Happy Fathers Day

A day late… like normal.

I had a great Fathers Day. It started on a very hard and difficult Saturday for me. Dad and I went to the Temple and had a good time, but the day from there on was just kind of rough and rocky for me. We did a big family lunch with everyone that afternoon, and it was just not the right thing to be doing for me.

Sunday morning, I was feeling a lot better. Katherine made me breakfast and cut me a rose to wear to church. Courtney showered me with gifts. Myron made me a T-rex pillow which he promptly stole back. Carolyn gave me a kiss. I felt great.

That night, my local brothers came over, and we talked for about three hours. It was awesome to be with them and just… be with them.

And that’s about it. Oh, and I did a puzzle. Shattered my previous time for a puzzle of that size. 550 pieces in just under two hours. I find puzzles so relaxing and soothing.

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Le Purge

Administrator Note: For some reason I always feel the need to put a note up on this particular topic. To be perfectly blunt, the purpose of the note is  not to lessen the impact of what we did and our reasons. It is, however, to highlight that his is our choice for our lives. We neither judge nor condone any action on your part, but we do invite you to seek answers for yourself. How can you know the answer to the question if you never ask the question?

Over the years, Courtney and I have been prompted to take steps to clean up the media in our home. We’ve done it three or four times now (I think). The first time through, we felt prompted to remove any movies that were clearly not appropriate for the lifestyles we wanted to lead. To be clear, I am not confessing to owning a stack of Rated R movies or other media. That has never been in the picture.

The second time, we felt prompted to go a little farther. And that has continued over the last several years.

The last purge, the stated goal was that we wanted to remove anything that we would not be comfortable watching, reading, or listening to should the Savior walk through the door. And with a standard like that, I kind of assumed that we had reached the pinnacle of this particular aspect of our lives.

Not quite….

On Monday, the prompting came again, and as I pondered what on earth we would do more than we had already done, the thought came that we had been waiting for the Spirit to come into our home, but we had not made an effort to invite the spirit into our home. And that is a key difference. The first is passive while the second is active. Seeking.

A week or so again, we watched Chariots of Fire with Mackay and his wife. It was inspiring to watch such a clean movie with such a great message. Afterward, I thought on how fun it was to not worry about what might happen next, what word might be said, or what we might see. I also remembered that in my parent’s house, there weren’t two shelves of movies. There was one: Family. And it was all safe to everyone no matter the age.

In our house, we have two: Mommy and Daddy and then one for the Kids. I don’t want that anymore. I just don’t. I want clean, safe family entertainment that the kids can have and watch any time.

So yes, the purge happened again Monday. I was surprised at some of what we decided to get rid of. I was especially surprised to find among the movies some that we had held back from previous purges because they were “too hard to get rid of.” They are all gone now.

And something that made it particularly easy for us is that in almost every case, we hadn’t even watched the movie in… years. Sometimes many years.

As we made these choices, it helped to have in the back of my mind the idea of inviting the Savior to watch the movie with us. That made it particularly easy to get rid of some choices I would have otherwise kept.

And on a related topic, we also added four films to our collection. Each are classic comedies, clean, and comfortable:

• Bringing Up Baby
• Thoroughly Modern Millie
• It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
• Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines

I’m also looking at getting Court Jester and Charade.

There is excellent, clean entertainment out there without descending into cheesy (check out Rise of the Guardians for a great example). We’re committed to finding it.

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Kicking and screaming into the 21st century!

Courtney and I, last Saturday, crossed a bridge. A huge bridge.

Finally, after resisting for many many years, Courtney and I got texting on our phones.

We’ve resisted for a long time because we didn’t want to be that connected, but over time, it has become the go-to communication method for many people, including some dear friends. That, as much as anything, is what finally tipped us over the edge to accept texting.

And we love it! (To everyone who is now saying, “I told you so,” I have a short message: Shut up.)

We told no one that we were doing it, so I took great pleasure in sending text messages to friends who know about my non-texting ways. I am almost famous in some circles for not texting.

The first text message I ever sent was to Mackay, and I did it while peeking around the corner of the house. He was in the front yard of his house playing with the kids, and I sent him a message so I could watch his reaction. He peeked at his phone, got this really confused look on his face, called his wife over, she read it, she got a really confused look on her face, and then I popped up around the corner while he was scratching his head. It was awesome.

Then I sent one to Jeff, and he sent me back a “What is this?” style message.

Then I sent another to Lee, and he waxed poetic: “What? Doth texting come from thy phone?”

Priceless.

I finally sent one to Joe, and he just busted up laughing (I was sitting at the desk immediately next to him at the time).

