Way to go, Knights! Jake's 7th grade football team goes undefeated during the regular season. Jake is #53 

Happy Holloween! Olive, Jake, and I spent last night carving pumpkins. This is really not that much of a tradition in the Davis home but we had a good time. Nothing fancy just fun! 

9 + 12 = Nasty Scar

Last night at Jake's football game he intercepted a pass and then was subsequently stepped on by the receiver. He stayed down and I didn't think he was hurt until he started crying. Now Jake (unlike many of his teammates) doesn't cry so I knew he must have really hurt himself. As I approached him I could see the wound just below his knee and I first thought it was a nice raspberry from the grass. As I got closer I could tell it was something much more gross. The other kid's cleat had ripped open his skin. Jake wanted me to simply put a Band-aid on it so he could continue to play. He didn't want to let his team down. He lost it when I told him that we would have to go and have stitches put in. That thought made him go NUTS. He hates shots. He hates stitches. Needless to say, 3 hours later the doctor fixed him up just fine. I have included both before and after pictures (not for the faint of heart). 9 stitches on the inside (we think because we lost count) and 12 on the outside. Jake is one tough kid.

On a side note, I talked to one of the other coaches this morning and he said after we left, the team huddled together and decided to dedicate the game to Jake. After each huddle break, they would shout "Jake". Final score? 58-0. Ouch!

Yes, FINALLY! Today they started digging the hole for our new house and yes, that is snow on the mountains. We need to hurry up and get the foundation put in. 

Stress Management

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.

The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter."

It depends on how long you try to hold it.

"If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.

If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.

If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.

"In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management.

If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. "

"As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.

When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. "

"So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down.

Don't carry it home.

You can pick it up tomorrow.

Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. "

"Relax; pick them up later after you've rested

Life is short. Enjoy it!

Ramadan in El Paso

Well, this week I've been in El Paso. Remember the jingle, "pass the old el Paso" salsa commercial? I really didn't think I'd have much to write about. El Paso is just a small town that sits on the Rio Grande. Across the river sits Juarez, a much larger Mexican city. The thing that surprised me is that El Paso is in the same time zone as Utah.

Okay, now for some things a bit more interesting. We are coming up on the end of Ramadan. One of the guys that I was teaching this week is Muslim and so after we finished today he invited me to their break fast at the mosque. I don't know if we have any mosques in Utah. I'll have to check. We went into the main prayer hall and I sat in the back and watched. There were a few small children running around during the prayer. It kind of cracked me up. There were about 50 men/boys saying their prayers. The room was quite plain and kind of reminded me of a cultural hall in and LDS church house. After a while, the prayers were older and we went upstairs to eat. Lots of yummy Arab food. Similar to Indian food but not quite the biryani taste. Abdul Aziz introduced me to several people. The funniest thing was to see this Mexican Muslim. In addition to the food he was also eating a can of jalapenos. Afterwards, we went back to the University where I helped him with his research work. Now, it's time to head back to Utah. Is El Paso a vacation destination? Hardy. Although the Stones are performing here tomorrow night at the Sun Bowl.

The wife

"No man achieves the supernal exalting status of worthy fatherhood except as a gift from his wife." - President Boyd K. Packer - Ensign, May 1998, 73

Waxing in San Diego

I'm in San Diego this week teaching a class. Quite a bit different from Europe. Marcella would move here in a heartbeat. One of my favorite beaches, Pacific Beach, is here. So is the Gaslamp Quarter. Great food for blocks on end. Anyhow, I thought that I would have a few minutes (or hours) to catch up on some of my posting. It just hasn't happened (yet). Maybe it still will. Anyhow, a few things I've been thinking about that I thought I'd write down. I read an interesting article this morning in USA Today about the increase of lawsuits regarding what is and who is posting on various blogs throughout the world. 150,000 new blogs are created each day. There are over 1.6 million daily postings. That is amazing. I guess I'll keep blogging.

I saw an interesting movie last night. My Life starring Michael Keaton and Nicole Kidman. Bob (Michael) is a terminally ill man who prepares for his death. The tagline? "Every moment counts". Makes you think. What if I was terminally ill? What would I do? Anything different? Would I act any differently? Would I be angry? Sad? How would I treat my friends? My family? My self? I hope and pray I never have to find out. I just want to live for many, many more years.

I'm reading a new book: Love Is the Killer App by Tim Sanders. Pretty interesting book. I'll try and put some of this into practice. Maybe I can become a "lovecat". Maybe I'm ALREADY a "lovecat".