revelations of real-life randomness

Need some stocking stuffers?

2011-11-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know I'm a little late on the Black Friday bandwagon today, but I have got a special deal just for you!

I recently ordered these handy-dandy download cards, which each have a unique code on the back that allows you to download my Racing & Retracing album.

Right now, on my website, you can get one of these download cards free with the purchase of any physical CD (including both my albums and compilation albums). Or you can buy the download cards separately for as little as $2!

Oh, and did I mention free shipping?

This deal will go through Monday, so take advantage of it while you can!

NEW music video!

2011-10-22T20:43:00.001-06:00

After the roaring success of the video I made last year while Deidra was gone, I decided to make it a yearly tradition (since she always seems to leave me in October). So, without further ado, I present you with the 2nd annual Chris Hartwell music video:

I used a new(ish) animation program available on YouTube called GoAnimate to create it. The free version is fairly limited, so I had to make due with I had. (And creatively work around a couple of things - like the 2-minute maximum video length.)

Feel free to make up your own story as to what's going on in the video, and leave a comment with your take on it.

Winter is coming

2011-10-20T21:26:00.000-06:00

I think we were spoiled with nice weather during the first half of October, but it has sure gotten cold fast! It's been windy and rainy for the past few days. In fast, I had to throw my umbrella away yesterday after the wind bent it beyond repair.

I don't look forward to winter, but hopefully it won't be as harsh as last year.

(I have no idea what that sun laser is all about, but it sure wasn't any help.)

I miss this little girl

2011-10-19T19:59:00.000-06:00

Millie is about the most awesome baby ever, but she's never been a giggler. She will smile the biggest gummy grin you've ever seen, squeal loudly with excitement, and grunt like she's trying not to laugh when you tickle her. But I've been trying, without success, to get her to giggle almost since she was born.

Well, I'm pretty sure she loves her daddy, because she gave me this little display the night before she and Deidra headed west:

Who knew that the trick was just to hit the book while you read it? Luckily, Deidra grabbed her camera and took this video so I can watch it every day that they are gone.

The lock out & The Sing Off

2011-10-18T20:02:00.000-06:00

Another day, another short blog post (since our computer mouse problem seems to be more than just a dead battery problem now).

The Lock Out:
I locked myself out of our house this morning with my keys still on my dresser. No fun. 20 minutes and two removed window screens later (the first window was locked), I finally got back in. I just knew someone was going to call the cops if they saw me breaking into my own house, especially considering what happened to our next door neighbor last week. But, luckily, I was wrong. Now I just have to see if I can fit the window screens back into place, or if they'll ned to be replaced.

The Sing Off:
Maybe it's because I was once in an acapella singing group, maybe it's because I am a fan of the judges (Ben Folds, in particular), or maybe it's because I just really love good mucic. But I am really enjoying this season of The Sing Off. There's a cool group of Mormon boys from BYU and a jazzy, soulful DC group from Howard University that have been my favorites so far . . . up until this performance:

Seriously?! Five people using only their voices can come up with something as amazing as that?

Tell me you're not impressed. I dare you.

Survey says . . .

2011-10-17T10:01:00.000-06:00

You thought my last blog post was lame? Try this one . . .

I’m currently enrolled in a survey course and was hoping I could ask for 15-20 minutes of your time to help on a class project. We need a number of people to fill out a series of surveys online, which can be found HERE.

If you have the time over the next week or two, the class would greatly appreciate your help. The surveys are completely confidential and are only being used as a learning exercise. Please let me know if you have any questions about our project.

If you take the survey, feel free to comment and let me know. The survey itself does not collect any names or personal information, so I'll never know you cared enough to take it unless you tell me.

THANKS!

P.S. If the link doesn't work, feel free to copy and paste this URL:

https://purdue.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_9FC4HOrmshIcJNi

Canning stash

2011-10-16T20:56:00.000-06:00

For those who don't know, Deidra took Millie and flew out west to spend about a week and a half visiting family and friends, while I try to buckle down and plow through a big chunk of school work and research. So, since I've been such a slacker blogger lately, I decided to try to blog each day while she is gone. Unfortunately for you, the wireless mouse just died on our main computer (where most of the pictures and videos are located), and I can't find any replacement batteries. So until I rectify that situation (it didn't quite seem to justify an "ox in the mire" Sabbath trip to the store), no pictures or videos for you.

Instead, you get a listing of our canning food storage. You see, Millie has been sharing her room with our food storage and, before she gets mobile and curious enough to start grabbing jars of the shelves and/or to attempt climbing the selves (she is Lincoln's cousin, you know), I decided to move our food storage into the spare bedroom while Deidra and Millie are away.

Today shelves included all of our canning. Unshelving it all, moving the five-tier bookshelf, and reshelving it all again, made me realize we have more than I thought. So, because I have nothing else to blog (not because I think you're the least bit interested), here's a run down.

First, the fruit-based:

Apple sauce - 35 pints
Plums - 2 pints
Grapefruit - 4 pints
Pears - 12 pints
Peaches - 12 pints
Peach jam - 3.5 pints
Berry-strawberry jam - 3.5 pints
Blueberry syrup - 2.5 pints
Blueberry butter - 2 pints

And the vegetable-based:

Grean beans - 2 pints
Garlic green beans - 2 pints
Pickled hot peppers - 2 pints
Vegetable soup - 4 pints
Chili sauce - 4 pints
Stewed tomatoes - 10 pints
Salsa - 9.5 pints
Sweet salsa - 4 pints
Dill pickles - 6 pints
Sandwich dills - 7 pints
Dill relish - 5 pints

So there you have it. It may not be a full years worth of canning essentials, but I think we're off to a good start!

My baby brother would be 30 today!

2011-10-05T09:19:00.027-06:00

It's hard to imagine that it's been almost 20 years since the accident that forever changed my life.

It's hard to imagine that it's been 5 years since this blog post in Stephen's memory.

It's hard to imagine that the 10-year old boy that is frozen in my memory would be turning 30 today.

Happy birthday, Stephen.

(this is the picture I used to carry in my wallet growing up)

Remembering 9/11

2011-09-11T12:49:00.002-06:00

Last night, I started watching this video that had a timeline of clips of the news coverage on 9/11. After watching the first clip from 7am, before the attacks occurred, I was struck by how normal the day started out. How the upbeat words "Good Morning, America . . . it's Tuesday, September 11, 2001" seem so out of place now. I wanted to stop the video then, as if that would somehow stop the events that took place.

For a generation of Americans, that day will be forever shrouded in heartbreak and vulnerability. I was looking back at my journal entries as I was living in DC as a college student, and I think they do well at capturing my thoughts and emotions:

Tuesday, September 11: I was awakened by my roommate at around 10am as he flipped on the TV and told me that two planes had been flown into the World Trade Center buildings in New York City. We soon learned that another plane had been flown into the Pentagon building, only a couple of miles from the apartment in which I am writing this right now. And a fourth plane went down in Pennsylvania which was supposedly also headed here to DC, reportedly headed for either the White House or the Capitol building. . . . It is a very scary thought of all the lives that have been lost through these attacks. What is even more frightening is the possibility of a full-scale war. . . . Never have I even imagined something as drastic and traumatic as this event. . . . Many thoughts have been running through my head as I have watched the situation unfold . . . First of all, I love my family. The greatest comforts I have had this day were talking to my mom and dad. Second, nothing material in this world is important . . . Third, I want to do all I can to help the victims of this senseless tragedy. Right now, what that means is getting up early tomorrow to go give blood before class, as there is a blood shortage in New York and here in DC.

Wednesday, September 12, 2001: I went to sleep last night wondering how life could ever go on when I woke up. When I did awaken, the first thing I did was turn on the TV again. But after only a minute or two, I had had enough and had to get out. Going to class today was a blessing to get our minds off of these horrible events. Tonight, I went to a candlelight vigil on campus. . . It was an encouraging sight. I have never seen so many students at this campus come together as one. . . . Life will never be the same, but life will go on.

Thursday, September 13, 2001: The air is kind of still today as the situation is assessed, but it seems only a matter of time before retaliation. It's a nervous time to be here in the nation's capital. Pres. Hinckley is giving a satellite broadcast tomorrow and I am looking forward to hearing his words.

Friday, September 14, 2001: I didn't go to class today. But I did attend a satellite broadcast from the church headquarters in Salt Lake City, because President George W. Bush declared today a day of mourning and prayer. At the broadcast, President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke and what caught my attention most was, instead of denouncing violence or retaliation, he said something to the effect that America is a land of freedom and we should do whatever we need to do in order to make sure that those freedoms are not taken away.

And, finally, one more entry from a year later:

Wednesday, September 11, 2002: It's been a year since the day that changed the life of every American. Today has been a really sobering day for me. It was really hard to do work today in the office. I didn't even turn the TV on because I didn't want to be bombarded with memories of last year. But I also refrained from putting on any CDs because I felt silence was more appropriate as a tribute of last September 11. . . . It's very strange - I am not sad or emotional, but I am choosing not to watch these shows or talk a lot about things because I feel that, even though this was an event that brought our nation together, the experiences I had were very personal. I have chosen to kind of withdraw from public observance in order to focus on personal contemplation.

Even now, it is difficult for me to watch 9/11 footage because of the memories and emotions it bring up. Memories of nervousness and uncertainty anytime I heard an aircraft fly through the closed airspace in DC. Memories of walking to class and passing armed, stoic military personnel and tanks on about every other corner. Memories of wondering when life would ever get "back to normal," but knowing that, in reality, "normal" itself had changed.

But even though life has changed, it still goes on. I am amazed when I think of all that has transpired in my life since that day. Among other things, I have been blessed with a beautiful wife and baby girl, and I have always had opportunities for growth with work, church and school.

Since 9/11, what "normal" is for me has certainly changed. But it has changed for the better.

(As a reminder, you can still download the song I wrote on 9/11 for free. More information HERE.)

uno dos tres, cuatro cinco cinco seis

2011-08-18T19:43:00.002-06:00

Today marks 6 years since this blissful day:

And six years,

three apartments,

one house,

two schools,

2.25 college degrees,

10 jobs,

12 church callings,

75,000 miles,

a few hard times,

a lot of great times,

and one darn cute baby later . . .

. . . here we are.

Deidra is amazing and she and little Millie make me a happy man. Even with a lame anniversary, it's hard to imagine life getting better than it is right now - but I'll keep you posted.

Somehow it just seems to keep happening.

What's in a name?

2011-07-26T11:39:00.000-06:00

We named our little girl Amelia Grace Hartwell. But very rarely does she get called by her actual name (unless she's in trouble). Here are a list of some of the nicknames that she has been called (in alphabetical order):

Baby Girl
Bug
Burrito Baby
Happy Girl
Jabbersquawky
Love Bug
Millie-Girl
Millie Monster
Millie Moo
Munchkin
Pumpkin
Really Silly Frilly Millie Moo
Squawker
Sunshine
Sweetheart
Sweet thing
Tadpole
Thumper
Tookie
Turkey Lu

Tribute to 9/11

2011-07-19T06:19:00.000-06:00

Five years ago, I posted the lyrics to a song I had written on 9/11. I made it a goal to get the song recorded and released before the 10 year anniversary this year.

Little by little, I got it recorded and have recently released it online. From now until September 11, it will be available to download for free from CD Baby.

Feel free to pass along the link:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/chrishartwell3

(It should be on iTunes and other digital download sites within the next week or so, but why pay for it when you can get it for free?)

One Year Behind Me!

2011-06-23T10:49:00.000-06:00

My first academic year as a PhD student is finally behind me. While I am still working and doing research, I have no classes over the summer. So things are a little bit more laid back.

The first year was tough and a lot of work, but surprisingly not as difficult as I had envisioned. I think the fact that this is something I really enjoy helps me to focus the time and effort necessary to complete my classes and research goals well.

If you remember my previous post on my goals at the outset of the program, I have the following to report:

1. I wore a tie at least once a week throughout the academic year. Though, now that it is summer, I am much more casual in the office - sometimes even wearing short, and t-shirt, and/or a ball cap. I haven't decided if I am going to re-institute the tie rule again next year. Any thoughts?

2. I successfully made it through the academic year without buying lunch. Once that goal was set and the other students realized it was a serious commitment, it was pretty easy to stick to. And having frozen burritos and Ramen noodles in the office in the event that I forgot my lunch helped as well.

3. I didn't do any schoolwork on Sunday. I can't tell you how many times I just wanted to read an article, do some research or write part of a paper on Sunday, but I refrained. And with all As so far in the program, I am certain that I have been blessed for it.

4. The goal was to treat school like a job. And maybe that is why it hasn't seemed overly difficult. I have forced myself to focus and put in time that I know I haven't done with my previous college degrees. Now that it's summer, I am treating it less like a full-time job and more like part-time job.

5. I take the bus nearly every day to and from school. Sometimes, if Deidra is out running errands or shopping, she'll pick me up at school. Other times I bring my running clothes to school and then run the 3.5 miles home at the end of the day.

Next year will bring with it the final year of coursework, and then the all-inclusive comprehensive preliminary exam comes around about this time next year. If and when I pass that, I am basically done with classes and will spend the next 2-3 years focusing solely on research, teaching, and my dissertation.

I am open to suggestions for revising my goals and/or introducing new goals for the next academic year. Any suggestions?

2 Months Old

2011-06-13T18:50:00.000-06:00

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this little girl?

Trapping greens

2011-05-23T11:51:00.000-06:00

When Deidra's parents were here, one of the many things they accomplished was the building of these 4'x12' vegetable traps in our backyard.

With retractable lids covered with chicken wire, the traps are specifically designed to only trap live produce, while allowing birds and animals to escape safely and humanely. (The construction design was inspired by dolphin-safe tuna nets.)

As you can see, we've already captured some lettuce, carrots, spinach, radishes, onion, peas, and peppers so far. We have also put in some bait that will hopefully attract some cucumbers and squash. And no squirrels, rabbits, possums, chipmunks, or birds have been harmed in the process.

What's the square root of 676?

2011-05-22T22:00:00.001-06:00

We like using SkyMiles. Help us get more!

2011-05-09T10:09:00.001-06:00

I have entered a contest for 100,000 Delta SkyMiles. After a few days, our entry has moved from about 5,000th place into 219th place. The top 4 get 100,000 SkyMiles. I know it's a long shot, but I thought I would try anyway. Plus, I haven't blogged for a while, so this was a good excuse!

If you have a Facebook account, you can click on this link, allow the application, and vote for us. You should see this pretty little face when you do:

You can vote once a day, so keep the votes coming! Thanks!

You can copy and paste this link if the links above are not working:
http://apps.facebook.com/dreamredeem/gallery/view/categories/1_2_3_4/6417

Welcome to Fatherhood!

2011-04-29T20:51:00.002-06:00

Warning: This posts contains references to infant bodily functions and is not for the squeamish.

I had one goal for tonight - to mow the lawn before it got dark. Just one goal.

Deidra was going off to a Relief Society meeting and I volunteered to keep Amelia here while she was gone. As long as Millie got fed before Deidra left, I figured I had a good 2-3 hours of a content, sleeping baby while Deidra was gone. It was the first time Millie and Deidra would be separated, and while Deidra was a little nervous, I assured her that I would be okay.

Somebody should have checked with Millie to see to get her thoughts.

Millie had been recently fed and was contently sitting in the front room in her bouncer when Deidra left at 7pm. Thinking of my one goal, I quickly accounted for what I needed to do to get the lawn mowed:

Change a stinky bum.
Put Millie in her PJs.
Swaddle her in preparation for bed.
Rock her to sleep.
Put her in bed.
Go mow the lawn (checking on Millie periodically).

I was convinced I could accomplish these tasks before it got dark around 9pm, and I got started in on the checklist. The first thing I did was pick up the bouncer, Millie and all, and walked into her room. I put Millie and the bouncer down on the floor and went about getting a new diaper and getting PJs ready. I then went to grab Millie, but before I got to her, I saw a stream of milk launch out of her mouth like water from a firehose. I had no idea that one little body could hold that much fluid, and that it could all leave her body so quickly.

If only I had know that this was just the beginning . . .

I quickly got her burp cloth and cleaned up the bouncer, her blanket, and her face as well as I could. I threw the blanket and burp cloth into the hamper and set Millie down on the ottoman of our glider to change her bum. I knew there was trouble as soon as I took off her pants and saw the mustard color seeping out of her onesie.

Great! Millie's first blow out, and it happens on my watch!

I got the new diaper and PJs out of the way and carefully undressed Millie, throwing her pants and onesie in the hamper along with the blanket and burp cloth. All this was done one-handed, while holding her feet up with the other hand to keep the blowout from contaminating the ottoman or anything else in the vicinity. I grabbed the wipes and before long had her bum spotlessly clean. I reached for the new diaper, and just at that moment, pee starts flowing like a dam just broke - all over the ottoman. I didn't know what to do, so . . . I didn't do anything and just let her do her business. No use wasting a brand new diaper when she's already peed all over the ottoman.

Plus, we were planning on refinishing that ottoman anyway, right?

Once she finished, I cleaned her off and put on the new diaper and pajamas and put Millie immediately into her crib. To her credit, even though she was wide-eyed and alert, she contently lied there in the crib while I washed out her soiled pants and onesie, applied stain remover, and put a load in the wash. Then I took a wet hot rag and scrubbed down the ottoman. Finally, I washed the bouncer cover in the sink and hung it to dry.

Almost immediately after I finished these chores, Amelia started to cry.

I guess she missed me, or she felt bad about putting me through all this. At any rate, she didn't want to go to sleep, but she would stop crying if I held her. So we just sat on the glider and read a couple of stories and chatted for a while. As her eyelids finally started getting heavy, I looked at her and just started laughing, thinking about everything that had transpired. I gave her a kiss on the cheek and told her that she was a little stinker, but that I couldn't help but love her all the more because of it. As soon as I said this, she got a silly little grin on her face and let out a few giggles. And my heart fully melted.

She fell asleep soon afterward and I put her in her crib, the adventures of the evening behind us.

And I even had time to mow the lawn.

Way to go, Deidra Zoe!

2011-04-16T13:49:00.000-06:00

I am writing this blog post as I watch my wife and baby girl sleeping all snuggled up together. Dang they're cute!

Deidra and I welcomed Amelia Grace Hartwell into the world today at 12:09am. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 7 oz. and 20.5 inches long. And, of course, she is the most beautiful baby ever born into existence!

And while I am a new proud father, I am also an amazingly proud husband. If men had to go through what women have to go through in carrying and delivering a baby, I'm pretty sure humans would have been extinct long ago.

I was thinking of childbirth in comparison to running a marathon, since it takes so long and is so exhausting. However, I have come to realize that a marathon is about 100 times easier. Childbirth is like running an ultra-marathon that you can't really train for, you are not sure when it will happen, and you don't know how long the marathon is going to be. So you just keep running and hoping that somehow you'll reach the finish line. Oh, and did I mention that you have to sprint up increasingly steeper hills for bursts throughout the marathon at increasing frequent intervals?

But the pay off at the end of childbirth is much more rewarding (and a heck of a lot cuter) than a medal!

So, good work Deidra! You are an amazing woman. And good work little Millie, because I'm sure you've had a rough day as well. And rest on - I think you've both earned a peaceful sleep.

(P.S. I am sure more information and pictures will follow at some point soon!)

Mission Areas - Volume 1: Salem, IN & Louisville, KY

2011-03-13T19:31:00.000-06:00

When I began my two-year Mormon mission In the Kentucky Louisville Mission back in October of 1996, the first area I was sent was Salem, Indiana. I spent about four months there before being transferred to a different area, and had never been back until today.

Since this upcoming week is my Spring Break*, we decided to take a weekend trip to the National Maple Syrup Festival in Medora, Indiana (see Deidra's 12x12 recap review). And, since Medora is only a half hour away from Salem, we decided to stay the night and go to church in Salem this morning.

I recognized a few of the old timers in the congregation, but a lot had definitely changed. The congregation is smaller than I remember, but I guess that might be because there are now two congregations where there used to only be one.

After church, we went to the city center, where the courthouse stands.

As a missionary, we had an apartment on the square, directly across from the courthouse. At the time, it was above a nice, fun little flower shop. Apparently, now it's a sketchy bar:

Our final stop before turning around and heading home was another 45 minute drive south into Louisville, Kentucky. About a year into my missionary service, I spent a couple of months in the Louisville suburbs, but it was the quickest and least memorable area of the mission, so we didn't even bother stopping. However, we did stop to admire the Louisville temple. It was built long after I had ended my mission, so this was the first time I had seen it.

Until the Indianapolis temple is built, we may make Louisville our usual temple destination, since it takes about the same time to get there as it does to get to the one in Chicago, and it's a much nicer drive.

(P.S. Don't hold your breath for the future installments of this series. I figure about one mission trip per year is all I can expect Deidra to humor me with.)

* As a PhD student, "Spring Break" basically means you still have to work, write papers, perform research, and attend meetings, but at least those pesky classes won't bother you.

No Go BOGO

2011-02-01T15:47:00.001-07:00

We've all seen the BOGO (Buy One, Get One) ads in mailers, commercials, storefront windows, etc. To me, that means you buy one at regular price and get one FREE!

Unfortunately, there's been a trend lately that defiles the 4-letter BOGO moniker by offering a deal that is much less enticing:

Yeah, Payless, I'm talking to you.

And sometimes it's even worse:

Buy one, get one 25% off? That's hardly even a deal! LAME!

Ok, random rant over.

Happy Valentine's Day to me

2011-01-24T18:47:00.002-07:00

I take the bus to school. And because I have class early in the morning this semester, that means waiting outside at the bus stop in zero degree weather before the sun has even come up. Brrrrrrr! That means stocking cap, winter coat, scarf, and gloves. I have even taken to wearing my snow boots to school so my feet don't freeze.

Once I get into the Krannert building and start to warm up, I can shed most of the extra clothing. The only problem are the boots. I am stuck with clomping around in them all day, even though I don't even go outside much once I get on campus. And when I heard a friend and fellow PhD student tell me that he kept a pair of slippers at his office, I was immediately jealous.

But because my wife is awesome, she convinced me to go slipper shopping. After an unsuccessful attempt to locate slippers on the clearance rack at Old Navy, we found this pair of slippers on clearance at Kohl's for less than $10. They quickly became my early Valentine's Day present. I couldn't wait to get to school today and try them out.

The verdict?

They were so warm and toasty - and much more comfortable than my snow boots. I was sad to leave them behind and put my boots back on as I left at the end of the day.

I highly recommend that a pair of slippers come standard at every office desk.

2010 Blog Awards

2011-01-14T11:04:00.052-07:00

I thought it was interesting to look back at my blog for the past year and pull out some winners, losers, and statistics. So here you go:

The "Post with the Most" Award: The most commented post was, by far, the "Again" music video.

The "States that Rate" Awards: The top 5 states viewing my blog are (1) Utah, (2) Idaho, (3) California, (4) Michigan, and (5) Washington.

The "Googled & Oogled" Award: The search term that brought the most people to my blog in 2010 was "five guys vs in n out," thanks to this 2009 post.

The "Send 'em My Way" Award: The top referring website from last year was Deidra, closely followed by Whitney. I have a feeling it might have something to do with a trip to Paris we took together in January. They were too lazy to blog about it, so they just sent their readers to me. :-)

The big winner . . .

The "Peoples' Pick" Award: My most viewed post of last year was Part I of the Paris Trip (the prior award may have something to do with that). But, as with most sequels, apparently the fourteen subsequent Paris posts didn't bring the audience back.

And the big loser . . .

The "Viewed by So Few" Award: My least viewed post of last year was my call out for fantasy football.

Travel Tip from El Cheapo

2011-01-12T08:04:00.049-07:00

Some of you may have read about my beverage of choice when flying, and I am proud to report that I held strong with the Cranapple again during our holiday flights. But today, I want to talk about the other part of the snack & beverage service. Yeah, it's the snack . . . how did you know?

It used to be that you were simply given peanuts, but now there are usually choices. On Delta flights (I don't really fly other airlines too often), the choices are always: peanuts, pretzels, and cookies. So which do you usually go with?

My el cheapo travel secret is that, if you're cool about it, you don't really have to make a choice!

Picture yourself in your seat as the snack and beverage cart draws near. You hear the flight attendant asking your fellow passengers what drink and what snack they want. (This is where I start to get a little nervous, because I feel like I'm about to get away with something.)

All of a sudden it's your turn.

"What can I get you to drink?" the flight attendant asks.

"I'll take a Cranapple."

That's the easy part. Just a simple drink - nothing out of the ordinary. Then comes the question you've been waiting for.

"Would you like a snack? We have peanuts, pretzels, and cookies."

Non-chalantly, you reply, "Can I get one of each?"

BOOM! Triple snack deliciousness, baby!

Usually the flight attendant doesn't mind, and it kind of catches them off guard. The next thing you know, you've got all three snacks piled on your tray table like a feast fit for a king!

(And then you realize how much you spent for the flight, how it's an hour and a half late, how you had to cram all of your belongings into a carry-on so you don't have to pay for checked luggage, and then how your all the overhead space was already taken up before you stepped on the plane and you had to check your bag anyway . . . all of a sudden your feast looks a little smaller. But at least it's a victory! And you want to tell all seven people that read your blog about it, so that they, too, can partake of the goodness.)

Anyway, for some reason, it really does make me nervous. Just ask my wife. Sometimes, if I don't think I'll be able to pull off the trifecta, I'll respond: "Can I get peanuts and cookies?" (Pretzels aren't integral to my snacking pleasure - just an added bonus.) Though, to be honest, I've never had a flight attendant shut me down on any request yet. Maybe as this becomes common knowledge, they'll have to crack down. And then I'll curse the day I ever posted this blog post.

But, until then, enjoy the triple snacking crown.

Fantasy Football 2010 Champion

2011-01-10T14:07:00.015-07:00

After eight years of heading a fantasy football league, including six years of the WEPCO league, and after years of enduring injuries, archrivals, and curses, I finally took the championship trophy in fantasy football. Not that anyone cares (nor should they), but I just wanted it stated for the record.

P.S. Thank you Michael Vick, for making it all possible.

Top 10 of 2010

2011-01-07T14:07:00.001-07:00

Following in the tradition of last year's post, the following are what I consider the top ten accompishments, creations, experiences and highlights for me of 2010:

10. Bizarre HR blog: I'm pretty much the worst blogger around, but it was fun to create a blog about something that is a large part of my previous, current, and future life at work and school. I keep emailing myself ideas to add to the blog, and someday I might even post them on the blog!

9. Having my gall bladder removed: Hopefully that means no more sleepless, pain-filled nights.

8. Releasing "Iris": I have long wanted to record a number of cover songs, and when I won the opportunity to release a free single on CDbaby.com, it gave me the opportunity to start with this Goo Goo Dolls cover. (It is now available on CDbaby and on iTunes.)

7. Completing a Children's Book: I got the idea for a children's book 15 years ago and I started writing it about five times since then. This year, that became one of my Sunday activities. I wrote a little here and a little there, and eventually it got completed. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with it.

6. Recording the video for "Again": Sometimes I miss the time for personal creativity that I used to have when I was single and in a dead-end 9-5 job. (Though that's about the only thing that I miss.) So I had to make use of a full Saturday with nothing planned and Deidra away. Now the only problem is coming up with a good idea for follow-up video . . .

5. The Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay Race: Running almost 200 miles in about 30 hours. I don't really think I ever posted about it on this blog, but you can read recaps from other members of the Wilkins Wonders team here, here, here, here, and here.

4. Paris: My first time outside of the U.S. that was not tied to some sort of school excursion. Deidra was the queen of planning a great experience. Who needs a live tour guide when you've got Rick Steves? It was great to spend the time with Deidra and with Whit & Brian. It's probably my favorite vacation ever (so far). About 1/4 of all of my blog posts last year were spent recapping the trip because I thought it was so awesome. Next up? Convincing my dad that we should take a family trip to Norway (where he served as a missionary many years ago).

3. Expecting our First Baby: Ok, so many of you (my wife included) might be thinking, how can this NOT be number 1? . . . Well, to be honest, I initally had it there, but then I realized that it still seems kind of surreal to me, and it's not like it has impacted our lives all that much so far. But don't worry, my guess is that baby girl will be at the top of the list next year.

2. Buying a House: It's quaint and it's old, but it's been well maintained and it's ours. No sharing walls and no landlords to deal with.

1. Starting my PhD program: We moved from Utah to Indiana, and I feel like the rest of my life has now been put in motion with the start of this degree. I'll spend 4-5 years working on the degree so I can find a job as an Assistant Professor, the next 7 years or so working toward tenure as an Associate Professor, then a few more years working toward becoming a Full Professor, and perhaps even a few more to become Chaired Professor. It's kind of crazy to think of my next 20 years mapped out like that, but also comforting to know I've got a plan.

Daddy-daughter duet

2011-01-06T07:00:00.002-07:00

It's stuff like this that makes me even more excited to be a dad:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

One semester down . . .

2010-12-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

The grades are in and it looks like I have successfully completed my first semester at Purdue, and I even found time to attend a couple of football games.

It actually went by a lot faster than any previous school semester, so I am hoping the rest of the program will fly by just as fast.

No one wants to see this picture

2010-12-10T06:54:00.000-07:00

(please disregard the chubby belly - it's the off-season for running.)

I don't know why I feel the compulsion to post my battle wounds on my blog. It's actually quite nasty. Maybe because I think these wounds could give me some street cred if they are mistaken for gunshot wounds. Maybe because I'm glad that I won't have a huge scar like my dad from having his gall bladder out. Maybe because I'm jealous of all the attention Deidra's belly is getting these days. Maybe I'm just bored.

At any rate, I am feeling much better today than the past couple of days. I think I might actually survive and heal.

Nurse Deidra

2010-12-07T17:50:00.001-07:00

Deidra and I went to the surgical center at 7:30 am, where I got paperwork done and was prepped for surgery.

At 8:30 they knocked me out and performed the surgery.

At 9:30, I awoke (kind of) and was taken to my recuperation station, where Deidra joined me. For the next 2 hours or so, I was in and out of consciousness, while sipping water and subsequently throwing it up (only once, though). And Deidra was patiently waiting for me to get up the energy to get out of there.

At about noon, I successfully took a whiz (yes, that's really the test) and we finally got the okay for Deidra to drive me home, where I promptly fell asleep again.

Throughout it all, I am feeling actually quite well, though that's probably got something to do with being drugged. I think it also has to do with having the best home nurse I could ever hope for. Deidra has been tireless in answering my beck and call, and even knowning what I need before I have to ask for it. I keep telling her thank you and it feels so insufficient. I definitely love that girl!

I should be taking notes so that I can be half as good to her come April.

Clear liquid diet

2010-12-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

My meals for today were as follows:

Breakfast: Jello, apple juice, and cherry pomegranate crystal light
Morning snack: peppermint tea
Lunch: Jello and chicken broth
Afternoon snack: Powerade
Dinner: Jello and chicken broth
Dessert: Two popsicles

Who knew that chicken broth could be so tasty? I guess it's all perspective.

I also had 10 ounces of magnesium sulfate solution to help it all wash out. Mmmm tasty . . .

The gall bladder surgery is tomorrow morning, and I'm just excited to get to eat real food again soon.

This ain't no etch-a-sketch

2010-11-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

So, I'm not the only one in this family that has had a recent ultrasound! But Deidra's was more exciting to look at than a gall bladder.

More information on Deidra's blog (she is carrying the little parasite, so she got the exclusive 'first blogging' rights).

The Gall (Bladder) of Bitterness

2010-11-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

There is less than a month left in my first semester of doctoral school. I have a lot left to do, and not much time in which to do it. As Deidra's blog post, I went in to the surgeon on Monday, and he confirmed the diagnosis of chronic cholecystitis and that my gall bladder should be yanked. We have scheduled Tuesday, December 7, for the surgery. In my mind (and according to most 'best case' estimates), the laproscopic surgery will be quick, painless and with minimal recovery time - which I truly pray is the case. I have two 10-page final papers due on Dec. 15th, and a flight home for Christmas that night after the finals have been handed in. So I'm counting on my body to heal itself in a hurry.

_ _ _ _ L / _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _

2010-11-08T14:45:00.003-07:00

Ok, so I was reading the latest post on Ken Jenning's blog (you know, the longest-running Jeopardy champion guy), and I saw this picture:

I read this first paragraph of the post, which told about a recent game show contestant who successfully solved this puzzle - with just the lone "L" visible.

Before I read any further, I decided to look at the picture and try to solve the puzzle myself. Honestly, it took about 10 seconds. So I agree with Mr. Jennings that there is no conspiracy going on here, just some great deductive logic by the contestant.

Anybody else want to weigh in? Did you figure it out?

How about the title of this post - can you solve it with only the "L"? (I had to put dashes in to mark the space between words, because Blogger kept combining them.)

P.S. If you can't stand the suspense, you can watch the video here.

Be Prepared

2010-10-24T13:40:00.001-06:00

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

2010-10-22T08:25:00.000-06:00

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

2010-10-19T10:51:00.003-06:00

(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

2010-10-08T08:16:00.000-06:00

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

2010-10-07T20:57:00.001-06:00

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?

Deez White Boyz Got Skillz!

2010-09-30T20:32:00.000-06:00

There's a commercial at the beginning, but it's worth it!

Tips for Temporary Bachelorhood

2010-09-27T21:05:00.002-06:00

I'm glad I have really smart friends like Tim. (Ok, so I've honestly never met Tim, but he married my friend Jean, so he's definitely smart.)

Tim struggled through a period of time being wifeless, and made it through like a champ, without any problems. I knew if he could do it, I could do it! So I've been following his example. Except we didn't have any peanut M&Ms, so I've been using Reese's Pieces. And we have possums instead of raccoons. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same.

But, I have learned some valuable lessons since Deidra has been gone. And, since I am in a giving mood, I will share them with you. Hopefully these tips will help you as much as Tim's blog post has helped me:

1. Meat is a must; fruits and vegetables are overrated - Eating meat helps to maintain your primeval instincts. Fruits and vegetables make you lose your edge and turn you soft.

2. Do laundry only when you're out of underwear - But the trick is to leave the laundry in the laundry basket when it's done. No use putting it in the drawers when you're just going to wear it and then throw it in the hamper, right?

3. Do not make the bed - Like putting the laundry away, it's an unnecessary expenditure of energy. Just move all of the fancy (but useless*) decorative pillows over to your wife's side of the bed.

4. Making a "To-Do" list helps show you what could be done - You won't do any of it, but at least you had good intentions.

5. If you tell people at church that your wife is out of town, they just might invite you over for dinner - Two days in a row now!

6. Maximize your cleaning time - And by that, I mean you shouldn't waste time cleaning every day. Just do one round of extreme cleaning the day before your wife gets home.

Ok, well that's what I've learned so far, halfway through the absence. I'll be sure to keep you posted if any new inspiration hits.

* Actually, I recently realized that the pillows aren't useless. If you want a fan going for white noise, but don't want it blowing on you, just build up the pillows as a wind barrier. (You could also turn the fan so it's not blowing directly on you, but that requires getting out of bed.)

When I'm my only company

2010-09-25T23:10:00.001-06:00

This is what I do when my wife is gone and I have a whole Saturday to myself:

Some may say I wasted my Saturday away (though I did go see Purdue lose both their football game and their starting quarterback today also), but I count it as a learning opportunity. I finally got to fiddle around with iMovie '09 for the first time.

And it was definitely worth the $3 investment in lime green wrapping paper.

Looking forward to Friday!

2010-09-16T12:31:00.001-06:00

Since I have started this PhD program, I have looked forward to Fridays each week for a few reasons. First of all, I have no classes on Friday, so I can spend the whole day planning for the upcoming week, doing research and catching up on schoolwork and reading.

But the main reason I look forward to Fridays is FREE FOOD!

Yeah, that's right, PhD students are no different than undergraduates, in that we will do almost anything for free food. Each Friday morning, a wide variety of bagels, pasteries and juices are waiting in the kitchen for PhD students in the business building. Luckily, its a locked room and you need the right access on your student ID card to get in. I usually grab a pastry in the morning and, depending on what is left later in the afternoon, a bagel or two to bring home for later consumption.

In addition to that breakfast, I also take advatage of the LDS Institute Friday class where lunch is included. So that's two free meals (and sometimes extra bagels) every Friday! It definitely makes for a good end to my school week. In fact, last Friday, there was a dinner BBQ for all graduate students at Purdue. So - you guessed it - I got three free meals last week. Score!

T.G.I.F.T. (Thank goodness it's Friday tomorrow!)

Update on Purdue

2010-09-10T11:11:00.082-06:00

I'm now four weeks into my new life at Purdue (if you count the weeklong orientation before classes started). Things so far are going well and I am excited for the road ahead. As Deidra alluded to, I made some seemingly random decisions at the outset of the program:

1. Wear a tie to school everyday

Putting on a tie kind of helps me focus and take things seriously, and I think can help others (students, professors, etc.) to take me seriously as well. Unfortunately, this goal lasted about a week and a half before I came to the realization that I don't have enough slacks or enough tie-friendly shirts unless I want to look like a missionary and wear a white shirt and suit multiple times per week. I have settled for wearing a tie at least once a week, and at least a collared shirt every day.

2. Never spend money on lunch

I don't make much money as a student, and the money that I do make can be much better spent than by buying a $8 burrito or salad every day. This decision was tested in the first week of school, as a number of students wanted to get together every Wednesday and go to lunch. I made my voice heard and everything has worked out for the best. We still meet for lunch once a week, but some of us bring lunch from home while others go out and get their lunch. We then meet together in the Krannert building to eat.

3. No schoolwork on Sunday

This is a holdover from my Masters program, as I have seen the benefits and blessings that come from keeping this goal. Sundays provide a much needed respite from worrying about work/school. In addition, I am trying to keep Monday and Friday evenings available for family home evening and date night.

4. Treat school like a job

Even though I only have classes Tuesday through Thursday, I go in to school Monday through Friday from morning until late afternoon. I am often the first PhD student to arrive in the morning (even though I don't get in until 9am, usually), though I am not usually anywhere close to being the last one to leave when I walk out the door around 5pm. I use Fridays to plan out all of the textbook readings, articles, assignments, etc. that are coming up for the following week. And Monday gives me a chance to get a head start on the rest of the week. Hopefully, keeping to this schedule will help me keep a majority of my nights and weekends free.

5. Take the bus

We have two buses that pass within a block of our house and Purdue students ride the CityBus for free. So there is really no reason not to take the bus to school and save on gas, especially as a one car family. Alternatively, about once a week I take running clothes to school and run home at the end of the day, which takes approximately the same time as riding the bus.

So there you have the low down on my initial school-related decisions, whether you really cared or not. :-)

Taste the Rainbow

2010-09-07T19:10:00.000-06:00

What do you do when you have 40+ bottles of various flavors of Powerade that you are trying to fit on a shelf?

Arrange them by color into a Powerade rainbow, of course!

Iris

2010-09-06T19:30:00.003-06:00

My newest recording, a cover version of the Goo Goo Dolls song "Iris," is now available online (iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, CDBaby, etc.). It's only 99 cents! You can listen to the 30-second clip on any of those sites, or you can check out the whole song on YouTube here:

The sound levels aren't exactly the same quality as the downloadable version, but at least it gives you a general idea.

(And sorry it's just a picture, and not an actual "video," but I'm not that talented with iMovie as of yet.)

Landed in Lafayette

2010-08-13T12:18:00.000-06:00

We arrived at our new home in Lafayette, IN, on Wednesday. In less than 48 hours, we have managed to to the following:

Get our city utilities switched over
Fix a closet door
Purchase a reel lawn mower
Mow our back and front lawns with previously mentioned reel mower
Consider returning previously mentioned reel mower (we'll give it one more shot now that our grass isn't out of control)
Purchase a shovel, hose and sprinkler
Plant numerous perennials that made the journey from Idaho/Utah and water them in hopes of bringing them back to full life
Install a programmable thermostat
Get my Purdue ID
Figure out the City Bus routes and take the bus to and from Purdue
Lose my cell phone on the bus
Retrieve my phone that was thankfully turned in to City Bus
Get garbage and recycling set up

You'll notice that a couple of things not on this list are "unpacking" and "unboxing." Our good friends at ABF/UPack were estimated to arrive today, but apparently are "running behind," which means that a vast majority of our stuff will not arrive until Monday, which is also when I start school. Thankfully, a member of the local church congregation has already come to our rescue in providing an air mattress for us until our bed gets here.

Life in Lafayette has been good to us so far.

P.S. Another item that has yet to happen is getting home internet service set up. So until that happens, blogging and other internet activities will be rare to non-existent.

Box Elder Bugs

2010-07-24T10:59:00.000-06:00

These bugs are pretty much my arch-nemesis. They are all over around our fourplex. I kill about 50 a day, and I think I am still losing the battle.

Everywhere I look online, it just tells me that box elder bugs aren't anything to worry about - they won't mate indoors, they won't bite, they don't carry diseases, etc. Basically they are supposedly harmless. But I don't believe it; I think it's all a conspiracy, so I am continuing the fight.

A couple of years ago, the bugs were all over in the Business building at USU. One of my classmates decided to jump up and smash one on the wall with his feet. He successfully got the bug, but lost his balance in the process and ended up with stitches in his head after a run-in with a table on his way to the ground. Not fun for him - but at least we got to postpone the Labor Relations test we were supposed to have that day.

So my only rule for fighting box elder bugs is to keep both feet on the ground.

The Best Pitch of the Year . . . (and maybe of all time!)

2010-07-22T06:15:00.000-06:00

(I actually like this version better, but I can't get it to embed.)

Fantasy Football - WEPCO League, version 6.0!

2010-07-20T14:02:00.002-06:00

For the sixth year in row (which is weird since Deidra and I have yet to celebrate our 5th anniversary), the WEPCO free fantasy football league is back on Yahoo! Sports. Click on the image below to join in:

You will need to create a profile, if you don't have one already. Once you do, here is the league information:

League ID#: 146846
Password: roxor

15 Years!?!

2010-07-12T12:59:00.002-06:00

Last weekend was my 15 year high school class reunion (go DHS class of '95!).

It was a low-key, potluck dinner and I think I counted about 20 class members (along with spouses and kids) in attendance. That may not seem like many, but it's not a bad percentage when there's only 69 people in my graduating class.

The evening started out a little rigid and formal, as we all went around and took turns telling about where we live, what we do, our families, etc. But it was good to hear about everyone and learn what everyone has been up to.

Once everyone got their dinner and sat down, the conversation was a lot of fun. Hearing stories about classmates' children and spouses, remembering memories from our school days (from elementary through high school) and learning about other classmates who weren't there was really enjoyable. It was like old times again, and I remembered how much I really enjoyed school in Declo and the classmates that I graduated with.

It was a little bit strange being the only one there without kids. And when someone mentioned "Hey, do you realize that we've been graduated long enough to have started over at Kindergarten and graduated all over again?", I had a dose of reality as to how old I really am. But, for the most part, it was a great time and made me feel like a young buck again.

I certainly looking forward to July 11, 2015. 20 year class reunion, here we come!

Some Thoughts on Debt

2010-07-02T11:31:00.001-06:00

I came across this article the other day about when you should and shouldn't get into debt. I applaud the fact that it called out our own government as acting in a way that the normal person shouldn't:

"The federal government is a good example of what ordinary folks should not do -- pile debt upon debt forever, taking out new loans to pay off old ones."

Next, the article discusses the potential need to incur debt in a true emergency:

"In a real emergency, you can justify almost anything. A legitimate emergency is a serious illness, or a car problem that will keep you from getting to work, a leaky roof that will ruin your home.

The need for a vacation is not an emergency. Basically, an emergency is something that will seriously undermine your life for years, not something that will put a little damper on your lifestyle."

The author of the article then goes on to give this wise counsel:

"The best policy: borrow only for a home and an education, two purposes with benefits outweighing the costs. If necessary, borrow to get basic, essential transportation, not to get luxuries like leather seats and navigation systems."

All-in-all, I thought it was a pretty good article, and it reminded me of similar counsel that those of us Mormons have gotten from our church leaders for years.

From Bishop J. Richard Clark (serving at the time as a member of the Presiding Bishopric) in 1980:

"Debt is always a burden, but some debt is necessary. Sound business debt, home mortgages, and other forms of 'secured' debt are unavoidable for most of us. However, extravagant use of credit, which comes from yielding to our emotions rather than reason, creates burden . . . Our guide for credit management should be: borrow only what we must, at the lowest rate available, for the shortest time possible."

From Elder Robert D. Hales (of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) in 2009:

"[S]ome debt incurred for education, a modest home, or a basic automobile may be necessary to provide for a family. Unfortunately however, additional debt is incurred when we cannot control our wants and addictive impulses."

In 1987, President Ezra Taft Benson (as Prophet and President of the Church), prophesied of a deep recession, similar to what we are in now, and then offered his counsel:

"Many people do not believe that serious recession will ever come again. Feeling secure in their expectations of continuing employment and a steady flow of wages and salaries, they obligate their future income without thought of what they would do if they should lose their jobs or if their incomes were stopped for some other reason. But the best authorities have repeatedly said that we are not yet smart enough to control our economy without downward adjustments. Sooner or later these adjustments will come . . .

"In the long run, it is easier to live within our income and resist borrowing from future reserves except in cases of necessity—never for luxuries . . . If you must incur debt to meet the reasonable necessities of life—such as buying an automobile, a house, or furniture—then I implore you, as you value your solvency and happiness, buy within your means and use credit wisely. Resist the temptation to plunge into property far more pretentious or spacious than you really need."

I am grateful for these principles that have been taught to me throughout my life. I may not have adhered to this counsel as much as I should have at times (particularly as a bachelor), but Deidra and I are much happier in life because we try to stay close to this counsel in our marriage.

As the initial article suggested, our own government is a horrible example when it comes to managing finances and staying (or getting) out of debt, and he goes on to explain it further:

"The federal government shows what happens when common-sense rules are broken -- trillions of dollars of debt. Digging out will cause pain for many of us, if not most, through higher taxes or reduced benefits on things like Social Security and Medicare.

Economic recovery can help, as it brings in more tax revenue. But when the federal government uses rosy growth projections to argue its debt will come down, most people laugh. But then many of us turn around and do the same thing, assuming pay raises and investment gains will somehow produce money to pay off our ever-growing debts."

I know it is getting close to July 4th, Independence Day here in the United States, and we should all be paying tribute to this great nation we live in. But I can't help but think that our country is paying the price for bad financial decisions made years ago. And, as a nation, I don't know that we are learning the lessons that we should.

Why I Don't Watch Soccer

2010-06-15T09:34:00.004-06:00

(besides the fact that we don't have cable)

There have been twelve games so far in the World Cup. In those games:

Nine teams have gone the entire game without scoring a goal.
Twelve teams only scored one goal the entire game.
Only three teams scored more than one goal.
Almost half the games (five) have finished in a tie. (Really? A tie? Who finishes games with a tie? That's why overtime was invented!)

I guess I basically like winners and losers and lots of points scored. Therefore, I've never really gotten into soccer.

Soccer fans and purists, feel free to make your case.

Halloween in June

2010-06-14T09:37:00.001-06:00

I had to do a training last week at a doctor's office about thirty minutes away from my office. The office had borrowed some equipment from us (for an x-ray training) that I was supposed to bring back to the office with me.

That equipment included a full-size plastic skeleton.

I decided it was no fun to just put the skeleton in the trunk or laying down in the back seat, so I instead let him ride in style:

It was fun to watch the reactions that people gave to me throughout my drive home.

And once I got back to my office and realized that my boss was not in that day, I decided that it was imperative to give him a little surprise for when he came into his office the next morning:

Needless to say, it freaked him out a bit when he opened his office door.

Fighting Gravity

2010-06-13T17:21:00.002-06:00

I would pay money to go see this . . .

Though, admittedly, I'm not an avid America's Got Talent watcher, Fighting Gravity would be my pick to take it all this season.

Look Alikes

2010-06-03T21:58:00.000-06:00

I was just watching a little bit of PiNT this evening, when Frank Nicotero showed a couple of clips from the TLC show Toddlers & Tiaras.

Is it just me, or does this bratty little beauty queen . . .

look an awful lot like Spanky from the Little Rascals movie (on the left) when he dressed in a ballet costume?

Farewell, Kid

2010-06-03T07:49:00.001-06:00

I grew up an Atlanta Braves fan, but Ken Griffey Jr. became my favorite baseball player 22 years ago when he stepped on the field as a rookie. I started collecting his baseball cards and I have, by far, more Ken Griffey Jr. cards than any other player.

He started and ended his career in Seattle, while also playing in his home town (Cincinnati) and Chicago in between. He was always known as "the Kid," possibly because his father (Ken Griffey Sr.) was also a big name baseball player. There has never been the slightest accusation of him being involved in steroids, even though the bulk of his career was during the "Steriod Era." Yet he is still fifth on the all-time home run list.

I saw him play in Seattle; I saw him play against the Orioles in Baltimore; As a missionary, I even stood outside his house outside Cincinnati (which I thought was even cooler than seeing Larry Bird's house in French Lick, IN).

His image is such a big part of my childhood - collecting baseball cards, watching baseball, his posters on the wall, etc. - and I am glad I have been able to continue to cheer him on and support him, instead of losing faith in him like some other player (McGuire, Sosa, Clemens, Canseco, etc.).

Ken Griffey Jr. has recently called it quits with baseball. He will be sorely missed, but a 22-year career is pretty impressive.

U.S. Representative Hartwell?

2010-05-22T13:12:00.000-06:00

Dear Deidra,

Well, now that you're 25, you can officially run for the U.S. House of Representatives! Congratulations! Maybe we should start raising money for your campaign.

AND you can rent a car with extra fees!

Thanks for letting me share your last six birthdays - even though it blows your mind that we've known each other that long.

In other words, the immortal words of Gus-Gus say it all . . .

(Oh, and I love you!)

Bizarre HR

2010-05-22T10:15:00.000-06:00

For those of you who are interested, I have started a new blog:

http://bizarrehr.blogspot.com

I will still be blogging personal stories and such on this blog.

The new blog will be focus on human resources, particularly the parts of HR that I find interesting, strage, etc. Even though it is HR focused, hopefully it will appeal to people outside of the HR profession as well.

So, take a look and feel free to comment!

Sour Grapes

2010-05-17T16:57:00.000-06:00

If you followed the PhD program selection, you know that the University of Alabama was one of the four place to which I was accepted. But I turned them down within a day or so of receiving the initial acceptance news over the phone - which meant that I turned them down before they ever officially sent the acceptance offer letter.

Well, the other day (more than a month and a half after I made my decision), I received a letter from Alabama. When I opened it up, it was a generic form letter telling me that I was not selected from their "large pool of highly qualified candidates" to be admitted in their program.

My guess is that, since they had never sent an acceptance letter to me, my application was tossed in on the reject pile once I had turned them down. But it still made me a little offended. I guess it's the whole "You can't fire me, I already quit!" or "You can't break up with me, because I'm breaking up with you!" feeling.

I'm the one who turned you down, Alabama! If you need to send a rejection letter to feel better about yourself, you may have some insecurity issues you need to work out.

Fringe Benefits

2010-04-22T18:12:00.001-06:00

The week's not over, yet it has been a particularly fruitful week when it comes to perks at work.

So far I've received:

3 free lunches
12 original Fat Boys
6 Cookies n' Cream Fat Boys
12 Casco Nut Sundaes
2 jars of candy
A necklace
A Honeyville Farms gift basket including:

Biscuit mix
Buttermilk pancake mix
Fudge brownie mix
Cornbread mix
Strawberry kiwi smoothie mix
Cherry flavored honey

And a good number of Coke Rewards points from bottle caps I scrounged after large trainings serving Coke beverages

I may not get paid in gum, but this is a pretty good second.

The Mystery of the Car Keys - Solved!

2010-04-16T08:45:00.000-06:00

Congratulations to Whit, who successfully harnessed her inner Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery of the car keys - though it took me a while to figure it out.

I took each comment as they came in:
Under the car? Nope.
In your shoes? Checked my running shoes that I wore to the gym . . . nothing.
In the laundry? Rummaged through what was in the dirty clothes hamper . . . nada.
Wrapped up in smelly workout clothes? The clothes were indeed smelly, but no keys to be found.
Down a vent? Luckily, we don't have vents that open into the abyss, but I checked our radiator heating vent to no avail.
Under the couch? I moved both of our couches and our recliner, and while I found a couple of toys hidden by our nephews - alas, no phone.
Washing machine and dryer? No luck.
In bed? No dice.

After numerous fruitless and frustrating searches, the keys fell into my lap this morning - almost literally. As I dressed for the day, I grabbed by brown dress shoes from my door hanging shoe organizer. As I dropped them to the ground to put them on, I heard a metallic jingle. And - viola! - the keys had reappeared!

As Whit had surmised, they were in my shoe, but not the shoes where I had thought they might be found.

So, Whit, be ready to enjoy your reward . . . as soon as I figure out what that reward will be! Do you like Almond Joy?

Oh, Car Keys, Where Art Thou?

2010-04-14T08:22:00.001-06:00

When I was about eighteen, I was in a musical in Oakley, ID, about thirty minutes from where I lived in Declo. I drove that stretch of road almost every day for a good month or two during rehearsals, using whatever car wasn't being used by my parents or older brother.

One day, when driving my dad's 1970 Mustang (which has since been sold, unfortunately), I somehow lost the key to the car. It was a single key and it must have slipped out of my pocket. Despite my prayers, pleading and efforts, my friends and I looked unsuccessfully all over to find it. We ended up leaving the car there that day and having a locksmith come out and fashion a new key.

A couple of summers ago, Deidra and I moved to Washington DC for summer internships. Shortly before we did, I lost my car/house/work keys. Try as I might, I could not find them anywhere. I ended up using our spare car key until we moved to DC and left our car here. At some point during the summer, the people subletting our apartment in Logan found my keys and returned them to me upon our return to Utah. Where and how they found the keys, I don't know.

Now it's happened again.

If there are any sleuths out there looking to solve the case, here is the scenario:

Monday evening, upon arriving home from work and the gym, I remember locking our car because my work laptop and projector were in there. That was the last time I remember seeing the keys. I have looked in the pants, jacket, and workout clothes I was wearing. I have looked in couch cushions, under couches, in my gym bag, and even in the refrigerator (the first thing I remember doing upon arriving home is getting a Powerade from the fridge).

So, any ideas? There will be a reward to anyone that can successfully guess where they are.

When Video Games Attack

2010-04-09T22:21:00.000-06:00

Those of you who remember old-school video games might enjoy this . . .

Parisian Paradise - Part XV: Final Thoughts

2010-04-08T21:05:00.001-06:00

Almost three months after wrapping up our trip to Paris, I am finally ready to conclude my 15-part serial blog about it. But not before a few final thoughts:

The food in France was good, but very heavy and buttery, particularly since we were not there during a season of much in the way of produce. So a variety of buttery bread, meats and cheeses made up most of our diet.
There is definitely a trade-off between going to Paris in the middle of winter - very few tourists and a very inexpensive vacation package also means bitter cold, a lesser variety of food (see above) and fewer tourist attractions open. But, if I had it to do over, I think I would still do it again the same way. I think the pros definitely outweigh the cons.
The crepes were delicious - just ask Brian. I think he ate at least one at almost every meal. My favorite was my final crepe - Nutella, banana and whipped cream from a street vendor. A-MA-ZING!
Even with our Museum Pass setbacks (visiting Versailles before the pass was purchased, the Notre Dame tower being closed, the Picasso museum being closed, and Sainte Chapelle opening too late for us to visit on our final day), we still easily got our money's worth with the purchase of our Museum Pass. I highly encourage it because buying it gets you in to most of the tourist attractions you want to visit, and it might make you more active during your trip (like it did for us) to ensure you cover your cost, which makes you discover places you might not have otherwise.

And, finally, one of the ideas that Deidra and I had before the trip was to compile our own souvenir by spelling out PARIS by finding letters throughout the artwork and architecture there. And, by jove, I think we did a pretty darn good job!

So, there you have it. I promise I'm done posting about Paris now. I hope you've enjoyed the show.

Boiler Up!*

2010-04-06T10:43:00.001-06:00

We have officially made our decision. I will be starting the Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management (OBHR) PhD program at Purdue University starting in mid-August! So start making plans a) to help us move, and/or b) to come visit.

* Purdue's mascot is the Boilermakers, and "Boiler Up!" is a phrase shouted in their fight song. That's about all I know about it at this point, but I look forward to learning more.

Parisian Paradise - Part XIV: The Rodin Museum and the trip home

2010-04-04T17:20:00.002-06:00

After Les Invalides, we crossed the road to our last stop of the trip - the Rodin Museum, a museum mainly composed of the works of Auguste Rodin and his students. You might recognize his most famous sculpture here:

The museum was set up in the house where he lived, and the exhibits were pretty cool. But I like the sculpture gardens outside (which included The Thinker) even better than the inside.

We both had to get our official tourist photos while we were there:

Inside the museum, a class of kids came in and were being taught fine art of . . . well, art. Here they are all getting pointers from the teacher on how to draw a nude sculpture (which I found just a little odd):

From there, we went back to the hotel, picked up our bags, and took the train to the airport. While there we shared one last baguette (ham and cheese) before boarding our flight to NYC:

We stayed that night with Frank (one of Deidra's best friends from high school) in New York.

We got to eat some great late-night falafel, and Deidra got to stomp around in Frank's dad's mukluks.

The next morning, we caught our flight back to Utah and the amazing experience came to an end (if you don't count the three months of posting about it that followed).

2010 PhD Breakdown - part 3

2010-04-02T07:14:00.001-06:00

After no news for the past couple of weeks, things started moving pretty quickly yesterday. Here is the latest on the PhD process:

Purdue University - I am still weighing the offer that they gave me. They have been in contact with me quite frequently and I have talked with four different professors there regarding potential admission.

Texas A&M - After being on their waiting list, I was finally offered admission yesterday! The interesting thing is that they haven't had any of their prospective students turn them down as of yet, but they decided to fund one more position and make me that offer. It's a very competitive offer and definitely makes me give them strong consideration as well.

The University of Alabama - After not hearing from them for about a month, I got a call yesterday morning and set up an interview for later that day. I went through the interview and received another call later yesterday afternoon with an offer of admission!

Looking at the schools and the programs, I think the decision comes down to Purdue or Texas A&M. I will probably contact the University of Alabama today and decline their offer. But Deidra and I have got a tough decision to make over the weekend. But this kind of decision is better than the "What do I do now?" decision that I had to make last year after being rejected from all of the schools.

Parisian Paradise - Part XIII: The Conciergerie & Les Invalides

2010-03-25T21:29:00.000-06:00

While Brian and Whit left Paris the same day we did, their flight left bright and early, while we had a good part of the day to finalize our sightseeing before flying out that evening.

We decided that we should try to use our museum pass as efficiently as possible for our final day, to get the best bang for our buck. To do that, we thought we would start at Sainte Chapelle, a gothic chapel in the former royal palace of Paris. It looked rather drab from the outside, but rumor (and Rick Steeves) promised beauty within. Unfortunately, it was closed for some reason and wouldn't re-open until later in the day. Bummer.

So instead, we went next door to the Conciergerie, the former royal palace, which also served as a prison during the French Revolution. Many of the prisoners were held there while awaiting their trials and eventual beheadings - including Mary Antoinette. It was a little on the creepy side. We didn't get many pictures there, but we did snap a couple:

From there, we hopped on the metro to Les Invalides, which was a former hospital for aged and unwell soldiers, started in 1670 by Louis XIV. These days it houses the military museum, a pair of chapels (one constructed for the veterans and one for the royalty), and Napoleon's tomb (among other things).

On our way there, you'll never guess what we spotted:

That Eiffel Tower shows up in the craziest of places!

France's military museum was quite a bit more impressive than U.S. military museums, since you have history dating back so far that you get to see things like this:

But neither Deidra nor I were huge military buffs, and we had other things to see before catching our flight. So we didn't spend a ton of time here.

Instead, we walked through the the military museum to get to Napoleon's Tomb, which is basically the central point of the structure.

The gold dome that marked the tomb (and adjoining royal chapel) was a rather easy landmark to follow:

Once there, Napoleon greeted us all proud and blinged-out:

His inferiority complex must have continued after his death, because his tomb was enormous! Here is a view from above - surrounded by guardian angels:

And here is our unsuccessful attempt to get a non-blurry shot with us in it from ground-level:

On the way out, Deidra had to make sure to get a picture by this sign, because it reminded her of a part in the book Madeline:

Then we made one more stop before we caught our plane home, but you might have to wait another week or so before I get up the motivation to blog about that one.

Parisian Paradise - Part XII: Maraise Walk & Orangerie

2010-03-15T22:04:00.000-06:00

After the Montmartre Walk, we took the metro to another part of town for another one of Rick Steeves' walks: the Maraise Walk. These walks were some of our favorite parts of Paris, since we actually walked through the streets and got to see a lot of Paris, rather than just metroing from famous landmark to famous landmark.

One of the great things about Paris was all of the courtyards, like the one where the LDS church was located. There were a few of these courtyards on this walk, including Hotel de Sully:

There was a nice piece of artwork there in which we all felt the need to frame ourselves:

We also saw the Place des Vosges, the first planned square in Paris. It was built by Henry IV in the early 1600s:

It includes a house where Victor Hugo once lived - though, of course, that was closed on the day we were there.

And, while we didn't get any pictures while we were there, the tour also included the Holocaust Memorial and Museum, or "Deportation Memorial" as it is often called. That was a very thought-provoking and humbling experience to walk through a timeline of what happened, particularly to French Jews, during the Holocaust. The final exhibit was a walkway that was filled from floor to ceiling on all of the walls with pictures of children were died and/or were never recovered as a result of the holocaust.

That evening, we parted ways with Whit and Brian, as Deidra and I wanted to maximize the use of our Museum Pass by going to the Orangerie Museum. This is one of the smaller art museums in Paris, which was a good thing, since we got there 45 minutes before closing.

The main draw of the Orangerie were the famous gigantic water lilies paintings by Claude Monet:

In fact, the room was built specifically for these paintings. Each painting was about 4 feet higher, and about 20 feet long.

There were also other rooms with a number of other artist, such as Matisse, Picasso and Renoir, but after being through so many museums, there wasn't anything else that caught our attention enough to photograph it.

2010 PhD Breakdown - part 2

2010-03-15T12:02:00.001-06:00

Since my first post, the following has happened:

Purdue University - I made it through the phone interviews and have been offered admission into their PhD in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management (OBHR)! This was my top choice since I started this process over a year ago.

Texas A&M - I am #1 on their waiting list and will most likely be offered admission, as their first crop of students offered admission will likely have at least one that declines admission (their PhD program admits more student than Purdue's).

Temple University - I was not offered admission into their PhD program. Which, frankly, didn't surprise me.

University of Alabama - I still have not heard either way from Alabama. This, frankly, does surprise me. I'm not diggin' their lack of communication.

Washington State University - I have contacted WSU and declined their offer of admission. I feel like Purdue's program is a better fit for me. It felt kind of good to be the one turning the school down, rather than vice versa.

So right now, I would say there's about a 75% chance that we will end up at Purdue, though we'll have to see what offers Texas A&M and Alabama make (if any).

My Own Milton

2010-03-11T11:16:00.001-07:00

In my place of employment, there is an employee that reminds me a bit of Milton from Office Space. While not quite as quiet as Milton, he doesn't talk much, has large, thick glasses and spends most of his time in a dark, cluttered office. We don't work closely together, but I do associate with him from time to time.

The great part is that he has absolutely no idea what my name is. Which makes it all the better every time I say "hi" to him when we pass each other in the hall. I usually greet him by name, and am always interested in his responses, which have included the following:

"Hey man!"
"Hey you!"
"How's it going?"
"Hey there, buddy!"
"Hi Matt!" (I can't be sure on this one - it might have been 'man')
"Yo!"

I even had some work I needed from him, so I wrote him a note on a post-it and clearly printed my name at the bottom of the instructions. When he brought me the finished product, all I got was a "hey." So I'm still not sure he knows/remembers my name.

Parisian Paradise - Part XI: Sacre Coeur & Montmarte

2010-03-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

Monday morning, we took the "metropolitan" out to Anvers:

And from there, we headed up a narrow uphill street filled with souvenir shops. After making our way up the street (and picking up some souvenirs on the way), we stop for a photo op before climbing the mountain of stairs up to Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, or Basilica of the Sacred Heart (not this Sacred Heart):

One we got up near the top, we took a breather to take in the view and the harp music (one of the few performers we saw out on the streets of Paris during our trip):

Then it was up even more stairs before we could get inside:

I tried to tell Deidra all about what Rick Steeves has to say about Sacre Coeur, but she just wanted take pictures and look cute:

Once inside, Deidra continued her undercover, covert (and therefore blurry) picture-taking of things we weren't supposed to take pictures of - like a big group on nuns in the middle of a worship service:

Sacre Coeur was very beautiful and ornate throughout. Here the ceiling artwork:

It's Christ and the Holy Ghost as a dove. God is hidden behind the pillars on the right of the picture. I believe Joan of Arc was also in the painting, under Christ. And there was a big statue of her as well. Those French really love her, which I guess is understandable, as she is a patron (matron?) saint of France.

After Sacre Coeur, we walked around Montmartre, which is the hill on which Sacre Coeur was built. But it has a number of other claims to fame. It was there place where a large number of painters lived and fraternized, including Picasso, Monet, Dali and Van Gogh. There are still painters that gather along the square still today. But, be careful, they'll offer to sketch you for free, and then get mad if you don't want to purchase it when they are done.

Montmarte is also the setting of the opera La Boheme, along with the movie Moulin Rouge - which was based on the opera.

We saw the two last remaining "moulins" - or windmills, including this one:

We stopped at shops along our way, bought some art, postcards, toys and food (including our official french gallette, complete with a king tile in the middle).

And we finished our tour at the famous and infamous Moulin Rouge:

The tour continued down the Pigalle area, which is basically Paris's red light district, but we decided we could skip that part.

2010 PhD breakdown - part 1

2010-02-26T12:50:00.001-07:00

I'll take a break from the Paris re-cap to give you a run down on what is going on with potential PhD programs that I have applied to for 2010.

First, the good news:

Washington State University - WSU has officially offered me acceptance into their PhD for Business Administration with a concentration in Management. They are in the middle of the pack when it comes to potential schools, so it's a good start.

Next, the bad news:

Univeristy of Minnesota - I got rejected from Minnesota's Human Resources and Industrial Relations PhD this year. I had been put on their waiting list last year, so I thought my chances of getting in this year were pretty good. But since they don't accept the GMAT scores (only the GRE), and since I chose not to update any of my letters of recommendation, I guess there wasn't much more for them to go on this year than there was last year. Oh, well. They were at the very bottom of the list, so I would have chosen WSU over them anyway.

And, the other news:

Purdue University - I had an interview with one of the professors on the Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management (OBHR) PhD selection committee yesterday morning. I think it went okay, but it's always hard to tell. I am in exactly the same boat that I was in last year at this time. Out of all of there applicants, they are interviewing eight students, including me. Out of those eight, they will choose two.

Texas A&M University - I have been put on the "short" list for Texas A&M's PhD in Business Administration with a concentration in Management. So basically, I am on their waiting list, but I have been told that the list is "VERY short" and that they "almost always make offers to the people on the list at some point." So chances are good that this program will be a possibility as well.

Temple University - I am still under consideration for Temple's Strategic Management PhD program, but I am guessing that my chances there are fairly slim, since there was a mix-up with my undergraduate transcripts that is barely getting worked out, and because I don't have as much of a quantitative/math background as their typical applicant. But no final word has come through yet.

University of Alabama - I am also still under consideration for Alabama's PhD program in Management. This was kind of a last minute addition to the programs that I applied to, but I think it would be a good one. I have not heard much word either way from them at this point.

I will keep you posted as I receive further word, especially when a decision has been made.

(P.S. Apparently, I like "red" schools. I never even thought of that until I pulled all of their logos.)

Parisian Paradise - Part X: Champs-Élysées

2010-02-25T21:40:00.003-07:00

From the top of the Arc de Triomphe, We had this spectacular view of Champs-Élysées, the swankiest street in Paris and one of the most expensive streets in the world:

That's where we headed for our last adventure of the day on Sunday. (Yes, we're still talking about the same day that we went to church, even though it's been weeks since I posted about that.) There were all sorts of fancy boutiques, luxury car dealerships and other high-end businesses, so Brian decided it was a perfect time to get some dinner . . . at McDonald's:

Typical American! He was also in heaven when he saw the Nike store.

Whit and Deid, however, were more excited when they saw Laduree, the premier pâtisserie in Paris. Apparently they are world famous for their double-decker macaroons (which are much better and completely different than what you would think of as macaroons here in the U.S.):

Here is another covert shot of some of the other pastries there, including gallettes (which we didn't eat here, but we did later on during our trip):

Deidra had to be sneaky because weren't supposed to take pictures, apparently. We didn't really know that until Whit got caught.

But here are the girls with their successful purchase of delicious, fancy, over-priced pastries!

And with that, we finally called it a night. Ok . . . so we actually took the metro back to a street near our hotel and found a nice place to eat dinner. Then we called it a night.

Parisian Paradise - Part IX: Arc de Triomphe

2010-02-17T22:40:00.002-07:00

After our Sunday afternoon walk through Notre Dame and the Latin quarter, we hopped on the metro and headed to the Arc de Triomphe, a huge Arch that honors those who have fought for France, particularly those who fought during Napoleon's reign.

Brain and I were being triumphant:

Deidra being cute and cold:

The Arc de Triomphe became a symbol of conquests, ever since it first symbolized Napoleon's victories. From my understanding, it also became a ceremonious entry into Paris for the Germans when they conquered France (twice), and for the French and Allies when they conquered the Germans in WWII.

We took almost 300 steps up to the top of the arc:

And what greeted us at the top? A souvenir shop, of course! Complete with Eiffel Tower tops that we would have purchased for Deidra's dad (since he is obsessed with tops), but they were worthless when it came to actually spinning them. So we figured a picture was cheaper than paying money for a non-functioning top.

Once we got past the souvenir shop and took one last flight of stairs, we finally saw the view from atop the arc. Hey look! It's that pesky Eiffel Tower again:

Love was in the air at the top, and the Eiffel Tower gave us the spotlight as we showed a little PDA:

Don't worry, Whit and Brian were also guilty:

It was pretty much required for couples to kiss on the observation deck (or the makeout deck, as we called it). And who are we to argue? When in France . . .

As we descended the 300 or so steps back to the ground, we realized there was a wreath laying ceremony going on at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (similar to Arlington National Cemetary in DC), so we got one final picture:

Then we moved on to the ritziest street in Paris, which I still can't pronounce.

But you'll have to wait for until the next post for that one . . .

Parisian Paradise - Part VIII: The Notre Dame Walk

2010-02-16T19:08:00.000-07:00

The world has been waiting long enough. My only excuse for a lack of posting was an awesome President's Day weekend getaway. But now it's time to resume the trip recap.

Sunday afternoon, we walked from the Pompiduo across the river to Notre Dame cathedral. They hadn't even taken down their Christmas tree yet - embarrassing!

We learned all about the many gargoyles and Saint surrounding the facades of Notre Dame - including St. Denis, who (according to legend) was beheaded and then proceeded to stand up, pick up his head, clean it off and walk a number of miles before dying.

The entry into Notre Dame was free, but we were excited to use our museum pass to gain free access up the stairs to the viewing tower. Unfortunately, the weather was too cold and icy, so the viewing tower was closed. Foiled again!

Inside the cathedral, however, was very cool. Dark, gothic, and voluminous (as you would expect from a medieval church), with sculptures, paintings and stained glass throughout:

Not only does the cathedral still have its Christmas tree up, but also its Nativity:

Exiting the cathedral, we photographed its west facade:

Deidra was fascinated by this man, who was feeding birds directly out of his hands:

We walked around the Latin Quarter of Paris, with our audio tour guide, Rick Steves, pointing out all sorts of places of interest. These included the oldest tree in Paris, an alley where residents used to dump their excrement, a street corner with a history of violent protests, and the prison where inmates stayed prior to being beheaded. Unfortunately or not, we didn't think to take pictures along the walking tour. But it was interesting and refreshing to walk through parts of Paris, instead of just hopping on the metro from one landmark to the next.

Parisian Paradise - Part VII: Pompidou Museum

2010-02-08T22:29:00.003-07:00

After church, we ventured a mere block to the Pompidou Museum, which is basically a modern art museum. That's right, we went straight from church to the museum with the provocative image displayed on the outside poster:

That tubing on the outside of the building with what looks like red pads underneath - that's the escalator, not a fun-house slide, unfortunately.

Because it was freezing in Paris, we didn't see many street/sidewalk performers, so we had to document it when we saw this bubble guy:

After entering the museum, we decided to take the escalator all the way to the top and work down from there. Brian and I were having all sorts of fun on the ride up:

Once we got to the top, we looked out over the foggy/polluted/cloudy/overcast city. Hey, look, it's that Eiffel Tower again:

We were turned away from the special exhibit on the top floor, since our museum pass is only good for the permanent exhibits. So we went down a floor and walked through a lot of exhibits that just didn't seem as cool as the old school art. There were some paintings and sculptures from Picasso and Salvador Dali, and I read about some of the other paintings, photography, film and sculptures from Rick Steves, but nothing was too memorable. We quickly made it through two floors of modern art in just a couple of hours. Since we all went through at our own pace, I couldn't tell you what everybody else thought was interesting. But I can tell you that - after the two museums on Saturday, and this one on Sunday - we had all seen more of the human anatomy than is advisable in such a short time frame.

We went to the dining area of the museum and very quickly ate our packed meat and cheese baguettes for lunch (since the sign said that the eating area was only for food purchased at the museum). We must have felt a little guilty and eager to get out of there quickly, because as we were riding the down escalator from the eating area, a lady started waving and calling to us from above. She was speaking in French, but it seemed like she wanted us to come back up. I was wondering if we had been caught and were in trouble, and thought about making a mad dash for the door, but I rode the escalator back up instead to see what the lady wanted. Turns out that we had left Deidra's sunglasses on our table and the lady had noticed them when we left. So thank you, random French lady!

Before we left, Deidra got a little fancy and took our self portrait (all four of us) in this far-away mirror:

It's like Where's Waldo. Can you find us?

Parisian Paradise - Part VI: Church

2010-02-06T21:06:00.003-07:00

Sunday morning, we awoke and ate breakfast again. This time, I constrained myself a lit bit more. But we did utilize the baguettes, meats and cheese to make ourselves sandwiches for lunch. Yeah, we're resourceful little cheapos sometimes.

We rode the metro to the stop closest to where the LDS church congregation met. Deidra had read a blog from someone who had recently visited Paris, which included direction on how to get to the church from the metro. We followed those direction until we got to the right street, but at the church address we saw only two large blue locked doors - no church logo or anything to let us know we were in the right place. We were confused for a while, but eventually Deidra found a Book of Mormon display with note in a nearby window, left for visitors from the missionaries. It gave us instructions for getting through the locked doors.

Upon entering the blue doors, we saw a cobblestone courtyard with a few parked cars. We came to find out that church was held in the various rooms surrounding the courtyard. Deidra and Whit went to Relief Society on the North side, while Brian and I went to priesthood meeting on the south side.

The official church website said that church began at 10:30 AM, and the blog Deidra had read said it started at 10 AM. We got there at about 10:15, and those initial meetings ended about 15 minutes after we got there. Apparently, church atually started at 9:30AM. But that was okay, because the first meeting was in French and we didn't understand much of it anyway.

The four of us met together in an English-language Gospel Doctrine class during the next hour, where it was great to actually participate and understand what was going on.

Finally, we all went to Sacrament Meeting together as well. This meeting was also in French, but the missionaries were translating into both English and Chinese. So we got to wear these fun headphones to understand what was being said:

I am sure that translating is a difficult job, and some of the missionaries were better at it than others (they took turns), so I think we missed some of what was going on throughout the meeting.

At one point, a speaker (who had recently returned from a mission) did not speak French and only spoke Spanish. So he spoke in Spanish with a translator who translated it into French. Then the missionaries would try to translate that French into English. I took off my headphones during that speaker, when I realized that I could understand the Spanish better than I could understand the Spanish-French-English translation.

And, and interesting side note - it turns out that I knew the Bishop of the congregation. He is American, and we went to church together when we were both single and living in Washington, D.C. Sometimes the church makes it a small world.

Church was another one of our favorite parts of our Paris trip, which some people have told us is a copout. But we felt very warmly welcomed and and saw a great deal of diversity throughout the congregation, which is sometimes lacking in Utah. It was heartening to see our brothers and sisters in the gospel thousands of miles away and recognize that the church and its members are the same throughout the world.

That's my Senator!

2010-02-05T08:59:00.001-07:00

This is what happened as Senator Hatch approached the podium to offer the prayer at the National Prayer Breakfast:

At least he didn't have one of his own songs playing as a ringtone.

P.S. More Paris posts to come this weekend.

Parisian Paradise - Part V: The Louvre Museum

2010-01-30T13:53:00.004-07:00

No trip to Paris would be complete without a visit to the Louvre Museum - the largest and most famous art museum in the world.

It was already mid-to-late afternoon by the time we got there (after Versailles and the Orsay Museum), which means we only had a few hours to spend there before closing. With over twelve miles of exhibits, it was obvious that we weren't going to see everything. So we focused on seeing the most famous and memorable exhibits first.

The Mona Lisa:

Winged Victory:

Venus de Milo:

Once we had seen these works of art (along with many others along the way), we ventured around to see what else we could find. We came across a number of more obscure art pieces, such as . . .

Man with a disturbing tuft of hair on his back*:

The Invisible Woman*:

Woman with a "Handy" Birthmark*:

And, from the extremely rare traveling collection, the amazing and lifelike sculpture entitled Darkened Whitney Checks for Rain in the Light*:

We even found our our new family symbol:

Can you see the "D" (for Deidra), "C" (for Chris) and "H" (for Hartwell)?

They had to kick us out of the museum come closing time. You could seriously spend weeks in the Louvre before you saw everything there is to see. But I think we had seen everything we had come to see and more.

* I made up these amazing original, creative names. I know - be impressed.

Parisian Paradise - Part IV: The Orsay Museum

2010-01-30T13:15:00.003-07:00

Since out Versailles day trip was cut short, we ventured back into Paris and visited two museums during the afternoon and evening. First was the Orsay Museum, which is housed in an old train station, complete with a large, awesome clock:

The Orsay Museum is filled with art from multiple eras, from a number of great artists. Having downloaded Rick Steve's audio guide for a few of the sites (including Versailles, the Orsay Museum and the Louvre Museum), we spent a lot of the time with earbuds in, learning about the artwork.

We saw Van Gogh's self-portrait (I promise it's behind me):

Along with the classic paintings, there were various other displays - including an Art Nouveau exibit, that included the following:

And, apparently, these Metro signs are famous, too. Deidra learned all about them in her History of Furniture and Architecture class.

Here were a few of Deidra's favorites that she took pictures of:

I'm pretty sure that the last painting there made her laugh really hard at the ridiculousness of the scene. It's like the whole "You'll get a dozen virgins in heaven if you die doing battle as a soldier in this holy war" idea.

Parisian Paradise - Part III: Versailles

2010-01-23T10:34:00.003-07:00

We woke up early Saturday morning and headed downstairs for the first of our continental breakfasts. I don't know if it was because on the long flight or what, but I could not get enough food in me. Deidra, Whit, and Brian were all amazed as I downed four croissants, a hard-boiled egg, a chunk of baguette, a pain au chocolat, a brioche au sucre, toast with cheese and sliced meat (ham and salami), applesauce and a bowl of mixed fruit (along with a few glasses of orange juice). I was pretty amazed myself, actually!

After they pried me away from the breakfast table, we took the metro and a train out to make a day trip to Versailles - about a 30-minute train ride from Paris.

Versailles turned out to be one of most exciting - and disappointing - parts of the entire trip.

The palace at Versailles was HUGE and just amazing to look at. How did they create such vast and ornate structures back then?

Before Versailles, the royal palace was inside Paris (where the Louvre Museum is now - more to come on that in a later post). Louis XIV built this palace in Versailles so that he would could be apart from everyday people. Basically, they would have to travel to him in Versailles if they had an issue, which would be much more difficult than just walking down the street in Paris.

But Versailles was also the place where the king invited national and international leaders to come and hang out, basically. So it was a way to show off and impress them with all the colorful paintings and murals, ornate architecture, detailed sculptures, etc.

A lot of history has come out of Versailles. Louis the XVI reigned from here with his wife, Marie-Antoinette, before they were overthrown during the French Revolution and eventually beheaded.

The famous Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, was signed in the Hall of Mirrors:

So, seeing all of that was pretty darn cool. That was the exciting part.

The dissappointing part? Well, Versailles has an amazing garden and grounds, along with another residence, which was basically Marie-Antoinette's estate. But because of the weather, those sites were closed. This is the most we saw of the grounds - from out the palace window:

So our "day trip" to Versailles was over well before lunch, and we headed back on the train to Paris.

The other thing that was frustrating was that Versailles is covered in the cost of a Museum Pass - a pass you can buy that gets you into quite a few Paris museums and other sites. Whit and Brian had purchased their Museum Pass at the airport when they arrived. We didn't, and figured we could buy the pass at Versailles. Unfortunately we were wrong - they didn't sell the passes there. So we had to swallow the cost of Versailles separately, and then buy our Museum Pass later. Argh! There's an extra $45 down the drain!

But, I think we were pretty good with our money throughout the trip and made our Museum Pass well worth it anyway (as you'll see in future posts).

So the excitement of Versailles far outweighed the disappointment and frustration - especially looking back on it now. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Parisian Paradise - Part II: The Eiffel Tower

2010-01-21T21:32:00.008-07:00

Upon arriving at our hotel Friday afternoon at 5pm, after way too long in transit than I ever care to calculate, we were extremely tired. And did I mention that it was absolutely FREEZING in Paris? Even the locals we talked to said that is was colder than they remember it ever being. Our guide books all said that winters in Paris mean a lot of rain, but never snow. But there was snow on the ground when we got there and snow on the ground when we left.

Yeah - it was cold.

Anyway, we decided that we had to brave the weather and do something that evening, in order to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime and get our bodies on track for the rest of the trip. So the four of us hopped on the metro and headed to Trocadero to get a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. Our first glimpse was actually while we were on the metro, and we were like giddy little school children - oohing and aahing (ahhing? awing?). I think it was that moment when all four of us realized that we were really in Paris! Anyway, the other metro passengers just rolled their eyes at us. But I'm sure it's not the first time they've seen tourists act like that.

We got off the metro and walked through the frigid chill and bitter cold wind to get to the Eiffel Tower, and it was definitely worth it.

We even caught the tower at the top of the hour, which meant that we got to see it sparkle:

After walking all around and through the tower, we decided it was time for dinner. (And since you're probably wondering - no, we didn't go up to the top of the tower. Like I said, it was FREEZING and the wind was howling - definitely not the right weather to be at the top of a tall tower.) We walked around and found a Rick Steeves recommendation for our first dining experience. We started our meal with an appetizer of melted goat cheese over bread. Then, Deidra and I shared some beef bourguignon over rice, while Whit and Brian shared a dish of chicken and mashed potatoes. Then we all shared some chocolate cake for dessert.

And, as if that wasn't enough, we stopped at a grocery market on the way home and got a couple of chocolate bars to share:

After returning to the hotel and sampling our new chocolates (the Lindt Creme Brulee was the hands-down winner), we quickly settled down for a much-needed good night's rest.

Parisian Paradise - Part I: The Journey

2010-01-20T10:21:00.005-07:00

After receiving "exclusive rights" from Deidra to blog about our Paris trip, I took a look back at the recap from my previous international trip. I've decided a serial blog about Paris is in order as well.

We started our journey on Wednesday night (1/6). After a full day of work and a full night of church meetings, I picked up Deidra and we headed to Farmington, where we stayed the night with Daron, Lisa and Austin. They were excellent hosts. Lisa gave us a ride to and from the airport, and they took care of Nelly while we were gone.

From Salt Lake, we flew into JFK airport in New York. Deidra's cousin and her husband (Whit & Brian) were also joining us for this Paris excursion, but they had different flights than we did. We tried to meet up with them while we were both laying over in New York, but that caused more of a hassle than it was worth. We arrived in terminal 2 at JFK, we received word from Whit and Brian that they were awaiting their flight to Paris in terminal 1. Figuring that we would most likely be in the same terminal for our flight out, we exited terminal 2 and proceeded to terminal 1. However, upon close examination of our tickets, we realized that our departure was back in terminal 2. We went to the ticket counter and unsuccessfully tried changing flights from ours (through Dublin to Paris) to Whit & Brian's (straight to Paris). We then called our trip companions to let them know that we couldn't meet them in their terminal and would see them in Paris.

Then we turned back to terminal two and realized that we had made a definite mistake in exiting the terminal. That meant that we had to go back through the crazy security mob, which consisted of an enormous line (loosely termed) proceeding to two metal detector machines . . . one of which was broken. Luckily, we were in no hurry, as our flight was hours away. But it was still frustrating to proceed at a snail's pace for over an hour.

As we approached the metal detector, Deidra turned to me with nervous astonishment.

"Our water bottles aren't empty!"

We quickly pulled our water bottles from our respective bags and proceed to chug down their content before reaching security. This was somewhat easy for Deidra, with a half-filled half-liter container. It was significantly more difficult for me, with a full one-liter container. But I am happy to report that I was able to drink that full liter of water in about a minute's time, and we successfully made it through security. (I did, however, have to use the restroom three times before our flight.)

Our red-eye flight to Dublin was fairly uneventful. The movies were boring and I was less successful than Deidra in actually getting some sleep.

We quickly made it through customs in Dublin (our first passport stamp of the trip!). Our layover in Dublin found us waiting in a cold terminal for a few hours, which was only made better because of the UK family waiting near us, consisting of a mother an three sons (ages 14, 13 and 9, probably). It probably won't be as entertaining to you, but just imagine us being low on sleep and the boys talking in their Irish accents and it makes it funnier, I promise.

The boys starting betting on the toss of a 5-cent coin. At first, they tried "heads and tails," but it was quickly determined that "there are no heads and tails - only the 5 side and the not-5 side." So then they started betting pennies on the "5 side" or the "other side."

The youngest of the three soon lost his loose change, but was undeterred. He and one of the older brothers opened up their respective packs of Starbursts and began betting pieces of candy, which they referred to as "lollies."At one point, the youngest brother lost a toss and the older brother demanded two "lollies" instead of one. This started a brotherly argument that I, the second of four boys, could certainly appreciate.

Finally, toward the end of the betting, the youngest brother had lost about half of his "lollies." The mom finally recognized what was going on, and admonished the older brother to "give your brother back his lollies. Those are for the flight!" At which, the youngest brother pleaded: "But mum . . . I lost them fair and square!"

Like I said, probably not funny to anyone but Deidra and I, but it certainly helped pass the time.

We finally landed in Paris at about 3pm Friday afternoon (1/8), where we purchased train tickets and commenced to navigate the train and Paris streets to Le Royal Hotel. We were expected to meet Whit and Brian at the hotel at 5pm, and we rolled in there right on time.

----------------------------------------------

(P.S. Sorry for the length of this first post and the lack of pictures. I promise more pictures and shorter posts going forward.)

Top 9 of 2009

2010-01-06T11:24:00.009-07:00

I was just thinking of everything that has happened this past year, and came up with what I think are the my top 9 accomplishments of 2009:

9. Paying off one of my student loans: It's not the first, and definitely not the last, but each one that gets paid off makes me feel a little bit better.

8. Celebrating my 4th wedding anniversary: Definitely the easiest and funnest accomplish on this list, and I look forward to many more.

7. Getting over 100 universities aligned with SHRM's curriculum template: This is a goal I helped accomplish while working remotely as a research consultant for SHRM. Our initial goal was 25, which we met in February or March. Our goal got upped to 50, 75 and 100 and we were able to successively meet all of those goals successfully.

6. Receiving my PHR (Professional in Human Resources) Certification: After successfully passing the test, proving my MS in HR degree and verifying my prior HR employment, I became certified as of January 2009.

5. Reading 50 books: In the past, I have read probably about one book a month, so to do more than four times that amount in 2009 was truly an accomplishment for me. I think I'll cut it back in 2010, and focus on longer and more classic books.

4. Getting a job offer as Instructor at Trocaire College in Buffalo: This gave my the confidence and motivation to pursue my PhD and hopefully be a tenured university professor in the future.

3. Accepting a job offer as Instructor at Brigderland Applied Technical College: This allowed my the opportunity to stay in Logan (and not move to Buffalo), develop and deliver teaching and training, and prepare for a potential PhD programs in 2010.

2. Finally releasing Racing & Retracing: Eight year after releasing my first CD, and five years after recording the initial tracks for this CD, Racing & Retracing was finally released on October 28, 2009, after the final instrumentation and artwork were completed.

1. Running the Top of Utah marathon: Easily the most physically and mentally challenging goal I have ever accomplished, from day 1 of training through the finish line of the marathon itself.

What would you say are your biggest accomplishments of 2009?

December books

2010-01-02T09:29:00.003-07:00

I did it - read 50 books in 2009! The final books for December were as follows:

Blink

Malcolm Gladwell

An interesting look at snap decisions. Not quite as good as Outliers (which Gladwell wrote later), but better than what I finished of The Tipping Point (which he wrote

earlier). I guess that means he keeps getting better! I'll have to pick up his new book, "What the

Dog Saw."

Ozma of Oz

L. Frank Baum

This books introduces some other characters and story lines that ended up in the movie "Return to Oz." It is basically similar to the other Oz books thus far. But they are entertaining and easy reads. So I'll probably read one more at least to help me

reach my 50 book goal for the year.

The Road to Oz

L. Frank Baum

This was very similar to the other Oz books. But the new characters and story still seemed fresh.

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens

I think I'll have to make this one a Christmas tradition. It's a fairly quick read with great imagery and storytelling. There's just some things that can't be captured in a

movie - no matter how many times it's remade.

Deception Point

Dan Brown

I actually liked this book more than Dan Brown's other books, because it wasn't as wildly over the top, though it was still rather unbelievable at points.

The Power of Full Engagement

Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz

This book talked a lot about forming positive and healthy habits, and emphasizes the importance of managing your energy (instead of managing your time). It had some great ideas and advice on finding success at work and at home.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Census

2009-12-15T23:03:00.004-07:00

Dear Civil Rights/Census people,

Thank you for capitalizing on this holiday season. It makes me just want to hop on my donkey and get all censified.

November books

2009-12-15T15:47:00.002-07:00

Getting close to the end of the year, here is the book list for November:

Marriage: Love and Logic
Dr. Foster W. Cline

My wife and I read this book together. It had some good advice and sparked some great conversation between my wife and me. But a lot of the "love and logic experiences" seemed very redundant after a while. Maybe the fact that we were reading it on a strict time schedule (we had to get it back to the library) lessened its impact. And, finally, whoever edited the book missed quite a few misspellings and format errors that made focusing on the content a challenge.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Stephen R. Covey

This book took me about six months to read. There was a lot of good advice, sound principles and memorable ideas, but I thought that the book went on and on repeating ideas over and over with stories, examples and explanations. I think it would have been more powerful had it been more concise.

Diar y of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
Jeff Kinney

These books are extremely quick, but are just a lot fun to read. The author continues to find new experiences to keep the books interesting.

GMAT
Kaplan

This book was a good reference in preparing for the GMAT. I was focused mainly on the quantitative portion, and their "100 rules to know" was very helpful in preparing.

GMAT 800
Kaplan

What I liked most about this book was that you had 2-4 questions to answer and then it took you step-by-step on how to find the right answer to each of those questions. So instead of having to take full tests or full sections before checking answers, I could understand where I went wrong almost immediately.

With one month to go, I think I have 6 books left to read to meet my goal of reading 50 books for the year. Definitely doable.

The Studio

2009-12-04T22:44:00.004-07:00

Some of you may remember my christmas wish post from a few years ago. Well, Deidra gave me an inch and I took over our spare bedroom closet and, with a newly-made shelf from my mother-in-law* recently added, here is the finished product:

* In my mother-in-law's defense, the shelf was given to us unpainted. The bright green came from a can of paint that Deidra got for free. But I kind of dig the color and the contrast it adds to the otherwise black instruments/cables/etc.

Pawning my soul

2009-11-29T17:51:00.006-07:00

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I went to a pawn shop with my father-in-law and brother-in-law. While they perused the power tools, saddles and firearms, I spent most of my time looking at musical instruments, amplifiers and electronics. As I didn't find anything that caught my fancy, I decided to look through the rack of CDs. I saw some old CDs that brought back fond memories (Real McCoy, Boyz II Men, etc.), as well as some Christmas CDs that I was trying to remember if my wife already owned or not.

Then all of a sudden a CD caught my full attention. I looked at the familiar spine with skepticism and carefully pulled it off the shelf from under the stack resting above it. This was the image on the front cover:

That's right - I found All I Fear, my own CD from 2001 sitting the EZ Money pawn shop in Burley, ID. I'm still not sure if I should be flattered or offended. But if you're in the money for a $2 Chris Hartwell album, now you'll know where to go.

Live, from Anchorage . . . it's Saturday Night!

2009-11-25T09:13:00.019-07:00

What is it with Alaska that makes their constituents choose Saturday Night Live lookalikes as the head of their state government? I mean we all know the whole former Gov. Sarah Palin/Tina Fey comparison:

Well, the other day, I got an email from Alaska's tourism department telling me that I should come visit the state. In that email was a message from the current Alaskan Governor, Sean Parnell, along with the following photo:

First off, he shares a surname with SNL alum Chris Parnell. But what struck me was the uncanny resemblance that he has to another former SNL cast member, Phil Hartman:

So, in a highly scientific study, I decided to take a look at a few other former governors of Alaska and see how they stack up with SNL alumni:

Frank Murkowski and Dana Carvey

Walter Hickel and Jon Lovitz

But one I have yet to place is Tony Knowles:

Any ideas for his SNL doppelganger?

GMAT Report

2009-11-24T11:27:00.009-07:00

So, I took the GMAT yesterday. The main reason was to try and best the Quantitative Section score on my previously-taken GRE. So I barely even studied the Verbal Section and spent weeks studying the Quantitative Section. Come test day, I was still not feeling up-to-snuff on all of the theorems, formulas, and equations that are out there, but my brain was full and I was out of time.

First in the test were two 30 minute essay responses. Then I took a five minute break before going head-on into the 75-minute Quantitative Section. By the end of that section, I was fried, and I didn't even think I had really done too well. But I didn't want to take a break and dwell on it, so I went straight into the 75-minute Verbal Section. Almost four hours after starting the test, I finished and was given my scores on the way out.

The first thing I did was check the Quantitative Score. And the funny thing is that I scored at exactly the same percentile as I did on the GRE. So much for all that wasted effort!

Then I saw my Verbal Score. Somehow, my score was eight percentile points higher than my GRE score. And my overall percentile (Quantitative and Verbal together) was significantly higher than my GRE scores. So I guess taking the test was worth it after all.

I wonder what would have happened if I would have focused my studying on the Verbal Section instead. Then my Quantitative Section score might have improved, right? :-)

"Racing & Retracing" available on iTunes and CDBaby

2009-11-20T17:06:00.007-07:00

My new album, Racing & Retracing, is now available at the following locations:

ChrisHartwell.com

(click on any of the above for the direct link to the album)

Happy 40th, Sesame Street!

2009-11-10T22:15:00.003-07:00

My favorite character as a kid was definitely Count Von Count. In fact, he taught me how to count. 1 ah, ah, ah . . . 2 ah, ah, ah . . . 3 ah, ah, ah . . .

And then my parents had to teach me that I didn't have to say "ah, ah, ah" after every number.

(P.S. Snuffleupagus will always be Big Bird's imaginary friend to me)

And the winner is . . . (drumroll, please)

2009-11-10T11:09:00.004-07:00

Brooke S.! Congratulations, you have won the Racing & Retracing CD giveaway! I will be in contact with you to get the information needed to send you the CD.

Thanks to everyone who entered.

Physical CDs are now available directly from me for $10 (cash/check/PayPal). CDs will also be available at CDBaby.com ($12.95) within the next week, and Apple iTunes ($9.99 full album or $0.99 per track) within the next couple of months. I will give you all an update when those services are available.

Feel free to contact me or leave a comment on this post with any questions.

(contest winner selected using random.org)

October books

2009-11-07T06:56:00.002-07:00

Ender in Exile

Orson Scott Card

Being a fan of Ender's Game, I have read through all of the sequels and concurrent novels. This one just adds another layer to an already confusing landscape of stories that intertwine. I feel the same way about this novel as I felt about the latest Alvin Maker novel from the same author; I don't get to know the characters any more than I already do, which makes the entire book predictable. It's almost as if the author is trying to squeeze every penny out of a series that has been lucrative in the past, rather than coming up with something new.

Mafia to Mormon: My Conversion Story

Mario Facione

It was an fascinating read to learn about this conversion story and the complete change of heart and lifestyle that accompanied the conversion.

The Wednesday Letters

Jason F. Wright

An interesting premise (unfolding information written in weekly letters from a husband to his wife over the course of their decades-long relationship) is overshadowed by a dramatic soap opera story lines that makes it border on unbelievable.

Outliers

Malcolm Gladwell

This book delves into some of the anomalies that produced outliers like the Beatles and Bill Gates. From birth dates, to cultures, to practice time, etc., it is interesting to see how there's always more to a rags to riches story than initially meets the eye.

The Wizard of Oz

L. Frank Baum

This was a quick read, as it was meant to be a book for children. However, there are great descriptions and underpinnings of the book that adults can draw from as well. While none of the adventures of Dorothy and her friends is very inventive (for example, a giant spider-like beast that has long been terrorizing the forest is killed in its sleep by the lion in about two sentences), the imagery and fast pace make the book enjoyable.

For One More Day

Mitch Albom

Fitting that I finished this "ghost story" on Halloween night. Having read a couple of Albom's other books, this one seemed to fall right in line with The Five People You Meet in Heaven. That was both good and bad. It was still enjoyable to read and Ablom creates a good narrative, but the book didn't seem to break much new ground or be particularly thought-provoking.

Nov. 9 (Monday) - Closing date for drawing

2009-11-06T11:02:00.003-07:00

I received the "Racing & Retracing" CDs in the mail today, and it made me realize that I had not stated a closing date for the drawing I had previously posted. So I have set next Monday, Nov. 9th, as the closing date. Add your comment to this post before midnight on Nov. 9th to be included in the drawing. Good luck!

Racing & Retracing - Enter to Win!

2009-10-28T15:09:00.006-06:00

With the CD artwork completed (thanks, Brian!), Racing & Retracing has officially been sent off to be manufactured.

A couple of the songs are available HERE for your listening pleasure.

Within the next couple of weeks, it should be available for purchase on CDBaby.com and it will hopefully be available on iTunes by around Thanksgiving.

But lucky for you, you don't have to wait that long! I will be drawing for one lucky winner who will get an autographed copy of the CD sent to their doorstep (or at least to your mailbox). Just leave a comment on this post to enter the drawing.

Five Guys vs. In-N-Out

2009-10-24T13:20:00.003-06:00

Five Guys:

Peanuts while you wait in line
Thick fries perfectly seasoned
Enough fries to more than satisfy two people with one order
A huge selection of ways to personalize your burger, including jalapenos and A1 sauce
juicy, delicious burgers
A board that tells you exactly where the potatoes come from for the fries (which is usually somewhere in Idaho)

In-N-Out

A lot of gooey, delicious cheese on the burger
Only limited selection of available burgers (even including animal style)
thin, wimpy fries
The ability to order milkshakes
decent burgers, but nothing to write home about

Verdict: Five Guys wins HANDS DOWN. It's barely even a contest. The only thing In-N-Out has going for it is their milkshakes. But you get enough food at Five Guys that a milkshake would probably be overkill.