Last Sunday's Spiritual Message: Our Daughter's Blessing

This morning was a marvelous blessing. We got all dressed and ready and headed over to church to get ready for me to give our daughter a blessing.

Blessed to:
Be a strength and a light to all of those around her in a world of darkness.
Be a leader/strength to her siblings.
Be a leader full of the spirit
Be grateful for the Atonement and sacrifice of the Savior who made her life possible.
Be a standard bearer.
Know the words and deeds which will lift her fellows in their times of need.
Be full of the spirit because she is a choice daughter of Heavenly Father.
Prepare herself for a worthy spouse and priesthood holder and to be a good parent herself.
Be righteous and humble parents [themselves].
Raise a righteous posterity in preparation for the coming of the Savior.
Have a keen mind and be sober; quick to observe like Mormon and listen to/be obedient to and assist her parents with her siblings.
Know that Heavenly Father is near her, especially in times of disaster and difficulty.
Seek the companionship of the Holy Ghost.
Seek the knowledge of the world and magnify her callings.
Build up those around her.
Have health and strength
Have a knowledge of our Heavenly Father’s love.
Our daughter gave a BIG smile after! (Which was really the first smile I’ve seen her make!)

Present in the circle were at least the following: myself, my father-in-law, my wife's uncle, David Starego (a nice gentleman in the ward and from Texas), Jared Walker and David Roura (our home teachers), Rick Jeske (1st counselor in the bishopric and kind friend), Bishop Stephens.

This was a very special experience for me, our daughter being my first child. I was really glad my wife's family could make it and I'm sure my father, Gary, was there as well (on the other side of the veil).

(In case you were wondering, I'm not the guy in the picture, it was just the first one I found.)

Upon popular demand, here are some real pictures:

The Graduate(s)

Although I don't have blond hair and even though I graduated from BYU almost five months ago, the figure at the right still presents an accurate portrayal of my emotions.

Yes, "I'm awesome!"

On Thursday we took a bunch of pictures (shown below), went to my, "Yes, I'm Awesome" University Honors Luncheon (also shown below), and then headed over to commencement (you guessed it; shown below).

Not wanting to stand out in the hot sun, I stayed with my mother- and father-in-law, my wife, and our daughter until my hour was at hand to walk the walk. Admittedly, as I meandered over to meet up with my fellow graduates, I noticed the faculty processional had already begun and got a little nervous about being late (although I don't know why, seeing as there were over 6,000 other graduates).

The ceremony was fantastic and I loved the talks given by Elder Nelson and President Uchtdorf.

Getting out of the parking lot wasn't too grievous as we strategically positioned the Matrix (the car, STMad, not the movie) right near an exit. So our quick escape to the Bombay House was rather painless. Muahahahaha!

As any of my immediate family will know, the BH was and does put the bomb in Bombay (). Unfortunately, however, Bollywood had it's revenge on me the next morning . . .

On Friday, we busted out some more pictures at the Maeser (Honors) building and then headed over to convocation at the Marriott Center (again, pictures below).

Dr. Albrecht, a Fraud Expert, gave some cool pointers and then we sat through 700-something names. Yes, it was eternal. I felt like the man shown at your left.

To add a little spice to the monotony, I appended the 8th to my name (for the reading) with no one more than my mother and sister-in-laws noticing . . . I guess everyone else was asleep (my wife was taking my picture and my daughter was asleep).

We returned home to a fabulous dinner of my wife's patented spaghetti and meatballs; don't end graduation without it!

Good news! This morning, when we went to return my robes, I found out I had actually purchased them. Who knew? I felt so almost . . . bullet proof cool.

(The "(s)" in the title is because our daughter graduated from the womb, in case you were wondering.)

Anyway, enjoy the montage. If you don't want to see all 700-odd pictures, I would recommend clicking in the corner and going straight to the Web album.

Pulling My Hair Out With AdSweep: But I Got It Back!

I don't know if you can read it in the upper-right hand co

rner of the screen shot below, but the little red box says: Your AdSweep is currently active.

These five words, read by the C.A. this afternoon, represent the fruits and culmination of hours upon hours of frustration.

I do not know exactly why, to this moment, but my AdSweep kind of went numb on me and stopped working.

After trying a million (okay, 999,999) different self-invented and web-instructed fixes, I finally decided to wipe my laptop clean of any folder or remnant with the name of Chrome (yes, sounds a little fascist, I know).

Indeed, the experience was as follows:

For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the Chrome remants, yea, and all that do mess up my AdSweep, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the C.A., that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

Yep, I felt like I had had to kneel down in sackcloth and ashes to get it all figured out.

