Bohemian Rapture

To Capital One Master Card, a Letter.

2011-03-29T21:18:00.006-07:00

Hello Capital One, is Brooke Simmons there? No? I'll ask again, is Brooke Simmons there? No? That's funny, I know you just told me she is not available at that number, Capital One, but I feel compelled to keep asking you. Oh yeah, that's right, this is what the people at Capital One Master Card have been doing to me for almost two years now Capital One. I have told you, Capital One Master Card, time and time again, that this is MY cell phone number and I don't know a Brooke Simmons or a Brooke Simons. I've even told you that if I ever did meet Brooke Simmons (or is it Simons, make up your mind!) I would go so far as to tie her to a chair and get you on speaker-phone so you could finally talk to her about how much she still owes you (though I really don't think I could follow through with that, Capital One, I'm just not the torturing type.) I've told you these things again and again, and yet you keep calling me, Capital One Master Card. You keep calling me and asking me if you can speak to her.

Did you know you paid one person to call me three times one day? Did you know you also paid a Capital One manager for 30 minutes of discussion on how Brooke Simmons hasn't had this number for over a year? It's a funny thing, Captial One Master Card, I really am starting to wonder if you haven't spent more money calling me over the past couple of years than you can ever hope to collect from Brooke Simons. I'm pretty sure you're low on her list of debts to pay off, and she seems pretty good at avoiding your Capital One bloodhounds. Don't get me wrong, I've never met her, Capital One Master Card, and I likely never will. I'm just basing that on my long experience with talking to companies she hasn't paid back.

I want you to know, Capital One, that based on my experience with your company I could not possibly consider doing business with you. I did find it funny when Lisa ironically quipped "thank you for choosing Capital One" before handing me to her manager today. Yep, just today. That's right. Little more than two weeks after I took the time to call your Capital One Corporate Office at 1-703-720-1000 on March 9th to complain about the number of Capital One phone calls I've been getting for Brooke Simons, in spite of the fact that I was assured that I wouldn't receive any more phone calls from Capital One representatives looking for Brooke Simons, you are still calling me, still asking me if you can speak with her. I have heard the song and dance about "it can take up to 24 hours to remove the phone number from our system" enough times. I have also heard the recanting of that statement, and the alternative that it can take up to 72 hours enough times, Capital One.

So let's make a deal, Capital One. I am at the beginning of an SEO campaign to make people aware of just how determined you are to keep asking me if you can speak to Brooke Simons. This can be a very long SEO campaign, and I might even start a bidding war with you on pay-per-click traffic with the big 3, or it can be a very short campaign. It's up to you. Each time I get another call from Capital One, I will put as much time as I can deem reasonable into making this story known.

refreshing

2010-07-07T10:35:00.001-07:00

Have I mentioned how great it is to live in a national park? A couple of nights ago I finally followed through on something I've been wanting to do for the past couple of weeks.
Capitol Reef National Park has a lot of high and dry hikes, a number of slot canyons, and some great overlooks, but I start to feel a bit of desert depression now and then. Yes, the huge cliffs and the monoliths are breathtaking, absolutely amazing, and the view from my back porch is simply awesome, but once in a while I feel like all I'm seeing is dry, dry and more dry. My cure for this is Sulfur Creek.
I had gone up the creek once or twice, but not very far, and I kept telling myself I needed to go through the whole trip. On monday I finally did. I rode my bike up highway 24 to the Chimney Rock trailhead, crossed the road, and followed the wash down into sulfur creek. I actually jogged most of the trip, it was a bit late and I was mostly looking for some real exercise, but whether running, walking, or stopping long enough to pull out the camera, the view was amazing. So glad I took the time.

Made it.

2010-06-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

Here it is. That's my nearly 25 year old scooter parked in teasdale. It was quite a ride. I'd have to say I really appreciate this piece of honda machinery. It never went very fast, 68 was faster than I'd really want to be going on such tiny wheels. Honestly it starts to feel unnerving past about 62. Thankfully there wasn't a huge lot of people trying to go faster than 50 or 55 either on the 89 or the 24. Rarely was the speed limit higher than 55.
The views were awesome. Something about cruising the less travelled with nothing around me but the wind. Feels quite liberating. Very much enjoyed the trip.

Not often enough

2009-10-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I posted to my blog. It's also been a while since I got out of Utah. I have got to say I don't do either often enough. I should be writing 2-3 posts a day to my new netbook-focused website, building up a small library of reviews and news while arranging and fine tuning the wireframe which will make it all easy to click through and find what you want.
Chappy on the other hand has left the country again. Probably asleep in japan right at the moment, he will be departing Tokyo in another day or so and joining J in Kobe. Should be good times, wish I could be there. Then agin, I don't know Japanese, and I can't afford to take 3 people overseas right now. I don't really want to travel without my baby girl or her mom anyways. She's great to have on long trips. Lots of laughs and a positive attitude. Here she is pictured in Lithia park in Ashland OR. That was good times.

Funny, even at home I'm online mobile as much as not. My employer doesn't want to supply open wifi in the breakroom (though there is a closed signal I can't have) so I am tethered to my phone in here during lunch.

