5th Year Senior

Malware Bites

2011-07-03T20:33:00.001-07:00

My computer got taken over on Wednesday. I was working at school when all of the sudden a screen popped up and said I had a virus. From there it was down hill. It shut down my virus scan and when I rebooted in safe mode it still had control. I ended up stopping it with the help of evil twin, but not before it had taken out all access to any programs I had on the computer.

Thinking about this, as I wiped the mind of the computer that night, why couldn't the person who programmed that malware use his or her talents to benefit someone? I know I could use a hand learning the programming I need for my research. And you can do some awesome things with computers, if you put your mind to it. Instead they make malicious software to take advantage of people.

Lucky for me I use a combination of dropbox and flash drives to save my work so nothing was lost that was important. I had actually been thinking about it earlier in the week, what would happen if I lost my computer somehow or it got damaged? It is a good thing that I had thought ahead and taken the precautions so if something were to happen I would only be out the money to replace the computer, not the time to redo all my work.

And to you hackers out there, not that you are reading this, do something good with your talents. If you can't think of anything, get in contact, I can come up with a few.

Financial Aid

2011-06-26T17:02:00.001-07:00

I quit my job in April. It was a big step since I had always had that safety net and I didn't have a job lined up for the summer. I felt though I should do it, so I took the guidence of the spirit and turned in my two weeks notice.

When I started school I figured I had enough saved to get me through most of my senior year as long as I got a good job over the summer. But tuition is going up, a lot more then expected. Still I felt the need to quit and followed the spirit.

I didn't know until after I quit that I had received a scholarship for a quarter's tuition for the civil engineering department. There had been doubt because the application hadn't submitted correctly and I figured I would be disqualified because of a computer error. But I was pleasantly surprised a week after my final day at work that one quarter was taken care of.

That still left two quarters to pay for and no job. Soon I got my fore mentioned job as a research assistant. When I started to do research, I figured I could apply for research scholarships during the school year and hopefully get enough money to continue my education. I was glad that I was able to impress my professor enough to ask me to work the summer. My plan is either to work during the school year or try for the research scholarship.

Then yesterday, I got an email from the BYU alumni association. About two months ago I applied for a scholarship. I figured I wouldn't get anything, lots of people probably applied. But when I opened the email I found I was getting 750 dollars for school.

I know that I will be provided for. Don't know how but I have two choices; I could expend my energies trying to figure that out or I can have faith and expend that energy doing what I can to succeed and know that the rest will be taken care of.

No desk... No computer

2011-06-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

So I'm enjoying my research as school so far. Monday though I lost my desk to a grad student and I found out my netbook is going to have to do for a computer. I think my netbook would be rebelling right now if it wasn't safely tucked away in my bag asleep. The computer I was going to get ended up going to a grad student that was doing heavy computational stuff. I'm doing light computational stuff with QGIS and Google Earth, so the netbook so far has been able to handle it. Mind you I do have the opportunity to make flash cards or read while it is working. At least I'm getting studying in for my class.

If you haven't already had the chance, take a look at my online link related to my project at ladunham.com. Check out the baseball field. I just found that a couple of days ago. There are four spots of interest in it, can you find all four?

Parked Car

2011-06-23T21:03:00.000-07:00

I have ridden my bike to school (actually to the bus stop) every day this quarter so far. Impressive, right? Not so much, the quarter is only four days old. Although my bus stop is about 15 minutes by bike from my house going to school and 20 minutes coming home. Everything is up hill to my house, this is a fact that I have just excepted and learned to love hills.

I haven't let the weather deter me this quarter. This morning as I was headed out I realized it was raining. Instead of grabbing the biking jacket, which conveniently covers my rear, I took my light weight jacket, which doesn't. I got to school and had to sit at my desk wet for the next two hours. Should have grabbed the right jacked for the job.

Going home there is a steep hill that I have decided to conquer each day, if I don't, I'm a super wimp. Already I'm a wimp because I could get off a stop earlier and take the 40 minute route home. Do I? Only when I am feeling really good which has been once since I discovered the closer bus stop. As for my hill, I get half way up this hill and wonder if going up was a good idea. The thought crosses my mind, am I really a super wimp if I don't go up it? Of course it is past the point of no return by the time this thought occurs. And I would have to go up a hill, it would just be longer and not as steep. By the time tomorrow comes around I have forgotten the steepness of the hill and I once again try it.

Not only did it rain today, but I fell. I have clip-less pedals on my bike. Great for going up hills which means I use them every time I go out. There is a passage on a path that has a small opening between a fence and barricade. Normally I can navigate this fairly well, but I knew it was only a matter of time before I ended up not getting around the barricade. Today was that day. I got most of the bike past the barrier and knew I wasn't going to make it. Trying to clip out of my pedals, I wend down before I could get my foot out. Scraped up my arm and hand, probably will feel it in the morning as well, but no worse for the wear. Reminds me of the other thing I forgot today, gloves.

Lost and Found

2011-06-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

We got new Husky cards at school. These are bus passes and student IDs all rolled into one. Monday I took three buses to get home and on the last one, just shoved the card into my pocket. No problem normally, my pockets are deep enough so I don't have to worry about things falling out.

Tuesday morning came and I rode my bike to the bus stop. I was standing there and then remembered I needed to get out my card. Wasn't there. Checked every pocket in my wallet, twice. Checked my bag, pockets of pants. Nothing. There was no time to go back to my house and get it, so I had to tell the bus driver that I had forgotten it and I didn't have any money. Normally I have the same bus driver every morning so that isn't a problem. It was a different bus driver, but he was okay with me getting on.

Got to school and scrounged up three dollars for the ride home from some classmates. (Thanks by the way, riding 15 miles on my bike isn't exactly fun and that was the alternative.) When I got home I checked my room, the pockets of my pants I was wearing the day before.... Everywhere.... And no Husky card.... So I checked online to find out what the replacement cost would be in case I had dropped it on the bus, 60 dollars. Yikes!

That is when I hit my knees. I was a bit frustrated that it had happened. I thought through all the places it could be, what I had done over the last twenty four hours. Where I had gotten my wallet out. I went to the local drug store where I had shopped and asked them if it had been turned in. Called the bus company to see if it was there. Nope, nothing.

Luckily I have the old card from last quarter that still has a bus pass good til the end of the month. I calmly accepted that it might not show up, but I would give it a couple of days before I thought of replacing it. I prayed some more that I could find it. 60 dollars would go much better towards paying rent or food then to pay the school for another piece of plastic. Mom offered to pay for my new one knowing that I am getting to the bottom of my reserves money wise. I told her that I was going to wait a couple of days since I had my old card.

So this morning, I was saying goodbye to Mom and looked down to under the couch where she was laying and there it was. Apparently it had come out when I had pulled my wallet out to get my last dollar to give Dad for my share of pizza. (I know, one dollar for pizza is a good deal) I had checked under the other couch since I normally sit there but not under that one. Not sure how it got under there, since it was an odd spot, but I am glad that my prayer was answered.

Why Yes, that was me on TV

2011-06-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well, at least my shoulder. This weekend I had the opportunity to go to the semi-annual Dr Who pledge drive at KBTC. I took one of my friends and initiated her into the crazy crowd of Whovians. I have been going to KBTC and working the phones during pledge breaks since I was in at least 8th grade. For those who know how old I am, you can do the math. For everyone else, it has been awhile.

One of the calls I took was from an older gentleman from up north. He said that he and his wife had been watching that other PBS station for quite sometime and then ran into KBTC. They enjoyed the programming and were going to give 35 dollars for the senior membership that would get them a program guide. At the end he gave me some advise, don't talk on the cell phone while driving. I told him that I didn't, so I would be following that advise. He then told me how smart I was.

I enjoy my opportunities to serve down at KBTC. over the last few years I haven't had the opportunity to do it much because of school and work, but it was fun to go down and see old friends and catch up a little.

A Little Trip

2011-06-17T18:58:00.001-07:00

So the job isn't the only thing exciting that is happening in my life right now. I always mention the job first because it is what I'm doing right now. Mom, if she is there, will always mention the other thing first.

I have been part of Engineers Without Borders for a year now. I went to the first meeting a year and a half ago while I was at Bellevue College, but I wasn't able to get to more then two meetings because life was too hectic. I then got involved while I was going to school over the summer working on a fund raiser.

The group is working in Bolivia on several different projects. I have been working on a water project in Huaraca, Bolivia. The village currently doesn't have any water coming through a system that was built in 1992 because of landslides. We decided that we needed to have second assessment to find a better route that hopefully won't be effected by landslides.

The news is I was chosen to help do that assessment which means I am headed to Bolivia this summer. After the assessment is finished, I am helping with another project that works to replace roofs and stoves to cut down on diseases caused by bugs in the thatch roofs and respiratory illness due to smoke inside the houses.

I am looking forward to using my Spanish again and getting to go to South America. I just have to get through all the reports we have to write between now and then.

Excited about Tithing

2011-06-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

So I quit my job of almost 10 years in April. It wasn't working out with school and I really didn't need more retail experience. On faith I turned in my two weeks because without income, I wouldn't be able to continue at school. The job market for interns is intense. There are not enough internships to go around and a lot of my classmates didn't even get interviews before school was up. Luckily I landed my research position.

Since I quit, I haven't had income, which in turn means I haven't had to pay tithing. Now it isn't something that I would think I would miss, but I do. It is an act of faith that I could do every week. I'm one that needs to check boxes sometimes to see how I'm doing and tithing is one I haven't been able to check for a while. So I'm excited about my new job, not just because I really like what I'm doing so far, but that I get to pay tithing again.

For me, tithing is one of those principles I've never struggled with. My dad had a strong testimony of it and would always tell me that to pay my tithing and things will work out. While I was growing up I never had the feeling that we didn't have what we needed. Sure, every summer our vacation would be to visit my Grandma in Provo because we could drive there overnight and had a place to stay. My friends went to Disneyland or the Grand Canyon but I didn't feel we were poor because of it. Since then there hasn't been a time in my life when I haven't had what I need. Want, different story, but need, I always can make my tuition payments, have enough (sometimes more then enough) to eat, have a roof over my head and a car that gets me from point A to point B. I know that I'm blessed because I rely on God's principles to run my life.

I'm looking forward to that first tithing check I get to write.

Geospacial Specialist

2011-06-14T07:54:00.000-07:00

This summer I managed to get a position at school as a research assistant. I got the job by impressing my professor that I was competent and able to find landslides on Google Earth and make cool web pages. Yesterday was my first meeting as a paid research assistant. Apparently I will be the Geospacial Specialist. This means I will understand computer program that show geographic information in a visual manner. The programs I will be learning about are programs I didn't know about 5 weeks ago, Google Fusion, QGIS and GRASS to name a few.

I say this because I'm not a computer expert. The stuff I know is because I've had to learn it. I blame this on my older siblings, especially the three that are right older than me. When I was a child we had a Commodore 64. I though was kicked off the computer on a regular basis when the older sibs decided they wanted to play. Therefore, early in my life I didn't have the exposure I needed to have to learn the fundamentals of computers. But I have my revenge, I make them pay for their actions by pestering them with computer questions on a regular basis.

Actually, I think this is pentanance for not going into GIS earlier. I had the opportunity to go into it during my stint at Western, but decided, because I didn't like computers and thought they were too hard to understand not to do GIS. Now I get to learn without the support of someone who knows what they are doing. Should be a fun summer.

Last Warning

2011-06-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

Evil Twin and I headed home from running a gun to my Aunt in Utah yesterday. It was a short but good visit. Since I have to enter back into the real world Monday, it was a nice break.

Two things stand out in my mind about our trip. Both happened in the Blue Mountains. The first was an area of curves that if one is not careful, one can lose control of their vehicle. There were signs at the beginning of the curves that said "Slow Down" then gave your current speed. Throughout the miles of curves there were more signs that reminded drivers to slow down.

Later, as we were coming out of the Blue Mountains into Pendleton, there were three signs. The first one read "First Warning 6% grade next six miles". Then "Second Warning..." and "Final Warning..." I was pondering these warnings as we headed down the mountain and through the valley below. It is nice to have the warnings for something that could be dangerous is ahead. The warnings allows us to prepare and take proper precautions. Sometimes it would be nice to have some of those warnings more prominent in life.

This brought back a conversation from earlier in our trip about prayer and scripture study, which can be the hardest things to do at times, but when done everything else will fit together. There is always that spiritual warning we have when we slack and let those two things slip. My aunt said that when ever she has problems in life, she can take a look at herself and realize she is not doing these two things. I too have experienced laziness in my attitude of worship and found myself slipping.

The question is, do we heed these warnings? I spent some times in my life when I didn't. I found myself climbing back to where I belonged as a result instead of being able to achieve more than I thought possible. What keeps us from heeding the warnings? That is something for each of us to ponder further, overcome and achieve the greatness we are meant for.

