Jay Saves the Day! (and summer stuff)

Update on our family status - I am temporarily a single parent while Jamie runs around the country having fun. Okay, not quite. Cam's car broke down in Laramie, Wy., and things were a little stressful for our weary sojourners. A bishop in the area helped them get situated, but the biggest hero in the tale is Jay (Jamie's dad), who borrowed a trailer from a friend and drove from Idaho to save the day. This was at no small cost, because his back gives him trouble, but he was willing and so they made it the rest of the way out west.

Michelle is back in school (and hating it), and Brandon is still working at Western Enterprises in the warehouse. It is boring work, but fairly decent money. He plans on working a bit longer and then submitting his mission papers. One benefit of his work there is the time we get traveling together. We have had some great conversations.

Pictures: Michelle thought she was clever buying her "toy-letry". The boys have "assumed the position". In the evening after work, when we weren't doing something else, the guys would huddle around the shrine to all things virtual and comment on strategy and give advice. I don't think they got into a disagreement all summer, unless you count the informal competition to see who could push Michelle over the edge with that last sarcastic comment. Michelle was glad to have them back, and she won't mind seeing them go. If you want to see the results of teasing Michelle, you can check out the last picture. In this one though, I think it was me with a comment about the cats that set her off. It is a tough life living with the guys, but Michelle holds her own most of the time.

Music - You HAVE to listen to or see John Mayer's Where the Light Is. The DVD is amazing! He plays an acoustic set, a blues/rock "power trio" set (just for Jamie!), and then does his hits and other assorted miracles with his band. If you don't have any John Mayer, this is a great collection of his songs, and all the tracks are very good. I can't believe he did it all in one night. That much talent is almost sickening. Almost.

Here is a link to my favorite acoustic clip from the DVD:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG7ltZ4dg2A&feature=related

It is called In Your Atmosphere. I have learned the first part, but I'm still working on the middle.

Book recommendation - Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. It is a clever and engaging book that explores the basic assumptions we make about how we think. We are often wrong, and I found him quite enlightening and amusing. Here is the preface from his website:

http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/gilbert/excerpts.html

And praise from other clever authors:

"Stumbling on Happiness is an absolutely fantastic book that will shatter your most deeply held convictions about how your own mind works. Ceaselessly entertaining, Gilbert is the perfect guide to some of the most interesting psychological research ever performed. Think you know what makes you happy? You won't know for sure until you have read this book."

—Steven D. Levitt, author of Freakonomics

"This is a psychological detective story about one of the great mysteries of our lives. If you have even the slightest curiosity about the human condition, you ought to read it. Trust me."

—Malcolm Gladwell, Amazon.com

More coming soon...

Breaking Dawn, etc.

Well, dear readers, there were several book stores having Stephenie Meyer parties last night, and while I didn't intend to stay at one until midnight to obtain the next installment of our favorite vampire chronicles (or the "sparkly, twinkly, beautiful vampires" - as Brandon refers to them - he read the first book and thought it was okay, but is now able to mock and lampoon the series with greater accuracy as well). Anyway, the local stores couldn't guarantee they would have enough to sell one on Saturday morning, so we went up to Borders around 10:00 (Jamie, Michelle and I) to get an arm band so that Michelle could have some priority. Well, to make a long story short, by the time we got the arm band, and hung out for a few minutes it was 10:30, and we figured...in for a penny in for a pound, why not just stay? And we could save gas. :)

Well, it was quite an experience. There were about 200 "Twilighters" there, and they had crafts, trivia games, modeling (people dressed like the characters), and a Jacob/Edward debate - the other two parts of Bella's love triangle for those of you uninitiated. It was a little strange. I would guess the average age of the fans was about 15 or 16, but it was hard to tell since some younger fans probably needed drivers. There were also a handful of males, although literally that. One guy had on a funny shirt. It said, "I'm not gay. I only twinkle because I'm a vampire." It was a big hit with the crowd. The other funny thing that happened was that early in the evening (in relative terms) Michelle was a little uncomfortable with the idea of wearing the bracelet and figuring out where she should be standing in line, so she said that one of us should. I told her yeah, right. As if I should stand in line as a 47 year old guy with all the teeny boppers. Parental doting behaviors do have limits. It would be pretty funny though. She calmed down when she saw how it was done and was fine eventually. Today she is tired, but has her "baby", so she is happy.

One other thing I will write about Michelle before I get off: the other day we were in the car and I had changed the radio station at her request (after a short delay to remember who the artist was - Iron Butterfly - I know you were dying to know what band would stump me for a minute), and I put out my hand for my usual request. "Give me five if you love me, 25 million if you don't." This of course forces her to give me five, reaffirming her undying love for her father. When she is in a mood though, as she was at the time, she repeatedly gives five and begins to count..."five, ten, fifteen, twenty...". She rarely gets past 25 though without cracking a smile and giving up.

I hope you all have a good weekend. We have been busy here, but 1) Brandon has found meaningful work at a pump and valve warehouse, 2) my big reports are almost done, and 3) we are making end of summer plans. More info upcoming, but it looks like Jamie will be driving out to Utah with Cam, and then flying back. More later...I haven't forgotten that I still owe stories to you. Oh, and I have been amazed at the Facebook explosion among family and friends in the last two months. See you all somewhere...