The Little Gourmet

2009-08-29T18:27:00.001-07:00

I wanted to post about this a while back and didn't finish writing it at the time. I had the greatest meal of my vacation in a kid's restaurant. I just have to post about this because it was such a great surprise! We stopped into downtown Napa to find somewhere to eat before continuing on to Tahoe. I asked my GPS to find an indian restaurant for me and it led me to a vacated space so we just started walking. We passed a few budget sit-downs that just didn't appeal, and then we came across a couple different white table cloth places, zagat rated "excellent" and all that but here I am with a 13 month old who is thrilled to be out of the car and mad at me that I'm not letting her run around barefoot and free. So then I saw a sign. The Little Gourmet - follow the path around to the right and across the footbridge. Thank you. A place I can take my energetic little girl and not feel like I should apologize to the other guests. So we found our way around the back and across the footbridge and into this nice little restaurant with menu items like "Monkey Burger," "Snakes and Worms," and "Wagon Wheels Alfredo." Too bad she's too young for their menu, doesn't have the teeth and chewing habits yet. I expected to get okay food but feel good cause I didn't have to shush my baby or insist she stay seated the whole time. But it wasn't just okay food. I ordered one of the evening's specials, a salmon and shrimp pasta with a spicy cream sauce, she ordered the portabello mushroom pasta, a caesar salad, and we got a dish of fruit for the baby. The water came in the goblet style water glasses you'd expect at the white table cloth place, they had a respectable selection of wines, and the baby's water came in a sturdy plastic cup with lid and bendy straw (the reusable tough kind you take home and use again). The salad was whole leaf romaine, very classy presentation and the dressing was exceptional (and he uses buttermilk, no raw egg yolk, so no worries sharing with the little ones) and I started thinking wow, this is more what I'd expect at that zagat rated place. Baby doesn't eat lettuce much yet but I shared some of the baguette and sweet cream butter, butter in a dish not foil wrapped, again more what I'd expect on a white table cloth. Baby's fruit came early with the salad (they know how kids are) so she was happy eating grapes, strawberries, and some banana, all fresh. She was doing well with her cup, she wouldn't let me hold it for her and we applauded the way she was drinking so well from the straw, but she dropped it once, mom got it, and she dropped it again. I picked it up and hid it between my lap and the table and offered her some banana or grape to distract her. A bit later we were enjoying our pasta and I was thinking wow this is good and the atmosphere is nice and I got tired of having the cup on my lap and set it up on the table and maybe a minute after that phoenix saw it and just shrieked. It took me a second to connect the pieces and then I got her the cup and I just started laughing because she was so thrilled to find the cup that I hid. I started explaining it to Brookestar and then Phoenix started laughing too, which made me laugh more, and Brookestar was laughing too and we were really quite loud and that's when I realized it. I have never been anywhere else where I could have food this good, I really was impressed, and have this much fun with my baby and not feel like I was disturbing the other guests.
It felt so good to laugh and laugh with my baby and you can do that in a Chuck E Cheese too but the food... I sacrificed nothing in quality and that sacrifice was something I had just gotten used to. Anyone with small kids knows that catch 22 situation. Either you go to a place with cheap greasy food or you sit down somewhere nice and try to keep your kid quiet when she's bursting with joy and curiosity and wiggles and/or you apologize to the people next to you that she's so loud when they're trying to have a nice quiet dinner. I had become so accustomed to the sacrifice I walked in thinking I'd disappoint my taste buds for the sake of an enjoyable meal with an energetic baby. Instead I sacrificed nothing. I had a great meal and a great time. We all did. For overall experience it was quite possibly the best meal I've ever had. No offense to Charlie Trotter or any other, but I can't imagine bringing my baby with me there and I WANT her with me. She's delightful and has NO volume control. I can't imagine the looks I would get from other customers and I don't want to disturb their meal anyway. If I try to make my baby sit still and be quiet she'll struggle and if I persist long enough she'll cry. They're children! It's not in their nature to sit still and be quiet! Nature has given them this incredible drive to explore and learn and exercise and develop and it just doesn't fit into sit down and be quiet.
I've probably said the same thing a few times and been a bit redundant, but what it boils down to is I was impressed, all the way, with the whole experience. I'm glad I got lost where I did. I'll definitely look for them next time I'm in town.

Freedom Day Vacation 2009

2009-08-14T21:40:00.005-07:00

B* and I have been on the road a long time to get where we are, and we're considering making a permanent shift in this direction. It's funny because Ashland, Oregon was planned as a stop on the way to our vacation destination, and for what it's worth it was reasonably unplanned. We didn't know where we'd sleep once we got here, we didn't know how long we'd be here or what we'd do except I was determined to take a walk around Lithia Park (where these pictures and many others were taken) and we weren't planning on staying in a hotel at all while we were here. It's a little touristy like Park City, but just doesn't feel quite as capitalist. We actually have some friends out here that we met in Alaska. Sarah who worked with B* and David who I worked with in the kitchen at Glacier Bay moved back out here afterwards. I guess they'd lived here before we met them in Alaska, and we went out and saw their place today, and the view is gorgeous! I've really enjoyed the first few days of our trip. I'm excited for the next couple days. We may spend a little more time around here, see the Dagoba chocolate factory and sample their wares, but then it's on down to the redwood forests in northern california.

Making money in Fable: Has nobody else seen this?

2008-08-18T16:50:00.002-07:00

I am reluctant to believe that I'm the first person to find this. It was way too obvious once I saw it.

For those of you who don't know, Fable is a very re-playable game which came out on XBox and later on PC with the 'lost chapters' edition. I'm sure you've noticed that for every video game out there you can find a complete written walkthrough of how to achieve all the various goals in the game. There are instructions for how to make money in the game of Fable, most of them involving the buying and selling of a house. This is fine, but takes much more time than the method I found. Again, I can't understand why this method isn't the most recommended. It certainly takes less startup capital than buying and selling a house.

The method is simple. When you meet traders, buy out all they have of at least one item, afterwards, sell it all back to them. Do this in single transactions, no use selling it back in stacks of ten, and do it a few times, buying anything you can buy his entire stock of.

Obviously this doesn't work with weapons, armor, anything you can have only one of. It's best to do this with produce, gifts, and potions. It may help to sell him all you have of that item first, but if you don't it shouldn't matter. Once you've cleaned him out of at least one item, sell it back to him. Now you're probably thinking you should've seen this before. They tell you all the time in the game you can make money buying and selling between the shops, but you don't have to go to a different shop. The traders and shop keepers sell things for a lower price when they have a lot, and buy them for a higher price when they don't have any. There may be a lower limit threshold in the math where buying, say, 20 cider crates and selling them back won't be profitable, but the game tells you how much you're making on the sell-back.

If the transaction doesn't show a profit, there's two possible reasons. First reason: if you bought them all at regular price earlier and now you want to sell, you may not have any profit margin at all. If you sell them to the trader and buy them all back at his "I have so many of these" price, the game will show you a better profit when you go to sell them again.

In all cases, wether you've made money on that transaction or not, buy the entire stock of whichever items you're trading, and buy as much as you can while still being able to meet your needs. The reason is you want to bulk up your inventory so you can profit more each time. The concept should now be simple, but I'll sketch it out in loose terms. You meet a trader and he has 50 cider crates, you buy all of them for 20g each. You then sell him 50 cider crates at 30g each. When he has none they're worth 30, when he has 50 they're worth 20. So you do this until you get bored, but at the end you walk out with 100g extra, plus the 50 cider crates. Later you meet another trader, he has 30 cider crates. you sell him your 50 for 25g each. Then you buy all of them for 15g each, then you sell them backto him for 30g each. Not only do you profit more because you're making Xg on each item, you make more near-exponentially because the traders buying price when he has none in stock stays the same, while his selling price is relative to the number that he has in stock. None of this is relative to the number you are buying or selling, it's all relative to how many he has in stock.

So, buy all of at least one item, sell it back, repeat if it shows a profit, if not don't worry, just get more inventory to work with and try again. Once it's profitable, it snowballs each time you get more inventory, making the money-making more profitable and efficient each time. Simple enough? Why haven't I seen this posted anywhere else?

so so funny

2008-06-04T09:16:00.002-07:00

This is a conversation that my friend matt had with a nicholas, apparently from nashville, who thought he was a different matt

Matt:
I don't know you
Why do you keep sending me emails?

Nicholas:
stop playing, i'm coming to town friday

Matt:
lol
you've gotta be kidding me
what's your phone number?

Nicholas:
relax, i'll call you when i'm out of class

Matt:
lol
yeah you do that

Nicholas:
i don't know why you are laughing
where are we picking up our tuxes?

Matt:
You are either joking or you have some sort of mental handicap
I don't know any other way to explain this to you...

Nicholas:
that's not funny

Matt:
who do you think I am?

Nicholas:
matt

Matt:
and where do I live

Nicholas:
i'm in your wedding this weekend

Matt:
where

Nicholas:
what's wrong with you?

Matt:
where
where do I live

Nicholas:
i don't htink its funny
hold on

Matt:
Ok you are f*ing with me lol
Nobody is this stupid

Nicholas:
you never curse
why are you cursing

Matt:
lol
this is fun man
but...
at some point we'll have to end this game

Nicholas:
matt be sure to invite that slut catherine to the wedding
i need my knob polished

Matt:
oh ok I'll do that
I'll inivite little joey from around the way too
you remember little joey, that crazy little bastard
always swingin at the fences

Nicholas:
stop messing with me
where are we picking up our tuxes

Matt:
At Ed's Tux
I've got a deal worked out due to my mob connections

Nicholas:
whatever

Matt:
I've decided to call the wedding off

Nicholas:
why

Matt:
well your moms a nice lady and all but its just not working out

Nicholas:
my mom's dead, you know that

Matt:
well that's why its not working out

Nicholas:
no funny
not

Matt:
what's your phone number we'll talk about it on the phone
I've lost it ;)

Nicholas:
i'll call you after i get out of class

Matt:
lol
so you know this isn't the right matt right?
that's the only thing I can assume, not that this isn't fun

Nicholas:
what?

Matt:
that isn't funny
lol

Nicholas:
what do you mean?

Matt:
I know there is only one matt in the world
so I must be using a fake name
trying to steal his thunder

Nicholas:
yeah, you're getting married this weekend

Matt:
lol
where am I getting married
in what state?

Nicholas:
tn of course

Matt:
tennessee?

Nicholas:
yes
of course

Matt:
yeah of course
well that explains a lot

Nicholas:
what does that mean?

Matt:
Hell maybe you should ask me after class

Nicholas:
alright, no problem
what's your problem lately

Matt:
I hate freedom

Nicholas:
that's why your getting married?

Matt:
yes
but we're thinking of throwing you in the mix, how does that sound?

Nicholas:
does sarah know?

Matt:
it was her idea

Nicholas:
cause she's hot i'd love to tag it
what about bringing catherine into the picture

Matt:
sure
we'll all go pick up our tuxs maybe go to a kkk rally and drive around memphis in our pickup trucks for a while
then we'll go have sex with my wife and your sister
hell my sister too why not

Nicholas:
it's in nashville
but yeah sounds good to me

Matt:
oh right nashville

Nicholas:
maybe we could have a thing with the cake. just like i dive into it and catherine sarah and you follow me

Matt:
and your sister

Nicholas:
you dumbass i don't have a sister

Matt:
and we'll dig up your dead mom too

Nicholas:
also not funny
f* you for saying that

Matt:
I guess we can't be friends any more Nicholas

that's when he went offline lol

Incredible day

2007-08-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

Oh, and there's more, much more.

JellyFish!

2007-07-05T23:31:00.000-07:00

I took another kayaking trip into Secret Bay here in Glacier Bay National Park. One of the most surprising thing was seeing these jellyfish in the water as I left the bay. There's a channel that connects Secret Bay to the surrounding waters outside the islands, but it's only filled in at high tide. As the tide was flowing out from Secret Bay, as we headed back to the open waters, these jellyfish were riding the outgoing tide just as we were, though slightly slower. I also saw porpoises, sea lions, and a bear. I got better video than pictures of those, so I'm going to see if I can post them on YouTube.

Kayaking

2007-06-08T11:34:00.000-07:00

I was kayaking out towards Secret Bay, and there's this small inlet that fills in at high tide. We let the rising tide carry us in through this beautiful inlet for a good mile or more. We didn't make it all the way to Secret Bay, but we saw some great scenery. I hope I remember bug spray next time. It was cool to see how much the tide would fill things in in the short time we were there. On the way out we saw a cruise ship passing us. Cool eh? I bet I ended up in more than a couple vacation photos, considering the beauty of the surrounding scenery.

-J

glacier

2007-06-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of working for Glacier Bay Lodge is that we get to enjoy the boat rides for free. I took a morning from one of my days off to ride up the bay and get a look at the glaciers up there. It's really something to see. Huge. I just kept thinking "break, break, break" but only small pieces broke off. When I say small, we're really talking small like the size of a house, but I was hoping for massive calving here, and I didn't see that really, just 'small' pieces plunging into the ocean. I'm glad picasa's photo posting is working today, yesterday it was broken.

-J

Another Sunset

2007-06-03T22:35:00.000-07:00

Just thought
I'd put another up. I've been working a lot of ten hour shifts lately, cooking for the employees instead of customers. I like it because I get to make my own menu, and I'm even in charge of a dishwasher, but sometimes I'd just rather have a job that I don't have to think about when I'm off. If I were working in the lodge kitchen I'd still be on the clock right now, but when I finished I wouldn't have to go home and contemplate what I've got to do tomorrow or what I'm going to feed the crew next week or what I could've done better, because it wouldn't be my choices, my recipes, or my kitchen. I'd just finish and think to myself "good enough" and get on about the rest of my life up here, like walking down forested paths and enjoying beautiful sunsets, or bringing some of the better pictures back to you and sharing my thoughts about them. I'd like to note that all the pictures I've put up so far have required less than 5 miles of walking, and probably less than 3. I have some pictures of the glaciers I should put up, but we'll get to that. I hope everything is going well back home. I plan on going kayaking on tuesday, and maybe again on wednesday. Next week I might go kayak-camping overnight as well. I can get dropped off out in the back-country by the tour boat and picked up the next day, so it'd be pretty exciting, but I want to get used to moving a kayak around first.

-J

can you say "temperate rainforest"?

2007-05-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Heidi, an already good friend of mine out here, took this picture while we were hiking out to the river, not far from where I'm staying. I had to get a picture of this because not only does it show the moss that grows so much on the trees out here, but it looks like a moss covered man. I'm getting some overtime out here, and having a great time. I have to get someone a camping stove, so I'll have to stop there.

-J

Great view, very cool friends

2007-05-23T00:32:00.000-07:00

In the foreground is Gil, he's my roommate and a very cool guy. In the background is Katie, another of the employees out here. Katie has a way of looking at people she's just met like she already knows them and has for a long time. One of the support people sent out from the corporate office said during a training session that she'd never seen a team of seasonal employees like us. None of us have been here any longer than a couple of weeks, most of us for only a few days, and we already treat eachother like old friends and family. For the most part you'd only see someone eating alone or hiking alone if they wanted to be alone.
The beach in this pic is just a short walk from the cabins where we sleep. You can get an excellent view from the lodge and sunset lasts for hours up here, it starts around 9 or so and lasts until nearly midnight. I'm really happy being here. I hope everyone back home is well.

A new sunset, at 9:30 pm.

2007-05-20T01:04:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this with you, my first impression of Alaska. I was coming in at about 9:30 at night, and we were literally flying off into the sunset. I only got this shot after we were turning and getting ready to land. The sunset was the slowest I've seen, but I'll probably see slower. I wonder how long it takes for that to get old, because watching the sunset is great and it often seems like it's just not long enough, but up here, it could be going overboard. Dusk lasted until almost midnight. I was laughing from the moment we started to descend until well after I got off the plane. It's beautiful here. I wish I had been taking pictures as I got off the plane, but like I said, I was laughing. I'm too poor for a hotel room, so I'm hanging out in the airport, but I think it should still be a pretty good summer. Actually I lost my debit card and my cell phone in Seattle, but on the upside I did get to see my little girl while I was there. As we said goodbye she gave me a really long hug. It crossed my mind that it would be a moment to cry. Perhaps I should say heart instead of mind, I mean I felt it, but at the same time I just felt so happy to have that time with her, even if I knew it would be the last time I'd see her before September. I hope to find time to post pictures frequently during my stay here. I hope all of you are well.

-J

Results

2007-05-03T01:22:00.000-07:00

I just got my grades back for this past semester. I got 4 A's and a B+. That means I graduate from culinary school with a 3.65 GPA. I'm pretty happy about that, and so is buddha.

The view up here - sunset.

2007-04-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I've mentioned why I like living up here against the hillside. There's definitely a down-side to being up here. It's a long drive to the freeway, and to school, and to anywhere I'd work. I can't just stroll down to a grocery store in any decent amount of time. I have to take the car to get groceries unless I have a lot of time for the walk. Too steep for the bike to be practical, even though I'm in decent shape. There are plenty of reasons why being up here is hard, but being up here is really good. The rent's cheaper than elsewhere in town because it's out of the way, and this is the view I get at sundown. It was hard to get a good picture, I don't think the sky was really that bright, but I couldn't get a shot that truly approximated the right light level. Still, it's a really pretty sunset and I like being able to see all the way across the valley, and even see the lake out there. It's miles away, but I can see it all from up here. I love it.

-CJB

Baby Got Back - Gilbert and Sullivan Style

2007-04-23T23:11:00.001-07:00

I hope this makes you laugh as much as I did.

When did 'homosexual' become a noun?

2007-04-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

We had a rather heated debate today in my ethics and values class about homosexuality. We talked about whether it's right for them to marry, to raise kids, or just if it's ok for them to be homosexual. I have another, related issue I'd like to rant about. When did it become a noun? Imagine being a kid growing up with this debate going on, and everyone talking about homosexuality as something that some people are and some people are not. With all the hormones and such going on during puberty, it's already a pretty confusing time in life. When we talk of homosexual as something that some people just are, doesn't it reasonably follow that kids are going to feel a need to define themselves in terms of this distinction? Do you think that's wise? Is it good for a kid to look at himself (herself) and notice traits that some people ascribe to homosexuals and then follow by thinking "well, maybe I'm just gay" do you think that's good? I think it's pretty clear that the way everyone talks about homosexuality as an "is" rather than a "does" confuses the issue. Now let's look at whether or not it's valid. Someone close to me has chosen an alternative lifestyle. She grew up Christian, married a man, had kids, raised them, had some problems along the way but don't we all? Eventually, she decided she'd be happier living with another woman. It bothers me to describe her as "a lesbian," but not because it bugs me that she lives that way, but because that's simply not who she is. It's something she does, it's a choice she made, but that's not who she is. She's a caring woman, she's kind and considerate, she works hard, she keeps her home beautiful, she was a good mother. I don't think of her as "a lesbian" nor anyone else who chooses that lifestyle. It's not something you are, it's something some people do, and something that people start and stop doing at points in their life.

I can't rant about this anymore. I just can't stand it. You're all blind.

The first tree I really dislike

2007-04-11T17:19:00.000-07:00

This tree, alone among it's brothers, has incurred my distaste. As you can see, it is blocking the view from my balcony. Had I wanted to pay more and have more trouble moving into my apartment, possibly having to give up some of my furniture, I might have gotten a better view. I may try to make the move to one of the nicer apartments when my lease is up, if any of the good spots are open. For now, I'm up here on the north side and this tree is starting to grow its leaves. I don't mind this tree when it's bare, but when those leaves come, that's pretty much the end of my stunning view of the valley.
During the winter I can see all the way out across the lake, and that's a long way to be able to see. I laugh sometimes thinking what other people paid for their houses up here on the hill, only to have a slightly lower vantage point than the one I enjoy. All that laughter comes to an end this month as the tree outside my balcony sprouts leaves and readies itself for summer. This view will be all but blocked unless, by some friendly twist of fate, some of these offending branches happen to fall to the ground.

But that wouldn't happen...

Because, you know, air ducts are designed to hold more than just air.

2006-12-14T01:05:00.000-07:00

One of the most insightful quotes I've heard in a long while. From my little green buddy. Let me clarify, my little green buddy is still around here, if you forgot who that was, and Monkeyboy is happily married, somewhere in the east. So yeah, my little green buddy brought that up while we were talking about movies. It's just such a disappointing move. "oh, I'm gonna climb through the air ducts." but really, what kind of person would assume that an air duct would be strong enough to support them above hallways and through sections of buildings otherwise sufficiently guarded to restrict entry. I mean, really, something designed in a capitalist society to support nothing but air is surely built to enclose and support a 200 lb person such as myself, to permit me safe passage past the guards into whatever happily unguarded reciprocal of valuable equipment/records/golds as I might desire to enter.
Oh my science... willing suspension of disbelief is really put to the test on that one, isn't it? There are many ways to fill the plot hole of "how did she sneak past the guards anyways?" Why do they always fall back on the old "she snuck through the air vents to get to wherever it was she needed to go, thanks to her excessive understanding of how air ducts are built, which makes it obvious which turns to take to get to the desired location, and never mind that air ducts weren't built to support the weight of a human... or two or three if she left the vent open, and they caught up to her, and she's kicking them to allow for her safe but suspenseful passage to the established destination."
Comeon, seriously...

CJB

I work HERE

2006-05-13T20:07:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, but I thought I'd share. I am now employed by the Temple Square Hospitality Corporation. I got a paid internship here, in what's definitely the most decorative building I've worked in. Not the biggest, but definitely the most decorated. They provide me with fresh clean uniforms every day, and in the banquet kitchen I'm really enjoying myself. I've heard my next assignment, in about a month, will be a higher stress workplace. I'll probably miss what I'm doing now but I need to reacquaint myself with that as well.
To finish out the summer, I will aslo work in a bakery, which I really look forward to though I have no practical idea of what it's like.

I quite enjoyed this

2006-02-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

A zombie survival dream.
Amusingly enough it began, for us, at timpview. None of you were there, but marc ricks was, as well as ryan merril and others we knew. We had heard the horrible news and held a meeting to decide how to prepare for the coming onslaught. They asked for anyone with military experience to help organize, but i didn't offer, later i tried to but it was too late. It was an overnight party at timpview, we had heard the news there, and somehow the festive mood was rather dampened by the impending zombie bloodbath. People were just talking somberly, i was a bit anti-social as i tried to plan my fight and escape. I thought i had a pretty good chance to stay alive but i was caught off guard when a flaming bus loaded with people (or zombies) came hurtling down the school hallway. I ran outside to escape the crash and possible carnage. Outside there was a squad of soldiers moving through in combat formation. I envied their guns as I returned inside to collect my things: my coat, a bottle of water, a book (Lovecraft I think), a light, some gloves, and my improvised weapon, a stick with a bit of metal at one end. May as well have been a board with a nail in it. As i returned outside it seemed the military had mopped up, but i knew it wouldn't stay that way with the number of recently deceased i left inside. I started running to a quieter neighborhood and ran into marc ricks. He was armed no better than myself. We began checking houses and trying to warn the living, but sadly, as we told the first family we found of the nightmarish reality they were now living in, I awoke.

a story for you, from the wee one.

2006-02-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

This picture has nothing to do with it, but I wanted to put this up there, and now, here's a story written by the little one.

The cat and the forest.

There once was a cat, and one day his owners abandoned him from the city in which they lived. The closest place to the city was a forest. The forest was called Vermont of the Dead. The cat had no choice so she made her journey. Just at the opening at the front of the forest she spotted something. Something wet, something slimy, something smelly was approaching out of the darkness. The cat made a run. The thing made a piercing scream and ran after the cat. Finally she found a safe place to hide. The creature was gone, but in the darkness was... a mother cat. She saw the kitten and ran to her, and they lived happily ever after. The end.

fashion?

2006-01-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

I saw this girl in the mall, walking into various clothing and accessories stores, and I have to object. She's just wasting money if she gets anything in any one of those stores. I mean, who would put on a shirt like that and an old, plain, white bra, then look in the mirror and say anything other than "oh, crap, I better change."
You just don't wear that kind of shirt with that kind of bra. The only possible explanation that doesn't label this girl as fashion ignorant is that her mother insisted she wear a bra, and she insisted on wearing this shirt.
Okay, enough about that, it just bugged me.

Just hanging out

2006-01-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

Not that I didn't go out today, but I spent most of the day doing not very much. the little one and I took our time getting up, and eventually got around to our breakfast. I chatted a lot with the chapmaster, and eventually we determined that we would get together and walk around Liberty Park a bit. All in all, it was a rather motivating discussion for me, and left me feeling resolved to do more with my time, which translated into getting the apartment cleaned. I also looked online at prices for available houses in the area. Actually, it seems I would be able to own a home in Magna (not a very great place to be, but near Sandra's family) and I wouldn't be paying much more per month, actually it'd be less if you don't figure in homeowner's insurance, but I figured I'd be required to have that to have a loan. I don't think my lovely wife is very enthused about the house I considered reasonable, but it is a two bedroom with twice the square footage we've got now. Also it would have washer and dryer hookups, which I would appreciate a lot.
Don't get me wrong, it's really not much of a house, but it's a house

More later

CJB

Alfredo sauce

2006-01-13T06:06:00.000-07:00

Having little to write about in my life, I thought I'd share my opinions about Alfredo and what it's become here in the US. The classic Alfredo, in Italy, is a sauce commonly garnished with cheese, but it doesn't necessarily have any cheese in it, and occasionally doesn't even come in contact with cheese at all through its entire existence.
American alfredo sauce, on the other hand, is a white macaroni-and-cheese sauce. That's all it really is. It's a cheese sauce, which is a good thing, but not alfredo. The american version is actually quite a bit harder to make, since you have to carefully cook cream (which can boil over quickly and catastrophically) long enough and hot enough to make a hard cheese like romano or parmesan melt into it.
The Italian version on the other hand couldn't be any simpler. First you'll need to seperate an egg. Do whatever you want with the whites, it's the yolk you'll want to have ready for this sauce. just get the yolk out and have it in a dish nearby. Take one portion of cooked noodles (as much as you'd figure on eating as a main course) and toss them with some olive oil in a skillet, saute pan, or frying pan, whatever's convenient and relatively non-stick. Once it's nice and hot, add about 1/4 cup of cream. (They sell it here as whipping cream, you certainly wouldn't want to use whipped cream, but if you find it marketed as just cream, I'm sure that'll work too. ) and once that starts to get hot, maybe starts to bubble just a bit, toss in the egg yolk and start stirring it into the cream. Once the mixture is all mixed and hot (steamy is as hot as it needs to get) you've got yourself a pan of fettucini alfredo. Take it to the table and sprinkle some parmesan on it, or maybe just some salt and pepper, I like it that way, or your favorite cheese.
You see how easy that is? oil, noodles, cream, egg yolk. It takes about 5 minutes or less once your noodles are ready. Why do we make it so complicated?

