Adventures in L.A.

This weekend Sarah and I went on our first adventure, taking advantage of the free flights we get with her job.  We flew into L.A. for the day just to explore Hollywood.  We purchased some combo tickets on the Madame Tussaud web site, giving us access to 4 different "attractions."  We made it safely through the L.A. traffic and parked at Madame Tussaud's wax museum (never to be confused with the terrible Hollywood wax museum), picked up our tickets, and made our plan for the day.

First, we had some fun in the wax museum.  It was fun to see some of the more recent celebrities (Sarah kept thinking they were moving).  But since we grew up on the older movies we really enjoyed seeing some of the older actors, and had fun posing with them.  I especially had fun directing Sarah with her poses, she takes direction very well.  She's in most of the pictures since I'm more comfortable behind the camera while she enjoys being in front of it, this is why we make a great team.  We finished up our time in the museum hungry so our next stop was a place to eat.

We had a few options for lunch, including the Hard Rock Cafe.  After we looked at that menu we decided the prices were too high for our little budgets so we headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings, or at least that's where we thought we were headed.  We ended up having to get directions and experienced walking up and down the busiest part of Hollywood Blvd.  After sharing a meal we headed over to our next "attraction," which was a behind-the-scenes tour.  They were away on a tour and the next one was at 4pm, so we had some time to kill.

We had passed the Hollywood Museum during one of our treks up and down the street, since we had already paid for tickets with our combo deal that was our next stop.  The Hollywood Museum is located in the original Max Factor building and still had some of the display counters in the lobby.  There were three levels to this building and we only had about an hour to see it all.  Usually in museums I like to take my time but since we were on a time crunch we had to speed through most of it.  I wouldn't mind going back again to spend a little more time exploring.

After the museum, we rushed over to the behind-the-scenes tour.  Normally this would include a tour of Grauman's Egyptian theater, but there was an event going on so we stood outside and learned the history of the theater and how Sid Grauman helped to change the film industry.  Sid built his theater to get the wealthier people to start attending movies, back then it was just the poor who paid a nickel to see a silent movie.  Sid also invented the movie premier, and up until he came along movie stars were simply movie actors/players.  We also learned that the entrance to the theater for the Oscars is located inside a mall.  They place red velvet curtains over the shop windows and the red carpet is rolled out.  It takes 2 weeks to set up for the red carpet, which covers the street, and the paparazzi stand on the sidewalk on the other side of the street.  These were just some of the things we learned on the walking tour.  Although we had a lot of fun, Sarah and I were tired and ready to go home.

We got to the airport and found that not only was our flight booked, but there were about 50 people on standby and we were only halfway down the list.  This meant we were not getting on the last flight of the night.  We talked about just sleeping in the airport and waiting for the first flight of the morning.  It turned out that the morning flight was also booked and had a waiting list.  So I decided we were renting another car and driving the 6 hours to get home.  It was a long 6 hours, we had to stop and sleep for at least 2 hours, but we made it to the Phoenix airport to pick up my car.  Go tot my house with about only 5 minutes for me to wash my hair, change into Sunday clothes, and get to the church to hear Daniel give his talk. I had to leave after the talk t get to a Scout Committee meeting at 10, then I had an hour to kill before going to see Jeffrey be set apart as a Deacon.  Once I finally got home at 1pm I lay down on my bed and slept until 6pm.  And that was the end of my and Sarah's weekend adventure.

What we learned from all this:

• Hollywood is dirty and nothing like in the movies (Ok, so I knew that from a previous experience)
• The "free" DVD's and CD's are not free and the giver expects a donation (otherwise they snatch it out of your hand)
• If you take a picture with one of the people dressed up they expect you to pay them (I am not willing to part with my money for a fake)
• You're not going to find any celebrities on Hollywood Blvd, unless your there for an award show (okay I already knew that too)
• The third driving lane, on the far right, is not safe to drive in as most people use it to park so you just shouldn't try to drive in that lane
• The most important lesson we learned...don't get the last flight of the day in case it is booked, and then find out the first flight of the next day is also booked.  Luckily we only live 6 hours away and were able to rent a car and drive home

This I Believe

I Believe in a Positive Attitude

I believe when I look for the positive in a situation, I can handle anything.

As a child I was diagnosed with depression and was not very self aware of this.  I never took medication for my depression, thought I was going to therapy because I couldn’t make friends, and by the time I got to junior high I was no longer going to therapy.  In fact, I didn’t find out my official diagnosis until I read my medical records just before high school.  For most of my teen years I was extremely negative and I had a difficult time staying happy.  There were many nights I felt alone and would cry myself to sleep.  It wasn’t until my early twenties, when I was diagnosed with a heart condition, that I started to look at the world differently.  I decided to find something positive about my situation.  I found that I was grateful that, although I had a heart condition, I could still get up and go to work and school.  Despite my recent diagnosis, I was still blessed with good health.

This change in my attitude did not make my depression go away, it did not make any difficult situation better.  What my attitude change did was make it easier to deal with the difficulties in my life.  This “power of positive thinking” can take time and practice to perfect.  Even after more than 10 years of this frame of thinking I still struggle at times.  There are times I still find it difficult to find something positive, so instead I would find the lesson I learned.  There are times when one thing after another happens and the only thing I can do is laugh; this may make me look a little crazy though.

One day, in my mid-twenties, I remember losing my wallet.  I had driven from my home in Mesa to Peoria, 45 minutes away, only to discover my wallet was missing.  I searched the house and the car, but could not find it anywhere, so I had to order a new driver’s license online.  I printed a piece of paper that showed I was a licensed driver; I was to use this until I my new license arrived in the mail.  Then on my way home the next day I was pulled over for a taillight being out.  The officer asked for my license and registration, so I gave him the paper and started looking for the registration.  It just happened that I borrowed my brother’s truck and I could not find the registration in the usual place.  I called my dad, since he had been using the truck for work, and he told me a couple of places to look, but it was nowhere to be found.  The officer was kind enough to send me off with a warning.  At first this all put me in a bad mood, but the more I thought about it the funnier it seemed to me.  What were the chances that the same weekend I lost my wallet, I also get pulled over in a borrowed car that does not seem to have the registration in it?  All I could do was laugh at the whole situation.  I’m pretty sure if someone was with me they would have thought I’d lost my mind, and maybe I had.  From that time forward I found myself laughing at my situations more often.  I started to find humor instead of letting it get me down.

When people refer to the “power of positive thinking” I now know from experience what they are talking about.  Sometimes it takes a lot of work to find something positive.  Other times I just have to laugh at myself.  But what I believe is if I can find the positive in a situation I know I can handle anything.

A change would do you good

Over the last few years I've been gaining more and more weight.  Every time I looked in the mirror all I saw was the fat. More and More of it every day.  A couple of years ago my weight crossed a line I swore I would never let it cross, and I have been struggling ever since.  

I've looked into different diets but decided I cannot do them.  When I deprive myself of something, sugar, carbs, whatever it may be, I end up binging on it when I lose my self-control.  And I know myself well enough to know, I will always lose that self-control at some point.  So I've discovered over time that the best option for me is portion control.  Once I get into the habit of this it's easy to maintain.  I cannot go the rest of my life eating no sugar, or no pasta (the love of my life), I need to eat in a way that is easy to maintain as part of my lifestyle.  I need to be able to get some candy once in a while and not feel guilty about it, not feel like I'm "cheating."  So portion control is the "diet" for me.

About a month and a half ago I started a 90 day workout challenge.  I've started different challenges before, I usually didn't make it through the first week.  I've done the gym, even when I was going to the MMA gym and doing Crossfit, before it became a fade, I was not as dedicated as I am now.  The wonderful Deana introduced me to a youtube workout program called Bikini Body Mommy.  Deana was telling me how it's only 20 minute workouts and how amazing it was.  I'm not a mommy but I thought I would check it out, and I wouldn't have it any other way now.  

