Bad Jokes, Car Keys, and Favors

For the last month or so I have been traveling all over the West. I spent a week with my Boy Scouts cruising around Texas. I had the opportunity to get stung by a jellyfish in the Gulf – I don’t recommend it. After Texas, I headed up to New Mexico for a family reunion with my in-laws (See joke below).

What’s the difference between in-laws and out-laws?
Outlaws are wanted!

Just kidding. I had a great time and enjoyed seeing some mountains. After New Mexico my little family went to Utah and Las Vegas to my family reunion. It was hot and that is about all I have to say about that. So after ditching school for a month, I am back trying to finish school by 2010. Perhaps the biggest lesson I learned from this last trip was to make sure your car keys are packed with you. I left my car keys in my parents car and so when we flew back to Houston, we had no way of getting home 90 miles away. I thought “we’ll just rent a car” and everything would be fine. We went to rent a car, but so many flights had been cancelled due to weather that day, there were none left. So my last option was to call a friend that I had taken to Houston about a year ago. She owed me, so I called her and she left right away to pick us up. So once again I am reminded the lesson to always be willing to help others because you never know when you’ll be in need of a hand. Oh yeah, always be nice to your outla…err…in-laws also.

Help, I’ve Become a Pansy

This week we received news that my wife’s grandfather passed away. Immediately we started making plans for making the trip from College Station to Amarillo. I wasn’t able to take off the time from school for the funeral so I sent my wife and 4 mo. old son on a plane by themselves. My wife is going to stay in Amarillo for the next two weeks because we have a family reunion up there and it wouldn’t make sense for her to come back home and then go right back up there again. Anyway, as I returned from seeing them off at the airport this morning, I just started crying. Obviously, I will miss them very much, but I really can’t help wondering just how much Jami and Joseph mean to me and how much I love them. Starting a family has really given me a new appreiciation for the temple and those ordinances that allow us to be together forever. It has strengthed my testimony of the plan of salvation.

On a side note – Remember Elder Bednar’s talk in general conference about the tender mercies of the Lord? My wife and I were both very worried about her traveling alone with the baby. It was his first trip and the potential for the trip to be awful was very high. As we were sitting in the airport, we saw one of our friends from the ward show up that was on the same flight. He came over and sat with us and helped my wife through security and on the plane ride. I just can’t help but think about the tender mercies of the Lord for us on this day.

Technology Fashion Fopahs

Perhaps I'm thinking more about fashion since I watched my cousin and his family on television, but I think something needs to be done about the way that technology has woven (pun intended) itself into the fashion world. People are starting to wear technology and there needs to be some fashion police enforcement. I pull most of my material from my observations as a student at Texas A&M. So here is a brief (edit: no pun intended) list of techno fashion fopahs:

1) Flash drives – These little portable memory sticks are a lifesaver! I use mine almost on a daily basis and I'm glad it has put the floppy disc to an end. However, someone came up with the idea to stick a lanyard on the drive. This huge mistake has led many to think that they should wear them around their necks. When I see someone wearing a flash drive, I feel the urge to call fashion 911 A.S.A.P.

2) "Hands free" phone adapters – Whether its wired, rf, bluetooth, blackberry, blueberry, or dingleberry. The adapters have been made to use when you need your hands for things like driving…and er…other things you do while talking on the phone. I agree with using these things while driving because it does increase safety. My fopah for this one is when I see people walking around with these funny earpieces in their ear or dangling down to their waists. Last time I checked, I didn't need my hands to walk. What's worse is when the earpiece has a bright led light on it to let you know that it is on. It draws attention to that unsightly thing growing out of your ear. They really do look like something from a bad science fiction movie.

