Road construction: Spring in Utah.

So UDOT has begun construction on a desperately needed rebuild for one of the two off ramps in American Fork. My Personal opinion is that the other one needed it more, but all the big businesses are off this one. The design is one frequently used in Europe, but it will be the first of its kind in the United States. I thought I would share it with you mainly because when they redo I-15 in Utah County, many of the overpasses will become these. There is an article at KSL online about it, if your interested. You can click this image if you want to see it really big.The article is Here.

Woo Hoo!

The Parking wars continue.

This was in the local county paper's online edition.

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/304537/17/

That's our flower bed with all the mulch in it. Oh, and that sign, is supposed to be facing right. The students did that.

Creativity.

I want to build. I want to create. I think I'm having so much difficulty in English because it is all just parroting. There is 'nothing new under the sun, all is vanity" in that class. I find that often, the internet is nothing more than my english class on a global scale. Proof that a million monkeys at a million typwriters may in fact never come up with anything, let alone one of Shakespeare's great works.

Then, every now and then, there are those you wish you could be. the digital Shakespears of our age. One of these is a man named Bruce Branit. He had a big internet hit years back with a short film entitled "405". I won't post it here, as it involves a rude hand gesture. You may have seen it already. Think, "Airplane lands on a freeway." (The 405 to be specific) If you've seen it you will know.

Mr. Branit has created another film. This one goes WAY beyond incredible. I watch as the main character creates a little world in 3d. It's obvious he's done it before. I create my worlds in the same way. this is not just eye candy. This is a drama. This is a love story and a tragedy, but it leaves me feeling hopeful. This is for once, something new under the sun.

And it's clean. There is another beautiful clip just out that I would love to share with you. But in it there is a scene that Paige and I both felt could not be shared here do to a cartoon representation of objectionable materiel. Ironically, I think Shakespeare would have been ok with it. But Mr. Branit's creation is proof that entertainment can be powerful and still avoid all that is objectionable.

I present for your enjoyment, World Builder. If you have time, watch it twice. Knowing the whole story the second time through, I cried. (Click the "HQ" button if you have good internet)

Clarification

I would like to clarify what Paige has posted. I post nothing not because of a lack of home improvement projects. I have published nothing because of my English class. for 2 months now I have been having to write, multiple times a week, on subjects that I don't choose. In addition to that, I have to write several papers, thesis bibliography and all, on subjects that have to be so narrowed down and focused that I lose all interest in them. They become no longer fun for me when I can't examine all the interactions of all the interesting little details. I have to focus on one little detail, and that one alone invariably bores me.

I don't post because my English class has caused writing to be ceased to be fun. What good is writing without enthusiasm.

In other related news, I'm in the top of my Math class, and I'm actually starting to enjoy parts of it.

Joseph Smiths in my Math Class.

So, School started yesterday and I have now attended ALL of my classes once. This is a larger feat than you might think.

If you remember from last weeks posts, our car is having issues. We had it in the shop all day on Monday, and All day on Tuesday. We are nearly at 100K miles, so we decided to have it looked over. This, by definition, is different from having your car over looked. We fixed an oil leak, a faulty alternator, and a bad thermostat. Then we put the car BACK in the shop yesterday because it was STILL overheating. They just called to let me know that the thermostat they put in was bad, and the new one seems to be going just great. I hope they're right this time.

Anyway, my classes. My first class is my Intro to Digital Media. The course description can be summed up as the portfolio I made three months ago, with sound. As long as they don't think that I ripped the whole project off of someone else on account of it being well beyond what this class will teach, I'm thinking easy A. I'm taking it as DGM 1110 - Intro to That ONE Program UVU Uses That I'm Not Already Familiar With.

Then I have English. This is in the Sparks Automotive Building. Luckily it's not in the one room they also store spare car parts in, so it only smells mildly like the same place my car has been for most of the week to date.

After that I have Health. This is in lieu of a gym class that would require me to use my knees and ankles.

