I went to bed yesterday around 9:00pm, and I should have learned by now that when I go to bed that early, I wake up about 3 hours later and am up for half the night. So, I might as well see what I can hack out in my journal. Lately, I've been pondering how I can be more of an example to those around me.  An example of what?  I'm not...

In response to this talk, I catch myself wondering how many degrees off I am.  Everyone makes mistakes, and I know the mistakes I make, and I wonder how far I am from the iron rod. I'm fairly certain I can figure this out quite easily through prayer, and if need be, receive the needed help to get back to where I should be. Good solid talk,...

The beginning of this talk was set by talking about the experience President Gordon B. Hinckley had as a deacon.  He spoke of the moving power of the men singing "Praise To The Man", at a Stake Priesthood Meeting. While reading that experience, my mind immediately turned back to a very similar experience I had when beginning my mis...

Today I anticipated changing the clutch on Ryan's 1995 Mustang GT for about 3 hours.  I got up at 7:30 to do it, and I'm writing this about 2 hours after we finished.  Needless to say, it was an all-day adventure - and holy cow, were we dirty. I didn't have the sense to take a picture of both of us before I took a shower, but I did of ...

Today I was commissioned to create an FTP server here at work.  Through persistent pestering of the hideously insecure nature of FTP in general, my boss let me dedicate an entire server just for the company's need to FTP.  This was to negate the possibility of any hacking of the web server, should the FTP server be compromised.  It's...

Pondering on the words of Elder Burgess, I am led down a thought process a bit different than where his talk went. I've been noticing that we as humans define ourselves quite differently, and most do it subconsciously, than we think we do. The whole concept of "defining oneself" baffled me some years ago. My parents and my church ta...

For the last two children, I've been relatively relaxed with the rest of my life, so I was eagerly awaiting and up-to-date with the happenings of our pregnancy. This time around, I'm quite busy otherwise, and this ultrasound crept up on me. I'm also quite amazed at the technology which wraps around the medical field.  At the last portion of ...

Not sure what to type, but the video taken was of Luci singing "5 Little Monkeys". Good stuff to have....

Not much more to say, other than what was in the video.  I'm trying now to work out the best bitrate to video quality trade-off with FLV files. I plan on having a bit of fun with this new camera in the ensuing weeks. I'm amazed at the technology with which these new cameras / camcorders are built....

So Anyone ever heard of Paul Michael Glaser? He is like the best actor! Well next to Johnny Depp. But any way my Pa loves him, in high school he and his best friend were called "Starsky and Hutch" because they acted so much like the real Starsky and hutch. My PA was Starsky, and to this day is called that! he owns all the old tv shows on ...

The first thing I noticed this time, is that apparently, Helaman had never had any proof of the existence of the plates of gold Alma and the previous prophets were writing on.  Not entirely sure why that caught my fancy this time, but it did.  I guess keeping the historical records was a pretty sacred thing back then.  I wonder if th...

Okay so two years ago this guy that I was so inlove with, kissed a chick right in front of me at Youth Confrence right.  That hurt  me a lot, but I let him go, but then he found me in a web site and and started talking to me, then his best friend (who is really cute) starts hitting on me and being all flirty and stuff, last night I went t...

Heh... I remember a couple of months back (or has it been a year now?) when Microsoft announced to the world that the years of delay were now over, as they were finally releasing the famed Microsoft Vista Operating System!!!!!! The world (and peasants) rejoiced. About a week after that, my father called me up and told me he was considering th...

Well, yesterday the studio received a new addition.  We're now employing a much more powerful and dynamic 8-channel Octopre preamp!  This will allow us to record much more dynamic sources.  The initial impression I get from this new device is that it, of course, is much, much more powerful.  It also seems to record with a bit mo...

Holy cow, there's some weird crap on the Internet. I was just sifting through Youtube for some comic relief from the daily grind when I wondered where in the world Marilyn Manson had gone.  When I was younger, I was pretty much disgusted and amazed at the slim amount of MM media I was exposed to.  I haven't heard anything about him for y...

