Ordinations and happenings

I have been meaning to reply to Dad's message about Bryan's ordination. I meant to write a full message instead of a 'reply' to his post, to catch all the people who don't go looking for replies. But, I didn't seem to get around to it. One reason was that the 'other' cub scout district called me on Sunday night to see if I would help their camp being held this whole past week in the evenings. I already had some things scheduled some nights, but spent the other nights at their pool.

Another thing keeping me busy this week was an unexpected announcement at work. You may have seen in the news that Nokia and Siemens are forming a Joint Venture. My division is involved. While there is no immediate work to do on behalf of that business, of course we had to have emergency meetings on the subject to communicate that fact to everyone, and limit illegal contact until the merger is approved and closed. So, one night this week I got home at 10 from the pool, worked until 1, when I had a meeting with Finland (9am their time), and got to sleep at 2:30. Then my next meeting (also with Finland at the other end of their workday) started at 8:30. So, the schedule has been off!

Bryan was ordained a few weeks ago now. It was pretty uneventful, as these things can be. The YMP wanted all the YM to see the ordination (all 8), so we all trooped into the bishops office. We brought Shona in from Primary, and it lasted about 4 minutes. It's been fun to see he and Patrick pass the sacrament. He doesn't look as nervous as Patrick did. I was talking to the Deacon's Advisor the other night and commented how my sons formed half his quorum...and that's only because last week a deacon moved in from Utah for the summer. Otherwise we'd be 2/3rds.

OK...long update for such a short medium. I'll try to keep it shorter and more frequent next time.

John

Summer Schedule

Shona and I sat down the other day to plan some activities for the summer. I am flabbergasted by how quickly our time is filled. I can't imagine how things would be if we BOTH had to work...

The reason I am writing about this is that swimming lessons start next week. After they are over, I'll be taking a few weeks off. We don't plan on going anywhere, I'll probably just work around the house getting things done that have stacked up on us. We need to save resources for our European Vacation this winter :)

However, we were discussing the possibility of going to Tyler for a few days. I know that some of you have camped during the summer fairly recently. Any suggestions? Is the national forest or state park still a nice place to camp? Does it get super hot there (ie unbearable at night)? What activities do you suggest. etc.

I was so glad to get comments about the waverunning, that I am hoping I get some good suggestions this time too. Look forward to hearing from you...

John

How to break bad news

At dawn the telephone rings.

"Hello, Master Carlos? This is Arnaldo... your country house caretaker"
-- "Ah yes, Mr. Arnaldo. What can I do for you? Is there a problem?"

"Um, I am just calling to advise you, sir, that your parrot died"
-- "My parrot? Dead? The one that won the competition?"

"That's the one."
-- "Darn! That's such a pity! I spent a small fortune on that bird. Oh well...what did he die from?"

"From eating rotten meat."
-- "Rotten meat? Who was so mean as to give him meat?"

"Nobody. He ate the meat of one of the dead horses."
-- "Dead horse? What dead horse Mr. Arnaldo?"

"Why, those pure breed ones that you had, sir. They died from all that work pulling the water cart."
-- "Are you insane? What water cart?"

"The one we used to put out the fire."
-- "Good Lord! What fire are you talking about, man?"

"The one at your house! A candle fell and then the curtain caught on fire."
-- "What the...!!! But there's electricity at the house!!!! What was the candle for???"

"For the funeral."
-- "WHAT FUNERAL???!!!!!"

"Your mother's! She showed up one night out of the blue and I thought she was a thief, so I shot her."

HELLO??? ... hello?? ... lo?

ECHO!!! ... echo!! ... ko!

Is anybody there?

I had a fun week at cub camp this week. I managed to stay away from sunburn, and keep my Jr lifeguards relatively burn-free as well. No accidents at the pool, so I am happy with the results. The District Execs asked if I could help with another camp in 2 weeks that will run in the evenings...we'll see.

