not for them and I will not begrudge them this. Everyone is free to make their own choices. I would just ask that before they choose to bash my choices and my opinions, that they make sure that they understand my side of the argument.

Science and religion do not hate each other. Those who would have you believe this are either as uneducated as they claim the others to be, or simply do not understand.

Leave your message after the break.

And the Cat Came Back, the Very Next Day

That title makes no sense, just so you all know. I mean, I guess I'm the cat, but it's totally not the very next day. But that's ok.

Hi! I just thought I'd check in while I was hanging out at home today. I'm really excited to watch The Office tonight, and find out what's going to happen in the 2nd part of last week's episode. I love that show. Seriously. It's way awesome.

Let's talk Taken. Now that was a very fun movie and I'm really excited that my wife was willing to go and see it with me. I'm telling you, nothing better than my wonderful, beautiful wife who can cook and loves action movies.

For those of you who don't watch TV, Taken is a movie starring Liam Neeson, who is playing Jack Bauer in this movie. Essentially, he's a former "preventer" who worked for the CIA. He was very good, apparently, at what he did and uses those skills to their fullest when his daughter is taken on her visit to France. He goes out there, kills a bunch of people, and hunts down his daughter. I don't wanna spoil it too much for those that plan on seeing it, but it's a FUN movie. Not the greatest acting ever (Maggie Grace, who plays the daughter, is pretty lame) but Neeson has to be one of my favorite actors in Hollywood. Watching him play a bad-a secret agent was absolutely fun. He plays it completely and totally, dedicating himself to the role. He is amazing, and sells the movie by himself.

He's impressive in this movie. The action is virtually non-stop after the first 30 minutes or so, and it is brutal and quick. I'm glad that Luc Besson decided not to use the "quick-cuts" that have become so popular after the Bourne films. He films it pretty straight, and that really benefits the style. You need to know what's going on during the fight and action scenes, and therefore the movie carries itself well with the slower cuts that Besson uses.

Overall, my point is that I recommend this movie highly to everyone who loves a good actioner. It's intense, and there is material about sex trafficking and other very thematic elements. Don't take your 10 year-old to the movie. But please, go and see it if you enjoy a good action movie.

Next up on the queue to see: Probably He's Just Not That Into You. Valentine's day, guys.

Apart from the movies, everything is great. My wife and I are as happy as can be and looking forward to the next little while.

You know where the comments go.

Poll

As a side note, you'll notice that I put up a poll. I'm interested to see what people may think. If you choose another auto, please make note in the comments section of THIS post what other car you would suggest that I purchase.

Thanks guys!

I've done way too much research, but now I totally need some opinions.

Star Wars: As Told by the Non-Watched-It Person

Haha. Greatest title ever.

Basically, this video showcases a girl who is retelling the entire star wars trilogy, except that she has never seen it.

It's great, because she really isn't all that far off.

Enjoy.


Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

It's Been too Long ...

So much has been going on in my life over the last 6 weeks or so, and I've been so limited on my time to get online and write some good posts. So, I'm back, and better than ever.

I'm broadcasting from a new home now, and find myself located in the wonderful Silicon Valley in California. I live just a little south of downtown San Jose, and find myself in an excellent location for my future job and the traveling that I will have to do with my new job. My wife and i moved in officially on the 20th of December, but have been all around the bay area and central valley since we moved in. We came back for good as of January 2nd. I need to run down some of the activities that we did.

December 19 -- The movers arrived at our apartment in Provo, UT and moved us out. As the movers arrived, the snow did as well. It snowed like crazy, and resulted in "white-out" (meaning that visibility is essentially zero) for a while.We planned to move out to California that day, however, we just knew that we couldn't. It was weird though, because the people moving into our apartment after us arrived as our movers were finishing up, and were going to stay. We had paid up through January, and needed one more night. They were nice -- they said we could all stay there together. (/sarcasm) Not a good situation. The landlady was behind us, but the new tenants couldn't really take a hint. So we slept with my sister and brother-in-law that night and then moved out to California on the 20th.

