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What I Did On My September "Staycation"
Thursday 09-04-2008 9:27am MT
I hate the fact that fuel prices are now such that it's tough for anyone to go anywhere further than a thirty mile radius from South Temple and Main. The "staycation" is said to be the thing this year and I fully expected not to like it. But alas, I was wrong! Through proper planning and disciplined avoidance of the telephone, I was actually able to have a vacation experience while enjoying the comfort and familiar surroundings of my own home. During this time, I did no chores. Not even rolling the trash out to the road Tuesday night. (With the last kid out the door, we only had half a can this week, anyway. I'm getting used to this "empty nester" thing!) The lawn now looks like an eight month old chiapet. The kitchen is a mess. But the home office is in perfect order from lack of use. Wife Julie and I ate out, played golf, and drove around. We'd never played beautiful Valley View Golf Course in Layton until yesterday, so for those three hours we may as well have been in Hawaii. Okay, maybe not Hawaii. But at least Scranton, Pennsylvania. You know, some place farther away from home than the five miles we actually were. All with no delays in Chicago, lost luggage, or $5 packs of peanuts! Even near $4 gas seems like a bargain when you think about what you're not spending. Next month, we also get a vacation from the usual post-vaca financial hangover. One more tip... if you want to take a staycation... drink things with coconut in them, and add little paper umbrellas to the glasses. You might even find you like this kind of time off better!
My Daughter Called From China For An Hour
Friday 08-29-2008 11:18am MT
My awesome daughter, Anna, is in China for her second tour of duty with a group called ILP... International Learning Program... where Chinese children are taught English. Anna was a teacher during her first four month stint in 2006 when she was 18. Now at 20, she organizes the eighteen teachers at a brand new school. Last night, wife Julie and I were driving down Highway 89 in Farmington taking in a dinner date when my cell phone rang. It was Anna. Calls were being forwarded from my home phone. She just wanted to say hey. She's having a great time, and by the time we were done we had spoken to her through our entire meal and almost all the way back home. So much for this month's minutes! It made me realize how old I am because I was amazed to think that I have a daughter in a communist country calling me via computer to our house forwarded to a phone in my car while I'm driving around. Her charge... 2 cents a minute on Skype! Mine? Just part of the plan. When I was a kid, I couldn't call my grandfather in Oregon except every few months because of the cost. Oh... and they were on a party line! I'm actually starting to sound like Grandpa now. "I had a horse and buggy!" he'd tell me. I think I'll be sounding that way to my grandkids. Have a great three day weekend!
Can I Get A Witness
Thursday 08-28-2008 9:52am MT
The last couple of days I've been under subpeona to testify in a court case in support of a couple of friends of mine who were falsely accused of assault. In truth, it was a matter of self-defense and happily the jury agreed, ending a year long nightmare for these two good men. The system actually worked! As one who has never sat in on a trial, waiting for the verdict seemed like an eternity. It was amazing how, in just a few seconds, all the fears of the last year... fines, jail time, reputation, restitution, damages... all went out the window. The burden was instantly lifted in a wave of emotion and a few tears of joy. I never got to testify, unfortunately, the result of a judge's ruling. Nonetheless, I spent a lot of time waiting for the chance. Since the courtroom I was required to park outside of was right next to the entrance to the drug court room, I had a chance to hang for an hour yesterday with a pretty tough crowd waiting to find out what was next for them. Simply put, it was a young, messed up group, and they all seemed to know each other. One of them took a call in the middle of the wait and was shook up to learn that a friend ("He's been clean for a year!") had died overnight for "no reason." It was like being in some alternative universe where no one understood just how their lives could be such a disaster when they themselves have done "nothing" to cause it. Also, where "style" includes full-body tattoos, enough nose, naval and who-knows-what rings to sink a yacht, Gold's Gym muscle shirts, and pants hanging down well past south of the border, and their alien language includes a special "emphasis" word in most every sentence that you don't generally hear without negative feedback back in this universe. For many of these, it was clearly "The Final Frontier." And they are welcome to it!
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