for when the metal ones decide to come for you... and they will

Last night we were playing apples to apples at the in-laws' place, and I got "robots" as one of my cards. I was reminded of the "Old Glory Insurance" ad in which Sam Waterston is endorsing insurance against robot attacks. Anyway, I think zero people in the room besides Andrea actually knew what I Was talking about.


So, for everyone else's benefit, I present the "Old Glory Insurance" ad.

utah, land of the land

I'm a little slow in writing this, but darnit! ... When you go on a trip, you spend the next week catching up at home from being gone, so I'm finally getting around to it now.

Seth and I had an appointment in Salt Lake on Thursday, April 3, so that morning we dropped the kiddies off at grandma's and headed off to the Great Salty South. Rather than doing a there-and-back thing, we decided to make a weekend of it.

Here are the highlights from our trip:

The Cathedral of the Madeleine. A group of students was there as we entered, and Seth and I determined that it must have been a parochial school's choir group, because they sung two songs in Latin that sounded absolutely amazing with the cathedral's acoustics.

Seth outside the cathedral.

The choir holding hands around the altar and singing in Latin.

The organ pipes and some of the stained glass that surrounds the chapel.

The Capitol, which Seth had never seen before, and I hadn't seen in probably 15 years. They are mostly done with the remodeling, so we got to see the renovations.

You can see a bride and groom getting pictures taken by the far staircase.

Seth looking over the railing on the Capitol's third story.

Food. As a part of our quest to try a different type of ethnic food with every trip to Utah, we ate at the Bombay House for dinner. It was scrumptious, but I think I liked Seth's coconut chicken stuff better than my barbecue lamb stuff.

BYU. Although Seth was born there while his parents were attending BYU, he hadn't been back to campus since his infancy, so we checked out a few choice spots: the Monte Bean Museum, the art gallery, the creamery and the Wilkinson Center.

Seth's mission president (Spencer Christensen) and his family. They told us they enjoyed the visit, but next time we have to bring the kids. (When you get older, you get more boring, so you have to bring extra entertainment ... in the form of offspring.)

Seth's other mission president. The one he had for the last three weeks of his two-year stay hosted a mission reunion. Seth was a little doubtful that anyone he knew would show up, but just as we were getting ready to go (after eating the treats, of course), in walked one of his favorite companions. So we stayed another hour and chatted with him and his lovely wife.

After our little Utah sojourn we traveled back to Idaho on Saturday just in time for the Scott family reunion in Stone. And after that, I played a week of catch-up.

a family resemblance

You know those families where all the children look like little clones of each other? There are slight variations, of course, but if you've seen one of the kids, you can recognize any other from the same set of parents. Well, I always thought that our family was exactly the opposite. In fact, when Jessica and I lived in the same apartment complex and the same ward in college, most people didn't realize we were sisters even though we shared a last name.

From a family photo taken about 2001.

But I learned, from the aforementioned online morphing program (Have you tried it yet? Go ahead ... make yourself look like a chimp!), that I would look eerily like at least two of my brothers if I were male.

Warning: The following picture may be considered disturbing. Or, at least, the maker of the picture may be considered disturbed.

Ethan, Man Andrea (Mandrea, for short), and Tyson. Thanks for letting me steal pictures from your Facebook pages, bros.

a thousand points of light

So I was looking through some of the old home videos I encoded three or four years ago and came across a recording of myself, my brother Jason, and our friend Krisy Bennett performing at the Bonneville High School talent show. This was the fall of 1999, the beginning of my senior year. The recording (and, debatably, the talent) may be of questionable quality, but I'm still posting it in the spirit of nostalgia.


We're covering Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World." Click the "Play" button below to watch.






If you can't see the embedded video, try viewing it directly here or here.


As an aside, if any of you are wondering how this was recorded, both of my parents were in the audience. On, like, the third row of the bleachers with all my classmates. Yeah, I know, I was pretty cool as high-schoolers go. Cooler than most, I might dare to say. Of course, that wouldn't bother me now, but I imagine I was sufficiently embarrassed at the time.

"It's been quite a ride. I loved every minute of it."

Charlton Heston died yesterday at 84, after a valiant battle with Alzheimer's. What an awesome dude. He starred in some of my favorite movies:

• Moses in The Ten Commandments
• George Taylor in The Planet of the Apes
• Robert Neville in The Omega Man
• Robert Thorn in Soylent Green

He was president of the NRA, famous for his quote that Al Gore could pry his Second Amendment right "from my cold, dead hands." In an increasingly liberal and amoral Hollywood society, he stood up for conservative principles and against political correctness, claiming that, "Political correctness is tyranny with manners."

We'll miss you, Chuck. You were one classy guy.