up & up & dn & dn

Flip the Target house brand logo and it takes on the opposite meaning.

Bond and Free

Taken minutes apart.

Scenes of Swordplay

Last spring at church we had a big ward activity around the theme of The Book of Mormon. Each of the church organizations were asked to put on skits. As a member of the Young Men’s presidency I knew it was our duty to balance any touching, spiritual message of the other plays with a show that would represent what the young men are all about: testosterone and weaponry.

We used Nerf swords (popular in my house) and other props (including a People magazine) to pantomime famous battles from The Book of Mormon. We drafted little kids to clank tools for sound effects and play supporting roles of livestock, etc. I was the announcer, which required an over-the-top performance to match the overacting of our players. When somebody guessed the scene right, I tossed Hershey kisses into the sky and quoted lawyer Zeezrom’s famous 82 B.C. ode to witness tampering, “Behold, here are six onties of silver.”

The high point was our scene of Ammon defending the king’s flocks at the waters of Sebus. I cut off some old shirt sleeves, rolled up towels inside them, and taped an inflated latex glove to the cuff to make severed arms — perfectly semi-stiff and lifelike. We tossed them onto the stage with every blow of Nerf steel. We were a hit!

The most exciting part of my preparation was painting a Vaudeville-worthy placard, which remains in my office as a blood-spattered souvenir of our command performance. My three-page script is available for you to relive the memory or imagine on your own.

Despite our exaggerated portrayal, The Book of Mormon is an amazing, true record of ancient American civilizations and their dealings with God. It is a spiritual record written by prophets, intended for our guidance today. Here and there it offers fascinating historical glimpses of what life was like in the Americas thousands of years ago, when struggles between good and evil were often settled on the battlefield.

A Babe Shall Lead Them

Our friend Camille's new iPad had an alarm reminder go off in church on Sunday, treating the congregation to the soothing sabbath sounds of Fall Out Boy. She grabbed it and went running out of the chapel.

Too bad first-grader Carter wasn't sitting close enough, he could have flipped the mute button for her.

Biker Chick

Claire has been interested in learning to ride a bicycle. Joanie added some training wheels to one of our old bikes and she took Claire out for her first ride today.

Palmyra Temple

Today was our youth temple trip to Palmyra, NY. The temple was closed for maintenance today, but they ran a special session just for us, so we were very efficient with our visit. We took the kids to a pizza joint on the way home and made it the 3 hours back before dark.

I drove five boys ages 12-14 in my van, and they were a lot of fun. In between Tangled and Napoleon Dynamite we took turns playing DJ, where everybody with an iPod got 2 songs and then passed it on. Harry Potter heroic saga spin-off songs were prohibited. I introduced my boys to vintage New Order during my set.

There was rain all the way there until just before we got to town, and then it held off the rest of the day. Which allowed us to get in the traditional photo. I'm in the back row triggering photos with a little RF remote with a telescoping antenna. It looks like some 70s James Bond villain's detonator — I'm counting on TSA pulling me out of line some day based alone on its appearance.

Taking a big group shot of a bunch of moving people is nightmare. A couple people invariably have their eyes closed, or are looking the other way, or somebody gets blocked. This is the best I could do after lots of Photoshop, I had to replace a few faces. Parker in the brown jacket on the front left is such a ham — I had to invent a pocket in his jacket because he was doing jazz hands in most of the shots.

Hibernation

Posts here lately have been light. I haven't had anything interesting to say, either visually or in writing. It's been a long winter, but not in the sense of the cold and snow lasting too long; I am beginning to love frigid weather. I'm talking more about some personal contemplation.

This week was my birthday, which I usually milk for all it's worth. But this year I was more tentative about it. I brought the donuts to work even though I didn't feel like it. I like even numbers, but for the next year my age is a prime. This can't be good.

Things are changing at work, which is a big part of my life. Things feel in a holding pattern right now. It's giving me some time to analyze what I do every day, and consider the direction I want to take on some future projects. And think about what I like to do.

Yesterday I wrote a half dozen questions for some job interviews I helped give today. Some of my questions had some pretty psychological undertones meant to draw out truth. Here's the jist of one:

You'll be working with people in leadership and political positions — many with inflated egos. Talk about a time you worked with somebody difficult or demanding, and how you were able to achieve success with (or despite) them.

A trick question if I ever saw one. It worked perfectly — we got to truth with those we interviewed. I like strategery.

Some days I dread the phone, but I had several nice calls today with people I really enjoy and respect. It was the unexpected highlight of my week.

Anyway, I'm charting some new courses right now, figuring out what I like and what I want to do. That includes some of the writing and photos you'll see here.

I saw some green grass today and it was just too intense, almost blinding to me. I'm not completely ready to emerge from winter hibernation yet.

Today on the way home I saw this old boxcar. I just kept on driving. A couple minutes of agonizing went by, and I finally flipped the car around and went back to capture it. As opposed to the perfect green grass I saw earlier, this rusty boxcar was more of what I wanted to remember about today.

The Maze

The central office building at my work in DC is three-sided with an open center area (this view). Inside is a maze of cubicles throughout each main arm. People are constantly moving from one floor to another. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten lost in there. Though my orienteering skills are getting better.

Different Lincoln

Every so often I sort through my laptop and find a misplaced photo shoot. Here are some from 2 years ago at the Lincoln Memorial in DC.

Rather than going with the familiar front view of the seated Lincoln I tried integrating the rest of the building with the statue and an iconic image.

Cherry Blossoms

The Tidal Basin is in full bloom! Cherry blossoms reached their peak this week in Washington, DC, and I was finally here to see it ... amazing. And people milling about everywhere. I had a hard time finding a hotel to stay in for the week as this marks the beginning of the tourist season.

It wasn't until a few years ago that I realized the meaning of the song "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" — allow me to illustrate.