There have been a lot of changes in the world over the last decade, and this year has been no exception. Examining my own life, I have moved across the country, we have been hit (as a family) by a crazy amount of change.  We all are often afraid of change, and I dare say that this pandemic has brought about a lot of change. How do you react to change? 

As I think over all of the changes I have experienced over the past 20 years, I have realized that change is inevitable. Yet when we are at the brink of change what do we do? When people realized just how dangerous COVID-19 was, they started hoarding essentials such as toilet paper, canned goods, etc. There were so many items out-of-stock at the stores. I know there was a lot of fear involved. "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." But how can you truly be prepared for change of that nature?

I think back on the times I have been "on the brink of change." One example: when I was graduating from high school. I knew there was a huge change coming my way. And while I generally knew what I was planning on doing, there was a lot I didn't know. I was afraid, though not in the curl-up-in-the-fetus-position kind of afraid. I was nervous, but I was excited at the same time. 

I know that I had years to prepare for my graduation. Comparatively speaking, there was no warning of this pandemic. However, I know some people who had already been stocking up long before the general public realized the danger. Our family has food storage, which has travelled with us in move after move and we have hardly touched it. However, we know that we could survive for a long time without access to the grocery store. And so we do not fear as much as we would otherwise.

I think there are many reactions to fear.  Sometimes it makes you freeze up, or practice avoidance. Sometimes it makes you panic and make irrational decisions. You can also allow fear to motivate you. It seems to me that the most healthy reaction would be to embrace change, and allow the fear that accompanies it to motivate us to be better. Franklin D Roosevelt said, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear."

So, if you are afraid, lift up your head. You are not alone in all this.  Know that we are all in this together, social distancing style.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Today is General Conference, a meeting that happens every fall and spring for members of the church and anyone who wants to watch/listen to latter-day prophets.  

Today, they announced a new curriculum and Sunday schedule to better help families become the center of gospel learning with church as a resource for them. What a wonderful opportunity for families to become a center of learning and love! I truly feel like these inspired men have truly sought the Lord's guidance. I felt the spirit as they spoke about these plans.  If followed correctly, our homes can be so much more spiritually centered...a place of love and peace.

Following the announcement, Elder M. Joseph Brough spoke about facing hard things.  We were in the car with our family during this part of conference.  His talk truly touched us.  He told a story of a mission president with a teenage daughter in Guatemala. I am not going to go into great detail, as I cannot do it justice.  But when he got to the part where he woke up in the middle of the night and the prompting came that God had called his daughter to serve a mission. And later when he spoke with her daughter about it. My wife and I just wept as we were touched by the Love of our Heavenly Father for these people. I believe this concept of facing hard things with joy is super important in our day.

So many people: adults, youth, children etc. don't have what it takes to face challenges. They give up when the going gets tough. God wants us to push through, because these challenges will improve us and draw us to Him. And we can experience joy, even when we experience hard things.

My beliefs in the gospel are an integral part of my life.  I'm not just a tech blogger, not just a musician, not just a father.  I am a son of my Heavenly Father, He loves me as I am, He knows what I can become, and He will help me get there. The choices we make will either invite that help or ignore it. 

General Conference is a great meeting.  I have listened every year, and I love the spirit it brings into my life.  There may be some things that you may not understand, but God can help us understand because what they teach is inspired of God.  Listen to or watch General conference, or study it later.  You can go to https://www.lds.org/general-conference?cid=HP16GC&lang=eng to do this.

Sigh...I'm at the end of another day, and it's time to write on my blog. But what to talk about?

Today, I went on a walk with my children and we caught Pokémon and visited Pokestops in our neighborhood. Yes, I play Pokémon Go!, but I haven't played it everyday, though I have caught a Pokémon and spun a Pokestop everyday for the last 4 days. My daughter, the only one of my children not actually playing Pokémon Go!, said that it was a really fun walk. She was also the only one who brought a bicycle.

Also today, we took a drive in the mountains. It was beautiful! We are planning on being off grid for about a week, to camp and visit family. Should be exciting!

Well, that's it for today's musing, but I will be back to share more. Perhaps next week I will have some exciting stories to share with you all.

I'm not sure how many of you watched the keynote from Apple's WWDC earlier this month. I did...I love that stuff. I am really excited about a lot of things that they talked about, and I can't wait to try them out.

I'm not part of the Apple Developer program. I guess I'm too cheap to join. But Apple announced that the public will get to try out the new operating systems for iOS, Mac, and Apple TV. The problem is that they were really vague, they said it would be available later this month. So now, almost 20 days after they said that, it's still not out yet. So every day I've been checking beta.apple.com to see if they've released it yet.

Now, if I were to be completely honest, if you install the beta version, you are likely going to have a lot of bugs. Especially considering they won't be releasing the software until sometime in the fall. I am one of those people that doesn't care if my devices are a little buggy if I get to use the new features.

When I get a chance to install the new operating systems, I'll give you the run down on my impressions. But for now, I'll just continue to quietly burst with excitement. I just can't wait much longer!

For those of you who want to know when I think it will be released: next week is the last week of the month, so it has to come then. Also, it's likely going to be 22 days from the announcement, since that is what they did last year. So I'm guessing the 27th of this month.

I found this in my drafts folder with nothing but the title you see above. I got my first 4th Gen Apple TV not long after they came out, for Christmas. Then I was given a second one for free. So I will try to give you my impressions after a year and a half of use.

First off! I love my Apple TVs (even the 3rd Gen I got as a gift a few years ago) my family uses the one in our Living room all the time for watching shows, AirPlaying stuff we want to share with each other from our phones, etc. Every now and then, we even play games on them.

First recommendation: get a case for your remote! Especially if it's going to be used by everyone in the house. Our remote is cracked, and while it still works fine, it makes me cringe every time I use it.

Apple TV works best with Apple devices, but you still get a lot of great features if you don't have any Apple devices. However, some of the things I love about my Apple TV goes away if I don't have anything Apple. For example:

Sometimes being a geek is awesome. You walk into a room, see a problem, fix it, and walk out. Meanwhile, everyone is cheering for you. Those times are great. Other times, it is a challenge.

People don't like talking geek all of the time. And I crave it! My favorite thing is to talk about all of my passions with people that share them. Granted, I can get passionate about a lot of things, but I just wanna "geek out" sometimes with someone. However, when I try to do this (even just a little) I am often greeted with blank stares and polite nods....

I once stated something, in church of all places, and the response I got from a handful of people was that I was wrong. The point I made was that being a geek isn't a bad thing anymore. What I meant to say is that what it means to be a geek is not the same as it used to be. Sure, in High School being a "geek" is still somewhat derogatory, but it's the geeks that are making it big in our world. Without us Geeks many of life's problems wouldn't get fixed.

There are a few definitions of Geek. One is a socially awkward person (sometimes mostly fashion inept). The most common definition these days is a knowledgeable and obsessive enthusiast.

I am proud to be a geek. I speak Geek.

I'm hoping to get things going with this blog. I'm not a prolific writer, but I want my blog to make a difference. However, I don't know how to do that, so I'll start by writing what matters to me. So let's start with that.

There are lots of things that matter to me and so to put everything into a category is difficult, so why bother. I am fairly certain though that who I am will result in lots of Geeky posts, but I might surprise you. And hey! If I bore you to death, I guess I can't please everyone.

So far, it seems, I have been great about blogging about blogging, or my lack of it. I will try to do better.

What a day! Today was definitely work day here at my job.  Most of the day was spent cleaning house and making sure that I don't forget about anything that I need to do before my family leaves for a week.  We will have no access to phones, or internet, so if my work needs me I will be unreachable...yikes! However, if nothing catastrophic happens (like the internet going down at work or something) then we should be good.

As far as tips or hints: never eat soggy waffles. Unless they are soggy from syrup, and then they are delicious. Oh, and if something stops working on your computer or device, try rebooting. 

Ok, so I know this is a day late, but here is the post that I came up with yesterday.  I don't often talk about the games I love.  Today I would like to highlight some of the games that I love and the apps that help me out with that.

There are tons of champions available, but it is random (most of the time) which ones you get.  My top champions are Ultron, Yellow Jacket, Daredevil, and Iron Patriot. I my most recent champions are Iron Man, and Captain America.  This game gets me excited, and I love to play it.  My brother and I have an alliance that we enjoy being a part of. We work together to complete quests and to battle other alliances.  So if you like superheroes and want to find a fun game to play that allows you to play solo or with other players, consider Marvel's Contest of Champions.

I thought I would comment about the new MacBook Pro lineup.  Many people comment on the price first.  I agree that the new MacBook Pro is expensive.  One of the challenges with being in the middle-class is that it is hard to justify the purchase of a machine that costs over $1000.  However, I want one.  That doesn't mean I'm going to get one though.

Here's what I like the most:

OLED Touch Bar 
I am very impressed with the Touch Bar. It changes how the user interacts with the computer.  Apple has always been good at coming up with new ways to use their products. When I first started using a MacBook Pro I "fell in love" with the touchpad because it was better than anything I had ever used before, and it had Multi-touch gestures that made multi-tasking seamless. To me, the trackpad became an indispensable part of how I used the computer. Now, with the new MacBook Pro, the trackpad is bigger and better. Definitely something I find appealing.

Now there's the touch bar.  It looks amazing and seems to be exceeding Apple's expectations (as far as I've seen). You can use it with all kinds of apps and use Touch ID. Some people may be complaining about the loss of the function keys, but I think they'll find that it will redefine and streamline the way we use computers.

If I were to get a new MacBook Pro, I would get the 15 inch with 2 TB hard drive.