BRRRRRRRRR

Okay, so the easier way down is to slide down on your butt. It's cold, especially if you are in shorts and Tevas. What a blast. Rich took video that maybe I can get and post here.

Father and Son

Okay, so he kicked my butt UP AND DOWN the mountain but you know, you just don't get too many opportunities like this. Here we are at the top looking over Utah and Salt Lake Valley.

Can you see my house!

Finally! Here is looking down into Utah County from the top of Pfieferhorn.

Straight up the middle

The easiest way up was right up the middle. Over all of these large boulders. It was fun!

Looking back.....

We are just about to the top and I snapped this picture looking back (East) where we came up. So DAMN pretty.

Snow and Tevas don't mix

Yes, there still were a number of patches of snow hiking up to the top of Pfieferhorn. Mind you I'm hiking in my Tevas. Here you can see my buddy, Rich (Laman) is waist deep.

Red Pine Lake

Sure is beautiful. The only problem is that you have to 1) get up early and 2) be prepared for a short 3 mile hike.

Hey! It's me.

Usually not too many pictures of me. JJ snapped this one of me in front of Red Pine Lake. You'll notice my totem around my neck. It's my "scout" name - Lemuel. My buddy, Rich made it for me a few years ago and I take it on all my scouting activities.

Are you happy?

This afternoon, I read this on another blog. I'm not sure who to attribute it to except Grant Nielsen's former boss in Seattle. He said that you only needed 3 things to be happy. They are 1) Something to do, 2) Someone to love, and, 3) Something to look forward to.

Does that work for you?

BTW, this same boss also said that you can tell everything you need ot know about a person by his watch, and the trunk of his car. Hmmmm. My Swatch battery died back in January. I wore it anyhow for a couple of months. Still haven't replaced that battery. My trunk has more or less the following items (an old computer bag, some chocolate covered almonds, a couple of towels I use for washing my car, a few papers, and my Walking on Eggshells book). It looks pretty good compared to what it's looked like in the past.

My son, the mountain goat

On Saturday, JJ and I got up around 5 am to go with a few others in our neighborhood to hike to the top of Pfieferhorn. I'll post more pictures tomorrow night (got to go to bed!). JJ is CLEARLY in his element this morning. He is so good. Kicked my butt to the top AND the bottom. I love this kid.

My buddy, Zoran

Tons of thanks and gratitude to my kind friends in Belgrade. Zoran spent every night with me taking me to all of his favorite places, telling me history, but mostly telling me why these places were special to him. Thanks!

I didn't do it. No one saw me do it. You can't prove anything

Only a few handful of people know how big of a Simpsons fan I was BEFORE I had kids. As a college student I wore Bart Simpson t-shirts to class at least a couple of times a week. I STILL have a Bart Simpson doll above my desk in my office. Well, as the saying goes, "... I put away childish things" (more or less). But I couldn't resist when we took the kids to see Pirates III, I couldn't resist taking this picture.

Almost forgot

I took this picture last month in Guatemala. I just forgot to post it. Reminded me of the saying, "Here's your sign".

Extra Protein

Last week I was at my friend's home and having some lunch (soup, roast beast, potatoes, and salad). I was on my third helping of salad when I noticed a small worm on one of the lettuce leaves. Yum yum. I wondered how many worms I had already eaten. Oh well. I was polite and thanked them for a wonderful meal.

THEN, this morning, I thought I would have a bowl of cereal. A few years ago, I had cereal every morning. Now, my usual is toast, banana, yogurt, and juice. For some reason, cereal sounded good. I'm chomping away, and I notice what looked like a bug. Hmmm. Maybe not enough sleep last night. Maybe a bit of paranoia. After all, I was almost finished with my tasty bowl. I examined further. Yes, bugs. Not sure what type, but definitely bugs. So I got out the container of the cereal and did some further examination. FULL of BUGS! So I dumped the rest of my bowl down the sink and emptied the cereal in the trash.

Gross? Not really.

Shut that rooster up!

Here is where I had lunch every day this week. One of the guys I was working with would walk over with me, order for me and then leave to go do some work. I sat by myself each day eating yummy food. Steak or sausage with frites and a tasty salad of cucumbers and tomatoes with feta cheese on top. Not a lick of English spoken. Oh the rooster? Must have been part of the staff because he just walks around the place doing his cock-a-doodle-do thing the whole time.

Nice church!

This is the Temple Saint Sava the largest Orthodox church in the world. It is pretty darn big.

Zasto (Why)

During the bombardment Tomahawk missiles destroyed a Serbian TV station killing 16 innocent people. Pretty sad to see the remains and the memorial stone.

Bombardment

This "was" the building of the Serbian Ministry of Defense. A couple of interesting things. One, up close I noticed some pretty extravagant building materials. I learned that part of the building was built during the "times of good and plenty". The other interesting thing was the military folks on patrol around the building were getting a bit "excited" when they learned an American was taking pictures. "No more pictures" they said. Nema problema (actual Serbian phrase)

Say a prayer (or light a candle)

Next to Zoran's church is a small (who knows what you call it) cangle room. We went and lit two candles each. We put on in the sand above which represents a prayer for the living (wishing good luck) and one for the sand below (for those that have passed on). I'm sure that this all has "pc" names for this ceremony/token but it good to participate. Beyond the church and candle room you can see a forest. It is actually a military installation and supposedly this is where Milosevic was hiding during the bombardment.

Zoran and Snezana's Church

Here is the church they go to. It is small, with no chairs. You just stand. Orthodox of course.

Have I been here???

Have you ever gone someone for a few days and then not return for nine years? I must be getting old because it has been difficult to remember the places here in Belgrade. Some places, sure. I remember but others not. My first day here in Belgrade and my friends Zoran and Snezana came to see me. I went and hung out at their flat. Of course my luggage was "trapped" somewhere at Charles de Gaulle. I spent all of 20 minutes in that airport before boarding the plane to Belgrade. Well at least I got a toothpick sized toothbrush, a mini deo-4-b.o, and an undershirt. Such a lovely experience wearing the same clothes for 3 days straight. Oh well. It really doesn't bug me much any more because it happens so often. I just wish I'd throw an extra pair of garments in my computer bag and maybe a shirt. My hotel is decent enough. In the quite part of town. Nice. The first day we walked around downtown and stopped to see "The Victor" at Kalemegdan.

Yu-go-to-slavia

Nine years ago I came to Belgrade. It was a wonderful experience and I made friends from a number of countries with whom I still keep in contact with. When I first came here Jake was only 3 years old! That is amazing. Anyhow, the boys thought Yugoslavia was pronounced "you-go-to-slavia". It has been very fun to be back here and visit with people and see places that I haven't seen for such a long time. Shortly after I was here the first time, was when the NATO bombings of the country started. Their purpose was to oust the leader Slobodan Milosevic. I remember what a hard time I had during the bombings because of the many friends that I had here. Luckily no one I knew died or got hurt or lost any loved ones. Now, I'm hear again, nine years later working on a project to help clean up part of the mess what we caused. Lovely. More to follow!

The Mommy Test

I was out walking with my 4 year old daughter. She
picked something up off the ground and started to put
it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and I
asked her not to do that "Why?" my daughter asked.

"Because it's been on the ground, you don't know where
it's been, it's dirty and it probably has germs", I replied.
At this point, my daughter looked at me with total
admiration and asked, "Mommy, how do you know all this stuff?
You are so smart."

I was thinking quickly, "All moms know this stuff.
It's on the Mommy Test. You have to know it, or they
don't let you be a Mommy."

We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she
was evidently pondering this new information. "OH...I
get it!" she beamed, "So, if you don't pass the test,
you have to be the daddy."
"Exactly", I replied back, with a big smile on my face.

Get out of my FACE!!!

Jengibre

Okay, yes it is late and I have to be up in an absurd 3 hours from now to get to the airport. But I simply couldn't pass up taking a few minutes. We left the far reaches of civilization to head to the "big city". Next time I need to remember to bring a towel and a decent pillow. The client does NOT like people to travel on the road to the city after dark. Apparently, the banditos on a particular stretch of road like to punder. Well we didn't see any banditos but it was dark, pretty foggy and rainy in parts.

