tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68929946614235589552024-02-02T14:24:01.983-08:00Damien's BlogHere is my personal blog for updates on my life and some of my thoughts. I am constantly studying and learning, especially technology related issues so blogging is going to be fun!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-35398883909320904362010-05-08T10:14:00.000-07:002010-05-08T10:14:32.359-07:00GeocachingWe're going to take our first geocaching trip today! We're new at it, but it looks like it's a lot of fun. I wish they had stuff like this back when I was in scouts. Given how many places we hiked then and where in the world I've been since, I could have a bit of a collection in the log book. But I digress. <br />
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Anyway, we found that there are quite a few caches right around us here. In fact, two of them are within a few hundred feet of the house. So, we're going to take the kids down with us on a little walk and see what we can find.<br />
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As I was thinking about it a little, I might have even seen one of them and didn't know what I was looking at. I kind of expect to have one of those ah-ha moments at finally knowing what that box is when I see it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-56383576622699480682010-01-12T13:37:00.000-08:002010-05-07T20:23:50.394-07:00Web DevelopmentRecently, I took the dive into developing in Silverlight 3. I sat down, having only watched one 15 minute crash course video on it, and went to work developing a little version of Boggle. I still have a few things to work out, but the main point is that I could just sit and do it. Why? Because I did it in C#. <br />
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Some background: As I was going through school and they taught us Flash, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, and some other classes, I started thinking that there had to be an easier way. To use Flash you have to know ActionScript 3, to use PHP you have to know PHP, and so on to the point that for each technology you have to know its own language. So, I took a look at the .NET framework, especially after taking one class in Visual Basic. After not too much digging and research, I REALLY started to wonder why they weren't teaching this stuff in school...in Washington right down the street from Redmond, nonetheless! I came to find out that they used to have one ASP.NET C# class, but it was disbanded the year before. Why?!<br />
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As much as I loved hacking out 1000's of lines of code over the course of my time in school, I have since learned that I could have done the same in half the time and writing less code by hand if done in .NET. If only I'd known at the time. I think the great icing on the cake to that part of the story came in my final quarter in a Project Management class. This class was the capstone to the 2 year program that I was in,as well as part of a scripting certificate, and by now I was hip to .NET. Anyway, it started with 9 students: 6 PHP developers from our classes together and 3 .NET developers (I was one now and two others were there getting scripting certificates). I found it quite easy to do all of the assignments in .NET with even the little experience that I had in it. When the quarter's project came due there were only three of us there to turn it in, demonstrate it, and take the written final. Guess which three were there.<br />
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Anyway, to try and keep this short, with .NET you can learn one language, such as C# as I prefer (or VB), and use it on many things. Such as Silverlight, ASP.NET, WPF, SharePoint, and on and on. You don't have to learn a different programming language for each thing that you want to work with. Is it that hard for some schools to figure that out? Well, I guess when most of the committee members would lose their jobs because they don't know .NET, then that makes sense, but oh well. They just need to learn to be smarter. :-)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-58280528713847727432010-01-06T16:47:00.000-08:002010-01-06T16:47:04.562-08:00Bon Anniversaire!A happy birthday to my great wife, Stephanie, today! Unfortunately, she's working all day, but I made her a great, big lunch (which doubles as dinner as well). Little does she know until she reads this, or gets home, that the girls and I creatively made a nice, yummy cake for her. You'll see it later.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-42695331283273997732010-01-05T16:05:00.000-08:002010-01-05T16:05:21.561-08:00$5 = A day's wages...or a fast-food chicken sandwichJanuary 5th, 1914 - Henry Ford introduces the $5/day minimum wage. Ninety-six years later, it costs me at least that much, with tax, to buy a simple meal...anywhere. A fast-food restaurant, the grocer's deli... No matter what the time difference is, though, the value of a dollar is still important and you can't convince me to pay that much for basic food, unless I'm in a hurry, you gave me coupons, and/or you are Taco Bell. Even though that time difference is local here to the U.S., it's not much different than many other countries that have people working for such an equivalency in wages, I.E. $5US/day. <br />
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I'm not exactly an economist, nor do I work for the IMF, but I find it amazing how people still survive in their own local economies around the world under such conditions. Yes, I'm even taking into consideration the Digital Divide and imported medical assistance, but still, I might go bonkers. But then, I'm also comparing my life now with said conditions. That would be a bit different.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-68763858820353870612010-01-02T14:23:00.000-08:002010-01-03T14:26:46.781-08:00Today is a palindrome...for anyone interested in that. 01/02/2010 -> 01022010<br /><br />I remember back in 1990 wathing the clock (with seconds on it) on the kitchen microwave right as it hit 12:34:56 on 7/8/90. <br /><br />I guess you just have to be a numbers geek like me to find the fascination in things like these.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-21437024958559738522010-01-01T12:23:00.000-08:002010-01-02T12:28:39.340-08:00Resolutions?I've never made New Year Resolutions, per se, where I actually write down a list of things that I want to do, but I guess that I do come up with things that I'd like to achieve and a new year is a good way to help measure those things. <br /><br />So, perhaps I'll actually blog this year a lot more. Since joining Facebook early in 2009, I just didn't find much to blog about as I would just jot my thoughts, videos and photos, and other things down right onto there. However, there are things that can be split between the two and I'll blog about more things as the result.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-9106438813290923712009-06-28T23:26:00.001-07:002009-06-28T23:26:14.377-07:00NESTEA : Liquid Awesomeness™<p>This is my kind of humor! Have fun playing the games, especially the one when you click on Green Tea. Purposely mess up so that you can catch all of his lines!  I think that they’re hilarious.  I had Stephanie play it without telling her what to do or what is was about.  I think that she got a kick out of it too. :) </p> <p><a href="http://liquidawesomeness.com/#/intro">NESTEA : Liquid Awesomeness™</a></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-3703879566078814942009-06-28T23:23:00.001-07:002009-06-28T23:23:38.643-07:00Lacoste Red!<p>Flash is just cool!  There is a fun game to jam to some techno/pop type music on here. </p> <p><a href="http://www.lacostered.com/usa/us/#/choose-your-style">Lacoste Red!</a></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-65780113040551492732009-06-06T08:39:00.001-07:002009-06-06T08:39:47.322-07:00Bing Maps<p>If you have a good internet connection, click on the link below for a map of the beaches of Normandy.  Thanks to all of the soldiers on D-Day and beyond that who secured the freedom that we, the United States, France, England, Belgium, et cetera all have now.  They even found documents later on describing how the German and Russian forces each were planning to invade Switzerland.  The nerve!</p> <p>Having lived over there on my mission, I wouldn’t want to even imagine the way things would be.  Each country’s freedoms and culture make them so unique.   </p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&cp=49.283036~-1.075287&style=h&lvl=9&tilt=-90&explore=sst.0&form=hphot4">Bing Maps</a></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-91558879963650111932009-06-03T20:18:00.001-07:002009-06-03T20:18:10.126-07:00Deseret News | Former BYU professor Truman Madsen dies<p>I had no idea until today that he died.  Truman G. Madsen is one of the best, most knowledgeable people that I have ever known.  I was able to go listen to him and his wife speak a couple of years ago up at the Ambaum building.  If you have never listened to him, then you need to, especially his lecture series on Joseph Smith: The Prophet.  </p> <p>That series, to me, at first was about the life and history of Joseph Smith.  It gave good, historical insight to what happened in his life.  Before long, though, it became more of a series of lectures on how to look at life and live it in a better way.  </p> <p>One of my favorite (out of the <em>many</em>) quotes in that series:</p> <p>“If I were in the deepest coal pit of Nova Scotia and had the Rocky Mountains piled on top of me, <em>I</em> <em>would not be discouraged</em>, and I would come out on top.”