Breaking the law = Making the law

There is a bill being considered currently in the Utah state legislature that deals with traffic laws. Some of the proposals are to raise the speed limit on the interstates by 5 mph, allow police officers to speed without using their lights, require slow moving vehicles to get out of the left lane, and shorten the required amount of time that drivers must signal before changing lanes.

It is not so much the proposed changes that bother me, it is the reasoning that was given in the article for the changes.

"Jenkins says people are already speeding and police officers are already breaking the law by not using their lights. Jenkins says his bill, which has already passed a Senate committee and is expected to be voted on by the full Senate tomorrow, would make state law more in accordance with what drivers are already doing."

It just doesn't make sense to me. Changing the law because people are not obeying it already. To me this would be like,(Brace yourself for the over the top comparison), legalizing prostitution because, hey people are already doing it all over town, so why not give them a clear conscience. I understand that at times laws become outdated and need to be changed, but give me a real reason. Not just the popular teenage excuse, "everyone is doing it". Sometimes I wonder what kind of people we put in office.

Why change the law to fit the people, aren't the laws supposed to help the people change?

Link to KSL Article

Truly Wicked.

Last week Crystal, Beepers and myself were in the big Apple. We were taking a cruise with Crystal's family from NY to the Bahamas and back. That is a story that I will have to tell when I have more time. While we were in NY, Crystal wanted to go see a Broadway show and obtained tickets to see Wicked. I was intrigued at the brief synopsis that she gave me, but I was not prepared for what I was to behold.

The stage and the props were magnificent, I was really impressed with the quality and the detail. I am not completely without culture and I was expecting to enjoy the show, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. In fact, even now over a week later I am still humming some of the tunes to myself. For those of you who don't know what the play is about here is a brief summary.

"Long before Dorothy dropped in, two other girls meet in the Land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two unlikely friends end up as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch makes for the most spellbinding new musical in years."

The plot was good, it has some funny bits, and the music was great. If you ever get the chance to see this show, I would recommend that you do.

Oh Tannenbaum!!!!

Christmas is here along with all the good smells, grumpy people, extremely happy people and over priced products. I actually enjoy the Christmas season along with most things that go with it. This last Sunday we decided to put up our Christmas tree and decorate it with all the trimmings. As we were doing so I wondered what the effect would be on our almost two year old son, Beepers. At first he was in awe and stared and pointed. Then awe gave way to curiosity and now, he believes that the funnest game in the world is to pull an ornament off the tree and run away from mommy or daddy as they chase him around the house yelling. He laughs and laughs. It's really hard to punish a child and make it stick when they are being so silly, but then that feeling quickly passes as I get angry because I am trying to punish him and he laughs in my face. This usually ends in a time out session for him and a cool down session for me. Not that I get that angry, it's just frustrating to tell him the same thing over and over, knowing he understands he just chooses not to obey. ( I guess this is the point that most people with children would say, "Welcome to the next thirty years of your life.")

On the bright side, it is fun to see his reaction to all the lights and sounds. Tonight we took him downtown to temple square to see the lights. He enjoyed every minute of it. He kept shouting, "light, light" and "twinkle". (Twinkle is what he chooses to call stars, most of the time. I guess we sang twinkle, twinkle, little star, too much. I think it's cute though.) Last year he was too small to express himself, so this year was much better. I can't wait until Christmas.

I am also hoping to see lots of friends when they come back home to visit. hint hint!

Pumkin Pyrotechnics!

So, Halloween is over and now you are left with a surplus of mangled pumpkin carcasses. What to do.... Some take the traditional approach and make pies or cakes, and others just throw them in the trash. This year however turned out a bit different. We were invited to witness the result of pumpkins + rednecks + dynamite + a rifle = fun! And here it is for you to behold..



The story begins in the small town of Weston, Idaho. The people were looking for a way to discourage the teens in this small country town from going out and smashing the pumpkins all over the roads. After some discussion, and a pyrotechnicians license later, the annual pumpkin blowup was born. Everyone is invited to bring their pumpkins and then a short time later, a rifle is used to detonate the small amount of dynamite placed at the bottom of the pile. Some of those that we talked to commented that this year it was a little harder to get the dynamite, so there are several large pieces of pumpkin left. Normally all that one would witness is an orange mist billowing towards the sky.

