NIMBY

Everyone in Bonneville County: WHY CAN'T THE CITY/COUNTY PLAN AHEAD FOR TRAFFIC? THEY NEVER DO ANYTHING RIGHT THESE ROADS ARE TERRIBLE THERE'S TOO MUCH TRAFFIC AND THEY SHOUD PLAN AHEAD AND REALLY GET THINGS READY FOR THE FUTURE!

Also everyone in Bonneville County: WHY DID THE COUNTY/CITY HAVE TO IMPACT *ME* AS THEY PLAN FOR THE FUTURE THESE PLANNERS ARE EVIL AND NEVER THINK ABOUT HOW THEIR PLANS IMPACT THE COMMUNITY!

Post made by a person whose childhood home was razed for a Bonneville County road expansion project.

I see this kind of thing all the time locally. People gripe about the clogged streets, but as soon as something happens to fix a street near them that they don't like, they bellyache about the cost of progress.

The county proposed laying the ground for a belt loop to the south of town a year back, a loop that would eventually, probably in decades, become a divided highway and connect to I-15 and then loop north to US 20, another divided highway. Locals went off the rails protesting against it.

Yet in decades, they'll be complaining that that county did nothing to plan for future growth. I don't get it.

Another Annoyance Fixed. Maybe. Part II

So, Ryobi and other tool makers, c'mere.

If you've got a tensioning system that's going to be under any torquing load at all, do not, for the love of all that is holy, make the torque braces out of hollow plastic.

I'll give you the plastic. But make the braces solid blocks, please.

See what I had to do? I had to manufacture a brace out of a bit of plastic hardware I had in the garage, using my Dremel.

The original brace in there disintegrated. And is apparently not available as a spare part through your website.

I have many Ryobi tools and find them helpful and reliable. This pole saw, however, has been a problem, and it's all due to the plastic used as braces and in the chain cover. You need to make a better system, please.

And know I almost used a plastic letter H to make the brace, but found a harder bit of plastic to use instead.

Another Annoyance Fixed. Maybe.

Another annoyance, fixed.

Or so I hope so. Haven't tested it out yet, but I did manage to get it put back together.

Why you'd have an adjustment screw set in flimsy plastic so it breaks loose and won't tighten the chain anymore, I don't know. I manufactured one of the plastic bits from some tile-setting wedges. We'll see how long it lasts.

This is a Ryobi pole saw, by the way.

UPDATE: Not quite fixed. Still have some things I need to tweak to get this working properly.

Dear Elder Davidson No. 10

Hello Isaac,

It was good to hear from you this morning. So sorry that this letter is a day or two late. I don’t know what I was doing on Sunday, but I just forgot to write a letter. Had other things on my mind I guess.

I won’t say this has been an exciting week for us. I’ve gone to work. Mom has gone to work. On Thursday, I worked with Troop 1010 on the Citizenship in Society merit badge. I’m trying to be more exciting, I promise.

I taught gospel doctrine on Sunday – basically the book of Ezekiel. We talked a lot about symbols, and what God promises his people even if they’re behaving badly, like Israel was doing at the time. God’s message to Ezekiel really goes well with what you said in your email this week about the temple. One of his visions involves a river of living water flowing from the temple into the Dead Sea. He traveled along it, and at times tested its depth – until he got to the point he could no longer cross the river but had to swim, because it was so deep. He then described the shore of the Dead Sea as full of greenery and trees, something that certainly isn’t a part of that sea today. So what I’m saying is that between you and Ezekiel, you’re prompting me to go to the temple this weekend. I should take Liam and Mom as well.

Speaking of Liam, just let me re-emphasize my request that you include him specially in your prayers. He’s doing fine, but certainly could use some more confidence and help in applying for jobs and doing well in interviews. It hurts to see him struggle – as it hurts when I see any of my kids struggle. I know he’s capable of quite a bit more than potential employers are seeing. I wish I could do more to help him; I’ve even pondered what I could do to start our own business to get him involved in things. But I come up blank on that front. Where I’m working full-time and teaching part-time, I don’t know where I’d have the time to fit anything in. But this isn’t about me. Please say special prayers for your brother. Do what you can to encourage him. You’re blessed with an outgoing personality that people are drawn to. Never take that blessing for granted; it’s a great gift.

Mom has started us on Christmas movies, with a screening of “Home Alone” on Sunday night. That’s a good place to start, although parts of it with Old Man Morley – this will surprise you – make me cry. I hope we stay close as a family and I never have to be the crotchety old man who is alienated from his kids. Maybe y’all would prefer it that way, but my plan is to hang around and give you the puppy dog eyes every chance I get. I know your Mom is planning a surprise screening of Nestor the Christmas Donkey in the hopes that I finally bite the big one so she can collect on the life insurance.

Part of the work Liam did in the basement made it necessary for me to move the mirror. I put it temporarily at the bottom of the stairs. Daisy obligingly posed by it. She came down the stairs a few hours earlier and when she got to the bottom she was startled to see another black weenie dog racing up toward her, so she let out a little bark and then zigged past the mirror and was relieved to no longer see the pursuer.

Dottie, of course, hasn’t noticed as we have to carry her up and down the stairs. I’m not sure she’s even spotted it when she does manage to get up on the bottom step and walk past. She’s like me; she’s not so bright.

Next week we’re supposed to have our first major snowfall of the year. We’ll see if that actually comes to pass. But just know as you’re still (maybe) dealing with the heat, we’re heading into booger-freezing weather. I’ve still got yard work I need to finish. Or at least a pile of buckets and a hand truck to store somewhere. I kept hoping the city would do a cleanup day so I could take some more junk to the dump, but I haven’t seen one on the schedule yet. And Mom won’t let me store buckets and shingles and such in your bedroom, so I’m going to have to find somewhere else to stack stuff. I could wish I’d had a replacement for that carport before it bit the big one.

Okay, that’s it. I’ll try to live a more exciting life for the next letter.

Love, Dad

AI (Likely) Confirmed

An update on yesterday's post.

Some Facebook friends I trust highly have chimed in:

M, Adam Davis reminds me of another combination I've heard frequently: "hold onto that, it'll become important later." That one's right up there. So it's likely AI.

And there's no reason for it. Aside from sheer laziness. The video I linked in yesterday's post was drawing fire in the comments because the channel was posting a video a day. While a highly-motivated individual might be capable of doing so if that's all they did during the day, it's making things look more likely that this is an AI-generated content page. So sheer laziness.

So I'm adding these phrases to my AI-dar.

"Stop on that for A Second"

So I'm wondering.

I keep hearing the phrases "stop on that for a second," and "hold onto that for a moment" in YouTube videos as of late, and I'm wondering:

Is this just a rhetorical trend, borne of human schooling?

Or is this phraseology that artificial intelligence has glommed onto and started spitting out ad nauseam?

Because I am hearing it everywhere now. As in this video, at about 6:20 in:

I decided to google the phrase, and once I swam through the inevitable AI summary of my search, I didn't find much. Neither phrase shows up on lists of common AI phraseology. But maybe it's new to the slop factories?

There are a few commenters on the video shown above wondering similar questions, though not the specific phrase used.

I have my suspicions, but nothing concrete. On *some* of the video subjects, I feel they're susceptible to being at least written by artificial intelligence, but not all. And some of the videos show clearly in the visual and voice presentation that it's pretty much all AI. But there are others where the visuals and voiceover are pretty good, so I don't know what to think.

Further bulletins as events warrant.

AI-Generated Art Continues to Astound

Spotted this glorious AI-generated picture in the wild this week, as part of this video.

I kinda think AI imagery has its place. What I object to is that someone looked at this image, shrugged their shoulders, and put it in their video anyway.

Which causes me to wonder: Is it rage/engagement bait? Someone being jokey? It's hard to tell.

I do know right now, spotting an egregious AI picture like this is a turnoff. As soon as I saw it, I lingered on the video long enough to do a screen capture, but then I bailed on the video.

Another "Fish are Very Fish-Shaped" Moment

This is going to sound like a blinding flash of the obvious, along the lines of Ponder Stibbons’ observation that “Fish are remarkably fish-shaped,” but here it goes:

Story, and to a slightly lesser extent, are king. The rest is just decoration.

Allow me to elaborate:

I think, to a point, I’m good as a fiction writer on the decoration. There’s always room for improvement, I know, but I think I can hold my own.

Where I lack is the story and character department. And without story and character, the decoration just kind of slumps to the floor, like dirty laundry, waiting for someone to come along and tidy up.

I say this as I continue to read Terry Pratchett’s “Maskerade,” and observe in worshipful, stifled sniggering during my bathroom breaks, as Pratchett nails the story, the character, and the decoration, making it appear effortless.

But for a pantser like me, it’s a revelation. I’m sure Pratchett outlined the basics of the story first and when the characters were there, the decoration came right along and hangs perfectly, like beautiful clothing stowed carefully in a closet or on hooks or in display for the world to see.

And when I say story, I don’t mean the overall story, though that’s important as well. Pratchett sets out the scenes too, ready for his decoration to arrive.

The story: Opera House staff interact and observe as undercover police and guests arrive for the first opera performance following a murder onstage.

That’s it. That’s the scene.

And the characters, so far, five major, a few other minor: Two of the opera staff and three guests, bringing in the decoration as if they were being lowered onstage by the Monty Python players to deliver the Spam sketch.

A little character decoration, to help set the scene: Bucket and Salzella, the opera staff, one who bought the opera and is lost in the world, the other an insider who spends a lot of time sarcastically explaining things. Then there’s Esme Weatherwax, a Lancre witch, accompanied by Greebo, a feline who has reluctantly agreed to take the form of a human for the night.

Now all together:

First, the staff take note of the undercover policemen:

“The Watch are here, you know. In secret. They’re mingling.”

“Ah . . . let me guess . . . “

Salzella looked around at the crowds. There was, indeed, a very short man in a suit intended for a rather larger man; this was especially the case with the opera cloak, which actually trailed on the floor behind him to give the overall impression of a superhero who had spent too much time around the Kryptonite. He was wearing a deformed fur hat and was trying surreptitiously to smoke a cigarette.

“You mean that little man with then words ‘Waterman in Disguise’ flashing on and off just above his head?”

“Where? I didn’t see that!” 

Salzella sighed. “It’s Corporal Nobby Nobbs,” he said wearily.

They go on to note others of the Watch, poorly disguised as they do their jobs.

Then, next:

“The Ghost would have to – “Salzella stopped. He blinked. “Oh good grief,” he whispered. “What has she found?”

Bucket turned. “That’s Lady Esmerelda  . . . oh.”

Greebo strolled in alongside her with the gentle swagger that makes women thoughtful and men’s knuckles go white. The buzz of conversation was momentarily hushed, and then rose again to a slightly shriller buzz.

“I’m impressed,” said Salzella.

“He certainly doesn’t look like a gentleman,” said Bucket. “Look at the color of that eye!” He set his face into what he hoped was a smile, and bowed.

“Lady Esmerelda,” he said. “How pleasant to see you again! Won’t you introduce us to your . . . guest?”

“This is Lord Gribeau,” said Granny. “Mr. Bucket, the owner, and Mr. Salzella, who seems to run the place.”

“Haha,” said Salzella.

Gribeau snarled, revealing longer incisors than any that Bucket had seen outside a zoo. And Bucket had never seen such a greenish-yellow eye. The pupil was all wrong . . .

So. My lesson: As I write, I need to outline. Not work on the decoration. I need a solid outline of what’s going to happen. The scenes. And then who’s going to be in them. The decoration can come later. That’s going to be hard for a pantser. But I’m going to give it a try.

I Don't Know Why I'm Surprised This Exists

So this is something that exists on Facebook.

And when I say "this," I mean as a niche on social media, because even a cursory look shows me there are many more than just one or two groups where people are swapping - and actively selling - McDonalds Monopoly game pieces.

For the unwashed masses, McDonalds has done this promotion yearly for I don't know how long, where on certain food packages they offer deeds from Monopoly. The idea of course is to collect a set of deeds as in the game to win fabulous prizes.

But these folks are a little, uh, deluded. 

Take selling these pieces for $10 each. Meaning selling the most common pieces that anyone with a glutton's urge for McDonalds food could collect as they wait for that one rare strike to get the one piece that's going to complete the set. Because that's all you're getting on these sites: The common pieces. Spend a half hour in these groups and you'll know which of every deed set is the rarity, and thus the winner. And you know they ain't selling those.

So these are groups for the not-so-bright who think they're going to find the white whale but more filled with people who are selling worthless pieces at $10 a pop to the gullible or lazy or whatever.

Now maybe I'm wrong, but I know I'm right.

(Start at 1:12 for the reference)

Dear Elder Davidson No. 9

1 November 2026

Hello Isaac,

Here’s to hoping we get to talk tomorrow. I just had a lot going on last Monday . . .

So I told you last week about the excitement of replacing the ice maker. This week you get to hear about the excitement of . . . REPLACING HINGES. Yes, the door to the laundry room and the door to the craft room have new hinges, so the doors actually open and close easier now. I can’t forget to say the both doors also have new STRIKE PLATES and the craft room even has a new DOORKNOB. I don’t know how I keep up with the excitement around here. The doorknob for the craft room has a lock on it, but I made sure it was on the inside so Mom could lock us out and nobody could lock her in. Of lesser excitement is the fact that I only had to buy three hinges, as I already had one hinge left over from another project. I also had the strike plate and the doorknob kit, so this excitement only cost us $9 in new dollars. I know this is valuable information that will sustain you as you continue your missionary adventures.

The hinge thing is pretty significant, though. They replaced the hinges on one of the doors to one of the men’s rooms at work. Replacing the hinges did something, but now the door won’t close at all and they’ve had to prop it open with a sign on it saying not to close it. So my project could have gone south really fast and led to me having to post a similar sign on the craft room door, which would not have made Mom think I did anything to improve the situation.

I don’t know what else to say – this may be a short letter.

Thinking about vacation time. Trying to come up with a really good reason to visit Arizona round about Christmas time. Unless of course y’all are gonna get rain. We’re in our second straight weekend of rain now. We should be grateful for the water, and from what I hear it’s actually snowing in the mountains where the snow should be, so really I shouldn’t complain at all. Besides, nobody will listen to me complain anyway.

The dogs don’t like the rain at all. I had to take them out on the front porch again to tinkle this morning. Any time we get a little dry weather and sun, they want to go out and sit in the sun and just soak it all in. They probably wonder what they’ve done to be celled up with a bunch of people who don’t want to hang around outside all day long.

I’m trying to sell a set of ATV trailer ramps on Facebook Marketplace. We got two sets with the trailer. We’re keeping the good set and trying to get rid of the other set. I have them for sale for $25. The same day I put them up, a guy offered $15 and the excuse that “he had to do some work on them” for the low offer. That’s fine, my dude, I told him. $20 and they’re yours. He didn’t like that much. So I still have them. He’ll probably contact me again in a few weeks to see if they’ve sold, and I’m kind of in the mood that I’d rather chuck them in the recycling bin than sell them to him. Sure, I understand you’ve got to modify them a bit to work for what you need them to do. But right now they’re mine, and I don’t really care that you have to put some work into them. I’m of the mind that if I see something for sale, I’ll try to strike a good bargain but I’m not going to tell the seller my story, true or, not as part of the negotiation. The only thing that matters to the seller is price, and if we can’t agree on that, the rest is fluff.

 I enjoy hearing your mission stories. I hope you’re recording them in some way, whether through videos or a journal, as you’ll want to remember them as well when you’re an old man looking back on a life well-lived.

I got to reading my patriarchal blessing over the past few weekends (I used it as part of an object lesson in Gospel Doctrine last Sunday) and it said some specific things about my mission. I’m not sure I prepared myself well enough for what I should have done, so that’s on me. But I also have to rememer that “my mission” in France is only part of the service I could perform as a missionary. Maybe your mother and I will serve a mission or two after we’re retired, and I could be preparing myself for that service.

OK, I think this is it. They’re watching “Ernest Scared Stupid” in the next room and I don’t want to miss any more of it.

Love, Dad

[Snort]

Whoever you are, man, you're my hero.

Haven't Seen Wildwood? You're Satan.

I've seen more than a few posts on social media today from folks lambasting the entire universe that we did not drop everything and see "Wildwood" from Laika Studios this weekend.

By not seeing this move the exact *second* it came out in theaters, we are collectively responsible for the collapse of Western society and are never in a brazilian years allowed to complain that Hollywood doesn't bother with original stories any more.

Y'all are light years from the insufferability of your average Stanley Kubric fan, but you're trending that direction at speed.

I mean, I just barely watched "Coraline," from the same studio, for the first time about a month ago. The stop-motion was top-notch, but the story was middling.

People rave about "Fantastic Mr. Fox" with George Clooney. I enjoy Clooney. I'm a big fan of Roald Dahl. But the movie? Meh.

Heaven forbid I'm watching "Ghostbusters II" right now. What a stinker.

And I'm a big Terry Pratchett fan. But none of the movies based on his books are worth watching.

And that's gonna happen.

There are directors and writers out there I really love, and some of them just don't pan out. But I have never predicted the fall of Rome because the movies I like didn't do well.

Terry Pratchett and the Little Things

I finished re-reading Terry Pratchett's "Jingo" this week, and what a pleasure it was.

With Pratchett, there's the story of course. An island rises out of the sea prompting a rivalry between two powers who are all to willing to go to war or to use the situation to usurp power. Pratchett skewers it all.

But also with Pratchett are the little things that hold the story together and give you a chuckle as the main story makes you think.

First, dismantling myths about others:

Then there's Nobby Nobbs, copper of undetermined species, who goes on a journey of discovery of his own. It's the little stuff that keeps me reading. And the big stuff that makes me think.

Dear Elder Davidson No. 8

25 October 2026

Dear Isaac,

Hey, I have EXCITING NEWS for you this week. Brace yourself:

I replaced the ice maker in the fridge.

The ice maker just stopped working about a month ago. I had no idea why. I thought about calling in a repair person, but they typically want $200 just to show up at the door. So I did the computer thing: I unplugged the fridge and let it thaw out over 24 hours. So we lived out of coolers for a few days, because after the 24 hours passed I plugged the fridge back in and it had to get down to temperature again.

That, unfortunately, didn’t work. So we did the next best thing, which was to use ice trays to make ice while I figured out what to do. I did check the water supply – that was good – and then tried to take the old ice maker out to give it an assessment. That didn’t go so well, and I’m pretty sure I broke it a little further. So at that time since I *knew* at least part of the ice maker was broken, I found a new one on Amazon for $47 and installed it on Friday. It was kind of hard to get to, since it’s low to the ground and I am not a small man. I finally decided to make it a little easier by taking the freezer door off so at least that was out of the way. Mom had to help me with one screw because my meaty hands were too big to get into the little area between the ice maker and the freezer drawer.  But glorious news, I did remember how to put the freezer door back on and the ice maker did indeed make two batches of ice before we had to leave for a weekend of Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills training at Krupp, so I annoyed Liam with constant requests for updates on the ice maker pretty much all day Saturday.

So that’s my exciting story. And that photo shows the old broken ice maker, which is now happily residing in the trash can in front of the house.

Mom roped me into going to the council’s Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills training this past weekend. They were worried, as with much of the training that goes on in the council, that they wouldn’t have enough people to sign up for it. She wanted to take it, and asked if I’d go along for the ride. Lexi and her mother-in-law also went.

I was a little cranky about going, and then when I found out it was going to be another downpour weekend, I was really cranky because since it was IOLS, they were insisting we sleep in a tent for it. So I packed our tent, and brought another one because someone called to ask if we had an extra one, and I was contemplating a cold soggy night and having to set up and dry two tents on the weekend. But, thank heaven, when we got there it was rainy and dark enough they let us sleep in the cabins at Krupp. So I went from stressing about two tents to having the only stress be the quarter-mile round trip for the bathroom, since the bathrooms in the cabins are off limits and the ones at the Farmhouse were locked. We did end up having a good training, though.

I still don’t know how to tie the knots we’re supposed to know. That’s pretty much the thing I struggle with in Scouting, knots. I just can’t seem to get the knack. I know if I spent a lot of time tying knots and knowing what knots to use, I’d be better at them. But right now I’m content to be bad at knots and bore my youngest as I talk about how bad I am at tying them.

Exciting news at work: I got a new computer and a new keyboard. I think that’s the first time they’ve given me a new keyboard since I started working there 20 years ago. It’s nice to look at the keys and first of all be able to read the text on all of the keys, and second of all to look down between the keys and not see two or our other peoples’ collection of keyboard crud. Yes, I do continue to lead an exciting life.