</p> <p><a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705307069/Former-Y-prof-Truman-Madsen-dies.html">Deseret News | Former BYU professor Truman Madsen dies</a></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-70034394201599045592009-05-11T13:12:00.001-07:002009-05-11T13:12:36.787-07:00NOVA | Cracking the Maya Code | PBS<p>I accidently stumbled on this show the other day and I’m so glad that I did.  Then I did a search on it and found this site on it to add even more and give it some interaction.  The ancient Mayans  were absolutely amazing.  They understood so much and I wonder just how far ahead of their time they were.  As you go through this and see some of the discoveries that have been made, you’ll be amazed too.</p> <p>I think that we’ve all heard of the renowned Mayan calendar and its impeccable precision.  I find it fascinating as we learn more of just what they were tracking on their calendar and what events had importance to them.  </p> <p>Anyway, check out some of the episode that I watched here online to see what all I’m talking about here.</p> <p><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mayacode/">NOVA | Cracking the Maya Code | PBS</a></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-40280380652844777912009-05-11T13:05:00.001-07:002009-05-11T13:05:15.166-07:00Living Rock: Massive Monuments Sculpted In Situ<p> Cool!  I mean, what else can you say?  When you look at these massive achievements of art, they are absolutely amazing!  Take a look by following the link below.  </p> <p><a href="http://www.quazen.com/Arts/Architecture/Living-Rock-Massive-Monuments-Sculpted-In-Situ.690189">Living Rock: Massive Monuments Sculpted In Situ</a></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-17537574283083741462009-05-01T14:13:00.000-07:002009-05-01T14:27:40.996-07:00Amazon Web ServicesAs a way to kind of make some money on the side, we are setting up ways for people to shop on Amazon through our blogs and family web site. Anytime someone finds an item that they would like to purchase, we receive a little commission from it. Naturally, the more the merrier. So, if you are going to shop and buy something from Amazon anyway, do so through us! :) <br />The widget in the right column of my blog here is set up to suggest items contextually based on my posts. On our site here, we have set up a way for people to search items or snag something from the Goldbox. We are looking through some of the other ways to provide more services as well. You'll notice them as they come about. Anyway, happy shopping!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-76020412802301626522009-04-30T16:04:00.001-07:002009-04-30T16:04:03.342-07:00GE | Plug Into the Smart Grid<p>Flash and Silverlight are two things that are generating the wave of the future in web technologies.  This site uses Flash to show a bit about energy usage and such.  That’s good and all, but I’m more interested in the effects and how they are skillfully used to demonstrate and teach.  Reading text, no matter where, can often be a drag, but add some visualization and most of us can learn in a snap.  A picture is worth a thousand words, right?  GE’s site page here does a good job of helping to visualize the effects of energy conservation to give us a better idea of the impact that it has.</p> <p>One day, when I’ve made some serious improvements on my design, animation, and ActionScript skills, I will make something cool like this for our own site, say, one that shows places that we have traveled to on an interactive map or something.  Until then, I’ll just admire the coolness of sites like this.</p> <p>P.S. Here are some other Flash and Silverlight sites that may be of interest</p> <ul> <li><a title="http://www.byu.tv/" href="http://www.byu.tv/" target="_blank">http://www.byu.tv/</a> – Flash Player by default, can also select Silverlight in the top left corner.  Naturally, this site is a must see! :) </li> <li><a title="http://www.kungfupanda.com/" href="http://www.kungfupanda.com/" target="_blank">http://www.kungfupanda.com/</a> – Click on “Enter the site” and you’ll see</li> <li><a title="http://www.prettyloaded.com/" href="http://www.prettyloaded.com/" target="_blank">http://www.prettyloaded.com/</a> – Shows a bunch of loading counters</li> <li><a title="http://www.aspirant.nu/english/" href="http://www.aspirant.nu/english/" target="_blank">http://www.aspirant.nu/english/</a> – Has some Flash-based puzzles</li> <li><a title="http://www.smoothhd.com/" href="http://www.smoothhd.com/" target="_blank">http://www.smoothhd.com/</a> – Various videos</li> </ul> <p><a href="http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/landing_page">GE | Plug Into the Smart Grid</a></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-91890079597300909002009-04-29T20:25:00.001-07:002009-04-29T20:25:27.100-07:00Engineering Windows 7 : Some Changes Since Beta for the RC<p> As much as I would love to have them post an RTM date in Windows 7, some of the updates and changes that they’ve made since the beta came out is still pretty exciting.  