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Showing posts from April, 2014

My Roots in Racing 1.5: Go-Carting Career!

So lets call this a prequel of a Blog.   I was thinking back to all of my experience in racing.  And I really did not talk much about my brief experience in racing go-carts.  I did talk about it in My Roots in Racing Part 1 and My Ruff Times of Racing:  The Go-Cart Accident.   But there is a little bit of the story I left out. This all started in 1981 when were driving down Broadway, by Reed Park, and we see a few people driving a go-cart pretty hard in a church parking lot.  We turned around and starting talking to them about the cart and found out that they raced them.  My dad thought this would be a great thing to get me into and so with in a few weeks he had bought me a cart and we where zipping up and down the road in it.  We found out when the racers were and went out on a Saturday night to watch the races.  After that we decided this was what we were going to do. Back then to go racing you did not need much like you do today.  I have about $1000 worth of racing gear; from a

Writers block

I don't know what is going on with me right now, but I have not had the feeling to write lately.  I have about 7 or 9 topics just setting there, waiting to be finish.  I even had a hard time writing the Ten Commandment post from last week. I feel that some of my stuff is getting to long winded.  That I have to explain out everything, when that is not needed.  I hate when a writers get long winded.  I have a friend that writes like that and I have gotten to the point that I don't really read the stuff he writes, and he is 10 times better than me. Thanks for listening.

The Tie of the Day: April 27

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The Tie of the Day:  April 27.  I think this has to be on of the first Disney ties that I got.  Goofy is my favorite Disney character. I am looking for a character tie right now.  I am looking for a Phineas and Ferb Tie or a Perry Tie!

Ten Commandments 1956

Wednesday I had the opportunity to go see one of my favorite old movies, The Ten Commandments.  Back in 2012, around Christmas time, I went and saw another Classic, "It's a Wonderful Life" on the big screen.  One of my dreams, was to open up a theater that would on at least on one screen, would show these old classics that we get to see now, maybe once a year, and some times hard to find on DVD.  The movies started and 7, and we were greeted with overture music. Then this click below was the intro to the movie. All of those years watching this on the television, and I did not know that there was an intro.  It was good to see that the film makers took great care in trying to tell the story.  And you get the since through the whole movie that this is not just Moses trying to find himself, but to understand his place in life. As I set there reading the opening credits I learned something that I had never noticed before.  The role of Moses wife, Sephora, was played b

The Tie of the Day: April 20

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The Tie of the Day for April 20.  This tie I got for my sister's wedding.  My mom picked out.  I think of it as Heralds announcing something important.  And as this is Easter, Maybe the are announcing that the Savior has risen!  Happy Easter!!!

My Conference Grade

 I read a blog this morning that talked about a person and them rating or grading there General Conference experience.  They came back with and F, because they pointed out that out of 5 points they were really living up to just one.  But the blogger pointed out that this was wrong thinking, and we go to church and listen to lessons and talked given by everyday people not judging what we are doing in the Gospel. But that got me thinking through.  What was my conference experience, and how would I grade myself on it.  For My Saturday was my day.  I listened to all the talks and even got dressed and went to the Priesthood Session. I really loved Darrin H. Oaks talk on the Keys of the Priesthood and really gave me a lot to think about.  I also enjoyed Quentin L. Cook's talk on Roots and Branches.  It was about Genealogy and the advance that have been made because of the internet. This rang so true to me, because all the work I did at the family history center I could have done it at

Getting back to my Spiritual Roots.

