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...

Some quotes from the talk I found quite inspiring: Are we consciously creating righteous traditions, or is life just happening to us? Are our traditions being created in response to the loud voices of the world, or are they influenced by the still, small voice of the Spirit? Are the traditions that we are creating in our families going to make i...

mesa u said in ur last blog that u didnt feel like writing that best b a fase i wont let u quit cause u could become a really famouse poet so if u quit then i quit this site and wont tlak to u deal or no deal like the show christine p.s.i aint joking ill quit talking to u..........eventually.........hopefully..........maybe..........not.........

Okay...  We just got back from a little trip up to Ryan's house so he could sign us up for a loan that'll make it so we can make quite a bit of money saving up for life insurance (too much info for one paragraph to sustain, so.. we'll leave it at that) Anyway, on our way home, it began to snow, and snow quite a bit harder than I've ever see...

In the beginning of this chapter, I didn't realize that the book to which the verses were referring was the Book of Mormon. I guess this chapter answers the question, "What is in the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon?".  The answer is quite simply found in verse 10:  "...for behold, they reveal all things from the foun...

My brother and I are really close with each other. We usually go out of town with our parents. Since we only have each other (because we are the only children that our parents has), we see to it that we will have many happy memories with together. We have different likes and dislikes when it comes to having a fun time. He loves swimming and I don&r...

It feels quite refreshing to be able to understand more than just a couple of verses again.  As I was reading tonight, I realized how much could be written about this chapter.  It's quite full of good doctrine. Here's what I noticed tonight: From verse 1 until 6, Nephi seems to be trying to explain the "hard to understand" n...

The golden rule seems to have come out of this chapter. The first thing that caught my attention in this chapter is the possible meaning of verses 4 and 5.  the "mote in thy brother's eye" verses.  Some people would interpret this as "live and let live", or "worry about yourself, not others".   To...

Okay.... Yes.. Collin knows he's cool.  Actually, he's just happy to be on his way to Monterey to enjoy the various wonderful goings-on there. Anyway...  I thought I'd list the reasons I love Monterey while I'm waiting for everyone to get ready for the day.  So... Here goes: By far the best reason to come to Monterey Califo...

SO I've always wannted to go to Rcks ( BYU IDAHO) well two more years and I'm so there. I got my PA to help me find info about it, today I had a pack from the collage come in the mail. I was so exited! The best part it, Sara is also planning on going that same time I am! That would be the best thing to ever happen to me.  I mean Sara is my ...

What do you get when you mix a couple of black lights, a fog machine, a strobe light, a dark hallway, and a couple of demented minds with Halloween?  I'll tell ya what you get: A whole lot of scared teen-agers. WOOOO HOOO!!! With the debut happening just last year, there hasn't been a whole lot of time for refinement, but all things cons...

Quite a few people have been wondering how they can get RSS feeds which are specific to the individual users of ILoveMyJournal.com.  Until now, they couldn't. ILoveMyJournal.com now has feeds which will contain public posts from only the user you're interested in! To get it, you simply click on the RSS feed logo found within the user's blo...

So, in the business of audio recording, it doesn't get much more fundamental than 1. Room Acoustics, 2. Sound Source, and 3. Microphones. One of those three basics is about to get a serious upgrade here at Advanced Budget Studios. Today, Michael Joly of OktavaMod is modifying two Apex 205 ribbon microphones, and will be shipping them back ear...

So, I've been surfing around the net today, figuring out how I'm going to work in the new website with the old one and what-not, and while doing so, I found out that apparently, Art City Sound is nothing but a big piece of Volvo heavy machinery.  Take a look at this link for proof.  (link here, too).   While you're at it, take a...

I honestly hope I'm never in the position to deliver a speech as the one Jacob records in this chapter.  Holy moly. He condemns pride, people seeking after riches, and chastity breakers to a degree not many other speeches can. I wonder if the words he wrote were the same words he used in the speech, because a lot of the metaphors he uses a...

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 ...

Hmmm....  It's hard to write about something so wonderful when I'm not in the mood...  But I've found that when I feel like "blah", and I write about something wonderful, I usually am feeling closer to wonderful when I'm done... So, here goes. First off, I'm at work, so I don't have any pictures, but I'll update it when I get...

I was sifting through my various RSS feeds a couple of minutes ago, and one popped up from TomsHardware which I thought might be interesting.  So I opened it up in my browser, and before I could even read the title, my eyes were drawn to this ad by Microsoft.  The image itself isn't very funny, but man-oh-man, the captions which came to m...

I read Alma 34 two days ago, and haven't written about it.  I hate it when I don't have time to write about the scriptures when I read them, because each time I read them, I feel something different about different portions of the scripture.  Ah, well..  I'll read it again and see what happens this time. Right out of the gate, Amul...

The first thing I thought of when reading this chapter was, "Man, if my teenagers (or young adults) came to me and asked if they could go to a nation bent on destoying ours, and teach them the Gospel.  Man... My initial reaction would definitely be one of incredulity.  No wonder they had to pester Mosiah for so long before he'd even ...

Since I've been job-hopping for the last bit, I've had the chance to install fresh gentoo builds on quite a few 64-bit computers in the last couple of months. I've also been looking at different IDEs for PHP development.  After using jEdit now for close to 5 years, I've gotta say the one which impresses me the most is Zend Studio for Eclips...