"We could go bowling...or we could just hang ourselves."

I hate bowling...

and this video is funny...

T.V.

The Greek word for "far" is tele. The Latin word for "sight" is visio. These two words together form one pretty awesome word: TELEVISION. The TV is been commercially available since the late 1930s, and I love it.

Today, over 99% of American households own a TV. Also, the average home has more than 2 TVs and 66% of Americans have 3 or more sets. According to Nielsen, the average American watches over 4 hours of TV a day. In a 65-year life, the average American will have spent over 9 years watching TV! Almost as surprising, only 49% of American's feel that they watch too much TV. Does this mean that 51% don't think 4 hours is enough!!

I believe I more than qualify as an "Average American." I currently have six TVs in my house, not including the two sets sitting in my basement that aren't plugged in. I don't watch four hours of TV a day...but I might if I could. By no means am I a TV junkie, but I do indulge far too often. I started typing a list of all the TV shows a regularly follow...this doesn't even include the shows that I'll watch when nothing else is on. Some of my favorites.

• Amazing Race (Truly AMAZING...I'm going on it one day and winning a cool $1,000,000)
• Desperate Housewives (Its my guilty pleasure & I watch it every week with my mom)
• Survivor (I've been watching all 20 seasons and we still hold "Survivor Parties")
• The O.C. (My heart broke when Marissa died...stupid Volchok)
• Seinfeld (The classic...always an awesome watch at 10:30 on Fox)
• 30 Rock (The show is comedic genius...Liz Lemon is hysterical)
• The Office (I'm fading on this one...but still always hilarious to watch)
• SNL (No show makes me laugh harder...those ESPN Classic parodies are priceless)
• The Big Bang Theory (Highly recommend it...Sheldon is a genius...literally)
• Lost (This is the show I hate to love...its addicting. I've broken the obsession a few times, but I've started back up again - I have Season 6 left...so many questions)
• Law & Order (Dick Wolf is an icon and I love him. I have a L&O ringtone on my phone and I'm pretty sure I've seen every episode ever produced...yet I openly participate in those TBS marathons
• Arrested Development (If I had a time machine, my first stop would be to go back and beg people (myself included) to watch this when it was airing so it wouldn't be cancelled...3 seasons was not enough...)

You Are Special

You Are Speical

-by Max Lucado

The Wemmicks were small wooden people. Each of the wooden people was carved by a woodworker named Eli. His workshop sat on a hill overlooking their village. Every Wemmick was different. Some had big noses, others had large eyes. Some were tall and others were short. Some wore hats, others wore coats. But all were made by the same carver and all lived in the village. And all day, every day, the Wemmicks did the same thing: They gave each other stickers. Each Wemmick had a box of golden star stickers and a box of gray dot stickers. Up and down the streets all over the city, people could be seen sticking stars or dots on one another.

The pretty ones, those with smooth wood and fine paint, always got stars. But if the wood was rough or the paint chipped, the Wemmicks gave dots. The talented ones got stars, too. Some could lift big sticks high above their heads or jump over tall boxes. Still others knew big words or could sing very pretty songs. Everyone gave them stars.

Some Wemmicks had stars all over them! Every time they got a star it made them feel so good that they did something else and got another star. Others, though, could do little. They got dots.

Punchinello was one of these. He tried to jump high like the others, but he always fell. And when he fell, the others would gather around and give him dots.

Sometimes when he fell, it would scar his wood, so the people would give him more dots. He would try to explain why he fell and say something silly, and the Wemmicks would give him more dots. After a while he had so many dots that he didn't want to go outside. He was afraid he would do something dumb such as forget his hat or step in the water, and then people would give him another dot. In fact, he had so many gray dots that some people would come up and give him one without reason. "He deserves lots of dots," the wooden people would agree with one another. "He's not a good wooden person."

After a while Punchinello believed them. "I'm not a good Wemmick," he would say. The few times he went outside, he hung around other Wemmicks who had a lot of dots. He felt better around them.

One day he met a Wemmick who was unlike any he'd ever met. She had no dots or stars. She was just wooden. Her name was Lucia. It wasn't that people didn't try to give her stickers; it's just that the stickers didn't stick. Some admired Lucia for having no dots, so they would run up and give her a star. But it would fall off. Some would look down on her for having no stars, so they would give her a dot. But it wouldn't stay either. 'That's the way I want to be,'thought Punchinello. 'I don't want anyone's marks.' So he asked the stickerless Wemmick how she did it. "It's easy," Lucia replied. "every day I go see Eli."

"Eli?" "Yes, Eli. The woodcarver. I sit in the workshop with him." "Why?" "Why don't you find out for yourself? Go up the hill. He's there."

And with that the Wemmick with no marks turned and skipped away. "But he won't want to see me!" Punchinello cried out. Lucia didn't hear. So Punchinello went home. He sat near a window and watched the wooden people as they scurried around giving each other stars and dots. "It's not right," he muttered to himself. And he resolved to go see Eli. He walked up the narrow path to the top of the hill and stepped into the big shop. His wooden eyes widened at the size of everything. The stool was as tall as he was. He had to stretch on his tiptoes to see the top of the workbench. A hammer was as long as his arm. Punchinello swallowed hard. "I'm not staying here!" and he turned to leave. Then he heard his name.

"Punchinello?" The voice was deep and strong. Punchinello stopped. "Punchinello! How good to see you. Come and let me have a look at you." Punchinello turned slowly and looked at the large bearded craftsman. "You know my name?" the little Wemmick asked.

"Of course I do. I made you." Eli stooped down and picked him up and set him on the bench. "Hmm," the maker spoke thoughtfully as he inspected the gray circles. "Looks like you've been given some bad marks." "I didn't mean to, Eli. I really tried hard." "Oh, you don't have to defend yourself to me, child. I don't care what the other Wemmicks think." "You don't?"

No, and you shouldn't either. Who are they to give stars or dots?
They're Wemmicks just like you. What they think doesn't matter, Punchinello. All that matters is what I think. And I think you are pretty special."
Punchinello laughed. "Me, special? Why? I can't walk fast. I can't jump. My paint is peeling. Why do I matter to you?"

Eli looked at Punchinello, put his hands on those small wooden shoulders, and spoke very slowly. "Because you're mine. That's why you matter to me."
Punchinello had never had anyone look at him like this--much less his maker. He didn't know what to say.
"Every day I've been hoping you'd come," Eli explained.
"I came because I met someone who had no marks."
"I know. She told me about you."
"Why don't the stickers stay on her?"
"Because she has decided that what I think is more important than what they think. The stickers only stick if you let them."

"What?"
"The stickers only stick if they matter to you. The more you trust my love, the less you care about the stickers."
"I'm not sure I understand."
"You will, but it will take time. You've got a lot of marks. For now, just come to see me every day and let me remind you how much I care." Eli lifted Punchinello off the bench and set him on the ground. "Remember," Eli said as the Wemmick walked out the door. "You are special because I made you. And I don't make mistakes."

Punchinello didn't stop, but in his heart he thought, "I think he really means it."
And when he did, a dot fell to the ground.

May all your dots fall silently to the ground, for if given by man, they matter only to other men, if given by the Gods, no one questions, the scars that make up our lives.

Safety for the Soul

Making Christmas about Christ

Today forget all your worries of the world. Clear your mind and think of your Savior Jesus Christ. Imagine Him; think of Him as your older brother with the best expression of love for each one of you. Someone that accepts you with all your defects and appreciates all your qualities. Think of His power and glory, and all that He created and all He’s given you. Imagine that He smiles to you. Think of the life you have, in the marvelous world you are in with the flowers, trees, the sun, the moon, and the stars, and all that He has offered you. Think of your family, your friends, your parents, your brothers, your sisters, your children, your husband, your wife.

Think of the great example that Jesus Christ left you. Think of His sacrifice and His wonderful life that He voluntarily offered to give for you. Think of the suffering that He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, in which He only felt, in his anguish, in his sadness, of everything He did so that you wouldn’t have to pay the price of your sins. Think of the desire that Christ has that you return home with our Heavenly Father and with Him.

Imagine the great Prince of Peace, humbled, wearing a crown of thorns, badly treated, and not appreciated. Imagine seeing Him carry that heavy wood, when He felt the nails enter into his hands and feet. Try to see His face, the tears He quietly shed. Think of all the suffering He took upon himself.

