I Heart ClearPlay

The exercise bike is downstairs in front of the TV (which is not hooked up to a TV signal, but that's another story) so I can watch movies while I exercise. I usually check out movies from the library, which is great because they're free. Usually one or two of the kids come to watch with me.

I used to get kind of nervous when the kids were watching. A lot of PG movies are not very kid-safe. I used to put the subtitles on so I could try to mute or fast forward any language. I would sometimes get edited movies from CleanFlicks, but they went out of business, and they were expensive.

However, last Christmas my father-in-law gave us a ClearPlay DVD player and a one year subscription to filters. It's great; I can watch PG-13 or R rated movies and not worry about the kids watching. You do have to be careful of the subject matter, of course, but a lot of movies are perfectly acceptable with the filters.

My favorite movie now is I Heart Huckabees (which I actually got first from CleanFlicks). I find it totally hilarious, probably because I can relate to it so well; existential angst about saving the environment, dictatorships, the meaning of the universe, etc... I would have totally missed this great film without ClearPlay. How many modern films can tackle subjects like existentialism, nihilism, absurdism, and transcendentalism (that's a lot of 'isms) and still be so funny? Not to mention it's sooo quotable.

Who can forget such gems as:

"Nobody sits like this rock sits. You rock, rock. The rock just sits and is. You show us how to just sit here and that's what we need."

"Have you ever transcended space and time? "
"Yes. No. Uh, time, not space... No, I don't know what you're talking about."

"When you get the blanket thing, you can relax, because everything you could ever want or be, you already have and are."

"If the forms of this world die, which is more real, the me that dies or the me that's infinite? Can I trust my habitual mind, or do I need to learn to look beneath those things?"

"There's glass between us. You can't deal with my infinite nature can you?"
"That is so not true. Wait, what does that even mean?"

"What are you doing tomorrow? "
"I was thinking about chaining myself to a bulldozer. Do you want to come?"
"What time?"
"Mm, one, one-thirty."
"Sounds good. Should I bring my own chains?"
"We always do."

New York Doll

I watched the documentary "New York Doll" again last week. Some of the film making is a little rough, but it has such a compelling story. Even if you're not a Dolls fan or a Mormon, it is a great tale, and if you happen to be both, even more so.

It's the story of one of the founding members of New York Dolls, Arthur "Killer" Kane. Shortly after having great success in the 70's this pioneering glam rock band imploded. Arthur floundered for many years until he one day became so drunk he jumped out of a second floor window. While he was in the hospital recovering he saw an ad in the TV Guide for a Book of Mormon. He sent off for it and the sister missionaries came, taught him, and he was baptized. He said he prayed about the Book of Mormon to know if it was true. He said he got an answer right away, and the only thing he could liken it to was "an LSD trip from the Lord."

He said he was "spoiled from the past" and for so many years he yearned for a New York Dolls reunion. It was his heart's desire to relive those days. It would be easy to say "he's joined the church and found God, so why would he want to go back to his heathen days?" But it was his prayer and it was answered. Morrissey was a big Dolls fan when he was younger, and he called them up to get together for the Meltdown festival in London.

How cool is it that? The Lord can use even Morrissey to answer someone's prayer.

Diet Schmiet

Sigh. I've started dieting again. Actually, I need to change from the mindset of "dieting" to "changing to a healthy lifestyle." About two and a half years ago I hit my highest weight of 272. I'm 6'6" with a big frame, but that still put me in the "obese" category. So we got a really good stationary cycle from Vision Fitness and I started exercising and watching what I ate. I wrote down what I ate and I also took walks during my lunch break at work. After a few months I got down to 250, then maintained for a while, and then I actually below 240 for a while. Even though I was still in the "overweight" category, I was just barely over the healthy zone for my BMI.

It was pretty cool to wear a smaller size of pants again. When I went skiing I noticed how much easier it seemed, without 30 extra pounds on. I've actually maintained 240 for a while, but this summer I slipped to the 245 range, and just this month I hit 250. So it's time to get back to work. I'd like to eventually get down to 220, but I haven't been that size since I first went in the Army.

One book that was really helpful when I lost weight the first time was The 9 Truths about Weight Loss by Daniel S. Kirschenbaum. It was helpful to think of weight loss as a an attainable athletic goal. I found it useful to realize that my body will resist weight loss and that "moderation" doesn't work for weight loss; I needed to take big measures for change. It's also good to know that it is easier to maintain. I've maintained fairly well for a time, but I stopped exercising and I haven't been careful at all about what I eat.

So I guess the key is to keep doing what works for you. It worked for me in the past so I guess it's time to do it again.

Home Teaching

My home teaching companion was supposed to make appointments for us to go visiting tonight, but he forgot that his wife had to go out and he had to watch the baby. So he said we'll just try better next month. Usually it's all-or-nothing with us Elders for home teaching, but something is better than nothing. So I went out to the garden, picked some tomatoes, and took them out to a few people.

It was a very small thing on my part, but doing even a little bit of service makes you feel good.
The father of one family recently had a kidney transplant. I didn't know this, but they don't take your old kidney out, they just squish your guts over a bit and put it in the front. He said what was so astounding to him was his mental clarity since the surgery. I guess the toxins that are usually flushed out by your kidneys can make you feel tired and sluggish when they accumulate. Operation stories are always good, especially when they turn out for the best.

Kumbaya

• Lisette is getting very good on the piano. Her new favorite song in her lesson book is "Kumbaya" played like a very fast march.
• Miles is taking another skateboard class. His hair is getting past his eyes, so obviously he's improving.
• Ian has almost paid off his swimming lessons. He is quite the dedicated lawn-mower and weed-puller.
• Saffron is talking more and more every day. She can now say "Go away, Daddy!" and "I'm nudie."

The Art Institute of Chicago

The highlight of my trip to Chicago was the Art Institute of Chicago. It was honestly quite amazing. I’ve saw most of the Smithsonian Museums, but I missed the fine art museum. This was the first real world-class art museum that I’ve been to.

It was really cool to these masterpieces in the flesh. I've see many of these pictures in books, but they are really much more impressive to see them in their original scope.

I loved to see all the details close up; the intensity of the color and the variety of textures. The Jackson Pollock and Roy Lichtenstein pieces were cool, but they were quite underwhelming compared to Saint George Killing the Dragon by Bernat Martorell. I was never impressed by that in books, but seeing it close up, I was amazed. It had gold highlights embossed and it was just plain magnificent.

It was impressive to see so many works by Monet, Picasso, Renoir, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Pollock, Cassat, Dali, and Rodin all in one place. My favorite, of course, was A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat.

But I must say that the is no way Ferris Bueller and his friends did so much in Chicago in one day. Let’s see, during the school day they crashed a fancy restaurant, went to a Cubs game, went to the Art Institute, saw a parade, drove home, hung out at the pool, and ran Cameron’s dad’s Ferrari in reverse all before his mom and dad got home from work. No way.

Today the kids got out their Masterpiece board game and we realized that all the art in that game is from this museum. Lisette is now very jealous and she told me I have to take her to a famous art museum.

Chicago

Friday I took the train into downtown Chicago. The weather was looking better, and I wanted a chance to see a few of the sites. I had been on the outskirts of Chicago a long time ago, but I never made it into the city. The train was efficient and clean, although it was a bit noisy inside. The night before the train was speeding past all of the traffic, but today the traffic was speeding by the train. However, I think I still saved time because as soon as we got into the city the traffic was pretty thick (and parking was tricky). I was going to transfer from the train (this was the blue line coming from O'Hare) to the El, but it was confusing so I just walked.


It's amazing to see so many tall buildings stacked so close together. It was overcast, but I imagine those building still throw mighty long shadows. It was an urban canyon. Salt Lake has very wide streets downtown, but Chicago's are probably a 1/3 as wide. It was very vibrant and busy, but somehow it seemed friendlier and less overbearing than New York City. I passed the picturesque Chicago Theatre on the way.

Millennium Park was really cool. They had lovely gardens and lots of interesting outdoor art. My favorite part was this giant mirrored "bean" (Cloud Gate.) It was really cool to look at the skyline reflected behind you. There was a street performer on stilts playing popular music with his ukulele and a melodious falsetto.

I took the opportunity to snap a self portrait on the underside of the bean.

The Crown Fountain was really fun. There were lots of kids playing around in it; you could tell they just loved it. Though, I have to admit, the picture of it does look quite bizarre.

I really liked Michigan Ave, "The Magnificent Mile." It was the last street of skyscrapers before the park and the lake. I liked the contrast of the intricately detailed old buildings and the sleek modern new ones.

I liked Chicago. It didn't see too much of it, of course, and I haven't had the experience of living there and having to commute to the city, but I liked it. It was a very unique, interesting, and beautiful city. Frank Lloyd Wright said, "Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world." I don't know if that's true, but if it's not, it's not too far off.

Seaside, yet still docked

The Chicago skyline "dinner cruise" last night was big on the dinner, but small on the cruise. The water on the river had risen so much because all of the rain that the boat wouldn't clear some of the bridges, so we ate on a docked boat.

Luckily the main cabin was enclosed, so we stayed mostly dry. We did get a few breaks from the rain where we went up on top and took in the Chicago skyline, albeit a very static and limited portion of the skyline. By the end of the "cruise" the water had risen to almost 5 feet higher than usual (the captain had never seen it higher, and they had to jury-rig a gang plank for us to get back on the dock.

It was fun though. I had to make an effort to be sociable, but it actually wasn't as hard as I thought. It was actually nice to have people to converse with when you're traveling somewhere alone.

I was just glad that my flight wasn't scheduled for last night; they canceled 500 flights out of O'Hare because of the extreme weather. One of the company's tech support guy had his basement flooded, and there were power outages all over the place. Luckily the weather was good today and my flight was on time. It's so good to be home.

Chicago style

Last night I had an authentic deep-dish Chicago-style pizza from Giordanos. It was quite tasty. It's basically a pizza which has the outside crust pulled up to form almost a bowl. Then it is cooked, then the cheeses and all the toppings get put in and then the sauce is on top. Then it is baked again. I got a small one, which was bigger than I expected. Please don't ask how much of it I ate, because I'm still feeling it out almost a day afterwards.

My conference has turned out really nice. Besides missing Melinda and the kids, it's been a good experience. I've learned a lot about our billing software, CareVoyant, and all the changes we will need to make for the new upgrade, and what the new options and features are. I've even been somewhat social, which is a big deal for me. It hasn't even been that painful.

