Friday night, we set up a tent in my sister-in-law's back yard to spend the night. They live in Wellsville, Utah, and it's rural-ish there, so we didn't fear for our lives, sleeping in a tent without a large buffer of untamed wilderness surrounding us.

Boy were WE wrong. We SHOULD have been fearing for our lives.

About bedtime, a little thunderstorm rolled through. No big deal. We fell asleep to the pitter-patter of rain on the tent, but it was a warm night and we weren't expecting a major storm to come through.

Around 1:30 in the morning, I was awoken by a (as far as I could tell) simultaneous flash and bang. The thunder had that strange, hollow-sounding echo of a nearby strike. This was the closest strike I can remember. Holy...

Apparently, kids sleep more soundly than adults. There were 5 adults and 8 children (ranging in age from less than a year old to 13 years old) camping out in 3 tents. All of the adults were instantly awake, hearts beating wildly, wondering when the next strike would happen. None of the kids remember the lightning or thunder. Many remember their anxious parents' reactions, but not the actual strike.

It was the one close strike of the night. If there would have been a second, I'm sure there would have been 5 adults and 8 children suddenly camping out in my sister-in-law's living room.

It's interesting to me that the most vivid memories I have are often tied to smells. By the time this post is finished, it's position, directly next to my previous post, will seem ironic.

A couple of weeks ago, someone at work made a mistake. It wasn't a major mistake. It wasn't even work-related. This person decided to pop some popcorn in the microwave. Unfortunately, they fired up the microwave and then forgot about their popcorn until it had passed the brown and stinky stage and had gotten quite a ways into the flaming stage. Without thinking (seems like a trend), this person took their flaming bag of smelly burnt-ness and threw it into the nearby freezer. This turned out to be a big mistake. The freezer sucked in the smoke created by flaming over-buttered popcorn and has since been recycling the stench throughout the refrigerator and freezer.

The microwave was declared a loss and discarded. Soon, we should be getting a new freezer. This turned out to be an expensive mistake. The whole work area was pretty stinky for the remainder of the day. The smoke was pungent in my nose and made my eyes water. The facilities people opened doors and used fans to try to dissapate the odor. It worked pretty well, but the small break room still smelled awful.

Since then, they have been trying different things to remove the smoky smell. One of the attempts at stench removal was installing an air freshener that has been pumping out a somewhat vanilla-scented air. By now, you're probably wondering what memories could POSSIBLY be brought back by the smell of air freshener and burnt popcorn. That "freshened" air, combined with the strong smoky smell is pretty darned close to the smell of Mr. Stadtfeld's pipe tobacco.

Mr. Stadtfeld taught music (assistant to Mr. Grover Peterson, I believe) at Lewis and Clark Junior High while I was there. He was extremely cool--he drove a red Karman Ghia, a sweet little two-seater sports car made in Italy and marketed by Volkswagen. I was often hired to babysit the Stadtfeld's two sons, the oldest of whom was only 2 or 3 years younger than I was at the time. When I say "babysit," I really mean "play Atari 2600 games with" and "make sure they don't do permanent damage to each other or to anything of value." The only alcoholic drink I ever consumed was a tall glass of 7-Up or Sprite, provided by the boys I was babysitting. I took a couple of large gulps (I was thirsty!) before the burn hit my throat and I realized that these two boys couldn't be trusted not to delve into their parents liquor cabinet. They had poured a good amount of schnapps into my 7-up.

One of the perks of babysitting for the Stadtfelds was an occaisional trip to the nearby ski resort for a day of skiing. All the way up and all the way back (about an hour each direction), Mr. Stadtfeld would smoke his pipe. He was courteous enough to open his window a crack to keep the entire car from filling up with smoke. But I'll never forget the sweet, smoky smell of Mr. Stadtfeld's pipe tobacco.

Tobacco smoke is something I smelled a lot when I was growing up. I found out that there are a ton of different "flavors" of cigarette smoke, most of which, to me, smell nasty. A couple of varieties didn't turn my stomach as much as the others, but I'd never seek out the smell of cigarette smoke. Even worse is cigar smoke, especially the smoke from cheap cigars they give out in Vegas casinos. It's a smoke that I cannot stomach at all. But pipe tobacco isn't as harsh as cigarette smoke or as nauseating as cigar smoke. It was something that, although I didn't seek it out, I could handle having around so long as it didn't get too strong. It is a smell that instantly brings back vivid memories of nights babysitting for the Stadtfelds.

I recently read an article that listed the "Top 10 money drains" that people have. The first three were very interesting to me.

1. Coffee
2. Cigarettes
3. Alcohol

The article went on to list how much people spend on these items. Buying a cup of coffee on the way to work each day costs an average of $360 per year. Pack-a-day smokers spend about $1,660 per year. A couple of beers a day (at a bar) will run $3,650 per year. So by not drinking my coffee every morning, smoking all day long, and then winding down with a couple of beers on the way home, I'm not spending $5,670 each year. Sure, these figures assume Starbucks coffee and $5 bottles of beer at bars, but regardless, I'm saving quite a bit of money by not having these vices.

I have friends that tell me that it's worth the expense. Isn't that what we all do with our money anyway? We decide whether the perceived benefit of an expenditure is worth the tradeoff of the money spent. We look at the opportunity cost of spending that money on different available options and pick the one that is most beneficial.

The most interesting thing to me is the reason behind why I don't spend money on alcohol, tobacco, or coffee. In February, 1833 (yes, almost 200 years ago), a young man "inquired of the Lord concerning" the use of tobacco. The result of that inquiry was a revalation--a "principle with a promise" that has become known as The Word of Wisdom.

Many people continue to debate whether or not this Word of Wisdom is actually revalation. Medical science continues to change its opinion concerning the various benefits and adverse effects of the substances described in the Word of Wisdom. Even those that believe that this revalation came from God through His prophet continue to debate exactly what is meant by various passages. (Don't bring up caffeinated soft drinks in an LDS Sunday School meeting for example.) Yet like it or not, believe it or not, agree with all of it not, there is an underlying wisdom in the text known as the Word of Wisdom.

The addictive effects of alcohol and tobacco use are widely accepted as fact by medical experts. The adverse effects of alcholism and long-term tobacco use are devastating and deadly. None of this was known in the 1830's, so the prohibition of the use of these substances is at the very least, interesting, and at most, truly a revalation.

More "debatable" is the prohibition of the use of coffee and tea. I haven't heard of anyone dying from coffee or tea poisoning, yet addiction to coffee and/or tea is also well documented, and anything that takes away one's choice, even partially, would be against God's plan that gave us agency.

Less-often discussed are the Word of Wisdom's admonitions to use meat sparingly and to enjoy grains and fruits, the former being called "the staff of life." I could probably eat less meat and more vegetables and I have little doubt that I would be healthier if I did so.

The bottom line for me is that I believe that this Word of Wisdom is revalation given by God through his prophet in 1833. Therefore, whether or not every last bit of it makes 100% logical sense (though most of it DOES make sense logically), it is my obligation to follow its precepts. To act otherwise would be to act against what I believe to be the will of God.

So I'll continue to try to live by this "principle with a promise," believing that I will be given the blessings promised by the Lord:

And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint;

I've seen many of these blessings in my life, and now, in addition, I'll smile as I remember the $5,000 per year I'm not spending. There's a little treasure of knowledge right there.

Well, I did it. I finished the ULCER this year without major incident.

It was actually fun to ride around Utah Lake this year. Last year, because of problems on the west side of the lake, the entire ride was on the east side of the lake.

I rode with a group of poeple: a friend that works at Symantec in the Altiris Business Unit with me and a friend that we worked with in the (now defunct) American Fork office. Both of them invited a couple of friends, so it all, we had seven riders.

The first hour and a half was FAST. We rode from Thanksgiving point to the library in Springville in only 90 minutes. It wasn't a direct shot. We rode 33 miles in that time, including a 10-minute stop in a park in Vineyard.

From there, we climbed up out of Springville to Spanish Fork and that's where the troubles began. Today's troubles came in two forms: heat and wind.

The wind was blowing hard right in our faces, and when it wasn't in our faces, it was a pretty strong crosswind. We had to deal with this wind almost all the way to the marina on the southwest of Utah Lake, and the wind hit us in the face again and blew against us through Genola and all the way to the lunch stop in Goshen. I opted not to stop at the rest stop at the marina since I had lost the rest of the group I was with and thought that they were WAY ahead of me. This wasn't a smart choice, becuase I started running out of steam.  Food at the rest stop would have been a good idea.  However, we were all surprised when I showed up at the lunch stop before the rest of my group.  I passed the group while they were stopped at the marina rest stop.

After lunch, we dealt with the strong crosswind until we finally turned north and it became a very favorable tailwind. But at this point, the heat began to be oppressive. I had two water bottles and if I didn't fill them COMPLETELY with ice before adding water, they were very warm...almost hot within 10 miles.

I lost my group again with only about 21 miles left to ride. I was wearing out and couldn't stick with them. But taking into account that my longest ride so far this year was under 32 miles, it was actually pretty amazing that I was able to ride as hard as I did for as long as I did.

I ended up back at Thanksgiving Point just under 7 hours after I left. Acutal moving time was just over 6 hours, which isn't too bad at all. I only came in a few minutes later than the rest of my group.

It was a hot, windy day, but I'm glad I rode.

I don't think I'll be able to sit for any length of time for at least a week!

Some friendly advice:

If you're going to put EVERY SINGLE CALL YOU GET on speaker phone, please do the world a favor and close your office door. If you don't have an office, then don't put calls on speaker phone unless they're work-related AND you have more than one person that needs to hear/participate in the call.

If you don't do this, sooner or later, someone is going to say something that will cause general ridicule throughout the office.

Someone with an office near my cubicle does this. He never picks up his telephone handset. He always uses the speaker phone. This morning, it led to many snickers and smatterings of laughter from nearby cubicles as he took a phone call that went something like this:

Office Guy: Hi.

Angry-sounding Lady: WHERE IS THE GAMEBOY?

OG: What? (Editorial: This wasn't a "What? I didn't hear you ." Because the entire office heard her. This was a "I'll say 'What?' so that I have a moment to think about why I'm getting yelled at.")

AL: WHERE DID YOU PUT THE GAMEBOY?!?!?!

OG: I don't know where it is.

AL: HE DIDN'T PLAY GAMEBOY ALL DAY YESTERDAY. WHERE IS THE GAMEBOY?

OG: I hid it. (Snickers and chuckles from nearby cubicles)

AL: WHERE?

OG: He's still not allowed to play it.

AL: BUT HE DIDN'T PLAY IT ALL DAY YESTERDAY!!!! WHERE IS IT??

OG: (Describes where he hid it)

AL: THAT WAS VERY RUDE. (General laughter from the cubicle farm)

OG: What? (See editorial above.)

AL: THAT WAS VERY RUDE. GOODBYE. (No more laughter. There is no angry lady voice to cover it)

Smart thing #1 that should have been done, but wasn't: He should have picked up the handset.

Smart thing #2 that should have been done, but wasn't: After hearing an angry voice on the other side of the conversation, he should have picked up the handset.

Smart thing #3 that should be done, but won't be: He should learn to pick up the handset.

Smart thing #4 that should be done, but won't be: He should invest in a hands-free headset.

Any of those things could have saved him from the ridicule that he received today, but will probably never know about. Maybe nothing would have saved him from the abuse dished out by the angry-sounding lady, but picking up the handset would have kept that abuse from being speaker phone abuse.

I just spent the weekend with 63 of my closest friends.

I hear mixed reviews of different family reunions. There's always the strange uncle that freaks people out or the tension between estranged family members. There's even a full-blown feud in some families.

Not in my family.

We spent the weekend together at the Red Moose Lodge in Eden, Utah. We were the only guests, so we basically had the place to ourselves. We stayed three nights and played and laughed and talked and cried together. It was a WONDERFUL weekend.

I'm so grateful to those who spent time planning and carrying out the different events. I'm grateful to those that managed and organized the finances to make the reunion possible. I'm mostly grateful to my family for being the people that they are because I truly feel blessed to be able to associate with such awesome people.

I'm grateful to my Dad for giving me life and for loving my mom. It's a great example for me to follow. I'm grateful to Uncle Tom for his teachings and wisdom, and to his family for the love that I always feel from them. I'm grateful to Bard for taking time to teach my sons to fence (swords, people, not stolen property) and to his family for being so boisterous and fun. I'm grateful to Margo for her stories and the huge smile on her face when she tells them, and to her family for their obvious love of life. I'm grateful to Lasca, who often feels like the big sister I never had, and to her family for their laughter and for being good examples to my sons.

It's been six years since we all got together, and there have been a lot of changes in the last six years, but we seemed to pick right back up where we left off when we left each other last time. We've done fun things at past reunions: Disneyland, San Diego Wild Animal Park, Broadway shows, Tournament of Roses parades, Sea World, Trolley Tours of San Diego... But this reunion was my favorite so far, because we had each other, a room to meet in, a pool, and lots of time to visit. There were several activities planned, but for the most part, the activities brought us all together instead of splitting us up into groups and families. Instead of running ourselves ragged at theme parks or on tours, we spent the time visiting and getting to know each other so much better. We laughed a ton. We ate a ton. We grew closer together.

I thought that this reunion might not be as good as ones in the past with larger activities planned, but strangely enough, this one was better because I think we spent more time connecting to each other, forging and strengthening family bonds. In the end, that's the most important thing that we could be doing anyway. Don't get me wrong... the other stuff was fun and exciting, and I wouldn't give up those experiences either, but this reunion was my favorite because I got to know my family a little better.

Highlights of the weekend for me:

• Just seeing everyone again
• Spending the entire weekend with my wife and sons
• Evening family gatherings
• Memories of Grandpa and Grandma
• Fencing with Uncle Bard
• The zany family olympics
• Michael's "our song" game
• Playing games and laughing until it hurt
• Family Talent Show
• Dutch oven food
• The best pool party EVER

I'm sad it's over. But I've renewed my desire to keep in touch with family and to try to get together with many of them before the next reunion in three years. I truly count my family members as friends. I really DID spend the weekend with 63 of my closest friends.

I just might be the strange cousin, though, so if you're reading someone else's review of this family reunion, maybe you're getting a different version of events.

I've been going to the dentist faithfully every six months for the previous several years now.  It's been a very good thing.  I can tell that my teeth are in better shape than they've been in my life.

However...

It's the old dental work that is causing problems.  The root canal earlier this year?  It was previous dental work that ended up "causing" it.  And now I get to go back to the dentist and have my last amalgam filling replaced.  It was put in well over 20 years ago, so it's done well.  But I still HATE to have novocaine and the associated ache and headache for the rest of the day.  Ugh.

I don't like dentists.  Nobody does.  But everyone goes to them.  So I guess we SAY that we don't like dentists, but life would suck without them, especially when things started hurting.

I've been hired to teach an Introductory Algebra class this fall.

They must have liked me because they called me a little more than a day after the interview and they offered me TWO classes to teach. I can only fit one of them into my schedule.

Woohoo!

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I was going to slowly transition to a new career: teaching.  Today, I took another baby step along that road.  I interviewed for an adjunct faculty position in the Developmental Math department at UVSC.

Developmental Math (previously known as Remedial Math, or by those with less tact, Bonehead Math) is greatly needed.  Too many students think that they're bad at math, probably because they were taught by teachers that didn't like math or thought they were bad at math, or simply didn't know how to teach math.  There are dozens and dozens of sections of Developmental Math courses, all for people to learn what they probably SHOULD have learned in High School.

I'm sure that my opinions about Developmental Math will change as time goes on.  It will be interesting to see whether I even LIKE teaching it...assuming that they hire me, of course.

This morning, I didn't want to quit riding, so I didn't!

I rode from my house to Vivian Park (up Provo Canyon) and back. It's 31.4 miles round trip. I was scouting out (snicker) a ride for the cycling merit badge. I knew how far it is from the mouth of the canyon to Vivian Park, and I probalby should have just turned around there, but I didn't want to! I just kept riding.

That's less than a third of the ULCER, which is coming up in only18 days! But I'm getting my strength back quickly. I think I'm going to be ready.