Clear the Streets!

Well, it's finally happened. See pic below...



KJ finally got the elusive drivers license. He wasn't in a hurry and finally has it at 17 years old. He was so busy the last year that it just took till now to get everything done. I can't say I'm upset by the delay ;) I think he is much more capable and mature a driver now than he was at 16. I wish we could change the official age to 17 or even 18. Although we've been getting sick of driving him around and now he can just take himself so really it is a good thing. Yes, I'm having trouble coming up with something clever to say.
Anyway here are some other pics that his proud Mother took at the big final event at the DMV.
If anyone has an extra car hanging around they don't need for the next year and a half I'm sure KJ would love to take it off of your hands ;)

GOVERNMENT WARNING!

GOVERNMENT WARNING!!!
DO NOT SWALLOW CHEWING GUM!!!



Thanks to my good friend Remoh for the pic and the joke.

MirrorTalk Messages!

Announcing the newest website from the Inspiripics family.
MirrorTalkMessages.com
MirrorTalk Messages is a website that is all MirrorTalk all the time. Being a part of the Inspiripics.com website has served MirrorTalk well over the last 3 years but now it's time for MirrorTalk to spread it's wings!
MirrorTalk makes a unique gift that is at the same time elegant and inspirational/motivational.
Come check it out today!


MirrorTalk are vinyl stickers that can be affixed to you your bathroom mirrors or any other smooth surface in your home. MirrorTalk inspires with quotes and phrases that will inspire and motivate you and your family.

Gladys Knight for President!

She is a woman, she is black and she is Mormon.
I think that just about covers it as far as what America has to choose from this year.
Why hasn't anyone thought of this before? She would be the perfect candidate in this crazy 2008 election. How could America go wrong? Oh, "what about political experience?" you say? Well, it's pretty clear that isn't important to Americans if you look at the last several presidents we've elected. So, why not? Just think, presidential press conferences would actually be FUN! Get the Pips in there swinging their hips and maybe the press idiots on the front row might actually crack a smile. AND, if the economy is tanking she could just sing for us and make us all feel better!
And, I hear she is a great person.
I'm having a hard time seeing a down side here.
Yes, I am officially writing in Gladys Knight for president in the 2008 election.

Family 'Outing' - January

I'm one month into my New Years Resolutions and have successfully fulfilled at least one months promise of an outdoor family outing. Last Saturday we took the one hour drive to Daniels Summit Lodge near Heber City, Utah to try our hand at snowmobiling.


I haven't been snowmobiling in more than 20 years and none of my family has been so we decided to take a minimalist approach. Instead of renting 2 sleds we just rented one and only planned on going for about 2 hours. Not knowing if Shelby would like this activity we decided that I would take her out first and just be gone for a few minutes and see how she did.



She did great! I however managed to roll the sled on it's side in the first 5 minutes. BTW, I had a similar experience a few years ago when we went jet skiing for the first time. I guess I had better not take up flying ;)
No one was hurt I was just trying to turn around and got off the trail a little too far and well yah, we came off the sled. Shelby stood right up buried to her waist in snow and said, "WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!?"



Shelby had her 15 minutes and was done for the day. So, now it was Michelle's turn. That is her in the pic above. I know with all the helmets and stuff it's hard to tell who is who. The first 5 minutes with her was all about screaming like a little girl. Not in glee but in sheer terror. She stopped quickly but the reason she stopped is pure Michelle. Let's see if I can get it right. As she was screaming she realized that she did trust me after all and that I wasn't going to kill her and also she realized how incredibly beautiful it was up there and that she really just needed to enjoy it. Something like that. Ask her to tell it, it is just vintage 'Shelly'. I stopped to ask her if she wanted to go back about 2 times and she was just loving it so we took a nice 30-40 minute ride. I took her back and she was done for the day and so she took Shelby to the lodge for some girl time.



So, of course last but not least, patient KJ got his turn. After waiting in the helmet room for about an hour Father and son took off into the hills. I drove for a ways but then let KJ drive. (he could legally drive the snowmobile because he has his drivers license now. Just got it the Wednesday previous to this outing. A post about this will be forthcoming)
We took turns as we headed down the 20 mile loop. We had a great time. We were hootin and hollerin several times. We went over the summit and drove through a pretty good snow storm for a few minutes. It was soooo beautiful.


It was beautiful and oh so much fun! It's definitely something to save up for but we can't wait to go back. I'm sure we will.

