Earth-Gazing Makes Me Want to Be an Astronaut

I gotta get to space.

I don't care that NASA isn't sending up more shuttles.
Maybe someday I can afford a private flight up to space so I can see this with my own eyes.

Remarkable view, isn't it?
My childhood desire to be an astronaut has been renewed by the video below.

Watch it full-screen HD, and be prepared for a state of awe and appreciation for our world and its beauty.

OVERVIEW from Planetary Collective on Vimeo.

One of the astronauts used the term "poetic", which I think is perfect.
It's amazing to see our planet from space.

Definitely poetry-inspiring.

We're on this beautiful rock together.
We are all connected.

So is anybody willing to lend me $250K (US) for a seat on Virgin Galactic?
I'll even take the seat next to Justin Bieber if I have to.

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Guys Improvise: Salad Bowl

This is a new series, and though the name is 'Guys Improvise', it isn't just for guys.

Think of it like how the Bible sometimes uses 'man' to refer to the whole human race.

Anyway, it's almost more for single people, or just people who aren't really prepared for every event that happens to come up in life. These will likely be pretty random, so bear with me.

For example, I was invited to a BBQ on Saturday night, and I was asked to bring Caesar salad.

I was ready to make my salad, and then realized I don't own a salad bowl or salad spoons/tongs.

So I pulled out the biggest pot I have, and I stirred it up with my spaghetti spoon-thing (which also worked perfectly as the serving spoon).

Voilà, a salad bowl!

Worked like a charm.

Ladies and gents, if you've got some clever improvised solution to a problem, I'd love to hear about it.

Send your improvising solutions to guysimprovise@gmail.com, including a description, pics, and your Twitter handle if you have one, and I'll give you a shout-out on both my new GuysImprovise Twitter handle and GuysImprovise tumblr page.

Yes, I apparently have too much time on my hands right now.

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Post-Powell BBQ

No, I wasn't able to go to Lake Powell with my awesome friends when they went a few weeks ago.
I got the invite too late and couldn't make it work with my schedule.

But they did invite me to their post-Powell BBQ to use up the leftover food, and I was happy to see so many friends in one place while also eating delicious food.

Becca, the baked goods expert

Those aren't hamburgers; they're steakburgers.

At one point, I noticed a lot of friends were wearing striped clothing, so I snapped a pic.

That made some solid-color people a little jealous, so I got one of them, too.

Without meaning to, I guess I sort of created a Seussical Sneeches situation.
Thankfully no one took it to the lengths the Sneeches did, although Tabbi's guest Emily put on a striped jacket later in the evening (but I think that was a coincidence due to the cold).

Anyway, it was a fun evening, and the food and conversation were delightful.

Just hoping I can get the invite for Lake Powell earlier next time, so I can make the trip and spend a whole week with the fun friends!

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Happy Papas Day!

And I'm not talking about Spanish potatoes.

Today has been fun to see all the pictures friends are posting of their dads on Instagram and Facebook.

Looks like we appreciate all that our dads have done for us, and that makes me happy.

My dad has been teaching my brothers and sister and I all kinds of lessons ever since we were born, and without him we certainly wouldn't be who we are today.

Supporting me since day one

Master of the grill

Thanks so much for everything, dad. Love you so much!

And Happy Father's Day to all the papas out there!

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My First Golf Round in the 70s

It's been a while since I've had a big breakthrough in my golf scoring.

I broke 90 for the first time in May of last year, and there was much rejoicing.

Mostly it's been gradual improvement from regular low-90s to high-80s to mid-80s.
But finally I had a solid round with some great saves, and I scored in the 70s.

Nick, Dean, and I played Glendale, which is a fairly forgiving course, and Nick and I were battling the whole way, feeding off each other, and that was helpful. I don't know that we actually knew how well we were playing, until with a couple holes to go I looked at the scores and saw we could go lower than I ever have before.

Pretty stoked to both shoot in the 70s

Or maybe Nick knew, and he didn't want to stress/psych me out. Either way, that just left a few holes where I had it in my head and just had to hit my spots and roll some putts.

Fortunately, I was able to keep it together, and I finished with an ecstatic 77 (+5)!

Check out my first sub-80 card:

Those back-to-back birdies on 12 and 13 were pretty great. I hit in the fairway on both, missed the green, and then either chipped in from about 40 feet (on 12) or chipped to close and made the putt (on 13).

I almost had a miraculous birdie on 14 (for which Dean would have owed me lunch), but I missed the putt. Still happy with how I played that hole, too, and most of the other holes.

Nick was one stroke behind on the 18th tee, but he missed his tee shot right, into a bunker, and didn't have a look at the green from there. I hit the fairway, and then the green with my next, so that kinda iced it. He played a great round of 79, though, which was fun we both went sub-80 the same day.

