Okay..  I've never thought of this before, but, how convenient do you think it was for Samuel to climb up on a wall, built around a city most likely to keep people out?  Yeah, I don't think it could have been that easy.  How often do we find any reason at all to get out of doing what God wants us to do?  Well, God told Samuel he...

So two days ago, I found myself on the same stage with the same band I've been with for the past 5 (or so) years, playing pretty much the same songs. Except, this time, something was different.  As I walked around looking at all of the awesome vehicles on the grounds, there was just something wonderful.  I have no idea how to describe i...

Anyone who knows what Helaman 12 is all about is probably wondering how in the world I could label this chapter as "Happiness".  hehe... Yesterday, I was having a very interesting conversation about happiness with a dear friend of mine, and oddly enough, today's chapter was Helaman 12, which of course, talks all about the frailties...

Amazing...  It's almost unbelievable that in the space of less than 13 years, a whole nation can go from being wicked, to almost dying of hunger, to becoming incredibly righteous and prosperous, and then coming back to being so wicked that the combined armies of the Nephites and Lamanites can't defeat the wicked part of the people. I've bee...

So, a few weeks ago, the studio acquired a Jackson electric guitar and didn't really have any experience with it.  So a good friend and client of the studio came in and messed around a bit with it, and using a great dual-mic technique to get the most out of the amp, we managed to get a very, very nice guitar tone out of it. Soon, it will be ...

So, due to the success we've been having with the studio, we were able to upgrade our two in-studio guitars.  We bought a new black Crafter acoustic guitar, which sounds just awesome.  One of the new Herod The Fink tunes will feature the Crafter, and we're excited to get a final mix to see how it sits within the music. We also bought a ...

Amazing.  A couple of chapters ago, I was commenting on the sad state which Nephi found himself in, and the amazing faith he must have had to remain in a state of faithfulness to God, when everyone around him was wicked. I guess that's the way it goes.  God tries us to our breaking point, careful not to give us trials beyond our capabil...

Seems that the testimony of Nephi against the people of Zarahemlah was centered around their disbelief in Christ.  Interesting that, as soon a Satan has control over a people, Christ is the first doctrine which is attacked. Also the story of the finding of the murderer of Seezoram is interesting through the eyes of the foreknowledge of God.&...

Hey Guys, Okay so its been a really really long time since I last wrote anything.  I just recently remembered my password and that is a really big part of my reason for not writing.  I know this is suppose to be like a diary (right or wrong?), but I would perfer to think that its more of a letter to a best friend (hope that don't sound ...

So...  I remember Nephi coming back to his own people and seeing them in a state of wickedness, but I didn't remember that he had just been on a mission where everyone in the land northward rejected his word, too.  That would be an incredible test of faith in an of itself.  Only the most stalwart followers of God, in my view, could t...

Haven't even started reading this yet, and I know I'm in for a doozie.  Amalickiah, in my estimation, is one of the truest Nehor-ites in existence.  Absolutely no morals, no regard for anyone but himself - even if it means killing many people who he claims to love.  One of the most dispicable humans ever to live on earth.  Now, ...

 So, I haven't been one to get on the 31 days of Thanks in November, just because I generally think it's shallow to do such a thing only in November, as we should be doing it all year round, but that, in itself, is even more shallow, because I've never ended up actually doing anyhting of the sort, ever.  So, this November, in the Spirit o...

Ever since I built my first computer with a K6-2 200MHZ processor back in 1998, I've never looked back.  I've been an AMD guy my whole computing career. Recently, AMD has been having some tough times with their processors, and understandably, people haven't been buying their stuff as much. For what it's worth, I definitely had my doubts ...

Hehe....  I love it when I learn new stuff about Springville. I had no idea that there existed a place in Springville that was absolutely perfect for racing.  Now we're talking 0-80 MPH racing in a straight line.  Nothing curvy or anything like that.  So... Anyway... My co-worker, Steve comes into my office (or rather, the...

 Just thought I'd spread the love... If you get these errors while trying to load Enemy Territory Quake Wars (ETQW), on a Linux box (most claim to have Intel HD graphics cards)   ERROR: idMegaTextureLevel::EmptyLevelImage : generated image has an incorrect internal format (0x8050 expected 0x83f0) It also throws a couple of warnin...

Wow...  3rd Nephi 17.  This has been one of my top 5 all-time favorite scriptural chapters since I first read it when I was 14.  I love it. The first 6 verses, to me, envelop the love Christ has for us, and the appreciation He must feel when we show our grattitude toward Him.  There were no words uttered by his audience, yet H...

I was recently reading this article about yet another virus which affects Microsoft.  In reading it, some of the comments below stated such things like, "The patch was already released, so just run your auto-updater and be done with it!".  Seems logical, right? Yeah... Actually, it does.  The exact same mechanism exists ...

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...

"Is this week already over??"  Wow...  I guess it's Saturday night.  Yup. This week, the studio has been packed.  Full house.  Monday was the only day without sessions, and that was on purpose.  Tuesday through Saturday was full, and that's the way we like it here at Advanced Budget Studios. Yesterday and...

Due to recent events in my life, I've been feeling a little like the waves constantly lapping at the shore - in motion or at unrest.  I know the sounds of the ocean usually bring a feeling of peace, but .... not if you're in the water.... :) Anyway...  This feeling of unrest has brought on a bunch of thoughts and ponderings to me as I'...

Last Saturday, I woke up much earlier than I should have in order to go down and help my good friend Scott wash his cars, in preparation for his selling them. After washing his other two cars, we decided to wash my car, and to be honest, I was a bit skeptical as to how this "great new car washing" system would work.  Well...  ...

Ya know...  I thought that with 4.5 hours of sleep last night, I'd feel a heckuva lot sleepier than I do.  I guess miracles do happen. Since our wonderful Samuel was born, my wife and I have been getting considerably less sleep than we otherwise would.  This is to be expected; it comes with the whole package of parenthood. I ha...

Growing up, I'd have to say that I was a bit of a pious punk religiously, but I was so due, in large amount, to my being incredibly naive. To demonstrate my naive-ness, I really thought that being emotional was pretty much the same as being spiritual.  Yes...  Believe it.  I was naive. One other bit of heretical doctrine I beli...

The new lamp for my projector arrived today and much rejoicing was heard among the land. Since our lamp burned out 5-8 months ago, we've been using a TV to entertain our kids, providing them with movies and TV cartoons and all the other goodness with which MythTV blesses our lives. With the return of our lamp, I wanted a way to extend the life ...

Just in case you haven't heard the latest about Tiny Boats' debut album release, a good friend of the studio, Matt Mylroie, a music producer in Florida, had these good words to say about The Broken Vessels. A portion is quoted below, where the full review can be found here. "This album is hard to describe, but it is a fantastic blend of ...

I just got done making the video for this entry, so take a look if you've got a high speed Internet connection. Today was the 2nd day of the Ed Roth Memorial Reunion held in Manti, UT. There were finksters-a-plenty there on Friday, but even more on Saturday.  I lost count of how many Rat Finks I saw. So, because the days were packed, ...

So a little more than a year ago, I took my mustang out for the first time on the Salt Flats.  I had a blast out there with my good friend Steve. On the way home, Steve had some problems with salt lining his rims, causing some tire imbalance, so we  got off the freeway, I showed him what the problem was, and as I was getting back on th...

Three things stood out at me during tonight's study session: 1. I wonder where the translation of the plates of Lehi are right now?  I've never read the history of the Chuch, so I don't know if it's documented there, but Joseph Smith had them, and had them returned to him after he lost them.  Did he destroy them?  Are they somewhe...

Update:  Due to the popularity of this post, some people are having a hard time viewing the video posted above.  If it won't play for you, simply wait until the gray progress bar has filled 1/4 to 1/2 of the way before you press play.  That should do the trick. Yesterday I took the day off work to go to my bother's sealing to his w...

Since I began using Ardour to record music, (and more music), I've always managed to have the same problem crop up, year after year.  The symptoms of this problem are annoying to say the least. I'm running all my audio through an M-Audio 1010 digital interface and I use envy24control to monitor and adjust the channels via. software.  I ...