Muse Fuse

Anticipation...wait for it...

2012-01-29T19:40:00.000-08:00

A coworker just eloped.
I congratulated her on her wedding and we chatted about the convenience of not worrying about typical wedding preparations that cause a person a whole heap of stress. Her wedding was cheap too, $150 is what she quoted. Now, I've never gotten married, but from talk I've heard, that is a very affordable wedding.

Then I thought, but what about the excitement of anticipating something like a wedding?(granted, it was the 2nd marriage for both of them, so maybe they were done with the whole excitement/anticipation thing...)

I've had this conversation with friends...sometimes the best part of a trip is the anticipation of going on the trip; a few sleepless nights, nervousness about something you are looking forward to but not sure how it will be, excitement of having something marvelous to look forward to.

I think of Christmas as a little kid. It was a day you looked forward to...anticipated; it couldn't come soon enough. It was exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. Now, time goes by so fast, there doesn't seem to be much time to anticipate it. Suddenly it is here, and then gone.

Don't get me wrong, I can thoroughly enjoy a spur-of-the-moment/spontaneous outing. I actually like those moments a lot. But I must say, there is something great in anticipating something you are really looking forward to. It's probably a good way to practice patience too:)

Today I was a Sherpa

2011-11-07T19:29:00.000-08:00

and by that I mean I carried somebody's backpacking pack halfway up the 'Y'.

With all the hiking I've done, for some reason I've never 'backpacked'. Last week I got a little taste of backpacking, and an even smaller taste of being a sherpa.

What: A night-hike with a 2 guy/2 girl group, but not a date :(
Where: The guys were hiking to meet friends already on top of Y Mountain, to camp...in the snow.
Why: The girls went along for the night-hike and good-company of it. (Tempting as it would have been to camp on top of a mountain in the snow, I don't have the gear). To get a taste of backpacking, we swapped packs with the guys. I always thought backpacking would feel like carrying a big backpack, and I guess it does, but I didn't realize what carrying a really big backpack would feel like.
The secret to carrying these 50ish lb things: cinch the waist belt at the waist (which is a weird feeling in and of itself), so all the weight rides on the hips (so the guys told us). We realized that generally speaking, girls have more 'behind' than guys, so the weight was on the hips and the glutes. Whew, a good workout! The shoulder straps are cinched to prevent the pack from rocking and potentially pulling you over backwards. Even with the shoulder straps cinched, the pack sways with each step, creating a strange sensation of keeping your balance. The 'Y' trail is steep, so this was a good test for us.

Earlier the guys had mentioned how light one feels and how much energy one has after taking off the pack. They probably wanted to feel that when they reached the top of the mountain, so to do them a favor by not doing too much of the work for them, we swapped packs again at the top of the Y :)
Kudos to backpackers and sherpas who can carry & balance that much weight up a mountain! Maybe I'll invest in a backpack and to build up, carry 50 lbs up the Y every so often...but that would look really funny:)

Driving Character

2011-07-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

I guess I have a thing for vehicles with "character". Leaving my temple shift on Tuesday, I noticed this army jeep parked close to my car. Someone actually drives this! :)
Sadly, this picture was taken at night and is not as close-up as I would have liked, but I did what I could. It's fun to look at in general, but take a close look and see if you notice anything a little out of the ordinary (beside the fact that it is an old army jeep being used as a regular means of transportation :)

So I'll point it out to you...notice the tree-shaped air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror. It's pine scented:) Does that make anyone else smile? I love it!!!

What's even better is that I know the person who drives the jeep.

a survey

2011-05-07T08:05:00.001-07:00

I want to know what you think the explanation for the following comment is...

"You have a cookie face"

I'm excited to hear your responses:)
.
.
.

For those of you who think there is an answer to this...here is the explanation:)

Many months ago, a little latin boy in the neighborhood made this comment to me. I don't know what he meant by it, but my guess is that he was actually saying "You have a cooky face", but it sounded like cookie face and I thought that was much more entertaining :)

Ingenuity

2011-01-23T16:37:00.000-08:00

I originally wanted to name this post, "Being Ingenuitive" . Fortunately I did a little research and learned that technically, ingenuitive is not a word. That would have been embarrassing!

(Of course, you could make the argument that English is a living language and that it evolves and if I use the 'non'word ingenuitive everybody would know its meaning...so it counts. People are always creating words in English...but for some reason, this word has not made it into the dictionary yet).

But I digress.

When the year started, I was in a dilemma. I had no new calendar to put on my wall, and it is always nice to know what the date is. So, until I make it a priority to purchase a new calendar, I have decided to use last year's calendar. Some may argue that this is not ingenuitive, but that is their prerogative :) Of course, the lunar information may not be accurate, and never mind that it says May, instead of January; it is the date that counts :)

Ode to a Bicycle

2010-10-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

There are times when I, in the words of Queen, "want to ride my bicycle" (Bicycle Race by Queen)

In a moment of rare poetic genius (or not so much genius), I have composed a poem about the bicycle:) Maybe you should all try your hand at poetry!!!

*Disclaimer: this was composed without any refresher research on what exactly an ode or sonnet should consist of.

The air that blows through your hair,
the bugs that fly in your eyes.
Freedom to go anywhere,
sets you free, your spirit flies.

The spinning of wheels and gears
as you grip the handlebars.
With ease you ride years and years
and let sit idle your car.

Over bumps and down mountains
on paths and streets you travel,
while round and round go the chains;
One with nature, you marvel.

The bicycle is your friend
maybe an enemy too.
Ride with care, or in the end
you may go where I once flew.

With brakes that work so well, blinded by the evening lights
Over the handlebars, on the ground, one of my more painful flights.

Good Things to Come

2010-09-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

Elder Holland gave a talk in 1999 - An High Priest of Good Things to Come." As many talks go, I thought it was good, but didn't keep it in my 'active memory.' I was reminded of a portion of the talk a few months ago, when I saw this video in institute.This is one of those stories that nearly everyone can relate to at some point (or maybe many points) in their life. Elder Holland has a way of speaking with humor, yet sharing doctrine in a profound, memorable way. This message is a good reminder to not quit, but to keep going!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)

on hiking a mountain

2010-08-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

Here are a few tips on making your hiking experience more enjoyable:

1. If hiking in the middle of the night, it is helpful if somebody in the group knows the trail.

2. If taking a sleep break, don't pick a spot on top of a ridge, no matter how flat it looks. The wind tends to be stronger and colder at that elevation. If you must lie down on top of a ridge, make sure you compensate the group members who act as windbreakers with something marvelous.

3. Because it is colder at higher elevation, bring warm clothes, including wind breakers, etc.

4. If it is freezing, decide as a group if it is serious enough to share body heat.

5. Choose the bigger trail - although this may be tricky, which is why point #1 is so important. It is easy to confuse an animal trail for the hiking trail.

6. If there are cows, see if you can convince one to let you ride it for awhile. This may be smelly, but it will preserve your leg energy.

7. Don't be afraid of a few scrapes and bruises or ripped pants. When the side of the mountain is very very steep, you may get a few of these. Also, branches and trees and other plant-life work wonders at keeping you from rolling down the mountain.

8. Don't carry your wallet in your back pocket - even if it has a button. This may be tempting, but chances are there is no 'Chuck-o-Rama' on top that would make your wallet necessary. If you must take it along, put it away safely in your pack.

9. When stranded 15 miles from your car and you need to fetch a ride back, put knives or any other weapon-looking paraphernalia out of site.

10. Be aware that if you get in trouble, dialing 911 sends a signal out to any tower around, whether it belongs to your provider or some other provider.

11. Make sure you have a fun group of people who make random comments that will make you laugh when the hiking gets crazy. Bring along a hero if you can, preferably with a moustache.

12. Just because you may not make it to the top of the mountain, doesn't mean you haven't conquered it.

13. Enjoy the scenery.

14 If at first you don't succeed, don't be afraid to attempt it again in the near future.

Please feel free to add any additional tips that may be helpful to all those hikers out there :)

Dad & Machinery

2010-06-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

They are at it again. The Dudley Concrete Pumping Company is pretty creative when it comes to how they use their machinery. I'm thinking about hiring them if I ever want something cool written for all the world to see:)

So in a non-traditional way...Happy Father's Day Dad!

Survey Says

2010-05-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, a friend and I noticed a quote on a quote board that said, "every time a girl cuts her hair, a piece of me dies!" Wow, talk about extreme. We decided to take an unofficial survey of guys' thoughts on girls with short hair. Not surprisingly, most of them said they liked long hair, a few liked a girl with a baseball cap and ponytail, and some said hair length didn't matter. One response though, was as extreme as the 'piece of me dies" statement.
According to them, a girl with short hair was as attractive as a 700 lb man. Of course, we never let him live that down. What a statement! Even after obvious examples of girls who looked better with short hair, these two extremists still thought the long hair was always better. Wow! Anyway, a rather entertaining survey.

Despite the consensus, and at the risk of being as attractive as a 700 lb man, I have finally donated my hair and gone short :)

I just found this applicable video (I know the banjo player and heard his sister play this once) Funny!

Mom and Machinery

2010-05-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

On Mother's Day some people do the traditional card and/or flowers. Some people make a special breakfast. Some say Happy Mom's Day in a not-so-traditional fashion.

I was fortunate to see this from the freeway and wanted to share it. I must say, this is one marvelous and impressive use of big machinery.

Love ya Mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

Dream Car

2010-04-03T18:43:00.001-07:00

I found my dream car!!! I love the "Peanuts" reference on the license plate:)

Talking before Thinking

2010-02-16T15:41:00.000-08:00

Generally speaking, I am a morning jogger and I have found that a certain camaraderie exists among outdoor exercisers. As a result, I am accustomed to saying 'morning' to others who are out exercising, who reply with the same, or with a nod of the head, or some form of acknowledgement. Today, my jog was an early afternoon one and what did I do when the first person went by? I said, 'Morning.' I caught my mistake immediately, and made sure not to say the same to any other passing people, but know that is not the first time I have done the same thing.

The little scenario reminded me of Brian Regan's 'You Too" situation. (You can search it on Youtube, but beware, his voice gets really animated:) 'Saying the right thing at the wrong time' can result in some good laughs, but that may not always be the case. It is so easy to speak without thinking. Hopefully it has provided some funny memories that aren't too embarassing:)

Feel free to share any "I said the wrong thing" situations:)

Passion

2010-01-08T08:31:00.000-08:00

A year and a half ago I came home from a trip to Africa to find my wall covered with photos of friends who had written some sort of welcome back message. One of these said "Red is the color of passion." From that point on the color red and the word 'passion' were a sort of inside joke in our apartment. (But I think we have all come to like the color red more since then also.)

But more recently I knew somebody who had a lot of 'passion' and excitement about various things in life and it made me wonder what I was passionate about. Passion about things can be a form of motivation and it is nice to have something to be excited about in life. So, for you few who read my less than frequent posts, I pose this question: What are you passionate about? What motivates and excites you?

edible documents

2009-12-09T15:35:00.001-08:00

My boss called me into his office the other day to give me an assignment. While I was there he got a call from an employee in our other office. I sat and waited...hoping I wouldn't have to sit there too long while they talked. They talked of who-knows-what and then the boss asked the employee to send him some document by email. He asked that he send an "edible" document:)

I suppressed a smile and thought in my head, 'is "editable" a word?'

Rock/Island

2009-09-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

According to Simon and Garfunkel, a rock feels no pain...and and island never cries.

Hmmm, wouldn't that be nice???

Except for the fact that, if you are a rock or an island, it's laughter and it's loving you disdain.

That wouldn't be so nice

Something Do-able

2009-08-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought something was really hard, or big, or crazy and thought that you could never accomplish it, but then tried it and discovered it was totally do-able! So that has happened various times in my life and there are probably many times when I have not attempted things that I thought would be hard.

One of the most recent experiences I had was "The Subway" at Zion National Park. I had heard that it was a pretty technical hike, but it really wasn't too bad and I would recommend it to you all:)

So for discussion sake, I'd like you to share what are some of the things that you discovered were do-able, or what are some of the things that you may not have been able to attempt yet.

♫♪ Lyrical Error ♫♪

2009-07-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

Have you ever discovered that the actual lyrics to songs you have been singing along to for years are not the lyrics you have been singing? I have! I heard one of those songs the other day and it made me smile:) I'm sure there are still many songs that I think say something different than the actual lyrics, but here are a few that I am aware of:

♪♫You are the Woman, by Firefall

Actual words: You are the woman that I've always dreamed of, I knew it from the start, I saw your face and that's the last I've seen of my heart.
My lyrical error: You are the one that I've always dreamed of, I knew it from the start, I saw your face and that's the last I've seen of my eyeball

♪♫Making love out of nothing at all, by Air Supply

Actual words: Making love out of nothing at all...out of nothing at all
My lyrical error: Making love, I know nothing at all...I know nothing at all

♪♫La Bamba, by Ritchie Valens

Actual Words: Para bailar la bamba

My lyrical error: La la la la la bamba

I could blame the last one on not knowing Spanish when I was younger, but I think it was within the last couple of months that I learned the actual words...para bailar, and I've known Spanish for years now. As I said, I'm sure there are more lyrical errors on my part that are even sillier.

So here is a thinking exercise for you; try to remember some of your lyrical errors and share them with me:) I'm sure we would all be entertained by your responses. ♪♫♪

Progression of a Tree

2009-06-23T09:40:00.001-07:00

I live on the 3rd floor of an apartment complex and a lovely green tree grows just outside our south window. The sliding glass door/window affords us a lovely view of the tree. I have lived here for awhile and experimented with the macro setting on my camera in an effort to capture the budding of new leaves.

It's amazing to watch the new green burst from the little brown limb-ends, and then to see the tiny little green-life develop into a leaf. Every year I take a new photo or two of the progression, even though it basically happens the same each time.

I remember growing up and always hearing my mom talk about the benefits of a south window and understanding why a south window is so marvelous (at least in the northern hemisphere). My apartment has one of the best south windows in existence and the tree is ideal. In the winter when the sun is farther south, there are no leaves and the sun streams into our apartment. It is not uncommon to see one of us lying on the floor in the warm sunlight during the season. In the summer, as you can see, our tree gets nice and leafy, blocking the extreme sunlight from coming in. It's perfect.

Aimless Wandering leads to Discovery

2009-06-09T08:48:00.000-07:00

This time of year affords us with some marvelous weather, so one evening my roommates and I decided to enjoy it outside of our apartment. With no particular place to go, we decided to aimlessly wander. Our wanderings took us to the northern part of the apartment complex parking lot where a tiny garden had been planted last year. Earlier in the year we noticed some carrots growing there; we decided it was time to see what had become of them.

We were surprised to see the carrot greens towering a good three feet in the air. It was dark outside so I wondered if they were really just some tall weeds. I decided to pull one to find out and alas, it WAS a carrot, but one of which I had never seen anything similar (that I can remember). The 'stalk' was thick and hard...and really tall and when we reached the light of the parking lot we noticed a green flower-like thing on the plant.

We proudly and excitedly showed our discovery to everyone we saw. T even took a bite of the carrot, dirt and all, saying it tasted like a dry carrot. We decided it must have cross germinated with something else like celery or parsley. We gave T his half eaten carrot stalk and took the other to display in a vase on our table.

I talked to my mom a few days later and according to her this was no mutant carrot after all! I admit, I was a bit disappointed. It turns out that this is the way carrots go to seed. So, though we do not have some cool mutant vegetable on our hands, maybe we will try and harvest the seeds for next year:)

I have decided that I need to be more observant. My family had a garden always; how did I miss the 'mutant' carrots all these years? At the same time, had I known that these crazy tall carrots were 'normal' it would have smothered the excitement of finding something really cool and wanting to learn about it. Yeah for discoveries made while aimlessly wandering.

The Truth

2009-05-29T18:10:00.000-07:00

Al Switzler, one of the authors of Crucial Conversations, gave a presentation to our stake a year ago and talked about our tendency to create stories to explain people’s behavior, but often our stories are far from the truth. I read the book and discovered that he was referring to chapter six, titled, Stories Create Feelings. Here is an excerpt from the chapter:

“Just after we observe what others do and just before we feel some emotion about it, we tell ourselves a story. That is, we add meaning to the action we observed. To the simple behavior we add motive. Why were they doing that? We also add judgment – is that good or bad? And then, based on these thoughts or stories, our body responds with an emotion. (CC; 98)

I thought of this when I came across this passage in chapter 20 of the famous book, Rebecca:
“They were all fitting into place, the jig-saw pieces. The odd strained shapes that I had tried to piece together with my fumbling fingers and they had never fitted…It seemed incredible to me now that I had never understood. I wondered how many people there were in the world who suffered, and continued to suffer, because they could not break out from their own web of shyness and reserve, and to their blindness and folly built up a great distorted wall in front of them that hid the truth. This was what I had done. I had built up false pictures in my mind and sat before them. I had never had the courage to demand the truth. Had I made one step forward out of my own shyness Maxim would have told me these things four months, five months ago. “(260)

So, Mrs. De Winters discovered that she had created a false picture/story and just needed to communicate better to get the truth. Crucial Conversations comes to the same sort of conclusion: “Since we and only we are telling the story, we can take back control of our own emotions by telling a different story. We now have a point of leverage or control. If we can find a way to control the stories we tell, by rethinking or retelling them, we can master our emotions and, therefore, master our crucial conversations.” (CC; 99)

Adenture: Exotic Animals and Trains

2009-05-20T14:15:00.001-07:00

Tuesday morning K and I were returning from Lehi, where we had helped videotape an adaptation of "The Jungle Book" by a 1st grade class. As we neared our freeway exit, K commented on some buffalo to our right, then on some other animals not native to Utah. I glanced over and noticed them also, and since neither of us are employed and had nothing pressing to get back to, we decided to go on a little adventure and get a better look at the exotic animals.

After a couple of wrong turns, we found a satisfactory route that brought us close to the animals; a small, little-used and broken road that ran near the railroad tracks and proved to be the perfect little road to get us where we wanted to go. We stopped the car, crawled between two train cars, across the tracks, and were greeted by stinky, hairy pigs; we determined that they were wild boar. They were very curious and came to the edge of the fence to look at us. Eventually we decided to climb up the ladder on the train car for a better view from the top of the train. (This was a bit ironic considering that just a few days earlier a few of us, including K, had talked about running on top of a train. I was wearing flip-flops and decided that standing on top of a train was perfectly fine with me. K's research has identified the animals as the following: wild boar, nilgai antelope (India and Pakistan (Asian)), emu, African cow, and eland. My guess is that this might be a farm that raises exotic meat for places like Cabelas.

It was all a great adventure and I appreciated having a little free time to actually take the adventure. I've discovered that I am a person who loves adventure, but that I am not always the best at creating it. Had I been driving by myself, I would have driven straight home and possibly missed what may be the only chance to stand on top of a train car while listening to peacocks make noises. What a tragedy that would have been. I owe a HUGE thanks to people in my life who introduce me to and encourage me to take adventurous opportunities.

As a bit of advice or encouragement to any of you readers: Make time for a good adventure every once in awhile :)

Duck Behavior

2009-05-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

Scenario 1: North of Campus Drive is a small pond that is occasionally frequented by ducks. In this situation, ducklings are huddling under their mother in the middle of the road on Campus Drive. Two men in a pick-up truck have stopped their truck in the right lane and are trying to shoo the ducks off the road. The mother does not like this at all and in protection mode, she tries to attack the men. One man takes off his jacket and holds it in front of his legs and the mother duck attacks it. I am reminded of a matador waving the muleta (red cape) in front of a bull. The men manage to get the duck and her ducklings off the road onto the sidewalk; still not a very convenient location. The man with the jacket finally wraps his jacket around the mother duck while the other man shoos the ducklings under a nearby tree. The mother duck is released and they all settle in under the tree and everyone seems pleased; especially the two men who have saved a little duck family. I would expect a mother duck to behave as this one did, but the whole “mother knows best” seemed to be disproved by her actions. Any mother should know that letting the little ones relax in the road is not a good idea. I guess the instinct to protect sometimes overrides logic.

Scenario 2: Occasionally while jogging south of campus I leave the road and take a path less travelled. South of campus is home to a small duck pond and in this particular situation my jogging disturbs a small gathering of ducks and they take off waddling in front of me, but I hear little quacking sounds from the dry ditch to my left and see five little ducklings following as fast as they can, but being left behind in the dust. Where is the mother instinct in this situation, I wonder? Why is she not staying with her ducklings to protect them from the unknown me? I guess the instinct to protect yourself sometimes overrides a mother’s instinct to protect her children.

The question is, do you react with fight or flight? Possibly, as some of my professors would say, “it depends.”

Habit

2009-05-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

While walking around BYU campus with my mom, I noticed that nearly every time we got to a door, she would stop and wait for me to open it for her. It wasn't until I asked her if she thought I was dad that she realized she was not opening her own doors. Odd, I thought, until I realized that my parents have been married for 40 years this year, and one is bound to form habits after doing omething for that amount of time. The situation was actually quite comical; I mentioned it a couple times and once or twice my mom would remember and run up to the door and open it for me:) But more often than not, she reverted to the habit of stopping and waiting for the door to be opened. She is used to the royal treatment, and kudos to dad for giving it to her.

I suppose we all have habits that we are unaware of when we are in "automatic pilot" mode???

2009-05-02T09:41:00.001-07:00

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