I think that this should be the title of our blog, but my better half did not agree. Seems as I continue to experience so much joy during this faze of my life, I thought I would share some of this joy with you. I have always loved and appreciated the blessing of taking a shower, standing in the warm water feels so great. I would prefer one shower a day but the last few years the showers come all day long, coming unexpected, the best ones are reserved for nighttime. Some call them hot flashes or hot flushing. I call them a pain in the butt. I have tried a variety of things to relieve them, but to no avail. I am sure these lovely sweating events have something to teach me, and I suspect as soon as I figure it out they will go away. Oh, if I could only figure it out. Then there is the lovely gray hair that coloring does not cover as well anymore. Must be too much gray to cover. The sagging eyelids and the wrinkles, where the heck did they come from. They were not there yesterday or were they? Oh well enough on this sad tale.
As some in this fam likes to talk about what irritates them I thought I would jump on the band wagon.
1. People with a total lack of social skills. Is this a lost art?
People talking on their cell phones when you are trying to help them with something. Oh, I guess my time is not worth anything.
People coming in to apply for a job talking on the cell phone, wearing jeans and hoodies with the hood up, and talking in a mumble that is barely understood. Am I deaf or are they talking a new language?
Oh lets not forget that they always need a pen and lots of help with the application questions.
My fav is the young men that come in with their pants around there knees, with their lovely underwear showing. What makes them think I want to see their undies. Someone poke my eyes out.
2. Standing in a long line at any given store and finally, finally getting almost to the checker and the clown in front of you decides oh, I forgot something and takes off to find it. 10 minutes later they come back with another 12 items. What part of them thinks this is socially exceptable.
3. Back to job app. Person...Yo do you have any jobs? Is this a question or is this a figment of my imagination? How do you spell JOB?
4. Folks driving, talking on the cell phone, drinking coffee, putting on eyeliner and reading the paper all at the same time.
5. Folks camping out at Walmart.
6. Folks yelling at Walmart.
7. Folks that take up two parking spots or better yet they just park in the driving lane.
8. Women who wear high heels, designer clothes and really puffy hair and 16 pieces jewlery to Walmart in Utah.
9. Folks who tell the checker at the check-out stand that there is no more milk in the cold case. The cold case being at the back of the store as far from the checker as possible and why the hell would she care or what the hell can she do about it? Or maybe in her free time she can go and fill it.
Alright this is enough on the irritations of a lack of social skills. Must be a menopausal moment.
10. I hate it when people blame irritations on menopause. HA HA
One of my favorite things these days if the Music I-Pod. I can listen to it for hours. I have to take it off when I go to work. This is the hardest part of going to work. Speaking of work, it is so nice to work in a nice place with good employee's and really great and special residents who's lives inspire me daily.
The last thing I would like to talk about is the Joy of being a grandma. Having three little grandson's is just the greatest thing I can ever imagine. Having the gospel in our lives and seeing these young little boys either being sealed or being born under the covenant is my greatest dream come true. There is nothing I could possiblely want more than this. The worldly things seem so nice and important at times it is easy to get distraced by things that ultimatly have no worth. Thank heavens for the gospel and a prophet to lead and guide us along and to help clear our vision. Thank heavens we know that weak things can become strong when we humble ourselves and have faith. Thank heavens we know that we can feast upon the words of Christ for hehold the words of Christ will tell us all things what we should do. These things are a great comfort to me as I often do not know what to do or what direction to go at times, but I am trying harder to learn to wait upon the lord and to realize that when it seems my prayers are not answered that the lord speaks peace to my mind concerning matters and then I realize that this is the answer.
Thought for the day...D&C 84:88
Ask him to go before my face, to be on my right hand, to be on my left hand, and his spirit in my heart and his angels round about me to bear me up.
MMM
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Word of the day
Tortfeasor: In law, one who commits a tort, a civil (as opposed to criminal) wrong.
I've acknowledged my new addiction in reading appellate (sorry, Greg, I misspelled it previously) court opinions. Nothing is as bizarre as the reality of life and the twisted (at times) legal logic of appellate judges. As I've said, it's like Cops, Judge Judy, Dr. Phil et al rolled into one. And the sweet extra benefit in reading these is the new vocabulary words I'm learning.
Which brings me to tortfeasor. I do believe it is the ugliest word I've ever encountered, not counting vulgar words. It sounds ugly; it doesn't roll off the tongue easily. It seems to imply nastiness. I'm sure if you went into a bar and called someone a "son of a tortfeasor" you would surely be punched out. You probably wouldn't even need to go into a bar.
I challenge you to come up with an uglier word.
I've acknowledged my new addiction in reading appellate (sorry, Greg, I misspelled it previously) court opinions. Nothing is as bizarre as the reality of life and the twisted (at times) legal logic of appellate judges. As I've said, it's like Cops, Judge Judy, Dr. Phil et al rolled into one. And the sweet extra benefit in reading these is the new vocabulary words I'm learning.
Which brings me to tortfeasor. I do believe it is the ugliest word I've ever encountered, not counting vulgar words. It sounds ugly; it doesn't roll off the tongue easily. It seems to imply nastiness. I'm sure if you went into a bar and called someone a "son of a tortfeasor" you would surely be punched out. You probably wouldn't even need to go into a bar.
I challenge you to come up with an uglier word.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Network morning news interviews really annoy me
I have to vent about the network morning news show interviews. They last all of two or three minutes and the hosts are so focused on asking the questions that they interrupt constantly, try to be combative in many cases, and then end at the time limit by cutting off the interviewee. It's rude, annoying and the worst example of scripted "programming."
Friday, March 28, 2008
Today it dawned on me...
I had an epiphany today while browsing books at Borders.
All through grade school I was in the top five of the best math students in my class. Never number one; that was Paul Wallulis, the smartest kid in our school. He now teaches math at Central Catholic HS. I loved math and always thought I was pretty good at it. In high school I understood algebra, loved geometry, managed trig, but ran into an absolute brick wall in advanced math/calculus. The only thing I understood was the analogy of the the frog that hops halfway to the end of the table with each jump. I got it that he would never reach the end but would get infinitely close that you could say he was there. When I took chemistry, the math kicked my butt, even though I loved science. So I came to the realization I wasn't so smart in math. In fact, it drove me to seek after an arts degree. At CCC, I took all literature, writing and social science classes to the extent I could. (The best I remember of college algebra was Mrs. Kondo, who was less than five feet tall, not being able to figure out someone hid the chalk on top of the chalkboard each class and she would have to leave for five minutes to go get more.) Thus, I feel I write good...I mean well.
When I transferred to BYU, the only degree they offered for business was a B.S. Thus I had to go back and take science classes to meet the graduation requirements. Fortunately, they understood there were people like me, and the bone-head classes they offered dealt with theory as opposed to mathematical proofs, and I got through physics understanding the concepts of the laws without having to prove the theory of relativity or quantum mechanics. My friends in the honors program or pre-med took real physics, and I said a prayer of thanks everytime I saw them with a book four inches thick, slaving over proofs and story problems each night. The closest I got to real math at BYU was the business statistics class and, once again, my butt got kicked. And I really like statistics and understand averages (mean, median and mode), standard deviation, bell curves, etc. But the advanced stuff stymied me. My day-to-day math knowledge and skills have served me well in banking. I can handle the math of money and do it well.
So today in Borders I found myself in the reference section and noticed a number of AP books for people wanting to bone up on those kinds of classes. I picked up the AP Calculus book and opened to the middle and started looking at the equations. To my utter suprise and after nearly forty years, I understood them. I read more and grasped what the equation was trying to calculate. I remembered integrals, summation, notation and other concepts. I thought to myself, "I understand this. I could do this. I can do this!"
And there was my epiphany. I picked up some other advanced course books and realized I understand more than I thought I do. In fact, as I picked up a philosophy book, I remembered the story of Socrates sending his student Plato to find the wisest man in Greece. After a long search and speaking with the top scholars in the land who each declared themselves to be the smartest person, Plato returned to his mentor and report that he, Plato, was the wisest man in Greece because he realized he did not know everything and grasped Aristotle's admonition to him to alway seek learning.
As I started to leave Borders, I wondered, "Why couldn't I have been this smart forty years ago? I would be so much smarter, wiser and useful today if I understood then what I grasp now." I looked over the store and wished I could read all the books in there. There is so much to learn...and a lot less time to learn it...
All through grade school I was in the top five of the best math students in my class. Never number one; that was Paul Wallulis, the smartest kid in our school. He now teaches math at Central Catholic HS. I loved math and always thought I was pretty good at it. In high school I understood algebra, loved geometry, managed trig, but ran into an absolute brick wall in advanced math/calculus. The only thing I understood was the analogy of the the frog that hops halfway to the end of the table with each jump. I got it that he would never reach the end but would get infinitely close that you could say he was there. When I took chemistry, the math kicked my butt, even though I loved science. So I came to the realization I wasn't so smart in math. In fact, it drove me to seek after an arts degree. At CCC, I took all literature, writing and social science classes to the extent I could. (The best I remember of college algebra was Mrs. Kondo, who was less than five feet tall, not being able to figure out someone hid the chalk on top of the chalkboard each class and she would have to leave for five minutes to go get more.) Thus, I feel I write good...I mean well.
