Labels within organized religion

One thing I have noticed about organized religions is that they love their labels.  It doesn't matter where they come from or what they mean -- what is important is that they have words to use to separate themselves from the common sinner -- falsely placing themselves above others.  Followers like to justify their ignorance by thinking they have a special relationship with a higher power that they have earned by some self perceived superior way of living.  For instance, if someone doesn't fall in line with the belief system they were brought up in culturally and decide they no longer wish to be a part of it - they are labeled an "apostate".  The word apostate itself is perfectly functional.  Apostasy means a renunciation of a religion, set of principles, political party, set of beliefs, etc.  It is a broad term.  Unfortunately, certain members of the LDS faith think it is a term privy to them-- they think a lot of things are privy to them actually.  Because they think they have the only real true religion -- kinda like every other religion.  All mainstream religions have apostates who no longer fall in line with their set of beliefs.  Anybody who studies any form of history about the LDS faith that isn't written by an upstanding member of their church -- whether it is fact or not, that doesn't matter -- it is "anti-mormon literature".  That is another label their followers like to use.  "Oh, I feel so bad for so and so, they got a hold of some 'anti' literature".  Labeling others makes it much easier to separate yourself from humanity-- and that is what they do -- separate themselves from other groups of people with the false perception that they are superior to others because they are God's chosen people.  I read an interesting quote from one Brigham Young, who most LDS members believe was a prophet and spoke for God.  "Those who leave this church, they go into the dark, they are not able to judge, conceive, or comprehend things as they are ... they think that everybody is wrong but themselves."  The ironic thing about that particular quote is that those who leave the church are in fact coming out of the dark, and finally seeing and comprehending things as they truly are.  And the last bit is the kicker ... "they think that everybody is wrong but themselves..."  Well that sounds familiar doesn't it?

For my Mom...

Garth has always been one of my favorites.  This song brought tears to my eyes when I thought of my Mom and it describes exactly how I feel about her.  I love you Mom!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExhZA6NEB9Y

I Look to You

Love those Niners!!!

What a way to close out the last regular season game to ever be played on the hallowed grounds of Candlestick Park.  Just when it looked like all hope was lost, the 'stick had one more dose of magic for the 49er faithful.  Way to do your predecessors proud Niners!!  If you didn't get a chance to see the play, here it is in slow motion.  I love the fact that Bowman is running right in front of the 49ers sideline so you can see the emotion from the players and coaches.  Candlestick park will always hold a special place in my heart, but I look forward to seeing them play in their new stadium which will be an open air stadium with a natural turf field, just like the Stick!!  GO NINERS!!!!

http://www.49ers.com/video/videos/Bowman-Seals-Candlesticks-Legacy/670bb5b3-ec42-49aa-898f-ee60a90d80ec

Atomic Pop at Neumos

Fun show last night at Neumos.  First photo is us just hanging out backstage in our green room about 1/2 hour before the show.  2nd photo was taken sometime during the 2nd set.

Idol Eyez again, but a couple of different songs

The last Idol Eyez video I posted it cut off a couple of the songs at the start, I don't know why.  This video is what I intended to put up.  But this one doesn't have the Beastie Boys song at the end.  Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thc860grdIo

Idol Eyez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9QnsIoQElE

This is for family and friends who don't get the opportunity to come out and see me perform.  This is my band Idol Eyez performing at the 7 Cedars casino in Sequim for their New Year's Eve Celebration last year.

My ride home last night was interesting!

