My 2012 Predictions

Every year, I make predictions for the next year. Usually I get a little help from my brother, but this year, I decided to do it on my very own. When I make predictions, I realize some of it is a recollection of what happened in the past year. This year, I realized that my predictions are a reflection of me. One prediction that I have for past decade that I miss making is Osama Bin Laden. I had fun making predictions about his capture or lack of capture. None of my predictions came close to what actually happen. Osama Bin Laden Prediction are being laid to rest this year. (2011's prediction and result: Osama Bin Laden's tapes will be found in the archives at the New York Times. They won't be aired because no VHS player can be found. He's deader than a door nail on May day. But at least I have the Airport Guy to keep me going, unless he gets voted out of office. Then I will be up a creek again.

2012 Predictions
1. The world will not end as predicted by the Mayan calendar.
2. Utah State, BYU and Utah will win their bowl games.
3. While Kevin waits for his visa, he will serve stateside in New York.
4. Jazz will go to the playoffs and also beat the Lakers. You never know, so don't laugh too hard.
5. Vanessa and Crystal will vote for a winning candidate or two. Yes, the two will be old enough to vote. May their dads rest in peace.
6. Gabrielle will give birth to a little girl on May 29th.
7. Airport Guy will be barred from the Salt Lake International Airport and will travel by Amtrak to and from D.C.
8. Orrin Hatch will retire. It has been decades since i was 18. Yeah it's time to turn out the light and go to bed, Hatch.
9. Obama will order members of Congress to quit whining and get to work. The same with the Senate.
10. Political talk shows will lose their ability to whine, yell, find fault, rant, point fingers and other forms of bad speech as their ratings fail and Americans get tired of their bs.
11. Nancy Grace will host her own show on Comedy Central. (She makes me laugh with her antics.)
12. The American public will start a petition on Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets to demand that Congress , Senate, White House (elected & non-elected) officials and other elected officials give themselves a month without pay so that those in the armed forces, senior citizens (except millionaire retirees) and low level government employees can have a raise.
13. The Tea Party and the Coffee Party will both brew at the polls.
14. Sarah "Perky" Palin will be forced out of the closet when it is discovered that she likes coffee more than tea.
15. BCS will go bankrupt and lose creditability; then become the laughing stock of the football & sports worlds.
16. Mary will visit Utah and see the new Natural History Museum and Red Butte Gardens.
17. Crystal will run a full, yes full marathon at the end of April or August. Or the first weekend in October. If not, she will run a half marathon.
18. Susan and Jewel will check out a ebook from the library.
19. There will be new faces in Washington DC from Utah and a few other states due to the 2010 census.
20. Dana will go into major shock when his youngest walks into kindergarten classroom and his oldest starts her post-secondary education.
21. An announcement will be made in General Conference that a temple will be built in the San Luis Valley. Okay Southern Colorado. (John Taylor's son once said in a stake conference in Manassa that a temple would be built in the area. Someone also prophesied in a stake conference in the Mini-Cassia area that a temple would be built. In 2008, the Twin Falls temple was dedicated.)
22. As usual there will be a change in face(s) at Income Accounting at the University of Utah.
23. Some matchmakers will hone their skills and a few good men will consider their martyrdom. Disclaimer: this does not mean there will be wedding bells.
24. The prison walls will not fall around Warren Jeffs, but a wall will fall on him and his reign of terror will end for many of his followers.
25. Jason will teach his nephews & nieces the fine art of texting (jexting). Watch out parents, aunts , uncles & Vanessa.

A few questions for 2012. Will Utah and BYU play their last rivalry game? I hope not. And will Notre Dame play BYU? Now that could be a holy war. Will my Utes and Dana's Dawgs meet up again? I kinda enjoyed that rivalry. And will a buffalo be hidden on Utah's campus like a cougar was hidden 25 plus years ago? I probably won't know because I don't read the Utah Chronicle. This is my new look for 2012. It is only a haircut, but hopefully it will a part of my new year resolutions not to wait a year before I cut my hair. Hopefully at the end of June.

Christmas 2011 Newsletter

Every year I write a newsletter to my family and friends. This year it was a last minute effort, but I did sum up what happened in a somewhat uneventful year. Maybe it seems uneventful because I couldn't remember everything I did, so this what I came up with.

Dear Family,

It is a week before Christmas and I am finally getting around to writing the annual newsletter or form letter as I sometimes I want to call it. It has been a rather boring year as far as traveling goes. I didn’t leave the state of Utah all year. Mary did not visit, but Laura and her family did, which prompted me to leave Salt Lake County to watch “17 Miracles” in Davis County.
John did help get me around this year even though his car is ageing faster than most UTA buses. He took me to Riverton to see the dentist and a few trips to Costco. He also drove Jay and me to Park City in August, which is in Summit County. Okay I left the county twice. Jay and Tina, a friend from high school ran the Park City Half Marathon. While we were waiting for the race to begin, we visited with an old neighbor from the ward we all moved from. Of course, I had hot chocolate at McDonalds while we waited for Jay and Tina to cross the finish line. There is just something about a cold August morning in Park City.
All of us are still working at the same place and attending the same wards. I doubt that will change in the coming year, but you never know. But there were a few changes. The annual rivalry game was held in September instead of November. It just wasn’t the same and it wasn’t just different dates for both teams. BYU was independent and Utah was in the PAC-12. But I did enjoy a rivalry of sorts with Dana, when his Dawgs (Huskies) played my Utes. I am officially his auntie now.
Even though I was in Utah when the earthquake on East Coast occurred; I did experience it. I was talking to one of the borrowers when suddenly I heard some rattling in the background. Over the phone, it sounded like tea cups shaking in a china cabinet. She did confirm that it was earthquake and Washington DC doesn’t get earthquakes.
I did take up drawing, but not in the usual artistic way. But more in the therapeutic way: definitely in a way to express myself. I am not ready to call my self artist, probably because I use a pencil and scratch paper to draw my subject. I started my art therapy at work on the last day that student could pay their tuition before their classes were dropped. The events of the day gave me my inspiration for bad.artIst@woRk label. I have since drawn quite a few, some not so nice and others, just for laughs. Some I have included in my blog (http://idahoinutah.blogspot.com) that I started at the end of January. Right now the heading reads “Life on a Single Road”. I may be single, but I do have some stories to share. Some are current like OJ story (February) and Morning in Park City (August); others are memories like His Greatest Race (October) and the Walking Around the Block (also February).
I understand that the world will end in 2012. Well, I have news for you; I plan to be around for 2013, so I hope the upcoming year goes better than predicted. Take care and enjoy the Holidays. That includes Christmas and New Years. Ciao!

Christmas Memories

I woke up alone this morning. Jay went to Idaho with John. I have to admit it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I went to the church at 10:30, since I was the only librarian in the ward (which is why I stayed behind.) It was nice to have a peaceful morning. First thing I did was log onto Facebook. I know I am addicted to Facebook, but I had a cousin who was born on Christmas. I posted quite a few likes and watched a YouTube video that my sister shared. It was Simon & Garfunkel singing "Silent Night", one of my favorite Christmas carols. I liked the simplicity of their arrangement. It was just them singing and the piano playing. I also saw some pictures that a family friend posted. The picture of the stockings laid out on couch brought the memories back. Chelsey was continuing a tradition that Kevin's family has had for years. Kevin's mom, Jewel would hang a stocking for each family member on the fireplace. Santa would fill the stockings. Little Mark (Kevin's brother) twice saw her fill the stockings at 3am and even saw his dad, Chuck bring the gifts from the garage. So I am surprised that Mark believed in Santa after that. The Pughs also had a tradition that the youngest opened their present first. One Christmas when Crystal was 6 or 7, she asked her dad if the order could be changed. I guess she was tired of being first and probably she would always be first. That Christmas, Chuck was the first to open his presents.

I saw a neighbors' child at church. She will be a year old in January, so she is celebrating her first Christmas. I remembered Jay's first Christmas. He was bewildered at all the chaos. One of Jay's presents was a squeaky toy. He stared at the toy as Mom squeaked in his face. Or maybe Jay was bewildered at us older children being too rambunctious. And maybe he wasn't quite awake yet. John liked to get up at 4am, maybe it was 5am, but he was always way wired for Christmas morning. Some years I was too. I remember once, getting up on the hour every hour to see if it was time. That had to be the longest night for my mom. Growing up, we always did a Christmas program on Christmas Eve. My mom probably thought of idea as way to keep up later.  John would always read "The Night Before Christmas" and Mom would read "The Fourth Wiseman". We would sing Christmas songs from the hymn book or another song book that we got from King's in Rupert. Someone would recite Luke 2 and maybe some of Matthew.

Probably the Christmas that I remember the best is when the furnace broke. I was in 1st grade and Mom was expecting Jay. Mom bundled us up and took a trip into town. Not sure if we went to Paul, Burley or Rupert. When we got home, she sent us to bed. The electricity had gone out also. She called the furnace man, but he couldn't come out until the electricity came back on. I remember waking up, it was dark, but I could the hall light shine beneath the door. I could hear noise, so I asked my sister, Mary what it was and she said it was Santa. I believed her and I still do. The furnace man gave up his time with his family to fix our furnace, just so we could wake up early to open presents from another Santa.

Why Christmas?

This is not my own story at all. I had a rare opportunity to go to Relief Society this past Sunday and the teacher shared this story as part of her lesson. I was so grateful that she printed hand outs of the story.
There was once a man who didn't believe in God, and he didn't hesitate to let others know how he felt about religious holidays, like Christmas. His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also faith in God and Jesus Christ, despite his disparaging comments.One snowy Christmas Eve, his wife was taking their children to a Christmas Eve service in the farm community in which they lived. She asked him to come, but he refused. "That's ridiculous!" So she and the children left and he stayed at home.Awhile later, the winds grew stronger,and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump. Something had hit the window; then another thump. He looked out, but couldn't see more than a few feet. When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window. In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese.Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn't go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed. The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It's warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm. So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn or realize what it could mean for them.The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them and they moved further away. He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a breadcrumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn't catch on. Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe. "Why don't they follow me?!" he exclaimed. "Can't they see this is the only place they can survive the storm?" He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn't follow a human. "If only I were a goose, then I could save them," he said out loud.Then he had an idea. He went into the barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn- one by one the other geese followed it to safety. He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: "if only I were a goose, then I could save them!" Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. "Why would God want to be like us? That's ridiculous!"Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese- blind, lost, perishing. God has His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us. That was the meaning of Christmas, he realized. As the winds and the blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood what Christmas was all about, why Christ had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished like the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer: "Thank you God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!"

Author unknown

It’s Done???

Believe it or not, my Christmas shopping is done and I did most of this week. I bought some calendars sometime this fall. One I gave away at the work Christmas party at Ruby River. My boss loves it; she has a thing for cupcakes. But despite my early start, I felt like I was a point zero until Friday when I got home and pulled out my to-do shopping list. I started the list Satruday when on a whim I picked up a few items. Tuesday the bookstore had their annual employee appreciation day. From 3pm to closing time, everything in the store was 30% off, but only to those who showed their staff ID. I came home with a few items, none which will go to family, since most are BYU fans. Earlier in the week, I had asked for Friday off. When my co-workers were reporting to work, I was buying a gift card online. Then I hopped on the bus, caught Max and headed toward Valley Fair Mall. Except I never got to the mall, I stopped in at Staples to use the restroom and before I left I bought more gift cards. Then it was to the eye doctor’s place where I picked up my glasses. That was the real reason for heading out to West Valley. I saw Deseret Book in the Valley Fair Mall and decided against it, I wanted to take the Green Line to downtown. While I was downtown I bought another gift card and an actual gift. Then I ate at JB’s where I bought some gift certificates for my Mom’s birthday, which is in January. She likes the JB’s in Burley where they treat her like a queen.
Yesterday, Jay put up the tree. It is now decorated with lights and some garland. It isn’t finished yet because none of the ornaments are on the tree. Jay usually does the tree; I haven’t had much to do with the decorating, except for providing a helping hand when needed. When I started working at the University six years ago, the loan collectors told me that I had to put up the tree since I was the newest employee. That did not set well with me and as a consequence, I became a scrooge when it comes to decorating the tree. Even in my later years, I get rebellious when I feel forced to do something. But I am still glad the tree is up and people have decorated their yards. Christmas lights make a dark December seem more joyous. Yes, the Dove Wrapper has it right when it reads “Joy is contagious.”

My New Toy

On Thanksgiving weekend I bought an iPad. Since late January or early February when Lisa, the head boss over Income Accounting made an executive decision that we could no longer check our personal email,Facebook accounts and other pleasures online, I began to seriously consider buying an iPad or laptop. Needless to say, the laptop didn’t get too much consideration. It would easier to put an iPad in my bag than a laptop.
Every once and awhile I would stop in to the bookstore on campus and ask questions. After talking to my sister, Mary, I decided that I would buy it from BestBuy, which is just a very short walk from one of the Trax stations, so that even made it more attractive. Darren and Mark, my friends who are iPad owners were helpful in the final days. Especially Darren, who answered quite a few texts and even returned a call, and I was convinced when I saw a BestBuy insert in the Thanksgiving edition of the Tribune. When I was buying it, one of the salesperson commented that iPads are never on sale. Even the computer specialist at the bookstore who sold me a carry bag for my iPad agreed. Once a year the bookstore has a sale tax free day on PC’s and such. The picture above basically says it all. It was one of the few I have taken with my iPad. The quality isn't that great, but the look explains my curiosity and confusion with my iPad.
My adventure in acquiring an iPad ended but the education adventure has just begun. The Sunday after I brought the iPad, I started a week-long journal. Here is some of which I wrote.
11/27 I need an education in learning how to use this. I feel so stupid, but in time I will learn.
11/30 I am charging this iPad for the first time. That is easy. I decided to wait until it was almost gone. Not sure if 27% is enough, but I decided to give it a shot. I told Arnold about my iPad, but I don't think I will bring it in tomorrow. It is the 1st of the month & the phone will ring like heck. Another reason I don't want to bring it is that the wind will be crazy. I grew up with crazy wind. My hair was styled by the wind. Well, I better let this bozo charge up.
12/01 YES!!!!! I downloaded my 1st app; iBooks. Don't have anything on it yet. But maybe I can check ebooks from the library. I have so much to learn about this iPad & the sky is the limit to my learning. I'm strongly leaning toward taking it into work so I can access the wifi there. I used to access the wifi on my Nook. I am happy that I downloaded my first app.
12/02 I took the iPad to work. It was a bit of a distraction. But I did get to use the wifi at work. I signed on as a guest of the university. I found 3 more free apps to download. I was not sure how well I would be able to use the wifi because the last few I tried to asses the wifi at work for my Nook, I had problems. Et vas nova. I think my Nook is dying a slow death. I may either buy a new one or get the Nook app on the iPad.
12/03 I took my iPad to the library in Holladay, which has WiFi. I thought I would have better luck than I did with my Nook, but no. I was able to access WiFi but I could not connect the Internet. Maybe I try again on another Saturday. I just ran out of time, well more like patience. I still had to go grocery shopping and eat lunch.
12/04 I took the iPad to stake conference this morning so I could take notes. About halfway thru the last speaker I realized I needed to turn the sound off because of the clicking sound the keyboard made when I was using it. I hope that the old people who we were sitting by didn't get disturbed by the noise. Hopefully they had bad hearing & could not hear my keyboard. I want to get the scriptures on here and then just take this to church instead of the quad. The pages are falling away from the binding.