This morning was one of those severe clear days … not a cloud in the sky to be found anywhere. It was definitely a marked change from last week when we bailed out of the market mid-morning. I did make up a couple of posters that helped as people walked by. The attendance at the market today was just fair, but I expect that’ll pick up as the month progresses.

I did make my first sale of a raised garden bed, however. The lady stopped by to look at them last week, and came back this week with the intention of buying one. I was very happy to sell her a garden bed. It’s already made, I just need to stain it once more and then deliver it.

Quite a few other people stopped to look and ask questions. The price tag is high enough that people probably have to look and then think about it for a while. Perhaps next week we’ll reap this week’s plantings? Poor metaphor, I know.

The new Star Trek Enterprise movie’s official opening date was on Friday. I ordered tickets online at Fandango for the 4:30 p.m. showing on Friday afternoon figuring it would be after the rabid crowds but before the school kids and working parents would go. That turned out to be a very good decision. The theater was about half full and we had good seats for a fabulous movie. It was over way too soon. Definitely lots of room for sequels! I’ll definitely go see it again. When we came out of the theater, there was quite a line to get in for the next showing. I rather like being able to go to the movie in the afternoon.

When we were living in Colorado Springs and the Lord of the Rings movies were coming out, I’d take my entire staff (except for one or two people who had to stay behind to keep the lights on … and they got free passes for later) to go see them. I hear about that every once in a while from someone who used to work for me. It’s something that costs nothing and builds great relationships.

It’s now late Saturday evening and we’re close to wrapping up for the night. Tomorrow after meetings we’ll go over to Soda Springs to spend the afternoon with mother and dad and Nina will take dinner over in celebration of Mothers Day. That should be a fun afternoon.

The first time at anything is always a great learning experience. This morning’s Farmers Market fell right in line.

The plan is to sell the raised garden beds at the market (actually, to take orders for them). The forecast was for rain and about the time the market opened at 9 am so did the skies. By 10:30 most of the vendors had packed it in and so did we. By that time we were both pretty dang cold. I’m sure in a few weeks we won’t remember how cold this morning was and will be wishing for cooler weather.

There weren’t many market visitors and even fewer shoppers. We gave away a few brochures and got lots of “that’s a great idea” but no orders. I’m hoping the weather caused that! We’ll be back next week with much larger signs, pictures, and hopefully much better weather.

I’ve had a number of pretty crumby tech support experiences with Qwest. Whenever there’s an issue with my DSL service, I actually cringe when it turns out that I’m going to have to call tech support.

Today was a different experience … a significantly improved experience. A month or two ago I got a mailing from Qwest that encouraged me to call QwestASSIST if I had any issue with my service, wanted to change my service, or look at new services. This morning my DSL service stopped working. I had a red light on the Qwest DSL modem indicating that the Internet connection was not working. I rebooted the DSL modem to the same result. So, reluctantly, I called the QwestASSIST number.

I went right into the queue to wait for the next customer service representative. No confusing “press this button” or  “select that option” at all. A continuous barrage of advertisements followed, repeated often, while I waited in the queue. My total wait was about five minutes before a very calm customer service rep answered.

I told her what the problem was, gave her the information she needed to access my account. She said that I’d need to talk with broadband technical support and that she’d connect me. I went back on hold (with the same barrage of advertisements) for a minute or so. Then the miracle occurred!

She came back on the line and said that the queue for technical support was quite long. I had the option of waiting on the phone with her, or

she’d call me back as soon as technical support answered!

I took that second option. About twenty minutes later, my cell phone rang, it was the customer support lady, who hooked me up immediately with David from Technical Support. He told me about an issue that they were having, explained what I should do should the DSL modem not just start working when the broadband service was restored.

Not long afterward service was restored and the DSL modem picked up without a hitch. I was back in business.

Then, wonder of wonders, the customer service rep call back a couple of hours later to verify that all was well.

But that’s not all!

I mentioned the good experience on Twitter … and learned that Qwest has a Twitter account and is watching for mentions of Qwest on Twitter. Hurrah for them! This is indeed another improvement.

Thanks, Qwest!

The week is indeed almost in the books. In a few minutes I’ll head to bed to be up early in the morning for a day of Church service. I’ve a speaking assignment at the Arbon Branch tomorrow. I really enjoy going out there and always look forward to the opportunity. There are some outstanding people out in that valley. I’m speaking on Unity and I’ll probably post the notes from the talk tomorrow evening sometime.

Most months on the fourth Friday Phil Windley organizes a monthly CTO Breakfast. I enjoy getting together with that group and try to arrange my schedule to be able to go down to Salt Lake for that. Usually the fourth Thursday Laura Moncur organizes a Geek/Blogger dinner somewhere in the valley. If it works out, I drive down on Thursday afternoon, go to the dinner Thursday evening, stay the night at our daughter Heather‘s house in North Salt Lake, and then go to the CTO Breakfast on Friday morning. This month I decided to make a small change, skip the dinner, and Nina and I would drive down to North Salt Lake after she was done at the prison. I’d go to the breakfast the next morning, we’d visit with the family, and drive back home in time for the last Idaho State Civic Symphony performance of the season.

It worked out very well. I picked Nina up at the prison at 9 pm as they finished up and we got to Heather’s house about 11:30 pm. She was still up as a young woman in her ward (where Heather is the Relief Society President) got bit by a rattlesnake and had to be life-flighted to the University Hospitals in Salt Lake for treatment. Fortunately, all is going well for the young woman who now definitely has a rattlesnake story to tell!

The breakfast on Friday morning is usually held at the Novell Cafeteria in Provo. However, on this day the cafeteria was not available so the breakfast was hosted by the Utah Education Network (UEN) at their facility in the Eccles Broadcast Center on the University of Utah campus. There was good attendance and the UEN presentation was very interesting. Utah is doing some very innovating things with marrying technology and education.

Afterwards Heather, Nina, and I met granddaughter Stephanie for lunch at Dodo’s Restaurant at the Gateway Mall. I had a very nice French Dip (the bacon and swiss cheese really helped make the sandwich). It was a good experience and great conversation.

The Idaho State Civic Symphony (their website has disappeared!!) together with the Camarata Singers put on a fabulous program on Friday night. The program started with Respighi‘s Pines of Rome which literally pulled the entire audience (another full house) to their feet at the end for a long, heartfelt standing ovation. After a 20 minute intermission the orchestra was joined by the Camarata Singers in a performance of Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. The piece begins and ends with “O Fortuna“, an almost undescribable, heart pounding piece of music. It almost brings tears to my eyes whenever I hear it (and I have three different recordings of it on my iPhone). Last night’s performance was, well in a word, stunning. Once again the entire audience sprang to their feet for a long, long standing ovation. The local university radio station recorded the performance. I need to find out if they’ll replay it sometime on their station. I’d dearly love to hear it again.

And that wraps up this week. Good night!

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.