Craig's Blog of Destiny

Today is Heather’s Birthday!

She’s much older now….

It’s been a while since I checked in with our favorite local church group, the Kennewick Seventh-day Adventists.  They’ve been talking the last few months about “The fruit of the spirit is… (insert a different word here every week).”  And while it’s true that they were staying with their food related themes (by referencing fruit), they seemed a little lack luster in their weekly topics.  But yesterday morning I was pleased to see that they’ve gone back to their old habits of discussing their dietary needs:

I’m really beginning to think that they have some serious eating issues over there…

See related posts: Give Us What?  Pastor Fred  Saved by…

I’ve had a few requests for the recipe for the coconut berry muffins I’ve been making for Kristin this week.  So, I’ve posted the recipe I’ve been using here.  In practice I usually use a little more berries than the recipe calls for (and I’ve used whatever berries I have, most recently blackberries). I assume you could make it with actual sugar if you don’t have the erythritol – we’ve been useing erythritol as part of the strict diet we’re on these days.  I usually double the recipe and make twelve muffins.  Enjoy!

This morning I read what is destined to become a classic in my library.  I’m going to recommend it highly, and to the degree that I’m capable, I’m making it required reading for my sons. The book:   “How to Talk to Girls” by Alec Greven.

Alec is currently nine years old, he wrote this book when he was eight.  Originally the piece was a pamphlet that he sold at his local book fair.  It was very popular, Harper Collins then got a hold of it, paired it with illustrations from Kei Acedera, an illustrator out of Toronto, and published it last year.

Like the essay “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”, Alec has managed to simplify things for us.  Specifically those relationships with girls.  It may not be intentional, but Alec shows wisdom way beyond his years.  Some of my favorites:

“Sometimes you get a girl to like you, then she ditches you.  Life is hard, move on!”
“You also have to be aware that girls win most of the arguments and have most of the power.  If you know that now, things might be easier.”
“When you see a pretty girl, don’t let her tractor beam pull you in.  Pretty girls are like cars that need a lot of oil.”
“If you want to start a conversation with a girl, first you have to say something like ‘hi.’  If she says ‘hi’ back, you are off to a good start.”
“If she doesn’t want to talk to you, then either she is shy or she doesn’t like you.  You might want to get out of there and try another day.  If she doesn’t like you, don’t worry, it happens.”
“If you like a girl, comb your hair and don’t wear sweats.  You don’t have to try too hard, but just try to look kind of clean.”
“It’s very rare, but if you do win a victory with a girl, don’t cheer in front of her or it’s a straightaway ditch.”

So, if you’re my son (there are three of you out there) I want you to read this book!  And if you’re anyone’s son, I’m recommending that you read this book.  For the rest of you, Alec has a couple of new books coming out: in March there’s “How to Talk to Moms” and in April “How to Talk to Dads.”  Sometime later this year his “How to Talk to Santa” will be out – that’s the one I’m looking forward to.

Ok, so I know I’m a little behind on this, but I didn’t watch the Grammy’s and this just came across my radar this morning:

Coldplay won the Grammy for Song Of The Year for ‘Viva La Vida’ at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles

I am appalled.  I’m looking for other words that mean appalled.  The only synonym Merriman Webster comes up with is dismayed.  Dismayed is not at all adequate.  I’m appalled.  Merriman Webster says that “appall implies that one is faced with that which perturbs, confounds, or shocks.”  Oh I’m perturbed all right.  Perturb is to “disturb greatly in mind.”  My mind is definitely disturbed.  I am shocked, and sickened and revolted and aghast and disgusted and outraged.  I am appalled.

When I first heard of Coldplay, I wanted to like them.  I’m not sure why, but I did.  I then saw them on Jimmy Kimmel’s show and was disappointed in the degree to which their sound and their performance was “pop,” meaning much more concerned with appealing to the masses than with any kind of musical quality.  So, I stopped thinking I might like to like them, and didn’t think much more of them since then.

