Live Long, and Prosper, Spock

I’m not exactly sure when, but I think it was sometime during my 2nd or 3rd grade year that I noticed a show by the name of Star Trek being shown on the local Utah ABC station.  If memory serves (a dubious proposition at best J), the show would come on at either 3:30 or 4 o’clock (I may have said 3 earlier, but I think the bus dropped me home after 3 and I was always able to watch the entire show).  With the moon landings, space exploration had already captured my young imagination.  Now I had a TV show in which to invest that newfound love!  Within this historical context, I guess I was primed from an imagination standpoint, to have these episodes thrust into my consciousness.  I have no recall of what episode first captured my attention.  I’d like to think it was one of the great episodes that I mentioned in my two Top 10 episode posts that I wrote last year (see here and here if you’re interested), but it could have been any of the 79 produced shows.  Whichever episode it might have been, as I started to watch the series in earnest, I became (for lack of a better word) fascinated by the character of Spock.

What was not to like about him?  The alien crewmember who relied upon cold, hard logic to solve the problems presented to him.  His “otherness” was physically represented by the pointed ears, the upturned eyebrows, and the green blood, but his unemotional approach to life really set him apart.  The more I watched this character, the more I liked him.  Sure, Captain Kirk was the action hero and ladies’ man and Dr. McCoy the crusty yet compassionate country doctor, but there was something about the Vulcan character that spoke to me.  When my friends also began watching the show and we would gather together to play Star Trek, many of the boys wanted to play Captain Kirk; I wanted to be Mr. Spock.  I started emulating his mannerisms.  I taught myself to do the Vulcan salute (with both hands).  When I realized Mr. Spock had a tendency to raise his eyebrow during certain situations, I went into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror as I tried to learn how to do the same—eventually, it finally clicked.  I also tried to take on Spock’s unemotional demeanor (not an easy thing for an emotional human to do), sometimes it worked; other times I failed miserably.  Even so there was a part of me that wanted to become a Vulcan.

Yesterday, I needed to run a quick errand during my morning 15 minute break while I was at work.  As I returned from accomplishing this minor task, the radio talk show host I was listening to announced the death of Leonard Nimoy.  I was stunned.  Intellectually, I’ve known the original cast members who remain are now in their late 70’s and early 80’s and an announcement such as this could come at any time.  But Leonard Nimoy?  Spock really dead?  For a moment, the thought was difficult to process.  I’ve never met Leonard Nimoy; never attended a Star Trek convention (although there’s always been a small part of me that has wanted to), nor do I have his autograph (unless you count his sign-off at the end of The Undiscovered Country).  But after the initial shock wore off, I felt as though I’d lost a friend.

As a grade school kid, I was immediately captured by Spock’s physical otherness, but as I grew older and continued to watch those 79 episodes, I began to understand that Leonard Nimoy, the actor, had infused his Vulcan character with much more than a logical demeanor and an occasional raised eyebrow.  There was nuance and depth to the character.  Spock struggled not just as a logical Vulcan surrounded by illogical humans, he also had to battle his own human emotions in every single episode.  For the most part, the Vulcan side won the continuous battle, but every once in a while, his human side would get in a few sucker punches.

The reason it was so interesting to watch most of the episodes where Spock’s human side would break through hinged on the great performance of Leonard Nimoy to offer those insights to us.  I touched on a few of those moments in my top 10 list: Spock’s confrontation with his mother in "Journey to Babel;" his love story in "This Side of Paradise;" the near apology to Kirk in "The Corbomite Maneuver;" his final comment to T’Pring and Stonn and his relief at finding Kirk to be alive in "Amok Time."  An episode that didn’t make the top 10 cut, but would be in the 11 to 20 list is "The Naked Time."  In a 2003 interview, Leonard Nimoy explained that he completed the conference room scene in one take.  That moment went a long way to helping viewers understand the constant battle Spock waged with his human side.  In fact, after discussing that scene, Nimoy went on to say that the letters he received from fans increased dramatically after the episode aired.

