Tuesdays with Muerte

Absolutely Enveloping!  I've never been so taken in by a role-playing activity.  During our debriefing at the Purple Turtle, we all agreed that they kept us so busy, we didn't have an opportunity to see anything  else anyone was doing, let alone have a moment to take a deep breath. I attribute the positive Space Camp experience to the following three things: The teenage administrators were excellent.  They constantly kept us on our toes. Having terrific memories watching all of Star Trek: TOS and TNG television series. Participating with some of my best friends. If I were to do it again, I will: Brush up on my Star Trek protocol.  e.g. set speed, then "ENGAGE!" [point at main console]; any time my first officer makes a request, agree with, "Make it so, #1." Pay for everyone.  It was only $165 total.  In retrospect, I'm very sad that I asked for $15 from everyone this time around.  The reason I did so was to ensure ...

Short, but sweet: NBC's Smash  is Glee for grownups.  I watched the pilot , and really enjoyed it. Things I liked: I love the cast.  Each of the following people played their parts to perfection: Debra Messing  as Julia Houston, [4]  a songwriter/lyricist and the musical's co-writer Jack Davenport  as Derek Wills, [4]  the brilliant (and womanizing) director of the musical, who is hoping for a breakout with the musical even if it means putting the lead in a compromising position Katharine McPhee  as Karen Cartwright, [4]  an  Iowan  who lands a successful audition and becomes the favorite for the role of Monroe Christian Borle  as Tom Levitt, [4]  Julia's co-writing partner on the project Megan Hilty  as Ivy Lynn, [4]  a veteran actress who was favored to land the Monroe lead until Karen came into the picture, and finds herself competing with the newcomer Raza Jaffrey  as Dev Sundaram, [4] ...

It's reassuring for a woman to hear her man be very vocal about his emotions in response to what she is saying and doing.  She looks to him for that reassurance. "Manly" stoicism is not attractive to most women.  Keep her in the loop on what's going on in your mind; even if it's just basic stuff.  (E.g. respond frequently with "I like that.") Men: Never presume to know how a woman is feeling, has felt or will feel.  E.g. When breaking up, never say, "I can't imagine how you are feeling."  Don't even place yourself in your partner's shoes for a moment!  Instead focus on expressing your own intentions. Instead say, "The very idea of hurting you makes me feel terrible." Time is precious.   My time is precious.   Here's the background I'm drawing this from—In episode 5, set in Puerto Rico, all the women who made it to the top 10 seemed to agree that there is nothing more precious than personal time with t...

Image Source: LDSscriptures.com I Want to Study My Scriptures Digitally.  Which App Should I Choose? In my opinion, there are only two contenders for LDS scripture studiers.  Both are good for different reasons. The LDS Church's Official scripture study app, Gospel Library , is most likely going to be around forever, while, we never know how long a third-party app will be around. The LDSscriptures  app was the first on the market, and boasts many more features that the Church's official app.  The Church seems to just be copying whatever this app does well. For now, I'm going to use the Third-party app for quick referencing (e.g. hymn singing, searching for content), and the Gospel Library for marking and writing.  (I want to make sure my information is backed up on official Church servers.)  Don't Know How to Effectively Study on a Mobile Device? Afraid of making the change over from paper to digital? Not sure you'll be able to leverage al...

Jeff Hofmann wrote an  AMAZING blogpost  about a Robert Burns dinner we had.  Jeff's a smart, funny journalist. And he's my friend. You can watch a bunch of videos, one including me singing, delineating the events that make up a Burn's Supper. Quick Robbert Burns Facts: After Queen Victoria and Christopher Columbus, Robert Burns has more statues dedicated to him around the world than any other non-religious figure. J.D. Salinger’s famous 1951 novel ‘Catcher in the Rye’ based its title from a poem by Robert Burns ‘Comin' Thro' the Rye’. The Soviet Union was the first country in the world to honour Burns with a commemorative stamp, marking the 160th anniversary of his death in 1956. A translation of ‘My Hearts in the Highlands’ was adopted as the marching song of the Chinese resistance fighters in the Second World War. American music legend Bob Dylan selected Burns' 1794 song 'A Red, Red Rose' when asked for the source of his greatest cr...

I fixed my vintage Macbook.  After 6 years, the fan started to give out.  It made a horrific noise like this .  I called to see if the Apple Store would fix it.  They called my computer, "vintage" and said that they don't service my kind anymore. That's OK.  I had taken my computer apart to upgrade the RAM and the HD before.  Could the fan be much more difficult?  (The answer is, yes. I soon found out that the only thing more difficult to replace is the motherboard itself.) I took it all apart, took out the old fan, dusted the innards as best as I could, disolved the hardened thermal paste on the heat sync, only to find out that I purchased the wrong fan.  So my computer sat in pieces for a week before the correct part arrived in the mail.  (Fortunately, those replacement parts were only about $15.) 35 screws later, my computer is working as good as new.  Now all I have to do is figure out what to do with the 5 extra screws I ...

This story is horrifying. I went to Walmart specifically to buy a particular blu-ray disk and a special brand of potato chips. You should know,  I have some history with Walmart. I've never really been comfortable browsing the Wally-world isles.  However, since the fateful day that I stumbled upon the first few seconds of an objectifying and degrading music video about men going to Walmart to pick up loose women, I haven't set foot in one.  That video scarred me. So now, I'm afraid of Walmart.  It's a weird, personal phobia. Anyway, I purposefully navigated my way to the movie section and was calculating the most-direct route to the chips when it happened—the 2-year-old in the shopping cart next to me started baying at the moon-like, incandescent lights above us like a little wolfcub.  At first, I was disarmed by the cuteness.  Then, almost immediately, I was taken back by the sound of a piercing return-howl from a slightly older sounding wolf-wa...