I am on the last day of participating in the orientation course for a job. Hopefully it will yield results. It was a bit of work posting discussion items and responding to everyone who responds to mine and then responding to their responses. People of course are going way overboard on the schmoozing, which my pride will not let me do too much of-maybe to my detriment. We'll see anyway if I get an interview after this. There are three more versions of this orientation course for other applicants going all the way until May so I don't know if that means I won't hear anything until May or what. The agony of waiting.

I contributed something to Wikipedia today. I added that U2 makes reference to The Picture of Dorian Gray on the page for that book. This is the second time I have added something to Wikipedia. My other contribution was a portion of the biography of basic writing pioneer Mina Shaughnessy. It was fun to do. After three years there has only been minimal changes to the Shaughnessy page that my graduate class did. I can't say the same for the unverified allusion that Bono makes to the novel. It is my suspicion that he is alluding to it, but I can't back it up and we know how big Wikipedia is on that.

Easter and conference was great. Got together with family and "played picnic" with adorable great nieces and nephews.

Here is a cool experiment with choral music. My favorite composer had people submit a video of themselves singing various parts of one of his gorgeaous numbers and then they put them all together. It is pretty awesome.

What exactly does this guy do at work?

I walked to the car shop to pick up my car after getting fixed (a great way to get in my exercise for the day) and the wind was blowing 30 mph. It was crazy. That reminds me that I used to be so confused when the wind felt like it was blowing in all different directions within the space of a few minutes. From the movie Mary Poppins I learned that it takes a long time for the wind to change direction and I was always so confused about how they could be so wrong. Then I finally grasped the concept of fiction.

In honor of me getting a bite on an application I turned in, not a job, but someone actually requesting more information from me, I will show you how excited I am.



Then here I will show you what he was really singing before they dubbed him:) Well really, it is college humor doing their version.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Doesn't it sound like you would imagine Mr. Bean sounding like?

The British have not had luck with their cattle. Along with the mad cow incident a while back which prevented me from donating blood for several years, in 1860 they also had a cattle plague and had to kill thousands of cows. That is when Americans "took over" making cheddar from them.
I have also learned that the pastuerization laws in the U.S. prevent us from coming up with famous cheeses and having some of the best cheeses imported here.

I guess I'll just do a brief update. I still am unemployed. I have been holding out until new semesters start at various schools to see if I get teaching job of some sort at some college. I have applied at various schools in Utah. If I don't have one by May I will look elsewhere. I have considered doing temp work in the meantime, but I haven't signed up for any yet. I read Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics by Its Most Brilliant Teacher and it was really interesting. A good exercise for my math and physics-challenged brain. I have also read Cheeses of the World. I also finished The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. I am now officially tired of novels written in the 1930s and 40s and will be moving on to some other era. I have gotten a chance to do some random things for my visiting teachees lately and I am really enjoying my ward activities.

Since it is the day after the celebration of all things Irish, I thought I would join the fun. Since for me Irish=U2, St. Patrick's day is pretty much U2 day for me. But since when have I ever needed an excuse to post anything having to do with U2?
Here is a live acoustic version of a great U2 song. It is basically the same theme as the beginning of Isaiah 6. It is a really great plea to God.

During my avoiding my thesis days, I joined the whole craze surrounding Lost. I watched seasons 1-5 on hulu (which you can still do, by the way, if anyone else is avoiding the thesis) and now am in suspense waiting weekly for all the answers to come. I stumbled on this site where a guy has made a bunch of funny t-shirts for Lost. I will post my favorite one below.



And yes, I am ashamed to admit to all this.

I just watched one of the coolest shows on TV: Who Do You Think You Are?. It is about celebrities finding out who their ancestors were. Apparently it is a take-off from an original British version. It is clean, inspiring and so unlike anything else on TV. Very refreshing. This first one is about Sarah Jessica Parker, who I find ironically played a witch of the Salem Witch Trials in the kid's movie Hocus Pocus and then finds out that her ancestors were involved in the real thing. From the previews it appears that her husband Matthew Broderick, who played in Glory, has ancestors that fought in the Civil War.
Here is the link to this episode.

Here is a small clip from one of my favorite songs by John Gorka, a folk singer. I wanted to play the song from the album, but I couldn't find it, so here you go.

I've been invited to a Mad Hatter tea party this Saturday before we all go to see Alice in Wonderland, and I decided to try some things mentioned in the story. I'm going to make a treacle tart and bring comfits. In trying to find a recipe for a treacle tart I discovered that many Harry Potter fans have tried it as well. I found the ingredients at Harmon's and we'll see how it turns out. The movie looks a bit crazy, but I wouldn't expect anything less from Tim Burton. Here's a preview.

So Alice in Wonderland was disappointing. The story was clunky and not as interesting. The atmosphere was great though. The Mad Hatter tea party was fun and I am not a fan of treacle (at least the version I made).

I really, really like this song by Cyndi Lauper. It was on a Bones episode:).



or a live acoustic performance one (it is not that different, but i like it better).

Not much has been going on lately, so I don't really have anything to write about. I'm applying for jobs, but nothing so far. I've been reading The Brothers Karamazov and The Encyclopedia of the Universe and Everyday Math for Dummies. I've gotten hooked on an Irish TV show that aired in the 90s-Ballykissangel. I'm slowly getting caught up on my scrapbook for the last two years. That's about it.

It's official-I'm going to see U2 on June 3rd at the Rice-Eccles stadium. I'm excited! I thought this clip might be appropriate to the occasion.

There was an elder in my MTC district that has since become a well-known photographer-here is his website. He has an amazing visual eye. My favorite portfolios are the editorial, landscape and the personal. He has also been accepted into the AFI program and been there a year. On facebook he updated that one of his videos made it into the top ten on vimoes list of videos for last year. It is simple but lush and gorgeous. I would also check out the sunrise run video.

powerlinerflyers from wes johnson on Vimeo.

News flash:
U2 has just added Salt Lake City to the list of concerts. It will kick off the tour set of this year on Thursday, June 3rd. Now the dilemma. Do I go? Tickets on sale this Monday. I don't know why it is a dilemma-it should be quite obvious for me really, but I both do and don't want to go.
I thought they wouldn't play here because Rice-Eccles stadium doesn't hold enough people, but it turns out they are going to afterall.

I got the new Norah Jones CD for Christmas. I love it. It is quite different from her previous stuff. She has included some more guitar and synthesizer but does have a few quite jazzy ones reminiscent of her first album. Here is one of my favorites from the new album.



My favorite line is "I don't know nothin' 'bout leavin', but I know I should do it today."

I got my new computer power cord in the mail so I am back in business, baby.

I decided to post a few pictures from my trip to the Northwest.


Here I am in a beige jacket doing bumper cars with some nieces and nephews.

I went to a basketball game my eleven year old nephew was in.

Here was some of the beautiful Oregon scenery.

We played some black-light mini-golf.

Here is one of my nephews. I just had to post this one.