Does Anybody Else Want To Do This?

I think about it a lot.

Brian Regan was so funny...

I laughed/cried one of my contacts out.

1 Day Till Brian Regan

2 Days Till Brian Regan

3 Days Till Brian Regan

Palmyra Top 10.

10. My nieces and nephews
9. Staying up too late
8. The 40 oz. of lighter fluid it took to get the charcoal lit
7. Dutch Oven Breakfast (Thanks Lora)
6. Cheerful Valley
5. Marci and her personal Hill Cumorah
4. Jumping Pictures
3. The Sacred Grove
2. Good Friends and Yellow Something Diner
1. More fun in 36 hours than you can possibly imagine.

Unless, of course, you were there.



And yeah, the pageant was pretty cool too.

Bautisaron

My first nephew, Alec was baptized on Saturday. It was really neat. My Dad gave a really neat talk about the mission of the Holy Ghost. And I got to play with my favorite kids in the world.



A close look at this picture will reveal that Analise here squeezed a cream puff and it shot all over both hands. She looked perplexed for a moment and then plowed her face into the stuff.

Just Watch the Fireworks

- Jimmy Eat World

So my 4th of July in Boston was, as the townies would say, "wicked awesome". I tell you, the first time you say those words without any intended irony is a sad day indeed. And anyone who's lived in Boston long enough eventually does.

I had a long and wonderful Findependence Day even if it didn't meet completely with the aforementioned itinerary. It began with a 4:15 AM drive to the beaches of Nahant, a little peninsula of sorts in the North part of the harbor, to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic. Trisha, Michelle, Kirsti, Lora, and I made the journey and were rewarded with a fantastically lovely sunrise.

The Knotting Hill ladies retired to their beds and Lora and I had breakfast at Sound Bites in Somerville. Challa French Toast and Avacado, Tomato, Monterey Jack Omlettes. It was deliciousness.

After breakfast my plan to attend the reading of the declaration and participate in the downtown festivities fell victim to my need for sleep, and I crashed until 1 or so, when I headed down to the ward BBQ at Bishop Hafen's.


I then met up with Tania and friends to grab a spot to watch some fireworks. We waited for several hours, got rained on lots, and had a smacking good time with the growing herd of Mormons gathering in our little spot on the Charles. The Pops were awesome as per usual, and the fireworks were excellent. So many innovations in pyrotechnics... loved the show. All and all I had a fabulous 4th and will remember it for years to come. Just under a year ago was when I first discovered Boston. A year later, I'm understanding more clearly why I'm here.



"I'll stay up as late as it takes. Long as it takes."

There used to be something wrong with my Blog-Clock.

Which I used to explain all the posts made at totally odd times. Well it works now, and still more posts than not occur between 2 and 4am. I stay up late doing who knows what and then I blog. Well, at least I blog. (That was for all the complainers out there.)

I meant to do a post about my new iPhone this week, but I've pretty much showed it off and let everyone who reads this thing play with it already, so instead I'll share a hilarious little spoof I saw on YouTube of Microsoft's new product, set to retail at $9,995.00

Findependence Day

Very few readers will get that joke. And only the ATHF elite will give it the hearty chuckle it deserves.

I have decided that my 4th of July this year is gonna rock. This is the itinerary so far...

1. Wake up very early.
2. Drive to the edge of the Atlantic ocean.
3. Watch the sunrise over said ocean.
4. Eat breakfast at the Talk of the Town Diner in Watertown. (Home of what I have dubbed the "Imbedded Fruit Pancake", and the best tomato-cheese omlette on Earth.)
5. Get back 2 hours of my sleep.
6. Head downtown to Govt. Center
7. Get my freedom on.
8. Butterfinger Tranoli.
9. Bishop's BBQ
10. Fireworks.
11. Walden.

Any additional suggestions for that in between time are appreciated and all are welcome to accompany me on any of the above listed outings.

OK, OK, I did it.

I am on the book of faces.

Cool kids quit their jobs.

Natalie and I both quit our jobs today. Huzzah!

"So uh... that last blog..."

Guess some people were a little thrown by the nature of my last post. These are mostly newer readers. Old readers can no doubt recall I do this textual vomit routine semi-frequently. It's like with the swings (post before last post)... I kinda start thinking out loud just talking and talking until I get to the point which is often a pretty good one. Except on the blog it's typing, which is a little more confusing, cause I suck at typing and think way faster than I type (think Jackie Joyner Kersee vs. Nathan Lane). So I have to go back and correct "wirds snd phtases" and the whole thing is just a bit cumbersome. I usually feel weird about these blogs a couple days later, but in the sake of journalistic integrity, I allow them to remain. Perhaps they give readers insight, perhaps they lose readers, in any case this is more for my sake than theirs (yours), so whatever. I promise the next one will be light hearted, maybe about how I didn't get the job I wanted...

Nah, honking story it is.

She told me with her lips what she wouldn't with her tongue.

I'm really interested to see the comments to follow this blog topic...