When I transferred to BYU, the only degree they offered for business was a B.S. Thus I had to go back and take science classes to meet the graduation requirements. Fortunately, they understood there were people like me, and the bone-head classes they offered dealt with theory as opposed to mathematical proofs, and I got through physics understanding the concepts of the laws without having to prove the theory of relativity or quantum mechanics. My friends in the honors program or pre-med took real physics, and I said a prayer of thanks everytime I saw them with a book four inches thick, slaving over proofs and story problems each night. The closest I got to real math at BYU was the business statistics class and, once again, my butt got kicked. And I really like statistics and understand averages (mean, median and mode), standard deviation, bell curves, etc. But the advanced stuff stymied me. My day-to-day math knowledge and skills have served me well in banking. I can handle the math of money and do it well.
So today in Borders I found myself in the reference section and noticed a number of AP books for people wanting to bone up on those kinds of classes. I picked up the AP Calculus book and opened to the middle and started looking at the equations. To my utter suprise and after nearly forty years, I understood them. I read more and grasped what the equation was trying to calculate. I remembered integrals, summation, notation and other concepts. I thought to myself, "I understand this. I could do this. I can do this!"
And there was my epiphany. I picked up some other advanced course books and realized I understand more than I thought I do. In fact, as I picked up a philosophy book, I remembered the story of Socrates sending his student Plato to find the wisest man in Greece. After a long search and speaking with the top scholars in the land who each declared themselves to be the smartest person, Plato returned to his mentor and report that he, Plato, was the wisest man in Greece because he realized he did not know everything and grasped Aristotle's admonition to him to alway seek learning.
As I started to leave Borders, I wondered, "Why couldn't I have been this smart forty years ago? I would be so much smarter, wiser and useful today if I understood then what I grasp now." I looked over the store and wished I could read all the books in there. There is so much to learn...and a lot less time to learn it...
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Mother...Wife...Children...Grandchildren...Life...
As I watch my mother fade with age, I realize how fortunate I was to have a mom like her. She was always there for my brother and me, supporting us (she never missed one of our ballgames, even when we didn't play), playing games with us (rummy, yahtze, parchessi, etc.) putting up with me and my brother's antics (like shooting baskets in the kitchen over her into a bucket while she cooked dinner), chauferring us everywhere (getting a ticket for running a stop sign while taking me to a formal dance) and teaching us so many things (cooking, cleaning, sewing, and especially how to clam dig). She is not the same person today but I have comfort in my memories.
Maybe there is truth that boys look for a girl to marry like their mother, That appears to be the case with me. My wife is the kindest, hardest working, least selfserving person...just like mom. She is so much like my mom in all the good ways and has done all of the above for our children (well maybe not the clam digging, but many other things). Our children have been just as fortunate to have her for a mother. She has always been there for them with great sacrifice of herself. And now she gets to influence our grandchildren.
And our children are turing out to be better parents that we are. I am so impressed with their personal accomplishments and the good people that they are. If I have one great hope, it is that my children will be better than me.
And grandchildren are more fun than I ever imagined. I did not grow up associating much with my grandparents and I think I missed something.
Today I realized that in one week I will be eligible for early retirement if I wanted to (I don't and can't). I never thought I'd be so old. There are not many thing I would have done differently if could (mostly I would have gone with my best friend on that cross-county trip after high school), but mostly I wouldn't have jeopardized the events that led to having the wife and children that I do. They are my joy.
I was thinking of the things I' like to do that I haven't done. There are so many but one thng I've always wanted to do, and we've talked about often, is coach a baseball team with my son. Not a great team, but one where the kids are fun and want to learn the game. And moms could come sit in the stands and support their boys like mine did and like my wife did. That would be a summer to remember.
Maybe there is truth that boys look for a girl to marry like their mother, That appears to be the case with me. My wife is the kindest, hardest working, least selfserving person...just like mom. She is so much like my mom in all the good ways and has done all of the above for our children (well maybe not the clam digging, but many other things). Our children have been just as fortunate to have her for a mother. She has always been there for them with great sacrifice of herself. And now she gets to influence our grandchildren.
And our children are turing out to be better parents that we are. I am so impressed with their personal accomplishments and the good people that they are. If I have one great hope, it is that my children will be better than me.
And grandchildren are more fun than I ever imagined. I did not grow up associating much with my grandparents and I think I missed something.
Today I realized that in one week I will be eligible for early retirement if I wanted to (I don't and can't). I never thought I'd be so old. There are not many thing I would have done differently if could (mostly I would have gone with my best friend on that cross-county trip after high school), but mostly I wouldn't have jeopardized the events that led to having the wife and children that I do. They are my joy.
I was thinking of the things I' like to do that I haven't done. There are so many but one thng I've always wanted to do, and we've talked about often, is coach a baseball team with my son. Not a great team, but one where the kids are fun and want to learn the game. And moms could come sit in the stands and support their boys like mine did and like my wife did. That would be a summer to remember.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Welcome
Well, Mom and I have a blog! Just when you thought we couldn't get into the 21st Century, here we are! DSL, blogs, cell phones, iPods, digital music. We still draw the line at cable TV, though. Mom says she won't have much to say but look for her to muse the most. I'm too practical to just wander off on thoughts.
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