The Bachelorette

I read this about The Bachelorette and I totally agree:

"Oh, how I love this show. Best 2 hours I waste all week."

SO TRUE! Have you been watching so far? What do you think?

Here are a few of my thoughts.

He's pinged a few folks' gaydar. I'm not picking up on that as much as I am "Brendan Fraser circa 1994 in With Honors, snobby Harvard" type. He may actually be a good guy, but what was with his outfit in the first ep? Too-tight khakis, ill-fitting sports coat? No bueno.

I finally figured out why I adore this guy, even though he's gotten no screen time thus far: He's a bit of a Scott Foley lookalike. That's all I need. (anyone else love him in Grey's this year? I'm hoping his pilot doesn't get picked up for next year just so he can stay on Grey's)

Ryan P. I might also adore him because he reminds me of that guy Phoebe dated on FRIENDS when she was dating two guys at once and couldn't decide, and the firefighter had a great body, which apparently counted for two points instead of just one. This guy reminds me of the hot firefighter.

West. Hot. Yum. Drool.

Heh.

Due to popular demand (Hi, Liz!), I've got a couple of funny tidbits for you. I figure, most of you who read this are used to funny Mom stories, right? Here were a few quotes from this morning before work.

She's heading to Utah tomorrow for the OCMCO recording in Abravanel Hall and performance in the Tabernacle next week, so she was explaining that they're going to have a lot of down time as they record in Abravanel Hall.

"So if your iPad goes missing for 10 days, don't worry about it. It's okay."

Also, "Do you have any books you want me to take on my trip?" Knowing full well that she's not the best book lendee--she left my "Love Languages" (or her made-up title for it, "Love of Many Languages") at the hair salon when getting her hair done, so I got it back approximately 2 months later. And that she wrinkles and creases and nicks books, and none of that is appealing to super OCD me. (hearing Monica to Phoebe in my head, "Edges, sweetie. EDGES!")

And, my favorite this morning, "I don't want to follow my OWN rules!" Or any, for that matter. She's a fan of giving out rules and making sure others are following them, but obeying them herself? No thanks!

She's such a hoot! What am I going to do for the next 10 days, folks?

"What Do You Know, Grace, You Bagged a Straight One!"

So the quote has nothing to do with the story, but I love that line from Will & Grace.

A few weeks ago Crystal and I were talking about our disappointment at the lack of dating in the ward. The guys don't really ask that many girls out on dates and we were just trying to figure it out and understand it a little bit better.

At one point, Crystal said, "At least if we knew that the guys were gay and just wanted to date each other, that'd make this easier to handle!"

To which I responded, "Well, yeah, but if we had gay guys in the ward, I'd be having a LOT more fun."

I think I found one, my friends. I think I found one. Because tonight I was having a BLAST talking to a guy. He's way too much fun to be a straightie. How many straight guys do you know who love Julie & Julia, have the cookbook, have the poster from the movie, and want to send it to Meryl Streep to get autographed? And might have burst into a bit of song while describing his love for Meryl Streep? C'mon now.

Okaaaay!

I guess I can't use the line "I've been in the ward three years and haven't been asked out by any of the dudes" anymore. Which is great news! What makes it a little more interesting--to me, anyway--is that I've never had a conversation with this man before, and he asked me after FHE/choir practice tonight, in front of friends of mine with whom I was having a conversation (about food, of course!). Slightly awkward, but very nice and sweet. Should be fun!

RIP Mango

Our neighbor's dog, Mango, was put down a couple days ago. She was 8 and had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on her spleen recently. It's sad for obvious reasons, but also because she and Kobe were buddies. Mango didn't get along particularly well with other dogs and Kobe, in his old age, has gotten a bit cranky with dogs he doesn't know, but together they were a perfect pair!

You'll be missed, sweetie.

Feeling Old

Sometimes there are certain things that make you feel a little . . . old.

Like when you start asking for things like Henckels for Christmas.

Or when you purchase your first big, flat-screen TV.

Or when you shudder at the cost of car maintenance in the last month, but then figure if you spread it out (in your head, at least) over the next five years, it's not all bad.

OR . . . when you go to dinner with one of your dearest, favoritist friends from college who's in town and she, living in South Provo, mentions Ward Prayer.

Holy cow! That feels like ages ago. And I don't know if I could do Ward Stare again.

What makes you feel old?

This Is Me!

I made it into work today and realized I didn't put on any makeup.

Oy. My poor co-workers. Sorry, folks!

Does This Look Funny to You, Too?

Saw this when I was trying to decide what gift card to get with my points for my credit card. Typos are part of my job, but I get a huge kick out of typos/grammatical errors on very professional, corporate sites (I see them on People.com all the time, but I don't think that counts). Do you catch this one? You might need to look at it full-size to read the text well.

(hint: think bottom-right corner-ish)

Bozos

Today our bishop spoke in church for a few minutes about visiting teaching, rescuing, and all sorts of great stuff. My favorite bit was this passage (so glad I had my iPad so I could take good notes on his awesomeness):

"We need to love everyone. You need to love everyone, and if you can't love everyone because they're bozos--and we do have bozos in our ward family--then you can at least love somebody and let them know they are loved and they are missed. Knowing that you are loved and knowing that you're missed . . . nothing better than that."

Yep. Bozos, folks! Gotta love Bishop Lark.

Context

I was talking with one of my friends the other day and realized how important context is--how important it is to really get to know people, to know their motives, the "thoughts and intents of their heart" if you'll allow me to quote a bit of scripture.

For example, she and I were talking about how absolutely pathetic I may look on paper.

• 28, didn't graduate BYU until I was 26
• Graduated BYU single (woah!)
• Didn't go to high school (GED, baby!)
• Lives with mother
• Jazz fan living in Laker-land and with a dog named Kobe

Awesome, right? But when you dig a little bit deeper, I think there are very legitimate reasons for a life that has been less than ideal, or different from what I'd planned on and hoped for.

• Health problems that weren't resolved enough until 21 to start college
• Would rather be happy and single than unhappy and married
• Health problems again--being bedridden for several years makes high school impossible
• Saving up for a house, and really, who's a better roommate than my hilarious mom? And who else has my same internal body temperature? We're a/c people and I love it. Plus, she lets me have my big, fun dog. It's temporary and it's a means to an end.
• My uncle has been with the Jazz since they moved to Salt Lake. It's in my blood. "Stockton" didn't have quite the same ring to it. "Kobe" just . . . fit. Big, black, loves playing with a ball. It works.

As much as we do need to make intermediate judgments (thank you, Dallin H. Oaks), I'm grateful for friends and family who've looked beyond my poor resume. Love you all!

Happy Anniversary!

At the risk of being dramatic, today is my 15-year anniversary. It's not uncommon for folks with chronic illnesses like CFS/EBV to remember the exact day they got sick, and February 8, 1996 was my day.

While there are hints of sadness while I reflect on the last 15 years, I'm so much more overcome by gratitude. Yes, it's been a very difficult trial and I'd never deny that, but I'm so grateful for family, friends, and doctors who have helped me so much in this time. I was bedridden for 7+ years, didn't go to high school, and was unsure if I'd ever be able to function again. I may have gotten a late start, but I graduated from BYU and am working full time--exactly what I dreamed and prayed I'd be able to do. I feel so incredibly lucky to be in this place now.

I'd like to say I'm incredibly blessed to be in this place now but, honestly, that would be true in whatever place I would be. I'm in His hands and am trying to live according to His will. It's not my time, it's not my health, it's not my money. I'm just grateful He's letting me be.

I want to share two talks that have really affected me recently. One is a chapter in a book by Carlfred Broderick, a former stake president and psychologist. I've been familiar with a portion of this chapter since I got sick, but I didn't realize it was part of something else. Anyway, I found this chapter recently and was so touched by it. It's powerful. It's called "The Uses of Adversity."

Another one is "But If Not", Dennis E. Simmons' Conference address from April 2004. It's a good reminder to me that, even if I still couldn't get out of bed, even if I still couldn't function . . . would I still have faith? If any of you read these talks and like them, shoot me an email so we can talk about them. Especially the Carlfred Broderick one--it's wonderful. I don't think you often get articles in the Church that are this REAL.

I know I try to go more for funny/witty posts (try being the operative word), so if you wanted funny/witty today whilst browsing my blog, I apologize for the dramatic shift in tone. But I really am grateful--as I'm sitting here at work and getting a bit misty-eyed--and sometimes you just have to share that.

Apparently I'm still six . . .

I was walking out the door today to, you know, go to work, when Mom handed me a sandwich bag and said, "Here, I made you a snack!"

Yep, ladies and gentlemen (or gentleman, if you're the only man still reading this blog, Tod), I'm six years old all over again. It's just too bad she didn't throw in a lunch pail and a thermos. That would've been the best!

Uh oh!

It's been a wee bit chilly in California recently, at least to those of us with California-thin blood. And since we're normally cold-blooded folks, we don't often turn on the heat. But this morning I couldn't get out of bed because it was pretty darn cold.

So what did I do? What any rational person would do: I called Mom on my phone (yep, she was downstairs) and asked if she'd turn on the heat. Apparently it was 59 degrees in the house. Thirty minutes later, I was good to get out of bed.

I've gone soft, people. I've gone soft.

New Form of Missionary Work

I'm at work and doing some research for Comcast prior to a call with them. I came across a typo domain--wwwcomcast.com, so it's missing the "." in between the www and "comcast"--and saw that it was redirecting to a random site instead of the usual typosquatting sites (parked pages, competitor redirects, affiliate fraud, etc.). So I typed it in and, lo and behold, the domain points to harvest.org and, more specifically, to a "How to Know God" landing page.

Admittedly, I'm a religious person and I love getting the word out, but really? Typosquatting on a cable company?

As my co-worker said, "It's a means to an end! Cybersquatting to get the Word out! Nice."

(Yes, I realize this is quite possibly the nerdiest post ever. You're my friends, you know this about me, and I think you still love me, so I thank you.)

Gossip

Ever found out you're the topic of some gossip going around? Ever had said gossip come back to you? Ever heard said gossip and realized that someone was really making something up because it was the opposite of true and nothing you'd ever told anyone anyway?

Ever happened to you? How'd you handle it?

Words with Friends, Part II

Remember how I said I was hooked?

I may or may not have been playing Words whilst brushing my teeth tonight.

Awesome, I know.

Do you have Words with Friends?

I'm hooked. Hit me up if you've got it, por favor.

Of Course! Part II

Mom and I  dropped off some music for organ accompanists tonight, and at the last house we visited, we stayed for a while and chatted. They offered us some cookies so Mom took two, I guess. Ate one and decided she didn't want to eat any more sugar. So, unbeknownst to me, she held the cookie in her hand the rest of our visit.

We left, and as we were walking out to the car, I heard a noise in the bushes to our right. Knowing Mom freaks out with animals in nature, I looked over to the bushes to see what was going on. Mom started to laugh and said, "I just had to get rid of my cookie." So she tossed it!


Um, what? We were, like, five steps away from the car!

"You couldn't hold it until we got in the car?"

"Well, I didn't want to hold it any more!"

"The bushes?"

"I didn't want to throw it on the grass."

Of course! Why not?

Cliche Pictures Again

 But I'm okay with it. Made another trip to SF this last week and it was fantastic! Paola and I basically ate our way through the weekend, which is exactly how we roll. 

Thurs night = Fritz crepes. Biggest crepes ever. Nice!

Friday night = Thai place (P, what was the name of that place? We need to go back) within walking distance of her place

Sat morning = Zazie = YUM! I got the gingerbread pancakes with lemon curd on top and they were AWESOME.

Sat night = Taquiera Cancun. Best burrito I've ever had, even if the gang (?) that hid in the restaurant to evade the cops was a little disconcerting.

Monday = random place at the SF airport had the best quesadilla outside of La Sirena Grill that I've enjoyed. The bacon in it definitely had something to do with that.

 I've been wanting to visit this place for a while, so I was thrilled we got it on the agenda this time. Beautiful, huh? The best part was this: two gals were having (separate) quinceaneras/photo shoots there, decked out and with fancy photographers and everything. Some random tourists apparently really wanted some shots, so they got IN FRONT OF the photographers and started snapping away. Pretty classic.

It IS a real tree, and it has 20,000 lights on it. I had to take a picture of both the tree and sign since Mom is well known for her love of a tree that's pretty much on fire. She put 31 strands of lights on our cute little tree. 31! Now, it's not 20k, but c'mon! :)

Of Course!

So, we've got employees. Plural. And we've got an office. With cubicles and stuff! It's all very exciting. And do you know what this means, in part?

My days of talking with friends whenever they call, middle of the day, middle of the night, whenever, etc. might be over. It's kind of sad and I miss it.

So you can imagine how thrilled I was when Little Sister called this afternoon, on a non-work-day. She said, "Guess where I am?"

"California?!"

"No, but that's better than my answer."

"PF Chang's?! Tucano's?!" (our usual spots back in the day)

"No."

I gave up, so she said, "TJ Maxx!"

OF COURSE she's shopping. =) Why I didn't guess on the first try, I'll never know.

I heart Little Sister, and I miss her adorable face so stinkin' much! Come visit soon, love!