Utah's Arch

webOS:open source::BYU:independence

Travis Grant — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:37:06 +0000

First, I should probably apologize for taking back to your high school days and the horrid exams that we force upon your young children. But frankly, I loved these logic questions. I don’t know if I was any good at them, but I thought that they were a lot of fun.

In the unlikely even that you don’t remember how to read the title, it says, “webOS is to open source as BYU is to independence.” The point is to say that I wish to make a comparison between BYU’s decision to make their football program independent from any conference, and HP’s recent decision to make webOS open source.

Most software is “closed” source. That means that you can’t see the internal workings of the software. Almost everything made by Microsoft and Apple is closed source. There are many other closed source programs as well, it is a very common way to produce software and protect your intellectual property. The only way to see how Windows works is by hacking into the software, which isn’t ethical or legal.

However, there is a large body of open source software that is starting to catch hold in the popular society. If you have used Firefox, Chrome, Android, Open Office, GIMP, or Audacity. Then you have used an open source product. Even the software used to help manage this site is open source.

The idea behind open source is that anyone can get into the source to fix a problem or bug. They can also help to make an enhancement in the software. The concept of many hands make light work. Open source is also typically offered as free to the public. It doesn’t mean that someone can’t charge you to use it, it just means that if they are, then you are getting ripped off.

So, what does open sourcing webOS have to do with BYU’s independence. They really have nothing to do with each other, but I think that is a lot of analogies that can be made between the two decisions that were made almost a year from each other.

The first is the concern that many are expressing about the decision. When BYU announced that it was going to take football down the independent road, many people were either afraid for the future of BYU football, or they mocked the decision.

The same can be said about webOS going open source. I have read anything from outright ridicule to thoughts of fear. But just like with BYU’s decision, this fear and ridicule are really just a sign of something else. It is a sign of lack of understanding. Many people didn’t understand BYU’s motivation. Very few football programs have made the “independent” decision. And the same is going on with webOS. People who don’t know what open source means, are confused, lost and scared.

But just like BYU. I believe that webOS has a tough year ahead, of itself, with a lot of work. But if the right amount of effort it put into it, by both the employees of HP and the many webOS loving developers, that webOS could be better than even iOS (don’t get me started on siri, what a joke).

This is really my second point in the comparison. It will not be an easy road. Fortunately, webOS has the backing of HP to go down this road. And HP professes to be fully invested. Time will only tell. I believe them. I think that Meg Whitman is the CEO who is needed to make up for the mistakes that HP has made in the recent past.

I look forward to seeing what happens with webOS, and more specifically webOS product (because that is really the big gaping black hole in this whole mess). I am excited to see webOS become fully open. I believe that it will do better than what many of the pundits are predicting.

I am holding on to my TouchPad, and I look forward to seeing it advance.

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Occupied

Travis Grant — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:02:36 +0000

Here’s a little Utah news that you might not know about, but hopefully find interesting.

A company with a large employee base in Utah will be protested by Occupy LA, Occupy Oakland, and maybe even Occupy Seattle.

Who are they protesting? SSA Marine

When? Today.

Why? Because the Occupy movement claims that SSA Marine is owned by Goldman-Sachs.

I know this in part because I work for SSA Marine. I have worked with them for 8 years now and it has been a great company to work for.

But the point of this piece to show how ill-informed the Occupy movement is. First, SSA Marine is not owned by Goldman-Sachs. About 6 years ago, Goldman-Sachs purchased 49% of the shares SSA Marine’s parent company, Carrix Corporation. The other 51% is owned by the Smith-Hemingway family. The family has and always will maintain controlling rights of Carrix Corporation, because it is a family business.

That’s right, a family business. Occupy isn’t protesting a big corporation, but instead they are protesting a family business, that hires people to get a job done and thus supporting other families.

That is just one of the many lies that Occupy is operating under. If they do know the facts, then they are lying. If they don’t they are operating under a false premise. I could share other examples of misinformation in the protest, but I think this is a good enough example of the lies being told.

One other important note. Occupy is only protesting SSA Marine. Not any of the other ports along the west coast. If you are in the ocean shipping industry then you probably know that SSA Marine is the only terminal operator in the United States that is owned by a United States based company.

So, in my eyes, Occupy isn’t protesting for a better America. They are protesting the heart of America. Home-grown American business, with American employees who are working hard to feed their families.

Prior to this incident, I didn’t give much thought the Occupy than an annoyance. Now, I know full well that they aren’t for the America that I believe in.

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Balance the Budget but Don’t Amend

Travis Grant — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 06:38:55 +0000

I support a balanced budget. I have balanced my budget. My wife have been living a debt free lifestyle for over 3 years now. It was a tough road, but well worth the effort. We have to cut back. I can’t buy all the toys that I want, and our children don’t wear the most fashionable clothing. However, we manage to rough life with some nice things, and we are happy.

I support our government living with a balanced budget. We need to get our government back in line, and we need to stop the excessive spending of money that we do not have.

If you follow the Republican Party in Utah, the phrase of the day is Balance the Budget. It’s a great theme to run a campaign on. It’s something that most of us can agree on. I admit I agree with it. However, most politicians, included my most favored candidate for the new 4th district, likes to add another word to the phrase balanced budget.

And that word is amendment. Balanced budget amendment is the real catch phrase in Utah Republican politics, and problem in other parts of the United States as well.

However, As I have expressed in the past, I am not a big fan of amending the Constitution. That isn’t to say that I am opposed to any amendment to the Constitution because it is fundamentally wrong. I don’t believe that. There are reasons and times when an amendment is necessary.

The question is now the right time? And is a balanced budge the right reason?

It sure looks like the right time. It sure seems that if we don’t do this now it will never get done. However, the bigger of the two question is whether this is the right thing to do.

Sure, I would love to hold our legislators accountable for their actions. Arguably they are the one’s that got us into this mess.

However, forcing their hand will lead to further corruption.

The only way that you could safely pass a balanced budge amendment is to add certain rules of exceptions. A whole bunch of legalese gobble-dee gook that will mess up the process.

One of those exceptions will surely be for cases of war.

Let’s remember who has the power to declare war. That’s right, the same people who have control over the budget. So, if these people want more money. What is there to stop them from declaring war.

Sound too extreme? Don’t believe it will happen? Remember all the promises made when social security was created. Are any of those promises broken? Has there been any corruptions from that.

I only use ware as one example of the corruption that could develop because of a balanced budget amendment. Our best and only bet to prevent further corruption in the government is to elect good citizens. Men and women whose hearts are in the right place, but also have he will to stand up to the already powerful evils that exist in the government.

Don’t amend. Just elect the right people for the job.

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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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Why Bridgewater Lost

Travis Grant — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:31:10 +0000

Before I proceed, I must certify that I am not qualified to even broach this subject. My qualifications are this. I have worked on one successful state-level campaign, and several other campaigns that either weren’t successful or ended before the vote. I have never been involved in party politics beyond the precinct level. My best qualification is that I have been watching Utah politics for about 7 years. And I read with great interest the posts at Utah Policy Daily on how to run a campaign. (Sorry no link, but they have started charging a subscription fee.)

Now that I have certified that I have no real expertise on how to win a campaign, I am going to prove it. Because I believe I know why Tim Bridgewater lost in the June primary.

I mean no offense to anyone on the Bridgewater campaign and I don’t wish to offend that the Lee campaign either. That’s in part why I have taken so long to post this analysis. Hopefully, a month has been long enough for most wounds to be healed. But the fact is that Bridgewater lost this race, more than Lee won it.

This is mostly evidenced by the fact that neither campaign managed to drive a lot of people to the polls. It was a terrible turn out, and that was because neither camp managed to motivate their base. Actually, let me reword that. Neither camp managed to build up a solid enough base.

While the lack of a base of supporters is part of Bridgewaters loss, it isn’t the key, because Lee failed there too. There are two keys to Birdgewater’s loss. The first is that the Bridgewater camp started to believe more in themselves, then they did in their message. The second key is that they chose to run a counter-negative campaign.

This is probably going to be very hard to explain, so I hope you will be patient with me as I lay it out. Often times on a campaign it can get easy to start believing that everything that you say and think is going to be accepted by everyone else. This doesn’t happen only in campaigns it happens in a lot of interpersonal interactions. Where you fail to communicate, because you aren’t able to express yourself to the person you are talking to it. If you are married you have probably experienced this.

The post-convention Bridgewater campaign fell into this trap. They failed to see what their campaign or message would look like to those on the outside. They thought that they needed to convince people that they were right, and not let the message do it for them. Many of the mailers came across as we are right, so you have to vote for Bridgwater. Of course that wasn’t the exact message. But it sounded like that to those not involved in the campaign.

I am not saying that they shouldn’t believe in the message (or platform) of their campaign. What they need to do is be careful at how they send that message to the public. To a certain extent the mailers and information that they sent came across wrong. People didn’t come out feeling like they were informed as much as they were coerced. The campaign was too interested in convincing people that they were right, rather than communicating what they stood for.

Let me put this another way. In order to win a campaign you want to tell people what your platform is. You don’t want to try and convince them why your platform is right. You need to let people know what you stand for. Let them convince themselves. If they are going to disagree with you, let them. They won’t vote for you know matter how much you coerce them. Let the message speak for itself.

The second reason that the Bridgewater campaign failed was the move away from being the nice guy in the race to being the attacker in the race. And this is probably more relevant than the first key.

After the convention, I was tempted to write a post predicting who would win and why. I never wrote it, because frankly, the whole Senate Campaign was starting to bore me. The essence of that post would have been that the candidate that came across as the nice guy would win. Based on that, I would have predicted that Bridgewater would win the campaign.

Unfortunately for Bridgewater, they didn’t stick with the nice guy campaign. Instead, they decided to counter attack Lee’s negative messages. Rather than coming across as the victim like the ads were intended, they came across as hypocrites. I know that many people were left scratching their heads. They wondered how to believe that Bridgewater is the better candidate when he tells them not to vote for Lee because he is running a negative campaign, and in the same mailer they throw negative jabs at Lee.

I heard from many people that this is the reason they were hesitant to vote for Bridgewater. Some of them did vote for Bridgewater, but some of them didn’t.

It has caused me to speculate why a campaign might choose to run a negative campaign. And I could only come up with one reason that I felt a negative campaign was justified. Simply put a negative campaign helps to solidify your base. However, while the Bridgewater campaign had several people leaning towards him. They wouldn’t call themselves part of his base. They were just a voter (as opposed to being a supporter). When the campaign went negative, many of these voters were forced to make the decision to become a supporter. And I think he lost a lot of those.

Again, I want to reiterate, that I do not wish to offend either the Bridgewater or the Lee campaigns. I personally think that they were both very poorly run campaigns. I wish the best to Lee for the rest of his campaign. I will most likely vote for him. But I won’t become one of his supporters in 2010.

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Round Valley Draw & Willis Creek

Travis Grant — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 04:18:09 +0000

As I have done for the past couple of years, I took another great trip to southern Utah’s great red rock country. My friends and I again traveled to the Grant Staircase-Escalante National Monument for some fun slot canyon hikes.

Our original plan was to visit three different slot, but we were only able to visit two of them.

We first arrived at our camping spot around 10:00pm on Jun 10th. It was a great night, and one worth taking the time to explore. Actually, I just wanted to find the geocache that was located at the mouth of the first slot canyon that we were going to hike.

So we headed to the mouth of Round Valley Draw late at night. The cache was easily found, and the it was need to see how different the canyons look in the dark, than in the day time. After making our way back, we set up camp and slept for the night.

The next morning after a quick breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and eggs, we headed back to Round Valley Draw. Perhaps the best part of this hike was a couple of fun descents. We started out with an esay, 10-foot drop (approximately). Then we enjoyed a casual stroll until the next drop which was a little more technical, but was still easy (especially with the help of the rope that is available there).

After that hike it was fairly casual until we reached the exit. The exit proved to be the hardest part of this hike. It wasn’t technical, as much as it was physically exerting. But it ultimately resulted in a beautiful view back into the canyon. The hike back to the mouth of the canyon was a easy, and it provided a couple on great views of the wild flowers and a couple of hoodoos.

We finished this hike just around lunch time, so we went to Grosvenor’s Arch. This was great for me, because it also features a great Earth Cache to find. We had decided earlier that this would be a good place for lunch. We didn’t realized that there were actually picnic tables and a rest room there, so it provided us with more of a reprieve than we had planned.

While we ate lunch, we were entertained by a Wester Scrub-jay who had perfected the art of performing for food. If I had been in downtown Salt Lake, I would have expected him to be playing a musical instrument with a hat on the ground asking for tips.

the weather started to turn a bit, and we started to wonder if we should be in slot canyons at this point. So, we went to Kodakrome Basin State Park Visitor Center and asked them for a weather report. Things weren’t positive.

However, we were determined and we wanted to see what things would be like. So, we headed to the Willis Creek trail head. The weather started to look a little better, and I was determined to get the two geocaches located in the this slot canyon. So, we unwisely pursued our goals.

The canyon was very beautiful, and in my opinion (most of our group disagreed with me) was the best part of our weekend. I loved having the creek flowing by as we walked, and I thought that the lines and formations (including arch near our turn around point) were better than what Round Valley Draw had to offer.

Just as we were approaching the second geocache available in this canyon, the weather really started to turn nasty. Our group was determined that we should turn back. But I encourage them to go another few hundred feet for the cache and they agreed. When we not near the coords and as the weather got worse, I decided that the cache was going to require more work than the time we had could offer. So, we turned around.

We made it out of the canyon just fine. But the weather really wasn’t acting friendly. We decided that before we took the next trip the next morning we should at least see what we are up against. So, we headed down the road from Willis Creek to Bull Valley Gorge. We managed to see the truck that has become a part of the landscape, and to get a little picture of what the canyon would require.

The whole time we had in the back of our minds that there was a good chance that we would not be making this hike. On our way out of the area, the rain really started to poor. And we were thinking that it might be in our best interest to get a motel for the night. But instead we headed to a local joint, and had a burger for dinner.

Just about the time we finish dinner the rain subsided a bit, and we decided to go find a place to camp. We found beautiful site where we set up camp, started a fire, shot off a few round from a 9mm hand gun, then went to sleep.

It rained most of the night and by morning we had decided that it wouldn’t be safe to attempt bull Valley Gorge. Which was too bad, because it was probably going to be the most fun part of our weekend. However, safety must play out when it comes to slot canyons and rain.

So, we grabbed a bite to eat at Ruby’s near Bryce Canyon, then headed home. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized that I left my camera at the trail head register for Willis Creek. So, I made a few phone calls, and the great men and women from Kodachrome Basin and Grand Staircase-Escalante worked with me and managed to get my camera back to me. Big pat on the back to them, and the honest citizen who turned my camera in.

Despite the bad weather and the lost camera, it was a great trip, and I look forward to my trip next year. Hope you enjoy the pictures and my retelling of the story as much as I enjoyed the adventure.

Round Valley Draw Entrance

Round Valley Draw as It Opens Up

Flower On the Exit from Round Valley Draw

Top of Exit Looking Back at Round Valley Draw

Hoodoos Near Round Valley Draw

Grosvenor Arch

Western Scrub-jay Who Entertained Us at Lunch

Willis Creek

Unnamed Arch Inside Willis Creek

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I Was Wrong

Travis Grant — Sun, 09 May 2010 03:49:43 +0000

This is an apology post. Because I was wrong about today’s convention.

First, I was wrong about my live blogging. When I got there, they were charging for Wi-Fi access, and when I plugged in my Wireless Access Card, I had already exceeded my monthly allotment. Frankly, I am too cheap to pay.

Second, I was wrong with my prediction. I predicted that the race would be near 50-50 for Lee and Bridgewater. To some friends I said that it would probably be 51 for Lee and 49 for Bridgewater. As you are well aware, it was a whopping 57% for Bridgewater, and a shallow 43% for Lee.

I was shocked, but having reviewed the numbers and contemplated the approach, I can see how it happened. I think many Bennett Candidates were upset with the Lee camp. So, when Bennett lost the race, they voted for Bridgewater as more of an “Any Body But Lee” vote.

Now I get a chance to vote in this race, and as you are aware, I am leaning towards Bridgewater. But things could change in the next month. And I am excited to see what Utahns have to say (at the ballot box) about these two candidates.

Finally, Thank you Senator Bennett. Your service for the past 18 years, is appreciated. You may not have voted like I would have liked you to. But you have done things for Utah. I hope you enjoy your retirement and I wish you and your family the best over the coming years.

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