That’s Spanish for August. Just like El Niño is Spanish for The Niño.
This picture made me laugh:
Maybe it’s because you eat dessert when you’re stressed, or making dessert stresses you out, I’m not sure.
I went to Phoenix last week with my brother Eric and we had a great time. My dad let us borrow the BMW again which made the trip super great. On the way back we stopped by my brother’s place in St George and went for a hike.
Ethan
Here’s a song I put on You Tube recently. It’s super rough and I did it in one take but I hope you like.
Ethan
I was visiting my friend Janie (one of the most impressive people I’ve ever met) the other day and I saw this newspaper on their end table. It’s Janie’s brother-in-law Tom Lee in front of a class at UVU. He was on the team that helped put the man on the moon and teaches astronomy.
Notice the headline- “If you don’t do the things you like, you might as well die.”
Sounds like Dennie Butterfield has experience in both doing what he loves and doing what he hates. The message makes me think of a commencement speech by Steve Jobs at Stanford University given in 2005. Skip to 7:30 when the introduction is done. Jobs’ message is great. His point is that you’re going to die. If you’re going to die, you have no choice but to do what you love if you’re going to be happy.
It’s a cliché phrase but you really don’t want to ‘live someone else’s life”. If you try, you’ll be unhappy. Parents, the market, tradition, friends; no one can know your path but you. Life’s about being bold enough to decide.
I love it when non-college-grads give commencement speeches!! 
Check the innovative shade device at 12:51.
Me likely music. I just discovered the joy that is Pandora for iPhone! It’s so awesome! It plays the music you like for free and even finds new stuff for you.
On a semi-related note my last two trips have had official theme songs. Song of the Trip in New York was Shiver by Coldplay. Don’t know why but this song was stuck in my head the whole trip and it was relevant in some cosmic way.
Not a bad tune. So I just got back from Chicago and Song of the Trip there was Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield. It’s a girl artist and it’s a little more on the happy slappy side but whatever. For reasons unknown it was stuck in my head the whole trip so I had to listen to it over and over. The video is a little odd.
In other music news I got a piano!!!!!! AHHHHHH!H!H!HH!H!H Oh man I’m so pumped and I love!! It was roughly 1/2 the price of a new one but works perfectly! Gosh I’ve wanted a piano so bad for so long this is fantastic. Can’t wait to learn how to read music. And yes it’s the same one I posted about a while ago. It’s wonderful and now sits in my office. Mmmmmmmmm. I’m currently writing this blog post on my piano because I’m about to learn some musics from you tube and play them.
Do note that this fills the keyboard requirement in my life and not necessarily my full piano requirement. Though the 88 VERY nicely weighted keys are beautiful to handle, I pine for a Yamaha baby grand and will own one some day. Either that or a Steinway. Whatever works.
I went to Chicago for 5 days to visit my sister. I decided since I hadn’t been there since 2004 I was due for a trip. Frontier recently (1 month ago) began doing commercial flights out of Provo so that’s pretty sweet, especially because they’re cheaper than Salt Lake. It was way fun! My nephew Simon was so excited he was talking about it non-stop for about 2 weeks. He was especially excited about going to the observatory and letting me use the telescope first.
We did go to the observatory Friday night and got to look out of a telescope with a lens that was hand made in 1860. It gave us a pretty close view of Saturn which was sweet. I didn’t know this but you can actually see Saturn with the naked eye if it’s in the right spot. You can even sort of see the ring without a telescope.
Chicago is an interesting place. Emily said she feels like she’s become more assertive just by living there. She said that if you don’t stand up for yourself no one else will, in a place like that I think people get a sense of that very early on. On a train into downtown Chicago on Saturday this guy was talking on the phone really loudly. It wasn’t 30 seconds before two older men also headed to downtown said “you’re talking very loudly, could you be quieter?” It was awesome. The guy unfortunately kept on blabbing and slowly got louder and louder. One guy said “you’re disturbing everyone else in this car. Please speak more quietly or move to another car.” It was simply put and effective. The rest of us were so grateful!!
These thoughts lead Emily and I to a conversation about “nice” vs “kind”. She thinks they are two very different things and I agree. Seems to me that people in big cities are, oddly, kinder than places. They will be up front and assertive, which benefits everyone.
Part of the reason I went to Chicago was every time I looked at Emily and Ross’ blog I saw their cute kids growing up real fast and I wanted to be there for some of that. Simon is the most inquisitive 4-year old I’ve ever met. That kid can ask questions until you don’t have answers any more. It’s amazing how much he remembers and picks up. He’s a really good cello player and plays cars very well. He’s really creative with what he has the toys do.
At the beach next to Lake Michigan. It’s big and looks like an ocean. We made some sand creations and buried Simon a good one.
Ingrid wasn’t so sure about me at first, it was pretty funny. She looked at me in shock at first and started making a big frowny face. She got more used to me being around as time passed and we even had some laughs. She did enjoy a good power stare (royalties paid to Ahlena Black for the phrase) in my direction. Super cute kid and lots of strangers even say that, too.
Emily and Ross have a WAY cool RC car, I love it! In grass it will do wheelies and on pavement with a little gravel it will do burnouts and donuts. (cookies if you’re from Idaho). So cool!!! We visited the hobby store where Ross picked this one up and they had a car that was 4-wheel drive that would do 70 MPH! Only $599 for that toy. What a deal! Here’s Emily and Ross’ model:
This video cracks me up, it’s nothing but wailing guitar and little cars driving around.
Today I received some of the highest praise a person can receive. My nephew Simon said to his parents “Uncle Ethan is a hero!” The reason? I rescued a small battery-powered row boat from a treacherous pond fountain. I rolled up my pants and started wading through the shallow, dirty pond. I looked around for a bit and then decided to plug the fountain spouts with my hands and feet then I saw it under the water still rowing away. Haha.
Here’s Simon wondering if I’ll find the boat.
Found!!
Just finished Outliers by Malcom Gladwell and I loved it. One of the best books I’ve read in a while. It’s practical but motivating, which sometimes seem to undermine one another. Interestingly Gladwell is able to inspire by simple, real examples; truly a feat if you ask me. Many people can’t see the connection between others’ success and their own.
Go poofy haired guy! He looks like a mix between Christopher Walkin and Zach de la Rocha from Rage Against the Machine.
See
What does an American baby say? Waaaa
French Baby? Le waaaa
German Baby? Der waaaa or Das waaaaa
My brother Eric and I said that to each other once and thought it was really funny. This post is because I haven’t written in a while. Man doing stuff consistently is really hard. That’s probably why greatness is rare. I saw a sign in the gym yesterday that said you just have to make a work out routine and stick to it then results will follow. So simple, work out sign, so simple. Yet muy tough.
I couldn’t help but think about business in that respect. So many people dream of owning their own business and stuff like that but they don’t realize most overnight successes in business usually take about 10 years. That Angry Birds video game was developed by a team that sputtered in obscurity for 8 years before their breakthrough iPhone sales. The Beatles played 6-hour sets at strip clubs for years unnoticed before they invaded America and took over. Parker Planners wasn’t even on the radar until they had been around for 6 years and in the spring of 2012 their iPhone app hit 5 million downloads and Walmart made an initial purchase of 2.4 million units for nationwide distribution.
The 4th of July was way fun. My older brother Ammon came to town with his wife Terrin and we talked cars as usual. Right now he’s completing the tuning of a 650hp Corvette. Dude’s owned some pretty sweet vehicles. I’ma go down there and check it out before he sells it.
I did another week of EFY and it was great. My boys were super fun. One of them is a college basketball recruit so we had to play some one on one. When I challenged him he said “you might want to bring a few more people”. Ha! Way funny kid. Turns out I beat him at HORSE but he came up with the win at the one-on-one game. He’s 6′4″ and can jump. And make shots. I feel like I really connected with my boys, there was one that had tons of questions about Parker Planners. It was great, I felt like a celebrity, he was so intrigued and wanted to know everything about it. Another boy make us laugh nonstop, he was really smart and had a great comment for anything that went down.
My girls were really fun this time, too. They were very mature and very sweet. I helped a couple of them get a picture with their counselor crushes, it was funny.
Here are my birthday plans:
CHECK – Thank my brother for the sweet book
CHECK – Test drive 2011 BMW 335i DOUBLE CHECK. I was rippin’ around a roundabout and the salesman said swear words ha ha ha
CHECK- Get haircut from Molly at Sport Clips
CHECK- Make progress on my wonderful business
CHECK- Eat at a fancy pants restaurant with my parents
CHECK- Hang out with my buddies down here in P-town a.k.a Provo
WORKING ON IT- Buy myself a Piano if I don’t have one by the end of the day Ha!
Love,
Ethan
Wow, seems like Apple really blew it with Final Cut Pro X. The prior version of Final Cut Pro was $999 and many people bought it. It’s because it was professional-grade software on which real movies were edited. Examples: Enchanted, Napoleon Dynamite, The Simpsons Movie, Where the Wild Things Are, and The Social Network. It’s the real deal.
Enter Final Cut Pro verion ten (X). It comes with an impressively low $299 price tag and you download it from the “Mac App Store”. It’s more like iMovie (free movie editor) than any pro editor, though. People are calling it iMovie Pro. Lotsa fuss. You can’t even import a project from a prior version? Many features missing? Apple knows best I guess. Dear Omnicient Apple, I’m hungry, what should I have for dinner?
What a strange move by a software creator. You’d think they could gather a bunch of professional movie editors and ask them what they like and dislike about the software. Listen to customers maybe? I had a memorable experience with product development once while working a convention put on by Omniture. In 2009 I attended their ‘Summit’ event in Salt Lake City. They gathered all their most influential customers (many CMOs of fortune 500 companies) and asked them what they thought about Omniture’s products. It was an amazing moment. Their CTO, an intelligent and funny guy named Brett Error, lead the discussion and they gathered valuable feedback. On top of that they had a web page with a constantly changing board of features that customers wanted. Each different feature was voted up/down depending on customer demand. Now that’s cool. No wonder they grew rapidly and sold to Adobe for $1.8 billion.
I own a macbook and an iPhone but DO NOT consider Apple to be the greatest company ever with perfect execution on every product. Sometimes their decisions are downright ridiculous.
One of the most memorable experiences I have with design was at Arizona State when I saw Patrick Scofield give a talk. He kept repeating the words “positive, memorable experiences” in reference to designing products. Boom! Roasted, Apple. I think that’s what it’s all about. Creating positive, memorable experiences, not mass pandemonium by selling a sub-par product nobody asked for at a price no one was expecting through a medium no one uses.
I just said “hi” to a lady at the post office and she asked if she knew me, I said no and then she replied “the older you get the more that matters”.
Interesting response, nice lady, she said she was 80.
I just looked down at my glasses and saw the words “lucky” on the inside of the frames. Looks like the brand of my eye glasses reminded me that I’m lucky to have my dad.
It’s Father’s day today. I’m at church but this is kind of like my journal, so Wordpress for iPhone, I thank you. I’m sitting by a friend who lost her dad a few years ago to cancer so my heart goes out to her today especially when all the songs and talks are about fathers.
My dad totally rocks. We had tons of fun growing up. We made up this game called Parker Ball where you hit a soccer ball with baseball bats into opposing goals, sort of like polo without horses. We also went camping quite a bit with church folk. My dad was always at our sports games, too. I can’t think of a football, baseball, or soccer game I played in growing up that he didn’t attend. He always volunteered us to do stuff at church, too. We forever moved people and helped out.
I wrote a song for my dad 2 years ago for Father’s Day but never recorded it. I still have the lyrics and remember the song, though, so I’m going to put it on YouTube here when I get home.
Happy Father’s Day!
Today two things occurred for the first time: I worked on a car with my mom and my brother-in-law got to drive our BMW.
For the past month my brother and I have had the fine privilege of driving my parents’ 2006 325i down here in Provo. It’s been awesome. Man that car is posh, it’s like riding a bull made of velvet. Here’s a pic of such a machine:
I love the speed, the stereo, the quick and quiet freeway cruising, and I LOVE the way it handles. Yeah I could go on. Did I mention one of my childhood dreams is to write my own automotive column or for a magazine? I digress.
Today was the day to return the ‘Bavarian Princess’ (as dubbed by my dad for it’s high maintenance woes) back to its owners and crush my hopes of taking a girl on a date with the black (dark blue) beauty. It’s ok, though.
Now time to drive ye olde pick up home. It’s still a fun vehicle, all things considered. I went to crank it up but Le Silverado was dead. After a jump from my Mom’s Pontiac Vibe it started fine although I noticed the battery terminals were pretty corroded. I told my mother about the trick where you pour water mixed with baking soda onto the corrosion and it bubbles off (coke works, too). We did that and brushed away the goo while re-securing the battery back into place. That involved some sweat and my mom holding a flashlight while cheering my efforts to get the hard-to-reach bracket back on the battery.
Pretty funny. So many times have I been the flashlight holder for my dad and/or older brother while they worked on their stuff. It was pretty great to be out there with my mom. We’re A+ material. I kind of miss working on cars like that, I find it very fulfilling to build and fix things with my hands. Too bad my welder is up there, too. Soon enough, sweet tools of mine. Soon enough.
So my brother in law Cooper got to drive the BMW today for the first time since we bought it last year. He liked. It’s so fun to give people a ride in that car and take a corner at like 40 mph. They get this “oh crap!!” look on their face and then smile when it’s over.
After work today I was feeling like a walk so that’s what I did. I cruised around my hood and decided to visit The Great Janie Thompson because I haven’t seen her since my NY trip. I just love visiting that woman. She’s always full of smiles, stories, and laughter. On my way back she called me and said she had a book she wanted to give me. It was “Women of Character, stories of 100 Prominent LDS Women” by Susan Easton Black. Janie signed inside the cover of this book for me and it says this:
The Book:
Especially for Youth has been something amazing for me. I value the past week’s experiences over almost any program in which I’ve ever participated. This post is for my kids. I love them so much, all 24 of them. They are so bright and happy, I could just hang out with them and teach them all the time. I said I’d post the pictures and videos we took from EFY so here we go! The full album is on facebook, this will be a summary.
First, this video is for those who know anything about “sauce”. Yes, you know what I’m talking about.
Yeeeeuh. It’s funny that my hip hop side (if I even have one, man I find it VERY entertaining that I taught the kids how to break dance and rap, yeah I’m so hood 
) came out this week. I do like some hip hop music and used to listen to a rap-rock band named Rage Against the Machine a lot. Those roots do go all the way back to high school, I suppose. And Phoenix is pretty gangster.
Here’s us rapping on the last day.
I think my favorite part about EFY last week was how much we all cared for each other. Lots of love in that group.
The second full day of EFY was a great one. This post is probably more for me than you, fair warning.
This morning I woke up before most of the people on my floor, earlier than I normally get up. I really miss mornings. That’s a big part of why I felt like superman on my mission I think. Getting up early is like guaranteed progress. You can’t spend the wee hours pondering and come up with bad ideas it seems.
This morning my troops gathered and Andrew gave the devotional. He’s a great kid. He’s good at leading groups and taking initiative. That’s part of being captain of the defense and an all-state middle line-backer probably. Gotta love football kids.
Next it was breakfast time. I am truly impressed with the Cannon Center. So many BYU programs are just quality. The food was great, good presentation, they even cook up the omelets as you come by. Clean, organized, easy to navigate. It’s a top notch place. The lady that runs the show seems to really care about the operation, too. Later in the day I was sitting on a ledge and she politely came by and asked me to hop off her counter top with just a look and a gentle gesture, it was awesome.
Then it was big group meeting time. The leader guy got people involved and brought people up to the front to get a little embarrassed and teach a lesson, nice going.
The kids went to classes next. EFY teachers are quite effective. I think it takes a lot to teach the youth. Heavenly Father really is selective about who he allows in positions to lead and influence youth. One brother who taught today was very effective in suggesting that real friends seek out their loved ones and watch over them spiritually. Another teacher taught about dance etiquette and teen’s greatest fears.
Parents thought the greatest fear of a teen was nuclear war, getting kidnapped, and parents getting divorced. Kids said that their greatest fears were being embarrassed in front of a group, being alone, and not having friends. He gave a great message on acting and not being acted upon. Part of that meant asking girls to dance (for guys), and to separate yourself from a group or buddy when a slow song starts. It’s hard to capture his ability, skill, and humor here. They guy had me going right along with the youth. Very effective teacher.
We then had some free time where I hung out with Dallin. He wants to be a sniper in the Army and has a keen taste for Jamba Juice. He’s always saying things like “Gosh, Ethan! Why are you such a stud?” kinda nice to have fans like that.
Dinner time. Cannon center again and I was impressed that they prepared the pasta in a big sauce pan and made each batch with special care in cool cook clothes. Fine job. After dinner we all met up at these tables with permanent umbrellas. I showed Chandler how to do that thing where you hang sideways on a pole. We got in a little trouble but it was worth it, now he knows how.
Time for some dance lessons. I first showed the kids how to do a waltz box turn. They picked it up pretty quick! I was impressed. Also I was very impressed at their willingness to participate and dance with the young women. Also the girls are so eager to talk to and be with the boys it’s really cute. Jenna and Alyssa taught the peanut butter jelly dance to everyone which was nice, I didn’t really know it.
I then showed a couple break dance moves to the guys and even one of the girls! Emma is super fearless and was top-rockin and coffee grinding with all of us.
We then headed over to the dance dance. As we were waiting to go in a short dark-haired girl named Emily in my company was asking me about my finger. During part of when I was talking to the group I had my hands big and spread out in front of me and one of the girls noticed my finger was crooked. That was from when I cut my finger on a table saw as a freshman at ASU. No biggies now, works great. She also asked a lot about my business and other stuff. What a sweet girl!
The dance was killer tonight. I shook my groove thing all over like crazy. One thing I need to mention is rapping. During introductions on the first day I told the kids that if they were good I was going to do an improv rap for them. We took care of some business and an hour later they stomped and clapped and I rapped and rapped. One kid even said “how long did it take you to memorize that?” Wow! Surprising. I told him that was a huge compliment. It was all totally from the hip.
As you might think they fell in love with the rapping and they’ve asked for it about 4 times now. The girls have seen about 2 by now. One happened totally spontaneously after we broke some dance. It was awesome, they were so into it. Gosh I love these kids.
Call EFY cheesy all you want, but in my humble opinion it is a program that is divinely inspired. It’s really in the details here. Sure the counselors aren’t perfect and like any summer camp it has some kinks, but overall it’s not hard to spot God’s hand in giving youth some of the most meaningful and building experiences of their life.
\
Ethan
This blog is called “Living the Dream” but I’m not sure I’ve shared what my dream is. Funny, that. I’ve written for almost two years so it’s time I reveal what this is all about.
A friend defined his dream like this:
Happiness, not necessarily fun.
Impact, not necessarily riches.
Influence, not necessarily power.
I like this. Wish i came up with it myself.
My desires aren’t necessarily unique, but I feel I am much more likely to achieve them if they are recorded, reviewed, and shared.
When I say “Living the Dream” I mostly mean living the life of an entrepreneur. While my whole dream includes much more than money I hope readers following this blog are part of a rags to riches tale.
Cliche or not, the rest of the dream includes chasing down a beautiful and talented woman, marrying in the temple, and raising children in a happy home.
What is it that is up my people’s. Today I embark on a new journey to a foreign land. I journey to a place narry inhabited by a Parker since the late 1990’s. I journey to college dorms.
But why? Why you ask? I’ll tell your curious soul; worry not old friend.
You see my sisters lived in the dorms long ago but my brothers and I did not. I’m going to be an EFY counselor this week and will be living in Heritage Hall for 6 days. I’m really looking forward to it. EFY can be a crucial turning point for a lot of youth that may not have had testimonies. I know I needed it as a youth and for me that big change happened in the Missionary Training Center.
I’m so pumped for it! We had an all-day training yesterday on campus at BYU that was enjoyable. This is a very special place. There is absolutely nowhere like BYU in Provo. No better place for youth in the Church. The other counselors I’ve met are great people and I feel fortunate to be able to associate with them.
Oh day, glorious church day! Man I love Sundays. I went to church early for a meeting then came back and made pancakes for my roomates followed by a glorious nap on the couch. Ahhhhhhhhhhh yes. I hope your day is filled with diamonds and mythical creatures prancing about while they bestow hope and good fortune on all.
As they say in Southeast Asia, peace out and love someone,
Ethan
Parker Planners