Princesses and Snow

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DanielleGranddaughter Danielle sings in the International Children’s Choir and had a concert tonight. She gave me a quick pose after her mom finished fixing up her costume. She’s definitely Princess Picture Perfect!

I’m finishing up a couple of days in Utah. I took Chris with me to the OpenSocial Hackathon last night sponsored by Bungee Labs with great participation by Google. We enjoyed learning a bit more about the process for developing applications using Google’s OpenSocial specification. Orkut wasn’t working and my MySpace developer account hadn’t been approved yet (the approval came in today), so we did a lot of watching and not much hacking. The food was good, the event was fun, and we got back home about 11:30 p.m.

This morning I was planning to be in Provo for the monthly CTO Breakfast. But, my alarm clock didn’t work correctly (possible operator malfunction, though) and I woke up a half-hour later than I had planned. I hustled through the shower, dressed, and went outside to find that there was a couple of inches of snow on the ground and the snow was coming down rather furiously. In spite of that, I arrived only a half-hour late for the gathering in Provo. That was another very interesting and invigorating meeting with some really fun folks. Tonight I’m taking Chris with me to the monthly Geek / Blogger dinner at the Taj restaurant in Salt Lake City. After that fun event, I’ll drop him off back at home and then drive north to Pocatello. I’ll actually sleep in my own bed tonight. That should be a fun experience! (Isn’t there a Beach Boys song about ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’?) The visit here in Utah has been a lot of fun. Heather has really gone out of her way to make things comfortable, including a generous dish of Easter Chocolate in the bedroom, all of which will be gone by the time I leave tonight!

Chandler Visit Ended … Cooling Off in North Salt Lake

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Nina and JaeleneOnce I got to the Phoenix airport this morning for my flight to Salt Lake City, I remembered once again all the reasons I don’t like flying on Southwest Airlines … except for the price. The boarding arrangement, the tight seats with no legroom, the small gate areas crowded with people, and lining up to board the airplane without assigned seats. The flight was full. I got through security with no issues (other than a long line). I ended up in a window seat near the back of the plane which worked out OK. The flight left early, flew fast, and arrived early. That part I really liked! On the flight I learned that while I paid $133 for my ticket, the woman sitting next to me paid $420. What’s up with that?

I had a very enjoyable visit with Jaelene, Scott, and the boys. Each day we were there, though, the temperatures got warmer and warmer. I left Phoenix this morning at about 9:30 a.m. when the temperature at the airport was 84 degrees and arrived in Salt Lake City at 12:00 p.m. where the temperature was 62 degrees. The cooler temperatures are very, very nice! I’ll be able to have the window open tonight and actually have cool air coming into the room! Ahhh … refreshing…

For My Friend Duane in Ecuador….

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I’ve gotten a couple of emails on my blog from my friend Duane … who is having trouble getting to his blog and being able to write on the blog. He’s in Ecuador, so I guess the Internet bits and bytes move more slowly way down there….

So, Duane:

You blog is located at http://slocum.rnsmith.com/ and your userid is ‘Duane’ … with a capital D. I don’t know what your password is, though. If you don’t remember, write to me again and I’ll reset it to whatever you ask me to set it to.

Hope this helps!

Game Playing

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Boys Playing GameColten, Jackson, and Austin are avid gamers. Usually Colten is playing something like “super smash brothers” (0r whatever it’s called) on the Wii with Jackson while Austin is playing his own games on the PC in the game room. Colten and Jackson both have GameBoys and I think that is also one of Colten’s most important activities. If one wants to find Colten, follow the power cord for his GameBoy. There is also an Nintendo in the game room hooked up to the wide-screen TV where the most popular game is Guitar Hero III. Jaelene and Colten duke it out on that game with Jaelene winning the competitions lately. I suck at Guitar Hero III, but definitely suck there less than at most other of the games the kids play … except for Wii bowling. For some reason, I’ve got that motion down pretty well.

Today is Easter. Nina and I went to church at the Pleasant Second Ward’s Sacrament Meeting this morning at 9. There were a lot of people there for a nice Easter service. We were happy to attend Church, take the Sacrament, and remember the meaning of Easter: The atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

This afternoon Scott’s mother, sister, and a couple of nephews came over for dinner. Afterwards the nephews staged an Easter Egg Hunt for Colten, Jackson, and Austin and then challenged them to a water balloon fight (Jaelene provided the water balloons in the boy’s Easter baskets this morning). Everyone will be gathering in the back yard tomorrow morning to clean up all the pieces of balloons. They are everywhere!

Jaelene prepared a very nice meal for the family and we definitely had plenty to eat followed by a delicious beehive cake for desert. That makes three cakes prepared in this household in the past five days. There’s been some serious not-good-for-you eating going on here! It’s now going on 8 p.m. and the kids are starting to settle down. Their last day off from school is tomorrow and Colten and Jackson start back to school on Tuesday. Jaelene goes back to work tomorrow so Nina and I will spend the day playing with the boys. Nina’s got some nefarious plans already set up with Jackson. He’s quite excited and so far has avoided Jaelene’s third degree on what these plans might be. I fly back to Salt Lake City on Tuesday and I’ll probably have some time then to load some pictures. I have taken a few, but not nearly enough. Tomorrow is it, so I’ll have to be shutter-happy for the day. We’re having a good time!

Play Ball!

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Spring Training Baseball Game

Arizona and Florida are home to the major league baseball teams each spring as they prepare for the coming baseball campaign. Jaelene checked online and found that the Los Angeles Dodgers were coming to Phoenix to play the Chicago White Sox. Further, tickets in the bleachers were $10! We bought six tickets and spent this afternoon at the Phoenix Municipal Stadium partaking of the American Pastime. The day was absolutely perfect. Temperatures in the mid-80’s, cloudless skies, and a light breeze out of the southwest.

The Family at the Game

Jaelene, Colten, Jackson, Austin, Nina, and I walked from the far end of the parking lot to the stadium for the game, which was sold out. Our seats were at the far end on the first base side … as far as possible! We had a great view of the field and all the action. Jackson, however, had trouble keeping his shoes from under the bleachers and Jaelene had the opportunity to retrieve them three times. Colten brought his GameBoy and stayed well occupied. Austin loved jumping up and back down the stairs, until he fell down the front of the stadium seats and had to be retrieved. He was happier to stay closer to mom after that.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers whomped up on the White Sox, taking the game 8-2. The starting Dodger pitcher won the right to be the starting pitcher on opening day. I think for the first time ever, the regular baseball season starts in March this year. It’s almost time to Play Ball!

Goodbye Sixty-Two!

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We’re having a great time in Chandler, Arizona. We arrived on Monday afternoon and haven’t stopped playing since. Yesterday was Nina’s birthday (for one day of the year we’re the same age). Colten, the Food Network fanatic, planned the dinner (creamy chicken on pastry shells) and made the fairly complicated seasoning rub for the chicken. The net result was that I ate way too much.

The agenda today included going to the movie theater to watch Horton Hears A Who. It was a funny, delightful movie and worth taking the kids. After that Austin, Jackson, Nina, and I went to a nearby park to fly the remote controlled airplane. After a couple of pretty good flights, I think I lost the airplane in a tree. I couldn’t find it up in the tree, but the plane never came out from behind the tree…. So that’s the end of the flying for this trip!

Colten also planned tonight’s meal and was working very hard on slicing potatoes for french fries when he knicked off a piece of his finger! He survived in great shape and is sporting a big bandage. No doctor or hospital visit required, fortunately. Scott arrived back from the San Francisco Bay area in time to grill the hot dogs and hamburgers. Another great meal where I again ate far too much. I’m definitely being well fed here in Arizona. It must be part of some big plot!

So, after dinner we had cake and ice cream and celebrated another birthday. I’ve now officially left my sixty-second year behind and have a good start on the sixty-third year. I’m also once again a whole year older than Nina. Despite that, life is good.

Meeting the Beau

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Stephanie and Beau

We drove down to North Salt Lake yesterday to visit a bit with our daughter and family as well as to meet Stephanie’s new British boyfriend Adam. They met on Facebook and their friendship grew such that Adam flew from Heathrow into Salt Lake City on Friday to spend Spring Break with Stephanie. We had a delightful visit. During dinner Adam had the chance to pronounce a number of words in his British accent … words like “utterly”, “disastrous”, and “aluminum” … to spice up the conversation. He’s a nice young man, further proof that granddaughter Stephanie continues to have Great Taste!

I must now start the gathering process. This afternoon we’ll go to Idaho Falls for a 6 p.m. temple session preceded by a 5:15 chapel meeting where I’ll be playing the organ. Tomorrow is Ward Conference for all three wards in the Portneuf building, so I’ll be speaking at 10:20 a..m., 12:20 p.m., and 2:20 p.m. After the last meeting ends at 3 p.m. we’re headed south into Utah to about Nephi or Filmore where we’ll spend the night. Monday we’ll drive the rest of the way to Jaelene’s where we’ll be for our Spring Break. So, this morning is the allotted time to gather up and pack for the trip. It’s time to get moving!

Sometime Life is Very Busy!

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I’m at my daughter’s house in North Salt Lake today. My oldest granddaughter’s new beau flew in from England last night so we’re checking him out. Seems like a nice enough chap. We’ll stay through dinner and then drive back to Pocatello as we’ve got a busy day tomorrow and Sunday, including leaving after Church on Sunday to begin the drive to Chandler, Arizona to spend a week with our daughter and family there. I’ve started writing this blog entry without a title because I haven’t figured out what I should call it! By the time I get done, I’m sure something will pop out of the brain cells.

Mother had cataract surgery on her left eye on Wednesday late morning. She and dad drove over and for that, stayed the night on Wednesday night, and we took them back home on Thursday late afternoon. My assignment was to chauffeur dad wherever he needed to go while Nina did the same for mother. The surgery went well and dad got all of his shopping and browsing done as well. That included trips to Partner Steel (to get some aluminum plate), the audiologist (to get a new ear mold made for his hearing aid), Harbor Freight (a new half-inch drill), Lowes (three way light switches), Winco (caffeine-free Diet Coke), and the Bureau of Land Management (to get a map of the Preston area showing land ownership). All the shopping was successful and dad was happy with the results. Mother’s eyesight wasn’t quite back to normal so I drove their car, along with dad, back to Soda Springs and Nina drove our car with mother over to Soda Springs as well. That was a very quick trip because Nina needed to be up to the prison by 6:45 pm. We were home with time to spare.

Thursday morning I convened the third meeting of the Southeast Idaho Information Technology Professionals Organization. A group of the IT people in the area got together at Perkins Restaurant in Pocatello. We’re making some real progress on getting this organization setup and moving forward. It’s seems to be getting some legs. It’s been interesting to get to know some of the IT people from the City of Pocatello, Bannock County, Portneuf Medical Center, Idaho State University, and some of the other companies in town. We’ll meet again in early April. It’s been a busy week!