I am working on starting up a new YouTube profile featuring all of our (my friends and I) Big Show videos. An maybe, just maybe, if there is interest, some of us may start filming new skits and the like.

Here is one of my favorites that my pal Abe and I filmed back in '04 or so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMbZ4ukFb5M

And if you don't know what the Big Show was... man, where you been?

Man, I used to love blogging. I wonder if I just ran out of things to say. Or whether I just got too busy. I'm betting it is the latter.

Well, it is friday night (7:30) and I am still at work. Not really a fun friday night, but being employed is awesome.

It's been a weird week. I've had this song stuck on play in my head all day.
DJ Steve Porter - "Press Hop" featuring A. Iverson featuring Mora, Green, Namath, Gundy & T O

It's Not Easy Going Green

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12597475?IADID

So I am upset with Lt. Governor Herbert again. The Guv-to-be recently spoke out at the recent Western Governor's Association meeting against climate change and environmental responsibility. Don't get me wrong, I am not a hemp-wearing tree-hugger. And those Toyota Prius commercials with the children dressed up as flowers and grasslands and clouds make me infuriated. But there need to be a some common ground here.

The biggest issue I have with the new green movement is the fact that they are making the movement their own. It is taking care of the environment mixed with a hip, young lifestyle. The right wing naturally takes issue with the naive, dirty hippies as being druggies or nature-worshipers.

These are extremes, but the extremes what get the public attention. Naturally, everyone quickly takes their sides on the environment. This is where it all goes wrong.

Care of the environment is a moral obligation, not a political peculiarity. I don't care if Lt. Governor Herbert or anyone else believes or doesn't believe in global warming or man-made environmental change. Real or fiction shouldn't be the point. This is side-stepping the issue of treating the planet responsibly.

The Gov should follow the example of his predessor, Territorial Governor Brigham Young. He taught, "Let me love the world as He (God) loves it, to make it beautiful, and to glorify the name of my Father in heaven. It does not matter whether I or anybody else owns it, if we only work to beautify it and make it glorious, it is all right".

Twits and Tweets

I'm slammed at work, but I need a quickie minute to vent.

Argh! I hate being slammed at work! Man, these students get on my nerves sometimes.

OK, rant over.

Speaking of expressing myself, you can now follow me on the twitter. Just search for markjohnson1138 so you can follow all of my mundane goings on.

Oh, one last thing. I was digging through old newspapers looking for obituaries of dead relatives when I discovered that this twitter business isn't all that new.
























The more things change...

Well, back to work. Lunch is over and this mountain of paperwork isn't going to do itself.

Utah Govenor Jon Huntsman, Jr. is leaving Utah and is heading for appointment to Ambassador to China. This is a great boon for my home state of Utah and could mean a great bit of new business and cultural exchange for China and Utah. I work with Chinese nationals for my job, so I know firsthand the important of good cultural relationships.

Now only if we can get Utah's Lt. Govenor Gary Herbert shipped of to Iceland, I'll be a happy man.

In Memory of Nick Adenhart

You all are no doubt familiar with the death of Anaheim Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart. He was killed by a drunk driver while driving with his friends. 2 others in the car he was riding in were also killed. I never got the chance to see Nick play in the big leagues, but I did see him pitch here in Salt Lake when he was pitching for the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees. The last time I saw him play was last summer. I went with my nephew Cyrus and had a great time. Adenhart even lead the Bees to victory.

God speed, Nick Adenhart

You might find this interesting.

The A-Rod situation is about to hit the fan. And I am so mad, I am not going to bore you with it.

Other than that, things are decent in my world. Work and school are keeping me rather busy. My cemetery blog has stalled a little bit, as I have been putting my efforts into doing my own geneology. And I need to take more pictures, which is tough as the cemeteries I am researching and photographing are still slogged with snow. I'll see if tomorrow looks any clearer.

Baseball*

The whole brouhaha with A-Rod and steroids has me a bit bugged. Bonds, McGuire, Sosa... and on and on.

I used to love baseball, but since the players union and the Commissioner's office have established a culture of looking the other way when it comes to steroids, I am hesitant to get in to it again this year.

Since Barry Bonds home run record is often listed by many with an asterisk, maybe people should start referring to the league as Major League Baseball*.

Oh, yeah. Go Angels!

Maybe it is the English major in me, but I am getting bugged with all the made-up words that are out there. On the radio, they have been singing jingles involving something called a 'stay-cation'. Apparently, this is a vacation where one doesn't go anywhere. A local TV station had a contest where the winner was able to win a car by staying in it longer than his competitors. They called it 'Carvivor'.

I hate to break it to them, but those aren't real words. Making up your own words in private conversation is one thing, but to shell out money for TV and radio time to use made-up words only displays your illiteracy.

And would people just stop referring to any type of scandal as ___gate. Watergate was the hotel members of the Democratic National Committee were staying during the scandal that forced Nixon to resign. Labeling anything else with the 'gate' suffix is moronic. Papergate? Please. Worst off was the Scandalgate, which means absolutely nothing. Redicilous.

Working on getting more work done on the other blog. It is a nice distraction as opposed to being depressed.

Also note that I plan on doing other profiles outside of the SLC cemetery if I get the mood. I drove to Paris, Idaho yesterday and other places in Idaho and Utah to get some more pictures of headstones. Beautiful drive, but my cameras batteries died just as I got the last shot in Paris. Frustrating, because it wasn't a great shot, but it will do for now. And since it is dumping snow outside, my next trip to Idaho might have to wait until spring. I still need to get to Spring City as well.

FYI...

I am starting a new blog profiling some of my favorite people who are dead and buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Ever since I have moved near it, I have been fascinated by it. So why not take all my researches and put them to good use.

http://slccemeterynotables.blogspot.com/

There isn't much there now, but I have well over one hundred folkes I am planning on profiling.

Yeah, this is why I like autumn.

So as I wrapped up my Kmart employment, I picked up a digital camera there for about 70% off. Clearance + Employee discount = awesome. I am planning on using the camera for my new blog, but the dang thing doesn't work unless I replace the batteries daily. It could become an expensive blog. Geh!

Hebrew National

So for dinner tonight, I thought instead of the usual pasta, I need a few old fashioned hot dogs. I got to the store and picked up a pack of Hebrew National kosher dogs. Holy crap! They were delicious.

But..

for some reason, there are seven of them in the pack. Seven. As a wannabee stand-up comedian, I know there there is nothing funny about the ratio of hot dogs in a package (usually 10) to buns (usually 8 per pack). But seven? Seriously?

And because I respect you all as an audience, I will also never make up a joke about "Fun-Sized" candy bars. Just not funny.

And I will hang my head low...

Today would have been the first anniversary of my marriage had it lasted that long. I was thinking for a long time about what I wanted to report about it all. I have come to the conclusion that it really isn't anyone's damn business. If you want the straight story, talk to me in person. I am not going to put it online for the world to see.

It hasn't been easy these last few months, but I am getting better. I understand what I have done wrong, what I could have done better and what things I had no power over. I am sad things ended up they way they did, but I don't regret the decisions we made. We had to stop hurting each other.

I have been berating myself all morning. I listened to The Decemberists "The Crane Wife" and Sheryl Crow's "Perfect Lie" to put into words some of the things I feel I have done wrong. And now I am done.

Homer Simpson once advised Marge, saying, "Marge, you can't blame yourself forever. Blame yourself once and get on with things". So I acknowledge that I have done some if not many things wrong, but I am done blaming myself. I am getting on with things.

I am having a bit of a struggle on what to write about my recent divorce. Do I even say anything at all? Of course I do. I just don't know what yet.

Soon..

I need a quick break from the manuscripts I am reading, so I thought I'd share a comic from my archives.

Bible Stories
There are 34 books of the bible in this story. Can you find them? This is a most remarkable puzzle.
It was found by a gentleman who was singing songs like “Hey Jude” on a flight from his Suez ranch to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much, that he passed it on to some friends. One friend from Illinois worked on this while fishing on his john boat. Another friend studied while playing his banjo. Elaine Taylor, a columnist friend, who was intrigued by it she mentioned it in her weekly newspaper column. Another friend judges the job of solving puzzles found this puzzle so involving, she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some names that are really easy to spot. That’s a fact. Some people however will find themselves in a jam, especially since the book names are not easily capitalized. Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or a scholar to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing the books in this paragraph. During a recent fund raising event, which featured this puzzle, the Alpha Delta Phi lemonade booth set a new record. The local paper, The Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons who reported that this puzzle was one of the most difficult they had ever seen. As Formica hardwood laminate salesman Daniel Humana humbly puts it, “The books are right there in plain view hidden from sight.” Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown. One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. Also, keep in mind, that punctuation and spaces in the middle are normal. A chipper attitude would help you compete really well against those who claim to know the answers. Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus; there really are 34 books of the Bible lurking somewhere in this story waiting to be found.

I found this on my pal Karen's blog. Of course, I modified it to include a bit more than the original 30. Would you expect any less from me? If you need a hint, go here.