Hugs for Frogs

2011-06-10T19:56:00.001-07:00

My cousin adopted an adorable little boy from Haiti. They were in the process when the earthquake happened and got him out soon after. I have watched his story unfold via the internet and via phone calls to my Aunt. Tonight I finally got to meet him.

Like any three year old, he was a bit shy at first, but was soon jumping around enjoying himself. My sister, Evil Twin, was with me and Auntie and pulled out some paper to make a paper frog. (Something she does for the kids at church all the time... Well, I do it too.) Kids love our paper frogs. And he was no exception. We made a frog of each color paper we had and he counted them and told us what color they were and tried to made them jump.

When asked to give us a hug, he refused. Bribery is not below us, so an exchange was offered, another frog for a hug. Worked, he picked out his color and Evil Twin made a frog. The exchange was made, he gave her a hug and received the frog. I then asked to give me a hug. Nope. Not going to do that. So another frog was soon in his possession.

He now knows he has two cool cousins that make jumpy paper frogs and how to get them if he wants them, offer a hug for a frog.

Officially A Senior or Where I've Been for the Last Two Years

2011-06-09T04:32:00.000-07:00

As of yesterday, I'm officially a senior in the Civil Engineering program. If you had asked me a year ago if I would make it this far, I probably would have said, no. I sat in orientation thinking, what in the world have I gotten myself into this time. For the previous two years I had spent my time studying the prereqs at the local community college. But to be going to the UW? It was daunting. Especially since all of my peers were younger, smarter or both. Then the advisor got up and assured us, no one, except those that didn't show up to class would fail out of the program. If you were there, doing what you were suppose to be, you would be fine. I was assured until the first day of class, then I seriously had to doubt her knowledge of flunking.

But, nine months later, I geek out when I see a truss bridge, want to look at the river to see if I can see a hydraulic jump and use words that get my Evil Twin's eyes to gloss over because even she doesn't know them. And I look forward to taking my senior classes and possibly going on to graduate school because I love learning about this stuff. (That is if it hasn't been priced out of range by tuition increases.)

As for now, I have a few days to spend enjoying non school stuff before I start my work as an undergrad research assistant for the summer. I don't know if I can handle three days without my engineering textbooks, paper and mechanical pencils. Luckily I have my EIT (Engineering In Training) test material to study with if I get lonely.

A Whole New World

2009-07-31T22:45:00.000-07:00

My brother went to Lippe in Germany about three months ago. Right smack in the middle of a crazy quarter at school. So I have just had time to start processing what he found. And to add to that, I am now working at the family history center again and got a film in from Wobble, Lippe, one that my brother suggested I get since he knew I would find names. He was right.

I went to the family history library on Wednesday, I have at least 15 names of people that are related some how to me and I didn't get through the entire record. The only problem is the German script. It is difficult to read, but I did manage to decipher some of it tonight. I have one more generation on both the Beine and Wendt lines. And several siblings to that generation and their children. I'm pretty excited. This is the biggest find for me. And the fact that there is still more in that one film is pretty cool to think about.

Fred Spreen

2009-07-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

From the Quincy Daily Journal Mar 2, 1895

"The remains of Fred Spreen, who died in Atchison, Kansas, will be brought to this city tonight for burial. He has relatives here."

His daughter lived in Atchison, so it makes sense that he would have been there. I didn't have his death date before. Now I have a good lead of where he died and when.

Genealogy Update

2009-05-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

My bro got to go to Detmold Germany this last week. I'm still processing all the information that he sent me. About 28 scans, 14 or so unique records all in German script. (If you know anyone that is good with old records, let me know.)

My brother found quite a lot and doesn't realize the significance. He found a generation for three lines plus some. One of the lines I was able to connect up in family search and got four more generations.

Here is a tidbit of what he found and a mystery to be solved.

We had some confusion on an ggggrandpa, August Herman or Franz Kottmann. In a census he showed up as Franz. In birth records of his children that were extracted from Germany he was August Herman. Well easy fix, his real name Franz Heinrich Herman August Kottmann. I have to say this for my ancestors, that line was all traditional in naming. Almost all those in that line had three to four first names. Mind you, the brothers and sisters all shared at least one name, but as someone said, it could very well be an aunt or uncle's name being passed down. Gets a bit confusing as you will see in the little mystery.
Our small myster: This one comes from the Beine family. If you might remember this post: A Sketch of Life - Read down
to him enlisting in the army with his brother. Here are their
Enlistment records: at Illinois Archives. Now this establishes that there is a brother, Fred or Carl F who is older by three years.

Now return to the article and read down to when he came to America. It says that he came with his parents and two sisters. I have a record from Emigration from Lippe to USA that says this (You got to look for the Childern on Second page or for Friedrich Wilhelm Christoph Beine, the father), there is an older sister that died, then two sisters:

Sophie Friederike Wilhelmine Luise Beine 15 Mar 1840 - 28 May 1840

Friedrich Heinrich Carl Christian Beine 17 August 1841

Sophie Luise Wilhelmine Beine 5 October 1843

Friederike Luise Henriette Beine 12 November 1845

But there is no mention of the older son coming. Add to that the parents were married in 1839. Fred or Carl would have had to been born in 1838, unless he lied about his age on his enlistment record. It isn't inconceivable that his parents got together and decided to be married but had to wait for the preacher to come, but why isn't there a record of him coming to the US?

Now Charles, is Fredrich Heinrich Carl Christian. He would have been 21 when he enlisted, and I believe somewhere else I have his birth listed as 1841. Mind you, the two names we have for his brother are Carl and Fred. Of which he shares both names.

So there is our little mystery. Who is Carl Fred Beine? And how did he get to the US?

Bike Club

2009-03-21T13:53:00.000-07:00

During middle school I kind of wanted to join the Bike Club, but I didn't have the support of my parents to do it, so I didn't even ask. I got into biking again last year as an adult and told George my niece that if she wanted to join bike club I would be her adult supervision. (Of course we don't know who supervises me) Today was our first ride. Sadly George is sick. But I went anyway, since some neighbor friends are part of the club and I needed to get a ride in. I ended up with the neighbors sixth grader who was going pretty slow, but steady. We were the last ones in, but he finished. George and I are doing a make up ride during her spring break with the neighbors and another friend who didn't finish the ride today because she got sick. All in all, it was a good day. Cold, but good.

Temple Blessings

2009-03-21T06:10:00.000-07:00

I've never been a regular attender until recently. I am trying to go once a week and so far have done pretty good. I don't know how next quarter's schedule is going to work well with that, but I will still be trying.

Going to the temple makes me feel peaceful. It has given me an outlook on life that is different. The small stuff really doesn't matter, and when I have faith it will work out. I also don't have the desires to do some things that are not necessarily holy or wholesome.

I listened to a talk by John Bytheway yesterday at work, one of the joys of working early in the morning when all I'm doing is stocking shelves is I can listen to a book on CD. It was the Best Three Hours of the Week. He said at one point that he gave a talk to a group of young women and they were having problems with watching TV shows that were not moral. He asked them if they would give up the worst two TV shows they watch for the Lord. I took a look at my life and the worst things I do. Things that have good content, but they also have bad. Stuff I like, but I have to filter through it on my Google Reader for example. I deleted all of those feeds last night. I had been pondering it, but still enjoyed the feeds, mostly when they didn't have swear words or sexual innuendos.

Back to the temple. The fact that I go on a regular basis has allowed me to share some of the gospel with a friend. I'm headed to Las Vegas for three days to visit and old friend. All my friends are like have fun on the strip. I then tell them, I will be staying with a friend. This friend found out I was going and asked what I was planning to do down there. I felt comfortable enough to say that I planned to go to the Temple down there and that opened up questions. She asked me for a bit about temples and about their importance. She wanted to know if she could go in one and I explained how you need to be worthy, but there would be a temple opening in Vancouver BC soon and they would have an open house. Yesterday I got her a book about temples and gave it to her. That opened up another discussion, found out she was Catholic, Lutheran and then Catholic again. I am reading the same book that I gave her, because I hadn't read it for a long time and trying to look at it from a non member's point of view. I think I will be answering more questions. It feels good to be able to share. I'm glad that I feel that comfortable with her that I could say I was going to the temple when I went to Las Vegas.

Using Pi on Pi day

2009-03-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

One more week of classes for this quarter and then I'm done. Yesterday being Pi day, I celebrated with a study group where we did indeed use Pi to solve one of our problems. Later in the evening, Roo and I had Pie to celebrate.

With school and work my life has been quite hectic lately. I ended up getting the Dairy Manager at work, not official yet, but almost. This forced my schedule to get out of whack with taking and evening class and I'm purely exhausted. One week as I said and I have vacation and then classes are much more convenient to my work schedule. Mind you, I won't have a social life still, but I will work most weeks Monday through Friday. It is taking some getting used to having weekends off.

Good Book

2009-03-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

Well, at least for me. I've been enjoying listening to books on CD on my Ipod at work when I work in the wee hours of the morning. I've mostly listened to Fiction, but recently I got on a kick of non-fiction. The one book that I've been raving about is the A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It is a history of science. It was interesting and funny. He gives a comedic look on the subject he is talking about. If you like science, I suggest you check it out.

Banana Leaf Cards

2009-02-11T20:31:00.000-08:00

My cousin is raising funds for an orphanage in Haiti. She is currently in the adoption process of two beautiful children from that country. Among her fundraisers is some wonderful Banana leaf cards that are hand made by someone in Haiti. This one that is currently up on Ebay is of Obama, and is worth a look if not a bid. So if you know someone that might be interested in these beautiful cards, pass on this link and help an orphanage in Haiti.

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/rosenloflo_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdoZ

Four Year College

2009-02-11T12:14:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was the transfer fair at BCC. I figured that I would go and see if UW could answer my questions about already having my BA and going for my second. Sadly, all they could tell me was I was post Bach and that I would have to go to another councilor to figure out how that effected me. Post Bach normally means more money for them though, which I'm not happy about since I'm doing the same work as all the rest of the students that are paying less. But we will see if that is the case.

Just for fun I stopped at Seattle's two other Universities and asked if they had Engineering programs. Both do, but SPU (Seattle Pacific University) looks more promising because it has a new degree program that is what I'm interested in. The councilor also said that most students can bring the costs down comparable to what you would pay at UW. I much rather have a small college experience then a large college experience if possible, but it depends upon the program and cost.

I was all happy until I did my FAFSA and found out how much I had saved, which is good, that I have a lot saved, but bad if they are looking at how much I have saved and are basing my financial aid on need. If that is the case, unsubsidized loans is all I will get. Although I just read their literature, and it looks like they actually have merit scholarships. Reason to try hard at my classes at BCC (Not that I wasn't.) As long as they take my BCC GPA, I'm good. Western's was good, but not outstanding.

Next step, actually getting to campus. I figure the next time I have a Tuesday or Friday off from work I will head over the lake to Seattle to see about schools.

My Day... So Far

2009-02-03T14:17:00.001-08:00

Go to Temple, check.
Do weekly/monthly shopping, check.
Get Recycle and Trash out, check.
Knit current wash cloth, check.
Listen to my audio book, check.
Taxes, check.
Bike ride 40 minutes down to town and back, check.
Go to Target, getting chocolate that I really don't need but want on bike ride, check.
Update household database, check.
Make sure all bills are currently paid, check.
Clean out wallet, check.
Make hot chocolate, check.
Go out to breakfast with Mom, check.
Put on the pot roast for dinner, check.
Calculus homework, well um.
Read Chemistry chapters, I still have time, right.
Read Chemistry Lab, Lab isn't until Thursday.

Audio Books

2009-01-22T19:17:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been listening to audio books on my ipod. It is either that or podcasts, depending on if I have a book I'm interested in. My first books I listened to were the entire Harry Potter series. It has been a while since I read all of them and it was neat to listen to them all within a short amount of time and be able to pick up on some of the foreshadowing there are in the first books.

A coworker told me to look on I-tunes for podiobooks.com. He gave me the name of Shadowmagic by John Lenahan. I enjoyed that book. I looked at several others, but I don't want to listen to stuff that has swearing and other crap in it. I finally settled on another, and am currently listening to Iron Dragons by Derek Gilbert.

I also have picked up a couple from the library. The first couple were okay, but not great. I picked up Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson. I haven't started it yet, since I'm listening to Iron Dragons, but I will probably get to it this weekend. I have a couple of more on hold, including some of those classics that I didn't get read yet.

All in all, I'm enjoying my iPod and being able to listen to books and podcasts.

Christian Courage: The Price of Discipleship

2009-01-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

So I've needed to be better about studying the Gospel in my life. Each day I get a podcast, LDS voices for my Ipod. Listening to this morning's podcast (Actually a couple of days worth that I listened to while I threw freight at work), one of the speakers talked about if he had studied twenty minutes a day since he left BYU, then the amount he would have read and studied would be enormous. Well today in church we talked about parables in Matthew 13. The parable that we talked about last, the parable of the sower, made me realize how much I wasn't where I wanted to be. So I decided that I needed to include study of the gospel in my daily studies. I decided to base my study around Sunday's Relief Society lesson. This upcoming Sunday is Christan Courage: The Price of Discipleship, a talk given by Robert D Hales last conference. Already things have jumped out at me from other talks I've been listening to on my podcast.

The first is a story about What Would Jesus Do? From a talk by Ezra Taft Benson that I listened to this morning, I found out about the book that was based on the book by Charles Sheldon called In His Steps. Elder Benson talked about situations and people taking the challenge of doing what Jesus would do in everyday situations. It made me think, would I have the courage to do such things? There are things that happen around me that I let slip because I don't stand up for what I believe. I also let myself fall in ruts.

So far, my study has got me thinking. I hope to continue the thinking and start the changing to be the person I want to be.

The elusive Calculus song

2009-01-16T18:56:00.000-08:00

Last night I had a dream. A really weird dream. I was on an adventure with some other Calculus students to learn Calculus. (I said it was weird.) We had to learn a song, and if we learned this song, then we would know how to do calculus. The problem was it kept on repeating and I could never get to the end. It was very frustrating. Eventually I was able to wake myself up. When I did I realized my roomie was playing Rock Band.

Now, if I could only learn the elusive Calculus song, then I would know how to do Calculus!! If only she had finished the song before I woke up!

In the foyer

2009-01-12T12:43:00.000-08:00

So I was in the foyer during Sacrament Meeting yesterday. As I was sitting there I decided that it is an interesting place to be. Most of the time I could hear what was going on, but at points it got loud, and I couldn't hear over the talk of my neighbors. I went there to be by myself, but that didn't work out. A couple of sisters sat beside me, one of the few people that I knew was one of them. They talked to me a bit, but I was actually trying to listen to what was going on in the meeting. They ended up chatting with each other a bit, between listening.

One brother came down and plopped himself in the seat across from us. First, he fell asleep. Then after a little while, we heard the clicking of buttons and turned to find he had pulled out his Nintendo DS and was playing a game of some sort. Each time someone "official" looking came he put it away, but as quickly as they left, then it returned to his hand. Finally a friend came and they chatted, the friend put his arm up and I think turned down the speaker for the meeting, because after that we couldn't hear. Of course that could have been it got loud in the foyer again.

At one point a person that I knew came out and started talking to the other sisters on my couch. She gave them both hugs, and I was ignored. Made me think how wonderfully excepted I am in the Ward.

In class

2009-01-08T19:22:00.000-08:00

So I've started my winter quarter. Two classes this quarter, Calculus and Chemistry. Now before you say, whoa! The Chemistry class, isn't going to be that hard for me, it is more of a review of high school chemistry, that and I like science. Calculus. Well, I'm testing the theory that I'm good at math. I'm determined not to fail, so if I don't post until March, blame it on the Calculus.

Resolutions

2009-01-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

Doing something for myself:

Getting back into music. I want to learn to play the Violin, and have taken the first few steps to that. I picked up my trumpet the other day and played it, I need to practice, I used to be really good at that. So resolution one: spend some time, I thinking trying 15 minutes each day to practice an instrument, whether it be the trumpet, keyboard or other, I want to get music back in my life.

Reading more. I need to get a regular reading schedule in and read my scriptures daily, figure out something to keep me reading. I have difficulties with reading keeping my attention, I need to work on that.

Study for school. I am taking something that might be more interesting this quarter, so I hope to actually put time into studying the subjects.

Exercise. I need to get back on my bike. My knee is getting better so I hope to be able to resume cycling soon. Meanwhile, I will work on the machine down in the cabana.

So those are the things I want to do to make my life better. I will try to tell you how things are going.

Nativity

2008-12-26T18:37:00.001-08:00

Nativity
Originally uploaded by crash49

Christmas is come and gone, and the real reason for the season laid in the manger. This year I got a Nativity set for the first time. I wanted to get one for some time, but haven't found anything I like. As I was picking up some music at Deseret Books, they had this little set on special. It was worth it. It is cute and a fits into our small apartment perfectly.

My Christmas was good. Morning spent with sis with her fam, Mom and Dad and Roomie. After it started snowing again we headed home and spent a peaceful evening at home, with me braking in my new waffle iron for dinner.

Of Skiing, Snow and Work

2008-12-25T18:55:00.001-08:00

Suicide Ski Slope
Originally uploaded by crash49

It has been a snowy week. Storm after storm has hit our area giving us probably nearly two feet of snow. Finally they sanded our parking lot, just in time for us to get dumped on again. Currently, my car is at the bottom of the hill once again, stuck. Hopefully I can make it to work tomorrow, the snow is melting, slowly. Luckily we are on a hill so we don't have to worry about our place being flooded by the big melt.

The hill besides us became and impromptu ski slope. On Saturday morning when I was trying to get to work, but my car was stuck in its parking spot, there were a couple of kids going down the hill on their snowboards that helped me get out of the parking spot. It wasn't the only time I saw snowboarders or skiers on the slope. With every new snow fall, there were more people out there.

As for work, I got there, and stayed there ten hours at a time. Mind you, the pay check will be really nice, but I'm ready for my next days off. It has been busy at work, people panic when the word snow is mentioned. So I've been stocking shelves for most of the week, working the Dairy loads mostly. It feels good to start with nearly empty shelves and end up with a department looking nice.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T03:47:00.000-08:00

Having spent the last week at work (Ten hours a day) because of the snow storms. I haven't gotten much into the Christmas spirit. But this morning I got up at really early (Well not really early for me) and lit all the candles and filled my roomie's stocking. I plan to go to my parents this morning to make the traditional orange biscuits, that is if I can get my car out of the snow. (Otherwise Dad will be picking me up.)

I hope that you all have a good Christmas and get all you want and are able to enjoy your time with who ever you are with.

Morning Snow

2008-12-19T10:38:00.001-08:00

Morning Snow
Originally uploaded by crash49

It was like this all day while I was at work. I watched from the window to see the snow falling and falling and falling faster.

Text from Vegas

2008-12-19T07:22:00.001-08:00

In the middle of yesterday I got a text from a friend in Vegas. It made me realize that my own little snowy world extended a bit...

"Due to snow, ice and hazardous driving conditions, for the first time in 34 years Las Vegas schools are closed!"

And my co worker sings "Let it snow"

2008-12-19T07:09:00.001-08:00

And snow it did. We counted it at 4 inches when the other "manager" left yesterday. She and I were it for management and neither one of us are actually managers. The manager, stuck on the Sammamish Plateau. Assistant, stuck in Seattle. I ended up being manager for the day, which in some ways was okay, but others, like not compleating what I was hoping to, is not.

Although the one person at work that I haven't been impressed with was bending over to impress me. (It is odd having people try to impress you.) At one point I was going to shovel the walks and put salt on them. He saw me and said "The manager shouldn't have to do that, would you like me to do it." Not that I was against doing it myself. But it does speak that he is trying.

Yes, I did have a co worker signing "Let it Snow". Of course she is from Colorado. This is her first winter here, and most of us are laughing at her. She sings with all the Christmas Songs. Even memorized the "Grinch" song so she could sing it to another co worker.

I made it to work okay, but very slowly. An hour and a half to get the three miles. I thought as I was sitting parked about a quarter mile from home, walking or biking would have been better. Made it home as well. But there was no getting up the parking lot hill to park the car in it's proper parking spot. It resides on the street at the bottom of the hill with all the rest of the residents' cars.

Today, no work. They may call, but after yesterday, I deserve a day off. I could make it pretty easily to work, but don't want to even go. We have movies, we have popcorn, firewood and food. So we are good.

Next round, Sunday morning. I hope it waits until I'm home from work.

Its been a week

2008-12-04T19:48:00.000-08:00

Saturday I'm getting off early to go to a funeral. It has been a stressful week. We lost a former coworker. She was our meat manager about two years ago, but all of us saw her on a regular basis since she was at the store closest to us as their meat manager. On Friday she had a stroke while in the meat cooler at work. She was working alone in the department, and was missed only after she had several missed phone calls. When someone went looking for her, they found her unconscious in the cooler. She never woke up and died Monday night.

As I was told that she was in a coma on Monday, I thought of the last time I saw her, about a week prior when I had gone in to get Mom's prescriptions filled. I had to wait a bit and I saw her slinging turkey's in her cooler. I went over and we chatted. She was always so nice and pleasant and it was fun to talk to her. She will be missed.

I've ended up in her store several times this week. The day after she had passed away I was in shopping for ingredients for dinner and chatted with the assistant manager. As expected there was a lot of grief at the store, and they were taking it hard. I was told my manager had been helping out where he could, which was nice to hear. When I went to ask him if I could leave early from my shift Saturday, he had no problem letting me go.

We will remember you Fong. I know you are in a happier place right now, and you don't have to deal with the stresses of life. You will be missed, you were a friend to us all.

New Toy

2008-12-01T21:01:00.000-08:00

Sis, George's mom, sold me her iPod when she got an iPhone last week. I've been having fun. I've liked getting podcasts on my iTunes for awhile, although I am somewhat sporadic in listening to them, I still enjoy them when I make the time. Last night I started to look into more podcasts, in particular ones that I could learn something on. For awhile I listened to UC Berkley class podcasts so that I could glean a bit of info from them. I discover that I could get them on iTunes as well as Open University Courses, which were not just audio, but some where video. So I am currently watching a course about renewable energy called Innovative Designs. I've downloaded a class about Brass Instruments. Since I played in School, I thought it would be fun to learn more about the instruments. Another one that I have downloaded is one about Volcanoes. I think I will defiantly be able to keep myself out of trouble by playing with Open University for a long while. By the way, Evil Twin, I saw a class on using Math in real life that Hubby might like to check out.

My Sea Needle

2008-12-01T20:19:00.001-08:00

My Sea Needle
Originally uploaded by crash49

So I went with Roo and Roomie and an out of town visitor of Roo's to Seattle Center on Saturday. We then headed down to Olympia where we dropped off the out of town friend and went to the capital building.

This Seagull decided it would pose for us at the center. I got pretty close to it, and it only ruffled its feathers and tried to look big. I was into shooting it, but only with my camera. I thought it made a great photo with the Space Needle in back.

By the way, Roomie told me it was suppose to be sunny on Saturday, that is why we had originally said we would go out and take photos, but as you can see, we didn't have much sun (Unless you count that five minutes in Olympia). Check out the other photos from my adventure by clicking on the photo.

Black Friday

2008-11-28T15:25:00.001-08:00

Black Friday
Originally uploaded by crash49

So I did the Black Friday festivals today. I went with a Roo and her sis in law (The Crazy One) and husband (Cyberman) to Target. I went just to see if there was anything good, as well as I wanted to spend more time with Roo. Roo wanted to get a camera, a Kodak camera that was normally 144 dollars was 89. When we got to the front of the line, there was still one up there, so I bought it. I needed a new camera, my father accidentally dropped mine last summer and the battery case doesn't close all the way anymore. I figured for 89 dollars, it would be a good camera.

After we purchased our goods, we headed to wander the store as we waited for the Crazy One and Cyberman. As we turned the corner towards the main exit we were greeted with the end of the line which reached the whole front of the store. Mind you, two minutes later the line was gone, but still, it was fairly impressive. (Of course the line we waited in was about a half hour, we had to wait back in the electronics department and they only had two cashiers.)

Will I ever do Black Friday again? It wasn't too bad, except getting parking spot. The deals weren't spectacular other then the camera, so maybe, but probably not. Unless someone else is doing the driving and I'm just along for the ride.

Roomie's Bathroom Buddy

2008-11-28T15:13:00.001-08:00

Roomie's Bathroom Buddy
Originally uploaded by crash49

So the other day roomie called me into her bathroom to show off her new roommate. The uninvited guest had decided that the sink was a great place to be. That was until roomie turned the water on.

Black Friday Continued

2008-11-28T15:10:00.000-08:00

So I didn't have to work today. First day off all week. It was nice and I actually wish I had a day off earlier in the week. But alas, for grocery stores the big days are before Thanksgiving.

I woke up early, at 6am to go to Target with Roo, Crazy One (Her name is derived from the fact that she wanted to go to Target and other stores so she could experience Black Friday in person. So therefore we called her crazy) and her husband Cyberman (Derived from the fact that he has two blue tooth devises so he can listen to his music off his cell phone. If you have seen Dr. Who, you would understand.)

After the shopping was over, I headed to my parents where I picked up my partylite Christmas tree that we were going to use for our Christmas tree this year and a couple other things. I then went home to make my pumpkin pies. The other day when shopping I decided to do this, thought it shouldn't be too hard, and actually it wasn't. I just used the recipe on the back of the can. It is really easy to mix up, just takes some time to cook up. My sis, George and Kiltman came over to play for a few hours and sis helped me to makes sure I cooked it long enough.

George and company brought over Mario Cart and we played while Roomie graciously cooked Mole and Spanish rice. Roomies meal was scrumtous and we then played some more while Roomie and Sis played Air Hockey on their iphones. We had pie and then Kiltman and Sis left George to play games while they went shopping, something George doesn't really like doing. So now George is unlocking levels on Mario Cart for me as her mom shops for stuff and I catch up on my interneting.

Tomorrow

2008-11-21T16:37:00.000-08:00

I go back to work for the first time in a week and a half tomorrow. Even though it was tempting not to, I got a doctor's note saying that I would be okay to work. I just thought it funny that I was already on the schedule when I was asked for that. But it is a new assistant manager, and he is trying to do everything by the book.

He also noticed that people don't like how the old assistant manager did the schedule. He made the comment about how many complaints and people coming and asking him for stuff it in the first week. I don't know what he scheduled me next week yet. I half really don't care and half don't want to know. I've had my schedule messed up for the last three months by my manager, I want to live in the thought that the new one can do better for a few more hours. Of course he has probably scheduled me during church and not on Thanksgiving like I asked. (Holiday pay makes it worth it to work on Thanksgiving, especially when you don't really have plans.) I'll see, at my early shift in the morning.

Snoqualmie Falls

2008-11-18T20:04:00.001-08:00

Snoqualmie Falls
Originally uploaded by crash49

I was kayaking down at the bottom of this today. I will be posting more later, right now, I'm tired and I'm going to watch the latest Bones...

Work update

2008-11-17T17:25:00.000-08:00

I was told terrible news today, to return to work I need an all clear from my doctor. You know how hard it is going to be to get that, especially since I don't want to call the doctor to get it? They don't realize what power they have given me. Now let me see, three and a half weeks of sick leave built up...

8am on Sunday

2008-11-16T08:05:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning, 8am, I'm sitting on my couch, reading my email and the lesson for church and I hear my phone ring. Now I'm out in the living room, it is in the bedroom, so that means I have to limp in to get it, but I figure, it might be mom or something important, so I better go get it. The phone said work on it when I got to it. Might as well answer it if I've made all that effort. It was my new assistant manager asking for a password. Now I've been off for the last week, met the guy twice, but he is calling me. Either my manager told him I was the one to go to, or no one else was up at this time in the morning.

Socal Anxieties

2008-11-14T22:22:00.000-08:00

One of my main problems with going to a singles ward has always been the social anxieties. I decided to go back for my last year that I'm eligible to go to a young singles ward. (You get kicked out at 31, so I have less then a year.) Mostly sitting in the back row of functions and church has been my way.

One issue I have is I hate to interject into people's conversations, I feel it is rude, and I don't like to be talked over, so I don't do it. That leaves me with being quiet, and not feeling like I'm part of the crowd.

Another issue I've had is reverence. I want to be reverent, especially during church. That means to me not making conversations once I've entered into the chapel. Well, that is where most of the conversations go on before church. And since I try to be quite and reverent, I feel like I don't have an opportunity to meet people or make friends.

Then there is activities. I went to FHE on Monday, felt all alone. Went to the Service Auction tonight, felt the same. The only one that would even acknowledge that I was there was my ex and I didn't want him to.

So, I was left with the frustration of not knowing anyone, except the ex, and feeling like I wasn't really part of the crowd tonight. I didn't want to interject into people's conversations and be rude, and I'm terrible at introducing myself. I tried to go and attach on the only one that I knew, the Bishop's wife, but she didn't see me standing behind her, and I didn't want to break into the conversation. So, I started to leave, frustrated, and crying.

The bishop saw me though and would let me get away. Part of me didn't want to leave as well or I would have been in my car before he could have caught up with me. He took me in his office so I could dry my tears and be away from the social for a bit. He then got someone to be my friend. I hate being someone's project. It makes me feel like no one really wants to be my friend and they are forced to. It helped to break the ice though.

My 'friend' tried to get me to bid on some of the silent auction stuff, but I really didn't have an interest in any of it. I don't need stuff. I'm trying to live simply. There were a couple of stuff that interested me in the live auction. One was Kayaking lessons. Another was the dinner at President and Sister Bowen's. He was in my stake presendency growing up. It was for ten people so I figured that I wouldn't be part of that, I don't think I know ten people in the ward. There was a shooting trip, and foot massage.

There were two kayak trips, and the first one went well beyond what I had, so I figured that I wouldn't get anything. I made the 'mistake' of saying something about the kayaking to my friend, and from there the bishop handed me more auction money and my friend made sure that I had enough as well as the person sitting to the other side of me. When the bidding came, I tried to be heard, but my friend ended up yelling my bids since I didn't get paid attention to. (Makes you feel really good to not even get the attention of the auctioneer when your are trying to bid.) I ended up getting it with cash to spare. I handed what I had left to my friend and told her to give it to someone who wanted it. She gave it to her friends who had one the dinner with the Bowens, and came back and sort of said if I wanted to go to the dinner then they would take me. I don't know if they will come through, but the jester is nice.

I am still upset at myself for having social anxiety, not that I can do a lot about it, but still, I feel so embarrassed, frustrated, sad, the list goes on. I'm trying, but not succeeding when it comes to being social. I guess this is why I sit quietly in my back row. It is easier then trying to be social.

Oh, I'm going Kayaking on Thursday...

Thursday

2008-11-13T12:39:00.000-08:00

So I woke up this morning thinking I really should go for a swim. But it was early and I really didn't want to get up. I did though, and I'm glad for it. mind you swimming takes it out of me. I don't know if it is just the I'm not used to it or that it just getting in the water with chemicals. I plan on going back tomorrow though, my friend wants to go swimming, and I plan to go with. It is nice to have a pool less then two miles away that I can go to swim at. And that I have already paid for it.

After swimming I went to my parents house to have a conference call. I didn't want to use all my cell phone minutes and I didn't want to go to work to take my call. That would mean I would have to get dressed in work clothes instead of my comfy cloths. I wouldn't want to break the vacation like state I've got myself into for a one hour conference call. That would be tragic.

After my conference call Mom and I watched Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. It actually wasn't that bad of movie. I got it since Mom liked American Girls stuff and I knew she wouldn't want to watch Iron Man or Incredible Hulk with me.

Tonight I study for my test for Accounting. I already finished my homework, which was actually pretty easy. Now we are getting a study session in before the test. We have normally been doing our homework and been stressed before the tests, so it is a nice change to be ahead.

Wednesday

2008-11-12T18:39:00.000-08:00

So I got a good nap in today, dreamt that I wasn't where I was. I can't totally remember where I was in my dream, I think either sleeping in my bed or at work. (Not that the second was a good thing.) Actually I was in the waiting room of the outpatient surgery at Auburn Medical Center waiting for my mom who was having foot surgery. When I got my 'time off' from work, I didn't know that I would be sitting for a day at the hospital. But it worked out well. My mom had this surgery that she was going to have but didn't know when. She got a call on Monday telling her it was Wednesday. Luckily I had it off so I could take her and I also have the next few days off so when Dad has to do stuff, I can be here to make sure she is okay.

My mom is fine, well, for not being able to put any weight on her right foot, she is fine. I am currently sitting at my parents house, babysitting my mom. Aka, I am her slave. At least she isn't too demanding. Of course the phone keeps ringing which makes me get up when I really don't want to, it seems as soon as I get comfy with my homework on my lap the phone rings.

Besides the phone ringing and me getting up every few minutes, we've been watching my Netflix, Young at Heart and I've almost got all my homework done. (I have one more problem to do.)

I have some time on my hands...

2008-11-12T00:01:00.000-08:00

... So you are bound to see an increase in my postings this week.

I am on 'sick' leave. Of course I'm not necessarily sick. My problem, the knee. But working in retail, I have to do a lot of running around, and my knee wasn't getting better.

So I thought, I have sick leave, lots of it, I never get sick. Why don't I use a couple days so that I can get my knee the rest it needs.

Well, I offered this suggestion to my manager. He wasn't too happy about it, but realized it actually was in his best interest. If my knee continues to bother me, I'm not going to be worth much when it comes to crunch time of the holiday season.

Then, he called me back and said, "I got you four days off in a row!!" he was proud of himself, I could tell. I thanked him profusely for his efforts and started dreaming of my mini vacation and how I already didn't want to come back from it. Of course I had to work four more days, including two in the dairy before I could get there.

But I have survived the pain of work to make it to my days off. It has turned into possibly five days now, since I will most likely get off until Monday of next week. It is nice to have a sanity break as well as time to have my knee hopefully get better, although not heal completely. Hopefully enough to actually get to the point that it will start to heal even if I have to do my running around.

So, you all are stuck with me for the next few days. Internet access, movies and feet up. That is the position I'm suppose to be in...

Thank You

2008-11-11T09:27:00.000-08:00

So today is Veteran's Day and I thought I would take the opportunity to thank all the veterans I know. My family doesn't have great war stories in its past, but I have men and women who have served their country.

Thank you to my Father who served during the Korean War aboard the USS Saint Paul. Thank you to my Grandfather who served in Cuba during WWI in the Navy. Thank You to my Aunt and Uncle who served in the Army. (I believe both of them were in the Army during peace time, but my dad is the one that would be able to say better.) Thank you to my Uncle who gave his life in Vietnam while serving as a medic. Thank You to my Uncle who served in Vietnam and then served his career in the Utah National Guard. Thank you to my brother in law who served and retired from the Air Force. Thank you to my brother who served in the Army during peace time. Thank you to all my friends who have served in the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, National Guard and other services. And thank you Boy for serving your country right now in Iraq and being away from Roo for a year.

Without you I couldn't voice my opinion, I couldn't express my beliefs as I want. Thank you for the opportunity that you have given me to not have to serve. Thank you for the freedoms that your sacrifice has given to me and others. Your sacrifices are appreciated, even if sometimes I forget. But on your day, I want you to know that I am thankful for you, and today I am not just taking another day off, but I'm thinking and reflecting as well on what has been done by men and women that have sacrificed. I would hope that we can come to a point where service like yours is not needed, but as a world, we are sadly far from it.

Thank You.

People can be so stupid

2008-11-11T08:05:00.000-08:00

So I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion, even if it isn't the same as mine or is just plain wrong. Most of the time I won't tell people they are wrong and I don't necessarily stand up for my opinions all the time.

But for proposition 8 I felt I needed to stand up. I stood up because I believe in the institution of marriage and that it should be defined as between a man and woman, not because of any man made law, but because there is a higher law that rules everything, Gods law. Others that have stood for this are now paying for what they stand for.

I find it a bit disturbing that those that were against this proposition are taking matters into their own hands instead of going about a legal change. And it isn't just happening in California. And from what I hear, these are not just a few incidence. I have yet to see an out cry in the communities that are against this proposition condemning these attacks. If you see one, please point me to it.

Why do people that want their opinion to be heard have to turn to violence to get people to hear them? If the proposition had lost, then I would have been satisfied to say that it is the voice of the people. I wouldn't have taken measures into my own hand and turned to hatred to get my message across. They are turning their cause into a terror cause. That isn't the way to win any votes or any support.

What I find even more interesting, is who they are targeting their hatred at. There were a lot more supporters for this proposition then just The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Why aren't they going after the Catholic Church? Or those that voted for it, the black and Hispanic populations of the state?

For those that are against proposition 8 and are against these attacks on people who stood for what they believed, then make a cry to those that are attacking. Tell them that the way they are going about things is wrong. Don't just stand idly by and let those that were 'the bullies' as you may put it, be bullied. If you have such a conviction for something, you should condemn those that are trying to make others hear your message by violent means.

What songs make you happy?

2008-11-11T05:26:00.001-08:00

So I was thinking about this yesterday as I put my music on and did some chores around the house. I always levitate to a few songs to start my day off. And if I've had a bad day, there is one song that I particularly start out with. The one that really gets me dancing and cheers me up is Grace Kelly by Mika. For some reason I just really enjoy the song, probably because I like dancing to it. Mind you, I will not dance in front of anyone, just dance as I do my chores. The other one that I really enjoy is Goody Two Shoes by Adam Ant. My sister actually has that one on her phone as my ring tone because a couple of the lines are: "Don't Drink, Don't Smoke, what do you do?" I thought it pretty much described me. So what are some of your feel good songs?

I would link to the videos for the two, but the videos aren't representative of the music for me.

I Fell

2008-11-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

So going to my parents house today, I stepped on the wood retaining wall that is in our parking lot and slipped. Normally this isn't a problem, I can shift my weight so I catch myself, I'm pretty agile, but today, since my knee has been a problem, I didn't catch myself. Luckily it wasn't far to the ground since I hadn't stepped up yet. I hit my chin and both elbows and the bad knee. Wounded my pride more then anything else. There are worse places to fall, like in public where everyone can see you. When coming home from FHE tonight I nearly slipped again. My personal opinion, they need to replace the wood retaining walls. My roomie said that you just got to step over them, but with my knee, that isn't exactly easy all the time. Oh well, I guess I will have to go around...

