Day at the airport...

Today was a great day. It was great to spend the morning with the family down at the airport. The airport has always been a staple in our family. Here's a few shots from the morning.

Angry Birds and Human Resources...

So, I'm not a gamer, not by any means. While I've been in college I have been roommates with quite a few wizards, so I mean I can speak intelligently on the subject. Although, even as lame as this sounds, I do have to say that recently I have become somewhat addicted to the game Angry Birds. I find myself having a hard time sleeping, so what do I do? Roll over and play Angry Birds. It's kinda ridiculous actually. So what, right? Why am I talking about this? Well, the Human Resources Director for the Hospital walked into our office the other day and started talking about this company picnic she was trying to put together for July. She talked about these crazy activities they had come up with and said that they were trying to do something like Angry Birds. You have to understand that the HR Director has this really thick British accent so it came out sounding more like "Ahngry Bairds," but that's neither here nor there. But by the mention of a real life Angry Birds made me stop pretending to be too busy to be involved in the conversation and suddenly found myself blurting out, "...I CAN DO IT!" Oh crap, what did I just get myself into. So there i was, I had just volunteered myself for a project I really knew nothing about. I had enough on my desk to last me until my hair turned grey, what was I thinking?! Oh well, turns out to be more fun than I thought, she wanted me to make a giant size version of the Pigs that are on the game. These things will be about 4 feet tall, and they have constructed this balloon launching type apparatus to launch these big rubber chickens out of. This big pig thing will be plastered to the front of a piece of plywood cut out to the same shape mounted on a spring which is in turn mounted on a four-way stand, similar to construction signs that are allowed to flex in the wind without falling over. Anywho...I made this thing from scratch in illustrator, give me some feedback....look like the real thing?

Great American Rhetoric...

I love Rhetoric, I love hearing the speeches that have a cadence, they have a style, a certain sense of swagger but with no arrogance. I love feeling my heart pound, my mind race, and my spirit soar.
In short I love hearing a great speech. A great speech is not so much words on a paper being read by a vibrant person. A great speech is a system, kind of like one of those automatic carwashes. You go in one side and come out the other feeling totally refreshed, excited, invigorated. A good speech speaks to the soul of a man. It inspires, it lifts, it tells of the future. I've been to conferences and meetings and such where afterward a spectator says to the keynote speaker," man you could have read the phone book and I would have loved it!" Fact of the matter is, a good speech isn't a lively reading of the yellow pages. It's a combination of literary technique, hopeful content of the past present and future, and it's the reader's unrelenting emotional connection to the text. Here are some examples

"The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

"We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

"...So let us begin anew--remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate." - John F. Kennedy

Really, good rhetoric, or a good speech doesn't just require a great speaker, literary technique, or any of the things mentioned above, it requires big ideas, it requires enormous thought, it requires someone who thinks bigger than the moon and is not afraid to share it. Frankly, Im not saying the good rhetoric can solve the ills of the world, but what I am saying is that we need big thinkers, we need big doers. Im really not on a JFK kick I promise, but JFK said that we would put a man on the moon within the decade, regardless of the cost, regardless of the hardships and the challenges. He was a man with big ideas. It wasn't just about beating the Russians to space, it wasn't about colonizing the moon, in my mind there was no other purpose, and no greater purpose I might add, then to inspire the generations to come. Little boys and little girls sitting around the TV watching a man step off a lunar lander made their imaginations light up the sky. These same little boys and girls are now captains of industry, science and commerce. If for nothing else, it inspired a young boy to shoot for the moon in everything he does. And for that I am grateful for great American Rhetoric.

Today has been an interesting day. I woke up, went to work, I was there for 21 hours...ok maybe not that long, but it felt like that. I came to a realization today that life doesn't need to be easy for me to be happy or even to enjoy it. I don't need wealth, possessions, status, nice things or anything else really. Happiness and enjoyment HAS to come from something else... t comes from simple things. What kind of simple things you may say? well here are some things that the Lord says are key...
"we count them happy which endure," James 5:11
"He that has mercy on the poor is happy," Prov. 14:21
"whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he," Prov. 16:20
"he that keepeth the law, happy is he," Prov. 29:18
"(reading) sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness," Alma 44:5

The fact of the matter is, life's happiness does not come from the things we always look to, money and material things, in fact Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Things are in the saddle and ride mankind." The fact is, it's not gonna be warm tomorrow, it's probably going to be windy and cold, I'm not going to be rich tomorrow, I'll still be tired when I wake up and the gas prices will still be going up. We have to find a way to find the good in things because lets be honest, somethings in life aren't inherently good, they have to be made that way. I read this a couple months ago and think he can express my point a little better,

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are often more dull that otherwise. Life is like an old-time rail journey . . .delays, side-tracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas, and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”

~ Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones