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?

The Hartwell Curse

My father's alma mater is Weber State University, my mother's is Brigham Young University, and mine is George Washington University. All three teams fell in the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament last week. Could this possibly be related to my fantasy football curse? The jury is still deliberating.

The GWopoly Queen!

To celebrate George Washington University's berth in the NCAA tournament, I convinced Deidra that we needed to play GWopoly (the GWU version of Monopoly) tonight for family home evening - even though she hates Monopoly. She was very gracious and agreed. We played the short version (where you deal out the properties insteading of having to land on them to buy them) made even shorter by wheeling and dealing so that we could have matches. But it soon became apparent that I was in trouble when Deidra side-stepped all of my properties, though I went down fighting and tried to last as long as I could. But, basically, I got massacred. All hail Deidra - the GWopoly Queen!