CJB

And this was after brushing

2006-01-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

Thankfully this isn't any sort of disease. When we first noticed it this tongue was pitch black, but brushing started a return to its normal color. The cause is actually nothing but pink bisthmus, a.k.a. pepto bismol. She had one last night as she was trying to get to sleep because her tummy hurt, and this is what we found this morning. It was a little scary for a moment, especially for her, but it's really nothing to worry about.
She's been having tummy aches a lot lately, and after researching on WebMd we think it's mainly caused by missing her mom. She was only there with her mom for about 2 weeks for christmas, so that would be just enough time to start getting used to being there, and not nearly enough time to be ready to leave. She woke up during the night calling out or her mom more than once, but we're hoping that after another week or so she'll readjust to living here.
It makes me sad to see her so upset about being here, but at the same time, she was excited to come back. I just wish we could all be in the same city, so when she missed her mom, or missed me, she could just go over for a visit, or maybe spend the weekend, without getting on a plane. Really, that might happen someday. Seattle's not such a bad place.

CJB

And so she's back

2006-01-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning she had her third unsupervised plane trip. She has returned, and though she's been sad from missing her mom, she's also been happy to be here. She was sent home from christmas vacation with even moree stuff than she had before, including a huge suitcase. I think maybe her mom overestimates the size of our humble apartment. On the upside her huge suitcase will be a good place to store the things she doesn't need in her day-to-day life, like off-season clothes and excess toys. It's good to have her back, and I'm glad she's not back in school until tuesday, so we get to hang out today.

CJB

So Unfair

2005-12-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

Of all the things I could get for christmas, of all the ways to start my vacation, I get strep. STREP. No wonder this illness has been knocking me down like this. I've been useless since tuesday, and it's a darn good thing I went to the doctor this morning, because I'll be un-contagious just in time for christmas. If I had waited 'til tomorrow, I'd have to stay home, and wait until the day after to visit family. I wish I'd been more of a wimp and gone to the doctor the first or second day, or maybe if I had actually looked at my throat... When the doctor looked in there she got this look on her face like "oh my goodness" and she tells me "so you must be really miserable, your tonsils are huge and covered in pus."

I won't go on today, but I'll probably post again tomorrow, since I have nowhere to go unless I want to share my infection.

CJB

Just not fair

2005-12-21T17:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the day Ilizibith got on a plane to go see her mom, the start of my real vacation, I started feeling sick. It's infuriating, to be laid flat with this ridiculous christmas illness. I've had a wicked sore throat, headaches, body aches pretty much all over, and I've been slipping in and out of sleep most of the day. I can't believe this would happen now, when my friends are visiting for the holidays, when I just have a few things to do (like laundry) to set my whole apartment in relative order. It's not like I wanted to spend the whole day stuck in this apartment, trying to recover.

I really hope I'm better tomorrow.

CJB

And just like that, she was gone...

2005-12-20T11:18:00.000-07:00

At 4:35 this morning, I was up and getting ready to take Izzi to the airport. I didn't have to get up that early, but sleep wasn't easy to come by. Her plane left at 7, and now she's in Bellevuee until the 1st of January. It's nice to have a little more time alone with my wife, but I'm just left wondering what I'll do with my time.

I had a dream....

2005-12-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

A bunny outlaw in the old west, jailed for crimes against upholstery and flooring. Bail set at 7 carrots.

2005-12-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with you a picture of the newest member of my little family. Mango was supposed to be a christmas present, but came home with us early because she was on sale. Sandra got her for me and she's beautiful. She's a pied green peach-faced lovebird, and she's about 7 months old now. Her wings were clipped when we got her, and are still growing back, but she's getting better and better at flying every week. I'll be surprised if she's not flying around by the end of january.
Mango is a lot of fun, she makes funny sounds and almost sounds like she could talk. She likes to spend hours hanging out on my shoulder and my head, and I don't mind so much that she poops on me sometimes. It is annoying occasionally, but mostly I just don't let her hop up on my shoulder when we're going out. She's not very musical, but she does like to talk a lot. She's gotta be one of the best christmas presents ever!

hope all is well, and merry christmas

J

Scammers

2005-11-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

Wasn't that the name of Ron's Rat?
No, really, I'm talking about scammers. I got two different e-mails today for two different nigerian scams. The first one was the "UK Lottery" which I thought was just some sort of silly spam, until I noticed the mention of africa. Now I'm not an expert, but I'd think a legitimate lottery in the UK would be based in the UK. So I did a search, and there it was in the listing of known Nigerian scams. "The UK Lottery scam" which is just like most of the other scams. Before I go on, I'll mention the second e-mail, in which the hapless citizen explained to me how her husband had been a treasurer for some government office, and had been a freedom fighter within the bounds of his position, and had been killed by the government. She then went on to tell me about how he had set aside 20.7 million dollars gained off of interest which was to be hers, except that he hadn't finished some sort of legal processing which would for some reason require my signature and for which help I would recieve 20% of the total sum.

The way these scams work is they bait you with the idea of lots and lots of money and then try to convince you that you'll have to pay some upfront fees to get it. Some fools actually send them a couple thousand dollars believing that they will, in return, receive some hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some people reverse-scam them into giving enough information to help authorities catch them, but I just sent them e-mails expressing my disgust with what they do, and my hopes that they would get caught or at least would have to suffer lots and lots of poverty, hopefully due to being scammed out of their money by someone trickier than them.

Perhaps this seems harsh, but I think it would be no more than they deserve.

In other news, I was sick for a long time, all last week, but since monday I've been feeling great. My daughter, on the other hand, threw up this morning, and hopefully isn't at the start of some detestable illness. I hope all is well with you

J

ants

2005-11-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

I was rather productive today. I mounted a paper towel holder and a handi-vac charging base on the wall. S's new shark is a handy vac indeed. I baked bread, including a foccacia I made up, and I made some beef stroganoff, or something like it. Actually, it was like making a beef veloute and putting in some sauteed beef strips and green peppers and putting it over shells.
Today in class I made lobster bisque. I often thought that sounded really good. I think shrimp bisque would be better. Lobster bisque was good, but not nearly worth all the trouble of making it. I liked eating it all the same, but the cream of broccoli I made was better.
This thanksgiving I'm looking forward to making croissant pudding and maybe a strawberry chiffon pie. I'm not sure, but I think I might top the strawberry chiffon with a choco-meringue. That would be pretty fun. My wife is going to make a soft, fluffy pumpkin pie.
I hope someone makes dinner to go with all this desert.

J

Better late than...

2005-10-31T14:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't bothered for so long to update, I doubt anyone will take the time to look and see if I ever do again, but that's ok.

