A recent article on instant messaging commented on the fact that language is evolving as people adapt to the new technologies for communication.  While that is fascinating, I’m even more amazed by the ways people adapt to the technologies.

As a child, I would write letters. I don’t remember writing to family members much but when I would go on vacation I would write my friends back home or send postcards.  I spent part of a summer in Derby, Kansas, with my cousin and wrote to a girl I had a crush on (I always had a crush on someone while I was in high school).  I don’t remember if she ever wrote back while I was there but it was a habit I kept up over the years.

As I’ve mentioned before, I went to Utah State University in Logan, Utah. This is in the time long before the common usage of mobile phones.  I didn’t have the funds while I lived in the dorm room to have have a phone, so I used the pay phone in the hall to call my family every now and then.

Mostly, I wrote letters.  I had a girl I was sweet on (big surprise) and we sent letters and notes back and forth constantly.  I wrote my buddies, I wrote to a close friend of mine (wish I knew where she was now).  It was a great way to have this extended conversation – I would answer questions they asked of me and ask questions of my own.  I would tell of the things I was doing and ask about their adventures.  A few days later, I would get a response and it was as if they were right there; I could hear their voice in my head as I read through the letters.

Fast forward a decade or so.  Now I’m doing the same thing, only now I’m writing email and instead of waiting a few days or weeks I would have to wait a day or sometimes just a few minutes.  Whoa!  For 1995, that was cutting edge.  If someone was sitting at their computer, it might be only a minute between messages – almost real time.

Sunday night we went to visit my mom’s for the evening.  For January, it wasn’t too bad with the temperature hovering around 30-35 degrees Fahrenheit.  Most of the snow that was on the ground was melted or melting away and I neglected to take a jacket.  Didn’t even notice much.  I had parked the disposable car on the street to get the van out of the driveway and when we returned I didn’t bother to pull it back in the drive.

Bad idea.

Monday morning, a holiday for me (kind of) I slept in a bit, finally stirring around 10:00 AM.  I had been up late the night before, cleaning and organizing and hadn’t gone to bed until around 3:00 AM.  Yes, that is kind of normal for me.  When I got up and wandered into the living room I was startled to find that we had received about 10 inches of snow to that point since the night before and it was still coming down.  I like the snow and I don’t usually mind shoveling it, the act of shoveling can be very therapeutic and it gives me time alone inside my head.

Unless, of course, you have to dig out from a lot of it.  By the time I got outside in the afternoon to shovel it off we had a full 12 inches of fluffy snow.  I pulled out my handy Honda snow thrower and then remembered that it needed new blades; sure enough, it couldn’t hack the snow.  Falling back to a shovel, I cleared the drive, the sidewalk and cleaned off the van in the drive.  My neighbor had offered the use of his two stage snow thrower so I wandered over and messed about and got it running.

Man, I have got to get one of those machines!  It took about an hour, but I cleared the sidewalk to the corner and two of my neighbor’s drives in addition to the rest of mine until it started acting up.  I returned it, dug the disposable car out with a shovel and parked it in the drive – it was 7:00 PM by that point and I had work to do.

I lived the first 10 years of my life about eight blocks from where I live now – I remember going to the park and marveling at the expanse of snow when it dropped a lot, just like what I imagined the Arctic to be like.  I went to Utah State University and learned that those wimpy snow storms I was used to were nothing compared to a solid Logan winter.  USU is at the mouth of Logan canyon and when it was 10 degrees with a 40 mile per hour morning wind it was really, really uncomfortable. 

Fun though.  As part of a journalism assignment I went with a student meteorologist up Logan canyon to the top; he was measuring the temperatures in a series of natural bowls that in the winter had record temperatures.  We parked along the side of the highway and began to climb down into the bowl, the video camera batteries inside our heavy coats to keep them warm enough to use.  Every 10 vertical feet the temperature dropped 5 to 7 degrees until we reached the weather station where, in the bright sunshine, the still air temperature was -35 degrees Fahrenheit.  We set up the camera on the tripod, got ready to open up the weather station and slapped the battery on the camera – at that temp, we would have about 10 minutes of camera time.  He opened the weather station to discover…

… that his thermometer had exploded at -72 degrees Fahrenheit sometime the night before, just shy of a record temp.  We recorded as much as we could for the local news broadcast and then, when the battery was spent, loaded up and raced up to the car.

I lived in Logan for six years and I still miss it.  Winters were really winters and summer was pleasant.  Even when it was hot it really wasn’t that hot and you could always escape up the canyon to go camping where it was cool.  I didn’t have lots of responsibility so if I decided to hop on the motorcycle and go to Yellowstone or Bear Lake or just up to the campgrounds at third dam I did.

At times I imagine returning to that time of my life and then reality kicks in – it wasn’t always idyllic; I just remember it that way. As I write this I’m flying at 35,000 feet on my way to San Francisco for work.  It is a long way from the naive optimistic idiot I used to be, but so far it has been a fun, interesting ride.

I submit to you, the balanced breakfast:

Mmmmm, doughnut.

Also, why is it that chocolate doughnuts with chocolate frosting are purple, not brown?  It doesn’t impact my consumption any; just weird.

As I reflect on the new crap in the house after the holiday of consumption, I decided to think about the oldest stuff in my house.  Some things I don’t know the actual age but I can guess and come up with a close estimate.

• 20″ TV, manufactured in August of 1986 (I’m watching the History channel on it as I write)
• my great grandfather’s pocket watch, circa 1910
• Edison Blue Amberol Wax Cylinder Record of “La Paloma”, performed by the Edison Concert Band, 1910
• Boxed vinyl record set of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado” on London FFSS from England, 1950s.  I don’t remember where I got this but it sounds great.
• The Complete Works of Thomas Dick, LL.D, published by Applegate and Company Publishers, 1860. This book was originally bound in leather and doesn’t appear to have ever been rebound.  The pages are showing signs of yellowing, especially where the printed text is at.  I opened up and thought you all might enjoy this snippet:  “In Calicut, there is a band of nobles called Naires, who lengthen their ears to such a degree, that they hang down to their shoulders, and sometimes even lower.”
• Manual of Mythology by Alexander S. Murray, British Museum, 1895.  This book’s binding is all but crumbled off of the book and I keep it in a ziplocked bag. I do occasionally consult this book for reference and it may be the oldest thing I use with any regularity.
• Bedroom set from my grandmother, cherry wood.  Probably from 1940s or 1950s.
• Wood handled hammer.  Absolutely no clue how old it is, but it was old and well used when I was a very small child in the 1960s.
• Varnished radio cabinet from my grandparents.  Originally, it contained an AM radio and turntable from the 1930s.  Sometime in the 1960 decade, my dad removed the turntable and radio for some unknown reason and replaced it with a early model reel to reel player/recorder.  The amplifier and speaker were long gone and I recently removed the non-working reel to reel.  I’m contemplating turning it into a media server or something fun like that – I like the melding of old radio cabinet and new digital technology.
• Several books from 1873 to 1920s.  I’m a bibliophile, of course I have books.

Anyway, that’s all I can think of and I’m too tired to go browsing about in the quiet house, looking for old stuff.

So apparently I have bronchitis.  Not only that, but I’ve also got Reactive Airway Disease.  Basically, I got a virus that lead to a bacterial infection in my lungs and I’m coughing and wheezing a bit.  I should survive though. 

I think.

Earlier, I took a horse pill sized antibiotic and, due to the RAD, a couple of puffs on a puffer.  I’ve never had to use a puffer before; I feel rather nerdy.  I’m considering wrapping some black electrical tape around the bridge of my glasses to complete the effect.

I had some dinner, got the boy ready for bed (kind of) and sat down at the computer for an online meeting.

… Except that now my head is so foggy that I can barely make a coherent thought.  I can’t find the information for the meeting either. I have so much work to do but

I

just

can’t

think.

If you have been to downtown Salt Lake City between Thanksgiving and Christmas, you’ve seen the lights at Temple Square. They are lovely and often breath taking.

I’m also willing to not go EVERY year, but I usually get overruled on that.

That being said, here are a few photos I took this year and have uploaded to the web albums in Picasa. We’ll see if I continue to publish there or on my own.

Hope you like it.

Since I came up with this week’s topics I’d better do my part, eh?  Here are a few things about me – I don’t know if I’ll get to one hundred as it is 1:00 AM and I’ve been sick for the last several days.

1. I’m a bloke
2. I’m named after my paternal grandfather except our middle names differ slightly
3. I go by my middle name
4. I didn’t realize I had a first name until I was 7 or 8 years old
5. I have a couple other nicknames
6. Muttley is one, Toad is the other
7. I’ve lived in Utah for most of my life
8. I lived outside Cleveland, Ohio, for a couple of months
9. I was born with a club foot
10. I had my first surgery to repair it at age six months
11. The anesthesiologist did something wrong with the tube down my throat and scarred my vocal cords
12. I wasn’t supposed to speak or if I did it would be very rough
13. I ended up singing in the A Cappella choir in high school
14. My last surgery on my foot was just before my sixth birthday; it was the fifth surgery
15. It was the first time I remember being alone with out someone I knew around
16. I had a cast up to my hip for most of the summer
17. I still can’t bend my ankle completely flat and my shoe size is two sizes smaller on that side
18. I learned to ski when I was seven or eight years old
19. I skied all through my primary and secondary schools
20. I stopped when I broke my collar bone
21. Jumping
22. I also broke my nose skiing
23. I’m not very athletic by nature
24. I wrestled my senior year in high school
25. I’m nearsighted – 20/40 in my right eye, nearly blind in my left
26. I didn’t wear glasses or contacts until I needed to get a driver’s license
27. I was one of the youngest people in my grade.  I know of only two people younger in a graduating class of 600 or so
28. I missed the cut off for kindergarten by a couple of days so my mom fibbed and put a different birthday for me
29. She corrected it the next year
30. I went through primary and secondary school with my nickname as my official name – it is on my diploma as well
31. I started out at Utah State University as a Chemistry / Computer Science major
32. I graduated with a BA in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Classical History (actually an Area of Studies certificate); part of the minor is two years of Latin language study
33. Our final class project in Latin was to perform “The Menachi”, a Greek play that had been translated into Latin
34. I taught the Broadcast Lab as a senior
35. I was also a Resident Assistant in Richards Hall
36. I met my wife at USU on her first day there at a social where we played volleyball and had rootbeer floats
37. She teased me about playing ‘gorilla’ ball and knocking the ball too far
38. I retaliated by trying to hit her with a spoonful of rootbeer float
39. We didn’t date until six months or so later
40. I graduated from USU and was married five days later in the Logan Temple
41. I am a lifelong bibliophile
42. Douglas Adams makes me laugh
43. I learned to read before I was five years old
44. My mom told the kindergarten teacher that I could read when I went for the first day of school – the teacher didn’t believe her
45. At my first parent-teacher conference the teacher told my mom that, indeed, I could read
46. I had a set of children’s encyclopedias that I read so much I nearly had them memorized – drove my mom nuts with questions
47. My brothers used to tease me about giving dissertations at a moment’s notice
48. I discovered Science Fiction and Fantasy around age 12 or so
49. I still have “The Sword of Shannara” by Terry Brooks although the original dust jacket has since been lost
50. He signed it for me a few years ago
51. I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Chronicles of Narnia repeatedly when I was a child
52. Also the Riddle-Master series by Patricia McKillip
53. And anything by Larry Niven and Anne McCaffrey
54. I also love comic books and read Doonesbury for years until I got bored
55. I have most everything Scott Adams has published
56. I collect Science Fiction and Fantasy hard covers, preferably first editions
57. Up until the last couple of years I could say I had read almost every work of fiction in my library but I’ve fallen behind lately
58. I haven’t read a fiction book in over a year for no good reason
59. I really enjoy good musicals in the theater but I don’t go to the theater as often as I used to
60. My favorites are Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and Chess
61. I listened to JCS as a kid and had the songs memorized – still do
62. I’ve seen JCS and Phantom in the theater as well as Les Mis several times – haven’t seen Chess yet
63. I’ve drove from coast to coast but not on the same trip
64. It took three days to drive to NYC from Salt Lake City in 1989
65. I’ve drove to Canada and Mexico but not in the same trip
66. On a trip to Bellingham, WA, we saw the ‘terminus line’ in the evening sky, the only time I’ve ever seen it
67. I’m interested in my family’s genealogy and I have records of some branches going back to the 1500s
68. My maternal great-grandmother was a Cherokee American Indian
69. My other maternal lines are Italian and Scotch-Irish
70. My paternal lines are Danish and Swedish
71. I still have hundreds of vinyl audio recordings in their original jackets
72. I also own a couple of turntables
73. I’m an amateur photographer and I love to photograph in low light conditions
74. I tend to be a bit of a pack rat but lately I’ve been throwing or giving lots of stuff away
75. I have several computers, most working that I don’t really know what to do with and can’t seem to give away
76. I have one son and almost another one, pending final adoption process
77. I am slowly finishing the basement in our home; I have good friends that know more than I do and are willing to teach me
78. I love to listen to music of all varieties
79. Mostly Americana, Rock and Country
80. I have gone a bit fanboy-ish in the past
81. I was a long time member of the Kate Bush mailing list and have lots of vinyl and CDs of her
82. I am still on the BLKADR-L mailing list which is about Blackadder
83. I’ve met friends from both lists that I’m still quite close to
84. I use instant messaging (IM) every day for work and personal communication
85. I check email but I would rather use IM
86. I love to cook
87. I started cooking as a child with my mother
88. I’m not very good at it but I make up for my lack of skill with lots of enthusiasm
89. I try to go to a yoga class every week
90. I’m not very good at that either but I endure the 50 minutes of misery for the meditation at the end
91. I archive all of the digital photographs I take – about 30 gigs worth so far
92. This number intentionally left blank
93. I’ve worked for the same company for 15 years, kind of (we merged with a competitor five years ago)
94. I love to camp but have been too busy in the summer time to do much for a couple of years
95. My favorite color is green
96. I love a clean workspace but I tend to work in a messy place
97. I like working in the garden and other yard work
98. Until it gets too hot
99. Then I don’t go outside unless I need to
100. I’m glad I’m done with this list

Please don’t shave my head.

Will Write For Chocolate

As some of you out there know, I like to eat. My girth unfortunately reflects that; I’m constantly trying to keep my weight down, with limited success.

I was trying to think of my favorite meal when I realized that my favorite and what I eat most aren’t the same thing. I probably eat pizza most of the time that I order out. Leftovers are great for a quick meal and rarely do I find a truly horrible pizza. I’m a big fan of the simple green garden salad as well. Pasta with a red meat sauce is a favorite as well, especially with a couple of nice sausages.

However, if I’m going to treat myself I’m going to grill a steak. Medium rare with a rub or coating of coarse ground pepper, ground garlic and salt. I don’t cook it that much as beef is expensive for a good cut lately.

As an honorable mention, Le Parisien in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, used to serve Beef Bourginon that was simply wonderful, but as they have been closed for about seven years now it would be hard to pick that.

So, I have returned from my holiday vacation to 465 emails, 332 of which are brand new.

I think I shall ignore them a few moments more before committing to that pile.