3) Laptop bags – Laptops were made to be small and portable but not to give social status. One of the things about technology becoming smaller and smaller is that it makes it less discrete and easier to transport. If you need a huge bag that accommodates all of your laptop accessories you should probably just bring your desktop. Most of these bags have rollers. I think people who use bags that have a handle and wheels were probably deprived of airport travel when they were younger. If you have enough stuff that your bag needs wheels, you should probably leave some stuff behind. People with wheeled bags should be pulled over. I'm a big fan of backpacks that have a sleeve for a laptop. The backpack is comfortable, doesn't show off the computer, and is fashionable

3A) Sorry this isn't really about fashion, but it's similar. When traveling, an extra battery is a must. Do you ever see the guy at the airport who is in a $500 suit that is sitting on the ground by the vending machines just so he can plug in his laptop? He'll make a good impression at his next meeting with a skittle stuck to his rear end. Enough said.

4) Finally the invasion of the I-POD has created much confusion out there among those lost in the fashion world. I-PODs are great for the music lover who can take a whole collection on one little device. In a new survey,college students have placed the I-POD above consuming alcoholic beverages in popularity. Unfortunately there are a few lost souls who think they need to protect their ipod with a horrible looking case and then proceed to wear them on their belt. (much like a math major wears his calculator on his belt) Remember what I said about one of the purposes of making technology smaller? Yeah, put the I-POD where your won't be showing it off or it won't be an eyesore and enjoy some music. Others have way to much money for this Gucci ipod case valued at $195. One last suggestion about wearing an I-POD, ditch the white earpieces if you are wearing dark clothes and vice versa. Don't make yourself stand out with some wires criss-crossing your body.

Well that's the fashion lesson for the day, I apologize that it was a bit lengthy. Any other techno fashion fopahs that I missed? Don't agree with me? Tell me about it. I eagerly await your responses.

Worst Dressed Family in America

My wife and I had a fun experience this weekend. My cousin and his family were on TLC's "What Not to Wear." They were chosen by the TV show as the worst dressed family in America. Great title to have. Anyway my Cousin is a school teacher and doesn't have tons of money to spend to clothe his 5 daughters. The hosts of the show were very kind and they gave my cousin and his fam $20,000 to get new clothing. My Cousin's wife was great…they showed her shopping with her daughters and reminding them they couldn't wear immodest clothing. I thought it was great to see a mother advising her daughters on their choice of clothes. The bond between family members was gold and you could just tell that they really love one another and that they enjoyed each other's company. I thought it set a really great example of family life on national TV.  In stereotypical fashion, the girls went crazy and having some really nice clothes really made a difference to their self-esteem while my cousin, "the man" did not seem to care much what he wore.  He must have driven the male host of the show crazy!

Gas Prices

This post would seem to fit best under "useless rantings."  It seems that everybody has something to say about gas prices.  In the past, I didn't understand how a threat to the U.S. from Venezuela could cause an hike in gas prices.  So I asked my father-in-law (financial planner) who explained how gas prices worked.  He did a wonderful job and I won't try to explain it here, except to say that it really is a supply and demand issue.  Right now the world is demanding a whole lot of oil and so the price goes up.  So what's my point?

 My point is this – GAS PRICES ARE STILL TOO LOW! I'll illustrate with a simple example.  I was riding my bike to school this morning and rode by a large truck. The odd thing was that nobody was in the truck, but it was on and running.  I had this truck in my sight for more than a minute and never saw anyone get in it at all.  If people have so much money that they can leave their huge trucks running while they are doing whatever, then gas prices aren't high enough.  Gas prices need to be high enough that people will start to change their behavior and conserve some gas.  As long as people are wasting gas, gas prices are too low.

25 Worst Products

I read pcworld magazine's website faithfully, recently they published an article about the 25 Worst Products out there. You can find the story here. I won't ruin any of the fun by telling you what some of the products were, but they were sure funny. Unfortunately, I used too many of these products. Hope you enjoy.

Peer Pressure

I suppose that this blog start is mostly due to peer pressure. I have two buddies that I grew up with that have blogs and I read them quite often just to see what's up in their lives. After a little nudging, I have started this post and will go forward from here. Wish me luck in the future of blogging