So I've been thinking about kissing (Heaven forbid I should be doing any, instead I theorize):

For those who know the tragic tale of the 3 Melissas, this is about the first and worst. This woman is possibly the most responsible for any screwed up perceptions I have on relationships. She's certainly the one I blame.

Anyway, I once invented this game where we would tell each other secrets via kiss. You weren't allowed to say anything or lead in at all, you had to just tell a secret, with kissing as your only mode of expression. To my amazement, we could both do it, almost all of the time. It was amazing. She was so good at guessing that once I threw her a curve ball and she pulled back mid-kiss and said, "you did what naked in High School?" Seriously, it was uncanny. She even told me she was breaking up with me with a kiss. (A particularly cruel method, for the record.) P.S. This is also the girl who honked when she laughed for those who know that story.

Point is, I grew to depend so heavily on this affection, that I've either consciously or subconsciously expected it from every girl I've kissed ever since. I've even tested other girls. No one can do it. So I harbor this little disappointment, and eventually when things aren't going just like I hope, I disengage. Which isn't to say, I break it off; cause honestly, the girls do that more of the time, but I'm convinced it has a lot to do with my unrealistic expectations and this freak girl who could read my thoughts and managed to hurt me more than I'd been hurt before or since. It's a terrible thing to let that keep me from happiness or enjoying who I'm with.

Yes, it was unbelievably cool to be able to communicate like that. And it was really fun to kiss her. But I think I'm done telling secrets with a kiss. I want to tell somebody someday, what isn't a secret to anyone in the world, that I'm totally in love with only her, and say it with a kiss.

The swings made me say it....

Enjoying the swings late at night with a good friend is very theraputic. I find I tend to wax philosophical and dang if I don't say some pretty profound things by the time I've had a good swing...

Don't ask me to remember what I said, something about being ourselves and showing all our plumage and dropping the pretense of who we think we should be around others.

Doesn't sound very novel, I know (and the plumage part is probably downright perplexing out of context), but I swear in the moment it was profound, at least to me... whatever it was I actually said.

It's late and I spent all my brain energy on profundity.
I'm in no state to blog.

Dear New York:

My dear friends in the NYC, I will come visit soon. I am poor. But hopefully in a couple weeks I will be not so poor and we can celebrate not only my being in New York, but my having a fabulous job in Boston. Sound like a plan?

Geez, I Love Church!

"So, how's your ward out there?"
"Perfect."
"Haha."
"No seriously."

Sooo much ice cream. So little tummy.

I had a fun day today. Kristy and I went to lunch at Faneuil Hall and then attended the scooper bowl. Ice Cream abounded. It still runs for 2 more days so get down there and pig out. I fear I ate a bit too much ice cream, but at least I didn't puke it up. Huzzah!

In the House of the Lord...

An oft-quoted charge of President Brigham Young has been resonating in me of late, made to the weary saints as he led them in a hasty and heartbreaking exodus from Nauvoo. He cried in a loud voice above the congregation, "Let the fire of the covenant which you made in the House of the Lord burn in your bones like flame unquenchable." The covenant he spoke of was the collective covenants of the gospel and specifically obedience to the law of consecration.

I seldom have Saturdays off. Hardly ever, in fact, since I don't work on Sunday. So, having this Saturday off was a big deal and honestly I struggled a little as to whether I would spend the precious weekend day at the "Regional Temple Day". I ultimately decided my Temple worship has been spotty at best of late and that I should attend.

Let me unequivocally state for the record that there is absolutely no better way I could have spent my Saturday. I was refreshed and renewed, I was instructed of the Holy Ghost. I was recommitted to the truth I love, and the religion I profess. I have been considering of late, how much Satan wants to keep us out of the Temple. In retrospect I am convinced that my endowment, not my mission, was the vital turning point in my life. I think of how hard the tempter worked to keep me out of the Temple. If he couldn't have me unworthy, he wanted me unmotivated; if not unmotivated, faithless. There is nothing Satan is so jealous of than his power. We are given so much power over him in the Lord's House that he will do everything he can to dissuade us from receiving our endowment. Once we have received it his only hope is to undermine it's value and priority in our life.

Brigham Young's charge is so important, because it lends the most powerful imagery to testify of the absolute significance of what that covenant should MEAN in our lives. It should never stop burning within us.

That Jared is soo hot right now...

The title of this blog's significance is threefold:

1. I really am hot right now. Rachel cut my hair last night. She's worth every penny folks. I'm too sexy for this blog.

2. Rachel administered said haircut whilst watching Zoolander.

3. My job interview went about as well as I could possibly expect. I felt confident and qualified the moment I entered the building. I got along very well with the boss and it sounds like he'll be having me back to talk to the big boss. Thank you every one for your prayers. I'm convinced they did most of the work. I was unspeakably nervous yesterday and today right up until just before the interview. I got there early so I killed the iPod and did a little last minute begging. I immediately felt at ease and really enjoyed the tour and the interview. Whatever happens, I'm really grateful for the divine assistance.