Actually it was pretty uneventful other than the following experience:  I was almost home, just about to head up the Soldier's Home hill when I saw the car in front of me swerve and hit their brakes.  They hit an opossum.  I didn't have time to do anything except a failed attempt to swerve around it, but it was to no avail.  I saw the poor ugly thing floundering, obviously injured from the car in front of me running it over, and I ran right over the middle of the thing.  It all happened so fast that I didn't think about crashing at the time, just maintaining control of my bike.  I recently read a couple of books on advanced motorcycling techniques and how to handle emergency situations like what to do when your bike starts sliding and other emergency maneuvers; I am glad I did because the information about how to regain control of the bike when it begins front end wobble (which my bike did after hitting the opossum) certainly came in handy.  I think the front end wobble was caused by me trying to swerve and then hitting the critter at an angle, causing my front wheel to momentarily leave the ground, and upon landing I must not have had the front wheel aligned straight with the frame of the bike, causing the wobble.  Anyway, most people instinctively grab a hand full of front brake when this happens, and this is what causes the bike to become unstable and crash.  So I remembered right in that situation to ease on the throttle and accelerate a little bit, which helped me stabilize the bike and continue safely home.  That is something I won't soon forget though.  I just checked my bike out and it appears to be undamaged.  I was mostly worried about my wheel and the front suspension, but everything appears A-OK!! :)  I do need to go and wash some body fluids off of my fairing though.  Anyway, I wanted to share my experience and let everybody know that studying pays off!!  Even studying about motorcycling.  RIP Opossum...

My old '93 CBR 900RR and my new '00 CBR 929RR

Both really fun and good looking bikes if you ask me!

CBR 929RR!!!

As you all can see, I have a new motorcycle.  I'm looking forward to some good weather here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest so I can go get myself into trouble and outrun some cops!!!  Woot woot!!

Super Bowl!!! GO NINERS!!!!!

It has been way too long since my beloved San Francisco 49ers were in the Super Bowl.  Tomorrow they are back!!  It has been tough being a Niners fan for the past almost 20 years.  It just hasn't been the same since Joe Montana, Roger Craig, Ronnie Lott, John Taylor, and Jerry Rice left.  I couldn't get into the team even when Steve Young was there.  I guess I was still deflated from the glory days of the 1980's.  Well, the last couple of years I have been really excited about 49ers football again.  Granted, they don't dominate their opponents like they did in the 80's, but I will forever be a Niners fan and am looking forward to beating Baltimore tomorrow and once again being "World Champions"!!!!  I know that football is just a game and there are much more important things going on in the world.  But it has been fun to get involved in cheering them on again!  So bring it on Ravens! And I've included a picture of Aldon Smith.  I imagine he is motioning to Baltimore's offense and saying  "Come get some!!"  GO NINERS!!!!  

P.S.  --  I also included one of Russel Wilson of the Seahawks sitting on the turf after being placed there by my fierce 49ers just because I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, double hate...Loathe ENTIRELY the Seahawks!!

Sonography, Running, and Geetar!!

Much has happened since my last post.  I was accepted into the Diagnostic Medical Sonography program at Tacoma Community College and have been working my tail off since starting the program 7 weeks ago.  I am already past mid-terms though and am getting good grades.  Today was fun because I was able to bring in my sister Tammy and my Mom and they were good sports and let me scan them.  I felt bad because it took me FOREVER to scan Tammy -- 2 hours to be exact.  I got some good practice though and was able to get a good look at the Aorta, Inferior Vena Cava, Liver, Gallbladder (or fossa in Mom's case since hers was removed a long time ago), Main Portal Vein, Common Bile Duct, Pancreas, Kidneys, and Spleen on both of them (Mom's scan only took me an hour compared with Tam's marathon session).  The good news is that everything looked awesome on both of them!  No pathologies to report.  That is my official amateur Sonographer's report on their abdominal scans!  Other than that I have been trying to keep up with my running.  I've been running about 50 miles per week and have been enjoying some racing.  I'm blessed to have my good friend Trevor live so close by so that we can go running together.  That has been a good motivator for the both of us!  Anyway, studying has pretty much taken over my life.  We also finished the guitar we started working on way back in May of this year (Dallas and I).  I will include a few pictures of it in this blog post.  Dallas designed the guitar, applied the tape scheme, and picked out the colors all by himself.  He also did most of the sanding and prep work without my help.  I'd say it turned out nicely.  I may also include an image or two from my scan session with Derrinda from a couple of weeks ago.  I was on a machine where I could save my images to a thumb drive then.  Thanks again to Tam and Mom for being my guinea pigs today!  Thanks to Dad for your patience today too!

