How Time Doth Fly

After we got done informing Village Inn that the Boss would be accepting their offer, we decided to do something fun with the kids to celebrate two good things in one day. So we got everyone dressed and loaded up the van.

We first took a rare visit to the dollar movies to see "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". Um...I guess we got what we paid for. Not my favorite movie but the kids seemed to enjoy it. If I had done the screenplay, I'd have spent more time exploring the relationship between the kid and his dad, who seemed to be at about the same maturity level. They had a shot to make a really good movie but missed it in favor of cheap jokes.

After the movie, we headed downtown to see all the construction that is going on and to take a tour of the Conference Center and Temple Square. I had never been on a tour of the conference center even though I've been there several times, so I had no idea there was a huge garden on the roof.




From the pictures, you'd never guess all that grass and wildflowers and even fully grown pines are on top of the building that the kids are sitting in front of in the other picture. Inside is just as amazing; it seats more people than Energy Solutions Arena down the street where the Jazz play.

There is also a large collection of religious art, including the Arnold Freiberg paintings of scenes from the Book of Mormon. I could have spent all day looking at the one of Abinidai. What a stud. The Lord commanded him to call a wicked King to repentance. The King rejected him and sent him into exile. Then the Lord told Abinidai to return and again preach to the King. Abinidai obeyed, even though he knew it was a death sentence. He stood and testified of the coming of Jesus Christ and even while he was burned at the stake, he obeyed the Lord and taught.

I have to admire a man who does what he knows is right, even if he doesn't understand why. Without Abinidai, Alma doesn't repent; without Alma, the Book of Mormon is a lot shorter read. Abinidai had no idea of the effect he had on the world when he died. Bet you he's glad he was obedient now, huh?

After the Conference Center tour, we went across the street to Temple Square. The Boss and I thought it would be fun to tell the kids about our wedding day and how things have changed over the years. We took some pictures, and I spent some time harassing the Mandarin speaking sister missionaries. Temple Square is about the only place I get to practice anymore. At least I can still carry on a conversation, even if some of the vocabulary is gone.


Finally, we went to the store to try a new activity we call "2 dollar dinner". You go into the grocery store and each member of the family is given two dollars to pick an ingredient. Then you have to go home and plan a menu and everyone helps cook something that hopefully turns out edible.

We let the kids choose without interference, starting with Peff. The Boss and I picked last so we could make sure we could finish something edible, and we decided that Squizzle's two bucks would go to double any ingredient that was key to the menu.

Peff picked a head of lettuce and two cans of chili. Puzey went next and got three kiwi fruit and a can of mandarin oranges. Then Moe, who selected three plums and a zucchini (getting scary, ain't it?). Haggis decided that with all the fruit, she had the makings of dessert pizza so she got two containers of yogurt and a package of cream cheese. Squizzle got more lettuce and some tomato, while the Boss picked a bag of store brand Frito's and a package of sugar cookie mix. I got kool-aid and cheese (OK, so I went over the two buck mark a little, sue me).

We got home and Moe sauteed her zucchini, the Boss made sugar cookies and mixed the lettuce and corn chips. Haggis cut up the tomato and grated the cheese while Peff and Haggis opened all the cans. The boss heated the chili for Frito pie with cheese, tomato, and lettuce. For dessert, we mixed the yogurt and cream cheese and spread that on the sugar cookies which were then topped with plum, kiwi, and mandarin oranges for mini fruit pizza.

Not a bad anniversary, considering that from movies to tours to dinner, we spent less than twenty five bucks.

Well, enough for now, I've got to get ready to go to the eye doctors. By the next time I post, I may not need to magnify the screen by 200% to see it.

Wish us luck and hope we haven't emptied our quota of good things this week!

Where's Your Deliverer Now?

Apparently at Village Inn.

After much prayer and study and discussion, the Boss is telling the Golden Arches to fly the proverbial kite. Work conditions had been steadily declining ever since a new supervisor was hired to oversee her store. I do not use the word "oversee" lightly.

This miserable son of a beggar has reduced my sweet wife to tears so often that I can hardly stand to think about it. After fifteen years of dedicated service to that company, she had always been a favored employee. She rose on merit and did everything they asked her to. Her sales were always on the increase, but when this no-talent hack of a clown got promoted he decided that she wasn't what he wanted.

Suspiciously, about a week after she told them that she could not go to a week long training course at Hamburger U because of the uncertain condition of my health, she stopped getting compliments and started getting write-ups instead. He wrote her up because even though she met his stated goal for labor costs, she had failed to read his mind and know that he was really expecting her to hit a percentage lower. He didn't bother to tell her this, he just expected her to guess, and wrote her up anyway.

That was when we knew it was time to go. We weren't alone. There has been a mass Exodus of managment ever since this idiot took over, and I have a suspicion that the Boss may be the straw that breaks this Donkey's back. I would love to think that us leaving would cost him his job. To be honest though, neither the Boss or I care. I stand with my favorite "Joe Vs the Volcano" reference.

When Joe quits his job, he tells his boss, "I ought to rip your throat out. But I'm not going to. Because instead; I'm leaving you here...And what could be worse than that?"

So yesterday, she was in a meeting with the Idiot, and he wrote her up again, for some vague failure to meet his impossible expectations. Talk about bad timing. Ten minutes before he darkened her doorway, Village Inn had called the Boss and offered her a position that starts at the same wage she's getting from the Clown after fifteen years.

She came home and we prayed about it and got a sure answer before we could even get to the Amen.

I don't know where I am going to wind up when all is said and done, but I do know this. The Boss is going to be selling pies instead of fries; and I have eaten the last Big Mac of my life. I am a bitter, bitter grudge holder. I have not set a foot inside a Macey's grocery store in ten years. When I quit that dump, I washed my hands of it. I don't care how good their caselot is, I'll never shop there again. Same thing for Mickey D's. My kids have had their last happy meal.

And with that, Joshua blew his horn, and on the fifteenth anniversary of the worst decision the Boss ever made, she had finally removed herself from Egypt and the cruel lash of the task master's fries.

Happy anniversary, baby.

Free at last, Free at last.

WoooooooooooHoooooooooooooooooo!

Now What?

My eyes might be on the upswing, but it's been a bad week for technology. I left my cell phone on the counter near a glass of ice water, and when I went to pick it up, the condensation had soaked it. I was told by several people that if you put a wet cell phone in a bowl of rice, it will dry it out and it will work again, but all the rice did was bloat the battery up. So now I have no cell phone.

Same day, I was typing a post and Squizzle was doing his usual "how can I annoy Dad while he's trying to type...I know, I'll try and hit the keyboard!" act. And so he did. And the screen froze. I took out the battery, plugged it back in, and tried to turn it on, but when I went to type in the password only half the keys worked.

I still need to send it in to get the screen fixed anyway, and we knew we had five kids when we bought it so we got the two year, "don't ask, don't tell" warranty where it is covered for anything up to and including dipping it in a bathtub. So I wasn't too upset.

Until I realized that I don't have a back up disk of all the pictures that I have been taking for the last year. I know when I finally send this beastie in to the repair shop the first thing they are going to do is erase everything. So I was no longer so sanguine about it.

Plus, I started thinking about not being able to post, read the paper, etc, etc. Not so happy.

Then this morning Haggis asks, "Can I play on the computer?"

I've had a headache all day so as sarcastically as possible I say, "Sure the password is ********. If you can get it on let me know, but since half the keys are frozen I have a suspicion that I'm going to be hearing you cry in a minute."

I went back to picking up the living room. Ten minutes later, Haggis says, "I got it!"

Stunned, I came into the kitchen, and she had left clicked the mouse, pulled up a list of accessibility features and added a "type without a keyboard" feature. I had never seen that on a computer before, but when I entered the password, it worked. I was about to blast a backup disk when I realized that upon logging in, all the keys had started working again.

I have no idea why that happened, but since this family seems to be on a bit of a roll regarding Divine Intervention, I have no choice but to subscribe to the theory that some one up there is looking after me.

Modern technology indeed.

I'm just glad I can post again. I was already testing the Internet connection on the Wii to see how long it would take me to post from there.

The answer is For-freaking-ever.

Thanks to all of you who commented on my last post, it garnered a bit more response than usual, and it was nice to see that it affected so many of my friends and family for the positive. Lord knows that it was one of the more emotionally draining things I've written; probably since "The Rooftop". I don't know if we'll get out of this tunnel while in this life, but it's nice to know that at least we have some company in the dark.

And speaking of the rooftop, I spent most of yesterday on mine, completing the spring ritual of setting up the swamp cooler. It is always tough to do that. I think of my brother every second I'm up there and I always take a little longer than I need to connect the water supply tube. This year was a little harder still. I had to remind myself to be patient as I looked as far as I could across the valley and thought about how nice it will be to see the mountains clearly again. Clear vision, Eternal perspective,...guess Ryan was teaching me more than I thought when I wrote that story.

Well, enough for now. Gotta go crack the whip and get the house picked up before the Boss gets home. Tomorrow will be our 15Th wedding anniversary. I can't believe she's put up with me for this long.

And I gotta change my password...again.