Saturday in the Park

So there I was on Saturday night, looking for something fun to do. I decided to head on down to Draper Park and catch a free concert. I was flying solo, but that's another blog for another day. I got there and found myself a lovely spot on the grass. Took a seat. Realized that I was sitting directly behind two large shade umbrellas that completely obscured my view of the stage. Fortunately, I was so far back that actually seeing the stage wasn't going to make much of a difference, anyway. Plus, once the sun went down, they put the umbrellas away.

The band I was there to see was a Canadian band called Brass Transit - a Chicago tribute band. For those of you that don't know what a tribute band is, that means that this band was playing covers of songs by the popular 70s and 80s band, Chicago. The poor chap sitting in his lawn chair directly to my left started making phone calls to his friends about five minutes into the concert. "Did you know Chicago was playing here tonight??" About 30 minutes later, he called somebody back and apologized. "They sound just like them! I could have sworn it was really Chicago." I felt bad for him.

I enjoyed the concert. I've liked the music of Chicago since I was a wee lad, so it was fun to go out in the good weather and hear some of their stuff played live. Plus, it was free, so what is there really to complain about?

How about the fact that all these freeloaders that want a free concert in the park bring all their whiny, rambunctious little Kindergarteners? At one point, I was surrounded by nine or 10 screaming, dancing kids on either side. They, at times, would bump into me or swing their light-up, glowing sabre inches from my head. What am I supposed to do? Push them away? Knock them over? Yell at them? Tell the guy who thought it was actually Chicago to keep his kids in line? So... I sat there and I did nothing. And I strained to hear the music admist the chaos. Eventually, they ran out of energy, so I was able to enjoy the rest of the evening (mostly), but seriously, people. If you're going to be taking all eight of your young children out in public - especially in a situation where other people are within a very close proximity for an extended period of time (two and a half hours, in this case), please be considerate. Not ONCE did either of the parents on my left or right tell their kids to tone it down or to take it easy. Not a single time! I considered just getting up and moving, but hey - I was there first... and I'm just lazy, I guess.

What are you supposed to do in those situations? Help me out, guys. Do you shatter the guy's dreams and tell him early on that it's not actually Chicago or do you let him enjoy it while his ignorance lasts? Do you purposely trip the little kids? Do you offer the parents some duct tape or handcuffs? Do you unleash your emotions like unto Vesuvius, embarrassing the folks bad enough that they get up and leave?

Eureka! I've got it! I'm going to start a petition to ban young children from public parks. Think of it now - no screaming, no dancing, no annoying whining to their parents... No little kiddies bumping into me as I attempt to listen to my free concert, no one to get in our way as we play football or frisbee. Less potential lawsuits waiting to happen, more peace and quiet, more relaxation for those wishing to picnic in the park. And, arguably best of all, less of a line for the merry-go-round and the big green slide. There's really no downside to this. It'd be amazing! Join with me now and ban young children from public parks!

If you'd like to add your name to the petition, you can leave a comment in the section below or you can follow us on Twitter - @SotTUnderground. Or both. Deuces.

Yep... I'm One of Those People

So... my fellow Undergroundians, I have discovered over the past couple of weeks that I am one of those people.  It's nothing scary, bad, or earth-shattering, it's just one of those things that I thought was dormant in my personality, but has come screaming to the surface.

I am, of course, talking about my predilection to spoil our new puppy dog.

Ginger (my youngest calls her Ginger T. Brunson; my Dad, Ginger Snap) came into our home.  She's quite the little spit-fire, which means she fits into my lot just perfectly.

Last week, we had to go to the pet store to get her some of the pet medicine to keep fleas away.  While there, I decided that the dog needed a new blanket and her own special bath towel.  Yep, I'm one of those people who will buy things for their pet that they already have at home, but the pet needs one of their very own.

If you are one of us, I now understand.  If you are not one of us, keep the faith, but in the end, like me, you will fall into the abyss of spoiling the pet.

A little post about me - Meet Jordan Holmes

Well, it's a little overdue for me to write this post. I'm Jordan Holmes, and I'll be contributing to this wonderful little blog from time to time. I'm a 26 year old married man, raising 3 kids and attempting to balance school, work, and home life to the best of my abilities. Since spare time is nearly non-existent in my world, I have come to enjoy those things that are duties for a man such as myself; fixing things, cooking, facilitating entertainment for my family, researching impending purchases on the Internet to try and get the best bang for my buck, and so on.

My contributions here will include but will likely not be limited to; food (the stuff i make and/or eat), technology, music, perhaps a little home repair, and the occasional rant about whatever is on my mind. I am generally not the most serious guy, so I will hopefully be able to weave a little humor into my posts so the readers are not completely bored with me. Heck, I'll even take requests if you want. Just shoot me an email or something and I will be happy to respond as long as it is within my intellectual power to do so.

Here's to a happy future of reading and writing!

What is up SotT: Underground?! - Meet Crystal Nichols

HELLLOOOOOO Signs of the Times: Underground! What is up? No for real, what is up? I have decided that as part of my posts I want to start a dialogue between you, the readers, other readers and me. So to get things started I will introduce myself. Hello (again J) my name is Crystal Nichols and I have been asked by the amazing and talented Aaron to be a part of this awesome and totally fantastic endeavor! I am so excited and can’t wait to get started.  A little backstory, I wrote the most incredible and inspired blog of my life, but my computer decided it would be fun to crash before I could post it. Alas, I had to rewrite it and that is what I am now posting. Maybe someday I will be inspired again and write the perfect post, but for now enjoy. I just wanted to get the ball rolling and post a little sumthin, sumthin.J  So without further ado, a little bit about me and then I would like to get know you all because I am all about getting to know people and that starts with communication which of course is a two-way street, right? Right. Plus I work in the world of communication so I find it fascinating, communicating that is. 

I currently work for a company called Simmons Media Group, they own 5 radio stations and some days I absolute love my job other days I totally want to leave. Just like any other job. I am obsessed with music, learning, culture, people and just life in general! I actually wanted to start by focusing on music for a moment. Music is my escape from the world, it is a place where I can leave every problem behind and just get lost in the moment. It moves me and makes feel inspired, happy, sad, or just plain excited! Though I do love lyrics, there are times that I just love a good tune I can groove to; especially anything I can Zumba to. J I am open to listen to and learn about any new kind of music that anybody would like to throw at me, so do share. I am also an avid social media user; though I use it more to learn about what is going on in the world or how my friends are doing then really posting much. I am all about enjoying moments and sometimes that is a little difficult when you are always tied to a phone or camera and constantly posting on social media outlets. However it is fun to have those memories forever reserved, so it is a two way street.

 I like learning about the different media outlets and how they are every changing. From My Space to Facebook, Instagram to vine, and of course the never-ending thoughts of millions of people, Twitter. Call me old fashioned but I would rather not know what everyone is thinking ALL of the time, but it can be quit entertaining.  J Plus I am an avid fan of Face-to-face time, like literally person-to-person, there is nothing like it. As you have probably gathered by now my main focuses, will most likely be social media and music. The ever-changing world fascinates me and I can’t wait to hear from you and what you think. Like what are your thoughts on Vine vs Instagram? What kind of music do like? What inspires you? What can we learn from one another? You know, the basics. Oh and also how does everybody like the new Facebook layout, for the 50^th time?  Speaking of social media maybe I will leave links so you can follow me…or not J until next time “Live life to the fullest, enjoy every moment and every experience!”

By Crystal Nichols

Me with my fav singer Ben Kweller

I should sue Stephen King

I had this great idea once. I have many great ideas, to be frank, but this idea that I once had was a really good one. You see, I was an elementary school student and I loved recess. Loved recess! I wanted it to be recess all the time. However, living in the unpredictable climate that I like to call Utah, where it's sometimes winter 9 months out of the year, it wasn't always practical to have a bunch of little nine-year-old kids running around outside in the freezing cold, the snow, or heavy downpours of rain. When the weather got bad enough, they made us stay inside. "In Days," they called them. I hated In Days. There were a few fun things we could do indoors, but, by and large, I'd much rather have been outside.

So I came up with this idea: why not build a giant, weather-proof dome over the school? That way we could keep the temperature steady and wouldn't be influenced by local weather. It would always be sunny and we could always have recess. (Now, getting out of the dome could be exciting, especially if there was a blizzard or something, but who would care? We had outdoor recess, didn't we??)

Needless to say, my heart sunk when I saw commercials for the new CBS drama, "Under the Dome," based on a 2009 Stephen King novel. That was MY IDEA!! Who gave him the intel? Who's the rat? Ugh! I knew I should have patented that idea before anyone capitalized on it. Crap. What the heck was I thinking? I could have been filthy rich - and simultaneously provided amazing childhood memories to schoolkids the world 'round!

Now I'm wondering whether I'd have any solid ground to stand on if I attempted to take him to court. I clearly came up with the idea waaaaay before 2009, which King published his book. I just didn't act on it. But that stuff happens all the time, right? People try to sue movie companies for stealing their ideas every once in a while. I hear about it on the news. Even if I couldn't totally put him out of business or sue him for everything he's worth, maybe he'd at least bring me on as a consultant for the show. I'm sure I could contribute in a meaningful way.

After all, I have many great ideas.

Independence Day -- Freedom to Blow Things Up

Every year on July 4th, the United States of America celebrates her independence. To the men, women and children who fought for freedom, who died bringing to pass our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (property).  Each year, as President John Adams signified, "From one end of the continent to the other..." we shall celebrate our independence with fireworks!

As a boy, I remember watching fireworks out on the back deck of my grandparents home in Fruit Heights, Utah.  We could see the fireworks show shot over the Great Salt Lake, the fireworks from Lagoon Amusement Park and the show from Bountiful, Utah.  It was quite the site!  We would gather around and eat good food, play games and enjoy each other's company.  If we had the time, we would get to do sparklers and on occasion, one of my uncles would get a few of the fireworks that you see in grocery stores today.  It was a great time!

Fast forward several years, now I finished putting on a wee bit of a fireworks show for my children, including sparklers.  We now longer go to Fruit Heights as Grandma and Grandpa have both passed on, but the feelings of gratitude for the freedoms I enjoy are still as relevant today as they were then.

Over the past couple of years, the State of Utah has legalized aerial fireworks.  It is simply amazing to me how a nice quiet neighborhood of good, law abiding citizens can be turned into a "war-zone."  (For those who have been in actual war-zones, forgive my liberal use of the term. I simply have no other reference to which I can call what I see and hear.)  Explosions are heard overhead of my house.  Rockets red glare (along with, blue, green, and yellow) can be seen above the treetops of our quite hovel.  As I watch this spectacle of aerial gunpowder excitement, and water hose in hand ready to spring into action, I think of those men and women who fought for our right to blow things up... legally!  Once again, I say thank you.

God Bless, America!  (We could use all the help we can get.)