What will you do with an extra hour?

My mom has always told me that the Spirit goes to sleep at midnight. Unfortunately with this

midnight bedtime I have I am unable to do anything fun because everything fun happes after

midnight. SO what I will be doing with this extra hour of time on Sunday night at midnight to

one in the morning is: watching nick at night re runs, having people of the opposite sex over,

not shaving, eating ice cream out of the carton, growing my hair out, listening to bob dylan's

"the times are a changin", drinking green tea, watching R rated movies from clean flicks and

smoking bubble gum cigarettes.

What Dreams Are Made Of

So I am not sure if you were aware, but the 1974 Winnebago Bravo was voted the most reliable motor home by J.D. Power and associates in 2000 and 3.  I own one!  You know the one.  It looks like Evil Knievel's spaceship, if he had one of course.  The Bravo is always the one you see around town that have the protruding  nose under the front window and the prominent lines that pop out further than the window.  It really looks like a hill-billy  from Iowa built the thing in his back yard with whatever parts he could find with his left over parts from cars of the fifties.  

I have one true passion that runs deep within me.  To one day take my Bravo to the oceans front in Ensanada Mexico and open a taco man stand.  I will live near the sea and find myself a senorita and we will make tacos together forever.  Flutes will play by day and we shall dance by night!  Our children will sings songs of freedom while we dance to commemorate us finding each other as a couple.  Dreams are the seeds of legends.  And legends are made by those that dare.  I Brady Clifford dare! 

Not Much to Blog About

Since I have completely ran out of this weeks creative herb, I have decided to just blog about this last weeks happenings. Thursday was the Mrs. birthday and her family decided to take everybody to the Naked Fish. Unfortunately it coincided with my favorite class with my favorite professor, but luckily he let me leave class early. Nice guy, huh. The Naked Fish turned out to be really good food and the conversation was even better.

Friday I decided to do Sammi's (the Mrs.) personal birthday celebration. In times past I have done the conventional gifts; clothes, jewelry, candy, etc. However, this time because of the way the economy is and a lack of time. I thought that making dinner and a few "meaningful" gifts would be a good idea. Cooking turned out to be more time consuming than I thought so I decided that I would just buy dinner at Carrabas and then pretend that I made it. So I set up a candle light dinner, bought her favorite movie "The Wedding Planner", blew up her favorite picture of us and warmed dinner up for the big evening. By the end of the night, she couldnt stop talking about how cute it was. I dont think I have made a better decision to buy instead of cooking.

I also took a Statistics test which I absolutely hate and I got a 73%. Not bad for a kid who doesnt think with the left side of his brain. Besides these great activities that was the extent of my weekend. Life couldnt be better and I couldnt be happier to be alive.

They Both Must Have One Leg Longer Than the Other

Last night was the third and final presidential debate. I chose to watch the first presidential debate and also the after debate thoughts on CNN and FOX because I think its very important to be involved in the choosing of a leader. I watched the second debate however not nearly as much and chose to read the after debate analysis in the Wall Street Journal cause I felt like the news is a bunch of crap when it comes to anything political. So I a little obligated to watch this third and final presidential debate, hoping that something different would happen than what was debated in the first two.

After only fifteen minutes into the debate I was so sick of hearing the same solutions to the same problems such as health care, taxes, immigration, abortion and the current economy. Yes I know that they are the most important topics and have an incredible impact upon what happens in our country but cant we do something that will stimulate our desire to be involved. It just seemed as if both McCain and Obama were walking in circles.

This past Sunday, more people watched the football team of their state then watched the second presidential election. This means that people care more about their football team on just a normal regular season game, than they care about who the next president of the United States is. This is testimony to me that one the debate is not entertaining enough and two, there is a lack of interest in either of the candidates.

A proposed solution to both problems:

What attracts people to football? Pride for their state, competiveness, a desire to win…

This attributes must be present in a good presidential debate. Something that needs to be done is install a 15 minutes free session where Obama can diss the heck out of McCain and McCain will then will get his 15 to open up a can on Obama. This would make it exciting, show more of their true colors, instead of just going back and forth like “normal” human beings. People don’t talk that way in real life, they raise their voice a little, make fun of the other and prove the other wrong by making the other feel less of man. This may not be a feasible solution but it’s a start; something needs to change to spark some interest in the election process, or a coma will get the baby boomers before they can even be the deciding vote.

Food For My Ears

The world we live in is a busy place, borderline chaotic with whats happening right now. It is easy to get frustrated with the media, depressed by the economy or annoyed with the Presidential election. There is so much information we consume on a daily basis that makes it hard for us to ever escape and get away from it all.

Music for me is the antidote for me to release myself from the world. Whether it be Bob Dylan's raspy lyrics, Pink Floyd's 15 minute jam out sessions, The Beatles up beat sound or Andrew Bird's whistling; there is always a different sound for every situation or mood. That is the beauty of music as a way to escape. Whatever feeling you may have or strive to obtain, it can be achieved by listening to your favorite song or dancing to your tune of choice.

The experience that one has with their favorite music is a very personal experience. There is many times more meaning than just what lies in the lyrics and in the sound. Music has the ability to lift me up, calm me down, get me focused or loosen me up. I am just thankful for musicians and their passion to contribute to the good of society. Like a doctor, teacher or police man; I consider a musician to be a contributor to society. Music has the ability to heal, they have the capacity to teach and a way to inspire. I commend them for their dedication and the joy they have brought into my life and the lives of many others.

Its that time again

It is always nice to have a refresher course every six months, even though the messages are so similar every time. The same topics are touched on, the same people speak but every time you take something different from it.

That's why General Conference is such a fascinating experience because each time a message is given, they take a different angle at the topic. The speakers have such a diverse demographic to appeal to. From the poorest of poorest in countries like Mexico, Africa, etc.. to the most wealth off people. They must make sure their message is interesting to a primary age child to somebody that has a been a member for over 80 years like my grand parents. To complicate things even more, the message is given in English must be translated into many different languages throughout the world.

General Conference is a fascinating broadcast and is probably the largest religious broadcast of its kind. The message that is given must be carefully planned and given to appeal to all demographics. Many communication lessons can be learned from General Conference because it is an assortment of messages that are written, given orally and written again in a mass produced magazine that is distributed around the world.