An Ensign to the Blogosphere

The Power of a Name

2008-12-04T19:41:00.002-07:00

In remembering Elder Wirthlin this week, I can't help but think back about a very fortunate experience I had with him personally. Almost 10 years ago, when I started working for the church, I had the opportunity as my work assignment, to support a computer program that is used by the Apostles every week. Like all computer programs, it was never without it's bugs. I would occasionally get calls to come fix problems with this program.

This was quite nerve wracking for a 'wet behind the ears' programmer like me. Talk about a refiner's fire. To try to fix the problem while a member of the Quorum of the Twelve was sitting there waiting for it to be fixed, was, I dare say, the most stressful experience of my life.

I was very humbled to have this assignment, but, what a blessing to be able to mingle with these wonderful men.

Whenever I had to fix the computer that they were using, they would, of course, be anxious to have it fixed, being under such a tight schedule as it is. And it was always a huge relief to fix it so that they could continue their work.

Which brings me to Elder Wirthlin.

Whenever I had to fix Elder Wirthlin's computer, though, it was different. As I would be working feverishly to try to fix the problem, he would calmly sit back, waiting ever-so-patiently. What touched me the most, though, was the fact that he was the only Apostle that always called me by name. That touched me in ways that I never anticipated. To have the Lord's Anointed know my name was something very special to me.

I will always remember that about Elder Wirthlin. He may not have known me on a personal level, but he knew my name. That was powerful. The power of a name.

He may have been short in stature, but he was a giant among men, and someone that I always looked up to. I will miss him deeply.

Preserving Marriage

2008-10-08T14:17:00.004-06:00

The church just came out with a new website on the Divine Institution of Marriage.

There are several nice features of this site that you can embed in your own blog.

Some videos:

A Widget:

A Badge:

You can even bookmark it on Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and more. Help spread the word!

Twitter and The Summer Relief Trip

2008-08-19T15:56:00.004-06:00

Here it is, mid August. Where is this summer going? I have no idea. One thing I do know is that I am SO ready for a vacation. In 4 days and less than 16 hours we will be on our way to California for a week. This will be our first road trip with both the kids. A few years back we took Petunia to Yellowstone, and we had a blast. But this will be Chunk's first excursion. I know it will be a challenge keeping them occupied while we drive, but the change of scenery will a welcome sight. Plus, going with The Peaches will also be a blast! I'm tying really hard to keep focused at work, but it's tough when I see that it is 77 degrees along the California Coast, and that gas prices are some 20 cents cheaper there! I CAN'T WAIT!

As you are well aware, my blog postings have been minimal at most. Besides Facebook, I have discovered this thing called 'Twitter' which is kind of a mini-version of a blog. You type in these 'tweets'-- a sentence or two of 'What you are doing right now'--and lately that has been much more my style. Quick and to the point. Facebook has the same kind of things, too. You can find me there at http://twitter.com/ensigndj. Come join me! I think you'll like it.

During the course of the road trip, I will try to post tweets of what it is we are doing, where we are, and anything interesting that we see. I might even update Facebook with a picture or two if we have the time.

California, here we come!

New website to clarify Mormons and Polygamy

2008-07-03T11:37:00.008-06:00

The church just launched a new website to help clarify polygamy confusion:

Simple and to the point. Love it.

What's been happening....

2008-04-28T20:52:00.003-06:00

Well, it is time for my once-every-few-months blog post! It seems my wife has been better at blogging than me lately. Oh, well. Hopefully I can bring you up to speed on our goings on.

We have reason to celebrate lately, because now we have a yard! We have a full-fledged sprinkler system, sod, trees, and curbing. And no, we didn't do it ourselves. That what our tax return was for this year, and it was well worth it. I did spend the evening fertilizing the grass, and boy, did it feel good to putter around the yard!

We did plant 4 trees by ourselves. Three in the front (flowering fruitless pear) and one in the back (Blazing maple). I hope they grow well. The kids love to help water them, even though more water seems to get on them than in the ground. They love to have a place to play outside now. Our flower and vegetable gardens can wait until next year.

Another exciting development this week is the launch of FrontRunner, the new commuter rail. We took the kids for a ride on Saturday and they loved it. And so did I. When we came back to our station and the train went on its way, the kids waved goodbye to it while exclaiming, "Bye Bye, Daddy's Toot-Toot!" I am thrilled to be able to ride it. It goes pretty fast (we passed up a ton of traffic this morning, and I couldn't help but smile), and the ride is so smooth and quiet. Even though it may take me the same amount of time to get to work, the station is right up the street. Yet another advantage to moving into this house. It is much closer than the bus stop. We can even see the trains from our backyard, which is fun.

