Awkward Encounters: The Drinking Fountain

Introducing the Awkward Encounters Series!

Today our first entry is the public drinking fountain and the awful things it can do.

Most of us have been in that situation: a leisurely stroll down a hallway, humming to ourselves while our brain reminds us we need more spit in our mouths. Such a place was I not one hour ago at Utah Valley University. Whilst walking to my class I happened upon the computer science building's 4th floor fountain. This marvel of creation, shining in all it's chromal glory, beckoned me to alter course and partake of it's wiles. I succumbed without a second thought. 

WARNING! The long range sensors told my body to go to Yellow Alert. A proximity probability alarm had gone off. On a similar course was a fellow student, walking my way. There was yet no evidence that she would come into my flight path, but the possibility was there. At what I thought was the last second, I went to flank speed for immediate rendezvous. I walked hard and fast, nonverbally communicating my bold declaration that I was going for the fountain, and all beware!

And then...it happened.

She turned swiftly, and in the blink of an eye reached the water! ALL ENGINES FULL REVERSE! I had lost the race and had to take on the role of the awkward bystander. I stood still, blinking, like I had just been tazed and forgotten my name. But tragedy led to triumph!  Did you know that this can turn into a positive outcome?

You see, in my haste I did not take into account the other student's situation. She had almost butted in front of me to get there first, I realized that she must feel partially embarrassed as well. Now what makes this positive? In her shame of cutting me off, she felt the only way to compensate was to cut down her drinking time. To 2 seconds. 

And then she was gone. She had barely put her head down before she left. I got to the fountain with no one behind me. As a result, I had all the time I needed. You see, if I had gotten there first I would have to limit my time to de-awkward the situation. One always feels pressed to finish quickly if there are waiters in line.

But it didn't happen that way. Sometimes coming in second pays off.

BY EXECUTIVE ORDER

2-17-2015

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE SUPREME COMMANDER

EXECUTIVE ORDER 17:

"The Space Between My Ears shall be immediately  reactivated, and placed on active duty until further notice."

"Furthermore, this shall serve as a place of learning for the individual, where conversation, opinion, culture, and entertainment  can be  discussed in detail so as to examine every part of a principle or concept. If there are those that be offended, so be it. One can either examine his/her belief systems and choose whether or not to explore them, or take great offense and walk away in rage. So be it. This site is for one's own personal learning  and betterment. 

This is the personal space of Andrew. My words are my own."

EXECUTIVE ORDER TO BE CARRIED OUT IMMEDIATELY

Question Yourselves

“There has been a great difficulty in getting anything into the heads of this generation. It has been like splitting hemlock knots with a corn-dodger for a wedge, and a pumpkin for a beetle." -Joseph Smith

I think I'm stating to understand how Joseph felt (in the smallest degree), and so it continues to this day. What is the deal with the hypersensitivity of this world we live in? Why do we take immediate offense and assume everyone is out looking for contention? Why can we not have a good debate/analysis without loosing our heads? Good grief, how would the American Revolution have happened if someone wouldn't have pointed out why the Sugar Act or the Stamp Act sucked?

 We NEED to ask questions. And you know what? We need to be offended! So many of us don't engage any new concept or principle because we become so rigid and hardened in our beliefs. And worse, we don't ever question them! We stick a belief like it's some cardboard box in some upper closet and only pull it out when it is being attacked. But even during an attack, so many of us don't look down at the dusty, broken box we hold and ever question WHY we are defending it. I know what this is like. I, sadly, used to be a Conservative Republican. 

See? I did it again. I offended someone by taking a crack at Conservative Republicans. But my intent was not to simply rag on that particular political persuasion. Now many people who read this aren't' acquainted with  my sense of humor, so let me explain. I realize this was a poor method of motivating a conservative to examine his/her belief system, but that is my motivation behind making a crack at them. I'm sloppy at times with how I present certain issues which are important to me. I get it. But in the debate I want to make my motivations clear and just get someone to stop and ask, "Wait, why do I believe that?" Why do I defend it?" So, my preamble may suck, but my body and summary are often more effective. This happens when the conversation begins. And that's a great start, the CONVERSATION. I just want people to THINK. 

Unfortunately there are usually two closed-minded responses to this: 
1-People who refuse to question their beliefs because they take offense.
2-People who are more concerned with keeping everyone happy.

As annoying as these responses can be, the second one I feel is worse. I took a debate/argumentation/analysis communication class a few years ago for my major. I'm SO grateful for that class. Until then, I did not know how to separate emotion from my debates. The professor taught me how. It wasn't an overnight process, and I still work at it, but I wish more people would take the time. You can have wonderful debates without contention. One problem is, that some people don't think it's possible. They are more concerned with other's feelings and maintaining good relations between everyone. That alone is not bad. Moderation is often needed for sure. But when keeping others happy becomes more important than exposing false principles and practices, then nothing gets done. Things will fester and only get worse. It's like shooting yourself in the foot, or punting a football down the road.

 Some times, you just need to speak your mind and not give a rats crap about offending others. Sometimes, we all just need to talk about an issue and resolve it one way or another. Whether some agree, and some walk away still holding to what they believe, fine. But lets TALK and QUESTION. Unless we do this, nothing will happen. Nothing will get done.

And if nothing gets done, I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

The Man Behind The Curtain

My name is Andrew Jeppesen, and I love you.

I have a firm belief and a sure knowledge that making friends and enjoying interactions with other people is a necessary part of our lives. Without these interactions, earth is a dark, foreboding place. There is so much we can learn from those around us. All of us, no matter what walk of life we come from have unique life experiences. There is so much to learn from others, even those that seem the most ordinary. It is these spheres of friendship and camaraderie that make my life worth living.

This week I mislead a lot of people on Facebook into thinking I was having a complete and total breakdown in my personal and religious life. I never actually said as much...just a few ambiguous statuses and a link to a dim-witted ex-mormon's reasons as to why he left the church. The motive behind this charade is quite easy to explain. What all of you saw is my final project/thesis in my Comm 3500 Social Media Studies class. 

Now for a moment of painful honesty: I chose this topic and project myself. All of us in class had to design our own final projects. At the time I didn't know the narrative I was going to follow. All I came up with was that I wanted to change my voice on social media. At length I came to the conclusion that the only way I could elicit an sufficient response to collect my data, was to play the religious card. Again, I never mentioned anything concise about what I was doing, but I posted things to see the conclusions people would draw. However, I think I moved far too quickly. This was supposed to go on for 2 weeks. It lasted 3 days instead. The abrupt change was...well too abrupt. It turned into more of a shock and awe campaign than what it was originally intended to be.

Going back to what I said at the beginning, I feel very strongly about friendship. I have always identified myself as a principled man who strives his best to live those values he proclaims. My conscience was screaming at me every step of this process, and after seeing the mayhem that resulted I determined that I had gotten all the data I needed. That's why I ended it today. I couldn't do this for 2 weeks. People that you call your friends, should not be used as merely a means to an end. I ain't ever gonna do this again. This was a project, not a test of friendship loyalty, not a cry for attention. And I am very sorry for it.

And so that's that. I love all of you, I really do. We have met under different circumstances and in different places, and yet share the same common feeling of camaraderie. And the messages that some of you sent me were touching and poignant. They really moved me. It gave me a glimpse of how awesome all of you really are. One could not ask for better friends. I apologize for the confusion and panic some of you must have felt during this week. Rest assured I have learned my lesson and will look for better ways of studying my discipline of Communications.

Now go take something away from Conference. :) 

Journal Entry: November 29th, 2008

I'm feeling nostalgic today. And so out of the clear blue sky comes this never-before seen look into my journal! I chose it out of random. Don't know why but here goes:

"I had better record the events of November 29th, before they all leave my mind. It has been nearly 2 days of high and mixed emotions for the whole family. Here follows the account of November 29th, 2008, the day Rachel got married!

The twenty ninth of November dawned cold and cloudy. My slumber was ended by my alarm clock, which dutifully awoke me at 7:25am. I listened to the radio for a few moments but didn't really hear any of the words that were spoken. My thoughts were focused on the events that were about to transpire on this day. At 7:30 the alarm sounded again and though the bed was soft and warm, I knew it was time to get up.

My Sunday-best clothes were a little on the wrinkly side so I walked upstairs to throw them in the dryer. After that I shook myself awake in the shower. The warm water always helps wake me up in the mornings. I paused briefly to thank higher powers that I was able to get this day off work. I got out of the shower and started getting ready to go. My clock now read just before 8:00am, Kathryn and Justin were coming at 8:30 to pick Kenneth and myself up. As I walked out of the bathroom I passed Kenneth's door and heard his radio on as well as sounds of someone stirring out of bed. Good, no need to wake him up.

Now dressed, I paused to look around my room for a moment. It looked just the same, but I pondered the many life-changing events that I had been a part of while living here. Those events made this room of mine a museum of a sort (to myself), and as always I felt a quiet reverence for the good and wonderful things that I had been blessed with up to this point. I then pondered the events about to occur and wondered when I would get to that point.

Nostalgia behind me, I went upstairs to the kitchen to find something to eat before we left. Moments later Kenneth came up, on his phone-Kathryn and Justin were running late but they were close. My "breakfast" consisted of leftover mac and cheese with some green jello salad. Not a healthy breakfast by any means, but it filled the can.

Kathryn and Justin arrived at 8:45. There was no time for idle talk as we were expected in the temple at 9:10. The car ride was uneventful. Topics of conversation mostly focused upon the day's coming events.

We parked under the conference center, ascended to ground level, and walked across North Temple to the square. The weather was in the high 40's I think, but it felt cold nonetheless. There was no wind however, and so it was easy to bear. There were also threatening clouds above us but they never produced any rain. The spires greeted us, along with Moroni of old, my forever-hero of the entire book that bears his father's name.

Entering the Salt Lake Temple is always a special privilege and today was no exception. The temple has many tunnels and rooms underneath it. This is were we entered, and made our way to the waiting room. As is standard procedure at Jeppesen family gatherings, we were dwarfed in size compared to the other family. But it's never bothered me, just means we are tight-knit.

We were ten minutes late but it was okay since we still had twenty minutes until the sealing. Off came the shoes. Although the wait was twenty minutes, it seemed like only a fraction of a second. The rest of the families showed up. It got way out of hand in terms of the noise. I am always bugged when I feel I am the only one in the room that thinks it is too loud (in the temple I mean). Kenneth and I were deeply offended at how loud it became and how idle some of the conversation was (seriously, who cares about what Tiger Woods is doing while you are in the house of the Lord???). Luckily, just in time a temple worker put a stop to it just as I was turning red. She kindly reminded everyone where we were.

Our party was called and we began our walk upstairs to the sealing room. As we walked I admired the pioneer workmanship that went into this temple. Those guys sacrificed and consecrated so much so it could   be. And what a job!

We arrived at the proper sealing room and both families took seats on both sides of the room. Dad sat next to Keith Sorensen and they both acted as witnesses. The sealer then took the time to speak to both of them about what it was they were doing. He had some excellent advice about marriage. I hope everyone was listening because he truly was speaking with authority and the spirit.

I'm not quite sure, but I think someone was sitting next to me, just beyond the veil. It was only the vaguest sense but it was coming from the empty space to my right. It felt as thought there were a lot more people in this room then could be seen. I thought about it as much as I could, but then I have always considered myself to be less spiritual then others in my family.

The sealing commenced. Covenants were made before God, angels, and witnesses. Blessings, glorious blessings were promised. Looking into the mirrors was cool as it always is, seeing everyone disappearing   into eternity.

The sealing being completed, we all walked out of the room and congratulated the bride and groom. I congratulated both of them. And though this marriage has been months coming, I decided that I need to get to know Scott better. This year has been so hectic, with drama from friends and girls, that I feel like I have not taken more time for that. I just adjusted to actually having a brother in law, so now I have two!

So we all walked back downstairs. At one point, Kenneth and I mused about wandering off and doing some "exploring." But there were temple workers (a.k.a "guards") everywhere. Prudence prevailed. So down we went to collect our shoes. Then all of us went to the lobby to await the bride and groom's grand entrance. This seemed to go on for an eternity. I was able to snap some cool shots of the temple and Moroni. That never gets old.

The air was pretty cold, but no wind or rain ever came which was quite a blessing seeing how winter was well under way.

FLASH! Out came the bride and groom. I had slapped a new 4gb card in my trust Canon S5 so space was not a problem. I think I ended up taking 200 photos. We spent the next few minutes walking around temple square taking pictures at different places. I say we because I was not the official photographer. But I was always close to him, taking pics at different angles. Rachel asked me specifically to do this and I thought it was a great idea. The more pictures the merrier.

Poor Rachel looked so cold after a while and I could see why with her dress. The rest of us had nice warm coats on. Fortunately Scott had her slip on a coat in between pictures to warm up.

The pictures being done, we all walked over the Lion House for the luncheon. The food was scrumptious! I relished every bite. Kathryn, Justin, Kenneth, Glenn, Aunt Kathy and I all sat at the same table. We started with a salad, followed by the main course which was some wonderful chicken with a cool glaze over it. Man was it good! Dessert was a berry pie. I was stuffed but it was well worth it.

The luncheon was then over and so we all headed home for a breather. But before we left we all took some more pictures in the Joseph Smith Memorial building.

We started setting up for the reception around 3pm at the Farmington Arts Center (I think that's what it's called). Such stress and confusion I have never experience, even on my mission. Poor Mom I thought was going to go bald with the stresses of everything. We worked for hours to get it all ready.

Kenneth, Justin, and I were able to sneak out and head to Burger King for some quick food before heading back. That was much needed.

The reception started and some of us were lucky to not have to stand in line. Just Mom and Dad. The rest of us munched on cake and I ate wayyy too much cake.

About 9pm everything started winding down. Rachel and Scott took off around 9:30. Some of us totally trashed Scott's truck. Although one Scott's friends put some toothpaste in the door cranks, which I thought was over the line. But there were Oreo's galore and other goodies. Some of the mountain dew cans were full and it was great seeing them explode.

Cleaning up was a pain and it took us neatly to 11pm. All of us were exhausted beyond measure. But everything got cleaned and somehow we all got out of there.

