SUPPORT PROP 8, Defend the traditional family

"For this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and the eternal life of man." -Moses 1:39

With just 14 short days left until we vote on this very important issue of religious freedom, I have to believe that God's plan will roll forward despite those who would wish to see it frustrated.

Please help your undecided friends and neighbors the most by simply and sincerely bearing your testimony of your belief in God's Plan of Salvation. There is nothing more powerful than brining the Spirit into a conversation by bearing witness of God's Plan of Happiness for His children. It doesn't have to be complicated, just sincere.

Some of these simple, but well-done videos can help to answer questions that we hear people around us asking every day. The first video posted here has several companion "shorts" you can find on YouTube along the right-hand side. The second posted video does a wonderful job explaining the history of how this proposition came to be. Please share them with your colleagues and friends. They are not confrontational at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-jc4ujp9Ok%20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI-GjWY-WlA

Expression without words

Classical music is something, I feel, helps man to refine his thoughts and feelings. I believe it is one of the most expressive types of music -- oftentimes without lyrics. In fact, that proves its power -- the melodic messages transcend words to connect man's heart to God, to heaven, and certainly to all those "larger-than-life" thoughts and feelings we all experience. For helping man to define the world around him, I love classical music.

Johann Sebastian Bach:

"[Music is] For the glory of the most high God alone, And for my neighbour to learn from."

"The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul."


Here are 80 of my favorite pieces and something I have learned/experienced from each one. They are in no particular order:

1. Carmina Burana (Carl Orff)
   The sound of peril in gluttony & lust
2. Swan Lake Suite (Tchaikovsky)
   The very essence of grace, beauty & elegance
3. Peer Gynt: In The Hall of the Mountain King
   (Edvard Greig)
   Rising action of any good story sounds like this…
4. Brandenburg Concertos (J. S. Bach)
   Extravagance and richness!
5. Piano Sonata No. 14 “Moonlight Sonata” (Beethoven)
   Melancholic purge power!
6. Eine Klein Nachtmusic (Mozart)
   Childhood memory of standing in front of the Hi-Fi conducting my own orchestra
7. Ave Maria (Schubert)
   Such an expression of respect & devotion
8. Für Elise (Beethoven)
   Some of my earliest piano memories
9. Cantata BWV 208 “Sheep May Safely Graze” (J. S. Bach)
   All things gentle and pure
10. The Ride of the Valkyries (Wagner)
    Bugs Bunny & friends!
11. Vocalise No. 14 for Cello & Piano (Rachmaninoff)
    Sings the song of the aching heart
12. Entry of the Nobles from Mlada (Rimsky-Korsakov)
    Fanfare for the truly important people in life
13. Largo Al Factorum--Barber of Seville (Rossini)
    How to prep an audience for the truly unbelievable
14. Lohengrin (Wagner)
    What a story heard here
15. March of the Toreadors--Carmen (Bizet)
    Thank you Sesame Street for exposing me to great opera!
16. La Traviata (Verdi)
    Although tragic, has it’s colorful and live moments
17. Waltzes (Strauss)
    Sum up all my daydreams of being swept away in a beautiful gown by my handsome prince
18. La Boheme (Puccini)
    What tragedy in love sounds like
19. Concierto de Aranjuez (Rodrigo)
    Reminds me of the sounds from within the walls of the Alhambra with all it’s Moorish influence
20. 1812 Overture (Tchaikovsky)
    What is a firework show without this piece complete with cannons?
21. Nessun Dorma--Turandot (Puccini)
    Summarizes my life-long love affair with Italian and the exquisite tenor voice
22. Piano Sonata No. 8 “Pathétique” (Beethoven)
    Permission to daydream
23. Suite No. 1 BWV for Cello (J. S. Bach)
    The cello hits the frequency of my own beating heart
24. On the Beautiful Blue Danube (Strauss)
    Now that is party music!
25. Symphony No. 5 in C Sharp (Mahler)
    A grown-up’s lullaby
26. Concerto Grosso in G Minor--Christmas Concert (Handel)
    Every Christmas is made more lovely with the musical genius of Handel
27. Boléro (Ravel)
    This paints a picture of the mounting intensity of the bullfighters dance OR the Roman Legions marching before the Emperor
28. Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 “Morning Mood” (Edvard Greig)
    Good morning to the world…reminds me I am thankful for each brand new day!
29. Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major (Mozart)
    It’s o.k. for adults to skip down the street, isn’t it?
30. Symphony No. 2 in E Minor (Rachmaninoff)
    This is the song my heart wants to sing when I find the love of my life. I don’t think there is a more romantic piece
31. Trois Gymnopedies No. 1 (Satie)
    The rain that is falling on my window; very relaxing
32. Concerto for Piano & Orchestra in A Minor (Edvard Grieg)
    A surprise around every corner, just as in life
33. Adagio for Strings (Barber)
    The tragedy of a love that can never be
34. Water Music (Handel)
    The summation of all things Baroque
35. Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin)
    An American in Paris – need I say more?
36. Fanfare for the Common Man (Copeland)
    And so should great men be announced…
37. Appalachian Spring (Copeland)
    I can feel the air and see the sky
38. Rodeo (Copeland)
    “Beef, it’s what’s for dinner!”
39. Claire de Lune (Debussy)
    Floating, weightlessness
40. The Four Seasons (Vivaldi)
    All the forces of Nature at work: brute chill & gale of Winter, flirtatiousness of Spring, the warm caress of Summer, and the wistfulness of Fall
41. Cello Concerto in B Minor (Dvorak)
    Musical genius
42. Carnival of the Animals--Swan (Saint-Saëns)
    The grace and beauty of the ballerina
43. Requiem Mass in D Minor (Mozart)
    An intense choral response to grief
44. Concerto for Mandolin, Strings & Brass in C Major (J. S. Bach) Bach could persuade the atheist to believe...
45. Cannon in D (Pachelbel)
    My earliest memory of classical music played by my parents
46. Also Spach Zarathustra (Strauss)
    2001: Space Odyssey
47. Trumpet Voluntary--The Prince of Denmark (Clarke)
    My memories of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London
48. Messiah (Handel)
    Inspired of God; has there ever been a more inspiring piece of music written?
49. Symphony Fantastique (Berlioz)
    A memory of Paris on a college trip
50. Symphony No. 9 in D Minor --Ode to Joy (Beethoven)
    Happiness embodied in music!
51. Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring (J. S. Bach)
    Best heard inside some of the greatest cathedrals in Europe
52. Music for the death of Queen Mary (Purcell)
    What a tragic story in history; reminds me of being inside Westminster Abbey
53. Hungarian Dances No. 5 in G Minor (Brahms)
    Dizzying, frenetic pace – makes you want to jump into the culture
54. Symphony No. 40 in G Minor (Mozart)
    Summation of Mozart’s musical genius
55. Stars & Stripes Forever (Sousa)
    My father used to crank this up on the Hi-Fi every 4th of July and wake the dead!
56. Night on Bald Mountain (Mussorgsky)
    So very dark and mysterious…just the piece to play on Halloween Night!
57. The Planets (Holst)
    Written for a “large” orchestra … what an understatement!
58. Habanera--Carmen (Bizet)
    Again, Sesame Street brings the visual of the singing orange!
59. Variation on a Theme from Paganini (Rachmaninov)
    ‘Somewhere in Time’ and Christopher Reeve! *sigh*
60. The Nutcracker--Chinese, Russian, Russian, Arabian & Clown Dances (Tchaikovsky)
    Christmas, going to see the Nutcracker with my grandmother and great-grandmother @ the Capitol Theater
61. Movie Themes for Superman, Indiana Jones, Star Wars (Williams)
    Let's not forget the modern composer. It’s unbelievable how many times I listened to these LPs growing up. Such memories!
62. Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (Liszt)
    I’m willing to bet this piece has appeared more often in soundtracks than we realize!
63. Royal Fireworks Music (Handel)
    Title defines all…
64. Wedding Day at Troldhaugen (Edvard Grieg)
    My cousin and I had this old record with wedding music on it, and we’d dress up and switch places marching down the isle to this piece
65. Pie Jesu (Faure)
    Memories of the Pietà in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City
66. Air on the G String (J. S. Bach)
    Soothing, calming, peaceful
67. Panis Angelicus (Franck)
    The beauty of the harps make it sound like heaven
68. Concerto for Two Trumpets in B, Allegro (Vivaldi)
    One of my Humanities professors favorites, we dissected it so many times, it's burned into my mind
69. Gaîté Parisienne: Baracolle--The Tales of Hoffman (Offenbach)
    If you listen to this piece and don’t want to kiss someone all along the way, there is NO HOPE for you at all!
70. Can-can--Orpheus in the Underworld (Offenbach)
    Oh this story blows Moulin Rouge clean out of the water!
71. Washington Post March (Sousa)
    Oh, what a day for a parade! Yay!
72. He Is An Englishman--H.M.S Pinafore (Gilbert & Sullivan)
    Reminds me of my crazy, singing family & our Perkins family reunions!
73. Three Little Maids From School--The Mikado(Gilbert & Sullivan)
    Ditto…
74. The Very Model of a Modern-Major General--Pirates of Penzance (Gilbert & Sullivan)
    Ditto…
75. Má Vlast (Smetana)
    Listening to this, what’s not to love about Bohemia?
76. Chariots of Fire (Vangelis)
    Again, in the spirit of modern composers, this is so very inspiring & my mission president's favorite
77. Radetsky March Op. 228 (Strauss)
    As a 5 yr. old, listening to this piece, I led the march in my very own parade!
78. Polovetsian Dances--Prince Igor (Borodin)
    Kismet, or if you prefer “Manifest Destiny"
79. Romeo & Juliet Suites No. 1 and 2 (Berlioz)
    The perfect musical tribute to one of the greatest stories and playwrights of all time
80. Peter and the Wolf (Prokofiev)
    From one of my earliest story reading memories, I learned how the instruments tell the story

Northern California is on FIRE!

A few months ago it was Southern Cal, now the fires have started up north here. Video from KCRA Local News: http://www.kcra.com/video/16683995/

With the particulate matter measurement at 155, a person could be seriously harming themselves running, biking or walking outside here in the Sacramento Valley. According the "Spare the Air" chart, Orange 100-150 PM/ Red 151-200 PM. Yep, the air quality has been deemed "unhealthy" by the officials. Who are they? Is that my friend Laura? Was that YOU!? :)

They say the air will continue to be bad for the next few days! WHAT!?? Someone doesn't understand that this is my week for VACATION!

I decided to suit up, put a handkerchief over my mouth and get on Ruby, my road bike. In about an hour and a half, I rode about 25 miles. I didn't die, I didn't even cough. Not once. Just had a lot of fun taking in all of nature. It is so sad that the hills are on fire, and I pray they can contain the fires, so no one is forced from their homes.

Here in Folsom, this is what I captured on my camera phone. You can't even tell it was so smokey. This is the "new" bridge which is right next to the old "Rainbow Bridge." The American River is just so beautiful. And to think this is all in my back yard. I love my home!

I figure that if I was going to die, skin cancer would get me first for all those summer days I laid out slathered in baby oil paying no mind to the damaging rays of the sun. And I mean YEARS of summer days!

Čau Praha!

I just can't wait for September to roll around. That is when my dear friend Kristina and I are heading to the Czech Republic. This has been a life-long dream. I've been to the UK/ Ireland, and all over Western Europe, but never made it to Prague. Many friends of mine have been and have given tips on where we should go, what we should see. Will there be enough time? We'll be there for a week and then get to hop down to Vienna and Salzburg.

One of the most architecturally rich cities in the world, Prague was one of the only Eastern cities left untouched during Nazi rule.

Some 1939 exerpts from "The Guardian UK" newspaper:

"...Prague, a sorrowing Prague, yesterday had its first day of German rule - a day in which the Czechs learned of the details of their subjection to Germany, and in which the Germans began their measures against the Jews and against those people who have "opened their mouths too wide."
Prague's streets were jammed with silent pedestrians wandering about, looking out of the corners of their eyes at German soldiers carrying guns, at armoured cars, and at other military precautions. Some Czechs were seen turning up their noses at the Germans.
Germans were everywhere. Bridges were occupied by troops and each bridge-head had a heavy machine-gun mounted on a tripod and pointing to the sky. Every twenty yards along the pavement two machine-guns were mounted facing each other..."

"...Herr Hitler left Prague yesterday, guarded by armoured cars, after a stay of 22 hours, during which he did not emerge from Hradcany Castle, which has been turned into a fortress. People in the streets through which he passed hardly knew he was there. He has had almost no contact with the Czech people..."

Oh how thankful I am that Hitler left Prague as he found it. Beautiful. There is just so much to see!

The beautiful churches and sights in the Vinohrady District....

Walk acoss the Charles Bridge....

and, of course tour the Prague Castle....

But... lest we think all the beauty of Prague is to be found in old, lifeless architecture, Kristina has pointed out that we should also be on the lookout for the "living art" with which God blessed the Czech Republic...

the Earth's #1 athlete Czech decathalete: Roman Sebrle!

Oh, yes. He is every bit as picture-worthy as anything! Here's to "bumping into" Mr. Sebrle. Mmmm, mmm, mmm!

McLaren = McLove

No kidding, I saw a McLaren yesterday! So, for those of you who believe that Sacramento is a poor cow town -- let that be a lesson to you! An older gentlemen pulled up beside me on Folsom-Auburn Boulevard. (I think he must be used to folks staring -- my gawking didn't really seem to effect him.) I had been staring in the rear view mirror for some time as it drove up. I continued to admire through the 2 minute light. WOW is all I can say! And then, in the blink of an eye, it was gone. It's not fair being teased like that. "Please Sir, would you take me for a little ride?"

Here's some interesting research on the most beautiful car I've ever seen:
The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is an Anglo-German sports car jointly developed by Mercedes-Benz and McLaren Automotive, built in Portsmouth and the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. Daimler AG, owner of Mercedes-Benz, also owns 40% of the McLaren Group.

It is the fastest automatic transmission car in the world. Due to the presence of the automatic gear box, front mid-engined arrangement and its driving characteristics lead some commentators to classify the SLR McLaren as a GT whose rivals can be considered to be the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish and Ferrari 599 GTB.

[Note: SLR stands for "Sport, Leicht, Rennsport" (sport, light, racing)] Mercedes-Benz has stated that they will build 3500 SLRs in a span of 7 years, with an annual production of only 500 cars.

The car uses carbon fibre for its entire body construction in an attempt to keep the weight low. Despite CFRP materials the total curb weight is 1768 kg (3898 lb).The following tests have proven that the SLR can achieve a 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 3.8 seconds and reach a top speed of 360 km/h (224 mph) .

Car and Driver achieved a 0-60 mph (100 km/h) time of 3.75 seconds. C&D suggests the times may be even lower if temperatures were lower. Car and Driver achieved top gear acceleration 30-50 mph and 50-70 mph times of 1.7 and 2.4 seconds, which are the fastest ever recorded by the magazine in a production car.


So maybe you are wondering what will this Chariot of the Gods set you back? The car's base price is GB£300,000 (approx. US$495,000 or €475,000.)

Maybe I should focus on a buying and paying off a home here in Cali first, right? :)

Get Smart America!

Looks like Vespa is sending a message to all Americans: "Get Smart!" I went and saw the 60's movie re-make with Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway. Hilarious. In one of their get-away scenes, instead of hopping in the typical V8 Bond car, the two of them jump on a silver LX 150. I just had to grin...

...because about a month ago, I decided that I was sick and tired of paying $75 at the pump each week to fill my gas-guzzler. So... I made a life-long dream a reality! I bought "Bella." She is oh, so beautiful -- a pretty Portofino green with suede leather seat and shiny chrome. I love her because not only can I honor my Italian heritage, and pretend I'm buzzing in front of the Tivoli Fountain as Audrey did in Roman Holiday, but I can "get smart and do my part" in this whole gasoline mess! I'm happy to report she gets 80-85 miles to the gallon. If I ever have to pay in cash at the station and I slap a 10-spot on the counter and mention to the cashier that I'll be back for change, they give me the best looks! (ha ha) Then again, so does everyone else as I drive by. At first it was cute, but now I have people stopping me at the traffic lights wanting to have a conversation about where I bought it, how much it costs, etc, etc...

Go on, admit it. You like her, don't you? So... what are you waiting for!? Have a look for yourself: http://www.vespausa.com/Products/LX.cfm

If you come visit me, I'll even let you have a test drive. You'll fall in love!

Moving Targets

Target on the Job
Oh, man. I think I've been called the b-word in at least 7 or 8 languages now, by both students and parents. Being the bad guy -- the one who testifies for the school in expulsion hearings, I have found, paints a big, red target on your back. Maybe it's just because I'm tired, but today's verbal attack in the hallway, after the discipline hearing, brought me to tears. (Of course, I made it to the bathroom before letting anyone see.) It's so hard when you give so much of yourself to help a kid and they (along with their parents) repay you by attacking you. Question: Is it really true what they say about moving targets? If that is, in fact, true, I gotta make sure I'm never in one place that long. Maybe last one to the meeting, and first one out?

Target in Dating
As long as we're already going with the target metaphor, would the same concept be true for dating? If it's difficult to hit a moving target, would that NOT appeal to the "hunter" in a man? It's been long-time common knowledge that women who are "too available" or who give themselves over without a chase of any kind, can quickly lose the interest of men. If this is true, then are women not best suited to present themselves as attractive "prey" and then "dash out of the thicket" as quickly and gracefully as possible? Example: Critical entrance to a party, not focusing on any man for too long, etc, etc. The only problem I have experienced here is: the prey doesn't actually get to pick hunter, and, after all, dating is "open-season." Question: What to do when you are shot by the wrong one? Or, the one YOU like hasn't re-loaded his gun or, worse, due to prior dating injury, is gun-shy? Even better question: What would dating be like if the the prey and the hunter swaped roles?