Growing Up Too Fast

I tell my kids to stop growing. They're not listening...lol

I'm in shock. My daughter, my baby, will be 3 in a month. When did that happen? It just doesn't seem right.

My son started Preschool this year. Since when do I have a child that is old enough to go to school? That just doesn't seem right.

It all comes down to this: They are growing up too fast. Who else is feeling like me?

Speak Out with your Geek Out

The following I originally posted not too long ago on both Google+ and Facebook but I have decided to post it again because of a week-long internet event called Speak Out with your Geek Out, encouraging all geeks everywhere to post, tweet, blog, and basically speak out, both on the internet and in person/face-to-face, about your geeky hobbies and act as an example and/or mentor to other geeks who might be a little shy about saying "I'm proud to be a Geek". Since, as you will read below, this is an important concept to me, I decided to join in by reposting this. Now, I'm not saying this is my only geeky interest. This was inspired by a contemplation of the general types of geek out there (sports, computer, D&D, video game, Harry Potter, etc.) and a realization of the category I feel most comfortable labeling myself. Enjoy, and feel free to comment and take part in Speak Out with your Geek Out, yourselves.

(original post:)

Most of my life I've had a hard time feeling like I fit in with anyone (Don't run away, this isn't some sob story, just describing background before my epiphany). As I've gotten older, it has come down to what type or group of people I am or want to be. I enjoy playing sports, but I'm not very good and I don't feel like a "jock". I enjoy lots of geeky topics but I don't know how to program computers, etc. And, "geek" still had a negative connotation in my mind (it was synonymous with nerd and dweeb).

But a couple years ago I found the GeekDad blog (wired.com/geekdad) and began to realize I truly am a Geek and proud of it. I also learned that geeks have interest in lots of different topics and not just comic books and computers, and many even enjoy outdoor activities like biking, camping, etc. Furthermore, I even began to realize that the geek community (I like to call it Geekdom) is a very accepting and very diverse community. Since that time, I have really been growing into my geekery and even feel more confident knowing where I fit in. 

Sometimes I still struggle feeling like I fit in with other geeks that have a large depth of knowledge because I am more of the type that was a wide breadth of knowledge of many topics. This post: (http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/04/the-geeks-dilemma-breadth-vs-depth-of-interests/) helped immensely as I saw in the comments lots of others that were jack-of-all-trades type people, too. (If you can't tell, I rely heavily on the authors of GeekDad, and their companion site GeekMom, to guide me through this journey of self-discovery. My largest circle, so far, is the one I have reserved for the writers on those blogs).

Then, recently, I started struggling with the type of geek I am. I'm not a computer geek, because I don't know how to program them, I'm not a video game geek, because I don't own any consoles, I have always enjoyed tv shows and movies about the Marvel superheroes (and Batman, from DC) but I'm not a comic book geek. I don't even own a single comic. But then, from recent experiences, I realized what type of geek I am.

I am an information/research geek. I like to know things and I am good at finding the information I need, on the internet and other sources. I get a thrill trying to solve the puzzle of how to find what I'm looking for. That's why I like reading so much, I like to learn and take in as much information as I can. I am an info/research geek and I'm proud!

My Theatrical Little Girl

I thought I'd share a little story about Lara during Sacrament meeting on Sunday. Dave was on the stand because he was asked to give a talk, so I was left to manage our ninos by myself, with my gimp foot...lol After the opening song and prayer, Lara was looking at a hymnal, flipping through the pages. Then she stops at one of the pages and begins singing to herself. Not sure what she was singing, but it sure was cute.

The people in the pew behind us chuckled. One of the ladies came up to me later and told me how cute she thought my children were. I'm glad they didn't mind my active children :)

Lara is definitely our theatrical child. She loves to sing and dance, making up her own songs most of the time. Takes after her mommy :)

Blog Changes

I (Dave) came upon the realization recently that I am more of an internet consumer than I am an internet producer. This stems from the fact, as I mentioned on G+ and FB, I am an info/research geek, so I love reading and learning (i.e. consuming information) and not so much spending the time to produce internet content. When I first created my blog, I had grand plans of being a well-known/well-followed blogger that consistently produced relevant web content. Yeah, that didn't happen.

I have been thinking of making some changes (i.e different URL, different layout, etc.) and then realized that maybe I should just merge my random rambling blog with Corrina's family matters blog (since on occasion, I have also covered familial happenings) and get rid of Ruminations all together. Therefore, that is what we are doing. I will be importing everything I have posted on my personal blog into Corrina's blog, and then eventually delete mine. We will still login with separate ids, so you'll be able to tell who is creating what post, but it will be nice to cut down on some o the web-clutter. Therefore, if you're reading this from Ruminations, follow this link to our newly conjoined blog. If you are reading this on Corrina's blog, congratulations! You don't have to do anything different. Enjoy!

Review: Mimi's Cafe

When we used to live in Sacramento, we enjoyed eating at Mimi's Cafe, every now and again. Corrina had been eating there with her family for years and introduced it to me after we got married. We enjoyed the ambiance as well as the menu. Although I have never actually been to Louisiana, it was reminiscent of the type of place you would see in New Orleans, especially the French Quarter. There's musical instruments and gator heads on the walls. The menu was simple but the food was delicious. I'm not a big soup fan, but whenever we would go, I would readily substitute their French Onion Soup for the fries, it was that good. They would also give your table a bread basket with bread sticks, carrot raisin bread (which Corrina absolutely loved), etc (In our younger days, when we would eat out a lot, we would rate restaurants on the type and quality of the bread they would give you as you order). While we were down in Sacramento visiting friends and family this Fourth of July weekend, we really wanted to eat there again.

Unfortunately, they changed their menu and now the place has lost some of its pizzazz. The menu has more options, but now has the feel of any other chain restaurant you could go to. It appears that, instead of embracing their French Quarter personality, they are trying to be just any other French restaurant. In fact, the current specials insert in the menu had the theme of the Tour de France and each week (or so) they were going to highlight a different region of France. The semi-upscale french menu just doesn't fit in with the French Quarter memorabilia on the wall. Corrina commented that the carrot raisin bread wasn't as good as she remembered it, and I felt the same about the French Onion Soup. The soup itself tasted fine, but there was something different about the bread and melted cheese on top. Now, I will admit that the change in taste could be because we haven't eaten there in a long time and our memories deceive us, or the fact that we don't eat out as much anymore so our taste buds have adjusted to the homemade food over restaurant food, but I just can't get over the fact they they changed their menu. Like I said earlier, they are not a French Restaurant, they are a French Quarter Restaurant and should return to that. Their food is average and their menu is average. I don't think we will be returning there any time in the near future.

Review: A Game of Thrones

I don't know if any of you (are there any readers left?) have heard anything about the book A Game of Thrones, or the HBO adaptation of the same name, but I have currently been reading it, which incidentally is the first book in a series by George R. R. Martin called A Song of Ice and Fire. I have not seen the show (no cable, no HBO), but after reading Orson Scott Card's review of it, I probably won't be. I originally heard about the book/series from the GeekDad blog and which gave it glowing reviews, while it also warned that the show is not child friendly.
I was talking with a fellow bibliophile in our ward one day and I asked if he had heard anything about it, to which he answered that he had not. I explained it a little as best I could from what I had read and he ended up looking into it some more and decided to buy the set of books. He then let me borrow the first book because he said he hasn't had time to read anything lately so he is letting me read it first. (Boy, have I been freaked out about keeping the paperback in nice condition. It's not even mine and I'm the first to crack open its pages.)
If you want a decent overview of what is expected in both the book (but mostly the show) follow this link to GeekDad. At this point I will warn you that there is foul language and some sex scenes in the book, but neither one, in and of themselves, is a deal-breaker for me personally. I know for some people it will be. I leave it up to you to decide. Again, Orson Scott Card describes it pretty well when he said:

Now, it happens that in the coarse medieval world of Martin's novels, there is a casual attitude toward sex. But Martin never, not once, uses sex pornographically. It's not described in detail, and it is always used as part of character revelation, relationship building, or plot complication. You don't dwell on it, you know that it happened and you move forward in the story.

 I will discuss the language a little more in detail later. At this point I wanted to give my impressions of the story. The story is very gripping. It details with a medieval world where many factions ("Houses, i.e. Families) are all struggling to survive and prepare for the oncoming winter while at the same time playing the game of thrones, where, it is said, when you play you either win or you die. The game is the struggle of kingship over the Seven Kingdoms, through intrigue, schemes, open battle, etc. Some Houses are more honor-driven than others, some are more power-driven than others, and some are just trying to live long long and not lose their head. For the most part, House Stark, with their Direwolf sigil, are more honor-driven and House Lannister, with their Lion sigil, are more power-driven, while everyone else lies somewhere in between. In addition to the major houses of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, there are also to exhiled children, the last survivors of the Targaryen family, which used to hold the thrown until the children's father was murdered and them hunted.  They flee across the narrow sea and the girl is married to the leader of the Dothraki horse-lords. They are intent on returning to Westeros and reclaiming their father's throne that was stolen from them.
Each chapter tells the story as it relates specifically one character at the time and is presented in a third person limited point of view. The character development is great, the scenic descriptions are great, the visualization of clothing, armor, weapons, equipment, etc. is great. Overall, the book does an excellent job of pulling you into the medieval world of Westeros. When the story starts going, it really pulls you in and you feel like you are there.
My one complaint about the story is the language. As I mentioned earlier, use of foul language in a book is not, in and of itself, a deal-breaker for me. Perhaps that is an admission of my personal level of righteousness, but oh well. I won't stop reading a book just because a couple f-bombs. However, it absolutely MUST be in a proper context. There are some words used frequently that, I feel, is perfectly acceptable in the context of the story. Frequent usage of hell(s) and d--n (and similar forms) fit in perfectly with life, culture, the religion, etc. I have no beef with that. My complaint, however, is with the use of f-bombs and sh-words. As I said earlier, that is not, in and of itself, a deal-breaker. The beef is, that it just feels soooo out of place. I can't imagine medieval people dropping the f-bomb. However, according this article, its origins can be traced back to 1503. But at the same time, it doesn't appear to have been in common usage. For example, William Shakespeare never used it in any of his existing works. The end result of using the f-bomb and sh-word is to effectively make the story come to an abrupt stop and remind me that I am not actually there in Westeros but just a reader of a novel of a fictitious world of fictitious people. Its a little disappointing and always takes a little time to get back into the story. Fortunately, they are kept to a minimum. If the usage was more frequent, it would probably ruin the story and cause to to set the book down and not finish it.
But, overall, it is an excellent story and love engrossing myself in its world.

How to Make Caramel Corn

Lately we've been on a caramel corn kick so I thought I'd share our recipe:

Step 1: purchase box of Orville Redenbacker microwave caramel corn (contains a bag of microwave popcorn and a caramel wafer)

Step 2: Burn bag of microwave popcorn in crappy microwave

Step 3: Pop bowl of popcorn using air popper.

Step 4: Follow remainder of instructions on box

Step 5: Enjoy

Star Wars: The Big Reveal

Everyone knows that Vader is Luke's father. Here's a little recap in case you have forgotten how the big reveal really went down, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away":




But what if the Big Reveal had taken place not-so-long ago, in a television studio near you:

MP: Hi, welcome back. I'm Maury Povich and today's special guest is Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith.
DV: Glad to be here today.
MP: Now, Mr. Vader
DV (interupting): Please, call me Lord Vader, or just Lord
MP: Very well, Mr. Vader
DV: LORD Vader
MP: Mr. Vader, no need to get angry
DV: Don't make me force throttle you!
MP: Anyway, we'd like to bring out someone special from your past.
DV (nervously): Padme, uh, what are you doing here? It's been like a year since we broke up.
PA: No, WE didn't break up. YOU broke up with ME.
DV: Baby, I'm sorry, but you gotta understand. It wouldn't have worked out. You were fighting for galactic freedom, and I was aspiring to be the supreme ruler of the universe
PA: Whatever, I'm over it now. That's not why I'm here.
DV: I'll say your over it. You sure didn't waste anytime. A child, even...
PA: What are you talking about? Did Maury tell you why you're on the show?
DV: He told me enough. He told me Obi-Won is the father.
PA: No. You are the father.
DV: NOOOOOOOOOO!
PA: Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
MP: That's right, Mr. Vad- (choking) okay, okay, sorry, LORD Vader, please stop choking me...
DV: Very well
MP: The real topic for today's show is "My Baby-Daddy is an Evil Super-Villain, and I want my Child Support"
DV: Its, its, impossible! You can't prove nothin'
PA: He even looks like you.
DV: Impossible. I won't pay. You can't make me
(audience): Maury! Maury! Maury!
(Cut to commercial)

Utah Trip

Its late and I should be in bed, but I thought "Why not blog about our recent trip to Utah?" Warning, this is going to be one of those boring "travel logs" (like the "quotes"?)
Originally, our plan was to leave on Friday morning after I got off of work, but then we heard a storm was going to be coming thru so we decided to postpone it til Saturday. Really glad we did. We were going to leave by 6am Saturday morning, but we didn't finish packing and cleaning til 2 am and when we woke up, there was chain restrictions over the pass so we decided to sleep a little longer. We slept a couple more hours and, although there were still chain restrictions when we left, the storm had passed and the sun was up so we hoped they would be lifted by the time we got there. We were checking the road conditions the whole way on our phone and they were slowly getting lifted, section by section. At one point we saw the sign that said chains required in 16miles, but then traffic slowed to a crawl and by the time we traveled the 16miles, the chain restrictions were lifted. We finally arrived in Provo at my brother and sister-in-law's house at about 11pm. Sunday we went to Church with them, and afterwards, my sister, whose in BYU's nursing program, came over for dinner. Sunday afternoon, we let the kids play in the snow in the back yard and Will and I made a snow man for the kids. Monday, we went to our friends, Jason and Amanda's house, where we stayed the rest of the week. Our kids became fast friends with their friends and some tears were shed when we had to leave. Monday afternoon, my sister introduced me to one of her professors who has a very important title at the pharmacy school I was interviewing at. Probably the biggest piece of advice he gave me was to make a good impression on the faculty interviewer, don't do anything to make them not like me.
Tuesday, we looked at apartments and picked up some applications. Wednesday, we drove up to Ogden to visit our friends Aaron and Ashley. Had a good visit with them and had a laugh over the brain pizza their daughter was eating. :-)
Thursday, I had my interview at the pharmacy school. The questions were of a different style than I got last year but I still felt good about it. During the orientation, the Dean explained that they received 800 applications, offered 600 interviews and have spots for 245 new students.
Our original plan was to stay Friday and drive home Saturday but Thursday night we decided that it would be better to drive home Friday instead. The kids were getting tired of being away from home and we realized it would be nice to have Saturday to recover from the trip. The drive home Friday was uneventful and their was no concerns about chains and road conditions. The kids did great on the drives and we were all grateful to be home. Now we just gotta get back into the swing of things with work and school and housekeeping, etc. And now we just play the waiitng game to see if I get in. Hopefully good things are in store for us.

PharmD

Ok, so I know it's been fooorrreeeevvveerrr since I've posted. I just wanted to give a little update for those who are not on Facebook. We are excited that Dave has been invited to interview at USN's Utah campus at the beginning of March (for pharmacy school)! We're planning a little vacation, so if you'd like us to visit let me know.

Frenemies

If, as the saying goes, you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer, where should you keep "frenemies"?

If you look at just the term "frenemy", it would make sense to keep them closer than your friends but not quite as close as your enemy, since it is kind of and in-between term.

However, if you examine the concept of a frenemy, it might be more appropriate to keep them even closer than your enemies because their thinly-veiled malice towards you could become a liability. So you would want to watch them even closer because, with an out-right enemy, you know they are going to try to harm your personage or character when ever they have a chance. But with a frenemy, they could maintain a facade of kindness and friendliness for many years until you least expect it, and then they release their full fury when your guard is down.

Chico City Council

So the Chico City Council is currently in the process of appointing a person to the council to fill a vacancy left by one member getting elected to a county position. In the November elections, the people of Chico voted to fill 3 open seats on the council while also knowing that 2 months after the elections, a 4th seat would open up. Instead of just appointing the 4th place vote getter the vacancy, the flagrantly liberal city council decided to waste tax-payer time and money and take applications from people for the seat.

I heard today that they have successfully narrowed it down to just two contenders and have until their next council meeting (next Tuesday) to decide. Brace yourselves for the descriptions of the two finalists:

Finalist #1: A minority with a sob story, but who has never voted in a single election, local, state, or national.

Finalist #2: A middle-class white business owner who knows how to create jobs and was the 4th place vote getter, mentioned above.

Who do you think should get the council seat? Unfortunately, who do you think will get it?

And that's what's wrong with America.

Thoughts from the Shower

While I was taking a shower this afternoon, I had a thought (Hey! this is my thought. Don't be thinking about me in the shower, thou shalt not lust)

It is well known that I help more around the house than many (most?) other husbands and people have been known to get jealous about it.

My thought was, why is it, when people see this, they automatically think that Corrina is a control freak and forces me to do these things. Has anyone considered that maybe I'm the control freak and won't let Corrina do it so I can make sure it is done they way I want it done?

Many will say, "that's ridiculous, we know you're not like that" and my response is: the other scenario is equally ridiculous. It's a little something called communication and division of labor. We have talked about it and have decided on how to divide the tasks how they work best for us as a couple. 

And the only reason I can see why anyone would care is because A) the wife wishes her husband could be as helpful as me, and B) the husband wishes I didn't make them look bad.

To this I say: maybe you need to talk with your spouse and make some changes. But above all, get over it and quit judging us for what works for us.