"Add as a Friend"

So a friend was having a discussion on his facebook wall concerning proposition 8 and invited me and a couple other friends to join. Somewhat begrudgingly I joined facebook, found a couple of friends and clicked "Add as a Friend". Now suddenly I am getting "friend" requests from "friends" that I haven't seen for quite some time.

Perhaps it is my introverted side that is keeping me from pushing that "Add as friend" link on many people that I know, but wouldn't describe as friends per se. But whatever the reason I find it rather presumptuous to click that link. More and more, it seems, that "friend" or "friendship" is being thrown around as a casual term. It is easier to say "we are friends" than it is to say "We are acquaintances" or "an acquaintance told me" as oft times that may turn into an additional conversation that perhaps we may not want to have--particularly if the person you are talking with might consider themselves more a friend than an "acquaintance" in your vernacular.

Perhaps I value friends too much. They are not throw-away commodities that can be easily replaced, nor can they be readily made--at least for me. For whatever reason throwing out the term "friend" means more to me than the usage so common in today's society; but then again perhaps it was never intended to be used in such a strict, narrow focus that I have assigned it.

So to those of you whom I truly call friends, and with whom I am close, know that it wasn't a friendship created by hyperlink, but one forged by memories and admiration over the years.

Pens

I love pens. I love the way they write; the way their ink looks on paper; but mostly the idea behind the transmission of information. I am quite simply fascinated by pens. My two favorite writing instruments are the G2 blue rollerball and the Twist Erase 0.7 mechanical pencil. Both of these instruments are wonderful to write with.

To be honest I do not know where my fascination with writing instruments, namely pens, comes from. I very vividly remember practicing my sigature for some time trying to find the best way to make it look. I also remember buying bulk #2 pencils in seventh grade because I thought they looked cool. Doug Richens, in 9th grade, became irritated with me and my signature because I wouldn't print my name on English assignments, but would rather sign my name.

The turning point most likely came when I went to BYU and took a drafting class and was introduced to drafting pencils. I remember standing in front of the many options in the BYU bookstore and finally deciding on a 0.9 diameter drafting pencil with a knurled grip. It was really cool. But my mission took my fascination to another level with pens.

One of my first purchases when I made it to Switzerland was a rather inexpensive fountain pen by Watermark. I practiced with that pen over and over, signing my name, writing fun sentences. I continued to work on my signature. The first modification was the inclusion of my middle name; then came the moving of parts of my middle and last names into the swooping G and B of my names; finally I circled the tail of my final t around to make the "crosses" on my t's. The feel and flow of that pen was wonderful.

Using that fountain pen made me realize that lined paper was not good. It distracted from the writing and flow of letter to letter; word to word; and sentence to sentence. I quickly began using plain, unlined paper. Bliss.

When I returned home I couldn't find refills for my pens and then they eventually broke. So I once again returned to pencils--always a 0.9 mechanical. In my Junior year of school I discovered engineering pads. The pads of paper were perfect note taking pads--plain, unlined green tinted paper on the front, with graph paper on the back that showed through to the front just enough so as to guide my writing.

Then finally I found the G2 pens. I was hooked from day one. The flow of the pen was similar to that fountain pen I bought in Switzerland. I have written with many of the colors, but I always drift back to blue.

I really have no reason for what I just wrote. It seemed like a good idea as I thought about it. It was a nice distraction from the difficulty of work and the uncertainty of the times. I hope you enjoyed it.

Don't Point Your Gun at Me

I have long been a fan of Boston Legal (see here). This season, unfortunately, is its last. Though this year hasn't been as lively as previous seasons it has still been enjoyable.

We "Tivo'd" November 3rd show, and just watched it tonight. It started out as many of this seasons episodes, and nearly made me wish I had just gone to bed. It was enjoyable, but not like previous seasons. That is until the clip below. I nearly fell of the couch laughing at this clip. (Of course it would have probably been better in the context of the whole show).

To summarize what led up to this clip, Alan Shore (James Spader) and Denny Crane (William Shatner) have been arguing on and off the entire episode about Denny's desire to vote for McCain (Denny is a life long Republican). In this episode the argument becomes heated, and well watch the clip.

The thing that made it so humorous for me was how so out of place it was for two lawyers to hold a paintball shootout in an office, dressed in suits. But yet it seemed so easy to see how arguments this political season could have led to such an eschange. I was absolutely rolling all while being unable to breath from laughter.

