How Many of the World's 100 Wonders Have you Seen?

Pyramids of Egypt, Chichen Itza, Pompeii, Mont St Michel, Great Wall of China, Petra, Kashmir Valley, Topkapi Palace, Taj Mahal, Nile River Cruise, Prague Old Town, Carnival in Rio, Serengeti Migration, Easter Island, Golden Temple, Stonehenge, Galapagos Islands, Cappadocia, Amalfi Drive, Angel Falls, Grand Canyon, Colosseum of Rome, Meenakshi, Yellowstone NP, Machu Picchu, Fjords of Norway, Chartres Cathedral, Santorini, Antarctica Cruise, St Peter’s Basilica, Mezquita Cordoba, Matterhorn, Iguazu Falls, Egyptian Museum, Damascus Old City, New York Skyline, Bali, Borobudur, Dubrovnik, Marrakesh, Amazon Rain Forest, Valley of the Kings, Uffizi Gallery, Eiffel Tower, Ngorongoro Crater, Hong Kong, Rio Panoramic View, Ladakh, Great Barrier Reef, Sistine Chapel, Golden Pavilion, Niagara Falls, Angkor Wat, Burj Khalifa, Delphi, British Museum, Victoria Falls, Alhambra, St. Basils Cathedral, Burj al Arab, Forbidden City, Louvre Museum, Abu Simbel, Yangtze Riv. Cruise, Bagan, Canals of Venice, St Mark’s Basilica, Yosemite NP, Karnak, Versailles, Florence Cityscape, Ayers Rock, Teotihuacan, Carlsbad Caverns, Kremlin, Hermitage Museum, Banaue Rice Terr., Mecca, Varanasi/Ganges, Chambord Chateau, Bora Bora, Kathmandu Valley, Li River Cruise, Lijiang/Shangri La, Acropolis, Metropolitan Mus, Shwedagon Stupa, Neuschwanstein, Potala Palace, Mt Everest, Sahara Desert, Banff NP, Jerusalem Old City, Temple Em. Buddha, Leaning Tower Pisa, San Francisco, TerraCotta Warriors, Hagia Sofia, Baalbek, Portofino

I've just highlighted the places I've seen, where have you been?

Via Cindy's blog

Weekend Happenings

1) Brenda-Kelli's sister-in-law and frequent commenter on this blog had a heart attack on Friday. She's okay, but her husband has been posting updates on her blog.

2) I must've been a little stressed because I tried 3 new recipes over the weekend: Lemon jelly candies, three ingredient pasta sauce and banana baked oatmeal. The jelly candies never really turned out, the three ingredient sauce was awesome, and the banana baked oatmeal had a nice flavor but not an ideal consistency.

3) I believe I've mentioned Liz Howell here before (plus at least one of her husband's cousins reads this blog) but she's now in Haiti with the LDS medical team. Go Liz!

4) My new ward is a little odd. I've been attending (on a trial basis) the new mid-singles (not a magnet ward) ward that was recently organized in my stake. The bishop actually encouraged people to sit by someone you don't know from the pulpit (ie of the opposite sex) and said that it was okay to sit by someone if you were interested (or weren't interested). Then there was the conversation about dating from the pulpit. Then there was me with a puzzled expression on my face.

5) The polygamy letter last week? The letter really was sent, but it was a practical joke played on the wife. Here's the response.

"You cant guess what I did last Sunday"

Juvenile Instructor has maybe the best "oh, honey we're polygamists now" letter I've ever read. Written in the late 19th Century (the time period wasn't clear) by a LDS Missionary (back when Missionaries had families at home) to his wife who was managing the farm back farm. Here's the letter. The response will be published later on JI.

My Darling Wife,
Last Saturday on returning from our conference in Ozumba I
found your letter of Mar. 31 here I was sorry to learn of your fathers illness
and the childrens [sic] colds…Bro. Snow is here attending to some land business
and sends regards to your father. Bro. Pratt also came to conference and both
expect to return with the company immagrants [sic] to the colony May 2.

You cant guess what I did last Sunday. Well. I married a Mexican woman.
Bro Snow, Bro Snow counseled me to do so when he was here before, and
showed me the advantage of taking my second wife here. I can hardly expect this
will be pleasant news to you but as I intend leaving her in the colony when I
return you will not quarrel with her Bro Snow has promised me a nice town lot
there for the work I have done here in behalf of the colony. He dictated the
ceremony. She is quite nice looking and evidently of a good disposition. I
haven’t her picture to send you though I presume you would not care to see it.
Under the circumstances I can hardly return home for 3 or 4 months and perhaps
even longer; but then this can hardly make you feel bad as I imagine your desire
to see me will greatly diminish after reading this. However what I have done was
for a pure sense of duty and I trust you will as faith full perform your part I
think I can count on you even under such circumstances. Hundreds of women have
passed through greater trials than this will be in fact it ought not to be at
all a trial to you, as perhaps you will never be brought in contact with her, at
least for a great many years. I hope you will tell me just how you feel about it
in your next. You did not seem to object to Bro. Snows advice last winter when
he gave it; and I hope you will not feel bad about the matter now.

Bro.
Snow sends his best respects to you ['re father] and says he remembers him well
though he has not met him for a number of years. Among his most pleasant and
earliest acquaintances he counts your father, and hopes he will soon recover as
I told him he had been sick.

In your former letter you asked me about my
taking the Jersey calf of mother. I don’t think I can though I would like to
very much and I expect she has sold it before now. I cannot take care of it
until I get home…

I bought me a fine set of drawing instruments to day
for $2.25 to make a map of the colony to be approved by the government I don’t
know when other missionaries will arrive so cant say when I will be released.
Bro. Snow told me today I could go just as soon as I can be spared. He is a very
reasonable and kind hearted man. In reading my letter over I see I omitted to
give you the name of the happy bride. Her maiden name was Macayla Vega—it is now
Perez. I expect to marry two more next week.

With much love to my
darling wife and boys I remain as ever

Your affectionate husband

Couch Discrimination

This is my couch that I sold (unloaded) on Craig's List. Needless to say, this couch had loyal followers although a lot of people weren't shy about expressing their distaste for it.

The couches below? I'm pretty sure they have no supporters, except for maybe their owners. Poor ugly couches.

So, these couches are uglier than my old couch, the "Audrey II." Seriously, could you imagine decorating your house to match up these couches?

Thank You Internets

I'm not sure what this speaks of the band that posted this or me who watched a minute of the video below, but wow. The video below isn't bad, just mighty anticlimatic. Entertain me Internet!! Or at least educate me.

Beloved

Last night, Kelli and I decided to watch one of our Netflix movies. We chose "The Merry Gentleman" with Michael Keaton. As I put the movie in, I glanced at the summary which reads,

"Kelly Macdonald stars as a young wife who escapes an abusive marriage to begin a new life on her own. But when she finds herself a witness to a murder, she develops an unusual bond with a glum hit man. Beloved actor Michael Keaton makes his directorial debut with this quirky drama from a script by Ron Lazzeretti. The film premiered at the famed Sundance Film Festival in 2008."

Needless to say, we both honed in on the words, "Beloved actor Michael Keaton." We both decided that Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep and Paul Newman are beloved. Michael Keaton? Then one of us joked that it meant Beloved in a Toni Morrison kind of way. Or maybe Michael Keaton wrote the blurb?

Fever!

The muppets have had a come-back of sorts the past 6 months thanks to You-Tube. Really, if you haven't subscribed or checked out these videos, run on over there and spend some minutes with these shorts. Great time wasters.
However, The Muppets of old are still totally worth revisiting-especially for those of us who were either not born or only a few years old when the show went off the air. Here's another great one that even ranks above Mah-nah mah-nah for some.
The Original:


With Animal and Rita Rudner:

Mustaches of no Consequence..or Random stuff in the News..

1)Early last month I vaguely recall a rumor that Billy Corgan and Jessica Simpson hooked up and then I promptly put it out of mind because well......Ewww! Needless to say, I'm puzzled over this hookup. Billy Corgan. Jessica Simpson. Really?*

2) The Blogger formerly known as Smash has an interesting perspective on Sen. Reid.

3) Billy Corgan. Jessica Simpson. Huh.

4) When hearing the news that Mark McGuire admitted his use of steroids yesterday, did anyone else think, "I thought he admitted using several years ago. This is news?"

5) So, Bradley Whitford grew a mustache for a show he's doing on Fox with Colin Hanks. Mustache below:

*With the frequency I've been blogging as of late, I know I'm going to get really sick of seeing J.Simpson's mug on the front page of this blog. Must blog more.

Happy Birthday Elvis

In celebration of Elvis Presley's 75th Birthday, I:

• Spent 4 hours in a Doctor's Office
• Bought a pair of work pants for $15 at the Gap
• Got my hair cut and styled
• Watched Top Gear

Oh, and the celebration continues. Tonight I plan to eat Afghani food in commeration with 30 friends.

Happy Birthday King!