In thirty minutes I will be boarding the shuttle bus that will take us to downtown Chicago for a dinner cruise. I've been looking forward to it. However, there are severe thunderstorm warnings, and flooding warnings right now. It's raining, and there has been quite a bit of lightning. The organizers said even if we can't get out on Lake Michigan, we should be able to at least go down the river and see some of downtown.

So my simple goals for this Chicago trip (besides the obvious educational ones at the conference) were to try Chicago pizza, see downtown, and see the Art Institute of Chicago. I've got one down, and I'll have the rest done by tomorrow afternoon. Now I get to add one more; to see the Windy City windy (and wet).

Air travel

Right now I'm posting from my hotel room in Chicago. In the past 2 months I have taken 2 flights to spend 2 nights away from my family. Previously it's been over 3 years since I've even been on a plane, and then I was with my family.

Business air travel seems kind of glamorous with your power suit, your executive leather briefcase, your wheeled travel bag with you connected to your mobile phone via bluetooth headset making powerful and important decisions on the go. It seems glamorous, but honestly, it makes me feel tired. I'm very happy with my job where I show up in the same place everyday.

I've never been to Chicago, so it is kind of exciting to see somewhere new, but my room here is very quiet. Sometimes in the chaos of home I really long for a little solace. Today I can say it's overrated.

Anyway, the flight was fine. My seat was a little stingy in the legroom department, my iPod died, and the onboard audio quality was abysmal, but I had my trusty crossword collection to keep me occupied.

I sat by the window and watched as the houses, roads, fields, factories, and warehouses got smaller and smaller. When you are up so high you can see patterns. The road grids, housing developments, canals, ponds, lakes, hills and mountains; all the things that you can't see when you're own the ground in the thick of things. From up so high the little details seem somehow not to matter so much. Like when I drove the car off the road coming home from night-skiing right after Lisette was born. Man, that was seriously depressing and stressful at the time, but from 10 years make it seem pretty inconsequential. I should remember that the next time Saffron spills her milk, or Ian doesn't do the Laundry, or Miles leaves his dishes out, or Lisette won't clean her room.

Tomatoes au natural

These tomatoes are sweet, but not as sweet as Saffron! Saffron is our adorable diapered darling. She loves to run around au natural outside and to pick the sweet tomatoes. Her favorites are the Juliets, which are about two inches long and very sweet; just right to plop into your mouth. We like them better than cherry tomatoes now. They last longer before getting mushy and they are firm and fleshy.


So here are this years tomatos; from left to right, Sub-Arctic Plenty, Copia, Pink Brandywine, Lemon Boy, Great White, and Juliet (in the front.) I planted some Purple Cherokee, but they haven't ripened yet. I got most of these seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I got the Lemon Boy from a friend and the Juliet seeds from Twilley's seeds.

So I'm getting a lot better at growing tomatoes, and I'm getting to like them better, too. When I was a kid I detested tomatoes. When I was in my 20's I started liking them OK, as long as they weren't plain. Now I can appreciate the subtle sweetness of the tomato, and it's own distinct brand of flavorful acidic juice. Not to mention how sublime they taste chopped up with white onions, jalapeno peppers, and with a twist of lime and a garnish of cilantro. Ahhh. Now that is the taste of summer.

Off to China for James

Friday night I had some of my siblings over at my place. We were having a little get-together for my brother James. He's the baby of the family. He's actually 14 years younger than I am, but only 13 years older than my oldest daughter. We're always glad to have him visit; he's great with the kids and really pleasant to be around. He's been going to school in Anchorage so we don't get to see him too often. He's taking a little break from school right now to teach English in China. It should be a really good experience for him. He'll get to visit Hong Kong for a few days before he gets to the mainland. He'll have room and board at the school and they will teach him a little Mandarin. He plans on having time to visit the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the Terracotta Warriors. It should be very educational and a good experience for him.

It was fun to have my siblings over. I haven't seen Joy for a little while. Her hair has grown out longer and it looks good on her. Also, she brought over her new dog, Olive. She is an adorable young bulldog. She was so much fun to play with, and Ian loved walking around the yard with her. I think it made Melinda kind of nervous though. She wanted me to take a shower to wash off all of the "dog germs" after Olive kissed me. Just imagine Lucy from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" right after Snoopy kissed her, and that would be Melinda. But Olive was just so cute and so fun! She has this loose skin that's so fun to rub, and she is just so solidly built that she's fun to squeeze!

Connie made it over after her Harry Potter book group at Barnes and Noble. She's been really busy at getting book events going over there, and she does a really good job at it.

Clair came over earlier with little Makenna. It seems like school has been keeping him very busy. But you can tell he loves his little baby. He makes a great dad.

Carrie shared tragic pet stories with us. I didn't realize that when little Peaches (the dog) died that James didn't know about until a week later when he asked mom, "Where is Peaches? I have been looking for him all week and I can't find him."

Michel was over with most of her kids. She is starting to teach school this fall so she has been busy getting her classroom ready. The cousins had fun playing together and James enjoyed seeing his nieces and nephews before he had to go.

On Saturday I took James out to do a few errands and then Carrie picked him up in the afternoon so they could hang out and then she was going to drop him off in the airport.

Saturday I also swept up dog hair off the kitchen floor. Still, it would be fun to have a dog to play around with. Melinda is going to be really nervous when she reads this.

