The Gandy Man

Growing So Fast

2011-12-04T14:08:00.001-08:00

Here's a quick photo update of how much Rachel has been growing up. It's amazing how much she is developing and learning week by week. She is honestly such a sweetheart all the time. You couldn't ask for a better baby.

Our New Addition

2011-08-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

Hello World! I'd like to announce the arrival of the newest and cutest addition to our family, Rachel! She is so sweet and adorable, and surprisingly well behaved. And what else do you say about a newborn... oh, yeah, you just pull out the pictures next.

Just some design fun

2011-07-02T23:51:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know that Becky and her mom raise show quality mini lops (that's a type of bunny). And they do some top quality breeding! So when Becky was about to print out some new business cards I stopped her so I could design her a new business card with a new logo to match the caliber of her bunnies (that was wishful thinking, her bunnies surpass my design skills by a long shot). Anyway, I came up with a logo that I thought turned out alright, so I decided to post it here. Also, if you'd like to see some of Becky's bunnies go to oasisrabbitry.com

Then (in the least narcissistic way possible) I made some modifications to a personal logo I had made previously. I just tried to make it more compact. Designing and Illustrator are fun, end of story.

Dad's Advice

2011-05-13T22:58:00.000-07:00

I posted this video on my blog a couple of years ago, but it was a very small compressed version... so I thought it would be a good idea to get a slightly better version online so it could be easily accessible and enjoyed by family and friends online.

My dad sits down and gives his kids some advice. This was two months before he passed away from cancer.

Man of the Cloth

2011-04-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

For those of you who didn't get to see my capstone film, I've made it available to watch here. Enjoy!

Father Archibald is a new priest on his way to a small parish in a dying mining town. It's not the assignment he was hoping for, but the few parishioners that are left help him remember why he joined the priesthood in the first place.

LIFE

2011-02-03T19:15:00.000-08:00

Here's the video I ended up making for the LDS international video contest. Enjoy!

Breakdancing

2011-01-15T14:12:00.000-08:00

At the end of December I was working on a film shoot with Miguel and promised him that I'd put together a video of him breakdancing because he was just so awesome! Luckily it didn't take me too long to fulfill the promise. Take a look at the video and help make him famous on youtube.

My Mormon Message

2010-12-03T09:34:00.000-08:00

It wasn’t uncommon to get a bag of fruit, vegetables, or preserves from the neighbors. Especially when I was younger I remembered that everyone seemed to be bottling the fruit off their fruit trees, giving away zucchinis, and giving away zucchini bread from the zucchinis they couldn’t get rid of. You know, you want to share your bounty with the neighbors, because your neighbors were your friends and that’s what you’d do, you’d share with them, and they’d share with you. You didn’t need an apricot tree if the neighbors had one, because they’d end up with more apricots than they could use and vise-versa. So fresh produce from a neighbor wasn’t an unusual gift to see on the kitchen counter. There was one bag of nectarines, however, that was an especially important gift to me.

Sister Hall was a widow in the ward who had had polio when she was younger, and as a result had trouble getting around. She needed a walker to help her get from place to place. My first memories of Sister Hall came when I turned fourteen and became my Dad’s home teaching companion. Really it was through those visits to Sister Hall that my Dad taught me the importance of home teaching; what a home teacher really is. I could see that my Dad loved and cared for Sister Hall and took his responsibility to care for this widow very seriously. I’ll never forget my Dad always going to shovel Sister Hall’s steps and driveway after a snowstorm. He remembered the little things that she’d need, and he made sure the priesthood was always available to her and her family in her home.

Years later when I was living away from home going to college we found out that my Dad had cancer and that it was unlikely he live much longer. Maybe a year at the most. As the cancer progressed there were fewer foods my Dad could include in his diet. A few days before he passed away I remember waking up and eating breakfast with him. We had fruit on cereal. He liked to eat fruit because it was one of the few things he could eat that would help get rid of the awful taste he always had in his mouth.

My dad died on July 15, 2007. That day we put a note on our front door thanking people that would come by for their thoughts and prayers, but asking them not to disturb us so we could have some time just as a family. Later that evening we opened the front door and found a few things that people had left on the porch, including a bag of fresh nectarines from Sister Hall. Sister Hall knew how much my dad enjoyed nectarines, and that simple gift was just what my Dad would have appreciated most. The nectarines came too late for my Dad to enjoy them, but that gift had a profound effect on me. The bag of nectarines from Sister Hall seemed to me like the widow’s mite in the New Testament. There was so much love in that gift from a widow to her home teacher in need. And isn’t that what it’s really all about. All of us loving and caring about each other. That’s Zion to me.

Temple Art Available Online

2010-11-01T07:58:00.000-07:00

A company out of Arizona, Raymond Designs, is now selling some of my temple art online! See in in their online store.

I have a larger selection of my temple art available in another online store at imagekind.

Take a look, and let me know which pictures you like the best!

New Website

2010-10-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a new website for myself, so if you have a little time to look at it and give me any feedback it would be much appreciated. I'd just like to see what people's responses are like before I go ahead and pay for a domain name. Thanks everyone.

Here's the link: www.wix.com/bgandy/home

My New Reel

2010-10-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

Check out my new reel!

Bryce Gandy Reel from Bryce Gandy on Vimeo.

Large Font, or Not?

2010-09-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to do another quick survey, because I really do value your opinions. Of these which do you prefer: the large, or small font?

Any other observations or critiques are also welcome. And, as always, you can see them in higher resolution on flickr.

Redemptive Film Festival

2010-09-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

Good news! My BYU capstone film Man of the Cloth is one of the official selections of the Redemptive Film Festival and will be awarded with a Redemptive Storyteller Award at the festival in November. The festival is in Virginia Beach, so if anyone is out in Virginia in November you should go see the film.

Bountiful Temple

2010-09-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

Here's another variation on the previous Bountiful Temple photo. I was thinking Japanese blossoms on an aged scroll :) see it on flickr

Temple Photography

2010-09-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

I appreciate the feedback I got on my last post, it encouraged me to do a couple more variations of this vintage style photography. How do these next two photos compare? Remember you can look at them in a higher resolution on my flickr page.

Good Enough To Buy?

2010-09-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

Photographers sell pictures like these. I made these today, but are they good enough that you'd buy them? Look at them in a higher resolution on my flickr photostream.

Antelope Island

2010-06-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

The film shoot came to a close yesterday so I thought I'd post a couple of my photos from White Rock Bay on Antelope Island where we were on location for the last week of our shoot. The location was gorgeous, but the bugs were awful. Also, if you haven't experienced floating in the Great Salt Lake, you should. It's pretty cool.

For Robbing The Dead

2010-05-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

This past month I've been working as the Production Coordinator on the set of For Robbing The Dead. It's a western based on the true story of Jean Baptiste who robbed graves in the Salt Lake cemetery back in the 1860's. It's a beautiful, compassionate story that will be a fantastic film.

We've had some awesome locations, so I've brought my camera along to snap pictures when I'm not busy. Below are some pictures I took at our Utah Lake location: orange headed birds... green dancing bugs... and some panoramas...

I'm Getting Married!

2010-05-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

I'm getting married to Becky Jones on June 12th in Salt Lake. Becky is amazing and I love her! She is also the reason I have failed to blog at all so far in 2010. The picture above is of us right after I proposed. We set the camera up on a tripod, set the timer and got this magical shot.

A Little Christmas Miracle

2009-12-27T18:44:00.000-08:00

Christmas break is a wonderful time, made even more wonderful when it's actually a break. Although after sleeping in every day for a week straight I find myself feeling a little anxious to do something at least somewhat productive... so now I'm blogging.

Life has been busy so I kind of forgot to make a post about dancing in Christmas Around The World in the Marriot Center. It was a great concert and I was thrilled to be a part of it as a part of the Performing Arts Company this year. Really it's been a dream come true. The entire week before the performance was definitely crazy with all of the rehearsals, but luckily my biggest paper was due before all of the rehearsals got started that week. For the actual concert I got to dance in five of the numbers: Haj'd Povedi Veselo from Serbia, Hambone from the USA, Balle Balle from India, Betekintés Szatmárba from Hungary, and the Hopak from the Ukraine.

Last year I was in Christmas Around The World and did Tinikling from the Philippines. I remember being in the wings waiting to come on for the finale while PAC did Hopak. Each night I would watched Hopak and wish that I could perform it... someday... maybe if I was lucky. But I never really imagined that I'd actually make PAC and perform Hopak in Christmas Around The World. Folk dance is part of my heritage since my parents were both folk dancers, and something about that dance really has allowed me to connect with my heritage in a whole new way. So this year I've had a simple prayer answered that I prayed offstage and never imagined would actually come true. It was a tender mercy for me.

Below is a picture of my mom, Mary Bee (the founder of folk dance and director when my parents folk danced at BYU), and me in the Serbian costume.

Here is a picture of me, Ed Austin, and my mom. Ed is the director of the Performing Arts Company now, and he danced with my parents way back in the day.

After the concert I had finals to look forward to. Don't worry, I survived, and almost all of my finals went better than I was expecting them to. Okay, now I'm going to go back to relaxing and taking advantage of the break. Have a happy new year everyone!

Spam

2009-11-06T22:43:00.000-08:00

If there's one thing that gets a little tiresome it's the students who miss use Blackboard e-mail privileges and send incessant mass e-mails to their fellow classmates clogging their inboxes with messages they really didn't want in the first place... (deep breath)

Well, I got ANOTHER one of these e-mails yesterday from someone who may hold the record for mass Blackboard e-mails. It was unique enough I thought I'd share it. Enjoy.

"I wasn't able to make it to class today. This was unfortunate and unavoidable, and I really regret it. You now have the ability to make me feel worse by refusing to share notes with me, or to make all of my wildest dreams come true . . . what kind of people are you? Before you answer you should be warned that, as a political science major, I'm conversant in the deadly art of comparing my enemies to Hitler. Thanks."

Hopefully there was some saint out there kinder than myself that responded to this spamers request. Right now, however, I am perfectly content letting this person compare me to Hitler.

Abundance

2009-11-02T16:27:00.000-08:00

Abundance makes it easy to overlook our blessings.

Forced Perspective

2009-11-01T21:35:00.001-08:00

This is an amazing picture I saw on the Digital Photography School blog...

The picture is of 18,000 men preparing for war in a training camp at Camp Dodge, in Iowa.

A few facts about the image:

Length from base to Shoulder: 150 feet
Right Arm: 340 feet
Length of Torch and flame: 1000 feet
Total Length: 1490 Feet
Number of men in body and head of figure: 2,000
Number of men in right arm: 1,200
Number of men in torch: 2,800
Number of men in the flame only: 12,000
Total men: 18,000

Homework

2009-10-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

I can be fairly productive sometimes. Other times I have quite the knack for being counter-productive. This past Saturday I was somewhat productive. After grading papers for the class I TA and doing laundry I thought, "nothing can stop me now, on to homework!" That's about when I saw what my roommate Scott was working on. It was some graphic design type homework, which looked much more enticing than my homework. Naturally I started working on his homework instead of my own, and I came up with this banner/poster:

(It's original work, picture and all. I started with a picture of a quarter I took.)

In case you can't read the quote it says,

"I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man."

--George Washington

The Mother of Beauty

2009-09-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

"Death is the mother of beauty. Only the perishable can be beautiful, which is why we are unmoved by artificial flowers."

-Wallace Stevens

Top September Photos

2009-09-30T17:45:00.000-07:00

September was a good month for photography (with another trip to yellowstone, how could it not be?). The following are a few of my favorites:

This osprey dove into the river and snagged a fish while I was taking pictures of it (lucky, I know).

Idleness

2009-09-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

I'm reading Cliff Young's autobiography right now and I found a quote that I thought was worth sharing.

"Too much idleness is a bad thing for anyone and it's all too common now for wives to have an affair with other men and their men with other women. Or, they turn to drink and drugs to overcome their boredom. Happiness thrives on work, respect and admiration for one another."

Jackson Hole

2009-07-31T22:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went on a camping trip with a group of friends up near Jackson Hole. It was amazing and quite the adventure. We started the trip Thursday evening leaving Salt Lake around 8:30pm. We got to the campground we wanted to stay at sometime after 2am, if I'm remembering right. The stars were incredible and made driving that late worth it right away. The rest of the trip included a near moose encounter in our campsite, rafting the Snake River, wandering around Jackson Hole, driving past the majestic Grand Tetons, seeing Old Faithful, hanging my body out the suburban window to get pictures of buffalo, and celebrating Cynthia's birthday in Paris... Idaho. What a trip! I took almost 800 pictures, most of which I haven't had a chance to do anything with. There were a few good ones, and a lot I probably won't show anyone. But that's just what I anticipate anytime I'm taking pictures. After such an eventful trip it's probably no surprise that we got home at something like 3:30am Sunday morning. Don't worry, I managed to stay awake in church all the way until Elder's Quorum.

Macro 2

2009-07-19T16:49:00.000-07:00

I really should just go out and get a macro lens, but what I've got will do for now. Here are some more macro shots I got while hiking in Rock Canyon yesterday evening. I'll start it off with a flower for Cayla's sake.

Macro

2009-07-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

I really enjoy macro photography (close-up photography of small things with big detail). I don't have a macro lens which makes it a little more difficult, but here are some of my recent attempts at some macro shots:

Raspberries and the Scriptures

2009-07-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday I was at home in West Valley dog sitting a new puppy my family recently acquired. It's a wonderfully behaved puppy but don't let that fool you, he'll still poop on the floor if you don't keep an eye on him. Anyway, I let the dogs out in the backyard so they could take care of business and get some of their energy out. The weather was gorgeous and I noticed there were plenty of raspberries ready to be picked, so I grabbed a bowl and set to the task of filling it to the brim with raspberries as an excuse to enjoy the nice weather.

While I was picking raspberries I came to two conclusions: First, life would be simply beautiful if it required only gardening and reading books. And second, picking raspberries is a lot like studying the scriptures.

Let me explain the second. My younger brothers had breezed over the raspberry bushes a couple days previous and had obviously gone straight to the prominent and easily accessible raspberries. They filled up a bowl, but left plenty of huge ripe raspberries untouched. While I was picking raspberries I realized that I could stand in one spot for quite some time and pick a lot of raspberries. Then I would move down a couple of feet and pick more. When I looked back at the section of bush I thought I had picked clean, I was surprised to see many ripe raspberries still there. From my previous vantage point I had missed some clusters that had been hidden under leaves. All it took was lifting up a branch or getting a little lower to see if there were more berries before I moved on to the next section.

As we approach the scriptures we can quickly read through them and pick out the obvious insights and teachings. There are beautiful doctrines that are there near the surface so even children can understand them.

We can find even more in each passage of scripture as we spend more time and attention focusing on the passage before moving on. (After all, the goal isn't to race from one end of the raspberry bush to the other, it is to fill your bowl with raspberries) Spend time in the scriptures.

There is always more to find in the scriptures especially as life alters the perspective we approach the scriptures with. New insights come as we look for specific answers to questions as they relate to us in our own unique situation. Also, often as we spend time in the scriptures we just need to dig a little deeper. Lift up a branch, look under some leaves. This may require time to ponder and meditate. In fact, not all the berries are ripe at the same time. Some treasures in the scriptures are found after a lot of time has been spent searching, when we are ripe and ready.

Halfway through my quest to fill my bowl with berries I realized that to really get in there and get some of those raspberries I was going to have to get dirty. By the time I was done my hands were stained red and I had some red spots on my T-shirt. Scripture study becomes the most meaningful when we get out there and apply what we've learned. Don't be afraid to get dirty through work and service.

Keep your hands clean by getting them dirty through service.

To Washington and Back Again

2009-07-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

As soon as the spring term ended I found myself on a road-trip, alone. I had planned on driving to Tacoma to do two weeks of EFY, but I hadn't found anyone that needed a ride when I was headed up there. So it was approximately 14 hours of just me and my camera from Provo to Tacoma. By the time I hit Oregon I decided I better actually use one of the rest stops and take a nap if I wanted to finish the trip alive. By the end of the trip, however, I found that pulling off the interstate to snap some photos was more rejuvenating then the nap in Oregon was.

Well, I showed up alive to the University of Puget Sound (aka UPS; an acronym that seems vaguely familiar) in Tacoma and quickly made some awesome friends with the other counselors. We tried going to a Mariners game but all the cheap seats were sold out by the time we got there, so we took a ferry ride instead.

