2010

Since I’m really bad about getting Christmas cards and letters out (it has been many, many years), I thought I’d use my blog to publish what would have been my Christmas letter.  I can reach more people this way, anyway.

In many ways 2010 was much the same as the past several years, consumed mostly with my work responsibilities.  As many, but not all, of you may know, in late 2007 I got involved with a new business venture.  A friend of mine, Jared, contacted me to ask if I would be willing to create the cash register component of a Point-of-Sale system for a quick-service pizza restaurant being opened by a friend of his. Despite my hesitation to get involved in such projects in the past, I decided to undertake the challenge.  Soon we began to attract the attention of other franchisees in the chain, and before we knew it we were selling our product to others.  Since that time we officially organized Custom Register Solutions, of which I am part owner.  In 2010 we increased our size from 3 employees to a company with 15 people.  It has been quite a ride.  My brother Brent joined the company in June this year, helping to create the web site portion of our software.

In 2009 we were approached by some executives from the parent company of the same international pizza chain to see if our product could be adopted to some new and very specific needs.  It was pretty evident that we could, so since that time we’ve been working intimately with them.  We’re confident that we will be announced as their preferred POS vendor very soon (the only “iffy” part is when, not if).  Between the preparation for that upcoming announcement, the demand it will place on us when that happens, and our fast-paced development schedule in the company I have been working very long weeks for a little over 3 years now.  It is nice to be getting close to the realization of what was, at the time we started the project, an impossible dream.  We’re doing some very cool and innovative stuff, but I can’t talk about that just yet.

In spite of the many hours I spend working, I have still gotten involved in several other outside projects.  Everyone who knows me is well aware of my interest in audio, video, and photography, and I have always enjoyed working on any project that involved any or all of those three.  This year was no exception.  Early in the year I proposed the idea of a live Internet-streamed concert to an up-and-coming California-based artist named Sonnet who had become known in Utah for the soundtrack she provided for a popular television commercial, and she was gracious enough to accept.  Soon the project blossomed into an honest-to-goodness real music video as well, which my friend Dave would direct, and another friend Paul would shoot.  February through May included a lot of planning for those events, which took place the first through second weeks of June.  It was a very busy schedule, but it was also a lot of fun spending time with old and new friends as part of the crew.  Few of the final results have been posted on the Internet at this point , but I will be sure to let everyone know when they are.

I had the privilege of spending more time with family this year than most.  My youngest sister Christine graduated from BYU in Psychology in April, and my parents and sister Suzanne all flew to Provo to be there for that.  Christine was seriously dating her then-boyfriend Brennen at the time, and a week later they announced their engagement to be married in August.  Through the planning stages my mom came back to Provo to help Christine out for a few days.  The entire family came out for the wedding in August.  It was the first time that all of us had not just been together, but had the opportunity to go to the temple as a family as well.  It was definitely a memorable occasion which we are all grateful for.

After the craziness of the wedding wound down, it was back to work as usual for a couple weeks before I headed to Tucson for two weeks to help with the installation of our software in 13 store locations there.  It was hot and stormy the first week, and the second week it was hot and dry, but the condo we rented had no working air conditioning.  I spent many nights on the couch just trying to get comfortable enough to sleep, while working in the heat during the day.  I was glad to come home.

This year I also got to see one of my favorite musical acts, Celtic Woman, perform not once but twice.  They came to Salt Lake in May, and I took my friend Sarah as my date, and Dave and Paul tagged along as well.  Sarah spent several years in Ireland and enjoys Celtic music, so it was a treat for her to be able to go.  The girls in the group are pretty amazing.  I really enjoyed the concert, so when they went to Los Angeles at the end of August I decided to see them again.  This time I took Sonnet with me, who despite being ill that day had a good time.  It was also nice to see my new friend again and spend a couple days with her in her hometown.  We planned to work together to record a short Christmas album, but due to both of us having busy schedules that didn’t happen this year.  Maybe next year?

Other projects this year included shooting video for a handful of weddings, doing audio for an international dance/music festival in Sandy, UT, my annual trip taking pictures of fall leaves with my friend Dave, recording the commentary for a feature film, and being the regular sound guy for the Mountain Blue southern bluegrass A Cappella gospel group.  Mountain Blue kept me really busy in early December, with quite a number of performances in the first half of the month.  But I love anything involving audio, video, or photography, so any opportunity that comes is more than welcome.

I am spending my Christmas vacation at my parents’ home (as I always do) in Tulsa, OK this year, with nearly all of the rest of my family.  Only my sister Cheryl and her husband Blake and their kids won’t be there. Their family is getting big and it is becoming more difficult for them to all travel.  It’s sad that they won’t be there with the rest of us, but we understand why they can’t and they’ll be with us in spirit.  This year Christine will be bringing her new husband with her, so we’re excited to include a new family member in our festivities.  We’re very lucky that we have been able to have so much of our family together for Christmas for so many years.

Christmas is my favorite time of year, not just because I get to see my family, but also because it is the time of year when many people put their own desires aside and think of others, and because it is the time of year we dedicate to thinking about our Savior, Jesus Christ.  The spirit of the season is unique, and something I look forward to throughout the year.  It never lasts long enough.

Trip Summary

I just got back from a long trip…

Duration: 14 days
Days spent driving: 6
Nights in hotels: 10
Saved by using priceline.com for hotels: $404

Friends seen: Brian, Jess, Dale & Katie
Friends I attempted to see: lots more
Other friends connected with: Mark
Family seen: Mom & Dad

Number of Point-of-Sale systems installed: 2
Number of computers installed: 8
Number of man-hours spent installing at each store: about 12
Number of hours spent supervising and training employees: 10

Number of electronic gadgets acquired: 1 (HTC Touch Pro 2 cell phone, 32GB iPod Touch given to Brian for his help with POS installations)
Number of electronic gadgets that died: 2 (80GB Zune, Dash Express GPS)
Repairs to Truck: New brake light switch to repair failing brake lights

Number of miles driven: 3136.0
Gallons of fuel purchased: 141.151
Highest MPG on one tank: 25.993 (75 MPH freeway + 65 MPH highway in NM)
Lowest MPG on one tank: 19.924 (70 MPH freeway in OK, KS… dang oxygenated fuel!)
Average MPG Overall: 22.217
Average Fuel Per Gallon: $2.437
Tolls Paid: $8.90

Weather…
Every day but the last two were overcast, with some mist and rain.  The last day was the most varied, with snow, rain, cold, hot, and dry all within a couple hundred miles. 

Audiobooks: C.S. Lewis’ “The Problem of Pain,” Jeffrey R. Holland’s “Christ and the New Covenant.”

Highs: Getting to stay with my parents for a few days, seeing Jess for a couple days, hanging out with Brian when POS installations permitted, getting a new cell phone, playing with the computer I learned to program on in the early-to-mid 1980s.

Lows: GPS and Zune dying, staying up all night for POS installation, crawling around in ceilings with fiberglass insulation.

This is what a typical register looks like when we do an installation.
That’s my software running on the computer. Most stores have 3-4 like this,
plus a server computer. I installed 6 registers, two servers, and two
LCD monitors at the make line.

This is Brian.  We went to High School together, and have kept in contact since.
He drove up from Houston and helped me with the installation.
Without his help I would have been in trouble.  I wish I got a picture of his Corvette.

 
Me with Jess.  I spent Friday evening, Saturday afternoon,
and part of Sunday with her in Denton, TX.

On Monday night my parents took me to Braum’s for ice cream.  I got a Strawberry Shortcake Sundae.  It was excellent.  But we were surprised by how much inflation has affected the price of the food there.  Actually, it got worse after this picture was taken.  The next day, instead of $29, the same meal was $299.

I, unfortunately, didn’t get any pictures of my parents while I was there.  Or any part of the drive home for that matter, even though I saw some beautiful scenery.  But the drive was already long enough, and I didn’t really want to make it a lot longer by stopping every few minutes for pictures.  Some other trip when I don’t have pressing tasks waiting for my attention.

I’m an Uncle again!

My sister Cheryl had her fourth child Sunday at 10:46 AM EST.  Her name is Kacie, she is 7 lbs 9 oz, and is 19” long.  She is healthy, and both she and her mom are doing well.

Welcome to the family, Kacie!  And congrats to her mom and dad!

Grandma Johnson

My grandmother on my dad's side of the family passed away this last Monday morning, December 1st. She was 92, and ever since she broke a hip a few years ago her health had been going downhill, so it wasn't totally unexpected, but it is always a bit of a shock when someone you know leaves us.

Although it is sad that I won't see her again in this life, at the same time this is a chance to take joy in knowing that her departure does not mean the end of the relationship that I have with her. It also means that she will be together with her husband, who passed away 27 years and one day before she did. She loved my grandpa dearly, and has missed his company for a very long time.

Though a sad occasion, it did bring her immediate and extended family together. My parents flew into town on Wednesday. All of my dad's living siblings and most of her grandchildren also made it a point to be here. Even Grandma's living brothers and sisters came as well.

Grandma's funeral was on Saturday morning, and though there were tears shed, we all knew that she is in a better place now, reunited with Grandpa. The Spirit was definitely present during the service, and we all knew that Grandma had lived an amazing life and she is surely going to receive a great eternal reward. The service focused on Grandma's strength and on the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was wonderful.

During the viewing just prior to the funeral I took a few minutes to just stand and look at her, and take some time to reflect upon the portion of her life that I have been around to see. Every memory I have of her is positive; there hasn't been a single moment with Grandma where I don't have fond memories of her.

Seeing her body in the casket was a faith building experience as well. It was her body laying there, but her spirit was clearly not a part of it. The presence I have always felt when she was nearby was missing. Everything about her that made her who she was was not there. But at the same time there was a quiet peace that everything was happening as it is meant to. I knew that she continues to live, even if it isn't here with us.

I will miss my Grandma. She was genuinely very loving. She was a pillar of strength through adversity. She was gentle, but firm. She always set a great example for everyone. Even down to the day she died she did all that was asked of her, and more. She wanted the best for everyone. She offered gentle guidance to her children and grandchildren, demonstrating her love for them.

You would never hear Grandma complain. But when you asked how she was doing, she wouldn't lie to you if things were difficult. Her manner was matter-of-fact, though... she wasn't complaining; just stating facts of her circumstances. She would tell you things as she saw them, not how she thought you wanted to hear it. She was incredibly honest, almost to a fault.

Though I haven't ever lived close by her, I always knew that she loved me and that she cared about what was happening in my life, even though I am one of many grandchildren. She was also very generous with me and all of my relatives; every Christmas, up until this last year, she always made sure that we had something that we wanted, even during those years when it was difficult to do so. And she contributed generously toward my mission.

She knew what was important in life, and knew how to avoid those things that aren't. She never had any interest in material possessions other than to make sure that others' needs were being met and that they were happy. She took joy in blessing the lives of others. She and her family were always willing to share whatever they had with those that were less fortunate, even during those times when they really didn't have anything to spare by definition of the rest of the world. She always put on a face of optimism, no matter how difficult her circumstances. And she always put the needs of everyone else ahead of her own, even down to the end of her life.

She lived a life of quiet dignity, never seeking any attention for her acts of quiet service. She was the sort of person you could always depend on. Any time anyone would ask her to do anything, they could rest assured that it would be done, be done well, and be done quickly.

She raised seven wonderful children, all of which have lived upstanding lives. All five of her sons served LDS missions and have served in prominent church positions. Almost all of her grandsons also served missions, as well as several granddaughters. And she has been more than supportive of every one of them in any way she can. She even served two full-time missions of her own.

Grandma, you will be missed. But we all know that we will see you again, and that you must be rejoicing in reuniting with Grandpa. I am grateful that you have been a part of my life for 35 years. I, and all of your family, love you with all of our hearts.

Recent Goings On

You've probably noticed that the number of personal posts has been kind of low from me for some time now. Well, I've been kind of busy working. A typical day for me is 14-16 hours of programming, interspersed with a couple breaks for snacks, to run errands, then sleep for 6-7 hours per night to start it all over again the next day. Not exactly the most exciting thing to write about, so I've kind of kept my keyboard quiet.

But I haven't spent every waking minute in front of my computer; I flew up to Spokane last week to work up there for three days. The trip was a complete success, and I was able to add a feature to our POS system that a huge potential customer has been clamoring for for quite some time.

And prior to my trip to Spokane I spent several days prepping for last Sunday's regional stake conference broadcast by rebuilding the wireless network I setup between three local church buildings and rewiring the satellite room. Lots more time on the roof, with only a little bit of time in the attic. But this time I did got to play in the tunnels. Unfortunately I paid the price the next few days with jello legs from having to walk hunched over.

Speaking of conference, it was a pretty great meeting. And I actually got to watch almost all of it this time instead of running around between buildings fixing problems to make sure the video could be seen in all three.

TV Upgrade

One of the highlights of the last few weeks was the acquisition of a new TV for my living room. I have been using a 34" Sony CRT (tube) TV for the last two years, and it has been absolutely amazing (CRTs still have a MUCH better picture than LCDs), but I've been running into a compatibility issue between the TV and the projector I got in May. Plus I've been wanting something a little bigger anyway. While I was at Circuit City 10 days ago (looking for a projector for the regional conference, actually; not TV shopping) I noticed that the Sony 52" XBR4 LCD TV that I've been keeping my eye on for the last year was on sale, at the best price I've ever seen. It has typically been around $3500-$4000, but it was on sale for $2900. I asked the salesperson if they had any in stock, and they didn't, but they were willing to sell the floor model for $2540, which actually rang up at $2440. It was near closing and Brent and I went in his new So now I have an absolutely massive TV in my living room, and an amazing smaller 34" HDTV looking for a new home. So if you know someone who wants an amazing deal on an amazing High Definition TV, let me know.

For the techies reading this blog, the new model is Full 1080p resolution at 120Hz, and it supports true 24p, for an absolutely jawdropping picture for watching movies. If you're in the neighborhood drop by and I'll give you a demo.

Ike Hits Home

My sister Suzanne and friend Brian decided to evacuate Houston to get out of the way of Ike. Suzanne decided to visit my parents for a week to wait it out, while Brian threw his family in his RV and headed for northern Louisiana. From what I've heard, Suzanne's apartment survived unscathed, but I haven't heard the status of Brian's house yet. I can't say the same for Suzanne's employer's building; it had at least a few windows blown out by the storm. Because of the storm I'm also running some of the services that Brian provides for his customers on a computer here at my place to make sure that his customers continue to have access to their email.

Rock Band 2

Rock Band 2 is out now. Brent picked up a copy at midnight last night, and we played for a while before going to bed. It is essentially the same as Rock Band 1, with a few features added here and there. They didn't fix a couple issues I had with the first, though. You still have to play the same songs multiple times in order to get through the Tour, and it gets discouraging. Overall the guitar parts still just aren't hard enough. Brent and I 5-starred every song we played on Expert the first time through, and even had perfect scores on two songs. Shouldn't Expert be at least a little bit of a challenge?

The cool thing about RB2 though is that you can import/export almost all of the songs from RB1, and the songs you paid for with RB1 automatically show up in RB2 as well. Overall I think I like the songs that come with RB2 better than the first; but I'm still hoping that some day one of these games will focus on some of the bands I liked to listen to in high school, during the peak of the hair band era. Somehow I just don't think of Beck when I think of great guitar parts.

Nostalgia Lane

On Thursday Phyl came over and we were both hungry so we went to Pizza Factory in Provo. I had a Calzone, and it was yummy. But during dinner we were talking about TV shows coming out this fall, and I briefly mentioned that I was going to give the remake of Knight Rider a shot even though my expectations weren't that high. She gave me a blank stare, and I could tell that she hadn't ever heard of Knight Rider, not even when I mentioned David Hasselhoff. Anyway, so she would know what I was talking about we watched an episode of the show. It was the one where KITT's prototype, KARR, escapes from the laboratory. Now that's classic television. Do you know Knight Rider? And have you seen the show?

The Internet Has Changed the World

Two posts ago I ranted about a TV show I saw on Discovery Channel, and its pseudo-science being passed off as legit. Then Brad replied to my post and talked about another episode of the show that he saw on that same night. Then two posts later, someone who was actually involved in the episode that Brad saw posted a reply on my blog. If you had told me 15 years ago that someone involved in the creation of a TV show would contact me about my opinion (ok, it was Brad's opinion in this case, but that doesn't change the point) I would have never believed it. Back then you wouldn't even get a response if you asked for one, and here we got a response that we didn't even go looking for. The Internet has truly changed everything.

Excited For...

I'm excited that Heroes season 3 is starting up here in 10 days. I still think it's one of the best shows on television, even though they had to ruin season 2 because of the writer's strike.

I'm also excited for the new Zune software that is coming out on Tuesday. There are some pretty cool features coming with this update.

Don't Like Working on Sunday

I really don't enjoy having to work on Sunday; it is normally the only day I take off. But we had two Little Caesars stores with significant problems today that had to be addressed. So I had to spend three hours diagnosing problems with one store (their phone line had been cut, which caused problems with our system), then the next 3 hours fixing problems with the other store. That deserves 6 hours of not working sometime during this next week, right?

There is One More Thing

I almost forgot one of the biggest things that has happened recently. Brent bought a brand new Honda Civic a couple weeks ago. It's black, two door. But the black has a mild blue metalic flake to it that's really cool.

That's All, Folks!

I suppose I've rambled on long enough. But thanks for bearing with me through my techie posts to get to the good stuff.

Feeling A Little Overwhelmed Today

I'm kind of feeling a little bit overwhelmed with everything I have to get done in the next little while. Here's just a sampling:

• Edit the video I shot at a college graduation a few weeks ago, make several copies of the DVD, and send them off.
• Edit the video I shot for my friend Amber's wedding and make a DVD, and send it off.
• Edit the video I shot of my sister Christine performing at Velour, and post it for my family.
• Copy and send out the recording of Christine playing at Ozz, and send it to my family.
• Edit pictures I shot for Michael & Kiley's wedding, and order prints.
• Edit and mix down recordings I made of Richard and Gabe forever ago.
• Edit family pictures taken at Christmas, make DVDs of the video I shot at Christmas the last three years, and get those sent out.
• Make several significant changes to a tuxedo rental system I just created, and install and train the store owner and employees on how to use it.
• Extract the audio for a golf seminar from a hard drive recorder, burn DVDs, and send them off.
• Order more equipment and install another two antennas in my stake center for an upcoming stake conference.
• Make changes in FileBack PC (my backup software) to make it work better on Windows Vista, and fix a bug preventing encrypted backups from being restored. (Most of those parts are done.) After making changes, build a new release package, a new update package, upload both, notify the sites hosting the program that a new version is available, then send out announcements to my customers of the changes and that a new version is available.
• Move my company web site to a new server.
• Start cleaning the house in preparation for my parents visiting next week, and sister Cheryl and her family the following week.
• Arrange and build a float for the Freedom Festival 4th of July parade.
• Write a synthesizer engine for my GuitarToy software, finish debugging, create a web site and press releases, and post it.
• Do final cleanup on my ActiveClip utility, build a web site for it, and release it.
• Update my stake web site's calendar. I think I'm only 3 months behind right now.
• Build an inventory manager for the point-of-sale software I'm working on. And build the employee scheduling module. Plus a ton of other changes.
• One of these days, shoot and edit a training video for the point-of-sale system.

That's just what comes to mind immediately. Mostly this is my own checklist of things to work on. But it's depressing because I think I'm getting farther and farther behind rather than getting caught up. Anybody know where I can have a clone made?

Future Outlook & Tulsa Trip

I use Microsoft Outlook for my email. And today I discovered that it can see into the future. Perhaps that means that it is living up to its name?

Anyway, in addition to email, I also have Outlook setup to monitor my web site's forums for changes so I know when one of my customers asks me a question. Today I posted a response to one of my customer's questions, and as soon as I clicked the link to post, the new post showed up in Outlook, before I even got confirmation on the web site that the message was received and posted. Outlook had seen into the future; it apparently knew what I was going to say.

On a side note, if you couldn't tell by my last post, I'm back in Utah. Who knows for how long, but I'm sure there will be some sort of trip coming up sometime soon.

So here's a little info about the trip:

• I went out to Tulsa to install our Point-of-Sale system in a Little Caesars opening there. They weren't ready for me. My dad helped me with the installation, and we had a bunch of extra stuff to do in order to get everything ready for the store's opening yesterday. What should have been a 5-6 hour installation in one visit turned into about 12 hours in three visits. The last of which had to be done by my dad, because it was actually after I left.
• A word of advice: when booking a flight on Southwest, pay close attention to the travel time. My itinerary showed one flight from Tulsa to Salt Lake. What it didn't show was that there were three stops in between, making what should be about a 2.5 to 3 hour flight actually take about 8 hours. And I was on the same plane the whole time, so I couldn't get off to eat anything. Fortunately, a very cute girl named Sandra sat next to me on the first leg of the trip, and we had a nice conversation. In the course of the near 200 flights I've taken, this was only the second time that had ever happened to me.
• My parents and I went to the Oklahoma Aquarium on Friday. It was pretty cool. They have a pretty cool shark tank where you walk underneath the water in a clear plexiglass tunnel. It wasn't the first time I'd been in one of those, but it was still pretty cool, having sharks swimming all around me.
• It was really cool just hanging out with my parents for 10 days. We didn't get out and do a whole lot, but just being there was relaxing. I'm looking forward to the day when we can live in the same place and see each other more often than we do now.

Off to Tulsa

I'm off to Tulsa on Friday for 10 days. Another business/pleasure trip. I'm installing our PPOS system in a new Little Caesars opening there, but since that's where my parents live, I'm gonna hang out with them. The installation should only take a day or so, so I'll have plenty of time to spend with the folks.

One of the best parts is that I'll be there for Mother's Day. I haven't seen my mom on Mother's Day since I was in high school, back in the dark ages.