Here's what's different about this workout program:

1. I can do it in my own room
2. I only need a set of dumbbells and a chair as equipment (I already had both of those)
3. Most workouts only take about 20 minutes
4. But most importantly: the trainer, Briana, is no Jillian Michaels.  By this I mean she is trying to lose her baby fat.  You get to see her struggle through some of the workouts, trying to lose weight, trying to get back into shape.  She's not some ripped, super fit woman who works out 5 hours a day teaching classes and yelling at you.  She is a mom, recording in her house, turning red faced and sweaty, struggling through some of the workouts.  She's even had to modify some of the time, sometimes doing pushups on her knees, or stepping instead of jumping when doing burpees.

This is the most encouraging and exciting part of the program for me.  It's not some fit woman telling me I can do it, and making everything look way easier than it really is.  It's another woman working hard to get in shape, lose inches, be healthy, struggling with me.

Since doing these workouts I've lost very little weight, BUT I've started to lose fat, my muscles are more toned (I've turned into one of those people that has to stop and flex in the mirror).  I feel stronger, slimmer, my pants are looser, and I'm gaining some of my confidence back.  Gaining weight is not how I lost all my confidence but I do believe it played a part.  I don't like to think that how I feel about myself is affected by how my body looks and feels to me, but I'm only human and that's how my brain works.

I have not lost a lot of weight, mostly because I still eat pretty crappy (work in progress), but I looked in the mirror this morning and thought, "I look good."  I actually thought that about myself.  After years of looking in the mirror and calling myself fat and gross and having a very hard time finding anything positive to say about myself I finally did it without having to think about it, without having to search for something positive to say.  It just came to me.  This is something we should all be doing, no matter how "fat" or "gross" we may think we are.  We should all be able to look in the mirror every day and say, "my eyes are awesome today," "my hair is doing great things," "I look good" something good, anything.  But sometimes it's hard to see past the things we hate about ourselves and want to change.  This is still something I struggle with.  Even after my initial positive thought I wanted to say something about my stomach or my hips but I refused, I did not let myself do it.  I was able to walk away with a positive thought.  It feels good to be thinking that about myself again.

I'm so excited not to only finish this workout but to start on the next one in May.

I was watching a show the other day and there was nudity in it.  At first I was rationalizing it "Eh, it's nothing I haven't seen before."  Then I started to wonder, when did I become so desensitized to this?  When did seeing "just a little" become okay?  When did this become NOT crossing a line?

Everyone has to draw a line in the sand, so to speak.  And it seems that it is becoming harder and harder to not move that line just so we can tell ourselves we haven't crossed it.  With the world throwing things at us, such as nudity and sex, on television, movies and books the line can start to become blurred, so we move it.  

One day it's "just" sex in the show/movie/book, next it's a little nudity, then the next thing you know you're looking back and the first line you drew is so far behind, you can't even see it anymore.  Man is asserting themselves and telling us this is not just okay to do/see, but it's normal.  Satan is working so hard to lead us away from what we know to be right.  

I was raised with certain standards, taught by both my parents and church leaders.  I was taught what is right and wrong in the eyes of God, and then taught to make a choice.  It seems that as I get older I have to work harder and harder to stop myself from moving that line, as though I've allowed myself to believe what the world believes.  It can sometimes be difficult to assert one's self control and say, "NO, this is not okay!"  I did turn off the show I was watching and told myself that I will not go back to it, no matter what!  I've had to do this before and I'm sure I'll have to do it again.  

Because despite what Wendy would always yell at me ("Oh, you're just SO perfect, aren't you?"), I am not perfect, I do give in to temptations and desires and curiosity.  I am still a work in progress, but that's okay, as long as I'm aware of it and keep working at it.

Today's Random Thought

I just read this article, http://finance.yahoo.com/news/15-tycoons-who-won-t-leave-their-fortunes-to-their-kids-195610442.html?page=1, about millionaires and billionaires not leaving an inheritance, or leaving very little, to their kids.  

I think if I were in their position I would donate quite a bit to charity, and a small amount to the kids right after my death.  But I would also set up trusts or something for the kids that they will inherit when they turn 50.  And I wouldn't tell them about the trusts.  This way they would still have to learn the value of hard work and they would have to earn their own money.  But still receive the inheritance as a sort of reward, so to speak, for all the hard work they had already done.  

There could even be stipulations on the trusts like, if they are an addict they must be sober for at least 2 years, or they have to hold down a job for at least 3 years or more.  I wouldn't put a stipulation on it that they have to be married by a certain age or that they have to have kids, that's just not logical.

One would hope that if you teach your kids about hard work and the value of money then they will be hard workers anyway and may not "need" the inheritance money.  But I think it would also be nice to leave them a large amount for later in life.

What would you do if you had large sums of money to leave behind?

Misunderstood?

I just read an article about the Swiss apologizing to Oprah Winfrey for a racist remark by an employee at a shop in Switzerland.  Oprah was looking at purses in the shop and wanted to see a particular handbag, the cost was $38,000.  The employee told her it was "too expensive," keep in mind the employee does not speak English natively.  

Because the employee said this the world is now screaming RACIST!!! I say WTF? Seriously, this is what's wrong with the world today, someone says or does something and everyone automatically assumes it's racist or sexist, or whatever.  Now there are the unfortunate occasions that this may be the case.  However, from the article I read about this particular incident the racism is assumed.  The article did not say the employee gave a dirty look when she said it.  It did not say the employee acted disgusted or anything like that.  No the employee simply said the bag cost too much.  

It's possible the employee was stating the bag was outrageously priced, I would agree with that.  A second article I read on the matter said the employee tried to show Oprah the same bag in other materials.  I tend to agree with the shop owner, this was probably a breakdown in communication.  

I just get so sick and tired of the world, especially the media, screaming racist at the slightest incident.  In my opinion, these are the people that WANT it to be racism.  Otherwise, it's not a news worthy story.

If you haven't already, you can read about the incident here, http://music.yahoo.com/news/swiss-luxury-shop-denies-racism-towards-oprah-141207771.html.

What do you think?  Assume it's racism or give people the benefit of the doubt and assume it's a miscommunication?

What is the World Coming Too?

I keep seeing more and more news items like this one, http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/-two-boys-suspended-for-pointing-pencils-like-guns-165811733.html.

I just don't understand what is wrong with people?  It's reading articles like this that make me want to just home school my kids when the time comes.  This really comes down to the question: why are schools being so hard on kids just playing and having fun. 

How ridiculous can schools and their policies get.  Every single kid, at one point in their life, has taken a random, every day object and used it as a "gun." Schools and parents (and yes, even some teachers) seem to be getting more paranoid about kids being kids.  If they were not being malicious and were only playing between the two of them why the HECK would they get suspended?  

I can get if they were in trouble for threatening to shoot someone, or for bullying others.  But for just playing a pretend game with one another that is not at all harmful to anyone physically, mentally, or emotionally is just plain dumb.  And to suspend the 7 year old, yes 7 years old, from school is just  STUPID!  If the school felt it needed to punish the kids then start with something small like detention or some kind of essay writing assignment, don't just jump ahead and suspend them.

I just imagine what the rules for school will be like by the time I have kids:

• no playing like your shooting or stabbing at others: as this will make others believe you are a dangerous criminal
• no using objects of any kind as a weapon: the object will be confiscated, if you used your fingers as a gun those will be cut off and confiscated as well
• no running: only criminals have a reason to run
• no yelling: only abusers yell
• no laughing: only bullies laugh at others, and when you are laughing we must assume it is at someone else and therefore bullying
• no sneezing: this leads to others to say "Bless you" which is shortened from "God bless you."  There is not religion allowed in school

What a sad state our country is in and I don't see it getting better any time soon.