Update on the Lakers...

So a while back I posted about how the Jazz fans were classless so on and so forth, well time gave a very happy ending to that story. The basketball gods and karma brought the Jazz into Los Angeles in the second round of the playoffs and the Lakers settled the score. Have a nice off-season Utah.

I just watched the first game of the finals. Lakers v. Celtics.... hmmm, that sounds familiar. Celtics took game one, expected, but still disappointing. Kobe wasn't sharp for some reason, he'll be ready for game two though, he's too competitive and proud to have another off night in the finals. Although his shooting was off, I still liked the pick-and-roll play in the 2nd quarter. The Lakers showed signs that they will put up a huge fight for the championship, it'll be a fun series.

I like to make fun of teams based on their looks. I always call Utah the ugliest team in basketball (Boozer, Williams, Kirilenko, etc, etc i mean come on) BUT, Boston showed me today that they have the ugliest players in the one spot. Sam Cassell as everyone knows is Golem, but Rondo also has very odd physical features. He resembles (to me at least Gizmo from Gremlins). I know this isn't nice, but check it out:

Leia Mais…

Enjoy Life

An old Taoist parable describes a certain type of person.

There was a man who disliked seeing his footprints and his shadow. He decided to escape from them, and began to run. But as he ran along, more footprints appeared, while his shadow easily kept up with him. Thinking he was going too slowly, he ran faster and faster without stopping, until he finally collapsed from exhaustion and died.

If he had stood still, there would have been no footprints. If he had rested in the shade, his shadow would have disappeared.

I recently read a book called the Tao of Pooh. Benjamin Hoff describes this person in a chapter entitled Bisy Backson. “The Bisy Backson is always going somewhere, somewhere he hasn’t been. Anywhere but where he is.” Where is he going? Perhaps he is looking for something? But what is it that he’s looking for? Perhaps a reward is his destination, some grandiose prize as payment for all his efforts. “Whether it’s up in the sky, behind the next molecule, or in the executive suite, it’s somewhere always farther along than we are-just down the road, on the other side of the world, past the moon, beyond the stars…” They are always working, but not enjoying. They live for what comes next; failing to observe what is already there. They live for tomorrow and fail to take pleasure in today. Professor Harold Hill in Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man, warned, “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.”

Is life’s purpose to attain eternal life? What does that mean? Is our purpose right now to get ahead in temporal affairs? Is it to get a job and accumulate capital? In my observations and during my times of self-reflection I have noticed that the greatest joys in life don’t come from destinations, but on the pathways that lead to them. Life is all about the process. Even the afterlife is a journey, to live and progress. God himself is still enjoying the process as he watches His children learn and grow. The point I am trying to get across is that we need to not let life pass us by looking forward to tomorrow. As a student it’s easy to think of how great it will be when I finally finish medical school and become a doctor. As a missionary sometimes you think of how great it will be when you finally know the language. When you work everyday you think of how great it will be when you’re able to retire. This is fine, except satisfaction never comes. There’s always going to be more to achieve, more words to know to perfect the language, more assets you can attain, more promotions available at work, etc. When I got home from my mission I remember thinking about how completely awesome the whole experience was and I wanted more than anything to go back, even just for a moment.

In April’s first presidency message there is a great story which illustrates these thoughts

Elder Monte J. Brough, formerly of the Seventy, tells of a summer at his childhood home in Randolph, Utah, when he and his younger brother, Max, decided to build a tree house in a large tree in the backyard. They made plans for the most wonderful creation of their lives. They gathered building materials from all over the neighborhood and carried them up to a part of the tree where two branches provided an ideal location for the house. It was difficult, and they were anxious to complete their work. The vision of the finished tree house provided tremendous motivation for them to complete the project.

They worked all summer, and finally in the fall just before school began, their house was completed. Elder Brough said he will never forget the feelings of joy and satisfaction which were theirs when they finally were able to enjoy the fruit of their work. They sat in the tree house, looked around for a few minutes, climbed down from the tree—and never returned. The completed project, as wonderful as it was, could not hold their interest for even one day. In other words, the process of planning, gathering, building, and working—not the completed project—provided the enduring satisfaction and pleasure they had experienced.

Enjoy life today, enjoy the work, enjoy the study, and enjoy the experience!