Today I had my first Math class, MATH0990. This one has me nervous, I admit. I opened the book in the first couple of minutes of class, and panicked because I had never seen such an amalgamation of numbers and symbols before in my life as the one I was suddenly confronted with. I began to wonder if I needed MATH950 instead. Then I realized that I was in the introduction and they were talking about something else. Then we got into chapter one and started defining things like; sum, difference, product and quotient. I felt on more familiar ground here. Then she had us go up to the white boards, divide into groups, and in those groups do the chapter one test. I got lost all over again. Still feeling overwhelmed. I'm going to have to go through the whole first chapter sentence by sentence just to jog the last couple of math neurons I have left.

Oh yeah. So the guy who played the 14 year old Joseph Smith in one of the recent church movies is in my math class. I can't remember if it's the one on DVD titled The Restoration or if it's the one at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building Theater. For that matter, it's been long enough since seeing the latter that it might be both. His hair color is different, but one of the girls in the class recognized him and called him on it after class. It was cool, he said he really enjoyed the experience. I don't envy him if he's taking any institute classes. "Hey, you should know the answer to this one, your Joseph Smith and all that." I bet he gets that a lot.

The "Difficult" Neighbor

As many of you may know, we live across the street from the local high school. This, unfortunately causes us all kinds of grief. We have been working with the city to try and resolve some of these issues, and for the most part we are used to it, but every now and again...

I came home from a quick errand this morning to find this.



At first I thought there had been an accident. Then I realized he had BACKED IN
this way. I called the police, as the Chief of Police has requested we do, 2 cars arrived, and while one was writing out a ticket, the driver arrived.

I sat inside and could here most of it through the closed storm door.

"Dude, where did you learn to park?"

This was followed by many other great lines like;

"I don't care if you were late, there is no excuse for this."

"Are you smiling? This isn't funny, why are you smiling? You stop smiling RIGHT NOW. You could have damaged their sprinkler system, that's 'Destruction of Personal Property'."

"You will move this car right now or I will have it towed. You pull right over THERE and if I see you smile again I'll tow it any way."

It's gratifying to see them get tickets, but the impromptu drivers ed course seems to teach them so much better. I was given the opportunity to inspect my sprinkler system with the officer while the high school student watched, and he was given the opportunity to sign for his ticket.

I'm sure we'll get egged or TP'd, but it was still worth it.

Life without Home improvements.

Before I start, to answer all the questions, the tile in the bathroom along with the shower bench was my design. The tile work was done by myself with the help of my friends Nathan and Jake.

Nothing all week. Well, nothing in the Remodel Department, but man, life is not much more relaxed.

I finally registered for the last of my classes in January. I was able to get a Math class after all, so at least I won't feel like I'm behind on those crucial classes that everything else hinges on. Signing up for classes is harder than one would think. Sure you do it online, but you have to tell Paige "Hey, who is signing up for classes here?" every 2 minutes. It may be harsh, but If I hadn't I would be signed up for 30 credits, and half of them would be science classes.

We (I) replaced the dishwasher that died 6 months ago. I only had the old one for something like 4 years, but I got it as a 4 year old from Brent and Lori. They gave it to me because it was broken. Sure I had to strip it, clean it, and remove potentially crucial parts to get it working again, but hey, Free Dishwasher. It only took me 2 hours to install the new one. The water supply hose popped off 3 times, and I sliced 2 different fingers 4 different times on sharp brass. The New Dishwasher is brushed steel finish, and has this awesome light that tells you when the dishes are clean. . .

I'll be right back.

Ok.

We put up the Christmas tree. This is my first year not having a real pine. On the plus side, this is also the first year that I'm not covered in sap and mumbling Yosemite-Sam style at the tree stand. On the negative side, It came with lights that don't have the 7 speed twinkle I'm used to and it's so real looking it even drops needles. Then again, only an umbrella could be easier to install.

My joints and tendons are getting "trunky" with only 2.5 weeks left at work. This morning I stepped out of bed and nearly awoke Paige with a scream of pain. The tendonitis in my right foot had increased over night to the point of "Ice Pick" proportions. Even soaking it didn't get it to relax. It was frustrating. Add to that that I'm so tired after a day of work right now that I only manage to stay awake for an hour or two after getting home. Oddly enough, now that I have nothing to do, I get nothing done.