If at times after Star Trek took on a life of its own that no one expected, Leonard Nimoy had ambivalent feelings toward the alien character he embodied, an interesting moment was offered in Star Trek: The Next Generation when Spock and Data had a conversation.  Data, the android who aspired to be human, asked Spock, the half-Vulcan who had lived his whole life striving to suppress his humanity, about the merits of that choice.  “I have no regrets,” Spock replied.  When Data realized the implication of that answer, he countered, “No regrets.  That is a human expression.” “Yes,” Spock said in a musing tone, “fascinating.”  Now an adult when I watched that episode, I noted the duality of that line.  It seemed to speak for Spock, the character, but also for Leonard Nimoy, the actor.  While there may have been times when Nimoy was tired of being constantly identified as Spock, I had the feeling that by this time in his life, he had reached a point where he was comfortable with himself as a person and the character that had taken on such a huge role in his life.

Tonight, in honor of Leonard Nimoy, we, as a family, decided to watch The Voyage Home.  Of the two Star Trek films he directed, this is the one that really stands out.  Not only does he have the directing credit, but he also has a writing credit and plays the character of Spock throughout the movie.  While The Wrath of Khan still holds a slight edge over The Voyage Home in my opinion, this is the film that takes all of the elements of a great Star Trek episode and works them to near perfection—the action, the drama (such as it is J), the humor, but, most importantly, the interaction of the crew as they attempt to save mankind from its own shortsightedness.  I think I found myself appreciating this movie in a way I hadn’t before because I now miss the man who was so instrumental in putting it all together.

Rest in peace, Leonard Nimoy.  I’m probably not the only Trekker who has quoted this, but I can’t keep from thinking of the line Admiral Kirk used at Spock's funeral at the end of The Wrath of Khan, “Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most human.”  Thank you for imbuing the character of Spock with your own unique humanity. J

Preparing for the Temple

Nine years ago, I was ordained as a high priest in the Melchizedek Priesthood and began my calling as the 2nd assistant in the high priest’s group in our ward.  Honestly, it took me a few months before I felt completely comfortable with the new arrangement.  I felt a little out of place in the group at first.  I guess I had never thought of myself as “high priest material.”  I had been quite happy to be an elder and had thought I’d follow in my father’s footsteps and be an elder for a very long time.  I was seriously shocked speechless when the high councilman came to my home to inform me of the ordination and new calling (Jennifer was the one to start asking what I was expected to do and when the ordination would take place while I sat frozen on the couch for a good minute or two J).   I tried to do my best as an assistant to the group leader and hope I was more than adequate in fulfilling my assignments.  I don't quite remember how long I had the assistant calling, but one of the amazing blessings that came to me because of it was my assignment to teach the Temple Preparation class.

I still remember our first group leadership meeting when Brother Siders, the group leader, turned to me and asked if I’d ever taught the temple prep lessons before.  I had—Jennifer was my first student and I had taught a few other people as well.  “Great,” Brother Siders replied, “the job is yours.”  I’ve been teaching them ever since.  As I think of the number of ward members who have come to our home to receive these lessons as they prepared to either go for their first time or to return to the temple after a lengthy absence, Jennifer and I (she’s my co-teacher) have hosted quite a few brothers and sisters over the last 9 years.  There have been times when I thought this assignment would be given to another person (like when I was called as a counsellor in the bishopric), but even then, Bishop Meservy’s approach was: “If it ain’t broken, why fix it.”  The same thing happened after I was called as the ward mission leader.  Bishop Allen asked me if I would still be willing to continue teaching the temple prep lessons and I was more than happy to say, “Yes.”  I love the temple and am grateful to share that love with others as they prepare to partake of the amazing blessings found within the sacred walls of the House of the Lord.

Tonight, we completed the 7th lesson with Nick and Annette Martinez.  It’s been about a year and a half since I the last time I taught the class.  The previous group consisted of the young men and young woman who were preparing to enter the mission field from our ward (the sister is about ready to return home).  I have many fond memories of the different people who have taken these lessons.  All of the classes have been wonderful, but this time through has been a very special experience for me in two ways.

First, I’ve had to opportunity to work very closely with Brother Martinez since his baptism in March of last year.  Not long after he was baptized (he was actually baptized 2 weeks before Annette), Bishop Allen asked if I could put together some lessons that would help Nick and two other recently baptized brothers learn about the Aaronic Priesthood.  Interestingly (to me, anyway), I had written 3 pamphlets (lacking a better word) for Bishop Meservy while serving as a counselor detailing the duties of deacons, teachers and priests that then hadn’t been used because of the new youth lessons.  At the time, I came to the conclusion that the exercise was good for me if no one else and moved on to other things  Suddenly, I had a use for them.  With some modifications, I turned the priest’s pamphlet into the lessons Bishop Allen envisioned.  Then, when it was time for Brother Martinez to prepare for the Melchizedek Priesthood, I also taught him those lessons.  Jennifer and I have team-taught the Martinez’s in Gospel Principles class.  We’ve also been able to take them to the temple to participate in baptisms and confirmations for the dead.  With the conclusion of the temple prep lessons, Jennifer and I have been able to support them in every step along the way to this trip to the temple to receive, as President Monson declared, “everything the Church has to offer.”

Second, teaching the temple prep class has been special because of the new wrinkle I felt impressed to add to the lessons.  I’ve read and been told by the Elders that eventually the missionaries will be able to use iPads or something similar to help them teach the gospel.  With all the YouTube clips and others videos the Church has produced over the last several years, I’ve wanted to purchase a Surface tablet or pad device to enhance the Gospel Principles lessons—that particular want has been placed on the back burner for now.  However, as these temple lessons approached, I realized I could utilize our desktop computer in the way I have envisioned.

Over the years, I’ve gathered additional conference quotations from the Apostles and First Presidency about the temple in addition to those utilized in the lessons.  Most of the lesson quotes also come from conference talks.  I downloaded the talks from the Church’s website and taught myself how to cut, trim, splice and paste the quotes in order to use them as video clips in order to allow the original speaker to give those quotations instead of me reading them.  Here is a example of what I've been able to learn.  This is a quote from Elder Russell M. Nelson's April 2001 conference address (for his entire address, click here).  The picture's not as clear, but you'll get the gist of the idea.

Also, some of the New Testament verses have been turned into the Bible video series the Church has produced.  I downloaded those videos and either used them in their entirety or isolated the specific verses I wanted.  I also felt impressed to download the recent temple garment video the Church produced and include it in lesson 5 when introducing garments.

At times, the process of preparing the video clips was a frustrating experience, but through trial and error I finally got the clips put together.  I told the Martinez’s when we began the lessons that they were my test subjects and the first to get this technological enhancement.  Being a tech guy, Brother Martinez was excited to be the first to see this in action.  Now that the lessons are completed, I can say the experiment worked successfully.  I, the technological dinosaur, have learned a new tech skill.  After several lessons, the Martinez’s commented how they liked being able to hear the quotes from the speaker’s own mouth.  I liked it too as it brought in other voices besides my own and Jennifer’s into the lessons.  While there is so much about technology that has been used for bad purposes, the Church has utilized it for good.  I see how the proper use of technology can improve teaching as it offers the added dimension of sight and sound to the lesson.  To be able to add the voices of the prophets to my own is a wonderful opportunity.

One of the things I enjoy about the calling of ward mission leader is working with people who are learning the gospel and allowing it to bring greater blessings into their lives.  I also have seen the good influence the missionaries have been on Ben and Isaac.  As the months continue, there are several families that have the potential to join the Martinez’s in receiving their full temple blessings.  However, it is highly likely that the next person to take the temple prep lessons will be Benjamin.  Wow.  That will be an exciting and emotional journey.  I just hope I can get through all 7 lessons without dissolving into a blubbering mass of jelly.  I look forward to the time when the Martinez’s will be able to enter the temple to receive their endowment and to be sealed for time and all eternity.  Our Father in Heaven offers so much to us.  I am grateful I have received those blessings and am now able to teach and prepare others to obtain those blessings for themselves. J

Pushing the Reset Button

I’ve mentioned this in a few posts and if you’ve noticed the gap between the last two posts and this one (August to December to February) it’s painfully obvious that … I’ve fallen way behind. L  This started about a year ago when I decided to post my top 10 favorite Star Trek episodes in honor of my, at the time, recent acquisition of all of the original series episodes.  It took longer for me to write those two posts than I expected (I didn’t want to just breeze through my reasons for picking the 10 episodes on my list).

To compensate for the time I was taking, I started jotting down (and in a few instances, fleshing out) additional posts to make sure I didn’t lose them to faulty memory.  By the time the top 10 lists were finally finished, I was 3 months behind.  I thought I’d be able to catch up because of the ideas I had written.  I did make some progress.  Then we went on vacation.  Wanting my vacation posts to be written “in the now,” I hand wrote them on notebook paper, thinking this would speed up the transcribing process—full posts written instead of ideas.  After we returned home, I got involved with a few other projects and moved blogging to the back burner.  A month or so later, I was back to uploading previous musings and then I reached the vacation posts I’d written.  The transcribing process, however, was slower not faster and I fell a couple more months in the hole.  To compensate, I set up a Microsoft Word document on which to write posts.  I figured this way I’d be able to keep my sequencing intact and be ready for the time when I would be moving at a faster rate of speed … best laid plans of mice and men, blah, blah, blah.

Instead of speeding up my process, it’s slowed me down even more.  Maybe I unknowingly have a foot trapped in Bizzaro World and everything is happening exactly opposite to my desired plans.  Whatever the reason (real or imagined) I’ve continued to fall further behind.  I don’t know; perhaps the following thought has become entrenched into my brain: “Oh, I’ve got plenty of time to pop these into my blog.  I have other things I can focus on right now.”  Desperate for a solution, I’ve now come to the conclusion that if I’m going to truly leap into the present; I need to press a reset button.

I have a couple of posts that will appear after this one to bring me to the present—or, at least to the date that my latest post was written on my computer page.  By bringing myself to the present in this manner, I’m hoping whatever pressure or laziness or apathy that has taken hold of me will finally melt away and I’ll start filling in the gaps with the posts I’ve previously written.  At least I’ll be able to move forward with up-to-date posts while backfilling the others and not beating myself up for being so far behind.

*Sigh!*  It’s strange being me and living in my brain.  Maybe one day, I’ll finally figure myself out … which will no doubt send me screaming into the night. J

Farewell to Elder Sheppard

A second missionary has died in our area.  Wow.  Now that I’ve written the sentence, I can see how the uninitiated would be jumping up from their chair and yelling, “What?!?!”  Okay, now that I have your attention J, let me explain.  In the lexicon of the mission field:

 

A missionary is “born” in his first (greenie) area.

His companion is his “dad.”

Any missionary he trains is his “son.”

And a missionary “dies” in his final area when he returns home.

 

It appears a few more terms may have crept into the lexicon since I was a missionary, but those are the basics.  Now with greater contextual understanding, hopefully my opening sentence doesn't seem so ... final, dire, worthy of consternation; you chose. J Returning to my opening thought, Elder Sheppard is the second missionary to have our ward be his last area before returning home during the time I’ve served as ward mission leader—or, in missionary vernacular, he “died” here. J

 

Anyway, he, like Elder Stephens, invited us to come to the missionary farewell and we were happy to do so.  In fact, because both our family and the Martinez’s wanted to attend the farewell, we moved their temple lesson to Monday to free up our Sunday evening.  Twenty-two missionaries were going home this transfer.  The church building was packed!  I’m glad we arrived early and were able to sit in the chapel pews.

 

I very much enjoyed listening to the 22 testimonies.  Perhaps I was a bit biased toward Elder Sheppard’s because I had come to the meeting to specifically listen to his, but I found this to be a unique opportunity to be edified by 22 different personalities with 22 different experiences and 22 different testimonies which all had a common theme of how the mission experience had help them to come to a greater understanding of the Savior and His gospel.  To hear these good brothers and sisters bear testimony of the things they had learned during their 18 to 24 months in the mission field, my spirit was uplifted and edified and I was thankful to have made the trip to come to the meeting.

 

Like Elder Stephens before him, I was very impressed by the diligence Elder Sheppard exhibited during his last months in the mission field.  He worked to the very end and did not want to allow himself to become complacent as his time wound down the end.  Another thing I very much appreciated was the way he gave me opportunities to function in my calling beyond just holding weekly meetings and trying to encourage the brethren to fulfill their team-up assignments.  Right from the start, Elder Sheppard wanted to utilize me by putting me to work—to come with him and Elder Bowman on team-ups with them whenever my schedule allowed.  I liked that.  This is not to say that the other elders haven’t asked me to go with them on teaching appointments, but the same day Elder Sheppard was transferred into our ward, I received a phone call asking if I could go with him and Elder Bowman to a teaching appointment.  Not only did he utilize me, but he also asked Jennifer and Ben to go with his companionship.  Again, whenever our schedules allowed for it, we were happy to accept the invitation.

 

He expressed some trepidation about returning home—only in the sense that he had enjoyed his mission experience so much he wasn’t sure he wanted it to end.  To my mind, that is one of the signs of a faithful missionary—one who has so lost himself in the work, that he isn’t sure what to do with himself when he returns home (Elder Stephens expressed similar thoughts).  As I have expressed in other posts, I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to meet and work with these fine young men.  With the quality of people I have seen, I believe the gospel is in very good hands with this rising generation and they will prepare the next generation to carry on this legacy in the face of even greater trials.  If my sons can emulate the examples of the missionaries who have blessed our ward and our home, they will be powerful forces for good in whatever place they are called by the Lord to labor.

Ben’s “Doctor for a Week” Experience

Ben & Dr. Dan

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post about Isaac, Ben and Jennifer spent a week in Orange County.  In Ben’s high school, seniors are required to complete a senior project.  The idea is for each student to choose a profession that they would be interested in pursuing after high school, find a person who has that job and be “mentored” by him or her for 30 hours.  After the mentoring is completed, the student then is required to write a paper and deliver a power point presentation to the school board members about the experience.  One of the doctors who have monitored Ben since his diagnosis of hyper-mobility syndrome is the physician’s assistant at the orthopedic office.  Ben and Jennifer call him Dr. Dan.

Since the beginning of the year, Ben has  been thinking of becoming a physical therapist.  After his contact with Dr. Dan, he felt that spending time with him as a mentor would give him some good insight into this type of a profession.  Accordingly, during a visit to the orthopedic office, Ben asked Dr. Dan if he would be his mentor and Dr. Dan replied that he would need to talk to the management to find out if such a thing could happen, but if so, he would.  Management said yes as long as Ben followed HIPPA laws.  Since the boys are off for 3 weeks during winter break, it was decided that the last week of the break would work.

In the time leading up to Ben’s week of mentoring and in conversations with Dr. Dan, it became clear that for this idea to work, Ben would need to shadow Dr. Dan throughout the day and would need to be at the clinic at 8 0’clock every morning.  Jennifer and I talked it over and came to the conclusion that traveling up and down the hill early in the morning each day would be impractical.  To alleviate the potential problems, we decided that it would be best to find a hotel near the orthopedic offices that would allow Jennifer to take Ben to the clinic at the agreed upon hour in the morning and give her a place to stay while she waited for him to finish his day.  I was able to find such a reasonable Days Inn only 5 minutes away from the clinic.

Since we are dealing with the financial repercussions of Ben’s appendix episode (a topic I have avoided because it does not put me in my “happy place” L), Jennifer’s parents helped us out in order to secure a week’s stay for Ben and Jennifer (we are very grateful to them for the help as well as my parents and siblings who have assisted us in dealing with the medical bill).  Isaac and I have held down the fort while Ben and Jennifer have spent the week in Orange County.  Thankfully, this arrangement has worked very well and Ben really enjoyed his opportunity to spend time with Dr. Dan and Dr. Wagner, an orthopedic surgeon, at the clinic.

