“If I had a song that I could sing for you, I’d sing a song to make you feel this way”:

 If I may, I also highly recommend “Perhaps Love“, ”Annie’s Song” and his duet of ”Edelweiss” with Julie Andrews.

Specifically, in 2009:

• I will post regularly in my blog, with a focus on unique, relevant content. I will also make an increased effort to comment on blogs I read.
• I will further refine my RSS reading list and share the gems I find (coming soon on this site).
• I will focus on using Facebook as a tool to communicate, via messages, posts and statuses.
• I will create a LinkedIn profile and begin building my professional network.
• I will use Twitter to follow opinion leaders in fields I’m interested in and to share content in those fields.
• I will redesign my personal webpage to make it more useful.
• I will sit down and write old-fashioned letters and thank-you notes to send via snail mail.
• I will write conversational emails.
• I will pick up the phone and call people.
• I will meet a new person every month by walking up to them and striking up a conversation.
• I will connect with someone through some media each and every day for the next 365 days.

Every year, the Boy Scouts in our area camp at Enchanted Rock, a huge, natural granite dome west of Austin.

For quite some time we’ve made this part of our family tradition–we’ve always had at least a few of us in the troop. Since it’s a church group, it’s easy and reasonable for my dad, myself and a few brothers to join the group, as leaders or as youth.

For three days and two nights we’ll hike, climb, freeze, cook and spelunk. It’s one of the things I look forward to over the holidays.

What about you and your family? What are your non-holiday holiday traditions?

More than two-thousand years ago, a baby was born in humble circumstances. He grew up–first as a child, then as a young man. As an adult, he taught and blessed those around him. Real men, women and children, like you and me, saw him. They talked with him and received miracles at his kind hand. The long-prophesied Messiah really had come.

Although he was perfect, and even though he taught the way to happiness, many rejected him. He was “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,” because he willingly chose to suffer so that he could console and care for us in our hardest times. He suffered the pains and sicknesses of each of us. Any pain, grief, sorrow, sadness, loneliness, fear or regret that you feel, he has also felt in every extreme. He truly understands.

In a way that you or I cannot fully understand, he paid the price for sin. He then allowed himself to die on the cross. Although he died, as the Son of God he had power over death. On the third day, he rose again. He lives even today. Because he lives, death is not permanent for any of us. I know that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is my Savior and that he lives!

This is what I celebrate on Christmas.

May you and yours have a joyous holiday season and feel the love of the Savior. “Glory to God in the highest. And on earth peace, good will toward men.”

I’ve finally bitten, and I’m now on Twitter.

I’ll use Twitter for microblog content over statuses. It’ll be like http://blog.davidjgarcia.com, but more frequent, diverse & condensed.

If you’re interested, you can follow me here: http://twitter.com/DavidJGarcia.



 

Our lives are like that, especially at Christmas time. There are so many things to do and think about. For those of you in school, finals make it an even more stressful time. But remember:

there is one thing which is of more importance than they all—for behold, the time is not far distant that the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people.

The most important thing is that the Savior came.

the Son of God cometh upon the face of the earth. And behold, he [was] born of Mary, at Jerusalem… she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who [was] overshadowed and conceive[d] by the power of the Holy Ghost, and [brought] forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.

I don’t know if I was at the shepherd’s hillside on that first Christmas night, but I know that I was singing.

And he [went] forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

Everything. Anything. Whatever it is that you struggle with, He understands.

And he [took] upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people;

He lives!

and he [took] upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

He knows how to take care of you.

Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance;

He is the Savior of the world. But He is also my Savior and yours. He has already paid the price.

and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

And this is the testimony which is in me.

As we run around and stress this holiday season, may we all also remember this one most important part: the Savior came, he’s paid the price, he truly understands, and he lives!

(Alma 7:7,10-13)

As I write this, I’m celebrating my 25th birthday, placing me squarely in the “quarterlife” demographic–that time when you’ve finished college, dreams are still big but more specific, and real life has kind of started, but not completely.

Now, I’m going to celebrate my birthday by ending this post, even though it has an unfinished feel to it.

And if you missed it, here’s me on “The Price is Right”:

Watch the full episode here. It’s actually a fun show to watch every once in a while.

Let there be joy to everyone this Christmas.

Now I’m not saying you should keep putting off what you need to do. Quite the opposite, in fact. You need to hack your procrastination reflex. Instead of putting off something more important, postpone the less important things. All those excuses we use to justify delay of productive things can also be used to delay non-productive things.

Think about it–what if you were able to convince yourself to waste your time on the internet later, because you’d rather write that paper now–instead of the other way around. It’s easy when you realize that (if you’re like me) you’ve already been honing that ability for a long time. Now we just need to redirect it.

The best way I’ve found to use procrastination for good is to embrace the concept of timeshifting. Timeshifting often refers to the ability to watch a television show some time other than when it originally aired. First VCRs and now DVRs make this possible. This is a perfect example. At no point are you truely tied to the TV. If there’s something more important, just hit pause–it will be there when you get back.

The internet? Still there after you leave for a while. Just save the links. That game? It has a pause button. Even sleep will always be available later on. You can come back to it whenever you decide.

I can’t say I’ve totally gotten the hang of it yet, but I think I’m on to something.