I had a computer scare last week when the hard drive that held all the wedding photos I'd ever taken crashed. After many hours of arguing with a machine that may have more logic but still has less commen sense than I do, I gave up. Then Dad suggested that the external enclosure I had it in was probably bad, and that I should try the one he had.

Always believe your parents. That's the moral of that story. I have all the pictures back, whole and undamaged. The hard drive is actually failing and bad, but I got all my data off.

So all in all, I'm tired and it's only Tuesday. And that, my friends, is why we have not posted a music monday in 2 weeks.

Vote

Paige and I got up rather early this morning so that we could get in line and vote before Paige had to be at work. My Schedule is more flexible, so I wasn't worried about the early so much. It is nice, however, to get it done and not have it on ones conscience all day.
We arrived 15 minutes before the polls opened to take our place 30th or so in line.

We did vote. We were most concerned about some of the cities bond votes, so now I feel my voice has been heard there.

Honestly, not so worried about the presidential vote. I think I know how that's going to turn out, both in Utah and Nationally.


It took us 45 minutes to get through the line. By the time we left, I would say there were near 200 people waiting.

On our way home, Paige and I discussed the vote, and decided that neither of us can remember a time in our years of voter eligibility where either of us cast our vote FOR a presidential candidate. It's always been AGAINST his opponent.

Sure, the ballot does not record things that way, but if it did, what a way to start off a presidents approval rating, eh? "So and So won the election by an impressive 50 percent of the populace voting against his opponent and 20 percent of the populace voting for him. It was a landslide..."

Comedian Lewis Black made a comment several years ago that in the short space of 25 years we went from voting for candidates like John F. Kennedy to candidates like Bill Clinton. He figured in another 25 years we would be voting for house plants. He said: "I have a candidate I will be presenting then, his name is Phil... Odendron. He is for low light and lots of water and THAT'S a platform I CAN believe in."

Talk about voting the Green Party.

He Said, She Said

Brian and I are on a different schedule. He needs to be out the door at 6 am, while I am not due at the school until 7:32. In the first few months of our marriage, we were both dedicated to getting up at 5am, having breakfast together, etc. Did anyone else see the "slip" away from that schedule? Yeah, so did we. Currently, Brian bounds out of bed at 5:30, while I enjoy an additional half hour until 6am.

I love to sleep. I could sleep for probably 9+ hours a night, if my schedule allows it. Most days, I am perfectly happy to get out of bed to go to school, but I will take extra minutes if I can. Brian can't seem to understand why I don't bound out of bed with him at 5:30. In all actuality, I am being very magnanimous to wake up enough to kiss him goodbye and wish him a good day at 6am. In a dream world, I would sleep perfectly until 6:40, when I should arise to get ready. However, he spends the 30 minutes of sleep time (for me) between 5:30 and 6am getting ready. To be fair, he is much more quieter than I am, but he acts as my snooze alarm. I don't even set my alarm anymore, except on Friday when I need to get up at 5:15 to go walking with some friends. He used to comment/complain about my actual snooze alarm, but who needs a one when you have a husband who kisses you awake after 30 minutes?

On a related side note, I have a long to-do list, much of which consists of outside chores. On Saturday, I tend to stick to the same schedule as the rest of the week and get up at 6am. This lets me work on projects in the cooler portion of the day; I get so much more done! Plus, I love the feeling of accomplishment when I see all that I've finished.

Studies have shown that your body functions better when your weekend sleep schedule is consistent with your weekday schedule. Really, I am choosing the healthier option. I just don't understand why Brian can't see that my way makes so much more sense!


Paige and I are on schedules that are relatively similar except for one little thing. It has been my privilege in life to be roommates to SEVERAL different young men, and as a consequence I noted a large variety of sleep habits are out there in the world.

I am one of those who cannot stand noises that repeat. As such, once the alarm is in action every morning, I must shut it off as soon as possible. Then I must get out of bed to prevent any misfortune from occurring. I also dislike the thought of oversleeping.

I LOVE to sleep though. For this reason Paige and I head to bed at 9:00 each night and I set my alarm as late as is reasonable to still allow me to get ready. As a consequence, on a good night, I get 8.5 hours of glorious sleep.

What I don't get is my wifes insistence on wearing out the snooze button. Oh, sure, I've had roommates who did the same thing but I didn't understand it in them either. All it does is give you little 2 to 4 minute chunks of sleep that totally throw off your regular schedule and make you more tired in the end than you were before you went to bed!

Now, I;m a guy with a fairly regular sleep pattern. My body often wakes me up 5 to 10 minutes before the alarm goes off. As a matter of fact, in my last job, I never even set an alarm, my body was so well trained. But we all know that our bodies need to reclaim the sleep that we miss from our bouts of insomnia through the week. That's what Saturdays are for, right? My body wakes me up at 5:30, I get up, stretch grab some water and go back to bed to do some catching up. But at 6:00, my wife bounds out of bed without even needing an alarm and starts puttering around the house acting as my un-intentional personal snooze button, waking me up every 2 to 4 minutes. When I finally crawl out of bed at 8, or 10 as the individual case may vary, I'm exhausted. If she would just sleep in till 8, neither of us would end up needing to nap all afternoon on Sundays. We would have a healthier nights sleep and would awake on Mondays ready to face the grueling work week ahead of us.

And then, with a good Monday under our belts, we would sleep better all week. Honestly, It's just healthier.

6 Months

So, speaking of slow to post...not that anyone was, but now I am...so speaking of slow to post, a week ago last Saturday was our 6 month anniversary. We decided to totally go nuts and splurge. . . on gas. (I know, what extravagance)

Now that we are officially pretending to be poorer than we really are in order to save up money, my favorite hobby of temple photography has begun to suffer as a result. I can't just hit the road and drive to Montana for an afternoon. Admittedly the afternoon took 2 days, but you get the idea. Or Else.

So, we splurged and drove up to Draper, where the Draper Temple just received an Angel Moroni statue. The windows are almost all in and the landscaping is under progress. The temple could be operational in a couple of months.

After that we drove out to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, which also just received it's Angel Moroni. This one is not as far along and will probably be operational early next year.

After a relaxing afternoon, we climbed onto the roof under a near full moon,

to watch with some extended family as the city celebrated our anniversary (or their anniversary - whatever). There were fireworks and it was cool.

"Vacation"

My fantastic week studying Oceanography in the exotic local of....Ogden is over. I enjoyed the class, loved the 4 women I met and hung out with, and am giddy to be home and back with Brian. I must echo some of the "other" Olsons and say that the "Great Salt Lake" is not so great when you can walk across it on the backs of flies. Still, the spiders were creepily gigantic and the baby swallows entertaining. Now I can say I've been there...does that make me a Utahan, yet? What else should be on the list?

Qualified, baby!

I received my PLT (Principles of Learning & Teaching) Praxis scores today. According to the fine state of Utah, I am a qualified educator. Hmmm...nothing said of all the hours in the classroom. Ho, hum. Just a portfolio to put together and I "earn" my Level 2 license.

BTW, just cause I still can't believe it - I received a 199/200...I love days when I am smart.

Meaning of Love

Love is a pergola, not a hotdog.

http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/2008/07/eternity-in-bun.html
(thanks to Lindsay for pointing this blog out to us)

10:15 from the way I saw it

After frantic calls to just about every "place of healing" from my dentist to the emergency room (did not reach an acupuncturist), we got a call back from a dentist's emergency line. Joyce had given me the emergency number to her dentist, but he had another taking his calls that night. Turns out, Dr. Anderson is a very nice man as well. He and his sweet wife came met us at the office and the "fun" began.

It was my pleasure to sit next to Brian in the dental office. By the way, the feeling in my hand is slowing beginning to return and I have hope for a full recovery. I could not help but think, as Brian was squeezing all the blood out of my hand, that there would be a role reversal down the road...I totally expect him to be there holding my hand during child birth! (and smile and say "No, it doesn't hurt...squeeze as hard as you like.")

