The writing may be on the wall...

...and I'm not happy about it. It appears that the good guy Mitt Romney is going to lose out to the crusty old establishment guy whose "turn" it is for the nomination. I can't believe we are going to nominate a 71 year-old geezer for president, to run against what will probably be the Wicked Witch of the West (or Midwest if Arkansas is midwest). What are people thinking? I guess voters must vote based on the emotions and prejudices of the moment more than on logic and far-sightedness. The Geezer is also the liberals' favorite Republican, which is scary in itself. I can't figure people out.

Ethen's turn

Now for some pictures of Ethen.  I tried hard, but most are really good and I don't have any that will embarrass him later in life.  Hopefully the ones posted are new to the viewer.  A couple are of a younger Ethen, a couple as Ethen is now, or was last year.

Here are a couple of my favorite photos

The first is my "Flying Saucer" cloud photo.  I noticed it one day at work.  It was the only cloud in the sky, and luckily I had my camera with me.

The second is my favorite photo of the Provo Temple.  It was taken in the spring as the trees were just beginning to leaf out.  I really like

 the line of the mountain behind the temple and the framing of the building by the landscaping.

Sometimes I would like to be this kid

Somebody sent me this picture a while back and I can't remember who, but I think it's great!

One of these days in the future...

...Jen and Erik are probably going to want to blackmail Mia.  She will be a teen, and as such will know everything, so Mom and Dad might find it useful to be able to put her in her place by having something to hold over her head to get her to obey.  You never know.  Mia is a sweetheart but that's now.  After raising five kids through the teen years, I learned that sometimes the teen years do something to a previously normal kid and they freak out.   So, to do my part as the patriarch of the family to keep order and avoid possible future teenager problems, I am posting a few pictures of Mia as a wee girl that are really cute but also would probably be really embarrassing for a teenage girl, if they got into the wrong hands.   Maybe next time I will put some up of Ethen, but it's hard to imagine Ethen becoming brain dead as a teen.  

The American Idol tryouts were hilarious

I haven't watched them much in the past, but since Cathy likes them, and I occasionally need to watch something with her to keep the marriage alive, we watched them last night. I am totally blown away by the people who actually think they can sing, but sound like the bumper of a 1956 Ford pickup scraping against the side of a 1998 Cadillac because the driver turned too sharp backing out of the parking space. Or they sing like they are mad and equate volume with talent. And the costumes are downright embarrassing. Simon is always funny, and the other judges are ok, and normally they are able to hear the talent even if the auditioners are really nervous, so the good ones get to go to Hollywood. What really struck me though is that some contestants seem to be mentally unbalanced, and sometimes downright scary, like the Princess Leaia (sp?) contestant or the guy who sang a song about stalking What's Her Name, the female judge. Oh yeah, it's Paula Abdul. I guess that's why they have security in the room.

I also watched Hannity and Colmes, late at night, and saw a segment that showed a focus group of democrats and their responses to the democratic debate. Can you say "ignorant dumb masses" three times fast? What was painfully obvious there was the superficiality and shallowness of the democrat "undecided" voters that made up the group. All they could do was spout the conventional anti-Bush talking points of the democrat party. What a bunch of sheeple. Nobody appeared to have done one tenth of the research that they would have done if they were buying a new TV.

The Nuggets lost and Romney won

Overall it was a decent evening. The Nuggets got blown out (I think, because I stopped watching after three quarters when they were down about 25), but Mitt Romney finally won a primary (Michigan). Maybe that will give him some cred with "the people." No matter that he grew up there. He spanked McCain pretty soundly in my opinion. I don't know what will happen in South Carolina this weekend or in Nevada, but now he has as good a chance as anyone, maybe better, if he sticks with economic issues. I like the man the best, and not just because he's a Mormon.

Can you tell that I'm a bit of a political junkie?

We went to Utah

Cathy and I visited Joe and Ashley in Utah this past weekend.  Joe is going to Kuwait next month with his Utah National Guard unit, so we wanted to get in a visit before he goes.  We took some of his stuff to him that we have been storing for years.  We still have more, but we will get it to him later.

Joe and Ashley have two pets, a dog and a cat.  They are cute together.  The cat cuddles on one of their laps, and the dog gets jealous and wants to climb up on the couch and cuddle too.  Sibling rivalry, I guess.  

Pat and Nick took Cathy's car to Arizona, because Nick just had knee surgery and won't fit in my truck.  Cathy is kinda put out about it, and I don't blame her.

My electric work vehicle

I thought I would post a picture of the electric car I drive around during the day while I am issuing parking tickets. It's called a GEM vehicle, GEM standing for Global Electric Motorworks. It's a division of the Chrysler Corporation. It will run for about 35-40 miles on a charge, which is normally fine, because I only log 15-20 miles in a day. If I use the heater though it cuts into the range quite a bit. No air conditioner for the summer. I guess we all have to make sacrifices. It's quite a conversation piece around here.

Sorry about the title

of the previous post.  The navy picture wouldn't upload, so I chose the landscape and forgot to change the title of the post.

Here's a navy picture

Check out the picture.  The Bookcliffs look majestic in the late afternoon sun.   I like the composition of this shot.  I took it off the balcony of a home while I was waiting to shoot a wedding.  It's one of my favorite landscapes.

It has been snowing all day today

It's now ten after 1 in the afternoon, and it was snowing when I got up this morning at 0615 and is still snowing now. This is highly unusual for around here. It usually snows for 30 minutes or so, or maybe most of the night, but as soon as day gets here it stops. Right now it's not stopping, and isn't supposed to stop until about 6 pm. I think it's pretty cool, but the drivers on the street don't. Pat had to take a load of tires to Utah today for his work. I tried to call him a while ago to see how he was progressing, but he didn't answer his cell phone. I am not worried, but curious as to the conditions he has encountered. I have to pick him up at 4, so I would like to know if he will be late or not.

The bad thing about the snow is that it makes parking enforcement a little more difficult. I can still do it though. My electric powered vehicle is so light that it spins and slides a little.

My workouts have begun.

I have begun training.  Nutritionally, I was a bad boy today, but I did do 20 minutes on the bike and 20 minutes on the treadmill this evening.  I plan on adding a minute to each daily.  It's the beginning of my triathlon training.  Soon the Biggest Loser Challenge with the City employees begins, and I will be on that too.  We get nutritionists and exercise specialists from Mesa State to give us individual workout and meal plans, and I guess whoever loses the most wins.  I don't know how long the thing lasts.  I've gotta get in shape to beat the diabetes.  

Attached are a couple of pictures that the family might find interesting.  Reed, as a young 70's dude, and Bruce, somewhat younger too.  Reed, what's up with that jacket?  And that haircut? Did we really wear stuff like that back then?

I taught my first primary class today

It went well.  I won't teach next week because Cathy and I are going to Tooele to visit Joe and Ashley before Joe leaves for Kuwait.  He goes sometime in February and will be gone for a year.

It slowed last night so I got to wake up in the morning and shovel the driveway.  We got about 2 inches but then it warmed up and a lot of it melted.  

I am going to post one of my paintings.  It's a boat painting I did a couple of years ago, a schooner.  Jennifer has the original.  It's one of my favorites.

I was watching the Ironman Triathlon...

...a couple of weeks ago and was impressed by the cross section of people participating. There were the young pros, but there were also some "regular" folks, both guys and gals, participating. There were even people in their 70s. Anyway, I got inspired, and since I have been needing to lose weight and get in shape for a long time now, I called my athletic oldest son Joe and we set a goal to enter a half-triathlon sometime after he gets back from Kuwait in 2009. That gives me a little over a year to get fit and train. I have already begun, although my beginning training is small. I plan an incremental program with more workout added on after progress is made. I don't want to get injured early, because that would be a setback both physically and mentally. The body is not all that young anymore. The day will come that I can run 10 miles. Right now I can't run one.

I picked up my two paintings and my photograph from

City Hall this morning where they have been hanging for the past couple of months.  The city occasionally rotates artwork from locals in order to have fresh art to look at and to allow local artists to have their work displayed.  I have had several up over the years, mostly photography.  Attached is one of my pieces from this past display.  It's a photo of my granddaughter Mia.

Happy New Year 2008!

It's a new year, and a new chance to set and reach new goals.  This morning I weighed in at 220 pounds.  Next year my goal is to weigh in at no more than 170 pounds.  I know I can do it because I did in before, when I entered the MetRx Challenge a few years ago.  I got down to 179 pounds from 237 pounds, in just three months.  Now most of that weight is back on, but I am motivated to get it off again.  I am not fit so I will have to start slow, but I expect that and plan to build on early progress to reach my goal.

Not much went on today.  Lots of college football.  It was a parking holiday, of course, so I didn't have to work.