I got called to be the Ward clerk recently. It is much more involved than being the Finance clerk, but I love it. Every week, I learn new things.

Well, that about does it for now. Thanks for checking in!

Playing Mr. Mom

2008-01-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

Whew. What a busy time this has been. For a while now, The Wife has had some health issues that pretty much knock her down and out for days at a time. Well, last week she had an ultrasound (not what you think!). It was discovered that she was the proud mother of gall stones. She met with the surgeon and determined that the best course of action was to have her gall bladder removed. For whatever reason, the gall bladder is one of those organs that really isn't necessary, like the appendix. Who knew? So, on Thursday, she went under the knife and now no longer has her gall bladder.

The surgery went well, and she is resting comfortably for the most part, but the pain comes and goes. She is doing much better today than yesterday, but we think in the long run this will solve these ongoing health issues.

It has been interesting for me to play Mr. Mom. I don't think that can ever measure up to what The Wife does for the kids. I was able to get Petunia ready for school yesterday, even though she cried getting on the bus. After that, I took Chunk to the Library and Post Office so she could get some rest while Petunia was as school. It's sad, but I count the hours until nap time and bedtime (less than a half hour now). Right now they are watching 'Calliou'. Soon it will be time for bedtime stories and prayers. Oh, how I look forward to that. I have had to break up many an argument between Petunia and Chunk, clean up spilled food storage macaroni in the basement, change a few batteries in some electronic toys, wiped some messy faces, but all-in-all, not too bad.

Once things calm down, in my quiet moments while the family sleeps, I have been really into Railroad Tycoon III. In the past it has been games like Flight Simulator and The Sims. They are good little escape games that help me to relax. Lately, I have needed it. Don't get me wrong. I love my kids to death, but sometimes things get really insane, and to keep my sanity, there is nothing like building a railroad empire until 1:00 in the morning to get my mind off the hectic schedule of playing Mr. Mom.

Snowball Fight!!

2007-12-20T11:01:00.001-07:00

I Found this on Jibjab. Merry Christmas!

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Happy Holidays!

2007-11-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't been much of a blogger lately. The wife has surely picked up the slack on her blog:

http://valndug.blogspot.com

But I did find something pretty funny for this holiday season: ElfYourself.com. I did one for our family. Check it out:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9587568099

Happy Holidays!

Newsroom Embedding is Live!

2007-10-25T23:32:00.001-06:00

Another work post, but we've just gone live with the linking and embedding for the LDS Church's Newsroom website.

Here is an embedded video from one of the October 2007 World Report stories:

Here's another video with Elder Ballard answering the question "Are Mormons Christian?"

These videos are hosted on the Church's servers, but, as you can see, I am able to link to it just fine.

Embedding videos

2007-09-04T12:26:00.000-06:00

Here is a link to a video from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Newsroom website, which is the website that I maintain at work. It is about President James E. Faust who passed away recently.

I am testing the functionality of embedding videos from the Newsroom site into blogs, similar to what you can do on YouTube.

Click the play button below to view the video:

Looks like it's not too difficult to do, and it works like a charm.

To embed this video in your blog, simply copy and paste the following code into your blog entry:

With a little 'view source'-ing, you can pretty much embed any video from Newsroom that is published. Hopefully soon we can make it easy for anyone to embed Newsroom videos into their blogs or websites. I love trying to figure this stuff out. This is probably the only time that I get to blog and work at the same time! I love my job!

P.S. Sorry for not blogging for a while, but things have been extremely busy. Our house is coming along nicely. My wife drove by it after dropping Petunia off at pre-school today and she said they are putting up drywall! Yay!

Long time no blog

2007-06-06T18:59:00.000-06:00

Wow...I didn't realize it's been so long since my last blog. Certainly a lot has happened, and finding time to blog lately has been next to impossible.

The only reason I found time to blog now is that I am in the middle of a conference call with work (we are in the middle of an internal web application program launch), and I am waiting for other co-workers to get done with their part before continuing on. Luckily, my part is done, I just need to make sure everyone else does the right thing. I feel like conductor in the symphony.

Our house is sold and we are living in a tiny two bedroom apartment for the next 5 months and 7 days (or there abouts) while our new house gets built. It is really cramped. We have half of our stuff in a storage shed. We were hoping that by now, our plans would be complete and a hole would be dug, but we haven't heard anything yet.

We are SO excited for this new house, and can't wait to get into it. It will be a long 5 months, and I'm sure we'll be out to the site several times a week to check on the progress.

