What We (Sometimes...) Talk About At Work...

I work in an office. About half of us cubi's (short for cubicle workers...) are men. Many of us have strong opinions. So, what does all this mean? It means at any given time conversations can be heard vaulting over the low cubicle walls to entertain and annoy, conversations about many things, but at this time of year, most (if not all...) of the conversations center around sports. It's been a long summer.

Where I live, we don't seem to embrace baseball. That will change once the playoffs and world series begins, but I think most of the men on the floor are like me. Baseball's there, but we've got no "favorites." So, baseball gets ignored.

Tomorrow begins the start of the college football season and for all its faults and misgivings, there's a passion that exits among the fans, passion that manifests itself audibly for all on the floor to hear, fan and non-fan alike.

With college football starting, pro football isn't far behind. It seems like things just get going when college and pro basketball--not to mention, pro hockey (for all those Avalanche fans out there...) starts at the same time. It's a GREAT time to be a sports fan.

But, I assure you, at no time do the conversations (and occasional web searches...) cause the work to suffer. Trust me...

A Court of Honor...

A Court of Honor

The scouts gather in an empty church, leaders prep the room, the slideshow primed to relive memories of the past several months—something to allow the scouts to remember the good/bad times and something to show the parents what their boys have been doing on those Tuesday nights and weekend camp outs.

It’s been years since I was a scoutmaster. Our current-called leader replaced me and he's done a wonderful job with many kids, including my eldest in the past and also now with my second.

Flag ceremony, speeches, delivery of earned patches and advancements, opening and closing prayers, and the inevitable consuming of the refreshments. Slightly embarrassed parents accompany their sons while accomplishments are highlighted and acknowledged.

We leave packing pieces of paper and small stitched patches of colored cloth that we didn't have when we first arrived. The scout program continues on allowing young men to do their best, to God and their country and we keep attending courts of honor.

Evidence #312-J: Victim's Backpack

Contents of Victim's Backpack

1 metal water bottle, blue, empty

1 iPod w/headphones

1 cell phone, iPhone, white

1 mini flashlight, blue

1 wallet, contents: $22.00, driver's license, student I.D., social security card, emergency contact card

37¢ change

3 pens

1 pencil

1 sock, white

1 sweatband, green/yellow/purple

15 tablets: Zyrtec, Dr. Fellows, prescribed

7 tablets: Sertraline, Dr. Fellows, prescribed

27 tablets: Tums

1 letter: addressed to Carolynn Martins (fellow student)

2 45 caliber bullets

1 cigarette lighter, red

1 notebook, red

1 textbook: Spanish

1 book, The Gold Bug, Poe

1 key

Son's Blog Site...American Knnneget

My oldest son began his first blog. He is a voracious reader and the writing bug has bit him. So much so, he began his own blog. It's called the American Knnneget and here's the LINK.

Here's some pictures of my son through the years...

There are other pictures of my son, of course. I've tried to include some on this blog. I wonder how he'll do with his new blog. I guess, if you're like me, you'll find out too.

In other news, this Facebook response made me happy...

A Family Reunited...

A month or so ago some of my extended family decided to have a family reunion. Back in the day family reunions were a staple, a part of being in the Knight family. We put on two reunions, one big and one smaller. The big reunion gathered my mother and her cousins, the smaller reunion was for my mother's siblings and their kids, or in other words, my first cousins. As time has removed many of my mother's cousins (not to mention my mother herself...), it's harder and harder to come together for the big reunions. We've also neglected putting on the smaller reunions as well.

Today we met at our local park and it took a few hours to get everyone there, but it was worth the wait. I was too busy talking to relatives to think about pictures. I did end up eventually taking some panorama shots and a couple of videos, the complete set of visual evidence of the event can be found here.

I am so very blessed to be part of this family because my life could have literally been different--a decision here or there and everything, everything, would have changed.

We're all older, hopefully wiser, and it's hard to believe we once possessed the energy on display by the children as we watched then run around the park in the summer sun. I don't know when the next reunion will be. I hope we pick a time of the year that isn't as warm as today was. But if we do, I hope we can all attend and enjoy each other's company until our paths cross again and we once more gather as a family of Knights. I love my family.

Quiz Answers!

Sheila, Carol, and perhaps others... here's some answers.

Sheila noticed a couple of things. Yes, this is a free audiobook. And Carol, for someone not knowing a lot about computers, you did very well. I was at work and it was a free audiobook.

Now, it's my turn. I was at work yesterday listening to this free Podiobook. I'm natually a cheap...ah, I mean, frugal person and I was in Heaven when I found the Podiobooks site. Podiobooks are always a risk. Some are really good, and some are not. The good thing if it's bad, I can delete it without feeling bad, or feeling I should listen to the whole thing because I bought it.

I'm lucky. I have to be next to a phone all day, but my phone doesn't ring as much as others so I can listen to audiobooks while I process claims. Some people can't, but I've been able to do both simultaneously. It's part 2 of this particular book so that means I at least liked the first part.

Sheila, this is a mystery of sorts, but it's more a young adult fantasy. So far, it's not bad--read by the author and there's good voice talent and appropriate music. I recommend it.

Carol mentioned the 2x and thought it might be the size of the screen. Nope, it's the speed at which I listen to the podcast. I LOVE listening to podcasts at twice the speed and the main reason is I can listen to twice as much as normal. The problem is that I actually know a couple of people who do their own podcasts and I'm sure when I hear them in person, it's going to drive me crazy that they're speaking too ssssllllooowwwwwww.......

