Bums to Bloggers

Today I came up with another great idea (although the greatness may only be in the humor that flows because of how serious I am about what may seem to you a ridiculous idea.) I was sitting at the Salt Lake Library on the top floor looking out huge windows and being quite productive going through my emails and organizing my work life. I turned around and I saw a black man stretched out comfortably on the yellow couch holding open a magazine and fast asleep. It was his worn Russian looking hat and his handcart that carried his entire life’s belongings that indicated to me that he was homeless. I wondered why he was so tired, and if he stayed up late, or if he just didn’t have anywhere to go and thus wandered around all night, or maybe he just didn’t have anything else to do, or maybe that magazine was to him what my accounting classes were to me, or maybe he really wasn’t asleep and was just faking it like what I do in my meetings and in classes that bore me (I feel it important to give the presenter instant feedback as to whether his content is interesting to me). Anyway, this homeless man got me thinking that it would be interesting to know about the life of a bum, what they do all day, how they spend their time, what they think about, and how you survive as a bum. Then it came, I linked my latest obsession with blogging to this bum and thought the following thoughts (this stream of consciousness with only the commas should not be judged for the lack of punctuation ); I could go and talk to a bum in the morning and tell him that I will pay him at the end of the day for him to write down all the things he saw and did and then I would blog it, I could give him a camera and have him take pictures, but then maybe he would steal my camera, but I don’t think he would because I am going to pay him at the end of the day but how much would I have to pay him, I think it would be interesting to have him document the demographics of the merciful people that gave him money and write down whether it was a male or female, what age, and how much they gave him, how long he worked and what his sign said, actually I think it would be better if I gave the bum certain tasks to complete throughout the day, like maybe have him study a certain topic in the library and then write me an email or if he doesn’t have email it might be better to give him paper and a pen, but it would be easier if he could email me, so I might have to give him a computer that has Computrace (low jack for computers) and he could blog about his whole experience, maybe I’ll have to find a group of bums and have them all write something and then I’ll choose the most entertaining or insightful ones and just put them on the blog, but what would I call the blog maybe I could call it bloggerbums no I would need to call it something else, what am I actually doing, yes I am turning bums into bloggers so I’ll call it bumstobloggers.com or bumstobloggers, I would have an unlimited amount of blog posts and they are bound to be entertaining. I could pay these bums to write and then I would either just put their writings down, or I would blog about their experiences, this is a really funny idea, I think I have something here, I need to call and tell somebody, I will call my brother Josh, he finally doesn’t shoot down my ideas right when he hears them, he’ll also have a good laugh as he tells Alisa this idea, she is the hardest to get buy off from…(Dial Josh, get voicemail)…. “Josh I have a new great idea- its called bumstobloggers- give me a call,” wow he is really going to crack up when he hears that, should I call Michelle, she may just think I am crazy, but I think this idea is hilarious and it is a good idea, I mean what isn’t good about this idea- this has all the makings of a great blog and great blogs bring people and people will click on the links on my site and then I will get paid a penny for every click and then I could make a billion dollars off of this, and when I make money off of this I can pay the bums more money as they write better and then they’ll finally be able to afford a place to stay and then I’ll be helping out the world and all these bums will be happier and I’ll really change this world because of my website bumstobloggers.com which is available and I can’t think of why I shouldn’t do this, I really need to tell somebody…….(Call Michelle, no answer)… darn… I could call my friend Jeff or Scott they might appreciate it, what am I thinking nobody is going to appreciate this idea, but why wouldn’t they it could change the world and turn bums into bloggers and at the very least it will provide loads of entertainment value……..(Phone rings) “Hi, Michelle, thanks for calling me back, I just wanted to share with you one of the best ideas I have had today- its called bumstobloggers………..” “Uh, that is really funny and strange, how are you going to make money off of that” “I’ll figure that part out later, anyway, it’s a great idea isn’t it” “It’s an idea, what are you doing tonight………….” She thinks I am crazy, she is probably right, it isn’t the best idea, but it could change the world, maybe the only value in the idea is how fun it will be to blog.

Your Friend Jesus (hey-SOOS)

Mexico, February 2009. On our way to go Ziplining, our driver displayed this note. I thought it was so funny, I had to take a picture. Clever marketer I'd say, and I found it hard to say no to tipping my friend Jesus. I dare say a lot of Americans just think he is a religious driver who is appealing to the religiously inclined. Lest my title not explain it well enough, the driver's name is Jesus pronounced (hey-SOOS) and he just wanted to thank us for tipping him.

Mexico- quick post of Pictures

This bird looks nice, but it can bite pretty hard. The HP tour guide said I could hold them, so when I went to pick him up, he bit me like he is biting this wood.
Despite my usual tendency to sleep in on vacation. I wanted to get a picture of the sunset. This was taken about 6:25am and I took about 50 pictures. I have a lot of work to do to become a photographer. We were tired for most the day.

At night we had to find some entertainment that didn't include alcohol or dancers whose wardrobe, or lack thereof, reflected the struggling economic conditions. We went and sat on the beach the first night and walked around. This is me trying to take a picture of us and the beach.

We decided to go parasailing and this was our transportation to and from the boat.

This is us parasailing and the parasail design reflected our sentiments.
This was the beach at Playa del Carmen, where the waverunner came and picked us up to go parasailing. The man who hooked us up with the parasailing tried to convince us to go deep see diving. We were too tired after swimming with the dolphins and parasailing, so we turned him down for the opportunity to go fishing. Someday though, I plan to do that.

