I enjoyed the opportunity yesterday to represent the 5th precinct of Utah Legislative District 56 at our Republican Party Caucus meeting. Some of the highlights of this experience:
1. Having the opportunity to meet, talk with, listen to, and ask questions of many of our leaders political leaders.
- As in times past, Jason Chaffetz impressed me more than any other individual of interest. He answered the questions I and others ask in a straightforward manner; he explained his position clearly and why he believed as he did. Though he has not made it official, there is little doubt he will challenge Orin Hatch for the Senate seat in 2012.
- Speaking of Senator Hatch, I listened to him speak for a while and spoke directly with his chief of staff. Sadly, I was more impressed with his chief of staff than the senator. It is clear that he is not willing to be pushed around in Washington, or by listening to the opinions of his constituents. His unwillingness to commit to specifics or his ideas on issues demonstrated 1) his intelligence as a politician, of which there is little doubt and much good he has done; 2) how his current Washington-centric focus has moved him away from many of the local issues of Utah, 3) that the service he is rendering has become more of a game of power than representing the people. ie - he seemed more concerned about what power he wielded as a senior senator on the budget committee than the issues affecting our state directly; and 4) he knows how to speak to a crowd, but is not as interested in listening.
- With the word on the street that Mark Shurtleff planning on NOT running again, I paid particular attention to those campaigning openly for the position of Attorney General. Sean D. Reyes outclassed the other candidates I spoke too. He understands the limits of the position, and also the need for enforcement without witchhunts. Of the many attorneys I have conversed with, he seemed more sincere and real (insert any random attorney joke here) than most.
- Another highlight of the day was Grover Norquist, the Keynote speaker. I have not been able to find his speech online, but it was hilarious. His wit was high-brow-low-blow awesome. He discussed how we do not have a budget problem (which would mean we need to raise taxes), we have a spending problem. His analogy of stirring the waters with stimulus was great. If anyone finds the speech online, please sent it to me so we can get a link.
Only the Precinct Chair and I were able to make it to the State Delegate Meeting, but we believe we represented those in our area well. Our separate inquiries to the local feelings on issues and our personal research resulted in the same conclusions on each of the issues when we met to discuss and vote. It is good to have a united voting precinct.
This concludes my formal duties, of which I am happy to report I have completed without missing one, for this current delegate term. I of course will continue to act in the position on the informal responsibilities. I look forward to our next caucus meeting. Those in the precinct who would like more details are welcome to contact me via email for more information and if there are any questions.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
A matter of Death and Life.
Cinder died a slow painful death. I blame the filter. With the live plants, biological filters, two shrimp, and snail, the algae growth was insufficient to produce enough food. Fairwell our little ottosynclid. You are number 64.
On the bright side. Vesper is pregnant. Bond - you sly dog you... Guppies have live births, so it will be interesting if the other group in the tropics allow the children to grow or if live dinner is served.
On the bright side. Vesper is pregnant. Bond - you sly dog you... Guppies have live births, so it will be interesting if the other group in the tropics allow the children to grow or if live dinner is served.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Accomplishments and rewards
The school year and soccer season ended this week with some excellent results. Our children performed to the level of their capabilities.
Tim and his teacher.
Maggie and Tim received a total of one "3" out of about 50 to 60 graded abilities and the rest "4"s.
Maggie on her farewell walk as she is leaving Pony Express for the district's A.L.L. program.
As rewards they each chose an activity and were able to pick out another fish for the tropical tank.
Maggie chose to go to the dinosaur museum and a picnic, and Tim chose to go shopping with Dad (which, strangely, resulted in a new bike).
For fish, Maggie and Tim each chose a tropical glo-fish. I added a few more fish to the tank as it is ready for us to fill it up. Here are the additions:
Mario - A star-fire red glo-fish.
Luigi - An electric green glo-fish
Cinder(rella) - an Ottocynclid (sucker-fish for cleaning)
Bond - A male fancy blue-yellow tuxedo guppy.
Vesper - A female green-tailed guppy.
Recon - A ghost shrimp
Buster - A ghost shrimp
Unfortunately Katniss is looking ill and should be dead. Probably would be if Maggie weren't praying so hard for her incessantly.
Maggie's soccer season ended in a well fought victory. Tim's season ended with him putting the ball in the upper corner of the goal on a youth that stopped everything else in the game.
Tim colliding with his best friend Jaxon, Tim's in white, you'll notice he won that round because of where the ball is. The best part of this was the death-by-crusty look each of them gave one another as they both arose from the ground. The whole sideline laughed at that. (The other team was short-handed at the beginning of the game so Tim had joined their ranks as a spy for a few minutes).