But, in the end, it seemed like all I had to do was create a shortcut on my desktop to fill in all the details and it would work and it did! PRAISE BE!!

Let me know if you would like any help setting it up.

Home SWEET HOME

I know, I know, I should just tough it out, take it like a man, grit [my] teeth and bear it, and or just bite down on a stick.

However, let me be the first to tell you that having nurses open up the door to your not so large hospital room every few hours and sleeping on a "pull-out" chair is not exactly a Ritz-Carlton experience.

I know many people have gone through much worse. Dare I say it (gasp), even the readers of this blog?

All I'm trying to say is that after four nights of sleeping on a chair in a hospital room, it's good to be home!

I've Made the Switch!

Yes, F-Word, it's official; but no, sadly, Google has not paid me to make the switch from Firefox to Chrome.

I've posted on this subject before and said there were really two things that kept me from making Chrome my default browser: AdBlock Plus and FAYT (Find As You Type).

While there still hasn't been a solution for the second (grr), there has been a joyous resolution to the proliferation of all those irritating ads.

Yep. It's called AdSweep. It requires a little bit of know how to set up (I had to get an email from the dude who created it to get it to work for me) but once in action, it works like a charm.

As for the FAYT, there is a search function, it's just not as snappy. Oh well, I'm sure it will come around eventually.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the lightning speed of Chrome and can only hope it will soon improve on things like the FAYT dearth and it's clumsy full screen mode.

Let me know if you have any questions.

As always, Chrome in, er, chime in with your comments.

Just remember, F-Word, I'm already anticipating your cries of Google chicanery . . .

She's Still a GIRL!!!

Okay, now for the moment you've truly been waiting for.

I give you, OUR DAUGHTER!!

THE PREGNANCY PICTURES!!

Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for . . . Our pregnancy pictures!!

This one needs no commentary.

FINALLY!!

My wife and I have been waiting for this moment for months now.

I have personally been waiting for about three years. I secretly wondered if it would ever come, but it has!

In our day and age, it's something that a lot of people now take for granted or simply say that it isn't worth it.

That's right, I'm talking about the ability to paste an image right in the heart of a Gmail, rather than a detached (or at least distant) attachment. (See the image to the right, for example.)

Yes, my joy is brimming over and I just had to tell you all about it.

Remember that you too can experience the same type of immense jubilation in your own life.

What do you have to do to savor such a blessing? Just go to your Gmail labs settings () and turn on the Inserting Images function (seen at the left).

Next, assuming that you have the rich text editor enabled for your Gmail, you will be able to click on the picture icon (shown at right) and slap your image right into the heart of the body of your message.

If you've already experienced the blessing and responsibility of inserting a picture right into your Gmail, please let me know how your experience has been, I always love to hear from fellow enthusiasts.

The Lord of the Wedding Ring

Maybe you didn't know this unless you sit on my left at work or listen to my incessant ramblings regularly, but I was without wedding ring in the world since late November.

It began with the forging of the two great rings. One was given to the Wife, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. And one, one ring was gifted to the Husband, who above all else, desires power. For within these rings was bound the strength and will to govern the pair's offspring.

But they were both of them deceived, for another ring was made. In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord C.A. forged in secret a master ring, to control all others.

And into this Wedding Ring, he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life. "One Wedding Ring to rule them all. One Wedding Ring with which he would get gain."

One by one, the free lands of Middle-earth fell to the power of the Wedding Ring. But there were some who resisted. A last alliance of Men and Elves marched against the armies of Mordor, and on the slopes of Mount Salt Lake Airport they fought for the freedom of Middle-earth.

Victory was near. But the power of the Wedding Ring could not be undone.

It was in this moment, when all hope had faded, that paper towel, son of the King, took up his father's sword.

The C.A., the enemy of the free-peoples of Middle-earth, was defeated. The Wedding Ring passed to the trash can, who had this one chance to destroy evil forever. But the hearts of Men are easily corrupted. And the Wedding Ring of Power has a will of its own.

It betrayed the trash can to his death. And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost.

History became legend, legend became myth, and for two and a half thousand years, the Wedding Ring passed out of all knowledge. Until, when chance came, the memory of it ensnared a new bearer.

A yearning for the Wedding Ring came to the C.A.'s wife, who took her yearning deep into the tunnels of the Misty Mountains. And there, it consumed her.