EFY was fun, and exhausting. The kids were cool and made it easy to have a lot of fun. I wish I had the time to do more weeks of EFY, but alas, there is a movie that needs to be finished...

I spent the fourth of July with my Uncle Dale and family before leaving Seattle. It was a blast! We jumped off a yacht in Lake Union, and saw a firework show in Bellevue.

The trip back to Utah included a lovely visit to Emma's house in Spokane, and then a beautiful drive through Montana (it was actually the first time I've ever been to Spokane and Montana). The drive back wasn't nearly as hard because my friend Mitch came along.

Overall, Washington was great! I had some good times, made new friends, saw new places, and now it's good to be back.

I'm on Flickr

2009-06-11T17:43:00.000-07:00

I joined Flickr today. Check out some of my photography here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brycegandy/

or view a slideshow of my photos.

I'd been meaning to for a while now, but I finally created an account because I didn't have a good place to share some panoramas I recently took. They're so long I can't really post them here on my blog, but on Flickr you can see a decent sized image. Don't worry I'll continue posting pictures here on my blog as well.

Rain or Shine

2009-06-06T23:14:00.000-07:00

The world is a beautiful place, rain or shine. It's the contrast that makes it so gorgeous. There is something wonderful, something to be appreciated about the people, places, and things all around us each day. Photography for me is about finding a piece of what is beautiful in my surroundings and exposing it. Here are two recent photos... rain and shine.

Also, this last week I found out that I made PAC (BYU folk dance's performing arts company). I am soooo excited to perform with this group! It's something I've dreamed of doing, but I honestly thought that the opportunity had already passed me by. It will be fun, and I'm sure you'll hear more about it in the months to come.

In the Movie Month of May...

2009-05-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

May has been an all consuming month of movie making for me. My short film "Man of the Cloth" has been filming the past couple of weekends, and with some luck we'll finish shooting this Saturday. It's kept me incredibly busy, and has definitely been the most valuable experience of my college education. I love making movies, and I've enjoyed working with some incredible and talented friends and classmates on this one. Actually finishing a film is nothing short of a miracle, no doubt about it.

The movie is about a newly ordained Catholic Priest in an old forgotten mining town. It will be done sometime this summer and playing in festivals internationally starting this next fall.

One of my favorite parts about making this film has been our locations. We filmed some of it in the west desert in Tooele County, but most of the film has been shot on location in Eureka, UT. That's in Juab County about an hour south west of Provo. Eureka is one of those places that you wouldn't want to go back to after a first glance, but if you spend some time there the place grows on you.

Just for fun I've put up a panorama shot of Eureka below. I like combining images to make panoramas, and this is probably the most seamless one I've done yet.

Blossoms and Canyon

2009-04-30T15:57:00.000-07:00

April has been a great month for pictures, so I thought I'd share a few more before the month is over. Enjoy some stuff from campus and Rock Canyon!

Parable of the Film Emulsion

2009-04-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

I'd like to share a gospel insight that I discovered as a result of photography a little over a year ago.

…have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? …can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances? (Alma 5:14,19)

How is it that we can have the image of God engraved upon our countenances?” Perhaps the parable of the film emulsion can help explain it.

Film emulsion is made of millions of light sensitive salts and crystals that react and change to light, and make photography possible. When the light sensitive emulsion of film is exposed to light coming through the camera lens, past the shutter, the image of whatever the camera was “looking at” is “engraved” on the film. The emulsion is extremely sensitive so the camera settings must be very precise to take a clean picture. So it is with us, if we look to Christ his light will shine through and engrave itself on our countenance. We have to be careful not to take our eyes off of Christ and the light of the gospel and “expose ourselves” to harmful influences. When we are looking for solutions to the stresses of life, where do we look? If we want Christ’s image in our countenance it’s not simply enough to look in his general direction. The lens must be adjusted and the focus set. It is easy to miss the mark and lose focus if we don’t give careful attention to our priorities. Even within the frame of the gospel, is Christ the center of our attention, focus, worship, and service? In a world of so much filth hopefully we are especially careful about the images and messages that appear in front of our lens. If we want to keep ourselves spiritually sensitive, we can’t afford to overexpose ourselves to worldly influences or underexpose ourselves to light of the gospel.

Run For Your Camera

2009-04-18T20:09:00.000-07:00

The other morning I was walking back from campus after taking a final, and saw something similar to the image above. The sun had recently peaked over the mountains, was backlighting the clouds, and rimming the edge of the mountain. Moments like that don't last long, so as soon as I got to my apartment I grabbed my camera and ran over toward Kiwanis Park to get a clear shot of the mountain. By the time I got there the moment was gone, but it was still picturesque as you can see above.

Sometimes it's nice not to have a camera at my side, because I can't get anywhere fast with one. I always want to capture those moments I see and share them. Often it's better to enjoy what's there for a moment and gone the next, rather than missing the joy of the moment because I was caught up trying to preserve what was always meant to be transitory.

And just for fun here's a picture that I've posted before, but with a couple of filters added to it.

Hello Spring!

2009-04-13T17:25:00.000-07:00

It's beginning to look more like spring and less like winter everyday now. Warmer weather means more pictures, because I don't have to risk frostbite on my fingers. Here are a handful of photos from the past week:

Isn't spring beautiful! I'm still looking for a tree with real popcorn though...

An Easter Message

2009-04-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

"May we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not in the flush of comfortable times but in deed and in courage and in faith."

Festival of Colors

2009-03-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

I went to the Festival of Colors at the Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork yesterday. I'd never been before, and I was glad I made it. It was amazing! People were throwing colorful chalk everywhere. I was smiling for a picture and got a load of it right in my mouth at one point. Two of my friends got chalk in their eyes, which is not so fun I imagine, but when tears started streaming out of their eyes leaving a wet path in the chalk on their faces it looked pretty awesome! You know, sometimes you just have to let your face become a canvas to be painted on.

Also, here are a few more photos from the last couple of days:

Which do you like better? Black and White, or Color...

The Collision of Man and Nature

2009-03-25T16:33:00.000-07:00

About a year and a half ago I took the picture above (It's actually a combination of two different exposures). I used it in an art show and titled it "Please Recycle." The title had a little bit to do with the framing as well, because I made the frame from cardboard. But this picture gave me an idea for an art show that I'd like to have some day. You see, the blades of grass in the picture are actually growing out of a gravel pit in what I would call an industrial area. So what intrigues me the most about this picture is the collision and coexistence of man and nature; or the combination of man-made-inorganic-material and organic life. Since then when I see some subject that seems to fit within this idea, I've just got to take a picture of it. Well my collection of images for this future art show is growing, and below are a few more that I took this afternoon.

Lift Where You Stand

2009-03-24T11:29:00.000-07:00

As I’ve gone back to reread some of the conference talks from this past October conference, President Uchtdorf’s talk from the Priesthood session really stood out to me. It was an exceptional talk when I heard it in conference, but it wasn’t my favorite back in October. Since then the topic Lift Where You Stand has become even more meaningful to me, and addresses a couple of themes that I have been thinking about a lot lately.

One of the reasons that I have grown more fond of this talk recently is that it relates directly to my capstone project here at BYU. I’m a film major and this project is actually a short film called Man of the Cloth that I’ve been in the process of writing over the last year. The script is basically done at this point and it will be filmed in May, but in the process of writing many, many drafts I discovered that the theme at the heart of the story was about lifting wherever we are. President Uchtdorf talks about two different kinds of people; those who seek a cave or a crown. My film is about the second kind of person, probably because I am more often the type to seek a crown. In the film the main character wonders, like President Uchtdorf says, “What possible influence can I have [in this remote place]?” He thinks this with the best intentions, but the root of the problem he is falling into is selfishness. Without the right perspective and attitude, opportunities to serve and grow will be missed. It is like the often quoted line from a conference address by J. Reuben Clark in April 1951, “In the service of the Lord, it is not where you serve but how. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one takes the place to which one is duly called, which place one neither seeks nor declines.” 1 We must concern ourselves with the quality of our service, not the visibility of our service.

Another related element of this topic is what Elder Oaks once referred to as “laboring in the remote corners of the Lord’s vineyard.” 2 These corners are perhaps unflattering or dull by the worlds standards but that doesn’t diminish the importance of God’s children who live there. There may not even be a multitude of people to serve in that place, but we know from the scriptures that even if there were only one soul in that corner of the vineyard no price would be too great to save that soul. No service goes to waste, because even if our service was of no use to others, at the very least it would be of benefit to us in bringing us nearer to Christ. I like the verse from the hymn I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go (Hymn no. 270),

There’s surely somewhere a lowly place

In earth’s harvest fields so wide

Where I may labor through life’s short day

For Jesus, the Crucified.