I took quite a few pictures and there will be more posts to come. Check out Michelle's blog for additional and better insights.

Wicked Karma

Los Angeles, October 2008
We fought the LA traffic and finally arrived at the Pantages theatre 2 hours early with great anticipation to see the musical Wicked. As we walked by the theatre, a man wearing wicked green yelled out ”2 minutes left to enter a drawing for 2 front row tickets for $25/each, must have cash, come and enter your names.” In Chicago, I had entered into the contest and lost, but some guy who had won two tickets gave me one, and so my first experience watching Wicked was front and center and cost me $25. So I was pretty optimistic we had a good chance of winning. Two hundred people surrounded the Green man and he started turning the cylinder that held our opportunity. Into his microphone he explained that 10 names would be drawn and 20 total tickets would be given out. He yelled out the first name and a few claps and a few mumbles oozed from the crowd. The Green man was disappointed and started explaining to his captive audience, “We have something in California that we call Karma, the louder you cheer for those that win, the greater your probability will be of winning. So I want to hear some cheering, believe me it works.” That was all I needed to hear. A principle with a promise, I wanted those tickets. The next name he called was Travis, and I went bonkers. At the top of my lungs I yelled, “Travis, you rock!!, Way to win the tickets, You are the man, yeahhhhhhhh!!!” I was ecstatic as I could be short of going and slapping him on the back. He had some time to walk and claim his tickets so I was pretty boisterous for the full 30 seconds. Michelle was a little uncomfortable and I got a lot of weird looks. Then all of a sudden those weird looks melted into envy as the name Michael Linton was pulled out of the golden cylinder and he who cheered the loudest won the tickets. I believe in Karma. “For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again…” (Alma 41:15)

January 2009 (Summarized)

January was a busy month. I wished I had more time to write about each day and post it, but I figure that if I just write down the highlights, then I will actually post it. Each of these events probably deserves an entry of its own, but here is the summary.
Here we go!
Every year Valcom does a sales retreat. This year we went up to the homestead and stayed overnight. We got up in the morning and went snowmobiling all day. Michelle came and it was really fun for both of us. I love that Valcom is good to their employees. I can’t thank my bosses (Rich and Shaun) enough.
After snowmobiling we jumped in the car and came down to the BYU vs. Wake Forest basketball game. Brad and Jessica came with us. And my parents brought James. It was fun.
Each of my Sundays is similar. I get up at 6am, make the agenda for Bishopric meeting. Go to meetings at 7am and go until around 4pm (fight to stay awake in each meeting). Eat dinner and then I go to choir. I have been blessed with the opportunity to sing during one of the dedicatory sessions of the Draper Temple and I love the choir and the songs we are singing. The choir director is the best! I come home or go to game night and then come to bed.
FHE’s on Mondays. This month we did Human Foosball, Pie eating contest, and some Karaoke.
I had my 27th Birthday, and it landed on Temple night, so our ward went to the temple and then afterwards we went to the Bishop’s for refreshments. They gave me a birthday cake and it made my birthday special. My ward is the greatest. Michelle gave me a pair of Snowshoes. We will use them in February. My brother Josh got me some maps, and I really appreciate the gifts.
Wednesday nights the Bishop has interviews and he likes me to be there, so I sometimes do work and chat with people in the ward. We have such a great ward and I am blessed by the people that are in it.
I learned that it is free to ski at Alta, everyday from 3pm until 4:30 pm, so Michelle and I went 2 times this month. We took James this past Saturday and had a great time; you’ll see the pictures below. Michelle has learned quickly and soon will be tearing up the black diamonds. It was fun to have James with us too.
I took a customer snowboarding and I learned that I like to Ski a lot more than I like to snowboard. When I was brave enough, I would get going fast and then I would catch an edge and my head would hit the ground hard. I went on my first black diamond (snowboarding) and after a few lift rides I convinced my customer to go too, it was really steep and so after he fell once, he couldn’t get back up and so he slid down on his butt the whole way. It was hilarious, but I couldn’t laugh that much out loud because he is a great customer and it was my fault that I pressured him to go on it.
We had the opportunity to hear the Temple presidency speak and then we toured the new Draper Temple- it was a great experience. I think I will try and be a worker this year.
One of my customers goes to this chiropractor that claims he can cure my allergies. I started treatments this month. It is pretty crazy, but maybe it will work. It is worth trying.
Our stake had the opportunity to volunteer at the Draper Temple Open house. I was in charge of pushing some elderly people around the temple and coordinating elevator logistics (very challenging) and then at night I got to direct people back to the correct busses. It was seriously one of the best experiences ever. I had a blast.
I love to play games and so a couple nights this month, Michelle and I went over to play Ticket to Ride and Canasta with my parents. It was fun. Michelle won ticket to ride and my parents wasted us at Canasta.
Church basketball has started up again. We are 2 wins and 2 losses. We are struggling whether to play our best players and win or play all of us and lose. Personally, I’d prefer to have me sit out and have the team win, rather than being in the game and making us lose. Not everybody feels that way, so we had a team meeting to discuss if our purpose was to win or to play everybody equally. We’ll see how the next game goes. They just called Whitney to be our coach, and she has done a great job.
I decided to keep my eyes open for a new house, but I haven’t found any I am absolutely in love with or that I am sure I want to live in. We’ll see how the house search continues this month.
The last two times I have spoken in this ward, somebody from the Bishopric has called me up on Friday night and asked me to speak on Sunday. That happened this month. I spoke about the law of the harvest. It turned out ok. Michelle had to speak with the same little prep time and she did a great job.