November 29
Reminiscence - Ditched by the whole school
1985. I thought I was in some alternate universe for sure when this happened. I had procrastinated studying for a big test at Olympus Jr. High one day, and decided to skip a couple of classes to go to the public library across the street to cram.
I was there for about an hour or so, and then came back nonchalantly to the school. I go through the open front doors and notice that it is eerily quiet. I peek into the front office. No one is there. I walk down the main hall-- no one. Im starting to get a bit freaked out. I start running through the halls looking for any sign of life. Nothing. It was like the apocalypse had happened, and I was the last surviving man (boy) on earth. Sooooooooooooo weird. There I am running around, yelling, "Is anyone here???" After about 5 minutes of searching through the school and not finding a soul- no one in the Gym or the auditorium. I gave up. I was starting to develop a complex, thinking that the whole school had ditched me! (*Assistant principal over the intercom:* "OK, that Miller kid just left the building, everyone out NOW!! We will teach him a lesson for playing hooky!") I remember starting to walk home after that and then seeing someone I recognized from school. I asked them where everyone had gone. He tells me, "Oh, there was a gas leak at the school, so they evacuated the whole place." WHAT???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So there I was running around sucking down excess toxic gas for the last 10 minutes. I guess that explains a lot about why I am the way I am today. ;) One of the good things that came out of it was that I got a whole extra day to study for that pesky test!
Reminiscence - Fins-Feathers-n-Fur - Episode 2
1987: Another one of the types of animals I hadnt had a lot of experience with prior to working at the pet store was birds. Most of the parrots were quite nasty when you got too close to them, and would try to take a chunk out of your finger if you tried to pet them through their cages. We did have one cool Yellow Nape Amazon Parrot that was friendly and quite a talker. His name was Fred. he looked something like this:
It was always interesting to hear what some of these parrots would say, depending on the things they either overheard from their owners or were specifically taught. This parrot would say things like "Hey there, good -lookin!" when ladies would walk by. Hilarious. Fred must have been mad at me one day when I was walking around the store with him on my shoulder. Next thing I know, one of the customers is telling me that Fred had left a "crappy" little present on my shoulder.
There were also a few interesting times when trying to catch the parakeets out of a cage. Oftentimes, there were about 20 parakeets of multiple colors in the same cage. A customer would want a specific one (usually in the back of the cage), and I would have to fight through the flock to pick him off. The trick was keeping the others from escaping while trying to grab the one the customer wanted. Inevitably, during the course of doing this, occasionally one would escape. We had a net available to catch the convicts when they got out. (We didnt clip their wings until they were bought incase the customer wanted it that way.) One time, one was flying around and dropped into the Oscar tank. These were the biggest fish in the store and they were voracious eaters. (they would often be fed live goldfish)
So, when the bird hit the water, these guys thought it was feeding time, and started chomping on its feathers! We rescued that one, and put it back in the cage. Another time, another parakeet got out and took a few laps around the store. Then it saw the front glass window, which extended across the whole front of the store. It made a beeline for the window and smacked it hard. It fell straight down-- into the bathtub of feeder goldfish right below the window. It was quite stunned and flopped around there a bit before it was rescued from the disappointed goldfish. Now thats entertainment!
It was always interesting to hear what some of these parrots would say, depending on the things they either overheard from their owners or were specifically taught. This parrot would say things like "Hey there, good -lookin!" when ladies would walk by. Hilarious. Fred must have been mad at me one day when I was walking around the store with him on my shoulder. Next thing I know, one of the customers is telling me that Fred had left a "crappy" little present on my shoulder.
There were also a few interesting times when trying to catch the parakeets out of a cage. Oftentimes, there were about 20 parakeets of multiple colors in the same cage. A customer would want a specific one (usually in the back of the cage), and I would have to fight through the flock to pick him off. The trick was keeping the others from escaping while trying to grab the one the customer wanted. Inevitably, during the course of doing this, occasionally one would escape. We had a net available to catch the convicts when they got out. (We didnt clip their wings until they were bought incase the customer wanted it that way.) One time, one was flying around and dropped into the Oscar tank. These were the biggest fish in the store and they were voracious eaters. (they would often be fed live goldfish)
So, when the bird hit the water, these guys thought it was feeding time, and started chomping on its feathers! We rescued that one, and put it back in the cage. Another time, another parakeet got out and took a few laps around the store. Then it saw the front glass window, which extended across the whole front of the store. It made a beeline for the window and smacked it hard. It fell straight down-- into the bathtub of feeder goldfish right below the window. It was quite stunned and flopped around there a bit before it was rescued from the disappointed goldfish. Now thats entertainment!
November 28
You'll pay for that!
November 21
Reminiscence - Frisked
When I was returning from my mission in Japan in February of 1992, I had an embarassing experience at the airport. We flew from Sendai to Narita airport in Tokyo. While going through the security checkpoint, I kept setting off the buzzer. I went back and took off my belt, then my shoes, and so on. They made me walk through about three times, to the amusement of the elders I was going home with. I could see they were eager to give me a hard time as soon as I passed. I was quite confused. I had no idea what was setting it off. Then, I was motioned over to the side by one of the security agents. It was a lady in her 20s- She waved the metal detecting wand around my body, but it didnt go off. So then she went in for the frisk! YIKES!! (very awkward for a 21 year-old man for whom the only physical contact with the opposite sex over the last two years was limited to occasional handshakes with the sisters in the wards I served in) My companions watched with shocked looks in their eyes as she proceeded to give me the hand frisk. I could tell my eyes were about to bug out as she patted me down. Luckily, it didnt take long. Then she looked over at my left wrist and pointed to my watch which was protruding out from under my suit sleeve. I looked sheepishly at her and took it off. We went back through the metal detector again, and I passed this time! Im not sure why I didnt think to look for my watch when I kept setting the detector off. It must have been due to the nerves of going back to civilian life. The elders almost seemed to be jealous of me after I finally got through though. :)
One Second
I am so thankful that the Lord looks over my family. Last Friday, LeAnn and Austin went to pick up the girls from school. (Austin is still at home recovering from the surgery) We were planning on meeting after I finished work and going to see the Bee Movie. (Which, if you havent seen it, I only give a 'C'). I then got a call from LeAnn as I was driving home. The first thing she says is "I just want you to know we are all fine" (That doesnt give me a whole lot of confidence going into the next sentence...) Then, "We were just in an accident" *Cringes* Turns out that LeAnn was pulling out to take a left turn onto 272nd street right next to the Park and Ride by our house. Her light had been green and the oncoming traffic had stopped -- in the right lane of the two lanes going west on 272. As she was pulling out to make her turn, some lady comes barreling through the left lane through the red light which had been red now for a couple of seconds. She slammed on her brakes, as did LeAnn, and went screeching through the light at 45 mph. LeAnn said the other driver didnt even veer off to the left, but just left a bunch of smoke trailing behind her. She clipped the front bumper of our van. It sounds like it did a lot more damage to her car than it did to our van as she got t-boned by LeAnn. Such a scary situation to be in. One more second and she could have either hit directly into LeAnn, or Austin who was in the seat directly behind her. I am so grateful for that one second.
November 20
Reminiscence - Fish tank fiascos
During my teenage years, the bulk of my income went toward supplying my addiction to African Cichlids. I would venture to guess, that besides my immediate family, the majority of people dont know what African Cichlids are. Here is a link that gives you a good idea of what they look like. These fish fascinated me, and I was also amazed by how colorful they were, as well as their behavior. They were as beautiful as saltwater fish without the hassle of maintaining a saltwater tank. I had had a couple of saltwater tanks initially, but they were cumbersome to take care of. With the cichlids, I enjoyed watching their brood rearing behavior. It was so exciting to see them when they had babies. The pair would stake out a territory in the tank, and dig a pit in the gravel. If any other fish dared encroach in their territory, they would get chased away immediately. Then the male would do his shimmy shimmy cocoa dance and get the female all excited. From there, as long as she was gravid, the female would go and deposit her eggs in the pit. Then the cool part starts. The female immediately turns around and scoops up the eggs in her mouth! - yet she is not eating them. This protects the eggs from being eaten by other fish. At that time, the male then swims back around and jiggles his anal fin in front of the females mouth. 
