Saw this video this morning. It shows you just what being a consultant is all about.

I just finished reading the book “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.” This was a stellar book that is a great read and very educational. I love books about our founding father. Abraham Lincoln was an incredible person. He was driven to leave a mark on the world and I think he left more of a mark on the world than even he expected. While the book does show his incredible political ability (an ability we are sorely in need of again), this is not what impressed me most about the man. What impressed me most about the man was his ability to push through the hard times and stay focus on the goal. To not turn angry, bitter or vengeful but stay focused on what you are trying to accomplish.

I have been enjoying my time in Manila. It has been an interesting experience to get out side the U.S. again. Here are some pictures of the city. Our office is on the 15th floor of the building so the view of the city was pretty good.

There are also some views of the city that make me remember how blessed I have been in life.

Manila is a very crowded city with cars, people and everything else crammed everywhere. The people here have been great and pictures like this make your really take count of the wonderful blessing which have been afforded to me and my family.

I spent some time today and went to the Manila World War II cemetery honoring those hero’s who fell in the battle’s for the Philippians. It was a pretty humbling experience to read about these battles and see huge lists of names of men and women who died in WWII.

When people think of WWII pretty much everyone thinks of the war in Europe. Very few people think of the war in the Pacific. Even when I think of the war in the Pacific I forget just how many stories there are about the war in this part of the world.

Taft, Rob and I got to spend a few hours walking through this cemetery. I fill it is important for the younger generations who have been blessed because of the sacrifices of these men and women to spend time paying our respects for their scarifies.

This Memorial is the location of 17,206 graves and 36,282 limestone piers with inscribe the names missing who gave their lives and rest in unknown graves. There is a reason this generation is known and the greatest generation.

Through out the cemetery where maps on the wall explaining the battles in the Pacific. I had forgotten how many big battles there were for small islands.

  It was a great first day in Manila. I plan another trip to the Corregidor memorial as well. I am excited for that trip as well and it promises to be another inspiring trip.

God bless our service man and women.

Time for me to pack up and head to Manila, Philippians. I will be in Manila for 2 weeks for work. I will be working with our offshore developers for the project I am on. Luckily I get to do this trip with my brother as well so that will make the trip more fun. We stopped in Las Vegas to drop Kat and the kids off with Grandparents, then off to Hawaii. The trip to Hawaii was from 2 am to 6:20 am. Needless to say both Taft and I were dead and needed some sleep. Luckily we got to make this trip in first class so we were able to sleep pretty much all the way to Hawaii. Plus we got to wait in the V.I.P. lounge (that is where Taft is at in the picture) in Vegas which made it bit more comfortable. 

In Hawaii we had a 6 hour layover. With that much time to kill Taft and I headed to the beach and to get some real breakfast. We made a bad call on where to eat breakfast. While it looks good it actually was a hole in the wall with questionable food. 

After a bit of site seeing it was back to the airport. Now it is off for 10 hour ride to Manila. I will update you on Manila soon.

I have given in to the social networking pressure and joined Facebook. For some reason a part of me hurts to admit this.

Yesterday was an exciting day here in Denver as we had 2 tornado's touch down relatively close. I was out with our ARES (HAM) group getting stuff ready for the DNC. About 5:30 one of our guys spotted it. I was at the Parker Fire Headquarters which is about 8 miles away. Me and the other guy that was with me ran outside and sure enough there it was. As we looked to our Southwest there was a very dark intimidating storm and from the far corner of it a funnel cloud starting to coming down and connect with the tunnel coming up from the ground!!!

I was able watch it for about 15 min while it was on the ground. No injuries or major damage from the tornado as it dissipated luckily right as the dust from the tornado started to envelop a farm house.

Go here for some pictures. The real blue poor quality is from my cell phone. The quality is bad so it is hard to see, but if you look close you can see the Tornado (look at the ground between the two handicap signs and you can see all the dust being kicked up at the base of the tornado).

It was quite the experience and I have to say that I will love being a weather spotter for our ARES (Armature Radio Emergency Services) district!!!!

This is just some really amazing video footage of what these different animals can do.

What a wonder first day of May we had here in Colorado. Without fail every year there is one last snow storm in May before spring really arrives.

I am lost for what the next step should be. Last night I was up until 2 am with a screaming baby who just refuses to sleep. I use to think she was getting better, which I guess is true, but comparing crying for 6 hours a day to only crying 4 hours a day can only give so much comfort. My wife is spent, I am spent and my other girls know they do not get much attention because of all this as well. Unless you are 4 months old in our house you get no attention.

Just had to share this quote I just read from Shanna's blog. Reminds me once again that attitude makes all the difference.

Gordon B. Hinckley

I am putting this out here really so the next time I rebuild my machine I can remember and find this solution easier. If you have a mobile device and active sync does not show up as a service when trying to sync via bluetooth this may be your issue.

