Alyssa's 50's dance

Alyssa had a 50's dance at church tonight. It was for her "Activities Days".

She looks adorable I think.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

I've got a few minutes before lab meeting - Marlan just called and said that he would be a little late. We are finally starting to dry out a bit after a weekend of weird weather. A town just 70 north of here called Parkersburg was almost completely destroyed by a tornado Sunday night. Seven people died as a result of the storm. I think they said that over 400 homes and 20 businesses were destroyed (this is a town of about 1000 people). We got a lot of rain and straight line wind as evidenced by the tree limbs and leaf litter all over the yard and street but that was about it. I think we are all about ready for some calmer weather.

School is winding down for the kids. Only one week to go. They are excited but Michelle is not! Caleb will be working full time this summer so that will keep the house a little more peaceful. He really has been trying over the last week or so to be a better young man. He is being more responsive and his grades are coming up a bit. At least he is no longer failing any classes.

On another note, I am growing a beard for the first time in my life. Michelle says it looks good (she says that it make me look like Justin Timberlake. I am not sure if I should be offended or not.) but she won't kiss me. I have been growing it for about 2.5 weeks but I don't know how much longer I can keep it going. It is a little annoying. I have gotten past the itchy stage but it is just going to be too warm as the weather heats up.

Nothing important

Chelsey's post on our food blog reminded me about our local post office. Yeah, I know, a strange association. First, let me explain our post office. Have any of you seen the second Men in Black movie? It wasn't as good as the first but still funny. Do you remember the scene at the post office when J walks into the back with K and asks him why he is so comfortable there? That scene could have been filmed at our post office. Michelle and I have a very difficult time not laughing every time we walk in. Anyway, Michelle is a frequent customer at the post office and Charley asks her about Pampered Chef from time to time. A couple of weeks ago, he wasn't at work and the next time Michelle saw him, he was raving about what a great time he had mushroom hunting. I know I am making generalizations but the people I know who go mushroom hunting are usually 1 gene shy of a full genome. I don't know if it is because they have picked the wrong mushrooms on occasion or if they are just a little off kilter anyway. These are the same people whose idea of a fancy date is bowling league night and dinner at Hardee's. These same people can also name the top 10 drivers on the NASCAR circut. I realize that I am poking fun at half of the United States and am probably going to get mean comments in response to this post. You should keep in mind, however, that I didn't say anything about country music. If I had, Jess, Jen, and Michelle would probably never talk to me again. Have a good day, all.

Boy, Boy for sale, he's going cheap.

I am so frustrated with Caleb. It is all I can do not to just shake him until all the stupidity dribbles out of his ears. He has got to be one of the most intellectually gifted young men I have known in a long time but he is wasting his life away. Perhaps that is being a little melodramatic but he only has three more years until he is on his own. His grades are dismal. Worse than mine ever were. Whenever I talk to him about them (which is just about daily), he tells me that he just doesn't care. This morning, on the way to seminary, I was asking him about his homework for the day. He started getting surly and irritated. Finally he told me that he doesn't really want to go to college, that his plan is to go staight into the military. While I would be proud to have a child in the military (the Air Force is his branch of choice), he doesn't seem to realize that his choices will be severely curtailed without a college education. He has these dreams of doing great, wonderful things but isn't willing to put the work in. I am really hoping that this is just immaturity rearing its ugly head and that he will realize quickly that he is headed for trouble.

Awhile ago, a woman cutting my hair asked me if there was a history of premature grayness in my family. I told her no and asked why, afraid of the answer. She told me, as kindly as she could, that I had more gray than most men my age. What I didn't tell her was that I have earned every one of those gray hairs. Not to make light of Adrianne's situation but there are days that I would give my left thumb for the opportunity to go back to wondering when the next time I would get sit through church would be. Instead, I worry about the choices my children are making, knowing full well that there is not much I can do to shelter them from the consequences of those choices. Although I am very grateful for my children, there are days that I question my mental status.

Whew!

I just got an email from the Les Mills Assessment department. I passed my Body Attack certification! For every program I teach, I had to attend the initial training (2-3 days of brutal physical and mental challenges) and then I was given 3 months to perfect my technique, choreography, coaching, etc... By the end of 3 months, I was required to send in a video of me teaching an entire class. The video is assessed for physical fitness, technique, coaching ability, choreography, and intangibles such as my ability to connect with the class and my ability to create emotion. Anyway, I was a bit worried but my assessment turned out just fine. There are a couple of areas that I need to tweak but I was aware of them.

Today was Brenden and Jared's end of the year track meet. Every year all the 5th and 6th graders in our district have a track meet. Jared wasn't too excited about it but Brenden was all over it. Jared did a few field events (the shuttle run and Tug'O'War for example). Brenden ran the 300 yard dash, did the Long Jump, and the 4X75 relay. He came in the middle of the pack during the 300 and jumped nearly 10.5 feet in the Long Jump. Unfortunately, I had an experiment going at work and had to return before the relay race. I look forward to hearing how he did. Hopefully Jared had fun also.

I feel old enough to have had the Carpenters perform at my prom

This week is "launch" week at the gym. The three programs I teach come from a company called Les Mills International. Every three months, they send out new music and new choreography to all the instructors. So, every three months, we make a big deal out of it and launch the new music in the gym. This means that I have 34 new songs to learn every three months. On top of my normal teaching load (4 classes a week), I have been involved in the launch of all three classes. Last night I taught my normally scheduled Body Attack class (my first time with the new music) then had to immediately teach (with two other instructor, thankfully) the new Body Pump music. When I got home I was sore and feeling my age. I at least have a day off today from the gym but have the Body Step release tomorrow morning. I am not sure where the choreography from all these songs is being stored. My brain must be nearly full. At last count, I had the choreography from 280 songs stuffed somewhere in my brain. It's a good thing I really like to teach or I would have been driven crazy by now. I am also really lucky that my body has stayed pretty healthy. Other than the pulled plantar facia that I have been fighting with the last several weeks, I feel pretty good.

Last night

Last night was the Pinewood Derby. It was our 12th car. I refuse to make the car for the boys but I will cut out their design. After that, it is their ball of wax. Although Brenden didn't do as well as Jared did last year (Jared is the first one of my boys to win it all), he still won two of his three heats. However, instead of doing it like they did when I was a Cub Scout, it is all high tech now. There is actually a software program that sets up the heats, records the winners (read by infrared at the end of the track), and calculates an average speed for each car. The winner is the car with the fastest average speed. This is kind of nice because you only have to run three heat total and don't have to worry about a championship round. It really speeds things up. Brenden's average speed was unfortunately just under the third place finisher.

We also had a band concert last night. Right after we finished up with Brenden, we ran next door to the high school for Jared's spring concert. He looked sharp up there on the stage in his white shirt and tie. I was somewhat shocked that some of his fellow band members were in jeans and tee shirts. For a young man that complains how much he doesn't like band, he can sure play that trumpet of his. I usually really dislike going to elementary school band concerts because it is not really music yet. However, his band sounded pretty good.

Well, I need to get back to work. I have a faulty incubator that I need to fix this morning. It won't hold the CO2 concentration that I have set. I hope the problem is as simple as a leaky tube.