Someone, I think it was Dad, made the cruel suggestion that we all show up to Rachel and Scott's hotel room with board games. I laughed pretty hard at that one but none of us were serious.

The adjustments are before me and they are large, but they need to be made. The house will feel different with just Kenneth and myself here. But time will heal as I have learned it always does. Change is a constant in this life and must be embraced.

My pillow is cold now. But not for long. I hope sleep comes quickly tonight because I am BEAT! There is nothing more to write. Only my feelings I cannot put into words that will linger on this pages..."

NOVEMBER 29TH, 2008    

Back to Target...with lessons learned

This is a picture of my new workplace, the Target in American Fork. T-1814 for those of us team members. It's been exactly one year since I was laid off from a custom home theater shop. While not having a job sucked at times, it was nice to get school done and have all the time in the world for a wedding and honeymoon. But now, it's back to work!

While the wife is making the "big bucks" in her career, we still decided that extra supplemental income was a security we could not pass up. The story is rather short: I walked inside, handed my resume to the nearest Executive Team Lead, got home 10 minutes later only to receive a phone call for an interview! After looking over my experience they hired me on the spot. And so...after an absence of 2 years, Andrew is back in red and khakis!

So it is at this time that I need to stop and remember the lessons I learned during my 3 years at good old T-1750 in Centerville. The following blather is in no particular order, only as my brain spits it out. Here goes:

I learned a lot more about who I am and how I react to events. More specifically, I got to see how I coped with stresses and interpersonal relationships in a professional setting. This occurred due to my two promotions I received while at the Centerville Super Target. I was promoted to the department head of Electronics, and a year later I was also given the responsibility of Entertainment, specifically music, movies, and books. We called the position back then a "specialist."

With my added post, I reported and coordinated with Team Leads and Executive Team Leads all the time. I established a good rapport with my superiors and for the most part we got along pretty well. But there were times when things didn't go so well.

I recall an incident where an Executive yelled at me on the sales floor in front of my team and shopping guests. It wasn't pretty. I look back through time and realize he must have been super stressed that day. The store was a mess, and there was an abundance of abandoned items at guest service that needed to be put away. As the leader that day I'm sure if felt burdened greatly. But I disagreed with him taking my lone team member and putting him elsewhere. There was an affinity of Electronics tasks and Entertainment resets that needed to be completed asap. When turned and rolled my eyes he lost it. The eyes rolling was immature on my part and very much an in-the-moment emotional reaction. But his was also the same.

After being publicly humiliated and berated , I made an attempt to forget it and go back to work. This proved monumental as my blood pressure was still astronomically high. I remember wanting to heft the large red cart and throw it over the aisle. I felt as though I could feed off my rage and summon the strength to do so. (Those carts we use to push things out to the floor are very heavy).

Eventually however, prudence prevailed. I left the Electronics counter in the hands of a team member and tracked down my team lead. We found an empty room and talked for about 20 minutes. It was good. I said that I regretted acting childish (even if it was only an eye roll). But he said he would talk to the Executive, because that kind of rebuking was completely unacceptable in front of guests and my team. The Executive found me a little while later and apologized. We made peace and maintained a good relationship after that.

But I discovered through this experience that I am a very social creature. Did that make sense? Let me be clear, I discovered that I could no longer bottle things up and keep them in cold storage. I found that communication was an absolute must. In other words, after such an experience, I felt a great desire to find an objective third part to mediate my disputes. I needed someone with another perspective into my problem.

I used to be good at soaking up problems, much like that nasty bath carpet you have near the toilet. Don't deny it, you know who you are. Anyways, that's not so much the case anymore. It makes me more grateful for a wife to talk to. She is on my side and has my back all the time no matter what.

Additionally, I learned what kind of leader I am. My patriarchal blessing contains the following line:

"Now go forward and serve. Seek every opportunity to extend yourself to other people. Be a student. Be a teacher. Be a leader."

After a getting the hang of managing a team and a department, I found that I LOVED it. I loved the challenges that came with it. But I was taught (by myself) how I govern other people. I'm not an authoritarian by any means, nor am I a goof-off. And I found by sad experience that I do not like unrighteous dominion in any sliver of the term.

My personality profile falls somewhere else. I love the lead by example; to use my talents and energy in discovering the best way to perform my tasks. Doctrine and Covenants 46:16 comes to mind:

"And again, it is given by the Holy Ghost to some to know the diversities of operations, whether they be of God..."

Once I found the best way to do something I would write it in my "department bible." I would then share it with my team and come up with methods on implementation. Show and example, role play, and apply was my code.

And so it pained me when I observed one of my team members throwing away what we had agreed upon. I never spied on anyone, I was usually less then 10 feet away when I would observe them. And through this I learned that I hate correcting people constantly. I am passionate about what I believe in and I guess I hoped that it would rub off on everyone, to the point where they would be passionate about it too.  

