S to the A to the N to the D, Y

DAY 1 

Angie and I are visiting the Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Parks. 

This morning we went hiking near the lodge before lunch. It’s amazing how close we are to some of God’s most magnificent creation - we hiked to the top of this breathtaking hill in about 10-15 minutes.

http://www.sandyhassomethingtosay.com/day1lunchtreehill.mpg

After the hike and lunch, we went fishing and caught a few fish. We had two keepers - a Lake and Cutthroat trout, which our 3 1/2 star restaurant will be frying up for our 8:30 dinner reservations tomorrow. Angie caught the lake trout, which was larger. I caught the cutthroat, which was far more interesting and will be far more tasty.

 

I’m going to try to update my blog daily with pics and maybe some video. There’s a wireless spot in the lobby of the lodge we’re at and I forgot to bring the camera up here tonight, so it will probably be tomorrow when I post some actual pics and video from our first day here.

Buh bye (and Happy Birthday Donny!)

DAY 2

We got up a little earlier this morning. We went down to the corral, hopped on our horses and said giddyup! After the two hour ride, I could barely walk. It was worth it - Angie and I both had a great time and saw some cool scenery. Here’s a couple of good pics from the ride:

(Yes, the resort “wrangler” bringing up the rear is sleeping her way down the trail!)

(This is the fork in snake river. We’re thinking about cayaking down here tomorrow. It’s really cool. Moose hang out here too.)

Day 3 

Completed an awesome 4 or so mile hike today. It was really great. Saw what we think was a bear track and scat. Had two different chipmunks nibble my finger, watched a beaver mess around in the mountain and saw some amazing scenery. We also found a giant rock that was shaped like a chair. It was perfect timing because we were ready for a break. The rock chair faced the Teton mountains, so it was cool.

Here’s Angie acting like a dork about 2 miles into the hike:

http://www.sandyhassomethingtosay.com/thehillsarealive.mpg

We hiked up to an awesome (but touristy) waterfall about 1 mile later. We went off the beaten trail from there and caught a glimpse of this mountain view. You can’t see it in this pic, but there’s a beaver up there in the rocks (weird huh). We watched it through binoculars for about 10 minutes.

 Here’s one of the chipmunks that nibbled my finger. I named him Alvin:

Oh, and here’s a view of Jenny lake from up on the mountain, which is what we hiked around all day today:

Tomorrow we’re doing a walk in a less touristy area to try and catch a glimpse of more wildlife. Later!

Day 4

Today was definitely my favorite day yet. We saw some wildlife, hiked about 10-12 miles around “Emma Matilda Lake” which yielded the best scenery yet. The funny thing is we were hoping to see a bear on our hike but instead saw one on the drive to the trail:

http://www.sandyhassomethingtosay.com/bearattack!.mpg

On the trail the landscape changed so often it was amazing. We went from dense pine forest to light aspen grove to arid sagebrush desertlike fields to lush meadows. It was really neat. The best of the pictures will have to be edited before they can be presented (one panorama took like 8 frames). We’ll do that at home. I also took some video of the various landscape which also needs to be edited down from 10 minutes to about 2. The pic of the lake below doesn’t do the scene justice - it was after a leg killing hike up a hill for 15 minutes, but it was so worth it. The panoramic view was breathtaking. Here’s a glimpse:

Here’s a cool pic of a family of pines. I guess one got tired of standing up:

 Tomorrow promises to be interesting. We’re moving to our next lodging destination, hiking to and swimming at a little known hot springs (got the tip from our waitress tonight - not often you get the waitress gives YOU the tip - har har). We also have to do a load of laudry - we packed 5 days of clothes so we could leave a suitcase behind. Yay!

 

Today, I was thinking about entrepreneurship, ownership, profit sharing and communism and I said to myself - this is a blog post!

Well, I’m a big proponent of entrepreneurship. There are countless opportunities out there. Opportunities for the smart, the not so smart, the wealthy and the poor. Really, the only requirements are ambition and determination. There’s no more productive worker than the one contributing to his/her own enrichment.

I’d love to see everyone become and entrepreneur, but there’s a problem. The successful entrepreneur needs people to work for him/her. So, if I’m talking about everyone needs to go out and take opportunity by the hand, how can I turn around in my own life and ask someone to help me enrich myself, rather than themselves?

That’s where profit sharing comes in! More companies should do it! The US has seen it’s best economic progress when productivity increases. Take that money and give it to your employees.

