New Baby

Sorry to report that everyone dropped one step on the cute scale with the birth of Anna, she takes the top spot now.

A snowy day

Sunday we got about 6 new inches and since our cul-de-sac had never seen a snowplow getting into the road was a risky thing. This morning we heard this constant and repeating roar and finally Susan said, "It sounds like the paper boy is stuck." So I got my boots on and found them in one of those little box cars with about a 3" clearance down by the Black's house stuck. Luckily there were two of them a young man and supposidly his wife, they spoke spanish more than english. Their method of getting out of the snow was to push the gas pedel in as far as they could so the tires could spin really fast. After trying a few things I finally got into the driver's seat and was able to gently rock the thing back and forth until I could get a run at it and push thru the deeper snow.
So I was feeling pretty good until I went to the shopko shopping center to mail Thad's computer cord and headed home. The light made me stop as I was going up toward University Ave. When I tried to get going again I just started slidding backward. Most people saw my dilemma and went around, but one lady pulled up behind me and then another car behind her, I just shrugged and kept drifting back toward her until she finally backed off enough for me to get turned sideways. When I finally got moving I realized how many muscles one uses when trying to make a vehicle move.

In the beginning

Yesterday was ward conference, which isn't too big of a deal (after being involved in 10 of them) expect for the part about being one of the speakers in Sacrament Meeting. I gave a talk about families and even used the ole suggestion box and clown collar as examples on how to use mealtime and traditions to increase communication and teaching opportunities. I also went into the creation and the first couple and I came across a concept that I hadn't noticed previously. If you look into the Pearl of G.P. Moses 5, it discusses the creation and if you look at how the creation is presented it looks as though the spiritual creation happened the way we usually learn about it: Light & Dark, Water & Land, Flora, Fauna, then Man. But then it appears that the physical creation is a little different with Adam being the first flesh into which the breath of life was given, followed by the animals and finally Eve.
There are a few talks available from that information.

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.