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Those (2) of you who have been avid followers of my blog since the beginning will remember the sad realization I had a couple years ago when the recession finally hit home

(for the other 2 of you that read this click HERE )

Well, I am happy to announce today that the recession is officially over.

phew. what a relief.

chart humor

I've had a strange fascination lately with humor revolving around graphs and charts.

I think all these MBA classes are to blame...

Gila Valley Temple, AZ

I know this is quite a deviation from my typical posts, but I felt it was blog-worthy.

I had a chance to make it to the Gila Valley Temple open house yesterday afternoon. For those of you who have been down there before, it's RIGHT off the main road that you drive on your way to Safford. It's in a little town called central which is JUST before you hit Thatcher and then into Safford. Beautiful building with incredible detail on the inside.

For those of you who have been to the Newport Beach Temple you'll remember the creation room is painted with a scene from Crystal Cove beach, the creation room at this new Temple is painted in a similar way with a 360 degree view of the Gila River and surrounding desert with Mount Graham in the background. It's beautiful and gives a strong sense of 'place' when you are there. some of the other art work includes paintings of the local area.

random smatterings of things i've seen lately

bowing to the pressure of millions to update my blog, here are a smattering of things i've run across in my recent travels:

1) i realize we all have to make a living somehow. hats off to this guy and his crude, yet innovative, way of doing just that:

2) you've been to google maps, yeah? well, ever wondered how they got all of those street view pictures? there are hundreds of people in the world driving around in cars like this with these cameras attached to the roof documenting Earth, as we know it. my only regret was that this camera wasn't recording when i discovered it.

3) many churches look alike. what is the surest way to know you are at an LDS church building? is it the steeple, well most churches have a steeple. is it the layout or design? well, even many LDS churches look very different from each other. no, the only way to truly know you are at an LDS building is to look in the parking lot about 3 minutes before services begin:

4) it doesn't come across very well on this site but the bumper sticker on the right reads "Les Claypool for President" - if you know me, you understand why i took a picture of this.

5) it's a cliche picture, i know. but this needed to be documented for my eulogy's sake (taken today 07.14.09)

5) this is me, happy.

Recession, you've gone too far.

perhaps i've been callous. perhaps i've been immune.

i've learned to deal with 'fuel surcharges' and 'contingency plans' at work like forced pto and not getting a raise this year. i've seen close friends lose their jobs. i've had people apply to work for me who are well overqualified to do the job they are asking to do - just to make ends meet.

but now, finally, the reality of the recession has hit me:

MOTHERS COOKIES
Oakland, Calif.
Founded: 1916
Closed: October 2008

For more than 90 years, kids in California enjoyed creating parades of Circus Animal Cookies baked by Mother's Cookies, an iconic grocery-store snack brand headquartered in Oakland. But this generation will be the last to munch on the bright-pink frosted animals: Mother's Cookies crumbled on Oct. 6, when the owners abruptly shut down and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

They blamed a variety of economic factors, including the rising costs of fuel, flour, butter and sugar. "It's a tough market in which to find credit," said Barrett Golden, spokeswoman for Catterton Partners, the private equity firm that bought Mother's Cookies a few years ago.

crossing the line

ah, holiday shopping.

it's wonderful to note that the notion of dressing up your animal for the holidays is shared by both Jews and Christians alike.

i hope you get bit.

i'm still behind you

John W. Gardner wrote: “Self-pity is easily the most destructive of the nonpharmaceutical narcotics; it is addictive, gives momentary pleasure and separates the victim from reality.”

i never intended this blog to be collection of novelty license plate pictures with commentary, but i saw this the other day and it just made me really sad.
i don't have any other information about this person apart from this picture that i took (well, and that they shop at Bashas grocery store in Chandler) but the question it brought up in my mind was this: what kind of life are you living if you walk around with this title attached to you? i suppose we all do it in some ways. maybe we do it to shift blame, to avoid consequences, to title our scapegoat, or for justification. but in the end we could ALL label ourselves victims.

but we could also choose to label ourselves conquerors...

Chasing a STR8 Man

i either need to start carrying around a better camera or i need to get better car insurance because one of these days i'm going to crash my car trying to take pictures.
i chased this guy for a good 10 minutes down the 101 freeway and then took HIS exit (not mine) trying to get a picture of his license plate.
what would motivate a man to get a license plate that reads "IMSTR8" ?
the answer is... well, i don't know. so many theories really. none of them complimentary though.
bring it up during the next pause in conversation with someone and let me know what you find out.
~j

HEROES

we often look to our television sets and movie screens for inspiration and even permission to do the things we most want to do in life. celebrities tell us what's ok, they make it safe to take the risks we secretly harbor.
i implore you to look beyond Hollywood for inspiration.
i was reminded of this as i ran out of the Providence airport a couple months back.
THANK YOU German man without a name for showing me that it's OK to wear orange knee length overalls. You were an inspiration to me as you leaned up against that iron fence, scrolling through (no doubt) hundreds of text messages from Frauleins abroad as your cigarrette slowly turned to embers. It is no wonder that your wingman stays so close to you as he poses like a bearded Bono circa 1983.
~j

HOPE

this is precisely why i haven't made my blog 'known' just yet. it started off as an idea and i made a few posts and then, like many things in my life that i start, i kinda neglected it the past several months. well, i should say that i've neglected POSTING to it, but i haven't forgotten my vision. see, i've been collecting pictures and ideas that will now make their way onto the pages of my blog.
i just wish i could back dates some of these posts so i look more consistent in my efforts.

let me take you back a few months. i was driving with some friends going south on 48th street in Phoenix. windows down, enjoying the arizona weather. we came up to a stop light and suddenly our conversation ceased. not that we stopped talking, but we stopped HEARING each other. someone in a nearby car was BLASTING 'Master of Puppets' by Metallica. for those of you who did not grow up in the 80's go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z-hEyVQDRA
my first smiling thought was 'wow, heavy metal is not dead after all'
but when i turned to look at the audio perpetrator i smiled even more for this is what i saw:



this conservative looking 65+ year old man in his SUV smiling to himself as the windows on his car shook with power chord infused fury.
i have struggled with the concept of getting growing up and have worried that i might, one day, outgrown some of the things i love.
this gives me hope for my future.
~j

genesis

at least once or twice a week i get an email from a friend or family member informing me that their blog has been updated. i take this as the modern day equivalent to the young child vying for his mothers attention while she obliviously reads a book, "mom look at me, mommy mommy LOOK, mom... MOM loooook! Moooom"
i have heard your cries young child. i will oblige.
and candidly, i wouldn't have it any other way. blogs have worked with drano like strength to unclog my inbox. no more MASS emails to all 7 of my email accounts (just in case i forget to check the other 6...). nope, just a brief click in my bookmarks tab labeled 'blogs' and i'm in your living room. or bathroom. or any other place you wouldn't ordinarily let me in but for some reason have no problem publishing pictures of to the world.
seriously though. i'm a fan. so much so that i've created my own blog. however, since i am not married nor have children my options for blog names are significantly lesser than most modern day bloggers. no 'jeffynjudy.blogspot' or 'littlesamanthasproudparents.blogspot' or whatever. nope. i pulled my blog name from a counting crows lyric 'crawlingaroundmybrain'.
this is my blog. welcome to it. ~j

the birth

i've joked for a long time about starting my own blog. and today i've done it.
i'm expecting to get a lot of hits on this...