Karl Marx, the father of communism like to say “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”. However, I’m a capitalist. I believe in the first part of Marx’s quote, but the second part has to be voluntary. That’s why I believe Charles Koch, CEO of Koch Industries (the largest private company in the world) puts it best: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution“.

So, you may see the gaping hole that Marx’s one liner covers and Koch’s doesn’t. That is, what of those people who have been given less ability to make contributions that pay in a capitalist society? Well, since some will be helpers and some will be owners, the owners spark productivity by giving the helpers a stake. Higher productivity equals more wealth and progress for both owners and helpers. In the end, all “classes” as Marx would put it benefit as well as society as a whole.

The bottom line, there’s a lot of opportunity and few people taking advantage. Part of the problem with maximizing opportunity is getting productive workers. The easiest way to make a worker productive is to provide incentives. The best incentive is ownership.

Donny (my brother) is getting married! Yippee, that’s so awesome. Melody is very lucky to have him. As I’ve been telling my wife for years, whoever gets Donny is a very lucky girl, because he’s such an awesome guy. Now, Donny get’s to experience the joy of marriage to a godly woman like Melody.

So, Melody is also very awesome. Like Donny, she’s not overly concerned with what everyone else thinks, and that makes them a good match, and makes Melody so obviously genuine. Melody is really awesome too, and this proves it:

http://www.sandyhassomethingtosay.com/melody.mpg

That was Donny’s fiance, Melody performing my dare to empty the “used” ribs from the rib bone basket using only her face at the world’s best rib joint (bar none), The Country Tavern. She won $5, and yes, that’s me giggling in the background.

Congratulations Donny and Melody!

  OK, so my Easter gift to you is a list of movies that never reached blockbuster status, thus diminishing the chances that you’ve ever seen these movies. However, I can vouch for them all as top notch, and if you don’t like them it’s not a difference of opinion or taste — you’re an idiot!

 But really, I’m offering you a variety of genre’s here. When you watch these movies from my suggestion, I would LOVE for you to come back and post a comment here to tell me how you liked them. This will server two purposes. Primarily, you will boost (or deflate) my ego. Secondary though, you will give other people more reason to watch my suggestions.

 With this list, I believe I am well on my way to becoming America’s top critic. When you view my selections, be sure to do so with an open mind. They’re not all your typical “formula” movie. They’re all highly entertaining though. I won’t go pitching you any artsy flicks. I must be highly entertained or I give a big thumbs down. So, here’s my list, in no particular order!

The Usual Suspects

Cult classic. If you like crime, twists and great endings, this is a movie for you. In my opinion, this catapulted Kevin Spacey to fame.

Kung Fu Hustle

New take on martial arts films. Directed by the same guy who did the choreography for The Matrix. This movie makes fun of it’s own genre and tells a well put together story with interesting character development. You’ll either hate it or love it. Kung Fu Hustle 2 is scheduled for release in 2008. I can’t wait!

The Fiddler on the Roof

I make no apologies - I like a good musical. I compensate by lifting weights and barbecuing after each viewing. Fiddler on the Roof is probably my favorite musical. It is about a family of Russian Jews struggling with persecution and change. Give it a try!

Tommy Boy

After watching this movie at least 20 times, it has sort of lost it’s luster, probably because I can say every line before the actors. The comedy pairing of Chris Farley and David Spade in this movie go right up there with Lewis and Martin. This movie is hilarious!

Almost Heroes

At the risk of sounding like too much of a Farley fanatic, I’m recommending this Chris Farley comedy. Here he’s paired with Friend’s star Mathew Perry and it works great. This is Chris Farley’s final movie, and I believe he passed before it was finished. It was so well done that you can’t even tell it’s unfinished. Also hilarious!

The Royal Tenenbaums

All star cast. Unique story. I can’t tell you exactly why, but I thought this was one excellent “film”. It’s a dry comedy that is just right. It spawned a follow-up movie (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) that I didn’t think was nearly as good.

The Spanish Prisoner

The Usual Suspects little brother. Steve Martin as you’ve never seen him (acting). It has a good plot, interesting characters and the part that seals the deal, a good twist. Highly recommended.

Best in Show

Wow, just wow. This comedy is about as close as you can come to comedy perfection. No other Christopher Guests movies come close to being this good. So you liked “This is Spinal Tap” — I don’t care. Best in Show tops them all. Christopher Guest is a genius.

