Be Grateful, Be Happy

This week I'm in St. George at the Utah Bar's Spring Convention. Our keynote speaker today was a psychologist who studies why people are happy. Lawyers need to be happy because we have twice the risk for drug and alcohol abuse and suicide as the general population. It's because we are trained to look for the worst-case scenario.

It seems there are ways to increase your happiness, and happy people are more resilient than those who are not. One way to be happy is to create exciting and pleasant memories. Another is to find a cause you believe in and donate your time or money. This is a case where money actually can buy happiness. But the best way to be happy is to be grateful. The speaker suggested writing a letter to someone to whom you are grateful for something. Instead of sending the letter, take it to the person and read it to them. Keep a gratitude diary. Write down what you are grateful for, why you are grateful and what you did (if anything) to foster that feeling of gratitude. Studies have shown that depressed people who do this are able to overcome their depression by this alone. It looks like the saying "develop an attitude of gratitude" was right all along.

How to be Famous

This has to fall under the category of rants. Last night I was at Target (yes, I know, Target on December 23. Not good). Anyway, as I'm walking out I pass the book section, which is like a tractor beam, pulling me in. As I persue the offerings, I find a bright yellow book entitled How to be Famous, by Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, a/k/a Speidi. What is this? Heidi and Spencer (for those of you who live under a rock -- I hope you catch the sarcasm) are a couple of A-List wannabees who are maybe C List on a good day. If you missed their performance on last summer's "I'm a Celebrity, Get me Out of Here," a short-lived Survivor-knock off show, you missed the best cheese with that whine performance I've seen in ages by Heidi.

The book is a handbook on becoming famous, and contains such priceless gems as this: "Go where the paparazzi are. They won't look for you (at least at first) so go where the paps are." You have to love it. Speidi have taken an eponym (paparazzi is the name of a character in Felini's La dolce vita, not, as most people assume, Italian for photographer) and created another one out of it, probably because paprazzi, with its four syllables, is too hard for either of them to pronounce. But I digress. The whole idea of Speidi writing a book on becoming famous is ludicrous. These are people whose only claim to fame is that they are famous.

Anyway, if you're looking for a last minute gift for the narcissist on your list, this might be it.

Pheasant Hunting

November brings the annual pheasant hunt in Utah. It's not nearly as big as it was even 30 years ago, let alone in the mid-1950s when I used to go out with my dad. Mainly that's because there is far less pheasant habitat. But every first Saturday in November I think of those days when we could go out in Cache Valley after school, drive around and likely see pheasants in the fields. So many years I still go out. This year was no exception. Like last year, I took Coco (a/k/a Killer) to the Salt Creek WFA near Tremonton. Last year Coco was a real sissy. She would hardly get off my heels in the long grass and a few times I kicked her under the chin with my boot because she was right behind me. This year she got out more and even got into the deep cattails and rushes. We didn't see anything, not even a hen, but it was a beautiful day.

The Salt Creek WFA is a beautiful place. It's not like the Pacific Coast Highway or the mountains, but in its own way it is so pretty. I've seen fox, deer, hawks, owls and the occasional pheasant there.

Spogg

I just came across a delightful blog called Spogg, the Society for the Promomotion of Good Grammar. It goes along with one I found last year devoted to the elimination of apostrophe abuse. You know, the tendency that people have to make a plural of something by adding an "apostrophe S" as in apple's. Spogg doesn't limit itself to bad punctuation; it points out bad spelling, bad grammar and all sorts of abuse of the English language. I've added it to my blog list. Take a look sometime when you want a little entertainment.

Road Trip

We just finished a road trip to Illinois. Thanks to the cash for clunkers program, we retired the 1994 Dodge van that had served our family so well, at 197,000+ miles. It was sad to see it go, but we got a new Honda Civic, which meant the 2001 Mitsubishi Mirage was an "extra" car. So we decided to drive to Bloomington, IL, to deliver it to Brad and Melanie so they would have 2 cars. Nancy and I set out on Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 5:00 p.m. and made 291 miles to Rawlins, WY, that night. The next morning, we drove 784 miles to Des Moines, IA. Along the way we stopped at the highest point on I 80, a rest stop in Wyoming with a 3 ton bust of Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately the light was such that had I taken the front view, it would have been in shadow.

In Des Moines, we checked out the medical school for Jeff -- he thinks he might want to attend the University of Des Moines. It looke like a nice school. Then it was another 300 miles to Bloomington, to see Brad, Melanie and Chloe. Although we didn't stop, we passed the self-proclaimed biggest truck stop on I 80, called Iowa 80. It was definitely huge.

We delivered their "new" car, named Maurice the Mitusbishi, courtesy of Leah. They seemed happy to have a second car. It was a short (for me) visit. We had a hard game of Play 9, in which Brad got minus 20 points on one hand, resulting in a double V-snap and picture text to Jeff to brag, then he promptly got plus 24 points a couple of hands later and fell out of contention. The next morning, we all piled into their car and drove to Chicago to put me on a plane home, where I covered the same distance in 2 1/2 hours.

On reflection, I'm struck by the vastness of this country. Driving as far as we did you can see just how big America is. The plains of Nebraska are truly awesome in their own way, every bit as much as our mountains. Iowa is different from Nebraska; there are rolling hills instead of flat plains. Truck stops are interesting places. People meet briefly and then disperse. In the middle of Iowa we ran into two guys from Utah, our cars parked next to each other, both of us doing much the same thing, delivering stuff to family members in other states. Where but Nebraska could you find a lunch buffet offering liver and onions?

It was a great trip, fun time spent with Nancy, an all-too-brief visit with Brad, Melanie, Chloe and little soon-to-be Ezra. Now I'm home and looking forward to work (oh, please forgive me for lying on the Sabbath).

Random Musings

I recently joined Facebook, just because everyone else in the world seems to be on there. On the home page is a blank box entitled "What's on your mind" where you are supposed to write whatever. What's on my mind is this. I have a number of Facebook friends, mostly people in my email list. It's a diverse group. There are people who think George Bush is the devil himself, while others reserve that sentiment for Barack Obama. One of my Facebook friends posted that today is the 60th anniversary of Germany's invasion of Poland to start World War II (she meant 70th, but that's irrelevant to my point). She went on to say that in her mind, January 20, 2009 (Obama's inauguration) is on par with that date. Now, I'm no Obama fan, but equating his inauguration with the start of a world war is a bit much. On the other side, I recently read an opinion by a well-meaning University of Utah student lambasting the Bush administration and asserting that "generational equity" is THE greatest problem facing the United States. By this she meant that she is contributing, forcibly by dint of law, into a Medicare and Social Security program that will in all likelihood be broke by the time she is eligible for its benefits. Granted, this is a problem, but is it THE most important problem facing America?

My point is, it seems everyone (and here I'm guilty of what I'm criticizing) is going to extremes. We as a nation are polarizing ourselves. We demonize the other side. Depending on your point of view, George Bush/Dick Cheney/Sara Palin are Satan or he's Barack Obama/Nancy Pelosi/Harry Reid. Once you've called the president the greatest disaster since the start of World War II, you have alienated him and his supporters. You simply can't reach a consensus because the other side is evil, immoral, unethical, and probably cross-eyed. Of course, the other side has to retaliate in kind, and we end up with a sort of mutual assured destruction.

Can we set aside hyperbolic rhetoric, if for no other reason than that hyperbole, like the boy who cried "wolf," soon loses is impact? As a more aspirational goal, can we have true civic dialog? The recent town meetings with people shouting each other down, waving canes and threatening physical violence are not a good reflection of what is supposed to be the greatest democracy in the world. Can we find a way to disagree without being disagreeable? And in our civic dialog, can we stick to the facts? Just the facts, ma'am, as Jack Webb used to say.

Le Tour

July is here and that means the Tour de France. Yesterday was the team time trial (TTT) and after watching Astana ("the well-oiled machine" in the words of Paul or Phil -- I can never keep them straight), who can argue that cyclists are not high-level athletes. The beauty of the individual riders working as one is something to see.

On the topic of the Tour, please check out my somewhat tongue-in-cheek article on how to watch the Tour in this month's Catalyst Magazine, which you can find online here:

http://www.catalystmagazine.net/component/content/891?task=view&ed=35

On another topic, last week was the Chambers' family annual gathering at Bear Lake. Hopefully I will have some pictures posted shortly. The only downside to the weekend was that Steven's specatular fireworks display was rained out. Not to worry, the fireworks themselves are safe and dry, waiting for Labor Day.