Signs of the Times, Issue No. 131 - 11/16/10

Happy birthday to you.

Greetings to one and all and happy Tuesday to you! As usual, there is a lot on the slate for this Issue. Topics to be discussed today: the Comeback Kids, a new level of competition, the Boy Who Stole My Thunder, another boring birthday, an unbelievable performance, the worst person of the year, and one step closer to the Mirror Ball. On we go!


I don't want to talk about the Utes game on Saturday. They lost again in embarrassing fashion and there is really nothing to discuss. We've got some crazy problems that just came up out of nowhere and we need a change. Of quarterback. That is all.


Recently, it's been all about the Jazz!! Boo yah, five straight double-digit comebacks, including a sweep of probably the most difficult road trip we'll have all season. We lost a close one last night, but let's look past that for a second. Millsap has been absolutely ridiculous, sinking four of five three pointers in the last five games. I've even had dreams that Millsap is still making threes. The guy is awesome. Jefferson has has good games and bad games - his game against Dwight Howard being good and his nights against the Thunder and Heat being not-so-good - but he's been averaging roughly 20 and 10 and that's what we expected from him. Deron Williams has been impressive, as well, hammering out 22 points and 10 assists per game so far. The thing that bothers me about the Jazz at this point is that I wish we could get ahead early and stay ahead. As much fun as coming back from 20 down seems sometimes, it's just stressful and could be potentially depressing if we can't pull off the win. Last night we pulled ahead by 12, but ended up losing by seven. Just get ahead and stay ahead. That's all I ask. I have more fun watching blowout wins than close losses. The Jazz are looking good so far, though. I'm not one of those crazed fans saying, "Bring on the Lakers!!", but I think we have a chance of at least contending for the Western Conference title this season. Only time will tell.

The boys.

How about my bowling class? It's been a while since I've updated you peeps. For most of the last month, we have been going over the basics for the new kids in the half-semester class, so I haven't had a whole lot going on. We started up our newest league tournament last week. Unfortunately, I don't have any famous football players on my team this time. We got spanked our first series, losing both games by about 100 points each game. It usually helps when everyone on your team shows up for class. I can't remember what I scored for my first two games, but it wasn't good... I guess that's kind of my strategy for the first two games of the tournament. Last tournament, I scored low and had a high handicap just in time for my 157 game at the beginning of the semester. This week, boasting a handicap of 87, I scored an almost unthinkable 190 on Thursday with five strikes and three spares. I was Feeling Good About Myself going into today's game and hoped to follow up my semester-high with a nice game today. Three strikes and four spares later, I finished with a respectable 154, no doubt solidifying myself as the reigning high scorer in any of the bowling classes right now. It's a fact. I looked.


Well, Harry Potter 7 (part 1) comes out on Friday. Hopefully it will be a good movie. Honestly, I remember little to none of that book. Something about some people getting blown away in the first two chapters of the book, the Elder Wand something something, Dumbledore is gay (oh wait...), uh... the ending is super cheesy, something about a triangle/circle/line something... I don't know. Amy and Cody remember way more about it than I do. I've still got to watch the fifth and sixth movies before I go see the show on Saturday simply because I don't remember what has already happened, what hasn't happened yet, or any of that good stuff. My mom texted me during my radio show last Friday to inform me that there will be two "nude" scenes in the seventh movie. This is according to an article we saw on www.ksl.com. That's P.M.U.!! One of the supposed "nude" scenes isn't in the book and involved Harry dancing with Hermione. That's messed up. Nobody wants to see that skinny white kid. Nobody wants to see anything! This is a children's book, for crying out loud. Apparently the director decided that the movies don't need to follow the book all that closely. Loser. Idiot. According to another article that I found and posted on Twitter and none of you saw, apparently one of the scenes is only shirtless, which I wouldn't consider "nudity," necessarily. But still, nobody wants to see that crap. The debate has raged at the Christensen residence for a few days as to whether or not there will, in fact, be nudity in the film or whether it was (more or less) a publicity stunt to generate buzz. I highly doubt that if there is nudity that they would show anything toooooooo offensive. Hundreds of thousands of little kids would cry and parents would be outraged. So if they just wanted to generate a buzz before the big release and the so-called "nudity" is only Harry with his shirt off, we here at "Signs of the Times" classify that as pointless, meaningless, and unnecessary. Oh yeah - and just plain stupid. Moving on.

This was the nerdiest picture I could find. Now imagine him naked.

I suppose the other big thing going on this week is my 24th birthday. That makes me 36 in radio years. Tune in to my radio show, "The House that A-Town Built" on Friday from 9am - noon for all the big festivities. Other than that, it seems to me that birthdays get less and less exciting as time goes on. The least exciting birthday for me was my 19th birthday right before I went on my mission. I'd be leaving in a couple months, so what was I supposed to tell people I wanted for my birthday? Shoe polish? That Christmas was the same way. I think I got a couple spools of thread and some needles. (Those actually came in handy a time or two, believe it or not, but still, that's not a very exciting gift to receive.) Now that I've been home from my mission for a while, things are a little more exciting than sewing kits, but I still have a hard time getting overly animated by the time November 19th rolls around. I'm not a huge party animal, so I feel lame every time somebody asks me what I'm doing for my birthday. Probably just hanging out with my family, eating some cake and ice cream, and watching the Jazz game. That's how I like it, though. Nothing too fancy. Nothing too crazy. So that's about it. I don't know what else to tell you peeps. I look forward to spending some time with my family this weekend. And I guess what I want is for the Utes to snap the heck out of it and beat San Diego State. Please, please, pretty please for the birthday boy.

I'm a million years old.

Now comes the time where we annually open my bag of birthday cards. Here we go... .......................................... Oh! A card from Craig T. Nelson! And there's one signed by Donny, Evan, and Brandy! That's nice. And um... that looks like all of them. I can't wait until I start getting Christmas cards. Those are exciting times. I hope you're all looking forward to another "Signs of the Times" Christmas card. We're having a photo shoot in a couple weeks.


Without a doubt, the Game Ball this week goes back to the A-Town Assassins and my quarterback, Michael Vick. The guy scored me 65 fantasy points last night... in the FIRST HALF!! Vick ended the record-setting night by completing 20 passes for 333 yards and four passing TDs, to go along with 80 rushing yards and two rushing TDs. 86.32 fantasy points, children!!! That boosted my total score for the week up to 359.48 points, which still isn't even good enough for fourth place in the league. I trail E-Money's "It's All Good" squad by 0.38 points. You gotta be kidding me.

Unbelievable.

The Boo Box. Who or what to put in The Boo Box?... Oh yeah - how about the fact that LeBron James was nominated for "Person of the Year"?? Are you kidding me? BOOOOOO!! What has LeBron James done this year? Oh yeah, screwed over everyone in Cleveland. Lied to the whole state of Ohio? Turned his back on thousands of his fans? Completely sold out and gone from one of the most likable players in the NBA to one of the most hated athletes in the entire world? Oh yeah. Person of the Year. Good call. I vote Chilean miners all the way. Those guys are awesome.


Anybody else watching "The Event"? I haven't seen this week's episode yet. I'll probably check it out tonight. But the cliffhanger from two weeks ago with those little girls was probably one of the creepiest things I've ever seen on TV - and, mind you, I've watched a lot of TV. Gave me the dang chills. In other news, tonight we'll find out whether or not Brandy makes it into the finals on "DWTS." She better. This thing is rigged. Bristol Palin and Kyle Massey should have been out weeks ago. They're only in because of all those crazy Alaskan, Republican, and African-American voters. It should come down to Jennifer and Brandy and Brandy deserves to win. I'm a champion. Nobody stops me. Except for Nicole Scherzinger. I'm telling you - if Brandy doesn't win - or even if Bristol or Kyle makes it into the final two - this show is corrupt. The judges put their slant on it and people buy it. Kyle and Bristol AREN'T GOOD! Bristol even pulled that scary Kate Gosselin move last night at the beginning of her first dance! That's never a good sign! Brandy is the best and I called it from the start.

If she wins, it's rigged.

The Shoutout of the Week goes not to a person, but to a new blog I've been reading, written by the one and only "Coach," Austin Christensen. He's recently started up a new blog each Monday to discuss his views on sports. This week he talks trash about trash talkers and gives a fantastic, unbiased view of BYU and Utah football teams up to this point in the season. Check it out if you get a chance. Here's the URL for Austin's "Splitting the D" - www.Splitting-The-D.blogspot.com


That's about it for this week. Save me some birthday cake.


Until next Time,

Move It! Sell It! And Leave the Door Open!

Aaron