1766 vistors and counting

I have reached the highly valued number of 1766 visitors to my blog. When I started my blog, I had no idea who or how many would actually read my ramblings. But surprisingly many have read as well as commented my blog.

I had received well wishes during happy events. Others had empathized with me about issues I've faced. I have received some good comments on political discussions. One was from an anonymous commenter who raised some good points and I would have loved to known who the commenter is. Some I've agreed with, some I have not, but all I have enjoyed discussing.

I have also enjoyed linking to other blogs and keeping in touch with others. Like with my sister in California, a brother in Wyoming. Family and friends around the valley.

We have been encouraged to keep journals or diaries for future prosperity. My blog is the closing thing I have to that.

Thanks for reading. There will be more rants and ramblings in the future. Especially when football season starts up again. I can't wait for that.

Random things

June in Utah is normally a very hot and dry time. But this year it has been most unusual. Rain on most of the days, including my birthday. Not just small rain storms, but major downpours. Living in the desert, we are always thankful for rain. But I still cannot get used to it. Must be what it feels like to live in Seattle.

The new temple is having an open house for the next few months. Yesterday we took the kids and went through it. It is very lovely. I loved the design of the building, inside and out. Very good art, stone stairs and big light fixtures. Unfortunately, Michael wanted to touch everything and so was running all over the place. It was very difficult to keep him in line. Other than that, we enjoyed it very much.

I have been asked by a few friend on what is the best movie I have seen so far this year. I have seen X-men, Star Trek, Angels and Demons, Terminator and Up. (Only paid for 1 of them.) Of all the movies, the one I want to go back and see again is Star Trek. It was very good and I still enjoy looking up the trailer for it on the Internet.

While I blog I am checking out a new show called "Wipeout." It looks like the American version of MXC. I enjoyed that show and so far, I am enjoying this one two. Lost of spills, slips, falls and mud baths. Check it out if you want to laugh.

34 years on the planet...still cannot find a good cheese steak sandwich

34 years ago:

Wheel of Fortune started.

The Pittsburg Steelers won the super bowl.

Charlie Chaplin gets knighted by the queen of England.

The Vietnam War officially ends.

Bill Gates starts a small company named Microsoft.

Jimmy Hoffa disappears.

The last Apollo space flight is conducted by NASA.

Robert E. Lee finally receives a full pardon and is restored to full citizenship.

Saturday Night Live begins on NBC.

The Cincinnati Reds win the world series.

Andrew Dufresne escapes from Shawshank State Prison.

And

A very unusual boy was born on June 9th (Not an actual picture of boy, but a very good likeness.)

New Twilight New Moon Trailer

This post is brought to you by an effort to stay ahead of Jen by having more posts than her. Men always try to make everything into a competition, don't they?

The trailer for the new Twilight movie "New Moon" has been released. It looks cool. Check it out at the below URL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYBF3HKzrmE

Prop 8- The people's will

Today we learned that the California supreme court voted 6-1 to uphold the recent voter passed constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a woman and a man. I felt 2 things when I heard this.

1. Surprise. This court was the same court that despite a previous voter ban on same sex marriage, disregarded and removed it. When pro marriage groups got enough signatures to place prop 8 on the ballot and asked the court to delay removing the ban so that voters could say their voice (again) on the matter. They said no and let 18000 same sex unions proceed before the people had a chance to vote. So this court has been very supportive of same sex marriage. I expected them to slap the people in the face again and strike down prop 8. But they upheld it. That surprised me.

2. Gratitude. I have always felt that the ultimate power should always reside with the people. Even if the people make a poor choice or chose to not make a choice(like only voting in general elections and missing primaries.) Ultimate power should still reside with the people. The people of California had spoken in 2004 and again in 2008 that they wanted marriage between one woman and one man. Even though the 2008 election was won overwhelming by liberal or left leaning candidates. This conservative prop still passed. I think the court saw this and President Obama has also seen this as the will of the people and both have finally fallen on the side of the people on this issue. The fact that it was a close vote does not change the fact that the majority have spoken. People can no longer blame specific organizations or individuals (like Miss California) for this. The people have spoken and that should be accepted. If the election remained close but those for same sex marriage would have won. They would then have accepted the will of the people. This could happen in the future and so if people are for same sex marriage, they should uphold the court's ruling. Or they cannot rely on the people's will when it falls on their side.

I think that the California supreme court is still a friend to same sex unions as they ruled that the previous 18000 same sex marriages are still legal, even though the people voted twice to outlaw it. This issue will return very soon. We may need a federal constitution amendment to address it permanently. But proponents of gay marriage know they would lose that fight and so will keep their fight on the state level.

Editorials I found to be funny

Lots of news about Obama & Pelosi recently. I found some editorials humorist and thought I would share them.

There's Klingons off the starboard bow

Today I got to see the new Star Trek movie on an IMAX screen and have been happy the whole day because of it. Many people have asked me about the movie and this is what I've shared with them.

Back in 1980, if you saw "Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back" in theaters during the first week it was out. You learned that Dark Vader was Luke's father from the movie. But if you saw it after the 1st week it was out. You learned that from someone who already saw the movie and was talking about it. The movie was that good that people were talking about it for a whole week after seeing it.

That is how Star Trek is going to be. The movie is so good that people will be talking about it after they see it. I think that it will be this year's "Iron Man" or "The Dark Knight." It should make around 100 million this weekend and I will be helping it get to that number as I already want to see it again. So unless you want to learn about the movie from other's descriptions, you should see it as soon as you can.

I was also impressed with another thing. This is the 11th movie and there have been 5 TV shows in the Star Trek universe. Which would make it hard to create an original movie in the series since it has done many different shows already. Plus you don't want to conflict with previous shows. This movie was able to tie itself into the past movies and shows. But it was also able to find a way to free itself from those past movies and start something that they can take into any direction they want. That was the most impressive thing to me. They can make as many sequels as they want and not worry about conflicting with previous movies.

So if you have planned on seeing the movie at any time, I recommend doing it soon. Let the movie creators be the one to show you the new story rather than learning about it from someone else. Everyone will be talking about it, trekkies and non-trekkies. So get your tickets now.