You can pick your nose, but you can't pick your Primary teacher

I went to Ian's Primary class today. Some of his Primary teachers have mentioned that he looks really mad or depressed during sharing time. Supposedly he covers his ears during singing time, he scowls, he puts his face to the wall, and he won't talk. So today I went and sat with his class to see how he's doing. I suppose it was a good thing I did because his teacher didn't show up and so I taught his class.

His class was quite fun and quite funny. I was teaching "How We Show Jesus We Love Him." The lesson had me give 6 clues to guess who someone was. The first clue was, "He loves you." Jesus!, they all replied. That kind of made the other clues extraneous. After I kept going until the 4th clue, one astute girl said, "Jesus is the answer to everything."

The kids have pretty good ideas about how you show your love to Jesus, but somehow they got sidetracked about picking your nose. They they procceed to discuss where you shouldn't put your boogers: under your tongue, on your elbow, in your ear, back in your nose, on your shoe, on your eyeball, etc...

Anyway, I thought about Ian and his participation problem in Primary sharing time. I think he's fine. Obviously he could use a little coaching and some more church social skills, but I'm not too worried about him. I had my fair share of church behavioral problems when I was a kid; his don't seem too bad.

I remember my dad marching me over to my Sunday School teacher's house to apologize for my outrageous behavior. But what was weird about that was that I thought I was acting better that day. Anyway, I think Ian is just fine. Maybe we'll work and have him learn some songs at home and maybe I'll go to his class for a while. But as long as he goes and soaks up a few gospel messages without burning anything down, I'm perfectly happy.

Random notes

• Today was the Poison and Ratt concert (I didn't go). I think they should have billed it as the "Rat poison" tour.
• Lisette wore her pajamas all day because her one pair of jeans were dirty.
• Miles and Lisette discovered the wonders of Lego Star Wars II now they can both save the galaxy from the Empire together.
• Saffron went to REI with James and I wearing an orange dress, Dora the explorer stretch pants and a Winnie-the-Pooh hat. Everyone admired her cuteness and her free-spirit choice of apparel.
  

Down with weeds

Ahh, the wonders of laptops and wireless Internet! I can sit out on the back lawn enjoying the cool breeze and enjoy the hummingbirds and bees flitting around the flowers and post entries on my blog! Right now I'm enjoying the views of Purple Coneflowers (Echineacea purpurea), Blanket Flower (Gaillardia grandifloria), Globe Thistle (Echinops ritro), Hummingbird mint (Agastache cana), Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida), and other miscellaneous blooms.

I feel somewhat better after getting some weeds out the ground tonight. It seems like every August the little devils creep in and before you know it you have a full-fledged invasion on hand. July has been so hot this year that I haven't wanted to get out into the garden much. But luckily today I got some recruits.

Ian last week decided he was dropping out of swimming. (He must have gotten the idea from his cousin.) Melinda told him that he would have to pay her back the $25 swimming fee and he said that was just fine. I wonder if his being dunked on the tube at Bear Lake had anything to do with it? So he will be mowing lawns and weeding for me for a couple of months. Miles wants to continue skateboard lessons, so he will be weeding for me too. We decided that $2 a for a 5 gallon bucket of weeds was pretty fair.

So Ian and Miles both filled up a file gallon bucket full of weeds. I filled two and a half. Just 20-30 more to go!

Downtown dust

Ten minutes before I was supposed to go home from work tonight, I got a phone call (which usually means trouble.) Our downtown clinic was switching DSL and phone providers, and their install tech couldn’t get their network up. So at the last minute I got on the freeway and drove downtown.

I got the problem fixed fairly fast. The DSL router had the same network address as the internal wireless router. After I changed one of the network addresses it came right up. I took a little longer there because my former technician (who has since left) setup the router without any security. I wonder how many neighborhood people have been using their Internet for free? They will be sorely disappointed tomorrow morning.

So it was interesting being downtown today. Even though our mailing address says “Salt Lake City” we don’t actually live in the city. They have these 2 massive malls right by Temple Square that are being demolished. The Crossroads Mall is almost all rubble now, they just need to implode the Key Bank tower. Next they will tear down the ZCMI Center. The whole place is a massive destruction zone and they have these banners of Downtown Rising. It sure doesn't look like it's rising, it looks like it's being brought down to the dust. There are construction walls and rubble all over the place.

So since I was downtown already, I thought I should go to the Family History Library and finally get some ordinance cards printed out. I've had some ancestors flagged in PAF (Personal Ancestral File) to get their missing temple work done for a while now. So being downtown I decided that there's never been a better time than right now.

The library there is great, and the people are very helpful. They steered me in the right direction and I got exactly what I needed. It's exciting to get that step done and go on to the next; to go to the temple. It feels like I'm taking my ancestors names out of the dust.

The quick and the dead

Melinda has officially given up her Quicken duties. When we were first married I took care of the finances since I had used Quicken previously on my old Mac Classic. However, she took over the money matters fairly soon, within a year or less. I did the taxes until about 3 years ago, but she has assumed that responsibility as well. (Personally, I think she didn't trust me or something.)

I must say, it has been a pretty nice arrangement. Melinda takes care of the finances and all of the health insurance stuff. She's been great about staying on top of things, which means I have less to worry about. However, recently our company switched health insurance providers again, and she got overwhelmed with the new system. Not to mention that homeschooling the kids takes a lot of time, and it's all to easy to get behind. Melinda had been feeling kind of tired of it all. Then the final straw was when I wiped out all of our data off the hard drive. We were without our PC for several days, and then I installed the latest version of Quicken (which looks quite different).

So looks like I've got Quicken duties again. But now I've got our bank and credit card accounts to download into the program automatically. Now there is less data input (hooray!) and lots of cool graphs and reports I can make. I think the new technology will keep me interested.

However, Melinda should probably be worried. It has a "cash flow" center that shows your balances. I think I may turn into a super tight-fisted miserly scrooge until I get the balance where I want it. Woo hoo ha ha ha ha!!! [evil laugh] She also now knows that I know how much she really spends for homeschool materials. THAT is truly scary.

Garden junkies

In May of 1999 we bought our home. It was great having more space for our growing family (2 kids in a one-bedroom basement apartment is pushing it just a little). The change that was most surprising to me, however, was my new found interest in gardening.

I hated gardening as a kid. It was always Dad making me weed; Dad making me dig up potatoes; Dad making me pick up rocks in the garden. Even worse was dinner during summertime. It seemed like every night all we had was corn, tomatoes, cucumbers and potatoes. Dad would always brag, "Everything here on this table came from our garden." I was OK with corn and potatoes, but I couldn't stand tomatoes, and cucumbers were even worse.

Inexplicably, after I had a plot of soil of my own, some long dormant gardening gene started to sprout (sorry, but that pun was just unavoidable). It all started with just a few little potted plants. It couldn't hurt; everyone was doing it, I told myself. But then I moved on to starting my own seeds under shop lights in the basement. After a while I ripped out some lawn to expand the flower bed "just a little." "Just this one little spot won't hurt." Years later my front lawn is almost non-existent, and I found myself needing more and more unusual plants to get by. I stay awake at night scheming about some little spot where I can shoehorn in some more plants.

I started out with just flowers, but I all too soon branched out to vegetables (sorry about that pun, I couldn't help it). I was getting a very suspicious feeling that I was turning into my dad. My brother, Clair, was telling me about how he was really into plants. My cousin, Cameron, spoke at his dad's funeral and talked about how his dad would always make him garden and he hated it, but now he loves gardening. Even my sister, Carrie, is now planting tomatoes.

What's going on here?! I can't decide if it's just part of getting older and more mature, or if there is some deep primal need in our souls to make something grow. Maybe it's the farmer heritage that runs in our veins that compels us to till the soil and plant. Whatever it is, it feels right and is very satisfying to me. What do you think?

Boys at Bear Lake

This weekend the boys and I went to Bear Lake for a ward Father and Sons outing. Melinda stayed home with the girls. They went out to see a movie, Shrek 3, but Lisette was traumatized because they locked the keys in the car and Connie had to go and rescue them.

Melinda and I didn't get much sleep without each other. Melinda stayed up until 4 AM doing Sudoku puzzles until she finally conked out with the light on. I, on the other hand, was in a cabin full of teenage boys who played poker and laughed and joked until past 3 AM. In the morning I woke very early to the sounds of children bowling (yes the cabin has a bowling lane). Luckily, Ian and Miles were able to sleep through all the noise. I came to the sad realization that I was too old to stay up playing with the teenagers but not old enough to sleep through it all (unlike Laird who was peacefully snoring through it all).


But even considering lack of sleep, we had a great time. The weather was nice and the water felt just right. The deep azure color of the lake was beautiful. The combination of the soft sand, cool clear water, and warm sun felt lovely. Miles and Ian seemed to have a lot of fun. They ran around and played with the all other kids. They got a kick out of watching the bats swooping down on the mosquitoes. We waded into the water and watched the sunset fade over the lake. They loved throwing sticks into the fire even more than roasting marshmallows. They both got their turns in the bowling alley and with the dart board. We saw a myriad of stars and the Milky Way was shining in the dark sky. We even saw a shooting star.


We took two neighbor boys with us who live alone with their single mom. I think it was good for them; it seems like they probably don't get out much. They really seemed to enjoy going on the boat and riding on the tubes behind it. We liked the boat and the tubes, too. Even Ian did after his tube went under the water and threw him in the drink. He had his life-jacket on, but he still held on that tube for dear life. He was very brave.

It was kind of an exhausting weekend, but well worth it. I hope the boys will remember it fondly.

Florida

On July 4^th my grandfather died. He is from Utah, but he had been living in Sarasota, Florida for the last several years. My dad couldn’t get off work, but I was able to fly over for the funeral. What was really nice is that my sister Ruth lives nearby in Palm Harbor and so I stayed with her and her partner Darius for 3 days.

I hadn’t met Darius before so it was quite enjoyable to stay with them and to get to know him better. Darius is from Louisiana and he treats my sister like a true gentleman. He loves to fish and he’s really into all kinds of sports. My sister warned him that I didn’t follow sports at all so he was prepared for how clueless I am. Once he started telling me about all these famous athletes and my eyes kind of glassed over, but he was very understanding.

I arrived in Tampa on a Tuesday and they picked me up from the airport. On the way back from the airport they stopped to
pick up a pizza from Mellow Mushroom Pizza. Oh baby, it was good! I saw an alligator in one of the ponds by their apartment. That evening we went out Honeymoon Island State Park and I dipped my feet in the Gulf of Mexico. I saw a cool little sea star and a crab with blue pincers that scuttled by in the surf. There were lots of beautiful and unusual birds.

After the funeral on Tuesday (I'll have to do a separate entry for that) they took me out to their restaurant, Bonefish Grill. Darius waited on Ruth and I and we ate bang bang shrimp (to die for) and a really yummy salad. Ruth let me taste some of her sashimi and I ordered Chilean sea bass with all of their signature sauces on the side (how's that for alliteration?) Next came the key lime pie for desert. It was heavenly, especially the pecan pieces in the crust. So I waddled out of there with a bowling ball in my gut, but oh man, was it worth it. So if you ever near a Bonefish Grill, I highly recommend it.

Ruth and I then went on a walk by one of the canals behind their place to walk off some the food and look for gators. We didn’t see any big ones (they were probably hiding in the reeds on the bank) but we saw a little one sticking his head out. We also saw rabbits, lizards, frogs, and all sorts of birds. The sun was going doing during our walk, but wow, it didn't cool down. I don't know how you ever get used to high humidity. I took a swim in their pool after the walk, but it was too warm and you don't cool off after you get out. But I do have to admit, my skin never got dry, which is unusual for a desert dweller like myself.

Florida was really beautiful. I loved all the trees and how there were natural areas woven into the city. It must be really nice to live by the ocean (or the gulf) and see the unending stretch of water out to the horizon. Most of all it was very satisfying to reconnect with my sister who lives so far away.

And I hear she and Darius have some very exciting new for us!

Step on no pets

We've always avoided having pets, but somehow they have squeezed in the door and invaded our peaceful home. Melinda's always been freaked out by pets because 1) They die tragically and 2) they poop. She remembers all my family's tragic pet stories better than I do.

Let's see, there is the time the fish aquarium got moved in front of a sunny window. Then the cat who slept in the engine compartment of the car to stay warm in winter. Then the skeleton of a kitten which was found in the woodpile. The time I let my pet parakeet to fly around the room without realizing there was a sleeping cat in the top bunk bed. Then there were the farm animals; the calf who ate too much alfalfa and bloated, the pregnant cow who mysteriously died, various chickens who were caught in wire fences, the peacock crossing the road and other miscellaneous cats and dogs.

I'm not worried about them dying, but I do have a few reservations about pets. 1) They poop, 2) you have to clean up after then, 3) they poop, 4) you have to make arrangements for them when you leave on vacation, 5) they poop, 6) they smell, and 7) they poop.

So we were first tricked into the pet thing when my sister-in-law Salena moved to an apartment that allowed no pets whatsoever, and she gave us her blue betta in a little fish bowl. It seemed so simple and small, but it was all downhill from there. Lisette named him "King," and she cried for days when he died a year and a half later.

Later we got a fish aquarium and had various fish and aquatic frogs that came and went. We even tried crabs, but they eventually escaped, and we found them much later, dried up under the furniture. We were even given a tadpole from some neighbors who were moving, but unfortunately, he never turned into a frog.

Then this spring, the neighbors brought over their cuddly pet duckling. Suddenly Ian desperately wanted a cuddly pet. He decided on mice, but we kept avoiding the subject and tried not to think about. Then when we could no longer say no, we let him earn money to help buy some mice.

We went to the pet store, and the little mice were so cute running around all together on the wheel. So we decided to get more than one since they are social creatures. We heard that female mice were more docile (and less stinky) but the pet store only carried males. So now we have 3 male mice: Willis (the orange one), Max (white with black spots), and Jack (mostly white). They're very cute, but 3 mice means 3 times the poop. They were all getting along quite well at first, but now it seems a pecking order has been established. Willis is the the most dominant and aggressive. Jack was his friend while Max was picked on and had to hide from the other two. I think Max was a little sick then.

However, the rodent dynamics have been changed and now Jack is the picked-on one. He now has a big cut on his back (where the other mice have bitten him). So the night before last Melinda was all worried about him. (She worries about the mice a lot) So we improvised a separate cage for him out of a wire mesh trash can.

I often find myself thinking, "How did we get into this mess?" And, "How did these creatures sneak into my life?" Funny, but that's the same thing I think about my children sometimes. But I guess I wouldn't have it any other way.

Arches in springtime

We went to Arches National Park this spring. We are starting to get the hang of camping, but I think more than 2 nights in a tent is still pushing it. The kids got the Junior Badges and learned about the geology there.

Spring was the perfect time to see the wildflowers. It's amazing to see how these plants have learned to thrive in such arid conditions. This paintbrush plant (I believe it's a Castillejea chromosa) seemed especially vibrant.
We really enjoyed hiking the Park Avenue trail. Saffron loved hiking on her own. She was quite the trooper.

The kids had a lot of fun. The weather was just right and it was so nice to get away. Hmm... maybe it's time for another trip!

Immersion

Saturday we all went to my nephew Brenton's baptism. He had just turned eight and he was one very happy boy to have so much family visiting on his account. We had a lunch at his hous and he blessed the food. He especially gave thanks that all his cousins could come. He's had a few speech issues in the past where he was a little hard to understand, but he seems to be coming along swimmingly.

We went over to the chapel a little early and he was seated on the front bench, all in white. I waved to him as we sat down, and he ran over and gave me a big hug. Then as soon as he appeared he was gone again, back on the front row with a mile-wide smile.

