Email

In the year, 2010, I'm baffled by two email-related things. First, spouses who share the same email account. Makes no sense. They’re free. Google and Yahoo and Hotmail are not running out of user names. I know some of the readers here may do this and hopefully they are so offended by this post that they create their own email account. If my parents can do it, so can you.

Whenever I have to email someone who shares an email with their spouse, I’m never quite sure what I should be doing. Someone needs to come up with a joint-email holder etiquette checklist or something. Do I have to type something in the subject line that directs it to one spouse or the other? It’s very awkward for me. What did these two individuals do before they got married? Email has been around for long enough that these two people must have ended their separate accounts to join one super email account. Makes no sense to me. Never has. Never will.

Second, what is the deal (channeling Seinfeld) with these people who do not check their email on at least a daily basis. I love checking my email. Nothing better than opening up your email for the first time in the morning. You guys are missing out. When you ask someone if they got your email and then their excuse is, I never check my email. Then delete your email account. In this day and age, no excuses.

When I think of these two things, the words of Chris Rock come to mind: “It’s damn near the Jetson’s out here.” So don’t be mad at me when I email you to let you know that I will be picking you up in my hover vehicle and you fail to see it. You’ve been warned.

Floridians

Tim and I decided to go Florida to visit our great friend Patrick and meet up with Pierce.  Tim, Patrick, and Pierce were roommates at BYU and they all lived together when Tim and I were dating.  We had many good times together and we were all excited to get back together again.

Pictures below are out in Lake City, FL at the Douglas Estate.  The lake behind is Patrick's yard.  He took us out on an eventful golf cart ride through the swamplands.  I was so excited to see an alligator but we didn't see any.  We did eat some gator tails at a place in St. Augustine that Patrick took us to. Notice the picture of the garage.  Almost every house we saw in Patrick's neighborhood had these huge garages that all hold private planes.  There is a runway in the middle of the neighborhood that you drive right through.  It was unlike anything I have ever seen before.

Patrick hooked us up with a legit FSU tailgate before the BYU vs. FSU game.  It was crazy as seen below.  The parking lot was empty when we got there and started playing flip cup because there was still 4 1/2 hours until the game started.  By game time the parking lot was packed.  The game was hot but Tim and Pierce had a great time and even made it on ESPN.  They needed some alone time so I spent most of the game wandering around the concessions area eating slushies and running into old friends from BYU.  The

We had a wonderful trip and it was great to see Pierce and Patrick again.  This is one of those posts that I really wish I could use an exclamation point for but that's against my own rules but just know that I am very excited :)

When I first met him he was watching Fox News every night but now...

You can't marry into the Murray family and not be swayed by our persuasive rhetoric and superior  political views.  Tim used to watch Fox News and argue with me about conservative economic policies but after 5 years with me he has seen the light and I couldn't be more proud of him.  Below is an email he wrote to Glenn Beck this week.  Way to stand up for what you believe in.

Glenn,


Will you please stop embarrassing the Mormon Church? Or at least put a disclaimer on during your show that your beliefs are not the beliefs of the Mormon Church. As a member of the church, I’m quite tired of having to defend my beliefs and religion because of your remarks. There are good Mormons that are democrats, Obama-supporters, Socialists, Mexicans, Russians, Chinese, etc. We are a worldwide church. We don’t all have to fit into your little mold. We also do not depend on politics for our income. You do nothing except perpetuate an ignorant view of a Mormon to America. We don’t all think like you do.

If you had listened to General Conference this last weekend, you would have heard President Dieter Uchtdorf’s talk. He gave a stinging rebuke to those who would stir hatred, divisiveness and strife through their political rhetoric. I believe he was speaking to you and people like you. Your goal to raise TV ratings and to cause a stir comes at the cost of many Mormons who do not have a large platform to debate your message. Everything you do on the radio and TV is measured by your ratings. It has an inevitable affect and fuels your discussion. It is not difficult to look at media today and know that extreme is what sells. However, it is difficult to share the real message of our church with people that have it set in their minds that all Mormons are republican, gun-loving, immigrant-hating, conservatives. I live in Wisconsin, where even in 2010 I am the first contact someone has ever had with our church. It is difficult to break down the stereotypes that I believe that you have helped to reinforce.
The latest controversy surrounding you and the so-called “White Horse Prophecy” and your clear allusion to it in the past year or so only causes more confusion. Your efforts to exploit this prophecy for your own gain are deplorable. It’s simply false and your use of it to prey on the emotions of people that are ignorant enough to not know its true origin angers me.
You are not here to save America. Your purpose on this earth is much simpler. The church has four missions (I know that you often forget the last one, which calls for us to assist the poor). Your divisiveness is a great hindrance to sharing the gospel. Political emotions are very powerful and by you arousing such deep emotions, on both sides, people soon begin to correlate the church with you. Someone with a deep hatred towards you because of your views is also going to have those feelings seep into their opinion of the church. As church members, our first duty on earth should be as a disciple of Christ. I encourage you to rethink your behavior or at least stop leading your viewership to believe that you speak for all Mormons. There are a lot of sheep in America, don’t be arrogant enough to believe that you should be their shepherd. Because I don't watch your show, although I have seen it, I would be interested if you would be implementing any of my recommendations.
Thanks for your time.