Caribe Cruise

Lenore and I wanted a 25 year anniversary trip back in 2011, something similar to our Hawaii and Mexico trips. We finally had some money and a little extra time off. So, we did it this year. Michelle and Steve Young suggested we take a cruise together. We liked the idea and it really went relatively smoothly and painlessly.  We took a 6.75 day cruise in the Eastern Caribbean on Carnival Glory. I think I am safe in saying that this vacation topped Hawaii and Mexico.

Michelle did the research and the contact with the travel agency. All together we spent just a little over $3100. But, we ate a lot of that back in food.

My first impression on board the ship was, "even fat boorish people go on cruises." More on that later. The comparison between the help/staff and the passengers is stark and amazing.

We had four stops: Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas; St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands; San Juan Puerto Rico; and Gran Turk British West Indies.

Our two favorite places were Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk. But, the other places were nice too. The water in Half Moon Cay was crystal clear and about 80 degrees. The sand was amazing. I saw numerous fish just sticking my head under the water. Most of them were clear or very light colored so they blended in well. I may have seen a two foot or so barracuda right near the shore. It was a long slender fish. I tried to corral him in the shallow water. But, there was plenty of room for him to get away.

In St. Thomas we just went to Sapphire Beach and hung out. I had wanted to do some SUP or surfing. Looking back, I should have at our first two stops. The only place there was ANY surf to speak of was at Sapphire beach. They do surf in Puerto Rico. But, we spent the day walking the old city and seeing the neat old Forts.

Grand Turk was quite the adventure because we did the Ultimate Snorkeling shore excursion. The guides were fun. Of course, they are paid to be charming. But, all of the guides and help and staff seemed to be sincerely helpful and solicitous. The first dive spot was about 25-30 feet deep and then drops off abruptly on a sheer 6000 foot drop. It was very impressive. I had to re-learn surface diving and breath management. I eventually worked up to where I could go down 30 feet and even stay a little while. The most important thing is equalizing the pressure in your ears, early and often. There was no way to go down even 10 feet otherwise. At the other dive spot we saw a ray and urchins and lots of fish and I finally found a shell to bring home for a souvenir.


Now back to my impression about the passengers. There were many I am sure who ate five 1500 calorie meals a day and then also drank at least $100 in liquor. I was probably the most conservative of all the passengers when it came to consuming food. And I overdid it a lot.


The help were very cordial (many from Philippines and India and other somewhat impoverished places) and sincere and I felt sorry for them having to work long hours. I hope/think they get paid well. But, they have to leave their families for months at a time. On the other hand the passengers seemed oblivious to all around them. Many were rude and loud and selfish and not conscientious about obstructing traffic areas and their overall impact on the experience for others.


With the Youngs we saw the shows that the a group of eight singers and dancers put on almost every night. They were overall entertaining and enjoyable. However, probably didn't need to go to half of them. Very talented and energetic performances though.


We may have to go back to Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk. Doesn't have to be by boat though.

Marathon Bike Tour 2015

Macroglossum Stellatarum

We went to Saint George for this latest Conference Holiday Weekend. I've been wanting to go visit my parents. But, with mom's operation in December and my Saturday shift at the Temple it's been difficult. We decided to take advantage of the Temple being closed on 4 April. Laney was also not scheduled to work on 3 April. She was a little grumpy about losing a full day off lalapoloozing around the house rather than driving in the car. But, she got over it.

Once again the drive was very convenient. It's nice that Utah has raised the speed limit to 80mph for most of the way. It's quick, fairly comfortable, and we got 28mpg for the outgoing leg while using the climate control and going as fast as I dared.

When we arrived at the house, I noticed what I thought were very small hummingbirds feeding on some flowers in the front yard. They were about 2/3rds size of what you would expect. It was very hard to get a good look at them though. Finally, I was able to look at one on axis rather than from the side and it was not a humming bird, but a hummingbird moth. Very interesting creatures. The biggest visual differences once you can get a clear view of one is they have no tail feathers and they have antennae.

We woke up early in the morning on Saturday to get a look at the lunar eclipse, the third of the current tetrad. The sky was very clear. Venus was very bright in the early night sky.

I took a bike ride in the morning on the river trail. I like to get out early and enjoy the sunrise. But, it was too cold for that. Left about 8am. I had a minor accident (pun intended). I ran into a kid about 14 years old when he slowed and then made a u-turn right as I was passing. I was able to almost completely stop before hitting the side of his bike. Neither of us was hurt and neither bike had any damage. My chain did drop. All I could muster as I was trying to stop was “Dude!” He apologized profusely. But, I was angry enough I figured I'd better not say anything else for fear I would say something mean or petty. So, I am sorry I didn't ease his shame by explicitely accepting his apology.

The trail was pretty well travelled that morning. I also almost ran into another couple who had stopped to chat on the trail right behind a blind curve. There were a couple of hot-air balloons in the sky down east of River road. One came very low (about 10 feet off the ground) while only about 30 feet off the trail as I rode by.

Dad and I did some shopping at Costco and saw the Coxes there. I think I've run into them before in Saint George. They own a condo there.

Conference was very nice. Several very good talks and others I will have to hear again. One quibble with the choir. Lately the style is to sing very soft and light. They have 300 voice choirs and never sing over “mezzo” volume. It's a little like having a 1200 horsepower Bugatti Veyron that you drive around at 30 miles an hour max, never leaving the parking lot. On occasion, I would like to hear and anthem or two sung with lots of volume and gusto. Ailsa likened the songs to lullabies. Let them sing for goodness sake.

