Utah's Arch » Life

HP TouchPad

Travis Grant — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:19:44 +0000

A month or so back, I bought an HP TouchPad from KSL. Sadly, I did not get one of the great deals back in August. I was literally one weekend away from hitting the go button in the purchase of a TouchPad. And that weekend managed to be the weekend that HP announced that they were going to discontinue making the HP TouchPad.

Since then, HP has terminated their CEO, and hired Meg Whitman of eBay and California political fame. While there is no official word from HP it looks like they will soon announce that they are going to bring back the TouchPad or some other tablet.

I hope so, Because this is an awesome tool.

I know that the iPad is the all rage. I know that the in crowd has them. But I have never been a big fan of Apple. My little nickname for them is crApple. Not that I think they are a bad product. They are a really good product. But they are overpriced, and you still have a lot of the same problems as anything by Microsoft. And if truth be known, I would only use Linux based products in our house.

So, what do I like about my TouchPad?

First, I love the cards. If you haven’t heard. On any webOS based system (TouchPad, Pre, Veer, etc.) you can launch a program, then another, and another, and have them all open at once in what they call “cards.” Then you can swipe back and for between each app. It is really neat.

I also love the sound quality on this think. I am amazed at how good my MP3s, Pandora and YouTube videos sound on this. I don’t know that I have owned anything with better sound quality.

The selection of apps is wide. Just about everything you find on a criPad (iPad by crApple) you can find something similar for webOS. That said, I am still looking for a Task Manager that suits my needs, and I haven’t. But I am sure in time, one will come along.

There are things that I don’t like about it. But I am sure that if HP renews their interest in this investment, then this will become the best mobile OS on the planet. If it isn’t already.

Anyway, I just thought I would share my love of my new toy. I hope you get the change to use one. You won’t regret it.

As a parting note, this was composed on my HP TouchPad using the WordPress App and the Bluetooth keyboard that you can buy separately.

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Happy Belated Birthday, Dear

Travis Grant — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:15:16 +0000

Last year I shared with you what I got my dear wife for her birthday. This year due to my overall lack of posting new content. I neglected to share this gem with you on her birthday. So, this being the week before Valentine’s Day, and only a few days after her birthday, I thought it might be appropriate to let you know how much I deeply care for her. Not to mention my general boasting about the great present I bought.

My dear wife does an excellent job cleaning the outside of our windows. It is always a great pleasure to look out of the windows and be able to see the beautiful scenery completely smudge free.

However, in her great efforts to clean our windows, she still struggles. Climbing up on the ladder to reach the second story windows, while endearing, can sometimes lead to folly. Carrying a bucket full of detergent and water, a wash cloth, and a drying towel up and down that ladder several times throughout the day is hard work. Not to mention the few times that she has fallen from way up high, and the hazard that is to the bushes.

As I watch her perform this labor, I couldn’t help but wonder what I could do to help her. Then it came to me. Why does she need to climb up and down that ladder so many times just to wash the windows. There has to be a better way.

So, I decided that this year for her birthday, I would purchase a pressure washer that attaches directly to the hose, and does most of the work for her.

It was sheer joy watching her on her birthday wash the windows for our family. The smile on her face was a picture to only imagine.

The best part of this gift is that the present has many functions. She can use it when she washes the car, the deck, and even the trailer. It’s one of those gifts that just keeps on giving.

Too bad, that after she was done cleaning the windows on her birthday, that she had to climb back up on the ladder to chip off all of those dangerous icicles from the window sills. Oh well, I guess I can wait until the next thaw before she cleans our windows again.

Happy belated birthday, Dear. Oh, and you can be sure that your Vanlentine’s present will be just as thoughtful.

The above is with respect to Walter E. Williams and his dear, departed wife, Connie, and his past Christmas presents he has shared with us on the Rush Limbaugh Show.

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Lonsberry is Back

Travis Grant — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 22:36:30 +0000

I really am excited about the latest news. Okay, it isn’t really the latest. Lonsberry has been hinting at it for weeks, and he finally wrote about it on his own website today. So, in this crazy Internet world, I am a little slow in commenting on this. But I must share my enthusiasm.

I was one of the many people who wrote the various radio station in Utah asking them to put Bob back on the air. I received no response of any of the stations that I wrote, but I wasn’t really expecting any. However, I did get the response I wanted from one of these station. That response was actually airing Lonsberry in Utah.

I have always been a fan of 1430 KLO. I first discovered KLO radio when I was looking for where I might hear Michael Medved in Utah. When I lived up in Washington for three short months many years ago, I enjoyed his commentary and debate. But when I moved back to Utah, there was no place to listen to Medved in Utah. However, KLO came to the rescue. My only dilemma was whether to listen to Medved or Dr. Laura. And slowly but surely, Medved won out.

I also have enjoyed some of the programming of 1430 KLO, specifically Laura Ingraham. While at times she gets a little to heavy in radio antics and rumor mongering. She can still be rather entertaining and definitely informative (if you can sift out the tripe). But I like Ingraham.

With Rusty Humphries in the evening, this makes for a great line up on the radio. I really see little reason to change the radio dial. Sure I will be missing out on some the best radio. But I have gotten tired for Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck never really interested me all that much. He was fun, but I always had questions about him, so I can live without him. And I have never really like Sean Hannity. So, the only reason I can see to leave KLO is to listen to Dave Ramsey, and to avoid Michael Savage.

But that is a major tangent in this discussion.

Utah finally has a conservative voice in Utah, again. I remember the first day that Lonsberry was on the air in Utah. I had been a minor KNRS listener (back then they called it K-News or something like that). Bob Lee was their local radio talk show host, and he was okay, but still didn’t speak to my political views. They took Bob Lee off of the air, and replaced him with a morning talk host name Bob Lonsberry.

When I first heard him with is voice for newspapers, I thought that they had hired an 70 year old gentleman to fill the air for the morning. But I decided that I would give Lonsberry a shot. I mean he couldn’t be any worse than Doug Wleft or any of the other locos (I mean locals).

I was sold on Lonsberry when I first heard him discussing and LDS topic. It was refreshing. It was new. It was something I had never heard on Utah Radio. And then I heard him explain why he discussed LDS issues. And hearing his philosophy that we live in predominately LDS community, so we shouldn’t shy away from LDS issues, had me sold. I became a Lonsberry fan in every sense of the word. I finally understood fully why I liked listening to his show.

Knowing that I heard him on his first day on the air in Utah. I personally claim to be his longest listening fan in Utah. I am glad that I get to keep listening. Because Bob is the only conservative voice in Utah that talks about issues in a way that I agree with.

Now, Bob and I don’t agree on every issue. Don’t get me started about our difference in taste for peanut butter. Chunky is better, and Bob is wrong about creamy. However, if Bob and I agreed on everything, then I would be worried.

Anyway, for all of you fans joining me on Monday morning at 5:00am. Yes, i said 5:00am. Let’s rejoice in this great news for Utah. I plan on listening while I start a new workout program. Another great reason to listen to Bob. He motivates me to exercise.

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FamilySearch Indexing

Travis Grant — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:44:15 +0000

I have this very heightened sense of self-importance, and I believe that many of you are wondering where I am and what have I been doing. The fact is that many of you are probably glad that you have had one less thing to read on the Internet. And most of you forgot that I even existed.

Despite my understanding that most of you don’t care, i will let you know what I have been doing these past few month. Mostly, I have just been busy. I work in the ocean shipping industry and May to October or November is our busy season. As a result, I have had a lot of work that needed to be done, and not a lot of time for personal pleasures.

That said, I have had some personal time. I just haven’t been choosing to spend it on this site. Intead, I have been speding most of my time indexing. But that is getting head of the story.

Back in May 2010, our Stake President encouraged all members of his stake to get more involved in Family History. He encouraged us to do the research needed so that our Ancestors could enjoy the blessings of the temple.

At the time, I had the privilege and responsibility to attend some classes on family history work. While in those classes I learned about FamilySearch Indexing. It looked interesting, and it looked like something that I could do to help fulfill the Stake President’s request that we get more involved.

So, I remember it was Memorial Day weekend of 2010, that I downloaded the software from the website, and started to index. Since then, I have gotten my family involved in indexing, specifically my wife and one of our daughters, Miss Joe. I have also helped many other people in our ward in indexing as well. But again I am getting a head of myself.

For those of you who don’t know, FamilySearch Indexing is a means to making the worlds records available to the world on the Internet. While many of the records that have been recorded are still available to people. They are usually only in book or image format. Thus making them very difficult for search for them on the Internet. Through the FamilySearch Indexing program. Volunteers from around the world are transcribing this information into a large database so that people can find the records to do their own family history research. Once the transcription is complete for each project, the information is made available at the recently updated FamilySearch website. It is a massive project that is being completed at a great pace because of thousands of volunteers.

Since I started indexing back in May, I was called as one of four Ward Family History Consultants in our Ward. So, I have decided that I need to do more that just indexing to fulfill the Stake President’s request to do more family history work. So, I have started working on my family history. Without going into the boring details, let me just say that I have spent more of my time cleaning up records, and confirming information that I already have in my family records and church records.

But as a Family History Consultant, my responsibility goes beyond just doing my own family research. I am also responsible for helping my neighbors do their research. As part of that I have helped teach classes on family history. But the classes that I have enjoyed the most is the classes I have taught (or co-taught with my wife) on FamilySearch Indexing.

If you haven’t tried indexing, but you have even a small interest in family history research. I would encourage you to visit the FamilySearch Indexing website, and learn more about it. I would especially encourage you to download the program, and give it a try.

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Happy Birthday, Dear

Travis Grant — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:47:08 +0000

Today is my dear wife’s birthday. And I am so impressed with the wonderful gift that I got for her, that I want to toot my own horn for a minute on this site.

Having made the decision to have a fairly large family. At least, large by today’s standards. We have to cut costs where ever possible.

As part of this cost cutting venture, we don’t hire people to do any automobile repairs, unless we have to. Well, the last time that my dear wife was out rotating the tires, I was so moved by the efforts she made. Trying to remove those lug nuts with nothing more than a box wrench was tough for her.

After the first tire was removed her dear knuckles were already bloody, and she still had three more to do. It was all I could do watching her as she struggled with each nut.

I was so moved by her diligent efforts, I knew that there was something to do to help her. So, this year, I purchase for her a tire iron. Not just any old tire iron. Nope. I bought the cheapest one that money can buy. After all, we have a big family and can’t afford more.

It will be so nice to watch her remove those lug nuts with this new tool. No longer will I have to endure the pains of her screams and grunts. It will be sure pleasure to watch her rotate the tires in just over an hour compared to half a day as in years past.

I love you dear. Happy Birthday.

Oh, by the way. I think it’s time to rotate the tires on my car.

The above is with respect to Walter E. Williams and his dear, departed wife, Connie, and his past Christmas presents he has shared with us on the Rush Limbaugh Show.

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Unintended Consequences

Travis Grant — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:07:39 +0000

I met with a couple of legislators this past week. And when one of them was asked why are we having to wait in long lines to get our driver’s licenses renewed, the response was it’s an “unintended consequence” of the bill that we passed.

To be completely honest, he seemed more interested in excusing their actions by calling them unintended consequences, then trying to explain the purpose of the bill that requires us to go through a longer lines to renew our licenses. I personally support the reason behind this bill, and I am willing to go through the longer lines. Fortunately for me, I go in June and hopefully a lot of the kinks will be worked out. My wife is going there sometime in the next couple of weeks, and she will have to suffer through the long lines.

But this legislators response reminded me of a similar response I heard another legislator give when asked about the district split bill. As a resident of the south west valley of Salt Lake County, I was one of the citizens whose property tax rate was raised because of the recent district split of the Jordan School District. In essence, the legislator responded that the tax increase was an unintended consequence of the bill.

As a resident of the south west valley, I support the reasoning behind the district split legislation. I believe in smaller more localized school districts. I feel that the Jordan School District was (and still is) too big to properly serve the needs of Utah’s students. However, I don’t support the unintended consequences of the bill. In this case there were two unintended consequences. The first was that a large body of people couldn’t vote on a change that directly effected them. the other unintended consequence was the needed tax increase on the citizens of the south west valley.

The issue that bothers me here is that these bills aren’t being thought completely through. They aren’t recognizing that their are ramifications in real people’s lives when these bills are passed. If they were, the bills would be written in away to prevent extensive unintended consequences.

My understanding is that if a bill has a financial impact that this must be studied. It seems to me that every bill should be studied similarly to prevent non-financial impacts on the community. Unfortunate consequences like long lines and voters not being allowed to vote. I never want to hear the word “unintended consequences” from a legislator again.

I don’t believe that all unintended consequences should be avoided. However, I think that the need to avoid a consequence should be directly proportionate to the impact that consequence has on society.

With these two particular legislators, I support them and the work that they are doing. Politically they are both very similar to me. But I would appreciate if they would take the time to understand that EVERY bill they pass will have unintended consequences and they need to write the bills in a way, that these consequences are minimized so that they have very little impact on the people.

I hope that every legislator will take an oath, that after the 2010 session, that they will never have to use the excuse of “unintended consequences” when they have to explain their bill.

Update (1 Feb 2010): Wow, I am shocked to admit that for once I agreed with KSL. They posted a commentary with the same title on their news today. We do part ways on part of it, but the meat of the subject is the same.

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New Years Resolutions

Travis Grant — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 05:40:38 +0000

If you know me you know that I hate making new years resolutions. Why? Because they are always broken. I hate make resolutions so much, I start my either early or late.

I started my weight loss resolution back in September. I have lost 20 lbs. Just 10 more to go, but I have been working on that 10 lbs for 2 months now.

However, I have decided that I am going to improve this site by doing one simple resolution this year. I am going to post something every week. Hopefully, it will be something political. But it might be something more personal. Either way, I hope you enjoy it, and I hope that you keep coming back.

I have been writing a web log for over 5 years now, and it seem as though I always stagnate. Usually, I try to write a post a day. Then after about a week, I can’t find the time to post. So, I have decided that one post ever day is too much for my already busy schedule. Hopefully, this once a week resolution will be fruitful.

I thank all of you for your time in reading, and I look forward to many more years of posting and commenting.

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Coyote Gulch

Travis Grant — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:29:37 +0000

A year ago you might remember my post about a trip that I made to Paranuweap Canyon. Well, I made a similar trip again this year, but this time to Coyote Gulch. We also added one more person to our group.

On May 15th, I headed down to the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument with the same friend as last year. Since we left as soon as I finished work, and because of a brief detour to Fish Lake on the trip down, we arrived after night fall, and slept out under the stars about 3 miles west of the Jacob Hamblin Arch Entrance. the best part of the trip down was the chance to find a few quick and easy geocaches. Sure it extended the trip, but for me it was well worth it. My friend seemed to agree.

After breakfast the next morning we headed east to the entrance. This was perhaps the worst part of the trip. It involved a 25 foot downward climb into the mouth of the canyon. The drop was very steep, and there was time where I almost fell, but I managed to keep my balance and the descent was successful.

When we arrived at the base we felt like we had landed in the Garden of Eden. It was still very early and the air was very crisp and fresh. With the cool air and beautiful lighting no picture can capture what we experienced.

After a short drip upstream to check out the awe inspiring Jacob Hamblin Arch, we headed down stream to Coyote Natural bridge. While We enjoyed a couple of nice stops on the way, including some great formation in the water, to a “hanging rock formation. But Coyote Natural Bridge was the best stop along the way.

After Coyote Natural Bridge, only two of us were able to continue on because of family obligations by the other half of the party. So, we continued on to see some petroglyphs and then a small waterfall, and Cliff Arch. While at Cliff Arch I had the distinct pleasure of watching a hawk circle above me and look for pray. I hope he wasn’t mistaking me for pray.

After a brief rest, we returned back to the entrance. While there were other options for entering and exiting the canyon, we decided that the Jacob Hamblin entrance would be the best. But before we ascended to our camp, we first went back to the see the other side of Jacob Hamblin arch, it is was well worth it. You can see the arch in it’s magnitude. It just seems to strech on forever.

After our ascent, and seeing that we had a few minutes to spend, we went to find the geocache located at Dance Hall Rock, and to enjoy a little bit of history. Interesting to know that even in trying times the early pioneers of Utah found time to dance and entertain themselves in this hot arid desert.

After finding the cache we drove to the trail head the lead to Peek-a-boo canyon and Spooky canyon. These were two great canyons, but both for different reasons. We camped at the trail head over night, and we thought for sure that the wind was going to blow us down to the base, but sleeping in the bed of the truck kept us safe.

Peek-a-boo was a more technical climb. We didn’t need any ropes, but it did involve some climbing, and supporting of each other to get through some parts of the climb. It was also fun to see the small arches that dotted the slot canyon.

After completing Peek-a-boo, which we measured as being as narrow as 9.5 inches at one point, we hiked over the the beginning of Spooky. This was awe inspiring because you got to see the wash that lead into Spooky. It was very wide, and a ton of water must have flowed through here at one point.

After a few minutes in Spooky, I soon learned why it had earn the name. If you have the slightest case of claustrophobia, then I would suggest that you not try this canyon. If I had been a lone, I think that I would have just freaked out, and turned around when we were only a few hundred feet from the end.

After finishing Spooky, and taking a short break, my friend talked me into hiking up Dry Fork Gulch with him. While the hike up the fork wasn’t anything too fantastic, the route that we took back to camp was great. The worst part of the trip was this is where I dropped my GPS and the screen smacked against a rock and cracked. It was rendered useless.

We decided after the hike up the gulch that we would take the “high road” back to camp. So we followed unmarked paths back. It was neat because we got to see some great rock formations and some beautifully blooming cactii.

At this point I was ready to go home. But my friend was determined to do one more slot canyon. He had had his heart set on hiking Zebra Canyon for several years, and he didn’t want to miss this oppertunity. So after helping a stranded truck fix their car and get headed back out of the canyon, we stopped a the trail head to Zebra Canyon.

The trip in was long, hot, and boring. The most intresting thing we saw was a slight coloration of the rocks that made it look a litte (okay very little) like Jesus Christ. It must have been the hot sun getting to me, I know.

Eventually, we made it to the mouth of Zebra and it was very nice. As you might well imagine, it is named Zebra Canyon, because it is striped in white and orange. There were a couple of technical (just a hand up) point, and it ended in a couple of keeper pots.

The trip back to the car seemed shorter than the trip to the canyon, and the ride home was nice. I wasn’t as exhausted as last years trip, and I really enjoyed this camp out. I hope you enjoyed the ride along with me.

Just as a note, you might notice that many of these pictures were used in the title splash of this site. I hope to take a some time to use other pictures I have taked these past couple of years, especially those from my Paranuweap trip.

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Another Move

Travis Grant — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:54:29 +0000

Okay, in the time that I have been blogging, I have had four different sites. First, I started at Writers on the Loose (WOTL). WOTL is a great group of people, and there are several writers there who are worth reading. While my stay was only short at WOTL, it helped me to learn that I have a passion for writing. Even if my editing ability is lacking.

Then I spent a long time at Blog-City and for the most part I was happy with their free service. I really had no intention of leaving. However, they started to charge, and I decided that what they offered wasn’t worth the fee. So, I moved on.

Most of my reader’s will know my from my WordPress account called Gazelem. I really enjoyed my stay. However, for a long time, I have seriously contemplated moving away from the name Gazelem. While I think it is a great name, it is a rather loaded name. So, I finally decided to move on.

I have been debating what to call my new blog. I thought of Grantastic, Grantabulous, Grantilicious, Grantemonium, and a few others that played off of my last name, but most of them just didn’t work for me. So, I thought that I would use the word Utah in the name, because accept for my personal life, I talk mostly about Utah Politics.

I considered Utah We Love Thee, because when I was at WOTL, that is what I used and it is the State Hymn for Utah (it used to be the state song, but that was change a few years back to Utah, This is the Place). And honestly, I love Utah. But Utah We Love Thee just seemed a little old fashioned.

I was really excited when I finally thought of The Utah Arrow. I was almost ready to go with that, but then I thought I might get entangled in a lawsuit with a local radio station, and I just didn’t want to have that as a possible mess. Besides, what do arrows have to dow with Utah besides the plethora of arrowheads you can find in this state.

Then it came to me. Utah’s Arch seems to captivate some of the things that I want this blog to be. First, it is about Utah. Second, I love arches, and Utah’s scenic red rock country has many of them. Also, the word Arch combined with Utah almost has a news-like feel to the name.

Arch can also serve as a great acronym for the block. A is for Analysis, where I hope to provide a critical assessment on the local news and events. R is for Rhetoric, since a lot of what you see here will hopefully be persuasive. C is for Colloquy, because I want you to get involved and comment and discuss the issues. And H is for Heuristics, where I would like to look at the past as our trial and error test, that we might learn for the future. Okay, I admit that last one is a bit of a stretch, but it works.

Another couple of acronyms could be America, Republican, Church, and Home which is a pretty good description of myself. But I hope that I also fit the acronym of Amicable, Relevant, Common Sense, and Humorous. There are probably others, but I think you get the idea. I love the Arch.

Anyway, welcome to my new home on the net. I hope you enjoy it, because I plan on staying here for a while.

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Sandy's Blog

Travis Grant — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 03:38:43 +0000

Well, after following my blog for years, my dear wife has finally given into the addiction called blogging. She followed my ill-advised advice, and used WordPress. After a brief training session, she finally has a new post. It is the talk she offered at her grand father’s funeral.

So, please take a minute to check it out.

Oh, and don’t expect much politics over there. She doesn’t find it as interesting as I do. But you will probably learn more about us through her blog, then you will through mine.

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