It’s even kind of exciting to see that some of the items listed on the page at the link below are ones, more or less, that I gave some feedback on.  </p> <p>Stephanie and I have been beta testing Windows 7 since it came out in January.  It is really cool.  If you think that Vista is cool, and I hope you do because it is WAAAAAAAY better than XP, Windows 7 is really cutting edge and cool!  It’s definitely not just a much prettier version, either.  They are really focused on letting the customer take control of layout and features and have designed it to be incredibly easy to use.  </p> <p>Personally, I have been digging into development, diagnostic, and other utility features the most.  Even though it requires a bit of both onboard and video RAM to process a lot of the features that it has, it handles and manages system resources beautifully.  Anyway, have a look at the blog -> <a title="Windows 7 Team Blog" href="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/default.aspx" target="_blank">here</a>, as well as at the link below for more.</p> <p><a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/02/26/some-changes-since-beta.aspx">Engineering Windows 7 : Some Changes Since Beta for the RC</a></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-70800721288841141682009-03-26T21:11:00.001-07:002009-03-26T21:11:18.319-07:00Do TV Buyers Dream of Electric Sheep? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com<p>This short video clip shows some pretty creative thinking.  Can't say that I've ever thought about herding sheep wearing LED blankets and making designs out of them, but now I know that someone else has!  </p> <p><a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/do-tv-buyers-dream-of-electric-sheep/?em">Do TV Buyers Dream of Electric Sheep? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com</a></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-20699077968854816592009-03-26T12:59:00.001-07:002009-03-26T12:59:24.523-07:00Caltrans Eagle Cam<p>There isn't much to watch for a long time, I've found, but it's at least kind of interesting to take a look at this eagle's nest and see what's going on from time to time.  I think that it's a bit more interesting right now because three eaglets recently hatched.  So, you might be able to catch some fun things going on. </p> <p><a href="http://www.turtlebay.org/caltranseaglecam.php">Caltrans Eagle Cam</a></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-23794299342120178102009-02-22T10:10:00.000-08:002009-02-22T10:47:59.149-08:0030 days of BirthdaySo, I'm playing catch-up here. I'll try to get these in every day in order to keep up, but here is what has happened so far as written on the little cards that she makes for me to see each day:<br /><br />Day 1:<br />On the first day of my birthday<br />My true love gave to me<br />An Eggs Benedict breakfast - yummy!<br />(Oh it was sooooo deleicious!)<br /><br />Day 2:<br />On the second day of my birthday<br />My true love gave to me<br />A massage for minutes equal to sixty<br />(Felt good! I needed a break from school and relax like this.)<br /><br />Day 3:<br />On the third day of my birthday<br />My true love gave to me<br />A Valentine's meal with Stephanie driving<br />(We went to the Ram with the kids and then walked along the water. It was really fun!)<br /><br />Day 4:<br />On the fourth day of my birthday<br />My true love gave to me<br />An updated website FINALLY!<br />(I do the front and backend design and Stephanie usually does the content updates. She was behind quite a bit. :) Check it out if you haven't lately <a href="http://decremer.org">http://decremer.org</a>)<br /><br />Day 5:<br />On the fifth day of my birthday<br />My true love gave to me<br />An exciting, fun-filled FHE<br />(She gave a lesson to me and Katie about birthdays: Jesus Christ's, President Monson, and Daddy's. When asked who was in a picture (Pres. Monson), We said, "Katie, who is that? It's (sounding out) p...r...e...s...i...dent..." and then she said in a quiet voice, "Mama, you're supposed to say Monson." Ha ha! It was cute.)