December 21 -- Checked into our new apartment. Beautiful, close, and fun. We were really excited about it.

December 24-25 -- Christmas with the Ozbirns. That's my wife's family. It was a lot of fun spending time with them. Her brother, who recently joined the army rangers, was home for the break, and it was nice to finally meet him. That's right, I hadn't met him until then. But we all had a wonderful time, and we really enjoyed waking up in the morning and spending some great time with the family. I really do love my in-laws, and am truly enjoying spending time with them. It was very much fun.

December 25-28 -- With my parent in Santa Rosa. We had a fun time on Saturday for McKenna's baptism as a member of the church, and then we also had an "open house", more of a holiday party that people could drop in and see us. it was a lot of fun, and we had a good time meeting people and learning more about those people that truly love us. It's really thrilling and we are glad that we can be there and have these people that really care about us.

December 28 - Jan 2 -- Honeymoon in the Napa Valley. My parents kindly lent us their timeshare in the napa valley, a 850 square foot 1 bedroom suite with two televisions, and a two person in-room whirlpool. Oh yea, the showerhead had 5 heads. It was seriously amazing. Helped me design my future shower in my home. On Tuesday, we drove into the city and had a wonderful dinner at Scoma's in San Francisco. Believe me, it's as good as it sounds. We then went to the Orpheum Theater on Market Street, and watched an incredible rendition of Phantom of the Opera from the second row. Lindsay even saw the tag on the Phantom's cape. It was really fun. On Thursday, we went to dinner at the Celadon restaurant, where I got the "kobe flat iron steak with yukon gold potato gratin, broccoli rabe and blackberry sauce". IT WAS AMAZING! I loved it. I recommend this restaurant to anyone, just remember to call for a reservation first.

Anyway, that's the last couple weeks in a nutshell.

We are almost moved in completely, and we just bought a new couch. Photos will be coming your way soon.

I'll be back frequently now.

P.S. I start work tomorrow. Work at 8 a.m. Sigh. More news later!

A Couple Rants

1. BYU Students who wear University of Utah hoodies to school. Ok, let's get something straight: I'm not talking about generic red shirts, or anything like that (although, those are  pretty unacceptable during a big sport rivalry week like this one). I'm talking about those BYU students who feel it's ok to wear their U hoodies on campus. It's not. I don't care if you grew up three steps from the stadium and went to every game growing up and your family has 300 years of tradition in the school. You now go to BYU. Put the hoodie away for a few years, and pull it out again later. I don't care if you are a fan of the U, but they are the rival school. Imagine going to Ohio State and wearing a Michigan sweatshirt. They might kill you. These things matter, people!
2. Twilight: The WB Movie. I am not going to hate on the phenomenon, or anything like that. In fact, I think that Roger Ebert summed it up best in his review of the movie (here): "But I understand who "Twilight" appeals to, and it sure will." That's not an attack on the film. I think it will do very well, and that it won't be THAT bad. However, it wasn't made for me. So I can accept that. What I can't stand is the shoddy production values of the movie. Have you seen some of the special effects? They look attached to a harness. That's not ok. The action sequences that I have seen (admittedly few) seem to come straight from an episode of Charmed. Sigh. The acting -- well, judge for yourself by watching the trailer at apple.com.
3. Quantum of Solace disrespect. Disclaimer: I MAY SPILL A SPOILER. I really enjoyed the movie on its merits. I understand that Casino Royale was a great movie that set up expectations really high for Daniel Craig's next entry (arguable, the best Bond ever). And this movie probably doesn't live up to the character development expectations. However, the movie is perfect in what it is: an emotional outrage against the organization that killed the love of Bond's life. He's mad. He's upset. He just wants to kill people. And he does. I'm glad he doesn't fall in love during this movie. He was in REAL love last movie. That's not the point of this one. He's motivated to get revenge. To get those people back who killed Vesper. And in that anger and grittiness, it's believable. I like that they didn't delve too deep. It was a continuation of his anger over the death of his love. It felt right. However, the next one should continue with a new story, and some great villians. I would argue this is a good middle entry, but the next one needs to push forward in the story and create more atmosphere like Casino Royale. I'm excited, however, because I think Craig is perfect in this gritty reimagining of the Bond franchise.

