Thanksgiving

With thanksgiving being so recent, I am going to share what thanksgiving was like growing up in a large family. We would all gather at my parent's house. The house was large enough for everyone; however, it would be crowded. Being young and not knowing anything different, this didn't bother me. In fact it was what I was used to, but with more people. It was exciting to me as we would get things ready for our thanksgiving dinner. My mom would always be the one to cook the turkey. And we would all help with everything from peeling potatoes to getting the table set. I liked to take a taste of the food as it was being prepared, but there was always someone there to stop me. My siblings seemed to have a rule that we were not to take tastes before we ate. Because of this I don't have that rule now that I am older. Besides, if we are eating at 2:00 I like to have a little something to tide me over. Well, back to my youth. We would put all of the food on the tables and pass it around so that everyone could get food. This was an efficient way to get food and it was also necessary because we didn't have any room to move around, the tables were too close together to get in and out. We would always have plenty to eat with leftover turkey for sandwiches later. After dinner we would all help with the clean-up, whether we wanted to or not. Once the dishes were washed and put away we would get out the games. One of the games we liked to play was Rook. We would play it all of the time. The game is about bidding for how many points you are going to take. Then each person plays a card in turn, and whomever has the highest card takes the trick. This person then starts the next round. We would stay up late playing games and eating pie. Speaking of pie, my mom would always make sweet potato pie. This is one of my favorites and I don't like pumpkin pie because sweet potato pie is so much better. One problem with pumpkin pie is that most people will put too much spice. I like the milder taste of sweet potato pie. I have gotten my mother's recipe and have been making it for the past few Thanksgivings.  

When younger each Thanksgiving was a lot of people, food, and fun.

Learning to ride a bike.

This may not seem like much to many of you; however, my experience with learning was not normal. When I was 8 years old my brother just older than me was trying to teach me to ride a bike. The bike that we used was too large for me and I could barely reach the ground when on it. It was also made of steel which made it heavy and hard to handle for someone big enough to ride it. If all this wasn’t bad enough, we were trying to learn on a gravel driveway that was slanted uphill. As I think about it now I am not sure why we didn’t try to ride downhill. Not that the hill was very steep in that direction. Each time I tried to ride I would fall over before I ever got going. I would try this a few times and get frustrated. We tried this a few other times with no success.

With this being the bike, you may wonder how I ever learned how to ride. Well, it wasn’t on this bike, it was on the bike of a friend. One day this friend was getting his bike back from the shop. I told him that I didn’t know how to ride and he said that he would teach me how. When he got his bike back from the shop, he showed me a few things such has how to turn. He lived on cul-de-sac so I was to ride to the end of the road and back. My friend was thinking that it would take me a while to get the hang of riding; however, I got on the bike, rode to the end of the street, turned around, and came back as though I had been riding a bike for many years. After I got back he asked about this and I told him that I really had never ridden a bike before. I guess the help that my brother had given me helped me to ride a bike once I had one that was the right size for me. 

Sharing Childhood Stories

Today we had a lesson on Family History in Sunday School. This got me to thinking that I have many stories about my childhood that my children don't know about. So, I have decided that I am going to try to write one story a week. A few of the topics that I will be sharing are: learning to ride a bike, my first childhood memories, spending a lot of time at the University Mall when I was in 4th grade, some of the childhood jobs and had and how they didn't teach me money management, and others. This will be a trip down memory lane and I hope you will come along for the journey as we reminisce about old times.

Halloween Costumes

Last week my wife and I worked long hours making a Halloween costume for the contest at my work. Thursday night I wrote a blog post which never got posted because it got deleted some how. Anyway, we were up until 2:00 in the morning on Thursday getting everything finalized on the costume. On Friday morning I was so excited to win the iPod Touch that was being given away for the best costume. This is until I got to work and saw some of the other costumes. I started to doubt I would win. Its amazing how much people will work for a great prize like an iPod Touch.

