"Camping"

I do not really like to camp. Roughing it for me is a motel 6. Two years ago they made me the Varsity scout leader in the ward. I want to be a good scout leader and I figure I need to camp at least once a year. For my first summer camp as a scout leader I decided that a back packing trip to Grand Daddy lake in the Unitas was just the ticket. I went there with my dad on a scout trip when I was 14 and remembered it was fun. All the info I read said it was a moderate hike (lying jerks) I made it, but after almost collapsing on the trail on the hike in I decided the following year a change of pace was in order.
This year we went to Jordanelle State Park (http://www.utah.com/stateparks/jordanelle.htm)
The Park is beautiful and about 15 minutes out of Park City. It was still pretty rough we were able to drive right to the camp site and had to carry the gear about 5 feet to set it up. There were flushable toilets and showers (much better than bury or carry). There was also a sign for WI-fi.(had to draw the line there we were suppose to be camping after all)We had good food, good times and hit the weather window perfectly. It started raining as we hit the highway on the way out.

After these two experiences I can conclude the following
Backpacking
Long walk with all your gear uphill (both ways)
Bathroom in the woods
Trail food
No air Mattress
= Bad Camp

Car Camping
Easy to cary gear
Toilets that flush
Good Food (bacon with every meal)
Air Mattress
= Good Camp

I know there are scouters out there that are thinking that I am a wimp. I say to them that I am wise beyond my years and have learned a fundamental element to true happiness

The Day the Music Died

I love music and it is a love that I am trying to help my kids discover also. They all have MP3 players and they use them constantly. I have one as well and I cant believe that I used to use something as primitive as a record or cassette tape.(my parents even had an 8 track) For you kids out there google it so you can see how pathetic portable music use to be.

So a tragedy happened at our home about a week ago. Alex comes to me and says that the screen on his Zune cracked. He was devastated, he has always taken good care of it, never takes it anywhere without its cover, and it has fewer scratches and dings than mine does. With the LCD cracked it was impossible to see anything, it would still play and hook to the PC but its a Zune not a shuffle not being able to see and pick what you want is kind of pointless. After spending a few minutes with Google and discussing it with him we decided to try to repair it ourselves, figuring that it was already broken and we didn't have anything to loose.

Using eBay to do some scavenging we found a player that was non functional but had a working screen and possibly a working hard disk that we could sell at a latter time. We bought it for $23. While waiting for its delivery My zune decided to crap out. One minute I lost 1/2 my music the next the player was giving me an error message and would not reset. Based on what I had learned I decided that my hard drive probably died.

On Friday the Zune arrived with the tools that I ordered. We had what we needed to attempt the repair. After an hour Alex's Zune was functioning again. I decided to see if a hard drive would fix mine. After another hour my zune was good as new. I am pretty impressed with myself, I do not normally attempt this kind of thing.

Broken zune from eBay $23. Tools needed for the repair $19. Bringing 2 Zunes back from the dead in one night Pri..... well not priceless but pretty darn cool if I say so myself.

I'm glad that in my house we do not have 2 30 gig paperweights. Props to http://www.rapidrepair.com/ who had great guides to help with the process.

If I was a good blogger I would have taken pictures of the process, but I forgot and I am not going to take them apart again just for my blog.

You put your Chocolate in my Peanut butter

I cam across this clip and it amused me so I thought I would share. Star Trek and Monty Python two great tastes that taste great together.




And Yes I know I am "such a geek" I gave up on being cool when I had kids.

Still figuring out the blog thing

Many of the posts I write do not get published. I will get an idea and start the post with the intent of fleshing it out and polishing it latter and do not seem to get around to it. So after my last angry blog post I reviewed my draft posts. the titles were as follows "Death of Customer Service", "Death of Common Sense" and "Death of a Salesman"....

OK so I made that last one up I realized that if I kept it up I would have to change the name of my blog to "The Cranky Bastard Old Man" or "Get Off My Lawn" So here in the Candy Store I will strive to be a bit more positive.... I should be more frequent also but I am still working that out too.

I have a friend that is a programmer his email tag is great "I want to change the world but they will not give the source code" I would love to help him change the world so if anyone out there has access source code I know a great programmer that would love to change it. He has even agreed to let me work on the design team

The Death of Responsibility

OK so I am going political again. In Utah the Legislature is in session. It always makes me uneasy when they are in session and do not have enough to do. Today's debate on HB353 was incredibility frustrating. It is labeled truth in advertising but it is really a bill aimed at regulating the sale of video games. The video game industry has been working very hard to keep M rated games out of the hands of minors. In Utah secret shopper stings have reveled that retailers have a compliance rate of %94. So how do our leaders reward their efforts, they pass a bill that opens them up to a civil lawsuit if one of their employees breaks the rules and sells a M rated game to someone under 17. I was especially embarrassed by Sen. Chris Butters repeating the story of Devon Moore, a kid that killed 3 police officers and then blamed the video game for his actions.

Many retailers take a pledge with the ESRB that they will not sell M rated games to minors. The easiest way for them to avoid the liability from this bill is simply not to take the pledge. The government is stepping in to regulate an industry that is already making many efforts to regulate themselves.

It is pathetic that we can not hold people accountable for their actions in our society. If someone kills another person nothing made them do it. They did it and need to be made to account. It is absolutely reasonable to expect parents to be parents and regulate what their children buy and play. The government needs to stop trying to save us from ourselves and allow people to be held accountable for their actions.

So I broke a rule and blogged angry but it is time for us to wake up and let our government know that they need to butt out of our lives and spend their time solving real problems

Meet the New Boss Same as the Old Boss

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

I think John Stewart is great. Its funny how we often do not realize our own contradiction. I have hope that there will be good changes in our country but its interesting how the same message can be taken differently depending on who says it. Now if we as a people could just get angry enough to start voting incumbent congressmen out of office I know that true change and reform are coming to our country

Confessions of a Manly Man

I play video games, big manly video games, love the Halo, Rainbow 6, Crakdown, and Oblivion. Games with, guns, swords, rocket launchers, cars and other manly stuff. Oh and explosions love things that are explodey.......... So there is this game called Viva Pinata and I have to blame it for the reason I have not updated my blog for a while. This is a great game for kids. there are no guns or explosions or even a car crash. The most violent thing that happens is breaking open a pinata, they don't even bleed they spill candy on the ground. Its a great kids game........... So here we go my name is Dave and I like Viva Pinata. There I admitted it the game is a blast and is monopolizing my gaming time. This is my desert themed garden. I have made 600K in chocolate coins so far and I will be making an Arctic garden soon, I am trying to decide if I can pull off a jungle themed garden as well......... Game fly has just shipped Fallout 3 so I will be back to shooting and blowing things up soon enough but until then I need to get a couple of Vulchurros

Palette-Swap Ninja - The Viva Pinata Song.mp3

Special thanks to Dan Amrich of Palette Swap Ninja for allowing me to use his song on my blog http://paletteswapninja.com/