Friday the 13th

The year was 1998. I was in third grade, and I was a rock star. Okay, not really. But I was a really, really good speller. The third grade words were so easy that I had aced every single spelling test that school year. Naturally, this went straight to my head because spelling is what the cool kids can do. And so, in a great act of academic arrogance, I asked my teacher for more of a challenge. I asked her to give me fourth-grade spelling tests instead of the third-grade ones given to the rest of the class. I was a punk, I know.

Not me. Just a stock photo.

I continued to ace the tests, though. That is until one day in February. It happened to be Friday, and it happened to be the 13th.

The word was "carriage." I swear I included the "i" but somehow it was missing from my paper. And so, for the first, and only time that entire school year, I missed a spelling word. My mom claims it was because I never studied, but what do moms know? I never studied all year, so why would that test be any different?

I'll tell you why. It's because it was Friday the 13th! That's why!

And so I became what some people call "superstitious." I call it logical. If the only bad thing to ever happen to me happened on Friday the 13th, then, of course, I'm going to be careful on all other Friday the 13ths! To this day I will not take a test on a Friday the 13th (thank goodness I'm no longer a student), and I am very cautious in all my other activities on that day. You can never be too careful!

Except that bad luck struck once again.

It was Friday, 13 September 2013. My wife wanted to celebrate the day and mock the superstition of it by watching a scary movie. I thought we better not tempt Friday the 13th like that, but I also thought my wife was pretty excited about it and so I figured I should humor her like any good husband would.

We eventually settled on the movie Abandoned, simply because it sounded creepy. And creepy it was! See, this woman takes her boyfriend to the hospital, checks him in, meets the nurse, and then leaves while he is in surgery. She comes back a couple hours later and finds out he wasn't in the hospital's system and nobody knew the nurse she met. Turns out (and here's your spoiler alert, but it's a stupid movie, so just do yourself a favor and never watch it) her "boyfriend," the "nurse," and some sweet old guy she met in the hospital restaurant were all in a scheme to steal money from the bank she worked at.

So we're watching this thing, and it was really starting to get to my wife. It's getting particularly intense, we're not sure if what we know is real, the main character is imagining things that aren't really there, and suddenly she freaks out and says, "What was that?!"

Well, I was just a little bit concerned about the effect this movie was having on my poor wife. Now she was imagining things, too. She tells me that she was pretty sure she saw a mouse.

Fortunately, we had a flashlight nearby and I shined the light around and didn't see anything. I knew she had to be crazy because the path that this imaginary mouse would have had to take would have rustled some papers on the floor near the entertainment center. No such thing had happened, therefore my wife was being driven to insanity by this ridiculous, yet slightly creepy movie.

It happened two more times, and on the third time, she said it went out in the hall. I shined the flashlight out in the general direction my wife had pointed and lo and behold, there was a mouse peering out from under a mat.

Well, gosh darn it. Why did we have to tempt Friday the 13th with a scary movie? I had avoided bad luck for 15 and a half years on this horrible day! And now we tempted fate and brought upon ourselves a terrible curse.

So I put on my bravest face and set out to catch this thing. I thought back to my childhood and realized the only way I knew how to catch a mouse was to give it a cookie. But we didn't have any cookies. And so instead I got my wife (who was standing atop our couch at this point) her socks, shoes, and purse. I cleared the hallway and watched every angle to make sure our furry little friend wouldn't come darting out as she raced past. And race past she did! I'm pretty sure she could out-sprint Usain Bolt if she thought she was being chased by a mouse. So she bolted (see what I did there?) out of the house and went to the store where she purchased some mouse traps.

While she was gone I called my grandparents and asked if we could stay the night at their place. Now before you judge us for running away from a tiny little creature, you have to remember that our mattress was on the floor. We had no bed frame, and therefore this little mouse could come cuddle with us in the night if he wanted. But no matter how much that mouse loved us, we did not love it.

And so we spent the night at my grandparents (THANK YOU) and even took the time to finish Abandoned. And then a mouse showed up in my grandparents' house. Just kidding. But it was a really dumb movie. Seriously. Don't waste your time.

**********

IKEA should be grateful for the mouse that invaded our house. In fact, there are conspiracy theorists out there that believe IKEA actually released the mouse into our house. We had no intention of buying a bed frame or anything until we moved to a new place. For one thing, we couldn't fit a box spring down into our little basement apartment so we would have to get a frame that didn't need one and IKEA is the best place to get one of those. Also, we were still poor, so we figured we'd wait until taking a couple hundred bucks out of our account didn't bother us quite so much.

Our new bed frame!

But sleeping on the floor while at least one mouse is in your house does not sound even a little bit fun. So we weren't even going to consider it. But before we went to get a bed frame we went home and checked the traps. And by we, I mean I. I tried to claim a seat at the top of the stairs while my wife went and checked the traps, but apparently, it's my job to deal with mice. 

So I checked all the traps and discovered I had set them wrong. These aren't your traditional mousetraps. They're the ridiculous kind with a fake cheese pallet that comes with vague instructions on the back. So I reset them, properly this time, which I knew because I almost killed my finger.

After resetting all the traps, we made our first ever trip to IKEA in search of the perfect bed frame. IKEA is a cool place!  We may go back one day to furnish more of our home. Unless we find out the conspiracy theorists were right. Then we're going to release thousands of mice in their store for vengeance. And I really hope nobody ever does that or we'll be the number one suspects now...

We then went home so that I could watch the Texas A&M versus Alabama football game. I missed it the year before and it was a good one so I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice, with or without a mouse running around our home.

So close!

Well, my wife fell asleep and even I was fading during commercials. Apparently, it took a lot out of us to run away from a little rodent the night before. I opened my eyes at one point to see the mouse just resting in our hallway. So I grabbed a couple of partially filled water bottles, fully intending to sneak up on it and smash it dead so that we could carry on our normal lives.

I crept forward, careful not to disturb this restful creature. I was ready to launch the water bottles the second it tried to dash away. But it never bolted like I expected it to, but rather it began to slowly meander away from me. Regardless, the movement startled me into pulling the trigger and launching the first bottle toward him. I missed that poor creature by a fraction of an inch. I quickly threw the other water bottle at it and narrowly missed once more. But the mouse didn't dart away like I expected. Instead, it started walking like it was completely drunk.

It wandered aimlessly in little circles, occasionally tripping over itself as though it was absolutely hammered. After a few minutes of struggle, the poor thing just keeled over and died, right in front of us, right in our hallway.

The video is really shaky (I apologize for that) and I didn't start filming until the most entertaining bit was over, and I stopped filming before it actually died, but this will help you visualize what was going on:

What we think happened is that it chewed on the little D-Con cheese pallets the night before when we first set the traps and poisoned itself. It must have been dying when I started throwing things at it, and the close encounters must have given the poor little guy a heart attack and killed it. 

What a wonderful blessing, though! It came and died right in front of us so that we wouldn't have to wonder if it was still wandering around our home. I still had to clean it up, however. I did, with work gloves on, and by picking it up with a shovel. I wasn't going near that thing!

**********

We rejoiced, knowing that this mouse was no longer wreaking havoc in our home! But a few days later we discovered he had a friend. Or maybe a lover out for revenge, we don't know. 

Once again we settled in to watch TV, and once again it was my dear wife who said she thought she saw another mouse. And once again, I thought she was losing it. I thought she was still feeling the ill effects of a Friday the 13th gone wrong, and that the first mouse had freaked her out to the point she was imaging another one a few days later. 

But then I saw it. It ran into the corner of the room behind our couch, and then it would try and run toward the doorway but I would force it back. Since we knew where it was trying to go, I went and grabbed one of our mouse traps we now had scattered throughout our house. And since it had worked out so well last time I also grabbed a water bottle to throw at it.

See where it says "GUARANTEED
TO KILL"?!?!??!?!?!?!?!

But you'll never believe what happened. My plan worked to perfection. The mouse started toward the door, right toward my trap. Then it started to sniff the cheese pallet. And then it CLIMBED RIGHT ON TOP OF THE STUPID THING AND IT DIDN'T SNAP!!! So that is why the first mouse had lived. And I was so stunned that the trap failed that I forgot to chuck the water bottle on the rodent's head while it was sitting contently on top of my trap. I did yell though, angry that the trap didn't work. And I startled the mouse back to its corner under our couch. 

At this point, my wife decided she was going to hide in our room, so she darted past, closed the door behind her, stuffed towels under it as tightly as she could, and barricaded it closed with the bookshelf or something, though I don't know that part for sure.

I called my best friend and had him come over and help me because I didn't really have the thing cornered by myself, but was pretty sure we could do it with two people. So he hurried over and I sat by the door to make sure that stupid thing couldn't sneak past me and escape. When my friend arrived, we tried to force it out so we could catch it or kill it, but it wasn't budging. After multiple attempts, we lifted the couch to force it out of its hiding place but somehow it was gone. We checked for holes along the wall, inside the couch itself, and found absolutely nothing. Somehow it had slipped past me and disappeared somewhere in our house.

We never saw him (or her, if it really was a rage-filled lover of the first mouse) again.

**********

Our house was then armed with spin traps, glue traps, D-Con, and noise making rodent repellents. We didn't see a mouse in our home after those first two, but from time to time we heard one in our walls, generally the wall just right behind our bed (naturally). They would scratch and claw and scurry around. It was really a terrible way to live so you can bet your bottom dollar we didn't stay here a day beyond our contract's completion.

And you can also bet that we aren't going to tempt Friday the 13th ever again. On an unrelated note, does anyone want to have us over all day today?

This blog was originally published on 12 December 2013 on another site. It has been updated slightly but the story remains the same.

Unplugged: It's Time to Go Outside

In June of 2014, I graduated with a degree in Recreation Management from Brigham Young University. "That sounds fun," you will inevitably want to tell me. And it's true: I absolutely loved my major. While I didn't enjoy all of my business classes - after all, this was a management degree and accounting is not for everyone - I am passionate about recreation.

Like most of us, I grew up spending a large portion of my time outside. I played sports, hiked, fished, camped, and just ran around the yard. I loved it! Which is why many of the things I learned during my time studying recreation are still very bothersome to me. Author and journalist Richard Louv, perhaps best known for his book Last Child in the Woods, related the story of one fifth-grader who said, "I like to play indoors better 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are."

That statement is alarming to me, and while I know that not every child feels this way, it does give insight into a prevalent problem we face in today's world.

Consider this video from Nature Valley:

Now, I don't believe that every kid is a technology addict, nor do I believe that every adult is a device-free outdoors enthusiast, but I do think this video paints a very clear and important picture of just how different a childhood is today than it was just twenty years ago.

Are all these devices and technological advances inherently evil? No, of course not. However, we as a society - adult and child alike - need to spend some more time unplugged.

I spend a few hours each week as a volunteer adult leader for the youth at my church. Recently, we were playing volleyball for a mid-week activity and on one particular point, I watch the ball sail over the net and land in the middle of the court within one foot of a girl who was so wrapped up in whatever was on her phone she was oblivious to the ball that had almost struck her. She wasn't the only culprit that night either. I watched as several of these teenagers couldn't resist pulling out their phones in the middle of the action. I understand that as a sports and recreation professional I view the world differently than these kids but it was painful for me to watch.

The Benefits of Going Outside

There are many, many benefits to spending time in nature. While we could spend all day with a never-ending list, let's take a broad look at a few of the rewards that you and I can enjoy as we get some fresh air.

Physical Health

According to a study conducted at the University of Essex, the color green actually makes exercise feel easier. So unless you've been invited to exercise inside a bank vault next to enormous piles of cash, I'd recommend taking at least some of your exercise to the great outdoors.

Whether it's playing tennis (a personal favorite), mountain biking, or taking a short stroll around the block, there are ample opportunities for simple physical activity to boost your health.

Mental and Emotional Health

Time in the great outdoors can help brain function and mental health in several ways. Spending some of your time outside can increase concentration and creativity, improve short-term memory, raise happiness levels, and decrease stress. Because of these benefits, it should come as no surprise that outdoor and natural settings can ease many mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and ADHD (another personal "favorite").

Improved Vision

Studies suggest that, at least for children, time outside may reduce the risk of developing myopia (nearsightedness). So let's get those kids outside before they need to visit my employer in adulthood!

Tips to Disconnect

In today's world, an "addiction" to screens is one of the biggest culprits behind why we don't spend as much time outside. I put addiction in quotation marks, but I probably don't need to. This can be a real addiction and real problem. Here are just a few ideas on how we can disconnect away from technology, allowing us to take in the world a little more:

• When you get home from work, school, or wherever you've been, put your phone down on a shelf somewhere. You'll still be able to hear it if someone calls, but you will have removed the temptation to constantly have it in your hands.

• Schedule some time each day to get outside. Maybe each morning you'll take your kids to the park, or maybe part of your nightly routine will be to go on a walk with your family. Whatever it is, make it a daily habit. And while you're gone... Leave your phone inside. Gasp! Think you can handle it?

• When I was growing up, it was a rule at home that I had to do my homework before I turned on the TV. It takes a lot of self-discipline, but that can even be done as an adult. Prioritize other tasks before you start flipping channels.

• We don't have video games in my house. Why? Because as a teenager I was addicted to them. Now I have removed the temptation so that I won't let video games affect me that way. Is it video games? Netflix binges? If you have a technology addiction, remove it!

• Follow the advice of ex-Googler Tristan Harris and "Unhijack Your Mind from Your Phone" by making your phone work for you and not the other way around.

I understand that some of these ideas probably won't apply to you. Maybe you watch TV as soon as you get home but you're able to easily limit your time on the couch. Maybe you play video games but it doesn't have a stranglehold on your life like it did for me in my teenage years. Or maybe you aren't glued to your phone, constantly checking to see who has liked your latest Instagram photo. But take some time for honest introspection and see if your relationship with technology needs to be improved in any way.

There are hundreds of other ideas on how to unplug. What have you done to disconnect?

"Things as They Really Are"

You may or may not know that I am religious, and one of my favorite scriptures is Jacob 4:13 in the Book of Mormon. A portion of it reads, "The Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be..." It is easy to see how television, video games, and the internet can pull us away from "things as they really are," which is troubling if we stop and think about the "reality" that is so frequently portrayed in these various forms of media.

The phrase "things as they really are" is also the title of a speech by David A. Bednar, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This speech has been particularly influential on me as I continuously evaluate my use of technology. Elder Bednar stated the following:

"Initially the investment of time [in the digital world] may seem relatively harmless, rationalized as a few minutes of needed relief from the demands of a hectic daily schedule. But important opportunities are missed for developing and improving interpersonal skills, for laughing and crying together, and for creating a rich and enduring bond of emotional intimacy. Progressively, seemingly innocent entertainment can become a form of pernicious enslavement."

I want my son to see things as they really are, not as the distorted reality that we see on television or through video games. He won't live in a bubble: he'll certainly be exposed to technology of many varieties. However, he'll spend much of his time outdoors, reading wholesome books, and spending screen-free time with our family. He was born with a natural disposition toward these things, now it's my job to ensure they continue.

My mom sent me this image quite a while back - it's actually what triggered me to begin (and finally finish) writing this article - and it has stuck with me:

And it's true! I think back to my childhood and not a single one of my favorite memories involve a screen of any kind. Most of my memories are outside. Playing one-on-one football with my friend Ryan and the immense pride I felt the one and only time I beat him. Organizing a neighborhood Wiffle ball game that resulted in heat exhaustion and an early night for me (worth it). Watching my dad jump in a lake after his fishing pole when a fish decided to bite while he was helping me with my line. Creating a new sport I called "snow soccer" during Colorado's blizzard in 1997. These are just a few of the memories that jump out when I reflect on my childhood.

If you ask me, it's time for all of us to unplug and spend a little more time enjoying the benefits of the great outdoors.

Mental Tennis: Watch Your Emotions!

In light of Denis Shapovalov's actions in Canada's Davis Cup tie against Great Britain (and if you haven't seen it, take a look here), I thought I would share some stories from the good ol' days. My goal: to help younger players avoid emotions becoming detrimental to their game.

My senior year of high school I was living in England and attending an American school. My school didn't have a tennis program, but the track coach there arranged with the other American schools around the country to allow me to compete against their top singles players as an independent. I couldn't have been more grateful for the opportunity and began traveling (thanks, Mom and Dad) around the UK for the occasional match.

During one such match, I found myself down to an opponent I believed I shouldn't ever lose to (I'll save a discussion on that poor mentality for another day). As was often the case for me at this stage in my playing career, I lost my temper. For me, this involved a lot of yelling at myself, slapping my racket against the net cord, the occasional throwing of the racket (off-hand and open face so I wouldn't break it), and much like Denis Shapovalov, I sometimes found myself taking my anger out on a tennis ball.

My sportsmanship in that loss was bad enough that my parents "encouraged" me to apologize to my victor and his parents. Honestly, it was embarrassing.

But the next week, while competing against another school, a coach I had never met before pulled me aside to offer me some advice. He said he had watched me the week before and that he thought I was a talented player. But he asked me if I understood how my emotional tirades were really affecting the outcomes of my matches.

Nope, hadn't even thought about it.

I simply thought it was a momentary expression of frustration that would allow me to get out my anger and help me start focusing on playing better. This coach, however, made one main point: my emotional outbursts gave my opponents confidence because they knew they had me on the ropes.

That was quite literally a game-changer.

Here I am picking up my first singles win, but that's
a story for another day.

It wasn't that I looked silly (though I did), it wasn't that it was poor sportsmanship (though it most certainly was), it wasn't even that it was making me play worse (though it probably did that, too). What clicked with me and caused me to instantly change was that I was helping my opponent play better, which ultimately led me to lose many, many matches.

I hate losing. Always have, and always will. And as soon as the dots were connected and the correlation between my emotions and my losing was made, I changed. That day I won my first "official" singles match, and I give a lot of credit to this mental change.

Here is the lesson I learned: very few of us in this world are like John McEnroe. He used his temper to propel him to be one of the greatest players this sport has ever seen. More of us are like me, where our tempers get in the way of our success. It's bad sportsmanship, it harms us, and it helps our opponents.

Hopefully we can all learn this lesson before we're forced to learn it the hard way.

Follow me on Twitter: @tennisbytim

The Year of Tim

My wife and I love ABC's The Middle, a sitcom that is especially hilarious because we can all relate to so many things about the Heck family. Sue, the Heck's middle child and only daughter, is a notorious trier. She tries out for everything, and never makes a thing. But she declares her senior year of high school "The Year of Sue," determined to make it her best year yet.

Before we get too far into 2017 I want to share a few thoughts on last year. At the onset of 2016, I declared it to be "The Year of Tim," determined to make it my best year yet.

I had two New Year's Resolutions:

1. Get a new job.
2. Start getting paid for photography.

Maeser Prep Tennis, 2016

There was actually a third goal I had, but it wasn't a New Year's Resolution like the others, it was more of a dream, really. And early in 2016 it became a reality when I became a high school tennis coach. I talked to my managers at work and got my schedule cleared to allow me to coach, and after reaching out to a couple schools I was offered a position as an Assistant Coach for the boys' tennis team at Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy.

Soon I hope to write about my life's journey in the game of tennis so far, but for those of you who know me, you know how much of a thrill it was to coach tennis. It was a season of ups and downs as I helped guide this extremely inexperienced team, but we were within one break of sending our number three singles player to the state tournament. I hope to be back coaching again soon, but I am so grateful for that first year on the courts!

We'll dive into tennis a little deeper in future posts, but for now we'll get back to my goals for 2016. Once the tennis season had ended things started to fall into place in my career as well.

The Job Search

I was working at NUVI, a social media analytics software company who I still believe is the best in the industry. In fact, they were just named Utah County's Business of the Year. But I was on the sales team, and to be honest I just really didn't enjoy working in sales. I loved my coworkers, believed in the product, was given increasing responsibility, and saw a lot of success, but I knew I needed to move along in my career path and get out of sales and back into roles I was truly passionate about.

Which led me to my first of two New Year's Resolutions: get a new job.

I was casually on the job hunt, and come May I still hadn't had much luck in finding a new job. The reason: I was only casually searching. But then something happened that turned that casual search into an all-out blitz: I was laid off.

NUVI decided to disband its growing Account Development department, for which I was a team lead. I was completely blindsided and utterly crushed. What was I going to tell my wife? What if I couldn't find a new job quickly? Were we going to be okay financially?

As luck would have it, we were going to be just fine. In fact, it wasn't even luck; it was just plain hard work. After I went home that day, and after a few tears and some discussion with my wife, I applied for ten jobs that night before I went to bed. The next day I was called in for an interview, and the interviews just kept coming. In fact, it took all of three days for me to get my first job offer.

And I turned it down.

Why? Not only was it sales, it was door-to-door sales, which meant late nights and driving all over Utah. In spite of their promises of a fast-track to management and my desperate need for a paycheck, I didn't feel good about jumping into the first job that came my way just because I needed income. I was encouraged by the quick offer and decided to continue pursuing a career and not just a job.

Two weeks into my search I got my second offer, this one came on the spot in my interview. It was another Account Development position, essentially the exact role I had when I started at NUVI. I asked for as much time as possible to decide, and they gave me until Thursday of that week.

There were two jobs I interviewed for that I really wanted. Both were in marketing, which is what my pre-sales experience was, and I was hoping desperately to hear from one of them before my deadline for the Account Development role. But Thursday came, and I felt that this was a job I needed to take for the time being. I told them that I would see them Monday to get started.

Then a Friday miracle occurred and I received a job offer from Hoopes Vision to join their marketing department. Not only was this a non-sales job, but it was a marketing job for a company that focused on people, something that I was searching for.

It is amazing how life works sometimes, isn't it? I will never know if I would have found a new job on my own in 2016, but I accomplished my number one goal for the year and made the perfect career move for my family. And it took just three weeks of being unemployed.

As a side note, if you have ever considered LASIK or another vision correction procedure, let me know!

Next-Level Photography

My dad is a talented photographer, and on our family vacations I almost always had a camera in my hands. In fact, the whole family did. We got some interesting looks from people wondering why all four of us needed to be taking pictures. In high school I had my first experience with a DSLR, and in the summer of 2015, shortly after our son was born, my wife got me a DSLR of my own.

As a student at Brigham Young University I studied Recreation Management, and for the most part my photography reflects my love of that industry: outdoors, travel, and sports make up a large percentage of my photography efforts. But I took my own family photos and my sister's engagement and bridal photos and decided to add a little portraiture into the mix as well. As a result, I decided that in 2016 I wanted to take on some paying clients.

So a goal was born: in 2016 I wanted to become a professional photographer, and in August of last year that is exactly what I did. Because I am still new and learning in the world of photography, my goal was simply to have one client last year. But one turned to two, two to three, and before I knew it I had done 14 sessions between August and December!

I've heard the advice that a photographer needs to find a "niche" and pursue only that niche in order to become a successful photographer. In spite of that, I've decided to maintain my "hobbyist" style as a professional photographer so that I can continue to pursue and share all the things I love to shoot. Here are a few of my favorite shots from 2016 (not including a couple major projects I haven't finished yet):

Sports

Joao Plata, Real Salt Lake vs. FC Dallas, 20 Aug, 2016

LaVell Edwards Stadium, BYU vs. SUU, 12 Nov, 2016 (My most liked Instagram photo of 2016!)

#CapsOn: Self-portrait for MLB's Opening Day

Portraits

LDS Temples

Ogden, Utah Temple

Provo City Center Temple

Salt Lake City Temple

Salt Lake City Temple (And my most liked photo on Instagram to date!)

Follow me on Instagam (@pictim) or like my Facebook page.

Email me at pictimphotography@gmail.com if you are interested in prints or booking a session.

My Grandpa Ridd

"He asked me not to talk about him, but to talk about living a Christlike life. I know he's going to talk to me about this when I see him again, but talking about Gordon is talking about living a Christlike life." -Scott Davis, at Grandpa Ridd's funeral service, 29 December, 2016

Currently, I'm grateful for one thing above all else: my son was able to know my grandfather.

Growing up I called him Little Grandpa. It's completely understandable; my grandparents on the Smith side are around six feet and taller. And my grandparents on the Ridd side are... Not as tall as that.

In reality, he was average in height, but in spite of being my "Little Grandpa," he most certainly was not "average" or "little" as a human being. In fact, he was anything but.

I want to share with you just a few memories and examples of what made my grandpa the most extraordinary example of love, service, and manliness I could have ever imagined for my son.

One of my earliest and fondest memories of Grandpa was a summer night on his back patio where he taught me how to burp. Some may not have expected this from him, but he could belch better than anybody you've ever heard. He taught me how to create my own burp, and we stood on that back porch and had ourselves a burping contest. I didn't stand a chance as I'm sure his could be heard for several blocks and the ones coming from my tiny body would be lucky to make it to the gazebo in the corner of the yard. Like I said: total manliness.

However, that burping trait, great as it was, isn't what made my grandpa a truly great man. But I think you'll agree the following stories illustrate just how incredible he was.

Grandpa Sang Bass

As a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, young Gordon Ridd was called to serve in Brazil. While there he was asked to be part of a missionary quartet, the Mormon Melodaires, allowing him to share his beautiful bass voice with the people of Brazil. Their purpose was to build awareness and relationships between the Church and the Brazilian people. He and his fellow musicians traveled the country, performing on national radio and television shows, and even recording an album (feel free to have that playing in the background as you continue reading; it's what I'm doing as I write).

Fast forward a few years and he was able to fulfill one of his dreams and become a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. This incredible opportunity allowed him to perform all over the world and in the Choir's weekly Music and the Spoken Word broadcasts, among other things. It was a dream come true, and he loved being a part of the Choir.

He was a member of the Choir for 13 years, and in spite of its demanding schedule he managed to maintain a great family life, a career, and served faithfully in his church callings (volunteer positions where local church members are asked to donate their time and talents to fulfill certain responsibilities within the Church). After singing in the Choir for several years, Grandpa's Stake President asked him to be the High Priest Group Leader, a calling which would mean he needed to attend his own ward (congregation) at the designated time each week, also meaning he would be unable to continue with the Choir.

The Stake President, President Rowley, said it was difficult for him to extend this calling because he knew the implications, but he also knew the calling came from the Lord. Giving up a dream for a church calling couldn't have been easy, but he accepted that call and anyone I've talked to says they never heard him complain. His faith and trust in God and his willingness to sacrifice and serve is a powerful reminder to me to put God first. Always. No matter what I'm asked to give up in return.

And as a side note, a few years back he was asked to come back and help the Choir during a General Conference weekend when several Choir members were unable to perform, so I was able to see him broadcasted (I believe we were living in Washington at the time) and performing during the Church's General Conference. It was pretty cool to see that!

Grandpa the Gentleman

There are few people who have ever walked this earth who were more chivalrous, considerate, and thoughtful than Grandpa Ridd.

I consider myself reasonably well-mannered and have developed a "skill" of positioning myself to be able to open doors for people as we're approaching them. Do you know where I learned that? I'll bet you do!

Just prior to my freshman year at Brigham Young University, I went with my mom and grandpa to visit campus and get to know my way around a little. That was when my mom pointed out what my grandpa was doing, and it was really impressive! Anytime we were heading toward a door he would start to move his position in our little group so that he was slightly ahead of us and on the correct side so that he could be the one to open the door for us. After a while, it started to bother me that I could never beat him to a door, so I silently turned it into a (one-sided) competition and successfully opened one door that entire day. It was a small win, but a powerful learning experience on the art of being a gentleman. It has to stay on the forefront of your mind at all times until it becomes second-nature, and one day I hope to at least come close to being the gentleman my grandpa was.

In the past 21 months since he was diagnosed with cancer, there have been three small moments that have stood out to me that fully display Grandpa's thoughtfulness.

Shantel and I were expecting at the time Grandpa was diagnosed and one day, completely out of the blue, he called Shantel. She couldn't answer when he first called, so he left a message that just said he wanted to check in and see how she was doing, how the baby was doing, and if she was still working and how that was going. In my wife's words, "That is so cute. I'm having a kid and he is fighting cancer. Shouldn't it be the other way around?" But that's just who Grandpa Ridd was. Just like opening doors, you can't beat him to the phone call to see how he's doing; he called first to check in on the expectant mother before you could call him to see how he was doing. It was a small, touching moment for me and my wife.

The other two stories I want to share are a couple small things he did for Grandma. The first is another small and thoughtful act, simply buying a new refrigerator. He wanted to make it easier on her so she didn't have to get down to the bottom shelves and drawers of the old fridge, so he replaced it with a new one that had the freezer as a drawer on the bottom of the unit, making it easy for Grandma to be able to reach everything once he was gone. Again, small but touching.

I wish I remembered all the details of this final story, but I think even without the little bits and pieces I've forgotten it's still a pretty fun memory. If I remember correctly, it was around Christmas of 2015 and Grandpa and I were going to pick up my cousin Sarah. Or maybe we were banished from the house during a baby shower and happened to go get Sarah while we were out? That sounds right. Either way, we had a little time to kill so Grandpa asked if we could stop off at Home Depot. He wanted to look at a bench that Grandma had seen in an ad in the Sunday paper and mentioned she liked. We found the bench, he sat in the display model and even though it was clearly not designed for his skinny body (we joked he would fall through the slats if he wasn't careful) he decided he wanted to get it for Grandma.

We looked at the box and tried to decide if we could fit it in my car, a little Corolla. I told him we'd make it work one way or another, and we did! It wouldn't fit in the trunk, so we took out the car seat and put that in the trunk and laid the bench across the back seat of the car. Of course, this presented another problem when we went to pick up Sarah: I now only had two available seats but three people to transport back to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Grandpa's solution? To sit in the back seat in front of this giant box and hold the seatbelt in front of him. I guess at this stage in life he wasn't as worried about seatbelt safety.

But that's not the point of the story. The point of the story is that grandma saw something she wanted, and he wanted to spoil her with it. This, as well as the previous story, lay out a pretty good blueprint for how to treat your wife. I'll do my best to remember that example, and I hope my son does, too.

Lincoln and Grandpa

My son, Lincoln, is the first great-grandchild on this side of the family, and the only great-grandchild that Grandpa Ridd knew in this life. I feel personally blessed by that fact because in Lincoln's first year and a half of life Grandpa Ridd already had an immense impact on Lincoln.

Lincoln loved Grandpa Ridd. Before he even learned to say "Mom" he learned to say "Grandpa" (or "Bampa") and it was Grandpa Ridd that he first called "Bampa." Anytime he saw a picture of Grandpa Ridd he would get so excited and exclaim, "Bampa! Bampa!" If we were heading to dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house, all we needed to do was ask, "Do you want to go see Grandpa?" and he would become ecstatic.

Lincoln's first word was "book," and he loves reading with anyone, but he especially loved reading with Bampa. He would often grab someone to take him downstairs to the books, pick out the perfect story, and as soon as he was back upstairs he would take that book straight to Bampa to read it to him. So whether it was reading, playing blocks, or just knowing he was going to get to see Bampa that day, Lincoln loved everything about Grandpa Ridd.

While I'm sure he won't really remember the time he was able to spend with Grandpa, I hope he can remember these stories and learn from the example of a great man. I hope we all can. I'm grateful that we'll have pictures and videos of Lincoln and Grandpa together.

And I will be eternally grateful that my little boy was able to know my Little Grandpa.

Countdown to Opening Day: Sundance Mountain Resort

This covers a campaign that I ran as a Marketing Coordinator for Sundance Mountain Resort.

October and November are very, very slow months at Sundance Mountain Resort. While the restaurants, lodging units, and spa are always open, it is typically activities and events that drive the social media efforts of Sundance. Between October and November of 2014 there was very little happening. It is slow enough during these months that it is actually referred to as "Quiet Time" by the Sundance staff.

And so, in an effort to keep our Twitter fans engaged during this Quiet Time, I began a "Countdown to Opening Day" two months before the mountain was scheduled to open for the ski season. The following are some of the highlights from this two-month campaign.

60 days until Opening Day! #SundanceResort pic.twitter.com/xUgi5cKe47
— Sundance Resort (@SundanceResort) October 6, 2014

54 days until Opening day! #SundanceResort pic.twitter.com/1ffJBu4j02
— Sundance Resort (@SundanceResort) October 12, 2014

45 days until Opening Day! #SundanceResort pic.twitter.com/fyMBLWTx8E
— Sundance Resort (@SundanceResort) October 21, 2014

36 days until Opening Day! #SundanceResort #winteriscoming pic.twitter.com/yA5mdmdI0g
— Sundance Resort (@SundanceResort) October 31, 2014

ONE MORE MONTH!!! #winteriscoming #SundanceResort pic.twitter.com/7XgZ52eXNO
— Sundance Resort (@SundanceResort) November 5, 2014

23 days until Opening Day! #Ready4Winter #SundanceResort pic.twitter.com/oTNqgYkG5G
— Sundance Resort (@SundanceResort) November 12, 2014

17 days until Opening Day! #Ready4Winter #SundanceResort pic.twitter.com/lJ4idWiYl7
— Sundance Resort (@SundanceResort) November 18, 2014

SINGLE DIGITS. 9 more days until Opening Day! #SundanceResort #Ready4Winter pic.twitter.com/2NLfyRKAUK
— Sundance Resort (@SundanceResort) November 26, 2014

5 days until Opening Day! #SundanceResort pic.twitter.com/HCwt3Ix9NH
— Sundance Resort (@SundanceResort) November 30, 2014

TOMORROW. #OpeningDay #SundanceResort pic.twitter.com/KpO8aAKJui
— Sundance Resort (@SundanceResort) December 4, 2014

IT'S HERE!!!! #OpeningDay #SundanceResort pic.twitter.com/rwtFiab3C5
— Sundance Resort (@SundanceResort) December 5, 2014

"Everything is amazing and nobody's happy"

This is something I've been thinking about for a long time. I started composing this months ago, and it took me a while to write what I wanted to say in the way I wanted to say it, and I think I've finally got it.

But let me first start by saying I am not an expert on human psychology. As a result, this isn't about clinical depression. Perhaps some of the ideas I have could help someone suffering from depression, perhaps not. I have several family members who have faced depression, and I have dealt with some anxieties and mental disorders (ADHD most especially), so I understand there are underlying issues that likely won't be miraculously cured by reading this blog.

But whether you are happy, sad, somewhere in between, or dealing with some sort of mental health issue, please read on. I think this is something that affects all of us to one degree or another.

A while ago I read a tremendous article that addressed the unhappiness that has become so prevalent for us members of Generation Y. The author starts off with a simple formula:

Happiness = Reality - Expectations

Allow me to illustrate.

The 2009 hit movie Avatar came out while I was a full-time missionary for my church, and as a result I didn't see it until a year later when I returned home. But boy did I hear about it! "They spent TEN years making it and it was WORTH IT." "It's the BEST movie EVER MADE!" "Make sure it's the FIRST movie you see when you get home! It will become your favorite movie EVER!"

Reality - Expectations = How Much I Enjoyed Avatar

Good Movie - Best Movie Ever = EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED

I thought Avatar was one of the dumbest movies ever made. In reality it's probably a good movie, maybe even a terrific movie. But countless people had billed it as the most incredible flick to ever appear on the silver screen and I walked away thinking it was nothing more than environmentalist propaganda.

That's how life goes, too. I won't go into every detail of the aforementioned article (you should definitely take the time to read it), but one of the points I want to discuss is how we compare ourselves to other people. 

This is where competition is appropriate.

I think Avatar is stupid, but I think comparing ourselves to others is even stupider.

Look, I'm as competitive as anybody, but let's leave that competition to the board games and basketball courts and just worry about ourselves when it comes to real life. In the words of C.S. Lewis, "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man." In other words, comparing ourselves to others will never make us happy, it will only make us prideful. If all we're seeking is to have a better life than those around us, are we going to end up with a better life? Nope! But if we focus on bettering our lives from what they currently are we might have a shot.

I'll bet people were generally happier before we were all on social media. In today's world that's where we get life updates from our "friends" and see that John bought a house before I did and Sarah got married before I did, and Frank's kid is so much smarter than mine, and Julie got a better job out of college, and OH MY GOSH DENISE GOT MORE LIKES ON HER PHOTO THAN ME AND I THOUGHT MINE WAS SO MUCH BETTER SHE MUST HAVE MORE TALENT OR MORE FRIENDS AND MY LIFE IS SO MISERABLE AND HERS IS SO PERFECT!!!!

You get the picture.

If you find that your happiness is contingent upon how many likes your photo gets on Instagram, DELETE YOUR INSTAGRAM. If you feel a sense of jealousy growing inside you as you scroll through your Facebook feed, DELETE YOUR FACEBOOK. Or have a trusted friend or family member change your password and don't get back on until you can do so without those feelings coming back. It might take months, maybe even years. But it will be worth it. I promise. I recently jumped off Twitter, my social network of choice for the past few years, and I don't miss it even a little bit.

**********

This is Mr. Hasselbring. That is not Mr. Hasselbring's hair.

Mr. Hasselbring was my science teacher for my junior and senior years of high school.  He was a funny old man with the driest sense of humor. Just about every time he saw me passing by his classroom he would say, "Tim, pull your socks up!" Funny, because he was probably both telling me to work harder and remarking on my low-cut socks. Like I said: dry, but funny.

In spite of the fact that I was a high schooler coasting towards graduation (any future employers reading this should know that "coasting" really means graduating second in my class with a 3.93 GPA) Mr. Hasselbring taught me one thing that I will never, ever forget. On his classroom wall he had posted a quote. It was printed on a plain 8.5 by 11 inch piece of paper in black ink and Times New Roman font. Simple, but life-changing.

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

-Abraham Lincoln

Think about that for a minute. Or take the rest of the day and think about it before reading the rest of my thoughts.

Did you think about it? Good.

I think happiness is less a reaction to our surroundings and more a choice in spite of our surroundings. Or at least it can be.

You might hate your job. You might be frustrated with school or dating or family members or any number of things. But do you know what? You have it good! One or two or maybe a hundred aspects of your life could be turning out differently than you had hoped or expected. But there are some things that are going right, I promise.

Heck, if you're reading this it means you have access to a computer. That's something! Actually that's pretty remarkable if you think about it. And somehow we find ways to complain about even the most incredible of technologies.

Here's what Louis CK had to say on the subject:

He's right you know. "Everything is amazing and nobody's happy."

So let's be happy!

Gordon B. Hinckley, former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said, "Don't be gloomy. Do not dwell on unkind things. Stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. Even if you are not happy, put a smile on your face. 'Accentuate the positive.' Look a little deeper for the good. Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, with great and strong purpose in your heart. Love life."

I believe that a simple attitude adjustment will cure Generation Y of a great deal of its collective unhappiness. We can choose to recognize the miracles and laugh in the face of the disappointments. We can choose to be happy.

**********

Coach Valvano celebrates winning
the 1983 NCAA Tournament

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm." Legendary NC State basketball coach, Jim Valvano, added, "How enthusiastic are you every day? I'm going to be excited and enthusiastic every day God gives me on this earth." If you're familiar with the life of Coach Valvano you know he was excited, enthusiastic, and happy in spite of his long fight with cancer which ultimately claimed his life. My grandpa is currently fighting that same battle, and reminded me a lot of Jimmy V when he recently remarked, "I choose to be happy." It's become something of a family motto. Feel free to borrow it.

At the end of Jimmy V's life he gave perhaps the greatest award acceptance speech in the history of award shows when he accepted the Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award at the 1993 ESPYs. If you haven't seen it, take the time to watch or read it here.

Perhaps best known as the "Don't give up... Don't ever give up" speech, Valvano also gave us three things that we should do every day.

"To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. you do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."

I plan to take that advice. And the advice of President Hinckley, Louis CK, and Abraham Lincoln. I am going to have something special. Heck, I already have something special. I choose to be happy in spite of anything that tries to make me feel the opposite. I am happy.

Everything is amazing, and I hope we can all be happy.