We did our tithing declaration today. Bishop Pullins asked, of course, how you were doing, and we said you were doing great. I mentioned that you had a miscommunication with a barber and ended up with a buzz cut. He told us the following story: He was in Mexico with his trainer, living with three Mexican missionaries who didn’t speak much English. They were getting ready to go to his first zone conference and he decided he wanted a haircut. He was having a hard time communicating with his barber and ended up with a buzz cut as well. He said is companion looked at his haircut and could see Elder Pullins was pretty stressed out about it. So he told the barber to give him the same cut, so he wouldn’t feel alone. He said that companion, with whom he served twice on his mission, became his hero, and that they’re still in touch. I thought that was a fun story.

I have to go back to work in the morning. I remember as a kid my dad getting what we call the “Sunday Scaries,” where he said the weekend was never long enough and he didn’t want to go back to work. But he did, week after week after week. That’s what you have to do. You may find missionary work to be like that from time to time, but the only way through it is to work and keep working.

I won’t preach at you anymore. Hoping you’re learning lots.

Love, Dad

PS: Your hair will grow back. Eventually.

The Ice Maker Cometh?

Here's to hoping the new ice maker works as long and as well as the old one.

Best part: I am only guessing if this'll fix the problem, though the new one did fill which gives me faith the plumbing is still good. We'll know in about 12 hours.

UPDATE: We have ice.

Right Turn Only?

Just noticed this in the illustration being used in the news concerning the Ammon First Street project. I hope this is *just* an illustration, and that they don't intend to make the outside lane a right turn only at Curlew.

There's already a bottleneck at First and Hitt with two lanes going into one, which this project will fix. We don't need the same kind of bottleneck further along.

Little Bits

I'm re-reading Terry Pratchett's "Jingo," and with this little bit - in fact, with many little bits - I'm reminded that Pratchett's genius lies not only in his sharp satire but in the little moments like this that really set me to sniggering.

I hit on this bit while I was using the restroom at work, and I had to stifle the giggles.

Jabbar gave him an appraising look.

The sniggering stopped.

"Then it is true that you can see further than most," he said.

"So can this food," said Vimes. "My father told me never to eat anything that can wink back."

There was one of those little hanging-by-a-thread moments, which might suddenly rock one way or the other into a gale of laughter or sudden death.

Then Jabbar slapped Vimes on the back. The eyeball shot off his palm and into the shadows.

"Well done! Extremely good2 first time it have not worked in twenty year! Now sit down and have proper rice and sheep just like mother!"

And as I've read a lot of Pratchett, I have to remind myself that this kind of thing comes with much practice. He makes it look effortless, but in reading his earlier works it's clear it's something he had to work at.

That inspires me to keep on working my own craft.

Oh Boy! 3 am!

I can't decide which is the worst way our dogs wake me up at night:

Daisy - Increasingly loud whimpering and crying until one of us stirs, then on to the yapping if we don't respond quickly enough.

Dottie - Stare quietly at Dad - and Dad alone - and breathe on him until he becomes startled and takes the puppies downstairs.

Update: A new one this morning. Dottie sneezed on my forehead.

Dear Elder Davidson No. 7

Dear Isaac,

Sunday morning. I’ve been up off and on since about 4 am when Dottie had a doggie dream and was muffled barking in her sleep enough to wake us all up including Daisy, who then decided it was time to get up to go potty. So I took them out and they did their thing and were then pretty restless for the rest of the morning because Daisy figured since she was up it was time to start the day and there’s no other way to start the day except BREAKFAST which I made her wait to get until 7 am. Now it’s almost 9 am, they’re both sleeping again and I’m bleary-eyed at the computer wondering why we ever wanted to get dogs in the first place.

This is a photo from a few weekends ago, when I took them out on the front porch because it was raining and Dottie was still quite upset that she had to go out in the rain to tinkle.

I’m trying not to be a crybaby about the whole thing, but I’m having a hard time ending that sentence. I may have to take a nap before church.

I do love how Dottie is sitting there looking like a frog.

Trying to remember what I did for fun this week, and I’m coming up blank. Friday morning was the dentist. Saturday morning was Scouting for Food. That was kinda fun to get to hang out with Lexi, but I’m not going to say it was the most exciting thing. I washed dishes. I tried fixing the ice maker in the fridge. I’m not trying to be a downer, just dealing with a little seasonal depression that kicks in this time of year. I get out and get some sun and that helps a lot, so don’t worry about me.

Good news is it’s Mom who is teaching Gospel Doctrine today. Last lesson on Isaiah. The Old Testament is challenging enough, and then we spend a month on Isaiah and it gets even harder.

Oh – here’s something fun. I put some stuff away in the garage so we can kind of walk though there a little better even if there are two cars in there. YES, I do get to do exciting things.

Here in a few weeks Mom and I are going to do IOLS training with the council – Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills, if I remember right. That’ll be a nice break from the regular stuff. Mom signed us up partly because she needs the training, and partly because it was in danger of being cancelled because they didn’t have enough participants signed up.

I just ordered a new ice maker for the fridge. We’ll see how it goes with installation. Maybe we’ll end up buying a new fridge after I’m done, you never know. They tell me this is an “easy” repair, and should take only 30 to 60 minutes. Somehow, I’m skeptical.

This is usually how my repairs go. I guess I should consider myself lucky this isn’t a gas-powered ice maker.

I should be more optimistic about it all, but it gets harder as the days get shorter. I may need to see if I can relocate to Arizona for the winter and work remotely. They let me work from home for five years before I guess people who couldn’t do that complained, so now I do the same work in the cubicle that I did at the office, right down to still using the phone and the email to communicate with customers.

I’ll stop ranting. It’s not a good look.

Maybe if the ice maker replacement goes well I’ll ship you the old one for Christmas. Would at least give you something to talk about.

Oh. Forgot to mention when we were doing Scouting for Food, we got free donuts. That was nice.

We had to do our year-end review self evaluations at work last week. I hate evaluation time. I always rank myself as exceeding expectations because to do otherwise seems foolish and, you know, I do actually do some good work from time to time. My immediate supervisor always wants to see what we’re saying before we submit, but I kinda think that’s an invasion of my privacy and really, in the end, won’t do much of anything because we all get the same tiny raises all the time anyway.

I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that when we did the alignment on the Red Herring some of the warning lights went away. Ha ha, that was only temporary. The lights come and go now, which I guess is an improvement over being on all the time. I know Kevin still has some work to do on the car and may not have cleared the codes yet, so we’ll see what happens. We’re putting the work off a little bit because we had some unexpected medical bills come up that we’re working on paying, so the tires and other work will have to wait. Life is fun when you’re broke.

OK. I’m going to go get showered up and ready for church. Maybe I’ll walk to church today to get some sun.

Hope you’re doing well. We look forward to your calls.

Love,

Dad

A Collection of Little Things

So here's a collection of little things:

Randy. He had his sentencing hearing on Tuesday. He'll spend a maximum of 10 1/2 years in federal custody, likely in Colorado. Credit for time served, so about eight months.

I learned things at the hearing and afterward I'm not sure I wanted to know. I'm still processing some of it, so it's not going to be hashed out here.

Refrigerator. I took things apart yesterday. I didn't manage to fix anything, but I did manage to eliminate the water supply as a reason the ice maker isn't working. So I suppose the next step is to buy a new ice maker and a new valve and hope it all comes with instructions so I can figure out how to take the old one out and put the new one in.

I don't want to break things more, but trying it myself once is certainly cheaper than bringing a repair person in to fix it. Which seems silly. I should probably just to that.

New Church Schedule. Getting used, as a gospel doctrine instructor, to the new 25-minute schedule. I mean, it works. The only thing I miss from the previous schedule is getting a much longer break between lessons. I'm up to two lessons a month from one, and I'd rather be back to one a month, but it is what it is.

I know there are some people out there upset with the shortened schedule. I can see only four solutions to this upset:

1. Contacting the powers that be in Salt Lake City and using your considerable persuasive abilities to convince them to change back to whatever schedule you want (except if it's the schedule where Sacrament meeting is 90 minutes on Sunday with other meeting scattered throughout the week, because I will certainly go apostate if that is brought back).

2. Gathering like-minded individuals in your home on Sunday so you can lengthen your stride without bothering the rest of us.

3. Get used to it.

4. Depart.

I know which choice I'm making.

Work. I still have to go, despite my misgivings. At least another ten years. That doesn't seem fair, but it is what it is. I have similar options on this as I do with the church thing, and the only way to go on this is that head down, butt up that I learned as a kid. Just go to work. Though I do take a little inspiration from Homer Simpson:

For the record: I love my job. At least for the next ten years.

It's been a little harder as of late, as Albert retired and I can feel that life a-calling. . .

That's all I got. So. Very. Tired.