On the topic of the “opposeurs”: We need some instruction in the Church. Sustaining or opposing are not opposites in our context. You sustain someone in their calling. Or, if you know of some reason they are not worthy or possibly otherwise not suitable for their calling, you raise that concern. I see what happened at Conference as a little bit of grandstanding.

The opposers are upset about Kate Kelly and John Dehlin. I expect one of their claims is that the top Church leadership orchestrates or is otherwise more directly involved in these disciplinary councils of high profile cases. The councils are held on a Ward or Stake level, no higher. They appealed their excommunications to the First Presidency. But, if they grant the appeal, they give a vote of no confidence to the Bishop or Stake President who held the council, and thereby confirm their direct influence on the process. The person whose calling they should be opposing is the leader of the council. It's a jurisdictional problem.

Verbal Dyslexia

This is a Laney story. I think I've written before about her “verbal dyslexia” when she was learning to speak. There were several words that she turned inside out. This may be her Semitic heritage coming through. For example, “cursomel” was commercial; keekoo was cookie. You get the idea.

Once she was out in the back yard playing and she came to the back door saying there was a “kinchen” in the yard. Kinchen was how she said chicken. Well, I was pretty sure there wasn't a kinchen in the back yard. But she insisted and got fairly annoyed at us. Finally, Lenore went outside and had Laney show her.

Sure enough, it wasn't a kinchen. But, there was a deceased baby quail that looked a lot like a baby chick. It took awhile for Laney to forgive our mistrust in her. “See, there was a kinchen in the yard!”

Missing Her

Back in October we had two missionaries leave from our Ward, Dallas Anderson and Brooklyn Brewer. We attended a very nice open house at the Andersons to congratulate Dallas and express our best wishes for his service. Dallas' father is a good friend (also served in the Milan Mission.) Since we had gone through the same thing only six months prior with Jensen leaving, he asked me, “So, how long before it doesn't suck anymore?” How long before the hole left behind by a child leaving isn't the only thing you can think about? I told him about eighteen months, or in Dallas' case two years, the duration of their mission. That hole is always there and is only repaired when they come back having served well.

My Brother from Berkshire

We went to the wrong Eddie Redmayne movie this weekend. I think Jupiter Ascending was built from three pages of script notes and filled in with action sequences. This must be a new kind of Hollywood gamble: throw $175 millions in production money at an idea and hope the audience comes. In this case they built it, but...

I could go on in detail about its failings. This review sums it up pretty well:

“Jupiter Ascending” took the road less traveled, into the wish-fulfillment of prepubescent girls. Around half an hour into the film, Channing Tatum despondently regales Mila Kunis with his life story — he is the orphaned half-albino runt of a space werewolf litter forced to use anti-gravity rollerblades to fly because his bionic wings were stripped when he was dishonorably discharged from the space military — and something magical happens. Every woman who ever wrote herself into her favorite universe via fanfic, every girl who created an amnesiac elven vampire princess and role-played in a chat room, every chick who ever wanted a blaster by her side and a submissive werewolf boyfriend at her back, every one of them whispered, “Finally. It is our time.” Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/harpy/jupiter-ascending-is-the-sci-fi-movie-women-were-waiting-for#X7mWjPlmTt0vZtlQ.99

As we were leaving we overheard one of the audience members responding to a theater employee who had asked what he thought about the film. He said it was the best science fiction movie ever. We weren't even in the same Galaxy let alone movie house. The only thing to recommend in this production are the costumes and the visual richness.

Mr. Redmayne the academy is on the phone. They would like their statue back.

P.S. The ONLY reason to hope for a sequel is so that Sean Bean can be killed off to keep his streak going.

It's unfortunate that Michelle Obama was mistaken for someone who might be helpful at a department store.

Picture from about a year ago, at aunt Janet's funeral.

Laney School Picture

A Mission Rememberance

I had to refer to journals to fill in a couple of bits of this account. Good thing we have those. Wish I didn't write like a 19 year old back then.

We had a mixed district in the LTM. Some of our guys went to Australia. A couple others went to different missions in Italy. So, only part of our district flew with me to New York, and then even fewer on to Milan with us. I do remember that I was the only one at the Salt Lake airport who didn't have family there to greet them.

I remember Alitalia counter attendants and flight attendants expressing benign, but somewhat annoyed, amusement at our attempts to speak any Italian with them.

The jet lag was horrible. That, accompanied with the first evening's session of tract-ing, I'm sure was designed to see if any of us would crack. None of us did. That first evening I was paired with Elder Ronald Manning. He was visiting the office because he was to go home shortly. He said to me, “I have fewer days than you have years.” I haven't seen him since. Throughout my mission I looked forward to being able to use at least a variation of that phrase with someone.

Later in the mission I made it a point to go back to the area we had visited that first night and take a picture of the dreary apartment building. I'm not sure how I found the place. I don't think I have the address written down anywhere. It must have been a missionary homing sense that kicked in.

My first city was Torino and I went to the apartment in Via Baiardi 2. Steven Smith was my trainer and Elders Jorgensen and Wallace were the other missionaries there. It was a great group. They probably helped facilitate a fairly smooth transition into Italian Mission life.

June and July in Torino were amazing. Torino is WAY further north than where I grew up. It was very interesting how late the sun set in the evening. It was still light when we would go home at 9:30. the squares during the late summer evenings would fill with happy, festive congregations. It was a party atmosphere almost all the time.

I also recall the pretty consistent afternoon thunder showers during this time. It's a good thing they (usually) occurred when we were inside the apartment for lunch.