A Day Of Driving...And Driving...And Driving

Sometime between getting my license and now I've turned into a non-driver. It's not that I dislike driving--I don't, but things have changed since the days of carefree driving when I drove everywhere, anytime.

The biggest reason I don't do a lot of driving is because my work pays for a bus/train pass and there are so many advantages--at least in my opinion--to taking the bus to and from work. First, someone else has to deal with the crazy traffic. Plus, there's an hour of time each day where I can do some reading with an actual book. I've gotten through so many books this last year. It's convenient--the bus drops me off right at my building and I save a ton of money in gas and wear and tear on my car.

But today, I had to drive to work so I could get home early. I drove to work and arrived at 6am. Ten hours later I left and drove home. I then drove the family to Clearfield so I could hear a speech my son gave after graduating from his class. My daughter had a rehearsal tonight so after my son's speech and before all the speeches were done she and I drove to Centerville and I dropped her off. After that I drove to Clinton to where my family and the other speech-giver's families gathered for pizza. Once we were done eating and chatting we drove home and to top off the day, I drove and picked up my daughter after her rehearsal was over.

I snapped a couple of pictures as I was out and about. I was fully stopped at stop lights when I took them, so don't worry. I took a picture of a VW van because it was being towed--something very familiar to vintage VW owners. And the dog, well, I snapped a picture of it because of the adorable factor.

The best part of spending a day behind the wheel is getting home and knowing you won't have to go anywhere else for the day. That's a good feeling.

Paying The Price...For A Sunrise

Do sunrises have a cost? That might sound like a silly question, but I do believe they do. Maybe I think that way because for me, sunrises are not like sunsets. To catch a good sunset, all I have to do is be home. It takes work for me to see a beautiful sunrise.

I thought about this as I was trying to position my camera while on the third floor of my building yesterday morning. As anyone knows, when shooting something outside, it's difficult to eliminate reflections of interior lights and cubicle walls in the windows. I had to cram the lens against the glass. Then, due to recent wind storms mixed with rain, the windows outside were filthy. I was surprised these turned out so well, even though it didn't capture how amazing the morning sky was.

But why do I think sunrises cost something? First of all, you have to be up when sunrises hit. When I am awake during sunrises, I'm usually a work. When I'm not working, I usually sleep in and miss them. So I kind of pay by not being awake. 

Next, to get a good shot of the sun rising above the eastern mountains, I have to go somewhere. I'm very fortunate enough to have a wonderful vantage point to take pictures of sunsets. All I have to do is open the back door and start shooting. Sunrises...I'm not so lucky. Usually I'm either on the bus going to work or stuck in my building and there's the issues I discussed earlier.

If I didn't have to be at work in the morning and I enjoyed getting up before the sun, the price of a sunrise wouldn't be that high. I wish I was one of those people who liked getting up early and going for a run. That way I'd be able to snap pictures with my phone on those mornings when a beautiful sunrise can take my breath away. I guess I could do that now, but it would cost me. You see what I mean.

Who Knew Microsoft Excel Could Be So...Well, Not Boring?

To be honest, I wasn't too thrilled to be attending Microsoft Excel Training all day today, even if it was Level 2 training. When I was asked a few weeks ago if I wanted to take advantage of the already paid Excel training, the words, "sure--that'd be fun" never entered my mind. I wasn't opposed to it--upgrading one's skills is always a good thing, but, Excel? It's a great program and all and I do use it for work, occasionally. 

And my lack of Excel knowledge has frustrated me in the past...

Weighing all the options, I knew going would be better than not, and this morning was my scheduled time. Eight hours later I left the classroom with a whole new perspective on Excel.

It's actually pretty cool.

Since my use of Excel at work (or anywhere else, for that matter...) is limited, I never really needed to know more than the basics and definitely didn't need to use all the bells and whistles contained therein. But after the excellent training from Rob Zippro at the New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, my eyes were opened up to just how amazing the program really is. It actually appealed to my creative side--something I never thought would have happened when I entered the classroom this morning at 9am.

Will today's events change my life? Probably not. But what I learned today made me almost wish that I had a job where I had the opportunity to harness the intimate knowledge of Microsoft's Excel so it could greater enhance my work-time hours. In other words, it would be fun to do something that allowed me to use all the bells and whistles I learned today.

My First Review For "Speckled"

Today I received my first book review. For me, it's kind of a big deal.

I've had three short stories published in anthologies and there are several reviews for those books, but today's review was for my own book. It made my day.

I have a sort of love/hate relationship with reviews, as I believe, many authors do. I remember back in college when our a'cappella choir received a poor review from one of our performances. I've also heard interviews from authors talk about reviews. In both instances, I heard some wise council.

"If a good review can make you feel great, a bad review can make you feel terrible." 

In other words, don't get too excited about a great review. There's always another side.

My friend Dave Butler wrote the review. What I appreciate so much is that he not only bought my book, but he took the time to read it, and write a review. That really means a lot to me. If you'd like to read his review, you can go: HERE, or you can do what Dave did and find the review: HERE (then buy the book, read it, and write a review yourself...).

I've gotten to know a lot of authors over the past couple of years and what they love the most about what they do is when they hear from those who have read and enjoyed their works. Today I got a good review and it felt great. Thanks, Dave!

SOPIK...The Utah Jazz Dancers Edition

For those of you who don't know, SOPIK stands for Some Old Photos I've Kept. The next bundle of photos I looked through chronicled the time I worked for the Utah Jazz Dancers.

Yes. I really did.

It was 1992 and I had just graduated with my first degree in H.R.  My friend was given the assignment of putting together a jazz dance troupe for the newly constructed Delta Center and I asked her if she would like some help with H.R. She agreed and for two years I went to all the home games as a part of the Utah Jazz Dancers.

Now, for the record, I didn't have a lot to do and that was fine since it wasn't a paid gig, but I did get to see all the games on the floor with my access pass (sorry the pictures I took were not the greatest quality...). I watched some great battles, even one where Michael Jordan almost single-handedly beat the Jazz after being down double digits in the fourth quarter--if I'm remembering things correctly.

Since it was the first year for both the Delta Center and the Jazz Dancers, everything was new. They tried putting together a televised aerobics class to play on KJZZ TV. It never got off the ground. They also held a Jazz Dancer Clinic at Bountiful High School. A lot of little kids (who are now fully grown adults now...) participated and several were chosen to dance at a Utah Jazz game.

It was hard to keep the job, mostly because it didn't pay, and because I ended up getting a position working graves. It's too bad because it was a lot of fun.

Ceramics...Before And After

My youngest son was so excited this morning. Why? Because today was the day all of our ceramic projects would be done and ready to be picked up. This afternoon my in-laws came over with two shopping bags and contained in those bags were our works of art.

And I must say, the end products were a huge success. Sure, there are little flaws, but that's okay. We love how they all turned out. So here I've provided some before and after shots.

My son's penguin...

Pretty sure he loves it!

My other son's dragon...

It looks fantastic!

Grampa's frog...

Will he name it Sam?

Family, before...

A colorful family after!

One piece of the tea set getting painted...

And the finished product.

And finally, my project!

And what it looked like after!

It was so much fun, both the creating and the unveiling. A good time was had by all.

Two Shows...Two Theaters

We hardly never go to movies in theaters, and until recently, we rarely go see live performance shows. The reason we've seen so many live performances is because I've been in so many shows lately.

But seeing movies in a theater is another story.

It's just something we don't do. My son and I went and saw Avengers: Age of Ultron this morning and the last movie I saw in a theater was in February, 2014. We do see movies, but usually after they've hit Redbox.

Something about the new Avengers movie, however, kept nudging me and I knew I'd want to see it because everyone in the world will have seen it after this weekend. I also heard it was good so I asked my son a few days ago if he wanted to go see the show and the smile on his face told me he did. And since he and I would be the only ones going, it was affordable.

Good show! 

But this post isn't necessarily about the details of the movie, or what I liked or didn't like about it. It's about going to two shows.

Tonight my wife and I attending Centerpoint Legacy Theatre's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I've never heard any of the music and we know the story so well. Great performances! They did a great job! There's something about attending live theater that you just can't beat, even a $100 million dollar movie can't match.

So, today, I spent almost six hours sitting in a chair being entertained. It was a pretty good day.