Can I come up with ten things? That is, ten things before bedtime?

1. Today was one of those spectacular days. Perfect temperatures, beautiful skies, and a slight breeze. It was nice to spend some time outside.
2. I uncovered the motor home and got it started to charge up the battery. We’ve got an itch to go camping somewhere Real Soon Now. I’m thinking that maybe we should go over to Craters of the Moon National Monument as it’s only a three hour or so drive from here. I’ve been there once and Nina’s never been there. Many years ago when Trevor was in his freshman year in college, his roommate’s mission farewell was in Stanley, Idaho. Trevor invited me to go up with him on our motorcycles and we had a great trip. One the way we rode through Craters of the Moon on our motorcycles and that was my one short visit. I think we were there about 45 minutes? It probably doesn’t really count as a visit. The motor home goes into the shop on Thursday for an oil change and checkup. After that it’s ready to roll.
3. I got the motorcycle started today as well. It goes into the shop on the 29th for it’s spring cleaning. I may have to do a little riding before then just because.
4. Nina went in for a colonoscopy this morning. I had one a couple of years ago and a sigmoidoscopy a few years before that. The preparation process has improved dramatically over the years. I was absolutely miserable prepping for the sigmoidoscopy. There’s technology being tested now that uses digital imaging similar to an MRI to do colon screening which requires no prepping at all. Then the actual colonoscopy is done only when the computer screening indicates. By the time I have to do the next one, I’m expecting that the new screening process will be in general use.
5. The Avalon went back to the garage for the dent repair yesterday morning. We’re once again coordinating who needs the car when. The Avalon will hopefully be finished tomorrow so we can get back to our normal hectic routine.
6. I’m still amazed at our quick trip to Yellowstone last Friday. We had Church commitments on Thursday and Saturday but when we learned that the Park was opening the roads on the west side on Friday, we decided to make the trip. I think we’ve now been in the Park during every season of the year.
7. We’re definitely headed east in June. Nina’s thinking about what routes and who we’ll be visiting. Two stops for sure: Dawnmarie’s for a baptism and Daryl’s to see Daryl and Laura’s new house. Now’s the time to talk to Nina to get on the agenda!
8. Working with both Georgetown and Montpelier has gotten me thinking about why towns were set up where they were. Both were established by assignment from Brigham Young and it appears that they were both set up because they were on the Oregon Trail and that provided a ready market for the commodities and produce from the farms around these towns. I’ve come to better appreciate Brigham Young’s role as a colonizer.
9. This past week I read a very interesting article written by Danah Boyd who recently completed her Ph.D work and took a position with Microsoft Research. Her research has been about social media and the article titled “Social Media is Here to Stay… Now What?” discusses in the section titled “Act Two Youth vs Adults” some things that I’ve observed in my Facebook community of friends and relatives. For instance:
   

   Adults have approached Facebook in very different ways. Adults are not hanging out on Facebook. They are more likely to respond to status messages than start a conversation on someone’s wall (unless it’s their birthday of course). Adults aren’t really decorating their profiles or making sure that their About Me’s are up-to-date. Adults, far more than teens, are using Facebook for its intended purpose as a social utility. For example, it is a tool for communicating with the past.

   That section talks about the “32 Things” phenomena that swept through Facebook and really clarified how that activity is different from the other funky stuff that goes on in Facebook that most grownups aren’t interested in.

10. I’m well on my way through another reading of the Wheel of Time series. The next book in the series will be published on November 3rd and I wanted to get through re-read of the first twelve books by then. However, the books are so interesting that I’ll be finished long before November 3rd. So then what do I do? Start over again?

And that’s another Ten Things for a Tuesday.

I’ve posted the pictures from our short trip to Yellowstone yesterday. Either click on the Pictures! button above or follow this link.

