Tyler Jorgenson

I talked a little while back on what I call ‘The Aladdin Syndrome’. Somebody felt, I assumed, that they had to eat and that my truck represented a little bread. Turns out it was a little less of the Aladdin Syndrome and a little more of the ‘Robin Hood Paradox’. The RHP is the concept that stealing from somebody that apparently had more than you do in an effort to equal things out actually lowers the thief’s state further despite the increase in wealth, goods, etc. My truck was recovered on Easter morning.

The suspects were seen with their (my) high beams on at 1:45am as they drove past an officer in the neighboring city of Ontario, CA. When the officer turned around to inspect he saw that there was a suspicious dealer plaque and ‘Hello Kitty’ license plate holder. He turned on his lights to pull the vehicle over. A high speed chase ensued ending in this:

The sad part about seeing my truck was seeing all of their beer, cologne, CD’s of filth and other items of ‘the World’ mixed in with remnants of my families memories. Although they were ‘rollin with the homies’ with the seats thrown back and open beer in the cup holders they didn’t take the time to clean up the Alpha-bits my kids had thrown the weekend before.

I feel for those that think it is acceptable and even justifiable to take that which is not theirs. Now I just hope the insurance company is nice regarding the valuation of the vehicle.

With the economy in the proverbial toilet I have been telling a few people about my theory that I call The Aladdin Syndrome. In one of the first scenes of the popular Disney cartoon Aladdin the title character steals bread because he’s ‘gotta eat’. It is interesting to me that this stealing is never condemned in the movie, in fact Aladdin is the one whose ‘worth lies deep within’ and is the ‘diamond in the rough’. As unemployment climbs well into the double digits and the realities of the economy begin to hit more people I predict we will see a drastic increase in theft. People feel justified in breaking the 8th commandment. Last Friday, the 10th of April 2009, I was at a lunch meeting and came out to find that my truck had been stolen. I wasn’t upset. In fact I was surprisingly calm, according to the deputy taking the report. I told the officer that I was more concerned for the person whose life was in such a situation that they felt their best choice on that Good Friday was to take a vehicle that did not belong to them.

I felt very blessed to have a spare car to drive until the fate of the truck was discovered. I received a call at 6:45 Easter morning to inform me that the truck had been recovered in a neighboring city, that it had sustained damage and that it was being held for evidence. An officer from the Ontario Police Department is on his way to my office to get a consent to do some detective work on the vehicle. I will post more pictures and information once I know get more.

And for your visual enjoyment:

This is a couple of days old, but I just had to share.

Ascension – Learn How To Settle Your Credit Cards

A friend shared this with me today. It seemed to come at just the right time. Whether or not you share my faith, these are powerful words of advice and encouragement. The talk is 13 years old, but seems written for today.

Here are the points that Elder F Enzio Busche made:

* Embrace this day with an enthusiastic welcome, no matter how it looks. The covenant with God to which you are true enables you to become enlightened by him, and nothing is impossible for you.

* When you are physically sick, tired, or in despair, steer your thoughts away from yourself and direct them, in gratitude and love, toward God.

* In your life there have to be challenges. They will either bring you closer to God and therefore make you stronger, or they can destroy you. But you make the decision of which road you take.

* First and foremost, you are a spirit child of God. If you neglect to feed your spirit, you will reap unhappiness. Don’t permit anything to detract you from this awareness.

* You cannot communicate with God unless you have first sacrificed your self-oriented natural man and have brought yourself into the lower levels of meekness, to become acceptable for the Light of Christ.

* Put all frustrations, hurt feelings, and grumblings into the perspective of your eternal hope. Light will flow into your soul.

* Pause to ponder the suffering Christ felt in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the awareness of the depth of gratitude for him, you appreciate every opportunity to show your love for him by diligently serving in his Church.

* God knows that you are not perfect. As you suffer about your imperfections, he will give you comfort and suggestions of where to improve.

* God knows better than you what you need. He always attempts to speak to you. Listen, and follow the uncomfortable suggestions that he makes to us–everything will fall into its place.

* Avoid any fear like your worst enemy, but magnify your fear about the consequences of sin.

* When you cannot love someone, look into that person’s eyes long enough to find the hidden rudiments of the child of God in him.

* Never judge anyone. When you accept this, you will be freed. In the case of your own children or subordinates, where you have the responsibility to judge, help them to become their own judges.

* If someone hurts you so much that your feelings seem to choke you, forgive and you will be free again.

* Avoid at all cost any pessimistic, negative, or criticizing thoughts. If you cannot cut them out, they will do you harm. On the road toward salvation, let questions arise but never doubts. If something is wrong, God will give you clarity but never doubts.

* Avoid rush and haste and uncontrolled words. Divine light develops in places of peace and quiet. Be aware of that as you enter places of worship.

* Be not so much concerned about what you do, but do what you do with all your heart, might, and strength. In thoroughness is satisfaction.

* You want to be good and to do good. That is commendable. But the greatest achievement that can be reached in our lives is to be under the complete influence of the Holy Ghost. Then he will teach us what is really good and necessary to do.

* The pain of sacrifice lasts only one moment. It is the fear of the pain of sacrifice that makes you hesitate to do it.

* Be grateful for every opportunity to serve. It helps you more than those you serve.

* And finally, when you are compelled to give up something or when things that are dear to you are withdrawn from you, know that this is your lesson to be learned right now. But know also that, as you are learning this lesson, God wants to give you something better.

Have a great day! – Tyler

6 years ago my wife said yes to being my eternal bride. We were looking through old pictures from our dating days and I found this one that, to me, captures the essence of our love. I am a lucky man.

I often reflect back on our Founding Fathers and the amazing example they were of how to be Men even during challenging times. One thing that I have always felt these men embodied was Virtue. Recently a good friend email the following to me:

Virtue

Franklin sought to cultivate his character by a plan of thirteen virtues, which he developed at age 20 (in 1726) and continued to practice in some form for the rest of his life. His autobiography lists his thirteen virtues as:

1. “TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.”
2. “SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.”
3. “ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.”
4. “RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”
5. “FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.”
6. “INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.”
7. “SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.”
8. “JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.”
9. “MODERATION. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.”
10. “CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.”
11. “TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.”
12. “CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.”
13. “HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”

Franklin didn’t try to work on them all at once. Instead, he would work on one and only one each week “leaving all others to their ordinary chance”. While Franklin didn’t live completely by his virtues and by his own admission, he fell short of them many times, he believed the attempt made him a better man contributing greatly to his success and happiness, which is why in his autobiography, he devoted more pages to this plan than to any other single point; in his autobiography Franklin wrote, “I hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and reap the benefit.”^[59]

I love that Benjamin Franklin didn’t attempt to fix everything at once. Anybody who has attempted certainly understands the frustration that can ensue. By “leaving all others to their ordinary chance” he was able to put all available resources into one and increase the chances of seeing change in his life. I’m not sure which one I’m going to pick to start on, but I’m certainly going to follow the plan.

Is there one that you want to work on most of all?

You know you've made it. When you can draw enough people to wait in
line for over a half hour for a cupcake it is safe to say you have a
devoted following. I just felt bad for the gelato store next door.

Today is a special day in my house. My wife of nearly 6 years turned 31. We celebrated it with a little trip to Disneyland with my oldest daughter. Overall it was pretty fun.

I love how gleeful (haven’t used that word in a while) Taylor looks on the swings next to her Mom.

And at 31 my cute wife can still throw her hands up and have some fun.

See!

I love you Tanya. Thank you for all of your support and dedication. I hope your birthday was great, but it isn’t over…

Oh, and we hung out with this guy (he walked past us) today at Disneyland. I was going to crop the picture but I love the face the scooter lady is making. Later on the same lady complemented me on my T-Shirt. True story. See you next time Kobe Bryant, maybe we can share a tea cup.

This may be too many pics in one post, but hey I was inspired by Kobe.

Space Ranger 1 actually had 1200 points, but I guess that’s not enough to register.

Compare these two videos:

1.

2.

And all this time I thought we were tough for chasing the Giraffe.

I love working for a company that is actively working to remedy two
major issues facing American consumers.

How about an ice cold… Frozen Yogurt?

I can just hear them now:

Rough and tough Man #1 – “Man, I’m getting tired from all this jack hammering.”
Rough and tough Man #2 – “I feel ya, I could really use a nice cold one.”
Rough and tough Man #1 – “Me too, an original sweet tart with strawberries and gummy bears would sure hit the spot.”

I love that thanks to my iphone I always have a camera on me to capture memorable moments such as this.

Since I’m promoting chocolate today, I thought I’d give another plug. One of my good childhood friends has come up with one of the most creative products that I have seen in a long time. Not only is it creative… it’s delicious.

Check out his site and buy some chocolate weapons. http://www.chocolateweapons.com/

I have a tin of the chocolate bullets and I can attest that they are quite delicious. As mentioned on one of the videos on the site, “it’s not that cheap, crappy chocolate” it’s the good stuff.

Craig and Sara like to dip things in chocolate. If you would like to dip things in chocolate, perhaps at a party, wedding, mitzfah (either bar or bat), shower, corporate event, etc then check out http://www.bluminup.com/