New Year's Resolution 2010

People have been writing me from all over the continguous United States (no one from Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or any part of Canada, oddly enough) as to what are my New Year's Resolutions. Many of you know that I am a somewhat goal-oriented person. I certainly love to make goals, and writing down lists of those goals - although keeping them is where I sometimes find difficulties. Anyway, after much thought and internal debate I have decided on a realistic 2010 New Years Resolution. I can sum up said resolution in one picture:



This picture, cari miei, is of a Franklin Covey Planner. I am going to be using it this year. My list of goals and things I want to get accomplished this year is very long, and so my resolution is to utilize my work-provided planner to get it all accomplished. So if you happen to see me in 2010, you will most likely see my planner.

While I have consistently used some version of a planner since starting with the FDIC, I'm hoping to take it to a more consistent and focused level this year. Think "mission" planning, but a little more task-oriented, since the issue is no longer how many people can I talk to/teach, but how can I get a large variety of assorted and important tasks done.

So there you have it. I see this is as a gateway resolution - by being more organized, I can make sure I'm prioritizing my time to spend them on things that I really want to get done.

I'm looking forward to getting a lot done in 2010, and then blogging about some of it!

p.s. I don't see myself as being one of those weird planner people. You know the type. Not me. I'm just taking what is good from those weird planner people and making it my own, without being weird.

Torrie left me this week. (haha I guess I should rephrase that – Torrie flew away from Dallas a little bit early cause we found a cheaper flight for her) and I fly back to Lexington to reunite with her on Friday. I am once again a lone man. I wake up, eat breakfast, go to work, eat lunch at my desk, come home, run, watch tv, go to sleep. This repeats over and over again.

Now I’ve done this before, and I unfortunately will have to do it again – that’s just the nature of my job. As I sit here trying to come up with the will power to study for an accounting test that I could have passed after a week of that Accounting 101 class I took freshman year (listening to Christmas music), I realized that I really don’t have anything to look forward to this evening. I’ll run, which will be good, and there’s not even any NCIS or Law and Order tonight. But that’s what my life is when I’m on the road and alone – whatever is on television.

Isn’t that sad? It’s only a momentary thing for me – I’ve read all the books I’ve brought, Torrie just left, and I’ll be home tomorrow, where there will be plenty of things to do – but I look at some of my coworkers and that’s all they have. Maybe go to the bar and try to meet somebody. Maybe study some more for this accounting test.

I’m grateful for the direction that my life has – and as always has – thanks to my family and the gospel. I’m grateful for the structure of the LDS church that helped me have things to do when I was single. I’m grateful that I’m married. I can’t wait to have kids.

Oh good news. Just found out that USA has both NCIS and Law and Order on tonight. I’m going to be okay. :)

Torrie and I realized the other day that since we haven't been at our house for most of December, it hasn't felt like Christmas. Well, that is a travesty and was a situation that needed to be corrected immediately.


Work has been pretty self-directed lately, with a lot of accounting. (Yes, I took approximately 15 hours of accounting class time in university. In fact, it was a prerequisite to getting this job, as was getting good grades in those classes. So why am I getting paid to study it for a week? Great question. Good thing the FDIC is paid for by insurance premiums and not on taxes.)


This makes for an easy solution to the Christmas dilemma. Pandora! I've been rocking out and feeling the Christmas spirit all day long, with the expected benefits of being happier, working harder, etc.


However, I've decided that I have a more picky ear than I thought when it comes to Christmas songs. I will skip a few songs to listen to the ones that I really like. Here are some of the best songs I listened to today:

Merry Christmas Darling - The Carpenters
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams
Hallelujah Chorus - Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Anything where John Rutter was involved.
Jingle Bells - Bing Crosby
Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives
All I Want for Christmas is You - Mariah Carey
The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
We Need A Little Christmas - Percy Faith and His Orchestra

What is YOUR favorite christmas song? I know there's plenty of others out there. Merry Christmas!

I found an article yesterday, and I have thoughts on it. Seeing as it has to do with religion and that probably isn't kosher to discuss at work, I will instead throw it out to the blogosphere.


http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/11/23/dawkins.darwin.atheism/index.html

On one hand, I don't wish to acknowledge this article, so that it gets more hits and people think it's more "legitimate". However, since the conversation is going to happen whether or not I am apart of it, I feel that it is okay to state my beliefs and opinion on the matter. Plus I have some down time at work.

In the article above, the biologist Richard Dawkins states his case for atheism becoming more "militant" and aggressive in defending their (according to him, correct) views. Among the faulty logic he mentions that: "Religion teaches us to be satisfied with non-explanations".


A quick view of the religious past may give some credence to some of what he says. There have been numerous times where religion hasn't had the answers to questions and "answers" that Science proposes, and then Religion uses its political and social power to try and cut science off. However, in the end, that never works, since as a human race we have a pretty natural instinct to try understand the world around us. (Although I have met a lot of deeply religious people who don't try to understand the world around them. Santo misterio and all that jazz. But as humankind, that peace or complacency is not prevalent.)

Unfortunately for Mr. Dawkins, I would imagine that he has never given all the religions a good chance. Just because people have frequently used the name of God for their own selfish purposes is not proof there is no God. Jacob said it well: "O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish" (2 Nephi 9:28).

I'm grateful to be a member of the true church of Jesus Christ - not a church and faith that limits the search for knowledge, but one that embraces it. Check out these treasures from revealed scripture:

"The glory of God is intelligence. Or, in other words, light and truth" D&C 93:36

"Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom" D&C 88:118

"All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." (Alma 30:44).

Mr. Dawkins says that he sees no room for science in religion. Well, if God were to establish His religion and His church on the earth, he would make that religion with room for man to learn, study, and attempt to discover all of his secrets.

I look forward to the day when our understanding of Science completely matches that which is in the scriptures and which has always been taught to us from the beginning by the prophets. I'm confident that it will happen.

Well I don't mean to ruin my great conclusion there, but here's an article from a New York Times blog about evolution. It was the 150th anniversary of the first publishment of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species". It's great (both in a little kid, cute way and also in a long-term, invigorating way) to see us humans struggle and make attempts at understanding the world around us. We'll figure it out someday...
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/an-evolve-by-date/?hp

If it makes you happy.......

A couple of things that make me feel good:

Insurance - How great is this stuff? I get to drive, live, and walk around knowing that if anything happens to me...my health...my life...my wife's health...my car...my house...it can all be protected. How great is that? I think it's amazing. It's so nice to think that if my house catches fire while I'm gone, I will still be able to have a place to live and not lose all the investment that I've put into it. Or if I die in a plane accident, Torrie wouldn't be saddled with a mortgage and have to start working right away again. (Obviously I would not want that to happen, and it would be horrible. But to know that it could and not ALL would be lost...that makes me feel good.)

Running - Since I've come out to Dallas I've been running everyday and it feels wonderful! It has a great impact on the rest of my day and I'm sure it's doing good things for my health as well. I'm excited to run a race and see how fast I can go. I have a theory - seeing as the physical/mental/emotional/spirtual are all connected, when I am pushing myself in one area (running consistently, for example) I think I'm better and more motivated at all aspects of my life.

(And you bet I just put a picture of Sarah Palin from Runners' World to be the picture for my running section. haha.)

Breakfast - The best part of staying at a hotel is the free breakfast. If I stay at the Homewood Suites, it's usually a pretty nice deal, one step above a continental breakfast. They'll have something cooked and it will be good. If I stay at the Embassy Suites, it's a made-to-order omlette that is heavenly. Let's be honest, it's hard to wake up early each day to make breakfast. Having it made for you...and for free? Definitely makes being away from home just a little bit easier.

A couple of quick quotes from CNBC's neat little evening last night with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

In response to a question as to the best advice that they could give:

"First of all, I'd say marry the right person." [LAUGHTER] "And I'm serious about that. " [APPLAUSE] "It will make more difference in your life. It will change your aspiration, all kind of things. It's enormously important who you marry. "– Warren Buffett

In response to a question about if business schools can really teach ethics:

"Well, I think the best place to learn ethics is in the home. I think most of us get our values from what we see around us before we get to business school. I think that it's important to emphasize them, but I think that if I had a choice of having great education and ethics fully on in the home or as a course in a school later on, I would choose the home." - Warren Buffett

Great thoughts.

Reading in Texas

So for the next few weeks I will be in Dallas for some training. I fly out on a Sunday night, spend M-F going to work downtown and spending the night in a hotel, and then fly to see Torrie on the weekend. It's pretty lonely and I'm going to have to find things to do to keep myself busy.

This week I brought three books with me, from our personal library or the Lexington public library. Since I have nothing else to do, I'm going to write my thoughts on them. They are:

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

So, the movie is great. We all know that. But did you know it came from a book? I knew, and thought it would be fun to read sometime. Well, the lady who sold us our new (to us) piano was giving away ten boxes of books. While leafing through the books, I found this one and snatched it up. The actual copy of the book was printed in 1969 and has the old school style pages that don't match up perfectly. It's pretty cool.

The book is a little dirty for my taste - a little too graphic sexual content. However, with skipping over those parts, the book is fascinating. I've only seen the movie once or twice (yay for AMC) but I caught many more details from reading the book.

Of the many themes covered in the book, one of the main ones is the rule of law. One of the reasons for Don Corleone's organization is to provide a place for people to go to obtain justice, instead of going to a corrupt government. The original Mafia families in Sicily started that way in order to fight back against all the different, corrupt powers that have ruled over Sicily. They couldn't go to the government or anyone for justice, so they went to themselves.

And you now what, for 19th century Sicily....I can somehow understand that. While ultimately the population will be better-served by a country, government anfd culture that follows a code of laws, I can see how they are somewhat justifying in taking things into their own hands. However, I am grateful to live in a country where it's not necessary. America, while admittedly unperfect, is a free country, and the more that we choose to follow the law, the better place we will live. However, if as a people - and looking at the problems our country/world is facing right now, I am more and more convinced that this is the case - we choose to not follow the law, we will no longer enjoy the freedom and prosperity that we have enjoyed for so long.

Sorry about the tangent. Anyway, great book, except for the graphic parts. The violence isn't too bad, it's the sex.

Anyway, these are the other two books I'll be reading this week:

The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail by Wallace Stegner
Torrie had this book from one of her college history classes. I'm excited to read it - well, I've started already - and the theme that I've noticed is that the pioneers weren't perfect. The author is very clear about that, and it seems to me that the purpose of the book is to dirty the "squeaky clean" image of the pioneers. (Oh and yes, Brigham Young had multiple wives. We know. Not a big deal, Mr. Stegner.) Well I for one am comforted that the early pioneers weren't perfect. I'm more than okay that they swore every once in awhile and argued and disagreed with who should go first in the road (think: road rage but with wagons). Cause you know what...I do too! The Lord used imperfect people in order to do His work. That means I, an imperfect person, can still help out today as well.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
I got this from the library...placed a hold on it. I did this like a month ago and it came in right before I came out to Dallas. My expectations are pretty low - I liked Angels and Demons and Di Vinci Code, but I understand that it's just a thriller and will probably follow the same basic plot, so I'm not expecting anything great. It's all about keeping the right expectations...

October 19, 2009

So last night Torrie and I went on a shopping spree! Our trip was to our favorite two stores, which coincedentally share a parking lot: Lowe’s and Walmart. We made out like bandits, buying:

1. Paint and rollers to paint our kitchen, bedroom, and bathrooms. Here are the names of our colors:
Kitchen – Quaking Grass
Bedroom – Stratosphere
Bathrooms – Silver Spoon

I'm not sure if the colors are exactly the same, and as I've discovered over the past week, colors are a lot different depending on what other colors they are next to, the amount of light...tons of things.

2. Metal knobs for the dressers that we had sanded and painted white this weekend. They are really simple, and kinda look like pop bottle tops in a way. They're nice though, and were at an unbeatable price of $.97 each. $3 a handle can get pretty expensive pretty quickly...

3. A lot of food. Now that we have a house, we have space to buy more than just the bare essentials for what we will need in the next three days. In fact, we’re pretty excited about building up a good amount of food storage.

I’m really excited to finish painting over the next couple of days. Then, at least we’ll have a few rooms of our house finished, and I can write a before-and-after blog entry detailing our work.

We were pretty hungry as we were leaving Walmart. Our original plan had been to buy food for a taco salad that we would make when we got home. However, it was late and we really didn’t feel like making a taco salad. However, there were some rotisserie chickens at the Walmart deli. You know, the ones that they discount late at night to make sure that they are sold. They were a pretty good deal. However, I looked at Torrie and she said, “You know, I would be just as happy with a bowl of cereal at home.” So we left, saving the $6 or so that we would have spent on that chicken. We ended up having some really good homemade nachos while watching Bedknobs and Broomsticks on our little TV. What a great evening.

A King's Folly

So the closing date on our home was Tuesday, October 6, 2009.

The day before I was at a bank in Northern KY right across the border from Cincinnati. It's about an hour and a half drive from Lexington. Torrie came along and we were getting a bite to eat at a Burger King near our hotel. We were pretty excited to eat a couple of Whopper, Jr. sandwiches (The Whopper Jr. is, in my mind, the best $1 fast food hamburger out there and is actually a very good deal at a $1) After eating, we put our food on the tray and threw it out.

Fast forward to the next afternoon. I worked in the morning and was picking up Torrie at the hotel to drive back to Lexington to buy our house. We had our schedule planned to perfection. However, as I jumped back into the car, I felt my pocket and then the panic hit in. I did not have my wallet.

A frantic calls to the bank confirmed my fear. No wallet. I ran up and performed a frenzied search of our hotel room. No dice. As Torrie and I traced our footsteps over the last 12 hours in an attempt to answer the ever-present question when something is lost, "Well...when did you last have it?" our conclusion came to the little vignette at the beginning of my blog entry. Burger King.


We rushed back to the Burger King. We had little room for error. I raced inside. "Has anyone found a wallet??!?!?" I yelled at the top of my voice. (Actually not, I asked the lady behind the register politely.) The lady told me she would look in the safe, and a quick search revealed no wallet. I asked if the trash had been taken out, desperate that perhaps I had thrown it way with the Whopper, Jr sandwiches. "Yes," she replied. "This morning. I'm afraid your wallet is gone."

I, however, had no time to lament my loss. We had a house to buy! So I climbed back into the car, and drove (which, now that I think about, was illegal because I did not have my driver's liscence) back to Lexington to buy our house. We were probably about an hour late, due to the missing wallet fiasco added to the unfamiliarity with downtown Lexington fiasco, the incorrect Mapquest directions fiasco, and the construction and one way streets fiasco (a plethora of fiascoes) but we made it and signed the papers. Bought the house. Thank goodness for knowing exactly where my passport was, so I could prove my identity.

One of the first things we did in our new house was call my credit card companies and report the loss of my credit cards. While the movers were moving our stuff in, I get a call from an old coworker of mine at Boeing. After the movers leave, I check my voice mail. "Hi Logan..um, we just got a weird call here saying that someone has found your wallet in Ohio..what are you doing there? Anyway, here is her information......"

TURNS OUT that my wallet was turned in at the Burger King after all, and they had delivered it to the corporate offices in Cincinnati. We're going to pick it up on Friday.

I'm really hoping that I come up with some clever way to finish this little blog entry, to perhaps distract you from how stupid I was for losing my wallet at Burger King. Some pun with "King" involved, perhaps. I'm going to go with this picture of "The King" and hopefully that will suffice.

Torrie and I have been living in this extended-stay hotel / studio apartment since our move to Kentucky, and so little things like putting pictures onto the computer are very difficult. (Where's the camera cord? I don't know!) So I am unable to give pictures of the fun things that Torrie and I have been doing here in our new Kentucky home. :) So I will put a couple pictures of Torrie and I at the top of the world! (or, at least, Longs Peak). The first picture is at about 14K feet, the second quite a bit lower.

However as you can see below, our house search has finally concluded in a success!!!

More info on the future Logan and Torrie Schultz house to come. This is the only picture I have right now, but knowing that Torrie was involved in buying it means that it is a very cute house, and that we got it for a good deal.

HGTV

So Torrie and I have been living in an extended-stay apartment since our arrival in Lexington, KY. We got it for a great deal, it’s this newly constructed place (we are probably the second people to stay in our room) so it’s clean. Clean and cheap. Perfect. It also has a TV, internet, little kitchen (no oven), utilities are included in the price…it’s really a great place to stay while we look for a house.

That’s the overarching task for us right now. Looking for a house. One of the main tools that we have utilized while looking for a house is HGTV.

Home and Garden Television. That’s right. They have all these shows about buying a house, first time home-buying, fixing up houses, designing renovations, selling houses, it’s all house stuff all the time. Perfect for me and Torrie. We watch it pretty frequently.

So a lot of these shows consist of a realtor taking some home buyers around to look at houses, and then they pick which one they buy. Pretty simple. Well, it’s been very interesting for us to see what OTHER people think as important in buying a house. Let’s take a look at the most ridiculous priorities.

1. Look at that ugly wallpaper!!

Are you kidding me? How hard is it to take care of wallpaper?

2. Oooh! Nice big kitchen!!

Oh yeah, like you are actually going to use your kitchen. You’re going to be like so many other people in this world and go out to eat 4, 5 times a week. Oh, unless you’re “saving money” by staying home and cooking ready-to-eat meals. Way to go!

3. This open space would be perfect for entertaining!

Yeah, right. How often do you “entertain”? Once a month? Maybe? And what exactly does “entertain” mean in this context? I seriously hear this once or twice a half hour and I’m not convinced that it ever actually happens. I think it's so ridiculous that everytime Torrie and I walk through a house, I mention how great it would be for entertaining, and then laugh at myself cause I think it's so funny. Torrie sometimes laughs. The realtor never seems to understand why I'm laughing.

4. We’d like a nice yard for our dog, Charlie, to play in.

This one is always sad to me, cause it’s very rare that I hear anyone say it about kids. I’ve never heard (and I hear a lot) them even mention school districts. Maybe families never move homes?

5. It’s a little out of our budget, but we can make it work….

If it’s out of your budget…then you can’t afford it! It seems like 1 / 3 people overpay for the house they want. (Note: I would like this fact if I was selling my house right now, instead of trying to buy one.)

I just want to buy a house! AHHH!

A Day of Firsts

Last month I was without a job and tried to make good use of my free time, with an emphasis on visiting family. After all, family, isn't it about....time?

First, Torrie and I had our six-month anniversary. We celebrated by eating the top of our cake, since we were in the process of moving and couldn't bring our cake with us to Kentucky for our actual one-year anniversary. It was actually still pretty good! The only piece of cake I had during our reception was when Torrie stuffed it up my nose, so it was good to actually have my cake and eat it too.

I would like to write about one day in particular, spent in the beautiful (see the picture?) woods of Central Idaho. It was a rather momentous day, which will forever be known as: A Day of Firsts.

Stung by a Hornet

I have never been stung by a hornet before, nor a bee. I don't know why, I've certainly had enough exposure to them. However, while opening the gate to the ranch, I was attacked by a hornet. It got me twice on my hand. It didn't hurt that bad, although it started to throb. Luckily, Tracie had an allergy pen that soothed my pain and got rid of the hornet stings in no time!

Shot an Automatic Pistol

Special thanks to my dad-in-law, who helped me shoot the H - E - double hockey sticks out of a few shampoo bottles and a tree. Buffalo Bill style, yeah!!

For the record, I've shot rifles and stuff before. Just nothing with this much power. No pictures for this one, boys and girls. I wouldn't want any future employers to get their hands on any evidence.... :)

Rode a Motorcycle

I told myself I'd never ride one of these, but I kinda knew that I was lying to myself. My grandpa is the head of an Idaho biker gang (The Black Barons) and it's in my blood.

Special thanks to my brother-in-law and his fiancee for supplying the bikes and letting me ride them. Here's the explanation of how to drive that I got from Tandee.

"Here's the gas, here's the clutch, there's the horn to tell people to get out of your way...alright! Go have fun!"

Tyler explained to me a little better, and then I started and took off.

I really took off. No one explained to me that it's not like a car and you can very easily just putt around in first gear with no fear of stalling out. After scaring Torrie half to death, my dad-in-law explained to me that little tidbit of information, which made for a much slower, safer, and more enjoyable time, just putt-putting up and down the field, which had just had most of its grass eaten by a bunch of cows.

Including these cows!

Ate Beef on a Stick

We ended the day of firsts by eating chunks of spiced steak on a stick. Delicious.

I have received many requests to give a little more information as to where the Logan and Torrie Schultz Family lives. Well, without giving out too much information to the cyber-stalkers out there, here is a picture of our house:

We are house-sitting for a great old man who is now in an assisted living care center closer to family. They needed someone to take care of the house until they can come back in the summer, and Torrie and I are renowned house-sitters, so everything worked out really well!

There’s a few things that you will notice about the house. First of all, there is TONS of land (comparatively) around it. Remember, we aren’t out in the country, we are in Seattle. This is fun because on nice days, Torrie and I get to work around the yard, clean things up, cut up and haul away fallen branches, nice manly work around the yard chores. And, it’s great for the spontaneous games of smear the queer that always seem to happen at our house.

Second, it’s a fairly old house, and they slowly added on and changed things around, so we’ve discovered some oddities like a lot of light switches that don’t make sense, our bedroom doesn’t have heating cause it was once where the garage was…things like that.

Third, the name “Twin Oaks” comes from the two trees (they’re not actually oaks, but hemlocks, but twin oaks sounds better) that mark the driveway. You have to be pretty careful, or you’ll hit a tree. Both Torrie and I have never hit either tree, and she even drives an explorer.

Fourth, the man’s wife who recently passed away was an avid collector of spoons, the decorative kind that you can get in gift shops and gas stations? Yeah, she loved them. There are some pretty cool ones, actually, although I never thought I would be saying that about spoons…

So there it is. All in all, we really like it here, and are very grateful to have such a neat (and an opportunity to save) house to live in as we begin our married life together.

Graduation

My sister's going through finals, my wife's birthday is Sunday, and for some reason I'm in a reflective mood.

The following words are from David Brooks, a columnist from the New York Times. He's trying to figure out what to tell people as he speaks at the graduation ceremony of the high school that he graduated from 30 years ago.

"At the moment, I’m thinking of talking about the chief way our society is messed up. That is to say, it is structured to distract people from the decisions that have a huge impact on happiness in order to focus attention on the decisions that have a marginal impact on happiness.

The most important decision any of us make is who we marry. Yet there are no courses on how to choose a spouse. There’s no graduate department in spouse selection studies. Institutions of higher learning devote more resources to semiotics than love.

The most important talent any person can possess is the ability to make and keep friends. And yet here too there is no curriculum for this.

The most important skill a person can possess is the ability to control one’s impulses. Here too, we’re pretty much on our own.

What young people really need is a lesson in how to choose a spouse and how to make and keep friends.

These are all things with a provable relationship to human happiness. Instead, society is busy preparing us for all the decisions that have a marginal effect on human happiness. There are guidance offices to help people in the monumental task of selecting a college. There are business schools offering lavish career placement services. There is a vast media apparatus offering minute advice on how to furnish your home or expand your deck."

Interesting comments. I would second all of his comments without reservation.

I'd also like to express my gratitude for the institutions that did teach me those important lessons: good parents, church and the other members, and a couple of very good role models at school.

While I'm still working on the ability to control all of my needless impulses, I think I'm doing a pretty good job at the friends one, and I totally hit a home run with the spouse thing.

Shoreline, WA has a great library and is part of the King County Library system. One of the adventures that Torrie and I like to do is check out movies from the library…for free!!! We just request them and when they come in, they send us an e-mail. So over the last few months we've seen a number of movies.

After watching the A&E version of Pride & Prejudice one weekend (my copy, not the library's) Torrie decided to go on a British Victorian Novel Movie Rampage, also known by it's acronym, BVMPR. As we have gone through several of these, we have had the good ones (Wives & Daughters, pretty good) and some bad ones (Bleak House).

However, even more fascinating than the actual movies themselves, is what Torrie does during the movies.

She predicts what happens with such accuracy that I swear she must have seen them before, several times. Last night was a great example.


After watching the third period of the Pens beating the Red Wings, and the last two minutes of the Magic beating the Lakers (have to prove my masculinity) we began to watch the Masterpiece Theatre version of "The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton". Unbeknowest to me, but Mrs. Beeton wrote a very famous cookbook in the mid-to-late 1800's and EVERYONE in England knows about her. Kind of like the Victorian version of Betty Crocker.

Anyway the movie was a semi-autobiographical story of her life, meeting her husband, writing the cookbook, two babies die, blah blah. (Warning. Spoiler Alert! If you or someone you know may have or potentially could contract BVMPR, you may not want to read any further.) With about a half hour left in the movie, Torrie turns to me and says:

Torrie: "This is boring, let's turn it off."
Logan: "Are you sure? The back of the movie says that she died very young because of a 'deep, dark secret'. Don't you want to find out what it is? The suspense is killing me?"
I said this in a half-joking manner, the same that I always have when talking about Jane Austin-type movies. As a man, I have to make fun of them, but deep down I usually like most of them. I also hate not knowing what happens in the end.

Torrie: "Meh, it's boring, and I bet her husband gave her some disease from that trashy girl in his wild pre-marriage days."
Logan: "Are you saying that he gave her syphilis or something? Where did you get that from? That prediction came out of nowhere."
Torrie: "That's exactly what I'm saying. Maybe that's why their first two kids died. Let's go clean the dishes."