If you are using the Toshiba Bluetooth Stack (for example, to get A2DP profile support) then you need to do some work to get bluetooth synchronizing working.

Firstly, on your host machine, open Regedit and navigate to:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows CE Services\SerialPort
and change the value from Bluetooth to your incoming bluetooth COM port. Normally this is COM7 if you are using v5 of the Toshiba Bluetooth Stack (the Vista compatible version). Change the value to "COM7" (without the quotes).

You will need to restart your machine.
Now pair your Windows Mobile device with your host machine. You should see the ActiveSync service listed. If you've previously paired your device, then you would have seen "Serial Port" listed as a service (which isn't enough to get ActiveSync working). Instead go into the properties of the bluetooth device and select "refresh" to get an updated list of services that your host PC is advertising. ActiveSync should now be an option. Select it. Now, when using ActiveSync on your WM device, Connect via Bluetooth should work just fine.

With all the election commotion that is going on right now there are a lot of questions about the LDS Church that people are asking or wondering. I thought I would take a quick moment and help people understand the church better. I have pulled these items from a talk given by M. Russell Ballard one of the leaders of the church. Since many people are skeptical of what they don't know I thought I would help people understand better. So if you would like some highlights please read over the bullet points and feel free to ask me any questions.

Facts

• First, “Mormon” is a nickname for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Members are often referred to as “Mormons,” “Latter-day Saints,” or “LDS.” The term “Saint” means “member.”
• Second, the Church was restored in 1830 in upstate New York with Joseph Smith as its first prophet and president. Today it is headquartered in Salt Lake City, with President Gordon B. Hinckley as the present prophet.
• Third, there are now over 13 million members in 176 countries and territories. About 6 million of these are in the United States, making us the fourth largest Christian denomination in America. As one of the fastest growing Christian faiths in the world, we complete a new chapel every working day. Members pay a tithe, which is 10 percent of their income, making this and other programs possible.
• Fourth, local congregations are led by volunteer, unpaid members. Both men and women serve in assigned leadership positions.
• And fifth, Mormons are well represented in politics and government. (In the United States, for example, there are 16 members in Congress, from both political parties.) Members also serve in high and trusted positions throughout the world in business, medicine, law, education, media, sports, and entertainment.

Faith

• We believe in the eternity of the soul, that God is the Father of our spirits, and that we can return to Him after death.
• We believe that Jesus Christ is our personal Savior, and we try to model our lives after Him and His teachings. We commemorate Christ’s atoning sacrifice in our Sunday worship services, similar to taking communion in other churches. We accept as fellow Christians all who believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and the Savior of all mankind. Many Christians do not understand that we have much common ground with them. Joseph Smith taught that Jesus Christ is the core of our belief, and everything else is an appendage to it.
• We believe the original church that Jesus established was lost and has been restored again in our day. The priesthood, the authority given to man to act in the name of God, with apostles and a prophet to lead us, has been restored as have all necessary ordinances of salvation.
• We believe in and we use the Holy Bible, both the Old and New Testaments.
• And we believe in the Book of Mormon and other books of scripture which support and authenticate the Bible and testify of the ministry and divinity of Christ and of God’s ongoing revelation to man. Indeed, the Book of Mormon is “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”

Family

• Mormons place particularly strong emphasis on family as the basic unit of the Church and of society. We have a deep commitment to marriage (defined as a union between one man and one woman). Polygamy, a limited practice in the early pioneer days of the Church, was discontinued in 1890, some 117 years ago.
• Families and individuals, whether members of our faith or not, can attend Sunday services in our chapels. Here we worship together, instructing one another from the scriptures.
• Latter-day Saint families are encouraged to hold family home evenings weekly, usually on Monday nights. This provides a regular and predictable time for parents to teach values to their children and to have fun together. We invite those not of our faith to adopt this practice with their own families.
• The Church has auxiliary programs for women, youth, and children as a support to the family. These programs provide such things as religious instruction, opportunities for Christian service, sports, drama, music, and Scouting.
• And there is also much focus on extended family, genealogy, and personal family history, providing young and old with a stronger sense of roots, identity, and belonging. The highest and most sacred ordinances of our faith relate to our families, both living and dead, and some of these ordinances take place in our temples.

Other

• One of the fruits is a longer life. Studies show that practicing Mormons are healthier and therefore live longer than the national average. In 1833 the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith the Word of Wisdom, which is the way to live in order to enjoy a long and healthy life. This is why we do not drink alcohol or smoke.
• Second, those who are married in and attend the temple regularly have a divorce rate far below the national and world average.
• Third, we achieve an educational level that is higher than the national average.
• Fourth, over 70,000 members volunteer at their own expense to serve for 18 to 24 months in humanitarian efforts, Church service assignments, and full-time missionary service throughout the world.
• And fifth, we place strong emphasis on self-reliance and a solid work ethic. We encourage active involvement in our communities and in providing service to others. The Church continues to donate substantial money, goods, and services to humanitarian causes around the globe, including untold hours of labor donated by members to assist in disaster cleanup and relief.