Life has been fast paced, and that's about all I can say about it. I don't really have much time to see many of my friends, it's all spending time with family, except when I'm at school. Tonight, for halloween I get to take my daughter around the neighborhood to go trick-or-treating. They're also going to have some sort of trunk or treat which I don't really support, because it takes most of the effort and most of the fun out of trick-or-treating. My daughter was already promised by my wife (who will be at work) that she gets to go. Oh well, I'll live. There are a few things that have upset me this halloween though.
one: the costume parties started about two weeks before halloween. I know this isn't much of a problem if you go out and buy a costume, but my family has long had a tradition of making our own unique costumes. I, for instance, am a tube of Colgate (tm) toothpaste. That basically includes what ammounts to a very long pillowcase with the colgate graphic sewn in in red fabric, and yellow and blue embroidery, with a lampshade on my head. My daughter is a witch, and her costume was sewn by my sister who lived up in helper. We did get the costume in time for her first halloween party, but the hat was to be made from the scraps, and so could only be started after the costume was delivered. She had a different hat which didn't match and so she just didn't wear it, and had to tell everyone what she was, since she really was just a girl in a dress with a cape. No broomstick, no hat.
Two: it's time to pick up my little girl

voice recognition

2005-07-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

After reading some things on chapmaster.com I thought I would give us a shot. I have been training my voice recognition software and I thought it would see how well it could recognize my voice for a diary entry. The dreams last night were rather distressing and actually freaked me out of bit . I was taking care of a bunch of children they want my children do they were all living together in a house where I lived as well so I guess it was like living working in an orphanage of some sort I don't know it was strange but here's the free car was taking this little girl for a ride on the bus. She was always a very scared little girl and I worried about her. She was standing near the end of the car it was a train car shoes standing by the doors of the end. Shoes looking outside and shoes noticeably frightened. I look to assign to see what was bothering him so much, and wouldn't surprise that quickly turned to fear I saw a little girl on the outside of the door staring in at the little girl who was in my care.

Soon this little girl which hiatus seems to be a ghost left the door and wouldn't back to where she came from. Then shoes suddenly replaced by a little boy. He was hanging on to the outside of the door and was greedily looking into this little girl I was taken care of. He was still they are staring when the train stopped and we had to walk past him and almost through him to leave between. We started quickly walking home and he followed us and soon it seemed to more and more little child ghosts were following us as we tried to make our way home.

Eventually we were able to get home. It was a large building and there were lots of kids there. The yard outside is attractive but became very eerie as more and more child ghosts walked into the lawn. They came and stood at the doors, floated up to the windows they surrounded the house home watching this little girl. I felt a very sorry for her and wanted to protect her but what can I do. Their ghosts, you can't fight ghosts. It was about that time that I woke up, my heart pounding, hardly willing to open my eyes. It's been a long time since I've had nightmares, it's been a long time since anything has scared me like that.

Strange Dreams

2005-07-16T06:27:00.000-07:00

This is one that I just had to get down on record. Once again I dreamed I was back in the military, but it was so much stranger than any of my other dreams about that. I was married, but I was sharing a room with another guy. I also had my nephews staying with me for a while, and their friends came over occasionally, for no apparent reason. This all made it much harder for me to keep my living space clean, which could get me into a lot of trouble, because the twins are not very neat and tidy people. There was some wierd moments of travelling and vacationing with the family that I can't explain with any sort of continuity, so we'll get to the end really quick. I was trying and trying to come up with my regular duty uniform, get properly dressed and show up for PT, and I eventually decided if I was going to find anything I'd have to clean up the mess. This of course would also help me keep out of trouble. Eventually I found the right clothes, but here comes the really wierd part.
We were at war. Ok, that isn't quite so wierd, but get this. We were at war with DWARVES. Not the lord of the rings type, oh no, just little diminuitive people. A whole race of people 2-3 feet shorter than you or me. Their official uniforms were, I swear, designed to make them seem cute and unthreatening. Their political leaders were dressed like the seven dwarves in Snow White, their soldiers were dressed like Santa's Elves. They were a fully advanced, even starfaring race, but when they fought they attacked us with weapons mainly made of stone. Big boulders would roll through our ranks, a hail of stones would fly at us from their, I dunno, slingshot platoons? And then, this is the REALLY wierd part. Then I started seeing these guys on talk shows, talking about the war and what big bullies we are. I saw them on the news getting very (comically) upset (they're little people, remember) at our political and military leaders, pointing fingers and gesturing in an ongoing barrage of accusations when I'm pretty sure it was them who started the war.
Then the monologue starts. A voiceover starts going about how they came to debates, our news, our talk shows, creating a whole media circus to develop public sympathy for their cause. But it was all a great big play, and they were only actors on stage and screen, because they didn't want peace, they had already won. How could we win against a race that had advanced to spaceflight with technology that was based on using rocks? How could we win a ground battle against a people who could use the very ground we stood on against us?

And so we lost, in the middle of this bizzare media circus, to a race of dwarves. Vertically challenged people took over.

Thank heavens it was only a dream. I'll never look at those small people the same way again.

it's been a long time

2005-05-10T09:17:00.000-07:00

I haven't been online in a long time because internet access hasn't fit into my budget. I am only online now because someone in a nearby apartment, or perhaps the office, has a wireless network with open access, which means I can hop online through this wireless network card. I will offer to pay them monthly for my borrowed access, but I haven't been able to figure out whose it is yet. I wonder if they'll figure out I'm on here this week.

Anyways, now that I'm married, life's a lot better. My wife and I live in a relatively small apartment, we have a bunny and I still have my fish. The bunny's name is Nibbles. I had a nice bowl of oatmeal this morning after coming home from a morning shift at work I didn't have to be there for.

I am the lead evening prep cook at Ottavio's in AF, and once or twice a week I also work mornings to cover someone for a day off. Today I was going to cover for the morning lead, but he was supposed to be off this weekend, so he's working this morning. I found all this out after getting up at 6:40 am to show up for his 7 am shift. He showed up around 7:30 and asked "didn't J talk to you?" So I left and came home.

My bunny is a lot more social than the bunnies that lived with us when I was growing up, I guess it's because I let it out of the cage a lot and feed it mostly from my hand, well, my wife's hand more than mine but feeding by hand most of the time. Nibbles likes to explore the apartment and find places he's not supposed to get into and hide under furniture, or sometimes he just likes to run fast across the apartment and hop up on the couch. Usually when he hops up on my lap it's because he wants food, but he'll let me scoop him up in my hands pretty much any time unless he's trying to hide. I like that he lets me pick him up and hold him, he's so soft and likes to be petted on the back and scratched on the back of his neck. He's light brown on his back, ears and face, with white circles around his eyes and an off-white belly and sides.

I've been having a lot of dreams about being back in the military or back in school. I don't know why I dream about the military so much. Most of the time, I'm happy to be back for about 3 hours, until I get into the usual army bullcrap, and then I'm trying to escape or figure out why in the world I ended up back in that nonsense. I hope that never happens. The school dreams often involve zombies or lions or wierd dangerous stuff like that.

My wife just got up, she's sharing an apple with our bunny. He loves apples. I think he loves the peel better than the meat though. wierd eh? he likes eating banana peels too. I don't think it's bad for him, but I guess it could be. I hope he knows what's good for him, because the book only said "all fruits are good, and most vegetables" it specified which veggies not to feed him, but said nothing about any fruit parts that are bad.

Raw potatoes are bad, tomatoes are bad, most commercial lettuce will make him bloated because of the chemicals, and they are supposed to like apples best. It says nothing about banana peels. Maybe I'll find an online forum and ask.

strange dreams

2004-09-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

I don't know what happened the first time, but I was just about to post a dream I just had. It started after my dog (I think) woke me up somewhere around 2 am, so it's not very long. I was down in my room, here in my parents' basement.
Doesn't that sound so bad? Living in my parents' basement? but I guess it's a bit better when you add that I'm going to school and I'm engaged.
So here I am, with my little green buddy, and we're playing some sort of video game, as we have a tendency to do. This long, off-white snake crawls out from under my bed or from somewhere around there. It slithers over into my closet, and up over my clothes. My little green buddy doesn't see it, I'm backing up and standing up on my bed. I'm about to tell him there's a snake, but my dog Mini comes in and sees it drop to the closet floor. She barks, the snake strikes and misses, and my little green buddy jumps over to the closet and starts waving his arms, accosting the snake. I jump over there and get between him and it as it coils up to strike, and catch it as it lunges out. I've got it by the throat and I close my eyes becuase I think it may be about to spit its venom at me. Then I decide it must not be one of those spitting snakes, so I take it upstairs trying to find somewhere to throw it or otherwise relieve myself of this horrible creature. I'm making my way up to the top floor intending to throw it out the window when it occurrs to me that it would probably come back into my house or go into someone else's house, so I've got to do something else with it.
About this time, I'm in a video game, and there's these nasty bird things flying back and forth across the screen as I'm trying to get to a cliff from which I'm going to throw the snake, sending it hurtling to a squishy demise. While jumping over a small pit, I'm struck in the back by one of the birds. I lose a life and start back in my bedroom.
This time my little green buddy isn't there. My older sister Wreath is there in my room, playing video games. She doesn't see the snake, but I do. First I'm scared, but then the snake starts coming straight at her. I jump down too late. It's got her by the arm. Long fangs are pumping venom into her flesh. I panic a bit, then grab the snake by the neck and pry its jaws open and get it off her arm. I can tell she's already getting woozy as I try to dial 911. Then I wake up.

Does this have anything to do with a lasting dislike for WhiteSnake? Actually, I don't know what their music sounds like, I just don't think they could've been any good. The worst thing about this dream is that now I'm feeling jumpy just sitting in my own bedroom. Try not to have any nightmares that take place in your bedroom. It's not very cool.

Jer

I shouldn't be writing this

2004-07-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

I should be working on my take home test, but I guess I like a little break now and then, a little distraction from the drudgery of school work. Just call me double duece. Thanks Tim. I've felt really overscheduled lately. I kindof wish I wasn't doing so much, like maybe I could not have a job, or not be going to school right now. The main problem is most or all of my time in a given week is taken up by my top four priorities. Really none of them are low enough priorities to be given up. I almost want to take less than full time next semester, but I couldn't pick any one class to drop. The only less than essential class I am taking is only one credit. I'm not going to drop latin ballroom because it just wouldn't make that much of a difference in my overall class-oad. S probably thinks I'm trying to sound like an overachiever again. Personally I think I sound like a fool who lets himself end up with too many commitments and not enough time for the finer things in life. Maybe that's not really so because one of my main priorities that takes up a lot of my time is S. She's great, and she's very important to me, and I make sure I have time to spend with her. I guess that really doesn't leave me like one of those guys so consumed by school or work that they lose track of the people they care about. That's what I really want to avoid, permanently. I never want to be so busy that I don't have time to enjoy my family and close friends. I hope nobody I know lets that happen to them. I hope you're all doing well, and taking time to enjoy those who matter most to you.

J

2004-07-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

he's not ours, but he sure is cute.

Balancing Act

2004-07-12T15:08:00.000-07:00

Lately in my life I have been rather busy. I usually have something to do most of the time, but these days I really have a lot more that I want to do than I have time for in any given day. There are four main things I'm trying to do with my time: Study for/go to school, study the scriptures, spend time with S, and work. This week, at least, work has dropped out of the running on it's own. I only have two days on the schedule and I was able to pick up one more. I have tons of reading to do for school, and quite a bit of study I want to do for church as well. Generally I'm not able to complete as much as I want to of either because things come up. Recently there was a wedding, and today my mom needed a ride downtown to pick up her glasses, since she can't drive without them. Interspersed between all of those are laundry, keeping my room clean, making sure school is going to be what I want it to next semester, and occasionally seeing friends, though I generally don't have time for that unless it's planned for ahead of time. I get the feeling that I should just be trying to do less, but what would I drop? School isn't it, because I need to progress towards graduation. S is definitely staying a prominent part of my life because she's simply very important to me. I'm not about to quit my job either, I have things I want, like a trip to California with S to see my friends and hers and hit the beach for a day or so. Besides, who wants to hire a college boy who hasn't worked in 4 years? I'm not going to neglect reading the scriptures because that's inevitably tied to wanting S and I to be and have an eternal family. I have so much to read and understand about the melchizedek priesthood.
In the end I generally have a fair ammount of time with S and little time with friends. I'm generally at school when I'm supposed to be, except maybe the first few minutes on any given day. I'm at work when I can be but it's not often enough, and if it were it wouldn't leave enough time to keep up with reading for school, reading the Holy scriptures, and spending time with S. I could give up the hour or so each day that I relax, but I'm not ready to.
Stephen R Covey suggests that I should first figure out which things are important in my life, and then try to spend most of my time working on the things that are important and not urgent, so that there won't be so many important and urgent things because I'd have them done already. My problem is there doesn't seem to be any non-urgent important things in my life except the very important spending time with S. I can't give that up, so I hope she doesn't mind me trying to take care of reading during part of the time I spend with her, cause I really can't do it at work.

Maybe I'll figure something out. TTYL.

J