Strange Kids

We have a tradition at our home where each night around the dinner table we ask each child what was the highlight of their day.  I know I've talked about this before, but it periodically presents some interesting views into what the kids are thinking, and what stands out in their minds from their day.  Here's a look at a couple of interesting responses from yesterday...

Morgan said her highlight of the day was "going to the dentist".  This was very unexpected because she was there to get two cavities filled.  She explained she liked the feeling when they put the thing on her nose (gas mask), and it made her not feel her arms and hands.  She also has a silver tooth now - not a silver filling in her tooth - an actual silver tooth.  It's quite impressive really, and she was certainly not shy about showing it to her classmates today on the fieldtrip I got to drive for.  Bottom line is, I'm not really sure I want my kids liking the dentist visits so they can get the cool gas.  Besides, who likes dentists?!  And I don't care how many stickers, toys, and pencils they get for being good.

Micah said her highlight was going back to school after the weekend.  What???  Who says that?  What kid says the best thing about their Monday was that the weekend was over and they got to go back to school?  Hmm.

Brig said his highlight was playing with Joey and Sam, which is what he says every single night, regardless of whether he actually played with Joey and Sam.  It turns out he really did play with them yesterday, and he just can't get enough of his two little buddies.  He's been talking for weeks now that he gets to sleep over at Joey and Sam's house when Ang and I go to St George this weekend - hopefully he still likes it when he's actually doing it.  

Can't remember which of the seven things Kennan listed as her highlight was her actual favorite, but I'll go with "having dinner with my family", since that's invariably my highlight as well.  We have a great family, and if we can get over the occasional squabbles and arguments, we're a pretty happy gang.

So what was the highlight of your day?

Financial Implosion

I have to mention the stock markets today because it's absolutely brutal what is going on.  The House of Representatives voted down a $700 Billion financial-rescue plan, and the market basically cashed in all its chips and then went home.  I can't even begin to speculate on how much money people lost today - untold billions, even trillions in aggregate.  It's really not pretty out there.  

I personally am disappointed that the House rejected the bill.  I see their concern: that people who have previously made unwise financial decisions shouldn't be bailed out by taxpayers.  But I also see the other side of that coin - now everyone has to suffer, and it's ugly.  Fortunately for many of us, we have lots of years until retirement, but just think if you didn't...  Our hometeacher came by last night and lamented the fact he recently put a half million dollars into Lehman bonds - gone.  And that was all but a fool proof bet to keep your money safe, or so everyone thought.  I guess my bottom line is, if we have to bail some people out for the good of the whole economy, then fine - so a few won't learn their lesson, and a few will profit from the gov't safety net, but the vast majority of the country will potentially benefit from the economy not tanking.  Of course that doesn't factor in the cost of taxes, but in good times that's a different argument.

My advice: take a very long-term view on your stock portfolios, if you have anything left.

The Sunday Edition

Man oh man, what a week this was ... specifically, what a last few days.  Starting on Wednesday and continuing through Thursday night, we had a very stressful, tense time as we expended our last amounts of energy available to try and get a loan on the Provo house.  Thanks to the amazing help of others in many different ways, and due to some downright miraculous happenings, we were able to close a loan on our Provo house yesterday.  When it was all said and done, Angela and I looked at each other across our kitchen table after the notary left, and we just grinned ... almost not daring to realize that this part of the struggle was over.  Now of course we need to sell or rent the house, but we've been fighting so hard for this first step that we'll enjoy it for a bit before we start that next piece.

Also significant on Friday, I accepted a new job within Google.  I'll be leaving the M&A Accounting team and managing a Sales Finance team that supports our North American sales organization.  I'm very excited for the change, and I feel like this will be a big step forward for me both in rejuvenating my daily work, but also in my career in general.  I'm very grateful for the right contacts I was able to have good relationships with who helped this happen.  It's a real testament to fostering your business network, both inside and outside of your current company.  I'll keep you posted on the new job as it unfolds.  I'll start making the transition not this week but next.  I'm feeling very happy about that.

This is going to be a busy week for us.  Angela and I are planning to leave Thursday afternoon for a kidless trip to St. George for her to run the marathon, and I have to be honest ... I can't wait!  I wish I was running, but it'll be fun to hang out with Spencer and Molly and other fun friends who are running or visiting.  As we have been planning this evening, we're laughing at how much stuff our kids have going on, and especially the days we aren't here.  We feel sorry for our babysitters already - but we're going to watch their kids in a few weeks, so it's ok.

Kennan finished her first Harry Potter book tonight and she loved it.  There were a few parts where she had to read by other people, but for the most part she was much braver than I thought she was going to be.  She's already looking forward to #2.  Micah and I have been reading Inkheart together for a few months and we've made slow progress even though we love to read.  We sometimes go weeks without finding time when we both can/want to read.  Angela just finished a book she really liked called The Book Thief, and I'm reading another Ludlum book, which is pretty good.  

The Gphone, er, "G1" ... finally

Google and T-Mobile held a joint announcement today of the first mobile phone, called the "G1", running Google's Android operating system inside.  The phone, which will be available for purchase in about a month, is pretty slick.  I have seen, held, and played with the phone, and I give it a thumbs up.  What most people will do instantly is compare this product to Apple's iPhone, and this is appropriate.  What they will find is the G1 is not as sleek, shiny, or quite as pretty as the iPhone, but it is as functional, if not moreso.

You can probably find a million articles on the web talking about media guys', bloggers', and analysts' impressions of the phone, and of Google's foray into the mobile phone world.  You might find it interesting to read a little bit about the pros and cons of this phone and the operating system in general.  A couple of articles I read are in the SF Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News.  Here's a great link to a site with a lot of information, pictures, and videos.

Maybe this will actually help our stock price...or maybe not.

Dinner last night

Wow, what an amazing dinner we had last night.  First of all it was awesome to see our friends again, catch up, and really pick up right where we left off.  As we noted, we could have eaten anywhere and still had a great time with them, but as long as we had to eat, it might as well be at one of the best restaurants in San Francisco...

So here's what we had.

Starters

Small black bean salad with citrus vinaigrette, chilled and sitting on a spoon

Butternut squash soup, chilled in a small cup

A small cup of layered purees: peas on the bottom, carrots on top; topped with creme freche and caviar (yep, my first ever eating of caviar ... liked that better than the pea puree)

Appetizers

John: Sweetbread with a poached egg covered in veal jus, brioche on the side (another first for me here - sweetbread is the thymus glands of beef)

Angela: Crab salad with a bunch of other stuff presented around the plate

Fish Course

John: Alaskan Halibut with a cumin and taragon crust, served over some small vegetables; a quail egg over a crouton and covered with a creamy sauce

Angela: Roasted sea scallops with a hazelnut crust, chanterelles & truffle gnocchi, mushroom jus with hazelnut oil emulsion

Meat Course

J&A: we both went more traditional here with Filet Mignon over a bed of wild mushrooms and leeks; on the side was a small brioche cup filled with, of all things, macaroni & cheese (not exactly Kraft Easy Mac, but a bit surprising nonetheless)

Dessert

John: Vanilla cheesecake served over a raspberry-topped wafer; a small honey and lemon cake with chocolate spread; a small fudge bar with champagne ice cream on top; champagne jello cubes

Angela: chocolate souffle served with cherry and kirsch ice cream

In reality, the food was amazing, but the presentation made it even more spectacular.  I should have taken pictures of all the courses ... maybe next time.

Evening of Refined Sophistication

I know, the first thing you think of when you think of Angela and me is not sophistication.  If you have observed my eating habits, you will also readily agree that I'm not necessarily one with a discerning palate (although I can discern the difference between a Big Mac and a Whopper).  So you'll be interested to know that Angela and I are going up to the city tonight to eat at a very posh French restaurant called Fleur de Lys.  

I generally get worried about a restaurant when they don't list the prices on their online menu.  Worried not because of the food or environment, but because it's likely the kind of restaurant where "if you have to ask the price, you probably shouldn't be here".  However, we're very excited for tonight, and would pay a high price indeed, because we get to see some great friends from Austin who are in San Francisco and wanted to see us.  We're particularly excited because the last time we did this with them, they found out shortly thereafter that the wife had very serious cancer, and we weren't sure we'd ever see her again.  But she's doing well, and we're grateful they thought of us on their trip out here.

I'll report on the evening tomorrow if I've recovered well enough to string some thoughts together.

Bitter Sweet

I finally accepted the reality yesterday and today that my efforts to overcome my current knee injury in time to complete my training and run the marathon two weeks from tomorrow are futile and doomed.  I just haven't been able to run without pain, and as if to confirm my decision, the knee's been more painful than ever all day today.  I'm bummed and disappointed.

But strangely, once I sort of got comfortable with that decision, I've had a smallish feeling of relief now that I don't have to worry about the pain and about how I was possibly going to run.  It's nice to know there are other years, and hopefully I will be able to pick back up next year and run injury free.

Yesterday was spent at a team-building event up in San Francisco where we broke up into a bunch of different teams and had a scavenger hunt around the city.  It was fun, and very entertaining.  Micah and I are headed with some church friends up to the Oakland A's game tonight, and then next Monday Angela and I are meeting some close friends from Austin up in SF again for dinner at a very swanky French restaurant.  

I had "the talk" with Micah this morning.  No, not THAT talk!!!!  Micah lost two more teeth last night, and then when the tooth fairy forgot to come (again) last night, I had to clear up the legitimacy of that particular myth for her.  I considered blaming it (as usual) on an over-worked fairy, but in the end decided she's plenty old enough to know the truth.  She had already guessed, of course, that the TF was really the big J all along, but I think it just cleared it up for her so there's no question.  Phew, glad we got that talk out of the way.  Ang, your turn for the next one...

Micah

Micah found out her part for the latest PYT play over the weekend.  The play is The Sound of Music, and she got the part of Marta, one of the Von Trapp children.  She's extremely excited and we're very proud of her.  It's going to be a huge time drain for our family, but we're ok with it because we want to support her as much as possible.  Thankfully she's really responsible about getting her homework and piano done early so she can go to her many rehearsals without it affecting her other things.  She's a good girl.

Quest for Perfection

Oh My!!!  With the hacks on ESPN ridiculing BYU as being the most overrated 2-0 team in the country, the entire nation thinking the only way BYU beat Washington last week was with the help of the refs, with football fans everywhere mocking BYU's quest for perfection, the Boys in Blue needed a big week.  The table was set perfectly - PAC 10 team blowing into town with a swagger having just beat another ranked SEC team, most of the world predicting an upset...

And the Cougs came out and gave the "mighty" Bruins the beatdown of the year!  They were AWESOME!!!  I can't overstate how huge a 59-0 win over a big-name program was for us.  It was the best.  As I was watching the game, the kids were laughing because, especially during the big 35-point 2nd quarter, I was repeatedly scaring them with my whoops and exclamations of joy.

The aftermath is nice - Max Hall earned National Player of the Week honors with his 7 touchdown passes; the Cougs are now ranked as high as 11th in the country, and even on the local sports radio station on my way into work this morning they were talking about how great BYU is ... and these guys are total PAC 10 honks.  And of course, I had to reward my UCLA alum coworker this morning with a huge Y logo taped to his computer screen to greet him as he arrived in to work.  It's a beautiful day!

On another note ... 

Brig has figured that ageless and classic thing that all little kids figure out - although I'm not sure they get it while still only 2 years old...  Brig has found the power of those three little words: "Mom said yes."  Over the weekend, multiple times I told him not to do something and he replied without breaking stride: "Mom said yes."  What a crack up.

Of Running and Google Food

Angela ran 18 miles this morning starting at about 4:30am.  This was the third week in a row that she and her girlfriends ran 18-20 miles, and the second week in a row that they ran at 4:30am on a Friday.  I'm really proud of her for being so dedicated to her training this year.  She's going to have a fabulous race and, and dare I say... Boston next spring?  Sorry to jinx you Ang!

And then there's me.  I've mentioned a little knee problem before, but it's becoming a bigger problem because we're getting so close to the marathon.  My training plan has been completely scrapped, I haven't been able to run more than 5 miles for almost a month now, and it doesn't appear likely that it's going to get better any time soon.  I've been a maddog in trying rehab the sucker - ice multiple times a day, every day; lots of stretching; some Ibuprofen in moderation; and taking multiple days off.  I thought I had the problem licked when I got a strap to theoretically hold your IT band in place, and I was ecstatic when it really worked the first two runs I used it.  But then, back to the same old pain.  I hit 3 miles and the knee decides, "yep, that's about enough of that!"  So all I can do at this point is rest, run very short runs every now and then, and hope that it feels better.  Either way, it's going to be a brutal marathon, if I get to run at all - I put the chances at 50-50 at least that I can't run...stinks!

So then there's the food thing.  Without being able to run, I realized I probably need to eat a little better or else I'll start looking like Hurley (Lost) before too long.  Let me tell you though, it's very, very, very hard to eat right when there is so much good food available at any given time throughout every day that I'm at work.  I have had good days and bad days - and last week I went the whole work week without eating any sweets.  I just need to work on my will power a little more.

To replace running, I have swam in the Google endless pool a few times.  That is pure torture. The guys in the Olympics made it look so easy and effortless - let me tell you that was false advertising!  I actually have a decent stroke from my Northcrest swimteam days, but I'm slower than slow, and I could barely pull myself out of the pool after 25 minutes of swimming.  Anyway, I'm shooting for a relay leg in 2012.

Have a great weekend.

The world of Blogs

Judging by the fact that you are reading this, it's apparent you're at least somewhat familiar with blogs.  I think a lot people don't realize, though, the enormity of the blog world out there.  You can find blogs for absolutely everything.  Many people, myself included, make a practice of checking in on a select group of blogs every day, or even multiple times a day.  A good way to find good blogs is to click on a few of the blog links on almost every other blog (look to your right and you'll see my Important Links pointing you to family and friends' blogs).

I thought I'd share with you a few of the blogs I really enjoy (I won't list the family and friends' blogs, because that goes without saying - JUST WISH THEY UPDATED MORE OFTEN!!!):

BYU FOOTBALL:

Quinn Gooch's BYU blog: Quinn was a starter on BYU's defense the last few years and he has some awesome things to say about the current team, opponents, and football and BYU in general.

DesNews BYU blog: Dick Harmon is one of my favorite newspaper guys who covers the Cougs.

SLTrib BYU blog: Jay Drew works hard to stay updated on developments and is usually good for a few posts a day.

KSL BYU blog: Greg Wrubell, the Voice of the Cougars, writes a pretty good blog as well.  He doesn't update as often as the others, and he relies a lot on podcasts and audio segments of interviews, which I'm not really interested in as much.

GOOGLE:

Official Google blog: I work here, so it stands to reason...

Official Gmail blog: I don't follow this all the time, but they have some great tips and tricks, and they're always throwing out new stuff here that makes my life easier.

I'm realizing now there are too many other blogs that I read occasionally, but not seriously enough to post here.  So just know that I read blogs about running, charity and philanthropy, technology, business, startups, and sports.  Go find some yourself...

Interesting question

I'm not a deep doctrine kind of guy.  I'm not one who tries to peel away the layers of the scriptures, or of modern revelation, to find all that alledgedly lurks beneath.  I'm content to just read the standard works and listen to conference.  So this question is merely curiousity, not trying to delve into any fringe conversations...

Last night I was reading 1 Nephi 11 and I came across verse 8, which I must have read a hundred times before:

8 And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me: Look! And I looked and beheld a tree; and it was like unto the tree which my father had seen; and the beauty thereof was far beyond, yea, exceeding of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow.

It struck me as I read that verse: how does Nephi know what driven snow looks like?  I may be wrong in my geography, but I'm pretty sure where he grew up it doesn't snow.  I'm also sure he handn't seen pictures of it in books, in skiing magazines, or on the Internet.  Is it possible that global warming has affected the earth so much that it's drastically changed the weather in that region of the earth?  Any thoughts?

A new week

OK, so I got a little lazy last week in not posting since Tuesday.  Maybe not so much lazy as just a bit too busy to spend time on a quality post, and I don't want to bore you with anything less than my best.  I'll see if things can go a little better this week, or at least set my sights a little lower.

We had a pretty good weekend.  Kennan did well in her soccer game, even though it was very hot and the games at her new Under-10 level are longer than she's used to.  She's one of the smallest players on the field, but she runs well and is particularly good at defense.  Kennan also had a fun trip to San Francisco in a stretch limo with her friend's family for a swanky work party that was going to include a bunch of fun kid activities.  You should have seen all the kids when the limo pulled up to our house...

Micah tried out for another PYT play, The Sound of Music, and got call backs for a couple of parts.  She's excited, and we're happy that she's doing well in something she loves.  The try-outs took hours, and Angela was nice to stay the whole time in support.

We have two neighborhood friends with swimming pools who have been kind in offering to have our kids come swim.  So we got in some good swim time on Friday and Saturday, which felt good in the heat.

Brig continues to potty train, and he's pretty much perfect now at not having accidents in his undies during the days.  We haven't tried the night-time undies yet because he's hit and miss with wet vs. dry diapers.  He loves to pee on the grass, and will stand there and swivel his hips as he goes with a big smile on his face.  

Ang and I met some close BYU friends up in SF for a fun evening and dinner on Saturday night.  It was really enjoyable to go up there and drive around, and then we ate at a nice Thai restaurant called Koh Samui and the Monkey.  Great food, and awesome to see our old friends.

I watched the BYU vs. Washington game.  I thought both teams played very well at times, and despite our outgaining them, our turnovers made it a closer game than it should have been.  You've probably seen the controversy at the end of the game splashed all over ESPN, but I don't care - a win's a good win, especially on the road to a PAC 10 team.  Texas also looked dominating against UTEP on Saturday night.

We also had some new/good friends over for a BBQ Sunday evening.  We've only recently gotten to know them better, and it's fun because the wife is someone I hung out with in Jr. High.  We had a great time with them, and we're now bummed because they're putting their house up for sale and moving back east for his job in NY.  Ang is particularly sad because Melissa is her marathon training buddy this year.

We've had a ton of BBQs at our house lately, which is fun.  I've also gotten quite good at marinating and cooking chicken and pork chops.  Because I've now done it time and time again, I know just how hot to make the grill, and how long to leave the meat on.  Maybe it's time to graduate to steaks, right Sam?  

Angela and I fasted for our Provo house yesterday, and we were both grateful for the opportunity to do so.  I'm not what you would call the world's greatest faster, but I stayed strong and focused the whole day.  It felt good to be doing something good that will surely help us fulfill our righteous desires.  Depending on how some things work out, I'll share more about this later.

Have a great week.

Finally, some Pictures!

Micah Ivanovic

Kennan Kournikova

Morgan Davenport

The fam at Jackson Lake

Brig did NOT want to kiss the fish!

Good fish from the river

The kids with Grandma LeBras and cousins

Phi Slamma Jamma, complete with grimace

Summer means a lot of pool time for the whole family

At the cabin on the new swings

Be the fish...

Just one more ... OK, just one more ... seriously, just one more ...

That cute smile was before the snake...

A boy and his dad

Oh yeah, I forgot...

Sometimes I forget there's a Higher Power that can be a guide and help for me.  I've been feeling quite a bit of stress lately for a lot of reasons, one of which was a project at work I spent basically all of last week on without getting the right answer.  I had a sincere prayer this morning, asking for specific help on that project, and wouldn't you know it, within an hour and a half I had found the right answer and was completely done.  It's awesome to have help like that - I just need to remember to have the faith to work, ask, and wait.

We had a really fun Labor Day weekend.  We had two BBQs at our house, a pool party at some friends', bike and scooter rides, new bikes for Kennan and Morgan (Kennan's old bike), Ang did a 22 mile run, I sat on my can (IT band - knee - injured and hurting), and ate a lot of good food.

Yeah, my knee's been hurting me the last three runs I've done.  I get out about 3 miles and it really starts killing.  It has all the characteristics of IT band syndrome, so I've been icing and resting as much as possible, and I'm trying to find an IT band strap to wear in the hopes that my training won't be utterly and completely derailed.  Did I mention I'm going to die during the marathon?  Yep, I'm gonna...

Some great college football over the weekend.  Of course the Cougs won, although I'd like to just forget that 3rd quarter.  Utah looked good against Michigan, although I have to admit there were times when I thought they weren't so much good as they were not as bad as Michigan.  Did anyone see the UCLA-Tennessee game? Wow, pretty exciting - they're going to be very tough for BYU in a couple weeks.

I'm also using Google's latest and greatest new product, Google Chrome.  It's Google's own internet browser, similar to Internet Explorer (Microsoft), Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari.  The idea was for Google to combine the best of all of those browsers into one super browser, which is of course open sourced for all to use and build applications for.  I have to say I'm impressed - it seems faster and very easy to use.  They are careful to remind us it's a beta product, and will have many upgrades coming, so it's not perfect now, but not too bad so far.  You can download at google.com/chrome.

Ang and I get our DVDs in the mail through Blockbuster and we really like the service.  During the olympics we hardly watched anything else, so it's fun to get back into watching DVDs periodically.  We watched "21" over the weekend - I found it entertaining, Angela didn't like it because she was just waiting for something bad to happen the whole time.