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(1) Thu Jun 26 2008 17:07 Patient Patient: I am the worst infirm person ever. I pulled my quad about two weeks ago running a 10K. As I was only 4 miles in, I somehow plucked up the stamina to run the other 2 miles and finish the race. The pulled quad put undue strain on my opposite ankle, which in turn has led to quite the sprain.

I put myself on bed rest starting Tuesday, because Monday night after work I noticed my ankle had tripled in size. I have been on bed rest ever since, and am starting to go stir crazy. I'd rather be sick than have a sprained ankle. I can't get up and walk. Finally this morning I am able to walk without pain, but obviously the area is still sensitive and will require rehabilitation to get me back up to speed.

I'm not used to being waited on, so I still try and do things on my own. It's frustrating me because my ankle still hurts, it frustrates Susie, who is only trying to help, and it frustrates Maggie because she is pretty bored of sitting on my bed all day.

Every morning it feels gradually better. I can't wait to be back up on my feet again.

Sun Jun 15 2008 14:48 Mr Lonely: For some unexplained reason, I find it comforting to log onto Gmail and find Leonard logged in as well. Even if he is on "away" status most of the time. I guess with my crazy work hours and random e-mail checks, it's nice to feel like I'm not the only one still working. And he's two hours ahead of me to boot!

Sat Jun 14 2008 22:47 I Nailed It: I am so sick of the bare wall in our front room, especially since we haven't touched up the wall from the previous owners, so it is full of holes. We want to make it a picture wall. So to accomplish this, we took family pictures back in Nov. Problem was, it was a cold day and the photographer did a poor job. So we couldn't use those.

December was ok because the Christmas tree went there. But from Jan-today I have been frequently upset at this huge, bare wall. So we took family pictures again in May. Susie and I placed our order in record speed. Unfortunately, my family moves at a snails pace, and the order all went in as one. So we are still waiting.

Today I couldn't take it anymore, and hung all the frames on the wall, even though the only pictures in the frames are of those people that come with the frame. I'm sure they are nice people, and now they are our people. Honestly, I don't care anymore. It looks awesome to me, and I should have done it months ago. Who cares if I don't know them, and some of them are sideways because I know the picture we ordered will go the other way? Finally, I have a family picture wall. I officially feel moved in now.

(1) Sun Jun 08 2008 21:43 Summer Days: It's been so long since I've lived in a neighborhood where children can be heard out playing into the wee hours of the night. It's really calming for me to go to sleep hearing the neighbor kids playing their summer vacation away. I enjoy that about our neighborhood.

Other recent successes include: actually getting home taught for the first time in 3 years, getting caught up on all the weeding, planning ahead for Sunday School lessons (today we played Cranium, church style, to high acclaim of the participants), losing 5 pounds, getting new glasses & prescription sunglasses, spending quality time with family, and organizing a successful IHOP party for Grandma June.

Also, though Maggie is months away from talking, she understands a lot of what we say. She can point to all the body parts covered in the song "Heads, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes" and when we say things like "let's go for a walk" she goes to the door; or "can you get your shoes" she actually fetches her shoes. Now we just have to get her to listen when we say things like "come back please." She loves to run down the street. Being a parent is loads of fun!

(1) Fri Jun 06 2008 13:40 Go Green Go: Yesterday at work was a happy day. For the next two months, in order to promote flexibility, encourage EY employees to go green, and to help the workforce adjust to the new levels of inflation, we are allowed to work from home once a week. I have asked for Wed, (nice commuter's break right in the middle of the week). I'm very excited about this, and the implications it has for company morale, UT's air quality, and the environment as a whole.

I've often wondered if the world would switch more to a telecommuting system as we scramble to have mass transit catch up with rising fuel costs. Unfortunately, I think that, due to the extreme lack of professionalism exhibited by many people, that pipe dream is still a way's off. Both because I've been certified a professional by both the states of CA & UT, at least I can benefit. Here's to the planet's future!

Sat May 31 2008 17:03 Timing is everything: This morning I opened all the windows in the house before I went running, to keep the house cool in anticipation for a hot day. Then after my run I played the piano. Our neighbors heard it, and stopped by. Their two daughters need piano lessons, as they just bought a piano at DI. And because they heard me playing, Susie now has two more students!

