Help Tristi celebrate her new novel in two ways.First, come participate in the two-week-long blog contest, where you can win a book nearly every single day!All the details are up on Tristi’s blog.

Second, come to the book launch!

You are invited to an

August Authorama!

Saturday, August 13th

Pioneer Book, 858 S. State, Orem

12 – 4 pm

Games, prizes, balloons, face painting,

and Dutch oven cobbler

prepared by world champion cook

Keith Fisher.

Authors Tristi Pinkston, J. Lloyd Morgan, Cindy Hogan,

Nichole Giles, and Heather Justesen

will all be there to sign books.

This is one book launch event

you will not want to miss!

I have been buried. Literally. Buried in sawdust, fiberglass, and sheet-rock dust. I am finishing a bedroom in the basement of the rental home we will be moving to in the next few weeks.

A couple things I have learned in recent days:

1. I am getting too old to finish a basement.

2. I think I may be stressed because I have become addicted to salty foods: bacon, potato chips, fries, etc.

3. I have too many things on my plate right now. I look forward to being done with the move.

4. Mortgage companies are evil. Yep. Long story . . . and I won’t even try. Sometimes you can’t explain stupid. It’s impossible. All I can say is that the days of going to your banker and explaining the situation and having the banker work with you because it is the smart thing to do and in the end the solution will work out best for both of you . . . those days disappeared with the telegraph line and horse carriage. Maybe the problem is Wall Street? Heartless investors? Maybe.

Don’t misunderstand me. Capitalism is still the best option in the world. I just wish that the system was tempered a little more often with a good ol’ fashioned handshake and a smile. Maybe a bartered chicken.

I suddenly have the urge to go to the soda shop for a malt.

But in light of the recent tragedy in Japan, a tragedy which seems like it will be ongoing for the near future, I thought I would take a minute and offer up some information about LDS Humanitarian Services.  Administrative costs are covered by non-paid volunteers and members of the church, therefore, funds donated here get to where they need to go: to the people who need the help.

You can read about the general policies of the fund here: http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/humanitarian-services/funds/humanitarian-general-fund.html

You can donate to the fund by clicking on the link at the top of that page.

My heart goes out to the people of Japan. May God ease their suffering.

You are invited to the release of Tristi Pinkston’s new novel

Dearly Departed

on Friday, January 14th, at Pioneer Book, 858 S. State, Orem, 6 – 8 pm
Refreshments, prizes, and fun!
Bring a package of socks to be donated to the homeless,
and you’ll be entered in an additional drawing. Hope to see you there!

I like science/techie stuff:

Astronomy – NASA Astronomy Picture Of The Day is one of my favorite websites. I would love to work for NASA, but I am not quite sharp enough with math.
Mechanical things – At the age of four, I was taking apart carburetors and putting them back together again. Yeah. Some of you young whippersnappers don’t even know what that is, do you? About 15 years ago, I fixed a gas clothes dryer with photo copier parts. Geeky, I know.
Physics stuff – I have always been interested in how things move, work, etc. Cause/result stuff. Mythbusters is my favorite show because it combines physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, and a whole lot of fun. My 16 year old son made fun of me this week when he found out I memorized the periodic table in high school. Did you see the Punkin’ Chunkin’ show around Thanksgiving? I need to build a trebuchet.
Computers – If I could go back and be a computer programmer, I would. I love computer language stuff. I am not very good at it, but things like PERL fascinate me. My day job is hardware and operating system stuff. Datacenter virtualization, mostly.

But I also like artsy stuff:

Cooking – I make a mean pumpkin pie. From scratch. Including the pumpkin. I have on occasion even grown my own pumpkin.
Graphics arts - I taught myself how to use CorelDraw (vector graphics) and PhotoPaint (bitmap type graphics). The ebook cover for THE THORN is my own creation. My first rejection in the publication world was a scripture stickers project I did in 1995. I talked to Sheri Dew herself. She let me down in a very nice and kind way. I was young and clueless at the time. I wouldn’t think of just calling her on the phone anymore. But I did then! I still can’t believe she took my calls! 
Writing – I like to write. But you knew that.
Music . . .

This is the one that got me thinking about this post in the first place. Yesterday I downloaded a 2 dollar album from Amazon: 99 Darkest Pieces Of Classical Music. AWESOME.

