The question of “Where Have I Been” has a number of answers, some more interesting than others. So, for starters:

(1) I’ve started a new employment contract which is definitely more than full time at present…

(2) I spent the weekend in Utah, Wyoming, and Montana.

I think I’ll start with (2) first … the last shall be first and the first last and all that. A few weeks ago we received an invitation to a 50th wedding anniversary celebration for two of the finest people on the face of the earth: Zane and Cheryl Lee. The celebration was to be a surprise for them (and it actually came off as a surprise!). Knowing that a number of people would be there whom we haven’t seen in about 25 years, this event went onto the calendar as a “must do” kind of a thing. However, that was further complicated by Nina’s need to go to Chandler, Arizona and spend a couple of weeks with our daughter Jaelene and her kids. We worked out the schedule that we’d take two cars down for the anniversary celebration, spend Saturday night at Heather’s and then I’d come home on Sunday to take care of my responsibilities here. Nina would spend Sunday night at Heather’s and leave for Arizona early Monday morning.

Then my favorite brother called. He was to be ordained a High Priest and wanted me to come over to do that ordination. So, I put everything else for Sunday on hold, cancelled it, or gave it away to someone else and bright and early Sunday morning (leaving Heather’s at 6 a.m.), I drove to Green River, Wyoming to spend a significant part of the day with Perry and his crew. Perry also wanted mother to be there, so he drove over to Soda Springs on Saturday, picked her up, and brought her back to Green River. When I left on Sunday afternoon to come back home, I brought mother with me and dropped her off in Soda Springs on my way through.

The anniversary party was just plain delightful. We visited with many of our good friends from back in the 1980’s when we lived in Chardon, Ohio. It seems like good friends just take up where they left off. I rather think the Celestial Kingdom will be like that after we die!

The time with Perry on Sunday was again just outright delightful. I was honored to have the opportunity to ordain my brother a High Priest and then accompany him into the High Priest Group Meeting. He has lived in his Ward and Stake in Green River, Wyoming for many years and is well liked there.

So, I made the circle … Pocatello to North Salt Lake to Green River, Wyoming, to Soda Springs, Idaho, and back to Pocatello over the weekend. It was definitely worth it.

Now to (1). The Idaho National Laboratories in Idaho Falls (their website is here), Idaho offered me a one-year contract starting at the beginning of October to manage a project to change out their email and messaging systems for a set of much newer capability. This is a big undertaking for them. Getting the contract actually started was the usual exercise in working through the government bureaucracy to get all of the right paperwork issued. It will be a very interesting (and occasionally very frustrating) task … too good an opportunity to pass up. So, for the past few weeks I’ve pretty much been heads down on getting that project underway and cleaning up the remaining things here at home that needed to get done (and there’s still a lot of that to do!).

It’s an hour’s commute up and an hour’s commute back each day. My schedule there is still quite unpredictable from day to day, so getting into a car pool isn’t going to be possible for a little while. I’m having fun, though! I’ve gotten my ham radio stuff arranged so it can be set up in the car and used while I’m driving up and back. Tonight I had a nice conversation on the radio with a fellow in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, among several other contacts.

Life is good. Life is currently very busy. Life is also centered around getting used to working a full time job once again!