Heather Lost a Tooth

Heather lost a tooth today at the ripe-old age of 4 yrs, 8 months. It was somewhat surprising to find one of her front teeth loose, with a new one growing behind it. She doesn't seem old enough.

Ky and Ryan both lost their first tooth in late kindergarted/early first grade. Taylor and Heather both lost their first tooth prior to kindergarten. It is interesting how different kids from the same parents are.

MrBerrett.com

This has been a while in the making, but I am now finally comfortable with the look and feel of it to put it live. So without further verbosity, here it is. Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, I give you...

(Trumpets sound, doves fly, and a gasp from the audience is heard.)

I have been wanting to create a website for my classes for quite some time, but alas my html and web programming skills basically suck. Most of what I do, I have "borrowed" from my brother Rus. I had been wanting to use the same software for the blog that I use on this site, but I never could find the time to figure out how to do the things I wanted. So rather than waste another year "trying" to figure it out (I say trying but really I never tried), I used Apple's iWeb to create one over the weekend.

I hope it works as I hope.

--edited to finish off my last paragraph that just seemed to hang--11/04/08

Kids' School Pictures--2008

So here are this year's kids' school pictures. Enjoy.

	Ky is 11 in the picture, though will be turning 12 early next year which means he will be getting the priesthood and can pass the sacrement at church. He is pretty excited. Ky is currently a red/brown belt at Bushi-ban karate, and should get his black belt in 2010. Ky is currently in the 6th grade. Much to Ky's dissapoinment the music school where he was taking guitar lessons closed, and so he had to get a new teacher. He is doing really well with the new teacher (who is much more structured).
	Taylor is now 9 years old and in the 4th grade. He loves his red pokemon shirt. When he realized that picture taking day was coming up, he made sure that Jen had washed his red pokemon shirt. He will be turning 10 early next year. Taylor is in a kids bowling league and regularly bowls over 100. He still is my best birthday present. Taylor is also playing the trumpet, and doing really well at it. He likes to play it loud, but he also plays it clear. Lately he has been learning some of the songs from Indiana Jones.
	Ryan is now 7 and in the 2nd grade. He takes pride in his physical appearance, particulary his developing muscles. This year he played tackle football and played the wide receiver. He loved it, particulary wearing the uniform. For Halloween this year he went around in his football uniform. He turns 8 next August when he will be baptized. He is quickly becoming a good piano player, and we will regularly find/hear him playing the current song he is working on outside of his normal piano practices.
	Heather is 4, turning 5 next year. She loves to play dress up and is currently taking dance. It is funny to see her in her primary class as she is a good head taller than anyone else in the class. She also loves to have her picture taken and is very good at making the "I'm an adorable little girl" pose (as seen in this picture). She loves dresses and skirts, and it was only after me asking multiple times that she started wearing her bermuda shorts. Heather will be starting kindergarten next year and is already reading.
	Hailey is almost 2. She is an energetic little girl who loves to play and carry her "babies". She recently learned to jump and runs most everywhere she goes. Her hair is finally getting to the length where Jen can do a little more with it than simply a top knot. Her favorite game is to tease Daddy when he asks for kisses and hugs. Though she will occassionally give me hugs and kisses, it is never when I ask for them. She loves to draw and color, and "read".

Happy Halloween

And to those who don't like Halloween, "A POX ON YOU!!!". Haha, only kidding.

Me personally I enjoy Halloween. I give out the good stuff--full size candy. This year the little kiddies are being treated to: Butterfinger, M&M's, Skittles, Hot Tamales, Starbursts, Crunch, Mike & Ike's, 100 Grand, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and Twizzler Nibs.

My house isn't getting hit as hard as years past. My street cred must not have gotten out yet. Though what limited kids that have come, have filled the air with "oohs" and "aaahs" so it is all good.

Based upon the current foot traffic, we are going to have a lot left over.

Silly Rabbit Herons Don't Just Eat Fish

So in looking at a couple other articles that were linked off of the article about the spider eating the bird that I wrote about here, I came across a couple other articles about animal "dinners" that usually don't happen. The first was a bout a heron eating a rabbit (see picture below). The second was about a leopard killing and eating a crocodile.

Let There Be Night

Interesting article in the most current National Geographic Magazine concerning the slow elimination of the night sky by man made lights. In many areas of the country few stars can be seen; all the more startling is the difficulty many people are finding in seeing the Milky Way due to "Light Pollution". It is a good read.

One interesting part was a picture of Bountiful, focused primarily on the Bountiful Temple. The entire photo album of the pictures that accompanied the article can be found here. The picture of the Bountiful area is the second to last.