They arrived home today, and Ben told me about his experiences.  He’s been taking a sports training class at school and said he learned more on his first day with Dr. Dan than he has in the two semesters of this class.  The great part about this week of mentoring was the hands on experience.  For the most part, Ben would watch and not say anything, but every once in a while, either Dr. Dan or Dr. Wagner would ask him questions.  Also, the doctors would not stifle him when he felt impressed to say something.  Ben told me of a time when he felt impressed to mention his experience in the pain management program to one of the patients.  He also had conversations with a couple of other patients when he felt a need to speak up.  There was another time when a college student was also shadowing the doctors and Ben responded to a question correctly after the college student did not.  He said that he felt really good about that moment. J

Ben & Dr. Wagner

The reason why he worked with Dr. Wagner as well was because there was one day when Dr. Dan had to leave early because his wife wasn’t feeling good.  Dr. Wagner took over the mentoring and allowed Ben to continue with the day.  After Thursday, Ben had 32 hours of mentoring (2 over the set limit), but he wanted to finish out the week.  Unfortunately, Dr. Dan wasn’t feeling well on Friday and Dr. Wagner wasn’t in the clinic that day.  Apparently the other physicians weren’t as keen on having a high school senior shadow them, so Jennifer and Ben went to some places in the area after checking out of the hotel and came home a little early.  This was a great experience for Ben; so much so that he’s thinking of modifying his physical therapist idea and perhaps becoming a physician’s assistant like Dr. Dan.  I’m glad that these doctors gave him the opportunity to see this profession close-up and allowed him to expand his horizons. J

Isaac’s Football Decision

When Isaac finished up the JV football season, he was able to get in for a few plays at the end of the game.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have the video camera and it was too dark to get good pictures with the regular camera.  When he came off the field, he didn’t look to happy and wasn’t all that interested in staying to watch the varsity team play.  We were staying because Ben wanted to be on the sidelines with the varsity team for their last game.  As I recall, after the first half with our team getting manhandled … again, it was decided that Isaac and I would go home while Jennifer and Ben remained.  At the time, I don’t think Isaac’s decision to leave early meant anything other than a desire to not watch another blowout.  The varsity team didn’t win a game this season while the JV only lost two; it was honestly very difficult at times for me to sit and watch the varsity games.  However, it could be that Isaac’s desire to leave early that evening was the beginning of the conversation we had earlier today.

Jennifer and Ben have been spending the week in Orange County in order for Ben to fulfill one of the requirements of his senior project—being mentored by someone in the profession he has chosen to focus his project on (more on this in an upcoming post J).  I wanted to take a couple of days off work to spend with Isaac during this time.  Today, we went bowling and then went over to Steak ‘n Shake for lunch and conversation.  I will preface this by saying that overall, I think Isaac’s football experience was a good one.  One of the immediate impacts I noticed was that it helped his confidence tremendously.  Jennifer and I have been happy with the way he’s been keeping his grades up and how he is improving in other aspects (he went to his first church dance a couple of weeks ago and had a great time).

However, as we were talking during lunch, Isaac told me he doesn’t want to go out for football next year.  When he said this to me, I couldn’t help but remember the time after my freshman year when I told my dad the same thing.  I had spent my freshman year being nothing more than a glorified practice dummy.  I think I spent more time face planted into the ground than I did standing up that year.  Thinking these things, I asked Isaac his reasons, prepared to give him much the same pep talk that I received back in the day.  My pep talk stayed in my head.  Isaac’s reasons for not wanting to continue were much different than mine.

His biggest reason for not wanting to continue was that he didn’t like the raunchy talk that went on in the locker room during the season.  I also remember that some of the talk in the locker room during my high school days weren’t the greatest.  However, being that he is one of the few Latter-day Saints on the team, the things being said are much worse than what I heard.  He doesn’t want to be a part of that.  I told him I would support his decision.  The only thing I asked was that he pray about it before he made the decision final.  He did and later told me he still felt the same way.

I’d be lying if I didn’t say there is a part of me that is relieved by this decision.  After dealing with Ben’s injury and watching Isaac’s teammates get their bells rung and get injured in other ways throughout this last season, I’d like to keep our youngest son in one piece.  Just like the decision to play was totally his, the decision not to is his as well.  If the only thing he gets out of his one year of playing is the confidence I’ve seen grow in him; I’ll take it.  In fact, he’s recently had the opportunity to share the gospel with two of his friends during 7th period at school.  This was awesome to hear.  Isaac went on a teaching appointment with me a few weeks ago.  I think this was a good eye opener for him as to what a mission is all about.

Happy New Year!