Talk

2008-11-10T06:50:00.000-08:00

So I gave a talk on Sunday about making the Atonement personal. Now I've had a friend say she wishes she could have been there, so I figured I would share a bit of my 'wisdom' with anyone who wants to read it. The councilor in my old ward caught me on the day I moved out of the ward and asked me to share the wisdom I had with the ward before I left for good. (I didn't know I was leaving for good, and for that matter, I'm only about 4 miles away, so anytime I'm needed...) Of course the topic is one of those that I don't think I have much wisdom on. The Atonement is a personal thing, and we have to make it personal to take part in it.

Besides the examples from work, and realizing through my assistant manager how we can't do everything, but if we try and give it our all, then at the end of the day we can say, I tried, and I couldn't finish it all, and that is okay, because I tried. Once I took that attitude on, realizing if I give it my all and at the end of the day, there are still things that I am not able to do, I have been able to be less stressed at work as well as being able to take it to the rest of my life and realize there are sometimes things that I can't accomplish and I need to just give it my best and have the Lord help me with the rest.

Of course, I still try to do it myself. But I think that the one thing I can say about making the Atonement personal is this: it is your decision to take part in the atonement, it is you that can stop your own suffering by going to Heavenly Father with your problems and allowing your sins, depression, pain and suffering to be taken by the Lord.

As I stood in the check stand one relatively slow day, I had lots of time to think on my hand. I had been depressed recently, and my job hadn't helped. Not only was I doing something I hated and felt I was underutilized in, but I was being farmed out to another store to do it. As I stood there, I started the vicious cycle of putting myself down. I got to a point and a thought occurred to me. I didn't need to do this, I was better then this, I was a Child of God. At that moment, I made the Atonement Personal. At that moment, I prayed. And at that moment, I was relived of that pain and suffering. I realized that I didn't have to suffer. All I had to do was break down my pride and ask for help.

I know that there are some that read this and think, yea, right. I have to admit, I heard the stories all my life, and thought I had to suffer. Satan is real, and he wants us to believe that we can't be better. He had me fooled. Now I feel myself slipping back to that point and I say a prayer, and realize that I don't have to go back to that hole. The Lord has already been in a deeper hole then we will ever be in and suffered these things for us. All we have to do is accept it, and take part in it through a personal choice to take part in the Atonement.

New Calling

2008-11-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

So my new ward doesn't take long to get callings. I was trying to sneak out, since I had a talk to prepare for my former ward, but I had to hand my tithing to the bishop. That was my problem. He told me that one of his councilors needed to speak with me. Since it was not the councilor that was conducting this month, I figured it wasn't a talk for next week.

I accepted my fate and found the councilor. He led me into an empty classroom and extended me a calling. The calling, was a committee calling. From listening to the callings each week, I figured it would be something like that. It wasn't the one I knew my ex was on, so I was all good with it. He decided to tell me who would be on the committee with me, and good thing he did since the last person he named was my ex. As soon as he said his name I got a feeling it wasn't right. I told him, I think that might be a problem. Apparently this isn't the first time that they have had this problem, so he understood.

He also told me that the bishop and him were talking on the stand and had discussed my calling. The bishop told him he thought there was a better place for me, but the councilor had insisted on me. He then went on to change my calling, realizing why the bishop had said I was needed else where.

To me this was a lesson that my bishop is an inspired man. I have had problems with being able to trust priesthood members in leadership. I think this extends from my bishop when I was growing up and a councilor that just gave me bad feelings every time he was around. One of the things I need to be able to do is feel I have members of the priesthood I can trust. This was a way that Heavenly Father let me know He knows my problems and is trying to help. He has been doing that a lot recently.

Going between Mom and Dad

2008-11-07T17:45:00.000-08:00

So growing up, I never really went between Mom and Dad to get things. If I needed something, normally I could get it by asking just one of them. Well, I needed some things at work. I went to my assistant manager, a woman, to ask for what I needed. Nope, no luck. So knowing that my request was not unreasonable, and in fact needed for what I was suppose to do, I went to my manager, a man, and I got what I needed. By the end of it I felt like I was going between Mom and Dad to get what I wanted. It is funny how I have to go to "Dad" to get what I want. But I know how to get what I want at work now. At least I have someone that will actually listen to my requests and not just say no because it is me asking.

Oh, what I was asking for: a few days off to rest my knee so that I would be able to hopefully heal some. My reasoning, I want to be better by Thanksgiving so that I can run around all they want and get things done for them. As I put it, hopefully I will be better, but my knee has yet to tell me. Of course I also need a sanity break from the place.

You've been trained

2008-11-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

So I joined a gym. I wasn't going to, but when I found out the LA Fitness down the road had a pool, well, I joined. After my swim last week, I realized how much I enjoyed it, and well, I can't run, and biking isn't working well right now with my knee, so having a pool so close was good. It was just a little more then buying a month membership at the pool in Issaquah, not as far and I also have the added benifit of other exercise equipment.

With my new membership came a free hour session with a personal trainer. (ie we are going to sell you on having a personal trainer.) After educating me about some of the how to's on exercising, and nutrition and the importance of these things. She had me do some exercises, about maybe 5 minutes of exercise the whole hour, to test my core strenght. After that, she tried to sell me on having a personal trainer and why it is important. Well, I know people who have had personal trainers and after they don't have one, they go back to the way they were, so I figure, I need to do it myself, may take longer, but hey, at least it will stick because I don't have to have someone yelling at me to get the exercize done, the motivation is from within.

They wanted 149 dollar fee, then 40-60 dollars a session. I told her if I didn't have to pay the fee, I would do 40 dollars a session once a month. She came back from her manager and wanted me to pay two installments of 103 dollars and the 40 a month. I said no. She was dissapointed, I could tell.

But I still have a gym membership, pool and a friend even that has a gym membership with me and wants to go a couple times a week. We went yesterday morning and did some weights for our arms and cardio. I figure I will go later on this week to swim. All the classes are free with memebership, which is nice. So I am going to go for an aquatic aerobic class and yoga when I can get to them.

AME

2008-11-06T00:01:00.000-08:00

I had my second AME class. (AME = Achieving Management Excellence) During this class we learned the tools to work with employees to make them excel. Great class, but I thought all the way through it how I didn't have authority over anyone. I'm not a supervisor anymore. I have the title and I'm expected to act as one, but I don't have any authority anymore to work over people. My previous Second Assistant helped to make that one possible. It has been a difficult few months at work since we got a new manager, I've been tossed aside and basically made to feel worthless because the second assistant was jealous of me and how much responsibility my previous manager had given me.

So I sit in class, trying to come up with examples, but, alas, I have to use my imagination. It made me depressed. I wanted to be able to take more out of the class then a creative imagination. But, it looks like I won't get to actually practice what is being taught. I will talk to my manager about it, but I don't see him giving me anything that I would enjoy doing right now that won't cause me a bunch of stress.

In other news from work, one that might effect this whole situation after I am out of the class, my assistant has jumped ship and is headed to another grocery chain. Don't know when, but I was told this as I called up to give info yesterday about my schedule. Also don't know if we are getting anyone to replace her. That will be adding to my stress if we don't, since I think my manager has been in a good mood because of her taking on so much. Going to be a fun few months.

I Voted

2008-11-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

Yes, I voted, of course I didn't get a cool stickers since King County doesn't send them out in their absentee ballots like Evil Twin's county. But I had everyone asking me at work, home, church and other random places if I had voted. Yes, I did. No, most of my candidates did not win, but I am a republican living in a democrat state, and for that matter a really democrat county. So I really didn't expect them to win. One positive, at least the latest Tim Eyman Initiative in our state failed. For those that are out of state, Tim Eyman tends to bring initiatives to the floor that will screw up the taxing systems in the state, therefore making politicians more creative on how they get money out of us, therefore soaking it to us, or having things fall apart because there isn't the needed funding.

I have a feeling our congressional district will probably go for a recount, since there was only 1000 votes between the two.

My hopes is that those that were elected last night will lead this country responsibly and for the people and listen to the needs of all the people, not just the needs of their party.

Blog Readablity

2008-11-05T06:11:00.000-08:00

So what do you all think? I got this link from a friends blog and had to see for myself what was my readability. I guess this is good? Maybe it was the title of my last post...

TV Reviews

Also plugged in my evil twin's blog... She will have to see for herself though, won't spoil the fun.

Alexanders Horrible Terrible Very Bad Day

2008-11-02T15:38:00.000-08:00

As I was working, I was reminded of a book I read as a child. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. Well, actually, most anything, I could come up with a lot more that could have gone wrong, but... I don't want to test my luck anymore.

I got to work and the produce load was in the Dairy cooler, making me move the load before I could work any of my stuff. Then I realized that my helper clerk the night before hadn't done anything except a six-wheeler of ad stuff, which I was grateful that at least that had gotten out, but it meant that I had eggs, which I had asked to be done, and a board of milk to work through.

So it just seemed to take a long time to do stuff. (probably since nothing had been done since I had been there last) I got done with the milk and had two pallets of empty milk crates to move out side. As I went out with the first pallet, it tipped over. So, I had to stack them back up. Then, the second one tipped over as I took it out. Figured.

After that I pulled my pallet out on the floor. I had to move another pallet to get it out there, since the night crew had not left enough room to get mine out.

It had must have been busy the night before, because the dairy aisle looked thrashed. So I had a fun time putting out my load and running back to the back stock to get stuff that I knew was in back but out on the shelf and not on the load. So, once again, things took time.

I had to do office as well as dairy. Depending on how well I was set up by the closing person, it can take me anywhere between and hour and a half, if I'm lucky, and about two hours if I'm not. I was told the day before that I had to do it in an hour and a half. My manager wouldn't work with me, and it was stressing me out. So I went to do office, since it was six am and it needed to be done by before the manager go there.

Luckily, I had someone who knew what they were doing the night before, my only break for the day. It still took me almost two hours since I had to do all the week ending reports and I got interrupted a couple of times to do some other stuff.

After I was done with office, I finally took my one break and wrote a note to the manager about office. Then I wrote my order and spent the rest of my shift trying to fill the eggs but being called up to the front to check, do customer service or getting overrides. Needless to say, by the time I finally got my eggs done, it was time for me to go home. I didn't even manage to get half of my order on the shelf. I was frustrated and stressed and wanted to cry because things just were not going the way that they should.

Of course in the course of filling the eggs, I knocked down a dozen on to the floor and got scrambled eggs. Then I couldn't find a courtesy clerk to help clean it up so I could do my work.

As I went home I waited to be hit by another car, someone being stupid since I felt so unlucky. Of course at least that made me drive carefully.

What the Doc Says

2008-11-02T15:33:00.000-08:00

So, there is nothing torn in my knee, which is good. My problem is Chondromalacia also known as runners knee. Prognosis: I should continue resting it when possible, do quad exercizes to strengthen the muscles around it and not run. It actually has been feeling better, until today. I had a day at work, which will take a post in itself if I get around to it. But now it aches because I was running around too much. So I'm back to elevating and resting it with some heat and avoiding stairs until I head to my parents for dinner.

10k a day update and knee update

2008-10-30T06:11:00.001-07:00

Well, it is about a week and a half till the end of the campaign, and my knee hurts. I was doing really good. But then after my knee decided it was 30 years old, and decided to act like it. Yes, I've been getting jokes from coworkers about getting old.

I still have managed to keep up getting at least 5000-10000 a day depending on the day. That is just because of my normal moving around. I'm moving a lot slower though. And I feel like such a slacker for my lack of exercize. I'm thinking of seeing if there is a pool nearby that I can go take a swim in. I know Hazen, but the only swim I can go to is at noon for just a half hour. Going to have to investigate.

Tomorrow I find out what is wrong or if I have to go to a specialist for my knee. It has gotten better since last week, but now it is not really getting better or worse. Which is in a way good, but annoying. As long as I keep the brace on during work, and apply heat, I haven't had much pain.

Odd things that happen

2008-10-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

So I was at work yesterday, minding my own business going up and down the aisles doing out of stocks, when this guy, who looked familiar came up to me and started to talk like he knew me. Okay this isn't rare in my job, there are A LOT of people who know me and I don't know them. I figured out really fast it was someone from church.

The conversation was something like this:

"Hey, how is it going?" the strange man said, looking like he knew me really well.

"Good, and how are you?" me, trying not to be too retail sounding.

"Good, hey everything is good with the ward, I was at the singles ward on Sunday, they read your name in." He talked excitedly, and seemed happy to see me.

"Oh, good." I thought, who is this guy and how does he know that I am here right now.

"Just wanted to let you know." He smiled.

"Thanks," I watched a bit bewildered with a crazy smile on my face of not exactly sure what just happened as he walked away.

Well, at least I know my records are now in the singles ward. I guess that means they will be calling me for a talk soon.

Acheving Management Excellence

2008-10-28T05:43:00.000-07:00

So I am now taking a class at work. The best part, getting to sit for part of my day and not have to run from one end of the store to the other. With my knee how it is, that is challenging sometimes.

