Mirror mirror on the wall...

I just moved into my new house and it has been good other than the fact that our bathroom is not yet finished being renovated... Our shower and toilet were put in the day that I arrived but were taken out again when they put the dry wall up. I shaved the other day using the kitchen sink. Today I saw my reflection in the mirror at school for the first time in four days and that caused me to think a little bit about the impact that mirrors have on our daily lives. I know that I enjoy gazing at myself in a mirror, but I didn't realize how often I do it! When I looked at myself in the mirror today it felt like I had not seen myself for a long time! I know that it has only been a couple of days, but still. I tried to imagine what life would be like with out mirrors and it is very foreign to me. Thinking about knowing how your arms and body look with out knowing what your face actually looks like is an interesting thing to me. You cant pull your eyes out and turn them around to see how your shave was this morning... I assume that make up would be death to put on with out seeing a reflection of yourself. Mirrors allow you to see flaws in your skin or seen that you have bushes for eyebrows. They are probably the main reason for plastic surgery in the world... I was in a meeting where a girl suggested we destroy every mirror in the world. I would agree with her if I didn't love them as much as I do...

Business Ethics

So today I was listening to a talk that Elise Davis was giving and she started it off by speaking on the fact that she is homeless due to the contract that she had with apartment. I think that the people that a good amount but not all of the owners of apartments and condos in Provo have terrible business ethics. Starting tomorrow there will be a large event at BYU called education week. It is a great opportunity for individuals around the nation and world to come to the campus of BYU and enjoy the opportunity to hear from some of the most intelligent and spiritual professors that the school has to offer. Owners of some condos and apartments close to the campus look as this event with dollar signs in their eyes thinking only of the money that can be made in a weeks time. These companies will kick continuing students out of their living space leaving them homeless for a week to make as much money in a week as they make in a month. Thinking about the system made me think about the importance of having ethics and appreciating the people that give you business for an entire year rather than forgetting about them for one week of the year.

BYU Scrimmage

I was able to enjoy the BYU football scrimmage today and it was very enjoyable for me to sit in the stands on a warm Saturday and watch some quality football as the fall draws near. It is great to be able to see the best sport known to man start up again. The scrimmage started with the defense playing very well causing multiple three and outs. But as the practice moved along, the offense warmed up and started moving the ball well. I thought that Heaps played great today although I don't have any stats from the day. He had the first touchdown pass down the sideline in the south end zone and the placement was perfect. McKay Jacobson made a great catch and fell over the goal line for the touchdown. But I will also admit that Riley Nelson looked good as well. He was able to connect with Jacobson in the north end zone himself along with a great scramble to pick up a first down. One of the things that really impressed me was our kicker Riley Stephenson. It blew my mind that he could take a two step approach on the kickoff and put the ball in endzone. His first couple of punts were spectacular including one 60 yard punt. He did cool off a little bit later in the scrimmage with a couple of shanked punts, but other than that I'm excited to see a great season.

Big Band Bass

Whenever my family gets together we all bring our instruments to play and sing songs. When I was younger I played the drums, but that didn't last very long because of the conflict with band and football when I was in high school. After the drums I didn't pick up another instrument, so when we have the family band I would sit off to the side and enjoy my parents and siblings talent. Last summer I decided that I was done sitting on the bench just watching and I wanted to get an instrument that would add to the whole experience with out being the same one that was played by someone else. My brothers play the guitar and my dad plays the ukulele, mandolin, and violin. The bag pipes were on my mind momentarily, but that seemed like it didn't fit very well. So I decided on a bass guitar! I purchased a cheap acoustic electric bass online and played that for a while. But it wasn't very loud and the tone wasn't the greatest. So this summer I was in a pawn shop with my boss when I came across a bass that I really did not want to pass up. So I went home and researched it and found that the pawn shop was selling it at an inflated price. So I picked the price that I would pay and I was able to talk them down. Now I'm the proud owner of a Schecter Diamond Series C-4 bass!

Now that I have been enjoying my new bass, I have had a hard time picking the type of music I would like to play. I started playing some country songs, but that didn't sound right. I went to some bluegrass and that actually sounded really good, but I don't know the specific bluegrass songs that my dad knows, so I wanted to try something different. I went to some harder rock stuff and I really liked the sound of the bass lines that are in Three Days Grace songs, but they are a little more intense than what I wanted. Recently (as of yesterday) I have decided that I would really like to try out bass for big band type music! I have always loved swing dancing and yesterday I was enjoying listening to some Frank Sinatra on pandora radio and I was loving the bass that was being used in the background. So I'll have to search the world wide web to find some songs to play. It will be wonderful.

Tan Lines

So all of my life I have had this disease called "when you take your socks off, it still looks like you have them on." That would be the technical name for it if you were wondering. But I have decided that era of my life is over. So I went out and bought TWO pairs of thongs today. One from wal-mart, and one pair from Walgreen's. By the way, if you go to Walgreen's right now, they are having a very good sale on their sandals. I got a good pair for two dollars and fifty cents. Now I know that Heather probably won't like this blog because of her phobia of feet, but I wanted to share with you the new me!

footprints in the sand of time

A PSALM OF LIFE

WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN

SAID TO THE PSALMIST

TELL me not, in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dream ! —

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem.

Life is real ! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal ;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

Is our destined end or way ;

But to act, that each to-morrow

Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle !

Be a hero in the strife !

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant !

Let the dead Past bury its dead !

Act,— act in the living Present !

Heart within, and God o'erhead !

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time ;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o'er life's solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate ;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Recently I have been thinking a lot about the footprints that we leave on the world as we go through our lives. I was very excited to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert a couple of weeks back as they visited Red Rocks Amphitheater to end their tour of the nation. As I sat and listened, they sang songs that praised our beautiful nation and those that founded it. But not only did they sing patriotic songs that I love, but they sang the song "Call of the Champions" to celebrate the disabled athletes in Colorado and through out the world. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEH6zNDhcQU) As I watched the slide show and listened to the music, I was touched by the effort and dedication that was shown by those athletes and I asked myself if I have the same great attributes that they have. I thought it was fitting that I was thinking those things as I was sitting in the beautiful Red Rocks Amphitheater which was built by those destroyed financially during the great depression. Its construction was a part of the New Deal which was created by FDR during those hard times.

I question myself, "what am I doing to leave a footprint and make someones life in the future more enjoyable and better? Am I leaving a legacy that people will look upon with great admiration?" I also think about that as I just watched I am Legend yesterday. It was a movie that didn't leave me with happy tingles running up and down my spine, but the end was all about the legend that we leave when we pass on. As I have been visiting Home Depots around Colorado building things in their store and trying to make it look better, I have pondered on these things and it brings me great satisfaction in my work to see me leaving the store better than when I came. I often get comments from employees that what I have done looks so much better than what it looked like before. Those comments make me feel like I am having an impact on others. Will they remember who I am and how it was me that built whatever it was in the store? No. But they will enjoy it for a long time to come. I was also able to got to a place here in Colorado named Joseph's Camp. It is going to be a camping site for youth activities and girls camp in the future. a couple of weeks ago, I helped pull stumps out of the camp sites and today I helped put the plumbing in. Will anyone ever know that Dan Alletto helped do that in the future? No, but they will know that Joseph's Camp is a place where they were able to enjoy themselves spending time with their friends and leaders in the church. It is a place where they can feel the spirit as they have firesides. It is a place where testimonies can be strengthened. I'm very satisfied with my efforts today and the footprints I have left so far this summer, but I cannot live my life with just leaving a summer of footprints. I can only feel like I have fulfilled my duties in life if I can touch many more peoples lives today, tomorrow, and in the years to come.

recent movies I have watched

What to watch

I'm a big football fan and this movie came out on my mission. I got home and saw that my family owned this movie. I was pretty excited to sit down and watch it and I was not disappointed at all! Reminded me very much of remember the titans where there were good morals behind what the characters were doing. This true story is a wonderful example of what we do now having a large affect on the future.

What not to watch

This is not a good movie at all. The acting and some of the lines were just terrible in my opinion. Usually I'm not a big critic on movies, but this one was just not very good at all. It was cheep for me to watch because I went to what used to be the dollar theater, (now it is the $3.50 theater) so I'm not as bummed about losing money, but I am upset about losing the time that I spent at the theater wanting to kill myself rather than watching the end of the movie. Do not see this unless you want to waist your time.