Boating

I'm not sure if it was summer or Facebook, but my blog has been deader than the dog days. I admit, there were several weekends that were either too hot or too rainy to do anything interesting. The main event of the fall season was J's football team, with games every Saturday for a couple of months. Unfortunately, they didn't meet with much on-field success, but J mostly had fun and is thinking of doing it again next year. In the meantime, he, L, and R have been taking swim lessons.

Work has been interesting, but I am cautious about what I post for fear of discussing sensitive business. I will say that I am working on two very interesting projects, one a direct response to the events that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico over the summer. The idea is to be prepared to respond to any future blowout. The other I hope to be able to talk about in a few months. Generally, however, I'll say that I feel like I've got my feet under me, understand the company culture, and feel like a contributing member of my team.

Last weekend, we went to Huntsville State Park. The park contains a 210 acre lake surrounded by heavy woods and a few gentle hills, a couple thousand acres in all. Okay, hills only in the East Texas sense of the word, but there is some change in elevation, at least. The woods, however, are quite thick, some of them virgin hardwoods, along with mature second growth hardwoods and pines, and there are quite a few hiking and biking trails that wind through them. We did a hike of about 1.5 miles--about all RJ and LM could handle--then rented canoes for an hour and paddled around part of the lake. It had rained in the morning, but had dried out and was maybe 55-60 degrees and moderately breezy, with a mix of clouds and sun, perfect for light jackets. All in all, it was a good time, and a place I would go back to. I would rate it as one of the nicer places I have been in Texas.

On Sunday, the children had their Primary program in church and performed their parts well. This morning at breakfast, L asked me, "Why does it say, When God was on the earth, he promised he would sin? That's bad, sinning; why did he say that?" I realized she was referring to the song from the yesterday's program, which says:

When Christ was on the earth,
He promised he would send
The Holy Ghost to comfort us,
Our true, eternal friend.

She seemed relieved at my explanation.

Uda man

H has been out of town with the kids visiting family in Missouri and Kansas. So, I’ve been alone at home. Most of that time I’ve spent working on either Church stuff like a ward cannery activity and a temple visit, or honey-do projects, like building a new ladder for the play structure, doing some minor tile replacement, and doing a refinishing project in the master shower that turned out to be far more than I bargained for.

I have been too busy bother turning on the TV--I don't watch much, anyway--but I have done a couple of enjoyable things, like seeing Robin Hood at the dollar movie on Friday and dinner at a local Vietnamese place after a long day of work on Saturday. At the Vietnamese restaurant, my server was a pleasant young man of about 20 with a thick accent (Vietnamese, I assume). He took my order, then asked, “I have a question. What’s uda?”

“Uda?”

“Uda.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Hu-da.”

“Huda. Hmm…I’m sorry, I don’t know,” I finally conceded, having no idea what he was talking about.

“Hudas, like the restaurant, with the shirt.”

Light bulb. “Hooters?” I asked tentatively.

“Yes! Hudas! What does it mean?”

Oh, that. Yes, I do know what that means, and I meekly explained the word and the concept of the restaurant as I understand it, never having been there myself. “Beeg, boobs,” I heard him say to himself deliberately as he walked away.

The vermicelli noodles with charbroiled lemon grass chicken and chopped spring rolls, lettuce, and cucumbers was outstanding, by the way. Maybe I’m not a typical guy, but I’ll continue to take my bachelor week dinners at Pho Thong Lang or at home instead of “Udas,” thank you.

Wilt Chamberlain, is that you?

Today, I received a contract back from a client with the following change made to our contract:

"[Party] shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless…the indemniteeies for personal injury, death, or loss of or damage to property resulting from the indemnitor’s inseminator's negligence, GROSS NEGLIGENCE or WILLFUL MISCONDUCT."

I didn't point out to my client that he is supposed to read and negotiate the contract as far as possible before sending it to me. I simply inserted a comment in the document:

"Inseminator? Does this arrangement contemplate negligent impregnation??"

I didn't know we were in that line of business, but maybe the guy from the other company should stop inappropriately multitasking at work.

Dog days are here

I haven't blogged recently, out of a combination of laziness, busyness, and the fact that my company filter was blocking blogger for a few weeks for some reason.

I had a great visit with my brother and his family earlier this month in Vermont. I had imagined Vermont to be a nicer, more rural version of Connecticut. Maybe my memory is faulty, but I feel I owe Vermont an apology. It is 100 times nicer than CT, at least in the summer. We loved our trip, from playing in the river that runs along my brother's property, to short hikes in the Green Mountains, to seeing the many quaint towns and admiring the lack of neon signs--indeed, any large signs. We had a great time, and I was happy to see everyone get along. Our parents came from Utah as well, and all of the cousins really enjoyed seeing them.

While in VT, we were able to go to Sharon, the birthplace of Joseph Smith. My brother's family graciously came along as part of a day doing other activities as well, and dutifully watched the lengthy-but-good film about Joseph Smith's life. The site was beautiful, though nothing was left of the original Smith cabin but the hearthstone and the porch stone. Still, it gave me a few minutes to reflect on the life of this remarkable man, and to pledge to try more fully in my own way to use the talents I have been given to help others and to make my life a reflection of a disciple of Christ.

Now, I'm back home, but the family is gone. My oldest daugher continued on to NYC with my parents, who have started a great tradition of taking grandchildren on a special trip the year they turn 12. S seemed to have a great time in the city and was able to see many of the iconic destinations, like the Statue of Liberty, a Broadway play, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Now, she's back in Utah for a couple more weeks of fun, and the rest of the family is in Kansas and Missouri visiting family. I'm here working, unfortunately.

I've been trying to use the time to get some minor projects done, which is just the kind of stuff I hate doing. After weighing myself at my brother's house and being concerned by the results--my own scale has been broken for a while--I've also tried to eat more healthy food and get plenty of exercise this week. Doesn't fit the bachelor stereotype, I know, but I need to get in better shape.

After mowing the law, I went to the community pool last night to cool off and swim some laps. The water felt like a bathtub, though, and with my fitness level, I soon felt like I was sweating in the water. I remember, I earned the Mile Swim patch as an afterthought when I was a scout. I was swimming all the time and had no worry about swimming just one mile. I got the patch one day at scout camp when I had nothing better to do. I hadn't tried to swim any distance in 20+ years, though. After about 150 yards, I already felt tired. Ultimately, I swam 1200 yards, or about 3/4 mile, but I was beat, and I still felt exhausted when I woke up this morning. Pathetic.

Okay, so I just checked, and the pool is supposedly 50 meters long in that configuration, so I guess I swam slightly over 3/4 mile, not slightly under. Still, it's sad to think that my lifetime peak physical conditioning peaked at around 13-15. At least my kids can't beat me yet in running or swimming sprints--but that won't last much longer if I don't get serious about my fitness.

Psalm 51

Our Sunday School lesson last week was on David and Bathsheba. Such a tragedy for a man who spent the rest of his life doing good. We discussed Psalm 51, which is his contrition after his sin. Here is my rendering of that Psalm:

Lord, shew me thy tender mercies,
Cleanse me from my every sin.
I acknowledge my transgressions:
Wash me thoroughly within.

I have sinned against thee only,
And done evil in thy sight.
Save me from a fearful judgment;
Set my inward parts aright.

Purge me clean with fragrant hyssop,
Wash me whiter than the snow,
Make me hear of joy and gladness—
Broken free from sin’s dark throes.

Grant the joy of thy salvation,
Take thy Spirit not from me.
Then will I convert transgressors—
Sinners shall I turn to thee.

Open thou my lips for singing,
And my mouth shall sing thy praise.
Thou desirest not burnt off’rings,
Nor in sacrifice thy ways.

With a broken spirit offered,
And a broken, contrite heart,
I shall speak of thy good pleasure,
And yet choose the better part.

Divisionals

The divisional swim meet went well. Both JW and LM improved on their best times in each event in which they swim. LM went from not being able to swim backstroke six weeks ago to finishing second in her heat of eight on Saturday. JW also finished second in his heat in breaststroke and backstroke. To be sure, the kids are not yet among the fastest in their age groups--JW is finishing in the middle (backstroke) to lower-middle of the pack, and LM is still one of the slower racers. However, both have made progress very quickly this season, and both have another year to swim in the same age group, which should make a big difference. With some practice this summer--LM is signed up for another swim class next month, for instance--I'm hopeful they can improve enough to swim in the final heat next year (heats are seeded by qualifying times, so the fastest swimmers are generally in the last heat).

Birthday time

When we asked JW what he wanted to do for his birthday, he said he wanted to have the Mc___ family over for dinner. He also had a swim meet, though, so we had that first. Then, a family from church had invited us over for their daughter's birthday party. They had a huge inflatable waterslide and water play structure and a slip 'n slide in the backyard, so the kids played there for a while. Then, it was home for dinner with the Mc____ family. They have a boy who is a grade behind JW and with him in cub scouts. We ate pizza from our favorite place, played games, and watched the kids swim in the pool. Having a backyard pool makes summer birthdays easy, handy as three of the four kids have summer birthdays, and so do I. Our extended family seems to cluster birthdays around certain times. JW shares a birthday with a cousin, whose dad has a birthday a day apart. October and December are the other big birthday times.

Next up, RJ has his 3rd birthday next week. His grandparents are coming today for a visit and will celebrate with us. He says a lot of funny things these days in his barely intelligible voice--I need to write more of them down. For instance, last week he said, "Dad, don't bite your nails, or you will get worms in your butt!"