A couple of pictures from Parents Weekend

As I sit here in the dank cesspool that is our basement, I've got time to post just a couple of pictures from last weekend's BYU Parents Weekend:

Whitney, Brooke, Ferg with the boss Cubbies shirt, Our Lady of BYU, Me

We took that shot at Malawi Pizza right after dinner.  We'd just enjoyed a very good meal.

At the end of the 5K

This picture is self-explanatory.  Me finishing another 5K.  Better run that I had expected given how crappy my fall running has been.  Weather cooperated wonderfully that morning.

Anyway, trapped here in the basement as we drain a sewer pipe.  Doing it ourselves instead of paying a plumber.  We'll be paying the plumber dearly when he shows up Monday to finish the job.  We had more water issues this morning and it looks like we have a backed up sewer.  I'm over the issues with this house.  I'm done buying older houses and this house wasn't that old.  I'm really over it.  So no using the toilets, no dishwashing, no laundry.  We might as well check into a hotel.  Ugh!

Lady, the 90's are calling. They want their checks back.

I'm not feeling well.  I've got a cold.  That's what I get for sitting in the rain at the BYU game and then getting on a couple of planes, which we know are veritable flying hot zones of communicable disease.  When I have a cold or any other ailment, I'm not pleasant.  My family can attest to that.

So I should have known better to expect things to go smoothly at the grocery store today.  Wednesday is one of my regular work-from-home days and I started at 515AM because I had a bit of energy when I first woke up (said energy did not last).  Right around noon, I realized that I needed to get some cold medicine so it was off to the Jewel to get some relief. 

I went straight to the cold medicine aisle and found a whole lot of empty shelves.  Was it inventory day?  Remodeling?  No, it appears that now in order to buy cold medicine, unless it's generic, you have to go up to the pharmacy counter, fork over ID, and be deemed worthy to get said medicine.  Seriously?  It's not like I'm trying to buy birth control in Provo, Utah.  I'm a middle-aged man who has managed to NOT abuse over the counter medications and now, for whatever reason, it's nearly a crime to buy cold meds.  Anyway, I took one look at the line of people at the counter for meds and just grabbed a generic and made my way to the front of the store to pay and go.

I'm a big fan of these:

Because, typically, they speed the process and I can just get out.  That was not the case today.  There were several people lined up at one of the aisles that has multiple machines and then there was one lady in another lane, with no one lined up behind her.  I thought it was because people couldn't see over the lame balloons to see that she was the only one in line.

No, I quickly discovered why she was the only one in line.  She was writing a check - A CHECK - in the self-serve lane and then began an epic, and I mean EPIC, battle with the self-service machine to ram her check in as an acceptable form of payment.  I stood there for a little while, watching this battle of wits, and I was completely baffled by a couple of things: A) who, and I mean WHO, still writes a check at the grocery store?!  It's called a debit card, lady, use it; and B) no where does it indicate a place to pay with a check on the machine.  What makes you think it would? Were you raised by wolves?  It's not like this lady was 900 years old either.  I might have thrown her a bone if that were the case.  But I was having none of this battle royale.  I switched over to the other aisle, where a lady who was witnessing the same battle, let me go ahead of her and jump on the next machine, pay - with my debit card - in about ten seconds flat.

So, lady, take a lesson.  The 90's want their checks back and you should look into some of the fine features this century has to offer.  On that note, I should probably go take some more cold medication.  Take the edge off.

BYU Parents Weekend 2010

Greetings from Provo, UT!  It's Day Two of BYU Parents Weekend and it has been a blast!  This is my third year participating and it's been a great one - maybe my favorite one yet.  It's been great to spend time with Our Lady of BYU.  It is more than evident that these years at school have been transformative for her.  For example, I knew she was a BYU sports fan, but I did not realize the depths to which her fan-aticism goes.  She's turned into a veritable treasure trove of BYU sports knowledge - Cougarboard is a big part of her life!  Her favorite building on campus?  The Marriott Center because it's where basketball is played.  She is cracking me up.  It's been so good to spend time with her.

When I arrived on Friday, I first stopped and saw some friends and it was great to reconnect.  It's so good to see old friends.  And then it was off to see Our Lady.  Her new place is such an improvement over the crime-scene/tenement she lived in last year.  We headed over to campus where we were greeted by this:

Once again, guess who's featured in all the promotion/advertising?  We saw one poster outside the Wilkinson Center, where someone had written Sarah's name on it.  Her mortification continues.  Let me just say, BYU has more than gotten it's money worth out of this picture!

Friday night was dinner at Malawi Pizza with Our Lady and a few of her friends.  Good pizza and another earnest cause like last year's dinner.  Apparently, a part of our bill is donated to feed a family in Africa.  After dinner, the girls headed out and I didn't  Fine with me.  Saturday morning was 5K time.  Once again, the weather people had predicted hideous weather at the time of the race and it was totally decent.  For as out of sync I am running-wise, I was not totally embarrassed by how this run went.  Our Lady was there to cheer me on, which was fun.  Soon after the run, the weather did tank and it started raining.  Not good for a noon kick-off or the tailgate with friends before the game.  That turned into a literal huddle under trees, all of us shivering in our ponchos.  Mercifully by the end of Q1, the rain stopped.  While it stayed chilly, it seemed to help BYU, who finally managed to eke out a win.  FINALLY!  Suffice to say, it's been a rough season.  We capped Saturday with dinner at Tucanos Brazilian Grill.  There were 17 of us and we had a really good time.  It was a couple of other parents and a slew of Our Lady's friends.  The food was really good and never-ending.  Strangely enough, my favorite was not the bacon-wrapped filet mignon, but the chicken hearts!  They were terrific!

And now, I'm back in my hotel room, sated and ready to call it a night.  I'll join Our Lady for a little religion in the morning and then it's back home on Mother United.  I've had a really good time with my daughter this weekend.  And I've delighted in how much things have changed at my alma mater.  And they are good changes.  I loved it here when I was a student.  Never wanted it to end.  And I'm thrilled to see how it's going for my girl.  It's all good.  It really is.

I can't believe I made that mistake.

I like to think that after years and years of managing travel and speaking around the world on travel management issues, you'd think I'd remember things like checking the dates you've booked on that non-refundable ticket before hitting "purchase."  One would think.  And I thought I had until this Sunday when the Voice from EasyUpdate called to tell me my First Class upgrade had cleared.

"Odd," I thought since I get upgraded 120 hours from departure and that specific flight is 168 hours away (note that upgrade addicts have their upgrade eligibility hours seared to their very souls).  So I tried to pull up Mother United's website on my phone (please, please, please Mother United, get an iPhone app ASAP!) and got nowhere, so when I got home I pulled up my itin and discovered that I'd booked my outbound and return all for the same day.  Spank me!

Seriously.  I knew I was spanked.  And spanked I was.  I got the "B" team for sure when I called for help.  Held for four minutes before the call was answered and then after explaining my issue, the agent spent the next seven minutes tapping on her keyboard, right out of the scene from "Meet the Parents," before she let out a sigh that I felt through the phone line, to announce that my error was going to cost me.  Um, thanks, Copernincus, I already knew that.

Cost me it did.  It wasn't pretty.  But I had to do it.  I can't miss Parents Weekend and it's time to go see Our Lady of BYU.  So I'll be kicking myself all the way there for this stupid, stupid mistake.

So, lesson learned here people!  Always, always check and double-check before you hit "purchase."  Oh, the agony!