I’m really glad we did the unlimited plan. It’s only been a few days, but we’re already finding a lot of use and ease with texting. And no… I still cannot convince myself to get data on my phone. I still don’t want to be that connected, and I still find it pathetic (sorry all you data loving friends!) when someone ends up glued to their phone. Why would you stare at a phone when the real world is all around you?

There is nothing on your phone prettier than a cherry tree in full blossom, a friend’s face, or real human-to-human contact.

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Another poem for my braces…

This one came to me from Kiffen:

There was a young man named Dave Loveless
Whose teeth made you want to be homeless
To the dentist he said
Put that brace in my head
And when he got home he went “Whaaaaaa!!!! I’m such a big baby whaaaaaaa!!!!”

Hey, I didn’t say it was any good….

Oh, and that line “with friends like these….” has been crossing my mind an awful lot lately.

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Braces, Day 2

First off… NO, I do NOT intend to do this every single day.

Still feeling pretty good today, but I wanted to share something Mackay sent me. I made a few friends promise to gently tease me to help keep me honest and less caught up in my own self-pity (which is admittedly not really a problem). Here was his wonderfully pathetic contribution:

Braces, made of yummy metal-
why do I let dentists mettle?
You’re so ouchy on my face;
I’d rather eat the po-po’s mace.

He attempted to convince me that “po-po” was a real word because it appeared in the Urban Dictionary.

Though I will give him credit on that second line… It’s a question that I’ve wondered about an awful lot these last 48 hours.

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Braces, Day 1

I briefly debated doing one of those type of blog entries. You know the kind….

Day 1, Hour 7, Minute 34 of wearing braces…. The monotonous ticking of the clock in the hall is communicating the darkness of its wishes to my mind. The blender must die… die… die….

And then I realized that kind of writing is a bit tedious. And disturbing….

The braces went on as planned yesterday. Overall, the “installation” wasn’t bad, although I always end up with a pretty sore neck/shoulders the day after from the chairs. I’m never comfortable in those chairs.

I did tell Courtney right when I walked in that I was down to only 13, 138 hours left! Sigh… I need to not think of it in those terms. I did put a notice in my calendar at work that will just announce each month. Just kind of a “You did it!”

I also ended up snapping a bracket off almost immediately. I have two crowns, and crowns don’t take to the brackets well. So this morning I was back in to have spacers put around the crowns. Next week, I’ll go in again and then put metal bands around the crowns, and then attach the brackets directly to the bands.

After that is done, everything should settle into the more routine checkup every so often. I did ask the dentist about being more aggressive because I have a pretty solid pain tolerance, but he said they were already pretty aggressive, though he would see how things went.

Speaking of pain, it was a touch uncomfortable to chew this morning, but I have had almost no pain at all. Certainly nothing as bad as it was when I had braces as a little kid. I distinctly remember telling my parents that I thought my teeth were “transparent.” At the time it was the only word I could think of that adequately described how painful it was.

So, I’m still trying to figure out eating, especially at work. I’m not excited by the idea of having to do that heavy cleaning at work. One coworker said that when she did braces as an adult, she just brought protein shakes for lunch every day. That’s certainly a possibility, but I will be the first to admit that I doubt a shake would hold me off. And I certainly don’t want to do soups every day for the next 18 months, especially in the summer.

But yes… Day 1 is done, we’re on day 2 now, and that blender really does need to die.

Slowly.

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Amazon Prime… The disaster.

First things first–This is NOT a negative review of Amazon or Amazon Prime. I love Amazon. I buy everything on Amazon. If Amazon sold groceries, I would even do that. When I shop for something, I go to Amazon first.

However, Courtney and I learned something about ourselves this last weekend.

We have ordered quite a few things from Amazon of late. Between Christmas, our anniversary, my dad’s birthday, and my birthday this time of year just sees lots of Amazon-based shopping. This last week has been particularly high as Courtney and I have purchased quite a few things with Christmas gift money.

This last Friday, I finally clicked that “try Amazon Prime free for a month” link you see on every order. Amazon Prime, as you probably know, includes free streaming movies, book lending, and the ever-popular free 2-day shipping.

The movie part was… eh. If we were TV watchers, we would have been thrilled. We’re not. And the movie selection was pretty sparse.

We haven’t tried the books, but I’ve heard from others that it is solid.

But the free shipping? That would be the disaster. What would you say if I told you that we currently have 11 packages coming from Amazon? Most of them ordered within a short 24-hour window after signing up for Amazon Prime? What about if I told you that when we ran out of furnace filters on Saturday we ordered new ones off Amazon instead of running to the neighborhood hardware store?

