Confessions From The Road Trip

Three coworkers and I loaded up a rented Toyota Highlander last week and hit the road for a excitement-filled trip to the mountain desert outside of Tonopah, NV.

Confession #1: Lawlessness. I drove us from Salt Lake to our destination. Now normally I really am the sort of guy who believes in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. But there's just something that snaps inside me when I'm on the clock, along with others in the car who are also charging for their time. For some reason my foot just gets a bit heavier than usual. The GPS we took along with us said the trip should be a bit over nine hours. ... I got us there in about five and a half. Now in my defense, I'm pretty sure the TomTom GPS underestimated the speed limits and quality of the roads, at least a little bit.

Confession #2: Worldliness. Admiteddly I'm already a bit too interested in the things of the world. Gadgets and technology are particular weaknesses I have. The place we stayed on this trip made me realize just how much stock I put into such things. We stayed at a site unfortunately-named "man camp." Man Camp was one of the least pleasant places I've visited in the continental U.S. We weren't allowed to bring in computers, including smart phones. Cell phone coverage was non-existant. The buliding we lived in was actually an old dormitory. It was nestled into a bleak complex of other similar buildings along with completely dilapidated portable buildings, a recreation center, a sad looking ball field and a running track around a grassless soccer field. My room was just large enough for two basic twin beds, a small desk, a lamp table and a very broken down chest of drawers that barely held up the weight of the late-eighties model TV on it, but certainly didn't have any drawers that were actually usable. The bathroom was really just a small water closet with a modest toilet and a small shower stuffed behind the door. The carpet in the room didn't seem like it had ever been cleaned since it was installed some decades ago. There was, at least, a phone. And the TV did have a modest selection of cable channels. My wife asked me which I missed more, my iPhone or her. It was definitely her, but the iPhone wasn't too far behind. ;)

Confession #3: Selfishness. A dozen or so participants of our group flew in an old jet while the rest of the team stayed at a headquarters building near the airstrip or at a remote site on a peak several miles away. I was assigned to fly on the plane. (By the way, I was told that this plane was previously used by George W. while he campaigned for president.) I really did offer to switch places with one or the other of my coworkers assigned to the ground site. But I'm pretty sure my heart wasn't fully backing up the offer. Flying did have its down sides: motion sickness, longer hours, etc. But it sure came with some perks. Man Camp was forty miles from the nearest restaurant, and even the cafeteria by the airstrip was closed on the weekend while we were there. But the airplane had (got) to fly to Las Vegas in order to refuel. When in Vegas, we still didn't have time to go anywhere. But even just visiting the corporate jet center at the airport was quite a treat. One day we each pitched in $5 for Subway sandwiches from a nearby store. Another day we called in an order for pizza to be delivered in time for us to take back with us on the plane. The lounge area had free gourmet cookies and lemonade. The restrooms were spacious and clean. Though not normally my preferred view, the sight of the lavish casinos of the Las Vegas Strip across the street was certainly more pleasant on the eyes than the rocks and scrub brush of Man Camp. And best of all, I had cell phone coverage to let me place a quick call home to my beloved wife while waiting for the plane to be fueled. I secretly cherished these brief escapes to civilization while my counterparts back on the mountain top suffered without decent food or water and were burned by the desert sun. I felt bad for them, but maybe not as much as I felt glad for me. :)

Confession #4: Merrymaking. Though not perfect, our testing over the weekend was quite successful. I'd go into details, but I'm not good at making my work sound interesting to others. I get too caught up in jargon and parts that are boring to most sane people. Suffice it to say we successfully established a really cool wireless Internet connection. Hmm, see: I told you I'm not that great at making my work seem interesting. Unfortunately our last flight was canceled due to bad weather. But that gave us some extra time to celebrate. So what does one to to celebrate while staying at Man Camp? Why one goes to the recreation center, of course! The recreation center was quite popular with participants in our testing. The biggest reason was very likely the $2 beers! OK, so there's really not much for me to confess here. I'm still as dry as the day I was born. Most of my Salt Lake coworkers and I managed to avoid the actual bar area. Instead, we hung out in the game and sports areas. We enjoyed an evening of arcade games and pool. I play pool horibly. But I did manage at least a few good shots on the air hockey table. I actually didn't even stay up very late. The six several-hour flights of the previous three days had me absolutely exhausted. So I hit the hay after only a few hours, anticipating my none-to-soon escape from Man Camp back to my loving family at home.

Online review - Lego Star Wars Jedi Starfighter!!!!

My son recently discovered an online video review of a Lego toy. He was fascinated by it. He liked watching it over and over. He memorized the elements of the review as well as the style of the reviewer.

A few days later, he decided to give it a try on his own. He grabbed hold of his mother's digital camera, put it in video mode, and let it roll. This video is the result. The cute guy really seems to enjoy this kind of thing so much. So we decided to post it here so he could see it online for real.

Stake Conference

We've enjoyed another fantastic stake conference this weekend.  Our stake presidency has been released after eight and a half years of great service.

We were visited by Elder LeGrand R. Curtis, Jr., area-authority seventy, and Elder Marlin K. Jensen, general authority seventy.  They were both marvelous teachers and leaders.

Here are some highlights that I enjoyed.

At the Priesthood Leadership session, Elder Curtis taught about revelation.  Then Elder Jensen followed up teaching about the order of the priesthood.  He highlighted the wording about the order of the priesthood in D&C 107:1-4.  Then he emphasized our roles in that order as explained in D&C 64: 29.  Elder Jensen used terms from the legal profession (his former occupation) to highlight those concepts.  He taught us that we, as priesthood bearers, are the agents mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants.  The principal who engages the agents to act on His behalf is the Lord.  He compared our charge as priesthood holders to the practice of granting "power of attorney" in the modern legal sense.  The "scope of authority" of His agents is established "according to the will of the Lord."  Elder Jensen referred us to Elder Curtis' teachings on revelation to help us know the extent of our scope of authority to act as agents to the Lord.  I also like the additional depth of meaning provided by the Latin root of the word agent, agere, meaning to drive, lead, act, do.

In the Saturday evening adult session of the conference, Elder Jensen taught from the scripture Mosiah 4:9-10.  Elder Jensen used those verses to indicate how we can know that God forgives us of our sins.  But what struck me about them was how they so emphatically assert the existence and divinity of God.  I was touched by that and thought that anyone struggling with doubts about God's existence might benefit from reading those two verses.  He does live.  He does love us.  He does forgive us.

Our ward choir sang at that adult session.  We sang "Where Can I Turn For Peace," a number we had sung at our ward conference earlier in the year.  The stake presidency had heard it then and invited us to share it for the whole stake.  I'm glad they did.  Our performance at ward conference was OK.  But our performance at stake conference was truly backed by the hosts of heaven.  It felt so much stronger and meaningful.  I was glad to be a small part of it and feel strengthened by the experience.

Sadly, I wasn't able to attend the final, general session of stake conference.  I was on a plane to Baltimore while it happened.  I can't wait to discover who is in our new stake presidency...