The True Story of Jiminy Cricket

Here is an idea I have for a story. Let me know what you think.

Jiminy Cricket is just an alias he uses to hide from his former life. Jiminy Cricket also known as Vince Carbauldi is a former member of a secretive gang that is led by Stromboli and another unknown miscreant (the operator of Pleasure Island). After witnessing the murder of Stromboli's assistant, Vince decides it is time to leave the gang before it is too late. In the process of skipping town, Vince is caught by the police. Vince has his own lengthy rap sheet and is worried about going to prison. So he offers his assistance to the police in exchange for his freedom. The chief of police (the blue fairy) doesn't quite let Vince off the hook. Instead of complete freedom Vince is entered into a witness protection program as Jiminy Cricket and sentenced to community service as a conscience for a newly created wooden boy named Pinocchio. Jiminy is greatly concerned with the thought of being a conscience for anybody, considering he lived most of his life ignoring his own conscience. Wising up to the situation Jiminy steps into the role as conscience with a determination to live a good life vicariously through Pinocchio. Unfortunately, Pinocchio runs into some of Vince's old pals. Jiminy needs to decide to help Pinocchio and risk getting caught or let Pinocchio fall in with Stromboli's old cronies and stay safe.

The traditional Pinocchio story unfolds with some twists based on the fact that Jiminy Cricket is linked to the criminal underworld. some of the twists are that Geppeto wouldn't just get lost and be swallowed by the whale, but that Stromboli's gang sent Geppeto to "sleep with the fishes." Also, pleasure island and the whole donkey thing was a ploy set up by Stromboli and his partner. However, the plan is foiled by Pinocchio, Vince, and Geppeto. I've thought about adding a love interest for Vince, but I'm not quite sure how it would fit in. We'll see.

Casket Advertisements

I was thinking the other day, that you don't see caskets advertised very often. I have since seen a casket company advertise on one of those bus billboards. I was wondering how interesting it would be if a casket company advertised like any other organization.

Imagine "Buy one casket get one 1/2 off!"
or "For a limited time only..."
or "Free pillow with every casket!"
or "The 100th customer receives a free iPod!"
or "For every $500 you spend, you get a $25 gift card to Papa Johns!"
or "Now announcing our 'Frequent Die-er Miles' program"
or lastly "Early Bird Special..."

It's a good thing I'm not in marketing.

New Blog

As many of you may know, we recently purchased a home.  We are very excited to modify it and make it our own.  I have already installed a dishwasher and added house numbers outside.  We decided to chronicle our home remodeling adventures in a blog.  goodbrookshome.blogspot.com  Both of us are contributors and will be posting to keep a tab on what we have accomplished.  So check it out and give us feedback on what we can do to improve our home even more.

~Barch

KaChing - stock market imitator.

Well I've been dabbling in the stock market for about two months now.  There is an app on facebook called KaChing which lets you buy and sell stocks with market timing prices.  For the past couple days I've been in the top ten portfolios out of nearly 370,000.  I'm very pleased with my progress, but it isn't hard when you pick the right stocks.  I'm a value trader, which means that I pick stocks that have been battered by outside events.  Once I buy those stocks cheap, I hold onto them to watch the value grow back to normal levels.  I focus on large cap companies because of the rare odds that those companies will default and collapse.  The two big purchases I made which have helped my portfolio the most are Citigroup (C) and Ford (F).  Both companies have solid futures despite being battered by the market for their industry.  Citigroup is up 200% from when I bought it and Ford is up over 100%.  Within a year I think I will take some real money and start testing the waters with the market.  We will see what will happen.  To check out my portfolio click here.

Know Thyself

I attended the 24th annual leadership conference at UC on Saturday Feb 28th. It was interesting to hear what some of the people had to say about leadership. Of all that was said, the one thing that kept coming across as a theme was the concept to know thyself. This hasn't really been a new concept for me. Well over a year ago I highlighted the quote, “We are to train our bodies, our minds, and our spirits... to govern self so that one may give leadership to others“ in the Teachings of our Times Manual for Spencer W Kimball. The best way to do this is to first know yourself and then learn to govern it.

This idea has been kicking around inside of me for the past couple weeks. Maybe that is why is stood out so much at the conference. It was impressive to me to get the validation that knowing yourself is an important part of leadership. Saying that it is important however doesn't make the process of truly knowing yourself easy. Sometimes to be honest with yourself about who you truly are can be one of the biggest challenges in life. It takes humility, honesty, desire for change, and the courage to act on the promptings that we receive.

In 1 Corinthians Chapter thirteen there is an excellent discourse on Charity. My favorite part of the chapter is in verses 11-12 which state: "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." A loving heavenly father knows me completely whereas I know me only in part.

An interesting example of this is my wonderful mother who wanted to make a blanket for my second missionary christmas. I hadn't spent much time with my family in about 18 months and I felt that I had changed as a person dramatically in that time period. So when my mother said she wanted to make something for me I was afraid she would make it based on the old Brandon. When I opened the box that came in the mail and fished out the blanket I thought it was perfect. I asked my mom how she knew what style to make the blanket. She said that she might just know me better than I thought she did.

To make my point, God is our loving heavenly father.  He knows us and one day we can know ourselves "even as also [we are] known."  God is willing to show us who we truly are if we are willing to listen and see. That is what he desires most.  How you go about discovering yourself is between you and the Lord.  I've started my journey.

Alternative Hybrid Technology

I was working in the shop today with pneumatic tools, and I was thinking. It doesn't take much to spark an intriguing thought and I began thinking about the power of the pnumatic motor in the drill I was using. Then I linked that to the concept behind regular hybrid motors that mate an electric motor with a gasoline engine. I thought about how difficult it would be to replace the electric motors in hybrid with pneumatic motors. The wheels began turning.

I came home and checked the internet, because I figured I wasn't the first person to think of this idea. That's when I stumbled across this web article.
The concept with this one is even easier than my idea. Here's some of the concept:

The normal combustion engine can be a simple four cylinder engine. During the charging stage, some of the cylinders can be switched from firing (to power the car) to compressing air (to charge the pneumatic system). This eliminates the need for a separate compressor. Then during the power stage that drives the car there are two options. Option one is to use the engine like any other car, the other is to use compressed air to assist. The pneumatic assistance can be done in different modes. One mode would be to use compressed air to pump all cylinders. This would be used after stopping at a light and without any gasoline. The other mode would only add compressed air to the firing cylinders when needed in the same way a turbo or supercharger would. This would greatly increase the power for each of the cylinders, thus reducing the need for a powerful inefficient motor. According to the website this alone would reduce fuel consumption by about 32%. The other thing that would be a major plus to this system is it's simplicity. Compared to a typical hybrid system this system would remove the electronic motor, the drive assembly, and the expensive batteries. The only new thing it would add would be a compression tank and an extra valve in each cylinder. I think it is simple enough that retrofitting an older car with this technology wouldn't be impossible for the average handy-man mechanic. It sounds like a job for my buddy Joey.

26 Random Things

I hate responding to things because I've been "tagged," but I love talking about myself enough to override my fear of following the crowd. I am responding, but I'm doing it on my blog so nobody else will get tagged and continue the foolishness.

1. I am currently working on an associates degree in Aircraft maintenance and a bachelors degree in Organizational Leadership. In addition I would like to earn two masters degrees: One MPA (Masters of Public Affairs) and one MCRP (Masters of City and Regional Planning. I would then like to earn a law degree, and a PhD in either Juris Prudence or Sociology. The PhD is a maybe.

2. I once passed a county sheriff going 105 m.p.h. in a 55 m.p.h. zone on a two lane road without getting pulled over. As soon as I could, I pulled off to the side roads. I didn't want to find out if he had turned around to get me.

3. I had a dream about all of my kids before I even met my wife. So far the dream has been accurate.

4. I really want an early 70's Stingray Corvette.

5. I read the Book of Mormon 20 times on my mission. I finished it for the 21st time about a month after I came home.

6. I can't whistle and my wife can't either.

7. Nobody in my immediate family has graduated from BYU except my father who only went there after a bachelors and masters from the University of Utah, and after the U of U took too long on his law school application. On the flip side, nearly everyone in my wife's family has attended and or graduated from BYU.

8. I've read War and Peace (unabridged), Les Miserables (unabridged), and all six books of the Lord of the Rings (that is how it was originally published before it was later turned into a trilogy). I hope to someday read East of Eden, Ulysses, and The Brothers Karamazov.

9. I own an n-scale model train set. I want to someday make a rough model of the rail yard that I work in now.

10. I always wanted to name a boy William or Matthew. My wife won't let me because those names are taken by my adorable nephews William and Matthew respectively. I don't think it is fair, but I also know that there are plenty of good names still available like Fred.

11. I was in the inaugural cast of the revamped Nauvoo Pageant in 2005. I played an immigrant, an apostle, an apostate, a temple mason, and a pioneer.

12. I have always been afraid of water. I still am, and cannot even shower without my fear affecting me. The ocean is the worst.

13. I have m&m sized bumps all over my body. The doctor says that they are benign lipomas. It's a little strange.

14. Within the 3 1/2 years since my mission, I have been a forklift operator, a limousine driver, a security guard, a catering server, a construction worker, a factory peon, an irrigation specialist at a golf course, a text book sorter, a life insurance agent, an Air Force airman, a structural mechanic for the Air Force, a ramp attendant at the local airport, a tank washer, and now a rail yard / trucking company supervisor.

15. I have tooth that never grew any roots. The dentist says that one of these days it will just fall out.

16. I hate pasta.

17. I have the most eclectic music tastes of anyone I know. I'll listen to Fergie, Mozart, Patsy Cline, Keith Urban, Moby, Glen Miller, The Beatles, Heart, Pearl Jam, Coldplay, The Supremes, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Plain White T's, Motab, Three Dog Night, P!nk, Simon and Garfunkel, Ella Fitzgerald, Morcheeba, Jars of Clay, Jim Croce, O.A.R., Van Morrison, Counting Crows, Liszt, The Foo Fighters, The BeeGees, Carly Simon, John Williams, Queen, Metallica, Stevie Wonder, and many more. I love putting my library of over 9000 songs on random and listening to the mix of it all.

18. I have an innie.

19. My most favorite movie of all time is Rudy.

20. I was the academic monitor in my military basic training flight. As academic monitor I led my flight to win the academic achievement banner. Our sister flight won the female fitness banner. Our chants on the way back from the awards ceremony were "the boys have the brains and the girls have the brawn." When I left basic training my Drill Instructor shook my hand and thanked me for getting the banner.

21. I built home made spud guns, and a catapult on my mission. With the spud guns, I shot a table leg through my window, I covered my companion with bread crumbs, and I surprised my neighbor by aiming the spud gun at her when she knocked on the door.

22. My favorite scripture is actually a line from one verse and the beginning line of the next verse. It is 2 Nephi 4: 19-20 "Nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support."

23. I haven't worn my wedding ring in over two years. It is a safety hazard at work and it is too big. I almost lost it once.

24. I plan on being a millionaire someday, God willing.

25. It took me five days to come up with this stupid list. Consider this the last time I ever respond to a "tag."

26. I met Elder Ballard at Cafe Rio in Cottonwood Heights. He shook my hand and put his other hand on my neck and told me to work extra hard that afternoon to burn off all of the food I had eaten.