Now, I said it was a pleasure to be with him, but I should explain a bit more. I hope that I will never see him in the same amount of torment and pain...EVER. That being said, I loved being able to watch the dentist at work. Perhaps you too have been curious about what they are doing behind your head...let me tell you, fun stuff. Blood does not bother me at all, and it was so much better than any video. My main regret is that we did not keep the tooth. (Brian did not want it and I was not feeling like I should claim it - it was his.) And yes, the actual instrument used for the extraction looks just like a big set of pliers with a narrower end.

At about 10 o'clock, I dropped him off at the house to go fill his prescriptions. I missed the Walgreen's in town by about 7 minutes; so, off I went to Draper, who's claim to fame includes the nearest 24 hour pharmacy. I used the drive through for the first time in my life and even got to finish my book that I was reading while I waited. We got the drugs he needed; no more driving on the freeway at 11:30 on a Saturday night for Paige.

However, all's well that.... well, that ends. This was my first responsible adult helping pained loved one; I think I did pretty well...it bodes well for all those future child involved fun. :)

10:15 on a Saturday Night

So, How did you end your week? Yeah? Really? That sounds pretty cool. Me? Oh, I just had an emergency tooth extraction.

See, I started getting sore, like Thursday, but it's happened before and it's gone away, so no worries. Then Friday it got worse, but that was late in the afternoon, so kinda to late to go anywhere. Figured I'd just tough it out till Monday. Today my cheek and gums achieved the size of a small golfball. Or a large golfball, as there really isn't a size variation. But that's not the bad part. The bad part is the pain. It's probably a good thing I can't give birth as I really am a spineless wimp deep down. Deep down like where the root meets the jaw bone. Or used to, but apparently not for quite some time. The cavity at fault was not in my tooth but in my jawbone, where for whatever reason it rotted away.

The very kind dentist, with his sweet wife acting as assistant, said that the prior root canal probably went bad some time back and caused this issue. Not surprising really as historically canals and other waterways have always been where shady characters hang out. So now I'm looking forward to the first good nights sleep in a couple. I should be able to have that night in about a half a week. It definitely won't be tonight. Soon as my cheek stops being numb (I can feel that tide ebbing as I type) I will be up the rest of the night giving the stray cats a run for their money in the howling competition. So If you excuse me, I am now going to go practice my scales.

Heroes and Legends.

Why my mind turns to certain subjects or lines of thought, I may never know. I mean, not why, but why. See, the why I began thinking of this subject I know; it had to do with the pictures I took for my Mother. As to why I began thinking of the distinction, I can't even guess.

But, I am already way off course. I came to talk about heroes and legends.

Legend.

I think in my family I see my Uncle Niel as a legend. This may word may evoke for some of you exaggeration or separation from reality. To me it implies great and continuing influence. His story is that of one who gave his life for country and friends. He died in Vietnam attempting to save the life of a fellow soldier.

His story is told and retold by his sister, my Mother, to keep him alive to her generation, my generation and that of my nieces and nephews. He, to me, is Legend; I have never met him but his actions affect mine and that of my siblings. For an example of his continuing influence, I refer all to read this excellent post by my sister. What brought Niel Burns Riggs to mind was a small brick. The brick is a replica of a larger one at a base in Hawaii that Mom and The Bobs had created for Niel. (For those of you who do not know of The Bobs, please follow the link to Lori's post.) Uncle Niel is a part of our lives nearly daily because of his lasting impact. That is a Legend.

Heroes

A Hero, on the other hand, really ought to be someone you have more of connection with - preferably someone you know personally. Someone who is there all the time to show us how we should live and behave. Someone like your dad.

My Father worked for 37 years in the military to support his family. I have watched with pride the way he treats the flag, fellow soldiers, and families of soldiers. A few years back a traveling version of the Vietnam War Memorial came to Provo for a week or two; my Dad volunteered for every service position involved that he could get. I visited him there a couple of times and watched the way he helped familes and vets find the names that drew them there from across the years. I watched as he would hold papers so that people with tears in there eyes could make a rubbing of the raised name or names. He is proud to be a Vietnam Veteren, whatever else the rest of the country had thought at the time. It was his chance to serve and no one could make that disgraceful.

Often we would see him come home from work very frustrated and unhappy. He talked of wanting to move on to something different. On more than one occasion, he would get passed over for promotions or positions, frequently when there really was no one else even close to being as qualified for the posision as he was. (It's my blog post, and you can't prove otherwise anyway.) However, he stayed with it and did what was necessary for the circumstances at hand.

For those reasons alone he could have qualified for this:

This is the Legion of Merit. In the order of precedence for United States Military Decorations, it Falls Sixth, the first being The Congressional Medal of Honor. This was awarded to my father after his recent retirement from service. It was given as recognition far all he has done to assist the State National Guard with it's efforts both in the state and abroad.

It could not have been better deserved; he has given his all, in spite of any desire otherwise, to his country. His efforts to take care of the soldiers of this state have been an example to us all. I have marveled as he has watched over the soldiers here, in Iraq and in Afghanistan, worrying over each one like his own kids. In a way, they are. His service, and his example merit this Honor.

For not giving up in the face of the smallest annoyances or the biggest affronts, and for so many other reasons, he is my hero.

Happy Fathers Day Dad!

Good books

As a book lover, I often run across books that I enjoy. Sometimes, I read a book that I love. One such book just made it out of the "to-be-read pile" and into the "read-it pile." I wish it would have been at the top sooner. This book made me cry, laugh, scratch my head in puzzlement, and want to read it again as soon as I had finished. If you have a chance, pick it up.









On an additional note, this book is one of my favorite stories that leads you on a journey that ends with you wondering if it was real or just a fable.

He Said,She said.

Ok, so my wife can be a little weird when it comes to books. Now, I knew when we first started hanging out that she was a bibliophile; I knew that a library was inevitable. What I didn't understand was her obsession with library books. I'm not talking obsessed like 'must have them' or 'must take care of them'. I'm talking obsessed like 'public reputation revolves around them.

Okay, my my husband can be a little weird when it comes to food. Now, I knew when we first started hanging out that we would both have some compromises when we ate; I knew that I would be making the most adjustments. What I did not understand was his devotion to fast food. I am not talking devotion like 'this is my favorite restaurant' or 'occasional cravings for fries.' I am talking obsessed like 'I go so much that the clerks know my name by my order.'

Get this; She checked a book out from the library, read it in her customary 20 minute style, and set it aside to read one of the other 40 she had checked out for that afternoon (I MIGHT be exaggerating a LITTLE on the number of books). She returned the stack of books the next day, or maybe it was the day after that. Then, paranoid something "bad" might happen, she checks her library account online only to discover that one book did not in fact make it back. She immediately goes out and renews the book (to avoid a late fee). She then spends 2 weeks uprooting every piece of furniture in the house to find it, and, when unsuccessful, She BUYS THE BOOK to avoid paying a late fee. It's like she is afraid the librarian might put her on a 'do not check out to' list, or like the bank may declare her default on a loan if she ends up paying a late fee on a book.

Get this: During the beginning of our relationship, we went to Wendy's for some dinner. He (somewhat patiently) waited for me to peruse the menu to decide what I wanted; then we proceeded to order. As he spoke the words 'We'd like a # ____, ketchup only,' the voice on the other end interrupted and said, 'Is this Brian?' Flabbergasted, I turned to him. He seemed unsurprised by the recognition; we figured out that it had been about a month (marked from when we started hanging out) that he had been there, so, of course, they were not sure it was him. This was a "Norm" moment that I was NOT proud of. (For the record, I have eaten more fast food in the past year than I have in my whole life.) Since then, we've varied on our fast food intake, but it seems like he is determined to keep the fast food industry running. He even celebrated the fact that Wendys and Arbys are one company - no loyalty issues.

Now granted she did end up finding the book and getting all her money back, but come on. She has the nerve to call me weird because the neighbors daughter (who works at my favorite fast food joint) recognizes me by my favorite order. I mean, really.

Now granted, the clerk at Wendy's is the daughter of a neighbor, but come on. He has the nerve to call me weird because I am an intelligent, book loving, money savvy, individual. I mean, really.