Blogging From The Plane

Time: 8:15am MDT
Location: Just north of Lake Francis Case
Speed: 476 mph

Welcome to "Blogging From The Plane". Kristin, the little one, and I are en route to Portland, OR, to visit Kristin’s family for a week. Our early morning flight out of Dulles International Airport has been uneventful thus far. The plane is fairly empty so we have three seats to ourselves. Our delightful friend David was kind enough to drive us to the airport this morning at 5:30am. That is a true friend.

We checked the car seat and Pack N Play. As a result we only had the diaper bag, my laptop bag, and Kristin's bag o' miscellany as carry ons. I got to carry Clara through the airport and was the recipient of many warms smiles and comments of "What a beautiful daughter you have!"

I haven't flown out of Dulles in a while and this was my first opportunity to experience the underground walkway connecting the B and Main terminals. What a glorious experience! No people movers crammed full of early-morning travelers. Only a long hallway with moving sidewalks. And what could make it even better? Check it out:
I so need to get this printed on a t-shirt.

Walk Left | Stand Right is the cornerstone and keystone of escalator and moving sidewalk etiquette. An variation on "slower traffic keep right," the concept allows people who like to walk to get past those who want to stand. I judge not whether you are a walker or a rider, I myself have experienced the joy of the ride many times, but ask that you help keep a sense of order. That’s all.

Okay, we’re about to descend into Salt Lake City, where we have a one-hour lay over. I need to shut down my portable electronic device. Before I go, two quick other notes:

1) Clara has been charming the flight crew. One of the flight attendants offered the opinion that Clara will be breaking hearts in no time.

2) Real men change messy diapers at 8,000 feet. I rule.

Blogging During Sunday Morning Conference

12:03p: Clay Christiansen is my hero.

12:04p: Oh, those blue dresses.

12:09p: Child's Prayer arrangement. WOW! The subtlety, the nuance, so restrained. The joint verse has NEVER sounded this good.

12:13p: Kicking it off with Eyring and Cook!

12:16p: What a touching tribute to President Faust from President Eyring.

12:18p: "Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us, or our children, or our family this day?"

12:28p: An amazing talk on God's hand in our lives. From forgiveness, atonement, and sacrament to the small daily things.

12:29p: Thursday afternoon. Very little warning. Elder Maxwell to Elder Cook, when the latter was called as a General Authority in 1996, the key to Church service is being "comfortable in bearing witness of the divinity of the Savior."

12:33p: Three day's notice only allows for preparing a testimony and those things which are already written in your heart. The perfect introduction to a new Apostle.

12:45p: Live by faith, not by fear.

1:04p: What?! One verse? Clara knows that song.

1:05p: Christoffel. Now that's a name.

1:19p: Forgiveness from sin is not the purpose of the gospel. Overcoming the desire to sin is the purpose of the gospel.

1:26p: Clean hands vs. pure heart. What an insightful talk, opening the scriptures. And he replaced Elder Maxwell.

1:30p: God So Loved The World. It's refreshing to have traditional choral music (and the Primary music from early) alongside the hymns.

1:33p: A soloist sings the same song. The orchestra places the same piece. A speaker is expected to come up with something new each time he talks. President Hinckley - 1. The rest of the world - 0. He is sooooo winning.

1:50p: Unlike recent years, that was not a 'good-bye'.

1:51p: Organ duets rock.

1:55p: The choir's amen brought a tear to my eye. And the organ part at the end of the hymn. Kristin turned to me, "Did you hear that?" Oh, I did.

Blogging During Conference was brought to you by my BlackBerry.

We're Here

I'm sitting on my couch, typing on my new laptop for school, watching Olympics on my TV, wondering how we made it here. We've had a crazy trip from VA to DC -- starting back when we first had the idea to leave DC -- and we'll blog all about it all. But I wanted to drop a note to get back in the blogging frame of mind and let you know how we're doing.

Today we went to church in our new ward for the first time. We are in the Slate Canyon 13th Ward in the Provo Utah Stake. Our building is a Stake center about two minutes from our house. The ward is predominantly late-20s, early-30s families with a mix of people older and younger. It looks like most people are working professionals with a hand full of students. The talks and lessons were good. This ward may work.