Whatever service we render, no matter where we are, is really service rendered to our Savior. It is for Him that we should labor.

Some of the most important service that often goes unseen and unrecognized is the service that is render in the home by loving parents. In a fireside given at BYU in 1990 President Hunter said, “Most of us may spend much of our lives giving service in relative obscurity. Consider the profound service a mother or father gives in the quiet anonymity of a worthy Latter-day Saint home.” 3 I think of my parents, the sacrifices they have made, and the profound impact they have had on my life. Where would I be without them? And yet, parenthood did not bring them wealth, fame, or recognition as the world measures it. I am so grateful for the other pursuits they put to the side selflessly in order to have a family. This is especially the case for mothers who may set aside school or a career they were working towards in order to raise children in the home. Remember, “thy Father which seeth in secret... shall reward thee openly.” (Matt. 6:4)

1. J. Reuben Clark, in Conference Report, Apr. 1951, 154.
2. Dallin H. Oaks, “I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go,” Liahona, Nov 2002, 67–70.
3. Howard W. Hunter, “Out of the Limelight,” New Era, Sep 1991, 4

Photos on the Fly

2009-03-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

So I took a handful of photos in between classes this afternoon. Here are a couple of them...

Sunday at the Bartholomew's

2009-03-15T22:13:00.001-07:00

Often I find myself at the Bartholomew's for dinner on Sunday. It's always wonderful. Sometimes I have my camera with me, like today...

Looking for Locations

2009-03-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

On Friday we went out to Faust, UT to see if Faust Rd. would be a good option for the desert highway location we need for the movie Man of the Cloth. Well it was, just take a look at the pictures below. Then we headed south to a little mining town in Juab county named Eureka. Eureka is just what I pictured the town of Orville to be like when I was writing the script. Utah is a great place filled with great locations for movies. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip:

Oh, and we saw a car on fire during the trip.

Homefront Ads

2009-03-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

These are three cool little ads the church has put together. Enjoy!

Imagine what a little time can do for your family!

Purpose of Temples

2009-03-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

Here's another great video from the new Mormon Messages YouTube Channel.

Share this one or some another of the Mormon Messages videos on your blog or Facebook wall. Help spread these good little messages.

New YouTube Channel

2009-02-26T15:43:00.000-08:00

The Church has a new YouTube channel with some great little videos on it. Sharing this channel with others is a good way for people roaming the internet to get more accurate information about who Mormons are and what we believe. Follow this link to MormonMessages and take a look, then spread the word. Here's one of the videos you'll find there:

Moments in the Lens

2009-02-24T22:01:00.000-08:00

I love taking pictures, so of course I'm still enjoying my new Pentax. Here are a few recent photos I'd like to share:

First up is a photo of a sunset over the Oquirrh Mountains...Next are two shots of Mt. Timpanogos (the first one I took from the car window driving down 8th North in Orem)...
Here are two very photogenic babies, my niece Hunter, and Scotty B's nephew McKay...And to round it off, here is a little experiment in light painting...

Cliff Young: An Unassuming Hero

2009-01-25T14:48:00.000-08:00

As a filmmaker I am always trying to keep my eyes and ears open for great stories that need to be told. During the summer of 2007 I heard a story in church that I knew would make a great film. Not only is it a story worth telling, it shocks me that more people haven't heard this story already. It's the story of Cliff Young, an Australian marathon runner.

The following is the story as I originally heard it. The details might not be entirely accurate from my research, but I assure you it is a true story. Unfortunately I do not know who the original author of this article is, otherwise I would give credit for the prose where it is due. Please enjoy the story of Cliff Young:

Every year, Australia hosts an 875-kilometer endurance racing from Sydney to Melbourne - considered to be the world’s longest and toughest ultra-marathon. It’s a long, tough race that takes a week and normally participated by world-class athletes who train specially for the event. Backed by big names in sports like Nike, these athletes are mostly men and women under 30 years old and equipped with the most expensive sponsored training outfits and shoes.

In 1983, these top class runners were in for a surprise. On the day of the race, a guy named Cliff Young showed up. At first, no one cared about him since everybody thought he was there to watch the event. After all, he was 61 years old, showed up in overalls and galoshes over his work boots.

As Cliff walked up to the table to take his number, it became obvious to everybody he was going to run. He was going to join a group of 150 world-class athletes and run! During that time, these runners don’t even know another surprising fact - his only trainer was his 81-year-old mother.

Everybody thought that it was a crazy publicity stunt. But the press was curious, so as he took his number 64 and moved into the pack of runners in their special, expensive racing outfit, the camera focused on him and reporters started to ask:

“Who are you and what are you doing?”

“I’m Cliff Young. I’m from a large ranch where we run sheep outside of Melbourne.”

They said, “You’re really going to run in this race?”

“Yeah,” Cliff nodded.

“Got any backers?”

“No.”

“Then you can’t run.”

“Yeah I can.” Cliff said. “See, I grew up on a farm where we couldn’t afford horses or four wheel drives, and the whole time I was growing up– until about four years ago when we finally made some money and got a four wheeler– whenever the storms would roll in, I’d have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 head, and we have 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I’d catch them. I believe I can run this race; it’s only two more days. Five days. I’ve run sheep for three.”

When the marathon started, the pros left Cliff behind in his galoshes. The crowds smiled because he didn’t even run correctly. Instead of running, he appeared to run leisurely, shuffling like an amateur.

Now, the 61-year-old potato farmer from Beech Forest with no teeth had started the ultra-tough race with world-class athletes. All over Australia, people who watched the live telecast kept on praying that someone would stop this crazy old man from running because everyone believed he’ll die even before even getting halfway across Sydney.

Every professional athletes knew for certain that it took about 7 days to finish this race, and that in order to compete, you would need to run 18 hours and sleep 6 hours. The thing is, old Cliff Young did not know that!

When the morning news of the race was aired, people were in for another big surprise. Cliff was still in the race and had jogged all night down to a city called Mittagong.

Apparently, Cliff did not stop after the first day. Although he was still far behind the world-class athletes, he kept on running. He even had the time to wave to spectators who watched the event by the highways.

When he got to a town called Albury he was asked about his tactics for the rest of the race. He said he would run through to the finish, and he did.

He kept running. Every night he got just a little bit closer to the leading pack. By the last night, he passed all of the world-class athletes. By the last day, he was way in front of them. Not only did he run the Melbourne to Sydney race at age 61, without dying; he won first place, breaking the race record by 9 hours and became a national hero! The nation fell in love with the 61-year-old potato farmer who came out of nowhere to defeat the world’s best long distance runners.

He finished the 875-kilometre race in 5 days, 15 hours and 4 minutes. Not knowing that he was supposed to sleep during the race, he said when running throughout the race, he imagined that he was chasing sheep and trying to outrun a storm.

When Cliff was awarded the first prize of $10,000, he said he did not know there was a prize and insisted that he had not entered for the money. He said, “There’re five other runners still out there doing it tougher than me,” and he gave them $2,000 each. He did not keep a single cent for himself. That act endeared him to all of Australia. Cliff was a humble, average man, who undertook an extraordinary feat and became a national sensation.

In the following year, Cliff Young entered the same race and won the 7 th place. During the race, his hip popped out of the joint socket, his knee played up and he endured shin splints. But those didn’t deter him from finishing the race. When he was announced as the winner for most courageous runner and presented with a Mitsubishi Colt, he said, “I didn’t do it near as tough as old Bob McIlwaine. Here, Bob, you have the car,” and gave the keys to him.

It was said that Cliff Young never kept a single prize. People gave him watches, because he never had one. He would thank them because he did not want to hurt their feelings, but will then give it away to the first child he saw. He did not understand why he would need a watch because, he said, he knew when it was daylight, when it was dark, and when he was hungry.

Cliff came to prominence again in 1997, aged 76, when he attempted to become the oldest man to run around Australia and raise money for homeless children. He managed to completed 6,520km of the 16,000km run before he had to pull out after his only permanent crew member became ill.

