Week 18 - Did any special events happen in your area of the world while you were growing up?

According to the history books, these are the important events that happened in my lifetime.  Some were close to us, others were far away.  I don't even recall some of these, but others have been mentioned throughout my life.  It is interesting how world events like these influence your life.  

With the way news spreads now, anything that happens in the world can become common knowledge in a matter of minutes.  It'll be interesting to see how that changes in the future.  Along with that, it is interesting how instead of it being local news that impacts a person, now world news impacts a person.  Things that happen around the world are now everyone's business instead of a person only knowing about things that happen in their little world.

I often find myself in the conundrum of whether it is important to keep up on current events.  I believe there are definite lessons we can try to learn from current events. I also think there is a benefit to being a little ignorant of the natural state of the world.  One the one hand, you could follow what the Prophet is doing.  I would have a hard time believing that he isn't very close to current events.  I'm sure the organization of the church has folks all around the world that are keeping the Prophet and the Brethren up on what is really happening around the world - not just media speak.  On the other hand, if you look at a principle taught in the Book of Mormon with Lehi's vision of the Iron Rod.  He spoke about a river of water.  Later in the story, his son Nephi after seeing the vision for himself spoke about the filthy water that represents the filth of the world.  One could assume that Lehi just didn't mention it, but I would also suggest that Lehi may not have noticed it because he was focused so much on the good things that were happening.  Either way, the conundrum goes on and I avoid television as much as I can, but listen to the news every morning on the way to work.  

Here is the list of events that have happened in my lifetime according to the books.  I could probably only pull out a handful of these on my own.

November 4, 1980 – Ronald Reagan elected president

December 8, 1980 - John Lennon Assassinated

June 6, 1982 - Israel invades Lebanon

January 28, 1986 - The Challenger Disaster

April 26, 1986 - The Chernobyl Disaster

November 9, 1989 - The Fall of the Berlin Wall

1991 - Collapse of the Soviet Union

1991 - Operation Desert Storm

1992 - Riots in Los Angeles After the Rodney King Verdict

1993 - World Trade Center Bombed

1994 - Nelson Mandela Elected President of South Africa

1994 - O.J. Simpson Arrested for Double Murder

1994 - Rwandan Genocide

1995 - Oklahoma City Bombing

1998 - U.S. President Clinton Impeached

1999 - The Euro the New European Currency

1999 - Fear of Y2K Bug

1999 - Killing Spree at Columbine High School

2000 - Unclear Winner in U.S. Presidential Election

April 8, 2001 - Tiger Woods becomes the first golfer to hold all four major golf titles simulteneously by winning the Master's tournament in Augusta, Georgia. 

September 11, 2001 - Islamic fundamentalist terrorists hijack four U.S. airliners and crash them into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York City.

September 18, 2001 - Anthrax attacks by mail from Princeton, New Jersey against news and government targets begin. 

2001- Enron Bankruptcy

February 8, 2002 - Amid tight security due to terrorism concerns, the Winter Olympic Games are opened by President George W. Bush in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

February 1, 2003 - A tragedy at NASA occurs when the Space Shuttle Columbia explodes upon reentry over Texas.  All seven astronauts inside are killed.

March 19, 2003 - The War in Iraq begins with the bombing of Baghdad after additional measures and mandates from the United Nations and the United States coalition fail to gain concessions or the removal of Saddam Hussein from power.

December 13, 2003 - Saddam Hussein, former leader of Iraq, is captured in a small bunker in Tikrit by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.

December 26, 2004 - The southeast Asian tsunami occurs following a 9.3 Richter scale earthquake in the Indian Ocean.  Two hundred and ninety thousand people die from Sri Lanka to Indonesia, creating one of the greatest humanitarian tragedies in history.  A worldwide relief effort, led by the United States and many other nations, is mobilized to assist.

July 24, 2005 - American cyclist Lance Armstrong wins his record 7th straight Tour de France.

July 26, 2005 - In the first Space Shuttle flight since the tragedy of 2003, Discovery goes into orbit on a mission that returns to earth safely on August 9.