Even though it was short lived, I really enjoyed it and I think that this might become an annual trip. Who says Rednecks don't know how to have fun. ( I think that I might have a little more redneck in me that I would like to admit.)

From the mouths of babes..

One of the most amazing things about being a parent is having the oppourunity to watch a human mind develop. It absolutly fascinates me. Everything that my 19 month old son does, he is learning. His speech is getting much clearer and now he is hitting what I would call the parrot stage. Everything he hears he trys to repeat. For example whenever he gets dressed he runs all around the house yelling, "Cute!" and waiting for us to dote on him.

Given this situation it is really interesting to find out the words that his mother and I must use often without even realizing it. "Whoa!" (one of his favorites) "Cool", "Neat", "No!"(that one is a given) and so on. None of those are really remarkable, but it fascinates me, by how quickly he learns them and is able to use them in the correct context.

Everyday is a new surprise and I only wish that I could learn as fast and as well as he does. (Let's just hope that he won't pick up on some of the rarely used "undesireables" that are muttered every so often, espically when one plays Halo.)

Nerd, Geek or Dork???

I was on Digg at lunch today and found this test. It is to tell you if you are a geek, nerd or dork. Yes apparently there is a difference. After answering the questions as honestly as possible, here are my results...

Joe Normal

43 % Nerd, 39% Geek, 34% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions

You scored less than half in all three, earning you the title of: Joe Normal.
This is not to say that you don't have some Nerd, Geek or Dork inside of you--we all do, and you can see the percentages you have right above. This is just to say that none of those qualities stand out so much as to define you. Sure, you enjoy an episode of Star Trek now and again, and yeah, you kinda enjoyed a few classes back in the day. And, once in a while, you stumble while walking down the street even though there was nothing there to cause you to trip. But, for the most part, you look and act fairly typically, and aren't much of an outcast.
In any event, fairly normal.

THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST


So who would have thought, I am actually normal. All of this time I thought that I was a geek. hmmmm!!!

Halo Again!

Since the completion of school, I have found a few small spaces of free time here and there. I have taken this oppourtunity to play a few games of Halo with my brother-in-law and over 500,000 of my closest friends. That's right I have taken to playing Halo on Xbox live. My brother-in-law got me hooked and now I am one of the mindless rabble.

I don't play alot (by my standards anyway) and I am not particularly very good. But I do enjoy it. When the time comes to play I eagerly don the headset, and bask in the luminescent glow from the T.V. I anxiously await the start of the game, gripping the controller tightly in my sweaty palms. Then it happens, joy the game has begun, and I quickly get killed. Over and over again as my frustration grows, I am erased, sometimes I am successful in taking others with me, sometimes not. (By the way most of the time I am getting schooled by some prepubescant with a severe vulgarity problem.) Then the thought inevitably arises, am I really having fun? Why do I keep submitting myself to this? Frustrating as it is, I can't seem to give up.

This same senario also happens on the occasion when I have the chance to play a round of golf. This morning, was such a time and soon after we started, I found myself wondering, why it is that I really like this game? I am terrible, I loose lots of balls, what is the deal? The only bright side that I can figure is the fact that I am at least outdoors and enjoying the world around me.

I know that I am probably not the only one who these kinds of things happen to and I can only hope that I am drawn to these things because they are difficult. In the difficulty I find the excitement. If the games were too easy then I would be bored and have no need to continue playing. On the flipside, if the games are very difficult then I revel in every accomplishment and savor every victory. I guess deep down this is the philosopy of life, and the reason that we all get out of bed everyday and rise to meet the challenges of life. Carry on my friends...

Oh yeah for a few of you Halo geeks that might read this, here are some lyrics that a good friend of mine wrote to the popular Sound of Music tune, These are a few of my favorite things....Lyrics