Be Prepared

Remember how Deidra got called as the Cub Master of our congregation's Cub Scouts? I may have teased her a little bit, since she comes from a family of all girls and has never had much exposure to scouting.

I shouldn't have made light of it.

Because I just got called as the Scout Master over the Boy Scouts.

In the words of the Scout Oath, "On my honor, I will do my duty . . ."

Sorte Sua Contentus

Here is a picture of the Hartwell family crest. It looks pretty impressive. Kind of regal and stately. Especially that awesome latin motto, right?

"Sorte Sua Contentus"

Translation:

"Content with his lot"

Sounds like my ancestors were real go-getters, doesn't it?

Mortgage Payments

(this is the actual size of our house)

Who knew that scheduling mortgage payments were so much more difficult than rent payments?

Ok, so really they aren't. But between moving and getting started with school and not getting the automatic payment set-up correctly, our mortgage payment due date came and went without a payment this month. And in my attempts to finally get it paid, I seem to have paid it three times. I told Deidra that we're just paying for our house on a semester plan.

Our next payment is now not due until January.

33

I have always been a fan of numbers with the same digits (22, 111, 9999, etc.), so turning 33 naturally seems to be a good thing for me. In addition, some theologians in Christianity and Islam claim the 33 is the "perfect age" and that everyone will be perpetually 33 in the afterlife.

So here's to my "perfect" year ahead!

License to Move

I got my first driver's license when I was 15. Yeah, Idaho is cool like that. Hard to believe I've been driving longer than 15 years now.

Today, I got my fifth driver's license. And the funny thing is that I have never renewed my driver's license in the same state. Here is the progression of my licenses:

1. IDAHO - I think we've already gone over that.

2. OHIO - My initial license expired when I turned 21, when I happened to be serving as a missionary in Hamilton, OH.

3. WASHINGTON D.C. - My Ohio licence did not expire until I was done with college and working/living on Capitol Hill in D.C.

4. UTAH - The next expiration found me married and living in Utah, working and starting a Masters program at Utah State.

5. INDIANA - The Utah license hadn't expired, but since both Purdue and our mortgage lender think I need to officially become an Indiana resident, I bit the bullet.

The good thing is that this new license is good for six years, so we'll (hopefully) be done with school by then. Any predictions as to who will issue my next license?