Alright... So one of my hard drives failed in my backup server LVM array, and I received the new replacement disk today. So, I turn on my computer and even though the volume group isn't initialized (due to the missing disk), it still exists, and has all the other drives in the array still held captive. So, this is how to completely destroy your...

Sugarstone, a signed band of Advanced Budget Studios is gonna make it big-time!  Go and show your support for Sugarstone by attending the biggest Battle of the Bands concert in Utah!  The show starts at 10:00am and goes well into the evening. Details can be found here. ...

I'm always pleased and grateful that the Spirit comes so quickly when I read the Book of Mormon.  Sometimes I forget how much I love how the Spirit of God makes me feel and think and act. Anyway...  Great chapter this was.... Of all of the stories in the Book of Mormon, I think I like the one of the 2000 Stripling Warriors the best.&n...

Onward and upward towards the goal of finishing the whole Book of Mormon, writing about each and every chapter, by the end of this year. This chapter was all about war, and strategy.  I didn't find anything particularly enlightening about it, yet I firmly believe that each and every word written in the Book of Mormon has a meaning - and will...

Okay... So with the latest update to xorg-server (I think it was 6.5), xdm stopped loading XFCE4 and I couldn't get it to load anything but TWM. Here was the problem: Somehow, an important file got removed.  The file is this one: /etc/env.d/90xsession The contents of the file is simply: XSESSION="Xfce4" With that...

Stupid Kingmen.  Nothing like having your own people fight against you in the middle of a war.  One thing I noticed this time, which I had forgotten, is how Moroni followed the correct line of authority in order to do what he had to do with the kingmen.  He asked Pahoran for the right to take care of them, and Pahoran gave it to him....

Here I Am New year in a new town, new state, new sisters and brothers in a new ward and I feel wonderful! To end the year 2009, in December I went to the Temple in North Houston and was so warmly embraced by the Holy Spirit I could hardly contain my excitement. Tomorrow, I make the first Temple trip in the New Year. And I am ecstatic! Last mont...

Last Friday, we had the awesome opportunity to meet a fairly incredible group of girls.  They call themselves The Blue Aces, and after having listened to them strum a few chords, I'd say they've earned their title. Their manager contacted me after hearing a few samples from Advanced Budget Studios, and was interested in getting a pilot song...

 If the fortifications that Moroni built in the beginning were enough to astonish the Lamanites to the point that they were afraid to fight, and then failed to kill even one Nephite, while they themselves were slain to the tune of over 1,000 - I can only imagine what the additional fortifications did...  Goes to show that a good Christian...

Okay...  So this chapter wasn't brimming with the deep doctrines of the Gospel, but it did have a few nuggets. I would absolutely love to see some sort of diagram of exactly what the Nephites did to build up their cities.  I have so many ideas in my head of what it could have been, but to what extent that's true, I have no idea.  I...

Heh....   My wonderful 3-year-old daughter Luci loves to sleep with her parents.  Her dad doesn't sleep very much anymore, and because of this, he has to watch his caffeine consumption or he'll get addicted to it. Heh.... Caffeine...  That brings up some interesting history. Due to my personal beliefs and what people taught me...

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 ...

  Poetry by Kelly Miller   THis is dedicated to my son Shawn VanWagen who left on his mission in 2005 and that next week I started writing poetry. It has been a big part of my life since and has kept me very busy.  Also, to President Hinckley and his challenge for the members to read the book of mormon. and to Bernice Hutchenson w...

Wow...  Moroni doesn't mix words, does he...  Reading this through as much of an objective filter as possible, I'd say there's some serious judgements going on.  Moroni blatantly calls Ammoron a "child of hell", and tells him that his brother went to hell.  heh...  Pretty gutsy, if ya ask me.  Going off of wh...

I just got back from a Presbyterian church meeting with Henry, Kim, Julia, Sarah, myself and our two kids.  It was quite interesting. We walked in there about 5-10 minutes late, and went forward until we were sitting like 5 rows back from the front. A full band of 7 people was playing on a stage and was sounding quite wonderful, actually.&...

Ho hum. Yesterday I decided to go to Ryan's house to spend some quality time with my brother, and my wife had a cow about it.  I don't understand what the deal is, but whenever I need some "Jason" time, more often than not, I end up taking it at the expense of marrital comfort.  That irritates me.  However!  All is n...

So I haven't written in a while, and that's both a great thing, and a not-so-great thing.  It's great because since September, the studio has been busier than I thought possible.  Honestly...  It's been a whirlwind, and I'm not quite sure what caused it - but I'm so grateful for it.  It's a not-so-great thing because I can't kee...

This chapter is great.  All I gotta say is, if you follow the counsel of the Lord, all will be well. Oh, yeah, also - Zemnarihah had to have had a brain about the size of a peanut.  Great way to get all of your people killed....

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...

I almost didn't post anything tonight..... But... I've gotta. One thing which seems to irritate me quite a bit is this phenomenon among people of my faith which drives them to make some pseudo-philosophical yet some how not quite doctrinally correct quote and then follow it by "I'm sure it's in the scriptures. I just read it. I swear. " or, "I'...

One thing that comes to mind while reading the first verses of this chapter is, "If I were a queen, and my servants brought me my unconscious husband, I'd immediately want to know who did it." - and Ammon did it.  That doesn't make much sense to me.  Obviously the times of the Book of Mormon were , uh, different, so that could e...

I just got done reading an excerpt on Sony's new "open", "non-DRM" solution to downloading their music legally. As I understand it, you have to go to a store, buy some sort of card for $12.99 which has a magic code on it, get the code, go to a website, enter the code, and then you are able to download one of their whole 37 alb...

I take no credit whatsoever for the following content, but I thought it was too incredible to simply link it.  Here is the link to the original page, but just in case that site ever goes down, I want to make sure to keep the content around.  It's just too beautiful. "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail b...

I've been pondering on how I am to write about this without seeming haughty or prideful, because quite honestly, I feel nothing more than blessed beyond words. When I was offered this job, it just felt right.  Six months previous to my being offered this job, I was offered another job in SLC which seemed right in every aspect but the fact th...

Okay, so I recently watched a documentary on the Foo Fighters called "Back and Forth", and I thought it was really well made - okay, I thought it was awesome.  The funny thing is - I don't own a single Foo Fighters album, and am really not familiar with them as a band, even though I generally like the "rock" genre they asso...

 So, I thought I'd write something down that happened today. For those of you who know me, I'm a pretty laid-back, easy-going type of guy. My wife and I went to sleep quite late, mostly because we couldn't stop talking and laughing with one another (not an uncommon occurrence, unfortunately), and also unfortunately, we were woken up early ...

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...

Wow...  It really is amazing what a good night's sleep can do to one's attitude.  I don't know if everyone is affected this way, but man...  Yesterday, it was all I could do to keep myself from just walking away from everyone and going to sleep.  I was irritable, quick to frustration, and a general jerk to pretty much everyone. ...

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 ...

Okay..  So I installed Ubuntu on my brother's computer about 3 weeks ago, and he has been loving it!  Before that, he had been using gentoo with me as his personal admin, which I didn't mind because he rarely needed it, and when he did, it was usually a 10-30 minute fix, no problem. So, he liked it so much, and from what I could tell, ...