ammon.azza.org

Dear Ammon,

Okay, admit it. Today is going pretty good. I mean, nothing has really gone too wrong yet. You got out of bed only 30 minutes after your alarm went off. And you only annoyed Lars a little by hitting the snooze button. Sure, you had to stop by the DMV on your way to work, and that's never fun. But you only had to wait for 2 minutes or so before you were helped. And now you are the only name on your Jeep's title. Doesn't that make you feel good? Absolutely. Don't even try to deny it, I know you better than you know yourself.

I hear you're a little hurt. Still sore from crack climbing, eh? I keep telling you to put band aids and ointment on those wounds. Indoor cracks aren't nearly as clean as the ones outside. And your ankle is bound to hurt. You were twisting it pretty aggressively. And about last night, everyone has their day. That just wasn't yours. You think you can just jump up and go outside and start flat out running? At 11 o'clock? On icy roads? Yeah, smooth move. So what if you were antsy. Do some push ups or something. But even still, you only fell down once. And you did run for a good quarter mile before you had to stop to keep yourself from dying. I know, You could run 5K a few weeks ago. And you felt fine after that. And last night you could barely breathe. And you're still coughing and your lungs hurt. Maybe you're coming down with something. It's just one of those things I guess.

But It's Friday. You are eating some left over pizza that you just microwaved. And time is moving pretty slick, so work will be over before you know it. Then you can just take the weekend to relax. Sure, there are plenty of things you need to get done, but I give you permission to slack off, just this once. Maybe drop some of your entertainment fund on gas and go for a long drive? What's the weather going to be like? I guess you'll have to look into that.

Anyway, I just thought I would drop you a line. I had better get back to work. You probably should too. Enjoy your pizza. Oh, and keep your chin up, alright?

Sincerely,
Ammon

I just re-read the post I made last night. Wow, that is some bad writing. I didn't make any sense and I was completely disorganized. I guess that is what happens when I do too much crack and then try to write a blog.

Well, since i posted about wanting to run the SLC marathon, I have done quite a bit of thinking. And that thinking has led me to decide not to run the SLC marathon. I'll pretend I haven't mentioned this before, just for fun.

Why though? It would be so much "fun". Here's why.

I've been wanting to do something like this for sometime, and figured "Why not now?" The following is a listing of my favorite albums from various artists. To make it on the list, an album must meet the following criteria:

1) Has to be a studio album, not a live album.
2) Can't be a movie soundtrack.
3) I have to be able to sit down and listen to the whole album, beginning to end, and enjoy every song. If there is a song that I kinda like, but regularly skip, the album can't be on the list.
4) There has to be at least one song on the album that strikes me as awesome, that hits me emotionally, or that is simply good music.

The list surprises me a bit. There were some albums I had not thought about adding until I saw it in my iTunes, and there there were others that I thought would be on for sure until I saw one song that I thought "eh... I would probably skip that one". So, here is the list. I will add thoughts on them as well.

I love America. I love the constitution. I love the founding principles of our government. In a time of crisis I would die for the country. Give me liberty or give me death. I consider myself a patriot.

Having said that, I am sick of the abuse of patriotism. I have no problem with people, Americans, expressing their love for the country. But it's when companies use it to get financial gain that I have a problem. All my life, RC Willey has been putting ads out on every major holiday selling their furniture. They push patriotism into their ads and try to tout themselves as the patriotic comapny to buy from. That really isn't necessary, they had me at "Free Hot Dogs".

People complain about the commercialization of Christmas, and while I agree, what about the commercialization of Veterans Day, or Memorial Day, or President's Day. When were these holidays about selling sheets and closet organizers? So, tomorrow I am going to avoid sales. I'll probably buy some food, from a random store or restaurant just like every other day of my life. And maybe I'll spend some time thinking about Washington and Lincoln. The presidents that made and saved these united States.

But it's not only holidays that get companies using patriotism. Have you seen the people dressed up like the Statue of Liberty standing out front of H&R Block? What's that all about? They have taken the recent fad of paying people to do the mind numbing job of standing on the street holding a sign (or juggling corn) and added a pinch of patriotism to get people in so they can do their taxes. Well, there is just one major flaw with this. Who feels patriotic on tax day? "Oh I love this country that robs me blind" is not a phrase you hear often. Personally, I think on tax day I would prefer to dress up like Samuel Adams.. or better yet, I'll dress up like Samuel Adams dressed up like an Indian. TAX THIS!

But still, whenever I see the American Flag in all it's glory, it does warm my heart: