Catching Up

This week has been a tiring, busy one for me. It's the first week of school. That means lots of work for me. True to expectations, I've been busy. Next week, I have to correct overloaded busses, and get busses to schools on time and fix all kinds of other issues. I'm in my new office and I have to say, it's good.

Howard and daughters and daughter-in-law are in Utah this weekend having a fabulous time at Swiss Days. I've been enjoying the solitude and quietness.

I had a sleep study on Friday night. Just can't sleep well during those things. I don't think anything bad will show up. I had to spend a lot of yesterday napping to catch up on what I missed Friday night.

I have a cousin in Thibideaux, Lousiana ( a town just west of New Orleans) that had to evacuate to northern Louisiana. I have a friend in Eunice, Louisiana that had to evacuate, too. She just had surgery 2 weeks ago! Still has a catheter. Imagine that. The projected path looks like Thibideaux could be hit really hard. The TV coverage is so eerily similar to what it was 3 years ago with Katrina. I'm hoping and praying that all will be well with their homes. Louisiana has been hit hard these last few years. I grew up there and hurricanes have always happened, but they are 1) more frequent, 2) stronger and 3) do more damage, thanks to the erosion of the natural barriers that used to slow them down. Katrina wiped out 200 miles of wetlands, which was nature's barrier. It stinks. Big time. My heart breaks for all the homes that are going to be lost and how lives are going to be so disrupted. But, at least this time, the leaders seem to have learned from the mistakes of the past and are evacuating people and doing things right. At least, better. I just don't GET people, though, who choose to stay and ride these things out. How do you ride out 15' of flood water? In a boat, I guess.

A cousin I used to see fairly often when I was a kid, died Monday. He was 59 and had a heart attack. I hadn't seen him for 30+ years, but nevertheless, when his daughter called me and told me he had died, I was really sad. Selfishly, I think it was because I felt just one more link to my past gone. I had gotten a phone number for him a few months ago and called him and we spent about an hour and a half catching up, and I'm really glad I did. When I saw his obituary photo, it shocked me, because it was like looking at his dad, who I knew well. I feel sad that my kids never knew and will never know any of these people or see any of the places that are still so vivid in my mind. Places I knew well when I was young. I guess that's what happens when you move 2000 miles away and change your religion when you're 19.

I watched the Democratic Convention this past week, saw Barak Obama's speech and liked what I heard. I was pretty surprised by John McCain's pick for a running mate. After 2 years of campaigning, it's hard to believe that in just a little over 2 months it will all be over, one way or another. Gladly.

No Title

I couldn't even come up with a decent title for this nothing post so there it is. No Title.

What have I been up to? Hmm. Work. Church. Sleep. The Olympics. Repeat!

The Olympics have been fantastic and I think I'm going to go through withdrawals from Michael Phelps and the rest of the great team. This is what the Olympics do to me. I get all jazzed up over a sport that ordinarily I care NOTHING about. But, it's only every 4 years, so what the hey!

I went to the doctor today and a quote from him, "your triglycerides and sugars are beautiful!". Yay me. My cholesterol was 156 and he said that was great. Go Lipitor!

I got moved into my new office at work. It's a portable classroom that has supervisors clerks on one half and my Routing & Scheduling peeps on the other half. It's going to be good, I think.

Saturday Howard and I drove to St. George for my good friend Calleen's son, Cade's, wedding reception. It was at a beautiful country club called Entrada. It was out of town and the red rocks were a beautiful backdrop to the golf course. It was fun to see and visit with Rick and Calleen and see their grown up kids and THEIR kids. Mike and Marsha were there and we laughed and reminisced all evening. We drove home that night because I had to be home to come up with a talk for church on Sunday. Anyone want to know anything about Charity? I have lots of info on it! Thank goodness for the internet and Gospel Search. Any talk ever given or written is in there. Pretty amazing, this internet stuff, when you think about it. We get so used to and accustomed to it (is that redundant) but, really? Pretty cool.

We got a brief email from Mike today and what a great surprise. He got transferred last week and we hadn't heard from him, so this was a bonus. He'll write us his normal email on Wed. He's back in Virginia and from what he says, it sounds like he's in an entirely different mission. He says there's a huge difference in Virgina and West Virginia. He's in Buena Vista, but covers Lexington, which is the home of Southern Virgina University, or as some people call it, BYU of the East. Mike got a lot of recruiting from there. He says there are lots of members and they have lots of investigators. He sounds really pumped up. I'm happy for him.

School starts next week, so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a while. I'm going to be BUSY getting everyone's kids on the busses. OK, not EVERYone's kids, but it will feel like it.

It's Never Good

It's NOT, I repeat NOT a good idea to stay up until 12:10 watching the Olympics when you have to be up @ 5:30. Especially when you have an insomniac-y night and are awake what seems like every 15-20 minutes! It's a good thing that Michael Phelps is taking the day off today and isn't swimming. I need to sleep! Tomorrow and Friday are HUGE days for me at work and I need my brain rested.

When you look your grossest...

That's when something's going to happen, isn't it? I went out this afternoon. My hair was really needing a shampoo and blow dry! I had two stops to make. One, at the car wash, and 2 was @ 7-11. I made my purchase @ 7-11 and when I got in the car it wouldn't start. Dead battery, I guessed. Thank goodness the car didn't die while it was in the car wash!!! I called Howard and discussed the matter with him. Call AAA, for sure, but sometimes they have a truck that has batteries and they'll replace it for you and the question was do we wait for that or just have it towed to our mechanic? We did that a while back, (had AAA replace our battery) in our driveway but, my car engine is built weirdly and the battery is positioned way low, and they guy ended up having to take the wheel off to get it changed and it took him forever. We decided to just do whatever we needed to that would get the tow truck there the fastest. So, there I was, sitting in the 7-11 parking lot with greasy hair and it's hot outside. Luckily, I had enough juice left in the battery to operate my electric windows and I was able to get them down and there was a breeze. And, I had grabbed a soda out of the fridge before I left. Howard was on his way and so I proceeded to do some good people watching. If you need some good, cheap entertainment, sit in front of a 7-11 on a Saturday afternoon and see the flow of VERY interesting people! So, I tried to call AAA and I must have been in a dead spot because my phone kept dropping the call.

Howard arrived, and was on the phone with them. Long story short, AAA showed up, but in the mean time, I realized that the battery was so dead I couldn't get my windows back up. So, if we towed it, I wouldn't have any way to secure the car over the weekend and I didn't want to leave it wide open, parked in the parking lot, because that's just an invite to STEAL ME! So, when Mr. AAA got there, he gave me a jump and, lucky day, it started and I was able to roll up my window. Mr. AAA said he'd follow us to the shop "just to make sure" it didn't die again. I made it all the way, but was waiting for traffic to clear to make the turn into the parking lot and it died again! Another jump got me into the parking lot. So, the car is at the Car Doctor.

The good things in this story are these:
1) AAA. I SO recommend them. They've saved our bacon lots of times and I would hate to be without the service now that I've had it.
2) It was Saturday and Howard was able to come to my aide and follow us to the shop and give me a ride home. Howard and I sat in our cars next to each other in the 7-11 parking lot and had a nice little Saturday afternoon date watching people come and go and visited. Nice in a weird way!
3) While it was hot and my hair was greasy, there was a nice breeze blowing and the sun was not shining in the front windshield. Greasy hair makes it feel hotter, you know. And, I was able to pass the time reading some in the Book of Mormon that I just happened to have in the backseat of my car!
4) We have an extra car, so getting to/from work on Monday isn't an issue as it sometimes has been in the past.

So, all in all, while it was not the afternoon I would have chosen, it turned out to be not so bad!

And Michael Phelps won his first Olympic Gold medal today!

Opening Ceremonies

Did you SEE the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics last night? Or, this morning, as they have re-run it? Amazing. Truly amazing. I can't even explain what you missed if you didn't because it was so technologically cool! And, just now, as I watched the torch be lit, I was thrilled. I mean, I literally got a thrill. Not unlike the thrill I get when I see the American flag in a parade. I think it's all about patriotism and all. But, seeing the torch lit was cool! Now, we get 10 days or so of great athletes and great wins and losses to watch.

I think the Olympics are fun to watch, because even (and maybe BECAUSE) if one isn't athletic, it's hard to not admire the athleticism of those that are. And, the hard work and sacrifice and dedication is inspirational. I have a hard time deciding which Summer Olympic events are my favorite. I do love the gymnastics. I think of our great-nephew Garrett and wonder how he'll feel watching them. He's doing well, by the way, in re-hab in California, thankfully. I love swimming and volleyball and diving. Remember when Greg Lougainis cracked his head? Scary. It WAS Greg Lougainis, wasn't it?

Anyway, I love the Olympics. Don't you? Let the games begin!!!

If you like "The Office" and you want a good laugh...

I read a blog the other day that someone gave this link to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7PHL4HXm1o&feature=related. It lasts a little over 5 mintues, but if you watch "The Office" you HAVE to go to this and you will get quite a chuckle. The last one was the funniest, I thought. Although, it was a toss up. Jello will never be the same to me!