Then on our walk with Maggie this morning we happened by a yard sale selling a "Little Tikes" table and two chairs! For $10! These things are like hundreds of dollars at the store. Now we can move past the high chair and we have a craft table for her to work at.

We also took Grandma June to the cemetary to retrieve items off Grandpa Garn's grave and to IHOP. Grandma misunderstood Susie on the phone and thought ALL the Chadwick's were coming, when what Susie really meant was that I was coming. Maggie ate almost an entire pancack off my plate--cornbread pancakes.

Got home just in time for Maggie's nap, and I'm getting lots done in the meantime. I love the weekend.

(1) Fri May 30 2008 22:31 Just do it: Now that we have a home and space to fill, Susie & I have finally put an emphasis on building up an emergency supply storage. We have beefed up our 72 hour kits and have started to horde water. We were going to buy a 55-gallon barrel, as seems to be popular among the Mormon food storage crowd, but it just didn't seem right to me. Firstly, how in the world do you rotate that water out? Secondly, if we had to evacuate our home, I can't lift 500 pounds of water up the stairs. Thirdly, I didn't like the idea of running a hose through the window to fill it up with sub-par water. So instead we are going to buy a variety of 6-gallon jugs. They are portable (though still weigh about 50 pounds when full), are easy to rotate, and can be filled up with inside water. So far we are up to 20 gallons (or roughly 120 pounds) of water, 25 pounds of flour, and 3 strategically placed emergency kits filled with flashlights, clothes, food, toilet paper, diapers, etc. We also have a little propane stove.

Still need to buy sleeping bags, spare propane barrel, and stock up on food we can feasibly rotate. Susie has also planted a garden. We are just hitting the tip of the iceberg. What a lot of work.

(5) Tue May 27 2008 10:44 Feelin' It: Had a very nice Memorial Day weekend, despite the cold and the wet. Kristen, Aaron, Lily, & Gunnar came for breakfast Friday morning. Lily & Gunnar picked on Maggie a little bit, but I think it was good for her. Susie says Maggie picks on Collette sometimes. So it was her karma catching up with her. Friday afternoon we made the trek to Provo to pay homage to Roy & Frances. We walked around campus afterward and I finally came to peace with BYU. The walk was nice and I realized it's a nice place. I no longer hold the university in contempt.

Saturday we took Justin to see "Prince Caspian." I clearly have forgotten the Narnia series, as I was confused in a few places. But I really enjoyed the movie. Maggie wanted to play, of course, so I sat on the floor off to the side while she walked around and read books. She started throwing things, so I scolded her, she cried as usual, and I rocked her until, miracle of miracles, she fell asleep in a public place (something she refuses to do). So even though my entire left arm fell asleep, I got to watch the last half of the movie in peace. We spent the rest of Saturday at my parent's entertaining Chad. He was supposed to go paintballing, but Jodi & Franco bailed without telling him. Poor kid. He spent the day weeding. So we got him pizza for dinner.

Sunday was awesome. I taught a personal best Sunday School lesson. I think the kids really enjoyed it. It was on prophets so we split into teams and we played memory with the quorum members. We also listened to parts of conference and they had to guess which of the brethren was speaking just by the voice. Then I played some Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc to do the same thing with. The point was that they need to get to know the brethren as well as they know One Republic. But they actually did a pretty good job at naming the prophet by voice (better than Susie & I did). We've had two less active kids coming more regularly lately as well. I felt like I related to the kids really well. Problem is, it's hard to come up with lessons like that every week. The manual, of course, is no help.

Sunday night we went to the cabin and spent the night. It was really fun. Even though we did the same thing we do every night at home (went for a walk, put Maggie to bed, read books, went to bed) it was fun to do it somewhere else. It wasn't too cold and we got to watch a lot of people fishing at the lake.

Today is back to work (and to running). I'm up to 4 miles now every morning, so I am improving. I'm really enjoying these early morning runs.

Mon May 19 2008 13:20 Mouse in the House: Saturday we toiled in the yard in the oppressive heat of the day. We mowed the lawn, weeded the side yards, and planted our garden! That night, after Maggie went to sleep, Susie and I layed out on the backyard grass to enjoy the twilight. I thought out of the corner of my eye something moved in the garden, on the hill near the bushes and ground cover. So I went over to the whole in the ground I uncovered while trimming back the ground cover the other day, and there was a mouse, no bigger than my thumb, looking up at me quite apprehensively.

Susie is enjoying conjuring up ways to end its life. My stance is to live and let live, as long as its not in the house. And we have mice poison boxes in the house left from the previous tenants (and now I know why!) If it were a rat, I'd feel differently.

Maggie had her own mouse encounter last week. Picture here.

Sun May 11 2008 19:28 On the way home: Today we visited our old ward in Costa Mesa. Talk about a warm reception. Everyone, including the Bishop, asked if we were back for good. When we said no, they seemed disappointed. Then in sacrament meeting the bishop formally announced that we were visiting today and everyone should come and say hi. And people listened. People I had never talked to when we lived here expressed how much they missed us. Susie mentioned that it felt like we were going home, not going on vacation. Our church experience made that true.

We went to Sunday School, held in the Relief Society room. I'd never been there before, due to our lifetime Primary calling. It was a trip. The room is painted light pink. Pink. And they have these wierd valance and curtains with floral patterns from the eighties. I also had to ask for directions to Priesthood.

I think we're slowly fitting into our new ward in Draper, though I still feel inadequate working with the youth. I just have an easier time relating to children than to teenagers. But I just can't shake the feeling that the Costa Mesa II ward is home, and that we are not done with the place.

(1) Sat May 10 2008 23:14 Serta-fied: For Mother's Day I bought Susie something that will hopefully provide us both a better life: an expensive, fancy-type mattress cover. It has a pillow top to it. We tried it out last night and I slept great! It felt like I was sleeping on a cloud. Or like I was sleeping in a swank hotel room bed, which I get to do for work travel sometimes, and is also where the idea for this present came from. Susie unfortunately didn't sleep any better. Well, Happy Mother's Day anyway, sweet baboo!

(4) Mon May 05 2008 09:55 Can you hear me now?: So yesterday was fast and testimony meeting. There's this new lady in the ward, from England, rather obnoxious really, and her cell phone rings in church. She answers it, while sitting on the second row of pews, and talks on it for a good 5 minutes before putting it away. All the while, this lady is on the stand crying about something or other.

I have to wonder where some people learn their etiquette. Would it have killed her to sit in the foyer if she is expecting a call. Or, at the very least to answer it, say "hold on a minute, love" and walk into the foyer to continue her conversation? I was not raise to presume the world revolves around me. But apparently some people were. What it must be like to be living in that sort of delusion.

(1) Sun May 04 2008 22:26 Lightly Toasted: I took Friday off (speaking of the term quite liberally, considering I told my coworkers I needed a day off to rejuvenate, but they still called me all day long). Anyway, we fixed the shower, pulled weeds, planted some flowers, pulled weeds, planted some little bushes, pulled weeds, mowed the lawn, pulled weeds, turned on the sprinklers, pulled weeds, went to Ember's soccer game, yelled at the weeds, and on and on.

Saturday we went to the cemetery with Grandma June, because it was Grandpa's 97th birthday (that is, if he were still alive). My mom's car got a screw in the tire, so we waited on the grass for about 30 minutes for AAA. Then we worked more in the yard. I think I am half tanned, half sunburned now. I guess it beats the pasty white complexion one gets all winter here. Maggie got to experience the whole weekend my way, because she wouldn't leave my side. I can't help thinking Frances would be proud of my horticultural efforts. I think sometimes I feel her inspiring to keep pruning and beautifying., because I certainly don't do it for fun.

Speaking of lightly toasting, congrats to Sumana on her upcoming graduation!

(6) Wed Apr 30 2008 21:20 The Office: Ever had one of those days where you just want to throw your computer out the window and storm out of the office, never to return? If not, have you ever dreamed of saying "you can't fire me, I quit!" If not, have you ever thought of slipping your boss a mickey?

I've had two such days, both of them since I moved to the SLC office. Today was one of those days. Interestingly enough, on both of these days, pay days, I mysteriously got an extra $500 in my paycheck, mostly for good behavior. I guess it's a sign to focus on the good, and forget the bad. So today I simply turned off my computer and left without doing my timesheet. It wasn't as dramatic as the the above-mentioned notions, but it sufficed. The money is nice, but really I appreciate being appreciated. I guess I'll live to see another day as an accountant.

Back to watching the Wiggles with Maggie.

(1) Wed Apr 23 2008 22:40 Weeding & Speeding: Last night, after I ran another 5K in training for the Draper 5K this summer, I decided to weed the rock bed in the front yard. Maggie came with, as Susie was napping. Maggie wasn't letting me do any weeding, so I got her car out for her to play with.

The next thing I know, Maggie is cruising past me down the sidewalk on our steep hill. Luckily, her car was crooked and it crashed into the other rock bed. It stopped, she didn't fall off. I went over to her, and she had on the biggest grin in the world. So at that point I dutifully put away the gardening tools and proceeded to "drive" her up and down our steep sidewalk. I finished the gardening tonight. And played car again.

Who knew our shy little girl was such a daredevil?

(6) Sat Apr 19 2008 22:34 5K Foray: I ran in the SLC 5K today. I believe I finished around 27 minutes, making for a 9-minute mile. Disgraceful. I hope to do better in the Draper 5K this summer.

The thing that irks me about a 5K is that a lot of people enter it to walk. And these walkers think they should be at the start of the line. It's extremely difficult to get a good start with all of these walkers. I think the walkers should be at the back of the pack, but before the jogging stroller people. But that's just me.

The other thing that irks me about a 5K is the ruckus. Parking was a challenge, getting on the freeway to go home was a nightmare, and I had to get up at 5:30 am to wait in a cold park all morning for the shotgun. The finish line was chalk full of vendors, congratulating us with pizza, hot dogs, ice cream, etc. At 8 am. I don't know about most people, but running makes me lose my appetite, not gain it. And 9 am is way too early for such garbage. Luckily, EY provided us with fruit, yogurt, and toast. A much more seemly reward after running for the cure, whatever that means.

I'd like to think I could try the 1/2 marathon in two years. But realistically, I don't see it happening.

UPDATE: I ran it in 26:49, which means I ran 8:38 minute miles. That's not too terrible, I guess. I guess my real goal should be to not walk on that uphill block between 2nd & 3rd south next year.

(1) Thu Apr 17 2008 11:30 Dairy Queen: Maggie's favorite foods are cheese, yogurt, and milk. Some days, that's all she'll eat. Lately, she's chosen to drink a gallon of milk a day and then forgo anything else. Luckily, she doesn't seem to care for ice cream too much (too cold).

(7) Tue Apr 08 2008 22:52 Vindication: So, after all the complaining about gambling, guess what? I entered the work contest that required no upfront payment to participate, got second place, and won $75! Who would have thought Kansas would beat Memphis in the championship game? Apparently, me and the person who got first place.

In other news, Maggie has finally decided to no longer be tooth challenged. The teething has been a bit hard on her, but it does seem to quell yet another paternal worry. I wonder what new worry will fill the void? At any rate, at least I know it won't be about Maggie calling me a jerk. My heart goes out to you, Kristen.

(2) Thu Mar 27 2008 10:19 Dancing Queen: Against Susie's better judgment, I got Maggie two Wiggles DVD's for her birthday. So loves them to pieces. She watched one of them three times in a row at Jamie's house, and when Erin was watching her the other day, she brought Erin the DVD case and pointed at the tv repeatedly until Erin turned it on. She really gets into them. I may have created a monster. Now Susie & I will only be able to watch our shows when she's asleep. Good thing we don't really have any shows to speak of.

I guess if we wanted to watch a show we could always put the Wiggles on the laptop while we watch on the tv. Or we could be mean and show Maggie who's the boss. Though I think we may be surprised at the answer to that one.

I can tell that Maggie is ready for busy season to end. Now whenever she sees me she clings to me hard and cries if even Susie tries to take her so I can get stuff done. Poor little thing. She knows who the moneymaker is!

(4) Tue Mar 25 2008 12:18 Anti-Dentite: Last night I was dutifully flossing under my permanent retainer and poof, the glue holding the right side of the bar died. Needless to say, my tongue had an interesting night playing with it.