Thanks to all who played. Maybe I'll do another one of these sometime...

A couple of other pics

A big plane:

A little kid at the Golden Corral.

Time For A Little Quiz...It's Fun!

Quiz Time!

Hey, time to take a break and do a little deducing... Take a look at the above photograph of my humble little iPod.

Look carefully. There's a lot of things in that picture that identify many aspects of my personality. It would be interesting to see what things you can pick out. E-mail me (or don't, if you don't want to...). Good luck and have fun with it!

Of course, it's not a proper blogpost without more pictures. While running/walking tonight I came across one of the most perfect vehicles ever made. A 4 x 4 Volkswagen Syncro Vanagon.

The owner (whom I don't know...) definitely has a sense of humor:

Of course, any VW owner knows this oil spot came from this particular van. I'm sure it wasn't there earlier in the day.

I don't know what year this van is, and I'm sure it's a huge headache (at times...) for the owner, it's still a very cool vehicle.

Halloween...Really?

I should have snapped a few pictures...

My son and I went walking in the neighborhood tonight and I saw a big white cloud overhead that looked cool so I snapped a picture. If nothing catches my eye to photograph during the day, I can usually find interesting things (interesting to me, anyway...) to photograph in the evening. Tonight we walked and chatted with the neighbors (actually, we decided to do our home teaching early this month...). ;) We ended up getting home late, or home too late to take pictures.

My wife needed to go to the local grocery store and I thought, "Great. I can take some pictures for the blog post at the store." We drove to the store and bought our needed items. As I drove away from the store I realized I had a perfect opportunity to take some pictures, but I blew it.

When we walked in the store we were greeting by big inflatable black cats trying to look both cute and scary at the same time. Yes...it's Halloween time at Smiths! I thought, "I guess Halloween is coming early this year." This thought reminded me of a talk I heard my brother's father-in-law give when he spoke in church about Christmas. It seems he's heard the "Christmas decorations keep going up earlier and earlier every year" speech and it bothered him because he had heard the same thing every Christmas for decades. If indeed that statement were true, Christmas decorations would be going up in June, or July.

So since I didn't take pictures, imagine a big inflatable cute/scary black cat poised over an entire isle of Halloween decorations and candy and hopefully that mental picture will add to your blog reading experience. Next time, I'll remember to actually take the camera out of my pocket when the time is right...

The Big Rock By The Bridge...

Day 2 of exercising...oh the things you see.

Tonight I went to run/walk the Lagoon Trails. For those in the area where I live, most know what and where the Lagoon Trails are. I ran at dusk and I again took my camera with me (hence, the darkened picture...).

I ran/walked until I crossed a bridge and saw a big rock. In a split second a memory flew to my mind (much faster than I was running...). My mind returned to the same rock where several years ago my immediate family posed for a picture. The camera we used for the photo date stamped the event (remember those cameras?) so we know when it was taken.

Today if we want to take another family photo only three of us remain. The location can be a beautiful place to take a picture. First-hand experience has taught me this.

A Run at Barnes Park...

I think it's been a couple of years since I ran. You could argue (and you'd have a lot of evidence to support this theory...) that I really didn't "run" tonight because I sort of ran at times, walked at times, and took pictures at times. But the real point is I strapped on my running shoes and exercised. It felt fantastic.

While my oldest son attended his karate class, I went across the street to Barnes Park and checked it out.

Barnes Park has several sports venues. They have a cloverleaf of softball/baseball diamonds and three football fields. Each football field is named after a local football legend. If you know anything about the football tradition of Kaysville, and more specifically, Davis High, you'll recognize these names.

Mr. Purdy was our vice principle at Davis High while I attended and he was also Kaysville's mayor. I think he was a good man. He was always nice to me.

Even though I never played high school football, Coach Cullimore was an institution and my driver's education instructor. He was a funny guy.

I don't know who Lee Liston was. I'm sure many do.

I noticed none of the softball/baseball scoreboards were named after prominent Kaysvillians. Maybe if Davis becomes a baseball powerhouse, the coaches that lead the teams to state championships will have a field named after them after they pass away. Maybe...

I ran/walked for about a half hour and thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful park. I NEED to keep running. My friend Eddie says, "Good things happen when you run," and I believe him.

Our Son's Dog Watching Venture...

More Picture Memories From The Past...

Years ago our oldest child had an idea. Why not start a dog walking/watching business? It never did materialize. I don't know if not starting the business was due to one reason or many, but the answer to the question of why not start this particular business could be as simple as, because we just didn't.

EMMA

For some kids, dogs are not a good match. It's understandable how dogs can be scary, especially when the animals are larger than the child themselves. Our son did not share this fear. He loved dogs and this love of animals made him think of the business idea.

DAKOTA

We took some pictures (sorry for the quality...I think we used a 1.3 megapixel point-n-shoot...) to make a flyer. You gotta advertise!

CHARLIE

Unfortunately, none of these dogs, I believe, are still with us. I know of two that have gone to chase rabbits on a rich uncle's ranch somewhere. Charlie, the shih tzu, was a family favorite. The first time we ever heard our first son really laugh--not just giggle, but "America's Funniest Home Videos winner, would have received a million YouTube hits had YouTube been around at the time" laugh was when he first met Charlie. He was a great dog and he's missed.