The female sees these spots, thinks they are more of her eggs, then gets a mouthful of the sperm. (Yes, it sounds gross, but welcome to the animal kingdom) In this manner, the eggs are perfectly protected. So cool! The mothers usually would keep the fry in her mouth (call mouth brooding) for about 3 weeks. Then she spits them out for feeding expeditions, all the while maintaining constant vigilance if any other fish come near. If they did, she would suck them back up in her mouth like a vacuum. In a nutshell, that was why I got hooked on Cichlids. From there, my hobby increased to the point where at one time I had 4 or 5 fish tanks in my room at one time. I had smaller tanks for raising the fry, some for breeding exclusively and a 60 gallon for just displaying. Open my door, and it was "Welcome to the tropics!" It was always a bit humid in there. Im glad that mom could put up with the double whammy of a smelly teenage boy combined with fish tanks. Along with the hobby came some fiascos with the tanks. One time my little cousin Daniel came over and dumped a $15 can of fish food in one tank. Another time, I had a heater malfunction one day while I was at school where the heater shot the temperature up to about 110 degrees. The fish were literally getting cooked! I came home to see about 10 fish (or in my eyes, over $100) dead or barely breathing on the floor. The few survivors were flopping around at the top of the tank trying to escape the heat. I pulled the heater out and put some cooler water back in the tank and was able to save about half of the fish. Then there was a couple of times when the air pumps stopped working and if the tank was over-crowded, the fish would basically suffocate. It was always traumatic. There was then the time when BL (Bryan Lampropoulos again, of course) bought a hand-made 200 gallon tank from a local fish store where the owners made their own tanks. We went to pick it up-- it was at least 6 feet long- one of the biggest tanks I had ever seen. They said the silicon hadnt dried yet and he should wait a couple of days before filling it with water. But when we got it back to his house and down into his room, he decided he wanted to start filling it up then. I raised my eyebrows, but he wouldnt be dissuaded. There were about 100 gallons of water in the tank, when all of a sudden, the top front of the tank pulled away from its supporting cross section. It bowed out dangerously and then POP!, it busted open. Bryan had already started to put a number of fish in there, and they all spilled out onto the floor of his room along with about 3 inches of water, that started filling up his basement. He was freaked out, and I had no idea what to do. I think we started bailing out and trying to get some of the water into the tub. The funny thing was, that since he had the whole basement to himself, he thought he could keep this disaster from his mom. ("She never comes down here", he said) I think he went and rented a pump to pump out the remaining water. He then had to pull up the carpet and had fans running down there for a week. BTW, his mom found out ;)
November 19
Anagrams
I ran into this site using a tool that is called "StumbleUpon". There, you can insert topics that you are interested in, and the browser will pull up recommended sites for your preferences. I have found a bunch of great web programming sites using StumbleUpon. This anagram URL came up and I put my full name into the search box. The results were quite amusing. If you want to find yourself a new nickname, give it a shot here: http://www.wordsmith.org/anagram/
Here is a fun list of anagrams coming from Todd Taylor Miller: (The first 5 are just using Todd Miller) Which is your favorite?
Did Em Troll
Red Mod Till
Dirt Doll Me
Dirt Doll Em
Dirt Old Elm
Loaded Trim Trolly
Dromedary Till Lot
Treadmill Lord Toy
Trialled Moldy Rot
Medial Lordly Trot
Dreamily Trod Toll
Daytime Lord Troll
Attired Moldy Roll
Dietary Mold Troll
Malted Lordly Riot
Leotard Drily Molt
Leotard Dolly Trim
Larder Mildly Toot
Martyred Doll Toil
Dollar Dirty Motel
Lard Mildly Tooter
Mad Droll Toiletry
Tad Moldier Trolly
Lamely Torrid Dolt
Latter Mildly Odor
A Oddly Miller Trot
A Milder Lordly Tot
A Mild Lordly Otter
A Moldy Trod Tiller
Madly Tilled Rotor
Madly Drool Litter
Here is a fun list of anagrams coming from Todd Taylor Miller: (The first 5 are just using Todd Miller) Which is your favorite?
Did Em Troll
Red Mod Till
Dirt Doll Me
Dirt Doll Em
Dirt Old Elm
Loaded Trim Trolly
Dromedary Till Lot
Treadmill Lord Toy
Trialled Moldy Rot
Medial Lordly Trot
Dreamily Trod Toll
Daytime Lord Troll
Attired Moldy Roll
Dietary Mold Troll
Malted Lordly Riot
Leotard Drily Molt
Leotard Dolly Trim
Larder Mildly Toot
Martyred Doll Toil
Dollar Dirty Motel
Lard Mildly Tooter
Mad Droll Toiletry
Tad Moldier Trolly
Lamely Torrid Dolt
Latter Mildly Odor
A Oddly Miller Trot
A Milder Lordly Tot
A Mild Lordly Otter
A Moldy Trod Tiller
Madly Tilled Rotor
Madly Drool Litter
November 15
Tonsillectomy
After a couple of years of battles for Austin with tonsillitis and sleep apnea, (the kid snores worse than I do!) we decided to "nip" this thing in the tonsils, and get the problematic things snipped off. They have been so bad that sometimes the left and the right one are almost touching each other. Austin went with LeAnn yesterday for outpatient tonsillectomy surgery. I wish I could have been there, but I still am not eligible for time off yet with my current contract at Microsoft. They got there at 8:45 for the 9:45 surgery. They told Austin to bring a DVD to watch as the final arrangements were made. Apparently, there was another girl about Austin's age who had gone in before him, and she came out screaming like a banshee. Good thing Austin had the headphones on, although he still heard her, and looked at his mom consternatedly, she made sure he didnt get overly anxious. They then took him in and gassed him up. (Apparently the gas smelled horrible) From there, he was a brave guy and took the IV like a man. and he was down for the count. Everything went well and they got rid of his big old tonsils as well as his adenoids. (I think). LeAnn told me the most traumatizing part was when he woke back up from the anesthesia. The doctors warned her that often times children really freak out when they wake up. Such was the case with our boy. LeAnn said when he woke up, that he couldnt open his eyes. Then, when LeAnn went to comfort him, he started kicking and punching and struggling to get up. When he finally opened his eyes he gave out one big scream. -- She also noted that it was a good thing I wasnt there because I dont handle that stuff too well. (Yes, I darn near fainted during Austin's circumcision) It sounds like they get scared because they cant open their eyes and have no idea where they are and what happened to them. After he calmed down for a while, they let him rest until he said he wanted to go home. Then LeAnn took him home and he slept for a couple of hours. When he awoke, he found out how much it hurt to talk, so he started using sign language and also took to writing messages on his Nintendo DS with the stylus. He has not lost his appetite at all though. He ate a lot of pudding, jello, mashed potatoes and ice cream. I got him a copy of "Ratatouille" that he could watch as he stays home from school to heal. He will be out for a week, and should hopefully be able to eat regular food again just in time for Thanksgiving. He was very brave and has been doing so well as I know it hurts a lot. Before LeAnn and I went to bed last night, she motioned for me to come into his room. I go in with her and she asks me if I "hear that ?" I didnt hear anything. She said, "Listen. He is not snoring." It was strangely quiet. It seems he was always snoring before and oftentimes we could hear him from our room. We smiled at each other and were happy that we had this done. It should definitely help him out physically in many ways.
November 14
Reminiscence - Bill Gates' Christmas Tree
During Christmas of 1995 I was working at Molbak's Nursery in Woodinville, WA. I worked in the shipping/receiving as well as going out on a number of deliveries. A few of the famous folks in Washington who's homes I got to visit were: Bob Whitsitt- the previous GM for the Seahawks and the Portland Trailblazers. Rick Mirer- Former Seahawks quarterback. The Obertos- Beef Jerky Kings. The Obertos had ordered some fountain for their backyard. They had a couple of bronze statues of children in their backyard, which we asked about. They said that they actually had their children "bronzed" when they were younger! Most people just get their childs baby shoe bronzed, but if you are rolling in jerky money, I guess you can afford to do the whole kid! It was fun to get a little taste of the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Then, during Christmas season that year, I got the call to deliver Bill Gates' Christmas Tree. I was quite excited. Some of the more expensive homes we went to gave out pretty good tips, so I was looking forward to *hoping* getting a tip from the richest man in the world. The house we went to was not his current home, but it was no shabby shanty either. It was on the waterfront in Medina, WA. and we had to get let in from the gate at the street level and then wound down his long driveway. It was a large colonial style home with a number of huge pillars. Off to the right was a separate 6 car garage, with a couple of fancy ones parked in front. We pulled up near the front of the home and went in to see where they would like the tree. Bill had quite a bit of holiday help there, as there were about 12 people milling around doing who knows what, but we didn't see the man himself. They showed us where to put the tree, and I sized up how high the ceilings were. I was now a veteran of 2 Christmas seasons at Molbak's, and had put up at least 100 trees by this time. However, the thing I forgot to mention was that I had a temp worker with me who was just helping out during the busy Christmas rush. We went back out to the truck and pulled the tree out of the back. I could tell right off that the tree was taller than the ceiling of their home- 11 foot tree, 10 foot ceilings. So I took out a saw and cut off a chunk of the stump before we took it inside. Here comes a little forewarning- this temp wasn't too bright. We put the tree into the stand and I told him specifically to ease it up and make sure it would clear the ceiling while I held the trunk into the stand. And what does this guy do? He shoves it straight up with all his might and the tip of the tree screeches across about 18 inches of Bill g's ceiling, leaving a nasty brown streak. Nope, that didn't look to good. There were a few of the helpers watching us, so it was a bit hard to disguise the fact. I apologized profusely while the temp looked on as if he had done nothing wrong. *sigh*. They told us not to worry about it, and that they would take care of it. After that, we still had to take the tree back outside again to cut off some more stump to get it to fit, and then try again. This time, the temp eased it up slowly : / . As we were finishing up getting it straightened out, I thought that I should look around and try to find some kind of souvenir from Bill's house-- nothing too fancy of course, and not something that would be considered as stealing. Then a bright idea hit me. I started scraping up some of the carpet fuzz off his nice tan carpet. I rolled up a little ball of it and put it in my pocket. Yes, I was soooooo sneaky! Not sure what happened to that trophy. As we left, I hesitated on the way out, hoping there might be a tip, but the helpers just waved goodbye. I guess leaving a brown streak on the ceiling wont get a guy a tip from Bill Gates.
November 13
Reminiscence - The Bicycle Kick
November 12
Reminiscence - Crazy Scooter
Many people know of the aversion that the Miller family has toward motorcycles. My grandfather, Glen Hellewell was killed on a motorcycle in 1953 when my mom was only 8 years old. It has been a sad memory for all of us, and has always been difficult not ever having known him. So, growing up, we were never very fascinated by motorcycles and such. Then, when I was 17, my friend Bryan Lampropoulos got a scooter. He drove me around the neighborhood a few times and it didnt seem too bad. We drove it up to the golf course a few times during our golf ball hunting expeditions. So I had gotten a bit used to it. Then one day, Bryan asked me if I wanted to drive it. I was very hesitant at first, but he showed me how easy it was to control. I gradually got up my gumption and gave it a try. I got on and tried to figure out how to balance the thing. Then I pulled on the throttle... way too much. The thing about jumped out of my hands. I tried to control it, but it started weaving right and left as I held on. I jumped it over the curb and headed straight toward a hedge of bushes! (All the time failing to release the gas as I was more concerned with hanging on for dear life) I smashed through the bushes and tipped the scooter over. Bryan came running over to see if I was unharmed. After he saw that I (and his bike of course) were OK, he proceeded to laugh his head off. This was about what it looked like if you replace the dirt with shrubbery:
That was the first and last time I rode a "bike". I learned my lesson the hard way
That was the first and last time I rode a "bike". I learned my lesson the hard way
Time out for Couples
LeAnn and I were sorely in need of a time out. We got one last Friday. I had previously purchased tickets for us to attend the "Time out for Couples" event in Tacoma. (Unbeknownst to me there was a Sonics/Jazz game that same night that I was invited to twice after I had already purchased the tickets! :)) We had a rough time actually getting down there. We left at 5:00 and started down Pac Highway as I-5 was looking nasty at that time. Then after not making much progress there, we decided to jump back over to the highway. Phbbbbt! That took even longer! It took us about 45 minutes to go the 15 miles to the convention center in Tacoma. We did find a free parking space when we got there, so things were off to a good start. Im sure there were a few thousand people there. It was a bit strange thinking that the majority of the people in the room were LDS. It was kind of like living in Utah all over again.
The event was hosted by Michael McLean and his wife Lynne. It was great to hear him play the piano and he sang with his wife a few songs. His music is amazing and was very touching. It was neat to see what a special relationship that they have developed with one another. He told us that 13 years into their marriage things weren't going so well, and they decided to get counselling- one of the hardest things for an LDS couple to decide to do, but they said it helped them immensely. They mentioned the key to 25 years of a great marriage is to be married for 33. The next speaker was Merrilee Boyack, and she was quite amusing. She talked about having those days at a mom where she would be parked in the driveway waiting for her husband to get home so she could escape the kids. As soon as he pulled in, she was outta there! Another thing she talked about was having high expectations for your spouse and not try to change them into what you want them to be. Focus on their strong points and you will often find that those are your weak points. Then a couple of BYU professors of Church History came to the table. The first was Richard N. Holzapfel, I hadnt heard either of these guys before, but then again, I only attended BYU for one day back in 1992 when I went and took my Japanese tests for credit by examination. ;) The last speaker was Douglas Brinley, and this guy was quite amusing. He was cracking everyone up with his commentary. He mentioned he wondered how the Nephites were ever able to be so boosted up in their pride: "What, did one of them get the latest model of a burlap dress?" and then on Blessing the food: "My wife and I are getting so old that we dont bless our food, we ask for our supplements to be blessed". One of our good friends from the first ward we lived in as a couple in Woodinville actually went up to give the closing prayer. Her name is Marsha Terry, and we haven't seen her for about 10 years. We chased her through the building after the event and had a nice chat. It was a nice evening, but the highlight was being able to spend time with my wife, LeAnn.