We went to the dishes, while I went to wikipedia to see what really happened to Mrs. Beeton. And I quote:
The TV drama seemed to imply the speculation (put forth in Kathryn Hughes' biography) that Beeton suffered from syphilis contracted from her husband, and that this may possibly have led to her death and those of her two children, although there is no firm evidence for this speculation.

Are you kidding me??? How could Torrie have possibly known???

Just some good ol' fun

I feel the need to comment on one of the more enjoyable trends that is taking the nation by storm. It is also a brilliant story of a brand reinventing itself and finding new opportunities for growth.

I'm talking, of course, about the Lego Video Games.

What a great idea. Lego remains to be relevant. (Not that it was becoming irrevelant, although it was to me, but that's because I'm 25 now and don't want to play with Legos anymore, it's a part of growing up.) The different video game systems make money. The stories (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc.) make money. People spend the money and have fun. Everyone wins!

Torrie and I have a Wii, and every once in awhile we'll pull it out and play a few levels of Lego Star Wars. The puzzles are just hard enough to be fun, you don't have to worry about dying, (although Torrie gets really mad when one of us dies and we lose all the little studs). It's also fun to go through the different star wars movies, and I love how they fashion all of the different characters/props out of legos.

I've made a concerted effort not to play too many video games, especially now that I'm married. Who wants to be married to a boy who would rather play video games then spend time with you? I thought so. Every once in awhile the boyish dorkish urge grows and I have to suppress it - the season and a half I played of Madden (It's from like 2005, Brian Griese is the Denver QB, I took the team to two undefeated seasons) while Torrie was gone for a few days got the video game phase out of my system for awhile. So my rule is that I can only play if we play together, which is about once a week, maybe a little less often if we have other things going on. So we'll get done with it…probably around Christmas. Maybe. Anyway that's a good amount, and if you think about it, it's a little more stimulating then simply watching like a reality show on TV or a movie that you've already seen ten times, at least you're doing something.

Although I love batman, I'm not familiar enough with the stories to be truly excited to get lego batman, but maybe I will someday, on a good deal or something.

Lego Indiana Jones I think will be fun.

They also just announced a Lego Harry Potter. I think that one is going to be cool, too.

Blueprint to Barack Obama's Foreign Policy

It's easy!

1. Come in promising drastic, sweeping changes. Make the masses of countries all over the world love you, even though you haven't done anything.
2. Realize the Bush administration was doing a pretty good job on a number of foreign policy issues, and that there were circumstances and situations that you didn't know about while making promises on the campaign trail.
3. Hold a press conference and declare sweeping changes, which are mostly comsetic.
4. Continue on. (Or should I say...Stay the Course?)

It will be interesting to see how many people pick up on this song & dance. He's done it a few times, with Iraq (we were on our way out before Pres. Obama took office), Afghanistan (again, another Bush policy), Gitmo ("Oh, it's not my fault, my party won't give me the money and no states want the prisoners on their soil, darn, I guess I'll have to keep it the way it is for now and hopefully the media will forget about it") to name a few.

Am I pleased? Yes. I think as far as foreign policy is concerned, our nation was on a fairly good direction with Pres. Bush and I'm glad that Obama is continuing that way. I just wish he would give credit where credit is due. We'll see what happens as he encounters new situations that Condie hadn't already figured out…

My Favorite Basketball Player

Chauncey Billups.

My first favorite player was Magic Johnson. I don't know why, as a 5 year old, you decide that you like a player, but I loved Magic. Maybe it was his nintendo game, Magic Johnson's Fast Break. Maybe it was his big smile. It could possibly be that he was an amazing player and I loved especially the way he passed, but naaahh. I cried when I found out he had HIV and couldn't play anymore.


After he retired, I think my favorite player was John Stockton. Again, I loved the way he passed. I also loved the way that he shot free throws. He worked hard and was tough.


So since he retired, I've drifted as far as favorite players go. I always had a favorite team - since I moved to Detroit, I have loved the Pistons. However, the Pistons had no superstar, but instead had an amazing team, so I never really had a favorite player, until I read this article:

http://sports.espn.go.com/­espn/eticket/story?page=­090511/billups

And it dawned on me. My favorite player, for awhile, has been Chauncey Billups. I just hadn't realized it.

Every single time he quotes he says the word "aggressive". Every single time. If they're playing well, it's cause they're playing aggressive. If they're not playing well, they need to be more aggressive.

I know his nickname in Detroit is Mr. Big Shot, but I am more entranced with how he always has control. The best PG always have control - Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Jason Kidd - it seems like they always know where to go, what to do, where to make the pass.

You could tell his leadership helped the team. He would calm down Rip would he would whine. He would push Tayshaun along, and help him be more aggressive. He'd help the young kids progress. He was coachable and listened to the coach.

The Pistons were one Robert Horry three pointer away from winning the championship twice in a row. (That's still my biggest sports disappointment; Rasheed leaving Horry wide-open in the corner to double Manu in Game 6 of the Finals with very little time left. How do you leave the best playoff clutch shooter ever open???) I don't think anyone remembers that, really. Everyone just thinks they were the team that got lucky and beat a feuding L.A. team.

I do wonder if he had gotten complacent over the last year. However, I don't think he was I know he was injured, and that really hurt his ability to make plays. It made Stuckey look better than he actually was. The part of the story where he was traded Detroit really hurt me and my view of the Pistons' organization. If you were going to get rid of someone….get rid of Rasheed. You'll notice he wasn't in the three that cried together when they found out Chauncey was leaving. That was Rip and Tayshaun.


I've loved that he has flourished in Denver. I knew he would, and I'm cheering for Denver to surprise and win the Western Conference. The Lakers certainly look beatable now, and I know Denver can beat Houston.

He's wearing # 7 because that's John Elway's number. That's pretty cool.

One of my favorite Chauncey moments, however, was an on-the-court interview that he gave after helping Detroit win some double overtime game.

He didn't talk about his clutch shooting. He didn't talk about his leadership. Instead, he said something to the effect of, "Yeah, it was a great game, and I'm tired, and I have to go be a soccer dad tomorrow. My daughter has a soccer game so tomorrow I'm a soccer dad. I just hope she comes out aggressive."

I did make up that last sentence. But he's a good person too.

That's why my favorite basketball player for the last 7 years is Chauncey Billups.

My birthday is coming up in a few days. A week from today, actually. May 7th. It's the big 2 - 5, which is actually a significant year, a little different than when you turn 23 or 17 and have to make up why this birthday is important. This is an important one.

I have many thoughts concering my birthday. Let me share a couple with you:

1. I'm not especially excited for my birthday this year.

For the past 24 years, a birthday has been a really big event. Especially the last few years. Some examples of past birthday fun include:

24 - Provo, UT - Torrie kept giving me messages all through the night and day, and kept leaving me little clues and treats. (We weren't even officially dating at the time! Ha.) The day concluded with an In & Out Party at Torrie's place (Well, I guess Deanna, Jessica, and Jackie lived there too).





















21 - Rome, Italy - Had an amazing cake from the sisters, drew the Plan of Salvation right outside the Piazza del Popolo (seen above) in front of the Flaminio metro station, and then saw Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte. Awesome.


























13 - Livonia, MI - My mom threw me a party with my friends at Kidstown USA, which was one of those big giant play places. It's shut down now. (Pictured above is Livonia city hall. It didn't even come up in my google image search of Livonia, MI, which included some trash myspace photos of some girl who needs better parenting. Anyway I'm pretty sure there was a whole lot of pizza involved in my party, and no girls, especially trashy livonia myspace girls. (Isn't that sad? You would have hoped that would have stayed in Westland. Burn!) You stay classy, Livonia.

A birthday was always a special occasion to be surrounded by other people and feel loved.

However, I now feel loved everyday in a manner that is stronger and more consistent. I'm no longer on the constant search of love and affection from all of my friends. Now, I have Torrie, and everyday is especially special.

Not that I won't appreciate all the facebook wall notes and many lavish gifts that I'm sure I will receive from my many fans.

2. A birthday is a good chance to review the year before and make goals for the year to come. One advantage of having a May Birthday is it's roughly half the year since Jan. 1st, which is another really good time to set goals. (I no longer make semester goals or anything like that, since I graduated about a year ago.)

So what has happened in the last year? Plenty.

Europe for 5 Weeks
New Job, start a career
Move 900 miles
Fallen in love
Engagement
Marriage
Honeymoon


What will happen in the next year? Plenty.

Children
First Anniversary
New job, new career
Move 2500 miles…at least once.
Buy a house…hopefully

I should correct that. Before you jump to any conclusions, the first option should only be could. Torrie and I are not expecting children at this time.

Life certainly never gets boring! Good thing, too.

You have defaced the good name of Ultra-Clutch!

If you could be any adjective as a sports player, what would it be?

Fast is a good one that comes to mind. This is the one that I'll most often use to describe myself. I may be short, but I can be fast.

If you play for the Detroit Pistons, you better hope that "aggressive" is your word. I have not seen a single Pistons interview over the last 8 years where they didn't use the word aggressive at least three times. Chauncey and Rip led the way. Even Flip Saunders pulled out an aggressive one time. Too bad Chauncey is the only one still using the word, and he doesn't play for the Pistons anymore.

Tall. Long. Big. Powerful. Pick your adjective!

If I could be anything, I would be clutch. The best part about sports is the dramatic moment when the game/season/championship is on the line and somebody comes through. That is the ultimate in sports to me. I now want to tell you the times off the top of my head when I have been truly clutch. Okay, at least somewhat clutch.

Soccer when I was 5.

I kicked in a penalty shot to score a goal. I don't remember if the score was close, but there's a lot of pressure to hit a PK. And I hit it. So I'm going to count it. It's also one of the few times this defenseman I ever scored a goal playing soccer.

Basketball - Church Young Men

Livonia Ward vs. Plymouth Ward.

This was the big game between us and the Plymies. They shared our ward building, and for some reason we absolutely hated them. We hated them! My friend Bethany moved and had to switch wards and I never talked to her again. J/k. Kind of. I have no idea why, but we HAD TO WIN this game.

It was close as the game went on, and although I don't remember the details, but it was tied with about 20 seconds left. Somehow I got the ball and drove for a layup. I got fouled while going to the basket. I had two free throws.

My 15/16 year old self had some of an idea of how huge this was. I, however, told myself it was no big deal. With ice in my veins, I drained the first one. To ice it, I put in the second. The crowd erupted. I was completely focused and stole the inbound pass, and we won.

Basketball - Men

I depicted this basketball game on the blog entry dated the beginning of March and titled "A Basketball Blog Entry". Pretty sweet. Bonus for not being in shape and have only played ball about three times in six months.

Cross-Country

None. I don't remember any times when we just barely won. It seems like we were always barely losing. I had pretty sweet individual races, coming back and beating guys that were ahead of me, but nothing where I really came through for the team and we won.

Track

Again, nothing comes to mind. If anything, our me and our distance team was dominant and did what we needed to do…until the big meets where we would usually fall short by a few points if we were close.

Soccer - Europe

When Torrie and I were in Europe this summer I played soccer on a little cement school playground with a bunch of other backpackers and swiss kids. There were 3 teams of about 7 people, I was wearing sandals…anwyay I scored two goals and we won the championship. It was sweet.

So, to conclude, I don't think I'm really that clutch. Perhaps there's more instances in the past. There are most likely some track/xc items I've missing. There are two periods of basketball not represented - the glory days of the Livonia YM team, the years after the dramatic free throws, where we won every game by like 50. No clutch needed. Also, playing with the BYU interns at George Washington University. I had probably had some clutch times then but I don't remember them.

I do desire to be clutch. However, as I get older, I find less opportunities to be clutch in the sports realm. I guess I'll have to do it with sweet money deals…career changes…great vacations…making my wife happy, or things like that.

Pretty in Pink

For the second year in a row, I found myself in Washington, D.C. during the Cherry Blossom Festival. I took the chance to take some pictures. I don't have too many blog entries that are made up of just pictures, so I hope you'll indulge me. I think they're rather pretty.

We'll start with the Washington Monument.

The Jefferson Memorial and the Tide Basin

The flowers were really pretty!! This was down near the Washington Monument.

Here's a black and white one as well, this one of the Capitol behind the Mall.

The first couple of days were dark and rainy, but Saturday was a beautiful afternoon and a beautiful end to my beautiful 3 days in the D.C. area.

I was in town for some negotiations that haven't been fully disclosed as of yet, so I am unable to make any public comments on the matter at this time.

Highlights of the trip also included dinner at Five Guys with my friends Megan and Lindsay. I lived in D.C. in the Fall of 2006 and will always love this city. Hopefully I'll be able to come back more often as the future progresses.

My first Barack Obama post.

Please.

So while listening to my liberal propaganda for the day, NPR, I heard them talking about the universities of Connecticut and Oklahoma and got excited. College basketball! Yes, they were talking about the NCAA championships and although I knew they wouldn't say anything that I hadn't heard before, I turned it up a little and paid more attention.

Then I found out the awful truth - that they were talking about the girls' college basketball championships.

Now don't get me wrong. I fully support the right of women to play sports and basketball in particular. I even enjoy playing basketball with girls, even though they are usually better than me. (Just kidding. They are only sometimes better than me...though they usually beat me at dumb shooting games like round the world. That one is for you, Deanna.) I think the world is a better place due to the women that do play ball.

But I shouldn't have to want to watch it. I have absolutely no interest in either the college or professional women's game. I don't care.

My views aren't unique. In fact, most of the world agrees with me, I would say. Even women.

So when the announcer lady started talking about how Barack Obama should have not only picked a men's bracket (which I thought was pretty cool) but a women's as well, I started yelling at the radio and pounding it with my fist. How dumb is that? He doesn't care about the women's game, why should he have to?

President Obama had some good insights about the different teams, how he thought Ty Lawson was going to recover in time to lead North Carolina in the difficult games, how he thought Arizona didn't belong in the tournament after their uninspiring season this year, little insights that showed he actually cared and followed the sport. If he had been forced to do a women's bracket, he wouldn't have known anything, maybe what an intern had just researched the night before. His picks would have been analyzed and decided that he was biased against a certain state, and people in West Virgnia would have been mad that he picked his team to be upset or something stupid like that. Get over it! Barack Obama should never have to pick out a bracket just out of political correctness or because he has two daughters. In fact, I like him a little bit more cause he didn't. So lay off him!

And so ends my Barack Obama post. I know I am probably in the minority of young people with blogs who haven't gone on for pages and pages extolling the virtues of Obama and why he's so great and why he's the best president ever. Oh well. I still think it's fun that he picked an NCAA bracket. Can't we just enjoy that? Does everything have to have a political message?

An excuse to put up a bar graph

Long time readers of my blog may have noticed a little uptick in blog entries from me. To facilitate this conclusion, I have done a little research and made a bar graph documenting the number of entries per month since this blog’s inception.












Obviously I’m not a very prolific writer. However, I already have 4 in the month of March and we’re not even halfway done. This will make 5. Many of you may ask, why now, Logan? We wanted you before, why do you make yourself available now? (And are we afraid to ask that question, on the fear that you might go away?) How does the future outlook for blog entries look? Well, let me answer those questions….and more!

Why Now

1. The most important constraint in blog entries has always been time at a computer to waste. I can have great things to write about – aka: backpacking across Europe for five weeks with my future wife comes to mind – but if I don’t have time to write when I could/should be doing something else…it doesn’t happen. My blog is not a priority in my life, sorry folks. I’m a family man.

Although there is plenty of work to do at the Boeing Company, my management has been a little slow to respond to what I have to offer. So, while I’m about done with one round of contract negotiations, I have been searching for things to occupy my time while the next set begin to pick up and I get more work to do. (Don’t worry, the work is coming. I don’t expect to be laid off this year. However, when production gets cut next year…) Writing a blog is a little less blatant than going on facebook all day, as well.

2. I need to express myself. During my time at Brigham Young University, I had many different outlets to express myself. Social settings abounded, I had different sets of friends I could bounce back and forth between and all of my true humor genius could come out. (Just kidding about the genius. But the point is that I had lots of different times to share different parts of my humor with different people who would appreciate it.) Like I alluded to in a previous blog entry, I’m still funny and I need to prove it!

The Future:

I don’t know. So don’t ask. Back off!

Celine Dion and IGoogle

So my home page is my IGoogle home page. At work I use it to get into my gmail from the little window. A little while ago they added themes - I'm sure all of you googlers out there have noticed that. Well, I never could pick on one I wanted forever and ever, and they have a setting that just brings up random ones every time. While this does mean that I'm going to get some weird ones every once in awhile, the variety is good for me.

Well, today I opened up and the Queen of Power Ballads herself, Celine Dion was featured.

"It's all coming back, all coming back to me now....."

Throughout the day, as I would go back into it, they would have different Celine pictures up there.

I found it a little weird, but in the end, okay. I hope she got some money out of it. Somebody better be paid if I have to look at Celine Dion everytime I check my e-mail.

It'd be cool if you could set it up to put pictures up yourselves. Google! I know you're reading this! Make it happen!!!!

1984

So I read 1984 the other day. I think I remember writing an essay about it in high school without ever reading it, but I finally checked it out from the library the other day and read it.

My thoughts on the book:
1. 1984 was the year I was born.
2. It was one of those books that was written not to tell a good story, but to send a message. I like books that do more of the first, though I suppose that every good story actually tells a message. No, this one has no uprising proletariat coming back to restore freedom to the world, it has no Brotherhood actually existing and overcoming, but rather has Big Brother and the Thought Police and the rulers continuing to rule and exert power over everybody else. I understand Orwell’s point. I appreciate it. I don’t think any of us what any of that to happen. That doesn’t mean that I liked reading the book. I’m not going to want to read it again.
3. Freedom is too important and too natural for something like this to ever happen. All men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights is an idea and a thought so ingrained in the world now that a revolution like the one mentioned wouldn’t take hold.
4. I wanted to give a thought on how government isn’t always horrible like the Party in 1984, and that when we read something like this, our knee-jerk reaction is to go all the way back. However, since that reaction is already happening in our society, and I think it’s wrong. I’m okay with government, but I think that, generally, the less we have it, the better.
5. I’m grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ which teaches true, correct principles and then lets us govern ourselves.

An addendum to "A Basketball Blog Entry"

I would just like to mention that Torrie has enjoyed our basketball night as well. She's made some friends by talking to the other wives, and she gets the chance to make fun of me sweating. That, my friends, is a win-win for Torrie.

A Basketball Blog Entry

So a few of you may know of my love for playing basketball. However, ever since the glory days of the back-to-back-to-back stake young men’s basketball championships of the Livonia Ward, I have found it hard to find my niche on the few teams I’ve been on. I’m not a consistent enough shooter, and it’s harder to find quality opportunities to impress people with my speed because I’m not a good enough finisher and big people always seem to be able to block my layups. Add the fact that I never play consistently enough to get over that first game where you can’t make even a single layup, and I find myself not contributing very much to any team that I play on (though, usually, I have a pretty good plus-minus, even though I’m not directly contributing to the score. I’m just saying.)