Until a couple of months ago, when this surfaced:

(Thanks to Bob and Tom Radio for the audio)

Now, I’m really not trying to judge here, and whether or not Coldplay owes anything to Joe Satriani is for the courts to determine.  What galls me is that Coldplay, specifically their front man, Chris Martin, at first ignored Joe, and then chose to vehemently deny that it’s the same song.  That’s distressing.  I’m not saying he has to admit to stealing it, but the only way anyone can say those aren’t the same song is for that someone to be an absolute, bold face liar.

And now the Grammy’s have given him the award for Song of the Year, exhibiting an unholy degree of ineptitude.  The very best thing I can say about Chris Martin is that he seems to be tailor made for politics.  (BTW, his reference to Coldplay’s outfits bearing a striking resemblance to The Beatles Sergeant Pepper look did not in anyway redeem him.  It only made his lie about the music that much more daunting and was obviously intended simply to get Coldplay mentioned in the same sentence as The Beatles, which he’s gotten me to do…  damn…)

I know I said I wasn’t judging, and the whole thing will end up decided by the courts, but I’m really hoping that the net effect of this award being given to Coldplay will be a substantial increase in the amount of damages Joe Satriani is awarded.

   Ok, so I’m a pretty big fan of Super Bowl commercials.  The Saturday before the Super Bowl, I watched the CBS special “Super Bowls Greatest Commercials” and was very pleased that the Mean Joe Green commercial was once again voted the best of all time.  I think that’s eight straight years it’s been voted the best, and now they say they’re going to retire it.  Too bad, as the other choices they had were really weak.
   So how do we feel about the 2009 class of commercials?  Overall, I thought they were lacking.  A few chuckles, some interesting premises, but no out right belly laughs, nothing that I’m feeling compelled to share with others.  USATODAY has the official site for ranking the ads with their “Ad Meter.”  I was quite disappointed in their top ten, particularly that two of the top five were Budweiser Clydesdale ads.  The Clydesdales jumped the shark sometime ago when they stopped playing football.  Pepsi and Coca-Cola each made the top ten here as well, though I didn’t think either were very strong.  I liked the Coke bugs better than Pepsi trying to channel Bob Dylan, though.  If you’re an SNL fan you have to have liked the Pepsi-PepSuber ad.
   Youtube also has a top five list, and you can see all the ads there as well.  The Careerbuilder ad made the top five on Youtube, which surprises me.  It was weird and twice as long as it should have been.  It got real annoying after thirty seconds. The E*Trade babies made number two on that list, but I’m afraid they too have jumped the shark.  The best E*Trade baby ad was when he underestimated the creepy factor of the clown.  Lately I think they’ve underestimated the creepy factor of the talking babies.
   Speaking of creepy, did you see the Cash for Gold ad with Ed McMahon?  That was scary.  MC Hammer wasn’t so bad, but opening with Ed McMahon was in real bad taste.  Unfortunately I missed Miller High Life’s one second ad.  Fortunately, it’s on Youtube.  I did like the Bridgestone ad with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.
   This brings us to the unanimous number one ad this year: the Doritos “Free Doritos” ad.  I agree that is was probably the best of the bunch, but what makes it stand out is that it was made by a couple of brothers from Indiana and submitted to Doritos as part of an online contest.  Their ad was selected by Doritos from over 1900 other amateur videos.  It cost them about $2000 to make, and for taking the top spot on the USATODAY Ad Meter, they’ll get a million dollar bonus.  It’s always good to see the little guy do well.

