Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Go Blue

In the Oracle Open World Lunch Room:

Loquacious Man (LM): ....My daughter has her college years planned, she picked a school while here - Pepperdine - $52,000 per year.

Mr. X and Coworker: Ouch!
Friendly Woman (FW): Wow! Why does she want to go there?

LM: The beach.

FW: Hmm. I recently saw a report that ranked schools not on where students want to go, but where employers like to hire from. Guess what the top school was - BYU.

LM: Really? Hmm.

FW: Apparently it's cheap too.

Mr. X: Hey! I went to BYU! It was cheap....That's cool.

...Awkward silence...

Coworker: Uh, Mr. X, are you Mormon?

Mr. X: Yep.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Joining the 21st century


Did I mention we got a cell phone?


A few weeks ago Mr. X dropped the koosh balls he was juggling and announced, "I think I need a cell phone."


"What!?" I asked nearly falling off the couch.


"You know, for my trip to San Francisco. A good disposible one is all I need."

So yes, we have a $20 prepaid cell phone. Don't ask me the number; I don't know what it is.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

My birthday present

Mr. X's out of town. When he called me on Saturday and asked if I had a good day, I teased him, telling him that I went shopping and couldn't find any shoes or sweaters that I liked, but I found and bought a very expensive birthday present.

"uh, oh," he laughed, "you bought a car? No, No. I got it, you signed for a house."

"Uh man! You just ruined my joke." I groaned, "I got snow tires."

When Mr. X shared this story with a co-worker, the co-worker didn't think it was funny at all, "Dude, my wife left me penniless at age 44." Ouch.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Keeping it real

Mr. X says I brag too much. Lest you think it's all roses here last week in one day:

  • Mr. X broke the toilet.
  • The kitchen sink leaked two inches of water in the cabinent
  • the fridge kept the apartment unpleasently hot at 75 degrees.

Our landlord also called us and said he needed access to the foundation. The crawlspace opening is in the floor of our bedroom closet. This meant we had to relocate the closet contents (including backpacking gear and a folding kayak) to the living room and cover the bedroom in plastic - at 4:30 am.

Monday, September 13, 2010

May I suggest: 30 Mosques 30 states

Aman and Bassam hit the road to visit 30 Mosques in 30 states in 30 days. They celebrated Ramadan across the country.

I'm not sure how it's relavent to your life, but I found their stories interesting.

Check out their visit to Temple Square, North Dakota, Kentucky and Detroit. Oh, and their failure in Alabama.

Fishing for Tourists

Saturday we picked up some hitchhikers.

We had walked out to the glacier and passed by some mature Australians who were hoofing it. Their faces were beat red, and they figured they had 5 minutes to look at the glacier before heading back to the bus stop.

Mr. X was worried about them so when we got home, we hopped in to the car and drove back to the glacier, spotting the Australian couple calmly waiting at the bus stop. Rather than flipping a quick U-turn, we continuned out the Spur road, and drove around the round-about. On our way home an elderly gentleman hiking with two women, each with a good sized pack, stuck out his thumb.

So we stopped, had them pile in, and met a young woman from Whitehorse giving her parents the grand tour of SE Alaska. Her parents were French Canadians out of Quebec City, and they apologized for their English.

The family had come from Skagway on the ferry, walked a mile from the ferry to the bus stop, rode the bus along the loop road, walked the mile to the glacier, and then hiked around for five hours. "Papa" was so grateful to be stuffed in our back seat that he just said, "Merci, Merci beaucoup!" over and over.

We got such a kick out of them that we drove them all the way downtown, dropping them at the Marine park.

On our way home we were treated to a spectacular sunset full of pinks and yellows glimmering on lacy clouds.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Calling all Public Speakers

Anyone know anyone who inspires and motivates teenagers?

The Juneau Seminary is looking for speakers for our Morningside program.

Who: Church member in good standing who enjoys speaking to youth
What: 30 - 40 minute talk on any topic given over telephone/audio conference
When: 6:00 am Alaska time, first Tuesday of the month
Where: Your home or office
Audience: High School students in Alaska's panhandle from Ketchikan AK in the south to Whitehorse YT in the north

Last year's speakers included Vai Sikahema, Thurl Bailey, Lloyd D. Newell as well as local leaders. Our CES missionaries with the sweet hook-ups went home so we're in need of suggestions and/or connections. ...I'm particularly interested in finding a few excellent female speakers but am not picky. I'm not in charge of this but was asked to help if I could.

And just for fun, if you could ask anyone, who would you have speak to the youth in your ward or stake?