Well, that's good.

My good friend Steve has volunteered to help with my other blog.  Well, one of the other blogs.

Now if I can find someone to do my Spanish homework for me.

Good morning!

I am looking for a co-author or contributor to my blog on the notable residents of the Salt Lake City Cemetery.  If this sounds like something you would be interested in, please drop me a line.

Ides of Madness

I have a strange habit of tacking whatever project I am tackling on my wall.  March brings us this:

My March is filled with brackets.  I'm mocking up a new family tree poster (with new nephews and corrected dates - turns out I didn't have an ancestor end up in the US Virgin Islands) to print.  I'm also religiously following my March Madness bracket.  As you can see, it is going a bit better than last year, but I've still got a few more games to have it all come crashing down.

I'm also in the process of scanning photos from my grandfather's photo albums for a smugmug website.  I lost my Grandpa Hatch a few months ago.  Rather than see the family photos get divided up, stuck in shoeboxes and lost for decades, I'm preserving the albums online before we make actual prints disappear in someone's attic.  I've always had a fondness for the Grandfolks, so this seems like a good way to honor them.  I'd hope they would approve.

Last note, I've lost about 5 pounds, but I haven't been trying as hard as I should have been.  

Happy New Years!

I am a firm believer that the new years resolutions need to be made on one's birthday.  It's a new year for you.

But aside from that, I'm resolving to drop some pounds.  I want weigh 180 in 180 days.  It's doable.  It does mean that I need to lay off the sodas, which has always been a challenge.  I like the caffeine, the sugar and the way they taste.  Hooked?  Assuredly.  Can I quit for 180 days?  Likely.

The trouble is when I quit cold turkey, I frequently fail and then I am binge-ing until I start over.  So this time it will be quitting, but a smarter, controlled quit.  Wish me luck with this!

I've also got some educational goals, but I'm superstitious, so I'm not talking about it as I don't want to jinx myself.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Flashback to October 2006.  I invented the Thingamajig candy bar.

Hershey's has just ripped me off.  I found a Thingamajig in the local Sev.

Seriously?  What up with that.

Speaking of Amos, here is an introduction of the man.

Seeking Wealtha

This is Wealtha Bradford Hatch.  She is my 4th great grandmother.  She was born in November 1804 and died in 1841, a day before her 37th birthday. She is also the 3rd great granddaughter of Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford.  She was about 5'7", slender, and had brown hair and blue eyes.  

She married Ira Stearns Hatch and the first of my Hatch ancestors to be converted to Mormonism.  After moving to Illinois with her family.  After living there with her family for a short time, she got cholera and died.

Fast forward to 1981. Amos C. Hatch (my great-grandfather) aka, "Famous Amos" and "The Potter of Parowan", travels to Blandinsville, Illinois to research where Wealtha is buried.  His research began with a letter to Orrin Hatch, the US Senator from Utah to see if Senator Hatch had any information in his possession or if he knew of any family members who had researched the Hatch lands in the Illinois area.  Grandpa Amos's research uncovers where the Hatch family lived in Illinois and he visited the area, taking pictures and making meticulous notes on maps. 

He discovers a story of a skeleton that was found when a road crew was working on widening or surfacing a road in that area back in the 1920's or 30's.  They moved the skeleton across the road from where they found it and re-buried it in a field.  Grandpa Amos went to where the locals remembered the event was supposed to have taken place.

Amos passed away before he was able to continue his research.  His son, Oleen acquired his research notes and they were stored with his photo albums and other family heirlooms.  After Oleen published the family history in what the family calls "The Red Book", the collection goes in a box and back into storage.

Forward to 1999.   Another Hatch relative gets a copy of the letter Amos wrote to Orrin and begins the quest for Wealtha anew, traveling to the area and talking to the same family Amos spoke to.  However, the research stopped short when he was unable to find the photographs Amos had taken while there in 1981.

Forward to 2009.  I was visiting Oleen's daughter to find more information about my family history and to go through the box of pictures in Oleen's collection.  As I was leaving, she hands me an envelope to take with me and do some homework with.  Inside were some letters from a family in Illinois and some Polaroids of fields in their area.  I didn't know what to do with it at the time, so I put them in a safe place as a curiosity and didn't think much more about it.

Forward to 2010.  I am doing some researches on Wealtha's life and the rest of my ancestors story to make a small booklet for my Mom for a Christmas gift (don't tell her!).  An internet search located the 1999 notes of the other Hatch relative.  As I read, I became concerned that my 4th great grandmother might be buried in some field in an umarked makeshift grave.  The relative desired to bring Wealtha to Utah and have her re-interned in the Bountiful Cemetery with her husband and the rest of her family.  

As I read, it dawned on me that I just might have the key to the whole thing.  I dug out the envelope and took a look at the pictures, letters and map with fresh eyes.  I about know the acre where she might be.  

I am in contact with this relative and an emailing scans of the pictures to him.  With these pictures and his own research experience, we just might find a final home Wealtha.  I'll keep this blog posted if anything develops.

Christmas Cards

So I was looking over my past years posts (or lack thereof) and I see I didn't post my cards from last year.  I'd better fix that.

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

Card version A

2004

Card version B

2003 

Note that the 2007 card was made in 2008 and was never publicly distributed.

Christmas Card Blues

As frequent readers know, I have started the tradition of shooting and mailing out Christmas Cards even though the family is currently small.

And every year I regret it.

Don't get me wrong, I always love the end result, but the logistics of putting it together are a thorn in my side.  This year's first idea was scrapped due to equipment failure, but I've got a back-up idea that should be worth all the trouble that it will take to put it together.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Just a quick post while I take my lunch break.

The settings of the new format are baffling me, so I'll be changing it again soon.

In the mean time, check out one of my other projects,

http://mywurdsmith.blogspot.com/

It is one of those annoying word-a-day blogs, but with my own twist.  Not all of the featured words are real.  So be on your toes.

I think I am getting more zen in my old age.
We were discussing the old addage that happiness is like chasing a butterfly
Then I thought, Just be the butterfly!

Elvis Costello wrote his satirical party anthem "Pump It Up" in 1977. The Escape Club wrote "Wild Wild West" in 1988. I'm not saying which, but it seems one song might be a bit more than strongly influenced by the other.

Pump It West from Mark Johnson on Vimeo.

I can't get the video to embed in the blogger java, so just click on the link to see the it.

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