Google Maps

Google is pretty cool and I have been playing w/ Google Maps lately and I thought it would be cool to map all of may family and friends all over the world. Please go into my Google Maps and add your address and name so if I am ever in the neighborhood on business or vacation.

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Beauty of the Blog

Andy Jorgensen has definitely helped me think outside of the box for many years and in doing so introduced me to great music such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and other 70's stuff. Andy told me a story a few years ago that I draw upon every now and again for inspiration. It is a funny story with a good moral that you need to live your life and make the best desicions for you and not fret over what others always think. Yes, you can take their advice and make your best desicion but can't always please everyone. I am not perfect and this blog is a bunch of opinions so please refer to this story if you dissagree with anything I say in the future:)

Once upon a time there was an old man and a little boy in the country who needed to go to the village. They set out the next morning with their donkey in order to bring home the things they needed from the village. All three of them were walking down the road when they passed another traveler, who stopped them.

"Why are you walking when you have a perfectly good donkey to ride?" He asked. So the man put the little boy on the donkey to ride and they continued.

A few miles later, another traveler saw them and was concerned: "Little boy, how disrespectful to your elders to ride when you're so young and have more energy. This man should be walking." And so the little boy got off and the old man got on the donkey and they continued.

A few miles later, another traveler objected: "Old man, can't you see this boy is too little to keep up with the donkey?" And so they both got on the donkey and rode, hoping they had finally solved the problem. But sure enough, they crossed paths with another objector. "Poor Donkey!" she said, "You two have legs as well, you know, and you don't need to exploit this animal."

And so they got off and lifted the donkey onto their backs.They went a mile or so like this and came to a narrow bridge. It was so narrow, and they were so exhausted from carrying the donkey, that they slipped and dropped the donkey, who fell to his death at the bottom of the canyon.

Moral of the story: If you try to please everyone, you can kiss your ass goodbye.

Finding Roots

I have had a blessed life and owe alot to the people that molded me and helped me along the way. A huge debt I owe is to my parents Jay and Jan who spent their time and efforts bringing me up thru all my good and bad. They helped me in ways that I may never get to repay and I am grateful for.

This week I got to meet the person that put me in that great family in my life, my birth mom.

I can't possibly write in this blog all of the feelings I have but mainly at this time I am grateful for where I am and owe that partially to her decision. Because this is so personal to me I am not going to write alot on my blog but wrote more in my personal journal about her. I do understand more now how important it is for every child to be born and have a chance at life in the best circumstances. I can't even comprehend how hard of a decision that would be to give up a child but it is one of the most selfless decisions anyone can make for the benefit of someone that can't make a decision.

Kid nicknames

We love our children and that is why we give them nicknames because they deserve more names than solely the one we gave them at birth. At fist we called Tyler Shaboygen after a popular Wisconsin city. That evolved into Boygy or Doygy or even Doygs as he is sometimes called now. Lindsay made it a little stronger one day and we started calling him Boygenator after the futuristic assasin played by the Govenator of California. Steve Leseuer also calls our son Tyler Mcgyler. I am unsure on the spelling but I think that is correct.

Cameron started off with the nickname Babynator but we didn't think that was to feminine so we call her Baby face or Miss Nator or Babes and sometimes CJ. I don't think these nicknames will last but they are fun.

Tyler at church

Yesterday Tyler was awesome at church. He sat thru all of sacrament without scraming and we didn't have to take him out once. It was the first time Lindsay and I go to be together the whole hour in like 10 months.

Tyler also got to be in his Nursery class the whole time with out us. He is in a class with Michael Mckown as the teacher. We snuck him in a month early but Michael gave us the ok

Mom, Dad and Jamie come to AZ

Mom, Dad and Jamie came to AZ to visit us for 3 days and see the new addition to the family and the old additions. We had fun and the first night was Halloween and that is always fun. Tyler and Cameron dressed up in their Yoda and Princess Leya (sp?) outfits and Jamie, Lindsay and I went and scrounged candy off the neighbors. Tyler had fun and was starting to understand the concept of going door to door and asking for things. Everyone liked his costume and also Cameron's. Tyler from behind actually looked like Yoda and for moments I thought I was Steven Spielberg. We had him on his little monkey leash and he ran around the neighborhood. Jamie and Tyler carved a pumpkin and Mom and Dad helped give away trick or treat candy.

The next morning we went to a cool ghost town in Apache Junction and got to experience a town from the 1890's that was preserved. It was pretty neat and we want to go back soon so Tyler can ride the train ride when he could appreciate it more.

We then went to the mall and Grandma and Grandpa and Jamie got to see Tyler run around the mall playground. He loves going up and down the slide now. That night we went to Ah-So a Tapanyaki restaurant, where they cook in front of you at the grill. My family had never been to one so it was cool to bring them there. It was fun and the chef somehow struck a nerve w/ Tyler and he scared him the rest of the night. Usually Tyler isn't bother by those guys but he must have looked at him the wrong way. After that we came back to our house and played a Trivia game called Buzz on the playstation.

The next day was Cameron's baby blessing and that was nerve racking for me but I think it went well. We had the Devereauxs, Perrys, Stanleys, Jackie, Stephans, Bishop Bean and my family there. Cameron looked beautiful in her dress and didn't cry any all day. Lindsay made some delicious tacos that night and then Tyler put on a show for us (see Lindsay's blog's video) in which me, Lindsay, Jamie, Mom and Dad laughed until we cried because he was doing a weird impersonation of a mix between Chuck Norris and Harry Potter. He had a street fighter like way of trying to cast spells... You will have to watch.

The next day we ate at Sweet Tomatoes before my family had to leave. We were at lunch when I got a call from the alarm company saying that our house was broken into. That was scary so we rushed home to find out the cops came and there was no sign of forced entry and it turns out one of our friends dropped off something for us and setoff the alarm even though they didn't know it. No big deal.. We were just glad we didn't have anything stolen. We spent the last little bit with the fam at our house and it was good to get some more time with them and the grandkids. We are glad they got to come and we had a fun weekend. I am going to try to put some pictures up soon also.

Cool Video about being thoughtful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyGEEamz7ZM

Since the birth of Cameron we have been blessed by family and good friends. We haven't had to make a dinner in 10 days because Lindsay's mom and friends and members of our ward cooked for us. We also got some clothes from friends/family and a gift card from my parents to babys r us that will come in handy.

Cameron seems to be pretty low maintenance and easier than Tyler but I just think that is because we know more what we are doing and aren't so stressed out. She wakes up 3-5 times a night so it is harder to wake upcat my usual 6 am internal alarm. The days are getting less light so that also makes it tough. We can always count on Tyler's 11.5 hours sleep.

What is that?!!

Banner gateway

This is the birthplace of Cameron. It had only been open for under one year and was really nice. The food wasn't that great Lindsay said but everyone was real friendly and knwledgable. Lindsay did awesome and was fully mobile after 24 hours!!! I left with a healthy baby and wife so I could not complain.

Big shoes to fill

Tyler likes to put on his mom and dads shoes now. I have big feet so you got a while til you fit into them (13)

Cameron is ready for the world

Cameron 10 minutes old

7 lbs 10 oz 20.25 inches long. Healthy beautiful girl. We couldn't ask for anything more. God has blessed us

IPhone 3G dissapointment

OK... so I have had time to try out the new Iphone (2 weeks) and I don't think that it has lived up to the hype. I love the internet browsing and huge screen. There are things that aren't to impressive that are really bugging me. The biggest thing is battery life. I had a full charge going into yesterday and used my phone for 30 minutes talk time and 30 minutes email and internet and it was pretty much dead by 5pm. Poor.

I also have issues w/ the exchange server on it. It had poor email folder management and everytime you want to see if you have a new email within the folder you have to actually go into the folder and wait for it to pull from the server (annoying). OK you think I am picky but it isn't as good as my Blackberry Curve that I had 2 years ago.

I also drop more calls than I did w/ the ATT Tilt which is dissapointing and have slow response times on the phone that were not apparent w/ the earlier Iphone. I also cannot edit any of my Google Docs pages which I can on a Windows Mobile phone.

The following things are also missing from the Iphone that I am looking for: stereo bluetooth, VOIP (wifi) service, higher megapixel camera, COPY/PASTE and Voice Command for bluetooth.

True True

Dear Boss,

I have enjoyed working here these past several years.
You have paid me very well, given me benefits beyond
belief.
I have 3-4 months off per year and a pension plan
that
will pay my salary till the day I die and a health
plan that
most people can only dream about.
Despite this I plan to take the next 12-18 months to
find a new position.
During this time I will show up for work when it is
convenient. In addition I fully expect to draw my full
salary and all the other perks associated with my
current
job.
Oh yeah, if my search for this new job proves
fruitless, I expect to be back with no loss in pay or
status.
Before you say anything, remember that you have no
choice
in the matter. I can and will do this.
Sincerely,


John McCain

Nose Surgery

Today the pain isn't that bad because I have been taking percaset (sp?). But my head is in a fog and my nose is jammed w/ padding and keeps bleeding. Yesterday SUCKED!! it felt like I went 12 rounds with Mike Tyson. (luckily I didn't have a bite on my ear). I woke up like every hour last night and my mouth was "parched". I don't anticipate much better sleep tonight and I have a Dr.'s appointment tomorrow to get my padding out and that is supposed to hurt like crazy. I think after all is said and done it will be worth it but for now it isn't fun. Lindsay went and got my iphone today today so that is easing some of the pain

Nasal flow

Tomorrow is the big day that I have to get my nose cut open and hopefully everything goes well. I think I have been used to so long poor breathing that I don't even think about it but I am excited to be able to breath better. I think it will definitely be nice to be able to breath when I play sports. Next week is going to hurt, especially when they pull out the mass of packing that has to go in there.

This is why i don't like the Tilt

APPLE STORES SUCK

I came into the apple store w/ high hopes for a good experience. I waited in line for 1 hours to get the new 3G iphone. You would think that the line was only 6 people deep wouldn't take that long. I finally got my turn to buy my phone and the reps couldn't figure out how to get my iphone activated on my excisting ATT account. They took another 30 minutes and still no luck after calling the 800 number.

We finally determined that we could just create a brand new account w/ ATT and switch it over to my old cell number later. We left the store and I thought it would be easy to do that. We spent another hour on the phone w/ ATT only to have them determine that I couldn't switch that phone over to my old ATT account. They said that I had to go into an ATT local store to do that. So I went into an ATT store and there was nothing they could do to switch the iphone over to my old account and cancel the new one. So I had to go back to the Apple store and return the iphone only to try to retry to purchase it under my previous account and after 30 minutes... you guessed it no luck with activation.
So I had to go back to the ATT store and put a payment down on an iphone because they didn't have any in stock. I after having to deal w/ all that have to wait 2 weeks to get the phone. The service was terrible and the only reason I put up w/ it is because I have an excellent local ATT rep (Scott Bison) and I think the iphone is a great phone. The superior product has been met with very poor service from local Apple store. Why is Apple doing activations??

Expensive Ice

Holy Cow. So I got my bill back from my hernia surgery and I was scared to open it. Being self employed I wonder what am I really getting for my buck anyway w/ my independent Health Insurance. So I open the bill and I don't understand that charges at all and am amazed at the prices of things at a hospital and how it could possibly cost as much as they say. The hour in the surgery room was $4500. Just to breath the clean air. One of the few things I recognized on the bill was a "Pack of Ice" for $20. $20 for a pack of ice. HOLY CRAPOLA. Let me know these things before I come in so I can go to Circle K before I come in for the surger and pick up a .99 cent bag. Now I am sure it has to be sterile but ok it probably doesn't cost them more than one dollar. That is a 2000% markup. I am in the wrong industy.

Buzz

I for some reason am getting a headache for the last 5 Sundays when I wake up from a nap. I can't figure out why but I think it may have to do with me focusing with my contacts when I wake up. The reason I bring that up is that is actually the reason why I am able to type at this late hour. I took my magic pill - EXEDRIN. This is the drug of choice for me when I have a headache and 99% of the time works every time. It also gives me a buzz of caffeine and is the reason why I am still up at 10:45 when I am usually out by 10:15. I rarely drink caffeinated drinks so when I get alittle caffeine in me I am like a 2 year old on a sugar high.

Lindsay and I played Scrabble tonight and I surprisingly won. It is the first time that I think I have beat her. She tried to convince me that "arh" was a word and I didn't let that one by. If we were on a ship with flag flying with a picture of a skull and cross bones I might have given her the points. We had a fun time and I like playing board games more that staring at the TV.

Tyler is starting to run everywhere he goes now and he enjoys throwing the ball around the house. When we go to church at 8am he is pretty energetic for 2 hours and then gets tuckered out in the last hour and is pretty good during Elder's Quorum because he is usually worn out by running around the church 10 times. He is trying to learn how to play with other kids now. He wants to play with them so bad that he goes up to them and tries to tackle them or wack them in the face. He isn't going to have to many friends that way so we are teaching him to be gentle.

Another day w/ Microsoft

I was on the phone for 1.5 hours with Zune "Tier 2" support. They said that I have a "device issue" and that the Zune is out of the one year warranty. I think it is a software issue because I did a hard restore (erasing all pictures and music) of the whole device and it worked fine.

I asked my tech if they recieve a Zune to play with since they are only $200 and he said that Microsoft doesn't give them one. You would think microsoft would provide them one to play with and get to know. I bet they go home at the end of the day and jam to their ipod.

Microsoft Support is TERRIBLE

I have been on the phone for the last 3 hours w/ Microsoft Zune support and haven't got anywhere. I have 2100 songs that I want to get from my Zune back on my PC and they can't figure it out. I was talking to a girl in an "undisclosed" location and she couldn't help me after a million different avenues of downloading and installing the Zune software. Finally after 2 hours they are transfering me to a "Tier 2" rep in the USA. He is the "highest" Tier and I have been on the phone with him and it hasn't helped either. I asked him if there was someone over him and he said it is the software developers. I would love to talk to them and tell them how crappy their software is.

My advice to the 3 people that read my blog is : DO NOT BUY A MICROSOFT ZUNE... BUY AN IPOD

phone blog

i am going to make my first attempt on blogging thru my cell phone. i just got the new browser for my phone opera mobile and it works aolt better than internet explorer. i may want to write up something online but wont be near a computer or to lazy to get to one so this will be easier to type my thoughts. i have a love hate relationship with my ATT tilt but Darcy Myers showed me some new things with it so i am starting to like it again.

on Friday Lindsay waited in line at ATT for three hours to get the new iphone 3g. we sold her old one for $325 and bought the new one for $325 which has 16 gigs, GPS, and faster internet.

Tigerrrrrr

We went to San Diego for a week and got to see the US Open. I got to volunteer for three shifts at the corporate hospitality tent and then got a free pass the rest of the week. It was cool to see all the big players there. I got to see Tiger for 10 holes on Saturday. He birdied 5 of them and it was a zoo of people following him. It was one of the top sporting events I have seen live along with when I saw Jordan beat the Jazz in the 1997 Finals.

One of the coolest holes on Saturday was when they played the par 3 8th hole. Tiger was playing with Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott the first two days of the tournament. I stood by the green on 8 and watched the 180 shots come in. Tiger had honors and hit the ball within 8 feet and the crowd was pretty excited. Phil got up there and hit it within 4 feet and everyone went nuts and then Adam Scott hit. The ball two hopped and hit the pin and almost went in and scurried a few centimeters away. The crowd went ballistic and it was pretty neat to see.

I want to get in to volunteer in the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach. That is the next US Open on the west coast.

Tyler's 1st BDay

I can't believe he is already one year old. Time does fly. We are trying to enjoy it now because it does go fast. He is starting to walk a few steps and it is fun watching him and seeing him get excited in his own way that he is doing it. We started a month ago with him wanting to get ahold of Lindsay's iphone. We had him on the odiman and put the iphone on the couch and pushed the odiman just far away so that he had to take some steps. He would take one and then two and today he is consistantly taking 10-15 steps... He love his technology and wants to walk to it.

Crazy Grass

We had a pretty dead lawn when we moved into our house. We had to water a bunch to bring it back to life and before we left out of town for two weeks on vacation we didn't mow it. We came back and it was so tough to cut. In some spots it was 2.5 feet high!

This was in spirit of the US open Golf tournament to which we were at.

Lazy Sunday

Today we had Stake Conference and listened to our new stake presidency. Tyler fell asleep (after some wrestling) on my shoulder. We came home today at 11:15 and just had time to relax. We took a two hour nap and woke up and just sat around. It has been a long time that I have had enough free time to watch more than 1 hour of tv. Lindsay is making cookies and we are going to give some to our neighbors because we flooded their lawn. We want to get off on the right foot.

Tyler took his first two steps last weekend and is due to take some more. He consistantly stands up by himself (unaided). He is a fun kid and a blessing to our home. He is getting really talkative and speaking Swahili I think.

ISU Sport News

Jared Allen was just named the highest paid defensive man in NFL history.... A proud day in the day of ISU alumni

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=chadiha_jeffri&id=3416195&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab6pos2

In a not so proud day for alumni ISU's golf team was ended as the school ran out of funding. I guess taking last place at all our tournaments finally caught up with us.

New House

Yes... I would call it a house yet because it doesn't feel like home. We still have things in boxes and stuffed in the garage. The new place is just a little bigger to grow into and have room if I start working from home. We spent last week moving in and getting settled. We bought a foreclosure so there were some things that needed to be fixed and replaced.

The house had terrible landscaping and we have spent a week watering the front and back lawns hoping to resurrect the roots. I spent part of my Saturday yesterday finding and planting new trees for the front yard. The ones that were there died because they hadn't been watered for a year. It reminded me of when we first moved into our home into Pocatello on Satterfield Dr. We bought trees and I helped my Dad plant them. The trees were ready to go and a storm rolled in to Poky (no surprise) and my Dad was deturmined to plant those trees. So he and I went outside in the downpour to plant those trees. We didn't have grass at the time either so we were slipping and sliding all over the place in the mud. It was quite the site. We moved those trees around the slop and planted them and covered them with mud. Those trees grew fast and by the time we left 10 years later they were huge. Anyway so I planted two small trees out front called Sisso trees (not to be confused w/ the Finnish word Sisu which means toughness). We hope to be in this house atleast 5 years and see those trees grow tall.

Lindsay is doing an awesome job painting the house because most of the walls have the cheap house paint that the builders use. It dings really easy and is terrible for kids. She is saving us a couple thousand dollars by painting. She is an artist.

We have 4 bedrooms now so we should have plenty of room for another child and a guest room. This will be good because are parents are planning on coming to visit in the next 4-5 months. Compared to other Foreclosures this one was in great shape. The only other problem we had was that the dryer power outlet didn't work. We had KJ Balls come and fix it and he did a great job for a great price.

We seem to have a pretty quiet neighborhood w/ nice neighbors so we are exited for that. We are pumped not to have a huge dirt field in our back yard. It is so annoying that the developers in Agritopia didn't finish our neighborhood, so some of the people living there have to be by a huge lot that is just dirt. It makes it look like it is just another development that didn't get finished in the building bubble.

We went to church today and we had quite a few people introduce themselves to us. It seems like a fun ward and extremely active at 85% activity, accourding to the executive secretary. There are lots of activities and events they have planned. It is weird going from EQ president in our last ward to joe schmoe sitting in the back. Not alot to stress over or responsibilities come Sunday.

Tonight we went over to the Lesueur's home (they also moved into our neighborhood) and ate a birthday dinner for Steve. It is cool to have friends in a new neighborbood and ward. The Milnes are also a cool family that are in our ward that we know from our last ward.

Las Vegas ETA

Last week Lindsay, Tyler and I went to Las Vegas for a little week getaway for my ETA conference. I originally left and was going to go by myself and then realized that I wanted to bring my family. So I got to Phoenix and turned around and brought Lindsay and little Tyler. We bought a new Dan Brown book on cd and we were off. Tyler was good the whole way and sleeps easily in the car. They are building a new bridge over the hoover dam so there was a slight delay.

We stayed at our Condo on Las Vegas Blvd. for $50. It was a good deal because it had full kitchen and two bed and washer dryer. The first night I had to go to a dinner at Aureole w/ Marc Gardner, Rita Feldman, Gordon Rimac and Gary Rutledge at North American Bancard. It was good to talk to them and get ideas for our our business. The food was just so so and the total bill was $16000 for 32 people (that's 3 zero's).

The next day I went to the ETA conference and Dave Holman let me in and I got to see the booths for a few hours. It was pretty educational and cool to see the companies that I usually just work w/ over the phone.

Allergies

It is allergy season again and my allergies are back. I started taking Claritan this weekend because my eyes itched so bad I wanted to take them out with my fingernails. I also get stuffier than normal w/ my nose. I hope it passes soon so I don't sneeze anymore. Since I had my surgery it hurts to sneeze.

I love Lindsay

Famous Secret Recipe

CHICKEN DIVAN

This recipe was perfected by generations of Brummers.

Ingredients:
Boneless chicken breast (3 or 4 pieces)
Mayo
Lemon Juice
Flour
Bread Crumbs (Plain)
Chopped Broccoli
Cream of Chicken Soup
Margarine
Mild Cheddar Cheese
Onions (if desired)

Boil Chicken at medium heat for atleast 1.5 hours. Watch closely when you heat it up or it will foam over. Add minced onion and salt if desired. Let chicken cool down and break into bite size pieces. Save Broth!!

Put Broccoli into saucepan, add water and heat up just until broccoli is thawed out. Remove from heat and strain.

Mix can of soup, 1/2 cup mayo, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and chicken broth (1/3 cup broth mixed with 3 tablespoons flour) together and stir until all lumps are one.

Grate about 1.5 cups of the cheese and save.

Take 9 inch square casserole dish and semi cooked broccoli on bottom layer, then bite sized chicken and onion for second layer. Pour sauce mix over these two first layers and make sure it is uniformly spread. Top off with the grated cheddar cheese.

Preheat oven to 325 F. Cover dish with aluminum foil and place in the oven at 325 F for 50 minutes.

While it is cooking take a coffee cup and add 2 tablespoons of butter or margarine, cover and heat for about 30 seconds in microwave or until melted. Add 3/4 cup of bread crumbs and mix up well so all breadcrumbs have contacted butter.

After casserole has heated for 50 minutes remove from oven and spread the breadcrumbs evenly over the casserole. Cover again and put back in the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven, remove cover and let it set for 10 minutes before serving.

Bon Appetit, Chicken Divan.

If you double recipe then don't double mayo.

Moving

Lindsay and I have decided to move from our Mullberry home (above) in Agritopia next month. We want to get a bigger home for our bigger family on the way and I will be working out of the house more. Now is a good time to buy and it will be easier to move now than closer to September when our baby girl is due.

BABY GIRL

Ok... I should have had this on here a few weeks ago but I have plenty of excuses. Most of which are lame. I am getting more and more excited to have a little girl. Yes it was a shocker but we are going to have another child. Totally a surprise but that is what life is about. Not everything can be planned. We were totally shocked when Lindsay bought the pregnancy tests and the blue positive sign was shown. We had her do it twice to double check and be 200% sure. I think I read the instructions on the box twice also and sure enough those things don't lie.

A few weeks ago we went together to the Dr. and they knew right away that it was a girl. I didn't really have a strong feeling either way but kind of thought it would be a boy. Now Tyler is going to get to have a sister close in age to guard over. I am excited and look forward to September. I am sure it will fly by so everyday we have to slowly get ready whether it be with finances, buying baby stuff, enjoying our one on one time w/ Tyler or tickling Lindsay's back. Every little thing helps.

Last week I had to get a hernia operation and have postponed it for quite some time. I was told last year that I should get it done because it only gets worse. I then found out two months ago that I can get with a cheaper Health Insurance company called Lifewise if I wanted to switch but couldn't get my Hernia operated on unless I had it done with my current company because it was a pre-existing condition. So last week I went in a 5:00 am to Mercy Gilbert Hospital and went under the knife. I wasn't to nervous until the night before when we went to Steve Lesueur's parents house and his Dad told me that we didn't do much for about a month and that it hurt pretty good for a week. Then I got nervous. Everything went fine and I woke up from my sedated state and didn't feel much because I was on percaset. The first two days I was pretty sore and couldn't move really anywhere. I stayed in bed most of the first day and watched a few movies. The next day I worked from home and felt a little better. Lindsay played nurse and took could care of me and treated me well. I didn't get my appetite back until about 3 days later.

The Dr. said I couldn't pick up anything over 10 lbs for about a week so Lindsay got stuck doing everything for Tyler. (She does most of the hard work now.) Tyler wanted his Dad to hold him real bad but I couldn't do it and I wanted to hold him. That was tough. I also can't do sports for another 2 weeks so that is tough. I am in the worst shape of my life because I am not supposed to get out and do anything athletic and 1 month before my surgery I didn't do much athletically. I got invited to a tournament in Vegas in two weeks but don't think I am going to be able to play. If the mesh they put into my abdomen doesn't heal properly then I will have to have another surgery. I anticipate this surgery will cost me after insurance $1500. Just to be in the hospital for 3 hours is going to cost $700 after insurance. I can't believe how much Hospitals charge.

Today however everything has healed nicely. I got lucky because one night Lindsay had a crazy dream and slammed her hand close to my stomach narrowly missing my incision.

I have seen a prophet

On Sunday I taught a lesson remembering Gordon B Hinckley as prophet and all of the great things that he did including the Family Proclamation, more temples, Prepetual Education fund, positive media influence and uncountable other things that he has done. When I heard the news from Steve Lesueur that he had passed I was kind of shocked because I hadn't thought about him passing but being 97 years old he was definitely close. In one 10 minute span I had recieved 6 texts and 2 phone calls and I thought the world was coming to the end so I decided to answer the phone and found out what happened.

On Monday they announced that Thomas S Monson was going to be the next prophet of the church. He is definitely prepared because he has been in church leadership for over 40+ years. He is going to be a great leader. I can now say that I have seen a prophet because when I was in Hawaii getting married Brian and Dustin and I went to a stake conference and saw President Monson speak for a few minutes. It was pretty neat. The next day I was married to Lindsay.

Cologne - True story

I rarely put on cologne (because I naturally smell nice) and I put some on the other day and Lindsay didn't think I was home yet and she thought someone broke in.

That is my one sentence funny story.

Hair Ratings

With my job I try to get out and get my hair done at a different Salon every month. We sell credit card machines and POS equipment to them for our business. (POS stands for Point of Sale) I like to get a feel for the industry by going to different salons and seeing if there are any needs or things that we could improve on in our industry. I have had a few sales come out of it which has probably covered the price of alot of the haircuts I have received in the last few years.

It is always a different experience going from Salon to Salon wondering if you will get the new girl who just squeaked out of cosmo school. I have had good and bad experiences including bad hair doos, cut hair in my shirt as I leave the salon, overpriced quick cuts, aggressive painful haircuts, and cuts (with blood). Don't get me wrong I love the adventure and most of the time I have a good experience but sometimes Lindsay thinks she probably could have done a better job herself even though she has never done hair before.

I thought it would be fun to do a ranking of local salons based off of certain thing I find important in a good hair cut. The following are the categories I will assign and grade after each "experience"

Overall (The total grade of all below categories)
After Cut Look Me (How beautiful I think I look) - please don't comment on this section of the blog
After Cut Look Others (How others think I look) comment here - use discretion please
Shampoo/Massage (This is mainly how relaxed and good the head massage is but other factors including Shampoo smell and water temp. are factors)
Conversation (Haircuts are naturally relaxing but they shouldn't put you to sleep)
Hair on Clothes (My cut hair should stay in the salon) - This is usually correlated to how tight my smock is around my night... Really tight - bad, really loose is worse
Time (As long as you do a good job - the shorter time the better

1/24/08

www.whitelotussalon.com

Frances

Overall - B

After Cut Look Me - A

After Cut Look Others - B (I didn't get any bad comments but no good ones either)

Shampoo/Massage - C (It was just kind of so so)

Conversation - A (Teresa was very interesting and fun to talk to)

Hair on Clothes - A (I don't think i saw one loose hair after I left and good mock strength)

Time - C ( Seemed a little to long about 40 minutes)

Lesson

Jerry Gissel taught our lesson today in Elder's Quorum about remembering the blessings that the Lord has given us. He is an excellent teacher and he taught from Henry B Eyring's talk in conference last year http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-775-24,00.html



He challenged us all to write in our Journals more and write down our experiences of life. I know I can do better and I have a bad memory so it helps me remember things when I write them down.

1/2 Marathon

Lindsay had her 1/2 marathon today and she did really well. She woke up at 400 am pumped up on adrenaline and showed up in Tempe at 600 am for the race that started at 8:30. She ate some pasta last night to load up on the carbs and a bagel and lots of water this morning. Her mom and Tyler and I waited at the end of the race where she had 1/2 mile left and cheered her on. She didn't even look tired and I hardly saw any sweat on her. We took some pictures and then she took off towards the finish line. She finish the race in 2 hours and 39 minutes and that was with a bathroom brake at mile 8. Pretty awesome for someone that had a baby just 7 months ago. Their were 40000 people running today so you can imagine with all of their fans what a zoo it was. There were some pretty outrageous people that ran including guys dressed up like the Braveheart warriors (in kilts), dudes dressed in capes, a lady who ran with her child on her back, an 80 year old man, and plenty of people with crazy hair. When we went home there were so many people it took us an hour and a half to get home which usually takes us 20 minutes.

We are proud of Lindsay because she raised $2200 for the Lymphoma and Leukemia association with this run with generous donation from her mom, my parents, the Buttars, and Jim and Patty Reardon. Although we missed church today I think it was for a pretty justified awesome cause.

Finnish

I am on fire today... Three blog posts. Last night I had a cool dream. As a missionary in Finland we always would get excited the first time we had a dream in Finnish because that meant we were getting the language and becoming fluent. The crazy language by then had dominated the sub conscious enough to be embedded in dreamland. Well last night I happened.

Like all dreams it seems so real that it was. I was convicted of something or other and sent to a really nice jail. I was however the very first person to show up at the jail so I got to pick my cell and where I wanted to stay. So I get in there and there started to be other "tenants" showing up. I started talking to them and one of them started speaking Finnish. I proceeded to ask her "Mista olet kotoisiin?" (Where are you from). We then carried on a full conversation in Finnish. I woke up and thought that was so awesome that I still had it, even if it was just in my subconscious. My accent was perfect though. I think my listening to Finnish every morning on www.lds.org is definitely helping. It keeps it fresh in my mind.

Brummer & Ebert

We just watched "United 93" on DVD. Wow... What a powerful movie. We got it from www.cleanhits.net so we didn't have to hear the massive cussing in the movie and it was plenty of intense without it. I never realized how awesome it was that they stopped the terrorists from getting to their target. The overcame their fears and empowered themselves to act. It makes me wonder how you would act under that intense situation and how you would act.

Last night we watched "Friends with Money" and it was in the top 10 worst movies I have ever seen. Holy cow.. not funny, no plot, Jennifer Anniston, slow and depressing. All elements of a lame movie.

The Jazz

I am staying true to the Jazz even though it is tought to follow them in Suns country. Tonight they play the Suns and if I did have a distant second for favorite teams it would be the Suns. The Jazz aren't playing that well on the road but they are doing well at home so they should win this game because the Suns don't have Stevie Nash. I only get to see a few games a year but I love watching Williams and Boozer play together. I think this is the most fun team the Jazz have ever had to watch.

I am up in Tyler's room watching the game on the mini screen and trying to cheer and not wake him up. I don't mind having the volume low so I don't have to hear the Suns announcers.

Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who > has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was > since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. > He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as > knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the > worm, life isn't always fair , and maybe it was my fault.> >

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies ( don't spend > more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not > children are in charge).> >

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but > overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old > boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens > suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher > fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.> >

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the > job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly > children. It declined even further when schools were required to get > parental consent to> administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a Band-Aid to a student, but could not> infor m the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have > an abortion.> >

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became > contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better > treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you > couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the > burglar can sue you for assault.> > Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed > to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a > little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.> >

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; > his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, > Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know my Rights, > Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim.> >

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If > you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and > do nothing.> > Author unknown