I’ve been tagged on Facebook for the 25 Random Things list.  I’m complying, here it is:

1.  I grew up in a small town in Southern Alberta, Canada.
2.  In high school I played football and basketball.  I played a lot of basketball: in addition to varsity high school I played on church and community teams.  My senior year I was named a district all star and the most valuable player for our football team.  In Canada we didn’t have much baseball, but in the summer I played an awfully lot of pretty serious softball.  I wish I could have played hockey – just couldn’t skate well enough.
3.  I got my first ticket, for running a stop sign, before I actually had my driver’s license.
4.  I have crashed six cars, including one spectacular rollover – end over end twice and sideways twice – but haven’t suffered serious injury.  I have also been rear-ended at least twice.
5.  One of those six crashes was me rear ending a flat bed truck my dad was driving.  I’ve also rear ended my dad while we were both driving tractors.
6.  I played varsity badminton for BYU.
7.  I’ve lost track (some time ago I lost track) of the number of times I’ve read The Lord of the Rings.
8.  My favorite author is John Irving.
9.  I play bass in a classic rock band.   I play my acoustic guitar at home, and if you listen real hard, sometimes you can hear me sing (hearing me sing isn’t something I generally impose on others – you have make some effort to hear it).
10.  I have five grandkids.  And a sixth on the way.
11.  I hate politics.  Really.  I hate politics.  Sometimes I can be amused by Canadian politics, but I still hate politics.
12.  I still enjoy listening to loud music, loud guitars, with loud bass lines and loud drums.  There are probably others, but in the current music world I tend to like Coheed and Cambria.
13.  My newest favorite musical act may be Flight of the Conchords.
14.  Sometimes, to keep myself busy, I cross-stitch.  I’ve been working on my current project for probably seven or eight years.
15.  I have a small shop out behind the garage where I make wooden toys, mostly trucks and airplanes, but also sometimes checkerboards.
16.  I have the best wife in the known universes.
17.  I really like to cook.  When dieting, not cooking is almost as hard as not eating.
18.  I have a smoker made out of a terracotta garden pot.
19.  My favorite holiday is probably Thanksgiving, followed by Halloween.  My favorite ‘season’ would be Christmas.
20.  I have all but four of Rush’s studio albums (there are nineteen of them) on vinyl, I’ve hung them all on my wall.  I also have most of their live albums and collections on vinyl.
21.  I have a firm conviction that pie is nature’s perfect food.
22.  I have four complete sets of the state quarters.
23.  My favorite place to be is home.  I really do like going places and seeing things, particularly with my family, but I’m always happy to come home.
24.  I believe Netflix is one of the best ideas anyone has ever had, ranking right up there with sliced bread.
25.  I’ve always thought my perfect age was 18, though lately (in my fifties) I’m feeling like my current age is pretty perfect.

We’re doing the Superbowl Candy Pool again this year.  Here’s the grid (you can click on it to see a bigger version):

The fine print:

Squares & numbers were assigned at random. If the numbers for your square match the last digit of the game score, you win! Every score change is worth a candy bar, regardless of how many times the score has changed during the quarter, and the extra point after a touch down does count as a score change. The score at the end of each quarter, and the final game score are all worth an extra candy bar.
For example, if Pittsburg scores first, say a field goal, the score would be 3-0 Pittsburg. The person that has the square representing 3 for Pittsburg and 0 for Arizona (that is Cathie) wins a candy bar. Then suppose Arizona scores a touchdown, making the score 6 Arizona, 3 Pittsburg: the person that has that score (Addy) wins a candy bar. Then Arizona kicks the extra point, so then the person that has the score 7-3 for Arizona (Michelle) wins a candy bar. If the first quarter then ends, Michelle wins another candy bar for having the “end of quarter” score. Please note that the digit used is always the last number. So when the score becomes 10 – 14, the numbers zero and 4 are used. Congrats to Ashley Rae, the lucky player who ended up with 0-0. You win a candy bar. Good luck everyone, and enjoy the game!

Thanks to Kristin for putting everything together!

Today is Ashlie Wursten’s Birthday!

Have a great one Ashlie!

Today was President Obama’s inauguration.  There has been a great deal of dialogue regarding the optimism in the country and that we now have a president that we can be proud of.  I’m particularly impressed by the expressions of hope, that perhaps he’ll actually have an impact for good on some of the ills this country currently suffers from.  I hope so.

Here’s the impression I’m left with for today:  For the first time in my life, the President of the United States is younger than I am.