What I'm most proud of is playing even-par on the back 9. Don't think I've ever done that before!
Oh, and I'm second-most proud of the lack of 2Bogey+ black squares on that card. Avoiding penalties truly is key to having any chance at being near par.

Hopefully I'll be posting another card on here soon where I go sub-70, though I'm sure it'll get progressively harder to go lower and lower, so don't how your breath for that post. hahaha

Hit 'em long and straight, friends!

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I Love to See the Temple

Few buildings provide as much peace to me as LDS temples, whether going in (only for temple recommend carrying members), or just being on the temple grounds and enjoying the peace and quiet.

President Thomas S. Monson, the current prophet, discussed temples in the most recent General Conference. You can read or watch his talk HERE.

As a bonus, they also happen to be excellent subjects for photography.
Just in the past few weeks, I've taken these with my cell phone:

Washington, DC (May 18)

Salt Lake City (June 7)

Salt Lake City (June 13)

I acknowledge a little help from my Instagram app filters, but aren't they cool pics?

If you want to check one out for yourself, you can find a nearby temple by clicking HERE.

And if you take pictures, please share a link to your blog or photo album so I can see, too!

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'Oh What a Night!' at "Jersey Boys"

My sister invited me to join her in seeing the musical play Jersey Boys last night.

I really needed some entertainment to take my mind off things, so she's good like that.

And, although many of the Four Seasons songs kept reminding me of my current woes, it was in a good way, and it felt like we were at a concert of a lot of the music that our parents raised us on. Awesome.

I'd highly recommend getting down to the Capitol Theatre and seeing this show. It's fantastic!

If you're going to take your kids, be aware that there's lots of swearing. I mean, the guys are from Jersey, so that's to be expected. But don't say I didn't warn you.

All that Four Seasons music about love has planted a blogpost idea in my brain, but it could go two different ways, depending on how my hail mary is received. So look for that in coming weeks.

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Behind the Scenes: Making "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

The movie Raiders of the Lost Ark hit the big screen 32 years ago today.

Nine Academy Awards nominations and four wins followed, as well as plenty of fans over the years.

Including, of course, my family and me.

So to celebrate the birth of the Indiana Jones series, here's a Robot Chicken video:

Spot on.

Let's just hope any future Indiana Jones movies follow after Raiders and not after Crystal Skull...

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My Hail Mary is En Route

Let's just say I'm Doug Flutie, and I'm really hoping that Gerard Phelan comes down with my pass.

If it's caught, then I assure be jumping for joy just like Flutie did.

Better believe I'm saying extra-strong prayers these days.

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Agency: Every Soul is Free

One of the key doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a.k.a. Mormons, is agency, or the right of every person to make decisions and choose between good and evil.

Good and evil isn't always the choice, though. Sometimes the choice is between good and better, or better and best. But we still get to choose.

On Sunday, the music director in church picked a song for the opening number that I didn't even recognize. Maybe I've heard it before, but I can't recall that occasion if I have.

The hymn was #240, "Know This, That Every Soul Is Free".

Though a relatively short one, it conveys some deep lessons and its message struck me.

If you're an auditory learner, this is a men's choir singing the hymn: 

And for visual learners, here are the lyrics from the lds.org website:

1. Know this, that ev’ry soul is free
To choose his life and what he’ll be;
For this eternal truth is giv’n:
That God will force no man to heav’n.

2. He’ll call, persuade, direct aright,
And bless with wisdom, love, and light,
In nameless ways be good and kind,
But never force the human mind.

3. Freedom and reason make us men;
Take these away, what are we then?
Mere animals, and just as well
The beasts may think of heav’n or hell.

4. May we no more our pow’rs abuse,
But ways of truth and goodness choose;
Our God is pleased when we improve
His grace and seek his perfect love.

Interesting, no? That 3rd verse is a little strange, even though it's technically true.
I especially like the line "God will force no man to heav'n" and the whole second verse.
But I'm really loving the set-up right now.

"To choose his life and what he'll be;"

We make decisions, and then we have to live with the ramifications and results of those decisions. We can't choose the outcomes, especially when the agency of other people comes into play.

Sometimes the decisions others make will hurt us or change our world completely. Drunk drivers, terrorists, and those sorts of individuals will affect us, and we may not be able to avoid their poor decisions.

But we can choose our reactions to the situations we are in. Whether to become bitter or resentful or closed-off from the world and those around us who want the best for us. We choose how to react to everything in our life.

That is our agency.

If you've never read "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor E. Frankl, you need to. ASAP.
Go get it at the library this week, and read it cover to cover.
He'll bring you to tears with his heartbreaking story, but also he'll convey the power of choosing your reactions to tough situations in a much better way than I probably ever could.

We make decisions, and hopefully we'll choose good over evil. And then outside forces will act on us, but we make the choice of how to react. My new goal is to focus on the positive and try to learn from tough situations, so I'll be better prepared to help others and cope with difficulty going forward.

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Let's All "Bee" Friends

I love baseball games... on a warm Saturday night... with lots of friends.

We organized a group of friends to attend the SL Bees game, and it was a very good time.

We sat on the lawn by right field, and it was a good spot. Not too blinded by the sun, and we had a clear view of the whole field. Little by little, we kind of expanded our property holdings as other fans left and more of ours showed up haha

We ate hot dogs and drank water and a little Diet Coke, and enjoyed socializing on the grass.

Another bonus of our lawn seats was not having to move to watch the fireworks after the game.

Yep, that's right. After the game, they even had fireworks (which was probably the main reason some of the friends came at all - true story). 

Solid warm-up for the upcoming 4th of July!
(And 24th of July, for all my fellow Utahns, of course.)

Oh yeah, and it doesn't hurt that the Bees hit a grand slam and won, either!

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Today We Are Golf Champions: 2013 Wilson Mohr Scramble

I've only played in a few golf tournaments, but I was excited for this one.

Playing in the 2013 Wilson Mohr scramble with my buddies Nick, Clint, and Dean was going to be fun.
We play together regularly, and we each have our strengths, so with all of us playing together and taking the best ball from our shots, that was a recipe for success.

Clint sizing up his tee shot

We set a goal of -10 for our round, which would mean we'd need a birdie every other hole.
With everyone in the tourney playing from the white tees, that seemed like a very reasonable goal.

There were a couple holes where our tee shots were wild-ish, but we had one or two in the fairway on just about every hole. And usually that gave our big hitters a chance to swing freely and go for distance.
Which means we had a good amount of birdie putts, and luckily we hit some long ones.

Long story short, we reached our goal with the help of an eagle on the hardest hole, and we finished with a bonus birdie, too.

In the clubhouse, we turned in our score and then ate some tasty food while the remaining teams trickled in and the scorekeeper posted.

And look, our score held up! We won with a 61 (-11)!

Looks like we'll have to defend our title next year, and I have a feeling we'll be working on our games often between now and then, simply because we have lots of fun playing together.

Congrats, fellow champions!

Oh, and thanks to my buddies' wives for letting them come play with me all the time!

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"The Truth About Guys" is Spot On

This guy Nate and I need to be friends.

His article "The Truth About Guys" is so right.

The difference between Nate and me is that I know who the girl is that I love.

Though, as you, my reader friends, know, there are complications.
And while I want my love to be as spotlessly clean as Nate describes it, I know real love is messy.

Another smart fellow, Tyler, wrote this great post "How I Know My Wife Married the 'Wrong' Person".
As easy as taking options #1-3 might be, I'd rather go with option #4.
Love is and will be hard. Really hard. Really, really hard at times.
But it's worth the effort, because the shiny moments with the girl you love are priceless.

Time to get to work.

PS Thanks to all of you for your support both off- and on-line after my last post. You are wonderful, and I'm not ready to give up just yet!

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Unprepared for a Great Love: Part 2

Emily, I'm sorry I wasn't prepared to be the man you deserved.

I blew it. Again. 

I know I did, and I take full responsibility for blowing it.

We Smyth boys (all boys?) aren't the smartest when it comes to recognizing love when it's in our arms.

Both of my married brothers dated incredible women, then broke up, and then later realized they'd messed up by breaking up and that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with those marvelous ladies. Fortunately for my brothers, their wives gave them another chance.

I'm apparently a little more stubborn, and it's taken me two breakups to figure out how to be the man I should have been all along. I knew I loved you after one breakup, but I still hadn't sorted out how to show it and communicate it and be patient when things didn't go exactly how I'd wanted them to in my head.

Now I just feel like these guys are singing my thoughts and emotions:

"Lego House" by Ed Sheeran

"When I Was Your Man" by Bruno Mars

And though I feel this way and I'd like it to be the case, I know it's a stretch to ask for at this point.
"We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz & K'naan vs Max Herre

Charity and love are closely related, and some versions of the Bible use the word "love" in 1 Cor. 13:4-7, which I find very apropos right now.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (source)

I've got a long way to go to live up to that kind of love, but I'll get there someday.

It's hard to admit, but you deserve better than I was. Maybe better than I'll ever be. You're an amazing woman, worthy of the very best in life and love. And I know the Lord has someone that's right for you, I just kinda feel and wish it could still be me.

Whatever happens or doesn't happen between us going forward, I know that I've been changed for the better and for good because I knew you.
"For Good" from the musical Wicked

Whoever it is that has the luck and lifelong joy to be your husband, I hope he buys you flowers, and holds your hand, and takes you to every party, because I sure do remember how much you love to dance.

Of all these things I've done, I think I love you better now.

I'll always love you, Emily, and I pray you find every happiness in life.

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