Every other week the City of Pocatello picks up the recycle bin. That material is sent to a place in Portland, Oregon where it is sorted and, well, recycled. The program does not pay for itself directly, but indirectly it is a real win for the City. The landfill is getting about 30% less trash than before the program started, meaning that the need to add additional capacity to the landfill has been pushed out for several years. Adding capacity to the landfill is an expensive proposition.

I did get word that my demonstration website was accepted by the company I’ve been interviewing with and they’ll get back with me by the end of the week. So, I’m still in the running. There is competition for this contract and I’m hoping that wisdom and experience will trump youth and enthusiasm.

Nina’s niece Ashlyn and her husband Eric have been staying with us for a few days. They weren’t able to negotiate a few days extra on their lease, so they needed to move out somewhere. They’re leaving to go back east later this week, so staying with us was a great option. We tried out a new pizza place here in Pocatello … New York Style Pizza. Some of the best pizza in the world comes from New England and this new restaurant has successfully brought some of that taste here. We’ll definitely be back … often!

TTFN!

Nina came into the computer room and handed me the “missing” ribbon bar from my time in the Air Force. Out house is indeed a “safe house” as Nina has declared … that is, things don’t get lost, they’re just in “safe” places.

Earlier I posted my picture from back in my Air Force days which displayed two rows of ribbons. This picture makes up the whole of everything I was awarded while I was an airman.

It’s nice to have a relatively non-busy day. Late nights and busy days on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday meant that Monday’s non-schedule would be a nice change.

But, it was not to be! I have been talking with a company in Pocatello about the possibility of doing some contract programming work for them. I had another interview with them on Friday, the 30th and they asked me to build a demonstration site to show what I could do for them. They gave me a small specification and wanted it to be done by the end of the business day on Monday. I didn’t have time to do any work on it until Monday … but it came together quite nicely and I turned it over to them for their review well before the end of the day. Hopefully something will come from it!

TTFN!

My usual Sunday assignments start fairly early in the morning and continue for most of the day. That means I don’t have a chance to check out Twitter or Facebook until sometime in the evening, even with an iPhone. However, there is one bit of iPhone magic that is fairly essential to me on some Sundays. That’s the Scriptures application.

This application, including having all of the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price immediately available (although I prefer my book for these), it also has the lesson manuals. Sometime during the week I use my iPhone to read the material that’s going to be taught and discussed in Sunday School so that I can be somewhat prepared for the class.

Occasionally (and sometimes more often) the teacher for the 16-17 year-old class simply doesn’t show up. The Sunday School President, knowing that I have read the lesson, will often ask if I’ll be an on-the-spot substitute for the class. These folks in this class are absolutely delightful people and I thoroughly enjoy being in class with them. They like to talk and they like to joke, but they also really like a good, thoughtful religious discussion. Having the manual immediately available on my iPhone is very helpful for these impromptu opportunities.

The material for the lesson on May 2nd was centered around the story of Balak the King of Moab and Balaam the Prophet of Mesopotamia with Balaam’s interaction with his donkey being one of the key points for the lesson. There was quite a bit of discussion about Balaam’s lack of reaction when the donkey talks to him. As we wrapped up the lesson, I asked them what they thought I should learn from the story. To do that, I go around the room and let each class member have a turn. Of course the remark, “When the donkey talks, you better start listening!” got a good reaction. Then one of the more quiet and shy students said his take-away was that the “call to repentance often comes from the least expected and least respected sources.”

I was impressed.

TTFN!

The trick is to remember upon waking up on the first day of the month to say, “Rabbit Rabbit!” before saying anything else. If I remember the night before, then I usually remember when I wake up. On this May Day I totally forgot. There goes the luck for the month….

Four Saturday afternoons a year we have an assignment to work from noon until about 7 p.m. at the Idaho Falls Temple. May 1st was the second of our four days. We leave about 10:45 a.m., so getting breakfast, getting things cleaned up, and getting ready to go takes most of the morning. Saturdays are usually pretty busy at the Temple and this one was no exception. Nina and I were able to take a short break about 2 p.m. and have dinner in the cafeteria. That started our Fast.

In the LDS Church on the first Sunday of the month we fast for two meals in a 24-hour period and donate the money we would have spent for these two meals (plus a generous additional contribution) for the care and feeding of those less fortunate. Nina and I usually eat dinner on Saturday and then fast until dinner time on Sunday evening. Having dinner at 2 p.m. on Saturday worked out very well for us. It is also a good feeling to know that we’re actually doing something healthy for us and of benefit for others.

TTFN!

This Friday, April 30th, began as usual with a very insistent alarm clock going off at 3:30 a.m. so we could leave at 4:15 a.m. so we could be dressed in white and in the Idaho Falls Temple by 5:30 a.m. The short night’s sleep on Thursday night meant it was going to be a long, tiring day. However, being in the Temple also makes it a fun and uplifting day as well.

Since last September, a group of teenagers in one of the Wards has gotten up early enough every Friday morning to be at the Temple by 5:30 a.m. to do baptisms and confirmations for the dead. They’ve been there every Friday morning without fail, even when school wasn’t in session. Between 7 and 15 young people, sleepy but well dressed, along with a couple of adults come, stay for a little over an hour, and then leave so they can get to school on time. They’ve been quite an inspiration to me. For the past couple of months part of my assignment at the Temple has been to be at the baptistry at 5:30 a.m. to assist these young people. They’ve become kind of heros for me. The school year ends in a few weeks and they’ll have met their goal. Good for them!

We got home about 1:30 p.m. from the Temple and I had an interview at 2:30 p.m. with a company here in Pocatello looking for some web site programming assistance. This was my second interview with the company for the position. It looks to be a very interesting part-time position, well suited for my skills and interests. They gave me a programming assignment, a kind of a demonstration of my skills, to do and deliver on Monday, May 3rd. Hopefully that’ll be good enough to close the deal.

We finished off this last day of April at the Symphony for a fabulous performance of the Brahms German Requiem. This is a favorite piece of mine and I have two different recordings in my iTunes library. What an grand finale! Bravo, Idaho State Civic Symphony and the Camarata Singers!!

TTFN!

The big event for April 29th was a special presentation for the women in our Stake. The event was preceded by lot of advertising along with the admonition to be there well before 7 p.m. because the doors would be closed at that time.

The presentation was based around the Parable of the Ten Virgins from the New Testament. The program started in the Chapel and each sister as she arrived was assigned a number between 1 and 10. After a short introduction, the group split into ten much small groups and went to the room with their number on it. In the room, which was very nicely decorated, was a woman portraying one of the Ten Virgins and, after the group was seated, told a bit about herself and some of the choices she had made during her life. After about 5 minutes, a bell rang and the group exited the room and made their way to the next higher-numbered room. Over the course of about 70 minutes, each group visited each of the ten rooms and heard each of the ten presentations.

The turnout was almost overwhelming! The planning was set around about 150 women in attendance and well over 270 showed up. I’m certain that all of them had a great experience.

My assignment was to lead one of the groups from one room to the next and then to help serve the light refreshments at the end. Several sheet cakes had been ordered, but only enough for about 180 people … so we cut the pieces in half. We did have some left over, though quite a few sisters took a small piece (or two) home for their husbands.

Then came the cleanup. Fortunately we had a lot of help and by 11 p.m. I was headed home for a quick night’s sleep. Friday morning was a 3:30 a.m. wakeup to be at the Idaho Falls Temple by 5:30 a.m.

TTFN!

My day started off with a visit to the Veterans Administration doctor in Pocatello. After being poked and prodded and a lengthy history taken, he set up my prescriptions which I should be able to pick up in a week or so. It feels good to have reasonable health insurance once again, along with reasonable prices for medications.

We went over to the Bishop’s Storehouse in Pocatello and bought the cans and oxygen absorption packets needed to do the dry pack canning. The whole canning process took us about three hours from setup to having all the cans put away in the food storage area downstairs. We canned 50 pounds of oatmeal, 50 pounds of cream of wheat, 40 pounds of dry milk, 25 pounds of spaghetti, and 50 pounds of rice. It was very satisfying to see the cans all on the shelf and know that we would definitely be able to eat in an emergency.

TTFN!

Late last fall on one of my trips over to Montpelier I stopped at the Walton Feed to pick up 50 pounds of oatmeal and 50 pounds of cream of wheat. The bags have been in the garage ever since waiting to be dry-packed. The plan is to do the canning on Wednesday.

Just getting the material to be canned is a small part of the whole process. We need #10 cans and lids, oxygen absorption packs, and the dry pack canner. Our Stake has a dry pack canner which can be checked out just for this purpose. So, after my Portneuf Rotary Club meeting, I stopped by the Stake Center to get the canner.

My goodness, was it ever heavy! It literally took two people to get it out into my car and then from the car into the house.

I have the responsibility to arrange for a presentation at the Rotary Club meeting each week. About once a month I arrange for two members of the club to be on the program. On the 27th the program included an accountant who is normally fairly quiet. It turned out he has a quick wit and a great sense of humor. It’s nice to hear from our members on occasion as a way to get better acquainted with each other.

TTFN!