The memory of the Wedding Ring brought to the C.A.'s wife unnatural long life. For five hundred years its absence poisoned her mind. And in the gloom of the C.A.'s jeweler's responsibility, it waited. Darkness crept back into the forest of the world. Rumor grew of a shadow in the east, whispers of a nameless fear, and the Wedding Ring of Power perceived its time had now come. It abandoned the C.A.'s wife.

But something happened then the Wedding Ring did not intend. It was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable: the C.A. himself!

But the C.A.'s wife was not impressed with the Wedding Ring of Power, for it's maker had taken over two and a half thousand years to reproduce it, and had, this time, made it a width or two too small.

The C.A. was content to love the Wedding Ring with all of his heart (as he finally got it back) and sought to keep it for himself. But the C.A.'s wife was enraged and would not receive the Wedding Ring for the tardiness of its maker and his abundant lack of communication.

Terrified and amazed at the fury of the C.A.'s wife, the maker of the Wedding Ring of Power cowered and offered to give the C.A. the Wedding Ring for free but the C.A.'s wife would not listen and stormed out of the room.

Convinced of his regained ability to rule the whole of Middle-earth, the C.A. took things in stride and strode out the door with the Wedding Ring of Power firmly on his finger, free of charge and ready to rule all of Middle-earth.

Such is the story of how we finally got my new wedding ring!

And She Came Parachuting Down . . .

I've never been pregnant and I don't really plan on it. With that said, there's nothing better than having a woman around who's been there and done that to help her own daughter experience the challenges involved in taking care of a new life.

With that said, my wife and I were very lucky to have her mother come parachuting in to Salt Lake City Airport last Monday.

Unfortunately, the C.A. likes to get talking and accidentally got the four of us lost . . . twice.

But it's okay, after listening to Elder Wirthlin's Come What May and Love It and being somewhat of a preconditioned ham myself, we were driving along as chipper as though we had a plentiful source of laughing gas, flowing through the air vents.

(Remember that scene in Tommy Boy?)

Long story short, if you're going to have any offspring, make sure you call for backup and get your wife's mother in the battle: the ride (figurative here) will go much smoother!

Where the C.A. Was Found . . .

After applying to 27 law schools, the mounds of paperwork eventually caught up with me . . .

Today's Spiritual Message: Apostles on the Earth Today

Yesterday morning, Elder Neil L. Anderson was called by God to take up the mantel of Apostleship left behind by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin.

Elder Anderson certainly did not seek nor much less ask for this holy calling, but as President Dieter F. Uchtdorf has said:

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we do not seek, nor do we decline, callings that come from God through inspired priesthood channels.

Click on the picture of Elder Holland at the top left to hear why we believe in continued revelation.

This morning (4/5/09) he gave one of the most beautiful and moving talks on the Atoning sacrifice of the Savior Jesus Christ I have ever heard. (Click the picture to the right, then Sunday AM, then Elder Jeffery R. Holland to watch it.)

I testify that Jesus is the Christ and the only way we can overcome the pitfalls of this life: both our own mistakes as well as the pains, sorrows, and injustices of this mortal existence (including death).

The New Testament record reads:

And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;

In our day it has been said:

The twelve traveling councilors are called to be the Twelve Apostles, or special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world

I testify that these humble men have been called by Jesus Christ that they might assist Him in bringing all the children of God unto Himself and unto life evermore.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Latest Gmail Releases: Once You Pop, You Just Can't Stop

I might not always have amazing blog fodder, but Gmail seems to pop out amazing updates to it's "Beta" email client on a daily basis.

In case your level of interest in Gmail rivals my interest in March Madness, allow me to fill you in.

Have you ever wondered allowed (it's okay, you don't have to admit it) why search engines like Google and others will auto-complete a likely match to your desired query but there wasn't that same functionality in the Gmail search box?

Well, fellow closet geeks (I know there's at least two of you out there), your time has come! That's right, Gmail now carries a feature in Labs where, if enabled, will auto-complete common searches like email addresses and attachment searches.

See Gmail's Official Blog for more details. (You'll probably need to scroll down a touch.)

As if that wasn't enough for a hard day's labor, Gmail has (finally, IMHO) enhanced it's chat status box, so you don't have to guess at what's showing up in it. Remember how the box was tiny and wouldn't let you see what you were typing? Try it out now, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

In Case You Haven't Figured it Out Yet:

At the behest of his Kness and due to the tireless pleadings of one Scott "Smiele" Miele, I've decided to come clean.

Don't worry, I'm not confessing here to anything more grievous than being associated with jovial company. The Internet knows all of my darkest and most clandestine secrets will never show up on a blog post, email, or even a word doc . . .

The whole Harvard thing was an April Fool's day gag you didn't pick up on (that is, if this is coming as a surprise to you). You probably never looked at the Official Acceptance letter I posted, but that would have taken an extra three seconds of your time, so I can certainly understand! :)

I do thank those of you kind enough to believe the best of me.
Wouldn't the world be a better place if we all treated each other with the same awe, respect, and borderline-reverence we give the, "Top 5% of all [Academic] aviators, the elite, best of the best"?

No, I'm not planning on retaking the LSAT (for a third time) to improve my chances of instasuccess after law school.

But I do still plan to topple Google once I've made more than Bill Gates, Brad Pitt, and A-Rod combined.

I don't need Harvard to ensure my net worth's greater than 40 developing countries: just ask his Kness's favorite executive, Steve Jobs. Can you name where he did or did not get his advanced degree?

Yes, when I buy-out Google and own the world's collective information, there will be few daring enough to mention my unfortunate bid for Harvard glory . . . My empire will be complete, absolute, but most certainly not evil. :)

Keep believing.

My Bracket's Broken!

Yes, I suppose it's only poetic justice that I, being a fair weather fan for my own teams, not having watched a single display of madness this year, and having turned down the law school whose team I picked to win it all; again, it's only poetic justice my bracket should fall short.

If I had won, what would have happened to the house of cards built upon male machismo?

What would have happened to the daily exchanges of, "My bracket could beat up your bracket in a fight!"?

No, it's only fair that I, who care so little about sports in general anymore should fall short while another, more avid enthusiast, should rise to the top of male glory and so enable the dream of sportsaholics everywhere to live on.

I also forgot to mention how a dark and dreary shadow would have set over my team at work, most likely forecasted with scowls, disbelief, and anger for up to two or three months, capped off with icy temperatures and mumblings of, "Sheer luck!"

So instead, I raise my glass to glassy-eyed men everywhere and proclaim, "You didn't win it all this year, but maybe next year if you watch 20 hours more than the 30 you put in this year, the tournament gods will smile upon you and your house with a $20 pay-out approval."

Until then, watch on, ye loyal sports enthusiasts!

Re: HARVARD!!

If you haven't had a chance yet, make sure you check out my OFFICIAL ACCEPTANCE LETTER.

With that said, I would like to thank the following individuals for personally congratulating me, I really appreciate it!

1. Robert
2. Devin
3. Chris
4. Jeff
5. Ryan
6. Scott
7. Daren
8. Keith
9. Sevak
10. Tyler
11. Stu
12. Stuart
13. Greg (especially since he's going to NYU, this really meant a lot to me)

I just hope that if I can graduate at the top 1% of my class, I can come back to work for my company, Qualtrics, as General Counsel, when it acquires Google.

HARVARD!!!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? YES!!

Remember how I said I was still waiting to hear back from Harvard and Chicago? Well this morning I woke up to the surprise and shock of a life time: I GOT IN TO HARVARD LAW SCHOOL!!!!!

When I saw the email in my inbox I couldn't believe my eyes. The message was titled, "Congratulations from Harvard Law!"

At first I kept hitting myself on the forehead but I remembered that yesterday, when I asked the admissions committee to send my decision letter to my address here in Utah I got a response back saying:

Daniel,

Thank you for your email. All admissions decisions will be sent via email. Thank you.

Best,
J.D. Admissions
So I realized this was the real thing!
To add to the reality, Toby Stock, Assistant Dean and Dean of Admissions said the following:

Daniel, congratulations on your acceptance to Harvard Law School. Back in September, you wrote me a brief email thanking me for visiting BYU and that really impressed me. I'm confident a gracious and ambitious student like yourself will be a welcomed asset to Harvard Law. I'll see you in the fall.

At this point I about passed out. But I looked back through my emails and found this exchange:

Mr. Stock,

I wanted to thank you for your visit to BYU today but I had to run off to class.

I appreciated your candor, comments, and thoughtful responses; I really enjoyed what you had to say.

Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to know you a little better over the phone some time soon . . .

Thanks again for your time and for coming all the way out here. (Although something tells me that the flight probably wasn’t on your own dime, right?)

Regards.


At the time, I didn't think this little thank you would mean anything as he simply replied:


Thanks & good luck w/ the process

_______________________________
Toby W. Stock '01
Assistant Dean & Dean of Admissions
Harvard Law School
Office of JD Admissions, Austin 202
1515 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 495-3179


I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click here to see my official Harvard acceptance page!