I Live in Hell

My commute is normally 15 minutes. About 13 miles. Half of which is on a major interstate. I get on the freeway and exit at the very next exit. Today was a little different. 1.5 hours later I rolled into the parking lot at work. I don't think I ever got over 5mph the whole trip. I saw at least 3 people zoom past me at a much faster rate and then later saw ALL THREE off the side of the freeway facing the wrong direction. Oh yah, it was fun ;)

Next Gen Storybooks #2

Here's another classic in the making.

I Resolve...

I was planning on doing this a little sooner but I caught a nasty sinus infection that nailed me for a few days. Also, my good friend over at GuadSpot wrote a post that really threw me for a loop. I keep meaning to call him about it but I'm not really sure what I'd say. Anyway, despite the 'Debbie Downers' out there I did get a very positive reaction to my question about whether I should post my New Years Resolutions. So, I'm going to.
Let me preface by saying the format I am choosing is something I learned from my year and a half working at FranklinCovey. I learned there that if you have more than about 3 "Wildly Important Goals" or "WIGs" at any one time you will have difficulty doing anything with excellence. I think there is something to that but it's not a hard and fast rule.
So, I am going with 3 highly important goals to start out with and we'll see how I do. I'm not promising that I will report back so if you're curious throughout the year you'll have to ask me.


Personal
My wildly important personal goal is to take care of my body. To lose weight. I have some specific goals in this area but my initial tact is to change my lifestyle so that I am exercising the way I should and the way I want to for the rest of my life. I will tackle the weight issue more head on as I get in a rhythm with my exercising. I know! Surprise! I want to lose weight, this is a very unique and original resolution ;) However, with my age climbing and with Type II diabetes on both sides of my family it is past time for me to take care of this.


Family
This one just sort of came to me.
I am resolving to spend significant time with my family 'out of doors' at least once a month this year.
This means some kind of event or outting not just a walk to the park. It will probably take place on a Saturday and take a half a day or so each time. We will do this even during the winter, for there are plenty of Winter activities here in Utah that we can take part in. I think it will be fun. I will most likely report here on these activities so stay tuned!


Career
This one is probably the weakest of the three. I have been trying to figure out what I can do in this realm. I haven't enjoyed work as much as I am now in a long long time if ever. That being said, I want to improve and grow my skills etc.
So, this one might change if I have some additional inspiration or if job requirements change etc.
I will purchase several technical study manuals and spend time each work day studying them. I will start with the Flash manual I already have and go forward with some HTML and CSS and then add some Ruby on Rails books. By the end of the year I hope to be better able to make fixes and changes on the web sites I am responsible for myself if one of my devs isn't available etc.

The iPhone Story

This article on Wired is worth the read. It is a 4 page read on the development of the iPhone. It includes many behind the scenes stories and lots of very interesting information.
My favorite part is the last paragraph:

------------
It may appear that the carriers' nightmares have been realized, that the iPhone has given all the power to consumers, developers, and manufacturers, while turning wireless networks into dumb pipes. But by fostering more innovation, carriers' networks could get more valuable, not less. Consumers will spend more time on devices, and thus on networks, racking up bigger bills and generating more revenue for everyone. According to Paul Roth, AT&T's president of marketing, the carrier is exploring new products and services — like mobile banking — that take advantage of the iPhone's capabilities. "We're thinking about the market differently," Roth says. In other words, the very development that wireless carriers feared for so long may prove to be exactly what they need. It took Steve Jobs to show them that.
------------

The stupidity of business these days just floors me. The idea that what the iPhone is doing is some 'new' idea, that the idea is that people really care about the phones they use. Duh. What a bunch of freakin idiots. How do some of these companies stay in business? I am so glad that the 'wireless carriers' are having to redefine the way they do business because the way they've been doing it is like a bunch of Dumb Asses. I guess everyone is just trying to emulate Microsoft. I think those days are rapidly coming to a close. It seems weird to thank one person for this but there is a lot of press out there giving that thanks to Steve Jobs right now. I am an Apple fan to be sure but I don't like the idea that is all because of this one guy.

Check 'em

I'm really trying to be a better citizen this new year and so I will post some PSA (public service announcement) type info from time to time. THIS one is timely and very important. It's a preventative health info piece that was actually filmed near my home in Utah.

From what I understand my two good friends that are Ice Hockey enthusiasts do this a lot.

Thanks to HockeyGuy for the link.

Next Gen Storybooks #1

There are some new storybooks out there for the next generation.
I will share them one by one as the mood strikes me.
Heres the first: