Christmas Remembered

I was just thinking about Christmas since it is now that time of the year. I will not be able to travel home for the holiday so I have been thinking about family traditions. Every family has them, what they usually do during the holidays. I'm just going to list some memories I have from Christmases past.
When I was little and lived in Montana I remember each Christmas Santa would come to our back door on Christmas eve and deliver our presents. When ever any of the older kids at school tried to tell me that Santa wasn't real and that it was just my parents I could tell and show pictures and prove they were wrong because I saw Santa each year and both my parents, and he always brought me the present I had asked for. Once we moved to California Santa didn't come to the door, he would come at night while we were sleeping and we would find our presents in the morning.
My family every year would go out Christmas Caroling to friends and coworkers of my dad. My mother would make grandma's spice cake and we would give a loaf to each family we caroled to. We really only knew a few songs and would always sing the same ones. We never tried to be professional nor did we sing parts we just kind of gang sang. Just like a bunch of kids would do when asked to sing. One of the funny things about our caroling is that when we went out to sing to my dad's coworkers we always seem to go to a wrong house. We would go to the door ring the bell and start singing, the people would come open the door and look at us listen to us sing and thank us for being there. We would give them the loaf of spice cake and then turn and leave. We as kids didn't know until after we left the door that we just sang to a house where we didn't know anyone. So that seemed to be the running joke every year that we would sing to a wrong house. It didn't happen every year but it did happen more than once.
We always went on Christmas eve to our friends the Uribe's because they would make homemade tamales and they always asked us in after we sang to eat. They were the best tamales I had ever eaten. They were a great family. Mr. Uribe worked at the elementary school as a custodian and I would always walk up to him and say Hola, como esta? and he would always answer back to me in Spanish and I would then say No, No, No that's all I know hola, como esta and he would laugh. I always enjoyed that family.
After caroling we would come home and then read the story of Christ's birth. We always had a cardboard nativity that one of the kids would put together as the story was being told. My dad would read from the Bible of the Saviors birth and we always talked about what the true meaning of Christmas was. It wasn't about Santa Claus it was about the Savior.
My mother always loved having a flocked tree and all growing up we flocked our own. We would go and buy the tree and then buy the flocking stuff. We would get the lights out and cover all the bulbs with foil and string them on the tree. Then my dad or brothers would proceed to flock the tree. Now when I say flock the tree I mean by the time they were done the tree looked like it was in a blizzard. Once the tree was flocked and the flocking was dry we proceeded to go around the tree to find all the lights and take the foil off so the light could be seen once they were plugged in. Rarely did we find them all, so often we would find a light covered in foil while the tree was in the house. By the time Christmas was over and we were taking down the tree and removing the light strings we usually found one or more lights still with foil on them.
Come Christmas morning all the kids were always up long before my parents usually around 6 am but we were not allowed to wake our parents up until 7 am. Do you know how long a wait that is in kid years? it was almost unbearable but we always waited. Once our parents were up they would go in to the living room where the tree was, plug in the lights and then set up to get pictures of us coming in to the room. While they were doing that we were allowed to check our stockings. We always got an orange in our stockings every year along with candy and other items. The orange was there because my mother would not let us eat any candy until we had breakfast and if we ate the orange that was good enough and we could then eat some candy.
Opening presents was not a free for all in our house. My mother would sit on the floor in front of the tree and hand out the presents one at a time. Making sure everyone got a present to open, going in order from oldest child to youngest and then the parents and we would all had to wait our turn to open our presents. That way we all saw what each and every present everyone got. It also made it easier for them to take pictures and get our expressions as we saw what was in the wrapped present. Later as we got older my mother moved to the couch and then as the person who just opened their present was done they were in charge of getting the next present for the next person.
My mother got really frustrated with us when it came to the presents because we were really good at guessing what our presents were before we opened them. One year my mother devised a plan to keep us from knowing which presents under the tree were for which kid. If we didn't know which box was ours it made it hard to guess the present by the size, shape and weight, which was usually how we figured it out. My mother put numbers on the boxes and only she knew which number went to which kid. This system only worked one year. Her system was like this my oldest brother was number 11 because he was the first child first boy, my sister's number was 21, second child first girl and so on.
Well that's Christmas as I remember it from my youth. If I remember more I will add to this posting. Christmas is always a great time of year and it's so fun to see all the lights on the houses. I hope everyone has a great Christmas.

I'll be on the balcony if you need me.

I live a rather boring life which is why I don't post very often. However when something does happen in my life that I feel is worth writing about I sit down at my computer and type up, as best I can the event to share with those who actually read my blog.

OK so I'm at home and I have a computer that someone asked me to fix and I start looking at it and I could see there was a lot of dust caked to the power supply fan. I decide to take it out on the balcony and blow out all the dust and dirt. I took the computer outside with a can of air, turn and close the door to keep the dust outside. I begin to blow out the dust until the can was so cold I can hardly hold it and it wasn't blowing very hard. So now I have to decide to either wait for the can of air to warm up or get another can. I decide to go back inside and get another can. I turn to go back into my apartment, and reach for the handle to open the door. I give it a yank and the only thing that moves is my hand off the handle.

Some how the door locked and I was on the outside with no way to get back in. I know what you're thinking no problem I can always call for help with my cell phone, well wouldn't you know I also left my cell phone on the table inside my apartment. To make matter worse my apartment is on the second floor so I start looking around trying to figure out how I can get out of this predicament. Now if you have seen any of the pictures I've posted of myself you know I am not a small woman, it is safe to say I am a LARGE woman. So although in my younger days I could have easily made the jumped, however a person of my age and size that jump would have been followed by a trip to the hospital for at least one cast if not several.

Now let me explain what my balcony over looks. I have a lot of trees behind my apartment, nice for privacy but a problem in this situation. There are other apartments behind me but they are across "the creek" or in reality the drainage canal. So seeing the neighbors is difficult, and I am looking at the backside of their apartments and to make matters worse it's 9:20 am on a Tuesday so of course no one is home or on their balconies. I tried to think like MacGyver and see if there was any way I could get off the balcony without causing myself harm. I took down my cloths line and thought I could tie it to the post and then use it to climb down to the ground. The first problem with that idea was I don't know how to tie a knot that I could trust not to come untied as I dangled off the side of the balcony. Another problem was I had no idea how to climb down the side of a building using a nylon rope, and those were the simplest of my problems.
Here are a couple of pictures of what the view is like from my balcony.


So I began to call out "HELLO?" to see if anyone was within ear shot. No luck there so I went to my storage closet to see what I might find in there to help signal some one for help. Found paper, no pen, found durflame logs and I did have a lighter to light it but I thought perhaps starting a fire would only make things worse. I wasn't having any success with the closet, and why should I obviously I was not having a run of good luck or I wouldn't be locked out of my apartment on the balcony.

I tried to get the attention of my downstairs neighbor, that is if there was someone home and I didn't know if there was, but I was unsuccessful with that attempt, although I just about pulled her wind chime off when my cloths line got tangled up with it while I was waving the rope for attention. I kept looking around hoping a neighbor would come home and I might be able to get their attention.

The trees near my balcony are not big trees so getting out to one of them and climbing down was not an option either. I caught a glimpse of a neighbor as they went into their apartment but wasn't fast enough to yell and get their attention. I was beginning to wonder how long I would be stuck out there. Thoughts of spending days on the balcony with out food or a coat or anything warm crossed my mind. Then I thought surely I would be able to get someones attention by this evening but if it was after the office closed how could I get back into my apartment.

I decided to sit down on the railing where I could kind of see the neighbors door who lives across the walkway from me and hope today is not the first day that they don't have 50 people coming and going to that apartment. Well I sat and waited, and waited and listened for voices. Did you know when you are straining to hear a voice you can really hear a lot of what is going on around you. I tried without success to send the squirrel that ran up a tree next to me for help but he would have none of it. I was stuck there until my luck changed.

So I sat looking into my apartment at the TV that was still on watching ER without being able to hear very well, although if I had tried I probably could have heard it better but then I wouldn't have been listening for the sounds of people outside. I started to think surely there is someone who is home in one of these apartments, and they will come out on their patio to smoke or something so I can finally get someone to help me. So I sat and waited.

Then I heard people talking I jumped down and looked around to see who I was hearing. I saw a couple coming out of their apartment and I started to yell to them. Now I could see them as I knew where they were but they were having a hard time figuring out where this voice was coming from. I was madly waving my arms hoping they would figure out where I was. When they finally saw me I asked if they would call the office and tell them I had locked myself out on my balcony and need to be let back in. They asked if I knew the phone number for the office, which I didn't. (Mental note memorize office phone number.) They went back into their apartment for what seemed like forever but was really only a few minutes and came out still on the phone with the office. They said the office would send someone over right away. I thanked them for their help and watched them leave. Then I waited again for help to arrive.
This picture is looking in the direction of the apartment from which the couple came. As you can see it's hard to see their front door.

Now the complex is not a large one so it seemed to be taking longer than I thought it should for help to arrive. I began to wonder if those people didn't just pretend to call the office and then tell me help would be coming just so they could leave. What a dirty trick that would have been. Waiting and listening for footsteps. I thought I sure hope he doesn't knock and wait for me to answer the door as that was the problem I couldn't get inside to do so. Finally the maintenance man arrived and came into my apartment. I waved at him sheepishly through the sliding glass door from the balcony and he came over and let me in, My Hero!

He checked out the door trying to figure out how it locked me out in the first place. Funny how things never do what they did when a person who fixes things looks at it. He tried several times to shut the door and get it to lock but it never did. I had no idea how I did it and believe me I will never go out onto my balcony and close the door all the way again. I also intend to keep my phone with me. I was stranded on my balcony for a little over an hour which really isn't that long but can feel like forever when you feel trapped. I think I will look into getting one of those emergency ladders you hook to your window ledge and get 2 one for the window and one to keep in the balcony in case I get locked out again. Believe me if it can happen it will happen to me. And all this because I was trying to help someone out with their computer. You see no good deed goes unpunished.

Well it's been a wild few weeks for me, actually a wild year. I have posted before that shortly after moving back to Ca. for a job I found out that my job was being out sourced and I would be unemployed and with me just recently moved and signed a year lease for my apartment. That was back in March that they told us we would be losing our jobs shortly and yet here we are now in November and although the job that brought me to Ca. has not ended yet there is a light at the end of the tunnel. No 60 day notices have been given yet, at least not in my department but I was worried since I've been through this before 6 years ago and it took me almost a year and a half to find a full time job that time. And even then that job paid a lot less then my last full time job and I had to move it with an older lady to take care of her just so I had a place to live. Then I move back home with my parents, very depressing when your older than a teenager.
Anyway I have been really stressing over finding a new job before my old one ends and I end up on unemployment and with no job in sight. I have been search the Internet, going to job fairs and even used a fax out your resume website which was not producing much in the way of a new job. I finally applied to one particular company several times for different jobs and finally talked to a recruiter.
Long story short I got an interview and then 4 days later a second and was told they would call me on Friday just 3 days after the second round of interviews. So all day Friday I waited, and waited and waited, the call never came. I thought well I must not have got the job which put me into a depressed frame of mind. Around this time I also got an email from an old friend I hadn't seen in 10 years who was going to be in town on Saturday and wanted to know if we could meet up at the mall. I wanted to see her and so I agreed. Although Saturday I was still not feeling much like being around people and almost canceled but I ended up going anyway. Well I got to the mall and called her to find out where they were so I could join them. They had not gotten to the mall yet and she told her husband I would be calling any minute because I'm always on time or early and she is always late. So I talked with her a short time then found a seat to waited for their arrival. Keep in mind she lives near Modesto and I live in the Sacramento area.
While I was waiting I got a call from work, they told me the swing shift operator was sick and they needed me to come in early. I told them I would come in early but it would be about an hour before I got there. My friend finally arrived and although she had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction with her pants, (that's another story in its self)we talked and laughed and had fun walking around the mall for the 45 minutes I had to spend with her. I was trying to be less moody and more fun and turned into goofy instead. Her kids liked me for who doesn't like a goof ball.
I went to work that night and worked 14 hours (usually I work 12 hours) and again had to go in early Sunday night to cover for the sick coworker, another 14 hour day later and it's Monday morning. I again have to go in early to work Monday night for another 14 1/2 hour day. I got a phone call which woke me up and it was the company I was waiting to hear from, with an offer of employment. So I went into work that night submitted my notice to them that I would be leaving. I will be starting my new job December 2nd. I just got the offer letter delivered express and will be filling out the paperwork and returning it tomorrow. So needless to say I am excited about what the future holds. What a relief to finally have the looking part over and now the new adventure of learning a new job and all that it entails.

Identity theft is one of the biggest problems facing everyone these days. I've had a paper shredder for years until about a year ago when the one I had finally died. Although it should have been higher on my list of things to get I just let my papers kind of stack up until yesterday. I had been researching different shredders and I wanted to find one that works both on several pages at once and would do credit cards as well as CD's if I need to destroy them as well at a good price. I checked several stores and hadn't decided on one yet until I saw this one at Target.



On the box if you look closely shows you that the papers are shredded to very small pieces. That sold me on this shredder. I brought it home and started eliminating my papers that I didn't want to just through into the trash. As I was going through my stacks of envelopes and I found one from Sears, which had an old credit card in it. So I decided to she just how good this shredder works. I have a before and after picture of the card.

Before Shredding

After (dime added for size perspective)

I just love this shredder, I don't think I will have any trouble with anyone getting any information from what I shred. This machine makes keeping my identity safe, and fun!

Who is the gymnest

I went to Utah last week for a family emergency. My mother went into the hospital with blood clots in both her lungs and the little band aid station they call a hospital in Kanab had to send her to a larger hospital which brought her up to the Provo area. I was there staying with my brother and his family. One of the nights I was there after dinner Rachel was standing in the kitchen swinging between the island and the counter. She was swinging her legs up and back, so I told her to hold her self up and put her legs out straight in front of her. She tried but was unable to keep her legs up in the air straight in front. Adam also tried as well as little Sarah,(with some help from Rachel) then Matthew said he wanted to try. Well he propped himself up with his hands and swung his feet up and out in a perfect L shape holding his legs up and straight out. We all clapped and cheered for Matthew who just looked at us like what's that big deal that was easy. My brother said "I know who I am going to sign up for gymnastics" Here are some pictures of the kids.

Internet Neightborhood

Who are the people in your neighborhood, in your neighborhood, in your neighborhood oh.... yes I know this is not Sesame Street and although I have not watch Sesame Street in a very long time that song just popped into my head when I thought about writing this entry. It also made me thing about Mr. Rogers neighborhood and how he would have included the Internet into his show, if he were doing it today. The graphics would be tremendous and I'm sure his land of make believe would include people from all over the world. I don't remember his make believe world venturing too far from the US but I could be wrong it's been many years since I watch Mr. Rogers neighborhood.
Okay with that bit of nostalgia out of the way, isn't the Internet a wonderful thing? I mean not only can you research any topic under the sun and in the sky above but you can also keep in contact with friends and family across the the world. It doesn't matter if they are next door, down the street or on the other side of the world, they can all seem as close as in the next room. For example, I exchange emails with people I know in Northern England and just the other day I got a call from my friends in Slovenia. When I say a call what I mean is using some software on my computer to talk over the Internet like a phone call. Not typing chat but actually talking and depending on the software you are using and hardware you both have you can even do a video chat. I didn't do a video chat with my friends but I'm sure we will at some point give it a go and be able to see each other while we talk.
I also chatted with my nephew Adam on google talk the other day. He was telling me how he left a pair of his socks at his aunt Karen's house and when he got them back they were tye dyed. If you think that seems strange, well you're right but if you knew his aunt Karen it's not as strange as you think. You see his aunt is a biology teacher and for several years has been doing tye dye T-shirts with her students so whenever the nieces and nephews get together they always make shirts. Here are a few pictures he sent me to show me the socks and the shirts they made.
These are just the latest he made with his aunt Karen, he has many other and they are all different. All the nieces and nephews love making their T-shirts and they have made some really great shirts. I'll add a few more pictures from previous tye dye days.

Here are a few pictures showing the kids making their shirts.

Today is my birthday, so happy birthday to me! I wish myself a happy birthday as I have not heard from anyone else. Actually that's not completely true as Ann who also shares my birthday sent me an e-card and my good friend Mark also emailed me. Thanks guys!!! No big party planned not even a birthday cake, just going to the movies with a couple of friends.
So for my birthday we had an all hands meeting for work and as I anticipated this meeting I thought they would finally gave us our actual end date. Well I was wrong. Although the contract has still not been signed with the outsource company, however they said it should be signed by August 1st. Which pushes out our end date of 60 days notice to, at the earliest October 1st. So really not much has changed and I am still looking for another job and hoping to find something before I am let go. So if anyone knows of any jobs that fall in the IT operation's area please let me know as that is where most of my knowledge is founded. However I am also qualified to do other office jobs as well.
Also my oldest son (nephew really) is out here fighting the fires up near Redding. He works for the Az. forestry service as a fire fighter and his engine got called out to help with the Ca. fires. He has traveled here before to fight fires in So. Ca. as well in years past. I hope I get the chance to see him while he is here but with the long hours the fireman are working I might not. He is suppose to be here for 14 days starting last Sunday. I talked to him on Sunday and told him to let me know when it gets some down time and I will drive up to see him but I haven't heard from him since. I hope all is going well for him and that they are getting the fires under control. I told him to watch out for bigfoot as the area he is working has a lot of sightings of bigfoot but I'm sure he will not see any.

On the 4th of July most people get together to celebrate the holiday with picnics and pool parties etc. I celebrated with my sister in laws family. My brother and his wife came to Ca. from Utah for her Grandpas 90th birthday which3rd. We will be having a party on Saturday July 5 for him. Because this is a big birthday for her Grandpa all of her siblings and their families have also come to the Sacramento area to celebrate with him. Since almost everyone was already in Sacramento on the 4th my sister in laws parents decided it would be fun to take the kids up to Rucker lake to swim and have a picnic for the day. Rucker lake is a camp owned by the LDS church used for girls camp and family camping. Curt my sister in laws father is in charge of the when I got out forcamp and with all the fires that are burning in the sierras right now they have not been able to use the camp for girls camp. So we all pilled into the cars and drove up to the camp for the day. Here are some picturestime after we had been there for a little while swimming and canoing. I didn't take many pictures as I was in the lake for most of the day and didn't have my camera with me, but these are a few that I did get which I took at our lunch break. I've also got some pictures from my niece who also took a lot of pictures of all the fun. Here is a picture of part of the lake.

This first one is of me and Curt out in one of the canoes paddling around the lake, then we get to the kids and boy did they have fun in the canoes. I am happy to say no one capsized any of the canoes.

Here some of the kids climbed up on a really big rock.

There is a guy that lives at the camp during the summer and during the winter he lives at another girls camp called Treasure Mountain. He has a really big dog call Magic (I think) which towered over some of the kids. He is a great dane, as you can see he is very friendly and really enjoyed the kids.

Well that was our adventure on the 4th of July. I hope you all had a good holiday.

There seems to be some fires burning in the mountains around Sacramento. People with respiratory problems as well as healthy people are being told to stay in doors today. We are suppose to have a high of 95 degrees. Air quality was bad yesterday too but it's worse today. This is the air quality for today. This first picture is what the state looks like from the air, as you can see we are pretty much covered in smoke. The lake you see at the right toward the bottom is lake Tahoe.



And here are a few pictures I took of the Sun. I know your not suppose to look at the sun directly but it was so dull by the smoke, and believe me these pictures don't really show how orange the sun really is. I took them about 7 am this morning and usually when driving toward the sun it is blinding but not today.

I had the enjoyable experience of spending the day at the DMV yesterday. Well as enjoyable as you can have at a government run business.
I needed to renew my drivers license as well as getting my car registered. I was a bit apprehensive about registering my car as California can be brutal when you bring a car into the state. I went to the DMV website and run the calculator they have there for you to determine how much you can expect your fees will be when you register your car. Well I put in all the information they asked for, such as year, price, when you purchased it, first operated in California, tax you paid etc. When I finished entering all the information and it calculated my fees it was over $2000.00 I was not about to pay California for registration fees that I had already paid from 2004 through 2006 when I moved to Utah. I knew I was going to have to smog it in order to register it as well. Word to the wise make an appointment at the DMV before you go, it seems to go a bit faster or at least it seemed like it did but more on that later. As with any time you visit a government run office there are many people you must first pass judgment of before you finally talk to the right person.
So I went to the starting counter told the lady I had an appointment for a drivers license and car registration she looked over my paperwork and then handed me a clipboard with a form to fill out and instructed me to move my car to the inspection area and an inspector would have to look over the car. I filled out the paperwork and moved my car. The inspector did his thing and handed me another piece of paper to take back inside to the counter and then instructed me to move my car out of the inspection area. I moved my car back to it's original parking space and took all the paperwork and clipboard back inside and waited in line for my turn to again talk with the same woman who had sent me out to get my car inspected. She called me up and I again gave her all my paperwork and she handed it all back and gave me a small piece of paper with a number on it. With little instruction as to what I was suppose to do with this paper, I asked is this the number they will call for me? She looked at me like I was a complete idiot and said yes find a seat and wait.
I found a place to sit and waited for my number to be called. It was called with just a short wait and I walked up to the the window in which I was told to go but there was still a man standing there. He finally walked away, I stepped up to the counter and the lady looked at me like what are you doing here. I told her they called my number and told me to come to her window. She exhaled and waved her hand at the pile of paperwork she had on her desk suggesting I was the reason she was not going to get her paperwork finished. I was as pleasant as I could be and said I understand it's ruff all these people coming in and bothering you with registration questions etc. She said the last guy had some sob story about something that had to do with disability or something and he kept changing his story and that he was at her counter for 3 times as long as he should have been. She said the people who assign what number goes to what window are downtown and not even in that building and that was why I was told to go to her even though she hadn't finished with her last customer.
I handed her my paperwork she proceeded to complain about the previous customer as she typed my information into her computer. She started with the car registration and asked a question about one of my answers on the paper I had filled out. She asked when I had brought the car back into the state. Knowing that I was suppose to have registered it with in 10 days of moving to the state I said just this month. She corrected my paperwork and continued her work. Before I could ask how much it was going to cost she told me the registration fee was $167 that was a far cry from what the Internet page told me. I paid the fee and then she gave me a temp operating paper that is to be taped to my window until I could come back with the smog certificate and get my plates. As she wrote up the paper I saw that she wrote Toyota on the paper and I asked her did you write Toyota on that paper because my car is a Honda. She again looked at the paperwork and there it was clear as day Honda written by the inspector so she had to go back to the computer and correct the information she had for type of car, then she just wrote over the Toyota with what I'm sure was suppose to be Honda and gave me the paper to stick in the window of my car. I still had 2 months left on my Utah plates so I didn't worry about putting the tag in my window. She processed my license and I again paid the $28 for it. With this being a government office of course they couldn't combine both payments into one. I was also to get my eye checked but the window I was at didn't have the chart above the worker so she stood up and said can you see that one over there, which was for the next window over and I said yes. She then proceeded to have me read from it one line both eyes one line left one line right. She then sent me to the picture area for my picture and thumb print to be taken. Yet another line to stand in and wait for the next government worker to assist me. It turned out that I knew the next worker. She is the sister of an old friend of mine. We chatted a bit and she took my picture and thumb print, I'm sure it upset the others in line because we took a bit longer than we should have because we were talking and she caught me up on what's going on in her family. I then waved good bye to Becky and headed for the door. I still needed to get my car smoged and I wanted to get everything done so I wouldn't have to waste another day at the DMV.
I went to a Test only Smog check to get my car smoged. They told me the wait would be about 45 minutes so I decided to walk down the street to Quiznos for something to drink while I waited.
The temperature was 100 degrees and although the walk was not far and as long as I was walking on the cement sidewalk it was fine but as I crossed the black asphalt parking lot I felt like I was in an oven being baked. I got my drink and sat at Quiznos for a while to cool off before I returned to the heat outside and to the walk back up the street. I returned and picked up my car which passed smog and headed back out to the DMV to finish the last of the processing of my car registration.
Back at the DMV I again waited in line to talk to that first counter lady who again gave me a number and told me to take a seat. The wait was a bit longer this time and I almost fell asleep waiting for my number to be called. When I was finally selected to proceed to the window I presented my information to the processing clerk and she entered the information into the computer. She began to tell me that she could not add the bank to the registration as it was not listed on my Utah registration and she had to put the information in just as they have it on the most current registration. I showed her a previous California registration showing that the bank was listed as the title holder but no go. I was just worried that I wasn't going to be able to register my car and get my plates. She said the registration is a goldenrod because I didn't have the title with me but I was issued my plates and stickers. I didn't care what color they called it as long as I could get my plates and stickers. She wouldn't give me back my Utah registration papers so I left driving with my Utah plates but no papers so if I got pulled over I wouldn't be able to produce the proof of registration, so I drove carefully and got my plates change on my car. I now have Ca plates on my car again.

Now that I have completed all of the licensing of myself and my car I will probably not find a job in Ca. and have to move back to Utah as that is what has happened to me the last 2 times I've registered my car.
Here is the expenses for this all day affair.
Car Registration $167
Smog test $58
Drivers license $28
Drink at Quiznos $1.95
Total $254.95 This does not include the gas I used for driving to each place and shuffling from a parking space to the inspection area back to a parking space.
Welcome to California!!!!

Today is Friday the 13th and I started my day off by driving some friends to the airport. Last Saturday the ward had their annual Hawaiian party and added this year was a farewell send off for the Hill's.Here are a few photos from that night.






The Hill's flight was scheduled to leave at 9:50 am Friday June 13th. They are leaving for 3 years and will rent out their house while they are gone. Because they will be taking this extended absence they have been working for the last month to get their house ready to leave and have the renters move in. They have been up late every night as well as up early every day working hard to make sure every detail was completed. I'm not sure they got but a few hours sleep Thursday night. I arrived at their house just before 6 am hoping to drive to the airport before the traffic got to heavy for the morning commute. There was still a few last minute preparations to complete before the family could leave. Trying to pack for a 3 year trip and get your house in order for other people to live in is a tough and mayor undertaking, and it seems no matter how hard you try even the smallest of details can seen be over looked until the last minute. Lots of last minute cleaning and shuffling was done which delayed the departure to the airport. Once at the airport the family went to check in for their flight but found they were too late to make the flight. With more shuffling they were able to book another flight out of town although not a direct flight but a flight none the less. The grand adventure has begun and hopefully we will get updates on their activities while in Slovenia for the next 3 years. You will find those updates on their blog page. www.daveanddana.blogspot.com.

Back on the 20th of May I posted the gas prices that I see when I drive to and from work, well just 2 days after my posting the gas prices went up to over $4.00 a gallon. Costco and Sams club still had gas for $3.85 a gallon at that time. Well I went to get gas on Wednesday and at Costco and Sams club both the price for regular gas was $4.21 a gallon. As I was filling my take I listed to a guy who was on his cell phone talking to somebody, and he was telling that person that $4.21 was a great price. Can you believe it, saying $4.21 is a great price for gas? I can understand why he said it because all the other gas stations are at $4.45 to $4.50 a gallon. So it was the cheapest you could find it. It cost me $45.60 to fill my tank, gone are the days when you could fill up for under $20. These gas prices are just getting out of hand!!!

I don't know if you have been watching the news this last week, but Ca. has been having a lot of heat. We have been having record breaking and near record temperatures. I myself have been battling my own battle with the heat and my less than steller air conditioning at my apartment. Here are a few photos of my thermometers I have in my house. The highest was 89 degrees but I couldn't get my camera to focus to get a picture of that as it is even these pictures are not that great. The smaller thermometer is the one in my living room.
The other clock/thermometer is my alarm clock in my bedroom.

I will be talking to the apartment manager about having my air conditioner fixed before the really hot and long summer days get here in August.

Here is a bit of current news. How much are you paying for gas? Here are a few picture of the gas stations I pass on my way to and from work.

I wish I had a picture of the cheapest place to get gas, which is Costco as on Saturday the price for regular unleaded was $3.83, yes and I thought wow what a bargain. How sad is that? It will be over $4.00 by next weekend rest assured.

Well I have not posted this information yet, but my current job, the one that brought me back to Ca. is being out sourced and I will be out of a job shortly. At least out of the current job I have now. I am in the market for a new job so if anyone knows of any let me know.

We have a white board at work that we use to pass information on between shifts, mostly for status of ongoing projects that the next shift needs to be aware of, we also have a written turnover log that is to be checked on the computers. I am including a picture of this white board which has new information on it for everyone to see.

In the upper left hand corner where it says DHH that stands for Days Held Hostage. I'm not sure who came up with that number or from what date it starts, but I did hear it was suppose to be from the beginning of the year. The Days to go number is how many days we have left to work, or at least that is based on the last bit of information we got. However we do know that not everyone will be here to the end and we figure that is the end date for a few but most of us have less time than what the board shows. As you can see the on going project right now is a leaky air conditioner that we have a hose set up leading to a bucket, and every hour or so we have to go check the bucket and empty it as it fills up. Welcome to the world of Computer Operations! The graphics and word change are just the staff having fun. The Clock above the board lets us know what time it is in 3 out of the 4 time zones across the US and GMT, not that we need to know that time, perhaps it has something to do with our strategic partners in India, (That's what they call the contractors over seas. ) although it is not even close to their time as India is +5 hours of GMT so really it's probably just because someone thought it would be cool. Anyway so this is the big white board I face every time I go to work.

I received a postcard from a good friend of mine actually someone I consider as close as family. Brian Hill and his wife Callie Graduate from BYU this Friday. I'm very proud of them, and happy they keep me up to date on what is going on with them. Here is a copy of the post card they sent to me.


Great Job Brian and Callie!! They have their own blog page so if you want to check it out see my links.