News Flash! The twins were born last night, very unexpectedly. Mo went in yesterday for a checkup and all was normal, including the ultrasound. Last night about 10 p.m. eastern time she went into labor and by 11 they were at the hospital. Shortly aftewards Mo was bundled into an ambulance and sent to the Yale Hospital in New Haven where both boys were born in a c-section. The boys, currently named Twin-A and Twin-B, are OK for being born three months early at about a pound and a half apiece. They’re in intensive care and things are very touch and go for them. This is a tough start to life. Peter is hanging in there like a trooper and says that Mo is doing well. Our prayers are with you all.

On Tuesday we went to the mall. Phoenix is definitely a shopping mecca. Compared to Pocatello it is probably more like a shopping heaven! Monday afternoon Nina and Jaelene dropped me off a Frys and I toured the store for about two and a half hours. I made it about 2/3’rds through the store as I walked up and down every aisle. It was a lot of fun and I didn’t spend very much money, actually. Tuesday was the day for the mall.

We were definitely on a schedule on Tuesday. The boys had school and we were going to the mall while they were at school. Colten had a birthday party starting at 4:30 and a big play-place and he needed to be neither early nor late for this event. I had to be at the airport to catch a 5:19 flight back to Salt Lake City. Consequently, Jaelene had everything timed down to the minute. She told me that we’d arrive at the mall at 12:15 p.m. and would have to leave there by 2. At 12:05 we still weren’t out the door and I told Nina that there was no way we’d be there at 12:15. My prognostication ability was proven unreliable once again as we pulled into the mall parking lot at 12:14. On the other hand, Jaelene definitely pushes the speed limit….

I had two destinations in mind — first was the Apple Store in the mall. Then over to Barnes and Noble to check out the books and magazines. The Apple Stores always look empty to me. There isn’t much product out; the middle of the store is mostly empty; and there are usually twice the number of employees as customers in the store. For some reason, none of the Apple Stores seem to be hives of activity (unlike Frys which was as crowded and busy on Monday as it was on the previous Saturday). I thought this might be to my advantage because I was curious about the new Apple Mini and what capability it had. I was finally able to get the attention of a very soft-spoken store employee who showed me a little of the standard software intalled on an Apple Mini. The computer itself is very small and quite stylish. I could easily see this box becoming part of an entertainment center. However, unless I wanted the stripped down standard, basic version, I couldn’t buy it at the store. The basic unit is not quite enough. It needs more memory, a larger hard drive, and a DVD burner. All of these are available — but it has to be purchased from the Apple website. There are none of these units available in the store. In fact, not much other than iPods were available in the store! Even though I was ready to plunk down cold, hard cash (well, in reality a warm credit card — warm because it was in my back pocket), I couldn’t buy anything that I wanted. Apple, that’s just plain dumb. Two other people left as I did — empty handed and disappointed. That’s a lot of unspent money walking out the door to be spent somewhere else.

I was much more successful at Barnes and Noble, and it cost me a whole bunch less money.

I’ve managed to get a few digital pictures on the pictures! page (see the link on the right — or click here). Perhaps as the week goes along I’ll get some additional pictures taken and up on the website. I’ve got a few pictures of Jaelene and Scott’s house for anyone who is interest.

Sunday morning in Chandler, Arizona and it isn’t raining! We’ve got partly cloudy skies, 52 degress, and 92% humidity. Maybe that means it’ll rain later? I went out into the backyard of Jaelene’s house and Colten came out to play a little bit. He immediately went back in because it was “cold” and he was “freezing!” He put on a jacket and came back out so I could take some pictures. This is the picture he selected since it shows him in front of the scoring net. He really likes hockey and the backyard is somewhat set up to play hockey.

Backyard is a bit of a misnomer. What isn’t in concrete or swiming pool is gravel. The plants in the gravel are mostly cactii and palm trees. It is a nice back area, however. We’re enjoying our time here. We didn’t make it to the 8 a.m. church as we’ve learned there is a closer building with meetings starting at 11 am. That’s where we’re headed in a couple of hours. Good morning!

Arizona has had copious quantities of rain over the past couple of months. As we made our approach into the Phoenix airport I was surprised to see how green and lush the vegetation is here in the Phoenix area. It was raining when we arrived and has rained through most of the day today. Rain is forecast for tomorrow as well. It’s currently 58 degrees with 88% humidity. It’s still better than snow, however. We think it is warm. The locals are all freezing. I’ll only be here a couple of days and by the time I leave, perhaps I’ll think it is cold as well (but I doubt it)!

My son-in-law Scott drove me over to Frys — the electronics store — this afternoon. Since I don’t make my regular trips back and forth to San Jose, California any more, I don’t have the opportunity to shop at Frys. The store here in Chandler is massive — perhaps the largest Frys store I’ve seen. It was also very busy. Lots of people buying stuff. There was also a fairly long line of people making returns. I was interested in buying a cheap wireless card for a desktop computer that I’m setting up for Ashlyn and I found it at Frys. I got my fix and am good for a while longer. One of the things I miss in Pocatello is a good computer and parts store. The best available is Best Buy in Idaho Falls and they don’t hold a candle to Frys. In California I’ve run across people who really rail (according to Webster: to revile or scold in harsh, insolent, or abusive language) on Frys. They don’t like how Frys hires the cheapest labor possible and doesn’t treat their employees well. They complain about the returns process. They don’t like the fact that people working on the sales floor have no product knowledge — and in fact often give very poor and misguided advice. Nevertheless, the stores have the lowest pricing on a wide range of products, turn over a huge amount of inventory, and make good money. They also provide employment for a lot of people who learn some basic skills and become much more employable. I’m in favor of Frys and am glad there’s one here in Chandler.

The grandkids and family here in Chandler are doing very well. We’ve had a good time playing with the grandchildren and visiting. Both Scott and Jaelene are doing very well as parents and in their work. They have a lovely house in a lovely neighborhood. They are happy with each other and their family. It is good to visit with them and be a part of their lives for a few days. Scott is incredibly knowledgeable about residential automation systems (including security, ambiance, home theater, and comfort systems). He comes at technology from a completely different direction than how I come at technology. I enjoy talking with him and learning from him. I’d like to have a lot more intelligence in my home and the systems that are in our house and he is able to provide excellent advice and insight into where this whole side of technology is going.

We are both quite tired tonight. We’ll be in bed for sure by 10. There is a church building nearby that has meetings starting at 8 so we’ll head over there for sacrament meeting in the morning. Life is very good and we’re delighted to be visiting here in Chandler, Arizona. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll have some pictures!

The amount of daylight is definitely increasing and I’m happy about that. Having some sunlight for a while after I get home from work makes the workday seem shorter and going to work in real daylight is a good start to the workday. Today’s sunrise was at 7:26 a.m. and sunset was at 6:02 p.m. That works out to be about 10 and a half hours of sunlight. In another a month we’ll have more sunlight than non-sunlight and that means the snow and cold will be gone soon as well. I’m right ready for some springtime!

I visited with the gastrologist this afternoon. He showed me pictures of my esophagus and the scar tissue from the acid reflux problem both before his procedure and after the procedure. The opening certainly appeared to be larger and rounder. The tissue samples he took were also completely benign — simply confirming his diagnosis of acid reflux induced dysphagia which is a fancy way of saying difficulty in swallowing. Previcid will allow the esophagus to heal in about four to six months by keeping the acid production down. The literature with Previcid says that it is for the “short-term treatment of erosive esophagitis.” Quite comforting. I don’t need to go back to the gastrologist. I’m to see my normal doctor in about six months to see if further treatment is necessary. Meanwhile, I’ve had no issues or problems since the procedure, no side effects from the medication, and I’m a happy camper. His only comment was that I should have come in to see him earlier and gotten rid of the problem sooner. That’s a hard call to make. How do I make the right decision about when to take a possible health problem to a doctor? It takes time and money to see the doctor as well as his time that could possibly be better spent with someone else. I’m certainly not as stubborn as my dad about going to see the doctor, but perhaps I should be a little less conservative. Perhaps.

This weekend Nina and I are off to Phoenix, Arizona. Our daughter Jaelene has the week off from work and we can use a short vacation and, in particular, a grandkid fix. We’ll fly to Phoenix on Saturday morning. I’ll return Tuesday evening and Nina will come home the following Saturday morning. I’m looking forward to some warmer weather. Phoenix will have a low tonight of 45 degrees and will warm up to 68 degrees tomorrow. Contrast that with a low tonight of 5 degrees in Pocatello and a high of 36 degrees tomorrow. It’ll be shirtsleeve weather for us in Phoenix while all the natives will be wearing coats, hats, and gloves! I’m sure that’s how the locals pick out the snowbird visitors.

Someone asked me the other day why I never talk about work in my blog. The easy answer is that few people would really be interested in my work. The more complete answer is that companies take a very dim view of employees who write about their work. Some have lost their jobs because of content on their weblogs. The courts have upheld the precept of “employment at will,” meaning a company needs no particular reason to dismiss an employee. While I don’t think I would have anything particularly interesting to say about my employer, it’s just better to leave the company completely out of the picture. There’s plenty to blog about without including my work!

A few weeks ago as I was in the Brussels Airport, I saw the latest Robert Jordan Book, New Spring, in paperback and decided to read it on the flight back home. It turned out to be a very good read, so much so that I actually read it twice. The book is set about twenty years before his first book in the Wheel of Time series and provides a very rich background for the series. I enjoyed it so much that I just continued with book one (The Eye of the World) and today I started book five (The Fires of Heaven). The last time I read the series, I got bogged down and never finished book 8 which was quite disjointed and seemingly caused the whole storyline to come unraveled. Since then books 9 and 10 have been published. My sons have told me that book 9 was much better and book 10 was back to the clear writing and tight storyline that the earlier books in the series contained. I’ll soon know. I spend most of my spare time reading now rather than sitting on the computer reading e-mail and surfing the web. It’s a great series of books overall and I’m enjoying reading through them once again. The unfortunate part is, since I’m spending all my time reading, I don’t write so much in my blog anymore….