The big news of the day came in Gospel Doctrine. Two things, actually. First, Clara is quite uncontainable and, my, do we rely on nursery. Clara has had a cold for the past week or so. She still has a runny nose, so we didn't want to take her to nursery for fear of infecting the other children. We did a drive-by to let her see the room and meet the nursery leaders. She was so cute, checking out the room and they toys. She seemed very comfortable and should do well next Sunday. We took her to Gospel Doctrine with us, and learned how uncontainable she has become. We ended up splitting the class, one in the hall and the other in class, so she wouldn't disrupt the room. Kristin and Clara went home after the second hour so Clara could take a nap. Did I mention that we have 1pm church again? There is no worse time when you have a toddler. I hope we get 9am church next year.

The second thing happened just before class got started. I was looking around the room and was shocked to see someone I knew: Allyson. Allyson grew up in Northern Virginia, went to TJ with Matthew and Jared, and is the younger sister of Heather F. (Matt - didn't you and Heather go to a dance?) Allyson ended up giving me a ride home from church then coming over for dinner. It was an odd experience to sit down and talk with someone that you hadn't talked to or seen in 14 years. The conversation would flow from typical getting acquainted questions (family, hobbies, work, relationships) to reminiscing about people we used to know. I even pulled out an old photo album and we played "can you name the person in the picture?"

After dinner and putting Clara to bed, we chatted while watching the Olympics. Allyson called it a night after the gymnastics as she is a teacher and the first day of school is tomorrow. Who woulda thunk that dinner tonight would have been with an old friend from Virginia.

This is my fate in life. I love people. I love talking to people. One might say I collect people. I love hearing their stories, learning about their passions, their happenings. And everywhere I go, I run into someone I know. Kristin and I had many conversations about how we would pitch ourselves to our new ward --- you know, which callings do you fess up to (Seminary Teacher, Gospel Doctrine Teacher, Sunbeam Teacher, Ward Organist), do you really let them know you enjoy talking in church, when is too soon for a dose of Oliver crazy --- and finally decided that we needed to ease ourselves in slowly. Better put, that I need to temper the Ward before I give them a full dose.

At one point tonight, as I obsessed over the order of DVDs in plastic containers, Kristin counseled me to go easy on the crazy until Allyson had spent some more time around me. I guess it's best that I unleashed the crazy on someone who already knows me, albeit the teenage version. At least now I'm warmed up for the next time around, when I'll really need to hold it in.

I probably should have held it in during Elders Quorum when I introduced myself. How I managed to get out that the cold I have is making me sound like a freak, that my little brother's wife usurped the title of tallest in-law, and that Utah drivers are maddening is beyond me. Call it my special little talent.

I hope these people here are ready.

Blogging from Downtown Philly

11:30a - we arrive in downtown Philly. Our car is running out of gas, so Kristin and I spend 40 minutes finding a gas station. First, we ask three city workers for directions. They give us decent directions, however a lack of street signs renders them useless. Google Maps to the rescue. Station #1 is closed on Saturdays. Station #2 isn't. After two trips through Chinatown, we know downtown Philly like the backs of our hand.

1:15p - lunching on the Independence Mall. A gorgeous afternoon for a picnic.
1:30p - sitting on the grass of the Independence Mall, Delaney sees a pigeon. "Look. Look. Elmo birdie." Quite the budding ornithologist.

2:02p - while waiting in line to see the Liberty Bell, a horse-drawn carriage driver recommends Benny's on the corner of 5th & Chestnut for cheesesteaks. Actually, his first recommendation was his parents' house in Germantown.

2:21p - inside the Liberty Bell exhibit I find a little corner to change a stinky diaper. Afterwards a park service man comes up to me and says, "Technically we're not supposed to do that here, but I didn't want to stop you mid-ahem-stream. Pun intended." A perfectly pleasant gentleman.

2:45p - an hour after we first started trying to get her to take a bottle - you'd think that gnawing on her stroller straps, the body parts of various cousins, parents, and an aunt and an uncle, combined with not having eaten in five hours, would indicate hunger - we finally got her to calm down and take her bottle. We are seated in the shade of century-old trees in the park behind Independence Hall. The sun filters through leaves overhead, a nice breeze blows, and the temperature is quite comfortable. I might follow Clara's lead and take a nap.

3:00p - The bell in the tower of Independence Hall just chimed thrice. She startled awake! But a well placed father's hand on her cheek, and her mother's arms lulled her back to sleep.

3:04p - Bottle empty. "Well, she was obviously hungry because she ended up eating seven ounces all together," says mom.

3:12p - on our way to meet up with Branch 1, we passed a little shop, the Soho Cupcake Company. Ahhhh, cupcakes. I snapped the accompanying picture, and ran across the street to see if they were open. "Get me a bottle of water," Kristin called after me. Gleefully I ran up to the door and pulled firmly on the handle. Closed. But the sign says "Come in. We're open!" The second shop closed today. Peeking in the window I saw a display case full of tempting treats. Tempting me.

I don't remember who it was, but recently someone was mocking my statement that the cupcake is very in fashion these days. Actually, it was Mike, when I was helping load Dayna & Sara's moving truck last weekend. The cupcake is VERY much in vogue.

3:26p - we meet up with Branch 1 at Carpenters' Hall, which, in addition to being appropriately possessive, is on a quaint little street next to a military museum and a large park.

3:33p - Referring to Clara sleeping in her stroller: "This is a glorious feeling. She's asleep and I'm not holding her." "Should we set that thing up inside the house?"

3:37p - Clara just woke up. Sigh.

3:52p - Braden and I just snuck off to the Soho Cupcake Company. They were open. Don't know what the earlier 'psyche out' was all about. "You don't sell bottled water and you don't take plastic?" Empty-handed we left.

3:59p - passed two couples, just married, each with a photographer and a videographer in tow. Did our own little photoshoot.
4:20p - found the previously recommended Benny's. Cheesesteak here we come ... Hours of operation: 9am - 4pm. Sigh. We can't catch a break today.

4:35p - Cheesesteak from Ye Olde Cheesesteak Company. Boy do I love me some cheez wiz.

My Philly day is complete.

Blogging from Thai

Overheard at my lunch with Diana today:

"Where's my wallet. I used it to get off the metro today. Maybe it's in my purse holder."

What, you might ask, is a purse holder?

I feel wholly unqualified to answer such a question as it lies so far outside my realm of expertise. Instead I've enlisted resident expert in over-sized female baggage, Alicia, our blog's first ever guest author. What some call a purse holder, she calls luggage. The names are different, the concept is the same. Without further ado: The Luggage Manifesto.

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The Luggage Manifesto

The Purse

People often ask me, "Alicia, why do you carry a bag so large?" I usually laugh because random people I don’t even know make fun of the very large bag. My usual response is, "I just have a lot of stuff to carry." I’ll let you in on the real truth. I carry a bag so large because for some reason, I feel naked without it. There is just no way I could ever leave for work with just a wallet in hand. Are you interested in knowing what I carry in a bag so large? For example, today I am carrying the following items:

• Make-up bag
• Two notebooks
• A book (you never know when you’ll have time to kill)
• Wallet
• 2 Business card holders that I don’t use
• Lip gloss
• Mini hair brush
• Various papers that I’ve been choosing to ignore
• Two parking tickets which have been paid
• Chapstick
• Gum
• A couple of pens
• Nail buffer
• Keys
• Hair rubber bands and bobby pins
• A roll of film that should have been developed over 6 months ago

The large bag often shields me from undesirable situations such as a very crowded bus or crowded metro. If I have to make my way through an angry crowd, I put the bag in front of me and forage my way through. Being almost 5'1", there is no way I would be able to make it through that kind of a crowd with a wallet; it just wouldn't be the same.

The Purse Holder

I remember back in February when I bought Luggage Number Two, I thought to myself, people are going to be pissed on a crowded bus. I quietly laughed to myself and brought my purchase up to the counter at Coach. I didn’t care, I got such a great deal how could I not have bought the bag?! I absolutely love this bag and I take special care of it. I brought it to softball one day, and instead of throwing it on the ground like other people’s dirty backpacks, I took a large map, unfolded it, and placed my bag lovingly on top. I was concerned, you see, about the bottom of the bag getting dirty since the leather is so light.

