Thursday, January 19, 2012

A Few of My Favorite Things

I, like millions of other youtube pedestrians, keep an electronic listing of "favorite" videos. Every so often I'll watch watch one or two, enjoying the creative savor as if it were fine Swiss chocolate. Every so often I'll add another smile to my bag of favorite things - sorry Maria, but raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens are for the birds. Recently I happened upon a well made cover of Coldplay's "Paradise" and was pleasantly surprised.

So here's to one of my favorite things: (what are yours?)


Sunday, January 8, 2012

Expressions of Love

My wife has an innate ability to remember to express her love for me every day. Whether it be love notes in my lunch box, around the house or in my journal, I am always awed by her imaginative way to show me that she's been thinking about me. One of my New Year's resolution this year is to try to emulate her example.

Last year, Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke on the eternal blessings of marriage, in which he shared beautiful thoughts and wisdom in how we can better express our love to our spouses. To men he counseled:

"Do you tell your wife often how very much you love her? It will bring her great happiness. I’ve heard men tell me when I say that, “Oh, she knows.” You need to tell her. A woman grows and is greatly blessed by that reassurance. Express gratitude for what your spouse does for you. Express that love and gratitude often. That will make life far richer and more pleasant and purposeful. Don’t withhold those natural expressions of love."

Some time last year, I came home from work to discover the kitchen table arrayed in banana-grams board game letters. Not thinking much of it, other than perhaps she had tried her luck at some solitaire version of banana-grams, I moved on by, though glancing at a few of the words, my curiosity piqued. As I scanned the remainder of the words, a theme emerged from view. There, starring back at me, was a sweet expression of her unfailing love for me:



A few days later, whilst the woman of the house was out and about, I decided to play the same game set to my own unique and love-smitten musings. Simply put, I learn from the best. So here's to New Year's resolutions:


Thursday, January 5, 2012

Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies

One of the blessings of living in Colorado, is the spectacular display of colors in the sky in the early morning and evening hours. Perhaps I am mistaken though it seems to me, this part of the country dishes out second and third helpings of richly colored sun-scapes compared to other places. Here on the Front Range, we enjoy the visual contrast of the great plains to the east and the continental divide to the west. But enough with the English, bring on the pixels!

Boulder, CO

Cumulus & Prairie

Money shot of Maroon Bells

The only picture I can claim in this post; a sunrise from my window.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

EXCEL lent

A nerdy hobby of mine is writing and tinkering with Excel macros. I'm no uber geek, but I enjoy the satisfaction of saving time and hassle. Overall, Excel is a simple tool to operate and not overly complicated to tweak. That may sound a bit bland, so here's a much more passionate take on the subject of tabular organization: Surveying the vast sea of individual cells all neatly aligned and formatted to my heart's content, they smile back at me as if specially wrapped chocolates and cry out: "Pick me! Pick me!"

Over the past year, my pet projects have included:
- Family Budget
- Recipe Organizer
- Food Storage Calculator
- Apartment/House Trade Study

I browse the internet for well designed templates and ideas, and then "supe up" the spreadsheet with automation and functions of interest. Looking back on it all I may not have saved myself eons of time; however, my brain kept active and young. In tribute, here's to staying young from a childhood mentor: