Why We Were Dark

If you tried to visit our site yesterday, you may have noticed that we were not our normal, cheery selves.  Like a lot of the Internet, we chose to make our site dark to protest legislation that is currently being kicked around Congress.  If you hadn’t heard of SOPA or PIPA before yesterday, hopefully you have heard of them now.  These laws will basically break the Internet as we know it and take us back to 1994.  I’m all for time travel, but not like this.

This is important because it affects everyone. Yes, I’m talking to you, and you, and you.  Do you like visiting our site?  Too bad.  If either of these laws pass, there is a good chance that this very site will be taken down.  Do you like visiting any site on the Internet?  Yeah, they’ll probably be gone too.  See what I’m talking about?  Big-time bad…  Under this law, if you post video of Michael Jackson’s Thriller video on the Web, you can go to prison for five years.  That’s longer than the guy who killed him will be locked up for.

Mythbusters Are Coming!

Last Tuesday, Emma came to me and mentioned that the Mythbusters are coming to Salt Lake City to perform a live show.  I immediately started to freak out because this was new information to me.  How had I missed this information?  Why did I not have tickets?  What do I need to do to get tickets?  I jumped on the internet and started searching for the answers to these questions and quickly discovered that the show was sold out.  However, there were VIP tickets that you had to call the box office to purchase.  I wondered if there were any of those left but since it was 9:30 at night, I would have to wait until the next morning to find out.

In Loving Memory

Lala Virginia Sturm Riley

“A Beloved Valiant Lady”

Passed away December 30, 2011 of causes incident to age. She was born October 28, 1914 in Holladay, Utah to Paul Daniel Sturm and Lala Jane Redmond. She attended Granite High School but left when she was 16 to care for her mother who had cancer. She married Herbert Edgley Riley, her eternal companion, December 17, 1932. She went back to school when she was 85 and graduated June 9, 1999 with her high school diploma. She was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She served in many positions: Pianist for the Relief Society, as ward organist, Relief Society President, Young Women’s President, served an LDS mission with her husband in the Harrisburg-Pennsylvania mission and later worked in the Salt Lake Temple. She was preceded in death by her husband, a daughter, Janet Mecham, Jack Ewing, son-in-law and 4 grandchildren. She is survived by her daughters Gerry Ewing, Barbara (Jim) Tweed, Beverly Miller, Connie (Michael) Murdoch, Judy (Terry) Jeffries, Virginia (Quinn) Hahn, Michael (Paulina) Riley, Lala (Robert) Rainey, Valerie (Jeff) Adams, Bruce Mecham, son-in-law (Ann), 58 grandchildren, 164 great-grandchildren and 27 great-great-grandchildren.

Merry Christmas!

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Snowmen… On Ice

I just came across this video and thought that it needed to be shared.  Fans of Calvin and Hobbes will recognize the snowmen and probably see this for the awesome piece of art that it is.  I should also add that I’ve always wanted to do this in my yard.  Unfortunately, even living in Utah, I’ve never had enough snow to actually pull it off.

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Merry Christoween!

Or maybe I should say “Happy Hallowmas”?

I’m sure that you’re probably wondering what I’m talking about.  To be honest, I am too.  Let me explain.  As you probably are aware, we are smack dab in the middle of the Christmas season.  This means that radio stations all across the land are playing Christmas music non-stop.  (Some of these have been playing said Christmas music non-stop since Halloween.  Their program directors should be slapped.)

Anyways, as I was driving around a few weeks ago, the song The Most Wonderful Time of the Year came on the radio.  I’ve always enjoyed this song but I don’t think that I’ve ever really listened to the words because I caught something this time that I’ve never noticed: the lyrics include the line “there’ll be scary ghost stories”.  Excuse me?  Scary ghost stories?  At Christmas?  Considering the song was released in 1963, I’m pretty sure that this is not a reference to The Nightmare Before Christmas.  I can’t think of any other “scary ghost stories” except for maybe A Christmas Carol but that’s not very scary even by 1963′s standards.  Maybe by 1843′s standards…

What Your Toilet Paper Says About You

Whether we like it or not, toilet paper is a necessity.  Personally, I would prefer a bidet, but most American homes just aren’t equipped with that kind of luxury.  Knowing my luck though, If I had one, it would only shoot out ice cold water with the strength of a fire hose.  Since I don’t get to use a bidet, I tend to be somewhat of a toilet paper snob.  I like mine quilted and soft with multiple plys.  I also am very picky about how the toilet paper should be placed on the roll.  Whomever puts it on backwards so that the paper is hanging by the wall, cabinet, etc. is wrong.

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Happy Day Of Giving Thanks


The Zohner family wishes you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving.  May your turkey be moist, your pies full of pecans, and your hearts full of thanks.

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Thank You!

Thank you to all those who have served so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy.  Your sacrifices are appreciated.  Happy Veterans Day!

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We Survived Another Alpocalypse

Regular followers of this blog know that everyone in our home is a huge Weird Al Yankovic fan.  Holly and I first saw him in concert  in 2007 and had so much fun that we decided to take the kids the next time he came to Salt Lake City.  As it turns out, the next time was this past September.  If you’ve read my review of the concert, you know that we had a great time and you know that I think that a Weird Al concert is about the best concert that a person can spend their money on.

In my review of Weird Al’s Salt Lake show, I mentioned how everyone was still talking about it two days later.  What I didn’t mention is that when Holly and I were laying in bed that night, we were seriously discussing the possibility of going to see him again for our anniversary.  We even went so far as to check his schedule and were on the verge of buying front row tickets for his show in Reno on November 5th before we decided that we were talking crazy and decided to go to sleep.