For some strange reason we didn’t get to Yellowstone Park once last year. We decided we were definitely going to change that this year and further determined that, if possible and the weather permitted, we would go to Yellowstone on the first day that vehicular traffic was allowed into the Park. During the winter over-the-snow conveyances are all that can enter the park: snow coaches operated by authorized concessionaires and a limited number of snowmobiles, also operated by concessionaires. About three weeks ago all the over-the-snow traffic stopped until next winter. Today the West Entrance at West Yellowstone, Montana opened to the public. The roads from the West Entrance to Mammoth, Canyon, and Old Faithful had been cleared and were open to traffic. Other roads will be opened later in April and throughout the month of May until by Memorial Day, all the roads will be open.

We left home about 7:15 a.m. and arrived at the West Entrance three hours later. We made our way first to Old Faithful and then drove over to Canyon. From there we went back out through the West Entrance and arrived home about 7 this evening. It was a full, fun day!

We made many stops to take pictures of bison, elk, rivers, steam, geysers, and whatever. The day was just gorgeous with temperatures around 45°, no wind, and clear blue skies.

We were also surprised at how many other cars were in the Park! Obviously lots of people had the same idea as we had. Further, we were surprised at how many foreigners were at Old Faithful. At times we kind of felt we were in the minority.

The Park Rangers were also out in full force, brooking no minor offense let alone anything beyond that. Speeding was definitely not a good idea, nor stopping alongside the road other than in a designated turnout! “From the first day, make ’em pay!” seemed to be their motto. I kind of wondered what the enforcement would look like a week from now when first-day jitters had calmed down….

On the west side of the Park none of the side roads had been cleared, even though there was much less snow on the ground on the west side than around Canyon. The roads on both sides of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon were open and the pathways through three or more feet of snow to the canyon rims had been cleared.

We’ll be back to the Park a couple more times this year, but this visit turned out to be quite special. Tomorrow I’ll put a number of pictures in the picture album from our day at Yellowstone National Park.

I called the automobile body shop repairing the Avalon yesterday.

“Hello.”
“This is Roland Smith calling to see about….”
“I was just gonna call you. Just got off the phone with Spokane about your car.”
“So, what’s happening?”
“We took off the molding and found that the door shell has to be replaced along with the sill. It can’t be fixed.”
“Did Allstate approve?”
“Yeah. That’s who I was just talking to. I’m ordering the door shell and other parts now. Should be here Thursday or Friday.”
“How sure is that?”
“The car is driveable; just has the molding off the door. Doesn’t look worse that it did before.You wanna pick it up and then bring it back next Monday?”
“That I do. We’ll be in to get the car shortly.”

So, we’re back to being a two-car family, including one dented car. It’s interesting to note that the first estimate I got included getting a new door shell and sill. I suspect the total cost is now much closer to $2,100, but my cost remains at $500.

Today is a mixed rain and snow day, just right for staying indoors as much as possible.

1. On April 9th dad had his 88th birthday. The folks at the nursing home helped make it a good day for him, including the Pink Ladies dressing him up in a purple hat! We celebrated his birthday on Saturday with all my siblings. In the midst of the party, just before cake and ice cream, bingo started at the nursing home, so festivities were postponed until that was over and he came back with his stash of candy.
2. The new car is being undented as this is being written. It would be nice if all mistakes were that easily erased! This one just cost money.
3. The Area Single Adult Fireside on Sunday Evening featured Nina as one of two speakers. She’s the Relief Society President at the Kinport Branch which serves the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center. The other speaker was the Kinport Branch President. Nina gave a very moving talk about the women at PWCC including reading from some letters she’s received from some of the women. I about wore out a handkerchief while she was speaking. The attendance was poor because of a competing fireside twenty miles south of Pocatello featuring a very famous Mormon songwriter and because of Easter.
4. It takes a lot of time and effort to write a user manual for someone who hasn’t used a piece of software before. It’s quite difficult to see the software system through the eyes of someone experiencing the system for the first time.
5. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be very wet with a foot or more of snow forecast for elevations about 5,000 feet. Yellowstone Park has been advising that they’ll have the road from West Yellowstone to Canyon, to Mamouth, and to Old Faithful open on Friday, April 17th. Were planning to drive there for the day. Hopefully the road will be open even with this storm.
6. One of my currently favorite programs is Pandora Internet Radio. It’s playing right now on my laptop and it’s my most used application on my iPhone. This morning while taking a stroll on the treadmill listening to Pandora I thought about my first transistor radio back in 1957. Transistor radios were only a year or two old when I got one for a birthday present. The wonder of these radios were that they operated on batteries and could be taken anywhere. I spent many hours riding on a tractor in the fields that summer listening to music on that AM radio. Forty years has seen an enormous change in our ability to consume music.
7. Having music ubiquitously available is making a significant upheaval in the music business. The business model is completely disrupted and I’m very interested in what the new business model(s) will become. The same thing is happening to newspapers. I’ve been very disappointed in the local newspaper’s reaction to their failing business methods. Unless something happens soon, within the next two years we won’t have a local newspaper. They’re listening to the wrong people giving them advice and can’t hear anything else. I wonder if the buggy whip people had the same experience?
8. I used both H&R Block’s Tax Cut and Intuit’s Turbo Tax programs to do my federal taxes this year. They both came up with the same number (that was goodness). Tax Cut was easier for me to use, though, as it seemed a bit more logical going through the interview questions. Turbo Tax had the better help when I had questions about a 1099-B barter form. Both worked well on my MacBook with no noticeable glitches.
9. For some reason the number of page views my blog is getting has gone up significantly in the past month. Who’s doing all this looking at my blog? The number of comments hasn’t changed, though. On the other hand, my writeup about my Garmin GPS system on a different blog continues to get comments. Lots of people seem to have heartburn with Garmin GPS units!
10. I’m very happy with how social media (Twitter and Facebook in particular) is helping me to stay connected with far-flung family members. The Internet definitely removes the feeling of distance.

Several weeks ago I decided to start using the treadmill that’s been sitting downstairs for several years. I could do thirty minutes a day five days a week, and that has generally worked out. Fortunately there’s a makeup day on Saturday if I miss a day during the week, which I did this week for the IT Breakfast on Thursday.

We have a very high-tech bathroom scale that has also been in a lonely hiding place. I dug it out on the first day on the treadmill, stepped on it, and the blinking display said, “OL”. That’s it. Nothing more. I was thinking that means something like Over Limit. The book to the scale has long since disappeared so I just put the scale back into its hiding place until today.

Today I got a real (big) number. I’m no longer over the limit! At least it’s going the right way.

I needed to go to Georgetown on Wednesday to attend their City Council meeting, get some pictures, and on the way stop in to see mother and dad. In the process of making a right turn into a driveway, I encountered a boulder I didn’t see and put a dent into the car we’ve had for less than a week.

Such things are not new in my life. I think for the past ten years every new or reasonably new vehicle we’ve had has incurred some kind of a problem caused by me. The most marked one was our brand new trailer in Colorado Springs. On the first big trip out of town turning around in a big parking lot I managed to hang the trailer up on a light post while making a right turn. The tradition continues.

Thursday morning, after our monthly IT Breakfast at Perkins Restaurant (they serve a great breakfast!), I took the car to a body shop recommended by one of the guys at the breakfast to get an estimate. Since we have a $500 deductible, if the cost was going to be less than that, no reason to bother the insurance company. He rang up a total of just over $2,100. A new door shell, labor to take everything out of the current door and put it in the new door, a new sill below the door, painting, blending the paint, etc. and etc. I questioned him on a new door and a new sill. I thought they could be straightened. He assured me that would not be possible.

At that price, I decided to go talk to our Allstate Insurance Adjuster. He went through the process and said the total bill to fix the door and sill would be about $680 … a rather substantial difference. I showed him the other quote and he kind of chuckled and said, “That’s why you should always talk to your insurance.” They have deals and arrangements (which is probably true) and, as I expected, the current door shell does not need replacing, only un-denting, and the same with the sill.

The car goes into the shop (a different one, an Allstate “approved” shop) on Monday for about three days. We’ll be back to a one car family situation during that time. The result is we’re out another $500 and have a car that looks like new again. As my mother said when I told her about it, “At least it’s now broken in…!”