Thirty Seven Thousand Three Hundred Fifty!!!

Last week I had my last day working at both Congressman Charles Rangel's office (where I worked all summer) and Legg Mason where I've been temping since July 2005. I just got home from a fantastic weekend in Boston and have so much I want to say about visiting my Grandparents while they're on their mission. Even still, the biggest news is what will soon be coming: in only 37,350 minutes, or in other words, 622 hours, or around 2.2 million seconds, Sarah and I will be married! I'm so excited. I really can't wait until she comes to NYC this week, and then I move to Canada on Friday. 8 minutes have elapsed and the countdown is only 37,342!!!

Verstehen

"She says she wants to be a sociologist, but I think she better first get checked by a neurologist!" I heard this line in a goofy Phish song last night as I was celebrating my recent good news. Perhaps you remember the independent research project I did on cesarean section rates throughout the fall semester, and the 25 page paper I wrote summarizing my research and that it was accepted to be published in Verstehen, the Undergraduate Sociology Journal of McGill University. Well, in addition to a generous wedding gift check, last night in the mail I received a package from the McGill Sociology department with a freshly published copy of the journal. I can't describe how thrilling it was to read my abstract, intro, bio, etc. It was a lot of work, but so incredibly gratifying. As I wrote in my bio, many thanks to Prof. Montgomery for her oversight and insight, to my parents for their encouragement and to my sweetheart Sarah for her unfailing support, which included reading every draft of the paper. In fact, I would email her updated drafts every couple pages, and she always seemed to respond within an hour with helpful suggestions.

More of Philippe's Reception

Here are a couple more pictures from Philippe and Rachel's reception. Aren't we lucky to be marrying the two most beautiful women on earth? The bottom picture is of me with Nicolas Jensen, a friend from Church. I think he was hungry! I didn't realize he had so many teeth until my nose became his evening snack.

Corinne

This is a song I wrote 6 years ago while sitting on the porch of my Aunt Brenda's house in Corinne, Utah. I dedicate this song to Brenda, who passed away recently.

Reverently, Meekly

Me performing a primary song. You'll notice that the video and audio aren't synced up anymore, sorry about that.

200th Post!

This is my 200th post! Where does the time go? I guess I'll browse through my blog's archives to find out....

Stem Cell Veto

Here's a picture of Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Ut) speaking against Bush's veto on stem cell research with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa) looking on.

Am I surprised that President Bush made the first veto of his 5 1/2 years as President to block stem cell research funding passed by the Senate this week? Not really. I guess the only commendable thing about this is that Bush is sticking by a promise he made 5 years ago to veto such a bill. At least he is consistently wrong! Embryos which otherwise would have been thrown away would instead be used to do groundbreaking research on cancer, diabetes and other diseases. Having recently lost a loved one to cancer, and having witnessed the daily struggles of diabetes, I am more disappointed than usual at Pres. Bush. I know that many of the people who regularly check my blog are relatively conservative and members of my Church which is consistently "pro-life," and might be inclined to disagree with me. In case you're undecided about this issue, please note that all 5 LDS Senators voted in favor of this bill (Orrin Hatch, Robert Bennett, Gordon Smith, Mike Crapo and Harry Reid), as did the Senate Majority Leader, Dr. Bill Frist and my favorite Republican, Arlen Specter. Unfortunately, the Senate is 4 votes short (both Idaho Senators voted against it) of the 67 needed to overide Bush's veto, and the House fell 51 votes short this afternoon. I fear that the voters who will decide whether or not to re-elect those who voted no won't know enough about the issue to breakdown the emotionally charged frame the White House is using to discuss this issue. Click here to find out how your senator voted, and then call their office to ask why, especially if you live in Idaho, Arizona or Texas.

Trey, Phil & Mike

It's hard to beat dancing in the rain with my beautiful fiance to Phil Lesh and Friends, with Trey playing lead guitar and singing.

Trey, Mike & Duo

Sarah and I had a great time dancing in the mud during the concert in Vermont last week. We saw a fantastic show, co-headlined by Trey & Mike of Phish playing with the Duo, and 2 sets of Phil Lesh and friends, featuring 3/4 of Phish at various points.

Wedding Lunch

While I was in Montreal last week, Sarah and I picked a wonderful restaurant where we're going to celebrate with family and very close friends immediately after our marriage in the temple. The restaurant, La Rotunde, is connected to the Contemporary Museum of Art and adjacent to the Place des Arts, which is essentially the Montreal Lincoln Center, where the opera and symphony perform. It's a beautiful restaurant with lots of natural light and wonderful views. If the weather is nice, we'll get some great photos in front of Place des Ars. The menu will be relatively simple and everyone will get the sam meal, but I am confident everyone will have a fantastic experience. Click here to read a little from the museum site.

