Prop 8. What the Heck?

This Prop 8 stuff has gotten out of hand. The people have spoken. Get over it. I just find it interesting that a greater percentage of the African-American population voted for this than did the LDS population. Why are the LDS people the primary target?

I was on a Braves message board the other day and there was a thread about it even on that site. Unbelievable! Then I read about a website that has been posted that lists persons or businesses that donated money in favor of stopping gay marriage in order for people to boycott/not patronize their businesses, etc. However, if a site was posted on the web that listed all the businesses/persons that were in favor of gay marriage and advocated boycotting them; oh my, would that be an issue!

Here's a quote from an article on Time.com that sums it up best:

"It's really awful," says Frank Schubert, campaign manager for Yes on Proposition 8. "No matter what you think of Proposition 8, we ought to respect people's right to participate in the political process. It strikes me as quite ironic that a group of people who demand tolerance and who claim to be for civil rights are so willing to be intolerant and trample on other people's civil rights."

Gas less than $2 a gallon!

I never thought I'd see this day again, but there it was: $1.97 gas. The apocalypse must be upon us. My wallet/bank account is happy and I can now divert that money towards more important purchases, like chewing gum. Fill 'er up!!! (I hope to have a photo soon, because who knows how long it will last.)

Johnny on the Spot

Well, today was interesting at church to say the least. But I guess it really starts a few weeks ago at Stake Conference.

A few weeks ago at Stake Conference I ended up running the choir and singing solo for the Priesthood Leadership session (surprise, using the song I was going to use for the adult session) and then sang for the Adult meeting later that Saturday evening (an impromptu rendition of "I Stand All Amazed" in which the pianist made up the accompaniment on the fly and we never rehearsed).

Then yesterday, Linda and I went to the Nashville Temple and an older brother there said "Good Morning, Brother Howe". I didn't recognize him off-hand and he said he remembered me from Stake Conference. So, okay, thanks.

Well, today the Temple President and his wife spoke in our ward, and that's when I realized oh, that guy is the guy from the temple yesterday. Oh, he's the temple president. Then, the unexpected happened.

"Before I continue my talk I'd like for Brother Howe to come up and sing Hymn number 247."

Uh, what?

I made my way up to the stand and my pianist from Stake Conference is the organist in my ward and we briefly chatted about what we were going to do. I flipped through the book and read the title "We Love Thy House, O God". It was then that I realized I was not familiar with this hymn in any way. Thankfully, it is short and I told her (Sis. Tanzy) that I needed the whole intro to learn the melody. So, away she went and I guess the rest is history. Nothing like sight-reading in front of 300 people.

I wasn't able to talk to him after the meeting, as they hurried off to go speak at another sacrament meeting. On a side note, they(President and Sister Sager) gave outstanding talks and come to find out that he was recently the bishop for President Monson's ward. I wonder how that Recommend interview goes. "Do you sustain..... uh, yourself as......"

I'm not sure whether having your Temple President know who you are is a good thing. Maybe he can hook me up with MOTAB or something... ;-)

Yet another video

Shameless self promotion continues. A bit seasonally early, though. This one is from Korea w/ a surprise cameo. Send all complaints to whatever@whatever.com The video is on the right.

(Yes, I know I'm too loud and you can't hear the band. But is this blog about them?)

Children's Books That Didn't Make It

Saw this at Orson Scott Card's website http://hatrack.com

Pretty Dang Funny or maybe that's because I've been up since 0345 this morning. UGH!

1. You Are Different and That's Bad
2. The Boy Who Died From Eating All His Vegetables
3. Dad's New Wife Scott
4. Fun Four-Letter Words to Know and Share
5. Hammers, Screwdrivers, and Scissors: An I-Can-Do-It Book
6. The Kids' Guide to Hitchhiking
7. Kathy Was So Bad Her Mom Stopped Loving Her
8. Curious George and the High-Voltage Fence
9. All Cats Go to Hell
10. The Little Sissy Who Snitched
11. Some Kittens Can Fly
12. That's It, I'm Putting You Up For Adoption
13. Grandpa Gets a Casket
14. The Magic World Inside the Abandoned Refrigerator
15. Garfield Gets Feline Leukemia
16. The Pop-Up Book of Human Anatomy
17. Strangers Have the Best Candy
18. Whining, Kicking, and Crying to Get Your Way
19. You Were An Accident
20. Things Rich Kids Have, But You Never Will
21. Pop! Goes the Hamster.and Other Great Microwave Games
22. The Man in the Moon is Actually Satan
23. Your Nightmares Are Real
24. Where Would You Like to Be Buried?
25. Eggs, Toilet Paper, and Your School
26. Why Can't Mr. Fork and Ms. Electrical Outlet Be Friends?
27. Places Where Mommy and Daddy Hide Neat Things
28. Daddy Drinks Because You Cry

16 years and she's still hanging around?

Yeah, I know it's what you are thinking.

Well, another year of suffering has come and gone for my better half. We got cast out of heaven (refugees from Fort Huachuca), had a degree go down in a blaze of glory, a completion of another degree (you go, girl!), and have a teenager with a driver's permit.

However, that pales in comparison to what has happened since October 23, 1992. Yeah, that's right the early 90s, like when we graduated high school and got to vote in a presidential election for the first time, all in the same year. Exactly two years and 3 days after our first date, the crazy woman completely lost her mind and made the biggest blunder of her life, trading "I dos" with yours truly. Now, you may forever doubt her judgement, her taste in guys, or her sanity in general, but I will have you know that I didn't use a Jedi mind trick on her, as they only work on the week minded, nor did I have her drugged in any way on that fateful night 16 years ago.

16 years. How do you put up with a slacker for 16 years? How am I neither living on the streets dancing for pennies, nor chained to a bed post in a cuckoo farm spouting random lines from Star Trek ("Engage" "Make it so" "There are four lights!!!" "Shut up Wesley!")

Well, I think we all know; it's my hot bod! (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!)

But seriously, what I ever did to end up with the woman of my dreams is unbeknownst to me and is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries since the beginning of time. Or..... it could be that time when I was 15 and went deep into the jungle and saw this Panamanian Witch Doctor who gave me the Elixir of Love made from the saliva of an iguana and mango juice extract. I left Panama soon thereafter and duped a poor girl into a date. Thankfully, she knows nothing about what I slipped into her drink that night and the rest is history.

Now, to quote Alfalfa of Little Rascals fame "Let's raise a toast to the girl I love most in the whole world.... LINDA!!!!!!!!

(Perhaps I drugged her after all) shhhhhhh

My Eight Things for Melissa

Here they are in not-so-random order:

1. Sometimes I secretly wish I had a higher voice so that the high notes would be easier.
2. Sometimes I wish I played a lighter and less expensive instrument than the tuba.
3. Who would’ve thunk that I would love school? There I said it. Admittance is the first step
on the road to recovery.
4. I think I enjoy Star Trek more than Star Wars, which is all GL’s fault.
5. I wish I could run without pain.
6. I have a terrible memory (Oh wait! You already knew that.)
7. Being a musician is the best job in the world; it just needs to pay more and not require a
uniform. Less than 5 years to go!!!!!!!!!!!
8. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday; it’s all about the food.
9. I have a terrible memory (I can’t remember if already said that.)

Off the top of my head, Mel missed Dad and Scott. (Yeah, Scott, we know you have a blog. And by the way Nick says you are a wussie man and will soon be shorter than him.)

A side note, Junior will likely be doing his Eagle Project this Saturday, as long every thing gets approved. He is determined to drive and get his license on his 16th birthday. He may yet prevail and has many moons before then to get it done. He is the MAN!!!!!!!!

Conference Is da Bomb!!!!

Was it just me, or did conference rock the planet!!!

We watched all sessions online (except the Priesthood Session, which, unfortunately, was poorly attended at our building) at home and it was great. It was nice seeing the kids take notes and even nicer to not have to wrestle them in a pew. They all behaved well.

The best talk of conference (not that it is a contest, but I'd be interested to hear what others thought) was by Lawrence E. Corbridge in the Saturday afternoon session. It was powerful and had a memorable theme.

"Christ is the only way to truth and happiness; every other way is madness."

I don't think you can state anything simpler, plainer, or more powerful than that.

I guess we can't do this every week, but 6 months sure seems like a long time.

Church's Statement on The Divine Institution of Marriage

Found a refrence to this statement on deseretnews.com while I was reading about BYU's pasting of a PAC-10 pansy. (Hey Ben, didn't Arizona lose to MWC team on Saturday as well?)

Anyway, I found it quite interesting and hope psycho-judges stay out of it and the will of the people will prevail. Just click the title to read it.

To Boldly Go....

Another day I had been long dreaming of has finally come.... I own all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD. Now, when I was a young, misguided kid, I greatly disliked all things Star Trek because I thought they were just ripping off Star Wars (actually it was George Lucas who ripped us all off in the prequel trilogy! A few great moments, i.e. Darth Maul being cut in half, Jango Fett, & most of Episode 3, are far outweighed by Padme, most of Episode II, and Padme. But I digress....) but, of course Star Trek (Kirk) came well before my and Star Wars' time. After Linda made the worst mistake of her life and married me, I started watching TNG because her family did, and man, it was awesome! Picard is the Man!!!!! I was hooked and watched every night I could as it was on M-F in syndication while were at Fort Benning. The series ended, the movies started (keeping the even/odd streak alive) and the movies ended. There will be no more Picard. The seasons were whopping $90 apiece at the PX through the years, but recently, probably due to the dreaded "phase out" they have come down to half what I had paid in the past. (Sam's strikes again, Hooray!) and Linda finsihed off the collection for my birthday. Now they'll probably come out on Blu-ray, aaarrgh!

What a bee-you-tiful sight!!!

Resistance is Futile!

Does this offically make me a Geek??

They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?

With a titular homage to one of Dad's favorite authors, I give a glimpse of the new addition to the Tennessee Howe's fun: the canoe. We finally got our travel/DITY move settlement (after the DITY was taxed 28%. Yeah, that's right, 28%! I knew it was going to be that much, but still... ouch! More money at tax time, though, always the most wonderful time of the year.) Of course, acquiring said canoe was an adventure all in itself. After we verified the money was finally in the bank (another struggle, an intricately woven sub-plot in our exploits here which furnishes an additional pile of evidence as to the prowess of the Army finance system; still waiting for BAH!) it was off to Sam's Club (so glad to have a Sams available again; COSTCO was okay, but it isn't Sam's, the pizza rocks!). (parentheses) (even more parentheses)

I had been admiring said canoe from afar, like a small boy with his face pressed up against the glass of a display window, and today it was going to finally be mine! Into the store we strolled and down the aisle to the spot and.... it was gone!

"No! It can't be true! That's impossible!"

"Search your feelings; you know it to be true!"

"Nooooooooo!!!"

With my tail firmly between my legs, my hopes shattered like a wrecking ball connecting with a windshield or a light bulb dropped from the Empire State Building embracing the pavement, I moseyed over to the Customer Service desk to ask about the canoe. They had sold the last one the day prior and weren't getting any more because it was deemed, the dreaded fate of all merchandise everywhere, a "phased out" item. My heart sank to my butt, but undeterred I reached down my throat and restored my heart to its proper place, sallied forth and asked if any stores in the surrounding area had any. They couldn't exactly tell with apparently antiquated automation equipment, (aren't these people networked?) but I did receive some phone numbers for stores in Nashville. I frantically dialed and came to find out that a store on the northern side of Nashville still had two in stock. Can I buy it over the phone? NO! I was ready to go right then and there, but, alas, cooler (and wiser) heads prevailed as my better half reminded me that the kids would be home from school in a couple hours (So?) and we wouldn't make it back in time (Oh). I had the next day off anyway (Friday) due to good ol' Labor Day (gotta love the Army four-day weekend!) and prayed that I, and more importantly my canoe, would live to see tomorrow.

The morning broke, the shadows fled, the kids went on their merry way to school, uphill both ways, 1500% humidity that one could make Kool-aid by throwing powder-mix in the air like rice at a wedding, and we began our ramble down to Nashville which was an excellent scenic drive as we didn't take the interstate, spotting several excellent places to enjoy the canoe along the way. We arrived shortly after the store opened and I ran inside and... no canoe! This can NOT be happening! I scrambled over to the Customer Service desk and thrust a small scrap of paper, on which was scribbled the canoe's item #, on to the counter.

"I called yesterday evening and you had two left. Where are they?" My eyelids closed to form slits, my eye brows furled. Yeah, that will scare 'em!

"We have one left. Someone faxed in an order." Doth my ears deceive me? Faxed order? Somehow the joker who had answered the phone call I made the previous day failed to mention that option.

"I will pay for it NOW!" The cashier punched in the item # and it was substantially less than the price I had previously seen. Ah! phased out item gets cheaper until they are gone. Lucky for me. Cha-ching! A couple Sam's workers brought it out and it was finally mine, my own, my precious.... Mounting it to the Suburban was another adventure, but we made it home safe and sound. Now if I can just find some (purchase) life jackets, the right weather, and the time to go hit one of the plethora of rivers and streams around here we will finally christen the darn thing and embark on its maiden voyage. Now, I just need a name..... (No, not Orca after Dad's beastly Utah truck.)

A safe trip home.

Rose the mariner or marinette?

They sure grow 'em big down here!!!

BYU blocked the PAT!!! (sigh of relief) 2-0 and longest winning streak in the nation. (including last year) Time to crash the ineptitude that is the BCS system. What a crock!!!!

Opera Workshop

Now that I have returned to being a vocal major, I got roped into opera workshop. On the right is one of scenes we will be doing from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Act 2 Finale. It starts about 3:30 into the clip. I'm the pasty-white, scary old guy. I guess I need to gain even more weight and dye my hair white for the part. Uncle Sam may not like that.