We now have new neighbors across the street in the model home. There was a moving truck and movers over the weekend but the owners have not actually stayed in the home yet. There is a parking lot next to the model across the street that is still there and no signs of ripping that out yet.
Less than a week ago, the home in the lot next to us went under construction. There are another two homes down our street that just went under construction too. At 7:30am the racket starts and it pretty much goes all day long.
I have mixed feelings about about all of this activity and what it will eventually mean. On the one hand, once these houses are built they'll finish our roads, which are probably not real great on the struts and shock absorbers. On the other hand more people means more traffic and less privacy, etc. But I guess it's inevitable so I'm planning on documenting photographically the construction, and how our new world is changing right outside our door.
I was released as the High Priests Group Secretary and called as a Gospel Doctrine Instructor (there are two, so we split the duties teaching every other Sunday). This should be interesting since Cathleen and I mostly hide out in the back and keep to ourselves in Gospel Doctrine. Inevitably the whole experience will be much more beneficial to me than it will be for the class, that's the beauty about teaching.
Brother Nielson (Counselor in our Bishopric) said they weren't looking for an intellect to teach this class. Many people might be offended by that comment, but for me he was saying, "I know who you are Brother Baker and you're what we want". If I could be more intellectual I probably would be, since it's something that I've always wanted to be. But alas I don't have to worry about that. I was also comforted by some things that I learned in a course that the Bishopric asked me to attend earlier in the year, "Teaching, No Greater Calling". In this course they emphasized the following:
Question: “He that is ordained of me and sent forth to preach the word of truth by the Comforter, in the Spirit of truth, doth he preach it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?” (D&C 50:17).
Before hearing the revealed answer, let us note that the Lord is here talking about teaching the gospel, the word of truth, the principles of salvation. He is not talking about the doctrines of the world and the commandments of men, the adherence to which is vain and does not lead to salvation.
The question is, when we preach the gospel, when we teach the word of truth, when we set forth the true doctrines of salvation, do we do so by the power of the Holy Ghost or in some other way? Obviously the “other way” to teach the truth is by the power of the intellect.
Now the revealed answer: “If it be by some other way it is not of God” (D&C 50:18).
Let us make this clear. Even though what we teach is true, it is not of God unless it is taught by the power of the Spirit. There is no conversion, no spiritual experience, unless the Spirit of the Lord is involved.
Question: “And again, he that receiveth the word of truth, doth he receive it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?” (D&C 50:19).
Answer: “If it be [by] some other way it is not of God” (D&C 50:20).
Shortly after completing that course I was asked to teach the Temple Preparation course. I enjoyed that, trying to apply some of the principles that I had learned in the "Teaching" course. The difference however, there were only 3-4 participants and I had been to the temple many times whereas they all had never been. I will now find myself out of my comfort zone standing in front of 30-50 people, where many may have a lot deeper knowledge and understanding of the Gospel than I do.
Cathleen also received a new calling today. She was released as the Humanitarian Aid Specialist and called as the Laurel Advisor in the Young Woman's program. She has served in the Young Woman's program before as Beehive Advisor, about 8 years ago. She has also been Miamaid Advisor and has served as Counselor and Secretary in the YW presidency, but all this many years ago and therefore she too feels a little out of her comfort zone.
I'm certain that she'll do a great job. The Laurels are the oldest class (Tory's age group) and Cathleen provides a great example of the choices that a young woman should make. They'll all mutually benefit from this experience, I have no doubt.
I purchased a digital SLR back in October 2007. I spent a lot of time researching, trying to decide which camera would best suit me and my needs. I found various review sites that I researched: kenrockwell.com, popphoto.com, dpreview.com. It's hard to tell who to believe and what to believe, but I decided that I liked what Ken Rockwell had to say and how he said it. He really seemed to know his stuff and so I went with his recommendation to buy the Nikon D40. He basically said that it was a great all around camera, the least expensive and the one he grabs first of all his many cameras. I'm no expert and I don't pretend to be one but I do know a clear picture from a blurry one and I had had enough sucky pictures of important family events. I went through a handful of horrible point-and-shoots that would take one decent shot of five (if I was lucky) and that just had to change. Admittedly, my Nikon D40 can still take bad shots but most are decent, several are exceptional and only on occasion do I get duds.
I did find one older model big and clunky point-and-shoot that takes the most beautiful pictures and quite consistently at that, rivaling my SLR. It is the Canon PowerShot S50. You can find them used on ebay for cheap but you have to be careful, there are a lot of broken ones out there (make sure they have high feedback rating). I love this S50 camera! Cathleen dropped mine and the battery hinge door broke off. But I would buy that camera again in a heartbeat it is that good. You would not be disappointed with that camera (except for the size), and it does video too (DSLRs can't do video). I can not say much good about any of the newer Canon point-and-shoot cameras that I've tried/owned (sd800, sd1000), though I do like the size and the video quality is pretty good too.
I love my D40, but I know Canon owners love their DSLRs too. Some will say you don't need a DSLR, that a point-and-shoot works just as well. I disagree 100%. You still will want a point-and-shoot for video capture and for the portable convenience factor (they of course do a much better job than cel phone cameras). Though, another option that you might want to consider, if you still have your old legacy 35mm SLR, you can take beautiful pictures with it and have the photos digitized quite reasonably at Costco and they'll look great. But of course you don't get the benefits of instant gratification that DSLRs offer. Those 35mm are dirt cheap any more, most people have one in a closet that they're not using (including me) which means they're selling for peanuts on ebay. So if a DSLR is not in your budget yet, you might want to consider the 35mm option instead of the point-and-shoot, you'll probably get more consistent better pictures.
I'm including some picture-taking pointers that I cut and pasted from somewhere that I researched back a year ago. I apologize that I don't have the reference to give proper credit but suffice to say, I didn't come up with this stuff myself. Perhaps these tips will help you in your quest to compose a better or more interesting picture. In the heat of the moment, I snap spontaneously and worry about composing later when I post process using Phanefare, Photoshop, Elements, ACDSEE or Paintshop Pro. Of course I can't always easily crop out trashcans after the fact that I seem to often manage to get in my shots... Let's just say that I find trashcans artistically appealing (after all, art is a personal and subjective thing)...
How to Take Better Pictures
I'm quite fascinated by photography, but I currently fall into the "capture the moment, record history" category. I was just so tired of red-eye, blurry, grainy, poor exposured shots that I can never get again. I just wanted clear pictures of my family at this stage in my life, pretty minimal requirements. If you have higher expectations, you might want to do a little more research but be prepared to spend more money. Someday when I'm retired (LOL, OK resurrected) and have time to hike around in nature at early sunrise and during late sunsets, I'll consider a more professional grade camera.
I mean, what's not to like? OK, cold stone white clammy dead-like tissue epidermis is kind of repulsive to me, and the whole cannibalism notion is a bit morbid, but if you can look beyond that you do have beautiful people (again looking past the cold pasty un-living aura...), passion, seduction, immortality, super-powers, growling, fighting, music for the senses, a touch of that James Dean "I'm too cool for my school" rebellious allure. Throw into the mix driving machines such as a red convertible BMW M3 (in the book but not in the movie), a silver Volvo C30, a black Mercedes Benz S55 AMG and a jacked up macho-dude 4x4 wall climber all driven effortlessly at reckless speeds and with dangerous yet instinctively controlled maneuvering and you just may win the hearts a few manly men in this epitome of a chick flick. Admittedly, I tend to be more of a romantic than I am a fighter so this "Twilight" love story with high speeds, fast cars, beautiful people and super strength/powers provided the chick flick factor but still let me keep my man card (I think).
I loved the soundtrack and the leading characters were beautiful, thereby reaching the viewer on the two relative senses that pertain to cinematography. I felt the acting (at least that of the lead characters) was excellent. They were attractive, interesting, somewhat unpredictable and even humorous. Some of those in my party who had read the book beforehand were rather disappointed because the movie deviated somewhat from the story, but for me, even after I had read the book after seeing the movie (finished this past Friday), I still liked the movie better. I guess my imagination is not quite as good as the ensemble of actors and settings that the movie producers put together. Granted, I was not totally impressed with the main vampire character's family, I didn't think they were as beautiful as the book alluded, but it didn't detract much from the entertainment.
The music and the leading character's performances can make a movie for me, even if the story line isn't all that strong (Phantom of the Opera comes to mind). If I don't like the main characters (i.e. if Anne Hathaway starred as Bella) I become disenchanted with the story. For whatever reason, I'm not a big fan of Anne Hathaway. Sandra Bullock is another that always ruins for me whatever movie she's in. If she never opens her mouth, it wouldn't be a problem, but when she talks and I get a sense of her personality, it's like nails on a chalk board for me. Music and sound in general contribute immensely toward the appeal of a movie for me, I loved the Paramore song "Decode" and the Carter Burwell "Bella's Lullaby" was/is beautiful. Linkin Park and The Black Ghosts were just frosting on the cake.
Now let me contrast to the cult vampire movie of 1987, The Lost Boys. In that movie I thought they also did a phenomenal job casting the main characters. Even the dorky little brother and his pals were well cast/acted, though I didn't care much for their roles and the storyline of the underground anti-vampire patrol. Kiefer Sutherland was the flawless "bad boy" vampire, he was absolutely perfect in this movie (in retrospect, I wish he had been cast as Dr. Carlisle in "Twilight"). He does a decent enough job as Jack Bauer in "24", but he was awesome as "David" in The Lost Boys, very convincing. In addition, Jason Patric as "Michael" and Jami Gertz as "Star" were the beautiful seductive people providing all of the necessary eye candy for those that need that (for me it helps), and I felt they all acted well too.
The Gerard McMann "Cry Little Sister" song was perfectly choreographed as was the Saxist Tim Capello in the outdoor concert scene playing "I Still Believe". I thought the vampire dress/make-up was pretty convincing for that time and the movie provided enough scare to keep you on the edge of your seat (it is a vampire movie after all). Michael's little brother was well acted, he added some needed humor, but his yo-yo anti-vampire pals pushed the corny factor a little too far. The mom/boyfriend and grandpa made the movie drag needlessly and didn't really contribute to the underlying story. They just escalated the corniness factor that much further (a third of the the story really needs to be rewritten). Despite those negatives, it's definitely a classic, especially if you love the 80's. As would be expected, the 20 year more modern advantage gives "Twilight" the definite edge in my opinion.
If you prefer the more comedic vampire tales, you can always go back to the bug eating Nicolas Cage (Vampire's Kiss, 1989) and/or the bug eating Arte Johnson (Love At First Bite, 1979) for a campy chuckle. They did use a "bugs and worms" reference in "The Lost Boys", but you wont see the glamor boy Edward Cullen or any his elitist family members snacking on creepy crawlers... If horror is more your genre of choice, Stephen King's contemporary Dracula story "Salem's Lot" (the book, 1975) will no doubt provide spine tingling entertainment for you.
I was in 2nd grade at George Washington elementary in Wycoff, New Jersey. In those first few days of school that year I made friends on the playground with a boy in my class, his name was Duncan Taylor. It wasn’t long before I would ask my parents if my new friend could come over to my house to play. I remember my mom reacting strangely when I announced his name, she was certain that she had attended high school with his father (parents) and she was equally anxious at the possibility of reacquainting. It turns out that Duncan’s dad had married his high school sweetheart and that in fact they all did attend Ramsey High together (graduating class of 58, my dad was a few years older and grew up in New York).
2nd Grade: Me in yellow, Duncan in blue
Our families started to become friends somewhat, but not much later my dad would accept a job in California taking us across the country to a whole new world in the wild wild west. A few years later, Duncan's parents would divorce and his dad and the four boys would move west, eventually ending up in California. My parents too would divorce, but not before Mr. Taylor and Duncan had looked me up and had arranged visits to renew our friendship. It is perhaps obvious what transpired after that, the friendship of two young boys would lead to nuptials which would bring these two families together. I would gain four new step brothers and a step father, Duncan would gain a step mom, two new step brothers and a step sister (later, much later, our half sister Sydney would be born).
