I'm Back

It's been a long week, although I'd be a fool to complain about the fact that I just spent the last six days in Hamilton, Bermuda. But when five of those days are spent all day inside your company's offices and you are there without your wife...it just becomes one more LONG business trip. And congratulations to USAirways for yet another rendition of "Theatre of Cruelty" at 38,000 feet. I have to give it to them - they have embraced sucking like no other airline I have ever seen. Every customer-facing employee has wholeheartedly embraced the fact that they HATE the very customers that are paying to fly their airborne train wreck and that the best way to treat any and all is with complete and total disinterest, lack of regard, and most importantly, contempt. And that's when everything is working as it should be. Anyway, I think this picture says it all:

Anyway, had about 200 emails in the "Junk" file alone when I got home. Seriously, did every spam filter on the planet fail this week? I've never seen so many Cialis/Viagra emails in my life. Did I miss a memo? So I am now in the middle of an additional spam filter download and then it's off to Parker's baseball game.

Six Days on the Road

I'm wheels up tomorrow morning at 6:00AM, bound for a six day assignment in Hamilton, Bermuda. Let me first say, I'm not complaining about the assignment (I mean I am really lucky to work for company that has such a cool global footprint) - it's a plum one and I'll be staying in a really nice place, The Fairmont Hamilton Princess. I mean, take a look:

But it's six days away from Shari and the kids, just as Sarah is getting ready for her move to Provo and Courtney is packing up for a three week summer vacation that starts with EFY and then two weeks with her maternal grandparents. I'll hardly see them before they leave and that's not fun. And who wants to be in Bermuda alone? Not me, but that's they way it's working out for this trip. So I've picked up a new book about Somalian refugees (fun, light reading...not), a couple of magazines, including the Conference Issue of the Ensign...maybe I'll finally get caught up on that critical reading. And I've also packed the greatest shoes ever:

Can I just tell you that I love these shoes? I cannot believe that at this stage of my life that I have discovered running and discovered that I really like it. I know that I'll never, ever be a Dean Kanzares, the Ultramarathon Man, but I am not going to shame myself. I'll get a couple of 5k's in, then try a 10K and see where we go from there. But I do have to give a shout out to my buddy Jeff who is an ultramarathoner...Bro, you are amazing. As I was wheezing through my third mile a few days ago at Herrick, Jeff breezed by me, in his 11th mile of 30 that day. The man rocks.

It's been a stunning day in Chicagoland - high 70's, low humidity. Great day to do the lawn and run and have lunch outside at Potbelly's. They put Subway and other sandwich shops to shame, and deservedly so. My "skinny" turkey sandwich was awesome! We'll wrap up the evening with a 6:00PM baseball game. We'll see if Parker pitches or is hunkered down behind the plate, as catcher anchoring his team. It's going to be a beautiful night no matter what!

It's an all day affair tomorrow on the world's worst airline, USAirways, so I need to pysch myself now for that theater of cruelty. That's the drag about getting to/from Bermuda - seriously limited options out of O'Hare. And I'm stuck on US - it's the only way I can get my beloved United Mileage Plus miles. I gotta keep my 1K Global Services status - that's all I'm saying.

NNHS Senior '08

Who knew that Graduation Week could be so CHAOTIC? Clearly, I did not. It's been a lot of years since I graduated high school but I just don't recall all the build up, the activity, the chaos (perhaps that's because I thought high school was a complete waste of time). Ferris Bueller, in the greatest movie ever, captured my feelings about high school best with this quote, "It's a little childish and stupid, but then, so is high school."

Sarah appears to have had a better go of it than me. Her graduation last night from Naperville North High School went off without a hitch. Even the weather cooperated - it's hardly been out of the mid-60s during the day and it's chilly at night with the wind (yes, I know, it's May...I get it...it's cold here) and yet last night, no wind and completely pleasant. That still didn't stop my dad from sitting front and center with my CNN Afghanistan bureau cap on his head to stave off the cold - that was a funny sight. That didn't make me shed a tear, although watching my oldest daughter in the procession, wearing her graduation "gown" with her ropes for service and activity and to see her honored as a cumme laude graduate, did make me drop a tear or two.

Anyway, Sarah was excited and just seemed elated. It confirmed to me that she's so ready for this next stage of her life. I have to give the school props though - they know how to motor through 772 graduates. They run a tight ship at NNHS and it was clear shenanigans would not be permitted so that made for a good ceremony.

After it was over, we found Sarah on the field, surrounded by friends. She was out of her mind with excitement. It was really fun to see. We took a lot of pictures and I'll post a few later. I'm really glad that both sets of grandparents got to be here to share this with our family. We didn't see her much after that - matter of fact, she didn't come home until after 5AM this morning. She and her friends made the midnight opening of "Indiana Jones" and then BBQ-d in the middle of the night and went swimming.

Ah to be young again! I am so, so proud of my daughter. I am honored to have shared this much of her life. She's been blessed to have an amazing mom who has helped her to become the young woman that she is today. I am excited to be sending her off to BYU now. She's the best and I hope they are ready for her and ready to treat her well. I'm going to miss her terribly.

Sounds of Sunday

I'm certain that I've totally dated myself with the title of today's post and I have no idea why I got all nostalgic for it today...but any of you of a certain age who did time at BYU Provo know EXACTLY what I am talking about! I'm sure more than one of us used the "Sounds of Sunday" as our Church service, especially freshman year, when Saturday night had gone a little later than expected (guilty as charged!).

On Sundays, the "Sounds of Sunday" would fill the halls of many a dorm room in Deseret Towers (the 1984 brochure described it as 'apartment-like living').

It was a radio program (which is now called 'Soft Sunday Sounds' - nice fiesta of alliteration) that played Church music, not a whole lot o' Mo'Tab per se, but more modern, for the time, Sunday music. It, as I referenced above, sometimes became Church. You would oversleep, miss your Sacrament meeting start time, and figure.."OK if I throw on the 'Sounds of Sunday,' that'll help me keep me in the Spirit." Um...OK. Now, we didn't have all the musical options that are out there today - there wasn't much of an LDS pop music scene. But what was out there got played ad nauseum during this program. So it was a lot of Michael McLean and Afterglow. I mean seriously, did these two geniuses who constituted said musical group know what they were setting themselves up for naming themselves 'Afterglow'? (a word to the wise - DO NOT do a Google image search for Afterglow...I'm just saying). Also we didn't have all the music that's done for EFY and Seminary now.

Speaking of Seminary, it's Seminary Graduation tonight and we'll be there for Sarah. For the non-Mormon readers o'the Den, a quick primer - our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has a well-established religious education program for high school students. It's a four year program and in most places outside of the Motherland (Utah) and other hives of Mormon activity where it's held during school hours, Seminary is held before school starts each morning and they study all the books of Scripture. Sarah has completed it and tonight she and the other graduates are honored. She has never once complained about getting up early and going to Seminary and I applaud her for that. I cannot say the same. I complained mightily and loudly. I owe my Seminary teacher, Paul Barker, an apology. He was a good guy. Boy, he put up with a lot of garbage!

Anyway, I think I'm nostalgic as Sarah's graduation from high school looms around the corner and as talk of going to BYU gets louder. It's a changed place from when Shari and I were there. Take a look at what they've done to my beloved Deseret Towers:

Ah well, it's a changed campus and now my eldest is joining the ranks of BYU students. No wonder I've got a head full of gray hair now...