I have never seen myself as a spiritual person.  It has been that the past few years I have started to pray on a regular bases to where I at least say a pray once or twice a day.  At the beginning of this year, I started reading the Book of Mormon again.  The Book of Mormon is another set of scriptures that testifies of Jesus Christ, that is used by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, LDS or Mormons .  I started last year and some where, lost interest some where in Mosiah.  But today I find myself in Alma 43, two thirds of the way through Alma. My aunt Liz would be known or I saw it, the spiritual one of the Close Clan.  I remember when I was at her home when my Grandmother died, that she was up every morning, doing her Bible Study.  She was more in tuned with the spirit at that time, then I was.  Oh and I don't know which church she is a member of, but I do know it is Christian.  And I know that some of this of rubbed off onto my cousin Chris, for I see

The Tie of the Day: April 13

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The Tie of the Day:  Looney Toons 

A Year of Blogging

Here I sit thinking that it was just a year ago that I was trying to decide what I wanted my first blog to be about.  I sat there thinking why am I doing this.  Do I want to do it, to become a better writer.  To I need to get up what is in my head, because it causes me some pain at times.  And as I look back there is a lot of pain in many blogs.  I was at such a low point, that it came out in a blog and with in 30 minutes I had a phone call checking up on me.  I am grateful from for a bunch of friends and priesthood leaders looking after me at that time. There has been some fun.  There was the trip to Seattle with Del Mar and his family.  The Tie of the Day is a fun thing for me, because I do have a lot of different ties.  I have never got a negative reaction from a tie I wore.  The vacation thread, I thought it would work, but all it did was bring up memories of my mom or my ex-wife ( who I guess forgot that we did have some fun on a lot of trips).   I would sit at the computer and

Tie of The Day: April 5th

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This is the Tie of the Day.  It was given to me by my friend Bryan Lawlor, who at the time worked at Disney.  He I am correct, this is a tie he would wear to work.

My Racing Roots Part 3.3: The Golf Years.

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2004 had come and by February we were back out at the track.  It is February 24th and we have not been on the track for two months.  So we are looking at getting back at it.  I have already told this story on the the blog.  So if we want to read about it you can find it at The Ruff Times of Racing:  First Win . I never would have thought getting my first win would have been so hard. I think the next race was at PIR.  I got another win, because Davis did not show up.  But I was have problems with the car.  I would reach a curtain speed and then the car would cut out on me and would take a while until it would come back on.  These happened this race and the next race, never finding out what was causing it to cut out on me at speed. By this time dad was ready to move onto the next car.  Porsche 944.  This was going to be the next Spec class in SCCA.  One of my dad's friends, Joe Stubblefield, was heading up the class and how they were being build and all the specs on the

Why Hollywood, Why?

Over the weekend I watched two movies that made we question why we let Hollywood make movies which are against our believes.  I am not just talking about my own Mormon believes, but basic religious morals.  I know it has been going on for a long time, and we have the choice of what we watch, but why do we continue to watch this crap? The first one was Noah.  I am a big fan of Russell Crow, and I like a good action movie, but why could not Hollywood be true to the story of Noah.  Yes, the Movie did have Noah, an Ark, and the flood, but if that is all you know about Noah, then this was the movie for you.  Why could they not talk about him be a prophet, crying repentance unto the people.  Why could not all the sons be married?  And why do they have to make him out as a crazy man?  I have talked to several people about this movie and none has like what they saw.  I even heard in the theater, people saying openly that is not how it happened.  I came out of the movie going OK, good action

My Racing Roots Part 3.2: The Golf Years.

By the summer of 2002 we found out that we could reclassified  the Golf into Improved Touring B (ITB).  This would put us with more cars about our speed.  So in Arizona, are season Starts in the fall and goes into the spring of the next year, we got the OK to start the new class in the fall.  Again this was an OK season. Nothing really exciting happened in this season.  I was still learning the car and we were breaking half shafts almost every other race.  we learned that if we stopped buying the Volkswagen ones, the problem was solved. The Fall of 2003 brought a new season.  The first race of that year was at Firebird east.  For most of us that went to drivers school in Arizona, this was the first days track.  So it was a track that most everyone knew.  I went out to practice and did a few laps and came in and could not get the car out of third gear.  I finally got it out of it, but we can not know what the problem really was till qualify. Qualifying comes and I try to go throug