Leia Mais…

Update on My Life

So married life is good, especially when you can escape the world of responsibility for a while. Melanie and I are living free in Thailand (which coincidentally means "free" land I've learned). We're staying at my in-laws place which is big and has an Indiana Jones feel to it. We justify our existance by selling Southeast Asian antiques on ebay. I specialize in the Hmong stuff :-). I am trying my best to learn Thai. I have an advantage knowing Hmong, but it still is no easy task. Mel's mom is a great tutor and the gardener and housekeeper who live with the family and only speak Thai make for excellent language practice buddies. Also I've been reading a LOT. Right now I'm reading Wild Swans, a book about three generations of a Chinese family. It is fascinating to learn about how life was in China and especially their perspectives with government changes and communism. It really gives a different point of view on things. Hopefully i can blog an overview of my feelings on that book once i finish, its a big lengthy though. Also (this will reveal my true nerdiness) I've been reading scientific journal articles and doing little pseudo-homework reports on them for fun. I investigated a Harvard paper on the Mediterranean diet for my Father-in Law and am now reading about the Group Socialization Theory (Judith Harris) which Mel and I both plan to read, discuss and write up a paper on it :-). Unfortunately, I've also gotten hooked to a computer game and spend more time than is necessary on the computer :-(.
Tomorrow I have my first day shadowing an American member of the church. He is a virologist and does research for the CDC (Center of Disease Control, I think). I am very excited for that opportunity. I've seen every good movie that has come out this summer, go shopping a lot, and have gotten sucked into the first season of 24.

My life is very relaxed to say the least.

My family arrives in Thailand on the 19th. On the 21st we will have a traditional Thai dowry reception thing which will be a BLAST! Then I will tour Thailand with my family (which has doubled since the wedding) for another month and then get back to the states on July 15th. Not too bad eh?

Leia Mais…

Another Great Day in Bangkok

So the title here is a little deceiving because a lot of my days here are filled with writing descriptions of things to put on ebay and watching countless movies, BUT today was rad!! We woke up early (at 930 am, i love that that's early now :-) and headed out to our friend Peter's house. Peter is a Thai guy who lives out in the boonies and breeds dogs. He had an amazing house. I fell in love with his Bulldog (i want one sooo stinking bad) and shot at chickens with a pellet gun. Then he served up SumTum for lunch with sticky rice and mango (mmmm...mmmmm) and we headed off to a Buddhist temple inside a water cave. On the way we ran into a pack (are they called packs?) of monkeys... that's right live monkeys in the wild! How awesome is that?!! There were tons of them in the road, in the trees, some with babies holding on to their bellies as they roamed around, some fighting showing their gnarly teeth. Man that was cool. Then we got to the temple in a cave. It was cool, Thai people really know how to make very tranquil places to worship. If I lived here I think I'd use Buddhist temples to pray (to heavenly father of coarse) and meditate. After the temple we sat and chatted with a few Buddha's (they seem like the equivalent of a park ranger in Yosemite to me, what a rad lifestyle). The conversation was in Thai, and so i quickly lost interest in trying to here words i know and just sat and watched the monkeys in the trees for a while. Then we went to the bat cave. We climbed another nearby mountain and went to another Buddhist temple. there we sat and watched as millions upon millions of bats spiraled out of the cave and off into the distant sky. The Thai describe their appearance like a dragon in the sky. It was cool. On our way down the mountain we climbed right above the cave and watched closely the scene of bats crawling to the edge of rocks and fly away, thousands at a time. cool stuff. then we ate some good, CHEAP Thai food and headed back home. Very good day!

Leia Mais…

HONEYMOON!!! (in Phuket, Thailand)

Fire dancers at the sunset ceremony.




This is part of one of the pools. Under the waterfall were barstools under water and a little drink shop, how cool is that?!




One of the three swimming pools, they were so stinking nice!
So when my father-in-law saw this picture from across the room he said "who's that fat guy?" not realizing it was me.
We spent a lot of time reading. They had hammocks, beds, couches, lounge chairs, spas, etc. scattered everywhere so we always found a nice comfortable and secluded place to read in the sun.

On the path to the spirit house.

What a gorgeous environment, and my babe fits in perfectly!
Housekeeping did this little number for us on our first night :-)

Leia Mais…