So, after having moved to Shoreline, I finally decided that I needed to start playing ball again, now with the old men in the ward. The fact that I currently weigh more than I ever have may have influenced this decision.

I showed up last Tuesday and shot a little. One guy from the ward came to shoot as well so we had a little 21 action, where I destroyed him. I was fast and was making layups, and he wasn’t using his body well enough.

So my confidence was a little better for last Thursday’s game. That was a mistake. I turned the ball over like no other, missed a couple of easy layups, and we got killed by the best team in the league. I got bruised up and, being out of shape yet running around, was pretty wiped out after the game.

So it was with a little trepidation that Torrie and I showed up for basketball last night (she watches, I play). Mostly different people showed up for our team, so perhaps I didn’t have the stigma of the game before. We started and I played the second quarter. I played fairly well, including getting fouled on a breakaway and nailing my two free throws, but I did get a little tired at the end of the half and we were still down by about 5.

The 3^rd quarter was played with our “A” team out there, and at the end of the quarter we were still down by about 5. They were playing well, but I knew that the other team was getting tired. I went back in the game about halfway through the 4^th quarter, down by 3.

It was a little frustrating because there were a couple guys who weren’t passing and kept losing the ball on their drives. Luckily we played some good defense, got a couple to go in, and we were down by 1 with about two minutes left.

We brought the ball down and I guess the guy was tired cause he passed me the ball near the 3 point line on the left side. I saw an opening and drove with my left, switching to my right as I went to lay it in. To my dismay, it ringed in and out. However, my momentum allowed me to get the rebound. I passed it away, and a couple of passes later I found myself with the ball in the same situation. I drove again, knowing that I could beat the guy guarding me. This time the layup went in, and we were up by one. They brought the ball down and tried to pass it around. I doubled up on the guy with the ball and he put up an ugly shot, no good. I grabbed the rebound and we brought it up the court, taking our time. I passed it to one of the big guys and set a pick for him. Beautiful pick, and then I went for the roll straight towards the basket, nobody in my way. To my surprise, my teammate saw the opportunity and sent me a beautiful pass, which I gathered in and put in the basket. Up by 3!

The other team would drive down, get fouled, and make a couple of free throws, but we were able to hold the ball long enough for time to run out. A comeback victory!

I felt much better afterwards, and while I still have plenty of room to improve…maybe I won’t give up on basketball after all. At least until I’ve started losing some weight.

Wedding Pictures!

If anyone wants to see our wedding pictures, please go to my wife's blog (the link is to the left), and there's a link to them on her blog. There are tons of them, and we love them.

Battle of Champions - The Result

As I'm sure Torrie can attest, I have spent many hours over the past few days poring over the JB controversary. I have watched dozens of James Bond movies. I have watched hours of 24 DVDs. I've listened to soundtracks from both franchises. We live in serious times, and matters such like this deserve serious attention.

I don’t think that we can debate on the point of which one is cooler. Obviously, without a doubt, it’s James Bond.

He gets the pretty girls. Yeah, a good number of them die, but at least they disappear and don’t have that whole “I love you, but I can’t allow myself to love you” conflict that all of Jack’s love interests seem to have or he has with them.

He goes to pretty places all over the world. Jack Bauer spends all of his time in CA…well, he went to Africa this summer. Whoop-de-do. That can’t compare to Switzerland, Venice, Italy, London, Jamaica, and the list goes on and on and on.

But that’s not what my question was – who would win in a fight?

I see a dark alley, we’ll say in Washington , D.C., cause that’s where Jack is right now, and Bond is more likely to go there than ghetto LA California. Jack is where jeans and a black t shirt, partially stained with blood from the last time that he was tortured by the government while pretending to be a terrorist. His gun is at his side – he doesn’t really have a favorite, just whatever he stole from the last terrorist that he killed. He has been on the search for a mole in the FBI, and as a door opens and light spills onto the dark pavement, he sees his target: James Bond.

Bond has just walked into the alley in a tuxedo, leaving a fancy casino-like party where he has just beat a criminal mastermind in baccarat. He is expecting to make his way back to his hotel, where the mastermind’s girlfriend/wife will be waiting for him. Instead, as is wont to happen, he encounters someone – Bauer – who has snuck up behind him and pointed his gun in his neck. “Tell me what I need to know,” he whispers, followed by a yell: “WHO IS THE LEAK???” Bond has no choice but to react with a quick line: “Well, good evening, are all Americans as friendly as you?”

Bond reacts by slamming his head back and turning around, knocking the gun out with a karate chop. Bauer reacts by going to punch him, which Bond pushes away, somehow flipping Jack over. (Remember how often Bond does that in the old movies?) Jack gets up by kicking Bond down and jumping on top of him, with a tussle. He goes for a couple knock out punches, which James manages to avoid before pushing Jack off. Jack realizes he is next to his lost gun, which he grabs and points it at Bond – who already has is Walther PPK out and has shot Bauer’s gun, knocking it out of his hand.

They then have a conversation and realize they’re fighting for the good guys, and then go their separate ways, but Bond has won. Jack’s expertise is more in firearms and torture, unraveling government conspiracies. James has him on everything else. Advantage: Bond.

And this has to be true, because it’s now on the internet.

Battle of Champions

I’ve seen articles and discussions where people compare superheroes and who would win. (The answer is and always will be Superman. Duh. The number of reasons for this is simply too many to explain in this blog. But…come on. Superman.)

Then there is the “mere mortal” version of such discussions. There are a few usual suspects here as well:

Chuck Norris. Now, I’m not going to touch Chuck Norris here, cause he makes me laugh too much to take him seriously.

Jason Bourne: Are you kidding me? Jason Bourne would beat anyone…and would beat most superheroes as well. It’s no contest.

However, I would like to submit the following controversy for debate:

Two of my favorites. I’m finding it hard to pick sides:

Jack Bauer vs. James Bond.

Let’s get a quick tale of the tape here:

Famous Quotes: “Bond, James Bond.” “WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!!”

Drink: Vodka martini, shaken, not stirred. / Does Jack Bauer drink?

Girl: A different one every time. / Teri…Nina…Audrey...

Clothes: Tuxedo / Messenger Bag

Sidekick: Felix / Tony

Technical Help: Q / Chloe O’Brien

Superior: M / President Palmer

Location: Exotic locales all over the world / Los Angeles

I’m going to take the next few days to participate in some serious thought and introspection to decide what I think about this most major of topics. I invite you all to do as well. Feel free to post your comments, and I’ll finish with my answer in a few days as well.