The class is AME and by the end of it yesterday I wondered why they hadn't sent me to it two years ago after being a supervisor for six months. It had a lot of good information and would have saved me a lot of grief. Almost, not quite, makes me want to go into leadership at work again. Almost because I really don't want to sell my soul to Safeway. I would like to find a leadership role that doesn't require the selling of my soul. Which means, not retail.

One of the things that wasn't really said out loud, but my mind thought of is how my attitude effects things. We had to say what we got out of the class, and what I said was it begins with me. Adding that it is inspiring others, or having a good attitude. The teachers of the class, a couple of the store managers in the district, were impressed with what I said (More then once it seemed they were impressed with what I said). I ended up segueing into the next idea for the teacher with my comments. It surprised me when he was so impressed because I thought it was a stupid concept after hearing others.

I also got out of the class don't make snap judgments. A lot of times you just decide you know what is going on, but you need the whole story. One way to make sure you aren't making snap judgments is to ask at least one question. Find out what is going on. I know I do this with the courtesy clerks at work, thinking, oh they are screwing off not doing their job since I haven't seen them for thirty minutes. But really, they are out getting carts or cleaning up a mess.

It will be a good experience for me, as long as I take it and use it. There were three goals that we had to accomplish for next weeks session. Mine were to not make snap judgments, inspire others and start thinking strategically. I think the hardest is to get out of my cynical thinking and be inspiring. There is nothing more that I hate then someone that is so enthusiastic about something that it is sickening. So I have to find a way to be inspiring, but not be sickeningly enthusiastic.

The Primary Presents

2008-10-27T05:58:00.000-07:00

So we had our primary presentation yesterday. It was my last day with my kids before I move on to the new ward. My class did pretty good. Each of them had a small talk they gave. J tried to be reverent the whole time, but sitting 30 plus minutes for a 6 year old is tough. G also was pretty good, but the distraction of the younger class in front of her was difficult. C, well C was C. She seemed to not want to be there and would curl up in her chair between songs. But when she was suppose to be singing, she would sing with all her heart. She belted out We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet, at the top of her lungs, but started to sing the wrong words part way through. Then for the final song, Called To Serve, she probably could be heard outside.

The primary presentation is always fun. C has provided the most fun for the last few years. She is a character. It is fun to watch the parents from the stand as their children sing or give their talks. Some of them can't keep a straight face for the entire time.

I'm going to miss my primary class. But it is time to move on. New adventures await.

Thoughts

2008-10-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

I spent my morning at work, thinking of something that happened this week. A blog that I'm on blew up about a political issue. Since I feel the blog is not somewhere I should present my opinions, I decided to share them here. Feel free to comment if you would like, but what I write isn't written to offend anyone. It is more my beliefs and why I think the way I do.

Some of you have heard of Proposition 8 in California. It is a law that will define marriage between a man and a woman. Now I believe that this is what marriage is, a sacred institution that is meant for two people, a man and woman, to join together and create a family including offspring. I know through the gospel that I have learned and the moral laws that I have abided to all my life, that this is what a marriage is. Now some will call me politically incorrect, or judgmental or anti-equal rights. But for me, there is a moral law that governs my life, and it is a higher law then man. Also, that law gives me the understanding that there are things that I don't understand. One of them is why some people are given the challenge in their life of being attracted to those that are of the same sex. But I know like the challenges I face in my life, it is something that God wants us to experience and overcome.

Another argument is I'm inflicting my religion on others. For me, it is not a matter of inflicting my religion on them, but it is those who wish to change marriage to more then just between a man and woman, inflicting their lifestyle on me. The way that marriage has been defined for centuries is that of between a man and a woman. People want me to recognize their choices, that I find morally wrong, and make them legal, therefore giving them the justification that they are doing something correct and legal. Just because man's law says it is legal doesn't make it moral. There are other laws that I find to be morally wrong, but are legal according to man. If this proposition was to fail, it would make it legal to have a same sex marriage, but to me, it would still not be right.

This proposition is more about protecting the sanctity of the institution of marriage then it is about the other reasons that are given, for example churches loosing tax exempt status or the teaching of what marriages are in school. These issues are also important, but the most important part is that marriage is a sacred institution that needs protecting. But how do you explain that to people who don't understand that there are those that believe that marriage is a sacred institution?

I understand where those that are against this proposition are coming from. They believe that everyone should have equal access to everything. But I believe that there are some things that should not be held lightly. And some things by their very nature are not for everyone. We can never be totally equal. Everyone cannot have the same access to everything. It will just never happen. It is a great idea, but there is no way that everyone would be able to have everything they wanted. For one, things have less meaning if they are just given to you. One example is if you went to school and paid your own way, you get more out of it then if Mom and Dad paid it for you. If the state allows anyone who wants to go to college for free, then there are a lot of people go to college, but don't learn as much because it is just handed to them. That and colleges become over crowded, so those that do want to learn, might not have the chance at as good of an education.

Basically, what I want those that read this to know is that my morals are what rule my life, not the wants of man. I can see were I and my opinion may be judged as unfair or inflicting my beliefs on others, but we are all entitled to our opinions. In my life, I see a greater picture because of my religious beliefs. I know that my existence is not just during this lifetime, but there is a life after we die. By this knowledge I know that there are things which I need to do in my life, and things I need to stand up for to let others know of the truth. This issue is one of those things that I stand up for.

This is the one Roo

2008-10-24T08:34:00.000-07:00

I want. I promised myself no new t-shirts. But alas, I found one I want. After all, some of my t-shirts are a bit too big for me, so I do need something more my size. I first found these t-shirts at Joes in Renton, and loved them, but they didn't have a bike one except mountain bike. So I got on their website and found the one I like. Or two... Or three...

Sunny Days Off...

2008-10-24T08:27:00.001-07:00

...But not allowed to ride my bike.

So on my birthday when I went to exercise, my knee gave me a bit of pain. I ended up working out on the weights for my arms. Then as I headed to work, I peddled down at an odd angle and my knee tweaked. I thought briefly of going home, but that meant going back up the hill and I really didn't want to do that. I didn't bug me the rest of the ride, but a couple of times at work it ceased up and felt weird. That continued for the next couple of days, only getting worse until I went to the Doctor yesterday. well I have an MRI on it in a couple of hours and orders to not exercise. YUCK! It is nice and sunny and I want to ride my bike. So I can only do my arm exercises until next week when I find out. Mind you I don't feel like riding my bike, since my knee does actually hurt and feel funny. But still, I finally get a nice day...

Why did I have to inherit my mother's knees?

Candles

2008-10-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

I love partylite, but one thing I have with them is they keep discontinuing my favorite scents. Grape, Green Apple have all gotten the axe. Then they discontinue my favorite scent for my aroma melt. I am now burning my last one of the Cherry Orchard because I decided to do it for my birthday. It smells SOOOOO good. I wish I could get more. But alas, They seem to be really good at discontinuing the things I want the most. Maybe this is some lesson in life I need to learn.

Of Birthdays

2008-10-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my birthday. I'm not much of a birthday person, don't know how to celebrate them and really enjoy myself. But that is just in general that I'm not good at that. Tonight I went to my parent's house and mom cooked me Orange Biscuits and a cake. I had my Roomie and Roo over for dinner. My dad had a meeting, so it was just the four of us talking and laughing. It was good. Roomie decided that I needed to have candles on my cake and Mom found all the candles in the house. She figured it wasn't anywhere close to 30, but when Roo counted to find out how old I was, surprise, there were 30 candles on the cake. We were all laughing pretty hard as I tried to blow my candles out. That is the first time I've had candles on a cake in a long time, at least as many as how old I am.

Mom and Dad are taking me out to Mexican tomorrow. I'm planning to ride my bike into work and then hitch a ride back with them. The rest of my plans? Well I do have to work, but I've convinced someone to switch me my checking for their video shift. She doesn't mind it, and I told her I don't care how long, just as long as I'm not in the check stand the entire time. I also plan to wake up and work out. Have it be a normal day, except I get to be buffeted with happy birthday's all day. (I hope no one sings to me over the intercom or something crazy like that.)

Another day on the Bike

2008-10-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

So it was day two. I decided that I would try to do at least one day a week. Then depending on my schedule I would do more. Today I worked the same as yesterday, so I didn't have to ride in the dark. So I was off to work on the bike this morning instead of starting up the car. (It needs gas anyway and if I wait a couple of days the prices will go down even more.)

On my ride home I decided to try the other route that I knew. I went up through Newport Hills, thus making the hardest part of the journey the first, since I didn't have to go up the hill at the end, since I was coming down one. (No, I did not go down Suicide. That would be suicide.) There was a point that I thought I wouldn't make it up the hill, but my peddling prevailed and I made it all the way without having to get off to walk the bike.

Next week I have two shifts that are good to ride. One of them is my birthday, so I'm going to start my day out with a bike ride and then probably catch a ride home with my parents who are taking me out to dinner. (Good thing they have a van.) The other day is Wednesday. I haven't looked at the weather report, but I expect rain. Hopefully it was like today and only light light on my way home and nothing on my way to work with dry pavement. I dislike the waterproof pants and don't really want to wear them if not necessary.

Commute to work... On a bike

2008-10-17T07:05:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I commuted to work on my bike. It is something that I have wanted to do, but over the summer the route that I would have used from my old place was under construction and it would have taken me too long to go another way. So last week when looking at the weather report I noted that yesterday was suppose to be nice. (For all who don't live in Washington, you look at the weather report the day of and it is still wrong, a week out, well your tempting fate.) I decided that this was the day I would ride my bike. I had already gotten wet weather gear so I was prepared. When I looked at the weather report the day before, I knew I was going to need it.

I went out to get my bike ready at about 8am. Of course a big spider had decided the best place for a web was right in front of the storage unit and I kept on getting hit with random webs in the face as I was trying to open the door. (Note, this was not a small spider either. Body size of a nickle. I've noted he is out there today as well, but not in front of the storage unit.)

My ride to work was pretty uneventful. No body was commuting by bike like I was. I pass the new Seahawks training facility on my ride and there is a spectacular view from their outdoor training field. The big hill I've always had trouble with wasn't as bad today. Maybe it is all the running and elliptical work I've been doing.

I stashed my bike in the back room, out of the way and then showed it off to my friends throughout the day. (Some of the knew that I was going to do this, some just thought it was cool.) My meat wrapper said he needed to try out the bike and take it for a spin he thought it was so cool. (Not much room in the back to take it out for a spin.)

My back light wasn't working for some reason on my way home. Of course there was only one time when there was someone behind me after it started to get dark that I was at all worried and they were giving me plenty of room. I saw two other commuters going the opposite way when I went home. Kind of neat.

The worst part of the whole commute. Going up the hill to get to my place. The hill is knicknamed Suicide. When we were kids, or rather I was a kid, siblings were a bit more like teenagers. My brother took one of the old cars that my dad had down the hill. The car didn't have great breaks. Evil Twin assured us, if the freeway didn't kill us, then the lake would. Since right as you are suppose to stop, is the freeway and the lake not far after that. I went up a portion of that (You impressed Evil Twin?) I didn't stop, I made it all the way up, even though I wasn't going fast, I still made it. I was proud.

Birthday Dinner

2008-10-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well my first Birthday dinner was brought to me by George, her mom and Kiltman (Who didn't wear his kilt:(. They arrived at my place to look at the new pad and gave me my gift, which I wasn't expecting, a 14 piece cookware set. We then decided on Thai for dinner.

We had a good dinner. Teased George about not wanting any stars on her food. I told her that we would order her 25 stars. Kiltman got 4 stars (out of 4) while sis and I got 3 stars. When we got the food, we got sis's stuff first and Kiltman tried it and thought he was done for because it was HOT. Luckily his 4 star wasn't much hotter. They all decided they liked my local Thai place. We had desert of Thai custard. It was really GOOD. George though wouldn't eat it since it had cream that looked like sour cream on it.

Thanks you guys for dinner and the pots and pans, we'll make good use of it.

My 10k-a-day update

2008-10-15T20:46:00.000-07:00

So I've faithfully been wearing my pedometer everyday. So far I've gotten anywhere from 11000 steps to 21055 (That was all my running around today). There are several trails that you can go on the challenge. The shortest being the Alaska Military Highway. Right now, I only need 5 steps a day for the next 28 days to be able to finish the trail. I think I might make that amount tomorrow.

Today, if you were wondering, I was a slave to my boss and unloaded two plus pallets of 24 case water. And did other running around and cleaned out the freezer so a load could be put in it. It was a busy day at work.

FHE or the Dark

2008-10-14T07:25:00.000-07:00

So our power went out yesterday. Actually it went out twice. Once when I was getting stuff with my mom and once in the evening. I told Roomie that we should leave about 7:10 to go to FHE. I figured that would give me enough time to get on my class and pertend to study. Or at least check email ect. She was watching Glen Beck and happily said that sounded good.

So about 6:55 rolls around and everything went dark. I hadn't really been paying attention, but I noticed as soon as the tv was quiet the wind had really picked up. Briefly it went back on, then out again. Luckily, I had lit some candles to make the place more cheery so we had a bit of light. We decided to head to FHE (Family HOme Evening for those not familiar. Monday nights with the single adult group.) early.

We made good time in the rain, only taking about 10 minutes. We got there and there were a few people already there, mostly talking amongst themselves. I met up with a young man who was in my ward growing up. He didn't know me, but I knew him.

FHE was on simplifying your lives. Roomie and I talked with some people before, but found we were mostly ignored by the majority. So we talked to each other in Spanish about the situation, laughing every once in awhile. We decided it might have been nice to stay home and play pool in the power outage with candles.

The lesson talked about the four things that you needed in life, food, clothing, shelter, and fuel. It was based on the talk by L. Tom Perry. Roomie and I agreed that the fifth thing was the internet.

After the lesson there was a game on luck. The person in charge went and had everyone place their name into a hat for a lucky prize at the end. Roomie and I saw the lucky charms and joked it would be nice to win, then we would have cereal. At the end of pictionary about luck, she pulled the name that won the box of cereal and it was Roomie.

All in all, the singles ward seems okay. There were a few people who came up and talked to us, we talked to a few people before it started, but there are a lot of special individuals in the group. The bishop came and talked to us for a while as well. My ex is in the ward, which doesn't seem to be causing a problem as of yet. Although his roommate, I think, was in our group for pictionary and tried to get him to come to our group. Luckily he stayed away, it would have been tense. I figure that I can sit in the same room as him fine, I just don't want him thinking that he can make something of our relationship or read into me coming to the ward as another chance.

We got home and the power was back on. Along with the TV and several of the lights in the apartment. I like power outages, but I hope they don't continue at the rate of yesterday.

Sitting Amongs Years of Memories

2008-10-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting in my room going through my stuff. A collection of all my life. I have a memory box that I have special things in and I'm currently making a second one since I have more special things then will fit into one box. So I just went through the first box to see if there was stuff that I could get rid of since I'm being a bit ruthless now that I have decided to store all myself and not leave (much) at my parent's house for storage. (The exception is the Genealogy stuff and a box of fine china that I really would like to keep until I actually get a place) I have started the purging and found some interesting stuff, some that I remember, some I don't.

I have a tendency to put things in smaller boxes then the big one. I have I think three boxes in the big one. I candy box that contains my precious baseball cards, including Ken Griffy's Rookie card. A shoe box that has assorted stuff, sample pieces from my junior high sewing class and some stitchery. And another box that contains some more of the misc variety. I also have a layer of old art projects from elementry school.

Most of the stuff in the new memory box is from my adult life, although it is a bit mixed so I could fit stuff in. I still have to go through it more, since a lot of it is letters from my mission and other stuff from that time in my life. I also have some jounels that I kept in college and pictures.

I still have stuff that I don't know what to do. What do you do with an old baseball card collection? I know that there is probably something of value in there, but I don't know I want to go through it and check it out to see what it is.

I had a lot of misc little toys from when I was a kid, including a GI Joe action figure.

Well, back to sorting and listening to my music.

New Ward

2008-10-12T16:10:00.000-07:00

So I went to the single adult ward today. I was hoping to get into it, since it isn't in my stake I have to have special permission. If I don't go to that ward, then I will go to a family ward. The Bishop of the ward is Bishop Bishop. I know his wife, she was in the quilt guild with my mom and I. She was happy to see me. Also the Second Councilor of the ward is one of my old stake presidency. He greeted me with a big hug and asked how I was doing. Told me if I could get my bishop to approve my transfer to the ward and send my records I was in.

Do you know how hard it is to convince a bishop to send you to a singles ward? All I had to do is open my mouth and confirm that I was moving and he told me, write the ward name on the paper so we can send it there. Yeah, they want me to go to the singles ward. They are HAPPY that I'm going to a singles ward. I think I've had a little too much primary. I need adults, if you can call young singles adults. (Some yes, others, well...)

The only draw back of moving... "Sister Dunham, I heard you were moving out of the ward," Said the second councilor in my bishopric. "Can you give a talk on the 9th? We don't want you to get away without sharing some of your wisdom." So I get to come back and give a talk on the 9th. Oh well, it could be worse. I could give a talk on the 9th in my new ward. Now, watch that happen...

The "Nasty" rumor was circulating when I got to church that I was moving. I thought it was funny when I told the primary president. "No, I don't want to hear!" I've been such a good teacher, rarely do I miss and if I do, I cover my class. They like steady teachers that the kids love. Of course there was several volunteers to take my class, including the primary chorister (C's mom), the primary president's husband (Deacons quorum adviser) and probably a couple others.

I'm Not Your Teacher Anymore...

2008-10-12T16:01:00.001-07:00

Of course the kids will be sad when you tell them you aren't their primary teacher anymore, right? No they wanted to know who would be their new teacher. Of course remembering my days as a youth, that is probably what I asked too.

For the most part they were good. Okay, my definition of good is they aren't screaming and running around the room, the class next to them can reverently have class and I don't pull my hair out. So it is a bit of a loose interpretation of good, but they were, for the most part.

Our lesson was on foolish and wise decisions. The lesson started out with me putting a glove on my head. That brought laughter and well, it set the tone for the rest of class. When they went back to the primary room, the Primary President asked what they learned. "We got Swedish fish!!" one of them exclaimed. "And Jelly Beans!!!" another one added. So you know that lesson sunk in. I made them tell me how they were going to choose the right at school to get the Jelly Beans aka Courage Pills. Hopefully they will do what they said. Listen in class. Of course the reason that listening was choosing the right differed from, I will learn something to I won't annoy my teacher. But I think they sort of got the drift. Okay, one of them did.

And that one was so sweet to give me a sand dollar that she had won at the school fair. She told me how she had won it and was so excited to give it to me. It is nice to feel loved by your primary kids. Those are the moments that make it worth pulling out the hair for.

You only turn 30 once

2008-10-11T14:57:00.000-07:00

So I have a birthday coming up. The big Three-Oh. So I figure I might as well milk it for all that it is worth. So like the missionary, I have a feed me calendar for the week of my birthday. I figure, I really don't need anything for my birthday, except maybe some pots and pans for the new place, so I might as well not need the pots and pans for an extra week and get fed by those I love, or that love me. I would hope that the feeling is mutual.

Of course my mom thinks this is a shameless act, but I just think it is fun(ny). Not that anyone but Roo is actually going to take me out. But it is worth a try.

Moved

2008-10-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

So I got my own (well I have a roommate) place. I now live in North Renton, almost to Bellevue. I live close enough to bike to work if I didn't have to do stuff after work. I would have done it this morning, of course waking up at 3am to go to work doesn't make you want to ride your bike, especially on cold fall mornings. But I will make it out the door without my car one of these days, soon too, since there is suppose to be sun on the latter half of the week. And I work at 9:30, when there is a lot of traffic and the trail is less congested.

My 10k-a-day

2008-10-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

So I like my new health insurance. They are proactive. So far I've gotten a book that you can reference when you are sick or in pain to figure out if it is something you need to go to the doctor to or not. And they have given me $50 dollars for doing a health assessment and I'm earning another $50 dollars right now by talking to a health coach.

Their latest is a 10k-a-day campaign that is for walking 10,000 steps a day. So this morning was the first day that I could sign up. Recently I bought myself a new pedometer, but hadn't taken it out of the box yet, since I broke my last one in less then a month. Last night I got my peodometer out of the packaging, set the time and my weight so it would tell me how many calories I spent.

This morning it went on before I headed out to work. (At 1am for all those that want to know the craziness of today's schedule. My roomie came in at 10am when I had finished my exercise and said, "So you aren't working at the crack of dawn today?" I had to correct her and tell her that I had already been to work, exercised and was about to shower and go visiting teaching.) By the end of my shift I already had 10k. Actually 11k+. After my run I had 18k. The program asks you for a goal. Walk the Appalachian trail, or the Lewis and Clark Trail, or a couple other that I can't remember. The Lewis and Clark was 13k a day. I took that one since all the rest were less then that.

I could win $500 or a Wii Fit by doing this challenge. I just hope they send me another pedometer since I tend to go through them pretty fast. I told them I had my own, but hopefully the send the spare, it is really the one thing I want. That and the fun of tracking my steps somewhere.

Me and my shadow

2008-09-29T19:49:00.001-07:00

Me and my shadow
Originally uploaded by crash49

Taken on the I-90 trail on Mercer Island.

Egged

2008-09-29T19:41:00.001-07:00

My Car - Egged
Originally uploaded by crash49

Going to Work at 3 am in the morning is normally fairly peaceful. I sometimes worry there might be a stray drunk out, but for the most part I only met a couple cars on my journey.

Well Saturday I passed a car, or rather it passed me as I stopped at May Valley Road and Coal Creek Parkway for the stop. I heard a thud, and thought maybe the person had hit one of the construction cones and knocked it into my car. It wasn't until I drove away from the stop that I realized that there was something on my car window.

Sure enough when I got to work, there was egg all over my driver's side door. I couldn't believe that someone had even been up at that time, let alone egging passing cars.

So when the phone which had gone out the day before was not up and the dsl when out that afternoon, we blamed the stupid that was out at 3am egging cars. After all, they probably egged our telephone line as well:)

One positive upshot, the car finally got washed, well, mostly. Since it is brown, you can't tell that it needs a wash, and well, I use that to my lazy advantage.

Riding to Mercer Island

2008-09-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

So this morning about 8 I left my house for a bike ride. I figured that I would go out an hour and then come back, trying to get at least to Factoria area of South Bellevue. (About 9-10 miles for those not familiar with the area.) After finding way with less traffic way off the hill, I hit Lake Washington Trail, passing the Seahawks new training facility in Renton about 5 miles into the journey.

I got on the Lake Washington Trail, the hilly one for those of you that have followed my rides before, and got to Factoria area about 8:50 or so. I then went into uncharted territory. I followed 118th Ave SE which is Coal Creek Parkway once you go under 405. I had never ever been on the 118th for all the times that I have passed it and going up and down Coal Creek Parkway. So it was a new adventure to find out what was down that road. (For your information, Houses, a marina and some apartments. But it says that it is part of the around the lake trail, so I'm sure to follow it further some day.)

From 118th, I got on the I-90 trail and went to Mercer Island. I made it half way over the island before I realized that my two hour long ride was about to turn into a lot more and there were more hills ahead, I didn't want anymore hills. Especially since I had at least one big one to climb when I went home. So I turned around and came back.

Amazingly enough, it wasn't difficult to get up into the Highlands. There was a little streak of three miles per hour, but for the most part, it wasn't bad. I'm more likely to try it again, maybe even ride to work. (That is still a difficulty because I will arrive hot and sweaty, and well, working with the general public after being hot and sweaty... Don't like.)

MS 150 - Second Day

2008-09-15T06:17:00.002-07:00

Since Roo woke up stiff and soar and her knees were not better, she decided against going the second day of riding. So we got me ready. I used her Camelback since it is got more storage space. With it I was able to leave my trunk behind since I could stuff my jacket in the pockets of the Camelback.

I was in the second wave that was released after the start at 7:30. I worked my way to the right side and let all of the serious riders pass me. A group passed me and then was going just a bit faster then I was, so I joined the back of their pack and rode with them, pushing myself. I rode behind them for a good part of the first leg. After the first Rest Area, I went off by myself towards the second area where lunch would be served.

The hills started before the first area, but they weren't very bad. The real hills for this day were after the first rest area. But the hills were not as bad as the day before. I noticed another rider that each time I hit a hill, she would pass me and then when we were on the flats I would pass her. After lunch, she was still with me, passing me on the hills, I passed her on the flats. Finally after the third rest area, we stopped at a light together and I introduced myself. After that she caught up to me and we talked the rest of the way in. Both of us were riding alone.

Lunch was served at Sammish Island. After lunch there were some nice rolling hills where fore mentioned rider would pass me going up and I would pass her on the flats. She told me as we were talking that she figured if I had a light weight bike like the teams that were passing me I could power up the hills like I powered up the hills like them and stick with them. It is tempting to get a lighter bike, but right now I need to work with the one that I have. Road bike cost 500 and up, way up.

I got into the Fair grounds at 11:45. Four hours and fifteen minutes after I started. Roo and I took my bike and stuff to the car and then headed back for the BBQ before we left to go home.

I signed up for next year. I figure it was only $20 pre register and if I decided not to ride it wasn't that big of fee.

On another note, I'm planing to ride the Tour De Cure in May, which is for Diabetes.

Smiling for the Camera

2008-09-15T06:17:00.001-07:00

Smiling for the Camera
Originally uploaded by crash49

Roo and I on the first Day of The MS 150.

MS 150 - First Day

2008-09-15T05:29:00.000-07:00

So this weekend was the big event. I hadn't gotten as much training in as I wanted. It is hard to get 70 mile rides in after working 8 hours. Roo wanted to do the 58 mile ride the first day and the 50 one the second. I agreed, although I thought I didn't think I was ready for tow 50 mile rides in a row.

We started out at 7:30, close to the middle of the pack from what I could tell. The ride to the first rest area was pretty flat, through town and cow land for about 10 miles. At each rest area, there was food and drink. I got to try out different types of Cliff Bars and Bakers Breakfast Cookies. Decided I like the Banana Nut Cliff Bars and Double Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies.

We started out on the second of five legs and the hills started. The first hill was up to a bridge that crossed the Skagit River. I was hanging out with Roo, but she told me to go ahead since I could take the hills faster. I got to the top and waited for her to make it up we then continued on together.

For most of the day we continued on, me in front taking the hills fast and then waiting at the bottom for Roo. (She doesn't like hills or going fast.)

Lunch was at Deception Pass Park. It was the first time I had been there. It is a beautiful area. At some point I will have to go back.

After lunch, more hills until we hit the last rest area, also the first rest area, so it was all flat after wards. We got into the fair grounds around 4pm, got dinner and headed to our hotel room to shower and rest. My knee hurt after the ride so I grabbed an ice pack and we iced and watched a video as we rested.

Roo's knees really hurt compared to mine which once they were iced, I was good.

This weekend and it is finally here

2008-09-12T19:50:00.000-07:00

So this week started off with my friend and soon to be roommate coming in from Arizona. We ended up going Kayaking on Monday at a place in Renton that is on the lake.

I was working early all week, really early, so early, that most people don't want to know what time.

On Wednesday, I did get a bike ride in. I went down to downtown Renton and went shopping. My mom needed to come down as well so I got a ride back up the hill with her.

Today, I went rock climbing. The first time I have done. I went to Marymore park and climbed the wall. I will post a picture of me later, when I have it uploaded to my computer. I went up the wall three times. Two on the easiest part and one on a little more challenging part. I gained a lot of confidence in the three times up. I would like to try again.

Tomorrow is the first day of the MS 150.

Riding

2008-09-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got a Camelback at REI. I was hoping to get the Army grade one, but they were out of them at the online store. After waiting for them to come in stock about three weeks I decided to cancel the order and see about getting something else. I still want the Army grade one as my permanent, it has some features that I really like that mine doesn't have, but I'm going to wait, there is a possibility that I can get one a little cheaper. So it is pretty nice to have the water on my back while riding.

For my ride I took some of my handmade knitted wash cloths to a friend who loves them. Since he only lived a couple miles away I decided to ride down to his house. After chatting for an hour or so I headed home and got Taco Time for lunch. Total ride was 6.61 miles.

Society: Throwing Food

2008-08-31T18:07:00.000-07:00

Today as I was checking, a lady told me not to throw her food. I had been passing her merchandise from one hand to another, then letting it go on as it reached the belt. If anything I let it drop, maybe a quarter inch instead of setting it down. Always have done it that way, never had a complaint before. I was a bit confused and said to her "I'm not throwing your food." and thought to myself "I could show you what throwing your food really means." (Picturing chucking the food down the belt as fast and as hard as possible.) She countered with she didn't want anything broken. I was careful for the rest of the order, gently laying each product on the belt instead of letting it drop the quarter inch. I just imagined her celery sticks being damaged by the quarter inch fall. She should see how they were treated before she got to the store. (Me thinking of making the carrots go thump just for good measure, but holding myself back as to not to aggravate the customer anymore.)

To add to this order, the lady was the person that asked for naturally nested eggs. Now our egg cooler had gone out sometime over night. I had managed to put some eggs, the normal type that normal people get in some extra space in one of my other coolers. There was no price, but customers pretty much figured that the eggs were having issues since the cooler was empty. She wanted a price check on the eggs, the naturally nested ones that she had me dig out for her and the 18 count normal ones. Now if you are asking for naturally nested eggs, you know they are not cheap, and you get them because of your believes in better tasting, better quality, you don't care about the price. All she cared about was the price. And I knew before she even asked that those eggs would be going back. She was appalled by the price I'm pretty sure since she took the 18 count normal eggs. As she left I looked at my courtesy clerk who rolled his eyes and me, the customer behind the throwing food lady and the courtesy clerk all started to laugh.

The next customer in line said "I was just at Midas and there were three of them, the crazies are out today." As she left she said loudly, "You scrunched my bag, how dare you?!" I responded, "I'm so sorry ma'am, would you like another one?" We all had a good laugh.

Primary: Everything but the Lesson

2008-08-31T17:55:00.000-07:00

School starts on Tuesday and J just got back from Disneyland. The mixture of the two equals crazy kids that will not listen to a lesson on loving one another. I did manage to get two of the three to quiet down when I said that I felt loved when my primary class listened to me. The third was too busy talking to notice. I finally realized they were getting little out of the class and gave them papers to make a drawing for someone they loved. I will have to admit, I was touched by C and her drawing of her recently passed away grandmother for her grandfather who missed her.

After church I was getting up to go and C came up to me and apologized for being so rowdy during class. I had told her mom that I had just finally given up since it was apparent that the lesson was not going anywhere and I was just getting tired and frustrated.

Hopefully next week is better, of course with them sitting in class all week at school, they are bound to have the wiggles. And lots of them.

In need of a new store

2008-08-31T17:41:00.000-07:00

So I worked Dairy early this morning (Too early to say what time, I don't like thinking about it). When I got there, my perishable load hadn't arrived yet, second week in a row where this had happened. So I went about doing other stuff, back stock, milk, back room inventory and then eggs. When I got to the eggs I reached my hand into the egg cooler and thought, this isn't cold. The thermometer was registering somewhere around mid 40's, but I don't trust them, they are as old as the fixtures and since the fixture went out, what is to keep the thermometer to give me the correct temp? So I went and go the trusty temp gun. 59 degrees at the top, 57 in the middle and 59 at the bottom, normally it is cooler at the bottom, especially if it has recently gone out. So I went down the aisle to check the rest of the temps and found that the eggs and the adjoining area of fresh meat were both out and had probably been out all night. So I waited the fifteen minutes until my manager got there to put the call in, since for one I don't have the number and two, I don't have the authority to authorize overtime. When she got there I greeted her with the news that the cooler was out. She asked the temp and told me to pull product while she called it in. So I spent the next thirty minutes with all available employees on the aisle pulling all the product out of half an aisle of cases. Fun, especially for 6 am in the morning.

Now for the good part. Our store and fixtures are old compared to other stores, so this is becoming a normal occurrence. So normal in fact that this was the fourth in less then a week. (Two freezers on the aisle and the deli freezer also went out.) So is this telling us something? We are suppose to get a new store come May, but I think our store isn't going to last until then.

Primary: Obey the Law

2008-08-24T18:23:00.000-07:00

So today I took on two classes since the teacher that teaches the class older then I headed out on a much needed vacation. In all I had seven, my three plus four of hers. Before I even started the lesson I had to move C from J because they were talking too much.

Our lesson today was on Rules and Laws and obeying them. Like lessons on being a good example, choosing the right and being kind, it has a lot of potential. After the customary asking how their week was and how they had courage to choose the right during the week, I started the lesson with asking them if they knew what a rule was and what a law was.

A rule is something you have to do, a law is something your parents have to do. Just if you were wondering. I told a story about a boy and his dog and not putting the dog on the leash and the dog got hit by a car. Of course this elicited several stories of all their dogs. Once I was able to calm them down... okay, they didn't calm down, so I resorted to bribery.

I pulled out the Pixi Sticks that I had brought for the class. "So I have a new rule, if you are quiet and listen for the rest of the class, then you will get these pixi sticks." Almost all of them quited down really quick. Two of them still had a problem with the new rule, but I would occasionally ask one of the others, "what is the rule?" and they would quite down, for a bit.

Of course after class, I gave them all two pixi sticks, and sent them to junior primary. Two of them didn't make it though. After searching for them I found them in the foyer talking to each other sitting on the couch. I took their pixi sticks and ushered them back to primary. The one said she forgot that there was junior primary and wanted her pixi sticks back. I told her that she knew, we always had junior primary after class, and I was a mean teacher not giving her back the candy. The other one was the one that had been giving me problems all class also known as the reason that I kept on asking for the new rule to be repeated. He didn't ask for his candy back, I think he knew that he was in trouble.

Gas Mileage

2008-08-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

So I filled my tank today. I've noticed the last few tanks that I've been getting really good gas mileage. Today, I figured it out, 33 miles to the gallon. Now for some reason my gas mileage is getting better with the age of my car. Now if the look of it would get better as it ages.

Primary: I Will Obey

2008-08-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

Last weeks lesson was on obeying. A good topic for 5 and 6 year olds. A concept that all their parents hope and pray that I can pound into their heads. As I was reading through the lesson a couple days before Sunday I saw it called for a sign for the children to wear after class so that their parents could know what they learned about in primary. As I was mulling it over before Sunday I thought I should make the sign, big enough that C's dad could see it from his seat on the stand using bold letters to say "I WILL OBEY(!!!!)" Knowing her dad, he would have found it quite amusing.

My Small Claim to the Olympics

2008-08-15T20:31:00.001-07:00

So as I was watching tonight I heard them talk about the women's discus on NBC. They said that Aretha Thurmond the local athlete. I knew her as Aretha Hill and watched as a Freshman as she shattered records at Renton Stadium and other venues in the Seamount league. So now, she is living the Olympic dream. Good luck Aretha from a wide eyed admirer who wanted to throw that good someday.

Headed to Seattle

2008-08-13T18:53:00.001-07:00

Hammering Man
Originally uploaded by crash49

So Roo, Boy and Friend ended up hitting Seattle yesterday. We were going to the Stephanie Meyer concert at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, but has a few hours to kill before then. After Thai for lunch/dinner we headed out the door to Westlake and Pike Place. Since Roo and Boy live about four blocks from the Monarail, we used that to get to Westlake. Roo says she is probably one of the few that uses the monarail for an actual commute. She lives four blocks from it and works two blocks from the other end.

We wandered around hitting some of the stores, buying some clothing and then headed down to Pike Place. After showing off the Flying Fish to the out of town friend, we went to the comic shop and found all sorts of stuff we think we will buy and put in Boy's packages when he goes to Iraq, especially the catupulting cats.

We then walked around downtown towards the hall, taking in the scenes, like this one of Hammering Man. To which Friend wanted to know what he was hammering and then decided he was just hammering his thumb.

After the concert book signing, we walked home, taking in the Seattle night life. Being from the suburb city where you don't see much downtown life, it actually amazed me how many people were up late in the night.

Stephanie Meyer

2008-08-12T23:11:00.000-07:00

So I went to the Stephanie Meyer concert tonight. It was with Justin Furstenfeld from Blue October. It was good music and lots of fan girls screaming their lungs out. I personally have read one and a half of her novels. They are good, but I've not been bitten yet.

At the end was a book signing. We waited about an hour in line to get one book signed each. I happened to be wearing my Aquaman shirt, since I wanted to be wearing something comfortable and that is one of my more comfortable shirts. I felt a bit under dressed, everyone else was in black, my shirt was green. When Stephanie saw my shirt she exclaimed "Aquaman, I like Aquaman!"

I thought it was pretty cool.

Primary: Being a Good Example

2008-08-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

Our lesson today was on being a good example. Now teaching children of the age of 5 to 6 at 2 in the afternoon is a challenge. Teaching the children to be good examples at that time, can really turn interesting. The lesson went well, all of them were excited about telling me how their week went more then listening to a lesson. Finally I was able to segway into the lesson, on being a good example, because C told me that she had a friend that had a birthday party that was during church that she wasn't going to because she was at church.

After the lesson, I had a special treat for the girls since it was C's birthday. I always give them the choice to share, giving the birthday girl the cookies and telling them they can do what they want with them. C of course shared, since that was choosing the right. After they ate a bit of their cookies they needed water so we went and got water, they all needed a drink so I took the whole class to the fountain. Of course they were excited to be out of the class and as each of them went back to the class I could hear the others yelling, trying to scare the one that was entering the room.

Once we returned, I realized that I didn't have paper for them to draw on so I took two of them with me to the library and the other two went to get some paper towels. As we headed to the other end of the building, they all decided to run, talking loudly to each other as they did. As I passed the open doors trying to catch up with them I looked in to see the High Priest class, including the father of one of the girls, who was sleep, deeply enough to not be waken by my rambunctious class.

Luckily we returned to the room and after a short lesson on reverence, they "calmed" down, doing better when we went to junior primary only running for half the distance, with their arms semi folded instead of the whole distance, talking loudly down the hall.

Want

2008-08-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

So I have wanted to get a MP3 player for a while. I think I found which one I might want. After going to Target and looking at their selection, I found the Zen. It seems like what I want. MP3 player, video, expandable memory. Now, I just have to wait and see if I still want it in a week or a month or how ever long I make myself wait. Anybody heard anything about the Zen or own one?