Under Construction

In case you didn't know, I am an electrician. If you know me, you know I really like my job. Even though it means that I work in all sorts of weather, from very warm, sunny days, to bitter cold, snowy days.

I'm on a new project. I am very excited to be apart of this project. It is the largest construction site in the U.S. It consists of three full blocks of downtown Salt Lake City.

Just like many cities, it was getting very old and run down, so the decision was made to tear down and build new. Two years ago the demolition began.



There are three blocks that had major demolition done to them. Blocks, 74, 75, & 76. Block 74 just had some smaller buildings and it will be getting a Harmons grocery store. Block 75 was the ZCMI Center. That is where I'll be working. And block 76 was the Crossroads Plaza mall, along with the Key Bank building that was imploded.

Now that the demolition is done it's time for construction to begin.

This is what the Skyline looks like now. I took this picture standing on West Temple looking east. Before, you would have seen Crossroads Plaza. All these cranes cover both Blocks 76 & 75.


This is Block 75, the old ZCMI Center. This is looking at what will be parking level P1. There will be a concrete top formed and poured to this, then on top will be an outside shopping center with a common area going east and west down the center, and shops to the north and south. Above the common area will be a retractable roof that can close during bad weather.


This is an elevator shaft that will go from level P4 to street level. But this isn't for people. It's not even for cars. It's for 40 foot tractor trailer's bringing in deliveries for all the retail shops. The driver can come in from 100 South, pull in, and then will be taken to level P4. They will pull into the parking structure, go to the delivery point, drop off, head back to the elevator, go up, then back to 100 South.


This is an awesome project to be apart of. It's schedules to be open in 2012.
To see what it will look like when finished go to http://www.downtownrising.com/city_creek/. At the bottom, there is a video starting at Temple Square, then going through black 76 then to 75.

If your interested in this, stay tuned, I'll keep posting updates as it all progresses.

I'm a Facebooker

Some people are great at writing stories, like my Wife. And others are better at the short and sweet, like me. So I'm changing to Facebook. Don't be to sad, if I get a brain storm I'll use Facebook to refer you back to here. It looked like much of my readers are Facebookers too so I'm sure you'll be updated on all my great insights from there anyways. So Check it out.

Just Wanted to Say Thanks to SFERGSON727

Some of you may have noticed on my "Feedjit" side bar that I have had some traffic come my way from clubsearay.com. So I was curious as to what it was and found that someone I don't know found my blog and liked it so much that he thought it was worth referring others to. Here is the link back. http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13019&page=4

Amanda, and Tait may get more comments on their blogs, but has anyone read it and thought it was such great knowledge that they used it to prove their point.

Also if you look at some of the google traffic I get, someone googled "watch free freak twisted sick sex" and came to my blog. How disappointed he must have been.

The Law of Chastity

I'm sorry it has been a while since I have a made a post. I hope the previous videos were enlightening and/or entertaining. As of late I don't have much time to do anything. I have been working close to 60 hrs a week, plus two nights teaching school. So if you notice Amanda's hair getting a little thinner- no, she doesn't have cancer, she has three boys to chase, feed, get dressed, get to school, change poopy diapers for, go grocery shopping, and discipline without the usual help from her husband. She is amazing.

The other reason I haven't done any post is because I don't want to be just another parrot blogger repeating what the real professionals are talking about. But, on this matter I disagree with Glenn Beck. I know how hard that is to believe. I'm a little amazed myself. Glenn is in favor of the bailout. He likened it to a plane that is going to crash. He says it would be better to crash the plane into the trees then into the side of the cliff. I agree with that scenario but I don't think it applies to this situation. Here are my thoughts.

First of all I'm not an economist. Many of you are much smarter than I am when it comes to money. What I do know is that there are principles that all decisions must be made from. When you go against eternal principles then bad things will happen. And that is what brings us to where we are today.

As long as I can remember the prophets have been telling us to "Stay out of debt." That is an eternal principle. If everyone would have followed this one principle we would not be in this situation. Along with that advice I always understood that there were some reasons that it would be understandable to go into debt. A house, a car, and education. If you didn't need a loan for any one of those, then you are that much better off.

Like I have said before, I'm a capitalist, I believe in the free market. Although there is a weak link to the capitalist chain. It's called greed and selfishness. Once a person puts this link into the chain it will break. Which brings us to our problem. Greedy, selfish men have weakened our chain because they saw an opportunity for increased personal wealth even though it would hurt the rest of the chain. I would like to think it was out of ignorance, but I don't think so.

So now we are faced with a choice. My principle is "We do not flirt with socialism". Sadly, the flirting started a long time ago, now it has continued into necking and petting. Luckily most in congress were able to get control of themselves and "zip their pants back up." Sadly there are still those that don't want to get out of the car and run.

There very well could be some horrible effects for going with the capitalist principle and running. We still need to go visit with the Bishop, and maybe not take the sacrament for a while. It won't be fun, it will be quite embarrassing. Without it we couldn't have true repentance.

This is the change we need. Everyone living by principles. We didn't learn from the first depression, hopefully we will from the second. We have been told over and over again. 1. Stay out of debt. 2. Save for a rainy day. 3. Build up your food storage.

Maybe by doing the bailout now we might have a softer crash landing, but when the dust clears we are still with socialism, but now we have moved from the car to the sleazy hotel.

A Change

If you didn't like my last video I posted, maybe you'll like this change.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Foresight or Hindsight?

Before the world was, we knew there was a war in heaven. John was given an insight to this war when he was told "And there was a war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven." What was the war for? Gold, silver, property, oil? No, none of these, for there was none. Moses learned why when he was taught about who Satan is. God told Moses that Satan "came before me, saying-"Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor." Souls, and glory is what this great war was about. This could not be accepted because all glory belongs to our Father in Heaven.

I have listened to this primary lesson many times. Lately I have wondered how this could be accomplished? One way is that we would have no free agency. Our choices would be made for us. Therefore there would be no sin. Impossible. Our free agency is an eternal principle which can not be taken away. Without being able to take our ability to choose for ourselves how else could this be done? Given the world today the other answer frightens me.

Now would be a good time for a disclaimer:

"The views expressed here are the views of ME, and are not the views of any group or organization to which I belong. Including, but not limited to, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

Now for what frightens me. With free agency in place Satan could only accomplish his goal by having an organization that would control everything. We could not be trusted to make a decision on our own, for we could make a mistake, thus making it impossible to return. Do you really think Satan would have loved us so much to pay the price for our sins? I think not. We know that God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. One bad decision and we would be done. Everyone would have to be exact equals. No one could have more than the other.

Does this sound familiar? That's right, Communism, and it's sister, Socialism. The part that frightens me is the movement that has been taking place here in the U.S. Slowly but surely, members of the U.S. Government, through their votes and actions, are trying their hardest to lead us there.

I found this speech and it frightens me even more. This is Ezra Taft Benson in 1965. Not yet the President of the Church but I do believe he was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve at this time. This is not a conference talk, thus he doesn't close in the name of Jesus Christ. What he is teaching probably wouldn't be considered church doctrine, but I do think we can take it as wise council from a wise man.

In it, he talks about liberalism, communism, socialism, corrupt government, fairness doctrine. He also covers the constitution hanging by a thread. Remember this is 1965 that he sees all this happening, and it is still happening today.

It is 50 minutes long so make sure the kids are in bed and you have time to listen to the whole thing. Be sure to rest your chin on something or it will stay open for the next 50 minutes. The speech is called "Stand for Freedom".


If you happen to see Senator Harry Ried pass it on to him. He might enjoy it.

I Love My Job

I'm serious I really do. Sadly not everyone can say that. Of course there are days that it's not so fun. It might be 0 degrees and the snow doesn't stop, or the other extreme-- there are days when it is 100 degrees and I'm outside digging a ditch. As the scriptures teach, we need to experience the bad so we can know the good. There has even been plenty of times when I leave some DNA on the job site. Over all, it is enjoyable.

The reason I love it is, after all that blood, sweat, and freezing my toosh off, (remember I'm a Skinner I don't have much of a toosh to freeze off) there is a finished product-- A product that will last for decades. Here are some of the jobs I have worked on.




This is the Computer Science building at Utah Valley State College. This is where my electrician career began.









If you drive out to Park City and go to the Canyons Resort you'll find Westgate which is a luxury time share. I was here during the Olympics.










I was also able to work on the Draper IKEA. If you go through the warehouse area, look at all the display lighting because that's my handy work.

Here is a quick list of other jobs I have done.

-Utah Valley Regional Medical Center south building which contained the Psych. Dept., Cardiology, Pathology, and a few other "ology's" I cant remember.

-Utah Valley Regional Medical Center E.R. Addition

-Utah Valley Regional Medical Center Out Patient facility which consisted of a Radiology department with 2 MRI, 1 CAT scan, and 2 X-Ray rooms. Then some O.R.s. Each of those have quite a lot of electrical to make them work.

-K-Mart to Sears Grand remodel.

-South Jordan JC Penny.

-The Orem Parks, consisting of 4 separate parks. The skate park just off the freeway, the Nielson Grove Park on Sandhill Road just south of Wal-Mart, Timpanogos Story Telling Festival Grounds at the mouth of Provo canyon, and a picnic area by Canyon View
Jr. High.

-Salt Lake Regional Medical Center Radiology remodel.

-BYU parking garage at the Tanner Building.

-And my favorite, Market Street Grill in South Jordan, the best place to eat in Utah.

-I'm currently working at the new Riverton Hospital.

It's been a fun 6 years and I'm looking forward to many more!