It's been a while.

Let's see, what's new...

I work at Blue Cross Blue Shield. That's new(since the last post anyways).

We have 3 dogs, Ranger, Sophie, & Rusty. Let's see if I can find pictures.

Ranger

 Rusty(shhh...he's exhausted)

Sophie(She looks innocent but I'd take a rain check on petting her if I were you)

Ranger and Sophie were adopted from the county shelter and Rusty came from a family down the street who didn't want to take him along when they moved.

Let's see what else,

I play trombone in the Flower Mound Symphony Orchestra, although I can only be there every other rehearsal because of my work schedule. Our next concert is on May 4 at 7pm. Come if you can and say 'hi' afterwards. Cecilia Hamilton conducts. It's the children's concert and a lot of fun for everybody. Please come. It's FREE!!!!

We just put in a cactus patch in the front yard. I'll have to post pictures of it later.

I thought that I'd share a call that I took last night.

Me: Thank You for Calling Verizon, May I have the Phone Number on your account?
Caller: ok, its xxx-xxx-xxx
Me: Maybe I heard that wrong, can you give it to me again
Calller: xxx-xxx-xxx
Me: Sir, that's only 9 digits. Can you give it to me one more time?
Caller: Ok The Number is xxx-xxx-xxx
Me: *sits there and thinks*
Me: Sir could that be your Social Security Number?
*Caller immediately starts to recite his ss #*
Me: Sir, I don't actually need your ss #. Lets try something different. What is your street address?
Caller: *gives address*
Me: *punches in address and hits enter. Only business names appear on screen*
Me: "What is the name on the account?"
Caller: *gives name*
Me: "Sir, I'm having trouble finding you on the system."
Customer: "Well, I need to change some things on my account."
Me: *ears perk up*
Me: "You need to add or take something off of your account?"
Customer: "Yes"
Me: *abject relief*
Me: "Well, I'll have to send you over to billling for that, ok?"
Customer: "Ok"
Me: "One moment. Thank you for callling Verizon."

My Dad

It was a particularly poigniant father's day for me this year due to his passing 21 days ago. Has it really been 3 weeks? Time can be both infuriating and fleeting, something of a paradox. A year can seem like a day and a day can seem like a year.

I was visiting my mother in Arkansas this weekend. It was nice to see & take care of her. Somewhat less enjoyable was going through some of Dad's things, most of which were uniquely his. A roman sword, confederate money, a BYU watch, a couple of papreweights, a 1984 BYU national championship banner - all things that reflected a portion of who he was.

One of my earliest memories of my father was when I was about 4 or 5. Dad took me to an airfield several hours away to look at the vintage aircraft, another hobby of his. I remember mother gave me spending money before we left: $1, all in dimes. I spent it on donuts, if I recall correctly. He took several pictures of me with the aircraft in the background and had someone else take one with the both of us, I think.

Dad's service in the church was unparalleled. He was 100% active and went at it with all his might all of the time. I remember when he was Elder's Quorum president the Magnolia ward had 86% hometeaching, the highest in the stake. Not so much because of his motivational skills but because he did most of it himself, spending 2-3 hours some Sundays visiting with families. This was after 3 hours of church and any meetings that went with his callings. He would never just skip anything. It was something that I didn't appreciate at the time but that I do now.

Also memorable were the many Saturdays that Dad & I spent remodeling the old house on Height st. We took one bathroom out, put another one in, nailed many sheets of paneling onto the walls, put up additional walls, and did quite a bit of ad hoc plumbing. He had no training in any of these things but got through all of the projects through sheer will & determination. Again, I didn't really enjoy these things at the time but I still use the confidence & skills that I acquired on those Saturday mornings.

Dad & I had our disagreements from time to time, mostly during my teenage years, but I never once doubted that he loved me. Some complain that their father never told them how he felt. Not my Dad. He would tell me almost daily. He was wonderful that way. And he spent plenty of time with me at church functions, family vacations, father/son outings, and just talking in the car sometimes. He and Mom were also regular fixtures at my band concerts.

His life serves as testament that some things in life are worth pursuing with a clear mind and an unwavering, unending effort.


I miss him very much.

Is feeling extra tall today in his new shoes!

Sunday school is slow today. Maybe a little trombone would liven things up.

A brutal day at work. but im at the park now and the weather is wonderful.

The cactus' are in at the mart. I'm excited! A pretty good variety too. I'll take that one & that one & that one & that one....

I'm out of dew. That makes me sad.

I miss sn nfl. They ought to rebroadcast a game and pretend that its new. I would be ok with that.

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We have the planter beds built and filled. M put onions in one of them but I'm afraid to plant more than that this early in the season. I'll have to post some pictures later.

Also, the front lawn is looking better. The tall fescue that I seeded in the bermuda last october has been greening up nicely with the recent rain. I just wish that more of it had taken. When things dry up I'll seed again with tall fescue mixed with annual rye.

BYU v. Oklahoma

M & I recently went to the BYU v UO at the new cowboy stadium. At the time I was sure that BYU was going to lose but I still wanted to see the inside of the brand new 1.2 Billion dollar facility. I was curious to see if 1.2 billion still goes as far as it used to.


The Stadium hold 75,000 and it was sold out.

Pregame Warmups


Some of the fans(the good guys)



About to score...

The largest HD screen in the world - 180 feet. It was very, very nice - almost hypnotic. No matter where you were you could see exactly what was going on -and usually more than once. I was kind of bugged that there was no place that timeouts were displayed. For 1.2 billion, Jerry could have installed a couple more lights or whatever.



The Good Guys Win!!


The postgame celebration

Yard & Garden


The flower bed in the front


Some sort of chinese lily thingy that M grew from bulbs


M picking squash out of the garden. We did very well on the squash this year. That's Sophie sniffing around in the background.


Corn


Tomatoes and stuff


Most of the garden



A nice bouquet that M made for me for my birthday. Very nice.

Some more Sophie & Ranger Pictures


Sophie posing


Sophie asleep


Still asleep...


Ranger & Sophie dig at Mom & Dad's house while Harley looks on


Sophie and Ranger competing for treats


Sophie & Ranger after a hard day


Sophie wants to be a model


Sophie loves her daddy


Hanging out

The Math Behind the Economic Meltdown

The Election & The Media

I have been thinking about our next president quite a bit since the election, as I'm sure that many have, and I have a few things to say about the campaign(s) as well as a few related subjects. Obama wasn't who I voted for but I'm willing to reserve judgement on him until I see some results with him at the helm. As a side note, he has precious little experience in foreign affairs, in economic affiars, and he has no executive experience of any kind. He makes Sarah Palin look like a seasoned pro at being a chief executive. It is interesting, don't you think, given all the criticism that Palin got for being the governor of a state with such a low population or only being the governor for a few years? Palin was the subject of such focus from the media that was so busy making fun of her and burying her with ridicule that they didn't have the time to point out that Barack Obama had much more severe shortcomings in the same areas than she did - and he was running in the #1 slot. This brings me to my first point.

The media was(and is) in love, as a whole, with the thought of having Obama as president. Having a black man in the oval office was a story that was just too good to pass up and they found themselves just fawning all over him while at the same time portraying McCain as a cranky old guy who didn't know how to use a computer. The positive coverage was very one-sided. Nothing seemed to stick to Obama, nothing was ever really a problem. No matter what the controversy, it just seemed to go away.

Racism. Yes, it still occurs, as much as it pains me to admit it, but not always in the ways that people think. It has been estimated that between 94%-97% of voting black americans voted for Obama. Hmmmm....so, voting black americans all independently studied the issues, looked at the candidates and 97% of them came to the conclusion that the best man for the job was the same race as themselves? Put another way, would 97% of all caucasians voting for McCain have aroused any suspicions from the media? On the other hand, perhaps having a black man in office will restore some of the trust in the federal goverment that has been absent in the black community.

John McCain. A war hero that deserved better from the media. He served 5 1/2 years in the Hanoi Hilton, which, incidentaly, is longer than Obama has served in the Senate. McCain has been a U.S. Senator for 22 years. He is a recipient of the Navy Commendation Medal and the Bronze Star. He has a much longer track record in service to his country than Obama. Obama's track record is in service to the democratic party.

I hope that Barack Obama turns out to be a good or(I hope) a great president. He could do a lot of good. I just wish that both candidates had been treated by the media with as much respect as he was.

Meet Sophie




Sophie is a 12 week old Dalmation pup that we just adopted from Denton city animal shelter(the 'pound'). She was sick for a few days( & we had to drop a few $$$s at the vet) but she seems to be feeling better now.


Ranger was initially cautious about the new arrival






But then started to warm up to her





Now, they hang out some but Ranger is still jealous of the new doggie.


Ranger & Sophie hanging out in the back yard:







Ranger does NOT like Sophie to be in her sandbox




Sophie chewing on a toy:

Working at Wal-Mart

I've been working part-time at walmart for over 4 months now, trying to both keep myself busy and to help ends meet. Its been an adventure, although not always a fun one. I thought that I would take a few minutes to describe what its like working there.

First the management hierarchy:

There's the Manager of the store, Bruce.

Then there are 10 assistant managers that report to Bruce. Each one is responsible for the day to day operations of a couple of departments. The one responsible for the Garden Center(where I work) is Matt.

There are 4(or 5?) zone managers. This is a newly created position(because, after all, you can't have too many managers...). These are assistants to the assistant managers. But that's too hard to say so they call them zone managers. The one over the garden center is Katie.

Then there are the Department managers. They are exactly what the title says - they manage the deparment. The one over the gc is Heather. She's only been there for about six weeks or so. She replaced Gene who got promoted to zone manager. Heather moved over from being the pet department manager.


Then there is me. Well, me and my co-workers in the garden center. I won't introduce everyone right now, rather I'll do it as I mention each one.

And we move on...


The gc has been consumed with setting up for Christmas the last 10 days. That's right, Christmas starts in October at walmart. Anyhow, that's what we've been doing all day every day. Putting stuff on shelves, printing labels, hauling merchandise from the receiving area, etc.... I wouldn't call it fun but I would rather be doing it than unloading a truck or doing a buggy rally, which I sometimes have to do anyways. More on that later.

Heather has been doing a nice job making sure that all the merchandise and displays have been getting put up in a timely manner. She's only 21 but she has some good organizational skills. And a good sense of humor which isn't everything to morale but it sure helps.

Let's see...what's the latest.... Ah yes, the wreaths. I spent several hours putting wreaths on the shelf yesterday. I had no idea that there was so much freakin' glitter in wreaths. And it gets all over. By the end of the day I looked like Glenda the Good Witch's mutant cousin, Ed.

A couple of pictures of co-workers:

Ryan(in one of his more dignified moments):



Julie




More later.

Lake Ray Roberts

A couple of weeks ago we went to Lake Ray Roberts for a couple of hours to grill some burgers and enjoy the scenery. It was fun, though a bit crowded.





At first Ranger was timid about getting in the water.



But soon she was swimming(movie).



A few more Ranger pictures...

Ranger just after a bath:



Ranger resting in her sandbox:



Ranger 'wrastling' at the dog park:



Ranger fetching a ball in the pond behind the park:



Ranger greeting M after she gets home from work. Notice the tail:


And, to finish the entry for today, here is a short movie featuring Ranger getting a ball in the pond. Notice the other, younger, dog in the frame splashing around just as Ranger did a few months ago: