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.

Summer Calling

Ever since my first student ward at BYU I have had a fear of being called to teach sunday school classes. That has not changed with time and a mission... But today as I was greeting my bishopbric, I was extended the calling of gospel doctrine teacher. I figure that I have a lot of study time ahead of me.

Love for Lacrosse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04CIDcyoxlY

Since I got back home from school I have been invited to coach a third grade lacrosse team and I have loved it soooo much! I was able to play lacrosse in high school and played in the all-state game, so the member of my ward that coaches invited me to join him. As I was at the game yesterday I was reminded how great it was to play, so I found this movie on the Internet and thought I would share it with all of you. 

I love to see patriotism

I was driving in the car today listening to the radio and all of a sudden I heard the Star Spangled Banner playing. It reminded me of my walk to campus in the mornings and often my walk home from campus where the ROTC students would take down the flag and almost everyone on campus that could hear the National Anthem would stop and reflect on the wonderful country that we live in. It's great to see that there are still people that love the great United States of America!