We rang in the New Year last night with our annual New Year’s Eve party.  I’m not sure how it happened exactly, but at some point 7 or 8 years ago, this party ended up at our house and we’ve hosted it ever since.  This year the Graham’s, the Martinez’s and Jasmine Fregoe joined us.  We had a pot luck of snack food and played our usual games of Apples to Apples and Catch Phrase.  At about 11:45 we turned on the TV to Rockin’ Eve and waited for the ball to drop.

Over the last two New Year’s since our day in New York City during our 2013 vacation, the ball drop has taken on a little bit more significance for us since we know where it is located.  During our visit to Times Square, we saw the ball.  It looked a bit smaller than it does on TV (I figure it’s because the camera crew zooms in on the ball as the countdown begins).  Having a frame of reference is fun and it’s nice to be comfortably standing in the living room of our house while the people crowding Times Square were in the chilly elements as the ball dropped.

Nick Martinez was able to get a case of Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider (half apple-cranberry and half apple-grape).  There was enough for everyone who wanted sparkling cider to have their own bottle (Isaac doesn’t like carbonated drinks so he substitutes a glass of milk ☺).  After passing out bottles to those who wanted one and toasting the New Year, we realized that as a group of practicing Mormons, we looked pretty silly holding open cider bottles.  What else to do but take a picture of everyone as they took an extra swig from their bottles!

2014 has taken a bow and scurried away; 2015 marches onto the stage.  We’ve had a year of challenges and rewards; setbacks, surgeries, and amazing blessings.  Now we prepare ourselves for the known things that 2015 has to offer and wait for the unknown challenges and blessings the New Year will serve up on our plates.  As usual, we’re probably in for another interesting ride. J

He Is the Gift

The Christmas season is upon us once again!  The year flies by at warp speed and suddenly, it’s December.  Although I’ve already been bombarded by Christmas ads, emails, and commercials since November, now things really ramp up to full court press proportions as these various means of advertisements work desperately to convince me that it’s time to buy the perfect Christmas gift.  I can’t hide from the drumbeat.  Jared, Zales, Kay and other jewelry stores try to persuade me that the only way I can truly express my utmost love and deep affection for my wife is to purchase a $1400 to $5000 ring, pendant, or whatnot for her.  Audi, Lexus, Jaguar, and other high end cars entice me to plunk down $375 to $750 for a monthly lease on a vehicle that will make me and my family stylish and hip.  Wal-Mart, Target, Toys R Us, any cell phone company says my family needs the latest electronic gadget and the best toys.  Larry insists I need a new mattress, furniture stores advise me I need to replace my furniture, perfume commercials try to … hmmm, actually, I’m not sure what perfume commercials are trying to tell me other than sex sells (if anyone can interpret any of those perfume commercials, I’d like to hear it J).

Anyway, you get the picture.  The goal for all of these businesses is to convince me that they have the perfect Christmas gift for me and my family; the more expensive the better.  I’ll be broke and the real reason for celebrating Christmas will be buried somewhere in the middle of all wrapping paper, but who cares because my family will have the perfect gifts and we’ll all be happy.  I’m sure you’ve heard this all before in some form or another.

Elder Bowman and Elder Sheppard came to our home recently and showed us a new video the Church has produced called "He Is the Gift".  This Christmas video reminds me that Jesus Christ was and is the first gift of Christmas, offered to us by our loving Heavenly Father.  Jesus Christ truly is the perfect Christmas gift and He purchased us through His amazing atoning sacrifice (see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20)!  Christmas presents eventually break, wear out, and fade away, but the gift of Christ will always be new, fresh, and wonderful.  The happiness we receive from Him will be eternal, not fleeting.  I am grateful for Him, for His love; for His mercy; and for the blessings that come into my life because of His sacrifice.  Do not forget the first and true gift of Christmas.  I hope your celebration is a happy and blessed one.

The First Star Wars VII Trailer Has Arrived!