Who knows when I'll be able to blog again, but that is where we sit right now. Apartment living really stinks. We hear all sorts of noises at all hours and our neighbors play pulse pounding music on the weekends. But at least we are saving a little bit of money in the meantime. With the equity from our former house, we were able to pay off our van, so we are, besides some balances on our credit card, debt-free. And THAT is a nice feeling.

Well, things are going well with the launch and we are just about done, but it's not without incident. Time to go home to The Wife, who I miss dearly!

Busy Month

2007-03-28T15:59:00.000-06:00

Wow. March just seemed to fly by. A lot has happened this month. After we signed on to build a house, The Wife and I kept feeling worse and worse about our decision. We still felt like this was the time to move, but the choice just didn't feel right. We loved the floor plan and the builder, but the location was not ideal. The lot size was significantly smaller than what we wanted, and each time we'd go back to that neighborhood, we just didn't feel like it was the place to raise our children. Not that it was a BAD neighborhood, but we felt that down the road, it could turn that way.

So we decided to go look at one more builder that was just up the road from where we were going to build. Their lots were a LOT bigger (1/4 acre, as opposed to .16 acre), the house plans were a little bigger (and, frankly, less expensive), and we loved the neighborhood. So, after praying about it, we felt that THIS was the place to build.

We are feeling much better about things now, and the ball is rolling. We meet to sign the papers on Fruday, and shortly after, signup for the loan pre-qual.

So far, we have had about 13 families come though the house, but as of yet, no offers. It's a little discouraging, but, we still aren't in any rush to move. The Wife would like someone to make an offer because then we can move into an apartment and save some extra money for 6 months. Plus, she wouldn't have to worry about an agent calling and saying, 'We'll be by to show the house from 5:30-7:30'. That is the worst because then she has to make sure the house is clean and we have to drag the kids out somewhere.

So, anyway, that is the update for now.

Life changes

2007-03-01T20:25:00.000-07:00

Holy cow. It has been a while since my last blog. I guess there wasn't too much to report on in the last few months, until now.

We have done something tonight that seems very surreal. We put our home up on the market! We are still kind of like, AH!!...What did we just do? We have been thinking for a long time about moving a little farther north so that we can be 1) closer to family, 2) in a bigger home for a better price and 3) close to a commuter rail stop for work. And this past week, things have just happened to fall into place. This is the way it has always been for our family. At the time, the big decisions were always scary (We thought the same thing each time: "AH!! What did we just do??"), but they just felt right. The decision to marry was right, the decision to move to Layton was right, the decision for The Wife to quit work to take care of the kids was right, and now, the decision to move again seems scary, but right.

There are still a lot of unknowns, like will it sell in 2 weeks or 2 months? We aren't really in any rush, because we haven't even begun to build our next house. Tomorrow we meet with the builder to lock in the lot and the house plan, so that will feel a bit better to at least know that that ball is rolling. We swore that we would never build again, but, here again, the decision just feels right. The other thing that is a comfort in all this is that our next house will be our home base for the rest of our lives. Even if it means we move into an apartment for a few months while they finish building it, I think we are fine with it. It will save us a little money anyway.

Wow. A lot to think about, and I am sure I will blog about the progress as it happens. I feel much better after typing this. Ain't blogs grand? It's like your own free psychiatrist.

For now, while The Wife is away at book club, Petunia is asleep and I am here with chunk. Time for a little diversion...gonna go catch up on 24.

Living the American dream all over again. Wow.

Commuter Special

2007-01-17T17:12:00.000-07:00

What a surprise! I caught my commuter bus today, and it happens to be equiped with wireless Internet. So here I am blogging whilst I commute. Sure beats being behind the wheel! We are going at a pretty good clip, so traffic isn't too bad.

I don't normally catch them this late, but work was a bear today, so I'm coming home a little later than normal, and I had to bring my laptop home because we need to check on our website later. We had an upgrade, (which is happening right now) so we need to keep tabs on it and make sure it all went well.

I would have stayed later at work, but I needed to be hoome to do some church stuff with the Bishop.

Well, gotta go. I want to post something to The Wife's MySpace page (to surprise her).

Cause for Celebration!

2007-01-16T21:23:00.001-07:00

Chunk finally slept through the night this weekend! Woohoo! We'll see if it keeps up, but that is cause for celebration!

Dave Barry and Me

2007-01-13T22:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Three-day weekend to you all! I can't tell you how nice it is to have an extra day off this weekend. We are spending it well, cleaning house, playing with the kids, possibly heading up to Grandma and Grandpas. We'll see.

So, I normally don't actively participate in the public blogosphere, but yesterday, I found something that was just too good to keep to myself. I am a huge '24' fan, and I saw something in USA Today that seemed so appropriate to pass on, that I couldn't resist.

Dave Barry (The Miami Herald humor columnist), who I have been a faithful reader of ever since my high school days, also has a blog that I keep up with on a daily basis. Long story short, he is a huge '24' fan as well, and blogs about it all the time. I found this article, and immediately forward it on to him. Lo and behold, he posts it on his blog and credits me for it! I was well pleased. Granted, he doesn't know me from Adam, but to have this kind of communication with people anywhere just amazes me.

New Years Resolutions

2006-12-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

Well, another year has come and gone. It's hard to believe. Each year seems to go by faster than the last. And when you look back, it's amazing to see just how much your life changes in that year.

With the new year comes the proverbial New Years Resolutions. I always thought that resolutions were a good thing, but I have noticed a trend when it comes to the New Year. It seems that each year it's the SAME thing. Get in shape, eat healthier, get out of debt, blah, blah blah blah. And it always ends up the same. You last for about 2-3 weeks, and then it's back to the same old grind. It seems to me that New Years Resolutions never seem to stick. Am I right, or am I right, or am I right?

So my plan this year is the same as it was last year---to not make any resolutions. The way I see it, if you find yourself needing to change, why wait until the new year? Why not just start now? I did the same thing last year, and it worked out great. I never felt guilty for breaking a resolution 2 weeks into it, and I found that I could just find new or different ways to improve whenever I needed to. I found I could improve myself not just because the clock was ticking into a new year and telling me I had to, but because I wanted to.

Christmas came a little early!

2006-12-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

knite20 just had a new addition to their family this week. She is quite the cutie! We wish them all the best with their newest addition to the family! We love you guys! Give us a holler if you need anything at all!

The 12 Days of Christmas

2006-12-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

The Wife surprised me with a little something different this year. The other day I find this present with a tag that says, "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me....."

She done and did the '12 days of Christmas' on me! How sweet is that?? I love that woman!

So, in honor of this joyous occasion, I will be updating the blog with each day of Christmas. Stay tuned!

Here is where I stand so for:

1. Pirates of the Carribean 2 DVD
2. Two beef sticks
3. Three little notes from each of the family, including Chunk and Petunia
4. Four GooGoo Supremes (Chocolate, Pecan, Caramel) Yummmm
5. Five Candy Bars! (100 Grands to be specific)
6. Six Pairs of Socks
7. Seven Homade Brownies
8. Eight Garage Storage Hooks
9. Nine Holes of Golf
10. 'Ten Cow' wife, from Johnny Lingo!
11. Eleven cans of soda
12. Twelve music downloads

Fun little Website found

2006-12-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

A coworker of mine showed me this cool little website. It is called GiveawayOfTheDay.com. Every day there is a new fully licensed program that you can download for FREE. The only catch is that it is free for that day only. I have downloaded screensavers and some fun little utilities. They even have games, too.

Blogging will be light for the remainder of the year because of deadlines at work and the Christmas holiday. The family is doing well and Petunia can't wait to open her Christmas presents. We know because she already opened some of them once already. We had to re-wrap and hide them. She's forgotten about them anyway, so it was no big deal. Kinda funny, though. This will be a fun Christmas for us. Hope it will be for you too!

Merry Christmas!

'Tis the Season

2006-11-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It is always great to be with the family this time of year. Good food, good fun. We spent the day with my family, then came up to The Wife's family for the night and day after festivities. I made a chocolate fudge pecan pie courtesy of knite20 and it was a hit at both families!

The Wife got up at 3:30 this morning to go with her sisters for the door buster sales at Wal-Mart and Shopko. They always go just for the fun of it, to watch the people fight over the latest toys. But every so often, they actually find some good deals. And this year was no exception. She saw some ads for a mountain bike for less than $40 and was able to snatch two of them! We have been talking about getting some good bikes for the family that we can hitch a jogger stroller to for the summer, and now we can! She is enjoying the fruits of her labors now by going back to bed.

The family is doing well. Chunk is now eating mush, and is getting better at sleeping, but we are still waiting for the day he sleeps all the way through the night. Petunia LOVES the Christmas lights that are starting to show up on houses all over the neighborhood. We put up the Christmas tree this week just so she could enjoy the lights a little early then have it there when we come home from Thanksgiving.

We love this time of year! Hope you do too!

Airport Oddity

2006-10-26T21:00:00.000-06:00

I was sitting in the Austin airport awaiting my flight back home, and I noticed some unusual activity a few gates down. I noticed some airport security standing around and what appeared to be very bright lights shining in the terminal (the lights were noticeable because it was raining pretty heavily outside, and definitely not bright enought to be sunlight).

As I moved a bit closer, I noticed a bunch of film equipment and the lights were such that it appeared they turned the terminal into a movie set. I am always fascinated with that stuff, and having plenty of time before I had to board the plane, I watched closely for a while as they were setting up the scene. It appeared they were filming a scene where 4 school friends were getting off the plane.

I didn't recognize any actors, but the director was Quentin Tarantino. I only know him from reading all about him in the entertainment world, and from seeing him in some TV cameos. Here is a photo from my camera phone, not very good quality ('cruddy-cam'), but he is the one sitting up on the camera boom.

It's not every day you see a movie being filmed in an airport.

Bueller? Bueller?

2006-10-23T21:00:00.000-06:00

Wow. Could I BE any worse at blogging? You'd think I was the Ferris Bueller of blogging. In a way, I guess I am. Maybe I thought I could never top the Hamster entry. I don't know. At any rate, life has been pretty crazy lately, and I finally have a minute to fill you in.

Right now I am sitting in a hotel room in Austin, TX attending a conference for work. Just got off the phone with The Wife who is back visiting her family in my absense and she tells me that Chunk is quite the mover. He can now roll over from back to tummy. She says he's been doing it over and over and he won't sit still long enough for her to change his diaper even! Boy, I am sad I missed that. Luckily, this travel thing is not a regular part of the job. I missed the conference last year, and I don't know if they send us back every year or if it is just a select few. So far it is good, but I am missing home badly. I seriously don't know how people can do this for a living. I still haven't recovered from my training travels back in April.

The thing to do in Austin is to watch the Congress Avenue bats. You'd think it isn't such a big deal, but seeing is believing. According to BCI (Bat Conservation International), this is the largest urban bat colony in the world. At dusk, over a million bats fly out from under this bridge every night to feed. I thought it was impressive in April, but October is even better. There are twice as many bats because the mommy bats take the baby bats out with them. I never thought i'd see a swarm of bats in my lifetime, and it really is quite awesome.

What else....What else....Oh, I did turn another year older since my last entry. The Wife and I had an actual 'date' that night sans BOTH kids for a couple of hours. It was nice. Very nice. Really nice. We had a wonderful dinner out on the town. Best birthday present ever. You need to do that once in a while. It makes you appreciate each other even more.

Well, it is late for me, with the time difference and all, so that'll do for now. As Ferris once said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Productivity Enhancer

2006-10-02T20:44:00.000-06:00

Dave Barry recently posted a link to a 'Productivity Enhancer', which simply means he found a fun little flash game on the internet. Well, I found it quite entertaining, and, well, addicting, so I just had to shared the joy:

Flight of the hamsters

Don't say I didn't warn you.

UPDATE: I set a new record today: 634 feet total, including one flight of 293 feet!

UPDATE: I have been a couple of days Hamster-free, and just decided to try again for fun tonight. Get this: 842 feet! The first flight was a whopping 375! The key is hitting those rockets just right.

Kabab-o-rific!

2006-09-22T17:18:00.000-06:00

Last night we had some good times. We got together with knite20 and some of The Wife's old college roommates and had dinner. But it was no ordinary dinner! Oh, no....It was Kabab night! We grill up these shish-kababs made of tri-tip steak, mushrooms, onions, potatoes, peppers, zuchini, and a marindate that it out of this world!

And for dessert, we grill up a whole pineapple with vanilla bean lime marinade.

Kaba-o-rific, indeed!

Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

2006-09-19T08:10:00.000-06:00

Ahoy, Mateys. It be Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day. I jus discoverrrrrrred me pirate name, and ye can tooooooo.

Avast!

My pirate name is:

Dirty Davy Flint

You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

It's a Festivus Miracle!

2006-09-17T16:02:00.000-06:00

For the first time in I don't know how many weeks, Petunia actually made it all the way through nursery without me and The Wife having to be within a 50 foot radius! We actually got to enjoy Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society. Granted, as time went by, we kept wondering, "They are going to come and get us any minute now...." with a screaming girl in tow, but it never happened. Sacrament meeting was still an adventure in keeping her occupied, but we are so thankful for small miracles.

We were in Ferron, UT this weekend for a family reunion (my in-laws). It was a fun little road trip for us, but we are glad to be home. We stayed at Camp Bert, which is this 'compound' originally built in the late 1990's by some religious group that claimed the world was going to end in 2002. When that didn't happen, they sold it, and now it is a hotel, of sorts. We stayed in a small room that felt like we were a part of a polygamous family. Central Utah is known for that kinda thing. There was a huge kitchen and dining room area, and a 'chapel', that has been converted to a huge rec room, with a big screen TV. The organ and podium are still there, which was kinda creepy, but it was fun to get away. Petunia had fun with the cousins and there was no shortage of hands to hold Chunk. We were grateful for the little reprieve.

All-in-all, a good weekend. Can't wait for the next one!

Chunk's Day

2006-09-04T07:38:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a great day for the family. Chunk was blessed in church, which is an important event for us in our church. I was a nervous wreck all weekend, just because of all the preparations, but everything turned out just fine. I am so glad for the extra day off. The house is still in pretty decent shape, so The Wife and I are just planning on a nice relaxing day. We'll run down to RC Willey for free hot dogs and soft drinks for lunch, grab one last Snowie for the summer, and probably watch a movie while Petunia and Chunk nap. That's a nice way to end the summer, I think. Just by being together.

UPDATE: Well, the movie didn't happen, but we thought it would be fun to go out to a park for Petunia. We found one in Kaysville called 'Castle Heights' or something like that. Petunia had a great time in the swings and climbing in the playground. We are definitely going back there again soon.

Presidential Buzz

2006-08-30T22:41:00.000-06:00

President Bush is in town. That is always a big deal around here. We got an email today about changes to the traffic downtown tomorrow as he speaks to the American Legion convention and visits Church Headquarters. Roads will be closed and i'm sure traffic will be a mess.

That's OK, though. Tonight I witnessed quite a sight. I knew that Air Force One was going to be touching down tonight sometime, and I am one who is quite fond of aviation. I love to watch airplanes, big and small. As I was puttering outside, unloading the van, taking the garbage out, etc...I saw an aircraft approaching in the distance. This is not an uncommon sight where I live, simply because our neighborhood is directly in the flight path of the Salt Lake International Airport.

On a hunch, I wondered if this was, in fact, Air Force One. As it approached, I noticed that the tail was illuminated so you could see the American flag. Sure enough! It was indeed Air Force One! It came in very low, lower than regular commericial aircraft and it flew directly over our house! I was pretty impressed. For one, we just don't see 747's in Utah. And second, it was POTUS! ("President of the United States" for short--for you non Tom Clancy fans) Too bad our digital camera didn't have batteries!

Noisy Neighbors

2006-08-27T13:13:00.000-06:00

It probably isn't appropriate to blog on the Sabbath, but I have to vent some frustration. Plus, both Petunia and Chunk have a bit of the sniffles, so we both decided to keep them away from spreading the wealth at church.

We've always had a struggle with one of our neighbors and their loud parties in the past. On a regular basis, they always invite friends over and sit out on their back deck to visit, which we have a direct line of sight (and sound) to from our upstairs. Last night was no exception. They actually started early around 8:00 PM and had kids jumping on the tramp making all kinds of noises. While this didn't necessarily bug us, the weather cooled down enough to allow us to finally open some windows for some fresh air, and the noise was especially loud.

The party continued well into the night, with people yelling, laughing loud, and dropping all sorts of F-bombs and other vulgarities. The Wife would try to yell out the window for them to please keep it down, but either they didn't hear us, or just plain ignored us (the most likely scenario). Just after midnight, The Wife and I just couldn't take it anymore. I stormed over there (fearing for my life because of the caliber of individuals involved) and told them as nice as I could to please keep it down. The resident feigned ignorance ("What? Too noisy? I had no idea!"..Please!) He didn't even apologize, but I came away unscathed and relieved that no other confrontation took place.

It was effective to a point, because soon after my return, they all went inside (or so we thought). It was quiet for about 5 minutes, and then we heard the same annoying chatter coming from the FRONT of their house, as loud as ever.

That was the last straw. We called police dispatch to report a disturbance of the peace, and I watched intently for the cops arrival. It was just our luck that the front sprinklers came on and drove them all inside. Around 1 AM I saw a cop car pull into our neighborhood and park a few houses down, lights off, so as to not raise suspicion, then watched intently as the officer approached the house. I wasn't in a position to hear if he actually made contact with the people inside, but it did my heart good to know that they were on the case. It must have either been a slow night for the police or serious enough to call for backup, because I saw another squad car arrive and meet up with the first officer. They spent some time chatting in their squad cars, then one of them drove by, spotlighting the cars parked in front to check things out, but no other activity ensued (thank goodness) and the police left. Shortly after 1:30, the party broke up and everyone left, leaving our neighborhood quiet and peaceful once again.

