Insanity...

I found this video on YouTube today and I'd like to share it with you all. If this is not the most freakish, disturbing display of.... good grief I don't even know what of but it really disturbed me.


Part of me wonders if these children even know what the hell they are even singing about. I was even more disturbed at the lyrics after the initial shock wore off...

We're gonna spread happiness
We're gonna spread freedom
Obama's gonna change it
Obama's gonna lead 'em

We're gonna change it
And rearrange it
We're gonna change the world.

Now's the moment, lift each voice to sing
Sing with all your heart!
For our children, for our families,
Nations all joined as one.
Sing for joy and sing abundant peace,
Courage, justice, hope!
Sing together, hold each precious hand,
Lifting each other up;
Sing for vision, sing for unity,
Lifting our hearts to Sing!

YES WE CAN (insert puking sound here)

So... let me get this straight. Change the world... Rearrange the world... Nations joined as one. This would be an awesome concept... in Soviet Russia. This is what I don't understand about these nutjob liberals/socialists. Socialism has failed, over and over and over again in all other parts of the world. What could possess anyone to believe that it will work here in America?

Often times I feel like I'm starting to become one of the few people in this country that enjoys my individuality, that enjoys the government not being in every single facet of my life. I don't want to have the same life as my neighbor. I don't want massive government sponsored initiatives that force us to live in perfect government mandated peace and harmony. I don't want people to be punished for being successful so that their money can go to fund the lazy and uneducated. I don't want "running to Uncle Sam" to be people's first option when it should be the complete and total last resort.

But like I said, sometimes I think I'm the only person who feels this way anymore.

Fantasy Football Goodness

So its been a little while since I've posted anything in the good ol' blogger blog, so I thought I'd get started with an intro to Fantasy Football 101. Rule #1: Its a bad idea to invite your wife to your fantasy football league, and an even worse idea to play her early on in the season.

This is especially true when your wife has exceptionally good luck, as mine does. This week I learned a true lesson in humiliation as my Hatemonger University was completely demolished by the Bookworm Tarus - 112 to 57. Yes, she about doubled my score... awesome! With this public spanking I fall to 2-1-1 which puts me one game out of the division lead and half a game back for the lone Wild Card spot. Suffice to say I'm not in a great spot however there is 10 weeks left in the season, so there is still hope.

Liberty City Online

So today while I was laid up on my couch with a crippled back, I decided I could use some much needed entertainment. Having never tried the multiplayer games in Grand Theft Auto IV I decided I would give it a shot.

First off... if I ever find the genius at Rockstar that decided the multiplayer needed a specific port for data transmission, I will beat them to death in their sleep.... I'm just saying.

At first I couldn't figure out for the life of me why I couldn't connect to a multiplayer game over XBox Live. It would start to connect. I'd hear the punks talking on their microphones. Then bam disconnected. At first I thought maybe it was due to server load but after several failed attempts to connect to various games I decided there must be some other problem. I should note that this is the only XBox 360 game I own that has had this problem... so I was very confused as to the source.

Some digging through Google provided my answer: Port 3074. All game data routed through that specific port. The voice chat was routed through the main XBox Live servers which was why I could communicate with my charming partners in crime. Needless to say, I was mildly upset. My network at home uses two routers which makes setting up a dedicated port a pain in the rear to say the least. I also learned that Windows Vista has no Telnet client installed by default... awesome.

After some time I finally got the routers configured and was able to connect. In my first glorious battle I had the immense pleasure of running over a 10 year old brat with a full-size truck, then getting out and gunning him down while he was dazed from the impact.

Then came the intelligent retort over XBox Live voice chat...

"You mother f***er! I'll f***ing kill you! I'll f***ing KILLLLLLLLL YOUUUU!!!!!" Yes, this was from the 10 year old who's cracking, trembling voice disclosed his prepubescent status.

Ah, Liberty City, the Home of the American Dream.

MoTab and the Osmonds

Tonight was probably one of the most weird, interesting mixes of musical performance I've ever seen at the Conference Center. The Tabernacle Choir and the Osmonds had a joint performance for the Pioneer Day celebration.

Let's get one important fact out of the way... my iPhone takes hella crap pictures in any situation involving reduced lighting, so I apologize for the poor picture quality. Note to Apple: Yes, I would still be willing to buy your phone if you had tacked on another $40 to the purchase price for a few extra camera features. Now, time for some sweet, sweet forbidden pictures. (ADD moment: I'm not entirely sure if this is indeed forbidden pictures, since they only asked for no FLASH photography, and my iPhone clearly has no flash.)

Now, since my dad is in the choir I have had many opportunities to be to various MoTab performances. And I must say, this is by far the worst I have ever been to. In fact its probably the only concert I'd place in terms of "worst" - most of the time I compare the concerts in factors of how much "better" one is over the others. It is, however, also the first concert I've been to since Mack Wilberg was named the successor to Craig Jessop. I am hopeful that this is not a sign of things to come.

(No, this is not a picture from my camera, its a snapshot from the broadcast pulled from a DVR)

Not that I'm saying the performance was trash. It was very well done, but I found the song selection by the Choir to be somewhat... lacking. All of the songs performed by the Osmonds were energetic or fast paced, yet every time the Choir stepped up to the plate the songs were slow, quiet, and came off very bland. I also was a little down that this performance contained exactly zero new musical content from the Choir. I felt like they had fallen back on many of their older peices for some reason... perhaps to play it safe or to not take too much spotlight from the Osmonds. Whatever the reason, I think it backfired on them.

Never the less, I did enjoy myself and it was a great evening Downtown. I also got a great picture of the temple on my way out on this beautiful July evening.

Pioneer Day!

One hundred and sixty-one years ago, a large train of wagons pulled into the valley which would later be the home to Salt Lake City, Utah. They were the first pioneers to arrive, but certainly not the last. Their stories are of faith, of courage, and of adversity. And its to those brave men and women that we owe our way of life here in Salt Lake City.

Today we had a great family get together. I don't get to see this side of my family nearly as often as I would like, but it was wonderful to see them all. We had a barbecue featuring hamburgers topped with homemade guacamole, corn, and watermelon. It was a pretty good time.

Here is my nephew Jaxson showing off his mad swinging skills. He was actually doing a pretty good job of keeping himself going in the "flying like a bird" position.

My niece, Kiera, sporting her mullet-bowlcut hybrid. I was able to take this between the repeated demands for more pushes. Yes, I am a sucker for little girls with mullets... does anyone else find that disturbing?

This is Oliver, one of the multitude of dogs we had at our family event. His lightning fast reflexes and prowess in battle made him the ideal competitor...

... versus Marley, Destroyer of Worlds. We had to keep him tied up because, as his moniker implies, he was frequently trashing the watermelon table. We decided to pit these two ferocious beasts against each other in deadly combat for our amusement...

... Or not.