So to all those haters out there, the large bag is a part of me, kind of like my child, and I’m not giving it up anytime soon. You can continue with your comments and your dirty looks, but I’m not going down without a fight!

Songs by Matchbox 20 for $800, Alex

It is 1:04p.
Church started at 1p.
And I'm blogging.

Welcome to the sick house.

The Cold of Death was finally passed from Clara to Mommy, so we're 3 for 3. I got the cold from a guy on my team at school - who consequently got it from another guy on the team who got it from a different guy on the team; yes, four of us have had this cold - then brought it home. I first felt the effects a week ago Thursday. Runny nose for five days followed by a few days of very sore throat and a cough. Clara is still in Phase I and Kristin is in Phase "Kill Husband for Getting Spawn AND ME Sick."

Unfortunately, I no longer have sick days. Work load for classes is intense, with an average for 20 pages of reading per class per day. We're also knee deep in case preparations - AND DID I MENTION ACCOUNTING?!? Accountants are their own special brand of crazy.

Speaking of accountants, David was in town the last few days and we got to see him a bunch. Last night he and I did the completely irresponsible and went to a 9:45p showing of Hancock. How I love second-run theaters. Two tickets for $3.00. $1.50 per ticket. Eat that, Tysons.

Kristin just put Clara down for a nap, and we're going to attempt the same. Hopefully some sleep will rid us of the disease.

Why I Blog

Kristin just turned to me and exclaimed, "I finished a scrapbook page!" (Exclamation added.) We put The Boo down a little early tonight and she finally had a chance to capture the story of Clara's babbling for Clara's scrapbook. Kristin hasn't had much time to scrapbook lately. For her, the process of digitally manipulating photos, printing them out, and crafting a page from papers, rivets, ribbons, and things is equal parts creativity and catharsis. I love to see her sitting at the table, bent over a page, moving pieces of paper around as she recreates the picture in her mind on the page before her. The end result is always stunning, possessing a geometric sensibility of which I never tire.

I was on a friend's blog today and, after clicking a link or five, came across a quiz: How Addicted to Blogging Are You? Kristin sat next to me and laughed along as I read question after question that describes my relationship with my blog:

• Have you ever 'live blogged?' (where you blog about an event as it's happening)
  Uh, yes.
• If something interesting happens to you, do you immediately think about how you're going to write about it on your blog?
  Too often.
• Have you ever tried to convince a friend or family member they should start a blog?
  David & Bonnie are the only hold-outs.
• Have you ever come up with a great blog idea while doing something completely random, such as taking a shower or watching a movie?
  Everyone knows that all true inspiration comes while taking a shower.
• The last question: When this quiz is over, do you plan on blogging about your blogging addiction?
  ... ... ...

Did these people secretly tape me to create the questionnaire?

After picking ourselves up off the floor, my results displayed:82%How Addicted to Blogging Are You? What happened to the other 18%?

Which brings me to the title of this post. For quite some time I've felt like I need to talk about why I update this crazy thing. Yes, seeing my site metrics on Google Analytics and knowing that I have page rank are incredibly important, but even more important is the concept of family history, the history of oneself and ones family.

Family history is capturing the story of our lives. Genealogy tells us about our family lines, our pedigree, but family history helps us to know who we are. As anyone who knows me well can attest, I love people. When I meet a new person, I long to hear their stories, find out what they have done, why they do what they do. Last Sunday some friends invited us over for dinner and we traded our "How did you meet?" stories. After I took an hour-plus in the retelling (Kristin chimed in every few paragraphs) I asked our hosts to share their story. "Oh, it's not very exciting," came the reply. Forty-five minutes and some most excellent tales later I had new insight into our friends. They had a VERY exciting "How did you meet?" story and I was honored that they shared it with me.

In my father's parents closing years I began to ask them to tell me their stories. I learned how my grandparents met coming out of the New York City subway in the 1930s. I learned that they chose their wedding date by figuring out which of their leases ended first. I learned that they were married on a lunch break and went back to work afterwards. As my mother's parents age, I long to do the same, so my family and I don't miss out on the stories that help us define these great people and, in turn, ourselves.

For my father's 60th birthday I asked my mother and siblings to write down their remembrances of my father's parents. I compiled, bound and distributed copies to each family member. A simple present, I treasure the copy that sits on my book self, waiting for the day when Clara can pick it up and discover those wonderful people.

And that is why I blog. This is my history, the history of my family. Though it will never be regarded as a great literature, or even mildly entertaining, I hope that someday it will help Clara and her siblings know me a little better. Then, between the discussions of allowances and agency, boys and bedtimes, and cars and curfews, hopefully they will be able to see who I am. And in turn, to see and know who they are.

Blogging from a Metro escalator

Just got on the metro.

I swear I walked past a man, sitting on a crate next to the station entrance, who was toking up.

I swear.

Blogging From Donut World

Last night we stopped by Jeff's house for a visit. It was 10p eastern time, so Clara had her cranky pants firmly on both legs. We managed to keep her fairly calm and even got a few fun pictures of her with Grandpa Jeff and with Aunt Delaney.

At one point I took Clara into the office to try to get her to calm down and go to sleep. I eventually won, she closed her eyes, and I came back into the family room to be with everyone. Ashley turned to me and said, "It's cool to see you being a dad." I smiled and replied, "It's tiring to be a dad."

Looking back four months, back before Clara was born, I didn't have much to do as the Dad. Kristin was doing all the work, providing Clara the nutrients she needed to grow. Comparing the four-month-back Oliver to today's Oliver, I'm pretty amazed at all that I've proven I can do, how readily I can react to Clara's needs. Sure, I'm still nervous and don't know what to do 50% of the time, but I'm figuring it out and helping Clara the best I know how.

So I guess Ashley is right. It is pretty cool.

Blogging During Church, Part II

Welcome to the second installment in the hopefully-not-too-regular series "Blogging During Church." For the first, please click here. Church today was memorable for three reasons:

1. David & Bonnie blessed little Michael.
2. Kristin came to church for the first time since the birth.
3. Little Clara made her church debut.

The little one was stunning in a yellow outfit with an accompanying yellow blanket, and didn't look yellow herself. As our regular readers know, this is a major accomplishment as she was pretty darn yellow/orange a few weeks ago. Everyone oohed and aahed appropriately and only one person had excessive touching - which resulted in Kristin handing me two wipes and saying, "Scour her hands. Now."

I especially enjoyed having Kristin by my side and Clara asleep in my arms. It's a nice change from the month of flying solo. At one point during the service the following conversation was overheard:

Oliver: "Should I ask David and Bonnie if they are listening or staring at their baby?"
Kristin: "I'm not listening, I'm staring at my baby."
Oliver: "That's my point."

So what, I didn't catch everything that was said over the pulpit, but I'll never forget the joy that I felt knowing that my two little girls were seated at my side.

And thus ends your second installment of "Blogging During Church."

So ... Much ... Estrogen

Thought I'd jump back into the blogging world and give you an update on my dear wife, daughter, and mother-in-law. And maybe an update on myself.

Wife

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She's alive and well. The procedure to remove the blockage went very well. They found pieces of a gall stone. The anesthetic was milder than what they used on Monday, and she came out from it very quickly. They sent her back up to her room, where she rested until she was discharged Tuesday evening. Sleeping in her bed Tuesday was much better than sleeping in the hospital bed on Monday. Wednesday was a clear-food diet until 4pm, when we went in search of soft foods for dinner. Boston Market creamed spinach, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes say what?

Daughter

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Clara is ecstatic to have her mommy home, wishes mommy could pick her up, and a little bit cranky because she's not back to her routine. The past few days she has woken up at 5am. I have brought her into bed with us to cuddle and sleep. Because Daddy isn't as good a Mommy, she refused to sleep, so I ended up taking her into her room where I rocked with her to get her to sleep. This was good sleep for Clara and bad sleep for Daddy.

She loves having Grandma around, and goes to her without prompting. I've posted a cute story from the first day of Debbie's visit (read here). A few times over the past few days, when I've had to head back to the hospital or run to the store, Clara would run to Debbie and throw her arms up requesting that she pick her up. When Mommy got home from the hospital, Clara kept trying to climb up in her lap and give her hugs. She's so glad to have her Mommy home.

Mother-In-Law

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What can I say other than "Debbie is the best." When Kristin was admitted to the hospital after her surgery Monday, Debbie extended her trip until Friday morning. It's been a lifesaver having her here. She's done the dishes, cooked meals, done laundry, taken care of Clara, taken care of Kristin and me, and never complained once. We couldn't have made it through these past few days without her.

Monday night I took Clara and Debbie to visit Kristin in the hospital. Debbie and I were talking on the drive over. I mentioned that the visit was as much for Clara as it was for Kristin. Clara needed to know her Mommy was still there, and Kristin needed to see her daughter. Debbie smiled at me and said, "And there's another mother who needs to see her daughter."

We've been very fortunate to have that mother taking care of her daughter, her daughter's husband, and her daughter's daughter.

Blogging from the team lunch

We had a team lunch today for Tina's birthday. Over dessert we discussed Tina's birthday plans. She mentioned a party (that her brother was bringing heaven knows who to) and that she wished I wasn't married and could come to the party. And I quote here, "my friends would turn you out. I'd be like. Get him y'all, get him."

I wouldn't have stood a chance.

Blogging From Zion

We're here in Utah. Ahh, the good old SLC airport. As my friend John likes to say when referencing his trips to Utah to ski, "I'm going to Zion!" Well, we're here.

Flying in over Salt Lake City was an interesting experience. I, unexpectedly, felt the desire to stay for a visit. I felt pulled by wanting to see the parts of town where I spent time with my Grandmother and Grandfather, to visit my younger brother, Eric, in Logan, maybe to traipse down to Provo and see how things have changed at the Y, to buy a suit at Mr. Mac's. It's been a long five years since Kristin and I were last in Utah for my Grandmother's funeral.

There are a lot of people I'd like to see. One is Kelly, my mission companion who, together with his wife, lived with Kristin and I the first summer after Kristin and I married. I've yet to meet their daughter, Olivia, and son, JJ. I'd love to see my friend Laura, her husband Jason, and their son. I first met Laura in South America and have never met someone with such love for life.

But the thing I'd love to do most is take Clara to the Salt Lake City Cemetery to visit the grave of her great-grandmother and namesake, Clara Dean. Someday I wish to sit among the tombstones on the green slopes over looking the Great Salt Lake Valley, and tell her the stories of that great woman who had such an impact on my life that I decided to name my first child after her.

Clara taking in the sights at the Salt Lake City airport.

Five Things About Me (Updated)

I got tagged by Evil HR Lady to list five things you may not know about me. It's part of a long trail of people who have been tagged - I tried to find the start, but after hopping to eleven different pages, without an end in sight, I decided it would suffice to say "a really long trail". The idea is to list five things most people don't know and then pick five other people to do the same. And away he goes.

1. I have never lived on my own - from my mission, to college, to living with Mom & Dad right before I got married and moved in with Kristin, I have never lived in a house/apartment/townhouse/condo by myself. Though I am a pretty severe extrovert, and constantly need to be around people, I think that living on my own and having my own space to come home to each day would have been something fun to try. I don't feel slighted that it never happened - don't worry I'm not going to leave Kristin for a year of soul searching in some mud hut in Borneo - but would've liked to have had the experience.


2. I love new age music - It all started when I was a teenager and my Uncle Tim and Aunt Rindy introduced my family to Ray Lynch's Deep Breakfast. The cassette tape was played over and over again. I obsessed, buying all his tapes: The Sky of Mind, No Blue Thing, and Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening. When my eighth grade French teacher assigned the class to put on a fashion show (to practice our French and appease the predominantly female class) we used a song off No Blue Thing as the background music. Thankfully, I did not have to model anything as I was the narrator. I also listened to Kitaro as a teenager (his webpage here). I have fond memories of laying on my bed, blaring his music on my boombox, and reading Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Green Sky series. I still have a box of new age cassette tapes that I randomly pull out and rummage through. It annoys Kristin to no end.


3. I have a blog no one knows about - actually, I have two other blogs, but one a bunch of people know about. The known blog is about my relationship with food and is called, appropriately, Oliver Food. The other one, the secret one, is a place for my private musings, rants, demonstrations of my fourth attribute, etc. Don't ask for the URL; I won't share it.


4. I am incredibly insecure - I was going over my list of five things with a friend and when I told him this one he made sure I knew that he was registering an objection. I assured him that being outgoing and insecure are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, I think many people who work to project a confident air are doing so because of a particular insecurity. In a way I think this is good because I force myself to constantly look at situations to see how I can better do things, and in school it helped me earn a near 4.0. But in a way it is bad, as I tend to stress out of getting the right answer to everything, even when almost right is more than good enough.


5. I've seen neither Forrest Gump nor Titanic and do not have the desire to - I had recently returned from South America when Titanic came out, and all the girls at school always wanted to sing "Nearer My God To Thee" in church because they sing that in Titanic, and those girls annoyed me, and I mocked Celine Dion for her hitting-the-chest-while-singing shtick, and so I decided to never see the movie. On the Forrest Gump front, Kristin thinks it's a near crime and keeps saying that we need to watch it. The closest I've come is eating at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company on Maui twice.

So who are the five people I want to tag? Hmmm, the power. I think I'll go with:

• My brother Jared because he's as into blogging as I am,
• Kate because she was the first person to comment on our blog right after I received the 'tag',
• Lisa because she's always hounding Marcie about updating her blog,
• Julia because her wit never fails,
• and my lovely wife Kristin because recursion is cool.

Update: Links to the lists posted by the people I tagged: Julia, Lisa, Kate

Blogging the Event: Spice Girls, Part 11

Interlude led to the most amazing Who Do You Think You Are.

Amazing!!!!!!

Ginger in the union jack. Baby in a baby doll dress. Posh in an amazing black dress. Scary in a leopard body suit. Sister has a little weight from the baby and looks sexy as h*ll. Glad they are accepting a fuller woman. Sporty in a track suit. Purple even.


Now posh vogueing to Like a Virgin. She did a runway walk to deafening screams. Dang they even have a wind machine on her!

The Scary doing "Gotta Go My Way."

What next? Two single spice events. Who's next?

Baby doing retro sixties. Cubes moving all over the stage. She's walking from one to one. Awesome!!!

Whoa. Gypsy Kings!!!! For whom? Wait. Gypsy Kings gone TECHNO.

Dancers trying to look manly doing flamenco. Laughable. But good dancers. Amazing production quality.

The girls are back!!!!

Viva Forever. Amazing arrangement.

Will you be my high quality connection?

I lied in yesterday's post. What I miss most is not the time with my family. I miss the sleep.

I pulled myself out of bed at 6am this morning to make it up to campus for a day at a nearby National Guard training facility. We did a course with different obstacles that were designed to test our leadership and team skills. Being out in the sun from 8:30a to 11:30a added a nice new layer of burn to my skin. And when you're a few thousand feet closer to the sun you REALLY start to feel the effects quickly. The course was a lot of fun, and three of my teammates ended up in the water. One spectacularly so. Watching him fall was almost like watching something in slow motion. I've yet to fully analyze the experience, but did learn a lot from the ROTC officers who ran it.

In the afternoon we had an interesting course on leadership. When I first joined my old company, the majority of the people had a certain work style. Over time this style changed, and I remember discussing it with a few of my coworkers and Kristin. It was fascinating today when the leader of the seminar was talking about building connections (what he called "high quality connections" ... now if that isn't MBA-speak I don't know what is) and mentioned that there are four ways to do this. The two ways I had witnessed at my old company were two of the ways listed. It was fascinating to learn about something I'd experienced in my professional career. I really enjoyed the seminar. It caused me to think about how I can better recognize such situations and act accordingly.

During the seminar I took notes on my new laptop. It was my first time using Microsoft Word 2007. I turned to one of my learning teammates and said, "I feel like I'm in England: I speak the language but everything is on the wrong side of the road." I'm dubious about Office 2007, and have resisted well into 2008, something of which I'm proud. At least all my keyboard shortcuts still work in Excel. (Holler to my Excel peeps.) Hopefully the learning curve will not be too steep. I hear once you get used to the ribbon it's not that bad.

But I'm drained. Up too late last night blogging. Not enough sleep the last two nights. I feel asleep on the couch at 6:30 this evening, only to be awoken when Clara spilled a class of cold water on me. Not a nice way to wake up.

I'm heading to bed to get some rest.

