Our youngest left his teenage years behind and entered his twenties today. So strange. Also, so proud of the man he’s becoming.
Plus, his grandma (his only living grandparent…) hit a home run with his birthday presents, as seen in this photo.
With this birthday, the family takes another step forward. I guess that’s what families do. We’re lucky to be his parents. We’re lucky to have him as part of the clan. Happy birthday, son. Here’s to many many more.
Since that's all there is, I take notice.
I heard about a local high school football player Jerome Myles when he de-committed from Ole Miss, igniting the hope of many around the country that he might end up at their school. He recently posted a list of his Top 10.
Simply amazing.
The young man has the opportunity to attend the best college football teams in the nation. If he signs with any of them, does good, and stays healthy, he's golden. When I look at his post, it's almost unbelievable, considering how difficult it is to be recruited from these schools.
It's also an honor for the U of U that they're considered a choice. It is a local school, of course, but in many pre-season polls, Utah is considered by many to be a Top 10 school.
Like I said, I don't know him. I hope he makes the best choice for him and his family. My selfish side hopes he chooses that local option, but if not, I hope he says healthy, doesn't get too full of himself, and uses his God-given talent to bless his family, his fans, and himself.
Looks like he's got a bright future, indeed.
That's where I found this...
A team photo of Gordon Hayward.
That simple photograph tells a lot about the restaurant.
For those of you who don't know who Gordon Hayward is, he's a professional NBA basketball player who recently announced his retirement after14 years in the league. He played for our local NBA team from 2010 to 2013 when he left in a not-so-amicable manner. Many die-hard Utah Jazz fans would not be thrilled to see this particular photo hanging in a local establishment.
Part of the reason it's probably been allowed to remain is because the owner was not a big Utah Jazz fan. Plus, it's supposedly signed which makes it kind of cool, so maybe the owner thought that the patrons might enjoy seeing the framed photo. Also, we're a 90 minute drive to any local games which a true fan might not want to live so far away from the action. Add to the fact that the restaurant has changed hands three times in the past two years means that the person who originally hung the photo is no longer with the company and will not face any fan backlash seeing #20's face smiling at the patrons.
Of course, my theories could be completely wrong about why the picture remains hanging on a wall in a local restaurant. It is hanging in the hallway that leads to the bathrooms, after all.
I've seen Deseret Industries with less stuff to sell.
They had...everything. Appliances, DVDs, clothes, collectable dolls, dishes, at least seven fax machines (that I counted...), food storage, and books. Lots and lots of books. I noticed one right off the bat, Robison Well's The Counterfeit. I've read a couple of Robison's books. Never heard of that one. I had to get it.
I've been doing this author thing for about a decade. In that time I've met many authors. I know some better than others. Robison and his brother Dan are local favorites. It's strange that I didn't know these people a decade ago and now the authors I've met are some of my favorite people.
Something that surprised me from the start is, at least the authors I've met, is how nice and genuine they are. Almost all of them want you to succeed, to finish those WIPs, to be bold in the words you produce. I'm thankful for those friendships. I'm thankful for the help they've given not only me, but so many others. I'm thankful that when I enter a home with literally hundreds of books from both big and small, I found one written by someone I've met and done panels with and who I can call a fellow Utah author.
It's a cool feeling.
I've always loved watching track and field.
To me, it seems track and field is sort of the red-headed stepchild of the Olympics. There's so many events in track and field that it takes up most of the second half of the games. It's not flashy (most of it...). It's not gymnastics or basketball or swimming. Still, I think some of the most amazing displays of human strength and agility can be found around the track and on the field.
I can't say none of it is "flashy." The sprint races are insane, culminating on the mens's and womens's 100 meter races. So much emotion over in under ten seconds and just over ten seconds, respectively. Maybe I like it because I see people doing things I could only dream of, like a basketball-loving kid watch their idols in the NBA.
I think if I had unlimited funds and opportunity, if I could attend one Olympic venue during the games, it would be sitting among the tens of thousands of fans in the big stadium getting blown away by some of the world's best athletes put on a show.
For me, it's just the best.
It was some random thought I had while outside last night.
About thirty-five years ago I thought I wanted to start a comic strip. I came up with a character, Eliot, the Ultimate Introvert. Eliot was a monster living in Lake Loch Ness. After I came up with the character, I asked myself, how do those who write comic strips come up with the incredible storylines day after day, week after week, year after year? They were so creative. How do they do it?
I came to the conclusion that creativity is something that becomes easier the more you do it. If you think about the comic strip, the ideas come. The same can be said for photography. A good photographer will see things others don't see, even though they may be looking at the same thing. A photographer's brain has trained itself to see the unusual, the creative.
What does this have to do with a pattern created by sunlight from a setting sun bouncing off a house window? The writer will see the pattern and wonder if it could be a way for a story to begin...an unsuspecting youth, for example, when trying to catch a thrown football falls and flies toward the family's newly-installed vinyl fence. Knowing he's about to destroy the section, the child closes his eyes, waiting for the inevitable crash, and the expected scolding from his stern father.
Instead, he finds...
Nothing.
No crash, no splintered vinyl falling upon him as he hits the ground. The boy looks up and sees a brilliantly blue sky. He rises and is surrounded by wild flowers and tall grasses. He looks about and sees himself in a field, not a human or building in sight. What happened to the fence? What happened to his house? Where the heck is he now? And most importantly, how the devil is he going to get back home?
Yeah...just some random thoughts I had last night.
Taking a shot of the moon with my phone camera is always risky, and by risky, I don't mean problematic, but more...the shots almost never work out. You know, photographic risky. A few weeks back, I found myself outside, atop a gently rising hill overlooking a valley bathed in moonbeams.
I took a picture, then another. Then, I sort of forgot about it. I take so many pictures (but, not too many...). Currently the count is over 48k in photos on my computer, over 2k in videos (not so much a videographer...).
But, I looked at the photo from 7/19/24...not too bad.
I'm amazed at how technology directly affects our lives. I'm also amazed that no matter how incredible the tech, it rarely matches what the human eye can see. It's the old "the photo can't match the real thing" thing. Theh photo lacks emotion, lacks a soul...the soul only the viewer possesses.
Still, looking at the shot reminds me of a full summer moon over a northern Utah valley.
And it makes me happy.