Also and finally, I learned that I am a lot like my mom. Like her I have a Tigger personality and love to find the fun or laugh in everything. Because of this, I often worried that my superiors never took me seriously. More specifically, I always thought they might have viewed me as more of a goof. It still confuses me. I like to think that I have found the thing line between honest hard work and some honest harmless fun. I always thought that they wanted me to be more sober. Which is funny because I always thought I had plenty of that in reserve. To sum it up I felt comfortable with who I was, but sometimes got the impression that my superiors didn't quite understand who I was. Because of that I didn't know how to act around them sometimes. At times I felt too serious for them, and other times I felt like I was being too light minded. It was always a walk on the tight rope.

SO!

A new store and new experiences await me. I find I am eager to experience them and continue to get to know myself and other people I work with. The most important lesson I have learned that I am determined to apply here is to BE MYSELF. I felt (at many times and circumstances) like I had to act like another person around my old bosses. I have decided that it's not worth it because it doesn't make me happy. I was told in my interviews that this new store wants me to promote quickly. And so if I get the chance, I will do it with my personality intact.

Into my brain ring the words of old: "To thine own self be true."

It might be an uphill battle for the constant state of "understanding" and "rapport" between my superiors and myself, but I am looking forward to it, like a Tiger ready to sink his jaws into fresh prey.

Time to dust off the old name tag!

  
Bring it on.
   

   

Lessons From My Mission Companions

I served an LDS mission to Columbus , Ohio from spring 2005 to 2007 for those of you who didn't know. I learned a lot of lessons and gained much in wisdom and experience during those 24 months 7 days and 14 hours. A lot of those lessons came from experiences with people that I came in contact with while teaching, while others came from members in all 4 of my areas, and still others from non-members who argued bitterly with me about why I was going to hell to burn for the rest of eternity.

Let me explain. These thoughts all started during Priesthood Session of General Conference last week. I was listening to Elder Keith B. McMullin and while I can't remember exactly what he said, what I received through other means was a question: "What are the things that your mission companions taught you?" I stopped for a moment to consider the weight of that question. It occurred to me that after all these years since I came home I really hadn't stopped to ask myself that question. I might have lightly glazed over it in my mind at times, but never to the extent that I now felt I should. We are supposed to learn as much as we can in this life. Every nugget of intelligence is so important. By not writing all this down, I feel I have missed out on a lot. And I can't rely on my mission journals. I rarely touched on the subject of companions there, and for that: shame on me!

So since the nudging feeling came, I feel I need to do this now. LET ME BE CLEAR ABOUT ONE THING: When you are reading what you think to be a negative comparison or portrait of one of my companions, delete the thought immediately. NOTHING I write here is meant to bring up old dirt or beefs with these men I served with. And whether the experience I cite will be good or bad, there was still a lesson in it that the Lord wanted me to learn and apply. I am not here to implicate ANY of my comps as bad in any way. I served with them, and whether we got along or not, I learned from all of them and they are all awesome people. Now! With that said, here we go!

                                             Elder Eric Chantry (MTC)

A mission begins in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah and often a new missionary is scared to death of this first day (I sure was). But when I finally found my dorm and met Elder Chantry for the first time, things started to get a little better. There is not a whole lot to say here about Eric (since we were together only 3 weeks) but I will say more later. You will see why. This awesome guy taught me to be more easy going and open with everyone around me. He became very quickly, a great friend; and now later has become one of my best friends. This great man taught me the value of a friendship all over again. I would not have made it through the MTC without him.

                                   Elder Alex Fiefia (Sidney, Trainer)

Another thing that every missionary experiences is their trainer. Elder Fiefia was mine for 3 months. He had an excellent knowledge of our area and the people whom we worked with. It wasn't a cake walk, we had very different personalities and this made things rocky along the way. But he taught me well and let me take some falls so I could learn to pick myself back up. Because of him I picked up the lessons from Preach My Gospel very quickly. This was done because he knew very well how to make a teaching opportunity out of every visit, be it a member, non-member, or less active. Elder Fiefia in his own way taught me to be patient, and to rely on myself when no one else was there. He helped me find my inner missionary-voice. Even though we didn't have the best relationship, I would not have been able to train my first greenie if it wasn't for him. I owe him a lot and respect him for being willing to train me and start me on the path to being a great teacher.

                       Elder David Johnston (Sidney, my first greenie)


Before I say anything let me apologize for this picture (and to you David if you are reading this). All my other pictures of Elder Johnston are actual prints and I couldn't find them to scan one. This was the best one I had. David was my first trainee, first born in the wilderness, first greenie. I was called to be a trainer immediately after I myself was trained. I was incredibly stressed at first, not knowing what the heck to do. But I relied on the Lord and my training to get into the groove of it. I became a better teacher because of training David. I had to teach him the lessons and by so doing I became more familiar with them. I also learned valuable leadership skills during the 4 and a half months I was with him. I wouldn't have learned them if I hadn't have had the opportunity to train so early in my mission. I also learned from serving alongside David, the priceless opportunity of bringing a new missionary into the fold, and how important it is to set the example and raise the bar. That experience was really my baptism by fire, and I became a stronger missionary because of it.

                                        Elder Josh Blauer (Centerville)


My first comp that wasn't a trainer or a trainee. Let me just say that from day 1 until he was transferred, serving with Elder Blauer was a blast. He was a great guy and just so much fun to work with. I learned from him, brotherly love and the importance of charity within a companionship. I also learned from him the value of working together as a unified team to accomplish goals. He taught me how to recognize strengths in me and my companion, and to overlook weaknesses. Blauer was easy going, simple, and fun, and that is all there is to say. I served with him for 3 months, and they are among my fondest memories when I remember my mission. P.S.-he also kicked me butt on a bike! Thanks to that I lost over 30 pounds. Thank you Josh!

                                  Elder Eric Chantry REDUX! (Centerville)


Sometimes our dreams do come true! I was paired back up with my mtc comp Eric Chantry in March of 2006, much to our excitement. I still have that transfer meeting recorded. We spent our year mark serving together and it was a blast for all 4 and a half months. This time around, Eric taught me how to have a little, honest fun while in the service of the Lord. He also taught me to step back and to smell the roses, to always appreciate the NOW because it will never come again. He taught me the importance of memories and how to treasure them. Along with all this he also showed me how to make awesome food. This guy is a great chef and I had more then a few scrumptious goodies while we were together. What else is there to say? We were great friends and had a great area to serve in. It was a golden spring in the mission field.

                                       Elder Josh Blau (Greenville)


Yes you are right. Josh Blau and Josh Blauer are very close together, aren't they? When I was paired with Elder Blau I also became a district leader. It was a time of re commitment and stepping up my effort as a missionary. Greenville was a rough area at times, but we sought out those who were hungry for the gospel. Elder Blau knew this area by the time I got there and was helpful in getting me on my feet. This guy taught me to how to be more long-suffering and patient; more understanding and humble. He also taught me in his own way how to be more bold as a missionary and preach without fear, even if it is right before the jaws of hell. I am so grateful to him for that lesson, and I grew so much in the 3 months we served together.

                  Elder Alex Junichi Boyle (Greenville, my 2nd greenie)

Elder Boyle was a fun kid to train, plain and simple. He had a great attitude and at times loved to insult me in Japanese, which was extremely advantageous because I don't speak a lick of Japanese. It was pretty hilarious though. And when Eric Chantry and I went back in the summer of 2008 to visit the mission, he was the only one of my companions that was still out in the field. I met up with him and also met my grandson! It was great. While training him, I once again became a better teacher, more sharpened and bold. I also became a better district leader with him since the need for more effective teaching became a bigger priority at that time. Elder Boyle was never afraid to teach a lesson, even when he was still new to the mission. He taught me by example to just press forward and do the best you can.

                              Elder Jaylen VanOrden (Canal Winchester) 


When I arrived in Canal Winchester I was paired up with not one, but two companions! It was a new experience to me and interesting having 3 guys instead of two. Sadly Elder VanOrden was only in that group for about 3 weeks. He had to leave his mission early but I still learned from serving with him and enjoyed the time we had to get to know each other. I learned more then I had before, the extreme importance of keeping the mission in perspective; and along with that the heavy responsibility of keeping the spirit of missionary work with you at all times. Elder VanOrden was a great guy and had a funny personality. Elder Walker and I were sad after he left. But I'm grateful that we were able to serve together.

                            Elder Marshall Walker (Canal Winchester)


Marshall Walker was the first companion I had since Elder Fiefia that had been out in the mission longer then me. And ironically, he happened to be the brother of my 10th grade World Civ teacher! Small world huh? Elder Walker and I pressed forward after Elder VanOrden's departure and I was glad to have him. He knew the area well and was a great worker. He was easy to work with and fun to work with in an awesome area that was on fire! Through him, I learned the importance of enduring to the end and the value of local members of the church. More specifically, he taught me how important it was that every investigator have an instant support system when they start coming to church. Work with the members of the Canal Winchester ward was the best out of all my areas because of this guy. He taught me this principle well.

             Elder Travis Stanley (Canal Winchester, LAST COMP EVER)


End of February, 2007. The last 3 months of my mission are upon me. What I really wanted at that transfer meeting was a companion that would just work hard right along side me. I didn't want to leave the mission as a dud. And thankfully that didn't happen, because I was paired with the indomitable, amazing TRAVIS STANLEY! This experience is easy to sum up, I learned how to keep working hard even in the toughest times and the best of times, even when one is about to go home. Elder Stanley showed me how to hang on until the end. If the spring of 2006 was a golden spring, the spring of 2007 was a glorious spring! The two of us enjoyed great amounts of success in a fertile area of Ohio. We worked well together and got along just fine. It was a great fit. I owe a lot to Travis,  A LOT. The Lord knew what I needed at that time and Elder Stanley was sent at the perfect time. He had a great sense of humor and a strong spirit of missionary work.

