Where I turn for peace?

I just cannot seem to operate in any other way than in crisis or high pressure mode. No matter what I put into a day I always drive home overwhelmed with all the things I didn't get done. (My drive home is usually rushed to make an appointment or meeting or practice or something.) Today was no exception, it felt like it was magnified with turmoil which is the case when I decide to go to the temple.

I got home and had to finish up some work, I was sending some files to the office, back to the TV in our room. Rachel came in and said she needed to lay down for a minute before the kids got home from school. She turned on the TV and I was a little bugged as I was trying to concentrate. I was just about to pick up and leave to room and I heard a voice and immediately a calm poured over me that extinguished the haste and angst that I was feeling...and that I had been feeling for weeks now. It was the voice of Elder Uchdorf, she had turned on the DVR-ed RS session of conference. I had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for my sweetheart for always doing what is right and also what is right for me, I should not have it so good.

?Como se dice dimwit?

I was walking through a local drug store and over heard a guy voice his displeasure in the fact that there were Spanish signs accompanying the English ones throughout the store. As I stood there trying to make a contradistinction between the brand name pain killers and the generic I started to think about this guys comment:

"This is freakin' America, why do we have to put up with this?!"

Four things come to mind.

1. Put up with what? More reading? Is it that painful to read a sign with words that may be unfamiliar to you? It's Latin based pal, most of the words are very similar to the sixty or seventy words that you can read.
2. I like to think of it as a language tutorial, hey whaddya know? Panales are diapers! Use it to your advantage my man, and don't let it be another thing to complain about.
3. If you really have a problem with it your only real voice of protest would be to stop patronizing that store. Do you think store owners are doing it to be culturally sensitive or politically correct? No. They are pushing their products! Spanish speakers are consumers too, stud.
4. Lastly, and this just might be ticky tack, but if you choose to be a public nuisance I will choose to pick apart your terminology. Yes, this is America. However, Mexico is America, Guatemala is America, El Salvador is America, Colombia is America and it stretches all the way down to Chili. America: North, Central and South. I'm not an expert but I'd venture to say that the majority of the populous of the American Continents are Spanish speaking.

So in short, quit using my language Mr. Outspoken Dolt, if you are going to make such benighted, intolerant, and unintelligent comments.

Finding That Aloha Spirit Again

The other night Rachel and I went out to dinner. After all these years we rarely agree on a restaurant. To save time, and maybe even grief, I pulled out a coin and decided to let it do the decision making for us. We ended up at this little fast food Hawaiian Barbecue. Not ever my first choice, not Rachel's either but we decided to 'live and die by the coin flip', so we went in. As I was scanning the menu my eye caught a hold of an item that I found 15 years ago when I was in Hawaii. It's a great little morsel called Spam Musubi. It is a slice of Spam topped with sticky rice, wrapped in a dried seaweed leaf. It is so good. Thankfully it was as good as the ones I'd buy from the the Honoloa Market in Kapalua, Maui. So Aloha and Ma'halo to Ono Hawaiian Barbecue for the good memory churn.

Long live Spam Musubi!

Meet Me Half Way

Just a simple observation.

The first time I noticed this was at the drive thru window, years ago.

It has to do with drink sizes. I think the 'small' is a splash of liquid in a cup of ice which usually amounts to two or three straw swigs. Nowadays the large is so big that I fear it. If at the drive thru window, and if I try to 'one hand' that barrel 'o beverage I am at risk of dropping it or pulling a muscle, it is just too big. No cup holder can contain it, and no human should consume it.

So what is left? The medium. Yes sir, not too big, not too small...like the Grimm Fairy Tale says: not to hot not too cold, not too hard not too soft...the middle, the average, the midpoint, the mean, the median, dead center, par for the course, e pluribus unum (my Latin may be a little fuzzy).

So I order a medium drink. On more than one occasion the order taker has told me they don't have medium. "You don't have medium?"

"No sir, we have small, large and extra large"


"So this is just semantics?"


"Uh, no sir, just small, large, and extra large"


"Well then, can I have the median sized drink?"


"No sir, just small, large and extra large"


"Right I'll take the large, which is the median"


"Sir, we don't have.."


"Okay, I'm kidding, give me the large, (under my breath), which is the medium"


How is that possible that these folks cannot connect the dots between medium and the 'middle sized drink' they offer?

Well it's all for a shameful laugh, but tonight I didn't laugh, I almost cried. I went to get the kiddos Taco Bell for dinner. The order taker asked what kind of sauce I'd like. What did I tell her? That's right, I told her to give me the medium. She paused and said, "You realize that's the HOT? You see, we have mild, hot, and fire."

For the love of all that is good and holy on this earth, what is wrong with calling something medium?!!

Today's Success

I've heard alot about the power of suggestion, and the power of positive thinking. It is more productive to focus on the positive. The other day Rachel was telling me something that she had heard about teaching do's so the mind can visualize that action, and put it into practice. (There was more to it, but that was the jest) So the converse should be true right? If you say don't the mind will visualize the don't, planting a 'bad seed', so to speak.

Now, I got a new truck about two months ago. I miss my old truck, but that's not important right now. My new truck is fine, but I have had a problem with refueling. I am not smart enough to figure out why, but when I go to refuel the pump shuts off after a gallon, and about every gallon thereafter, how annoying! I guess the gas is pumping too quick and is getting backed up in the tube that goes to the tank and it shuts the nozzle off. I've done everything I can think of to try to make it work better, I can't figure it out.

Long set up I know, but what do those two thoughts have to do with each other? Well, the other day as I'm finessing fuel into my truck grinding my teeth and knowing that this aggravation is taking precious years off of my life, I happened upon a placard on the gas pump that discouraged 'topping off'. It was a picture of the proper position the nozzle should be placed into the fuel receptacle. It also showed a picture of an improper way to fuel with the warning that it was dangerous.

This is a sweet don't.

So I thought to myself, "It could only be dangerous because it must make the topping off shut off device thingy in the nozzle not work. Mine works too much, so why not counteract?" I did it despite my cautious nature and it works perfectly, no more problems at the pump. (I guess I'll make a mental note to not 'toke up' while I'm refueling in such a haphazard manner). This mini feat of success is on the heels if me doing what a picture showed me what not to do! HA! I love it when I am in the positive end of irony!