I'm starting to wonder if there's a discount at the InstaCare.

"Come back and see us soon, because your fifth visit is FREE!"

Older son had to go to the InstaCare last night. I was at the Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley City with younger son. I was supposed to take my wife, but for some reason (call it mother's intuition or inspiration, or whatever you want to) she didn't want to go.

If we would have both been a half hour away when older son fell on his right hand and pulled a bunch of ligaments, sitting in a theater with my cellular phone off (yes, I'm polite that way, unlike too many other patrons), it might have been a bad thing.

Older son's hand was fortunately not broken... at least, not that they could see on the x-ray. In 7-10 days, if the pain isn't dramatically better, we'll be back for more x-rays. He won't be playing the violin for a week or two, that's for sure.

I'm sitting here watching 18 people feverishly work on their final exam for the MAT 0980 class I'm teaching at UVSC this semester. Poor, poor students. It's two hours of department-mandated headaches.

I must say I like giving final exams much more than I like taking them.

Interestingly enough, there are 18 students feverishly working on their final exams, yet there are 23 people still enrolled in the course. Of the five people missing, only one could possibly pass the class by getting a 93 or higher on the final exam, which, judging by past performance, would be rather miraculous.

Of the 18, I think that there are a couple that could pass or fail, but the rest are all in good shape. I like the fact that those that actually did the homework and showed up to class consistently have done well in the course. As a teacher, I can't ask for much more than that.

It worked!

I put a new lamp (Did I mention that I paid $340 for it? I did? Good.) in my projector and it fired right up. So, as the tech from Mitsubishi said, I'm a happy camper...

...except for the fact that I only got about half the use out of the original lamp as I should have. Hopefully this next one will last closer to the 2250 hours it's expected to.

If it lasts the entire time, the light costs about 15 cents per hour to run. (In addition, of course, to the cost of the electricity needed to run enough current through mercury to vaporize it) Watching a movie will consume 30 cents' worth of projector lamp.

But for now, I'm happy to have a working projector again. My sons are even happier than I am because it means that they can play video games (at 15 cents per hour) on the big screen during next week's Spring break from school. I'm taking a couple of days off too, so I'll hopefully be able to track down the ground loop in my Home Theater system. It's helpful to have ALL the components present when tracking such things down, I'm sure.

That's what they asked me when I dropped off the '99 Saturn at 12:15 today. I dropped it off for the needed 4-wheel alignment and to have the leaking water pump fixed. They asked me if I was going to wait for it.

Did I mention that was at 12:15 this afternoon?

My wife and I thought we were being clever. We both drove down separately, then I took her back to work and I came back to work. No sense sitting and waiting when we could both be doing something more productive.

The service consultant told me (since I wouldn't be waiting) that they would call me when the repairs were completed.

I figured that since they thought I might be waiting that it wouldn't take very long. At 2:45, we figured that I would need to go pick the boys up from school, since my wife is stuck at work without transportation and they still hadn't called. At 3:15 I left work to pick them up.

Still no call.

So I called to find out if my vehicle was ready. Nobody knew anything. So they had to write down my phone number and call me back.

When they called back, they asked if I really needed that car tonight, because they had finished the alignment, but that the tech was still working on the water pump and if he worked at it nonstop, he could have the vehicle ready by around 6:30.

WHAT??

Six hours? They'd BETTER not try to charge me for 6 hours of labor. SIX HOURS?? Good thing I didn't stick around and wait for it. Then again, if I would have waited for it, maybe they would have actually gotten it done, knowing that there was someone sitting in their waiting room that would be getting more upset by the HOUR.

I hate cars.

Great.

Now my home theater projector isn't working.  What is going ON?  Definitely NOT the projector.  Grrrr...  Instead of turning on, it makes clicking noises and then shuts itself down.

It MIGHT need a new bulb, but that will cost me $300 to find out.  It MIGHT have a bulb that is working just fine.  There's no way we've used this projector 2000 hours yet.  Not since last January.

So tomorrow I get to call tech support and try to get it fixed.  Fortunately, there's a 2-year warranty.

Just one more thing...  Ugh.

My car budget is blown for the year. Probably for next year too.

Back on January 6th, I slid sideways into a curb with my Subaru. That led to around $700 in repairs.

Then I had to register my old beater '94 Saturn. The boot on the tie rod end was torn and I needed new brake pads. So the same friend who repaired my Subaru fixed that problem and did a brake job.

Then the other Saturn (a '99) had a collapsed engine mount that needed replacing. After that, the brakes on that Saturn started squealing, but not when pressing on the brake pedal. Only when the pedal was released. That turned into a $500 brake job because it needed new pads, rotors, and calipers.

You can imagine my dismay when I took the '99 Saturn in to have it inspected and it needs an alignment (pretty obvious uneven wear on the tires) and it has a slow coolant leak. There goes another $350.

The cherry on top of this whole car mess? The rear wheel on the Subaru (where I hit the curb back in January) started making noises. The bearing was damaged and getting worse. So I just had the bearing replaced for another $250. When it rains, it pours.

That's a LOT of repairs in a 3 month period. We're talking more than $2000 plus the registration fees that I had to pay the state for three little blue stickers. Sure, some of it was my own fault, and I could probably have filed an insurance claim for part of the Subaru repair. But after my deductible, it wouldn't have helped me out THAT much and I didn't want the increased insurance premium.

It could be worse. We OWN all three cars. We haven't had a car payment for several years. That's the ONLY way we could afford all of these repairs.

I'm almost done with guitar lessons for the semester. I'm still very very much enjoying myself.

As a matter of fact, I played the guitar so much last weekend that it STILL hurts a little to type the letters w, s, or x, or the number 2.

So what did I learn this semester?

• Basic chord progressions in D, G, C, A, and E along with several strumming patterns
• Some additional chord progressions in minor chords.
• Several scales and alternate picking for scales.
• A few different finger picking patterns including Travis picking.
• Bar chords.

That's not half bad.

I'm getting quicker at chord changes for the most part. Some are still bugging me, put progress is progress, right?

I still suck at bar chords, but as of last night, I can actually play some of them some of the time.

I'm still enjoying myself immensely. I only have one more lesson this semester. It's my "final" for the class (since it's a guitar class at UVSC), so I probably won't learn anything new.

The good thing is that I have a lot I can still learn with the things listed above. I can still make a lot of progress without lessons, and when I hit a point where I'm "stuck" in my progression of guitar playing, it'll be time to take another round of guitar lessons.

Today's funny comes from my older son.  His school is having a big concert this week and he had to go to school early this morning for a rehearsal.  As we pulled up to the school, there were lots of parents dropping their kids off.  My son commented about all of the "Orch dorks, choir freaks, and band geeks" that were still showing up.

"Orch dorks, choir freaks, and band geeks," or, as a friend commented when I told him about this, "my people!"

I saw this on Heidi's blog and Lisa's blog:

20 years ago: 20 years ago, I was finishing up my Freshman year at Ricks College. I was studying music... sort of. I took a music theory class and was in the Symphonic Band, the Symphony Orchestra, and the College Choir. I even worked for the Music Department. Around this time of the year, the music department usually sent a group or two on a "tour" so I went "touring" all over Idaho with the Ricks College Symphony. We stayed in church members' homes all over, including places like Lewiston, Moscow (where several people got Giardia from a problem with the water system), and Sandpoint, a stone's throw from Canada. I was dating someone that I really really liked, but she wasn't in the orchestra. Someone in the orchestra really really liked me and found every excuse possible to be around me. I was sitting next to her on the tour bus, fell asleep, and when I woke up, we were holding hands. One of the roommates of the girl I was dating saw this, and reported what she had seen, and that was the beginning of the end of THAT relationship.

10 years ago: 10 years ago, I was married with two kids. I had been married for almost 7 years. My boys were 3 years old (almost 4) and 1 year old. We were living in our last apartment. It was my 3-year-old's FIFTH home. Yes, we moved WAY too much back then. I was working as a software engineer, going to school part-time trying to get my 4-year degree, and teaching a class or two a semester at Utah Valley State College. It was an extremely busy, extremely difficult time. My wife and I decided to take a trip to The Netherlands and Belgium where I had served as a missionary. We thought that if we didn't do it then, we would never be able to. How right we were! It was a wonderful 10 days of vacation where I got to show the love of my life a place I loved and introduce her to people that I had grown to love. We ate all the foods I missed, rode bicycles on cobblestones, visited a windmill village, climbed church towers, saw Dutch masters' paintings, walked through the royal tulip gardens, and were denied entrance to the Anne Frank house because Yasser Arafat was visiting at the time. (I still wonder what the leader of the PLO was doing at a Jewish memorial in Amsterdam.) Later that year, we purchased our first home and haven't been able to afford such a vacation since!

5 years ago: I had graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science and Information Systems a couple of years earlier and that had enabled me to get the job at Symantec that I was working at the time. I was supporting the Navy/Marine Corps Intranet, helping to improve their network security. I held a DSS Top Secret security clearance in order to work on Navy/Marine Corps networks, although the most highly-classified information I ever saw was limited to IP addresses. This was during the heyday of Symantec stock and I was able to pay off student loans, landscape my yard, and even buy a car at one point by selling stock options. This was also around the same time that I was in The Scarlet Pimpernel at the Hale Center Theater in Orem.

3 years ago: I was still working for Symantec and still loving it, though the beginning of the end of the Symantec American Fork lab was in progress. Management changes, layoffs, and other stresses were the order of the day, but I was still working on a special project, so I was mostly sheltered from all of that. We were outgrowing our house, not because we had any more children, but because we had too much stuff. In order to keep our house from feeling so full, we had concrete poured into the mud crawlspace under our home and we were able to store a TON of stuff under there.

1 year ago: Last year, I was finishing up "The Odd Couple" with the Pleasant Grove Players. I played Oscar. Other than the director (that somehow tried to center the show around the Pigeon Sisters instead of Felix and Oscar), it was a good experience. I also got cast in "No Time for Sergeants" at the Hale Center Theater in Orem. I had auditioned for a couple of other shows there, but couldn't get a part. I had my very best vocal audition ever for "Lucky Stiff," but was un-cast. *heavy sigh* But since they needed SOOOOOO many men for Sergeants, I was cast. My older son was about to turn 13 years old. WHAT?? When did I become old enough to have a teenager?? Later that year, I started exploring the possibilities of teaching fulltime because I was HATING my job. I had been laid off by Symantec the year before, I went to Altiris, and Altiris was subsequently purchased by Symantec. Fortunately, my job woes were cured when I was put under a different manager and I've liked working here again. That's a good thing, because I would have to take a HUGE cut in pay to be a fulltime teacher, even after getting a masters degree.

So far this year: I started taking guitar lessons and I have been LOVING it. It's a lot of fun. I was also cast in "On Golden Pond" with my older son. My part was small so I was also able to be the assistant director of the production. It was SO much fun to see my son pick up his character and take off with it. I'm also teaching a Math 0980 class at UVSC. To top it all off, I think I've gotten every single sickness that's come along this year.

Yesterday I: Worked all day, came home, and prepared tomorrow evening's lecture.

Today I: Worked. I took one of our Saturns in for its Safety and Emissions inspection. It passed both, but it needs an alignment and there's a small leak somewhere around the water pump. There's another $300 repair that needs to be done on top of the thousands of dollars we have already spent on car repairs on our three vehicles this year.

Later tonight: After teaching my math class this evening, I have a date planned with my wife.

Tomorrow: I'm planning on sleeping in late because I'm taking tomorrow off of work. I have a guitar lesson at noon.

This year I hope to: Get to where I can play a few songs on my guitar for other people.  Ride my bike a lot this summer so I can get back into decent shape.

3 years from now:  I hope to be able to afford the car insurance so my son can drive.  If having a son old enough to drive and date doesn't give me a heart attack, I don't know WHAT will!

5 years from now: I hope to be getting ready to send a son on a mission.  The other son will be driving and dating.

10 years from now: I want to have my house paid off.  Who knows...  In 10 years, I could have a son that is a college graduate, or even be a grandfather.  THAT is something I'm not ready for

20 years from now: I hope that I'm still alive.  Actually, by then I will be pushing 60 years old!

It's Mr. Tangen's fourth rule! (If you don't know what I'm talking about, read this post.)

On Sunday, I discovered that it's difficult to find a pharmacy that is open later in the evening in Utah County. On the way home from the InstaCare, we stopped by a Walgreens right by Macey's in Pleasant Grove. The pharmacy was closed. So I took my son home so he could color Easter eggs and I started calling around.

Albertson's Pharmacy: closed

Smith's Pharmacy: closed

Wal-Mart Pharmacy: closed

The nearest Walgreens with an open pharmacy was in Orem. If it had been after 10pm, I would have had to drive all the way to DRAPER for the nearest open pharmacy.

When I arrived, the place was pretty busy. That's quite understandable, since it was the only pharmacy within 25 miles or so that was open. I waited in line behind 5 or 6 other people, waiting to drop off the prescription for the "eye goop."

The poor lady working at the pharmacy at the time was taking quite a bit of abuse from the customers that had been waiting for prescriptions to be filled. She was polite and apologetic for the extra wait time, but most of the people seemed to be taking their exasperation out on her. Some were extremely rude to her.

I wondered how many of these people could have picked up their prescription on Saturday afternoon. I noticed that several of them were buying things like Sudafed, which can be purchased any time the pharmacy is open without a prescription. So these people, who could have come at ANY other time, decided to be jerks to the poor lady who had the misfortune to be scheduled to work on Sunday night. She probably didn't want to be there in the first place!

I sat there waiting for the prescription to be filled and listened to jerk after jerk tell her how long they had waited to get a "simple prescription," or how long they had to wait in line "just for a decongestant." I failed to see how getting angry and acting like a jerk helped the situation at all.

When my prescription had been filled (I waited about a half hour), I went to pay for it and she politely apologized for the wait. I thanked her and said something like "It's okay... I know you're busy, but this is the only pharmacy open that I could find in Utah County. I don't understand why everyone has to be so rude to you. I'm just glad that you're here to help fill my prescription." She looked at me as if it was the nicest thing she had ever heard anyone say in her life.

She thanked me for being the only one that understood the situation and gave me a "Welcome to Walgreens" kit (a water bottle, a pill box, lip balm, hand sanitizer, lotion, and the like) worth $5 for free. And she smiled. It was the first smile I saw on her face since I had walked in a half hour earlier.

See? Don't be a jerk! It's a good rule. I wasn't happy about having to wait either, but how much LESS happier would I have been if there would have been NOWHERE to fill the prescription? Because I wasn't a jerk, I helped cheer someone up AND I got some free stuff.