There is not a whole lot left to say. The end of my mission was bittersweet; I wanted to see family and friends again but more then that, I wanted to stay and preach the gospel. Alas, everyone's time comes and every story has an end. These 9 men are small, individual threads of sting that make up the tapestry of my mission. If I was to remove just one, the tapestry of my mission would be unraveled. Through happy times and difficult times, I learned valuable things from these 9 Elders. I will never forget the times I spent with them, and the wonderful influence they had on me.

Elders of Zion, thank you for your friendship and your sacrifice. Long live the Ohio Columbus Mission!

Journal Entry: Free write or free thought?

Wow. How time flies. So lately I have been editing my old mission videos in my spare time (spare time= <1% of Andrew's time). But it's been great to relive all the old memories that these tapes evoke. My mission in central Ohio is now 4 years behind me, but the lessons I learned and so much of who I am is a result of that time in the Lord's service. I am deeply grateful for that experience, as I draw on many learning experiences from it constantly. 

My patriarchal blessing promises me some cool things because of that service. I see so much knowledge and wisdom I gleaned from having missionary companions for 2 years of my life. There is so much one learns about communication, and how to work together on all levels. This is one of the many blessings I have received because of that service. 

I am ever a changing person. I have left old habits in the dust and struggle with new ones; I have plucked some thorns from my flesh but still have some more to get rid of. Yeah, I am far from perfect.

Why the introspection? Oh, I don't think I could nail it down to one cause. Besides this new post is the effect of the cause! That's always a good thing. 

I guess all the new surroundings and friends have caused this little examination, of the present and the past. Since the mission I served is a constant, maybe that's why my mind keeps bringing it up. Well...I might as well revel some more in the past!

SO! I want to share a part of these tapes with some former missionary friends of mine and with YOU. This video is from May of 2006. Elder Stephen Martin is the one with the guitar and also re-wrote most of the lyrics of this song. We were all saying goodbye to Elder Matt Dahlin, who was our zone leader at the time. Enjoy! 

Indiana Jones 4, what went wrong?

I grew up with Indiana Jones or "Banana Jones" as I once called him before my years of adolescent awkwardness. His numerous quests to find seemingly mythological treasures were a large piece of kindling for the fire of my imagination. And who doesn’t enjoy seeing Nazi’s melting under the fire of the wrath of God? It’s great stuff, back in the age when a lack of technology and money forced movie makers to push their limits and work out of a small box. And keep in mind that’s a good thing. I’ll get to that in a minute. I’m sure you’ve guessed by my title that I am about to start griping about the latest edition of George Lucas’s fecal matter- I mean the latest Indiana Jones movie.

Back in 1980 when The Raiders of the Lost Ark was being filmed, computers were pretty homely little things. Bill Gates was still working out of his garage and the Apple II-E hadn’t hit the consumer yet. So this also meant that special effects were not what they are today. You see back in those days, if you wanted to see a spaceship or monster in your movie, you had to BUILD one. Puppets, models, and other such things were the methods of the day. There was not the CG that we have today. Additionally, you didn’t have all these movie studios throwing out hundreds of millions of dollars to make a “guaranteed blockbuster.” Nobody was sure anything would be a blockbuster in those days. If your movie sucked, people let you know and you lost money, a lot of money.

I guess I should quote Mr. Plinkett here, “Art from Adversity.” You see when people have this really great idea that they want to get onto the big screen, they are willing to go to great lengths to get it done. A great example of this is Robert Zemekis, director of Back to the Future. He didn’t have an unlimited source of money to film his movie, but he didn’t grip about that to the studio. He just worked with what he had and got the job done. He actually recast the role of Marty McFly over a month into shooting. He knew his choice of actor was wrong, and the studio reminded him he was on a timetable he had to meet. But he recast with Michael J. Fox and moved quickly to make up for lost time. BECAUSE HE KNEW IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. When you don’t have all the money in the world, you have to come up with creative ways of making something happen. And from this we often get higher quality material coming out of Hollywood. Money nowadays has a tendency to make filmmakers lazy. See Transformers 2 or the Star Wars Prequels for a reference point.

So enter Indiana Jones 4 on stage. What is the problem here? Well now that I have warmed up let me tell you my thoughts on the issue. There are 4 things that poisoned this movie. They are categorized as the following:

-Fake CGI
-Pointless or Wordy Dialogue
-Superfluous Action Sequences
-George Lucas

Let’s start with the fake CGI. I attended a midnight showing of this movie, and I got a bad feeling from the very first scene. The paramount logo fades into a heap of dirt that at first looked like a mountain. I chuckled a bit, until this fake, computer generated prairie dog appeared and ran for his life before a car destroyed his home. From this very first scene I knew there was something terribly wrong with the movie. But it didn’t stop there. The viewer is forced to endure several scenes with fake looking prairie dogs. What is the point, humor? If so I was not amused. Plus this was the Nevada desert. I thought Prairie dogs lived out on the PRAIRIE, you know by the Mississippi river? But I digress; there might be other species that live in the desert too.

This habit of computer generated graphics continues throughout the movie, like a crazed meth addict who just couldn’t stop using Photoshop. This annoys me because about a year before the movie came out, Steven Spielberg himself said that he would be using “traditional” special effects. My young heart took courage at this, still remembering the Star Wars Prequel debacles. But I wonder what he meant by traditional. I guess it didn’t mean what I thought it would mean: no crappy special effects. It would seem that Steven forgot about old Georgie. Guess he forgot to take him out of the special effects department. Oops.

Pointless dialogue? Yep, it’s here. Take this scene for instance:



What did Indy say when the Russians drove off? “Sure, great don’t wait for me?” Would Indiana Jones really say something like that? To me it seemed out of character, as did his comment, “That can’t be good at all.” Even if you don’t think it was out of character (and you’re wrong by the way) it was still pointless. We all know what nuclear weapons do. We don’t need a stupid comment like that to further impress the situation on our minds. I don’t like swearing for the most part, but if Indy would have just said something like: “Oh sh$%!” when he saw the bomb, it would have been a lot more humorous. I’m sure it would be anyone’s natural response when they found they were on a nuclear testing ground. And would the Russians really have given him a ride? No, because they were too worried about saving their own skins. So that dialogue that Indy spoke was unnecessary and stupid, because George Lucas wrote the screen play.

Superfluous action sequences? Oh heck yes. Watch this stupid scene and try to tell me you were excited or worried our heroes were in danger:



And excuse the crudity of the clip; it was the only thing I could find on YouTube. But seriously, a sword fight across two jeeps? That’s not something that normal people do. The Indiana Jones movies certainly have their share of the supernatural, but this kind of crap does not belong in a movie like this. Remember the creepy dude that pulled people’s hearts out of their chests in The Temple of Doom? It’s the same kind of ludicrous here, and frankly it is insulting to the audience. Hey! Remember the awesome truck scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark? Let me refresh your memory:



Isn’t this great? Indy has this grin whenever he wipes out a Nazi car. You see this whole scene was incredibly simple. The situation was this: the ark is on a truck getting away. Indy must catch up to said truck and stop the Nazi’s from getting away with it. How will he do it? Well you saw how he did it, the same way any logical person would. Like I said, it was simple, but wasn’t it awesome? It was awesome because it was totally believable and well directed. Ask yourself this question, what was the point of the sword fight? THERE WAS NO POINT AT ALL. It was something stupid that was crammed into the movie to make it more “extreme.” It served no purpose whatsoever. The term “over the top” is perfectly applicable here. Action sequences don’t have to be this complicated to be enjoyable. Little, simple, things like this make us laugh:



So what has happened to Indiana Jones? The first and third movies were epics in their own time. A winning formula was found, but was ignored for this latest movie. Why? This brings me to my final point: GEORGE LUCAS.
I don’t want to rag too much on George. He did bring us the original Star Wars Trilogy. But through the late 80’s and into the 90’s he got stupid. He became addicted to computer graphics and has all the money in the world. I think this has made him complacent and lazy in some respects. These problems I have mentioned can all be traced to him. The proof I have is once again the Star Wars Prequels. They look fake, there is too much pointless dialogue, and they are not very exciting when you sum it up. I don’t have to go into depth anymore. If you want to go trash those movies, look up “redlettermedia” on YouTube. Mr. Plinkett did a fine job of that.

And I hear they are doing a fifth movie! How can they avoid the disaster of the last one? Simple, don’t let George write the screenplay or handle the effects department. He has shown a unique level of incompetence over the last few years in these areas. Steven Spielberg knows what makes a good movie, he just needs to step back to his roots. If he does that, the next one will be a hit. Time will tell.

More Christie awesomeness

You know, out of all the candidates that are vying for the 2012 Presidential Election I like approximately zero of them. Some are okay I guess, but I'm through settling with okay. I don't care for Palin or Romney, Huckabee, or all the others. They all at times come off as career politicians. I DON'T WANT THAT.

The only man I trust in America right now is Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey. Sadly he has stated many times that he is not running for President. It's too bad because I honestly believe he is the ONLY MAN in the nation that would truly make a difference for good. Not sure? Watch the video and decide.