Bits and Pieces

• I don't get tired of this song. The guy is a complete moron, but them rhymes he is kickin' are quite bootylicious. Name that tune. Laura is probably the only one who could get that one. Anyway, Kanye is a musical mastermind. And if you can name it, you should be ashamed for being so familiar with a song like that. Chi-town stand UP!
• I came across this post by one of the people I blog-stalk. I mention it because I noticed that a girl I know up here put on her facebook status, "no on prop h8te." She's a nice girl, but went to school in a hyper-liberal area (Portland) and I don't know what her grounding is like in the church. I can understand how people outside of the church might view this proposition, and could struggle with the moral question behind it, but I don't have much sympathy for anyone in the church who still struggle with it. From Pres. Harold B. Lee:

  There will be some things that take patience and faith. You may not like what comes from the authority of the Church. . . . It may contradict your social views. It may interfere with some of your social life. But if you listen to these things, as if from the mouth of the Lord himself, with patience and faith, the promise is that ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name’s glory’ (D&C 21:6)

  I joined the church when I was 17 years old. I don't know how it worked out this way, but I've never ever doubted anything about the church; I've never had a hard time swallowing anything that has ever come from the mouth of the prophet, ever. Not that I don't have my struggles, or that I don't have my own questions or think about things deeply, but I have never had any problem falling in line behind the prophet's teachings. I really think that it's a gift of the spirit that I've been blessed to have. So sometimes I have a hard time when I meet people who bear their testimonies in church, but then have attitudes clearly out of step with what the church position is. I fully recognize that certain people may know certain things, and then act contrary to that knowledge, and that arises mostly out of weakness, because I've been there plenty of times. But it's hard for me to understand how you can hold two clearly contradictory views. Just a thought. I guess it's not the same for everyone, but for me at least, if I have a belief on something that isn't clearly stated and the prophet comes out with a statement that flies in the face of what I had previously supposed, then I just dump that belief. Word of God supercedes anything else. Isn't that how it's supposed to be?
• Having said that, so that you or I don't think I have an inflated opinion of my spirituality, I totally slept in yesterday through sacrament meeting. I've never done that before, and haven't missed sacrament meeting in at least several years. Even with the hour change I slept in. I just forgot to actually turn my alarm on. I had it set at the right time and everything. I think it's a little easier for me to miss though because church does start at 8:30am. That's my excuse at least. I did at least go to the rest of my meetings, and everything else church-related in my feeble attempt to make up for missing that meeting, including ward choir, break the fast, fireside, and ward prayer. And if you really know me, then you know that it takes a lot of energy for me to do some of those things when I'm flying solo. Know what? I still felt the absence of that meeting, regardless of all that effort.
• My Raiders suck. Pathetic in how feeble they are. I'm the first to admit it, because I don't think a lot of people are more familiar with them than I am. As a result, it's killing all my interest in the NFL, and that's by far my favorite sport to watch. It's tearing me up inside, but helping my observance of the shabbatt. Especially watching another team with more upheaval last season between their starting quarterback and their head coach who also finished with the same record, completely dismantle my team. I hate when I have to look forward to the offseason more than the regular season.
• Conversely, the Lakers are looking outstanding, magnificent, unbeatable, intimidating, debonair. I caught their first two games and they totally throttled those teams. However, I think Lamar is going to turn into a distraction, and we can still get pretty good value on him. It was definitely a mistake not going after Ron Artest. We'll see.
• For Kent, if you're reading this, I'm not sure about this, but I think Joe Nathan might be available, the Twins closer. I think that guy is money. I've always thought he was the most intimidating reliever, I guess besides Brad Lidge now. Speaking of him...
• Kind of unbelievable what that guy did last season. Everyone said he was done after giving up that home run to Pujols in the NLCS a couple of years ago, and what does he do? He goes 49/49 in save opportunities in the regular season, gets seven more in the postseason, and is perfect on the entire year. That's what's so cool about sports, because it's real life stories of overcoming obstacles and redeeming yourself. And it's never anything you can predict beforehand, and that's part of what adds to the awe they inspire. There are dozens of stories from the past season...Jon Lester's no-hitter after beating cancer, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (for you Karen, the "devil" part ;), and Josh Hamilton Josh Hamilton Josh Hamilton.
• I saw a movie over the weekend that was just so sweet (like tender, not sweet like awesome!), Son of Rambow. More heart-warming than the funny I was expecting. I really enjoyed it. Great, great story about friendship. And I love that William always calls his friend "Lee Carter" and not just "Lee". "This is my best day of all time."
• While I'm mentioning indy films, I've called in about getting a student pass to the Sundance Film Festival. It's $300 for 20 tickets, and I imagine I won't have any problem selling off any tickets that I won't use, so if you're in the area in late January, let's go catch some flicks.
• Most polls from the weekend show Obama with a wider lead, but the IBD/TIPP polls show the race being very tight, and they were the most accurate poll in 2004. I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow.
• Great article by John Mark Reynolds on Prop 8 and discrimination, and how it's purposefully discriminatory.
• Read this tribute about Col. John W. Ripley. He's a total badass.