His love for running never diminished but in year 2000, after collapsing in his Gellibrand home a week after completing 921 kilometers of a 1600-kilometre race, his lose his strength for running. The mild stroke ended his heroic running days.

After the long illness, Cliff Young, the running legend passed away on 2 nd November 2003. He was 81.

Over Too Soon

2009-01-03T21:01:00.000-08:00

In a couple of days I'll be back in class with a busy schedule to manage. I don't know how I'll do it. Honestly, I don't know how I'll do it; sleeping in has been so nice. At least while the holidays were here I made some nice memories with family and friends. I'd like to share one that I have photographic evidence of:

My brothers and I took advantage of the snowstorms and the necessity of shoveling to build a mountain in the backyard. It wasn't the first time we'd made the attempt to build a mountain, so we tried a new system based on past experience to more efficiently build this mountain. The task required a couple of shovels, a wheelbarrow, and hours of physical labor but in the end we had a mountain bigger than any mountain from previous years. Our new stacking and packing techniques worked pretty well it appears.

If it keeps snowing and my brothers keep at it by Febuary the mountain could be as tall as the house. I don't know why stacking snow can be such a satisfying activity, but one thing I do know is that it makes shoveling less of a chore.

Orange ya glad that it's my birthday!

2008-12-23T17:29:00.000-08:00

Today is my birthday. I am a whopping twenty-four years old now, which just seems weird. I don't feel like I should be twenty-four already, I mean it's just that I imagined twenty-four year olds would have to be much more mature and grown-up. Anyway, I'm not going to say anything about feeling old in my social circles, because when it comes right down to it I'm not that old.

My mom asked me if I wanted a cake or anything for my birthday, but cake during the holidays seems like a sugar overdose waiting to happen. I declined the cake offer. My brothers and I then brainstormed other foods we could put candles in (or at least a candle) so they could sing and I could make a wish properly:
a birthday muffin perhaps,a slice of pie,or how about a Christmas orange. The possibilities were endless, but the orange sounded the most appealing in the long run. So it happened that I had my first birthday orange.

Let It Snow!

2008-12-16T20:26:00.000-08:00

Isn't snow beautiful! When it's snowing it doesn't feel so cold, but then the sky clears up the air starts to freeze. The only good thing about a freezing clear sky is that it makes for great pictures. Here are a few from today:I didn't have any finals. What else was I supposed to do?

Done and Done

2008-12-15T18:37:00.000-08:00

Finals are finally here - I mean - finally over. I finished all my tests and projects last week, and today I plowed ahead and eliminated my last paper. Done and done. Now all I have to do is waltz into a final on Wednesday afternoon, turn in a paper and I'll be free. I've never been done with all my finals so soon. And now that I'm looking back on this semester I realize that it's actually been a lot of fun. Never too stressful (well, it had its moments), but plenty of fun times to balance the work load. The best decision of the semester was probably going to folk dance tryouts the first week. The other great decision of the semester was to sign up for bowling. Between folk dance and bowling I was required to have fun in the middle of the day Monday through Friday. My attendance was perfect.

We moved into a new ward this semester and I am happy to report that the new ward is awesome! Besides the apartment needing some minor repairs here and there, and my car getting dinged while it was parked on the street, this semester on condo row has been superb.

The other bit of exciting news is that I finally got my new digital SLR. I got a Pentax K200D. It's a great camera and it's compatible with all my old lenses. I haven't had much time to play with it just yet, but here's a sneak peek at it's coolness with some pictures I took today.

Am I an Uncle or a Plumber?

2008-11-30T17:57:00.000-08:00

So I've gone a whole month without blogging... I don't even have a good excuse for it. School keeps me busy, but not that busy. Well there it is, I guess I'm just lazy.
Thanksgiving happened. I gave thanks, I partook of turkey, potatoes, four kinds of pie, stuffed myself with stuffing, etc. and then slept very well that night on a full stomach. The break was good, especially because I could feel good about lounging around doing nothing since it qualified as spending quality time with my family. We went bowling, did some taste testing at Costco, and relaxed in the new hot-tub. Good times.
The coolest part of seeing the family was getting to hold my new niece, Hunter Sapphire Hoyt Gandy. Yep, that's her name. She was born earlier this month and has been blessed with a full head of hair. Observe: What a good-looking uncle, I know (totally joking, I wish I wasn't though)! She's adorable, even when she's awake.
The other exciting thing that happened during the vacation at home was the assembly of the new toilet. Daniel and I tackled what the box said was a forty-five minute job, but spent most of the day trying to install the toilet. The problems started with dropping screws through holes in the floor, and then got really complicated when we buried an important gasket under the toilet that was supposed to go in between the bowl and the tank. Okay, I didn't read all of the instructions, but even when I eventually did they didn't make any sense.
If I had one thing to say to toilet manufacturers it would be this: Assembly instructions for toilets should be more like lego instructions and include pictures! Building a lego castle is far more complicated, but the instructions are 100x more intelligible.
In the end the toilet got installed, doesn't leek, looks quite nice, and I learned something important: I do not have an aptitude for plumbing.

Question for the Board

2008-10-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

The other day I was by myself riding the elevator in the JFSB in no particular hurry to get anyplace when it occurred to me that I might be wasting money. How much was this elevator ride costing the school? I'm healthy and perfectly capable of taking the stairs, especially since no one else was hopping on the elevator. Was I just being selfish? This was my line of thought at the time, which was leading me to believe that I might be able to create a soap box of the issue and make some political stance. But I'd have to check my facts first, of course, so I took my question to the 100 hour board (they'll answer any question in 100 hours; theboard.byu.edu)...

Q Dear 100 Hour Board,
How much does it cost in electricity to ride a elevator four floors in the JFSB?
- gandyman

Direct Link to Question

A Dear Gandyman,
According to this site, riding an elevator one floor uses about 2.5 watt-hours, which is about half as much energy as it takes to charge up your cell phone battery. So, four times that is 10 Wh. To put that in perspective, a KILOWatt-hour costs about seven cents. So when going four floors, you're costing the university about .07 cents.
-Claudio

...there it is. So much for my political "let's save the economy by taking the stairs" soap box. Apparently it cost vertually nothing to ride the elevator . Unless I overlooked something...

To every man...

2008-10-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

"To every man there comes in his lifetime that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a special thing unique to him and fitted to his talent. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour."

-Sir Winston Churchill

Manifesto

2008-09-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

I wrote this blogger's manifesto just for fun, because everyone needs to experience the writing of a manifesto at least once in their life. Enjoy!

Bloggers of the World Unite! Post, read, comment, subscribe, network, stay in touch, UNITE! United we support one another and remain informed. Divided our blogging efforts will come to naught. Blog because you live, don't live because you blog. Blog because you breathe, and with that breath speak. Speak because you care and have something to contribute. Now contribute because you care. I say again, Blog because you breathe!

Dad's Advice

2008-09-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

Dad

2008-09-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

Dad, you're never very far away,
In our thoughts and hearts you'll stay.
Yesterday leaves, tomorrow arrives,
But always you'll be in each of our lives.
love, Bryce

I wanted to make sure I had a copy of this little video online. There were a few problems I didn't get figured out when I compressed it so, sorry, the image is a little stretched.

Shoe Stories

2008-09-12T17:52:00.000-07:00

Getting new shoes is an exciting event. Sometimes it takes a little while to break them in but that doesn't diminish the coolness of it. The only thing that makes getting new shoes any cooler is when you get the shoes for free. Not that it happens to me often, but I won a gift card to the Nike Outlet store several weeks ago and used it on some new shoes.
But what about the old shoes? When the time came to throw them out I was a little hesitant, no, even worse, I felt guilty. Those tattered and broken sneakers had served me well for the past five years. Yes, five years! No shoes have ever lasted that long for me. Well, then again when the sole cracks in half you should probably replace your shoes no matter how good they've been to you. But regardless of their declining utility it didn't feel right to just toss them aside so carelessly. So I took this picture......and then I threw them out.
How had this mysterious affection grown for those inanimate objects I simply used to adorn my feet? After all it wasn't the actual leather and laces that I would miss. It was what they had come to represent that almost made me give in to that pack-rat urge to save them. My shoes had become the embodiment of the memories I had made while wearing them. I looked at those sketchers as they flew into the dumpster and their life flashed before my eyes. I remembered vividly the day I picked them out with my grandma as a late present for my 18th birthday (It was my fault it was late. I had been too busy to go on our traditional birthday shopping trip sooner. Thanks Grandma!). I remembered the hikes, the dates, the auditions, the road trips, the everything we'd been on together. And just like that they were gone.
Well, life moves on. Changes is the one thing I seem to be able to count on these days. But, you know, change seems to add a little freshness to life. It keeps me on my toes, and teaches me things I had never before considered. Funny how something like shoes can make me think about that, don't you think?