Duncan and I in 6th Grade together
Duncan and I grew apart over the years, in high school our interests and abilities took us in opposite directions. Duncan was extremely athletic, it seemed he excelled at whatever he endeavored to do, you can't imagine a person with so many natural abilities and gifts. I would spend my young life wishing I was him, or maybe just wishing that I wasn't me, desiring gifts and talents that would impress others. Duncan got involved in Wrestling and dominated at the State level, I never realized how good he was until years later, reading about his accomplishments in a program at our 20 year high school reunion. I, having spent my youth on swim teams took to the non-competitive pursuit of ocean sports including surfing and scuba diving and with that, associated myself with the deadbeat underachieving surfer crowd. Surfers ambitions were much lower than those of the athletes. We were more interested in making trouble than achieving. Had I been born with talents of a different nature, I imagine my life would have taken a completely different path. Eventually my choices, the direction my life was heading and the subsequent disappointment in myself would motivate me to seek a different path, try harder and I would eventually turn myself around to more noble pursuits.
As adults, Duncan and I are still quite different. Duncan did well in college and went on to get a degree from Hastings law school and became a lawyer, continuing to excel at whatever he set out to achieve. He eventually took an interest in surfing and has become a devoted surfer, traveling all over the world, surfing in the most exotic and celebrated places. He has two step daughters from a previous marriage, he is currently single with no children of his own and that is his greatest source of unhappiness, his kryptonite. He is handsome, has most all of his hair and he is in incredible physical condition. He has lot's of free time, lot's of play time. If he didn't maintain his moral and ethical values, he'd be considered to have the perfect bachelor life that any worldly guy would want. But this model doesn't lend to well to perceived happiness for the LDS faithful with the most recent proclamation to the world which states "the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children". And so Duncan has his challenges in life too.
I in contrast have never been a quick study (not that I'm stupid), I am bald and rather unfortunate looking (not that I'm ugly), I am not in good physical shape and I have very little personal time to myself. But thankfully, despite all of this, I somehow managed to marry a beautiful intelligent woman and to have 9 beautiful (maybe not so intelligent) children. I always tend to have to work hard at things, nevertheless, I have always been able to achieve my dreams and to find a great deal of happiness in my life. I have learned over the years that while everyone has different gifts and talents, they also have different weaknesses and challenges that help keep things somewhat balanced and very interesting. The playing field is more level than it may appear, the grass is not really greener in other pastures.
The intent of this post was not to compare and contrast me to Duncan but simply to illustrate how bizarre life can be where the lives of two people, who are so vastly different, when put together in such a way can have such an intertwining and yet significant impact on the lives of so many others. But was this far reaching event really a mere bizarre coincidence, or was it fate?
To many (OK, 4 of the 6 of you), the relevance of these photos and this post will be nil, but for me and people very dear to me, these photos have a tremendous amount of relevance and sentiment.
I was messing around on google maps with “street view”, couldn’t find any of the homes that I’ve owned but I found many of the homes that I lived in during my youth.This one (house on the right with the funky flat roof) was circa 1972-1974 and conjured up a lot of sentiment and introspection.
Memoir #1: It was in this house that my brothers and I got caught smoking cigarettes up in the garage rafters (don’t worry, we didn’t inhale, gross!).Dad sat us down (he and Mom smoked too) and said, “you guys want to smoke? let’s smoke!”.I’m not sure where he was going with this but it didn’t really matter, none of us had the guts to smoke with the old man and that was essentially the end of that.Well almost.
Around that same time, Mark Baldwin, a popular kid at school, learned that my friend Tommy Hildebrand and I were smokers, he then proceeded to mock us saying, “you guys probably don’t even inhale”.His scoffing hit a major nerve.He wasn’t a smoker and so his first jab was that we needed cigarettes to prove we were men.The second blow was that we weren’t even doing it like real men, and he was right since we didn’t inhale. He successfully made us feel stupid and childish at the same time, nevertheless we emphatically denied these accusations.Tommy and I realized the pickle we were in and knew the only way to save face at this point was to subject our nice clean lungs to the filthy toxins and become men. So we set straight out to inhale.
We found a quaint setting out back in the woods behind this Adriana house and did just that.He yacked up his guts like I’ve never seen anyone yack before.I got green, never actually calling for Ralph, but I most assuredly felt as miserable as Tommy looked.At that moment of near pukage, I decided tobacco was disgusting and I vowed never to touch the filth again, why would anyone voluntarily make themselves so sick to their stomach like that?Tommy went the other way, he was determined to become a man, barfing several more times before earning his stripes.I saw him years later, he was a yellow skinned, yellow teethed, throaty voiced hacking, full-on chain smoker.I became a very vocal adversary to smoking ever more (don’t believe me, ask my kids if there is anything in this world that I detest more).
Back to the more important Adriana memoirs.Memior #2: We lost our German shepherd Fritz, he was an old dog then but we had received him as a pup when I was just a little boy.He bit a neighbor girl in our backyard because she was messing with his tail while he was eating.Charges were pressed and we had to get rid of him.
Memoir #3: My brother Kevin and I threw a Frisbee back and forth to each other without dropping 732 times (or somewhere around there).Think it sounds easy? You try it!My brother is kind of a klutz and finally dropped a perfect pass (well, that’s the way I remember it, lol).
Memior #4: My brothers and I set up a huge tent in the back yard one summer.Somehow we got some pretty neighborhood girls to come over and we may have played truth or dare once or twice, and I may have kissed a girl for the first time.It was all fairly innocent really, except that I may have learned the art of kissing like the Frenchies that summer….
Memior #5: We didn’t have any religion at the time, but it seems that God took an interest in our family and He sent an angel to rescue us.That would be our next door neighbor (house pictured on the left) Kelli Smith, she was in her late teens if I remember right.She invited my parents to have the missionary discussions.My parents were reluctant but didn’t know how to say no, so along came the missionaries (Wagner and Clegg) with the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.It didn’t take for all of us right away, and some of us it didn’t take at all, or it was lost later on.But for me it had a far reaching impact on whom and what I am today and the choices that I have subsequently made in my life.The most significant is the commitment I made to marry my best friend and eternal companion, Cathleen.
So this is where it kind of becomes interesting.My family moved from this Adriana house to the other side of town even before we got baptized (yes, all 9 of us were baptized).At some point, Kelli Smith and her family moved away too out of that house next door.Eventually, my future bride and her family would move into the Smith’s old house.My wife and I discovered this unique little coincidence when we first started dating.To think that our paths would have come so geographically close and yet be so chronologically far apart.
Or was it? Ironically, she and I would enter the waters of baptism within just a few months of each other in the same year, 1975.She was just turning 8 half way across the country in Illinois, I was a convert in California at age 14.Eventually our paths would cross. I was home from a mission and home for the summer break from BYU to earn some money, she was a recent graduate from El Toro high, with plans and acceptance to attend BYU in the Fall.And the rest as they say, is history!
In 1990-91 we lived in the upper end unit right where the A balloon is
I just returned from a trip to Ann Arbor Michigan for some technical training that I had to attend. Ann Arbor is only about 20 miles from Novi, a place where Cathleen and I lived 18 years ago. So on the way home today heading for the airport, my colleague and I made a quick jaunt out of our way to go re-trace some of the old sites of those early years. I visited our apartment complex (above) and passed by a favorite dairy place down the street from our home that we frequented. They served the best ice cream around, Guernseys on Novi Rd. That's about all that we had time for.
I took a job in January 1990 with EDS and was assigned to a GM account out at the Milford Proving Grounds. This would be phase I of a three phase systems engineering development program. Phase II would be an aggressive/challenging 10 week programming course that was notorious for its very high failure rate. Thank goodness I passed. My phase III was spent back in MI but this time on a different non-GM account. Gregory was an infant, he had his first Halloween there, Tory (#2) was born there. We were in Novi for nearly two years.
The town of Novi was named after the train station that stopped there many years before. Roman numeral six, or No. VI. It has changed tremendoulsy in the 18 years since we were there, I barely recognized the place. A few landmarks were the same but it has become the home of the very wealthy, many many huge mansions everywhere. It was hard for me to remember how things were back when we lived there, certainly not anything like what it is today. It would have been fun to visit there with my eternal companion and reminisce of the old days when we were young and in love, embarking on our new life.
Here we are in our youthful glory We took this in the apartment complex club house in Nov. 1991, just prior to moving away to Greenwood, Indiana
While I miss my young strong body and the excitement of the unknown, those were extremely challenging times for us financially and emotionally. We were newly weds and that presented all kinds of challenging adjustments. Nevertheless, it is now part of the fabric of our lives and I am grateful for those early years and the challenges that we've overcome. Seems like a lifetime ago. Twenty years from now I will be saying the same about the days that we're living in today. The good ole days...
Halloween provides such a variety of sweet things for children to try. My favorites were always the pixie stix that usually ended up broken with the sweet tarty powder all over the inside of the bag and covering the other candies. For a few years when I was young, we enjoyed the wax lips, wax harmonicas, wax bottled liquids, etc. Wax was great, supposedly didn't harm the teeth and unusual for a while, then it wore off and they were everywhere and nobody wanted them. You can find them on the Internet still, if you want a blast from the past.
So it probably shouldn't be a surprise that the pictured above are the duds because as I remember they were the same when I was a kid. Who gives out these "yuck" black and orange wrapped taffy candies? Mary janes and bit-of-honey usually are last to be eaten (or instead disgarded). The butterscotch and varying colored spherical hard candies (especially the hot ones) are often rejected too. Dum dums are usually so numerous (though not very rewarding) but the upside, they make a great little treat (with a handle) for 2 year-olds. Even still after a dozen or so, the 2 year-olds will even turn their noses up at them (and you'll still have a bunch left over, with the wrappers off because they don't stay on very well). Tootsie rolls are often so numerous that they too are often last to go or are disgarded. An interesting tangent, in college I was required to take Econ 110 and there was a project where we were to pick a stock and fictiously invest in it and our grade would be based on the percentage growth over a two week period. After careful research, I chose Tootsie Roll and ended up getting the highest grade in the class for that project.
I was a little surprised that the little chico sticks were back in vogue from obscurity this year. This is similar to the stuff found inside a Butterfinger (not really my favorite, apparently not really anyone's favorite). They were bigger when I was young, about the size and shape of a cigar, but they were always really cheap compared to other candies. There's obviously a reason for that. Maybe they should go back into obscurity with wax lips and harmonicas.
You can probably never go wrong with chocolate (if anything Mom and Dad will plow through it if the kids won't). Kids always seem to love gum too. Then of course you have the unusuals, skeleton bones are always fun. Last year we handed out those gummy eye balls (see below), not really very yummy, but certainly fun to gross the girls out with.
I posted this especially picture for my Mom because she hates my eyeball picture...
Veterans Day, first known as Armistice Day, originated ninety years ago at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 when a temporary armistice between the Allied Nations and Germany went into effect. The next year, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first Armistice Day to mark the end of the “Great War” and in 1926 he issued a proclamation that that November 11 be a day of displaying the flag and observing the day with public ceremonies. In 1938 Congress passed a resolution declaring November 11th to be a legal holiday to honor the veterans of World War I.
Over the years, this holiday has continued to evolve, first by a name change in 1954 from Armistice Day to Veterans Day to honor American veterans of all wars. As we honor our veterans today we recognize that our world has changed from that cold November 11th in France where the soldiers of the 353rd infantry awaited the end of the hostilities. Unlike the soldiers of World War I, today’s veterans are every gender, race, creed and religion. Their commonality is their response to a higher calling – an unselfish service to our nation. Here in our nation’s capital and across the globe, many of your colleagues, friends and neighbors have served with pride and distinction. Let us pause for a moment on this Veterans Day to say “thank you” for their service and sacrifices.