The Wait of Our List Grows Waitier

Just when you thought it was safe to say all of my law school decisions had come in, we got word from W&M.

Chalk up another Virgina-based school (George Washington [yes, I know it's in D.C., but how VA-ish can you get?], Washington & Lee, and George Mason) for my protruding list. UCONN and Vanderbilt are both on there, but I would probably go to Cincinnati (where we now have a seat deposit) over UCONN and my chances at Vandy are pretty slim.

Yep, so I just have left to hear back from Harvard and Chicago . . . Hey, after applying to 27 law schools, two seems like an imaginary number.

I'll keep you posted. Harvard's going to email me it's rejection letter, err, I mean, it's decision any minute now. I'm not sure about Chicago, but it's probably the same deal . . .

Stay tuned!

OH, AND A VERY BIG SHOUT OUT TO RoW FOR HIS LATEST JOB OFFER!!

CONGRATS & SALAD!!!!

Last Sunday's (3/29) Spiritual Message: What's So fUnNY?

Yes, being a proud couple made up of a recent alum and year old alumna, my wife and I couldn't help but accept an invitation to hear Brad Wilcox (his Web page) talk about humor and why it's so important. In our day-to-day life.

If you've ever heard him speak before, you know what an impeccable speaker and talented orator he is.

If you've ever met me, you know what a sad excuse for a class clown and town idiot I am. So this lecture was right up my alley.

This post carries a spiritual heading because the purpose of the discourse (or whatever you want to call it) was to highlight how humor is beneficial for dealing with life and uplifting ourselves spiritually.

I can't remember who said it, but Brad quoted him as more or less saying, "There are some things which tears and sweat cannot resolve which can only be dissolved with humor." How true this is.

Among many stories, he shared one about a plane flight he was on where the plane suddenly dropped in a violent downfall and thud, thud, thudded on the runway. Everyone, wide-eyed and speechless, looked around the plane in disbelief. Out of nowhere, the stern voice of the captain broke the silence: "Take THAT, you bad, bad runway!" The mass of passengers erupted into laughter and each person thanked him graciously upon exiting the plane. What a turnaround.

(As a side note, this happened in our own home the other day when one of us dropped a ceramic cup and it broke. Instead of getting angry or frustrated, I exclaimed, "Take THAT, you bad, bad kitchen floor!" Good times.)

Similarly a young man was exiting a store, let's say Wal-Mart, with his father, feeling exuberant. Sadly, the youth underestimated his weight and overestimated his need for fun, put both feet on the end of the cart . . . and tipped it all over himself, eggs, flour, and other items splattering all over the pavement. Instead of berating his less than cautious teenager, the man just laughed.

When asked how he could possibly laugh at such a difficult moment, he responded, "Well, the eggs certainly aren't coming back!" Yea, verily.

Here's a great example of humor from the Book of Mormon (this is my personal insertion):

At length their provisions did arrive, and they were about to enter the city by night. And we, instead of being Lamanites, were Nephites; therefore, we did take them and their provisions.

This is a classic example of humorous understatement in the scriptures. To get the full context of the story, click here.

The long and short of everything is that finding humor (mind you, this is not to say having a sense of humor, but just looking for it) in all of our numerous trials, difficulties, and varied situations will give us the energy (as they say in Spanish, pilas [batteries]) and happiness to confront the storms of life and not be overcome.

You CAN Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

You know the absurd cliche which goes, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks"?

Well, tonight, I just proved it wrong, wrong, wrong.

That's right C.A. fans, Yours Truly has amazed even himself with a little golden nugget he panned out or rather, stumbled upon, tonight.

If you've kept your finger on the pulse of the C.A., you would know how infatuated this blogger is about the pristine, incomparable, and unsullied speed of the new Google Chrome browser.

What you might not expect, however, is that tonight, Chrome actually led me to discover a trick to unlock a little more speed in my still preferred Firefox (at least as far as scrolling in a page is concerned).

I know, I was baffled, bamboozled, and dumbfounded myself. But you heard it here first.

Here's the background: I'm often frustrated () by the slow scrolling speeds I experience in Firefox.

So, tonight, as I was scrolling up and down in Gmail, I had a stroke of pure revelation.

Maybe the slow scrolling speeds I've experienced in Firefox have all been because I've had that blasted "use smooth scrolling" option checked in the advanced browser settings.

Sure enough, I went into my FF settings, unchecked that puppy and voila! It's like I've released a caged cheetah who is now free to roam and devour its speedy prey at will.