Looky here

2008-09-09T20:45:00.000-07:00

Somethings just make me smile. This was one of them. At Sarah and Trisha's place they have their washer and dryer conveniently on the main floor. But if that wasn't nice enough there is also a full body mirror on the back of the door to the laundry closet. Maybe it just me, but I think that's great! You can check yourself out and pick out an outfit as you pull your clothes from the dryer! Anyway, just thought I'd share.

Heriberto

2008-09-03T22:18:00.000-07:00

About 2 weeks ago I met a woman named Blanca while I was working in the Chicago area. When she found out that I was from Utah she started telling me all about how she was living there and wanted to go back as soon as she sold her house in Illinois. She fell in love with the mountains it seems. She mentioned to me that her 17 year-old son was going to head back to Utah to go to school in Salt Lake since his dad was still living there. I almost blurted out that I'd give him a ride if he needed, but cut myself short because I thought it might be weird since I had only met her a couple of minutes before and I had never met her son. Anyway, I left and continued to knock doors in the neighborhood giving it no more thought.
The next day I found myself back on the same street, when I noticed that a little girl was following me around. She finally built up the courage, I guess, and came up to me to ask if I would come back to her house because her mom (Blanca) wanted to talk to me. When I got there Blanca came out and asked if I could give her son a ride to Utah on my way back to school. I said "yes" and realized that it had been a spiritual prompting the day before that I hadn't quite followed through with. I wasn't going to hesitate on this second opportunity. She told me her son's name was Heriberto, but that he went by Eddy.
Well, the day came to hop in my car and drive back to Utah and I still hadn't met Heriberto. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous (I had a dream one night that I pick him up, but then when we got onto the freeway he pulled a gun on me because he didn't want to go back to Utah and I had to drive him somewhere else instead). By the time I got to his house and helped put his luggage in my car my fears had been dispelled. He was just a nice little Mexican boy that was grateful to be getting a ride.
He wasn't very talkative, but I eventually discovered he spoke good English. I told him he was in charge of finding music to listen to on the ipod. He did a good job as the DJ and despite the lack of conversation for most of the trip he was good company and helped the drive go by faster. We had a good time getting 50 cent hot dogs in Des Moines, listening to Brian Reagan in Nebraska, and even going to church Sunday morning in Cheyenne. By the end of our journey he had really opened up and started telling me all about his family, things he had been through, and stuff he worried about. When I dropped him off at his dad's place, his dad's expression of gratitude in his face made me thankful I hadn't passed up the opportunity. I gave them my Book of Mormon I had in my backpack as something to remember me by and then went on my way. I walked away from my roadtrip with Eddy feeling like I had benifited the most from the experience. It definitely wasn't any kind of inposition to have him along, if anything it was an unanticipated blessing.

Sandcastle For Sale

2008-08-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

There are times when it feels like strengthening my testimony and spirituality in my life is like building a sandcastle on the beach. The waves seem to drag chunks away almost as fast as I can pile wet sand on top. Building a sandcastle in the wake of ocean waves can go on for hours and hours with no, or relatively little, progress being made. Believe me, I try it almost every time I go to a beach. Most of my effort is exerted in regaining what is lost to an occasional large wave. This leads me to believe that sandcastle testimony building is not a wise endeavor (duh!). How, then, can a firm testimony be built on the beach of life among the waves of adversity and doubt so we can say like Jacob "wherefore, I [can] not be shaken." Jacob 7:5? We ought to take a look at how we approach the spiritual activities in our lives such as church attendance, scripture study, prayer, and fasting. Are we merely piling wet sand on our sandcastle testimony day after day? Or are we exerting the necessary effort to quarry stone and build on a bedrock foundation? (Hint: you don't find a bedrock foundation on the part of the beach where the world likes to play and sun-bathe) What it all boils down to is this: don't make do with a temporary sandcastle when a little extra effort and wisdom could be the difference in gaining a rock-solid fortress.

Ya wanna see a card trick?

2008-08-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

I'm no magician by any stretch of the imagination, but I do have one card trick up my sleeve. I learned it from a friend at work, and I reserve it for those days of knocking doors when I need a little extra help putting a smile on my face. This is how it works:

Prospect: Sounds great, why don't you just give me your card and I'll think it over.
Me: Okay.
(Lesson one: if someone asks for your card when you come knocking on their door they don't plan on calling you. They just don't know how to say no.)
Me: Here you go.
(I reach into my pocket, pull out a baseball card and then hand it to them. Straight face. They take it. Wait a second... a quizzical expression comes across their face.)
Prospect: Uh? ...
Me: Oh, sorry.
(I reach out, take the card back, autograph it and then return it.)
Me: There you go.

Depending on their reaction to this there are a number of directions you take the trick. You can use it to redirect and continue the sale, or make a memorable exit from their doorstep. There was only one man I shared this trick with that didn't laugh at all. I still can't understand why he didn't get it. It had been more than a decade since I bought baseball cards, but let me tell you, that was the best dollar I ever spent on a pack of baseball cards (especially since it included a stick of gum)!

Just Get Out of Bed

2008-08-20T08:59:00.001-07:00

I was reading in the Book of Mormon this morning and came across Jacob 3:11. I thought about the number of times sleep is associated with sin and hell in the scriptures. Personally I think it is a great parallel. Getting out of bed can be so hard sometimes, but you'd miss all the wonderful things in life if you never got out of bed.
At the moment the alarm goes off it is easy to be apathetic and procrastinate getting started, especially after growing accustomed to a warm soft bed all night long. Sleep fogs our vision and overshadows our resolve to take action and get things done. But didn't we come to this life to do, to experience, to live, to choose, to be challenged; not to be acted upon in an apathetic dream-like state as if we are just spectators of our lives sitting and eating popcorn in the movie theater of life.
Also, there is more of a correlation than we may think at times between the physical and spiritual aspects of our lives. So if we can't get out of bed in the morning and start living each day, we should be wary of drooping into the deep sleep of sin (you're guaranteed to be guilty of sins of omission if you spend all day in bed). I only say all this because I am guilty of it. However, I have also found it is easiest to get out of bed when I am excited about doing some activity in the morning, and when I have someone to do it with. Fellowship and enthusiasm about the gospel are so important to keeping us, and those around us, out of bed.

see also 2Ne. 1:13, 2Ne. 4:28, Alma 5:7, Alma 32:27

15 minute river-walk

2008-08-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

What to do? It's a little late to get on any rides at Navy Pier so paying $20 bucks for parking just doesn't seem reasonable at all. As for on-street parking... well, there isn't any (that is unless you're a scooter or motorcycle). But wait! There's one spot in a 15 minute parking zone under a hotel. Let's take it.
Now the question is, how much of Chicago can you see in 15 minutes? Luckily we parked right next to the river so a quick speed-walking river stroll seemed the best option. It was short, sweet, simple, and over before I knew it.
We made it back to the car in time, just in case you were wondering. No ticket, no tow truck, no problem.

Unexpected

2008-08-13T20:27:00.001-07:00

You'll never believe how I talked my way out of this one!

Oh, the things you'll see...

2008-08-13T20:06:00.000-07:00

At this point in the summer I've probably knocked about 7,000 doors. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Well, in those moments between when I knock on a door and they answer, I generally look around and admire the many things found on people's steps and porches. Whenever I see something of note and no one opens the door I usually whip out my phone and take a picture. First, let's examine a few of the notable porch geese you're sure to come across in Chicagoland.

Don't ask me why they dress up their geese. Sometimes people will try and break the goose mold by putting out penguins or something crazy and unexpected.

Then there are the homes that don't take very good care of their exteriors. No decorations, but plenty of spider webs in the corners. It didn't take me long to realize that a favorite spot for spider webs is right by the door bell.

Among other interesting insects I found an extremely furry caterpillar the other day. After some research I came to the conclusion that it was a caterpillar destined to become a moth and not an elegant butterfly. However, that did not diminish it's coolness in my nature guide book. It's orange antenna thing and suction cup feet were fascinating!

