Alarmed

I am up at an ungodly hour this morning. I had even gotten to bed at a decent hour (about 10:15). One of the problems with alarm systems in houses is that they go off. At about 1:15 this morning ours did. It said the problem was in our Master Bathroom. Of course, I looked there and there really wasn't a huge problem there. It looks like a brush fell into the bathtub and set off our glass breaker alarm in that room. Our monitoring station tried to give us a call, but the phone was tied up so they left a message, and told us that the police would be on the way. Our phone line still wasn't released though, so I could not get to the message. I called on our cell phone to the company and let them know that everything was OK, except for our phone line. They cancelled the police call, and then worked with me to get the system reset. For some reason, it didn't reset at first. It took a couple of tries.

I told my wife what I thought the problem was, but she wanted me to check out the house. I went out there, and thought, boy what will I do if a prowler is around. I would probably get the crap beat out of me. That didn't happen, thankfully, and I came into the house without finding anything else out. Since I now couldn't sleep, I turned on the TV wondering if there was a minor quake that happened which may have been how the brush fell into the tub. Nothing there. Anyway, here I am. I'm sleepless while knowing that I will feel it during the day today.

I might as well try to figure things out for the week. Last Thursday through Saturday my daughter as well as my son stayed at their grandparents house. My wife and I had time to spend together. We really didn't do too much though. Saturday we went through some gardens and also tried to visit one of the relatives that we told we would come out to see their house in Lehi. Their phone was busy all morning, so we assumed they would be home. We got some directions to the house and decided to attempt finding it. We did find it (without having the address) and they ended up not being home. That was too bad. After going to Thanksgiving point, and going through the gardens we went and picked up our kids to bring home for Sunday. They were disappointed that we didn't bring them their Sunday clothes, so they could stay at Grandmas house. That's OK, we'll be with them this coming weekend.

Not much happened on Sunday, but I did break the Sabbath, as my son let me know last minute that he needed a binder for school on Monday. That was frustrating, and the only reason I went was because all the good binders may be gone by the time I could get to it on Monday. As it was, we got the last one of its kind that was a decent three ring binder. I'm glad I went, but feel a little guilty for breaking the law of the Sabbath.

After my kids got home from school on Monday, we found out for sure that my daughter would have to get a flute to bring to class by Thursday. I called my cousin and got some ideas of what to do (she is a flute player and works in a music shop that she and her husband own). I found out that we had actually passed one of the music shops that they own when we were in Lehi.

We went to Summerhayes to see what they had. I'm glad we got there when we did because we had a pretty decent choice of flutes to choose from. We didn't have to rent the brand new one and were able to get a decent used one for $14 less per month. It still costs a bit. We then went to Wendys to have a late dinner.

Tuesday I got told at 9:59 that I needed to be in a meeting at 10:00. I went to it, and it was IBM presenting some things and it ended up being a sales pitch. What a waste of time that was. I bugged out of the meeting around 1:00 or so. It was still going. I was just glad to get away from it. This made me a bit tired from the meeting when I got home. Thus the reason I went to bed early. Well, I'm going back to bed now. I have to get up around 5:15 this morning.

More Furniture

Yesterday, after work, we went as a family to Thomasville furniture to look at some more daybeds. They will have to order the bed in, but they had a wider selection, with more options open to us for a reasonable price. The bed we picked is called the Woodley and if we get the custom finish, I guess we're looking at $384. Of course, that isn't the finish we will go for. We will probably end up with the custom finish at a price of $475. This is with a slatted frame, no trundle. Add $231 more if we want to get that. Money is no object, of course. Yeah, right!

We then went to Ihop for dinner. We got kids meals for both of our kids (even though they are 12 and 14). Ihop has a special running where you can get a free childs meal with an adult purchase if the child is 12 and under. We didn't choose the kids meal for my son, he chose it for himself. We told them that he didn't fit in that category, but they let it pass anyway. That was nice. It saved us a couple of bucks.

Now, we need to wait until Thursday evening to finish this transaction. Of course we need to decide for sure what we want.

At lunch time today, I went to my parents house for lunch and to wish my mom a happy birthday. I told her that we wouldn't be making it to her house tonight, and that was why I came over now. They told me that they had bought my little sister another car since my nephew totaled the Lexus they had given her. I guess she will be giving my parents the money that she gets from the insurance company for the Lexus, but my parents will still be out a few thousand dollars. She said she will repay them, but they aren't holding their breath on that. She really doesn't have the money to repay them with her husband in prison for another 4 1/2 years.

Tonight, I went to Young Men, my son stayed at his grandparents house, and my daughter and wife went to Young Women. Young Women had a road rally. We were supposed to have Duty to God, but instead had Board of Reviews that we had to make sure all of our boys were ready for. We had 7 of the thirteen boys that had rank advancements, and the time was used by making sure all the boys know their knots, oaths, promises, outdoor code, and first aid. It was a good review for all.

Furniture

OK, I know it was just yesterday that I wrote that nothing ever happens to me. That's probably still true, but I am going to write again today.

Work was the same old type of stuff. I got quite a bit accomplished towards getting Advantage (a company) in line to process their claims. It's all in test, and there is still work going on, but we are getting there.

My wife called me and told me to meet her at RC Willey. We promised my daughter that if she could keep her bedroom clean for a month that we would purchase a daybed (or a nice bed) for her room. She has kept her part of the bargain, and now it is our turn. Hopefully, the room won't turn into a big wreck again the way it was.

Anyway, I met my wife and kids at RC Willey. We looked at some daybeds as well as some other nice twin beds (my daughters room is quite small). Of course we also needed to look at dressers and everything else. We got my daughter confused on what it is that she wants. There were so many pretty things there to compare. My sons interest was, can I go to the electronics department (that's where he spent most of his time). We trimmed some choices down and then left the store.

We decided to go to Furniture Warehouse (the one on "Road Redwood") and see what they had. At first we didn't see anything that we liked (well as far as the bed goes). In the clearance section of the store we found a sofa table. It was marked down, and I thought it was a pretty good deal. It was set at $167. I haven't seen a decent sofa table at that price ever. It is black and has the rustic look that our house is decorated in. Two drawers are in it, and it also folds out. It also doesn't hurt that it was easy to put together after purchasing it. We had to make sure my daughter didn't feel slighted because we got something for us instead of for her. She's OK with it. We also found one more bed to look at. It was marked down because it was a special order that had been cancelled. I think we have pretty well ruled that one out.

My wife wants to look at one other place and see what beds and dressers will be there, but right now, it is looking like a daybed for about $350 and an armoire (it has shelves inside of it and a mirror on the outside) for about $500. It all looks good, and maybe it will all work out. Anyway, I'll have to wait and see. I want to wait until next week when we can get sleeping bags really cheap to go with it.

After arriving home and putting the legs on that sofa table, I headed to Walmart to get some things for cub scouts. My son came with me. We could not find a ring toss game anywhere and certainly didn't find the water balloons needed for tomorrows activities (I got the water balloons at Walgreens). It was a long day, and I am quite tired.

Nothing to Report

Some may think I am lame for not writing here, but about once a week, but really, there isn't much to tell. After some online help with one of the vendors for my palm, I finally got results and have been able to get all to work right. It was interesting that I was told to follow these instructions exactly, and then when I did, they fixed those instructions and said to follow these instructions exactly. I have been able to sync the palm a number of times.

I also added a scout program that seems to be good. It keeps track of each of the boys as far as their advancement and the merit badges that they have. So far, I have gotten each of the boys in my troop loaded in to the point that we have on our records. I still need to put in each of their merit badges though. It's nice to see at a glance where each boy is so we can better help them achieve that ultimate goal of eagle scout. Wednesday evening was spent with us giving most of our boys a scoutmaster interview. Most of them are ready to advance to the next level, so most every boy had an interview.

My kids stayed at Glen and Shellys house since Gordon is here because he drove his brother to Utah. They stayed overnight, and we picked them up Thursday evening. It's too bad I had to go to Young Men that night, because my wife and I could've had a nice evening with just us at home. Oh well, that's the way it goes.

Friday, I played a bit on the computer, and did some housework. Saturday, more of the same. Really not too much to write.

Tonight, we had a "Standards Night" fireside at the church. My son didn't want to go, so we left him home and went with our daughter. It was a good fireside, and quite enjoyable. The theme was on how Satan traps you, and one of the speakers had all kinds of traps that he showed us. We saw how they worked too.

Anyway, now you know why I am only writing about once a week.

Two parties

Well, it looks like another week has come and gone. I am not doing well as far as the writing of this thing. I had hoped to be better, but life comes along and I set my priorities in a different area. So, now, once again, I need to try and think of what happened during this past week.

Work has kept me plenty busy. I have been working on getting two new tables up and running. There has been all the programming to try and get there, and then we find a weakness and I have to go and redo some things. Ah, well, it keeps me in a job.

Wednesday is the first day I can think of that much else happened. I left work early so I could take my family to the Hogle Zoo for my company party. We got around to seeing all the animals in short order. The zoo has improved since I was last there. The elephants had roaming room, and the cat house was taken away and changed to be a bit more natural than it was. I was pleased with what I had seen as far as these changes go. I asked one employee about the Liger (it is an animal that was bred by the zoo from a Lion and a tiger). She told me that it is no longer at the zoo, but in a museum (it has been stuffed for years). A manmade animal, it really shouldn't have ever been brought about. My kids wanted to see it though. I guess we'll have to go out to that museum sometime (but it is at BYU, and who wants to go there?).

Anyway, we headed over to the pavilion where the company was meeting. There was a few animals that were shown to us (up close and personal). That was kind of interesting, but I had a hungry family. Finally, the pavilion opened up to the food. There was hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, potatoes, baked beans and rolls. They also had animal crackers and a drink. We sat down to eat. Jana came and sat down near me. I embarrassed myself at this point. I took a fast look at the people who were with her. It was her dad, and from a fast look, her brother. I said something about good to see that you brought your dad and Craig, then upon closer inspection realized that it was her sister Susan. I corrected it, but it was a bit embarrassing to me. She didn't dress all that well though and was kind of sloppy.

After dinner, we headed over to a bird show. It was quite enjoyable, and I have to say that I have never had birds fly that close to my head in my life. If you would've stood up, you would've been hit by these birds. Leather straps on the feet were hitting people on the head, and some even felt the wings on their heads. Anyway, that was quite enjoyable. We spent a little more time at the zoo and then headed on home.

Friday is the next day that I can think of something that happened. My wife and I went to a couples party at a member of our ward. We were the first ones there (and we were about 10 minutes late). The Frandsens had fish for dinner. I am not fond of fish, but I had it anyway. It was Tilapia (I had never even heard of this before) and I actually quite enjoyed it. The other people that were there were the Johnsons (from across the street) and the Llungburgs (not sure of the spelling on that one). It started to rain, so we helped to bring some furniture into the house that they had picked up that day and was still on the trailer. We also played a game called Eye to Eye. That was a fun game, and we all enjoyed our evening. We got home late.

Saturday was a lazy day. Nothing really got accomplished.

Sunday came and went. I found out that the national scouting organization has lost its tax free status, and things are going to change within all councils because of it. We also discussed some of the things that we need to do to help our scouts accomplish their goals.

Tonight, I have been working on some issues with my palm. They have been driving me crazy, and I am going to be up way late trying to figure it all out. It's kind of a pain. I currently can't get my palm to sync up. I took care of one problem only to run into others. In the process, I wiped everything out on my palm (thank goodness for backups) and then had to take down the programs (including cleaning of registry stuff) and then reload some of the desktop. After all of this.... Nothing. It still doesn't work. I will be up for awhile trying to get it all done. How frustrating.

No more hosting for you!

Well, it's been another week.

This week some of the forums that I go to and indeed I am a host in got an announcement that they would close. People got banned that have been long time regulars, but that Rachel found to be troublemakers. After the announcement, Rachel went and took care of some personal business. I decided to wait and see what she would be doing before I gave up on being a host. A lot was said and done in the forums. It was a busier week than normal in those forums because of the uproar. I watched divisions happen, but mostly against a few people. I am not going to judge anybody or say anything about the various things I saw. Some of those things I agreed with, but some things were just plain hurtful (not to me personally). It is an uproar. Dottie (who I respect greatly) gave up her job as host. There was talk about whether the rest of us would give up our jobs. Just this morning, I gave up my job as host because Rachel would not reconsider what it was that she was doing, and would not give me a valid answer as to why she banned certain people from the forums. I cannot work under those kinds of conditions. I think that Bob Katz will give up as a host, but am not sure about Gator. Those forums will end up going down unless somebody can come in quickly and salvage them. Of course, the one has been shut down completely, though it was at least left as read only so people can go in and see some of the great discussions that went on in there. Well, that's my rant about that. I was hurt a bit by the Danite when he said that I have no credibility with him because I chose to hang onto my host job until I could get some final answers. Though I will not change because of what he says or what he has said, I still value him and his opinions. That's why it hurt. I'll get over it soon enough.

Well, what else has happened this week? Not a lot. I completely forgot about Young Men, so since I didn't go, neither did my son or daughter. They were so caught up in wanting to go up to my in-laws cabin that nothing else really matters. Anyway, the Young Men and Young Women have a game going on that is where everybody is given a name of somebody to squirt with a squirt gun. When that person is hit, you get the name that they were supposed to hit. This game will go on until there is only one person. So, the neighborhood has been busy with these hit lists. At church people were asking who was left.

I worked most of the week. There is quite a bit going on at work and it hasn't helped that I have had so much time off of late. Oh well, I'm doing my best to catch up. I still took of Friday of this week.

Thursday, my family went up to my in-laws cabin. I followed after I got off at work. There wasn't anything happening up there, which made it all the better for me. My wife and I slept in the Pilot while my in-laws and the kids slept in the cabin. Friday, we also did basically nothing. There was game playing, walking and taking pictures, but that was about it. Friday evening Pam and Anne came up. They had their dogs which I am extremely allergic too so I decided to come down off the mountain. My wife came down with me, leaving our kids behind. We did nothing of note on Saturday or Sunday.

That's about it for the week. I can't think of anything else to say.