I keep saying to myself that I’ll get a new blog post up Real Soon Now … and that seems to never happen. Since I’ve got just as much time available as anyone else, I think my problem is that time just goes by faster here in Pocatello, Idaho! That’s my story and I’m gonna stick to it.

I am really enjoying the contract I’m working on up in Idaho Falls at the Idaho National Laboratory. I get to work with a great group of people. I’m leading a project to replace their current email systems with a cloud-based solution and this is a very hot topic in the Federal Government at the moment. There’s going to be a mass movement of federal agencies away from in-house email systems to systems hosted by at least a dozen providers. It’s kind of fun being involved with this significant change in how messaging systems are being implemented.

However, Idaho Falls is about an hour north of me. That means I’m leaving the house around 6:15 a.m. most work days and get back home about 6:15 p.m. I usually ride the Salt Lake Express shuttle bus since the round trip on the bus is cheaper than the cost of gasoline to drive my car up and back (and, for some Egyptian reason, the cost of gasoline has gone up more that $0.15 per gallon in the past week around here).

Nina gave me a Kindle for Christmas. I added a cover which actually makes the Kindle feel very much like a book. I’ll usually read either going to the office or on the way home (and occasionally both ways). I’ve really come to like this device.

In other news, I was elected to the Board of Directors for the Pocatello Amateur Radio Club. This should be a fun assignment. The term is for one year and expires at the end of December of this year. I made a contact today with the Buddy Holly Special Events Station on the ham radio set. I’m expecting to get in the mail a commemorative card signed by no other than Peggy Sue Gerron … the girl in Buddy Holly’s most popular song (which is at #194 on the Billboards all-time hits chart).

Ta Ta For Now!

I’ve been working on this post for a few days … through several drafts … and trying to get it to express what I’ve been thinking for the past several months on this subject. Apparently I was just concerned that I might offend someone. Then it occurred to me that just as I can choose whether or not I’m going to be angry about something, I can just as easily choose whether or not I am offended by someone.

The catalyst was the events in Tucson last Saturday when a young man opened fire on a political event killing 6 people and wounding 14 others. I don’t know many of the details and there seem to be as many opinions as there are pundits, but I’m pretty sure it started with the shooter being offended.

Then a day or so later, a church announced that they would be picketing the funeral of a 9-year-old shooting victim, celebrating her death. I decided that I was offended by their actions.

That’s kind of the way it is. Someone else doesn’t make me angry … they only provide the context and it’s my decision to blow my stack. Someone else doesn’t offend me … they only provide the context and it’s my decision to be offended or not.

Then if I choose to be offended, I can then further decide what I’ll do about it.

It definitely begins … and ends … with me.

I’ve often wondered about these plaques on the walls of government and civic buildings. Now my name is on one of these things! This plaque will be mounted on the brick wall in the background. It apparently arrived this week and there wasn’t time to get it mounted before the big ceremony today. What ceremony? The ribbon cutting for the new passenger waiting area at the Pocatello Airport. I’m on the Airport Commission and thus get my name in brass hanging on the wall for decades to come, or at least until the building gets torn down. What happens to these things when that happens? I’ll bet they’re melted down for scrap metal. As usual, click on the picture for a larger image and some more details.

I’m in a less-busy period in my new job. The past three months I’ve been working a lot of hours getting a Request for Proposal ready to be sent out for the project I’m leading. The Thursday before Christmas we finally got the document out the door and the vendors have until the end of January to respond. As a result, I’ve taken a couple of days off to conserve some of my time for later in the year when I’ll definitely need the time. It has been fun having the day available to kind of catch up on things and be at the big shindig out at the airport and to attend my Rotary Club meeting this evening.

I met up with an old friend and hero this afternoon. After graduating from High School I went into the Air Force, married Nina, and two years after graduation we were in Japan stationed at Yokota Air Force Base. Our only means of communication (that is, the only means we could afford) was by letter. One day we received a letter from Roger Sorenson. He had been Student Body President and all around great guy in Soda Springs High School when I was a freshman and a sophomore. He probably was one of the most well-liked people in the school. His family ran a large ranch north of Soda Springs, a ranch that Roger still operates. The Blackfoot River runs through that ranch and once as a Boy Scout we were camping on the Sorenson Ranch and doing some fishing (I was and still am a very poor fisherman in every sense of the word). I fell into the river, Roger fished me out, and scrounged up some clothes from the ranch house for me to wear.

Roger’s letter said that he was flying for Northwest Airlines and flew into Tokyo on a regular basis and he invited Nina and me to meet him in Tokyo on one of his trips for dinner. I’m sure he’d gotten our address from my mother when he was home in Soda Springs one weekend. We were very excited to have the invitation! We exchanged a couple more letters getting dates and locations set up. All of these arrangements took several weeks for the mail to go back and forth.

Nina and I had a lovely dinner with him at the top of one of the fancy hotels in downtown Tokyo. It was an evening that I’ve always remembered. Not for the food, the locale, or the conversation (none of which I remember). It was because he had gone out of his way to set all of this up for some kid from his home town. It’s kind of a small example of how he’s lived his life. He flew airliners for Northwest for 35 years and has been active in aviation ever since.

Another example: A fellow who was doing his Masters work at Idaho State University studying the soda water springs that dot the landscape around Soda Springs was interested in doing an aerial survey. I’ve never met this fellow in person, just through Twitter. I suggested on Twitter that he give Roger a call. He did. Roger picked him up and flew him all over the area in Roger’s airplane. No charge … he just wanted to help someone out.

It was good to chat with Roger this afternoon and catch up on things. He’s still one of the truly great guys.

There are many delightful events and concerts during the weeks preceding Christmas. A week ago we were at the annual Messiah Sing-in at the Performing Arts Center which was a fabulous evening of music. A week before that was the annual First Presidency Fireside with the Tabernacle Choir with just beautiful music and talks.

But, tonight we were at what has become my most favorite presentation / concert … the evening that the Pocatello Womens Correctional Center LDS Choir puts on their program of music. The Choir this year was made up of twelve girls who enthusiastically and joyfully performed the music they had prepared. They perhaps aren’t exactly the most polished or professional group but what they lack in spit and polish they make up with vim and vigor!

Nina has been volunteering at the prison for at least six years. She currently teaches (or perhaps better said, facilitates) a craft class for two hours each Thursday afternoon. Some of those girls are incredibly talented and delight in being able to craft something with their hands. Because Nina volunteers, we’re able to attend the annual Christmas concert. It’s fun to watch the girls come up and say hello to Nina and then tell me how much they love her (and the feeling is mutual, by the way). It’s kind of fun to be known up there as Mr. Nina!

They love the music and many of them are coming to know the Savior’s love and His mercy. My world was made a bunch better this evening.

Merry Christmas!

I’m certain the ski resorts are ecstatic about this sudden change in weather. Resorts all over the mountain west will be opening this coming week in time for the Thanksgiving skiers. I was just thankful for a warm, dry car and reasonably dry roads as I made my way 45 minutes south of Pocatello to the Arbon Branch for a speaking assignment this morning.

I must say, though, that it was a pretty drive. The first real snow for this season is a significant change from the gray-brown colors we’ve been seeing for the past couple of months and the change is pleasant.

My new iPhone 4 has the ability to take movie clips in pretty nice definition. So, for grins and giggles, I’ve been playing around with that capability. Uploading these movie clips to YouTube is a snap. So, I’ve taken a couple of shorter movies and uploaded them. Here’s the links:

First: the birds in the backyard before the snow came.

Second: the birds in the backyard after the snow came.

Finally: the drive up the hill and home in the snow. WARNING: I’m driving with one hand and holding the camera with the other … those prone to motion sickness may get more of a ride than they planned….

Meanwhile, I’ve taken the Salt Lake Express bus up to my work in Idaho Falls. I was the only passenger last Thursday. It was an easy, pleasant ride with a very competent driver. I was quite pleased with the process so I’ll do it again tomorrow. It’s cheaper than driving and a whole lot more relaxing.

I’ve had an interesting time getting re-acclimated to the daily working grind. For the past three years I’ve been pretty much in charge of my own very flexible schedule. Today, however, my schedule is now quite rigid!

For the past couple of weeks, I’m up at 5:15 a.m. and out the door by 6:30 a.m. and in the office by 7:30 a.m. My last meeting of the day starts at 4:00 p.m. and often runs until 6 p.m. or even later. That puts me back home between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Those are very long days!

I’m tired of doing the driving, though. It’s right at one hour each way. I can make two round trips and one one-way trip on a tank of gasoline. I’m being very well paid for this contract, but I’m putting lots of miles on my little car! I’m going to start looking for a van pool or something like that where I don’t have to drive and can use the time in a much more productive way.

So, what am I doing? I’ve had several folks ask that question. I’m managing a project to transform their current email system into something that is close to a collaboration suite. What that is hasn’t been determined, yet. The whole project will take at least a year, but I’ll also have periods where other people are working and I can take some time off. I’m having a LOT of fun. It’s delightful being back in a familiar environment working with smart people who value my experience and opinion.

Life is very good!

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!

The WordPress app on the iPhone has been updated and actually works well enough again to be used. It’s LDS General Conference Sunday and time for “Music and the Spoken Word”. I’m sitting in front of the TV, feet up, enjoying the music. It’s a good morning!

I probably spoke too soon about this updated iPhone app. It’s crashed twice, now, and won’t work properly in landscape mode. But I need to get back into recording my thoughts on a more regular basis. Buggy app and all.