Tim doing his thing.
Tim receiving his medal.
Maggie looking athletic.
Maggie receiving her medal.
Team pizza party and awards followed. One of my teams (the first ever to do this in about 14 seasons) got me a very kind coach's present of a signed plaque and ice cream. That was a very pleasant surprise. Melissa particularly enjoyed the fact that ice cream was part of the equation.
Tim and his teacher.
Maggie and Tim received a total of one "3" out of about 50 to 60 graded abilities and the rest "4"s.
Maggie on her farewell walk as she is leaving Pony Express for the district's A.L.L. program.
As rewards they each chose an activity and were able to pick out another fish for the tropical tank.
Maggie chose to go to the dinosaur museum and a picnic, and Tim chose to go shopping with Dad (which, strangely, resulted in a new bike).
For fish, Maggie and Tim each chose a tropical glo-fish. I added a few more fish to the tank as it is ready for us to fill it up. Here are the additions:
Mario - A star-fire red glo-fish.
Luigi - An electric green glo-fish
Cinder(rella) - an Ottocynclid (sucker-fish for cleaning)
Bond - A male fancy blue-yellow tuxedo guppy.
Vesper - A female green-tailed guppy.
Recon - A ghost shrimp
Buster - A ghost shrimp
Unfortunately Katniss is looking ill and should be dead. Probably would be if Maggie weren't praying so hard for her incessantly.
Maggie's soccer season ended in a well fought victory. Tim's season ended with him putting the ball in the upper corner of the goal on a youth that stopped everything else in the game.
Tim colliding with his best friend Jaxon, Tim's in white, you'll notice he won that round because of where the ball is. The best part of this was the death-by-crusty look each of them gave one another as they both arose from the ground. The whole sideline laughed at that. (The other team was short-handed at the beginning of the game so Tim had joined their ranks as a spy for a few minutes).
Tim doing his thing.
Tim receiving his medal.
Maggie looking athletic.
Maggie receiving her medal.
Team pizza party and awards followed. One of my teams (the first ever to do this in about 14 seasons) got me a very kind coach's present of a signed plaque and ice cream. That was a very pleasant surprise. Melissa particularly enjoyed the fact that ice cream was part of the equation.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Dearly Beloved...
We are gathered here today, for the first of many flushings.
What can be said about Tim's lemon terra "Tempest"?
Not a stink'n thing. He did not even last 48 hours.
That's weak sauce fishy. Weak sauce.
Therefore I send you down to the land of brown.
63.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!
In a world of soccer...
Was a girl...
Who could not find the net...
Until one day...
After nine seasons...
Maggie put the winning goal into the back o'the ol'onion bag.
And I did not have my camera.
With nearly all of the boys on her team gone for competition try outs the "Eagles" were shorter on talent than usual - or so we thought. Our six girls and two boys played a team with seven boys and two girls. Maggie scored the second goal in a 2-1 victory of sheer awesomeness. At the beginning of the game David pointed out to the team that they would run out of energy if they did not pass and spread out. They listened. They outplayed a team with nearly three times the talent they had by controlling the ball. It was the culmination of years of coaching come to one perfect moment. It was brilliant.
Two years ago, when Tim scored his first goal, he got "Oscar el Matador de los Pescados el Demonio Blanco", a Beta. We figured this was worth far more.
Maggie got Twitchy Pits, a tropical cherry barb, plus the fix'ns. A LED day/night light, biowheel, 20 gallon tropical fish tank. To celebrate the family also picked out some other fish to start off the tank.
David picked out an Applewood snail, and named it Walnut. (Yes, it is a pun.)
Tim picked out a silver and black colored lemon terra and named it Tempest because it looks like a storm.
Ami picked out a sunrise platy and we named it Katniss Collins. (After a family favorite author.)
Melissa picked out a swordtail and named it Captain Spur because he bosses the other fish around. (Yes, there should be a captain in there.)
Maggie's is Twitchy because it is, and because of Hoodwinked, and it is "pits" because Melissa thought since Cherries have pits she should try to be punny also.
We also thought we would try our luck with Live Plants, so we planted Wisteria.
This is the fifth aquarium David has owned. 62 fish lie in his wake. Let's see if we can not screw this up this time.
Was a girl...
Who could not find the net...
Until one day...
After nine seasons...
Maggie put the winning goal into the back o'the ol'onion bag.
And I did not have my camera.
With nearly all of the boys on her team gone for competition try outs the "Eagles" were shorter on talent than usual - or so we thought. Our six girls and two boys played a team with seven boys and two girls. Maggie scored the second goal in a 2-1 victory of sheer awesomeness. At the beginning of the game David pointed out to the team that they would run out of energy if they did not pass and spread out. They listened. They outplayed a team with nearly three times the talent they had by controlling the ball. It was the culmination of years of coaching come to one perfect moment. It was brilliant.
Two years ago, when Tim scored his first goal, he got "Oscar el Matador de los Pescados el Demonio Blanco", a Beta. We figured this was worth far more.
Maggie got Twitchy Pits, a tropical cherry barb, plus the fix'ns. A LED day/night light, biowheel, 20 gallon tropical fish tank. To celebrate the family also picked out some other fish to start off the tank.
David picked out an Applewood snail, and named it Walnut. (Yes, it is a pun.)
Tim picked out a silver and black colored lemon terra and named it Tempest because it looks like a storm.
Ami picked out a sunrise platy and we named it Katniss Collins. (After a family favorite author.)
Melissa picked out a swordtail and named it Captain Spur because he bosses the other fish around. (Yes, there should be a captain in there.)
Maggie's is Twitchy because it is, and because of Hoodwinked, and it is "pits" because Melissa thought since Cherries have pits she should try to be punny also.
We also thought we would try our luck with Live Plants, so we planted Wisteria.
This is the fifth aquarium David has owned. 62 fish lie in his wake. Let's see if we can not screw this up this time.
Calling All Superheros
Tim's birthday party brought some of our local superheros out of the woodwork. We met at Pony Express elementary to fight the evil forces of...
...boredom.
Over the next hour and a half we played various superhero games:
- Fro-zone's Freeze Tag [freeze tag]
- The Dash [a 1/4 mile sprint] (We were surprised that Tim won by quite a bit)!
- The Superman Slide
- Syndrome's swing [who can swing the highest?] Ami and Maggie joined in.
- Spider-man hang [hang as long as possible]
- The Undertaker's Graveyard [Boys lay down without moving, if they move they are "out" - a personal favorite from my babysitting days...]
- The Batcave [hide and go seek with a base]
- Villain in the middle [soccer monkey in the middle]
- The Power Pyramid
The fact that the boys enjoyed these games is a testament to packaging and advertising.
Amazingly, we only sustained 12 injuries (collisions, hurt feelings, falls, and contusions), without
any broken bones! Prayer works.
Superfood (cupcakes with superhero designs) were enjoyed by all.
Except Susanne. She was bored.
...boredom.
Over the next hour and a half we played various superhero games:
- Fro-zone's Freeze Tag [freeze tag]
- The Dash [a 1/4 mile sprint] (We were surprised that Tim won by quite a bit)!
- The Superman Slide
- Syndrome's swing [who can swing the highest?] Ami and Maggie joined in.
- Spider-man hang [hang as long as possible]
- The Undertaker's Graveyard [Boys lay down without moving, if they move they are "out" - a personal favorite from my babysitting days...]
- The Batcave [hide and go seek with a base]
- Villain in the middle [soccer monkey in the middle]
- The Power Pyramid
The fact that the boys enjoyed these games is a testament to packaging and advertising.
Amazingly, we only sustained 12 injuries (collisions, hurt feelings, falls, and contusions), without
any broken bones! Prayer works.
Superfood (cupcakes with superhero designs) were enjoyed by all.
Except Susanne. She was bored.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
I'm Sorry, Does Sheer Awesomeness Hurt Your Eyes?
What should one do if they get all the necessary supplies finished for their wilderness survival bag for their birthday? Like a 220 Lumen LED Flashlight that can spotlight 900 feet away (amazing deal at Ace Hardware for $30 if you need one of the best flashlights on the market), a sweet knife, (Yes, that is an Esee 4 Wilderness Model Survival Knife. No, you may not touch it, but you will feel it if you try to touch it.) and some other supplies...
You go buy your son an early birthday present of his own camel back, get yourself a late birthday present of a MSR ceramic water filter, and grab a ninja.
After training the boys on emergency survival policies, the appropriate actions if they encounter various wild animals (bear, mountain lion, coyote, scorpion, snake, spider, skunk), and checked their packs, we left home about 7:30.
Into the wild.
We hiked into the mountains and set up a little camp before it got dark. Along the way we worked on our tracking skills. Through the night we found mountain lion, coyote, and dog tracks.
Once we set up camp, we taught the boys how to build a fire pit. They did well. We shaved dead wood and taught them how to make a fire without matches using dryer lint in our go bags.
Success.
The fire smelled amazing, and the weather was perfect.
We chowed on Peanut M&Ms and life savers waiting for it to get completely dark so we could move to the next part of our sons' survival training (as this is just the practice round for many more to come this summer).
After eliminating the fire in the appropriate manner, and then burying the ashes we worked on Navigation with major landmarks, mountain ridge lines, and the stars.
Saturn appeared very bright near the waxing Gibbous moon. We were able to walk through the night without needing flashlights.
(My knife blends here, I'm not tossing Black Panther signs.)
We ended up taking them about four miles total and 1000 feet in elevation climb for the evening before returning home. They loved it, we loved it, and since we had to be up early for soccer, we slept in our comfy beds after a hot shower.
Wilderness survival is becoming a lost art. We intend to not let the skills be lost in the next generation. Plus, reviewing and learning them is awesome. And night hiking is the best.
You go buy your son an early birthday present of his own camel back, get yourself a late birthday present of a MSR ceramic water filter, and grab a ninja.
After training the boys on emergency survival policies, the appropriate actions if they encounter various wild animals (bear, mountain lion, coyote, scorpion, snake, spider, skunk), and checked their packs, we left home about 7:30.
Into the wild.
We hiked into the mountains and set up a little camp before it got dark. Along the way we worked on our tracking skills. Through the night we found mountain lion, coyote, and dog tracks.
Once we set up camp, we taught the boys how to build a fire pit. They did well. We shaved dead wood and taught them how to make a fire without matches using dryer lint in our go bags.
Success.
The fire smelled amazing, and the weather was perfect.
We chowed on Peanut M&Ms and life savers waiting for it to get completely dark so we could move to the next part of our sons' survival training (as this is just the practice round for many more to come this summer).
After eliminating the fire in the appropriate manner, and then burying the ashes we worked on Navigation with major landmarks, mountain ridge lines, and the stars.
Saturn appeared very bright near the waxing Gibbous moon. We were able to walk through the night without needing flashlights.
(My knife blends here, I'm not tossing Black Panther signs.)
We ended up taking them about four miles total and 1000 feet in elevation climb for the evening before returning home. They loved it, we loved it, and since we had to be up early for soccer, we slept in our comfy beds after a hot shower.
Wilderness survival is becoming a lost art. We intend to not let the skills be lost in the next generation. Plus, reviewing and learning them is awesome. And night hiking is the best.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
You Died of Dysentery
Dys-claimer: This post contains graphic violence and illness which may not be suitable for those who take offense and have not read Elder Bednar's talk on taking offense. Consider yourself warned.
I am not one for conspiracy theories, yet I may be coming up with one of my own.
I have obtained a "flu shot" three times in the last five years.
The first two times, I became very ill with the flu immediately after the injection.
The two years I avoided getting the shot, I only got the flu one of those years.
This year I got the shot; lo and behold, I have lost about 5 pounds in the last eight hours.
It is somewhat funny to watch the different reactions of different age groups hurling.
Susanne got the virus first, and just sat there, opened her mouth like a ventriloquist doll, and flowed down her front. Then she frowned.
Ami asked, "If I have to throw up, am I supposed to use this bucket or go to the bathroom?"
Melissa began to explain, "Well, ideally, you should throw up in the toilet, by getting to the bathtub, but if you are in..."
Perhaps having a little more insight into the situation, I interrupted, "YES Ami." She turned and hurled towards the bucket, sort of.
Tim likes to do the whole body slinky projectile style. What would you expect? How else can you get splatter all around the bathroom?
I am not one for conspiracy theories, yet I may be coming up with one of my own.
I have obtained a "flu shot" three times in the last five years.
The first two times, I became very ill with the flu immediately after the injection.
The two years I avoided getting the shot, I only got the flu one of those years.
This year I got the shot; lo and behold, I have lost about 5 pounds in the last eight hours.
It is somewhat funny to watch the different reactions of different age groups hurling.
Susanne got the virus first, and just sat there, opened her mouth like a ventriloquist doll, and flowed down her front. Then she frowned.
Ami asked, "If I have to throw up, am I supposed to use this bucket or go to the bathroom?"
Melissa began to explain, "Well, ideally, you should throw up in the toilet, by getting to the bathtub, but if you are in..."
Perhaps having a little more insight into the situation, I interrupted, "YES Ami." She turned and hurled towards the bucket, sort of.
Tim likes to do the whole body slinky projectile style. What would you expect? How else can you get splatter all around the bathroom?