My UFO experience

Last night I caught the second half of a UFO documentary hosted by Peter Jennings on the National Geographic Channel. Then Melissa and I saw the new Indiana Jones move (review coming soon) so it turned out to be a pretty alien-oriented evening. It got me reminiscing about an experience I had earlier this year that I haven't shared with anyone but my wife.

There I was, driving after sunset on a Sunday night. I was on my way to drop off some cookies my wife made for a few families in our church. For those of you familiar with the Loma Linda area, I was northbound on Anderson street on the uphill side of the bridge that goes over the railroad tracks.

Driving along minding my own business, I glanced out the window and just above the new anatomy building being constructed, I saw a glowing yellow saucer-shaped aircraft. I did a double take and tried to keep my eyes on the road but also get as good a look at this thing as I could. Because I was moving, I could gauge that it was about 500 yards away from me and probably 40 yards from end to end. It appeared to be angled such that I was seeing the underside of it. It didn't appear to be moving very quickly, if at all. The whole thing was a glowing yellowish color and had a bright light on the top center and one on the bottom.

I began thinking about how weird this was and about how I can't be the only one seeing this thing hovering over the inland empire. I started thinking that when the news reports came in I could tell people "I saw it too!" and recount my eyewitness description. As I kept driving, and glancing back and forth at my new discovery, something odd happened. The thing started changing it's shape. This didn't really phase me because I suppose alien spacecraft can do that. As I examined the new shape of my UFO, it turned into an IFO. Yup, an Identified Flying Object. I had positively identified the flying object as a blimp. I was probably thrown for a loop because I snuck up on the blimp and didn't notice it until I was pretty close and viewing it from a funny angle.

There you have it, and now you know why I haven't shared this experience with anyone besides my wife. In my own defense, if you scroll back up to the illustration at the top of this post, you can see how blimps and saucers might get mixed up, right?

Choose Your Own Adventure

Everybody needs to collect something. Me? I chose this series of books. As with any collector’s collection, my goal is to have them all! Here’s a little background on the series, which I was surprised to find out ran from 1979 all the way to 1998.

The Idea was born in 1969 when Edward Packard came up with the prototype “Sugarcane Island”. He had the idea while he was making up bedtime stories for his children. He was rejected by several major publishers but persisted and eventually teamed up with R. A. Montgomery, each of whom ended up writing 60 books for the series. The series is noted for its appeal to reluctant readers - which is where I come in.

As a child I wasn’t the most enthusiastic reader but I loved getting these from the Brigham City Library in the summers. My favorite two were “Sabotage” and “Underground Kingdom”.

Because these books encouraged the young Benji to read, I decided a few years back that it would be a good idea to have these in my future home for my future children to read. Since then I’ve picked them up here and there at second-hand stores, yard sales, flea markets, used bookstores, etc. I decided to keep track on this blog of the ones I have for reference. If any of the faithful Benjiblog readers happen to stumble upon a CYOA book I would greatly appreciate the help and would gladly reimburse you the cost (up to $4 per book – they’re usually around $1 or $2).

Without further ado, the list (which I will update as needed):

1. The Cave of Time
1. (new series) The Abominable Snowman
2. Journey Under the Sea
3. By Balloon to the Sahara
4. Space and Beyond
5. The Mystery of Chimney Rock
5. The Curse of the Haunted Mansion (new title)
7. Third Planet from Altair
8. Deadwood City
9. Who Killed Harlow Thrombey?
12. Inside UFO 54-40
15. House of Danger
18. Underground Kingdom
20. Escape
21. Hyperspace
22. Space Patrol
33. The Dragon's Den
37. War With the Evil Power Master
39. Supercomputer
43. Grand Canyon Odyssey
47. Outlaws of Sherwood Forest
49. Danger at Anchor Mine
51. The Magic of the Unicorn
55. The Trumpet of Terror
58. Statue of Liberty Adventure
66. Secret of the Ninja
67. Seaside Mystery
71. Space Vampire
74. Longhorn Territory
75. Planet of the Dragons
76. The Mona Lisa is Missing
78. Return to Atlantis
80. The Perfect Planet
82. Hurricaine!
83. Track of the Bear
87. Exiled to Earth
88. Master of Kung Fu
90. Mutiny in Space
92. Return of the Ninja
99. Revenge of the Russian Ghost
100. The Worst Day of Your Life
101. Alien, Go Home!
102. Master of Tae Kwon Do
103. Grave Robbers
104. The Cobra Connection
107. Fight for Freedom
108. Master of Karate
113. The Lost Ninja
117. The Search for Aladdin’s Lamp
118. Vampire Invaders
149. Search the Amazon
151. Gunfire at Gettysburg
152. War with the Mutant Spider Ants

Kids series (red books)

36. The Owl Tree
37. Haunted Halloween Party

Also for your reference, a complete list of the series.

Best tattoos in the world!

This week there is a new book out entitled "No Regrets". The authors scoured the country documenting the worst tattoos they came across. Here are a few of my favorites from this set released to abc news.

Optical Illusion!

This post was inspired by my poll question to the right regarding whether or not the layout of this blog messes with anyone else's eyes besides mine. You can find more by going to youtube and typing in "optical illusion".

Movie Reviews: Blood Diamond (edited), Over Her Dead Body, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (edited)

I've got a few movies to catch up on reviewing. We have some neighbors who have a few DVD's they got from Flicks, a rental place that would clean up rated R movies. I believe the movie industry shut them down a couple years back.

Blood Diamond (edited)

I was curious about this movie because I one of the kids in my boy scout patrol (I'm a leader) is from Sierre Leone, which is the setting for this movie. I used to give him rides to scouts every week and would use this time to try to get to know him better and understand where he is coming from. He once told me that sometimes it was scary on Saturdays because they would line people up on the streets and if the area around their houses wasn't clean they would shoot them. When I asked if he felt a lot safer living in Loma Linda he said it wasn't that different because his grandma tells him that there are bad people down the street and if he gets too far from the house they'll take him away. He's only 12 now, but when he grows up I'm sure he'll have a greater appreciation for the safety and security here compared to his home land.
Alas, I digress. The movie was really captivating, told an important story, and told it well. I would imagine if I had seen it un-edited it would have made me sick to my stomach because there were many scenes involving armies of children engaging in urban warfare. I'm glad I watched it and would especially recommend it to any young couples who are deeply in love and think they are ready to spend a lot of money on a diamond.

Recommendation: If there's any way you can see it edited, go for it. Otherwise, you'd better have a strong stomach.

Over her dead body

Yup. I watched it. All of it. Based on the previews this looked like one of the stupidest movies ever. I think the only reason I enjoyed it was because my expectations were so low. It started out really rough and I seriously considered finding something else to do. I was so tired I just laid on the couch and figured if I fell asleep I wouldn't miss much. Eventually the plot picked up and it was kind of fun.

Recommendation: Probably a no, but don't get mad at me if you do decide to watch it and you don't like it.


Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (edited)

I had never heard of this movie. It says it's rated R for language, some drug and sexual content. Obviously seeing the edited version I didn't see any of that and, although the movie was a little wierd, I really enjoyed it. Basically this movie is a cheesy love story told in a really creative way.

Recommendation: I'm glad I saw it but again, I can only speak for the clean version.

With My Own Two Hands

A couple nights ago I stayed in the lab late to set some teeth in a denture. You may remember from my previous rant that setting teeth isn't my favorite thing to do. However, as I was working on this denture this song came up on the shuffle setting of my iPod and I got to thinking about the unique opportunity I have as a dental student.

You see, in the real world of dentistry, the dentist doesn't actually make the denture. He or she takes the impressions and sends the casts to a lab for the dentures to be made. This is much more cost effective.

Anyway, as I was skipping out on sleep to make the denture I thought about the patient I was making them for. Back when we first met I knew within a few minutes that he really messed up his life using meth, among other drugs. This wreaked havoc on his dentition, as is usually the case, and had to wear a colostomy bag for some time. Upon looking in his mouth I knew right away we would be pulling the remaining teeth and making him a denture. I wasn't too delighted about this and didn't have much pity on him because I felt he brought this all on himself.

Since then I have gotten to know this patient pretty well and realize that, although he made some serious mistakes when he was younger and more susceptible to the tugs and pulls of the world, he is now one of the most humble and caring people I know. I think when you really get to know just about anybody you understand that they are an individual with thoughts and feelings not too terribly different from your own. During our appointments this past quarter we enjoyed discussing the American Idol contestants, politics, and many other things. Also, working on him wasn't as appalling as I was expecting - he has great personal hygiene and usually smells nice.

This reassured me that I chose the right career. I really found joy in doing something for this man that he would appreciate and couldn't do for himself - incidentally those two things constitute my father's definition of a good Christmas present. This sort of gift is reflective of what our Savior did for us.

Don't get me wrong, in and of itself I don't enjoy making dentures, but it is a good opportunity to serve others.

And now, a picture of the set of dentures I made last year for the class where we learned how to make them. Yes those are my clothes in the background, no I wasn't making dentures in the nude.

I miss the sticks

Not that I've ever seen a tractor pull, but it's been far too long since I've seen a good demolition derby.

Camping

We had a great time camping in the San Bernardino National Forest last weekend. Jordan didn't see it as a vacation - he spent all his spare time hard at work in the dirt.