sub-zero fun

This week, Wed-Fri, I got to go up with a couple of teachers and about 20 students to the Alpine outdoor camp at Clearcreek which is by Scofield Res. It was very pretty but I'm not sure the temp ever got about 0 degrees. Luckily they had heated cabins and warm water and I scored big by sleeping in the headquarter cabin WITHOUT any of the students in it. So I got some sleep while the other teachers were babysitting until 2 or 3 AM. We did some crosscountry skiing, played a form of football in 24 inches of snow, and did some school work. It was a nice diversion.

I noticed that the Orem CompUSA is going out of business, I guess that means that this computer will probably die in the near future. Luckily I have the employee of the Year in Computertonics on my team. Ben Can Fix it!!

Great Football

today I got to go to the BYU/Utah game with some of the boys. Generally when I hear someone say, you need to be there in person to get into the spirit, I respond with a tip of my D.P. can from my sofa watching the game on the tube with all of the replays. Yet I think I got the idea today. There was some great electricity in the air, the stands were all full well before kick-off and as the game progressed you could really sense how the crowd had an impact. It was one of the best games I've seen for a long while!

Marrying Man

today I got to marry a young couple. She has been married, divorced and has three kids. For him its the first time. The names were great to pronounce: She's Hawaiian and he's Chinese. When I ask him the solemn question, rather that saying "I Do" he said. "yeah, I guess so". I hope they have a great honeymoon.

working for "the man"

Working for the University of Phoenix has been a nice bonus but I'm starting to experience a few problems. First is the economics of higher education. I am hired as a private contractor, meaning they don't have to pay any benefits, plus I'm supposed to come up with all the materials and resources for my own classes. I get paid a little under $1,000 per class and each student pays a little over $1,000 per class. That's a comfortable profit margin. Second, they have decided that I can teach everything so the past four classes assigned me, three were new. Two of them psychology classes which I'm not too strong in anyway. Third, there was a scheduling mix-up so they tabbed me to pick up a geography class, a week before it started. Its one I've taught so I wasn't too concerned until I looked more closely at the schedule and realized they had scheduled me over another class. They told me they would get me a sub for that night, now what I'm waiting to see is if they dock me pay for having to get a sub even tho its their fault. Oh well, I've almost made enough off of them to pay off my student loan, which was the original intent.

Em wanted a new blog so here goes: By the way Joe died on Wed. and his funeral will be Monday.
Last night as I was driving home from teaching a class up by Clearfield I thought I saw a stange sight. It took me awhile to recognize the wierdness of what I was experiencing and I'm still not sure if it was true (being 10:00 PM and driving with only one eye open) but I believe I actually drove through a stretch of Utah highway that DIDN'T have any orange barrels or cones lined up along it. It was a surreal experience!

Death and dying

It looks to be an interesting week for the old ward. Fletcher Norris went off dialysis 2 weeks ago and is certainly within a day or two of going to the great beyond. I was called on to give him a blessing to speed things along. His daughter wanted to do the right thing by having him come home to her house to die, but it is wearing on her as she watches the life ebb away.
Joe Peterson has decided his quality of life isn't worth extending anymore and is going off dialysis this week. I got a couple of calls this morning from other members (as news has leaked out of his decision) who wonder whether he is making the right decision or even if he might be doing something that is against God's plan. Its a tough dilemma? What is suicide? What does it mean when we state: "Do not recesitate"? Who gets to determine what quality of life is worth sustaining? It would be nice to make all those decisions early in life and take the burden off the children or spouse, but what I'm realizing is that the attitude about such things can change over time and maybe even daily. There are all sorts of issues involved and we have the chance to learn so many things by watching others.

Eating Healthy

So as I was mowing the lawn last week I ate a couple of apple, some plums, and a tomato. Then to balance my diet I had a Jr. Whopper. Life's good in the fall.

Best of Utah

Spring and Fall are great seasons in Utah, the heat isn't bad and the cold has subsided. The colors of the leaves are nice and the bugs aren't bad. Yup I really enjoy those three days each year!

Modern Football in Cougar-town, nation, universe

I spent a lovely afternoon with 65,000 of my friends at the BYU Arizona game. It was a good game and we even won but as I was watching the crowd I had a few thoughts: 1) this large generation of diabetic prone people are going to change the seating at stadiums. The 8-10 inches allotted to each person's butt just isn't cutting it anymore. 2) Why bring young younguns to the game, sure baby sitting costs a little money but if you are reduced to reading the little tyke books about the destruction of the dinosaurs during the third quarter...well what's sacrament meeting for? 3) I'm waiting for an audience to really express their hatred for the purple hat guy. He is the gnome that works for the television people and decides abitraily to walk out on the field and stop the action so that some station can sell a truck or a beer to people watching the game from their easy chair. I think those that have paid the big bucks to be in the seats, squished between the large bottomed thousands are the one's that should be catered to, and if the oaf at home misses a play or two and is bothered by that, then they should pay the money and wedge themselves into those staduim seats that were designed by the Seven Dwarf drafing and engineering corp. (the 12" legroom looked plenty big to them).

family reunions and such

The John/Dorothy Bus/Susan team had charge of the Gillespie family reunion this year. We actually met a couple of times, did some planning, looked over the venue and were kind of ready to go when this week actually hit us between the eyes. John was out of town until Friday evening, we couldn't find a projector, Aunt Laura informed us that she couldn't come, JoAnn flooded their basement (and I mean flooded!) and rain was in the forecast. So we made an early morning executive decision it cancel or at least delay the reunion for a couple of weeks. Nearly every sibling I talked to said "Oh thanks". Which gave me pause (not paws, or else I wouldn't be able to type this)...Does anyone really want a reunion? Deep in my left ventricle I believe they do but life just gets heaped up at certain times and this was one of them. My goal is to come up with the stress free family reunion that allows us to get together but doesn't make it such a big deal that people are happy it ain't happening. We are hoping to use the Labor Day Monday, then we won't have to think of something else to do for Labor Day...which would essentially be just another level of family reunion.

Grandbaby two

We got another cutie, born Aug. 8th. He looks good and strong, is pretty active, figuring out the eating concept. I'm sure Robyn will be putting some pictures out as soon as she starts feeling better.

Another Logan adventure

this time I decided to limit my workspace to 3'x3' with lots of things in the way to hinder my work. After six hours with my head stuck under the sink I was able to redo all the plumbing in the kitchen. I also got on first name basis with many of the workers at both Lowes and Home Depot. But I was also able to fix the short in the air conditioner, replace the pressure valve on the hot water heater and get some trim work done on my favorite bathroom. What a day.

Bishop's complaint

One of the worst task's I have as a bishop is giving out welfare. A new bishop gets a pamphlet and about 6 seconds of training, and whenever an issue is brought up at the stake meetings the final answer is, "follow the spirit". In order to allow the bishop to follow the spirit I will give out these suggestions, I hope you never have to use them, but just in case: 1-Keep communication open. If things are going south let the hometeachers or visiting teachers or the bishop know about it. 2-Don't wait until the crises is dire, if you need medication don't wait until you've swallowed the last pill to go to the bishop. There are certain policies and procedures the bishop has to follow and it generally needs a sunday to get the paperwork in order. 3-Don't run up credit card bills...The church has a very strict policy about NOT paying off consumer debt. 4-don't borrow money from those check cashing places. If you do you are way too stupid to be trusted with any more money! 5-Maintain good relations with your family, the church expects the family to step up first, before the church is to step in. If you hate everyone in the family, or visa versa...it makes it difficult to ask for help and yet some bishops will insist on it. So keep the relationships good in order to get the help you need. 6-Utilize the resources available. Let home teachers into your home and be up front with them. If the ward welfare committee knows about the situation they can come up with some great ideas which may keep you from having to go to the bishop at all. 7 Finally, be humble and teachable. Sometimes these challenges are put before us to bring us down a notch and help us be more teachable. Pride cometh before the fall, and if the pride continues then its very difficult to help out.

The changing face of Logan

I used to love Logan, of course I had the romantic view of it from my early 20's. I recall it being a place of fresh air, beautify mountain scenes, stimulating intellectual discussions, and fun activities. Now my view has been reduced to a 3 by 3 foot cell, encased in an 8X8 foot room with a temperature hovering around 95 degrees, and with an occasional trip to Lowes or Home Depot. So go the memories of youth.

papa's big day

So we get up at 4:00 AM in order to get Jan and Clark off to the airport by six. We get home, only missing one turnoff and having to travel down Redwood Road for a few miles, by 7:10. I do some watering and weeding then its off to work. Luckily kind of a slow day which gives me a chance to correct my papers from the Monday U. of P. Class. In the meantime I register a few kids and answer the parent's questions. (My job is to have them leave happy, so I tell them what they would like to hear) Sitting at my desk is a german manuscript I am supposed to be translating for Aunt Pattie along with the packet assignment hanging over my head. [I'm writing 4 packets for the Financial Literacy Class, I have one finished]. Pretty soon I need to start thinking about what I will teach in my new U of P class which starts tonight. I will miss the ward service project as a result of the class. Also I need to figure out when I can do a key exchange with the Shumways so they can have a Thursday baptism.
Oh well its just one day, I'll catch up on my sleep at some point and I'm reminded of my mantra: Let the Mountain Rest You.

number 1

Here is my initial blog post. A blog used to be something that stuck to your feet after trying to catch frogs. How times have changed. Now there's a Gandolphols sitting on the old frog pond.