Dear Grandma, I’m Sorry

I lied. Your mind wasn’t the best back then, but I went to visit you in the nursing home. You started giving me a lecture about the stupid things young people my age are doing. There were lots of kids you saw in the hospital who were injured doing crazy things like bungee jumping, skydiving, longboarding down steep hills with no helmet and no brakes. You made me promise I would never go skydiving or bungee jumping. I did. But I lied.

Initially, I had every intention of keeping my word to a 90-year-old woman who couldn’t hear me very well and didn’t remember my name. On several occasions I turned down opportunities to go skydiving because “I promised my dead grandma that I wouldn’t”.

But for some reason when my Bishop said he was getting a group together to go, I perked up at the opportunity. Money was always an issue before, but now that I have a real job, it’s not. Someone else was taking care of the planning process, which was another plus.

I went last Saturday, Grandma. I jumped out of a plane at 10,500 feet. I was in freefall for roughly 35 seconds. My instructor pulled the chute at about 5,000 feet. We glided in the rest of the way. I landed safe and sound. And I wasn’t even scared.

But don’t worry, Grandma. It’s not like I’m going to start doing this all the time. It was fun and all, but it was expensive. And I’ve gotten similar thrills on roller coasters before. Like the Raging Bull at 6 Flags Great America (IMHO quite possibly the greatest roller coaster ever built).

So I’ll try to be safe. But I’m sorry I lied. If it makes any difference, I think I’m probably one of the only grandchildren who read that book you put together for us. I read it twice. Thank you. I wish I would have been a little older and you would have been a little younger so we could have known each other better. I think we would have gotten along marvelously. Who knows, maybe I could have talked you into going skydiving.

Fire at Church

The Longfellow Park building of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was gutted by fire this morning. It's located at 2 Longfellow Park in Cambridge, MA, across the street from the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow estate.

We were sitting in the chapel watching Stake Conference being broadcast from Salt Lake City and the fire alarm went off. The man conducting the meeting asked us all to please evacuate the building. Everyone left in a calm manner. We didn't take it seriously until we saw the smoke coming out from under the roof.

I had smelled smoke from the moment I sat down. However, it was very faint, and since I was sitting next to the projector, thought it might be coming from there.  It wasn't.

We all watched the building burn. The roof of the chapel collapsed, and the fire got really strong. I'm posting the pictures I took of the progress as soon as I get them off my camera.

I was also interviewed for the Channel 5 news. Jennifer Garner and son walked over to see what was going on. Quite the eventful day.

We knew it was starting to get serious when the smoke started pouring out.

That's Jane Clayson Johnson's head in the picture. Random. When I walked out of the chapel she was already on her phone calling in the fire.

Here you can see that the roof already collapsed in the chapel and the fire is raging inside.

The entire roof collapsed. None of the walls fell in. The steeple didn't fall. The entire thing is gutted, though.

Please check out the rest of my pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/derekdac/Fire?feat=email#

Also see videos of the fire taken by Jonathan Souza that are now posted on YouTube: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdGZ5M96xyI

There's an article with a picture that I'm fairly prominent in: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles_of_faith/2009/05/mormon_meetingh.html

And I get quoted at the end of this one: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/19487437/detail.html

And here's me in the video interview!!! http://www.thebostonchannel.com/video/19487236/index.html

Random Websites You Probably Won't Bother to Click On

In my perusing of the internet today I found quite a few sites that I liked. This is the list. I offer no explanations or promises.

http://www.minimalsites.com/front/8
http://www.nixlog.com/
http://omniti.com/
http://www.pixelapnea.com/web-design/the-ultimate-showcase-of-minimalist-web-design
http://www.thirteen.co.uk/thirteen/
http://www.christelle-bonnet.com/
http://www.jeremycowart.com/
http://www.krijtenberg.nl/
http://nuttersmark.com/
http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/galleries/inspirationalnavigation-menus/
http://www.ttthings.com/
http://www.webdesignerwall.com/
http://www.emotionslive.co.uk/
http://www.dadan.net/
http://www.craigearl.co.uk/
http://www.benhulse.com/
http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1546-patterns-great-self-promotion
http://www.boingboing.net/

Simple Man

If you had to choose a theme song for your life, what would it be? My answer comes to me immediately: Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

I have no idea when I first heard this song. I have no idea when I fell in love with this song. But I do distinctly remember buying the Lyve at Steele Town CD and having a spontaneous dance party to the 9-minute version of Freebird when I lived in King Henry. 

My favourite rendition of this song is by ShineDown.

These are the lyrics. Read them and you will understand why I love this so much.

Mama told me when I was young
Come sit beside me, my only son
And listen closely to what I say.
And if you do this
It will help you some sunny day.
Take your time... don’t live too fast,
Troubles will come and they will pass.
Go find a woman and you’ll find love,
And don’t forget son,
There is someone up above.
 
(chorus)

And be a simple kind of man.
Be something you love and understand.
Be a simple kind of man.
Won’t you do this for me son,
If you can?

Forget your lust for the rich mans gold
All that you need is in your soul,
And you can do this if you try.
All that I want for you my son,
Is to be satisfied.

(chorus)

Boy, don’t you worry... you’ll find yourself.
Follow you heart and nothing else.
And you can do this if you try.
All I want for you my son,
Is to be satisfied.

Do you see? Lyrics this profound don’t come along very often. I strive to live my life like that. To be simple, to take time to appreciate life, to love deeply, to always remember God, to never lose sight of who I am, to not get caught up in love of money, to find myself, and to be happy.

What are some other songs with profound lyrics?

Trust Me on the Sunscreen

A lot of incredible life advice can be summed up in a really short time. We used to have lots of these quotes on the wall of one of my apartments. Some of the pictures are pretty funny. Some will cause my mother to do her disapproving mom face. But all in all, a pretty good message.