Late last week a potential client asked if I was going down to Salt Lake on the last Thursday of February and, if so, could we get together. At the time I hadn’t planned to go as mother was having cataract surgery on the Wednesday before. All that changed and I did go down for the day yesterday. It was a very good and energizing day.

The day started with Phil Windley’s monthly CTO Breakfast which is held in a meeting room at the Novell Cafeteria in Provo. A good group of folks were in attendance ranging from the CTO for the State of Utah to several entrepreneurs, college grad students, and me (of course). We had a very lively discussion about outsourcing, offshoring, tech incubators, Amazon Web Services, and more. I always enjoy this event and have gotten to know several of the people who attend regularly. It really is one of the highlights of the month.

On the trip to Las Cruces for the funeral, my video iPod gave up the ghost. It would show a little frowning face and wouldn’t work. I love my iPod and was not happy that it had died. I’d really like to get an Apple iPhone, but want to wait for the next version and (hopefully) a better choice of networks. Besides, the iPhone is a really, really good iPod. Then I remembered that I had purchased an extended warranty when I bought the iPod from Best Buy. So my next stop after the CTO Breakfast was the Best Buy store on 21st south in Salt Lake City. I fully expected to have to argue with them because the case and screen are scratched up and they would claim “normal wear and tear and my fault”. I was so pleasantly surprised when the fellow looked up the warranty, verified that I was the person that had bought the warranty, and said they would be shipping me out a replacement within the next three to five business days. It would be a refurbished unit, which was fine with me. My iPod was two years and three months old. Even a refurb unit has to be newer than that!

After a couple of visits with potential clients, I stopped at the Apple store because the faceplate on my Macbook had a crack in it. No problem … come back at 5:30 p.m. and it’ll be fixed they told me. So I did a thorough job of browsing (and not buying anything!) through Barnes and Noble and returned at 5:30. It was fixed, but they were running a thorough diagnostic on it and that wouldn’t be done for another hour. Problem was, I needed to be in Draper at 6 p.m. for the next Big Technology Event of the day … the monthly Utah Blogger / Geek Dinner. Fortunately for me, Laura Moncur, the delightful organizer of this event, schedules it to be on the last Thursday of the month so I can do both the CTO Breakfast and the Blogger Dinner on the same day, then drive back to Pocatello.

So, I made arrangements to pick up my Macbook after the dinner and headed south to Neil’s Halibut and Broiler for the event. A couple of the same people who attend the CTO Breakfast also go to the Blogger / Geek Dinner, but mostly it’s a significantly different group of people. Last month we got together in a blizzard and not many people braved the weather. This month, after a sunny, warm, spring-like day, a lot of people showed up and I had a great time chatting with folks about what they’re doing with blogging and the like. It’s another energizing event for me.

I headed north about 8 p.m., stopped at the Apple Store and picked up the now-whole laptop. They told me they had also changed out a daughterboard and loaded some new firmware which should finally fix the random keyboard-not-working problem (so far today there’s been no hangup). I was home and in bed by 11 p.m. Got lots of technology discussed and it felt good.

I haven’t really figured out how to take pictures of snowflakes during a snowstorm. There is definitely an art to this! I got up Sunday morning to big flakes falling from the sky, accumulating at about an inch per hour. Then it changed into rain. Then finally it quit. By the end of the day, all the new snow was gone and much of the old snow has melted as well. Our forecast is for temperatures in the low to mid 40° for the rest of the week and we may not have much snow left. However, I’m sure we have not had our last snowstorm of the year.

Nina and I went to Rexburg on Saturday to a Book of Mormon Symposium and had a delightful time there. I enjoy sessions where I learn new things and Saturday was full of those classes. It was well worth our time. On Sunday I spoke in two Wards as the companion to the High Council speaker. That was also enjoyable. Meanwhile, Nina made the newspaper … big article on page 3 about her working at the prison and the project to make baby hats and lap blankets. I went downtown to pick up several extra copies of the newspaper when dad called Nina to say that mother was having a heart attack and that the ambulance was on its way.

We dashed over to Soda Springs (Nina pushed her luck by driving significantly over the speed limit!) and met them at the emergency room at Caribou Memorial Hospital. By the time we got there, the diagnosis was pretty complete: no heart attack, no stroke, but probable stomach flu coupled with dehydration. They decided to keep her overnight for observation. Since we didn’t want to leave dad alone at the house, we decided we better stay the night.

Staying presented another problem. We hadn’t brought anything with us, and for me in particular, I needed my nasal CPAP machine or else I wouldn’t be able to sleep. So, when mother was ready to go to sleep, we drove dad over to the house, Nina stayed with him, and I drove to Pocatello to pick up the things we needed and drove back to Soda Springs. I got back there about 10:15 p.m. and as we were getting things ready for bed, I discovered that while I had brought the CPAP machine, I had forgotten the hose and the mask. So, I drove back to Pocatello, spent the night there, and drove over to Soda Springs this morning.

Mother was released from the hospital about 10:30 a.m. this morning. My sister Terry drove up from Ogden and will stay with them a couple of days. Mother is doing better and in a couple of days should be back to normal. For that I am very happy.

Now, the plan is to pack a small bag to take with us the next time this happens so we don’t have to make so many back-and-forth trips. Nina says I should make a checklist to put with the bag so that I bring everything that needs to come with us, including all parts to the breathing machine! That’s a good idea. Those senior moments are quite frustrating!

The name “Roland Smith” is somewhat common. One person with that name writes fiction, generally intended for young-adult readers. He also has a blog and a web presence at http://www.rolandsmith.com/. Doing a Google search on “roland smith” shows a link to Google Checkout (to buy his books) in the #1 position, his web page in the #2 position, and my weblog in the #3 position. In spite of that, occasionally I’ll get an email from someone wanting information about a particular character, suggestions for plot lines, or requests for telephone calls … like this one:

i really like your book “Peak” it is so cool. i love the part after chapter Blink how peak says he saw sun-jo over the top of the hill, he looked like a raged guy but he looked ready to climb. aftrer that i yelled woo. so the whole resone why i am sending this email is because i’m doing a book report on the book Peak and i need to now things about you for it. so if you can help me do that and talk to me that would be great. My email does not work but thats an old one so just call me at 530-xxx-xxxx and you could tell me the things i need to know for my book report if you want to. talk to you later i hope.

The person was right. The email did not work so I wasn’t able to let him/her know he/she was contacting the wrong person. So I went to Roland’s web page, clicked on his “email me” link, and forwarded the email. I hope the requester will get the telephone call…. Notice that we have the same barber, though.

I wonder what readers will do when I publish the Great American Novel?

A very nice memorial service was held in Delon’s honor this morning. There was a viewing at 10 a.m. in the Relief Society room of the Las Cruces Fourth Ward. My dad was asked to say the Family Prayer and the coffin was closed at about 10:55. The funeral services started right at 11 a.m. with Bishop Jay Robb conducting. When I get home I’ll post a scan of the program. In the meantime, here’s a synopsis:

Accompanist: Romay Sitze
Chorister: Linda Grayless
Hymn #136, I Know That My Redeemer Lives
Invocation: Ted Larson, Delon’s Nephew (I knew him as Barry Larsen as he was growing up)
Speaker: David Nutall, Delon’s stepson
Speaker: Ross Smith, Delon’s brother
Musical Number, Oh My Father by The Walker Family
Remarks: Bishop Jay Robb
Speaker: Kelly Allred, President of the Las Cruces Stake and a good family friend
Hymn #152, God Be With You Til We Meet Again
Bendiction: Roland Smith, Delon’s Nephew (that would be me)

The service went just about an hour, after which the hearse took the casket away to be shipped by air tomorrow to the Webb Mortuary in Preston. The Interment will be on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. in the Cleveland, Idaho cemetery. The Fourth Ward Relief Society provided a very nice lunch buffet for the family and friends. The service was well attended with many family members there as well as many other people from the Air Force Base where Delon worked and from the Ward and Stake. The Stake-sized chapel was more than two thirds full for the service. The funeral was a very lovely tribute to Delon and his family.

I took quite a few pictures, some of which are worth putting in the picture album when I get back home. After the service and lunch, Delon’s siblings and their family congregated at Uncle Ted and Aunt LaRella’s home for a few hours of fun conversation. That ended with a serious round of picture taking. Who knows when and if this group will get together again?

This is one of the pictures taken of the four remaining siblings. In the back row are my uncles Ross and Nathan Smith. Seated are my father Roland Smith and my Aunt LaRella Larsen. Everyone there enjoyed the short time they had together and I had a lot of fun catching up with cousins, most of whom I haven’t seen in many, many years.

We’ll leave around 7 a.m. in the morning from our hotel. We’ll stop briefly at Delon’s and at Aunt LaRella’s and should be on the road by 8 headed north. It looks like we’ll be driving into a storm that wasn’t supposed to be anything. That is not the case and the storm has put down a significant amount of snow in Utah and is headed southeast along the route that we’ll be driving. Going further east isn’t an option as that is where this storm is going. Going further west doesn’t help either, as we’ll still be driving up the center of Utah through the path of the storm. So, the driving may be slow. But, our mission here is completed and was very successful and it’s time to go back home.

This is the second time that I’ve been to Las Cruces, New Mexico. In the intervening five years, I think this town has more than doubled in size and population. It has definitely been discovered. I asked Uncle Ted what was bringing people here … there isn’t any industry or manufacturing here … so how were all these people making a living? Turns out he has been wondering the same thing himself. He is having cataract eye surgery today and hopefully will be able to see to drive once again.

Funerals are definitely family gathering times. I think that my dad’s family … his remaining two brothers and a sister … are getting together for the first time in more than five years. Yesterday as we were visiting with Nelma (Delon’s wife) and some of her family, dad’s brother Nate and his wife Sharon arrived from Yuma, Arizona. His other brother Ross and his wife were to arrive by air into El Paso late last night. Others from Nelma’s family were also arriving last night. It has been nice to meet some people whom I have only known through email or telephone calls and others whom I have only heard about. This group of people will never be together again as life and death will get in between, I’m certain.

Several of Delon’s coworkers have sent comments on my blog posts about Delon. I have been touched by their comments and appreciate their taking the time to express their sympathy.

The viewing will be at 10 a.m. this morning at the LDS Church that Delon and Nelma attended and the funeral will follow at 11. Delon’s body is being transported by air to Idaho for burial in the Cleveland, Idaho Cemetery Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. That allows enough time for the family to drive up there for the burial. Fortunately, the weather forecast maps indicate nice weather for the burial services.

I think that Delon and Nelma have liked living in this little corner of New Mexico. As we drove south from Albuquerque yesterday, I noticed that the Rio Grande river actually had water running in the river bed … a somewhat unusual circumstance as drought conditions for the past several years have dried up the river causing significant controversy over water rights in this part of the country between New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico. Perhaps this will be a year of adequate water in this area as well. The living here is very pleasant. Maybe that’s what is drawing so many people to Las Cruces, New Mexico?