First time I ever heard the Passacaglia & Fugue in C Minor for Organ (J.S. Bach) was in France. In a very large cathedral in Lyon. Just me, my missionary companion, and the organist. It was a December evening. And the organist played the piece at full volume. The pews were shaking. That was a life changing event. I realized that I REALLY liked music on that day.

Yesterday, I also went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert with David Archuleta and Michael York. VERY nice. The MoTab and Orchestra folks sure do know how to put on a great performance.

Today: This morning my wife and the other women who run the Primary organization for my church congregation put on an activity centered around The Polar Express. They played the soundtrack, had chairs setup like train seats, lights and decorations, had kids come in their pajamas, had breakfast, hot chocolate, and Santa. Santa came and talked to the kids about gifts we could give the Baby Jesus this year. All in all, a very cool activity for the kids.

But it was the MUSIC which did it for me. That soundtrack is great.

Sorry for the rambling. Just thinking out loud here . . . I think I am more inclined to be artsy. Books and music are more fulfilling. For me at least. Oh, and when I get hungry, I can go into the kitchen and create.

I may just take up sculpture. Why not?

How about you? Techie, or Artsy?

Click the image below for details:

I really appreciate the fact that Duncan took the time to help me. So, I am giving back. I just got this email from him. And since he said I can share (and I want to help advertise for him), I am posting the entire email here. Please go check out Duncan’s website. He has well over a hundred illustration samples to look at. The fantasy covers he has done are my favorite. Here is the email:

***

I’m giving friends and fans two free ebooks to celebrate the Halloween season: Edgar Allan Poe’s “Eleonora” (which I did the cover and inner illustrations for as well as the layout): http://www.datafilehost.com/download-9b8126d0.html

And (if you missed it last year) “The Raven”: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-2c8ed3c3.html

Please feel free to share one or both ebooks (or the links) with friends or post on the Net. I’m also hoping you’ll keep me in mind should you need some illustration work in the near future. Wishing you a happy and safe Halloween, –Duncan

***

Enjoy!

-Daron

Three authors:

Tristi Pinkston.

David J. West.

Daron D. Fraley.

You want to come. I know it. Details:

Saturday, September 11
12:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Eborn Books
Provo Town Centre – Upper Level
1200 Towne Centre Blvd
Provo, UT. 84601
(801) 607-1468

http://elanajohnson.blogspot.com/2010/09/what-do-i-blog-about.html

So, I need to turn over a new leaf. I have not blogged a lot lately. I need to rectify that.

Elana says we need to be ourselves and just blog about things which interest us. That we shouldn’t be afraid to let people know a little bit about us. OK. Well, I am not trying to be controversial, but try this on for size:  Stephen Hawking recently said (not a direct quote), that God was not needed to create the universe, and that it was perfectly capable of creating itself spontaneously.

My response to that:  Hogwash.

I looked up the word hogwash in the dictionary. And then I realized that I prefer the other word for the stuff: Pigswill. What a fun word.

Here is a picture of a very small slice of the universe:

And this is one of my favorite websites of all time, the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

I love science. But since scientific laws (mind you, I said LAW, not THEORY) are God’s laws . . . He designed them, He operates within them . . . I am convinced that true science and true religious principles are 100% compatible. And to me, it means at a minimum, that God set all the laws in motion which caused the universe to expand, or to roll forward. Yet somehow I think he had a little bit more to do with it than that.

Science may not have definitive proof for the existence of God. Yet. That is fine. That is why faith is helpful. But someday, all knees will bow. All tongues will confess.

Even Stephen Hawking.

I am not hoping that Stephen will be embarrassed on that great day. In fact, I hope his reunion with his Creator will be as sweet as I hope it will be for me. I am fully aware of my own imperfections, and when I reflect on some of the silly things which have come out of my mouth at times, I am convinced more than ever that we all need that kind of mercy. Because no matter how smart we may think we are, there is One who is smarter than us all. Thank heavens He is patient with us.

There, you know a little bit more about me. Thanks Elana!  Have a great day!

(I just realized that I used the words hogwash and pigswill in the same post as the name of the soon to be famous Elana Johnson . . . I better warn her and make sure she knows it’s all good)