Today is December 4, 2009

Another beautiful Friday here in Utah. Amazingly, it really hasn't snowed this year in Utah (where I live at least) and it is December 4th. So, while it is the Christmas season, it hasn't quite felt like Christmas. Well, at least its cold. I'd have to say that I'm not a huge fan of the cold. In fact, I prefer to feel absolutely hot. I love the feeling of being in my car with the heater on and its about 150 degrees in the car. Probably a bit much for most, but alas, I like it hot.

My brother Dennis and I just finished a response to an RFP (that's code language for a bid) to the government. It was no less than 100 pages of hoop jumping and frankly that is just the beginning. We have to register with about 5 companies to submit a "Small Business" bid. The government is one huge mess of paperwork. But, if you want to play their game (and I really don't) then you have to jump throw their hoops. It is rather impressive if you like that sort of thing.

We're making progress on Jonah. We have this wonderful thing where Jonah is going to drop from the sky into our Ocean stage. Of course, to get this done is rather complicated by insurance. We're pretty confident that it can be done, but we'll have to see on the pricing. On other Jonah fronts, we're closer to getting artists signed and the sets are looking rather spectacular. Perhaps, too spectacular as it was pointed out to me that it will take some time to actually get them built on stage and that a simple up and down for a traveling show might be a trick. It is interesting to have to put a show and film together at the same time. I think most people if they could imagine all of the details would say that it is impossible. But, here is to impossible.

My daughter Aria came up with, I would have to say, the most logical career choice for herself. It just makes so much sense. She wants to own a florist shop. This makes such sense as she is phenomenal with people, excellent in marketing, has a strong business sense and loves flowers. I think that this is pretty cool.

I've decided that I blog better than I can write a journal and while I doubt it ever gets read by anyone, I can take all of my blogs over the years and make that my journal. My Dad is writing his life history one year at a time. He is up to 1969 now. The details from either his memory or, more likely, his notebooks that guys back in the 60s used to always keep handy is rather impressive. He knows how much money he made and how many movies he saw (not to mention a bunch more details). I'm so impressed. I couldn't remember what movies I saw last week. I have the worst memory unless there is a number associated with it. I'm pretty certain that when I'm "really old" that I'll be mumbling numbers one after another. I can still remember my first bank account number (1532108659) back when I was 18 or so. I type it all the time when I'm on a keyboard with a 10-key. Strange isn't it.

The lights are up at our house. I'm getting better at not obsessing over lights when some of them go out. I've tried a few times to actually repair those stinking, twinkling, bedeviling things. They're rather impossible to fix. Yet, I know that there was this guy who every year fixed the lights for the Los Angeles Temple. He said he would fix about 20,000 lights every year of the 200,000 lights. Amazing. Apparently, I need to get more practice as I've never successfully fixed a string of lights. My current technique is to try and shake them into working. Surprisingly enough, it has worked a few times. Kind of like banging the TV back when. That actually seemed to work.

Last, but not least for today's entry, I'm preparing for the Mapleton 21st Ward Young Men's version of "A Christmas Carol, the 8-minute version." Should be quite the fun.