Changes at Church

Today was Stake conference. Elder Glen L. Pace was in attendance to reorganize our stake presidency because President Hall is moving. He accepted a job at Church headquarters and will be moving shortly. There were no great surprises. Brad Jones, President Hall's first counselor, was called to be the new Stake President, Marlan Hansen (my boss and the former second counselor) was called to be the new first counselor, and the man Marlan replaced when he was callled into the stake presidency 6 months ago, was called to serve again as a member of the stake presidency. I was very impressed with the talks given not only by the General Authorities in attendance (Elders Pace and Melchin) but by the former and new Stake Presidents and their counselors. After the meeting, I was walking past the High Counsel room and saw Marlan's oldest son, Skylar. He worked for me last summer and has been at BYU this last year. I first knew Skylar when he was an eleven year old boy. Now he is getting ready to serve a mission. I poked my head into the room to say hello, and realized that his entire family was in there as well as Elder Melchin. Marlan, as kind and gracious as ever, stopped me, talked to me for a moment and then introduced me to Elder Melchin. I have never had someone look at me, a simple Sunday School teacher, quite the same way. I really felt that he was a true servant of God. The Lord is obviously very much in charge and is very aware of our little corner of the world. How fortunate I am to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. I love him. He is my Savior. There has never been nor will there ever be a greater person born on the face of the earth.

Race

I am so sick and tired of Reverend Wright. I wish he would just shut up and care for his church members instead of spreading his brand of racism like a disease. I can't believe that someone would honestly believe that the government would introduce a disease like AIDS into any community as a means of controlling that community. How ridiculous is that? Granted, our government has pulled some real doozies but that is so far out of the realm of reality that I wonder if Wright isn't on something. Perhaps his 15 minutes in the limelight is just too much for a "humble" man of God. Rather than seeking to solve problems of inequality among blacks and whites, people like Reverend Wright serve to stoke the fires of racism. They don't want these problems solved because that would take away their excuse. As it is now, they can blame the white man for their lack of opportunities - never mind that a black man is running for president of the United States. Now, most of the black people I know agree that Wright is a crackpot. But the fact that he and others like him are even getting media attention is sickening. I am tired of people blaming everyone but themselves for their lot in life. Yes, some people seem luckier than others and their lives just a little easier but personally I will take my life over anyone else's any day of the week. I remember a woman who grew up in Fort Hall, ID (a Bannock-Shoshone Indian reservation) coming to speak to my PoliSci class in college. I still find the irony of her talk funny. Here she was, a doctoral candidate at ISU with a BA from UC Berkley, complaining about how educationally deprived her people were. She stood there and blamed us for the plight of her people. I was so taken aback by the audacity of her comments that I just sat there. I wish I had raised my hand and said something. There is no question that the US government has treated the Native American population unfairly. There is no question that they were deprived of their land and rights. But to blame me and my classmates personally for the current plight of her community was ridiculous. If the reservation school system is so poor, how did she manage to get into Berkley? In reality, her life was proof that anyone can do anything as long as they are willing to work for it. There is no such thing as a shortcut. The only way to success in life, spiritual or temporal, is through work. When people complain that it is a white man's world, I simply look at my co-workers. Of the six us in my lab, I am the only white male. You can walk through the halls in the hospital and see people from all over the world. The chances of hearing a conversation in Chinese or Russian or Arabic or Spanish are pretty high. Most of the grad students in my department are women. How is this a white man's world? I realize that my point of view (as a white man) may be skewing my perceptions of how things really are but this is how I see it.

After taking a week off from teaching, I taught part of a Body Attack class and all of a Body Pump class last night. My foot still isn't ready to go back to Body Attack full force. I pulled something in my right arch (probably the plantar fascia) and it has been bugging me for a while. Last week, after class, I could barely walk. I am now largely limp free but any plantar flexion hurts. Lots of ice and Ibuprofen. It probably wouldn't hurt to lose another 10 pounds either.

The weather has finally warmed up a bit. I haven't planted flowers yet because we have had a couple night lately in the low 30's. I actually went out and covered some of my perennials that were already coming up a couple of nights ago. Everything looks good. So far in my garage I have a hydrangea, a hosta, a couple of columbines, and a bunch of lamium and bungleweed to plant. I am looking for one more showy hosta (any suggestions?) another columbine, and a clematis. This fall I am going to plant some day lillies and asiatic lillies in my one sunny bed.