Awhile back, I found that many DVD titles released by Sony weren't able to be viewed with mplayer.  This annoyed me. So, I investigated a bit and found that VLC (another wonderful media player) could not only play them back, but also rip them with ease.  Up until a bit ago, this has been the case since the writing of that article. Whe...

Last weekend I went to Arizona to see my brother Greg, my sister Andi, and my friend Natalie compete in the Ironman Event. I put together a video which pretty much sums it all up.  I hope you like it....

I recently wrote a piece about how much I miss the things that used to come so easily before I had children. Although everything I wrote is true, writing that article caused me to reflect on how lucky I am to be a parent at all. The things which I now miss due to parenthood are luxuries related to selfishness.  The things I enjoy because...

Ya know...  I've told many people this, but I'm not sure I've told you.  If I have, suck it up and listen to it again. When I got married almost 6 years ago, I was preparing for the worst.  People told me that marriage was a jar to the system, the knock-out punch, the "learning" experience, and many other metaphors basica...

I just got back from a lunch with a long-time friend.  You know the type...  The type of friend who has shown true colors throughout the years, and whose colors you've grown to love. Yeah..  Anyway... We got to talking about some pretty cool stuff that I thought I'd write down, just so I can go back and read them again. The ...

Ya know... I didn't know if I was going to blog about anything this weekend, but something just happened definitely blog-worthy.  Nothing insane, but something that I think people might find interesting. You know, I've always heard that cats have nine lives, but I've always kind of been the one to keep that in check.  No, I don't shoot ...

As a S197 Mustang GT owner, I never thought I'd write about this particular subject, but then again... ...I had never actually seen one on the road, either. All I have to say is - Wow. Dodge definitely did their research on this one.  Although it was all due to the success of the S197 mustang body style, of course, but man... That car ...

I'm not in the mood to write much, but I figure that since work is kind of slow today, that it would do me good to watch and write about a conference talk right about now. Elder Perry's talk seemed to talk about a topic which would benefit a lot of people today - simplicity. As far as I go, I can think right now of one specific thing which I co...

This morning I decided I'd start the traditional blogging of each general conference talk from the last general conference in October. As President Monson began this talk, a familiar spirit filtered in to my office at work and inevitably, my heart was opened to the inspired words of our wonderful prophet. I'm so grateful for our church.  I...

Okay...  So about a month ago, I sat down at my keyboard and plunked out a few notes.  About 2 weeks later, I gave a rough copy of a mash of music to my friend, Ryan Phillips, and had plunked out some sweet riffs to it. Two weeks later, I add some vocals and effects, and this is what you've got. I hope you like it.  (press the ...

I'm always slightly dumbfounded while pondering on the things that wicked men come up with to justify the signs given by prophets... "Oh no, we can't hit this guy who is telling us we're wicked, so he must have a devil!  GET HIM!" "Oh my!  All these miracles that are happening just as the prophets said they would - can'...

Okay...  I remember having read this awhile ago and cross-referencing Alma 16:10 about the destruction of the city of Ammonihah in one day, but I didn't remember that it wasn't a prophet who said that.  It was one of the non-believers.  One of the people who was trying to refute what Alma was talking about up and said, "yo,...

For those of you who don't know, in addition to running ILoveMyJournal.com, I also run an inspirational website called LDSCompanion.org. Today when I arrived at work, I had an email from someone who had pressed the "contact us" button. The message I recieved encapsulates the entire reason I created that site, and caused tears to well ...

This chapter is full of doctrinal nuggets. Some things I noticed this time around which I haven't noticed before are the following: Verses 6-8 are primarily about the importance of revelation.  We are told this importance is denounced by our time's people in 2nd Nephi 28:5-6.  I had never made that connection before. Interes...

Ya know, I sure am glad that Nephi wrote verse 22 of this chapter.  In all of scripture, this is the only chapter which uses the word "flaxen" to describe the way Satan tempts us. Flax is a fiber from a plant which is used to make linen.  Linen isn't known for its strength. Satan indeed does "lead us" with very ent...

