The Over Active H.O.A.

My wife and I live in a wonderful building with lots of people around . We've met many great friends. We've met many people that don't want to have friends. The building is primarily divided into two groups. Either young newlywed couples or old people who purchased their condos years ago and want to micromanage everyone else. The homeowners Association in our building takes pride in how many different "friendly reminders" they can issue and post all around the building. The little bulletin board that sits in the elevator is never empty. There's always a note reminding us too, "please remember to park in our own assigned parking stalls", or "please remember what to recycle" and so on and so on. These notes are great and helpful for some but I find for me and my wife here sometimes over the top and invasive and juvenile. In fact some of these notes actually end up having handwritten notes with three bottles combating want to send the notes or explaining reasons why these things about the taking place. I just seen since I've lived there for the last 7 1/2 months that this system of the homeowners Association has is not very effective. We love our neighbors love our home we have great peace there but it is funny that sometimes the notes in the elevators become the conversation pieces for people that we invited for building. I didn't see it changing any time soon and it really isn't a super big issue but it is something that I've noticed since living there. But I can't complain to mush, the h.o.a. Does allot to ,make sure our building is well taken care of and up to date. So if notes all around is they kind of thing that keeps the nice stuff happening,..... Well then..... I guess I will deal with the waisted paper with a smile.

The blog

So I am not a blogger. I never have been. I don't think I will be after my writing class.  I think of my lack of love for the blog stems from me feeling that my opinions are no more important than anyone else's. I know some people use them as a way for family to keep in touch, or to be updated on the current events of others. As for me I like to keep in contact through phone calls or through other means.
I don't really enjoy sitting down and writing my thoughts just for fun. I don't really actively participated in any of the social networking websites or other forms of media. Because of this blogging has been a challenge. I think that as I look over my blog. It seems that I can very easily get down on different subjects and just sound like I'm ranting. I guess this is probably what we're supposed be staying away from, but it's what comes easiest and most natural to me as I'm asked to write thoughts experiences and insights. So for me blogging is a huge experiment. I hope to gain a new found appreciation for it. I hope that as I am actively trying to get my blogging done I will find a love for blog........

Teenage sass

Teenaged sass
So I have had the lovey opportunity to spend time with my family over the holiday weekend. Our family is in a very weird place right now. It is a time of partial transition for my parents. the transition from being crazy mad house parents to becoming empty nesters. The older boys; myself included,are all out of the house and married. The sisters are on missions. And then there is Meg.... Oh what a bundle of joy she has been to our family. She is constantly reminded of the fact that she is the baby and that is her permanent fixed position our family. She is ten years younger than her closest sibling. Somshe grew up with seven and sometimes even eight siblings. Life has been sorta strange for her. but to get to the point of my blog rather an drag on and on about how hard her life has been, she has turned twelve this year..... Need i say more? She has started the wonderful time in life where you know everything, or you think you do. This weekend was a strange flashback to my later high school years when my other two younger sisters started in on this fase of life. The constant whining backtalk ,stopming,drama and muttled comments were almost more than i could stand. And for a moment i was actually partially glad that i didnt have to spend more than a few days in close proximity to this venom queen. I was tempered by the sweet reminder of my wife though,..... The idea shared by my wife still haunt me...." hey, you were that age one too". Wow, talk about a reality check.... Man I do not miss those days.

Moving

For just one minute put yourself in my shoes I'm 6 foot three. I weigh 290 pounds. I'm athletic. I have tried to stay healthy. This puts me at a great disadvantage in the church. Not in the terms of the gospel. But in the terms of being asked every weekend to help someone move. I don't have a problem with moving. Moving is actually a very good thing it helps remind me constantly of my need for service. I believe it services essential to making a well-rounded person. My father demonstrated for me for the time I was young , how I should render service in this way. So I don't really have a problem and helping people out. But when there's 2 to 3 moves in a weekend and I am moving people from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM. It makes it quite difficult for me to accomplish things I need to accomplish on typical Saturday. Saturday for me is the day to accomplish the things that I put off during the week because of school and work .

So, when I am obligated for such a long time to help people move it becomes quite a father. I know this may sound very selfish and that this entire blog article might come off as me complaining but know that I do not mind helping in fact actually enjoy helping I enjoyed being called up on because I do strongly believe that it helps me be better but when is enough enough I believe that if you say no to someone helping them move should be look down upon or make you feel that this might be a little selection of our own guilt. We are told by Church officials and also by those in church leadership that we should be eager to serve. Christ himself said that when we are in the service of our fellow beings we are only in the service of our god.   I believe a inability to say no I know this has seemed like a rant about my selfishness or my bad nature toward moving. I don't think that everyone should always have to give up the whole Saturday to help someone move to me and make sense that we as a people try to help out but when the person has the means and the ability to accomplish the move without using the Elders quorum moving service, they should do it.

Happy fourth.

Happy fourth of July everyone. Today we celebrate the anniversary of our nation's Declaration of Independence in 1776. This is one of my very favorite holidays. I like it because it is usually warm outside, I'm usually with my good friends or family and I usually get to see fireworks! What more could I ask for than good friends, good fun and good things with which to occupy my time. Thank you to all those who are currently serving or have served in the military. You have helped me personally to have the freedoms I have. Freedom to me is one of my very favorite concepts as well as principles of the gospel. It's hard to believe that a bunch of farmers could have set up and inspired such a influential worldwide movement simply because of the injustice that they felt. It has inspired and insured personal liberty for countless people and peoples around the world.

The honor code

Okay, so I'm a little bit upset. I walked out of class only to find a dent and scratch on the bumper of my brand-new truck. No one was in sight, but I looked at the mark on my bumper and I could see that someone had tried to rub off the paint with their fingers and made a break for it.
This is especially upsetting to me because this happened in the BYU Salt Lake Center parking lot. Going to BYU has been a great change for me. I'm not used to having an institution's honor code dictate much of my life outside of class. Now I'm not saying that I go around and live my life very raucous or out of control but it is interesting to me that students pledge to live a certain standard and the actions of whoever did this seemed to clearly go against it.  This, to me, makes the act of someone hitting my car and not leaving a note even more disturbing. I believe this is a direct violation of the honor code.  
We won't cheat on a test or steal someone else's work but we can hit someone's car and drive away without saying so much as an, " I'm sorry!"  We've been told by Church officials since the restoration of the church in 1820, that honesty is the way that we should conduct our lives. My car got hit. And no one said a word...... What!  I know that if I hit someones car, I wouldn't brush the paint off of the bumper and try to make a dash for it.  I've been taught that when I've done something wrong I should stand up for my own actions and take the punishment or take the consequences of my actions. We all make mistakes. We all messed up. I'm not upset at people making an honest mistake. And if they had left me a note, I don't think that I would've been as upset. 
It's a bummer because it's a brand-new truck, but, all in all, I don't really mind that someone had a little bit of a mistake. What bothers me and gets under my skin more than anything is that the finger marks were there where they had obviously rubbed on my bumper.  It just shows me that someone knew what they had done and then drove off without saying what they had done.  So what do you think.? What would you have done in this situation? I don't hate the honor code... My car got hit. And no one said a word. Please leave me your comments.

video games..... How do you really feel....

Video games for me have always been away to clear my mind and release from some of the stresses that I have in my life. However I've heard more and more articles and media outlets attacking the practice of older people playing video games. I believe that video games are not a bad thing. video games if used in moderation can be a very helpful tool to help you clear your mind and relax, but I think like so many things can be taken too far. When it comes in between you and your wife and your communication or in the way of you getting the things you need to taken care of done, it has been taken too far. This is never a positive thing. But this can also be the case with just about anything. You can't be too addicted to watching sports on a Saturday afternoon. You can also be too addicted to your high-performance motor vehicle. You can be too addicted to fashion and going shopping. You can be to addicted to the opinion of others. Just about anything can become your modern-day addiction. This makes it all the more important that you have a balance in everything you do. I know many people that have different ways of releasing from stress that have become negative in their life. People I know have let their friendships get in the way of their lives. They have let there work get in the way of their lives. They have let many other things get in the way of them accomplishing what they need to do, or being a productive member of society. So like anything in life if video games are your way of releasing this can be a positive thing. Now also I'm not what people refer to as a gamer,... So my opinion is just that,.... My opinion. I love the mindless release from reality that can come through gaming,... It just needs to be kept in check!.....