Blogging the Event: Spice Girls, Part 13

Ginger's "solo" interlude: Its Raining Men. Even the lady from corporate finally knows one!!

Loud and rocking. These speakers are amazing.

Blogging About Donut World

On our way back from lunch, we drove past Donut World. I had to get out to take pictures. You can see them down the left side of this post.

I love donuts. ASIDE: Jared has a friend, Aaron, who has named his blog The Forbidden Donut. I so should have come up with that name. Aaron did a great series on Christmas. Check it out. END_ASIDE. I have always loved donuts. I can't remember a time when I haven't had positive thoughts toward donuts. It is part of who I am. I have fond memories selling Krispy Kreme donuts door to door as a fundraiser for Boy Scouts. Krispy Kreme was truly my first donut love. As a teenager, my friends and I would often trek half way across the DC area to the Krispy Kreme factory on Route 1 for hot, fresh donuts. When I was in college, I composed a haiku:

Round, fried orbs of fat
Bathed in oil, baptized in sug'r
I'll have mine cream filled.

I think every geeky college student goes through a haiku phase - you know, where you have whole conversations in non-rhyming 5/7/5? One late night at Denny's, I'm loathe to admit I ever ate there, we composed a haiku for the hostess. Sadly, I can't recall it. But I digress.

And Krispy Kreme will always be that first donut love. As time has passed, I have learned how to love other donuts. The Colossal Donuts at Shopper's, particularly the chocolate frosted-creme filled ones, are amazing. But it wasn't until my 20s that I discovered the joys of mom and pop donut shops. On a trip to Michigan to see my older brother Matthew, I found Dale's Donut Shop - founded the year I was born. Olin's bakery, near my brother Jared's house, is the source of breakfast when I go visit Boston. And in the case of Portland: Donut World.

When in high school, Kristin used to come here with friends, when they should have been attending class, to get a donut and coffee. She took me there on our first trip to Portland, knowing of my affinity for such places, and it's become half joke/half tradition that we have to go there each time we visit Portland. I'm fond of saying, each time we drive past, "Wow! Did you see? We just passed the home of THE donut. I wonder how he's doing?" Kristin never asks whether The Donut is male or female; please discuss in the comments section. And, as is often the case, Kristin is much less amused by that comment than I.

This trip, on Thursday morning, I went to Donut World and bought us a dozen donuts for breakfast. I ate eight and a half of the donuts on Thursday. I have powers that Voldemort knows not.

This post was brought to you buy Jared. Ask and ye shall receive.

Welcome iPods

Earlier today Apple announced a complete overhaul of the entire iPod line. At an event titled "The Beat Goes On" (click here for a live blogging of the event and here to watch the event), Steve Jobs presented: a new ringtones option for iTunes and the iPhone; new colors for the iPod Shuffle; a totally redesigned iPod Nano with new colors, a video screen, and a new interface; larger disk sizes and a new case for the renamed iPod Classic; and a brand new iPod Touch, which is basically an iPhone without the phone. Also they cut the price on the iPhone by 1/3 (from $599 to $399).

A few thoughts about the changes:

• At this point, Apple has refreshed the great majority of its product line this year: new Mac books, brand new iMac, now the iPod line. Hello Christmas retail season.
• I'm not sold on the colors for the iPod Shuffle and iPod Nanos (see pic below). Gone are the neon colors that defined the line for so long. The muted tones ... it remains to be seen if consumers will embrace (read buy) them.
• The Nano looks a little boxy. Mind you, the product is 6.5 mm think (or thin as Apple likes to say). That slimness gives it some serious SQ.
• The iPhone still wants for GPS and enterprise e-mail and calendar integration. Once those two are there, I'm sold on the product.

Regardless, Apple came out with a VERY strong update to an already strong product line. As always, kudos to them for constantly innovating. If you were to ask Santa for one for Christmas, which would you chose?

Blogging the Event: Spice Girls, Part 15

Sporty rocked. Ah, my Sporty.

Another song from the Geri-free years. Girls on different parts of stage. Posh and Sporty on our side. Bliss.

Let love lead the way.

Song ended. Geri is back. All the girls together.

Next song is ... hold for screaming ... (Pictures of girls as children) .... Milking it .... Song for all the mommies out there ...