*Attention!  My geek side will shine through in this post!!!  Don’t say I didn’t warn you!*

 

Today the first advance trailer for Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens hit the Internet.  I now sit here at the computer wearing my baseball cap with the little whirly-bird to let you know that with the coming of this trailer I … am still cautiously optimistic.  That’s it.  No confetti; no breathless parsing of each and every frame; no wild speculations about what each disjointed segment could be telling me about the story; and no complete freak-out over the fact that a black man was wearing a storm trooper suit (really?).  Nope.  I’m not going to get sucked in to all the hype.  I dropped down that particular rabbit hole back in 1998 when the advance trailer of the first Star Wars movie in 15 years (if memory serves) hit the airwaves.  I was excited, ecstatic beyond all movie comprehension back then.  I couldn’t wait for the film to arrive in May of 1999.  I was there at the theater with my family as soon as possible and for all my nine months or so of breathless anticipation I was given … The Phantom Menace.  Jar-jar Binks and Jake Lloyd, mailed in performances, digitalized land and cityscapes leading to antiseptic looking scenes, a ridiculous Yoda, and a contrived plot a five-year-old could have written.  Am I bitter?  No; not in the least.  What makes you think so?

 

I’ve been cautiously optimistic about this whole Episode VII thing since Disney’s Lucasfilm arm announced J. J. Abrams as the director.  Yes, he has his detractors and, yes, he’s had a few flops along the way, but, in my opinion (take it for what it’s worth), he’s had more hits than misses and he’s the person who breathed new life into Star Trek.  I seem to be one of the rare birds who actually likes both Star franchises (Trek and Wars).  After the way Rick Berman and Brannon Braga ran Star Trek into the ground (please don’t get me started on the myriad of ways they tripped all over themselves with Enterprise, I still haven’t been able to forgive them for that colossal mess), I’m not sure if anyone believed the franchise could rise from the ashes.  J. J. got it going again.  Argue about his methods, grouse about his crazy camera angles, call him whatever name you can think of, but, in my book, the guy has shown that he at least has the moxie to set the Star Wars ship aright.

 

Nevertheless … no matter how much I may want to get excited about the random images in the trailer, I’m gun shy.  I was one of those youngsters who saw the original Star Wars (before it became “Episode IV”) in the theater and was blown away by the visual effects and characters and story (in that order too, when you think about IV’s story is pretty basic).  As The Phantom Menace approached, I bought into the hype that one of the reasons George Lucas had waited to bring the public his prequel stories was because he was waiting for technology to catch up to his imagination.  Trouble is his “imagination” (if you want to call it that) became one of the main problems with the new trilogy.  As I see it, Lucas pushed his imagination so far into overdrive that it overwhelmed and buried the story he was trying to tell (such as it was).  When he had to scratch and claw and push and pull and tug and punch and kick to get his vision of the far, far away galaxy on the big screen, Lucas made movie magic.  On the other hand, it appears when he didn’t have to work as hard in the sense that he could practically let his imagination run wild, he creatively vomited all over the film (colorfully, mind you).

 

By the release of Revenge of the Sith, a part of me had lost interest in the story (after the stilted “love” dialogue endured in Attack of the Clones, was anyone able to walk out of theaters without a glazed-over look in their eyes).  Of the three prequels, I rank the third installment as the best.  Even so, I’d only give it a solid C.  With letter grades of D- (60%) and F (50%) for the first two prequel installments added to the C (75%), the average is a D- (61.6%)—Peppermint Patty would be proud.  All the hype and breathless speculation being heaped on Episode VII reminds me too much of what I endured back in 1998-1999.  Forgive me, follow Star Wars fans, but after the beating I took from the three prequels, all I can legitimately muster is a somewhat hopeful “yeah,” on the heels of this new trailer.

 

A few immediate impressions upon viewing the trailer: Seeing the Millennium Falcon flying up over the desert landscape in a fight with Tie-fighters was very cool.  I liked the scene with the X-wings skimming inches above the water (I guess it was a lake).  The new Sith light saber reminded me of a medieval sword and I liked the look of it.  All of these things caught my attention.  Now I will quietly wait for more pieces to be revealed by other trailers as the months count down toward the release of the movie next December.  If I feel there is anything worth writing a post about in those months, I will do so.  Otherwise, I won’t say another word about this new movie until it finally reaches the big screen.  My reaction after watching the full movie will indicate if I’m back to being fully engaged in this series, or if for me the cause is lost.