The Days and Nights of Robierto

Do you every become a fan of a TV show or movie and worry that you are getting dangerously close to crossing over the line into terminal fanaticism? That is how I feel about the TV show LOST. I know I shouldn’t love it as much as a do, but heaven help me, I do. And sometimes I worry that I may be slowly crossing a line over into one of those weird fans that normal people start distancing themselves from. But luckily for me, I have seen that line and I know what it means to “cross over” into absolute fanaticism. I would like to illustrate with a story, if I may… Picture it, Provo Utah, a month before StarWars: The Phantom Menace was to open. My roommate and I were obsessed with all things StarWars . Any magazine article that even mentioned “ StarsWars ” we had to buy it. Any food item that was pressed into StarWars characters we had to eat it. I think we watched the StarsWars movie trailer over a thousand times. But how could we help it? We had waited our whole lives for George...

Yesterday during stake conference I saw my first Apple IPAD sighting. I must say it was quite impressive. I don’t think anyone around this good brother holding his IPAD got anything out of stake conference because all eyes were on this amazingly large gadget. Now there are definitely going to be some draw backs to bringing your IPAD to church. The first, and obvious one, is that no one is going to be paying attention to any lesson or speaker because everyone will watching you diddling on your Ipad. They could announce the second coming over the pulpit and no one would even know because everyone around you would be so enthralled with the amazing functionality and bright colors of your high-tech machinery. Secondly, remember how back in the day when you would bring you IPHONE to church and instead of using it to follow along in the lesson, you could check sport scores and play solitaire during priesthood? And so long as you nodded your head ponderously and looked heavenward every so ...

My job has been really stressful lately. Yesterday, I was almost to the point of shutting my door and sobbing gently to myself. But I resisted and called my co-workers together and said it was time for the “Super Fantastic, 4:10 Express Dance Party”. So I put on my I-Pod and what song did it land on? The Electric Slide. Remember the Electric Slide from High School? The song that brought all those people that absolutely had no rhythm, and really shouldn’t have been dancing in the first place, out on the dance floor for at least one dance that any person could look semi-cool doing. So three of my co-workers congregated in the middle of our office (my other co-workers were too afraid to fly their freak flag that day. Don’t question it, just do it!) and did the dance of joy, or as others call it, the Electric Slide. Then mid way through our dance my boss walked in. We were nervous …but we stayed to true to the dance and kept right on a slidin’. He asked, “What are you guys...

Do you ever email or instant message someone and you want to wrap up the conversation but it goes a little something like this? Them : Thank you so much, good to chat with you. Me : You are very welcome. Good to talk to you as well. ( At this point you go on with your work because you think you are done with your little communiqué. ) Them : I sure appreciate all your efforts. Me : Don’t mention it. (OK we are done with all the pleasantries. Right?) Them : Well I feel like you need to know that you are a valued member of our team. Thanks again. Me: You are welcome. Have a nice day. Them: You to. Have a wonderful day. Me: Thank you, you do the same Them: Thank you so much. Talk to you later. Me: Ok. Them : Ok. Thanks so much, good to chat with you… And so it goes with all the cyclical pleasantries, of saying “ thank you ” and “ don’t mention it ” like eighty times and frankly it is a little grating after a while. Let’s be honest, this is why I can’t in...

When I was on my mission, my companions and I would get a little raucous and loud. But how could I not be raucous? I was hilarious. After a time of raucous laughter, my Mission President would sidle up to me, put his arm on my shoulder, and whisper, “ Quiet dignity Elder. Quiet dignity ” That seemed to quiet me right down. I knew that as a missionary I should be more “ dignified ” because of what I was doing. This weekend I had occasion to go to General Conference and I was reminded of the importance of the principle of “ Quiet Dignity ”. Now I don’t know if you are aware but outside the Conference Center there are people out protesting the Church and some of its doctrines. I was prepared for that. What I wasn’t prepared for, were some of the members of my church doing counter protesting in some pretty ridiculous ways. Let me call out few of the things that I saw and you be the judge how “ Quiet Dignified ” they were. Group #1 - As I entered the Conference Center grounds, t...

Do you ever assume that you are better friends with someone than they think you are? I have this “ friend ” who lives in my neighborhood, we work for the same company, and we belong to the same church, so you would think we could consider each other friends, maybe not “ best-ies ” but friends nevertheless. So yesterday I saw my friend at work and I walked up to him and said, “ Hey friend ( the name has been changed to protect me ), How is it going ?” His response, “ Hey Dave , It’s good to see you .” I thought, " Dave? Really? Dave? " Now let me pause here to remind you the name of my blog, The Days and Nights of Robierto . No, my first name isn’t Davy, it’s Robbie, Mr. Abney if you're nasty. So as we made small talk, he kept referring to me as “ Dave ”. I can understand him making the same mistake once but over and over again? I didn’t know if I should have correct him, because I know he knows my name, he used it last week at church for pity’s sake. I was so ...