I'm staying in the Radisson, top floor way nice room. Much better than last night. Instead of venturing out tonight, the hotel has a sushi bar. Yum Yum. To drink I had a typical local drink of lemons, mint, and semillas de chan (seeds of chan). Very tasty. I had two very good maki rolls. If you've ever eaten sushi with me you know that I LOVE ginger. The server brought me a small bowl. I asked more more, and more, and more, and more (and 3 more times). Yum Yum. A warm brownie topped off the fine dinner. Who would have thought. Now it's nighty nighty time.

Ulysses S ?????

Okay, so I don’t know his middle initial or his last name for that matter. But I did meet a nice man tonight named Ulysses. You see he is the owner of La Casona here in Ascension. I had dinner here (and quite tasty I may add). Ulysses is a native from here but after going to school he worked for 10+ years as an accountant in Los Angeles. Quite successful I hear. But he missed “home” and so he gave up the glamour or Hollywood to come back here. He first started a Laundromat but that didn’t quite take. You see, the people here, if/when they decide to actually wash their ropa, do it at home and hang their clothes out to dry. Not so much the “hey let’s go wash our clothes and meet people at the Laundromat” type. So then he decided to get into the restaurant business. He now owns 2 restaurants (but that hasn’t been verified). Dinner was quite good. I had a steak, with beans, corn, potatoes, salsa, fresh tortillas, and a very tasty lemonade to drink. After dinner we sought out a very tasty ice cream shop. I had a sundae with strawberry and mango ice cream. Pretty amazing to think that one would give up living in LA to come back here to live amongst family and friends. That’s life!

Cerro Blanco

Couldn’t think of a more appropriate title. Yes, I realize that my life has been turned upside down for the past few months and I’ve written very little. Maybe I’ll catch up.

Talk about some of the many books that I’ve read (mostly self help/marriage/relationship-type books). Maybe I’ll write about work, selling my company, my new job. Maybe I’ll write about living at my Mom’s house for 3 months. Maybe I’ll write about my two trips to Florida or the VERY exciting trip to Ely, Nevada.

Anyhow, I’m sitting here smack in the middle of Asunción Mita. A small village in Guatemala not far from the borders of Honduras and El Salvador. I’m here on assignment giving some expert advice to the client on constructing a groundwater dewatering model for a 3+ billion dollar gold mine about to be dug. This is my first trip to this part of the world. It is nice to be able to speak Spanish and communicate with these folk. I flew in yesterday and spent the night in Guatemala City (the capitol). We stayed in what’s called Zone 10. As long as we didn’t venture out of that zone we were okay. I learned that more killings/murders per capita take place in Guatemala City than any other place in the world. Great!

I went for my morning run listening to Mika cranked up. It was fun and I got lots of stares from the locals. I was careful to “stay within the zone”. It cracked me up the number of armed security people/police at every building parking lot. After meeting some folks at the Euro Plaza building, we headed out to Ascension of course stopping at McDicks for breakfast. By the way, zone 10 was full of usual eateries like TGI Fridays,

Applebees, Subway, and the like. Instead of staying at the Intercontinental I stayed at the Best Western sorry you don’t have internet in your room. Darn!

The road (the remains of the old Pan American highway) was pretty much uneventful.
We stopped at a very nice, clean 24 hour service station (owned by one of the drug lords).
I got a Gatorade and a bag of dried plantains. Tasty!

We arrived in Ascension, checked e-mail and met a few folks before heading out to the mine site. It’s pretty cool out here in the middle of nowhere. Lots of dormant volcanoes all around. The weather was a nice 100+ with humidity in the 80% range. Not too bad. We drove around taking pictures, look at some of the monitoring wells and core hole sites and watching some workers at one of the drill sites.

The hill where they plan mine (underground) is basically a big rock. They just have to pump the water out as they dig. For some reason, it is easier for the miners to work if the mine shafts aren’t full of water. Hello! Have they not heard of scuba diving? Anyhow, the temperature of the water might be part of the problem. The temp ranges anywhere from 120 to over 180 degrees. Not a pleasant experience to come in contact with. In order for the mining operation to work, after the water is pumped out of the ground, the rock must be refrigerated to cool it down before removing it. Pretty funky stuff. Nearby the area that they want to mine, the water is closer to 300 degrees and that’s good enough for geothermal activity/power generation.

Anyhow, here I sit in my room. I’m in kind of one of those hacienda types. The shower and toilet are outside a couple of dozen steps from my room. There is a nice hammock outside my room where I sat and read for a bit. It’s hot but bearable. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. We are supposed to start at 6:30 so I’ll have to get up before that if I’m going to run through the cobble streets of Asunción.

BYU Alternative Commencement

Okay, I frankly haven't followed this much. I really don't give a crap about this but I thought if people are taking the time to do all of this protesting I could at least blog about it. Our Vice President is speaking this afternoon at the BYU commencement. I think it is a pretty big honor that he is here (but that's just me). Anyhow, a group wanted to organize an alternative. They have a website. There is another one called byustopcheney.com. So if you're bored, and you want to see a "riot", you'll have to check out this video. Enjoy.

The 4-Hour Workweek

Okay, I know that it's been awhile since I last blogged. I think we all know (and understand) the reason. There are a couple of things that I just couldn't pass up this morning. The first is this book
by Timothy Ferriss. It is called The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere and Joing the New Rich. You should definitely check out the reviews. First check out the Editorial reviews and then check out the customer reviews. Is this for real? Only you can decide.

Spring break - North Miami Beach

Just a couple of miles from my hotel was the beautiful beach of North Miami. I would run to the beach and back. What a great workout. When I was there it was the beginning of spring break but lucky for me it was pretty mello. Too bad Utah isn't closer to an ocean like this.

Barf-a-rama

Last Sunday I took a break from a consulting project that I'm working on. I was working in North Miami Beach at Michelle's home. Her husband, Abe is quite the avid fisherman. If he could, he would fish everyday, all day. He has a nice fishing boat and they live on a harbor that connects to Biscayne Bay. Abe and I went out in the bay for a couple of hours to fish. We used live bay shrimp and had a fun time catching sea trout. There were also pin fish that loved to steal the shrimp right off the hook. Later, we ventured out into the Atlantic. We only went a few miles off shore. We could still see the Miami coastline which was good for me. The swells were probably only 4 feet or so. We used live pin fish for bait and we hoped to catch a sail fish, king fish, snapper, dolphin or something big. After an hour and a half or so, I was beginning to lose it a bit. I kept staring at the buildings trying to convince myself that I wasn't going to puke. The waves kept coming and finally I lost my lunch. Oh well. I do not do well with spinning rides or even roller coasters over and over again. Hopefully, the next time I'll be able to last a bit longer. I need "sea legs" as my son informed me. At any rate, we didn't catch anything so we'll have to go out again.

The Navigator

Okay, so Friday night I had to drive from Orlando to Miami. Just a short 3 hour drive down the Florida Turnpike. I was on 528 just leaving the airport and I was soon coming up on I-4 when my good friend Clark called. He was still at work and so I asked him to get on Google maps and help me find the Turnpike. I was heading quickly to Tampa and I didn't want the "scenic" route. I missed exit after exit that would have gotten me back on the right path. Actually, it really wasn't that big of a deal. I really didn't have to be anywhere at anytime. I finally was "navigated" off I-4 and started me exciting tour through "the sticks of Florida". I went through Lake Alfred, Haines City, Lake Hamilton, Dundee on to the happening town of Lake Wales. There I stopped at a convenience store for some snacks. From there I finally got on state road 60 which would lead me to Yeehaw Junction (FINALLY the Florida Turnpike). Basically, a 2 hour detour. Fun fun fun. I still had at least 2 more hours paying money as I went south. I am NOT a big fan of toll roads. You? Doesn't make sense. Once I got close to Miami I knew I needed to get to I-95 but I just kept on going until I was arriving at the Miami airport. Too far. Dang! I got off the freeway, drove on the main streets and quickly got to Biscayne Blvd. From there it was another 15-20 minutes up to Aventura and finally my hotel. What a night. I got a quick bite to eat before retiring around 2 in the morning. What an adventure.

National Napping Day

In case you weren't informed, today is National Napping Day. You might have thought that you got robbed yesterday of the precious hour of sleep. NOT THE CASE. You get that extra hour this afternoon. Hooray!

Black Hole

What sic puppy blogs at 2:00 in the morning? I've been meaning to write up a post for a couple of days ago. Last Sunday night I flew into MCO. I had my sunglasses with me. Then I didn't. The next morning I realized that I didn't have them. I called the front desk - no luck. I checked with the driver/van that I rode in the night before - no luck. I called the Orlando airport. They basically laughed at me. They told me to check back later that day. I also talked to the Delta baggage claim office. According to the guy that I talked to, Delta alone collects over 2000 items each month. They keep things for about 2 weeks and then everything is boxed up and sent "somewhere". I've heard that outside of Atlanta there is a place where at least some of Delta's lost and unclaimed stuff is sent. I tried to Google such a place but came up empty handed. Last Fall I lost my car keys on a trip to Europe. The SLC baggage department told me that thousands of items or lost and never reclaimed and each month they are boxed up and "destroyed" according to the guy I talked to. I'm sure that it is a MAJOR pain in the butt, however, it seems like there could be a something put in place to make a better effort. In searching for this "place" in Atlanta I read that it costs Delta over $150 for each lost piece of luggage that is found and returned to the rightful owner. Anyhow, as I said to begin with, if you happen to lose ANYTHING at an airport or on a plane, it is forever lost. Black Hole, baby!

Cash on Delivery

So as far as anyone can remember, there hasn't been a student at MRJH that had back to back lead roles in their theater productions. JJ is quite the natural. Last week he played Eric Swan, a British taxpayer out to swindle the government. I googled and found a review by Eric Snider when the Hale Center Theater did the play a few years ago. Of course I saw all three performances and sat on the front row each night. Although I'm not a good photographer this is my favorite picture of the few that I took. JJ (and one of his best friends, Ryan) just finished doing the hokey-pokey. Way to go, JJ!

Tommy's

I was in Provo last week and I decided to stop by for a famous Tommy burger. I haven't had one for years. Now I'm not saying that this is the best burger in the world but it was fun to eat there nevertheless. It brought back lots of memories of my old Provo friends.

State Champs!!!

Congrats to the GSLHA Pee-Wees for winning the state title. After beating Vernal (Ashley Valley) the first time back in November they pretty much had a number beating us easily the next 3 games against them. We faced them for the final championship game and we won 3-2. Jake was pretty happy. Undefeated in football and now champs in hockey.

The Manwarings

Well, it's time to pay a small tribute to a great family. I first met Colby when he and I worked at BYU for the EMRL. I remember when he sat next to me at our graduation ceremony. After I left BYU to come to EMS-I he came shortly thereafter to oversee all of our sales and marketing needs. We have had lots of fun times together. We had a number of "lake day" trips riding waverunners and water skiing. We didn't go on too many trips together but obviously our trip to India was the most memorable. I blogged about that a couple of years ago here. Colby and Laura lived close to us in Cedar Hills so we would see them outside of the work arena as well. I remember how scary it was when we found out when they got in an accident coming home from an Idaho trip one winter. That is when we all found out that Laura was pregnant with the twins. Colby and I did get the chance to ski together (he's much better than I am). I always teased him because he was from Idaho. On Colby's first trip to India, he got really sick and ended up spending more than a week in a hospital in Paris. We teased him for a long time about his "vacation" in Paris. More recently, Laura has been a great help and lots of great advice and council. She was the one that made me write down my three contacts. Well, I'm sure that I could go on and on about the memories that we've shared but the sad thing is that Colby has accepted a new job up in Portland. Last week I had dinner with his family and Friday was his last day. I'll certainly miss the Manwarings!

Chastity

Today the Utah legislature repealed a law today that makes it a misdemeanor to accuse a woman of being less than pure. Who ever came up with that?

2006-07 GSLHA Outlaws

Swimming with Alligators and Lizards

On Saturday, my two half-sisters (I actually think of them as my nieces), Ali and Liz were competing in the 4A State Swim Championships which were held at BYU. They swim for East and this year they had a kick butt team. It was fun to watch (okay the kids got a bit bored). The girls team took the state title. Ali is a Junior and she placed 9th overall in the 100 breaststroke and Liz is a Freshman and placed 8th overall in the 100 butterfly. A BIG congratulations!!!

Bowling for Soup

Okay, I know that it has been freakin' forever. I'm going to write something even if it kills me. I should be working on my new project at work, but what the hell. A couple of weeks ago, my wife had "club" at our house. Kind of like bunco but without the bunco. So the kids and I had a mid-week night on the town. They were totally excited. We ate at Bajio. I really like the Flauta Bajio and get that almost every time. We also like it there because they serve apple beer. Not too many places around here where you can get that. After that, we went bowling. The first place we went to (some place in Lindon) was closed so we called and got directions to Jake & Jill Bowling lanes. For a Wednesday night it was pretty packed with youth groups. We didn't have to wait long and we got 2 games in. We had a great time. Olivia was a hoot to watch. She would make her approach, launch the ball down the lane and then quickly turn around, sit down, legs crossed and hold both hands up with her fingers crossed. It must have worked because she kicked all of our butts on the second game. Fun time was had by all. The boys struggled a bit losing to their 5 year old sister.














P.S. Not only is Bowling for Soup a popular music group in the Davis household, for club Marcella made her award winning broccoli cheese soup.

Happy New Year 2007!

Okay, we finally were able to get our Christmas Cards turned Happy New Year cards out to family and friends. I'm including it here:

Happy New Year 2007!
Here’s the scoop from A to Z:
Antipholus of Ephesus – JJ was the lead role in Comedy of Errors
Build-a-bear – Olivia’s favorite store at the Gateway
Caribbean cruise – Jeff and Marcella loved the islands
Deacon – Jake received the Priesthood
Emergency Room – Just 21 stitches to sew up Jake’s leg
Fingers – JJ tried to cut his off and Jake broke his
Girls, girls, girls – JJ is all about them (esp. Robin)
Help! We are surrounded by teenagers! Well, almost JJ is 14, Jake is 12 and Olivia is 5 going on 16.
Idaho – family time in Sandpoint again this summer
Jordanelle Triathlon – Jeff’s first (and not last) tri.
Kindergarten – Olivia LOVES Ms. Aiken.
Lone Peak Knights – Jake’s perfect 10-0 football season
Melrose Avenue – Shopping heaven for Marcella
Neurologist – We (M) went through a few of them this year
Outlaws – Jake’s 2nd hockey season at the Olympic Oval
Paris – WOW! If Marcella ever goes missing…
Quiet time – Dwell, Metropolitan Home, Self, W, In Style, HGTV - Do NOT disturb M after 10:30 p.m.
Renaissance Academy – Jake and Olivia’s new charter school
Shakespeare Team – JJ traveled to Cedar City to compete
Timberline Drive – the Davis’ new address in 2007? Time will tell – stay tuned…
ULCER – Jeff’s first century (bike) ride around Utah Lake - Yes, that’s 100 miles…
Vegas – We were in Vegas listening to the victory of BYU over Utah 33-31
Where in the world is Jeff this week?
XM Radio – Love it in the new black TL
Year of the 40 year olds (YIKES)
Z00 – Welcome to the Davis home.

We hope you had a wonderful Holiday Season and that each of you know how much we value you in our lives. We wish you and yours Peace, Joy and Love! May 2007 be kind to us all!
Jeff, Marcella, JJ, Jake and Olivia

Word of the Day

Nefarious - wicked in the extreme; iniquitous.

Nefarious is from Latin nefarius, from nefas, "that which is contrary to divine command; a crime, transgression, sin," from ne-, "not" + fas, "divine command or law."

Maybe you can use this word in a sentence or two today.

Happy 40th

Even though I'm dang tired, I need to post a picture from last night. Yesterday was my 40th birthday. Nothing big. Certainly no big shindig with adult diapers, Ben-Gay, Geritol, and other "Over the Hill" gag gifts. I spent most of the day at BYU meeting with AKZ and working with Chris. I had lunch at the Cougareat surrounded by seemingly high school aged boys and girls. Maybe I AM getting old. Chris pointed out that many of these people were less than HALF my age. Oh well. I did have a nice dinner with the Bains (Matt and Lichelle), Clark (Sandy was in New Mexico with Megan), and Marcella. We ate at a place called Epic Casual Dining. I had a nice dish of Blue Marlin, a tasty salad and an apple tart (on flat bread) for desert. It was quiet, and I very much enjoyed the company. Thanks!

More on Romney

I found this poll on MSN pretty interesting. Over the past several months it didn't matter who I talked to (Mormon or not), few people told me that Mitt has any chance at all in becoming the POTUS in 08. Why? Because he's a Mormon. Check out this poll and then explain why it is so lopsided then.

Why do men.....

Okay, maybe this isn't the most PC post but after reading today's Sanders Says post about washing your hands, I've been thinking about it. Why is it that some/most men do NOT wash their hands after visiting the restroom? Twice today I noticed this. Now, I can see while going #1 you could sorta rationalize and say, "hey, I don't pee on my hands" but #2? Give me a break? Let's start a compaign, "Wash your hands!", I don't want your germs.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ....Wireless!

I'm in Long Beach this week for a GRAC conference. My favorite comment today was when this guy comes walking up to me and asks "Oh, are you on the internet?" I was of course (reading how neither the Bears or the Colts will make it to the Superbowl). "Can I check my AOL mail to see if my wife responded to my e-mail?" I responded "a.....sure, I guess."

The Anatomy of Peace

Last night I finished this good book. I highly reccommend it. It is a follow up to a previous book called Leadership and Self Deception. The book talks about how each of us justify our thoughts and actions and how this leads us to wage war (with our spouse, children, friends, coworkers, or neighbors). I should write more about this book and why I liked it so much but I'm tired and I'm going to bed.

Donkeys and Elephants

Like I said in my previous post, I was in Virginia. Being close to “the beltway” makes me feel a bit more politically inclined. On the last day of the training, someone asked me "why I was a Republican". Without thinking much, I rattled off a few things that I thought I should write down here. In no particular order here are some of the things that I believe are important.

Less Government - I think there needs to be less government, less taxes, less programs.
Simpler taxes - I think paying/filing your taxes should be less complicated.
Taxes in general - I think the more you make, the more taxes you should pay.
Guns - I think any law-abiding citizen should be allowed to buy and carry a gun.
Abortion - I'm against it however, I think a women has the right to choose.
Budget - I think our current government spends too much money and we need to get this under control.
Freedom of religion - I think it is really important that everyone has the right to choose how, when, and what they worship.
Capital punishment - I believe that if you take the life of someone else (especially if it was premeditated) then you should die.
Education - I think more control should be given at the local level. Parents ought to have the choice about how/where their children are taught. More money ought to be given to teachers. Lower teacher-student ratios, more accountability in the schools.

Are there more issues to list here? Certainly. I just thought it would be good to write some of these things down. I think over the past few years that I've moved more towards the middle of the road. I CERTAINLY do not like/support the far left/Hollywood/radical/ultra-liberal movement. However, the far right is just as dangerous. In the airport this afternoon I picked up Lou Dobbs' new book "War on the Middle Class". In the brief few minutes that I thumbed through the pages, the key idea that I got from the book was the need for all of us to reread (or read) and ponder the the documents: Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. That's what I'm going to do this week.

Ryan and Richmond

This week I’ve been in Richmond, Virginia, I was here about 5 years ago. This time I was here to work with the Department of Environmental Quality. I stayed right downtown and walked to/from their office. Luckily, the manager of the group was kind enough to take me to dinner a couple of the nights. One of the crappy things about being on the road is having dinner by yourself. Anyhow, the mid-term elections were this week and the state of Virginia was one of the pivotal states in the control of Congress. Last week before I left, I voted down at the County offices in Provo. I had very little free time but did manage to get on the bike each morning and night to exercise. Last night, I drove up to Alexandria to watch the BYU game at Ryan’s house. About a year or so ago he bought a condo and this was the first time to see his new house. Shortly after he moved in Marcella flew out for a weekend to do the decorating. She did a great job. The game was quite entertaining as the Cougars gave a serious beating to the Cowboys of Wyoming (55-7). Driving back was a challenge but I made it safely. Now, home for a couple of days before heading to Long Beach.

PSB

Last Friday, Marcella and I took the boys to see the Pet Shop Boys in concert at the E Center. Jake has known about it for a while but JJ didn't find out until the day before. It was a pretty fun concert and quite different from most of the other concerts that we've been to. It's pretty strange that here we are, 40 years old, and going to concerts with our teenage boys. They played most of their older songs (Shopping, Rent, Opportunities, Always on my mind, Domino Dancing, and my favorite It's a Sin). They also played a bunch of new songs (Minimal, Flamboyant, and I'm with Stupid). They finished singing with Go West. Way to go 80s band!

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".

Happy 40th. You deserve a nap! Check out this girl! Doesn't she look pretty hot in her Cavalli shirt? 

Olivia's 2nd day of school. Yesterday was just a hard day. Lots of tears and fears about starting school. That's all past now and she loves Renaissance Academy. 

#2261

That was my number. Yesterday was my first attempt at doing an Olympic triathlon. I chose to do the Jordanelle triathlon. I planned to wake up around 5:15 but because of the lovely wind here in Highland I was up at 4. I stayed in bed until just after 5 and then got up to make sure stuff in the backyard hadn't blown down the street. I was out the door around 6 with all my gear. Did I have everything? Did I have enough? I threw in a sweatshirt and some windbreaker clothes just in case the weather was yucky.

I got up to Francis just after 7 and found the parking lot. I pretty much followed those around me since I didn't have a clue. For this particular tri, you have to park about
3.5 miles from where the event takes place. So I threw my duffle bag on my back and rode down the hill. I checked in, picked up my packet and got body marked. 2261 on the hand, on the shoulder, and then a big O on the left calf (signifying that I was doing the Olympic race) and a big 39 on the right calf.

I found my area in the transition area and set things up. I pinned my number on my running shirt and put another number on my bike. I had plenty of time to walk around and relax. Soon, it was time to head down to the starting point. For this particular tri, the swim is about 1/2 mile away from the transition area. At 9 o'clock, the first wave started (which I was in). There were about 50 or so of us. I honestly couldn't tell. Maybe more. There were very few of us that were not in wetsuits. The water was not cold to me and I thought I would be fine. Well, more or less, the swim was my worst part. I'm usually about a 30-33 minute mile swimmer. Yesterday, for some reason, it took me almost 50 minutes. I'm not sure but it was a LONG freakin time. I wasn't tired, I just couldn't get it going. Maybe I wasn't psyched enough, who knows.

I got out of there, put on my shoes, and ran up to the transition area. I threw on my biking shorts, shirt, gloves, and shoes and headed out. I knew I had some time to make up. There were a number of girls that were a head of me and they went into the water about 10 minutes after I did. Well as bad as I did on the swim, I kicked some butt on the bike. I followed a pretty strong girl for the first 10 miles or so and then I opened it up. It really felt good on the bike. The road had just a slight grade (around 2%) and went for 12 miles or so before turning around. Coming back I was flying. I averaged about 26-27 mph and when I came down the steep hill I increased my top speed to just under 47 mph.

The second transition went pretty well as I stripped off my bike shoes and put on the running shoes. I had to change shirts and shorts. The run (6+ miles) was a combination of trail and road running. There was more hill than I had expected and I had to walk a couple of times on both laps. On the second time around I was just telling myself "hey, you're almost done!". I crossed the finish line in just under 3 hours. This is where I wanted to be. Had I not sucked so bad on the swim I would have had a decent first tri. I think I ended up 156th overall and 10th in my age group. I certainly have lots of room for improvement.

There were lots of fast bikes and well conditioned athletes. Lots of them take it pretty seriously. After the race I loaded up with fruit, drink, muffins, and more fruit. The ride back to the parking lot really sucked big time but it was better than waiting in the LONG line to take the bus. The family (along with Wolf and Grammy) stopped at Granny's in Heber for lunch including their famous shakes. The day finished off with football practice with Jake and then a Court of Honor up at Mutual Dell for JJ and Jake. What a day! I look forward to the next one.

Timberline Drive

This is probably the last time we'll see this undisturbed piece of Highland. We will most likely start digging while Marcella and I are in Europe. We are so excited!!!!!