No, there is never a dull moment on the doors. But the most interesting things I find on the doors are most definitely the people that sometimes come out from behind them.

New Phone

2008-08-03T21:40:00.000-07:00

So I dropped my Razor, my first cell phone down some cement steps a little while back. The drop proved fatal and it forced me to get a new phone, which was something I probably should have done anyway. So after a weekend of suffering without any phone I went to the T-Mobile store and got myself the Nokia Xpress Music. It's a cool little phone. It's so small it might fly right out of my hand if the wind blows too hard though. The only complaint I have is that it is impossible to text message a true zero. I can replace it with a capital "O" but that doesn't work if you're texting Google for a Little Caesar's address. I read the manual and I've come to the conclusion that it's a software problem that hopefully will get corrected with a downloadable update. (I don't know if downloadable is a real word.) Regardless, I love my new phone.

Takin' out da trash

2008-07-29T22:16:00.000-07:00

"Let's Keep Hood Clean"

Fortune Cookie

2008-07-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

Happy Peruvian Independence Day everyone!

This last weekend good old Bob LeBaron was in Chicago, and I got to hang out a little with the pun master himself. It was nice to see a familiar face and it made me realize how anxious I really am for fall semester to start. Quick story...

So Bob calls me up to get the address and directions to my apartment on Friday morning. I get off the phone with him and walk into Panda Express with my roommate Chris. I ordered Beijing Beef and Mandarin Chicken but that's besides the point. Of course the first thing I do is eat the fortune cookie and cross my fingers hoping I'll get a good fortune. Little did I know how true my fortune would be. This is what it said:I was hoping for a more attractive visitor than Bob, but he did bring joy to my humble abode so I won't complain.

Nauvoo

2008-07-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

I send out my apologies to the select few of you who actually read my blog. I've been out of the blogging loop for more than a month now. Doing door to door sales can be quite tedious and it's about that point in the summer that the thought runs through the back of my mind whether it's really worth it. The pain in my lower back is screaming, "It's not worth it!" But I remind my back that it's really not that bad of a job and that the solution to lower back pain is exercising my core muscles and stretching more often. Anyway, with this summer job weighing down on me, like I knew it would, my roommates and I agreed that it would be a good idea to take off a couple of days and get away. So on Sunday morning (July 13th) we hopped in the car and drove to Nauvoo where we planned to stay through Tuesday night so we could see the Nauvoo pageant. I mean, seriously, can you live in Illinois all summer and not take advantage of the opportunity to see Nauvoo? Well, about 30 miles from Nauvoo we ran into a detour which we hoped wouldn't be too long (after all we wanted to make it to the 2 o'clock sacrament meeting in Nauvoo). Well the detour ended up adding an extra 100 miles to the trip, which is not fun if you forgot to take a bathroom break before you started the trip... In the end, we made it safe and sound but we were about a half an hour late for church.
The only hotel room we could find available in Nauvoo was a room with bunk beds that could sleep nine. We took advantage of the extra beds and made the room into one big bunk bed fort! Now that's something you'd never get to do on vacation with mom and dad around. Room service I'm sure was shocked when they went in to give us fresh towels.
Nauvoo was spectacular and the pageant was amazing! I'm glad we went, it really was the perfect break. The spirit of those early saints is there in that city they built and loved. It is inspiring to see and think about what they left behind to follow the prophet of God across the continent. My life has definitely been blessed by their sacrifice. Here are some pictures from my trip, so enjoy!

Two Days of Diving

2008-06-22T16:59:00.000-07:00

So with this sales job they are always doing incentives to motivate us to sell more. Generally the incentives don't motivate me that much but this past week I cashed in (literally) on two of them. On Wednesday morning we went diving for dollars in the pool at the apartment complex. There was $1,000 in quarters and gold dollars on the bottom of the pool. Each of us had 30 seconds to grab as much money as we could. I walked away from the pool with a grand total of $33.50 which wasn't bad. One of the guys got something like $90, lucky, I know.

Then on Thursday morning we went skydiving. Personally I wanted to go golfing for an incentive but the majority voted for skydiving. It was definitely cool and, yes, I would do it again (if I didn't have to pay for it). Well they talked me into buying the video so I'll share that with you all. I'd have to agree with Kiffer though, it's not nearly as exciting as they talk it up to be. Click below and enjoy my freefall from 14,000 ft.

Tornado Warning

2008-06-07T22:42:00.000-07:00

Tornado Warning. That means, warning, here comes the tornado. Not that there might be a tornado, there is a tornado. Yeah, I was out knocking some doors a little after 6 this evening and got a text message saying there was a tornado warning. Then a couple of doors later the tornado sirens started going off, only I didn't know they were tornado sirens and the Mexican I was talking to didn't know either. I suspected that's what it might be but it didn't look like there was a tornado so I kept knocking (that and I kind of wanted to see a tornado appear in the distance). Then about a half an hour later my manager called to see if I was off the doors and picking up the guys in my car. I told him I hadn't. Then he told me I was crazy and that a tornado had touched down 2 miles south of where we were at! Imagine that. I was that close and I didn't even know it. Luckily none of us died and now I know the difference between a tornado watch (chance of tornado) and a tornado warning (there is a tornado).

The Pokemon Facebook Phenomena

2008-06-03T20:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I left it up to you, my readers, and you voted that I shouldn't cut my hair--That makes it sound like I'm trying to make my life into some kind of reality TV show. But don't worry that's as close to American Idol as this blog will come--Not cutting my hair was the easiest thing to do anyway, because it requires me to do nothing about my growing hair, which is as much as I was doing in the first place.

After talking with my roommates the other night I realized that I enjoy getting on Facebook for the same reason I liked playing Pokemon on Game Boy when I was younger. Well, before I elaborate too much I should make a disclaimer: I honestly think of Facebook as a very fancy electronic virtual address book. It's comforting to know that if I wanted to get a hold of someone, or a group of people, I could quickly and effectively get a hold of them through Facebook. That being said, I enjoy getting on Facebook and adding people I haven't seen in 5 years that I once hung out with or having someone add me that I had lost contact with. It's almost addicting trying to see how many friends I can find on Facebook. To use the Pokemon motto, I "gotta catch 'em all." For anyone who played Pokemon I'm sure this will make perfect sense. You've got to find and catch all the Pokemon, especially the rare and exotic ones, but even the ones that aren't rare you still catch (even if it's just to say that you've caught it and that's all). Part of the game is finding and catching all the types of Pokemon, and there's something strangely satisfying about collecting them. However, you don't train and fight all your Pokemon, only a select few would I ever use and carry around in the game. But if I wanted to use them I had them on hand because I had already found them.
Hopefully you can see the parallel I'm going for with that. I don't collect friends on Facebook like it's a game, but I do check my Facebook profile with the same satisfaction that I experienced while collecting Pokemon back in the day.

The Wild Side of Chicago

2008-05-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

Up until last night the only raccoons I'd ever seen were road kill in the "suburbia" of Chicago. I'd seen a couple of possums running across the road, and I even saw a coyote earlier in the week. Squirrels are everywhere anyway, and there are enough rabbits that I wonder if they have any predators. But the raccoons, they had been eluding me. That is, until about 7:30pm last night. I was walking down Shady Ln when I spotted the furry masked bandit. It stopped dead in its tracks, turned, and stared at me with its back arched in a defensive cat-like pose. So that was another first for me. First actual raccoon sighting, cool huh? On the drive home that night we saw a rather large coyote near the road. Coyote number 2. The rabbits do have predators it appears.

Toll Roads

2008-05-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

Toll roads. Whose idea was it to make toll roads? Maybe I'll look it up (which means I most likely won't). They aren't maintained any better than the other interstates so why do I have to pay to use it? I'm sure there's a good reason behind it that I don't understand, but for now the tolls are something that I'm going to choose to not like. (Although, I will confess that I like slam dunking the coins into the little baskets at the unattended toll stations.)

Today while I was knocking doors I wrote this short poem about toll booths (based on true events that occurred this morning).

THE TOLL
Toll booth, next right.
The quarters in my hand,
The basket in sight.
The left hand toss,
The coins take flight.
One misses the mark,
!?:P - oh well,
I'll pay online tonight.