Philippe & Rachel

Part of the reason I went to Montreal last week was to attend Philippe and Rachel's wedding celebration on Saturday. They were married last month in her home town of Reno, Nevada, and decided to throw a party up north as well. Philippe has been a good friend to me and it was wonderful to spend time with him and his lovely bride. They actually stayed at my apt in NYC as part of their honeymoon (before and after getting on the cruise). As great as it was to see their joy, my favorite part was being with Sarah and witnessing how her radiant charm is felt in such a group setting. My love for her grows exponentially everytime we're together. I love this picture of her with Philippe's sister and brother in law, mostly because it captures Sarah's beauty and contagious energy, but also because they live in the same area of France as Sarah's parents. In fact, Sarah's father is their Stake President! (the leader of all the church units in the Toulouse area, similar in scope to a Catholic dioceses).

In Montreal w/ Dad

Dad joined me in Montreal for the weekend to help Sarah and I prepare for our upcoming marriage. I was happy to get to spend time with them both, and that we picked a restaurant for our night before the wedding, intimate Jones-Sacuto dinner. It's going to be at a beautiful Italian restaurant in Old Montreal called Le Muscadin. We also got Les Canadiens to play a private hockey game just for us! Just kidding, we saw a movie in the old hockey arena where they used to play which has now been converted into a theater. We saw the Al Gore movie on global warming and were very stimulated by what we saw. He is able to very clearly articulate and demonstrate that unless we make major changes, we're creating huge problems for ourselves and future generations. One of his warnings is that Greenland or Western Antartica could soon melt, raising the world's sea level drastically. The result would be that my mom's home in California would be underwater, as would my office building in lower Manhattan. Luckly, where I live and where dad lives is at the highest natural point in Manhattan, so we'd be ok....until we move. You should check out this website to learn more.

Vermont

After spending a night with my Jones Grandparents in Boston, I met Sarah in Vermont. We spent the day around Burlington, swimming in beautiful Lake Champlain and eating lunch on a small beach. In the evening we got totally drenched while dancing in the mud at a Phil Lesh/Trey & Mike concert. I saw another show on this tour, and was especially excited to see Phil Lesh's group again, which featured Trey on guitar and Joan Osborne on vocals (remember the song "What if God Was One of Us?"). Imagine trey playing Grateful Dead songs with Phil Lesh, it was fantastic! We also had a fun treat Page from Phish sitting in on the encore, so 3/4 of Phish were playing on the same stage, as close to a reunion as it gets. I've posted a couple videos from the show I hope you enjoy.

France Portugal 2006

This is what my Wednesday afternoon was like (though I was in a french bistro in Brooklyn instead, and there wasn't anyone playing the bongos).

Welcome

Videos!

I finally figured out how to post videos to my blog, and as you can see I've had a lot of fun so far. These videos represent what is most heavily on my mind these days: my faith, marriage, phish and the World Cup. Enjoy!

Christ in America

Did you know that after Jesus Christ was crucified, resurected and returned to heaven, He visited the people living on the American continent? This video depicts scenes from The Book of Mormon, which is a record of his dealings with people on this continent. You can order a free copy by clicking here.

Patience in Marriage

Great advice!

Phish MSG Montage

This is a video montage celebrating Phish's first concert after the 2 year hiatus. It was New Year's Eve at Madison Square Garden in NYC. It's hard to capture the excitement of the crowd, light show, etc at a good phish show, but this video is pretty close.

Thierry Henry Goal

This was the only goal from Saturday's game against Brazil. Our restaurant exploded when it hit the back of the net.

allez les bleus

Hilarious commercial, once you learn some french. "Allez Les Bleus," essentially translates to "Let's Go France!"

Happy Canada Day!

July 1st was a great day for my 2 new countries. Dad and I went to Le Bar Tabac, a charming french bistro in Brooklyn to hold our breath with 80 new french friends while Les Bleus managed to stun the Brazilians, knocking one of the favorites out of the tournement and advancing to the semifinal round on Wednesday. I've loved rooting for France in the World Cup, especially to watch how they've improved with each game. After the 0-0 tie with Switzerland for example, I didn't think they'd even make the knockout phase, and now all of a sudden I can picture them in the finals! What a fun day. It was also fun because it was Canada Day, the equivalent of Independence Day in the US. I have no idea why they celebrate it on July 1st, other than perhaps trying to do things as similarly as the Americans without being too obvious (I'm kidding, calm down!) Of course, Quebec already celebrated their "national" holiday on June 24th.

American Girls

Our annual steady stream of friends and family coming to visit NYC and use our apt as a homebase has been particularly fun this year. Last weekend I was visited by one of mom's classmates, her friend and their 2 9-year old daughters. The big draw to nyc was the American Girl store which I hadn't known existed. Boy did I get an education! As you can see, I had a great time being taught by these adorable american girls how to properly dress, accessorize and make up their little friends. In the thank you note Kylie and Carter left me, they said I was one of the nicest men they had met. Thank you! You are a couple of the sweetest and cutest American Girls I have met.