Happy 40th Lisa!!

I can't believe my sister Lisa is the big 4-0 today.  It seems like just yesterday that we were racing each other towards the old 50 chevy pickup parked at the foothills of dry canyon.  Life goes by way too fast.  Happy birthday to an awesome sister who I love very much!

Dallas and the Guitar

Dallas has been practicing the guitar very hard.  I have been teaching him a few riffs and he has really taken off with them.  I taught him "Stay together for the Kids" by Blink-182, which is actually a fairly advanced guitar riff, because he really wanted to learn it.  I taught it to him thinking he would see how difficult it was and just give up and try to find an easier song to learn, but he has practiced and practiced and is making great progress with it.  I recorded him playing it the other day and another song.  Check him out!

Pimped Out Neon Guitar

I'm in a new project called Atomic Pop and our colors are black/white with neon accents.  I already have a white stratocaster with a black pickguard and thought it would be cool to throw some splashes of neon on there so I got a neon green neck pickup cover, a yellow selector switch knob, and a hot pink volume knob.  To top it off, I got some cool neon pink, green, and yellow strings.  This band is going to be a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Anybody who knows my mom knows that she is the most caring, selfless, and entirely most awesome person to ever live.  I am thankful that she is my mom.  I would have never had the guts to try the things I've done in my life were it not for my mom and dad instilling the confidence in me to know that I can do whatever I put my mind to.  My mom is fighting cancer and still taking care of my sister Tam.  I have met a lot of people who think they are tough, but I have yet to be impressed since my mom is the toughest I've met by far.  I am so glad that we live close enough so that I get to see her almost every single day.  I feel very blessed for that.  Thanks for who you are Mom and I love you so much and hope you had an awesome birthday!

Happy 66th Dad!!

Today my awesome Dad turns 66!  I have learned many things from you Dad and I thank you for being there for me any time I need you.  I know I can go to you with anything and I appreciate all you do for me and for the rest of the family too!  You are very loved and looked up to!  Can't wait to go see Merle Haggard with you!  I like this picture of Dad.  He is hugging Juliet while at the same time eating a banana.  He always was multi-talented.

Guitar Hangers

I've been wanting to get some guitar hangers for the wall in my studio since the beginning of time, and Derrinda bought me some using her sweet Amazon discount!  Check out my studio now.

New Camera

Thanks to Mom and Dad for letting us have their old canon digital camera. As you can see, I've already started to put it to good use. Today was a fun day, I wish I would have taken some pictures of my outing to Seattle with Dad and Brandon to pick up a commercial soft serve ice cream machine for my sister Tammy. But I did get a few pictures. Dallas and I went swimming this morning at 6:30, and Dad even joined us today. That was fun. I taught Dallas a new chord on the guitar tonight. He now knows the E, A, and D major chords. He also knows a little bit of lead guitar from Nirvana unplugged "Lake of Fire". We all still miss Willie a lot and the kids and I watched his slideshow about 5 or 6 times tonight while Derrinda was working. What surprised me was that towards the end of the slideshow, Brandon started crying as he was sitting on my lap watching the video. I said "What's wrong Brandon?" And he said, "I miss Willie." Anyway, we are going on with life. Dakota even played ball with me today. It is the first time she actually wanted to play fetch since Willie died. She has been uninterested when I've tried to throw her the ball before, but I guess she is starting to feel a little better. Her and Willie were within feet of each other for every minute of the last 10 years so I can't blame her for having a hard time with it. Anyway, enjoy the photos! (Sorry for ripping Cody off, he was already down in bed when I took these, being the responsible young man that he is.)

Willie's Slideshow

I have been working on getting all these photos collected since Willie died almost 3 weeks ago. I am still having a hard time accepting him being gone. He was such a big part of the family. Every time I go outside to do anything, it just doesn't seem right without him there. I put a lot of time into the slideshow and I wanted to post it on my blog so I can see it whenever I feel like it. I am thankful for Derrinda because she took most of the photos.