Now, try to imagine in the distance, you see the sacrificed body of the Savior. Imagine little by little you get closer to Him and the sadness overwhelms you for the suffering He went through. Think of Him agonizing. You and He are alone, you look at Him and He looks at you. Now He sees you and smiles and whispers, “I did everything for you and I want you to never forget how much I love you.” You observe the Savior. What would you be able to tell him? Is there any other way to reach eternal life than with out Jesus Christ?

Choices and Decisions

I feel like I'm at a turning point in my life. Our lives are constantly and consistently filled with crossroads. These points in our lives are times when we must choose which path to follow. The great poet Robert Frost wrote in his famous poem, The Road Not Taken:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both.

And by one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear

Through as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

--Robert Frost

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “There are certain mortal moments and minutes that matter--certain hinge points in the history of each human. Some seconds are so decisive they shrink the soul, while other seconds are spent so as to stretch the soul.” In the words of Elder Maxwell, there are certain points that are more important than others and thus should be given more thought and much more preparation.

In his book, Defining Moments, Hoyt W. Brewster, Jr. affirmed the words of Elder Maxwell when he wrote: “While each decision we make has an ultimate bearing on our future opportunities and blessings, certain pivotal points are critical. In these soul-defining moments, we are faced with choices that one made will, in many cases, forever open or close door of opportunity. Every moment is not equal. Some moments simply pass while other moments determine the course of life.

“History records the positive and negative results of choices that were made in defining moments of such earthly and eternal consequence—moments that mattered so very much. Adam and Eve’s choice to partake of the forbidden fruit and thus effectuate the plan that would bring each of us to earth was a hinge point of history. The scriptures remind us that “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.” (2 Nephi 2:25)

“Esau’s decision to sell his birthright for a bowl of beans, in order to satisfy a short-lived physical craving, not only shoed shortsightedness on his part but also had lasting effects on his potential posterity. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are today the children of Jacob rather than of Esau.

“How often in life have we, like Esau, bartered away something of significant, even eternal, value in order to satisfy a short-lived passion, appetite, or desire? Occasionally this bartering away of values occurs in private moments, when we succumb to personal temptation. Choices made in character-defining moments, whether public or private, determine our destiny.

“King David’s decision not only to pause and watch a woman bathing but also to pursue the evil thoughts spawned in that moment of sin led to his loss of a much more important crown than the one won on his mortal brow.

“Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, was an example of one who made the right choices regardless of the sometimes unfair consequences. His steadfast refusal to submit to the seductive invitations of his master Potiphar’s wife led to her unrighteous rage toward him. Because he stood for what was right in a defining moment, Joseph was unjustly cast into a foul prison for years.

“Blessings for doing right do not always come immediately. One who stands for the right may sometimes suffer severe persecution or stand outside the popular crowd—for a few mortal moment. But the Lord has promised, “If thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes” (D&C 121:8).

“The prophet Abinadi’s unwavering refusal to recant his testimony of Jesus Christ led not only to his own martyrdom but also to the conversion of a young priest named Alma. In a defining moment, one man’s death by fire kindled the flame of faith in another.

“One of the great lesions to be learned from those who have made correct choices is that they have decided on their course of action in advance. They have set their lives on such a proper path that when a moment of decision arrives, their reaction is natural. Thus, if you haven’t already done so, make the decision now that you will never barter away the standards you know to be true.”

According to Hoyt W. Brewster Jr, it is before these decisive moments arise that we must make our decision. If we wait until we’re looking it in the face, it will be too late. Neal A. Maxwell wrote, “Act now, so that a thousand years from now, when you look back at this moment, you can say this was a moment that mattered—this was a day of determination.”

Our lives are all about choices. The choice is ours.

"Watch the costs and the profits will take care of themselves."

It has been a long while since I blogged last. My two friends "Adventure" and "Whim" have been hanging around a lot lately...and it has been great. Three weeks ago I moved to Chicago to start an exciting new company called CLEANWRAP. (The website is www.cleanwrap.net if you want to check it out) I enjoy the spirit of entrepreneurship that everyone on the team has, its amazing. We are pinching pennies and trying to get by on our shoe-string budget. Sometimes as I lay down to sleep on the air mattress, I can't help but be reminded of the inspiring business quote by Andrew Carnegie, "Watch the costs and the profits will take care of themselves."