Adjustment Bureau

What an interesting movie! I'm not sure I would say GREAT. But, certainly worth watching just for the shear uniqueness of the story. Good chemistry between Damon and Blunt. She does a great job of emoting just with her face. We had the choice of seeing Arthur with Russell Brand or this one. I think we chose correctly. May have to see it again just to check its staying power.

Great Saturday

Finally, a nice, sunny, beautiful, epic day. This means Spring has broken and Summer is almost here. What a great day for the Rapture. The only thing that didn't go perfect was my bike ride. Really, I think the Adjustment Bureau was trying to make sure I didn't stay too long and miss something at home. Maybe the powers that be felt I shouldn't be enjoying myself too much and too long while Lenore and the kids were working in the yard. I had some persistent mechanical problems (of my own making) and one flat. Still it felt good and I just had to give into fate and cut the ride short.

Yes, I was recreating while the family was slaving away. But, I live for riding and this was pretty much the first day all week where the weather cooperated. The family understands. And it's not like I don't do things around the house and put my back into it when I get home.

There were lots of bugs in the air at the Legacy Parkway. A couple of stretches were just thick with them. One or two made their way into my mouth. (Yes, when I ride I tend to be a mouth breather.) I was home around noon and worked in the yard and then around three, Geri needed help with her air conditioners. Afterwards, I was cleaning up at home and noticed a gnat stuck between my two front teeth.

A couple of times a year we have to beat back the jungle. whoever told Brigham Young that nothing would grow here? We tore out a bunch of vegetation that didn't make it through the winter. There were some hard freezes this year and it showed. We planted more potatoes right next to some volunteers left over from last year. More vegetable garden stuff next weekend, hopefully. A sprinkler repair that I thought was going to be somewhat involved was remedied way more easily with some luck and maybe a little help from the Adjustment Bureau.

I inspected the back fence that is falling down. I no longer think it is due to roots from the Box Elder tree. It appears it is just succumbing to the slope, slowly coming downhill after 20 years. Cheapo me, I'm probably going to try to brace it up using the strength and stability of a couple of trees. It might last for another few years.

The end of the daylight was one of those calm, still, comfortable evenings that I know are not unique to Utah. But it seemed like such a blessing and even a reward for making it through the Winter and the insanely wet Spring. This time of evening, this time of year. It evoked my habitual assessment of Utah: this is what we live here for. It's just so easy to forget from November through March. On a day and evening like this it is very common for me to feel a pervading and universal well being. You just know that millions of people are having the same kind of experience at the same time and it is reassuring and comforting.

Looking for the Summer

I can be unusually singularly minded about some things. I have spent years of my life waiting for the next chance to go surfing, or play volleyball and lately to go cycling. I'm not manly enough to endure cycling through year-round Utah weather. This means that in the winter I might go 3-4 weeks without getting on the bike. I'm lucky to just maintain a semblance of fitness. Also, It is easy for me go up in weight by 15-20 lbs during the inactive winter (not so shocking I'm a pretty tall guy.)

So each year around February March and April I start thinking often about trying to get out on the bike. I used to get up early in the morning to ride and granted, if I were doing that I would have gotten a FEW more rides in. For various sleep and health related reasons I don't see myself getting up early much until the weather gets REALLY nice.

This year has been horrendous. It's so disheartening to try to plan out what rides you are going to get in during the coming week when the forecast calls for yuckey cold, rainy, and snowy weather all week. As I was writing this it started to snow briefly. And typically the nicest weather all week will fall on Sunday, with the exception of Conference weekend.

On the bike I like to go fast and I won't go that fast until I lose a little weight and that won't happen until I can get at least 3-4 rides in per week.

Fun with Place Names

We were just having fun with Oconomowoc, WI. There was only one vowel available when they named that place. Or, a trapper comes out of the woods on an extremely cold day. They ask him where he came from and he' only able to mumble Cnmwc. That's the Arabic spelling.

How I find my music

I've gotten to a crotchety old age where I do not listen to music radio. The radio now is for talk, conservative talk.