A friend confessed that the shipping has always been his barrier between entering into what amounts to an Amazonic orgy, and I frankly have to agree. Especially since I now find myself sheepishly scuffing the ground while tracking a dozen packages as they dance their way across the country.

God bless you Amazon, but I simply have to say good-bye to Amazon Prime. It is simply too great for this world and outside my ability to control.

Until my next shopping trip, I bid thee adieu.

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Make this about the right issues

I, like anyone else, was horrified over what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary. I have school-aged children, and every time I’ve dropped them off since last Friday, I’ve wondered. Every time I drop them, I will wonder. Events like these change us, and they should. Hopefully for the better.

I’ve watched with interest as people have entered the “let’s fix this” stage. Some claim we need more gun controls. Some less. Some claim we need to ban certain fire arms. Some claim we need to allow our teachers to be armed. I honestly have no real contribution in this area. Personally, I don’t think gun control (more or less) makes a difference unless the people wielding the guns change. I don’t like banning certain fire arms will change anything unless people change. I don’t think arming teachers changes anything either. It might change the result–and let’s be honest, what happened last Friday should never happen again–but the events won’t. No amount of government control will ever fully eliminate what happened last Friday without the additional change within ourselves.

Some of the suggestions I find most disturbing are many of the thoughts I’m seeing in regards to mental illness. As we have this national conversation, I hope we will all take a moment to recognize one key fact: mental illness does NOT equal violent.

Anything less than that will perpetuate a travesty on a segment of our society comparable to what happened in Sandy Hook.

Did you know that in 2008, roughly 5% of US adults were afflicted with a serious mental illness? That in any given year, roughly 25% Americans experience a mental illness of some kind?

If even a tenth of those who experience severe mental illness were violent, it would represent a horde of over one million people (1,178,000 roughly).

Are there violent mentally ill people? Yes. Are there violent mentally healthy people? Yes. And I’m not arguing otherwise. But I find it dangerous to make an assumption that those who are mentally ill are violent, and numerous scientific studies hold that the mentally ill are NOT any more violent than the mentally healthy.

Now I admit a bias here: I have a lot of mental illness in my family, including a son with Aspergers. Did I note that some have claimed the shooter (I refuse to name him because he should be forgotten!) had Aspergers? Yes, yes I did. And could I ever imagine the boy who just last night climbed into my lap, gave me a hug, and told me how much he loved me as a mass murderer? No.

Could any parent?

As we face these difficult questions and deal with the truly raw emotions Sandy Hook has left on all of us, let’s be careful to ask not only the right questions but also focus on the right issues, the right problems, and the right solutions. Labeling the mentally ill as violent and dangerous does no one any good. But more than that, it continues the tragedy that happened last Friday on to yet another innocent and in so many ways helpless population.

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Protected: Family Album–2012

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How to lose 10 pounds in three days

My work provides free wellness checks for those that want them. I like them, and I find they help me stay on track with my health goals.

Last month, I topped the scales at 249.8 pounds. I’m a big guy (6’4″), but that’s heavy even for me. I pulled the proverbial fire alarm: no candy, no chips, more exercise, etc. I actually did really well.

i just weighed myself, and I am 228. Yes, that is a drop of 21 pounds in 30 days.

Now before you get up in arms about the danger of losing that kind of weight that fast, I know. Let me explain what happened.

The LDS faith asks members to fast (go without food or water for 24 hours) on the first Sunday of each month. That would be this last Sunday. So I fasted this past Sunday. The first thing I ate, which is never very good for me after a fast, was a big spoon of raw cookie dough. Food poisoning.

So I spent the first 24 hours after not eating or drinking due to the fast, not eating or drinking due to the food poisoning. I cannot remember ever feeling so hungry, and especially so thirsty.

But that is only half the story.

In an attempt to help my body recover, I took a kefir solution, which is basically a bacterial solution full of healthy flora/fauna for your gut. And I promptly discovered that in some people, kefir solutions take time to adjust. So what did I do last night? Why I spent yet another night puking and otherwise evacuating my system.

If you’re keeping track at home, that makes three straight days where I neither ate nor drank anything AND spent most of the time quite sick.

And that is how you lose ten pounds in three days. Or in my case, potentially 21 pounds, though I recognize a big chunk of that is water weight that I need to get back NOW.

Yes, we recognize that my condition is a growing concern, so don’t worry on that front. The mandatory evacuation zone that is my GI tract is apparently feeling better now, so hopefully we can get back to healing. I sure hope so.

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