This morning I went to my old orthodontist. I've had the bar 9 years. The doctor said it's really only necessary to keep it for 6 years, so he could take it out. So now all my teeth are finally free! He also told me some people like to keep the bottom bar forever, and he'd reglue it if I wanted. I declined. He didn't charge me, and I only had to wait in his lobby for 10 minutes. All in all, not a bad start to the day.

(15) Sun Mar 23 2008 16:08 VCP?: Our DVD player died. It was a wedding gift and I'm sure we registered for cheapest old thing. Susie wanted to get it repaired but I looked up new machines and decided that it's probably cheaper just to buy a new one. So for $60 we got a VCP/DVD. Our VCR is mine from high school and also only works when repeatedly banged on. This new combo machine is pretty cool. You can play a video and a DVD at the same time and toggle back and forth while both play simultaneously. Don't know when I would ever do this, but it's a nice touch. Also, I should point out that this new machine does not allow video recording, only playing. Thus it's a VCP, not a VCR. Just so's you know.

My NCAA bracket is failing miserably. I'm sure glad I didn't enter my work tax group bracket. It cost $5 to enter. I opted out, as I figured it constituted gambling. However, the boss, a stake president, entered. As did most of my mormon coworkers. I'm confused. When would it be considered gambling. $6? $10? Why is this not gambling? This is why I don't necessarily want to still live here when Maggie enters teenage-dom. It's so much easier to explain to kids why our family values are different from their friends when all of their friends are from different faiths. But when they are from the same faith: how to explain it then? I think it'll be easier to raise kids with the values I adhere to elsewhere.

(1) Thu Mar 20 2008 12:49 Sitting Pretty: Yay! Luck was an airplane this weekend, my friends. I had to go to San Jose Tuesday night for a one-day training on Wednesday that made me stay until Thursday morning because there were no flights out that night.

My flight to San Jose was absolutely deserted. I think some connecting flight didn't make it. I had a whole row to myself to read and take a nap in. Then on the way home the flight was full, so guess who got bumped up to first class? Moi! First time ever. It was awesome. At least, it was once all the people boarding the plane are seated. It's hard to look at them in the face, so I buried my nose in a Sudoku book. Really, they are still my peeps, and I'll be rejoining them when I go to Dallas in May. But it was fun to pretend for a day that I'm worth a seat that's too big for me!

(6) Sat Mar 15 2008 23:22 Yeah, right: Because Maggie is a smallish tot, the doctor advised us to feed her foods like butter. Am I the only one that thinks this is a bad idea? So instead at lunch today I let her have some of my coconut ice cream. I am giving her something less healthy but hey, at least it tastes good and won't clog her arteries.

We have had most of the snow melted in our yard for about a week. There is a patch that has been clinging on, and refused to go. Today it held out for friends, and now we have about three new inches in our backyard. I guess the American Puxatawny Phil was right, winter's here to stay.

Lastly, I need some boba. Do I dare quit my oh-so-great job (heh) and open a boba store here? I'd be the only one in UT, so I'd have a lock on the market. But on the other hand, maybe there's a reason there isn't one in Utah. Maybe boba's against the word of wisdom.

(1) Tue Mar 11 2008 10:04 Somebody's poisoned the waterhole: Yesterday on the news they ran this whole segment on how they are finding significant trace amounts of various medications in our drinking water. No wonder my cholesterol is down.

This of course led me to reflect on a scene that occured shortly after Frances's passing. The home health nurse, and others at the scene, if my memory serves me, were urging Susie to dump three gallon-sized ziplock bags worth of old meds down the toilet. I really couldn't explain why at the time, but that really did not seem like a good idea to me. I really felt like dumping them in the garbage was the right answer. I know I know, dumpster divers would have had a field day. But still. I couldn't help but think that this was harming innocent fishies, let alone the human race.

As it turns out, in SL county at least, you can take your meds to the police station. They have bins to collect them that look like library return repositories. The officers weekly fire up the ovens. Wish we'd have known about this then. I still can't help but think how we were innocently cajoled into doing the wrong thing.

(1) Sun Mar 09 2008 22:34 Birthday Girl: Happy Birthday to the littlest princess. I think she knew something was up, because she sure was in great spirits all day. It's been a year full of learning experiences, sleepless nights, and snugglefests. Here's to a lot more where all that came from.