Synonyms for the mullet from the “Jim Rome Show”:

Camaro Crash Helmut
Hockey Hair
The Missouri Compromise
The Louisana Purchase
The Canadian Passport
The Tennesse Tophat
Mississippi Mudflap
The Riverside Cut
Ape Drape
The Neckwarmer
The Achie Breaky Big Mistakey
The LPGA
The Billy Ray
The 7
The McGuyver

Pop Quiz:

Name the only University founded by Brigham Young?

Name the oldest University west of the Mississippi?

Name the “School of the Prophets” attended by more LDS church presidents than any other?

Answer: THE University of Utah

We had a fun Thanksgiving. A break was definately in order after a crazy fall! My mom and dad came from Canada to celebrate the American Thanksgiving. They forgot about the long weekend traffic and ended up taking all day to get here. We were sure glad when they arrived. Thursday we had the tradtional dinner with some friends. The Rich family came over. They moved from CA to Or about a year ago. Kelli has been my running partner since spring I think and has kept me motivated.

Friday Mom, Dad Rick and I divided and concord to the stores at 5:00am. We got what we wanted but could have gotten it a few hours later.

Paul, Jeanie and their family made to Or. in time for lunch. Some of us did another round of shopping. We had a fun afternoon hanging out and eating. We really enjoyed their visit. wish we could get together more often.

My mom and dad stayed through the weekend. The only advantage of having to talk in church was that they got to be there. The storm came in Monday but they decided to head to Seattle anyhow. They thought they would beat the storm to Vancouver and got caught in it at Mt. Vernon. Vancouver got about 6 inches of snow but they made it home safe and sound.

Thanks everyone for coming We had a great time.

Being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before them in expectations, they (Pilgrims) had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh them, no houses, or much less towns, to repair unto to seek for succour; and for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of the country know them to be sharp and violent, subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown coasts.

Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wilde beasts and wilde men? and what multitudes of them there were, they then knew not: for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or content in respect of any outward object; for summer being ended, all things stand in appearance with a weatherbeaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hew.

If they looked behind them, there was a mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar or gulph to separate them from all the civil parts of the world.

…But we can all remind ourselves that the richness of this country was not born in the resources of the earth, though they be plentiful, but in the men that took its measure. For that reminder is everywhere — in the cities, towns, farms, roads, factories, homes, hospitals, schools that spread everywhere over that wilderness.

We can remind ourselves that for all our social discord we yet remain the longest enduring society of free men governing themselves without benefit of kings or dictators. Being so, we are the marvel and the mystery of the world, for that enduring liberty is no less a blessing than the abundance of the earth.

And we might remind ourselves also, that if those men setting out from Delftshaven had been daunted by the troubles they saw around them, then we could not this autumn be thankful for a fair land.

Exerpts of editorial printed in WSJ annually on the day before Thanksgiving since 1961

Last week was week 4 in Loma Linda. Checked out the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda while I was down there. It was pretty cool. They have THE Marine One helicopter that Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford used. It’s the one Nixon flew over the pyramids with Anwar Saddat. They have the tiny house he was born in that was built from a kit by his father. I remember watching his resignation speech live somewhere in Washington state on August 9, 1974. He did a lot as president: shouted down Kruschev in the USSR, started arms control with the SALT treaty, started the EPA, advanced women’s rights, appointed several supreme court justices, etc.

Finished “Kite Runner”. Best book I’ve read in a long time.

The cub scout space derby was a couple weeks ago. This was Dylan’s second and Gavin’s first. On Dylan’s first we didn’t know what we were doing and the rocket didn’t even make it to the end of the line. The rockets are balsa wood, propeller driven and powered by rubber bands. This round went much better. Gavin got 1st place in his first heat and Dylan won most of his heats.

The weather around here has been a disaster. We had something like 10″ of rain in 3 days: 1/4th of our normal annual rainfall. Some areas got their full annual amount in that same period. On Wednesday I pulled the boat up to a friend’s cabin to park it in their garage for the winter. On the way I saw off ramps under 6 feet of water, rivers almost up to bridge level and farms that turned into lakes with sheds floating around on them. The parking lot at work had a foot of standing water because the drainage pipe was plugged with leaves. Dispite all the rain, it’s been a beautiful fall. The maples are red and gold with the tree trunks black from all the rain.

Gavin is done with football, Dylan is doing great with hockey…scored several goals already and Grace is doing gymnastics. Grace is going to take Dylan’s spot in piano lessson and she is thrilled about it. Dylan will be starting vision therapy this month. He has never been a very fluid reader, so on a friend’s recommendation we had his eyes tested. They put googles on him that tracked his pupil movements while he read, Turns out his eyes are scanning ahead and backwards twice as much as most kids. He’s working twice as hard for the same amount of reading. Vision therapy will take about 3 months and retrains his eyes to work more efficiently. It made a huge difference for a friend’s daughter.

I took the kids to Santa Claus 3 and Flushed Away yesterday to give Shannon some time to get ready for dinner group. SC3 is just pretty weak, but Flushed Away is VERY funny.

Letterman last night: “John Kerry can lose elections he’s not even running in…he was walking around all day yesterday with a long face.”