When it came to his turn to be baptized he could hardly contain his excitement. It was so cute watching him going into the water with his dad. He left the font very clean and very content. It was a priceless moment.

In 1991 when I was a missionary in Chile, I had a long discussion with a woman about being baptized as an adult vs. being baptized as an infant. She had pointed out that I was only eight when I was baptized so how much choice did I have in making that decision and how much was just "going with the flow?" When I went home that night I sat on my bunk and tried to remember everything I could about my baptism.

I remembered sitting in white and someone telling me about this book that we had received before (what book?) and that we had written in it and scribbled on it (what book!?) and that we would be getting a new clean white book after we got baptized. I waited for my new book and wondered why I never got it! I guess nobody had ever explained metaphors to me before. I remembered Dad forgetting which arm to put up and which one to hold my arm with. I remember some kid from my elementary school (who I didn't like) who was in the changing room (what was HE doing there?) I remember coming home and seeing all my younger siblings sitting at the kitchen table scarfing down Wheaties. That was it. I didn't remember pondering whether or not I should be baptized. I considered calling home, but I didn't think that would help much.

So I then consigned myself to the fact that I might never know if I had made that decision for myself. In that very moment I felt the Holy Spirit distinctly and vividly inside me. I knew that I had made the right decision and it was me who had made it. It was very comforting in a time when I felt my faith was a little lacking. Also the knowledge that I had the Gift of the Holy Ghost with me from a young age to guide me was reassuring.

So to Brenton, I salute you! Eight is a great age to be baptized.

Topping yourself

Lately I've been reading a lot of books from English and Scottish writers. Now I want to call everything I like "brilliant" and I notice the children having "rows" and rude and clueless people are now "gits." The newest English idiomatic expression I learned is that "topping yourself off" is to kill yourself. I got this from the Nick Hornby novel "A Long Way Down" which is about 4 individuals that accidentally met on the rooftop of a tall building on New Years Eve, ready to throw themselves over. They eventually form a rag-tag self-support group and meet up regularly despite their differences. They help each other out (in rather hilarious ways) and they all have enough life change to keep going.

I read Hornby's book "About a Boy" and really liked it. It was witty, insightful, and funny. I thoroughly enjoyed his writing style so I thought I'd try more of his books. I then read his book "How to be Good", but it was rather disappointing. However "A Long Way Down" was much better. Unfortunately there was too much strong language, but it was funny. Oddly enough I read it and a particularly appropriate time. Last weekend someone from work "topped himself". I worked with him quite a bit, and though we didn't end up being pals, this event left me feeling quite disturbed. I guess he was having some marital problems and his wife and two children left him. So that same weekend he did himself in.

It is so sad that he didn't just wait it out a bit. He could have just waited a week or two and see that life can still go on. In the book the 4 people found out that if that could make it 90 days they found they still had things to live for and their situations changed enough for them to keep going. Just in one season you can gain a better perspective on things and see that life is worth living.

We acquired one half of this guy's information company last year. He was the main programmer and it was a small operation and he was key to almost all of the processes. Just Friday one of their servers went down (a bad hard drive). He hadn't backed it up and nobody is really sure what all is supposed to be on there. He left a big mess for us to clean up at work. Someone is going to have to come in and reverse engineer all of his work and "figure out" what he did the hard way. That is just small beans compared to his poor family. His spouse is going to live with grief and guilt for her whole life. His poor children may never completely come to grips with his actions. Not to mention his parents, siblings and friends.

It would be easy to say that he took the easy way out and that his actions were purely selfish. Maybe that is the truth, but how can you ever know what goes on in someone's mind? Mental illness is a malady that can strike anyone. It is simply a tragedy.

Elk and bison and bears

The week before last we came home from a short holiday. We spent 3 nights in Island Park, Idaho, in my parent's time share condominium. Since I was eight years old my family would go up every summer and spend a week there. We shared it with my Uncle Jerry and Aunt Elaine and their family. They got one room and we took the other. Actually our parents took the rooms and all the kids slept on the floor or on the oh-so coveted hide-a-bed couch.

Jerry and Elaine's family had five kids, and there were eight in mine. It was always a riot! Every year 13 us of kids would descend over the clubhouse and practically fill the swimming pool ourselves. We all have such fond memories of our yearly vacation with our cousins.

This year we were supposed to have a big family reunion at the condo. Unfortunately a week earlier my dad had an accident where he fell off a big pile of logs in the wild frontier of Alaska, so he spent the week in the hospital with my mom by his side. But I made it with my family, my brother Clair with his, and Carrie and her partner Bobbie came up as well.

On Sunday we went out to my Aunt Elaine's cabin (my Uncle Jerry passed away a few years ago). They loved Island Park so much they built their own cabin so they could go up any time they wanted. We had dinner with 3 of my cousins and their kids and we played Pinnochle and Settlers of Catan afterwards. On Monday we went out to the lake and played in the water with them and then had a game of volleyball afterwards.

Tuesday we were off to Yellowstone! The past 2 years none of my siblings could make it so it was just my family at the condo by ourselves. We mainly spent out time in Yellowstone. We figured out that when we go during the day we get worn out with the heat and the crowds. But when we went in the evenings when it was cooler, we had a lot more fun and we were able to see much more wildlife as well. Tuesday afternoon we drove all the way to Norris and it started to rain. It didn't seem much fun walking around the geyser basin in the rain so we went over to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Right before we got there was a big slow down of cars. It was the holy grail of Yellowstone wildlife; a grizzly bear! Wahoo!! Of all the years we've been to Yellowstone we've seen bears only twice before, and they were both black bears.

