Rough Stone Rolling

Having grown up loving horror novels and movies, “true” ghost stories and everything else that goes bump in the night, I decided the co-existence of vampires and Mormons would be a fun proposition. At the same time, I mused that the priesthood kind of spoils every supernatural threat. If a bishopric faced Linda Blair instead […]

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The other evening my daughter and I watched ”Hitch” again, a family favorite. At one point, while giving advice to a client, the lead character (played by Will Smith) said, “Begin each day as if it were on purpose.” That line really stood out for me. It reminded me of President Monson’s most recent address, “May We So Live” […]

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What’s wrong with these kids today?
Happily, in my day we were indestructible. We didn’t need seat belts, air bags, smoke detectors, bottled water or the Heimlich maneuver. We didn’t require child-proof caps on our medicine bottles. We didn’t need helmets when we rode our bikes (just playing cards in our spokes) or pads on our […]

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I had a wonderfully colorful Uncle Jonathan that lived in Queens, NY who liked his cigars, scotch, Nick Carter paperbacks and Esquires. He wore a number of hats over the course of his life (each career capturing his attention momentarily) which followed a non-linear pattern, like an intercontinental ballistic missle that lost its fin. One vocation that […]

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I think I’ve mentioned my wife, L., is a designer for an LA architectural firm and has, over the years, built a solid reputation for herself. Recently she took me on a tour of one of her company’s most recent projects– the LAPD’s Rampart Station. This command center watches over the city through several giant […]

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The jury’s still out for me about Adam. Was he really the stronger of the two to so quickly and adamantly (get it? adamantly… what a card) refuse Lucifer’s offer, or was he just being the typical obtuse guy, like the ones who don’t need the instruction manual? ‘Cause there was just a flicker of […]

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At my age I don’t concern myself much with being or appearing cool anymore, especially since I never really was. Even in college when everyone was sporting Flock of Seagulls hair and wearing two layers of Izod shirts– one collar up, one down– I was the guy with the short, parted Hitler Youth do and […]

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When I turned 40 I started attending an “old school” gym (formerly a Vic Tanny’s) occupied mostly by seniors– serious codgers whose rough, ropy, tanned bodies bore testimony of a lifetime of free weight worship. The oldest among them was a guy named Nick who in his 80’s still trained sweet, young thangs that probably […]

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All right, I know it’s been a ‘coon’s age since I last dropped by. Too many distractions have kept me away and when night comes my brain’s just been too fried to compose (resulting in five unfinished entries in the queue). But since we’re going away for a week on a camping trip, I thought I’d sneak one […]

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I know, I did say I was over the subject of gays and the Church. However as an LDS member in California– a state that today legalized same-sex marriage– I’m forced to confront another issue involving these two head-butting entities. Recently a Catholic adoption service closed its doors because it didn’t want to place children […]

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It’s not talked about much, but I think it’s safe to say we assume we look much like we did in the pre-existence– except we looked more like action figures back then, and aspire to go back to looking like that when we cross the veil again.
Besides the expected glorified bodies of flesh & bone, […]

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Our ward’s Annual Taquito Dinner & Talent Show last night proved, once again, to be an evening of wows and wonders. We were entertained by a 3 and 5-year old duet singing “A, You are Adorable” as the older sibling kept scratching himself “down there” the entire time; the bishop’s 13-year old daughter did her […]

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I made the mistake of paying too much attention to the Springsteen song, “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” while in the car with Miss D. last night, coming home from YW. After listening a while she asked, “What’s it about?” I tried to explain how, as we get older we find ourselves looking back on […]

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We woke up this morning to an overcast sky, the smell of smoke and our cars covered with chunks of ash. Universal Studios was burning. The town square and clock tower from Back to the Future (also Clint Eastood’s Hang ‘Em High)– gone. The New York street, used in countless films, gone. The King Kong […]

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It’s evident that my faith is far from what it should be.
Saw Million Dollar Baby again last night (that final half-hour is brutal) and my reaction was the same as the before: I saw myself doing for Hillary Swank exactly what Clint did at the end. Turn off the machine, give her the injection. Send her on […]

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In 1974 my parents bought a three-story 3B/2Ba house in the 8400 South 1500 East area of Sandy, UT for $33,000. Perspective: Today you can get a new Toyota FJ Cruiser with GPS and a full-size spare for around that.
As Memorial Day weekend draws to a close, it marks the second straight week we’ve officially […]

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I try to be careful about who I recommend The Passion of the Christ to. It’s a heavy, brutal, unsettling film and loiters around an area that can be construed as either exploitive or inspiring. I happen to be a fan of Mel Gibson (Apocalypto brought the Lamanites to life) and felt Passion was an […]

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One of the curses of my lineage is that, like my father, I got gray early. At age 48 my hair is now completely white– just like Steve Martin’s. My face is still youthful, my demeanor downright sophomoric, but the noggin’s thoroughly Ancient of Days. I went to the local IHOP for lunch today for […]

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I love the moments when I bond with another brother after doing a Church service.
I was driving home from Stake Temple Night Friday, along with a brother who’s a month short of turning 80. It was a particularly good session and we went home with a little more wind in our sails. The brother, a […]

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The touchy-feely sock puppets of the self-help posse will tell you that before you can love anyone else, you have to love yourself (there’s actually a web site called loveyourselffirst.com). My experience, however, leans me more toward the notion that I can’t love myself until I love others. To love me, I have to do […]

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