Dallas Petersen

Our family (OK, me especially) likes to play boardgames. Read my list of favorite family games.

Others have asked me, and I’ve asked myself–why is not eating any food with high fructose corn syrup a goal of mine for this year? Great question. Honestly, it’s kind of a whim-of-a-goal. I’ve read a few things, and talked with a few people, that have told me a few good reasons. Here they are:

• Health reasons
  • Contributes to obesity.
  • Contributes to diabetes.
  • One of the main ingredients in soda, candy, donuts, and most fatty foods = don’t add to my burgeoning waistline.

In no particular order, here are a few things I will do this year:

1. Cardio, cardio, cardio.
2. No food with high fructose corn syrup.
3. Finish my board game.
4. Finish my maternal grandparents’ personal histories.
5. Go on a three-day hike with my son.
6. Attend GenCon 2008.
7. Read scriptures with my family every night.
8. Have family home evening with my family every week.
9. Have family home evening with my extended family (both sides) every month.
10. Finish my parent’s 50th anniversary project.
11. Complete my basement’s finish work (caulking and painting).
12. Help my kindergarten-age daughter learn how to read.
13. Build up a year’s supply of food.
14. Learn how to use wheat from home storage.
15. Motivate my kids to take piano lessons.
16. Buy a good HD digicam.
17. Read a good book once a month.
18. Early to bed, early to rise.
19. Study kanji via the scriptures or the リアホナ.
20. Write in this blasted blog once a week (so I’m at least as prolific as my wife or my friend Paul).

Much has been written/said of late about the demise of the album. The typical suspects are the aural wonder twins, iTunes and the iPod. Since the early days of rock in the 50’s, singles have a been a part of the record biz. The mass purchasing via iTunes of the best songs from an album does not a death knell sound for the full album. Certainly, singles are popular, but full albums, that are best purchased and listened to as a contiguous whole, will continue to be made and enjoyed. Here are a few of my favorite beginning-to-end albums (not all are conceptual albums, but have few, if any, weak singles):

1. U2’s Joshua Tree
2. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon
3. Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here
4. Neil Young’s Harvest
5. The Decemberist’s The Crane Wife
6. Radiohead’s OK Computer
7. The Beatles’ Revolver
8. The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
9. The Beatles’ Abbey Road
10. Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
11. World Party’s Goodbye Jumbo
12. R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People
13. Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend
14. Traveling Wilbury’s Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1
15. Tom Petty’s Highway Companion
16. The Black Crowes’ Shake Your Money Maker
17. The Shins’ Oh, Inverted World
18. Jeff Buckley’s Grace
19. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours
20. Jellyfish’s Bellybutton
21. Los Lobos’ Kiko
22. Peter Gabriel’s So
23. John Mayer’s Continuum
24. Soundtrack from Amadeus
25. R.E.M.’s Document
26. Sinead O’Connor’s The Lion and The Cobra
27. The Smithereens’ Especially for You
28. The Smithereens’ Green Thoughts
29. Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
30. Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions