International Trip - Part IV - The Desert Safari

One of the evenings we were in Dubai, we rode in SUVs out to the desert for a desert safari. Once we got there, we made our first stop so that the drivers could take air out of the tires to make it easier to get around in the desert. We used that opportunity to get our first pictures.

Then we got back in our vehicles and proceeded to ride the roller coaster of desert sand dunes. I did pretty well, considering I hadn't taken any dramamine. It was actually a lot of fun.

Along the way, we saw some camel caravans out for a stroll.

Our final stop before we got to our destination allowed us the opportunity to take in the desert sunset.

Finally, we reached our destination, where we were able to partake of a great feast of lamb and chicken, mediterranean olives, flatbread, and a lot of other things I do not recall. In addition to dinner we also had the opportunity to take camel rides.

We were also treated to a belly dancing show, part of which included some volunteers from the audience. I don't know if you should consider yourself lucky or unlucky, but I have not obtained a video or pictures of the belly dancing masterpiece of the two Chrises (myself and my trip roommate). 

We also got henna tattoos - a form of temporary tattoo that stains the skins and lasts about 2-3 weeks. I got one of a camel on the inside of my forearm and then this work of art on my upper arm to show my wife how much I love her. Pretty romantic, right? 

This was definitely the most authentic arabic/middle eastern part of our visit to Dubai. The city itself is so urbanized, that it was almost like being in the US. I am glad we were able to take part in this fun and very memorable activity to take in a little bit of the culture while we were there.

Young @ Heart Choir

There is a documentary out about this choir of old folks called Young @ Heart that sings all sorts of punk and rock songs. I really want to go see it. I found this particular video pretty funny.

Why my wife is cool - Sunday School

So this may be the first in a series of "Why my wife is cool." This edition is about our Sunday School class today. We attended the Marriage & Family Relations class, only to find out there was not a teacher. I went to see what was going on. One of my responsibilities is to oversee the Sunday School. There had been a mix up in teachers-- with moves, releasings and a new Sunday School presidency in the past few weeks. Deidra turned to me and said "Do you want to go get a teacher's manual? We can teach." So I did.

It was fun to teach a lesson on the fly and take turns engaging the class in discussion while the other person quickly read through the next part of the lesson. Even the Bishop agreed that it was a job well done. I am glad to have a wife with the positive attitude and initiative to take charge in that kind of situation. We used to teach Gospel Doctrine class together and I certainly miss that. So this was a good reminder of why I love my wife and how cool she is.

International Trip - Part III: The luxury suite

When we arrived at Dubai, we went straight to the hotel, where we were told that our rooms were not yet ready. After waiting for a good 30 minutes (the hotel staff told us it would only take about 10), they had some rooms ready. Being the gentlemen that we are, we allowed the women to take the available rooms.

After another 30 minutes of going back and forth with the hotel, our group leader sternly insisted that rooms be found for the rest of us. Apparently, there weren't any rooms that were close to being ready, because they instead put the rest of us into luxury apartments in an adjoining building. That, my friends, is the reward of chivalry. Normally, these apartments are for people who are staying weeks or months at a time. It even had a washer/dryer combo . . . in one machine! It was magical . . . except that it took about 4 hours to do one load of laundry. Here's a video detailing the room - though I'm not promising that the shoddy cameraman won't make you sick.

International Trip - Part II - Overview of Dubai

Dubai was referred to as a typical tropical "crane" forest

This will soon be the tallest building in the world

Just a few pictures from the streets of Dubai. This is where the old souks used to be.

from the rooftops . . .

how cool are these little shanties?

International Trip Recap - Part I - Manchester, England

Deidra dropped me off at the school at 3am on Saturday morning (Mar. 8) and we took two buses, with a total of 20 students and 3 adults (minus those that were meeting us at the airport), to the Salt Lake City airport. From SLC, we flew to Atlanta, and then from Atlanta to London on a red-eye flight (the first of many). Then we flew from London to Manchester. Because of our extended layovers at each airport and the time we lost going traveling east (6 hours), we arrived in Manchester on Sunday at approximately 3pm. We went to our hotel, took showers and got freshened up, and headed to a Pub for dinner. As an official tourist in England, I felt it my duty to get authentic fish and chips, which turned out to be quite tasty.

While in Manchester, we had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, The Beefeater.


We learned that a "proper English breakfast" consists of eggs, sautéed mushrooms, fried tomatoes, baked beans, sausage, and back bacon (which is about 100 times better than American bacon). I decided to substitute toast, fruit, and granola for the tomato and baked beans. But it was a great way to start your day.

We visited two Weir Services facilities in England, including the facility pictured in the previous post. In addition, we toured a Jaguar/Land Rover plant not far outside of Liverpool. The automated fitting and welding operations were pretty impressive.


The last night we were there (Monday), we had some free time in the evening to have dinner and walk around a bit. We split up into numerous groups and my group ended up eating in Picadilly Square at Barburrito - a Mexican Grill which seemed to be the English equivalent of Chipotle. I could not have been happier. We then walked around and saw the sights a bit. My camera (really, Deidra's camera, which she let me borrow) does not do well in the darkness, but here's a picture I tried taking of a cool fence and building.


Stay tuned for Part II - Dubai . . .

Quick update from Dubai

I have some time I purchased from the hotel internet, and thought I would update you all on the trip. My time is short, but luckily my wife is smart and made me take along her SD card reader so that I could upload photos. I'll give a more detailed description upon my return, but here's a few little tidbits:

my new Jaguar (pronounced Jag-U-ah in Britain) at the Jaguar/Land Rover plant we toured

The super cool Weir services facility that used to be a beer brewery/distillery in South Yorkshire, England

Ski Dubai - the indoor ski slope in the middle of the Dubai Mall

Some camels and the cameler in the sunset during the desert safari

Riding camels on the desert safari

To come later: more photos, a video tour of our super sweet suite in Dubai, a video of riding the desert dunes that might make you a little sick, and more!

I hope you're all doing well. See you later!

See you in a couple of weeks!

I know you won't miss me much while I'm gone, since I am only aspotty blogger at best, but I will be leaving at 3am tomorrow morning on an international trip for the next 11 days . I will bring back lots of pictures and stories and hopefully it will incite a veritable blogging wonderland. But until then . . . Namaste.

Gotta love free food!

Tonight, Deidra and I went to our stake Valentine's Ball. They had a buffet style dinner and there were a lot of people when we first got there. We got in line, hoping there would be enough food for us. A couple of hours later, long after we had filled our bellies and then tried to dance some of those calories away, the party wound down. Before it ended, there was an announcement that they had brought out plastic wrap so people could take some food home. I thought, Cool - we can take a few mini-sandwiches home for lunch tomorrow. But when we got to the food tables, they were bringing out boxes and boxes of sandwiches, salad, brownies, vegetables, etc. The picture below is what we ended up with . . . and that was only half of what they were trying to unload on us. I don't think we'll be spending much on groceries in the next little while. We'll be eating mini sandwiches and cinnamon rolls for a week!

clockwise from left: humongo bag o' salad, bucket o' pasta salad, cup o' valentine chocolate, pile o' sandwiches, plate o' veggies, bag o' chocolate chips, two-tiered box o' mini cinnis.

Raise your hand if you have the best wife in the world!

(by the way, my hand is raised . . . in fact, both of my hands are raised . . . In fact, I am typing this blog post with my nose because both of my hand are raised.)

Happy Valentine's Day, Deid!

What the tagness?

I got a message from Patrice that I had been tagged. Considering that I had 78 posts on my Google reader that I had not yet read (it's been about two or three weeks since my last blog reading). So here goes nothin':

10 years ago: I was in downtown Cincinnati serving a mission. It was one of the most difficult areas of my mission, as it was hard to find sincere people who were receptive to the gospel message. While serving in Cincinnati, I came across D&C 61:30-31 and then I understood why. :-)

5 things on my list of things to do today: Since is is past 10pm right now, my list is pretty short: 1. Change into PJs, 2. Brush teeth, 3. Pray, 4. Read Scriptures, 5. Set the alarm and go to bed.

Snacks I enjoy: Golden Oreos, Hot Tamales, Dots, Ice Cream, Jalapeno-flavored chips, etc.

Things I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire: Pay off debt, buy my wife a Volvo station wagon, build a house equipped with my own music studio, quit my job and travel.

3 of my bad habits: plucking out my eyebrows with my fingers, not hanging up my coat, accelerating too fast (according to Deidra)

Jobs I have had: Cow milker, Sandwich Artist, Music Marketer, Administrative Assistant, Residence Hall Security, Ski Lift Operator, Hay Truck Driver, Unloading Grain Truck, Intern Coordiantor, Mail Manager, Staffing Supervisor, Interim Branch Manager, etc.

Things that people don't know about me: The first celebrity I ever had a crush on was Christine Taylor in Hey Dude! . . . I once broke a girl's nose when I was in Tai-Kwon-Do as a child (and that was the end of martial arts for me) . . . I once accidentally ran through a sliding glass door.

People being tagged: Kamilah, Robin, and you.

Sometimes it pays to be in grad school

Near the beginning of this semester, one of my professors discussed with the class a moral conundrum that he was facing. He has taken a new job teaching different classes at another university, and this semester will be the last semester he is here at Utah State. He had a number of books that had been sent to him by publishers who hoped he would implement their books into his classes. He wanted to get rid of the books, but did not want to sell them and keep the money, since he had received them from the publishers for free. His decided the only fair thing was to share the wealth with the class instead of keeping the money for himself. Obviously, we were quite agreeable to the idea and talked about using the money for a pizza party in class or something like that. Well, today at the end of class, the professor said he had something for each of us. He then proceeded to hand a $20 bill to each of the fifteen class members. It was definitely a welcome surprise. How often do you get paid for going to class? And it definitely beats pizza!

Farewell, President Hinckley

As my wife just blogged, we saw the news tonight that our beloved prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, passed away this evening. I can just see him waving his cane like in this picture to say goodbye to the world. He has been the prophet since before I graduated from high school, throughout my mission, college, and what seems like forever. I'm sure he is overjoyed to be reunited with his wife again, but he will certainly be missed.

I got ripped off!

So accoridng to this article my alma mater is the most expensive University in the world! At least it wasn't quite that expensive when I was going to school. And, like the article mentions, they do shell out a lot of aid. My total price tag was about one year's tuition, after scholarships and grants are taken into account. Oh well - at least Utah State is significantly less expensive. I will come out of graduate school with very little (if any) student debt.

Package thoughts

Do you think FedEx and UPS get their mail delivered by the USPS? And do you think that UPS ever gets a package sent via FedEx or vise versa? Like, if UPS orders supplies by a company that uses FedEx for their shipping? That's my random question for right now. Let me know your thoughts.

The Game of Kings (and old folks)

I learned to play chess somewhere in junior high or high school - I'm not sure exactly how. Maybe it was my somewhat intellectual (aka nerdy) group of friends, or a late 80s computer game on 5 1/4" floppy disk. I'd like to say I wasn't on the high school chess team because I wasn't that nerdy, but really my high school was too small and we didn't even have a chess team. I'm scared to think of what side of the fence I would have landed on if they did.

Even as a missionary, chess was a hobby. The night that transfer calls were made by our mission president each month, my companion and I would play chess through the night after returning home from proselytizing. It was a perfect way to pass the time and get our minds focused on something besides whether one of us was going to get transferred.

It had been a while since I've played chess, but that changed a few days before Christmas. A few couples from our church congregation got together and made a number of fleece blankets to deliver to residents at a local care center. As we walked into one of the rooms, my eyes were first drawn to the old school computer with a three color 2D chess game on the screen. I then noticed a custom-made velcro chess board, complete with a number/letter coordinate grid. I was intrigued. The resident (Marlo) could not speak very well and had limited motor skills. We talked to him for a while and gave him his blanket. As we got ready to head to the next room, Marlo asked if I wanted to play a game of chess. At first, I declined, knowing that there were other residents to visit. But my wife kindly suggested that I stick around and play while the rest of the group went to deliver the remaining blankets.

As I sat down to play, I had a few thoughts running through my mind: 1) Are we even going to have time to play a game before everyone returns? 2) How good can this guy be with his limited capacities? 3) He does have a computer game and chess board, with pretty much nothing else to do, so maybe he'll be alright. But when I saw a large book on chess strategy lying on his floor, I got an inkling that I might be in over my head.

It took us a while to get the game going, especially since I had to learn that Marlo did not move his own pieces. What he would do is name the coordinates (i.e. "A5 to C7") and I would move his piece for him. I finally caught on to this and moved his first piece to begin the game. Then followed my move. Then his. Then mine. Then his. Checkmate.

What? Really? I surveyed the board and looked at everything that had occurred in the short space of about 90 seconds and five moves. He was right. I had been put in checkmate in less time than it takes me to brush my teeth (if I brush for the full two minutes recommended on the Oral-B Sonicare - which I usually don't). All the thoughts I had had moments before had been answered definitively and Marlo just smiled the kind of smile that made me wish he could tell me exactly what was going on in his mind at that moment. We played again and I put up much more of a fight in another losing effort. But at least I felt better about that game.

As we left the care center, I couldn't help but smile at the defeat. I may return for a rematch with Marlo soon, but I really need to brush up on my chess skills first. I hope Marlo enjoyed our games - I know I did.

"All I Fear"

I guess I will follow suit with my own list of 20 things I would do if I had no fear:

1. Pursue a music career full-time
2. Dive into the pool head-first
3. Do a backflip on the trampoline (I guess my wife and I both have that fear)
4. Give plasma (I'm okay with giving blood though)
5. Buy a house
6. Actually invest time in school so I can get good enough grades to get into a top-tier PhD program (in case I decided to go that route)
7. Run for political office
8. Snowboard more often (I'm too comfortable on skis)
9. Invest in the stock market
10. Actually release my "Racing & Retracing" CD
11. Delve more into my scripture study
12. Quit my job
13. Take a dance class with my wife
14. Get in shape
15. Befriend our neighbors
16. Finish the children's book I once started writing
17. Ask my wife and/or father-in-law to teach me to weld
18. Race a motorcycle
19. Leave my door unlocked
20. Live without insurance

So there you have it, folks. My innermost fears exposed. Enjoy. Feel free to post your own list(s).

The First Presidency Christmas Devotional

As Deidra mentioned in one of her prior posts, we had the opportunity of attending the First Presidency Christmas devotional. One of our friends sent us a few pictures from that night, so I thought I might as well post them here. We had a good, ol' fun time.

$500

That was the amount offered for my online soul . . . and I turned it down. Thanks for your comments!

I haven't had enough of these kind of days lately . . .

Since transferring jobs, things have been pretty crazy and I have not had much time to breathe at work. Today is finally a slow day and my boss is gone, so it is much more relaxed and I actually have time for a short little blog. Plus, it is the last day of work for me this week, so I have very little motivation.

But once Thanksgiving is over, it is going to be crazy until Christmas - with school assignments, tests, work, etc. So I figured I'd give you at least a couple of paragraphs to read to tide you over for a while.

How much for my online soul?

In an update from a previous post, I wanted first to let everyone know that I was successful in regaining possession my original website (www.chrishartwell.com) for about $30. A couple of weeks have gone by since that transaction was completed, but I have yet to re-upload everything onto the site. Well, this week, I received an email from another Chris Hartwell who was interested in purchasing the website from me in order to use it for some sort of personal financial blog. Upon further communication, I got a tenative offer, but am not sure I want to sell. I don't want to tell you yet what I was offered - but I want your collective professional opinions. If you were in my position, for what price would you be willing to sell the website? Maybe after getting some responses, I will tell you what I was offered, but I want to hear what you all think first.

The Birthday Party that Rocked!

It may have happened three weeks ago, but everybody knows I am a blogging slacker, so I am just telling everyone about it now. Deidra threw me an uber-excellent birthday party . . . and I have pictures to prove it!

It all started with the arrival of some special birthday guests - Karisa, Hudson, and Dalanie. Rumor has it that Hudson even chose coming to visit us over going to get ice cream. Perhaps he could sense all the refreshments that were going to be available to him at the party.

It was my big 30th birthday, so we had to go all out. This included chips, vegetables, lil smokies, and soft pretzel bites - all of which could be dipped into the nacho cheese "fountain of youth." As you can see, at the beginning some of the guests (Karisa and Tameka in this picture) weren't quite sure what to think about it. But it was a big success once people got used to it.

Not only that, but Deidra baked an awesome yellow cake with chocolate butter creme frosting AND an amazing pecan pie - both which were served with ice cream. Check out the awesome candles!

There was much Wii playing to entertain all the guests. Deidra and I had even created little Miis (virtual players on the Wii) for each of the guests who had RSVPed.

Finally, there was opening of presents. This particular ensemble was courtesy of the Mills.

We have such great friends and the party was a ton of fun People were still playing the Wii until the "wii" hours of the morning (man, I'm funny!). Thanks to the Newmans, who let us crash in on the social center at the apartment complex they manage. I am grateful that Deidra went through such great lengths to make an unforgettable party for a huge birthday that could have been dreadful otherwise. I mean, who ever wants to turn 30?

Everyone is invited to come play the Wii anytime. We've had a ton of fun with it since we got it. It was totally worth being my anniversary, birthday, and Christmas present all rolled into one.

I'm NOT 30!

I just had to express that today while I still can.

The death (and rebirth?) of ChrisHartwell.com

This week, I tried to access ChrisHartwell.com and it would not come up. I contacted the company I purchased it from to find out what had happened. Come to find out, my registration for ChrisHartwell.com had expired back in August. The company had attempted to contact me, but had an old email address that I hardly ever check anymore. After the registration expired, ChrisHartwell.com was purchased by another company, so I was unable to obtain it! Talk about frustrating. So instead, I purchased ChrisHartwellMusic.com.

I later went online and found contact information for the company that purchased ChrisHartwell.com. I assumed that their company did business by buying domain names that expire in hopes of charging large amounts for the previous owners to buy them back. Upon contacting the company, they were very cordial. They apologized for purchasing the site when I was still interested in it. They wouldn't tell me any specifics, but said that their company bought websites that had expired for research purposes. They offered to sell me back the website if I would simply cover the costs they had spent in purchasing the site.

So hopefully on Monday, I will be able to get ChrisHartwell.com back in my possession. Until then, everything has been uploaded to ChrisHartwellMusic.com. Maybe someday, I'll even update the website. Who knows?

While the cat's away the mice will procrastinate

Deidra left on Thursday morning to go to DC and visit some friends and old co-workers in DC. Of course, I unfortunately have to stay and go to work, since our trips to Seattle left me with only a few vacation days left at work. I have been trying to read the last 200 pages of The World is Flat for class and write an analysis of it while she has been gone. So far, I have about half a page written with quite a bit left to do. I can't get myself to focus. Instead I spend time surfing the net, checking fantasy football, reading Sports Illustrated, reading blogs (everything I have missed since i last read blogs about two weeks ago), and now I'm even BLOGGING! Can you believe it? But it's due by Wednesday, so I will be forced to buckle down some day soon.

An update . . . of sorts

This update goes out to Daisy Paige, the one fan who requested an update. Congratulations on the pregnancy! You and Josh will be great parents.

Other comments I have neglected to leave on people's blogs:

1) To Karisa - Happy birthday, happy "birthing" day (I can't wait to meet Dalanie), and happy birthday to Brent, too. Sounds like a lot of summer birthdays around your house.

2) To Bestsariah - Nice haircut

3) To Kamilah - Your husband screamed on the roller coaster. That's kind of funny ... but not too funny, because I'm pretty sure he could beat me up.

Updates that I have missed:

1) My summer classes are over and I passed all three classes.

2) Now I get to start the graduate program fo' real in a couple of weeks.

3) My best friend from high school is getting married and I get to be a groomsman . . . unfortunately, it is in Seattle, so I have to miss work and school in order to do so.

4) Work is uber-crazy and I'm not sure I really like it. But I've only been doing it for a couple of months. It's definitely made me miss the lazy summer days of working with the education side of things.

5) Our trip to Mesquite was all sorts of fun. Deidra and I won at tennis, but I lost in golf pretty soundly. I also lost at the waterslide luge, the holding your breath underwater for a long time competition, and at Settlers. We went with three other couples and had a great time. The Suburban was perfect transportation to fit us all in.

6) (This is pre-emptive news, since who knows when I'll blog again) My lovely, wonderful, spectacular, beautiful, brilliant, caring, and incredible wife and I will celebrate our second anniversary on Saturday. Hopefully her husband figures out something cool to do.

7) My lil sil is currently living with us until school starts. She's a pretty cool cat ... though sometimes a little strange. She was about 500% excited to show off her Fat Baby boots at the Cassia County Fair this weekend. She even took a day off work for it so she could head to Burley tonight.

8) And finally, I'm sorry to disappoint those who were hoping for a repeat performance as I defended my second place ribbon at the Cache County Fair. While I did sign up to participate again this year, we totally spaced it and missed the fair completely. Oh well!

I hope that's enough to keep you all entertained for another little while. I am also getting rid of the junk pile and the lyric of the week/month, since I do not update either of those enough to make it worth it. But I will try to be a little bit better about posting . . . maybe.

Are you ready for some football?

It's that time of year again. I want to extend a personal invitation to everyone out there (and that includes you Scott Cromie) to join my fantasy football league. Just click on the picture above and enter the following information:

League ID: 29580

Password: roxor

Let the games begin!

Wanna sell coffee on the Sabbath?

That's basically the question I posed to a recently-returned missionary today at work. He came in looking for a job, and I was trying to fill a job for Saturday and Sunday grinding, brewing, and giving out samples of coffee to customers at Sam's Club.

He's going to do it.

Should I feel bad?

A pretty good surprise

At around 11:45, with about 15 minutes left in class this morning, I got a text message from my wife that read:

"Do you think you'll be wrapping up at noon?"

I replied that it looked like we were nearing the end for the day. Her text response was:

"I hope so, too! There's a pretty good surprise waiting for you!"

I'm a sucker for surprises, so as soon as class got finished (11:54 - six minutes early), I ran home down the hill and arrived shortly after noon. I must have been too fast, because when I opened the door, I was told to go back outside because the surprise wasn't ready.

A moment later, I was called back in and found this on my plate at the candlelit table:



It was definitely a pretty good surprise. Does it get any better than a summer lunch like that? The wraps were pretty amazingly tasty, pasta salad is always a Chris favorite, and the lemon-poppyseed cupcakes glazed with some sort of lemon-sugary goodness were irresistable. My wife is pretty much awesome.

Oh, and Happy 25th Birthday Diet Coke! Thanks for being a part of such a great surprise.

(P.S. I think it's kind of weird that I am older than Diet Coke.)

A Super Mario Christmas Story

What you get when you mix one of Nintendo's greatest video games with one of the best movies ever made? Pure genius ...

I've been taggified!

Four Jobs I’ve held:
1. Farm hand/cow milker
2. GWU Board of Chaplains student assistant
3. Senator Larry Craig's Intern Coodinator
4. Branch Manager

Movies I can watch over and over:
1. Back to the Future
2. Life is Beautiful
3. Napolean Dynamite
4. Gattica

Places I’ve lived:
1. Declo, ID
2. Washington, DC
3. Cincinnati, OH
4. Logan, UT

T.V. Shows I enjoy:
1. Seinfeld/Bernie Mac/Malcolm in the MIddle/Drew Carey/all other old sitcoms that are re-ran all the time.
2. The Office
3. Jeopardy
4. The Simpsons

Places I have been on vacations to:
1. Glacier National Park
2. Boston, MA
3. The Czech Republic
4. Spain (Madrid, Zaragoza, & Barcelona)

Favorite foods:
1. Quesdillas
2. Steak & Potatoes
3. Smothered Grilled Chicken
4. Spaghetti & Hot Dogs, seasoned with a generous amount of Frank's Red Hot (my official bachelor meal - I can only eat it now when Deidra is out of town)

Websites I visit:
1. You Tube
2. MSN Games
3. Yahoo! Fantasy Football(more info on the 2007-2008 season to come)
4. Chris Hartwell Dot Com

Places I’d rather be right now:
1. Washington, DC
2. Hawaii
3. Mesquite, NV (adventure to Mesquite is forthcoming, so be ready!)
4. Your mom's house

Consider yourself tagged (because you're probably the only four people that might read my blog that haven't already been tagged [that I know of])
1. Chod (In order to get out of the junk pile)
2. Kamilah
3. Sarah
4. Robin

Family, the Zoo, and IKEA.

I know it's been a long while since my last post, but an eventful midweek-weekend has made it requisite to do so now.

It all started on Wednesday, when Deidra came and picked me up from work. We made it over to the church for our church's blood drive. I like giving blood, but mainly for the treats. They hooks us up pretty well with Oreos, pretzels, trail mix, peanut butter/cheese crackes, Fig Newtons, and some great flavors of Welch's juice. It could almost take the place of dinner - but not quite.

After giving blood, we headed to Ogden, where my dad's side of the family was having a get-together. Deidra finally met my Uncle Larry, only 22 months into our marriage. I think that was the last family member on either side of either family that had not been met by the spouse. So we can check that off of our list. A lot of my cousins and their kids were also there. It was fun to see everyone and talk for a while. My parents were there with their two-year-old granddaughter (our niece), Stevie, who they are watching for a few days.

We then head just down the road to Riverdale, where we stayed the night (with my parents and Stevie) at the old Red Roof Inn, which apparently used to be a Motel 6 and recently was changed back to a Motel 6 - go figure.

The next morning (I had taken the day off from work), we got up, had breakfast at IHOP, dropped my piano keyboard off in Bountiful to get fixed, and then went to the Hogle Zoo.



Stevie enjoyed seeing the elephants, monkeys, alligators, snakes, camels, rhinos, and giraffes. But her favorite was this little bird that came right up to her (behind a glass enclosure). She tried tapping on the glass to touch it, and finally stared kissing the bird through the glass. It was pretty funny, and maybe a little bit disgusting. Who knows what else has touched that glass.

We left the zoo a little bit before noon and convinced my parents that we should go have lunch and shop at IKEA.



We got there right as the lunch hour was in full swing, and Deidra and I enjoyed a red pepper & mozzarella sandwich and chicken Caesar salad. My parents got Stevie some macaroni and cheese, but she spent most of the meal stealing lettuce from my dad's salad and nibbling on it like a cute little bunny rabbit.

Once lunch was over we started shopping, but my parents didn't last long. We said our goodbyes and they headed home while we continued meandering through IKEA. We came away with four new chairs for our dining room. First, we got two of these chairs:



And then we got two of these folding chairs (also in white, but they didn't have that color on their website pictures) that we can pull out when we have company over:



We also got some little stuff - a jar to fill with candy in my office, an apron that Deid fell in love with, and a shaker that we're going to fill up with powdered sugar.

I had originally suggested also making a stop at NPS, but after IKEA, we didn't have any desire to spend any more money. So we traveled home and put our new furniture together, and now here we are.

So maybe it's not a gut-wrenching story that tugs at your heart strings, or one that makes you laugh so hard you cry, but at least I finally blogged - so you better appreciate it.

Happy Birthday, WEP!

I even took you out of the junk pile finally.

May your year be full of Sta-Ta-Grade and punch-out pincap visions. And may your wildest dreams come true.

Expedia.com just rocked my world

Deidra and I have been looking forward to a trip to Los Angeles we had planned for this week. We were to leave on Wednesday and come back the following Tuesday, and had purchased plane tickets from Jet Blue and both a hotel room and a rental car from Expedia.

Today, we found out that Deidra's Grandfather Parish just passed away and his funeral is set for Saturday - right smack-dab in the middle of our vacation. So Deidra and I sat discussing our options: a) to try cancelling our vacation, b) to attempt to reschedule all of our reservations, or c) to go on vacation and miss the funeral.

We decided that option A would be our first choice, if it were possible without getting burned to badly with cancellation fees from JetBlue and Expedia. If it cost to much to cancel, we decided we would look at option B . . . and possibly option C, if both options A and B were too costly.

I first called 1-800-Expedia to look into cancelling our hotel and rental car reservations. After a very short time of talking to the automated system (giving it our itinerary number and telling it that I wanted to "cancel itinerary"), I was immediately forwarded to a live operator, without even having to hold at all. That's right - no elevator music interspersed with that annoying recording that says: "all of our operators are currently busy - please continue to hold." Score one for Expedia! The lady I talked to was very understanding and expressed her condolences in a fairly heavy foreign accent. I was told that there is normally a $50 cancellation fee ($25 for the hotel and $25 for the car rental), but that she would gladly waive those fees because of the situation. Wait - did I just here correctly? I am being refunded the entire amount of the purchase without any cancellation fee? I would have been content to pay the $50 and get the rest of the money refunded. Score another one for Expedia! Needless to say, I was very impressed with them and will certainly use them again in the future.

Deidra next contacted JetBlue (since she had paid for the flights with her credit card and under her name). She had read in the original itinerary email that there was a $30 cancellation fee per ticket to cancel via phone and $25 per ticket to cancel via the internet. But after my success in getting fees waived, she thought she would try using the phone to explain the situation and hopefully get those fees waived as well. No such luck. After waiting on hold for a few minutes, she ended up cancelling our flights with a $60 penalty ($30 per ticket) - and the rest of the money we paid for the tickets is being refunded as "JetBlue Dollars" that can only be redeemed through JetBlue. We were content with that, but definitely not as impressed with their services as we were with Expedia's.

But, all-in-all, we are glad that we were able to get everything cancelled and make it home for the funeral. Deidra was not particularly close to her Grandfather Parish (and I had only met him a couple of times), but we wanted to be there particularly to support Deidra's dad. Family is one of the greatest blessings that we have in this life. Both Deidra's parents and my parents have been there innumerable times throughout our lives (both before and after our marriage) and we are grateful that we are able to support them and show a small token of our appreciation for them through these kinds of situations.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Deidra Dear

Happy days will come to you all year
If I had one wish, then it would be
A happy, happy birthday to you from me!

The official Golden Birthday is here - 22 on the 22nd! Deidra already knows what she's getting for her birthday, but unfortunately it will not be delivered in time for her to take advantage of it on her birthday. In the next couple of weeks, we'll have to post about it and get some pictures when it actually arrives. Stay tuned!

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to the love of my life!

My Centennial Blog Post

This is officially blog post #100 on this blog. It took just under a year to achieve (slower than some, faster than others). I don't have much more to say about it, but if any of the Parish clan need an excuse to lick their dessert dishes today, I give you permission to invoke celebration for my 100th post.

The Golden State Meltdown

Watching the Utah vs. Golden State game last night was exhilarating, frustrating, confusing, awesome, tiring, and ultimately a satisfying experience. Particularly satisfying was watching Golden State getting frustrated in the fourth quarter, resulting in one flagrant foul and two technical fouls. Baron Davis has worked his way up the ladder of people who get under my skin. I was glad the Jazz pulled off the win in the end, because I don't think I could watch another game against such a dirty, whiny, flopping, conceited, obnoxious team. I'm sure they'll have plenty of excuses about how the whole team had the flu, how Davis was still not 100% on his hamstring, how they really didn't deserve the flagrant and technical fouls, etc. But the simple fact is - they lost and Utah won. now I just hope that the Phoenix Suns can win their series. After seeing how dirty San Antonio can play, I'm not sure I'm ready for another series against that kind of team.

Fevereiro?

So why are the months of my blog archives (on the left-hand side of the screen) all of a sudden in Portuguese? Or am I just going crazy and it's normal for everyone else who views it?

(P.S. As soon as I posted this post, it was magically back to English. Maybe I am going crazy.)

Mom for an hour

What better way to celebrate Mother's Day then by being a mother for an hour? That's what Deidra got to do today in church. A couple that I had asked to speak in church today has a 9-month-old baby girl (Abigail) that they asked Deidra to watch while they spoke. It was fun to watch Deidra trying to find ways to entertain her for an hour during sacrament meeting. At times, Abigail would be laughing, then crying the next minute, and there was a point where she almost fell off the bench. But all-in-all, Deidra did a great job and will definitely make a great mother herself one day. Though this one-hour stint of trying to entertain someone else's child may have dissuaded her from becoming a mom anytime soon. :-)

Since when am I a Jazz fan?

Growing up as the second of four boys, one thing that was an important and central part of my childhood was sports. Baseball, basketball, football, skiing, golf, etc. We played baseball in the Redder's back yard so much that there were four large spots of dirt in the lawn from where we had the bases. We even made up our own sports sometimes. There was "Keep it up!" when we were younger, which basically consisted of taking turns hitting a balloon and not letting it touch the ground. Then a little later there was the game in which we laid out about a 10-foot long "goal" at each end of our backyard. Then the two opposing players would stand in front of each goal, using the dried out sunflower stalks from our garden as blocking sticks. Person 1 would throw a frisbee from their goal to Person 2's goal, and Person 2 would try to block the shot with the sunflower stalk stick. Then Person 2 would try to get the frisbee through Person 1's goal, and so on. We would even pretend to have "professional" wrestling matches on the trampoline (if you count WWF as a sport).


While sports was a common part of growing up between my brothers and I, one thing we didn't have much consensus on was our favorite sports teams. Living in Idaho, there was never really a hometown team to root for. So we ended up picking our own favorite teams. Baseball was the only sport in which there was consensus - the Atlanta Braves. This was probably because a) their games were (and still are) always played on TBS, and b) we all loved Dale Murphy - who was a good Mormon role model for little Mormon boys. I still have a soft spot in my heart for the Braves, even though I feel obligated to claim the Washington Nationals as my new favorite team, since I attended a number of Nationals games during their inaugural season when I was in DC.


As for football, Ryan chose the Chicago Bears, Jeremy took the Miami Dolphins, and Stephen went for the Cincinnati Bengals. As for me, I never made up my mind. I simply picked a new favorite team at random each year - the Denver Broncos, the San Fransisco 49ers, the Green Bay Packers, and the New York Jets each took their turn. These days, I'm pretty much the same, though if I were pressed to claim a favorite, I would probably go with the New England Patriots. (Not even numerous years in DC could turn me into a Redskins fan!)


And then there is basketball. Ryan and Stephen teamed up to root for the Chicago Bulls (and who could blame them - it was back in the peak Michael Jordan years), Jeremy claimed the Utah Jazz (with Karl Malone and John Stockton), and I picked the L.A. Lakers (anchored by Magic Johnson).


Since my youth, I have continued to be a casual L.A. Laker fan and enjoyed the successful multi-year championship run they have completed in recent years. But this year, Deidra and I have watched numerous Utah Jazz playoff games - usually with a few other couples in our ward. I have to admit that I have taken a liking to the Jazz and their run so far in the playoffs. Especially after last night's game, which was full of all sorts of excitement, suspense, and drama. I was particularly impressed with Derek Fisher, as he arrived at the game in the middle of the third quarter after his daughter underwent surgery in New York earlier that morning. He came in during the 4th quarter and overtime to give the Jazz exactly the lift they needed to win the game. And his composure and remarks to the press after the game about how his family and faith always come first were a poignant reminder to me that there are some down-to-earth athletes out there.


So I guess I'm jumping on the bandwagon in support of the Jazz . . . at least for now. I'm not ready to make a long-term commitment quite yet.

Let's get this garden started!

We finally got most of our garden planted last night, after weeks of schedule conflicts, inclement weather, and a lack of water at our garden plot site. Let the growing commence!

Snap Attack and Free Gas!

Sometimes I really like my job - like yesterday. There was an email sent out in the morning from our corporate office. Part of the message encouraged us to play a new online game sponsored by Kelly Services called Snap Attack. At the bottom of the email, we were told that the first five people to reply to the email with their Snap Attack score would get a $20 gas card. So what did I do? I sat at work playing the game for a few minutes and then replied with my score - and I got $20 in free gas (which is about 1/2 a gallon these days). You've got to love a job that encourages you to play games during work and even rewards you for doing so!

The bike is back!

Last Friday, I started riding my bike to and from work again. It's definitely good to be doing some exercise and hopefully neutralizing the growing gut that my winter hibernation has contributed to.

Counselor Powers - Activate!

Deidra and I both started new callings at church on Sunday. Deidra is the 1st Counselor in the Primary Presidency. In our young married student ward, our Primary only consists of a nursery. So she gets to go to play with the nursery kids each Sunday. I think she enjoys it, but she misses being able to bond with the other sisters in the ward because she's not in Relief Society.

As for me, I am now the 1st Counselor in our bishopric. Sunday is now kind of a blur, and I am a little overwhelmed with the responsibilities and time commitment involved with the calling. But I am certainly looking forward to working with our new Bishop and the other counselor. And I am excited to be able to get to know and serve the members of our ward.

(P.S. That picture is really how Deidra and I dress for church. :) JK!)

A bocci challenge

WEP - think you can handle a bocci challenge that doesn't take place on your home turf? I now have my own bocci set. So next week, when you're in Logan, I challenge you to a game.

Inspiration is lacking

I have wanted to blog recently, but haven't had anything inspire me, so I apologize. Work has been crazy and will be for the next six weeks until school gets out. School will be stressful this week until I finish my last two assignments and two tests, which will be completed by next Tuesday. Other than that, not much of note is happening. I'll keep you posted, though, should anything exciting happen.


P.S. Deidra did bring me a cinnamon-sugar pretzel at work today. That was definitely exciting!

All-Electronic Program, you say?

Dear S. Larsen at Citibank,

I signed up for electronic billing with my Citibank card a while ago. Ever since I did, I get this letter in the mail every month:


It might be hard to see because of the page crease, but the first paragraph reads:

Your Citibank statement is now available at http://www.citicard.com. This notification is part of the All-Electronic Program you enrolled in to receive your statements online instead of in the mail.

My question: If it really is an "All-Electronic Program" (I like the capitalization, by the way - it just makes it seem so very official), then why do you keep sending me this letter every month in the mail? I am certainly capable of checking my statement and making electronic payments without this paper notification, especially since I get a notification via email as well. If I wanted something every month in the mail to remind me that I have a Citibank account, I would not have signed up for the "All-Electronic Program" in the first place.

Seeking movie recommendations

Deidra and I have watched a few movies on DVD recently, and have not had much luck finding one that we really enjoy. Maybe we're just hard to please, but it seems like movies justa aren't as good as they used to be. Recently, we have watched Superman Returns, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, and King Kong (actually, I watched King Kong by myself) and we were pretty disappointed in all three of them. In fact, I'm trying to think of a movie that we have watched recently that we did enjoy. We saw The Pursuit of Happyness in the theater (watching a movie in the theater is a rarity for us) and I really liked it, though Deidra thought it was pretty depressing for most of the movie. Other than that, I am hard-pressed to remember a movie we enjoyed recently.

So if anybody has seen a good movie lately and wants to make recommendations, I'd be interested to hear them.

The Answering Machine Message

On Saturday, my parents came into town to spend some time with us and to make sure I was doing okay after ol' wisdom teeth had been extracted. We spent part of the day shopping and then went to lunch. They were amazed that I was eating chips and salsa a mere two days after the surgery and that I wasn't swollen. I snuck out of one of the stores where we were shopping and ran next door to Best Buy (where I had a $10 gift card) to buy Peter Pan on DVD for Deidra for Easter. I'm so sneaky - she didn't think she was going to get much of anything for Easter.

After spending time running around with my parents, took a nice nap to recover. Then Deidra and I went back to shopping for a bit in order to find her a cute Easter dress. I had previously purchased a new 3-piece suit, which my mother-in-law had recently hemmed (Thanks Patrice!) - so then we were both ready for church on Easter Sunday.

At some point during our exploits that day, there was a message left on our answering machine. Since our answering machine is located in our spare bedroom, sometimes we don't notice messages for a while. While we were getting ready for bed at 9:30ish (yeah, I know, we're like old people going to bed so early), I notice the message and pressed play, only to hear the following:

"Hello, Brother Hartwell, this is the Stake Executive Secretary. President Seamons [the 2nd counselor in the Stake Presidency] would like to meet with you tomorrow if you are in town. Please call me back when you get this message and we can get that set up."

That message definitely caught me off guard. One of those that gets your head spinning, wondering what it could be about. I returned the call and set up an appointment for the following morning before church. I certainly did not sleep much that night, and Deidra didn't help much when she said: "Don't worry - they probably just want to call you as the Stake Choir Pianist of something." I hadn't even thought of that possibility! I recently was released as our ward choir pianist, which had been one of the most challenging callings I had ever held. So that made me even more nervous.

As I pulled into the stake center parking lot and walked down the hall to the stake offices, my heart was beating and mind was racing. I was welcomed by President Seamons and took a seat in his office. After a few questions about how school, work, and fmaily life were going, he got down to business:

"Brother Hartwell, as you are probably aware, our Stake Conference is coming up in two weeks, and I would like you to speak as part of the Sunday morning general session in the Tabernacle. How do you feel about that?"

I was speechless for a moment as I let it all sink in. First - relief that it wasn't a long-term stake calling. Then - a return of the nervousness as I thought about speaking in front of such a large congregation. Finally, I gathered all my strength, opened my mouth, and replied that I would certainly do my best and would happy to speak.

So now here I am, mulling over my topic of "faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ" and hoping that I will be able to prepare and present something that will be inspiring to those present. It's definitely a humbling feeling, but I know that it will all turn out well if I rely on my faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and rely upon His Spirit as I ponder and prepare my message.

Back to the ol' grind

It's been five days since my wisdom teeth were taken out, and I finally had to start back at work this morning. The surgery went well and I woke up this morning feeling better than I have in a while - no more throbbing pain, no need for the ice pack, no need for the ibuprofen or vicaprofen. So now it's back to work as usual. Eight more weeks until the schools are out for the summer and I am counting down right along with the teachers and students (38 days after today!). I'm not sure what I will be doing during the summer months at work (last year, I worked 2 days/week with Kelly Educational and 3 days/week with the commercial Kelly Services branch). What I do know is that I have been accepted into the Management and Human Resources graduate program at USU - starting in the fall - so I will be busy taking my final three prerequisite classes during the summer. I also know of at least three weddings of friends and families that are on our calendar so far. Add to that a a number of musical performances and a possible CD release (though that may not be until later), and it should be a pretty busy little summer! But I am looking forward to the twelve somewhat stress-free weeks at work during that time.

Going under

Tomorrow morning I get all four of my wisdom teeth out. The oral surgeon has assured me that it will be a routine procedure, and that the recovery should be fairly quick (especially since none of them are impacted). Over a month ago, I made the appointment for tomorrow and have not thought much about. But now that it's less than 24 hours away, I'm starting to get a little nervous. I know I really have nothing to worry about, but sometimes that still doesn't keep one from worrying. I have never been "put under" before, so I am a little nervous about what that is going to feel like and then there's always the fear of something going majorly wrong and not waking up (as unfounded as that fear may be). And what about when I do wake up? Am I going to be out of it for a while? Is it going to hurt? Am I going to be able to enjoy any of this 5-day span of not working - including Easter? I know some people who were mostly normal within a day of the opration and other that were down for a long time and had to deal with a number of problems associated with the removal of wisdom teeth (dry sockets, infections, etc). Let's just hope that the procedure and recovery are as painless and quick as I have been told it should be.

Enjoy this short peaceful video

The 4-chord song is finally on YouTube

Enjoy . . .

Forget global warming . . .

For all of the talk about global warming these days, I think that there is another issue that the government, media, and scientists are overlooking - global staticization. I swear that in the last year or so, I have had so many static electricity shocks. I shock myself (and sometimes others) ALL THE TIME! It's gotten so bad that I have noticed that I start timidly touching things or using my forarms to open doors, just to try to avoid or minimize the shockage. Today I shocked myself when I touched my computer keyboard, and I can still feel the effects. Am I the only one who's experiencing this phenomenon?