Today the voting was finalized and the votes were counted. I am sad to say the iPod went to someone else. However, he had a great costume. This guy looks a lot like Johnny Depp and he dressed up as Edward Scissorhands. He looked really good. Infact one person asked who let Edward Scissorhands enter the contest.

Before starting to put the costume together I wondered how much would be too much to spend on a costume and it still be worth it. Granted since we made the costume we now have a nice jacket, shirt, and pants. These can be used again for another contest. It's still disappointing to not win the big prize. Well, their is always next year.

Ding-Dong

This evening, I drove past the old neighborhood where I used to deliver newspapers. This reminded me of an experience I had while going around to collect payments. I stopped by one house which was always late making payments. The lady I was going to collect from would tell me to come back later. It was later, so I was stopping by.

I rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer the door. No one did, so I rang the doorbell again. Still no answer so I figured that no one was home. Besides, who doesn't answer the door when someone rings the bell? Anyway, since no one was home I decided to just ring the bell a bunch of times. Ding-Dong. Ding-Dong. Ding-Dong. Ding-Dong. Ding-Dong. Ding-Dong. Over and over. I did this for about a minute or so. Well, low and behold, someone was home and this got their attention. Finally, someone answered the door and said to me, "that is not the way to ring the doorbell. Go back out and ring the bell right." She then closed the door and I rang the doorbell again. She answered the door and asked what I wanted. I told her I was there to collect for the paper and she told me, again, they didn't have any money to pay for the paper.

Who's Lying?

OK, so it really has been a month since my last blog. I thought I was joking, but I guess not. Here's the lie. I was not born with 11 toes... I was born with 12! Yes, all the others are true. I did have the cops called on me when I was eight.

I didn't learn how to ride a bike until I was eight; however, my brother, Mike, did try to teach me on a bike that was twice my size. This being the case, it was hard for me to reach the pedals. One day a friend of mine let me use his bike. It was my size. I got right on, rode down the street and back without any problem. He asked me if it was really true that I didn't know how to ride a bike.

As for learning how to swim at 12, I had volunteered at the SCERA pool during my 7th and 8th grade years. As part of volunteering, I got to go swimming twice a week. I had lots of opportunities to be in the water and learn how to swim.

OK, I wasn't really born with 12 toes... I was born with 9!

Tag, I'm It

Well, someone I know decided to give me an opportunity to post another blog. I have been tagged to give two truths and one lie. So, first off, I lie each night when I go to sleep. Is that good enough? I'm being told this is not the way to do it. Okay, I'll comply and do it the way it's supposed to be done (maybe).

First, here are the destructions because there supposed to be here.

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 2 true facts about yourself and 1 lie.
3. Tag 4 people at the end of your post by including links to their blogs.
4. Have people guess which one out of the three is false.

1. I was tagged by "Jenny from the Block".

2. First, I was born with 11 toes. Second, I have had the cops called on me. And finally, I didn't learn how to swim until I was 12. Well, I want to make this even harder by putting in a fourth one, so here you go. I didn't learn how to ride a bike until I was eight.

3. I am going to tag the following people Karen, Becca, John (Becca's Husband), Mark (My Bro). I hope they still like me after making them post something on the internet.

4. Well, I did four statements to make it harder. So, you get to decide if one is a lie or if two of them are lies. He He. Have fun deciding.

I hope you don't mind waiting for awhile because this is my post for the month. I'll let you know whats what in December.

Okay, maybe Jen will get me to do one sooner so she can find out the real lie(s).

Marital Bliss

Before I got married I had a phylosophy about getting married. Their are only about four things required for a wedding: someone to get married too, a place to have the wedding, someone to perform the ceremony, and a couple of witnesses. This is all that is requied to getting married. However, if you want a wonderful day that will be remembered for a long as you live you will need a few more things. I am writing this because Jennifer's and my wedding day was the most wonderful day in all the world (at least up to this point). I think having a baby will rank up their as one of the most wonderful days; that will have to wait, at least for nine months. So, how was our wedding day the most wonderful? It took three months of preperation. Granted some people have done it in two or even one; we wanted to be alive for our wedding so we took three. I recommend not going past three months. We spent those three months planning our invitations, who we would invite, what food would be served at the luncheon and reception, what cake we would have, how the reception would be decorated, and many other such things. We also needed to get a dress for Jennifer (well she did that one without me). By the way, JEN LOOKED NICE IN THAT DRESS, RARRRR. We needed to get a tux for me, get the honeymoon planned, etc. All of this planning went into our wonderful wedding day (also some loss of sleep on Jen's part, she took care of that for both of us). Despite all of this planning and preperation the day would not have been wonderful if it had not been for everyone who pitched in and helped. I would like to say thank you to everyone who helped make our wedding day wonderful. It truly would not have happened if it had not been for all of you. THANK YOU!!!

As for being married it is wonderul. Each day life gets better and better. My love for Jennifer grows and it's hard to leave for work in the morning. The work day takes too long and the weekend goes by too fast. One thing I have found about being married is that you can never know how wonderful it is unless you get married. It is like life just instantly becomes 10 times better. For everyone who has not had the chance to experiance marriage I wish you the best and hope you find that someone special soon.

P.S. For everyone thinking I was hinting that we are expecting, sorry the answer is no.

Staying Up Late

As some of you may know I play Wold of Warcraft (WOW). I have decided to cancel my account until after the wedding. This really is not a hard thing for me to do because I have so many other things happening that this past month I only played about an hour or two each week. Also, I have other games which I can play that don't require a monthly fee. Some of my Co-Workers also play and they are sad that I won't be playing for awhile. This being the case we decided to have a Bachelor/WOW party for me before my current months subscription ran out. Before we started playing WOW we had a party in which the women were invited (Jen attended this part). We had a great time with great food prepared by my co-workers spouse and even better company.

Now to the point of all this, we planned on staying up until 4:00am. We ended up playing until 2:00 because we were all tired, talk about getting OLD. When I was younger I use to stay up until all hours of the night playing video games. One time I stayed up all night and went to work the next day. The reason for staying up all night is that if I had gone to sleep I would have been late for work. I was glad when work was over and I could get some sleep. Now-a-days I like to get to sleep at least by midnight, 10:00 is better. Does that make me OLD???

THE END

Its About 'Time' ! ! !

Okay, so I haven't posted anything for more than a month. This is because I have been busy with other things. Mostly the wedding and my fience. Okay more the fience then wedding things. besides I would rather be with her than spending my time writing something. And, if I am not with her I would rather be playing World of Warcraft. So, I am writing this after we have said our goodnights and before I turn on the game. (Actually its to late to start playing tonight because I need to get up for work in the morning)

Speaking of wedding stuff, Jen has that covered like paint on the wall. She has been on the ball like a football players in a tackle. She has been going, going, going like a fly buzzing around a light. Alright, I'll stop with the comparisons; however, I think they are clever. Back to the wedding stuff, Jen has done a great job and everything seems to be coming together nicely. We have seven weeks to the wedding and we have our invitations, we are hoping to get our engagement pictures taken this Saturday, the invitations will be addresses soon, and so on, and so on. One nice thing about all of this, is that Jen has been willing to listen to my opinion and respected it. We have needed to compormise on a few things but all has been well and both of us have been happy with how things are turning out. Really one of the most important things has already been taken care of, both of us are looking forward to the wedding and being with each other.

Now back to the time thing, I need to end now as it is past time to goto sleep. So, I will end now and take some time to sleep. Granted you will most likely be reading this during the day and I will have already woken up. I guess that is a problem with the internet, whatever I post right now will be in the past when you get around to reading it. I don't think anything can be done about it so I will stop worrying. Wow, it must be late because I'm writing things which will not make much sense in the light of day. Well goodnight, or good day if you are reading during the day.

Got Engaged :)

I am writing this post in hopes I will beat Jen to the punch. Really though I am just beating her to posting as she sent out a MASS email earlier today letting all of her friends know about what happened over the weekend while we were visiting her parents in California. She also included a picture we took while there. One more thing, only about five people who read this post anyway: Jen and four of her friends. So much for me being the first to share this wonderful news to the WORLD.

Most of you have how our relationship got started so I will go over the events of the day according to me. Friday morning we attended the LA Temple and did an endowment session. I was hoping to have talked with Jen's father before we went so that I could ask her after attending the temple. I think it would have been nice to be on the temple grounds to do the asking. Since the opportunity to talk with her dad had not presented itself I needed to wait.

After we had gotten back from the temple her father and nephew were sitting in the kitchen eating lunch. This did not seem like a very good time to ask so I abided my time. After they had finished lunch I was playing with Jen's nephew and her father was cleaning up the kitchen. I think he knew I wanted to talk with him and he was making himself available for me to ask him. It wasn't until an hour or so later, when we were all sitting and relaxing, that I got up the nerve to finally bring up the subject of marriage. I was somewhat nervous but knew I needed to talk with him. His response was that Jen is a big enough girl to make her own decisions. I felt like that was him giving us his permission and blessing.

As a side note, Jen and I had talked about going to the Griffith observatory sometime during out trip. I had been there before and Jen, who grow-up in LA, had not. I wanted to go again and she expressed the desire to attend for the first time. Jen thought that I would ask her while there instead of at the beach. This worked out well because Jen suspected nothing while we were at the beach Friday night.

So, after we had dinner with her family we took off to the beach to watch the sunset. We had about 30 minutes at the beach. While there we waded in the water and watched the wave’s crash against the shore. It was enjoyable to be there with Jen; feeling the sand in our toes and the water at our feet, hearing the waves crash on the shore, and seeing the sun as it set on the horizon. This was the perfect time to ask the question. I had my back to Jen while I pulled the ring out of my pocket, I turned around and started to get down on one knee, and before I could even ask the question Jen said, "YES". After putting the ring on her finger we kissed and took in the beauty of the moment.

Later on I was thinking I should have let Jen's family know I was going to ask her at the beach. This way the could have followed us to watch if they had wanted to. Oh well, it was a romantic evening and I am glad we are finally engaged and can move forward with wedding plans. And, spend the BIG BUCKS so all of our family and friends can celebrate this special day with us.

Getting To Know My ABC's (you can do your own)

I have been tagged as one to fill this in (which I was planning on doing anyway) so I will.

A- Attached or Single? Attached, and loving it.
B- Best Friend? Jen, my parents, all 14 of my siblings, and my cat Kaydee.
C- Cake or Pie? Pie, especially if it has blueberrys.
D- Day of Choice? Any day I get to see, speak with, or be with Jen. :)
E- Essential Item? Pocket Knife. I carry one with me were ever I go, except to the airport since they won’t let me keep it.
F- Favorite Color? Blue, what can I say I’m a guy.
G- Gummy Bears or Worms? Worms, they make great beat for fishing; although, I’ve heard you can use gummy bears.
H- Hometown? The one and only OREM, UTAH.
I- Favorite Indulgence? Playing video games.
J- January or July? January and July, and all the other months. Each month is great in it’s own way. January theirs snow, cold, and doing donuts in my car. July theirs swimming and picnics.
K- Kids? Yea, I like kids. I have lots of nieces and nephews and play with them often.
L- Life isn't complete without? The gospel!!! Along with family and friends. I hear many people complain about how they don’t like their family. Me I love my brothers and sisters and want the best for them.
M- Marriage date? Soon, Very Soon. :)
N- Number of brothers and sisters? Seven brothers and eight sisters. The youngest came and off-set the whole thing. That’s okay because we love her.
O- Oranges or Apples? Oranges, they have a great flavor, especially if they are freshly squeezed. YUMMY!
P- Phobias and Fears? I try not to have any, but I have a hard time talking with people out of the blue.
R- Reason to smile? Being alive. Life is great; of course, sometimes it’s hard and I get sad and lonely.
S- Season of choice? Just like January or July, I like them all. If you’r going to make me choose one I will say Spring. The flowers are blooming and the air is cool.
T- Tag three people? Me, myself, and I. Looks like I’m it.
U- Unknown fact about me? I am not sure how unknown this is; however, I know its not very wide speard. I have never had a broken bone in my whole life. This is even after getting hit by a car while riding my bike. Well, I guess thats two.
V- Vegetable? Sure, I like vegetables. Oh, you want me to pick one. Spare-grass or more commonly know as asparagus.
W- Worst Habit? I think procrastinating would be my worst habit. I guess that is why it took me so long to do this post after being tagged.
X-ray or Ultrasound? It depends on what is being looked at. X-rays are good for looking at bones and Ultrasounds for looking at babies in the womb.
Y- Your favorite food? POPCORN. I love eating fresh popped popcorn, with lots of butter, while reading a book or watching a movie. In fact now that I’m thinking about it I would like to have some popcorn now.
Z- Zodiac Sign? Virgo. But, don’t ask me where it is in the sky; although, I did know at one time. This is when I was taking an astronomy class. So much for remembering what I learned.

I hope you have enjoyed me sharing some information about myself. Any information you gather from this list of ABC’s should not be used against me in any way. If it is than I deny this blog exists.

Have a wonderful day.

I Love The Rain

It rained today and it is suppose to rain a few more times. I really like a good rain after it has been hot. The reason for this is that the rain is warm, I love being out when it is a warm rain. One time many years ago, don't really remember how long ago, I was riding my bike home from work when it started to downpour. It might have only rained for about five minutes; however, I was soaked to the skin. I know some people who would not like this because they don't like to get wet. Me I just took it in and rode on. Since it was a short rain I might have been dry before getting home.

This story reminds me of another time riding my bike home from work, it was about three years ago, and it started to hail. This time I pulled into a bank drive-thru and waited it out. Rain is one thing, hail is completely different. Getting hit in the head by hail the size of a nickel is not very fun; although, it is fun to watch. After the hail had subsided I continued home. This time it was still raining when I got home so a change of clothing was needed.

One more thing I like about the rain is that it makes everything look clean. In the early 90's I spent two years in New England. If any of you have been their you may understand what I am talking about. In the West they have what is called irrigation. In the East they don't have the foggiest idea that this is. The reason for this is they let Mother Nature do the watering for them. Needless to say, it rains more in New England then most anywhere else in the US (excluding Washington). What I would like to share about this is that one day after a rain the evergreens looked more bright and green then I have ever seen in my life. It was the most beautiful and breath-taking scene I have ever beheld with my eyes. New England is famous for its foliage each Autumn, which is very beautiful; however, not as beautiful as this bright and crisp green.

I love the Rain, and by the way New England as well.

Think before you buy!

About two weeks ago I decided I wanted to do something to make some MONEY. I was looking on KSL classifieds and found this guy who had and estimated 2000 comic books. I thought, "this would be a great way to make some money!" So, I bought the comics from him. After I got home I found out he only had 1400 comics. Advice to anyone making a deal of this kind, count how many you’re getting before you pay for them. Back to my money making idea. I now have 1400 comics in my living room which need to be catalogued and posted on eBay to sell. Another word of advice, think about how much time it will take you to get all of that stuff sold before calling and asking about them. If it will take more time than you have it might be better to look somewhere else. I have catalogued just over 550 of them, which took me two evenings to do, so at this rate I should be able to get them done in three more evenings. After doing this I will need to spend some evenings getting them posted on eBay. Doing this takes longer than cataloging, so I think I will be working on them for another month or two. Wow, this is a lot bigger project than I had anticipated.

Something to add to the mix, putting a picture of the comic with the auction will help it sell better. Ask yourself this question, would you want to scan the cover of 1400 comic books? I don’t either.

Lift Kits

So, I decided I was going to get my truck lifted 12 inches. This way Jmadd will let me get the flame racing stripes for my Wicked Awesome black truck. Red and Black go together really well. A big bonus for getting the 12 inch lift done on my truck is so that you can see the FLAMES better. Now, I don't want any of you thinking I am a flamer because I want flames on my truck, flames are just COOL. After I get the lift done on my truck I will need to add those cool steps to the side so that Jmadd and I can get in. Actually, I heard they now have an elevator lift for those that have a hard time getting into trucks that have been lifted more than 10 inches. That will be my next upgrade after the RED FLAMES.

Some Updates.

I have a few things to add to a couple of my writings.

First, the ant farm. I know of at least two people who have purchased ant farms because of me having one. Both of them were giving to children as gifts. Look at the snowball created by this small thing. Of course I would like to add I have purchase a new one for my ants because they stopped digging in the first one. The ants looked very bored without any digging to do.

Second, my truck. I love my truck so much I got the seat upholstered. So, really it needed to be done because the driver side was ripped and had broken springs. I got it done today and I LOVE IT. It is so nice to be able to sit all the way up, about five inches. Also, I replaced the vinyl with cloth; much better for summer drives. I think the next thing to do is put a racing strip down the side, red flames would be cool.

Are you "LOST" yet?

A few weeks ago I started watching "Lost". I have seen four episodes and have been getting into it. One of my co-workers says he is going to get all of the previous episodes for me so I can get caught up on what is going on. So far he has not been able to get them to me, something about his computer being over at a friends house. And, his computer doesn't have a USB 2.0 port so the transfer would take months (I could download all the episodes in that amount of time). I digress from my original point.

The question is, are you "LOST"? In a way this can have a double meaning, and maybe others have already started using it in that way; although, I have not heard it as yet. One of the meanings can be, do you watch "LOST"? It's something you can't miss and you will shun family and friends to watch each week; or maybe you raid their house because they have TiVo and you can watch each episode five times to see if their was anything you might have missed. If this is the case please realize you can watch it online the next day. Some of you may be doing this and will be lossing a friend soon, or you might be getting disowned from your family. Please realize they mean it when they say it is time for you to go home.

The other meaning can be, are you "LOST" as to what is going on? Do you watch each week and wonder, "What just happened?" Maybe you missed something because the kids were being noisy, or your friends was talking during an important part (this one happened to me last week; of course, my girlfriend said she could have done a gig on the table and I would not have noticed. yes, I was into it that much). And then you think, "I can't wait for next week so I can see what is going to happen next." One problem with this, you thought that some thing last week. Did you figure out anything more? I guess you will need to keep watching because you truly are "LOST".

Right now I would have to say I am "LOST" in terms of the first meaning. I like to watch and even made sure I was home in time to watch this evenings episode. I even got off the phone with my girlfriend when the show started. Well, she is "LOST" as well and is going to watch online tomorrow if she doesn't get a chance to watch this evening. She knows what its like to be "LOST". As for the second meaning, I don't think I know enough to be "LOST" in that sense. I am trying to figure out what is going on, but don't feel I have enough information at this time to make any conclusions. So, until I get the other seasons I will watch next week and hope I am not "LOST" until the next season starts.

Now, go get "LOST"!!!

I love my truck.

I have wanted a truck for a long time. So, I got one last year. It's a black Mazda B2300. It's a small size truck which is great for me and the amount of stuff I move.

You may ask, why do you want a truck? If you own a truck everyone you know will ask you to help them move. To a point that is correct, but that's because trucks are great for moving stuff. Since I have had my truck I have only used my truck once to help someone move and I was helping them move anyway.

Part of getting a truck was to have one in the family. In other words to have it so that my family could borrow it as needed. When they do this I request that they have a car for me to drive, that way I am not stranded at home. This has helped my family many times to clean out storage sheds for move big items which don't fit in a car. One time I received a call from one of my sisters asking if I could help them move a big projection TV, this is one of those things which won't fit in a car. We were able to get the TV into the truck and they were able to get it home without much problem. Another time I received a call from a different sister asking if I could help them get a new Air Hockey table to their house. After we got it to her house we got it set up and played a few games before I needed to go home. Just one of the benefits of owning a truck.

Another great part about having a truck is when I go camping with the scouts. Many times I am the one responsible for getting the firewood. At my work we get in lots of items on pallets. These pallets make great firewood and are FREE. One time we went on a camp out close to home and I had my truck filled with cut up pallets. At night while we were camping someone from another camp site asked if they could have some wood for their fire. We said, "sure," and gave them a lot. The next day they took the scouts out on their boat. Another benefit of owning a truck.

Now that I have a truck I know what its like to have one. I plan on always owning a truck for as long as I can drive. This may not convice some people as to how great trucks are. Those who love their trucks know what I am talking about. Those that dislike trucks can keep driving their not for hauling stuff cars. And, when they need something moved hopefully they can find someone with a truck.

Ants in my Pants

About two weeks ago I purchased an Ant Farm. The ants don’t come with the farm because ants only live about 1-3 months. This meant that I needed to order the ants and wait for them to arrive. Well, they arrived today at work and so I put them in the Ant Farm. At first they needed some time to get use to the new environment. This did not take them long and then they started to dig. Most everyone at work was fascinated by the ants and their digging. Many people would come into my office and watch the ants while they work. Every once in a while I would watch them and see how far they had gotten in the digging. Before I left work they had a small pile of gel at the top of the farm (I got the kind with the gel which serves as their food). I am looking forward to seeing how far they have gotten during the night. One sad thing is that the weekend is coming up and they will get lots done during that time. :(

Up until today no one was interested in my Ant Farm. Now that the ants have arrived many people have made comments about them. Most of the comments have been about getting one for their children. I think I have started something at work. Granted I purchased two sets of ants so that another guy at work could get an Ant Farm of his own and not have to wait for the ants; the ants need to wait for their new home. It has been exciting to watch the ants and I look forward to seeing what tunnels they dig. I think everyone should have at least one Ant Farm in their life. They are very fascinating and ants are very smart.

Oh, the tangled web of hoops we jump through.

This has to do with my school. I am going into Accounting and have been doing really well. I have also spent most of my life using computers and Microsoft Office. My college, soon to be University, Yea, requires that all business majors take a computer proficiency class, or pay $25 to test out of it if you think you know your stuff. The class is for people who don’t know how to turn a computer on, this is not me. For instance, I use to work at a computer store putting custom computers together for customers. I know what a storage device is.

A short while ago I talked with a counselor to see about not taking the test to “prove” I know what an input device is. She said nothing doing. I had to jump through the hoop to prove to them I knew my stuff, I got a 94% (only needed 80%). Now, that I think of it, it should have been apparent to the school that I am proficient at using the computer because I have taken a computer programming class at that same school. Boy, I wish I would have thought of that one while I was talking with the counselor.

After taking this class, or testing out, the next class is learning about Office 2007: Excel, Access, and PowerPoint. I am taking this class because I would like to learn about Access and PowerPoint (not very proficient with those). My first class was this evening. I really didn’t listen because most of what the instructor talked about was stuff I used everyday; were starting with Excel. I will admit I learned a few new hotkeys, I love hotkeys. I hope to learn a lot more of those.

To end I will say that sometimes we need to jump through hoops to advance forward. We may not like it and we may try to kick and scream. Just jump and get it over with.