I was able to see him perform last Sunday, it was awesome. Truly awesome. He’s one of the best musicians I’ve ever seen live. Very fortunately Jan 15 was the version of Music and the Spoken word just before Martin Luther King, Jr. day and they did all spirituals and gospel music. So much fun, it was great. I’m not able to embed the entire show, which is a shame but I found one of the songs they did on you tube:

And here’s another that was kinda fun:

Also I sat by a guy from BBC! He was there because they were covering Mit Romney and wanted to know more about the Mormons. I asked him if he knew Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear and he said “I see him around the office”. Ha! Oh man I want to go to a filming of Top Gear so bad.

You like? Yeah we’re redoing everything from the logo, colors, branding, website, and now mobile applications. I’m really excited about it.

Snowboarding y’alls. It’s mucho fun. Especially when it’s fresh snow. I didn’t get to go a lot last year so it’s pretty great to already have gone twice. Gusta.

Paid Guy on a Buffalo is doing well. gotta love that

The beemer can only handle 2 boarders right now but it’s pretty great that it still can. Very fun to drive in the canyon. If some time I decide to get a roof rack it could do 4.

I’ve never named one of my vehicles. I think it’s weird. You name people, pets, and ships, but not so much cars and motorcycles. So for the sake of making a facebook profile for my car so we could be in an ‘open relationship’, at least temporarily for hilarity’s sake, I had to choose a name that had solely alphabetic characters. I chose “Princess Beemer VonBeemersen”. It’s German, it’s lovely. Ever since I saw Enchanted I pretty much wanted to marry Amy Adams and she was a princess. Then I saw Tangled and I wanted to marry Rapunzel, too.

There is a great misconception as to what is a princess. Allow me to clarify: normally when you hear a girl is a ‘princess’ that means they’ve had everything handed to them, have never worked a real day in their life, and expect perfection and happiness to effortlessly fall into their lap at all times. Nay, friend! That chick in Tangled could paint, play guitar, really cared about people, and was fearless. Similarly the princess in Enchanted was so resourceful that she made a dress out of curtains. Yeah. That’s my kind of girl. She also had no malice in her heart. Hard to find.

Anyway now that I feel like I’ve seen those Disney movies too many times . . . back to the car. This thing freakin rocks. No kidding. I shopped long and hard and for me it’s a perfect match right now. It’s got power, handing, bassy bass from 2 subs under the front seats, great brakes, heated seats (for the ladies), and sex appeal. Yup. Booyah. It’s black on black with aluminum trim. The car is sick. I love it.

So I went for a little joyride the other day and happened upon an icy parking lot. After doing some donuts I was wishing for someone to be around to film me. Then I thought: ‘hey! I can film myself! I’ll just put my camera on that snow bank over there!’ So that’s what I did. Then after watching the videos and clicking on a random artist on Spotify I realized that it would be funny to put some sensual R&B to my sliding car. And here’s the end result:

I hope this video has brought you some joy. 10 points for guessing the song at the beginning.

Feliz año nuevo!

Yeah. And it is! My new year’s started slow but got more fun as the night went on. First my roomie had an amiga come over that has a few lessons to learn about trying to see the sunny side of life. We’ll leave it at that. So my beloved and very cool roomie was trapped with said amiga but I was trying to wait it out in my room listening to music and writing 2012 goals so he could come to this party with me. I couldn’t take it no moar so I done left.

On facebook lots of my friends said they were coming but few showed. Booo. Made new friends, danced some dancing, and drank some drank. Now it’s new year’s time. The clock is ticking, there’s like 5 min left. Who am I going to kiss? I’m not totally sure but I think I’ve only had like 1 new year’s kiss and that was with a high-school girlfriend. Lame. This year would be different.

Come 30 seconds before midnight I found myself standing next to the cute blonde from the dance floor. I work up the courage and ask for a new year’s kiss. Denied! Lame! What kind of new years partier are you? She was game for a new year’s hug. Psshhh. How depressing is that? The night only got better from here. Maybe it was the huge beard? dunno.

Then we lit off a bunch of fireworks which rocked.

Then we went back to my friend Jennifer’s house and made breakfast. Gooood foods. Bacon, pancakes, eggs, OJ. Yeuh. Next it was time for sharing our new year’s resolutions while I just happened to be cuddling with a cute roomate of said friend. And got a new year’s kiss. Ha! And then we went for a spin in my new ride. Fist pump! 2012 is going to rock.

I’m definitely going to the beach at some point.

This post is about the people who have shaped who I am. If I could be more like the following list of wonderful people I would be some kind of all-knowing super hero that shoots lasers out his nose into the sky, illuminating the world and spreading baby unicorns and peace roundabout the land, for the good thereof.

Here they are in order of appearance; besides the last two

Ammon Parker

My older brother has been my hero pretty much since I can remember. He’s never been afraid of anything and is always looking for his next adventure. As kids we were all over the place. We sledded of our roof, mooned innocent bystanders, caught snakes, grasshoppers, and praying mantises. We built countless model airplanes and cars, we blew these models up with illegal fireworks, set stuff on fire, and were never afraid to discharge a firearm whether doing so was a smart or thought-out thing. Home-made silencer. Enough said.

Ammon has always been such a baller. he lead the way on all these adventures and sometimes I felt a little like Chuckie from Rugrats thinking “I don’t think this is such a good idea” but as long as Ammon was there I pretty much felt safe and wasn’t worried.

Teenage years brought a little more gusto to the mix. By this time we had motorcycles that would triple the speed limit. We used to drag race them which was awesome. He then went into the Army to find some more adventure. I didn’t go with this time but I thought it was cool that we were fighting battles simultaneously, I was on a mission and he went to Iraq. While in the Army Ammon ninja threw a huge black guy trying to beat the crap out of him on his birthday, and did a cage fight. A little later he rode a bull. Yup. Here’s the cage fight:

Holy crap that video still gets my adrenaline pumping. He’s the one that wins. Chokes the dude out.

Two days ago Ammon and his wife had their first baby and Tate the Tank was 11lbs 4oz. The doctors said he was pretty strong for a baby and he already thinks he can roll over and hold his head up ha ha.

Hugh Gregson

In the Missionary Training Center Hugh was my branch president, or bishop. He is 6′ 8″ and not small in stature. When I first got into the MTC he said “Your mission has STARTED” and everything changed for me. He finally made being active in the church cool for me. For some reason I never really felt I had met a compelling example of gospel obedience up to that point. People in the church always seemed pretty nerdy or two-faced to me. Hugh was different. He had loads of self-confidence and knew exactly who he was and what he wanted at all times.

Knowing him caused me to re-evaluate what I wanted out of life and make some changes. I decided that I was going to be active in the Church and live what that really meant. I decided to read the scriptures which I had never done with much consistency up to that point. I felt that this was such an important thing that I stayed up till the wee hours of the morning pretty much my entire stay at the MTC reading. I finished the Book of Mormon then read through the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the New Testament for the first time. It was great. I really felt like a new man.

Hugh was part of the biggest turning point in my life up to now.

Janie Thompson

Janie is one of the most amazing, talented, hard-working, inspirational, loving, listening, aware people I have ever met. She is simply a wonder. To know that people like her exist really makes me feel better about the planet and life itself. It’s also motivating. I have a whole topic on this blog about her. Here’s how we met. She started BYU’s Young Ambasadors and Lamanite Generation, now known as Living Legends. Early in her life she sang with Tony Bennett and personally knew Mickey Rooney. She also served on the Young Women’s General Board for 16 years.

Seriously one of the coolest people ever. She called me today and it was so great to hear from her, I usually go visit a few times a month. I have so many great memories of Janie since I’ve lived here in Provo and consider her one of my closest friends.

Rosalind Hall

I met sister Hall in January of 2007 when I was fresh off the mission. I saw Men’s Chorus do a dress rehearsal of some Disney songs and it totally rocked. 200 very talented guys rocking it out and having tons of fun. I tried out for the BYU Men’s Chorus. After getting past the graduate student screening it was time to meet my maker, the Welsh-accented lovely sister Hall. I was nervous about auditioning so I had my friend Kip give me a crash course 2 days before. Under “experience” on my application I put “one hour with Kip from Singers” to which she replied “what makes you think you can sing in the Men’s Chorus???” ha ha. I looked her square in the face and said “because I want to”. She said “do the University Chorale (an unauditioned choir class) and come see me in the fall”. That’s exactly what I did. Oh yeah and did I mention I was extremely sick for that first audition? Yes I was.

Men’s Chorus was an amazing experience I wouldn’t trade. I got to hear from her 5 days a week which was like a motivational speaker mixed with an LDS general authority every day. I also got to sing in General Conference in April 2008. Look for the guy on the end with a wicked sun burn from snowboarding. Men’s Chorus totally rocks. Here’s them doing a flash mob. I wasn’t part of this but you get the idea.

Nerd power. Men’s Chorus rocks, if you’ve never been to one of their shows it’s a must.

Mike Zevallos

Winter semester 2007 I was taking a Spanish class and a couple kids came in asking for volunteers to mentor kids. They espcially needed people that spoke Spanish to help out with the kids whose parents spoke Spanish. I was feeling really lucky at the time because I was able to quit a crap telemarketing job because of some financial from my sister. I needed to study extra hard so I could get into the accounting program at BYU. I decided to be a mentor.

I worked with a kid over the summer then got paired up with Mike in September. He was 9 years old and super cute kid. His biological father left when he was 3 and passed away in prison when he was 7 years old. His step father who pretty much raised him had three more children with his mom and they split up when Mike was 8. You wouldn’t know it from getting to know Mike, though. He has always been a very happy, smart, and motivated kid. I feel lucky to know him.

We try to see each other every week and do something fun whether it’s play frisbee, soccer, get Jamba Juice, go to a football/basketball game, or go on an unexpected crazy snow hike. Mike has greatly enriched my life and I’m so grateful for him. He’s the closest thing I have to a son and he has made me look very much forward to having children of my own.

Last and anything but least are my parents, Don and Tish Parker.

They are amazing. I can’t imagine what it would be like to raise 6 children. Three boys, three girls, and we’re all doing great raising our own families or preparing to do so. My mom and dad are super cool. They have certainly allowed me to make my own mistakes and be free but at the same time have given much-needed guidance at the right times. I owe them a ton. They always paid for sports I did as a kid and came to all my games. They paid for me to serve a mission, too, which is something not all parents can do. Since I’ve been at college they always came to my choir concerts and come down here often to do fun stuff or take me out to dinner and buy me groceries and things like that. It’s awesome. Couldn’t ask for better parents in college. It’s kind of nice that they moved up here to Utah from AZ, too. And nice that my dad introduced me to the joy that is late model BMWs, ha ha. Theirs is way cool and they let me drive it a lot when they first bought it. Yea, even to LA where my brother and I left for our super sweet cruise last summer.

I shant leave out my other siblings. My younger brother Eric has been my best friend for a long time now. We share a ton of interests and no one can make me laugh like him. We were in a band together, rode motorcycles together, and have been roomates for the past 3 years. Eric rules. It’s his birthday soon! My sisters rock, too. Emily is fun because we can talk about BYU and music and stuff. She’s brilliant and I love her personality, she funny, too. Ahlena is like Yoda. She’s a great listener and she’s always very interested in what you are doing and what you have to say. If she gives advice it’s always from the heart and is timely and usually needed. My youngest older sister Anna is super cool, too. She owns a dance studio and is always lotsa fun. Her daughters are super funny and I love hanging out with them. I got to go there earlier this year for a trade show, soooooo nice to stay with them and see them instead of staying in some lame hotel. They might be moving out west some time soon which is super exciting!! It will be awesome to have Anna and her family nearby.

In honor of beards everywhere, I give you bearded Jobs:

Today I was looking at old Apple product presentations he gave on Youtube. It was really inspiring. I have a great opportunity with my next move with Parker Planners and getting some inspiration from the Jobs really helped. He’s definitely someone who trusts himself. More so than your average dude. One thing I found very useful in a video about the iPod Nano was that he said you have to start with the human experience and work backward toward the technology. I think his products really do that. Steve said he’s tried it the other way around many times and failed many times; having the scar tissue to prove it.

That’s so awesome. Thinking about people has to be the first step in product development. It’s about how we live, think, feel, observe, and interact with our surroundings. Our lives are improved so much when designers take a second to consider the human experience. I want to be one of those designers.

Here is the original iPod intro video. Mimic this thought process with another product and you’ll make money. After the first 4 sentences it’s clear they know what they’re doing. Bam.

“WHAT? That’s like buying new clothes because you haven’t done laundry!” Yup. At least on the surface. Think about it this way: It’s a miracle that you can still sell my 3-year old computer for the ballpark of $600. Show me ANY PC that holds its value that well. My current computer still works great after 3 years and I should count my lucky stars for that and sell it while it’s still worth a lot. Kinda like the Jetta. It should hurt a little bit to sell it. At least then you know you can get a good chunk of cash for it and put that toward something you want that works well. Like an ‘06 vibe.

So here’s the auction on my computer. eBay is fun. Good times. Maybe I’ll sell my phone, too. Who knows. I was sort of thinking of keeping it just to have a backup or another camera. We’ll see.

Change change change. Also last night I did an open mic night at a local music venue. It was so fun. Oh man I miss being a band or otherwise musical group more than I thought. Last week I jammed twice with some friends and it was amazing. I LOVED it. I really feel alive when I’m rocking out. It’s so natural and happiness-causing.

Everyone needs to be vulnerable enough to get their heart broken. It’s about daring to live. If you’re not all in what’s the point? You gotta be all in. Life isn’t about juggling a bunch of different passions and people. It’s about depth. It’s about discovering what you love and being the best you can at whatever that is. When I went to New York last May it was such a breathtaking atmosphere because people seem to know who they are. They seem to be dedicated to a cause and find joy in their role. And being in love is the best darn thing there is in this world. Nothing beats it. Don’t care how much money or fame you got, without love it’s all for not. Maybe I’ll put that on my quote tab

Life’s been kinda crazy lately. I interviewed with LucidChart up in Draper. They’re a great company with a promising future but I don’t know that it’s the right thing for me. I need to identify with Parker Planners. I’ve struggled with that from day 1.  “What’s so special about paper planners?” people ask. “Isn’t everyone using their smartphone?” I’ve heard it all many times. It’s true we’re working on a smartphone app. The first version ought to be in the app store by the end of the year. But that’s not the point. I need to own up to being the planner guy. I am the planner guy. There’s $100 million of sales out there in this space to be had. I’m going to capture as much of that as I can. I’m going to make products that are more interesting and less expensive than the competition. I am going to dominate this industry. I will work so hard in organizing the efforts of talented people that thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and eventually millions of people will have positive, memorable experiences with Parker Planners.

I don’t mind owning up to the challenges. I am an entrepreneur who owns a successful business. I am providing more than adequately for myself and preparing to provide for others. I am Parker Planners. I live it, sleep it, play it, do it, love it. I can succeed with this business as I have in the past. We will achieve 100% growth this year, 2011. We will generate over $x in sales this year. Next year we will generate over $x in sales. Booyah!