I just needed to express my thanks for the many blessings which I have. It is such a great blessing to live in this great country. Any more these days there are a lot of people that are negative about this great country. I think it is a shame and a reflection of how thankless people are becoming.

I give thanks to my God for:

• The blessings of this country
• The incredible men and women who are serving in the military during this difficult time. May God bless you and your family for your courage and sacrifice.
• A wonderful family and beautiful daughters and spouse.
• A system of government that while not perfect is one of the greatest systems ever created.
• That ability to have a job of my choosing that challenges me and helps me gain fulfillment.
• The men and women in the world that still hold on to hope. Hope for a better tomorrow. Hope in the human spirit. For these truly are the people that will make a better world a reality.
• The chance to live close to family and regularly enjoy their great company.
• Technology and the wonderful capability it gives us to stay connected
• The chance to know and love dear friends
• The opportunities I receive to enjoy nature. Opportunities I do not have enough of and which I am determined to make more of
• And again to military men and women who can never receive enough praise!

I watched Saving Private Ryan for the second time the other night. This was the first time I had seen the movie since it was released. The first time I watch the movie I left after the movie very disturbed by the brutality man can have towards man. This time it was recorded so I could skip over the part that my soul can just not handle. However, this time a different part of the movie really stuck me and moved me. Towards the end of the movie when the Captain is about to die, he grabs Private Ryan (who has a ticket to go home from the war) and tells him to "earn it." During the movie the Captain and his men talk a number of times about rather or not the sacrifice of he and his men is worth the rescue of one person. This is why the Captain tells Ryan to "earn it."

This statement really stuck me this time as I thought about my life and the state of our nation. I began wondering if those men and women who have died in our nation's wars would feel that we as a nation have earned it. I worry that we as a people are not earning it any more. I worry that we have become a society that is self-indulgent, concerned only with what we can rape and pillage from the world. This is not the type of world for which these heroic men and women have fought and died for.

The world becomes a better place as we as a people realize that we have a responsibility to each other and we are here on this earth to serve and bless each other.

"The universe does not favor the greedy, the dishonest, the vicious, although on the mere surface it may sometimes appear to do so; it helps the honest, the magnanimous, the virtuous. All the great Teachers of the ages have declared this in varying forms, and to prove and know it a man has but to persist in making himself more and more virtuous by lifting up his thoughts."

- James Allen : As a Man Thinketh

I went this morning and took the technical exam for my Ham operator license this morning. I passed the exam and I am now waiting for my call sign to show up in the FCC database. I am excited to learn and become more experienced with using a ham. It should be a fun time. I will let you all know when I get my call sign. The question now is, do I get a vanity call sign?

No we are not talking about Waterworld here. We are talking about those people that slide the cancer stick into their lips. I realize this may offend people but it needs to be said. I was walking down the streets of Seattle this morning when a guy in front of me slid a stick of addiction in his mouth and lit up. I struggled to find a place to walk behind him that was free of the billowing smoke flowing back from his face. My frustration grew even more when I saw him drop his glowing stick of stench on the ground after finishing his morning of inhaling smoke and blowing it into other's faces. This is when I came to the conclusion that smokers have to be one of the most inconsiderate people in the world. If they are not how can they think they are the only ones allowed to litter and that it is ok to stand next to people and blow smoke in their face?

I am in Seattle this week for some training. Day 1 (Yesterday) was a good day of training. It fostered a good deal of interesting dialogue around architecture and managing projects and contracts. It is a good way to grow through others experiences without having to experience the pain yourself.

I have had a uPromise account for about 5 years now. Recently uPromise has added the ability for anyone that has an account to select a school to which they wish their money to go to. If you are not familiar with uPromise it is a great service! When you create an account with them you give them any grocery card numbers you have and your debit and credit card numbers. They have deals with thousands of businesses who have agreed to donate a portion of what you spend at their establishment back to a savings account for college. You do nothing but shop and dine out as normal, but now uPromise tracks you card and when used collects a percentage from that establishment. So now a portion of what you would normally spend actually makes its way back to you and helps you pay for your kids college.

Don't have kids? You can still help. You can sign up for an account an specify a neace or nephew as the beneficiary of your account or you can specify a school.

This new feature of being about to give that money to a school I think is fabulous! I think everyone should sign up for one of these accounts. If you don't have kids or a nice or nephew you want the money to go to, then let it go to a school. You are going to shop, dine out and fill up your car anyway why not let a portion of that money go to a great cause!?

www.uPromise.com

Sign up today!