But, being a singer and heavily drenched in popular culture, I have to have music in my life. I listen a lot in my free time. With my Borg bluetooth headphone in one ear, people probably think I think I'm some high powered mover and shaker (I really do more ducking and bobbing, dodging and weaving than shaking and moving.) But, the headphone is just so I can listen to music and it is mostly when I ride my bike. (I do also listen to other audio, scriptures, conference talks, devotional talks et al.)

So how do I find new music to bring into my rotation? A lot I get from soundtracks. I have been fascinated with them for 30+ years. I could make a case for their being our current "classical" music. The operas written since Puccini's death are mostly tripe.

My young adult kids do expose me to some music that I adopt. But, I bring music to them as well.

A couple of months ago I watched online a Filmology 2010 compilation video. The background music was quite fun. So, I looked up the content and purchased most of the songs. One that has really stuck with me is called "Little Baby Pines" by the Sunbears! on the Dream Happy Dreams Album. Now, don't those titles just make you feel good! Little baby pines has really stuck with me and the kids love it. You should check it out.

I once wrote that music embeds and invokes memories on a level with the sense of smell, because it attaches to our psyche in many places. It is not unlike the scriptures of Isaiah. There is substance and meaning and appeal on several levels.

What a blessing we have in Music.

Recital

Yesterday Shazia and Ameer had a recital at Gram's house. They both did admirably (he on violin and she on voice.) Shazia packs more volume per pound than anyone in the world and she has great resonance. As she trains and improves her technique will get even better. Ameer was nearly perfect with his fingering and is able to draw a very nice sound out of his instrument. Its funny that most of the music that gets performed at recitals is "showy." It's a little like, "look l can sing this note." Or "I can do this run or this melismatic passage really well."
There were at least two numbers meant to show as well as entertain a more plebian audience like me: "I remember snow" (Sondheim) and "I dreamed a dream" (from Les Mis).

Very well done kids.

Marathon Bike Tour 2011

I did the Marathon Bike Tour again on Saturday. This was the third time for me. It went okay. But, it could have been better.

I went for a ride the evening before and in retrospect, that probably hurt me. I tried not to push hard and I kept my heart rate down. But, I think It made a big difference.

Saturday morning I just didn't have the legs. I was a mile slower than my two previous times at this. I did a lot of riding by myself. A couple of groups came along that I managed to hook up with and hang with for a while. But, I couldn't stay with them longer than a mile or two.

AG Laney

Laney recently participated in the local JA City affair (Junior Achievement City) something like Boys Town I figure. There were kids from a couple of grade schools participating. She was busy with anticipation during the run-up. She set her sights on different roles she could play and tried to keep her expectations low in case her role didn't rise to the level of prestige that she wanted. She went to the interview fully prepared. She was asked if she could do the job of a bank teller. She responded, “why, yes! I can say, Sir there are insufficient funds to cover this check.” As it turned out she got the prestigious role of Attorney General. and had a great time during the activity. Ailsa also went and helped chaperone the kids.

Good Article Having to do With Agency

Especially this part:

LDS scholar Terryl Givens explains: “(T)here are appealing arguments for God as a childish projection, for modern prophets as scheming or deluded imposters, and for modern scriptures as so much fabulous fiction. But there is also compelling evidence that a glorious divinity presides over the cosmos, that God calls and anoints prophets, and that his word and will are made manifest through a sacred canon that is never definitively closed.”
... If humans had incontrovertible secular evidence for the existence of God, they would be unable to freely choose whether or not to accept God.
... “that there must be grounds for doubt as well as belief in order to render the choice more truly a choice. ...
“The option to believe must appear on our personal horizon like the fruit of paradise, perched precariously between sets of demands held in dynamic tension. One is, it would seem, always provided with sufficient materials out of which to fashion a life of credible conviction or dismissive denial. We are acted upon, in other words, by appeals to our personal values, our yearnings, our fears, our appetites and our egos. What we choose to embrace, to be responsive to, is the purest reflection of who we are and what we love. That is why faith, the choice to believe, is, in the final analysis, an action that is positively laden with moral significance.”

Jensen's Version of "Hey Diddle Diddle." (Laney and Cissy as models)

The little dog laughed to see such craft...