Now That's the Holiday Spirit!

The above photo was sent to me by a friend at work. Rather than forward another e-mail full of internet banality...figured I'd just post it on my blog. Oh, and I had fun translating the story too if any of you want to brush up on your spanish:)

"Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard."

La buena noticia es que realmente hice algo muy grande este año con mis decoraciones de Navidad. La mala noticia es que tenía que retirarlos hace 2 días. Había más gente venga a gritar a mi casa que nunca. Buenas cuentas. Pero dos cosas me hizo tomarlo abajo.

En primer lugar, los policías me aconsejaron que podría causar accidentes de tráfico, ya que casi lo hizo.

En segundo lugar, una señora de 55 años cogió la escalera de 75 libras, casi se mató ponerla en contra de mi casa y no se dio cuenta que era falso hasta que se subió a la parte superior (y ella no era feliz). Por cierto, ella fue una de muchas personas que trataron de hacer eso. Mi jardín no podía apoyarlo tampoco. Tengo más de un neumático de algunas pistas de un neumático donde la gente literalmente llevó hasta mi jardín.

Merry Christmas to All

Believe it or not, this is a actually a tumbleweed. But, even tumbleweeds can capture the holiday spirit when covered with frost. I love this holiday! Okay, technically not yet the holiday, but I have the day off work...so works for me:)

yep...still there

Kind of strange how often the music we really like needs some time to grow on us. Well, yesterday at the gym I reached the “from good to great” transition with a new album I’ve been listening to.

It’s called Shewolf by Shakira. Shakira is an incredibly talented Hispanic artist (definite plus in my book) who has also released albums in English. BTW, her English is pretty much perfect, so if it wasn’t for the Spanish tracks on the album…you might never know.

So yeah, to the point now where her singing pretty much blows me away. My only complaint…is that her songs are a little TOO catchy. The title track (which appears on the album 3 times if you count the Spanish version) has been stuck in my head pretty much non-stop for the past 24 hours. Ah well…

Waoooooooo…

:)

kinda cool...

So, tonight I learned what I had been doing wrong that made it so only some of my pictures could be viewed full size. Played with the html on this post for quite some time until I figured out the code. Those flowers look a lot better now, eh? Then I learned I just needed to upload all my photos at once and problem solved. So deciphered the code for nothing?

Well, click on the photo below. I think it's cool.

I love this woman...

The Terminator-El Terminador

So this Saturday I visited my little bro Nick in the hospital. It was good to see him, even if the reason I was seeing him wasn’t all that great. Nick has terrible scoliosis and had a metal rod put in his spine when he was seventeen. The doctors believed that if he did not get a rod, he would most likely end up in a wheel chair.

Well…a couple of months ago the rod broke. He’s actually been able to get around just fine, but been in quite a bit of pain too. The surgery was to repair/replace the broken rod, and fortunately it appears that everything was successful. They actually had to clamp a new rod alongside the lower section of the existing one. Fortunately, they only filleted him up to his shoulder blades this time around (instead of the entire length of the spine as before).

When I first saw Nick Saturday morning my first thought was…wow life has been beating this guy up. The pain was definitely visible in his face. But, we had a really good time chatting and what not. His mom, Terri, (my former step-mom) was there too. As a matter of fact, ends up it was her birthday. When she stepped out of the room, Nick told me to come closer and he quietly explained that there was a birthday card he wanted me to sign, and that a cake would be arriving shortly. Apparently, around 4 am the night before as he was unable to sleep (presumably due to pain) he had remembered it was his mom’s birthday. As she was sleeping on the couch, he dragged his sorry ass out of the hospital bed, chased down a nurse and made all of the arrangements.

It took a little longer than expected for the cake to arrive, so ended up visiting for a few hours. I couldn’t help but have a big smile on my face after we sang Happy Birthday. Nick even asked me why I was smiling so much. Didn’t quite have the balls to tell my baby bro who had just undergone a fairly agonizing endoskeleton replacement (without the assistance of Skynet) just how proud I was of him, but I did manage to utter a “good job Nick” and continued to smile.

Este sábado visité a mi hermano pequeño, Nick, en el hospital. Fue bueno verlo, incluso si la razón por que yo estaba viendo él no era especialmente bueno. Nick tiene escoliosis terribles y había una barra de metal puesto en su columna vertebral cuando tenía diecisiete años. Los médicos creen que si no reciba una barra, muy probablemente iba a necesitar una silla de ruedas.

Bueno…un par de meses atrás, la barra se rompió. Él ha sido capaz de moverse bien, pero tenía un poco de dolor también. La cirugía fue de reparación / sustitución de la varilla rota, y, afortunadamente, parece que todo fue un éxito. En realidad Tenían que adjuntar una varilla de nuevo junto a la sección inferior de la existente.. Afortunadamente, sólo se lo cortó hasta sus hombros esta vez (en lugar de toda la longitud de la columna vertebral como antes).

Cuando vi Nick por primera vez el sábado por la mañana mi primer pensamiento fue…wow, la vida ha maltratado a este tipo. El dolor era claramente visible en su cara. Sin embargo, tuvimos un momento muy bueno en el chat. Su madre, Terri, (mi madrastra anterior) también estaba allí. De hecho, era su cumpleaños. Cuando salió de la habitación, Nick me dijo que se acercara y él tranquilamente explicó que había una tarjeta de cumpleaños que él quería que yo firme, y que un pastel llegaría en breve. Al parecer, alrededor de las 4 de la noche anterior, como no podía dormir (presumiblemente debido al dolor), se había acordado que era el cumpleaños de su mamá. Como ella estaba durmiendo en el sofá, se arrastró fuera de la cama del hospital, persiguió una enfermera e hizo todos los arreglos.

Tomó un poco más de lo esperado para la torta en llegar, así que no terminamos de visita por unas horas. Yo no podía dejar de tener una gran sonrisa en mi cara después de que cantó Happy Birthday. Nick incluso me preguntó por qué yo sonreía tanto. Yo no lo tiene los huevos para decirle a mi hermanito que acababa sido objeto de una sustitución endoesqueleto bastante dolorosa (sin la ayuda de Skynet) sólo lo orgulloso que estaba de él, pero me arreglé para pronunciar un "buen trabajo, Nick", y yo seguía sonriendo.

VERY COOL

No, not another rant about the weather today, though it was crazy cold, but fortunately...no snow.

What was VERY COOL is something that happened while I was asleep last night.

My new nephew was born. Wow, I get butterflies in my stomach just writing about it. I am so incredibly excited for Lani and Steve. I'm confident they will be incredible parents, and I think it is so awesome that Mom and John got to travel to Germany to be with them for this amazing event. I really do hope I'm able to get away and go see them this spring.

Definitely puts a different twist on the whole cold weather problem. I was complaining about standing in the cold for 10 minutes, while unbenownst to me, my sister was in labor. 24 freaking hours of labor!

Lani, you are amazing...and you will be (are) an amazing mom! Very very glad the little guy is doing well. Love you all!

Utah SUCKS!

I did not enjoy getting up for work this morning. Had very little to do with work. Just the getting there part. Looked out the window, and there were 6 inches of newly fallen snow. Personally, the snow itself doesn’t bother me…too much. I mean, I don’t hate snow. But I do hate cold weather. It was obvious from how “fluffy” the flakes were, it was going to be cold.

So, I put on my parka (yes…parka) and my snowboots and my mittens and bravely faced the elements. Yes, it was a good thing I had bundled up as much as I did, because it was COLD. So cold…that if I wasn’t so protective of them…I’m sure my balls would have right frozen off. And then of course, since there was so much snow, safety boy had to drive the Durango, which meant spending like 10 minutes standing outside filling up the gas tank…

Hard to believe that just 3 weeks ago I was playing in the ocean in my speedo swimsuit (accumulated less sand) off the tip of Baja California. Ah well, at least I have my butterfly photo on my computer desktop to remind me that habitable regions of this planet do exist.

'Tis Official...

When I got home from work on Friday and checked my mail, I found one of the keys for the “big package box” among the usual ads and junk mail. A little surprised, as it was a bit early to be getting Christmas packages, and I couldn’t think of any recent online purchases.

Well, I open up the big box and there’s this big-ass envelope labeled “DO NOT BEND.” I look a little more closely, and it is addressed to (my full name) followed by the letters “CIH.”

Yes, in safety geek lore, it was the big moment we all talk about. Used to be, the exam didn’t have any preliminary results whatsoever, and you simply obsessively checked the mail (sometimes for months) hoping to discover the letter had arrived. At that moment, the gratification (or lack thereof) was instantaneous. If on the letter it said CIH after your name, you had reason to smile. If not…time to hit the books. I was a bit luckier, as I did know my “preliminary result.” That being said, it was still rather special to see the magic letters.

CIH. Certified Industrial Hygienist. If it doesn’t mean much to you, don’t feel bad. I had never even heard the term “industrial hygiene” until near the end of my second year in college. Considering it was to become my major (well, major emphasis, Public Health was my official major), I find that lack of knowledge rather intriguing. How many people major in something they’d never heard of before entering school?

Since I’ve made such a big deal over all this, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to explain what this means to my career, etc. Considering where I’m at professionally, the truth is, the letters aren’t all that important. At least not right now…other than they do give me a little more job security. However, if I decide to look for greener pastures, they could be very significant, especially if I get involved in consulting…or decide to go after a government funded job. For now though, the main benefit was the certification process itself. Sounds strange to say considering how much I disliked (okay…resented) spending hour after hour with my head in a book.

When I took the exam, it was rather cool. I had feared I would leave discouraged and overwhelmed, but such was not the case. It was a tough exam, and yes, it did exhaust me. But my feelings upon leaving the exam were somewhat different than anticipated. I left with the feeling that I had set out to master a very sizable body of knowledge…and succeeded in my goal.

My job still does present new challenges to me each day, and probably always will. But, and this is the cool part, I feel like I am better prepared to face them. I may not always have the answers right away…but I know much better how to find them. Feeling good about what I do…and doing it well. THAT is what this has proven to be really about.

Getting back on track...

So, I did something really cool this morning. I listened to a book on tape in Spanish on the drive to work. This is cool…because other than the trip to Mexico, I haven’t done much with Spanish in like 2 or 3 months. As I’m writing in English, you can probably see I have a ways to go.

The nice thing this time around…is that I seem to be a lot more relaxed about the whole learning a language thing.

Not that I didn’t enjoy it before, but I think I was expecting a bit much of myself…and perhaps overrating the value of becoming bilingual. Now, it seems a lot more like the main motivation is that it is just something I enjoy…which is definitely good.

It’s been kind of a strange year. I set out with a whole list of things that deep down I really wanted to change. It had been a long time since I had been so focused on “improving my life.” Not everything is “just how I would like it” and I suspect life will never quite be like that, but I think I will always reflect on this as the “year of change.” Maybe not the year I became a man…but definitely a year in which I did a lot of growing. Some of that growing by choice…and some not.

The book I was listening to is called “Winning with People.” Well, that’s the English (and original title). The Spanish version is titled “Cómo Ganarse a la Gente.” It’s a really good book, and I would recommend it strongly to anyone. So much of happiness in life comes from the lovingly empathic relationships we strive to develop.

One thing I’ve found about books though…is they only help as much we truly internalize the ideas, and more importantly, weigh them out and decide for ourselves what we really believe. I actually have read the book I was listening to…from cover to cover already this year. There were a lot of good ideas…but no question I could have done a better job in making those ideas a part of me. Sometimes when we try too hard to do too much…it can be a bit self defeating. Nobody ever found happiness overnight. You just work at it bit by bit, and take in life’s lessons as they come.

I’ve got another book I’m working on finishing (bilingually as well). The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I know a lot of people who’ve heard of it, and many who think it’s dumb…but for me…I think it’s one of the most profound compilations of ideas out there.

To a large extent…for me…success is about learning to be the type of person that deep down I would like to be. But it is also accepting who I am…and that life really is a process best taken one day at a time.

Holy Crap!

Well, looks like once again I have attained new levels of strangeness when it comes to dreams. I actually had several dreams last night, but one in particular stands out.

It had to do with a visit to my great aunt “auntie Carol” who is now living at the same assisted living center in Idaho Falls where grammy spent her last years. Uncle Johnny passed away about a month ago, and I thought it would be really nice to pay her a visit. Interestingly, until I put it in writing I didn’t realize just how often that side of the family liked to use terms of endearment ending in “ee”.

Anyways, when I got to the center, auntie Carol looked a little different. Okay, very different. You see, she was a blue egg. Still had the same hairdo, and basic facial features, but in all other respects she had the appearance of a blue Easter egg. The cool thing was, she was the fastest egg I’d ever laid eyes on. She could do circles around all of the other old folks, and she didn’t need a wheel chair or anything. Just did one of those wobbles like in the cartoons. I actually had to yell “Hey auntie Carol, how are you?” to get her to even notice me. Fortunately she did, and immediately stopped and gave me a big smile.

Well, apparently on this visit, Grandma Waite and some others from the “other side of the family” were with me. When auntie Carol stopped, she had been about to zip between Grandma’s legs. Unfortunately, at that precise moment, Grandma dropped something that landed on top of auntie Carol. Not sure if it was shawl, or a pillow, or what, but took auntie Carol completely out of the field of view. Just then, Grandma stepped back and was about to step on what had dropped. I yelled out “STOP!, STOP!”, but it was too late, and Grandma stepped on auntie Carol.

It wasn’t an especially sad funeral, as everybody kind of knew auntie Carol had been close to her time. It was good to see the family and what not, but, can’t deny the sense of awkwardness was palpable. Everybody knew it was an accident, but poor Grandma…she kept saying to everybody “who knew she was an egg?...who knew she was an egg?”, and there was me with the feeling “if only I had let her zip around in peace.” And….there was a definite sense that “the other side of the family” was less than welcome. Fortunately, as far as deaths go, it was about as clean and painless as they come. Apparently auntie Carol was one of those blown out eggs, and there was no gooey mess left behind.

So, that was the dream worth sharing. Interestingly, it was immediately followed by a dream involving a zombie who wanted to use my bathroom. Apparently, there was this zombie who had been "living" in my bedroom closet for years, and after so much time “saving up” he was finally ready for a bowel movement. I can honestly state this particular zombie bore no resemblance whatsoever to any person (living, dead, or both) I have ever met, and I had no qualms about refusing access to my facilities and insisting (despite vociferous protestations from the zombie that such places were unsanitary) that he leave his mother load of zombie stink at a nearby public restroom.

Yes, even a zombie version of Sigmund Freud would likely take years to analyze those dreams, but the fact is…reflecting on them has been a lot of fun, and I’m glad there are enough crazy things going on in my subconscious for me to be able to explore such alternative realities...