One comment Heather made during the interview that didn’t go live was about her trust in the board members that we elected to make decisions on our behalf.  I would like to echo that sentiment and thank the Tooele County School Board and Administration for making some really tough decisions about the future of our children.  I have no doubt that they deliberated hard and long and thought about the impact that their judgment would have on our children.   I hope that despite tough times, public school funding will continue as more difficult decisions are made in the 2009 Legislative session.

While it may be prudent to tighten the proverbial belt in uncertain times, it would be irresponsible if we didn’t continue to make education a priority.  It’s the same type of decision that we all make in our own families when the budget is tight.   A responsible family doesn’t spend a lot of money on vacations if they’re not going to have enough money to pay their bills.  If that still doesn’t cut it, a responsible family cancels their cable TV and they figure out other ways they can save money, even when it means  a little discomfort on the part of the parents.  The very last person to suffer (if at all) is the child.

Parents sacrifice a lot to make sure their children are happy, and it shouldn’t be too much different when it comes to our schools.  We all want the best for our children and  Tooele County School District is making the same types of decisions that fall right in line with the decisions a  responsible family would be making.  Of course, with tough decisions comes some tough criticism.  As long as it is constructive and not hostile, I’m sure the Board would love to hear from you.  They meet again on February 3 at 6:30 p.m. at the District Office.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com
(Begins with a short commercial)Similar Posts:

• Tooele County School Board Says Farewell to Superintendent  May 20, 2008
• Blogging about Education Issues Not Popular?  May 3, 2008
• Tooele Six Flags Rumors Squelched, But We Still Have MMP!  June 11, 2006
• PTA Stands Up For Children, Regardless of Consequences  March 6, 2009
• PTA Parents Know Best – New Referendum 1 Ad  October 23, 2007

Of all my gifts I’ve enjoyed pouring through my DNA data since I got the results back on December 19th. It’s been absolutely fascinating, if not for the health and traits data then for the ancestry information that it has opened my eyes to. For anyone else that has been tested, you might find it interesting to know that my Paternal Haplogroup is R1b1c10 (also known as R-U152 or S28) and my Maternal Haplogroup is H3. I found out that I’m 100% European (more specifically from Northern Europe) and of all the groups of people from around the world I’m genetically most similar to the Irish.   And the great thing about 23andMe is that they’re constantly updating my information as DNA research uncovers more and more information.  So this will be a gift that keeps on giving!

My children enjoyed Christmas and we were able to hold them off until 7:45 a.m.  We went to the movies this afternoon (one of our Christmas day traditions) and saw Bedtime Stories.  I love to hear Griff laugh and this show got a few good laughs out of him.  I thought it was decent since I was there with my kids.  It’s amazing how seeing your kids get enjoyment out of something makes it all that much more enjoyable for you.

I hope you all enjoyed the time you were able to spend with your families!  I sure enjoyed a relaxing day with my very own family!Similar Posts:

• What Do People Know About Your Computer?  March 10, 2006
• Does Your Family Eat Together?  February 9, 2006
• Converting GPS Data to Google Earth  March 13, 2006
• Movin' on up! (Or down as it were)  January 10, 2006
• Praying for Hunter Greyson Keel  December 19, 2007

Clark Planetarium launches a new, much-anticipated, music entertainment show featuring one of the greatest bands of the last two decades. “U2” is the first ever full-dome production featuring U2’s timeless classics and modern hits, set to lighting and animation effects using the latest in CGI and laser technology. Special effects performed live by our theater presenters make each show a one-of-a-kind experience.

The latest CGI technology? Really? Maybe I’ve been spoiled by HD content (which I don’t even enjoy in my own home) so I expect to see everything in vivid detail, but that’s what I expect when a show is touted as “using the latest in CGI and laser technology”. I’m really interested to know what part of that show involved anything that can be considered the “latest”. Judge for yourself. The graphics looks like something out of Doom, only these graphics were faded in color – the opposite of vivid. Maybe the lack of vivid color and clear details in graphics had something to do with the fact that we were viewing the dome through thick, latest-in-technology smoke that made it possible for us to view the latest-in-technology lasers. Then there was the “Star Operator” that kept begging for approval. “Do you like it? Come on!!! I gotta hear you! If you like it, let me hear you!” He just wouldn’t shut up and he even threatened not to show us the last song if we didn’t scream and cheer for more. By the way, the entire show only lasted 40 minutes! We were in line for 15 minutes (which resulted in us getting front row seats – not a good thing in a dome config) and then we sat there waiting for the show to start for 15 minutes.

Maybe I was only so disappointed because it’s how my wife and I chose to celebrate our 11 years of marriage. I would rather have seen U23D for a third time, which brings me to the second part of my opinion. U23D is awesome! If you’ve always wanted to go to a U2 concert but couldn’t get tickets in time or refused to pay $100 per ticket, this is your chance to get front row seats! I don’t know how much longer it will be in theaters, but I hope to make it at least one more time. My biggest desire would be to go with a theater full of die-hard U2 fans. I can’t help but to clap and cheer after each song because that’s what I’ve done at the three U2 concerts I’ve attended, and never did I have as good a seat at any of them as I did at this one. The only problem with that is some people come for the movie experience instead of the concert experience. They have a drink and popcorn and they watch it as if it were a movie, but it’s really not! That’s why it would be nice to attend with a bunch of fans that are there for the concert experience.

If you’re plan on seeing something U2 in the next little bit, see U23D and avoid the Planetarium at all costs!Similar Posts:

• Special Olympics Project Finished  February 7, 2006
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Check her out at heatherslack.com!Similar Posts:

• July Resolutions (Journal Writing)  July 9, 2006
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• Get Well Soon, Dinosaur Boy!  July 19, 2006

Whoa! Careful! Holy cow!

Someone working on the same side of the roof as me asked, “What? What’s going on? What happened?”

They yelled back, “You don’t want to know!”

Turns out that maybe we wanted to know. They had just discovered that the portion of the roof over the porch was very unstable. In fact, one of them was standing on the section and “testing” it by bouncing on it. (They probably weighed a hundred pounds less than me which makes all the difference, apparently.)
A couple of hours passed and the roof was nail free. We could now start laying down the particle board to keep the impending storm from drenching the house.
As I searched for some way to continue to lend a hand I said, “Someone give me some direction. I don’t have anything to do.” Rick Chevalier looked up from his task (pulling off some sheet metal that lined a section of roof where one side met another) and said, “You can help me. Start down on the other end and we’ll get this ripped off.” He was at the top so I headed down. It led me right to the section over the porch.

I stepped down into the unstable roof section (though I had no idea it was unstable) and turned around to get at the flashing and start prying it off.

No sooner had I turned around then I started falling. It happened so quick I didn’t even have time to grab for something to stop my fall. The whole section came down with me and I fell with my lower back landing on the porch and my head hitting a section of the roof that came down with me. I saw black and then white flashes of light (commonly referred to as stars) and the next thing I clearly recall is people telling me to stay down and stay still. I was still trying to catch my breath and at the same time trying to say, “I’m ok, I’m ok.” Despite what everyone was telling me to do all I wanted to do was get up and let everyone know I was ok. Then I remember seeing again. Rick was grabbing my hands and helping me up.

I was pretty shocked that I had fallen through the roof and broken it. I started apologizing for breaking the roof and telling everyone that I didn’t know it wasn’t stable. I also continued to let everyone know that I was fine. (I found out later that one of the kids in the living room was about to step out onto the porch.  Thank goodness that nobody was on the porch when I fell through the roof!)
I went into the living room and sat down. I was beginning to feel the effects of the fall. I had several cuts on my arms and my lower back didn’t feel good at all. It wasn’t long before Heather came to pick me up. I thought maybe I’d continue to help with the roof, but it was becoming clear to me that I wasn’t up for it.

Once at home and after a shower to clean all the roof debris out of my hair and ears I laid down in bed. It was becoming more and more clear to me that I wasn’t feeling quite right. Several people had suggested that I go to the doctors to get a tetanus shot. Others suggested that I get checked out just to make sure nothing was wrong. I started to think maybe they were right when I was feeling nauseous and having a hard time focusing my eyes.

Heather took me to Mountain West Medical Center in Tooele. It turns out if you complain about your neck hurting when getting checked in at the ER, they’ll put a neck brace on your neck which doesn’t make it feel any better. In fact, afer they put the neck brace on (which only made my neck hurt even worse) I was beginning to wish I never came.

The doctor determined that I would need a CAT Scan to make sure nothing was seriously wrong internally. Thankfully the scans came back normal. The doctor said I had had a mild concussion. She also gave me a tetnus shot.

Once home, I slept all night and all all day until 5pm, except for a break for lunch. My back and neck are very sore and I’m on edge. My kids have been bothering me with the slightest things, so I can tell I’m uptight because of the pain. I’ll be glad when the pain has subsided. I hope that after all the sleep I got last night and today that I’ll be able to sleep tonight. I got more than 14 hours of sleep! Thank goodness for Ibuprofen. Actually, I think I might try some Tylenol PM tonight. I saw a commercial for Lunesta today. That looks like good stuff, too. Similar Posts:

• I Can’t Sleep!  November 13, 2008
• Colorado Adventures – Day 1  August 14, 2009
• Gordon B. Hinckley Left a Legacy of Love  January 31, 2008
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I use Scott’s Annual Program [scotts.com] for my lawn and the first application should go on in early Spring, March through April.  It should normally be applied when temperatures are generally above 60 and on a day that’s dry after the lawn has been mowed.  I’m running out of days to apply it, so I may just do it today before the forecasted three or four days of rain that is ahead of us.

It’s been especially wet this year.  I wondered how much I should water my lawn (not that I’m worried about it at all right now) and found that if I use the 1/2 inch rule (make sure your lawn receives 1/2 inch per week) I’ll save a lot of money and water.  You can download a very imformative PDF customized for your Utah area by visiting conservewater.utah.gov.  Hopefully I’ll be able to follow the guidelines and save a lot of water.  Last year when we moved in we had to water a lot to revitalize our dead lawn.  Our water bill was pretty big as a result.  But we probably wasted a lot of water, too.  I found out that if your water is running onto the sidewalk then you need to split up the watering into smaller increments.  That’s good to know and it makes sence.  Sometimes I just have to read it on a website first to believe it.

Other things I need to do is to remove two dead trees in my yard.  One is in the front yard and was dead when we got here.  It turns out the neighbor kids had their way with it when the house was for sale and vacant.  It was reported that they took a hatchet or machete to it “for fun”.

I’m glad that they at least didn’t do what another neighbor kid did to a vacant house directly behind our house.  He decided it would be fun to lob rocks through three windows in the back of the house.  Heather saw him do it and called the police to report the property damage.  A week later the kid and his whole family moved out, much to the delight of the entire neighborhood.  Apparently that was only one of many incidents of hellionism that he had committed.

Now we have two ugly vacant houses behind us.  We need some big 6″ privacy bushes planted all along the back of our fence to conceal the eyesores.  (Add that to the list!  But I’m not doing that today.)Similar Posts:

• Blogging about Education Issues Not Popular?  May 3, 2008
• Self-Deprecating Humor at its Worst  May 5, 2006
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• Ski for $25 at Brighton this Saturday!  December 8, 2006
• Tooele Slammed by Snowstorm, Not Lake Effect  January 19, 2006

We’ve been eating together as a family nearly on a nightly basis ever since we got into our home just over 7 months ago. I’ve really enjoyed it and I’m glad Heather enjoys cooking now. (She didn’t used to.)

Of course, we have two small children, so that makes it much easier to do. I’m sure it will become more and more difficult as our children grow into teenagers. But it will be something that I hope we continue, because based on the article several good things come of it, according to studies.
For example:

• Children who eat frequently with their families tend to do better in school.
• Children tend to be happier with their present life and their prospects for the future.
• Teens who regularly eat meals with their families are less likely to get in fights, think about suicide, smoke, drink, do drugs and they’ll have better academic performance.

I’ve noticed that I look forward to being home with my family more now that I have dinner time to look forward to. I’ve always been a very social eater. It’s good to sit down with my family and bond with them over a hearty lasagna or a spicy chili. (Heather makes a mild batch for the kids. What a good mom!)

I enjoy eating lunch with my friends. I actually don’t take a lunch unless I’m going to eat with somebody. Eating socially might actually be considered a bad habit in my case. I’m contantly finding people that will go to lunch with me. Luckily my friend Clint joins me quite often. He works where I work, so that makes it even more convenient.

Today we ate lunch with at one of my favorite lunch joints, The Five Star Restaurant [visitsaltlake.com]. It’s really good and pretty dang cheap for the amount of food you get. It’s mixed Thai/Chinese food. The people there are very friendly and I wish more waitresses/waiters were as good as these are. The only thing about The Five Star is that you have to get there before noon (we usually go at around 11:15 or so) because the lunch rush is kind of crazy. But even if you go during the rush, the service is always awesome.

We first went to the restaurant because of the $9.99 all-you-can-eat crab on Tuesday and Thursdays. It’s not too bad, although every once in a while a plate of cold crab will come your way. I’m not sure how that happens, but cold and water-logged crab isn’t too good. But due to the great service, the low price and the majority of the plates containing wonderful, seculant, hot crab…it’s well worth it!Similar Posts:

• On the Subject of Journals...  August 5, 2006
• Cold. Refreshing. Healthful. Its All About The Pop  June 21, 2006
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• Comparing Programming Languages  March 7, 2006

Come to think of it, I mentioned my wife in a previous post entitled “Advertising Clutter”, the the post dealt more with her magazine than it did her. But she was my inspiration for that post, and don’t forget it!

She’s not only just a great wife, she’s a wonderful mom to our two beautiful children. I love her a lot. She was able to quit her job at LDS Hospital earlier this year and I’m reallyglad that she’s able to be a full-time Mom. I’m not only glad that she’s able to, I’m glad she WANTS to. There are some women that are able to stay home (in fact, sometimes it’s economically a wash that they go to work after paying the babysitter, paying for gas, insurance and car payment on a second car, paying more taxes because of the higher tax bracket, etc) but would rather go out and have a career. Of course, there are situations where it is necessary and I don’t speak of these situations. Several people at my work do it because they have to; usually single moms.Similar Posts:

• 20 Minutes Until Choir Practice  February 5, 2006
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We got clobbered with more than a foot of snow! I nearly didn’t make it out of our neighborhood. The further north I drove, the better it got. When I got to Salt Lake where I work, there was nothing. The difference, as described in a Tooele Transcript Bulletin article, was not lake effect. The storm that rolled through just decided to linger over our fine city of Tooele. We’re supposed to be getting some more snow tomorrow night and into Saturday. How exciting!

The kids had fun in the snow today. They made snow angels, waded through the deep stuff and slid down the driveway on sleds. It’s the most snow Griffin or Sami have ever played in. They had fun playing with their friend, Logan. They also “helped” shovel the driveway, but the true heroes of shoveling were the Barths (our fine neighbors to the west of us) with their monster snow blower! They saved us all a lot of work.

I should note, however, that when the snowplows came by, they covered the sidewalk and the driveway again, and Heather (my awesome wife) did second clean-up.  And if you’ve ever shoveled the snowplow crud, you know it’s extra heavy.  So good job, Heather!Similar Posts:

• Stake Conference + Kids = ?  March 12, 2006
• Google Street View Makes it to SLC!  February 12, 2008
• Looking for “Tooele Jokes”???  May 16, 2006
• Sami and Griff's First Pet a Fighter  April 7, 2006
• Reading C.S. Lewis to Sami  March 26, 2006

It turns out that she received Better Homes & Garden [bhg.com] in the mail today, and she was frustrated by the amount of ads she was having to delve through just in order to read the magazine. She wanted to see what would be left of the magazine if she got rid of the ads.

She started ripping out just the pages that had ads on the front and back. She found 25 pages that were pure ads, no magazine content whatsoever. She then started ripping out pages with ads on them and she found 60 pages. What was she left with? A mere 19 pages that didn’t have any ads at all!

This is just one example of the commercial world we live in. You can’t go anywhere without being exposed to it, whether in a magazine, TV, movies or even a basketball game. In fact, the Delta Center touts a brand new digital marquee that circles the entire upper deck. At first it was fascinating to see content swirl around seamlessly between connected marquee segments, but then it just got distracting. My wife felt the same way about the magazine.

I find myself ignoring it more and more and so do most people I talk to. Whether it’s TIVO that allows you to quickly forward through the commercials or reserved seating theatres that allow you to come in right at the start of the movie instead of sitting through all the commercials, people are getting fed up. But it doesn’t seem to deter the advertising agencies; which means that it must work! Will it ever stop?

A 21 year old college student decided to take advantage of the advertising craze and started a home page [milliondollarhomepage.com] made up entirely of ads. He sold the space at $1 per pixel, so the bigger the ad, the more it cost. He recently sold his last 1000 pixels for $38,100 on eBay! Pretty amazing. That’s actually pretty cheap as compared with the cost of advertisement on the upcoming Super Bowl. There is even a site [superbowl-ads.com] that’s dedicated to the Super Bowl commercials and they’ll even tell you how effective they were.

I’ll have to admit…just the other day I went out a bought a swiffer duster because I was impressed with how well the policeman in the commercial was dusting with it. I guess I’m a part of the problem!Similar Posts:

• My Wife's Name is Heather!  January 26, 2006
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