August 29, 2005 - Hurricane Katrina strikes the Gulf Coast, inundating the city of New Orleans with water from Lake Pontchartrain when the levees that maintain the below sea level city break. 

February 22, 2006 - In a continuing shift of the retail industry to new platforms, the one billionth song is downloaded from the internet music store, Apple iTunes.

August 17, 2008 - Michael Phelps, the United States swimmer from Baltimore, wins his 8th Gold Medal of the Beijing Summer Olympic Games, surpassing the record of seven won by Mark Spitz.

January 20, 2009 - Barack Obama takes the oath of office for President of the United States, becoming the first African-American president in the history of the nation.

June 1, 2009 - The H1N1 virus, named the Swine Flu, is deemed a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.

October 31, 2009 - The economic recession continues to deepen as jobless claims climb above 10.0%, reaching 10.2% with October's monthly figures – despite a $780 billion economic stimulus package from Congress.

2009 - General Motors Declares Bankruptcy            

2011 - Osama Bin Laden Killed by US Forces

Week 17 - What experiences have taught you to trust in God?

In this blog I've already written about numerous experiences I have had that have taught me to trust in God.  Two that stand out the most are my mission experience and my dating and finally meeting Kelly experience.  Where there are these few stories that stand out as big experiences that have helped to craft my life, I believe it is the little things that teach a person whether it be trust in God or otherwise.

I have often be asked to help people train to become faster runners.  They always want to know what they have to do to take their running to the next level.  I think this is very difficult for me to explain because it is so simple.  Running competitively for six years and then training for fun for another 15 years on top of that now, it becomes second nature.  You learn how to push your body knowing that you will receive the desired results.  It is difficult to tell someone how they have to push their body.  You can give them times to run, distances to run, even ways to run those times and distances, but if they don't dig down inside and listen to and test their body's limits, they aren't going to improve. 

To me, learning or developing any characteristic is the same.  One of my favorite scriptures is in the 20th chapter of First Nephi in the Book of Mormon.  I this section of scripture we are taught that we are tried to see what we'll overcome.  When we overcome we are refined.  The verse says, "I refined thee in the furnace of affliction."  While affliction comes across as a very hard thing, I believe we experience affliction regularly through our lives.  It could be something as simple as getting mad at your friend or boss for something they said to you, or it could be something large like a terminal illness.  Each person receives individual "afflictions" from our Heavenly Father to help us learn about ourselves and in-turn learn about Heavenly Father.  It is through this we learn how to be like Him.  The purpose of mortal existence on Earth.

Some "afflictions" last merely seconds.  As we get better at overcoming a certain "affliction" it gets easier to pass through the "affliction."  Other "afflictions" can last years either through the difficulty of the "affliction" or our ability to learn the lesson our Father in Heaven is trying to teach us.

I believe that while these larger afflictions might leave a more lasting impression on our minds, that the smaller afflictions actually have more impact over time.  Think of a river carving out its riverbed into a deep canyon, or a rough rock becoming smooth from sitting on that same river bed year after year.

I believe that my love of watching people has helped me to learn how to trust in our Father in Heaven.  I love to have people around me.  I love to throw parties and barbeques to have people around me.  However, most of the time when people are with me I am watching them interact with everyone else, or listening to their conversations.   The experiences that others have shared with me, or the ways I have watched others deal with their afflictions has built an assurance inside of me that our Father in Heaven is there for us, to try us and to bless us.

Most of all my testimony of the gospel helps me to trust in Heavenly Father.  I know deep inside of me that the purpose of life is to leave our Heavenly Father and, having forgotten the time we were with Him before we came to Earth, learn to be like him.  The gospel of Jesus Christ provides the road map to accomplish such a task.  I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is here on the Earth and that its entirety can be found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I also know that our Father in Heaven loves us dearly and wants us to return.  Because of this, He has provided Prophets and Apostles, whom He speaks directly with, to reveal His plan to.  I know that those Prophets and Apostles are found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The continued effort to strengthen my understanding of the gospel requires trust in our Father in Heaven.  Practicing trust in Him, helps me to build upon the trust I already have - just like going out for a training run increases my ability to perform at a different level.

Week 16 - Did you ever get a crazy haircut, style or color?

For the record, nothing I ever did or do is crazy. I am normal, it's everyone else that I worry about.

I remember being very clean cut growing up. Mom always cut all the boys' hair including Dad's hair. I don't remember if she cut the girl's hair or if they went to someone else. Seems like the girls went to someone up the street and when I started getting particular about my hair Mom had me go to that person once or twice.

I do remember that probably about the time Jason was in junior high or high school he really wanted a perm. Apparently, that was the cool thing. So, one day I remember Mom perming Jason's hair and somehow I got a perm too. I don't recall pushing for a perm, but I may very well have insisted that I have the same "cool" hair cut that my brother had. We ended up having a spike down our part line, and longer curly hair in the back - basically a mullet with curly hair in back. The spike down the part lasted for a while, the mullet (thankfully) did not.

The next hair style I can remember was the bull cut. This was hair shaved up from the bottom with longer hair on top. It started with less of a shave, and went as far and short as we could get Mom to do it, while growing it out as long as we could on top. Eventually the shave went most of the way up with only the hair on the very top of the head remaining. The hair on the top of the head was long enough to fall over the rest of the head. I had this style of cut most of the time through junior high and high school. Everyone on the track and cross-country team had this style of cut and most of us wore bandannas when we ran to keep the hair out of our eyes.

There were quite a few things you could do with long hair. Most often it was our group of girl friends wanting to play with it and braid it when we got together. I remember quite a few times having tons of little tiny braids all over my head.

We didn't play too much with coloring our hair. I really quite liked my dirty blonde hair color. I do remember one time as we went away on a choir trip preparing for the all-state choir, our group of friends decided to dye our hair. The color we got was cherry cola. It supposed to be a dark burgundy color, but with my blonde hair, and our in-experience with coloring hair, it actually ended up being a really ugly deep pink color when my hair was dry. When my hair was wet, it was the cherry cola color (deep burgundy color). I came home to put my tuxedo on and get ready for the concert. Went downstairs, showered and walked out the door without anyone noticing my hair. I don't recall if this was planned. My will testify to this day that I must have sneaked through the house. I don't remember doing that, but I most likely was wearing a hat as I usually did any day I wasn't in school. That night at the concert my hair had the wet look as I had used some product to keep my hair in place - I had to do that whenever I needed my long hair to stay in place at anything formal like church, or a choir concert. Mom and Dad recall trying to pick me out of the all-state choir and being pretty sure that it was me, but my hair being quite red.

One other hair story that I remember was when I was interviewing for my current job at McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah. I had quite the scruffy look going on as I applied. I believe I had some kind of beard and hair that was not only long on top, but long all over. For some reason, I really like my hair long. I recall feeling really good about the interview. I had never had an interview that didn't go well, nor do I recall not getting a job that I applied for up to that point in my life. As I expected, after the interview I got a call back to interview again. As I spoke with the person who would eventually become my boss he went over a few things he wanted me to be prepared to do at the interview. He also made sure that I was aware that Intermountain was a conservative organization. He then asked me point blank if I would be willing to cut my hair if I was offered the job. I assured him that I would be willing to do so. After discussing this with Kelly, we decided to go to get my hair cut. This was a big deal, because she came with me to a hair cutting place to help me pick out a style from the hair magazines to cut my hair to. We found a shorter hair style that we thought would look nice and be a compromise for the long hair. We let the girl cutting my hair know what we were looking for and she went to work. She worked and worked and worked. That included cutting and cutting and cutting some more. It seemed like she went over every inch of my head a few different times. I left with very little hair on my head, and if I recall correctly Kelly was crying. I left everyone interviewing me quite shocked when I walked in the room for my next interview. I looked like a totally new person having "my ears lowered" as Dad always said.

The good thing about hair up to this point is that it still grows back - and it did after my military cut to get a job at the hospital. I've been able to get my hair a little longer again without losing my job. I haven't really had any crazy styles lately, except for on Halloween. We've done most things from curling it up to be big and puffy to dying it jet black and slicking it down.