Linger Longer

2008-05-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

There's a pot luck dinner every third Sunday after church in my singles ward. The Linger Longer they call it. I signed up to bring vanilla pudding, because I have a big can of instant vanilla pudding mix. Of course I didn't remember that I needed to make the pudding until right before we were about to leave for church so I had to do it quick (in an instant just like it was intended to be made). I made it in a big pot stirring it with a little spoon, which wasn't very effective, but we just don't have all the things I'd like to have in the kitchen. Basically it was still really lumpy as I was running out the door.

I recently received a calling in the ward to a committee that is in charge of the set up and take down for the Linger Longer. While I was setting up I overheard the sister that was putting the desserts out say that she wasn't sure if my pudding was a dessert or not. I'm not sure whether that was because my pudding didn't look like pudding, or the oven pot it was in made her second guess herself.
As my roommates Chris, Josh, and myself approached the dessert table at the Linger Longer my pudding had still been left untouched. Chris and Josh both said they'd pass, and I told them I'd just take the left overs home and eat it later. Just then, one guy at the dessert table asked one of the sisters that was helping serve what my pudding was. I kept my mouth shut and continued to watch. She responded that it was home-made tapioca pudding, and the guy proceeded to scoop some onto his plate. Well that one comment, as untrue as it was, had a snowball effect and before long my lumpy vanilla pudding went from untouched to cleaned out.
The pudding was an unsuspecting success that I think I'll bring again to the next Linger Longer, but if anyone asks it's tapioca.

I got the Bird...

2008-05-13T21:33:00.000-07:00

...or the bird got me I should say. Yesterday I extended my hand to give this guy a paper to fill out, and plop! a bird doo-dooed right on my arm. It was rather messy and embarrassing. I didn't know if he had seen it happen or not so I wasn't sure if I should say anything. Then there was an awkward silence... and I realized that of course he had seen it so I said, "Wow, it looks like I just got pooped on. Hmmm, do you think I could borrow a tissue or something?" The man was locked out of his house so I couldn't go in and wash my arm off, but he was kind enough to let me use the hose. Anyway, the experience reminds me of a little video I made back in high school as an opener for the school news, X-Works. I dedicate this one to the bird that got me yesterday:

Grace and Works

2008-05-11T16:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not a poet, but I do like poetry. However, during the sacrament today at church I felt the inclination to put my thoughts about the atonement down in verse. I've been reading Paul's epistle to the Romans this past week and thinking often about how grace and works relate to one another. I think a little bit of that made it into the poem that follows. I now share with you my frail attempt at poetry.

As in Adam all men die,
So in Christ shall all men live
Eternally; His grace enough
To lift us up. God's only
Begotten sacrificed for us.

Our gratitude and faith,
How will we show
Unto the Maker
Who loves us so

Tacos or Pizza? That was the Question.

2008-05-06T08:23:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I had a singular dining experience at a pizzeria named Bacci's. I was out knocking doors when the rain started pouring. After getting completely drenched I decided maybe it would be a good time to go get lunch, and hopefully the rain would stop in the meantime. So Jason, Josh and I went driving through Aurora looking for some Mexican food, but parking was scarce so we settled for a little pizzeria that looked tempting. Bacci's Pizzeria was completely vacant when we walked in and the one employee in the joint was sitting watching TV. He didn't seem in any hurry to serve us, in fact I wasn't even sure that he was really working there. After looking at the menu Jason and Josh ordered a jumbo slice and a soda. I opted out and got two hot dogs with fries and a soda. Hot dogs aren't always the best option especially if you're at a place for the first time, but I must have a fair amount of luck because the quality of the hot dogs far exceeded the pizza on this particular occasion. Jason got the worst of it. His pizza was burnt on the bottom and looked like it had been sitting out for a couple of days and then reheated in the microwave. Josh's slice (in the picture above) at least looked like it had been cooked that same day. Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse we tried the soda machine. It must have been broken because it came out with all of the ingredients except the carbonation. Root beer syrup is all I got in my little styrofoam cup. And it came to pass that it was exceedingly sweet unto the taste. Yea verily the flavor packed a powerful punch. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw the expression on Jason's face as he ate his Jumbo slice of pizza, or perhaps it could be better described as a giant saltine cracker with cheese. It really was a comical experience and we all laughed about it (Jason didn't laugh as much, but he did laugh). Moral of the story: if you ever find yourself in Aurora Illinois near Bacci's Pizzeria, walk a little farther down the road and get some Mexican food.

Welcome to the Windy City

2008-05-03T20:56:00.000-07:00

Apparently size does matter. That's what I learned from my new roommate Josh Mangelson as we made the approximately 20 hour drive from Utah to Chicago (or Chi-town as you might like to refer to it). I was complaining about the seats in my '92 Corolla that started to make my lower back ache not long after we passed through Rock Springs, but Josh informed me that it couldn't be worse than being 6' 5" and sitting in a car for more than an hour. I'll confess, he had a point. I tried to stop complaining after that (or at least not as loud). Yes, Josh is 6' 5" and his feet do hang off the edge of his bed I've noticed. Yet another reason I don't complain about my height.

Well all the traveling was tedious, and it felt so good to actually arrive in Chicago. I wouldn't recommend traveling through 7 states over a couple of days without stopping to smell the roses, it's rather tiresome. Anyway, we hopped out of our cars at our apartment in Chicago only to find that our keys had somehow been lock in our apartment. The door was supposed to be left open for us but I guess someone had been sent to make a copy of one of the keys, and tested it on our door leaving it locked afterward. What luck! But at least I wasn't sitting in my car still. Now Josh and I were trying to break into our locked apartment so we would have a place to sleep for the night. Ironic, huh? Two guys in Chicago doing security sales trying to break into an apartment through the windows and sliding glass door. Our attempts at forced entry, however, produced no significant results and I was beginning to regret my decision to wear shorts and no jacket. In the end I ended up sleeping on the couch in another apartment until the next morning when someone could come unlock our apartment. No big deal. Experiences to make the journey more interesting, right?
By the way, Chi-town has been windy... in case you were wondering.

Bryce goes to Hawaii

2008-05-02T08:16:00.000-07:00

The past two weeks I have been packing, unpacking, packing again, unpacking... only to pack and unpack again and again. After finals finished in Provo I had to quickly move out of my apartment and head home because we had a family vacation planned to Hawaii.
Hawaii was amazing and there are so many things I’d like to say about it. Like the snorkeling, digging holes on the beach, close encounters with sea turtles, attempts at surfing, big waves, the vistas, etc. Instead of elaborating, which I regrettably don’t have the time for, I’ll just post a picture:One day that we were there we went to the house of Ron Artis. His home was... the resurrection city of surfboards. Surfers with broken boards would give their boards to him and he would cut and paint them, and turn those battered boards into art that now decorates his yard and home. While visiting his home we listened to a concert performed by his family. Their music talent was quite remarkable and from what I understand you can look them up on youtube. They dedicate all their music and art to God, and are well aware that family really does come first. And if Scotty B needs any advice about having twelve kids he should just talk to Ron Artis, because yep, count ‘um, he has twelve kids.
Vacations don’t last forever. It’s too bad, but I did have to leave tropical paradise and come home, only to leave again the next day. This time I would be traveling to Chicago to work for the rest of the summer.

Dream Blog

2008-04-16T18:36:00.000-07:00

Maybe the delirium of my sickness last night caused me to have a very strange dream. I dreamed all night about blogging, and the different blogs I would post. In fact, I woke up at 3am and was half tempted to start blogging (I didn't, I'm not that irrational yet, I went back to bed). Anyway I thought I'd post one of the blogs I dreamed about.

I've always liked photography. If I had a better digital camera I'd probably take more pictures, but as it is my wallet prevents me from developing as much film as I'd like. (I have an old Pentax camera that I just love, but film's not cheap for a college student.) Recently I was going through some of my photos and I started dedicating my "art" to different people. It was fun. Well, I dreamed that I had posted some of my pictures so that's what I'll do. Enjoy.

The Beginning

2008-04-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

Today I created this blog as a result of spending too much time in my room being sick. I got bored enough that I thought well I might as well start a blog. Hey, and well I'm at it why don't I join Facebook... I'm not sure how I feel about that. I hope this blog ends up being worthwhile. If none of my posts are worth your time I hope they at least end up being worth my time. Also, I'd just like to say that Scotty B and Bob LeBaron are my inspiration for making this move. Check out their blogs if you haven't already. http://scottbartholomew.blogspot.com and http://bloglebaron.blogspot.com