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Hi all, As many of you may have noticed, I’ve been a wreck lately. That’s what you get when you mix a dozen projects and not enough time. Well, all of the craziness will come to a head this week as Robin and I head off to Sundance in Park City.

“Why,” you ask? Well, It’s thanks to one of our favorite bands, U2. As it turns out, U2 is releasing a concert movie this week at the Sundance Film Festival called U2 3D, a serious concert experience in fantastic 3D. But not your grandma’s kind of 3D, the new flavor which actually looks fantastic (I’ve seen it, and I’m not kidding). If you’re not able to make the Sundance premiere, you can catch it in theaters starting Jan 23rd (first in IMAX theatres - which is my preferred method of viewing).

“Why am I involved,” you ask? I’m producing the web site (U23Dmovie.com) that promotes the film:

The web site has been really fun to build. As the producer, I make decisions about content and design. (Other folks do the fantastic design and programming.) So, no joke, this is a big week. Stay tuned for lots of Sundance info and movie reviews.

Maybe, just maybe, we’ll even get to meet the Band!

If only everyone would do this:

Here’s the backstory:

Sarah donated 148,270 for this video to several charities (see the list here) rather than using that money to produce the video. To me, the main point is in two parts: 1 - wow, $150,000 can do a lot of good, especially in poor countries. 2 - wow, it costs that much to make a video!!? Actually, that’s no surprise now that I’ve been working at a publishing/media company. The amount of money spent on building quality programming is astounding.

Don’t you wish that more companies would do this with their products or stars? Great idea Sarah!!

Well, more like “replaced”. It seems that my original passport decided to stay in Paris. But, after a long wait at the US Embassy (which explains the scowl on my face), I’m whole again.

Hello world

well. Here it is, my first post from the iPhone in Europe. Perhaps this is the first ever post originating from an iPhone while in Europe. I’m “listening” to a presentation about public service broadcasting in Europe. Too bad I can’t post pictures yet!

I’ve been roaming the beautiful city of Paris for the let couple of days. So beautiful and interesting. It’s also fun to be in the UNESCO building(s). Great catered food too. Oh the cheese!

I’ll have to post pictures separately.

-posted from my iPhone

To my precious wife and all of you who are about to take the bar,

Just a reminder why you’re all going through this, and why the rest of us appreciate it:

my favorite passage from A Man For All Seasons:

William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
William Roper: Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that!
Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!

(from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060665/quotes )

Scott’s interpretation: We live in a world where the Devil is (mostly) in control. The law is our best protection from harm. Good people write and uphold the law. That is our mechanism of defense against the trouble that the Devil would bring if he were unrestricted. We depend on you, the writers and defenders of the law, to maintain this defense.

Keep up the studies, you’re almost through it!!!

Thanks to a healthy portion of greed and entitlement, SoundExchange and their cronies have managed to squeeze a rediculous increase in royalty percentages that Internet radio stations will have to pay on July 15th. Most stations will be forced to shut down.

Help out by going to:

http://www.savenetradio.org/

you can go to http://somafm.com/ to listen to one of my favorite stations. Today, it’s a recording of a train station in San Francisco.

Unless you’re living under a rock (not that there’s anything wrong with that), you know that the iPhone is only 4 days away. This week I joined the first ever line in NYC to get one. Here’s proof:

line in Manhattan article
if you watch the video really closely, you’ll see me in line next to my new friend Chuck.

oh, I can’t wait! Now, to come up with 600 bucks…

This past weekend, Robin and I headed out to California to meet the adorable new grandbaby, Calder, and to attend the retirement party for General John Abizaid (pictures below). Gen Abizaid is a member of my extended family and this was the first opportunity I have had to meet him and Captain Rob Shaw, his son-in-law. I was instantly welcomed by the family.

Since I spent a brief stint as an officer in the Army, I look for exceptional leadership qualities in people which I hope to learn from and emulate. I thought I ought to include some thoughts as to General Abizaid’s character (which was clearly in step with, and certainly a product of, that of the rest of his family). Hopefully this won’t embarrass him too much.

First of all, John, as he insisted I call him, seems to be a man of great integrity and true concern for his soldiers, always a soldier first. In only a few hours of chatting with him and the family, I could see how he truly demonstrated love and honor in his military assignments. He clearly leads by example, not with an iron fist or by four-star intimidation. I could tell that people follow him because they love and respect him.

John (knowing that I was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) talked to me about his LDS soldiers while he was commandant of West Point and how he had the utmost respect for them. He pointed out that many of them took off two years for church service and that they always returned as better, more mature cadets. HE reminded ME that the 1846-7 march of the Mormon Battalion is still the longest infantry march in US history. Although not LDS himself, he was clearly aware of the invaluable contributions of LDS soldiers.

His son-in-law, Captain Robert Shaw, was also present. Rob, who led an infantry company in Iraq, is also a man of utmost integrity. He also demonstrated his leadership style of patience and example, stressing that he needed to help keep the young soldiers from developing resentment and hatred to the very small percentage of Iraqis who were trying to hurt them. I was especially impressed with this sentiment since he himself was wounded by a roadside bomb that also took the life of his First Sergeant. He has since chosen to return to Iraq for a third tour because he feels that he can make a difference in the lives of his soldiers, as I’m sure he can.

Rob was a friend of Bill Jacobsen, a fellow graduate of the BYU ROTC program who was killed in Iraq. He said that Capt Jacobsen’s memorial service in Iraq was the most difficult he attended because of the great loss that it represented. His eyes lit up when I said I was able to briefly meet Rikka (Capt Jacobsen’s wife) at the BYU memorial service. He was touched to learn that Captain Jacobsen has his name engraved in the memorial hall at BYU. He said that Bill was a good friend, a leader of the first order, and a wonderful human being.

I was inspired by the examples of these Army soldiers: true leaders and good men. And, while this post is mainly regarding military leadership, I don’t want to overlook the great family members that have equally contributed in the success of these military careers!
What a family!!

Donner Lake near Truckee where we stayed

Tour de Ney - Truckee

Calder and Great Grandma

Former lawyer and future lawyer

Enjoying the shade

Big smiles!

From outside in: Abizaids (on the ends), the Lunts, and Capt Shaw in the middle

And a beautiful home!

The science and explorer nerd in me got a big bonus today with a visit inside the famed National Geographic complex. The National Geographic society was extablished in 1888 and has occupied that locatoin since then–more than a hundred years.

I met up with the web crew today. They are all great.

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That’s me in front of the western-most building.

in he old buildings, even the murals are cool!

this table was the original table where the Society signed its original charter in 1888!

all three of these buildings are Nat Geo property. The building on the left is the oldest (1888?).

front of the original building

even the door knobs are cool!