I'm done. I just wanted to get that stuff out.

ONE MORE THING: I got married. It was amazing. We were sealed, had a fantastic luncheon with great food and atmosphere (Mom, you did wonderfully!0, and moved to a wonderful reception. The reception was outdoors, and GORGEOUS. The location was perfect, and the food was wonderful as well. Then the perfect quick weekend at The Rose Hotel in Pleasanton, CA. Thanks to all that were there. I appreciate the love and respect! Lindsay and I are so happy to be together, and I'm blessed to have a wonderful, beautiful, amazing, and talented wife.

Until next time.

Our Times

My mom read me this quote the other day, and I thought it so very applicable:

"Make no mistake about it, brothers, and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. In short brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. Let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel."

Neal A. Maxwell, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints said this in 1978. 1978. Never is it more applicable than presently. The prophet of this dispensation, Thomas S. Monson, recently asked membership of the church to support and vote yes on the proposition 8 movement in California. Let me rephrase: he announced that the church supports proposition 8 and asked the membership to cast a "yes" vote and work to obtain the necessary votes to pass this ballot measure. It's important.

I guess I should just say, as trite as it may be: "As for me and my house ..."

Not to mention the logical arguments that can be made to pass such a measure.

You know what to do now.

P.S. I thought this article by Orson Scott Card, an LDS democrat and journalist was a fascinating view of the current economic crisis, http://www.meridianmagazine.com/ideas/081017light.html

Don't hate me for my opinion, but I just needed to say that.

P.P.S. VOTE!!!!!

Mission Video

So, this mission video was made by one of the missionaries that served with me, Elizabeth Clark. If you wanna see me, forward to 30:20.

I'm warning you now, IT'S REALLY LONG. REALLY LONG. LIKE 40 MINUTES LONG. But it's cool.

Enjoy.

Comment as usual.

My Personal Opinions

Well, today I've decided to fill a post with my opinions. I'm going to write about politics, civil rights, and other things. Here goes:

• Proposition 8: I support proposition 8. And no, that doesn't make me a bigot, nor a hater or anything of the sort. It simply makes me someone who supports the definition of traditional marriage. I get so sick of hearing that this argument is all about "civil rights" and hatred and bigotry. The reality is that it has nothing to do with civil rights. I think that those who were involved in the civil rights movements of the 20's and 60's should almost be offended that this is being compared to those. Homosexuals have the right to vote and participate in the political process. They have the right to receive the benefits that straight married couples receive. There's no comparison. They simply want to apply the term marriage to their civil unions. I do not support this. I agree that homosexual couples deserve certain rights and that they should have the opportunity to receive the same benefits as married straight couples, however, they don't need to call this marriage. This push has been talked about as "equality". It has nothing to do with equality at this point. They'd have you believe that you are intolerant if you support proposition 8. When did the definition of tolerate (according to the interwebz: To allow (something that one dislikes or disagrees with) to exist or occur without interference) to embrace? Why do I have to love and support and accept and embrace homosexuality to tolerate it? The reality is that I am not going to stop you living in your lives until you try to interfere with mine. So please, don't accuse me of bigotry and hatred. It's merely an argument against the redefinition of marriage. Gay couples already have civil unions. As far as I'm concerned, that's good.
• Democratic Leadership: I'm scared. And that's not because Barack Obama is likely to be our next president. He's not a bad person, and in fact, he has some policies that I agree with and support (gun control, net neutrality, part of his economic policies) and I won't be angry when he (most likely) wins the next election. That's not the problem. The problem is the unchecked ownership of the democratic party in the government. With almost the 60 votes needed in the senate to push bills straight to vote and a majority in both the house and senate, it would seem that there will be a lot of unchecked power in the government for at least the next couple years. It's a problem. Some would argue that Bush has overused the power of the executive branch -- however, everything he did was within the power of the executive branch during war time or with the support of the house and senate. However, with unchecked power in the government, the whole liberal agenda could be pushed through quickly. Extremely left-wing people will be happy with this, but the majority of the US should be worried. Our government has always been about checks and balances. This year, we are potentially removing every one of them (the judicial branch is also very liberal). This is worrisome. I don't like that picture. Especially when Obama originally began his campaign talking about cooperation and support of both parties, and has now moved to the extreme. I don't worry about Obama being president: I worry about the entire liberal agenda being moved through in 4 years. Be careful America. There are a lot of conservatives out there.
• "Stupid Conservatives": I get so sick of listening to highly liberal people talk about how conservative are stupid. Some say "Religion is just a crutch for the weak". (Yes, I've heard it plenty of times) It's interesting stuff. And I would like to refute it: I'm a very religious person. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I'm one of the more religious people that you might now. And I do not believe that my religion is a crutch. I enjoy having my faith in the Lord and Savior, and in God. He is powerful, and provides a lot of support and strength in this world. Religion has not made me blind. The reality is that I choose to be who I am and to do the things that I do. I choose to obey God's commandments and to follow His path. This does not make me weak. I would argue it makes me stronger. But that's a useless argument to those who don't understand the nature of God. I only ask that you stop useless attacks on religion itself.
• TV: There are great shows I recommend: The Office, Heroes, 24 (January), Eleventh Hour, Chuck, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Seinfeld, House and Fringe. Watch them.
• Politicians: I love that supporters of Obama would refer to McCain as a politician. He's not really a "true" politician. If he was, he wouldn't say things that he says. He'd be more "polished" and ambiguous and less argumentative and crochety. Those are all qualities that a certain "true" politician has: Obama. If there is one thing Obama is, it's a career politician. He speaks well, presents himself in a political manner and uses the word "change" a lot. If there is one person in this election that's a true politician, it's Barack Obama.
• Obama's Health Plan: Social security is a mess. NASA is a mess. Medicare is a mess. Our country is deeply in debt. And Obama's going to cut taxes on the "middle class", skyrocket taxes on the rich and then use government money to create a goverment organization to provide socialized healthcare? Why would we want that. The government has failed in providing us with social security and medicare already. Why would we believe that the government can run our healthcare better than it already is? Taxes will be lower, and we'll find money to pay down our debt and create new, HUGE government programs? Does anyone else see the problem here?

Ok. I think I'm done. I know that I don't know everything. My opinions are just that: opinions. But I honestly hope that people will think during this election about what will be best for not only our country, but every country. The world benefits from democracy and freedom. Get out and vote. No matter who you are voting for, VOTE! Don't let people decide for you. Make your own decisions. But think through it and remember that not everything that is said is true. Don't get caught up in "change" or "hope". These are great things, but remember, without action, hope and change are just wishy washy concepts. Be careful and think before you vote.

Comment away.

Shortness

Short sweet and to the point: 18 days and I get married.

Check her out:

I am so lucky. And she decided to make me dinner last night and tonight! Dang, she is ONE GOOD COOK, AND ONE AMAZING LADY.

Lucky = me

My Mom is Great

A list of the names I either called my mom or she called herself in the last 24 hours:

1. Doodles McDoodles-a-lot
2. Dude
3. McGillicutty
4. Twinkie
5. Butthead
6. Popsicle
7. Mr. Roboto
8. Moms
9. Mom
10. Mommy
11. Dianne
12. SkankFace
13. Trophy Wife
14. Super Dude
15. Loser
16. Super Mom

Geez, it may sound like my mom and I are at each other's throats -- but we're not. We love each other tons. She's really cool. We just happen to call each other lots of different names. I could put up the list of names she has called me, and it would look pretty darn similar.

Check out my mom's rantings at her blog.

Have a good one.