Oh, man...  Where do I even begin this post?  And from which angle?  How about I just start typing and figure it out when I'm done....  Yeah, that's what I'll do. I just finished reading this Microsoft article which explains, using no uncertain terms, how to get "IT Management" to see the "value" in upgrad...

I just got back from a lunch with a long-time friend.  You know the type...  The type of friend who has shown true colors throughout the years, and whose colors you've grown to love. Yeah..  Anyway... We got to talking about some pretty cool stuff that I thought I'd write down, just so I can go back and read them again. The ...

 So, with the new G+ hangout update, all of my Chrome extensions quit working ("My Hangouts", "Hangout Canopy", etc...), and I was wondering how in the heck to find hangouts to meet new people... Well, it's actually very easy. Within G+, search for #hangoutpost Then, in the drop-down right-side of the submenu, click &...

Well, people....  Most of yesterday (until this morning around 12:30am) I spent trying to figure out what to do about my email situation. Here's my situation:  I get so much friggin' spam, I can't stand it.  This shouldn't be news to anyone.  The person who receives no spam is a person who doesn't have an inbox. So, I decided ...

Ya know...  After reading this through, with the previous chapters I've read in mind, I think I'm understanding a bit more about what Abinadi is talking about. The wicked priests quote him the scripture in Isaiah which says that prophets are supposed to proclaim peace in order to basically tell Abinadi off, because he was definitely not proc...

First off...  I'm beginning to understand just how much of  a camper / outdoorsman I really am not.  We brought the family up to a water park for a vacation yesterday and Monday, and I tell ya... on Monday, I had an absolute blast.  On Tuesday, it was all I could do to keep from just hopping into the car, and driving home the mo...

Wow....  I guess all of our babies couldn't be 100% perfect in the birthing process. I thought I'd have written 2 or more entries by now, but...  Things definitely are dynamic with birth, so ya never know. If you haven't read the pre-post and the first post on Samuel's birth, I'd recommend it, just to catch up... After the birth,...

I've been finding it hard to write / blog lately, simply because I have no desire to write.  I've been thinking about this for a bit, so I decided to write about ... writing. In order to write  / blog, I have to have something to write about - obviously.  What isn't so obvious is, I always have something to write about. I came to...

A couple of days ago, I wrote a post about failure and innovation.  I had just seen the movie "Meet The Robinson's" which is a movie all about creativity, failures, leaving the past behind you, and always looking forward. Well...  Orson Jones gave a pretty incredible link in the 1 comment in that post. The comment containe...

The thing which resonates so much with me about this chapter, is how true Moroni is to himself and his God.  Truly, the last thing he wanted to do is to kill thousands of his brothers, yet he had to.  He knew his lifestyle, freedom, religion, and family were more important than letting themselves be put into bondage, and the Lamanites wou...

I love the feeling of Elder Uchtdorf's talk.  We really have no basis upon which to judge each other.  We need to accept and love each other.  "Do unto others that which we would hope they would do unto us" Seems like we need to actually do the work we need to do.  Christ "did" the work, he didn't delegate ...

About a year ago, I wrote about some feelings I have toward caffeine.  Since then, my feelings haven't changed much. I try to limit the amount of caffeine consumption in which I partake.  You know, the whole "moderation in all things" crud... Well...  Through this year, I've tried quite a few different caffeinated bev...

As you most assuredly can see, if this is on the front-page of I Love My Journal, there have been some major changes here. It all started about 2.5 weeks ago when I started reading some great comments people have been posting, and some really good entries from jonzee, and catherine.hahn.  I felt people deserved a better place to post both th...

I just finished putting my 5-year-old and my 3-year-old to bed. Earlier today, they both went to the dentist to have a check-up, and for Luci, it was a semi-traumatic experience.  She did really good, but at one point, she was seriously distraught about this gun-looking thing which sprayed water everywhere, and the vacuum they were going to ...

My mom called me up a couple of days ago to give me some not-so-great news. My dad got fired from his job.  Now, those of you who know my dad know that he isn't "fire-able" material.  While he was employed at his full-time job at the prime of his life, he happened to "keep a job" for more than 15 years, so...  ...