Surprisingly enough, both Petunia and Chunk slept through all of this.

I love our neighborhood, with the exception of these characters. Every neighborhood has people like them. The wife and I admit that we are homebodies. We don't do alot of socializing around the neighborhood, which is fine by us. I consider myself one who goes the extra mile to make people feel comfortable and at ease, and I guess I just don't understand why people can be so inconsiderate sometimes. That really gets to me. In a way, I'm glad we did what we did, because I did something that I never thought i'd have to do. I guess it's good to get out of your comfort zone every once in a while. When it happens again (and I can guarantee it will), I don't think I'll be the least bit nervous about reporting them again. Hopefully, they'll get a clue.

Busy Busy Busy

2006-08-25T22:20:00.000-06:00

Wow! This week just FLEW by. We had stuff going on all week, and before we knew it, it's the weekend. I picked up my brother-in-law at the airport (coming home from a business trip to India). He had quite the time getting back--20 hours in flight from Bombay, Mumbai, Amsterdam, St. Paul, to Salt Lake City. I couldn't help but think of The Amazing Race. Don't ask me why.

We had dinner with Rainbow and a few other friends, which was very nice. Rainbow is heading off to England to work on her masters degree. This blog wishes her, hubby and Hershey all the best!

I started a new project at work, which is going to be keeping me extremely busy. On top of that, I got a brand new laptop, so I have been having fun getting it all setup for this project. By the end of today, I was finally making progress, and now I am blogging from it while The Wife and I watch the season finale of Psych. Funny show. The windows are open and it is finally cooling down a little bit outside. Petunia and Chunk are sleeping soundly, and we are waiting for Chunk's next feeding time before we all settle down for the night.

Nothing too exciting for the weekend, just cleaning house and doing some yard work. Fun stuff.

Well, I spoke too soon....It looks like Chunk just woke up, so I best get ready for burping duty.

Petunia's Birthday!

2006-08-19T14:49:00.000-06:00

Today is Petunia's birthday. I don't think she has any idea what is going on, but she seems excited anyway. This morning we put some new bed sheets from Grandma and Grandmpa on her 'Big Girl' bed and she loved the pillow. Soon we will start weaning her from the crib (or 'the baby bed' as we are starting to call it), so we are getting her used to the idea now.

I just finished wrapping her presents (a bubble blowing toy, some peek-a-blocks, and a book), so we should be set. I still need to put together her tricycle, but it is in the van, and The Wife took it so she could pick up some baloons while Petunia is napping. The Peaches are coming over for some hamburgers and cake later (and hopefully some XBox time, if the ladies permit).

I can't believe she is two! Time sure flies. She is really growing up too fast. Before we know it we will be celebrating Chunk's birthday!

Speaking of Chunk, he smiled for the first time yesterday. Yes, he's smiled before, but this time it had nothing to do with gas. He only does it in the morning first thing, but it sure is fun to see!

This week we are having dinner with Rainbow and some other friends in Salt Lake, so I am looking forward to a night out on the town. We haven't eaten out in a long time, so this will be a nice treat.

My Virtual Villagers are doing well. I have about 78 of them and have solved 10 of the puzzles. The Wife's villagers aren't doing so good. They just don't seem to want to do much of anything. Oh, well. That's the nature of the game I guess.

Home Alone

2006-08-14T21:40:00.000-06:00

The wife and kids decided to go to Tremonton for a few days to visit family before they go back to school for the year. My mother-in-law is a teacher and my sis-in-law goes to college, so she thought it would be nice to spend some time up there. Plus, she'll have some extra hands to hold Chunk.

That leaves me here home alone. But it has been nice and productive. I've been able to clean the house a bit without Hurricane Petunia messing it up behind me. So, at least for now, things will be in order. Plus, i've been able to relax a bit. I wasn't feeling very good last night, so I went to bed WAY early and was able to get a full night's sleep. I feel much better today, and I know that sleep helped. I love my wife dearly!

And, it's not all work around here. I've had time to cook my dinner (from My Girlfriend's Kitchen) work on the Blog (do you like the new title?), checkup on some other blogs, play with my Virtual Villagers, watch some of my Tivo'd shows (The 4400 has been exceptionally good this season), and just relaxed. I don't know if i'll even have time to play XBox. If I don't, no big deal. Did I tell you that I love my wife dearly? I owe her big time for this!

Being home alone has its pluses, but I am also realizing just how much I miss the fam. I know The Wife won't believe this, but it's true. By this time, I would have watched an episode of The Little Einsteins with Petunia (her favorite show) and read her stories before sending her to bed. I would have burped Chunk at least three or four times by now, and I would have spent some good quality time with my dear sweet wife. I miss that. I feel like i'm on a business trip, yet, sleeping in our house. Weird. Good thing i'm going up there tomorrow to pick them up. One more day of this, and I would have gone crazy.

The weekend!

2006-08-11T16:19:00.000-06:00

We made it to the weekend! How glorious! And, what's more, Petunia went to Grandma and Grandpa's yesterday afternoon, so my wife had time to focus on Chunk. She naps when he naps and just relaxes.

Petunia loves it in Huntsville. She plays in the park, pets the horses, jumps on the trampoline and has an all-around good time. She was worn out, though, because she slept for 12 hours. That was nice for me and the wife.

In other news, we downloaded a very addicting game yesterday. It is called Virtual Villagers. It's kind of a cross between Lost and The Sims. You are trying to establish this new civilization on an island, and train them in farming, construction, etc... Very fun.

Burning the midnight oil

2006-08-09T04:09:00.000-06:00

After more than two months of agonizing over an issue at work with one of my projects, we were finally successful in upgrading it. It required us to do some work in the middle of the night (which was just completed-hence this very early post), and I just had to blog about it. Aside from a few minor glitches, it appears to be working! I won't bore you with the details because if I did, you would do like my wife does and just nod your head with feigned interest.

A lot of people have put in long hours to make this a success. Even though we never did nail down what the exact problem was, we found a way to make it work regardless, and I am very pleased with the results. I'm sure the Lord had His hand in making it happen when it did. Looking back on it, maybe there was a reason why it wasn't supposed to work the first time. But I am sure glad it works now. Now I can move on to other new and exciting projects without this monkey on my back. I'm sure that feeling is mutual among all members of the team.

I didn't even have to set my alarm to get up at this early hour, because our son decided he was hungry at about the same time. He's my backup alarm clock!

Well, hopefully I can get a few more hours of sleep before heading into work again. This can only be described as the "Sigh heard 'round the world".

Putter Day

2006-08-05T22:53:00.000-06:00

It's been a busy week, and I realized that it has been a long time since my last entry. 6 days in blog-world is a long time.

Today has been a putter day. Done a lot of things around the house. We always make a list of things to do, but never seem to quite get all of them done. There is something about crossing things off a list that feels good. Weeded the garden (which was a monumental task--we've basically ignored our garden this year because we've wanted to finish the basement), cleaned the house a little, went to the library, played in the sprinklers with Petunia. I still need to balance our checkbook. Oh, well. It'll happen eventually.

Just noticing outside the window that there is a good amount of lightning going on. It is so fun to watch the weather change around here.

Family is doing well. Can't believe our baby is already over 3 weeks old! His night feedings continue, and Tivo has been a big help. We Tivo shows that we can watch during his feeding so we can stay awake. I found one that was most interesting. It was on ESPN called 'The World Series of Darts'. I was fascinated at how accurate these guys can be! One of my posts will be devoted to our Tivo watchings, so look forward to that.

Well, it's late, and for ONCE both kids are asleep at THE SAME TIME. So this is prime sleeping time.

New look, etc.

2006-07-31T22:19:00.000-06:00

Things probably look a bit different on the blog. I am just playing around with different templates and trying to find one I like. This one fits a little bit better.

I wouldn't want to waste a good post on just that, so here is a family update.

We are adjusting well to a newborn. He seems to not like his bassonet very much at night, so we tried putting him in his bouncy-seat and he only woke up once! Well, once before I had to get up and go to work, then he woke up again soon after I left, so it was twice for my wife, but it wasn't too bad. He is a good kid.

Family Addition

2006-07-29T17:53:00.000-06:00

So, we just had a new baby boy join our family! Our big boy joined us on July 13th, weighing in at 9 lbs 15 oz and a whopping 23 inches long! We went to his 2 week appointment this week and he gained another half pound! We've given him the nickname 'Chunk'.

Here we go!

2006-07-29T17:44:00.000-06:00

Well, it's official. I've been passively viewing a handful of blogs and vlogs for some time and thought it would be fun to jump into the blogosphere now. I will be posting thoughts, musings, experiences and even family photos on occasion. That's what a blog is for anyway, right? Think of it as a Family Christmas Letter all year round! Feel free to comment, and enjoy!