unculturedswine

So, I’m looking at my site analytics for unculturedswine and I notice that my 2nd highest referrer of traffic this month is JustJared.com, I guess he’s a celebrity gossip columnist of sorts. I knew it had something to do with my picture of Rachel Bilson that I took the other day at the Gateway, so I looked into it a little more.

The links were coming from this article about Hayden Christensen and her having an LAX romance. They were co-stars in the movie Jumper. So, I dig a little further and find these two comments…

Look at the links! They’re both to me! Somehow these little celebrity followers came across my picture and felt like sharing. And these are two different people that I’m guessing found my picture independent of each other. Nice! The wonders of the internet. So, after discovering this I feel so, I don’t know! How do I feel?

About… two years ago my brother was driving my 1985 Toyota Landcruiser while his Mustang was in the shop. The ‘cruiser had a pretty decent oil leak, and I tried to dump in a new quart or two on a regular basis. Kurt had been driving it around for about a month when I asked him about the oil, to which he replied the pressure was always good so there must be enough.

The next day the engine blew up. Something started to go BAM BAM BAM BAM real loud. It was done.

Today, after much labor, stress, anger, money and effort the Landcruiser is officially legal to drive on the roads again. Kurt rebuilt the motor about 95%, then we took it to a shop who barely got it running before we found a shop in Salt Lake that spent several weeks with it in the O.R. making it work. I actually picked it up and brought it home at the end of July, but soon parked it at my cousins house where it’s sat since then. I had a safety certificate for it, but emissions were way over – Fail.

Today I purchased yet another temp permit to drive it on the streets and took it down to Spanish Fork to the County I/M office where they test it once more, check to see that I’ve spent $200+ dollars on repairs, and got a waiver for the year on emissions. A trip back to the DMV in Provo and… I got the sticker! The car is legal until June and/or September of next year. The registration paper says June, but my license plate says Sept . Yeah, I’ll cheat like that.

I voted

Yesterday as I was leaving the county DMV or whatever it’s called I saw a sign in front of another county building saying that I could vote (early) there. So I did. It was great. I stood in line about 20 minutes, had to change my address, but ultimately cast my vote. I must admit, I was pretty unlearned about the State elections; I recognized names from signs but didn’t really know anything about the candidates so I failed there. I did write in Mitt Romney for State Treasurer though cause I have heard about the lame scandal surrounding that ticket. Take that stupid people! And yes, if you couldn’t tell by my previous politically centered blogs, I voted for McCain/Palin. It felt good. Real good.

So, I’m out of the election now, I just hope the Media follows suit and all this madness finally comes to a close on November 4.

In one more step of practicing my freedom I sent away for my passport renewal so I can go on the family cruise come February. Go me!

I had a realization yesterday. I’ve been so caught up with the Presidential Election and how I think Obama is going to destroy so many things that this country stands for (he’ll deliver change!) that I’ve become frustrated and almost scared of what is going to happen. So many moral and political problems are surfacing it’s amazing how fast the world just seems to be crumbling and it’s easy to lose hope and optimism for the future. But then I remembered something that’s been said so many times:

“Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.”

It’s really that simple, and no political policy set by any politician can mess that up. God is in control no matter how much we try to wrest it from Him. Prosper is defined by such words as succeed and flourish, not just getting by. Keep that in mind.

So really, what it all boils down to is your covenants, your obedience to them and your willingness to renew them (think Temple!). Therein lies the secret to prosperity outside any government program.