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...

Hmm...  I really like when prophets, like Alma, quote other prophets to make a point.  The best way to keep the doctrine pure is to look the reference up.  Otherwise, it inevitably will be diluted down.  Ain't no doctrine like pure doctrine. Interesting that the quote from Zenos in verses 4-11 is paraphrased beautifully in Alm...

Wow...  I can't believe it's here. For those who don't know, Advanced Budget Studios resides as a single bedroom rigged up as a recording studio in my basement. Thanks to all of you, I'd like to announce, both sadly, and beyond excitedly, that I have outgrown this little single-room studio.  The acoustics, the size, and the location...

 Holy cow.  I only have 10 more chapters to go, and I'll finish the goal I set 3 years ago, to read and write about each chapter in the Book of Mormon.  I'm not sure why, but when I just realized that (like 1 minute ago), it was kind of surreal for me.  Anyway...  Here goes. Moroni 1. Moroni had to be one of the most tr...

I've recently had the awesome opportunity to work on a good friend's musical masterpiece.  He calls it "Vain Consolation", and it really is quite awesome.  I'll post a snippet if I can soon.  We're still waiting for some of the musical puzzle pieces to be put into place, and when that happens, we'll have a pretty incredible...

Ya know...  I didn't quite know what to write about today, but I knew I had to write about something.  Some days, I've just got to write. Fasting.  Fasting, to me, is simply going without food or water for a duration of time with the purpose of showing God I am willing to sacrifice something which is very important to me, having h...

"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...

Wow... Three entries in a matter of a couple of hours.  I guess I've got a lot to write. A couple months back, I wrote about a pet-peeve of mine.  Has to do with a phenomenon whereby people claim something doctrinal which really has very little, if any, doctrinal basis at all. Well... I believe I remembered something else which just might...

I read Mosiah 6 quite a while ago, but didn't have the chance to write anything about it.  I re-read it again tonight, along with chapter 7. The last verse of chapter 7 hit me years ago, when I realized the bondage to which the Lord is referring is not only physical bondage, but easily can refer to addictions, beliefs, people, choices, anyt...

I just returned from a family vacation at "Down-At-A" water-park with all my immediate family (minus Andrea) and had a blast. During the evening of the first night, the discussion was lulling a bit, so Curtis and I decided to begin discussing some doctrinal points of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During this discussion, both Curtis and I ...

 So, the past few days have been days of trial, and these days come and go largely, I believe, to help me remember the covenants I've made to God, and to help me remember how sweet it is to feel the Spirit. When I read the end of verse 11, I wondered what those who had never felt "clasped in the arms of Jesus" might think of those ...

Chapter 29 of Alma is such a good chapter - on so many levels, too. How would it feel like to want the good of mankind so badly, that it caused you to take time to carve your feelings out in brass plates?  Putting all the doctrine of this wonderful chapter aside, the beginning verses give me a tiny glimpse into the type of desires living a p...

So, I haven't written for awhile - mostly because I enjoy writing after a project has been completed.  Well - right now Advanced Budget Studios has quite a few bands in the works, who are going after multi-track demos.  My guess is - we'll be fishing them up around the same time, and let me tell you now - all of em' are going to be awesom...

I just realized that it's been a month since I last wrote about the Book of Mormon.  Man, if I'm gonna finish this thing, I'm gonna have to pick up the pace! First thing I noticed with this chapter is that when Alma got the revelation concerning the spirit world, it seems that he was just asking a curious question, "What happens to the ...

Man...  I've been having mixed emotions about the oncoming trip to California for a number of reasons.  I mean, this trip really has been putting both me and my wife through the ringer.  First, I got a new job, and am being quite challenged by my new tasks there.  Taking time off to go on a vacation right now isn't the best idea...