Have you ever been on a wave runner? I went to work yesterday and had a meeting with my warranty repair colleauges. Then we went to Grapevine Lake and rented a pontoon boat and some wave runners. We had races to see who could navigate a course the fastest. It was my first time on a wave runner...HARD WORK!! I never imagined that it was so hard to drive fast. Of course, it was getting up to 55mph and jumping the wakes & stuff, but I am SORE today! I thought I found all my new muscles with the lifeguard training. Evidently there are even more out there.

I look forward to hearing from you...any of you...

John

How's the recovery coming?

It's been almost a week since our marathon reunion...have you recovered yet? I got back into the office to find 400 emails waiting. Once I cleaned out the garbage, it was down to a very manageable 150 or so. As of 5 last night...back down to 8 active items. So, a productive week.

I haven't seen pictures yet...I am anxious to post them to the website. Of course, that means taking some old pictures off. So, let this be a warning to you...now is the time to copy them to your hard drive if you want to keep them...I'll likely remove the oldest 2 or 3 sections. Carrie, if you want to, you could edit your favorite photos down to 800x600 and zip them to me in groups of 3 or 4. That way our emails will still be happy with us. I'll post them up for you. Or, just burn a CD of all of them and I'll get it from Chris one day...

Thanks, everyone, for spending time together. It was fun.

John

Amy's Point of Order

I think Amy's suggestion is well-timed and on point. This is the best chance we have to finish our re-organization that was postponed last Thanksgiving. As she noted, there are a few self-nominations already on the web page. Additional nominations may be necessary, especially in light of the empty positions and the suggestion by both Bonnie and Dad that the treasurer position is really needed.

Let's plan on spending a few minutes Saturday night to review the nominations, discuss the merits of the candidates, and vote. See you then!

John

Wow! New Pictures

Thanks, everybody, for sending pictures. I have added them to the 'Photos' tab on the website. Congratulations to Rob & Becky (Larsen) on their new arrival. A more comprehensive update later... -John

Happy Tax Day & other miscellania

I looked at the date of my just-posted-post, and realized that today is tax day! I thought I'd wish you all a happy tax day, 'cause I think you deserve it, but worried that Dad might feel less-than-receptive of this gesture. So, Dad, I'm leaving you out of this greeting. Everyone else: Happy Tax Day.

Also, I meant to tell Robert that I really like the photos...yes I am a photo junkie. It's always nice to see places and it'll help us explain where our cousins are living (grin).

I look forward to seeing many of you in a few weeks for a baptism. Other than that, I'll sign off... -John

Getting ready for Scout Camp

I don't know who all I've told, but they asked me to be the Aquatics Director this year for Cub Scout camp. In practice, that means that I have to be certified in Red Cross First Aid & CPR. I also have to attend a 7-day BSA camp being certified as an Aqautics guy. I also have to be certified as a lifeguard. All this to spend 4 days with a bunch of boys in a swimming pool. Well, about 300-350 boys. So, I've been getting ready.

I wanted to share with you how I spent my day today. I made a Buddy Board, which is what we'll hang each swimmer's check-tag. That way, I can know at a glance how many boys are supposed to be in the pool, and how many are missing down in the deep end :-O. So, I spent the last few days brainstorming what I wanted it to look like, and spent the day today making it. Hope you enjoy...

How much do want to see?

Is it a pain to scroll all the way down the page to see if there's a new post? Do you prefer to see as much of the blogs as possible?

There is a limit of 999 characters to the messages I show on the home-page. However, I could limit it to (for ex) 100 and take up less room. Then, we wouldn't have to scroll way down to see if there are new messages. You would still be able to click on the title of the blog and see the whole thing...in fact, it would be formatted as intended, instead of all jumbled together.

Thoughts? I'll monitor comments to this blog to see what you think.

John

Rules for Men

Got an email today with these on it... worth passing along

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We often see these from women's perspective... Now here are select favorites from the list of Mens Rules. Note, each is listed as #1 for a reason.

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work!Just say it!

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one .

1. You can either ask us to do something, Or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong.We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or golf.

1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Not sure I agree with #1, but the rest are spot on!

John

Hidden updates

Look for a few hidden gems. Carrie sent some new links and Robby nominated himself for a family leadership position. Also, most contact information should be accurate now, including some new phone numbers and email addresses. Thanks for helping me keep things up-to-date.

Memorial day is getting close...does anyone have some new ideas or requirements for our reunion? We should probably make sure things are organized on that front pretty soon. The three host families should agree which days they will host activities for and get those planned. Then we can draw names for the sleeping arrangements ;) Speak up if you wish to be heard! See you soon...John

New look, faster load

You have probably already discovered the look look to the website. I have been concerned about the growing length of time to load the site, so I brought together a bunch of icons into a single navigation menu. I hope you enjoy it.

Another primary feature is the ability to split the column with the blog posts. This will let you see more of the content of the posts with too much scrolling. Rob L. promised to get with Becky & Rob to help with their blogspot account. I will be seeing Bonnie & Richard tomorrow. Then, we should all be represented. Hope to hear from you all soon!

John

Business Travel: Glamorous or Not?

You make the call. I am the first to dismiss the perception of glamour in business travel. But, I have to admit to a certain amount of bragging when I say: Greetings from Rio de Janeiro.


Don't get me wrong...the 18 hours door-to-door to get here were tedious. The back-to-back meetings scheduled for all day tomorrow until the moment I have to leave for the airport are enough to pull out your fingernails to avoid. But, I have to admit that the ambiance is very nice. Have a look at some photos I took with my NOKIA (shameless plug) from and near my hotel...




This picture looks up the beach at my hotel. You may notice that every room has a balcony that looks out onto the ocean. We'll get back to that.







The obligatory shot looking out at the waves...








I'm not sure how this one will look, but it shows how drastic and close the mountains are to the beach. They just poke up out of no-where. There are 2 mountains between my hotel and the airport. The city just grows around and under them.






Saving the best for last, this is the view from my balcony. I took this probably seconds after arriving. I was stunned. BEAUTIFUL.




OK. Enough of the touristy side...the work is going well. I think I'll get done what I came here for and might even get their stuff back in order. It's been a pleasure 'chatting' with you all... bye.

Graduation Celebration

We went out tonight to celebrate my MBA...all of us. We went to a Pappas Restaurant in Addison, thanks to a fortuitous gift certificate. Here's a few pictures of the happy crowd...







We really enjoyed the atmosphere and food, and decided we'd go back in spite of the drive to get there.

We should be live with interactive posts

I finally have found a way that we can all post interactively. As I suspected, blogging technology provides a way. So, here you can see the outcome. Dad has already posted his first comment. Each family member can receive an account and be able to post their own thread. Clicking on the title of a post will open it in an offsite page, where you can reply or comment.

I hope that by opening up the content of the website to the whole family, it will be updated much more often (and with a wider interest level) than I could provide. So, let me know when you'd like to learn how to blog! I'll help get it set up.

Starting Out

So, starting out with a new idea...


I just finished making one of Dad's wish-list changes to the website, and discovered along the way that you shouldn't hotlink directly into someone else's pictures. This is seen as bandwidth theft, and some people react very negatively to it. I'd link to some stories I read, but they aren't all appropriate for this audience... However, I reached the conclusion that this site I was trying to link to for days was blocking the hotlinks, so I found a workaround and put it on the site. If any of you have a favorite view from the APOD you'd like to see in the rotation, send me the link and I'll add it to the list.

Now, I'd like to find a way to make the site more interative. Right now, I am the only person who writes content, and I'd like for everybody to be able to write and respond. It seems that blogs are a good way to do that, since each family member could have their own identity. The trick is how to integrate that onto the website itself. I have been researching ways to display web feeds (RSS) of blogs on websites. Thus: this blog... It is the pilot, and we'll see just how easy it is to setup a 1) blog account; 2) RSS feed; 3) feed display section on the website.

Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and it'll be easy. Either way, I'll keep trying. I'll be in touch soon!

John