Swingers

Like Stallone before him, Jon Favreau made himself a star by writing this classic comedy. He was a perfect fit for Vince Vaughn’s cynical style. This movie hits some comedy gold and makes interesting observations about life and dating.

The Game

I’ve edited the list and replaced “Elling” with this much better flick. Great plot and twists, at lease as I remember it. I was highly entertained! Watch it!

What I’ve given you here is gold. Don’t waste your time with Blockbusters like National Treasure or Big Mamma’s House. Watch my picks!

Wow, so today I witnesses a genuine Texas (modern day) shootout.

It was a beautiful spring day. The sun was shining, the clouds were gone. All things were right with the world and POP! POP!  – these two guys ran up to the street about 20 yards in front of our car and started shooting at a car that was driving in front of us. The car that had been shot at then turned around and burned rubber after these two guys. While I was on the phone calling 911, these two guys appear again running back by us and escaping over an apartment fence.

 So, we give our statements to the 5-0 and go home. Ten minutes later the po-po call us up to go I.D. the shooter and his friend. Well, we head to the parking lot they tell us to meet them at. The officer calls me on my cell before she drives up and tells me to put the top up on my convertible. She doesn’t want the suspect to see me, I guess. Well, the two guys are taken out of separate vehicles in this grocery store parking lot one at a time. They are put in position for me to get a good look at each one. Bing, batta, boom and they are charged with whatever shooting at someone will get ya.

So, I guess I did my part to clean up the streets today. Hopefully they don’t sick their gangs on the prime witness!

Wouldn’t a documentary that follows a few entrepreneurs from first stages all the way through to end game be interesting? You could pick up your participants from any of the hundreds of college business plan contests held throughout the country each year. Pick a few interesting ideas out and follow them through for the first two years or so. Anyway, I would watch it and it would be a great way to get more people interested in following through with their ambitions.

I’m an avid talk radio listener. I love it — people blathering on about the topic of the day. Well, last night I was listening to one of my favorite hosts, Dennis Prager. He got onto some spiritual topic and started talking about his relationship with his god. He wasn’t into mainstream thinking on God, Dennis wanted to have God on his terms. That started me to thinking about idolatry. Why Idolotry? Well, remember this commandment?

Exodus 20:3 “you shall have no other gods before me.”

Notice the little g “god”. Man makes a god for himself all the time.

Well, Mr. Prager didn’t want to bow down to Lord Shiva, he just wanted to have a god that fit his lifestyle and attitude. How is that any different? If man wants to worship his Creator, He has revealed himself to us and desires our worship. But you cannot change God to something else. If you try to, you are creating your own god idol that suites your particular god tastes. God is who He is, love and wrath. How can I believe in a God like that? That’s who He is, how could I not?

If you live in a major city, you’re familiar with the concept of a “metro” number. This means that if the phone customer pays more for their phone service, people calling them from the metro area but with a different area code do not have to pay long distance. Not only this, but they don’t have to dial the +1 either. Well, that’s all well and good…but wait, there’s more. If I call someone that has the special “metro” line and dial a +1 (because how am I to know they have a metro line), guess what? The operator tells me that I don’t have to dial +1, I can call without the +1 before the area code. Hang up and try it again good buddy. So now I have to dial a second time.

 

OK, so now I dial phone number two thinking hey, maybe they have a metro line. So this time I leave off the +1. “Oh, sorry guy” says the operator “you have to dial +1 for this cheapskate who didn’t buy our super awesome metro line”. So inevitably, I always put a 1 where there shouldn’t be and leave it off where I should have used it. Is it really that important that I leave the 1 off a metro phone call? I mean, comon! Phone company, if I don’t “have” to dial +1, fine, I’ll try and remember that. Don’t make me hang up and redial it without the 1!

Phone company, I suggest you improve your dialing system so that people like me who are making calls all day don’t go postal one day about your don’t dial 1 or do dial 1 rules.

Superbowl day is coming soon. How many people watch the Superbowl? Well, just over 90 million last year. I’d venture to say that a good chunk of those viewers are spouses of fans and disinterested Superbowl partygoers. What do they like about the Superbowl? THE COMMERCIALS! So, you get in touch with the advertisers for every Superbowl since 1967 and cut a deal. You put all those ads on DVD, organized by year and sell that sucker to the millions of viewers who only watch that game for the breaks.

 So, get this thing going, make millions and buy me season tickets on the 50 yard line to the Cowboys.