It's stupid really.

Every morning, I'm supposed to take a little tiny pill.  This little tiny pill is supposed to decrease the amount of calcium excreted by my kidneys and thereby hopefully decrease the number of kidney stones produced by my kidneys.

It's a little thing.  It's simple.  But for some reason, I just can't seem to be able to remember to take a little tiny pill every morning. 

This morning, for example, I even put one little tiny pill in each compartment of one of those pill boxes that has a compartment for each day of the week.  I got all ready for the week...

...and didn't put monday's pill in my mouth.

So the pill I need to take is sitting at home.  Meanwhile, my evil kidneys, free of the magical pill, are building kidney stones at an alarming rate.  If I don't get home soon, one will surely break loose and wreak havoc on my life for a few hours or a few days.

Why can't I remember such a little thing, especially since this little thing can cause other little things that cause huge pain?  You would think that after 8 or 9 or 10 (I lost count somewhere) kidney stones, one of which had to be blasted to bits, I could remember to take a little tiny pill each morning.  Maybe a telltale dull ache in my flank would motivate me.

I guess I'll be making an extra trip home today, because I don't want a little thing to become something painful.

How do you remember to do these kinds of little things?  Obviously what I'm doing isn't working.

Hoo boy.

My elbow is sore, and it's tennis elbow-type pain.  I was careful when I played racquetball a second time, but the soreness has returned.  I didn't play hard, so I'm not worried that I've torn anything.

I'm annoyed.

Sooooooooooo...

I'm going to learn to play racquetball left-handed.  Maybe I can still enjoy the sport and give my right arm a few more months to heal.  All I know is that I can't stand the idea of having another surgery, but I also can't stand the idea of not playing racquetball or doing other things I love to do.

So... call me lefty.  This time, maybe more permanently.

On Saturday night, I get to perform in the 2nd Annual Syd Riggs Scholarship Benefit Concert.  It's at Orem High at 6pm and 8:30pm.  It costs $15 for reserved seating and $10 for general admission seating.  It's going to be worth every penny you pay.

Don't come to see me.  I'm in the opener and closer with unpteen bizillion other performers and I'm also in another ensemble number.  It's a very small percentage of the whole.  A lot of great talent has been recruited for this event.

Mostly, come to support a scholarship in the name of an amazing educator and director that passed away too suddenly, too soon, and much too young.

I worked with Syd at Hale Center Theater in Orem.  She directed the productions of The Scarlet Pimpernel, Man of La Mancha, and Fiddler on the Roof that I performed in.  She taught me a lot about theater, about telling a story.  She taught me that when it comes to hobbies like theater, it's not worth doing if it's not fun.  She taught me that even when other important things are going on, it's important to take a minute to stop and watch a beautiful sunset.

I turned down an ensemble role in Brigadoon to be in a long-form improv. show elsewhere.  Although I think I grew more as an actor through the improvisation, I regret not being in Brigadoon, because that would have been my last opportunity to work with Syd, and I missed out.  On a Saturday night as Syd was getting ready to go to the theater to see her cast perform, she suddenly slumped over and was gone.  A pulmonary embolism had taken her life.

I still miss Syd, and probably will every time I think about theater.  I'm forever grateful to her for the things she taught me.  I'm thankful to be a part of the benefit concert on Saturday night, and I hope you will consider coming.

Last weekend was the biannual Klondike Derby put on by the Timpanogos District of the Utah National Parks Council of the Boy Scouts of America.  My troop was one of the troops that attended.

Honestly, it was a good time.

Others before me learned that it's much more comfortable and much easier to NOT sleep in tents when winter camping.  Snow tracks into tents and makes a mess that has to be cleaned up or the tents will mildew.  Tents are hard to get warm, and even if one DOES get a tent up to a reasonable temperature, if that tent is pitched on a good layer of snow, the tent starts to sink in the melting snow and sooner or later ends up with a pretty good layer of water on the floor.

Instead, my troop sleeps in "burritos" under the cold, January sky.

A "burrito" is a pretty great idea actually.  It's constructed by placing a sleeping bag and blankets (or a sleeping bag inside of a sleeping bag) on top of a few inches of foam rubber and then wrapping the entire bundle of warmth and insulation inside a "tortilla" of plastic sheeting.  The plastic keeps the heat in and the cold wind out.  When it's time to go to sleep, all one has to do is open the top of the burrito ever so slightly and then burrow down into the middle of the insulation.  Excess plastic at the top keeps snow out, but can be opened up to let just the right amount of air in.  I've now slept in a burrito twice, and both times, I was snug as a bug in a rug.  It's nice to be able to throw the burrito directly down on the snow and sleep comfortably through the night.  Believe it or not, I actually sleep better in a burrito than I do on a cot in a tent.

There is one problem with a burrito that I have found though.  People exhale water vapor when they breathe.  Water is a product of the human metabolism, and the plastic surrounding the burrito holds it in.  When the water vapor hits this cold plastic, it nearly instantly condenses back into water.  The excess plastic at the top of the burrito becomes wet, and unavoidably, there is some dripping.  It's not enough to get one wet, but it can become annoying.

For example, last Friday night, I was sleeping peacefully on my side when a single ice-cold drop of condensation hit my forehead above my eyebrow, then dripped down all the way across my forehead and dripped off into the sweatshirt I was using for a pillow.  THAT woke me up, I'm telling you!

The solution to this problem is to burrow just a little bit deeper into the burrito, which I did, and promptly fell back asleep.

I had 17 scouts at this Klondike Derby.  They did very well at most all of the activities during the day.  Team building was a breeze--they figured out all of the puzzles quite quickly.  They got all of their knots tied correctly except for the sheet bend, but that's a hard-ish knot to tie.  With that many of them pulling their Klondike sled (think dogs pulling a dog sled), they did very well there too.  They paid attention and participated during the first aid activity.

But at the last station of the day, everything fell apart.  The last station was fire building.  We had already told them that they weren't being graded on how well they lit a fire.  On the score sheet, they didn't even have any points allocated to whether or not they actually ended up with a fire.  The points were mostly allocated to participation and attitude.

Without going into details, I'll just say that 17 boys turned a fire building activity into a bickering match.  You can imagine how fast our points dwindled.

In the end, my troop took 10th place out of 27-ish troops.  That's not too bad.  But they would likely have been in the top three had they cooperated better on the fire building activity.

Lessons learned by the Scoutmaster:

1. I still like sleeping in burritos
2. When the camp is far away from the road, don't take all of the cooking stuff up to the camp.  Just set up a kitchen area down by the vehicles.  It saved us a lot of time and energy!
3. Boys LOVE playing in the snow.
4. No matter how many times you tell boys to bring LOTS of extra socks, you'll still end up with a boy wearing only one pair of wet socks inside cold boots.
5. I need to teach my scouts how to light a fire.
6. I need to teach my scouts how to pick a good knife.  Some of the knives they were using to make kindling...  Oy...
7. Campouts are a lot of work, but they're great learning experiences for boys.

If you can call it playing...  And if you can call what I tried to play racquetball...

My elbow surgery was 5 months ago today.  There hasn't been a single day since the surgery that I haven't had some level of discomfort.  It has diminished slowly from extreme pain to just pain, to a lingering ache, and finally to nearly constant muscle soreness.

Five months of first rest, then lots and lots and lots and lots of stretching, and finally, exercising has done its magic and now I'm finally to the point where I think my elbow has healed.

So today, I tried playing racquetball.  The doctor said to ease back into my regular activities as long as they weren't causing pain.

At first, I was terrified. The feeling in the pit of my stomach told me how much pain and discomfort I had endured.  If I did something wrong, I feared that I might have to start back at square one again, and that thought was sickening.

My first hits were tentative, and quite hilarious actually.  I stretched out well before I started, of course, and then I continued to stretch and play very carefully.  The only time anything hurt was when I contacted the wall.  I didn't hit the wall hard with my racquet, but I knew instantly that I need to be more careful around walls.

For now, I have very little power, though I'm already starting to regain some control.  I'm going to go slowly here, because re-injuring myself would be depressing.

It's been a couple of hours, and I can feel that my forearm is tight and needs more stretching, but I'm still not hurting.  That's a very VERY good sign.  It may mean that I really AM on the road to recovery.

The doctor told me it would take four to six months to recover fully.  I'm right in the middle of that window, and I'm honestly pleased with my progress.

Santa brought Older Son an iPod Touch for Christmas.  He loves it.  I think it's very cool, and I'd probably get one too, but that would be just one more distraction for my already somewhat ADHD brain.  Squirrel!

Speaking of distractions...

My son bought a nice rubberized case for his iPod with some of his Christmas money.  It shipped from Apple directly, and it came packed in what I like to call Apple's Magical Mystery Material.  It's a transparent stretchy material that they use to hold the shipped product so that it doesn't bounce around inside the box when it ships.

It's very stretchy, but unlike shrink wrap, it returns to its original size when you release it.  It's surprisingly strong.  It takes a LOT of force or something quite sharp to cause it to tear or break.

Strange, stretchy stuff.  Strange enough for a blog entry?

Squirrel!

So...  please add your opinion in the comments below:

Hook 'Em Horns??

or

Roll Tide??

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Change is coming.  I can feel it.  I don't know what exactly it will be or how it will change things, but I can feel it coming.

It's scary and exciting all at the same time.  It's never easy, but I always learn from it.

And here are the answers that I promised you!

1. HYAMLCLYHBL - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
2. TFNTADS - The First Noel
3. GRYMGLNYD - God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
4. BWBRTGGNOWACTHTB - Bells Will Be Ringing
5. ICUAMCTGSOO - It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
6. SNHNAICAIB - Silent Night
7. OTFDOCMTLGTM - The Twelve Days of Christmas
8. DTHWBOHFLLLLLLLL - Deck the Halls
9. YBWOYBNC - Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
10. JTTWTLHC - Joy To the World
11. YKDADAPAVCACADAB - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
12. ISMKSCUTMLN - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
13. CSBSDIHS - Silver Bells
14. HTHASGTTNBK - Hark, the Herald Angels Sing
15. GGROBARWHFOHCE - Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer
16. OHNTSABS - O Holy Night
17. AIWFCIMTFT - All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth
18. DTTSIAOHOS - Jingle Bells
19. SBSASUTTFM - Santa Baby
20. WTKOOA - We Three Kings
21. ITMWTOTY - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
22. IDOAWCJLTOIUTK - I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas
23. CROAOFJFNAYN - The Christmas Song
24. IBTLALLCEYG - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
25. OLTOBHSWSTL - O Little Town of Bethlehem
26. SBRAYL - Winter Wonderland
27. IBHFCYCCOM - I'll Be Home For Christmas
28. WWYAMCWWYAMCWWAMCAAHNY - We Wish You a Merry Christmas
29. IHTBOCDTOFCP - I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
30. IHABCWY - Blue Christmas
31. FTSWAJHS - Frosty the Snowman
32. JOSNLYETW - Jolly Old St. Nicholas
33. IWAHFCOAHWD - I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas
34. GKWLOOTFOS - Good King Wenceslas
35. UOTHRPOJGOSC - Up On the Housetop
36. JBJBJBR - Jingle Bell Rock
37. HHHHWTMBKRMYEVCT - Happy Holidays
38. JHTSBJRTTT - Sleigh Ride
39. IRCSBICO - Baby, It's Cold Outside
40. GCHABSTCRIT - Merry Christmas Darling
41. CTTMPRPPP - Little Drummer Boy
42. AWHHOHSSOTP - Angels We Have Heard On High
43. HAHJCITBTOTY- Holly Jolly Christmas
44. AIAMNCFHB - Away In a Manger
45. STNWTTLLDYSWIS - Do You Hear What I hear?
46. OTWOIFBTFISD - Let It Snow
47. OCTOCTHATLSV - O Christmas Tree
48. LTBPOEALIBWM - Let There Be Peace On Earth
49. YAMOMGYRAAH - Mr. Grinch
50. WCITWLTROMLIS - Greensleeves (What Child Is This?)

Although the wonderful events Christianity remembers on this holy day didn't happen on 25 December, I join with my Christian brothers and sisters throughout the world in celebrating the events of the birth of Jesus Christ:

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.  And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou tht art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou has found favour with God.  And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.  He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacogb for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.  And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.  For with God nothing shall be impossible.

And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it unto me according to thy word.

And the angel departed from her.

It would be difficult to imagine how many thoughts and feelings passed through Mary as she learned she would be the earthly mother of the Savior of the World.  How much better would each of us be if we could echo her words:  "Be it unto me according to thy word."

Several months later, Jesus was born:

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.  (And this taxking was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)  And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.  And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

This was no ordinary child--no ordinary birth.  The news traveled quickly--the messengers were not of this Earth:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them to heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.  And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.  And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

The news traveled farther still via a sign in the heavens.  Those who were looking for the sign followed it to see , and to worship, the Christ child:

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him...And lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, the presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

The story of the birth of Jesus Christ beckons to each of us today, though more than 2,000 years have passed.  The signs and wonders we read about in scripture invite each of us to come and see Him.

It was a singular event--a small moment of time.  Yet this event--the birth of Jesus--can have a profound effect on each of our lives if we follow the example of the shepherds and of the wise men and, without hesitation, seek out the Savior and Redeemer of mankind.

Merry Christmas!