Of course, I didn't get a very good photo but we saw him! It stopped raining enough for us to do some sightseeing at Canyon. It was beautiful. The evening light seems to make all the colors more vibrant and everything was washed clean from the rain. The canyons and waterfalls there are really quite spectacular.

We then drove over to the Haydn valley because we heard there was a pack of wolves over there. We didn't see the wolves, but we several very large herds of buffalo and several bull elk. We drove over to Sulphur Caldron and Mud Volcano (gotta love that rotten egg smell!) walked around and then got back into the car for the ride home. And lo and behold, on the way back we saw yet another grizzly! This one was a younger one, but he was closer to the road. I guess sometimes lightning does strike twice.

No pain, no gain

I haven't been bothered too bad by Ankylosing Spondyliltis (AS) for quite some time now. Sometimes I almost forget that I have it. I take Naprosyn (Aleve) daily and it seems to work well for me. But sometimes AS rears its ugly head and makes sure I don't forget that he's there. If I don't move too much it's just a dull ache, but if I have to bend over it's quite painful to straighten back up again. It makes me cringe every time I have to pick something off the floor.

Isn't there some saying about not being a man if you can't put your own pants on? Well, I hate to say it, but Melinda helped me put my pants on today. I could have done it, but she offered and I didn't say no. Pretty pathetic.

I'm using hot packs, cold packs, Ben Gay, and I'm taking Ultram as well. The Ultram usually dulls the pain enough to make it through the day, but I don't sleep as well when I take it. It doesn't make me loopy, but occasionally I do have trouble keeping my eyes focused on something if I'm not actively engaged.

But as far as living with dread diseases, I think I'll keep this one; I've got it pretty much figured out. I can live with this. I don't have high blood pressure, diabetes, or bi-polar disorder. Paul wasn't ever healed from his thorn in his side and I'm certainly not better than him. I also take solace knowing that in this fallen world, Jesus understands my pain perfectly (not just physical pain but everything). Here's one of my favorite scriptures about that:

(Book of Mormon | Alma 7:11 - 12)

11 And he shall go 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.
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take 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.

What more than can you say than that?

Freedom From Data Act

Our home computer has been acting up. I have my own laptop, and I've got a computer at work, but Melinda and the kids have been complaining about all the problems with the family PC. So I finally broke down and started a restore (after all the simple fixes didn't work). But it has been absolutely killing me! I work with computers all day, so I need another PC to fix like a need a sliver under my fingernail. I took out all the memory except one stick, changed the CD drive, cables, hard drive and I STILL got errors trying to install XP. Finally I switched out the one remaining memory stick and voila!, everything started working again.

However, in the process I really blew it. While switching hard drives around I accidentily formated the wrong hard drive. Doh! I of all people should know better. But the worst part was I didn't have a backup. For shame. I am responsible for the backup of over 8 servers with redundant systems, yet I can't be bothered backing up my own stuff.

So I was slightly upset when it happened, but surprisingly it didn't take me too long to get over it. Years of documents, term papers, financial data, little programs and other digital bric-a-brac that I've collected for years are gone. Gone, baby, gone. But actually now that a couple of days have passed it actually feels liberating. It's as if our basement storage room (which is supposed to be a bedroom) was magically cleared of all the junk, papers, souvenirs, and boxes of stuff that is never used anymore. Sure, there's stuff I would have liked to have kept, but realistically, some of that stuff I haven't looked at in years.

So I'm not to broken-up about the loss. I would have been if it had been all my photos and family history, but it wasn't. So in the future I'm going to be more careful with the stuff I care about, but maybe I'll also be more careful about not saving so much junk in the first place.

I'm addicted to nicotine patches...

I officially have a new favorite Nicotiana. I've tried several different flowering tobacco plants the last few years, and this year I found a new one (drum roll please); Nicotiana mutabilis! I was browsing through the Select Seeds catalog this winter and this tobacco was just calling my name.

Select seeds has a great catalog with lots of heirloom flower and vegetable seeds and they've always worked out pretty well for me. I started the seeds down in the basement under a rack of neon lights. The all germinated great and when I later took them outside they all hardened up well.

This tobacco doesn't seem to have too much of a scent, but in every other way it has exceeded my expectations for a plant. It has big interesting dark leafy foliage and it is even growing in a tough spot. It's over 4 feet tall and the flowers came on early and they are still going. I love the dainty little flowers on the longs stems. The hummingbirds seem to love it as well.

Nicotiana tabacum is the kind you can smoke (I don't) and can grow 5-6 feet. Although it has pretty flowers, but the leaves at the bottom always seem to go yellow and it doesn't bloom until late and it's a lot of foliage with not so many flowers (just a few up on top).

Nicotiana sylvestris is very nice; my second favorite tobacco. It is 4-5 feet tall and has long white slender tubular flowers and is fragrant. It's very pretty and looks great at the back of a border.

Nicotiana alata is also nice. There are many varities of this one and is probably the most commonly grown. It is fragrant and usually only a couple of feet tall.

So next year I think I'll have a whole section with all the tobaccos in it (except mabye not the tabacum).