indeterminate mind

            On January 18th, 2011, only short time ago, a massive internet protest ensued.   Some of the largest and most used internet sites went dark for 24 hours, including Wikipedia and Reddit, to bring attention to the movement against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), two acts designed to protect owners of copyrights from the possibility of intellectual robbery.   Wikipedia, Google, and many others feel that while they understand the need to stop piracy of intellectual property, these bills go too far and begin to censor ideas and knowledge.   I stand with these groups that oppose these controversial laws because I fear that while these laws are designed to protect creativity and expression from so-called “pirates”, the laws themselves give the government powers that could be used to restrict our freedom of speech.   As a citizen of the United States, freedom of speech should ...

I have been looking for something to write about the last few days. I have missed 2 days now of my goal for lack of ideas. Last night an event happened that will more than make up for my missed opportunities. Last evening around 9:45 pm while police was serving a search warrant on 3268 Jackson Ave. a gunfight ensued. The aftermath has left one police officer dead, and five others seriously wounded. While standing outside watching all the news, CSI, and Police vehicles, my neighbor who reads this blog asked if I was going to write about what happened. And I told her that I thought I would but I was struggling with what I would say. I usually start these posts with the end in mind, but I am just not exactly sure where this one will go. So I guess I will write this from the beginning. I was helping a friend work on his house, when I received a text from my wife it read, “There is serious gunfire going on outside our house”. I didn’t even think I jumped in my car to come home. I i...

I have several items I want to write about today. However each of them take much more time than I have. So tonight is my first night I will just write about whatever. I hope to this less and less but I still want to reach my goal. I will say that I am touched by the comments I have received about my posts. I state very clearly that this blog is mostly for me however I am grateful for those who have taken time to read it. And even though I only have a few followers. I usually get more comments from people who are not official followers than I do from those that do follow. I like that what I write gets read. Even if I write it for me. I am not someone who can express myself for my own sake only. I am a look at me type person and I love it when others do. So thank you!

By Andrew Mair on 1/1/12 I have a new goal!   It is pretty general, to write more.   But I do have a sub-goal, for the next thirty days I will write a minimum of a paragraph a day.   I have over the last year written a blog entry from time to time, usually when my emotions are on the surface.   Finding something to write about daily will be a difficult task. Sure I could write about drivel, but I don’t want to write about drivel.   I fear that in the next thirty days lots of drivel will be posted.   So I apologize in advance.   My hope is that as a do this every day I will become a better writer, and I will learn to look for things to write about.   I feel so many fulfillments from writing that I need to train myself to be better. So today I am not going to let myself have this explanation of what I’m doing be my post.   That would be the cheap way out.   I have the motivation I need to start well.   I have been racking my...

             I have to come clean. I have to expose a secret side to my life. For the past ten years I have been hiding behind a mask, well actually a beard. I am now ready to confess, my name is Andrew Mair and I play Santa Claus.   It all started innocently enough. My younger brother had taken up the habit several years before me. And I told myself that that was not for me. I would never do that. But then I bought a Santa hat, it made me look jolly and "Christmassy".     Then I would throw in a "ho ho ho" from time to time just to try it out.   Even still I never thought I would become one of “those” people.   And then one day while walking through the Brigham City Deseret Industries thrift store I saw it, A Santa Suit.   I wasn’t sure if it was had all of its pieces, or if it was still intact and functional.   It had everything, a beard, a full suit, a belt, boot coverings, a hat and a w...

I have had several requests to repost this entry I wrote last Christmas Eve, 12/24/2010,  It actually is the first blog entry I made.  However, since I had the opportunity to revist it I have spent time to edit it.  Well I edited it with the help of my good friend Julie Boam anyway.  I rarely look back on old posts but this one seems to still be very appropriate: I Can Still Hear the Bells By Andrew Mair on 12/24/2010 When I was a young paper boy in my neighborhood in South Ogden, Utah, I would often stop delivering papers to hear the strains of church hymns played through the air by the local Catholic Church and their beautiful bells.   The Holy family Catholic Church is located at 1100 East 5550 South Ogden, very close to my home. Weekdays I delivered in the afternoon , but on the weekends I delivered in the early morning hours.   This is when I was pleased to be able to hear the sounds of hymns I was both familiar with and some that were not known...

Today I found myself in the company of several of my friends I haven’t seen in a while.   I first met these men while serving in the Australia Perth Mission.   We have come together from time to time over the last 15 years, our little reunion.   There are others we would like like to attend, but due to proximate and losing touch, our core group has been only 4 of us most of the time.   I am always touched by the love for each other that remains intact all these years later.   When we first began to meet we spent a lot of time discussing the past and the future, memories from the mission, and plans for what is ahead.     And now we spend the majority of time on the present.     I sat there between comments we were making dumbfounded that I could feel so much Love and concern for these men so many years later.   I never was in a companionship with any of them, yet all of them served near me.   And I began to realize, that you...