Enjoy.

And You Laugh at Arachnaphobes!

Okay this is just crazy. Check out this article and image of a spider catching a bird, yes a BIRD, in its web. Here is the image for a sample of what you will see.

How to Win an Election

Every so often TBS and other basic cable television stations air "The American President" starring Michael Douglas. It is in some cases rather shallow and predictable. As we wipe ourselves off this presidential season I am reminded of a quote from this movie. It is given at a press conference that President Shepherd (Michael Douglas) interrupts. The quote is as follows:

We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.

And then this one right before the above quote discussing his rivals quest for the Whitehouse:

I've known Bob Rumson for years, and I've been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. Bob's problem isn't that he doesn't get it. Bob's problem is that he can't sell it!

You can see a full clip of the speech below. Thought all you that read this blog might find it interesting.

One Month

One month without sugar, 10 lbs lost. Actually has turned out to not be as difficult as I thought it would be. I figure I might as well keep going.

Sugar

Once upon a time my brothers went for months without sugar in preparation for the state swim meet. As a side affect my Mom, ever the supportive one, began making a lot of food without sugar--at least during this time. So inadvertantly I went without a lot of sugar but never fully without.

By the time that I was on the swim team and swam at state my senior year I had a different coach than Rus and Brent; thus I didn't have to go without sugar. Richard Barnes and I attempted to do it in preparation for state, but I am pretty certain that I didn't make it.

Jen was borderline gestationally diabetic during her pregnancy with Hailey, so to keep everything in line she went off sugar during her last trimester and subsequently lost 10-15 lbs, when normally she would gain 10-15. Which leads me to the following.

Jen has challenged me to go a month without sugar (primarily refined sugar) which also includes corn syrup and any other artificial sweetner. So after two days I am doing okay. I had a slight false start with a nice organic yogurt that had no "sugar" but in its place it had "evaporated cane juice". Last night after a couple quick searches I quickly discovered that it is a slightly less refined version of sugar, so no go. I was really good yogurt.

So I'll keep you updated on how it goes. This is all done as an experiment to see if my body reacts similar to Jen's. Who knows.

Hailey Sue

Over the course of the summer Jen played a good amount of tennis and has taken a couple of students under her tutelage. Jen's lessons were usually in the morning which resulted in Hailey waking up to her "dada" on many occassions.

Hailey finally figured out where Mom was and would regularly go to the window that overlooks the courts or stand by the front door and call for her "Momma" or "Mommee". Eventually she would get out and wander over to the courts.

The funny thing is now whenever Hailey Sue cannot find Jen, she will wander to the tennis courts looking for her, even when Jen isn't there. She has to determine for herself that Jen is not there before she will listen to where you are telling her Jen is.

--Updated 9/15/08 to correct a spelling/grammar error pointed out by Richard.

Thriving Ivory

So while I was driving my son to karate (please pronounce it properly "Kuh-raw-tay") my local radio station 101.9 The End previewed the debut album for the band "Thriving Ivory". For whatever reason I connected with the music--was completely in awe of the sound and music coming from my radio. Can't explain why as the lead singers voice seems to be opposite of what major labels seem to be pushing lately.

Needless to say I went out and bought the album on iTunes. I thoroughly enjoy every song. They have videos up on their site as well as their current single, "Angels on the Moon", to watch and listen to. Hope you enjoy it as I have.

Referees and Recreational Sports

Today I had the fun time of watching Ryan play in a football game. Today was his second game, but the first that I was able to see, as last week I was coaching Heather's first soccer game. It was a fun game to watch, though I could have done without certain parents/coaches on Ryan's team yelling at the refs.

Yelling at the refs, particularly in recreation sports, is one of my pet peeves. Particularly when the basis of the yelling is "call it both ways", or "call it fair". This type of yelling it not beneficial, it just becomes sour grapes. Unfortunately a very good game became tarnished by assistant coaches and parent "whining" and "complaining" about unfair calls.

The main reason why this bothers me is because, rather than focusing on why the penalty was called, the coaches missed an opportunity to teach the kids, and instead focused the kids attention on something else--namely the refs. It now became the refs fault that they held the opposing player rather than their own culpability in the penalty.

I wish I could say that I wasn't guilty of yelling at a referee on past occasions. Mine is probably more problematic in that it was done at a church softball game. All though I will admit that the umpire of the softball game deserved it. Its all glass houses anyway.