<br /><br />Day 6:<br />On the sixth day of my birthday<br />My true love gave to me<br />Night time treats while watching a movie<br />(We had chocolate strawberries (very yummy!), chips and dip, and wathced the Dark Knight)<br /><br />Day 7:<br />On the seventh day of my birthday<br />My true love gave to me<br />A fire to keep me warm and cozy<br />(I always build the fire downstairs and Stephanie did it this time for me)<br /><br />Day 8:<br />On the eighth day of my birthday<br />My true love gave to me<br />A daddy song sung by Katie<br />(If you haven't seen this yet then you need to on my blog here or our website)<br /><br />Day 9:<br />On the ninth day of my birthday<br />My true love gave to me<br />A book of my ABCs<br />(You'd have to see it, but it is a really cool book of pictures of me)<br /><br />Day 10:<br />On the tenth day of my birthday<br />My true love gave to me<br />A piano and kitchen so clean and sparkly<br />(The piano is a cath-all for things and the kitchen gets messy, don't they all?)<br /><br />Day 11:<br />On the eleventh day of my birthday<br />My true love gave to me<br />Some M&Ms that were crispy<br />(Remember crispy M&Ms? They don't sell them in the U.S. anymore, so Stephanie used her foreign powers to obtain some. Yummy!)<br /><br />Oh, et j'ai la meilleure femme du monde! Elle m'aime tellement et je l'en aime aussi.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-52266216249887709102009-02-21T02:44:00.000-08:002009-02-21T02:57:34.308-08:00The Daddy SongFor my upcoming birthday, Stephanie has been doing the "30 days of Birthday" for me. Here is a video of Katie delivering my gift for Day 8:<br /><p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxmeDjRLDVzBsub6VjIT6oaejJIa64euokxySU9Tntiu_IlNcFapBUMxtrwWlzcDnQJXB1qd7P4GXFjWdKe9g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></p><p>You can view it here too:<br /><a title="The Daddy Song" href="mms://205.178.152.122/1190028/Day8.wmv">Katie sings The Daddy Song on the 8th day of my 30 Days of Birthday</a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-21440862087540839352009-01-30T16:45:00.000-08:002009-01-30T17:32:46.883-08:00Usability...or not reallyWhat happens when you have something in life that isn't very usable? Generally speaking, one moves on to something more convenient. I pick on Mac users from time to time and they me, but always in passing and simply to let the PC vs. Mac battle rain down on everyone for fun. I have even said that I would probably someday have to use a Mac, but only in a work environment that demanded it.<br />Well, today I must say that that day came and it was adventurous. For what it's worth to say from the start, I even had a glorified keyboard...at least that's what they told me.<br />Situation one: So, I'm in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">TextWrangler</span> writing some <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">PHP</span> code for a database read. I need to make an edit and I go to push the home key (apparently part of the aforementioned keyboard and doesn't come standard issue) to go to the beginning of the line. It doesn't work. I push the end key; no effect. So rather than one <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">push</span> of a key, it takes me 50 pushes of the arrow keys. Incredibly efficient! Mind you, I even asked the Mac gurus in the office to show me how to do what I'm trying to do because of my unfamiliarity with Macs and their keyboards. The response: "Yeah, that took some getting used to when I first started using a Mac. I even downloaded a third-party mapping program to generate keyboard shortcuts like that." Conclusion: Mac usability is out the window.<br />Situation two: The boss comes over and want me to install a new program on the Mac. This involves opening a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">cd</span> drive tray. Let me put it this way, two Mac gurus standing there and neither of them were sure how to open the tray on the Mac tower. We had to Google it. Let me compare for you how to open a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">cd</span>/<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">dvd</span> drive tray:<br />PC - push eject button on <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">cd</span>/<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">dvd</span> drive<br />Mac - If your eject button on the keyboard doesn't work, that is, if you even have one - go into the terminal window, type <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">drutil</span> tray open. If that doesn't work (and it didn't) type <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">drutil</span> tray eject. That worked.<br />Seriously?! It takes all that to open the drive tray? Note that it took sending the command twice to get it to eject the disc. If the OS needs to dismount the drive first and then eject then say so. Conclusion: PCs will continue to dominate in the universe.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-2815126589438272282008-12-21T16:48:00.001-08:002008-12-21T16:48:13.062-08:00YouTube - The NEW Canon Rock -- Guitar by MattRach, 15 yr old guitarist<p> I found this video awhile back and held out until Christmas time here to blog about it because, traditionally, it is a bit of a Christmas song.  Canon has always been one of my favorite songs, even amongst its many renditions.  I think that this one is pretty cool and much different than the classic instrumentals.  Chance, if you happen to look at this, you should take a stab at trying to play this sometime.  That'd be cool!  I posted about this below as well so that anyone that wants to could see him guest star on a French TV show.</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:0170d21d-3524-43bc-9a79-566789dda216" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px"><div><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/owAj5LiXG5w"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/owAj5LiXG5w" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object></div></div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-2985330188851687972008-12-21T16:41:00.001-08:002008-12-21T16:41:31.624-08:00YouTube - MattRach invité à L'édition spéciale de Canal +<p>Here is another clip of MattRach's version of Canon.  He is from France and was invited to guest on a French show.  Pour les gens qui parle français et qui comprends le style des français, amusez-vous bien!</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:3adfa4c1-a287-40e0-b04f-c91ef234f242" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px"><div><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5sHYJQTEqL0&feature=channel"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5sHYJQTEqL0&feature=channel" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object></div></div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-75450846858949756832008-10-11T21:47:00.000-07:002008-10-12T19:10:48.225-07:00Les Suisses aussi sont fauchésBasically, this is saying, "Even the Swiss are broke." It's funny because of the cute little characters that they have on this postcard, but also because it's quite untrue. I think we all know that Switzerland is not only known for great missionaries like me who served there, but also their chocolate, yogurt, mountains, and money.<br />Their yogurt is absolutely delicious! I don't know what they feed their cows, but I want a Swiss cow and a lifetime supply of whatever they eat over there. Anyway, I'll blog more on that later when I post the picture of a Swiss cow. The point here being that the Swiss are known for banking and the oodles of people that put their money there. Besides, would you really expect the two characters in this picture to have such smiles on their faces if they really were broke? Not really. Just a guess, but I imagine that if someone really was broke then they probably wouldn't be in Switzerland for very long because you have to pay to live there. That's a bill you really wouldn't want to leave unpaid.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-22103960729907416572008-10-11T21:39:00.001-07:002008-10-11T21:39:56.194-07:00N.Y. mixup: 'Barack Osama' on ballot - Barack Obama News- msnbc.com<p>I find this absolutely hilarious!  This goes right in line with a friend of mine at school who is a wounded, veteran Marine who fought in Iraq and has a shirt that says, "10 out of 10 terrorists support a democrat for president."  I told this friend of mine a few weeks ago that for a couple of years I have referred to Barack as Barack Osama and Obama bin Laden.  Now they actually go and print that on a ballot!  Typo or not, deliberate or not...I'm happy to know that at least one more person or group is thinking along the same lines as me.  Too bad the ballots were destroyed.  Oh, and bytheway...vote republican!</p> <p><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27122742/">N.Y. mixup: 'Barack Osama' on ballot - Barack Obama News- msnbc.com</a></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6892994661423558955.post-41001225560189338532008-10-04T23:01:00.001-07:002008-10-04T23:01:58.519-07:005 new temples planned for Mormon church - Faith- msnbc.com<p>It is always great when new temples around the world are announced.  I think that it so significant that President Monson announced today the plan to put one in Rome, Italy.  Having served in Switzerland and France and knowing how much the church is growing there, it is incredible to see that the church must be growing so well in Italy that they will now have their own temple.  It would be great to have a temple in France too with how much the church is growing there too.  I heard speculative reasons when I served in France for why it is so difficult to build one there, but we all know that it is not impossible with the Lord.  I would love to be there when one is finally built and dedicated there.</p> <p><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27022060/">5 new temples planned for Mormon church - Faith- msnbc.com</a></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2