Halloween

This has been the first Halloween that I have really gotten into in a very long time. I used to love Halloween and most of the time went as a mad scientist. Dad would borrow test tubes and lab coats from work. We would fill them up with food colored water and laugh madly. It was great!!

Since I was never a party person, I stopped dressing up after I couldn't trick or treat. Last year I made half an effort with my lab coat and some scrubs. (Yes, I own my very own lab coat that has my name, Dr. Dave, emblazoned in red above the pocket. But that's a whole other story.) Last year Bubs was almost 2 and he discovered candy. He had 3 suckers in his mouth at one time. That ignited my inner demon. So this year I went all out and made my own costume. Well, I made the cloak anyway. Put that together with the awesome black retro tux shirt, fangs, make-up, blood (lots of blood pouring down my mouth) and the red medallion, I became a vampire. Don't worry, I will post pictures of the award-winning costume. Yes, 25 hours of sewing and $100 later, I won the costume contest at work. It was the very first time I won a costume contest. I got a whole $10 gift card to Subway, that along with the admiration of my co-workers.

So you ask, why do I have to wait for pictures? Because every camera I own is currently broken and couldn't be repaired in time for Halloween. But, don't worry, I'm too proud of this costume to not post pictures. So here's a taste of what's to come:

I Need Daddy

"Please mom, Please! I need daddy to cuddle me" This is what Bubs woke up in the middle of the night saying. He was scared and was having bad dreams. When you were young, there was just something about being held in Daddy's arms. Not that Mommies aren't special, but their hugs are different. They are warmth, love, security and cuddles. But Daddy's hugs are strength, safety and comfort. When we're scared, Daddy's arms keep us safe from the monsters in the closet and help us deal with the monsters in life.

Then we grow up. We become the Mommies and Daddies. Life gets harder and more challenging. The problems more significant and deep. Suddenly, you aren't the one asking to be held and protected. You are the one being asked. Someone actually needs you for strength and security. Where do you find it to give to them? Life is demanding all the strength you have, just to hold together and now someone needs it from you. Not just once, but everyday. They need to see you being strong so they know they can face the challenges of life too.

Yet, the strength is there. It is within us. We underestimate the strength we have. The resiliency. The testing and trying we experience is to bring out that strength. I spent Sunday watching the great movie classic The Ten Commandments. Though not necessarily historically accurate, it is uplifting the way it shows Moses being prepared to lead the people. As he is banished to die in the desert by Ramses, voice over says the following:

"Into the blistering wilderness of Shur, the man who walked with kings now walks alone. Torn from the pinnacle of royal power, stripped of all rank and earthly wealth, a forsaken man without a country, without a hope, his soul in turmoil like the hot winds and raging sands that lash him with the fury of a taskmaster's whip. He is driven forward, always forward, by a god unknown, toward a land unseen... into the molten wilderness of sin, where granite sentinels stand as towers of living death to bar his way. Each night brings the black embrace of loneliness. In the mocking whisper of the wind, he hears the echoing voices of the dark... Moses! Moses! Moses! Moses! Moses! Moses!

His tortured mind wondering if they call the memory of past triumphs or wail foreboding of disasters yet to come or whether the desert's hot breath has melted his reason into madness. He cannot cool the burning kiss of thirst upon his lips nor shade the scorching fury of the sun. All about is desolation. He can neither bless nor curse the power that moves him, for he does not know from where it comes. Learning that it can be more terrible to live than to die, he is driven onward through the burning crucible of desert, where holy men and prophets are cleansed and purged for god's great purpose, until at last, at the end of human strength, beaten into the dust from which he came, the metal is ready for the maker's hand."

When we need strength we must remember that, "It is in giving that we receive." Our strength will come by giving strength to others. One day we will look back across the desert of affliction, we will realize just how far we have come by the hand of God, our eternal Father who gives us the strength we need.

Religious - Symbology - Part 3

Temple worship has often been called and is certainly thought of in the church today as the highest form of worship. Everything about the temple is there to point the way back to God. Every act, the building itself, the process of preparing to go to the temple and most importantly the work that goes on there is meant to teach us.

Judeo-christian Religious rites over the years have focused on basically one thing. The need for a Saviour and his mission on earth. From the sacrifices made in ancient times that represented the sacrifice which the savior would make, to the last supper which represented the sacrifice made. The temple is no different.

We must prepare ourselves to enter by living certain standards. Many have found this unfair, but in a very real way it is part of the symbolism meant to teach us. We must prepare to meet God, so before we symbolically go to seek Him in the temple we to must prepare ourselves. We obtain a recommend to go. This again gives us a chance to give an accounting of our deeds and in a way is symbolic of the final judgement before entering the kingdom of God.

Then we enter the temple. Every aspect of the building itself is to lift us higher and make us feel as though we have entered a place apart from the world. They are lit as a light to the world. The ceremonies are symbolic re-enactments of our journey through this world and back into God's presence. We are symbolically clothed in power and taught, symbolizing how in life we seek wisdom and knowledge from God.

What makes temple work the most sublime of all work is that the work is service. We help those that cannot help themselves as the Saviour helps us. Not that we do the work of the Saviour, but just as those beyond the veil cannot do this work for themselves, neither can we bridge the gap between sin and death and make it back to God without a Saviour. By doing this work, we are not only doing the Lord's work, but we are reminded that we must have a Saviour.

Thus, the work we do in the temple today, is symbolic of our need for a Saviour and our journey back to God. Though the acts may have changed from ancient times, the message is still the same. The symbolism of the temple should help us draw closer to God. We must learn to see beyond the mechanics and into the principles they represent.

Daily Grind - Exercise

Yesterday we bought a gym membership for our entire family at the County Rec Center. Today I had my first 5:30am workout. It was somewhat Slou's idea for me to workout before work. I have been reluctant to get a membership because I am usually so busy that I can't ever figure out when to work out. I tried doing it at home and even have a bit of equipment. I didn't do too bad last summer. I worked out for 3 weeks. We will see how long I can make this last.

I actually see pretty fast and consistent results when I start to exercise, so motivation is not a factor. It really is about time. I can't exercise between work and students because I don't have time to shower before I teach. By the time I'm done teaching, I am either too tired or it is too late. If I workout too late, I can't sleep. So I have decided to try and go before work.

I hear people say how much more energy they have when they get to work. This morning, it was the strangest feeling. I had energy but at the same time I was tired. I still can't figure that out. Now I just have to work on getting more sleep.

I want to blog

To that any normal person would say, "Well, you already are!?" Yes, I know, but I have absolutely nothing to talk about today yet I feel like writing a blog post. I went on a religious blog posting kick and scheduled them to be posted over the next couple of days. I didn't want my readers (all one of you) to be too overloaded with religious stuff. So on to some very "train of thought" blogging. It could be scary.

I have decided that my most favorite punctuation mark is the "?!" or "!?", respectively called the interrobang or the banginterro, at least according to my dad. I have no idea if it is actually right. While I am guilty of over-using both (along with parenthesis), I have just taken my father's word on them for a significant number of years. Then again, he was also the one that once convinced me that Chopin was pronounced "Chop-In" instead of "Show-pan". It was only years later that I realized I had looked utterly stupid to my grade school teacher when I argued that fact in class. He never did apologize for that mis-truth. He though he was funny and really never did any harm.

However, I always wonder about that day when my youngest brother was adamantly defending the fact that his ears did not have lobes. We would gang up on him and telling that "Oh my goodness, your ears have lobes!" To which he would reply very upset that, "My ears don't have lobes! Quit teasing me!" Did I mention he was blond. Still is most of the time. We were able to run that on for days until my mother finally had pity on her youngest child and told him what ear lobes were.

So I decided to look up exactly what an interrobang was and found a rather thorough definition here. It turns out my dad was mostly correct, except about the banginterro part, no such thing. (Again with the excruciating delayed embarrassment.) Here's a picture of an official interrobang, however most people just type it "?!" or "?!?!?!?!?!":

Religious - Symbology - Part 2

The LDS temple is often one of the most misunderstood complex symbols of the LDS faith, by both believer and non-believer. Often non-believers will balk at the complex symbolism contained therein and find what goes on there strange. Believers will often take things more literally then they probably should be taken.

Temple service and ritual is nothing new. It is a representation of returning to the presence of God connecting with the unseen spiritual world to which we want to return. In truth the modern temple is no different. It is built palatial, representing the kingdom of God. Every aspect of temple worship and preparation to enter the temple and even the temple itself, symbolize our journey back to God. it is meant to teach and uplift, to be a place apart from the world and close to God.

This post nor future posts will deal with the specifics of what goes on there. It is meant only to demystify some of the symbolism. When you realize that everything connected with the temple is symbolic then it really doesn't feel so strange. The mechanics of the temple are most likely a more modern construct, designed to teach a people through ceremony and repetition. While based upon ancient principles, the ceremonies themselves were designed to teach the people in the early church in ways they could understand. It is much like the parables of Jesus. He taught the people through stories containing symbols in their everyday life.

Many connections have been drawn between the Masonic rights and the temple ceremony. While I am no expert on the subject, I have read enough to postulate a couple of ideas related to this. First, Masonry was widely practiced at the time. It is symbols that the early members of the church could understand and relate to. Second, it was widely believed, though later proven wrong, that the masonic rights were started at Solomons temple. Their origins cannot be traced back that far and they are thought to only be a few hundred years old rather than thousands. It makes perfect sense to me that they might form part of the framework for the modern temple ceremonies.

Some people, however, are rather uncomfortable with this idea that the modern temple ceremony has not always been around. Well, in truth, it probably has taken many forms over the millenia. The principles are eternal, and this is simply one very beautiful way to teach them. The third and final part of this series will deal with some of the principles and symbolism surrounding temple worship.

Daily Grind - fun words from Bubs

As Bubs has learned to talk, he has come up with some great words that he didn't mean to say. He loves to ride his tricycle, but had a hard time saying "trike" It always seemed to come out like a swear word that started with "f" and rhymed with "truck". Please don't make me spell it out. Sadly, he is a chatterbox. So he liked to talk about is trike again and again, over and over. We even had to warn the babysitter that he was not swearing, but rather hadn't figured out how to form the word correctly yet.

This weekends newest one is "heleflocter". Well it just started out as "flocter" but then changed. He used to call anything that flied, a plane. We were getting gas at the Costco by the hospital and Lifeflight came in for a landing. So, we went over and saw the helicopter. I had to drive by it several times because he didn't want to stop looking at it. He was convinced that the heliflocter was broken and someone needed to fick it. I think SLou finally convinced him that it wasn't broken, just turned off. The up side is that now he knows the difference between a heleflocter and a plane.

Religious - Symbology - Part 1

Religion is full of symbols. Most people realize this, but some don't realize to what extent. Even actual events or people and their acts can be symbolic. The stories of creation found throughout the world are a great example. First they symbolize our creation by a supreme being and second they usually contain elements about how we should live our life. Creation stories are found in almost every culture throughout the world.

The Christian world believes in the symbolism of Jesus Christ. As I said, symbols do not have to be made up and can be based on real events. Christ's role as an example, teacher, neighbor and most importantly a Savior are import teaching tools to bring us happiness. While Christians consider the events to be real, the real power is in their ability to teach us how to be better and to give us hope.

We come to Christ through Baptism, which is symbolic of burying our old sinful life and rising anew in Christ. This event is then celebrated through the Sacrament or Eucharist. In the LDS tradition, we partake of the Sacrament almost every week. It sometimes goes un-noticed the symbolism of the event because we see it every week. The body and blood (water) of Christ are prepared as though for burial. We are passed the emblems of his body and blood symbolic of the gift of salvation he has given to us. But even more symbolic is that it is given to us, we do not take it of ourselves. We renew our promises made at baptism and lay or "sacrifice" our sins symbolically upon the altar of the sacrament. They are covered and buried with Christ, symbolizing Christ taking upon himself our sins.

Religious symbols are a part of everyday life, but maybe none so consuming as the symbolism of the LDS temple. Part 2 will discuss this often misunderstood symbol of the LDS faith.

Religious - Conference Thoughts - Part 2

From the talks that I listened to, I noticed a very distinct but subtle difference from past conferences. I also noticed a difference in the tone from the older Apostles to the newer ones. For many years, the church has been criticized for emphasizing works more than grace. There have certainly been enough talks in conference to support this idea. However, I think that it was really a difference in nomenclature. While LDS believe that Christ is the Savior, saving us from sin and death, we also know that we should work on becoming more like our Savior and that our heavenly reward will be based on what we work for. While Christ opened the door or built the bridge, it is up to us to cross it and learn. Many other denominations stop at salvation from Hell, and sometimes LDS folk forget that part. Though we should never forget that as hard as we work, our reward will be given because of the grace and mercy of our Saviour.

I heard several talks this time that seemed to alude to this fact. While some of the old guard talks (not referring to specific people, but to attitudes expressed) seem to leave no room for personal mistakes and growth. Many of the talks one hears now help people to realize that they can accomplish anything with the Lord and that when mistakes are made, there is a way back.

I particularly liked Pres. Uctdorf's and Pres. Eyrings talks from the general sessions. (I haven't listened or read the priesthood session yet. I was getting ready to have family over for dinner.) While they talked about obedience, they also acknowledged the love of God and how it helps us to overcome things.

While we are on the topic of the First Presidency, Pres. Monson's talk was exceptionally brilliant. I think it is the most underrated talk of the conference. It is strikingly significant because it focused on the second greatest commandment, to love our neighbor. As prophet he could have counselled us to improve aspects of our lives and continue to better ourselves. In a way he did, but specifically he taught us to stop thinking of ourselves and to think more about those around us. We must remember that the two commandments on which all of the other "hang" is to love God and love our neighbor. With such wonderful talks this conference, I hope that this one is the one that is most remembered. I think it could have the most profound effect on everyone.

Religious - Conference Thoughts - Part 1

Perhaps because of my latent ADHD, I have never really been able to distinguish different talks at conference. They all seem to run together. I have always been jealous at people who talk about what So and So said and this General Authority said. My mind has never compartmentalized Conference like that. However, the talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has stood out to me as one of the greatest talks I have ever heard at conference.

What made it great was its fearlessness and power. It is not very often you run into things that change you. This talk changed people, it caused you to take an opinion whether it be negative or positive. You could not sit there and just say, "Meh, it was a nice talk" when he was done. You were stirred by the power of his words either to your enlightenment and the strengthening of your testimony, or you fell farther away. O that one day I could speak with that power to the convictions of my soul. I was profoundly moved and my testimony of the Book of Mormon was strengthened. Perhaps what made this more poignant for me, was that I had become familiar over that last several months with some of the detracting voices. To quote:

"If anyone is foolish enough or misled enough to reject 531 pages of a heretofore unknown text teeming with literary and Semitic complexity without honestly attempting to account for the origin of those pages—especially without accounting for their powerful witness of Jesus Christ and the profound spiritual impact that witness has had on what is now tens of millions of readers—if that is the case, then such a person, elect or otherwise, has been deceived"

That is really the case. No detractor has ever been able to prove their point by showing conclusively where else the book came from. While they produced some plausible stories, playing on holes in the known history, none have ever been able to show that the book came from anywhere else but God. It's power has touched the lived of millions.

I will remember this talk always because of the testimony which it bore by a prophet of God. Surely none else could speak with such divine power declaring the word of God.

Post Labels in titles - Announcements

I have never been a fan of post labels, but I may start using them. That way if you are in the mood for Political Rants, Religious stories, etc., you can quickly find them.

Where I used to put different types of content on different blogs, I am now going to add title descriptions:

Political Rants - needs no explanation
Religious - again, no explanation needed
Missives - letters to people (previously Missives from Life blog)
Daily Grind - stories from mine and my families daily life.
Announcements - do I really need to explain

That should be enough.

For What?!?!?! - Politcal Rant

I love the Headline on Drudge Report this morning! "For What?", in reference to President Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. What exactly did he do to win it? They say it is "to encourage his initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism." Funny enough, he hasn't actually "done" anything yet. He has talked about it a whole lot. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not over and even he has declined to set a concrete table for withdrawal. He talked about reducing nuclear weapons, but has yet to reduce the US arsenal (not that I am for it) of nuclear weapons as an example. Rather he has tried to "strongly discourage" other nations from developing them, like Iran. (Who we all know is trying to develop a nuke so they can blow Israel of the face of the Earth because Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad thinks it is his religious duty.) He has talked about reforming energy use and helping the environment, but no effective legislation has been issued even with a strong Democrat majority in Congress. Like I said, he's getting it for talking really pretty, just as he did to be elected President.

Now that the euphoria of having the nations first black president have worn off, people are truly getting an idea of how liberal this guy is. I'm mean, its really cool and we all can consider ourselves socially progressive and feel a reprieve for the years of bigotry now, but this guy doesn't represent the bulk of mainstream America anymore than the ultra right wing conspiracy...OOPS!... conservatives. (Freudian Slip). His approval numbers have slipped to 50% because all he does is talk. Where is Hillary when we need her. (On a side note, I actually voted for her husband when I was a registered Republican which I am no longer.)

I have decided what he actually got the prize for. His actions have continued to weaken the dollar so the US can play more "fairly" (economically speaking) on the world market. You know we're in trouble when the dollar has weakened to the point that other country's now want to have a world currency to trade it. Obama eschews being called a Marxist, but if the shoe fits.

I mean, what is so wrong with Capitalism. You have the millionaire, Michael Moore, saying that capitalism has done nothing for him. Bull$#@&!!!! He played right into the the current social trends to create movies that people wanted to see. He is not a millionaire because he inherited it from his capitalist pig relatives, but because he made money in the capitalist system. Furthermore, the capitalist system has made our poor people some of the richest poor people in the world. Our country does truly have some devastatingly poor people, however, many of those who are below the poverty line have a whole lot more than their counterparts in other countries. Also, capitalism has fueled the growth in technology. Is it the only way? No, but is has worked for us and made us one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think our system is perfect. I also respect Obama quite a bit. I mean only 44 men have ever been elected to the office of the President of the United States. It is a very impressive achievement. The Office also deserves respect. In a way, it is wonderful that a sitting head of state is awarded such an honor, but it still begs the question, what has he done to promote world peace?

Why a psuedonym?

My reason, because its cool to have a pseudonym. The other reasons, because of Internet security. I'm also giving one to my wife and son. I am tired of referring them as my wife and son. They need names, cool names. So from now one, I dub them.......Punch and Judy......(deafening silence because no one gets the joke).......just kidding then........ I haven't decided yet, I may ask my wife (see there I go again).

I have always been a fan of dreadfully obvious, non-creative names. Sort of like the Irony of Kahn "Connie" Souphanousinphone, Jr. from King of the Hill. With such and interesting last name like Souphanousinphone, her dog was named "Doggy". In that vein, I could call them "Wifey" and "Sonny", but "Sonny" would make me feel old. So y'all will have to wait for the big unveiling in a future post. Yes, I know that you can probably find their names in previous posts, but for the future they will have new ones.

As far as my new pseudonym I've also considered Damian "David" Bacho. Hey, I was 10 or 11 when I thought that up. I used to have a penchant for the name "Damian" but that has gone away. Though I have been really proud of my middle name. I was named for my late Grandpa Crane, Ralph. In 3rd grade, we had 4, count them 4, David's in my class. I wanted to go by Ralph because I have always liked that name. (My favorite book at the time was Ralph S. Mouse.) You would have though the Earth had ended when I told my parents, and soon everyone was back to calling me David. I even had a best friend named David.

Years later, I went to England and discovered that the name Ralph is actually pronounced like the American name "Rafe" in England and is a common name of the Aristocracy. Since most of my ancestry hales from England, I always thought that was cool. However, I'm not going by my middle name. I though about the pet names my wife calls me, but I don't want to sicken my readers. Although, my son has taken to calling me by them at times. Its a little disconcerting to hear a 2 year old yell "Snugglebum" down the stairs.

I guess I could go by my real name. After all, I have always liked it. Three names, all five letters each. It kind of rolls off the tongue and has a certain symmetry that I really like as it plays into my OCD. Though, I have never figured out why no one can figure out how to spell my last name. For some reason they don't ever go for the obvious. I mean, really, how many ways can you spell "Crane". Let's see: Krain, Krane, Kraene, Crain, Craine, Crainer, Craner, Krayn. Yes, I have actually seen them all over the last 31 years. I love the "Oh now don't I feel stupid" look I get from them when I actually have to spell it for them, almost daily. It's not like I have a last name like Souphanousinphone.

Tune back in, the PseudoKraine family will be introduced soon!!!!!

Update: I have decided on our pseudo names......drum roll please.........and the winners are:

Me - DRC

Wife - SLou (Believe it or not, she actually will sign her name like this sometimes.)

Son - Bubs (In trying to find a suitable pseudonym for my dear son, I realized that we haven't come up with a very good nickname but that's actually what we call him.)

One Blog to Rule Them All

This was my first Blog.  It was supposed to be for just about everything.  Then I got the idea that readers (not that I have any) may not like the widely varying content, from highly religious to political and philisophical musings to the daily grind of life.  So I started several other blogs, each directed at a specific content.  One blog to record religious thoughts, another to highlight the everyday musings of my son.

Then there was the "Missive Blog" where I decided I would write everything in the form of a letter and I had to write one everyday for 30 days.  Someone said that if you do something 30 times in a row, it will become a habit.  They were wrong (at least when it comes to blogging).  I wrote a letter for everyday just to accomplish my goal, and then.........I stopped.  I really should have known this.   My first piano teacher used to tell me the same thing about practicing, but it doesn't work either.  And lets just not even get into scripture reading and prayer.  Truth is, scheduling is not really about habit, but rather about priorities.  When it was my goal, I made it a priority to write everyday, then it didn't matter because I no longer had a goal.  Priorities change.

Strangely enough I put a lot of time into making that [Missive] blog look different.  I was still never really happy with it.  Whereas this one still has the same basic blogger template it started with.  But it works, because it feels right.  So we stay with the "dark dots" despite some need to have something completely original.  The fact of the matter is, you can make a blog look pretty and original, but its the content that really matters.  If someone isn't drawn in by what you write, then what's the point?

I'm not sure my writing will draw people in; and I'm quite sure some of my opinions may even drive people away.  However, that's just who I am.  I have great ideas to "wax platitudinous" (bad esoteric pun completely intended) about and sometimes I just need to vent or share an experience.  Because of this, I think I am going to combine all my blogs into one.  I will probably keep the others active, but make all the posts available here.  So just get ready to have a spiritual thought one day and a political rant the next with a bit of my son's potty training adventures thrown in to keep it interesting.  Because (to bastardize a famous quote):

One blog to rule them all, One blog to find them, One to bring them all and in the "dark dots" bind them.

Flux

My life seems to be continually in a state of Flux. Everything in flux all the time. Money, job, family, church, mind, heart soul. But I'm okay with it.  I am finally learning that happiness in life does not come from outer stability, but rather inner peace.  Accepting that life will always change and celebrating that change instead of fighting resolves so many inner conflicts.