Over the years, I’ve written about my missionary service a number of times. Last year I celebrated my 25th anniversary of entering the mission field in San Francisco. Five years ago I wrote sixteen items of gratitude that I feel toward the opportunity to serve. Among other things, I
We made a quick trip to New York City to check off a bucket list item.Here is a brief overview in photos: First, a moment to appreciate Terminal 3. If every terminal could be like Terminal 3, airport travel would be so much better. We made a stop at
In our house, we've been learning a lot about Aphantasia. This is the inability to visualize images in your mind. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Hyperphantasia. This condition includes the ability "of having extremely vivid mental imagery." A common gauge is the apple
When you order a dozen donuts at our local shop, they provide your dozen and then they throw a stack of donut holes on top. I think it's their version of the baker's dozen. In that vein, here is a Thinker's Dozen with 13
It was 61 years ago this month that "Fun in Acapulco" was released. This was the last Elvis movie before Beatlemania really started to take over. It was peak Elvis and is my favorite movie with him. Join me for a recap (with spoilers because the movie is
When we travelled to Japan earlier this year, I learned about a type of story telling called Kishōtenketsu. It is a story told in four parts that doesn’t have to include conflict for interest. This structure is commonly used in short stories, movies, and anime from Japan. It can
When our boys were young, they enjoyed a movie called “Robots.” It was fun, uplifting, and didn’t have any annoying high-pitched voices so we didn’t mind that they watched it over and over in the car. One of the characters, voiced by Mel Brooks, is named Bigweld. He
The other day I learned some math that really made me think: The earth is rotating at 1,040 miles per hour. This means that even if you are standing still, you are still moving that fast. But also the earth itself is orbiting the sun at 66,600 mph.
It's that time of year again. The sun is shining, the pool water is glistening, and those stinking pigeons are coming back to bathe in the pool. They bring the sounds, the feathers, and the other things that they leave behind. In the past I've tried
In 1985, James Taylor released an album called "That's Why I'm Here." It's full of good songs and the title song is one of the best. James recalls that the song was inspired by the death of his friend John Belushi, a
I've been learning a lot about wisdom, knowledge, and ignorance. It's been fascinating to connect the three. Here is a small collection of thoughts on ignorance: Ignorance can be bliss I've always enjoyed creme brûlée. The crack of the crispy top. The chill of
A.A. Milne wrote that Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh?” he whispered. “Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.” In an always changing world, how nice to have someone you can be “sure of” forever. Someone who