Week 15 - What was your favorite food as a child? Has it changed now that you are grown?

I don't recall really having a favorite food growing up. I don't recall being that picky either. I do remember sitting at the kitchen bar for hours one night because Mom was making me finish my slit pea soup and I didn't want it. I remember everything being cleaned up except for my bowl of soup, my spoon and my cup. Everyone else had moved on for the night, except me. I don't know if I ever finished that bowl of split pea soup, or if I went to bed hungry, but I do remember the experience. I think I had that experience a few times. I didn't like meat loaf either. I think it might have been the name that turned me off from it.

I do recall liking Shepherd's Pie. It was a mix of beans, meat and tomato sauce with potatoes and cheese over the top of it. I remember liking casserole dishes. One that Mom made regularly was with egg noddles, tuna and peas. I still really enjoy casserole dishes. I remember that we ate pancakes quite a bit for breakfast. Occasionally, we'd have eggs and something else. I really liked when Mom made poached eggs. She put lots of salt and pepper on top and it made them delicious.

I really enjoyed fish sticks growing up. I don't think there was any real fish in the things, but they were quite good. I always dunked mine in ketchup just like french fries. One day a school at Roy Junior High we were having these for lunch. After I gulped mine down, the next class I started feeling a little sick. It was getting a little hard to breath and I felt a little funny. I went to the school nurse and I ended up calling to get a ride home. Grandma came and got me because Mom wasn't home for some reason. This same thing happened to me quite a few more times through my teenage years. It was never life threatening. I would usually go and lay down on the couch, or go to bed until the issues breathing passed. After some allergy tests they decided I was allergic to fish.

I think I got on all right being allergic to fish. I liked fish, but it wasn't a huge part of what we normally ate. Then, I received a mission call to Korea. While we didn't know much about what they ate in Korea, we assumed there would be a lot of fish. I remember going to Korea with two EPI pens that I could use to give myself a shot just in case my throat swelled up again. I also remember receiving a blessing, maybe as I was being set apart as a missionary the night before I left, that I would be able to be able to be a part of the culture of the Korean people including eating their foods. While I didn't eat tons of fish in Korea, it was a part of their every day life. I ate fish once a week or so as a side dish and never once had a problem. I have never had a problem to this day since receiving that blessing. And I love fish.

I have only cried a few times over food. I may have cried the night I was supposed to eat the split pea soup. I also cried one night at Sushi with Kelly. It was my first time at a little Sushi place in downtown Salt Lake City. I don't remember what we ordered, but the mixture of flavors dancing around my mouth playing will all of my taste buds brought me to tears. It was delicious. To this day Ginza remains as one of my favorite restaurants.

I don't know if it was living in Korea and eating foods that I would never consider even getting close to if I wasn't required to eat them as a missionary, or if it was all of the "missionary training" dishes Mom put in front of me growing up, but there is rarely a dish put in front of me that I don't enjoy the entire dish. I love exploring new foods. I enjoy fresh, whole foods in their simplicity. I have a hard time with processed foods and have limited my body to those types of food to the extent that now I get a little sick if we eat at a fast food restaurant. We've introduced more of this into our bodies with kids now, which is probably going the wrong direction, but it is only an exception to the norm that we stop and grab a quick bite somewhere. In the same regard, we've started doing more homemade baking and preserving than I ever remember growing up. Kelly is excellent with baked goods and it is rare that we don't have fresh bread in our home. Instead of ready mixed foods, most everything we make is from scratch. We're lucky to be able to and enjoy gardening with quite a few fruit trees as well. This keeps us supplied with quite a bit of fresh of the vine foods.

I now love split pea soup and meatloaf. There is rarely a dish I can't enjoy.

Week 14 - What were some of your favorite books growing up? Now?

I don't recall really liking to read growing up. I still struggle to read. While I enjoy it when I really get into a book and commit to reading it, it isn't on my list of things to do - unless I put it there. I have made reading goals the past few years since finishing my graduate studies. This has helped to keep my mind active.

I do remember enjoying the book To Kill a Mockingbird growing up. It seems like it was part of the curriculum in junior high. I also read a book in junior high about some guy that was getting hunted down in a desert. I can't ever remember the name of it, but it was a good book. Another book I enjoyed reading was Dune. While I don't remember much about these books, I do recall enjoying them.

I don't recall many of the books I was required to read in high school, but I do remember actually starting to like English and it becoming one of my favorite subjects my senior year of high school. I had always followed my older brother and sister's footsteps in taking advanced classes that qualified you for college credit, if you passed a test a the end of the curriculum. These ended up being some of the least exciting classes for me and I did the worst in them because I had no motivation to study. I didn't learn much in those classes. So, I decided my senior year to drop the advanced classes and take the general English class. Ms. Olsen was my teacher. She was an older, never been married lady that really took an interest in her students. In her class, she read Don Quixote to us. Yes, we were seniors in high school being read to. It was in this class that I really made a connection with a teacher and wanted to learn. I had always enjoyed and done well in school, but Ms. Olsen helped us understand why we were learning and made it personal. She has always been on my list of favorite teachers.

In college, I decided to study communications. It was in an interpersonal communications class that I met the second teacher that I really connected with. He was a short, interesting fellow that described himself as a minimalist. He wore one of two changes of clothes and the same sandals every day to class. He mentioned all of his travels and we made some connection as he had interests in Buddhism and Taoism. In our class we had various lessons from texts of the Dahli Lama and the Tao De Ching. I took an interest in these text and was able to go a presentation by the Dahli Lama in Salt Lake City at the University of Utah and read the Tao De Ching.

It was in this class that we read the book Tuesdays with Morrie. Looking back at it now, one reason I may have loved this class - and this book - was that the professor could have shoved all kinds of information down our throats and tested us on it, like so many professors in college do. Instead, he gave us a short book about interpersonal communication from which we had a lesson each week. But, the focus of our class was on this book Tuesdays with Morrie. It was a short novel written about a man's interaction with one of his college professors as he slowly lost body function and eventually died from Parkinson's disease. The professor wanted to teach about life by talking about his experiences while he was dying. While the book may only be 200 pages long and could really be read in a few afternoons by a slow reader like myself - or in one afternoon by a fast reader like my wife Kelly - we took the whole semester and picked apart this book to learn about interpersonal communication. It was a great class. I've read this book over and over throughout my life as well as a few other books that the author wrote. It is one of my favorites.

As lame as it may sound, I enjoy reading the Bible and the Book of Mormon. While they are great books to dive into and study the doctrines of Jesus Christ's gospel that are contained therein, I enjoy reading them as a storybook. As I am learning from other books that I now get to read with my two boys, there is so much we can learn from stories. I believe that if we are trying to do what is right and are looking for answers to our questions, our Father in Heaven will inspire us through the stories that others had written down. While we naturally go to the scriptures for these types of answers, I have found answers to my questions in books that range from the children's book Where the Wild Things Are to Tuesdays with Morrie and theTao De Ching to the Book of Mormon and the Bible.

While all of these books have provided some sort of inspiration to me, I believe the Bible and the Book of Mormon to be the actual words of our Father in Heaven passed down from generation to generation to teach his children his plan and desires for them while here on Earth.

Rather than sitting down with a novel, I enjoy reading books that teach me about something. A few years ago I read one book a month. Half of those books that I read were biographies of people ranging from the great tennis player Andre Agassi some of the founding fathers of the United States. Most of the books I enjoy or self-help books put in a story format - similar to Tuesdays with Morrie, though that author writes his books from some sort of true story. I just finished reading the biography of Steve Jobs, the first of six books that I have a goal to read this year. It was a great book and I enjoyed reading about this crazy teenager took some ideas he and his buddy had and made one of the most iconic brands in history with it.

I'm working to enjoy reading more. It hasn't ever been one of my high priorities. However, when I make it a priority, I enjoy getting sucked away into another person's view of life or into another world created by an author.