The event was hosted by Michael McLean and his wife Lynne. It was great to hear him play the piano and he sang with his wife a few songs. His music is amazing and was very touching. It was neat to see what a special relationship that they have developed with one another. He told us that 13 years into their marriage things weren't going so well, and they decided to get counselling- one of the hardest things for an LDS couple to decide to do, but they said it helped them immensely. They mentioned the key to 25 years of a great marriage is to be married for 33. The next speaker was Merrilee Boyack, and she was quite amusing. She talked about having those days at a mom where she would be parked in the driveway waiting for her husband to get home so she could escape the kids. As soon as he pulled in, she was outta there! Another thing she talked about was having high expectations for your spouse and not try to change them into what you want them to be. Focus on their strong points and you will often find that those are your weak points. Then a couple of BYU professors of Church History came to the table. The first was Richard N. Holzapfel, I hadnt heard either of these guys before, but then again, I only attended BYU for one day back in 1992 when I went and took my Japanese tests for credit by examination. ;) The last speaker was Douglas Brinley, and this guy was quite amusing. He was cracking everyone up with his commentary. He mentioned he wondered how the Nephites were ever able to be so boosted up in their pride: "What, did one of them get the latest model of a burlap dress?" and then on Blessing the food: "My wife and I are getting so old that we dont bless our food, we ask for our supplements to be blessed". One of our good friends from the first ward we lived in as a couple in Woodinville actually went up to give the closing prayer. Her name is Marsha Terry, and we haven't seen her for about 10 years. We chased her through the building after the event and had a nice chat. It was a nice evening, but the highlight was being able to spend time with my wife, LeAnn.
November 08
Reminiscence - Scout Law
I mentioned before how much of an impact getting my Eagle Scout rank has played in job interviews. I got my first job based on that fact. It has come up numerous times in the last 20 years (Yikes, it has been 20 years!!) since I received it. Dad gave me some "righteous" pressure to ensure that I attained my Eagle Scout award. He told me that I would not be able to get my drivers license until I completed all of the requirements. I thought he was bluffing... He wasnt. When I turned 16, I was expecting that he would cave in. Nope. As I turned 16 right before my sophmore year began, and I was one of the oldest kids in the class, once my friends found out what was hindering me from getting my license, they jumped on board and added peer pressure to that righteous pressure. I was really outnumbered! My friends wanted taxi service that wasnt their parents, so they helped me ramp up on my Eagle project -- which was the last requirement that I hadnt completed. It took me another month or two from after my birthday before I completed that, and was able to drive.
When I was going to the University of Washington in 1996, I had an ethics class. There were probably 40 students in the class. The professor asked if anyone in the class was a Boy Scout when they were younger. A number of the students raised their hands. Then he asked who could recite the scout law. I was the only one who raised my hand. I ripped it off from memory: "A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent." Everyone oohed and ahhed. The professor was quite impressed. (Although he did say that he wasnt sure whether all of the traits I rattled off were correct or not. :) I ensured him they were) I was the teachers pet for a day!!
November 06
Reminiscence - Fins Feathers -n- Fur: Episode 1
As a junior in high school (1987), I got off my heiney and went and got a real job. (It was sad to move on beyond golfball collecting) I had always loved animals growing up and even looked into volunteering at the Hogle Zoo. I figured I could make a bit more money at a pet store though, and started to canvas around all of the places I had visited while supplying my tropical fish hobby. I found out that Fins Feathers and Fur in Midvale was hiring. I wasnt sure of my chances initially due to lack of experience, but found that one thing on my resume had put me over the top beyond the other candidates that had applied. That was that I was an Eagle Scout. It was based on that accomplishment that the owner decided to hire me. Pretty cool. I started at $3.35 an hour. I would be rich!! I worked after school that first year from about 4-7 M-F, and for about 6 hours on Saturday. It was a fun job. It was so cool to work with all of the different critters. Except for... wait for it... The SNAKES. Initially, I was like Indiana Jones--- "I HATE SNAKES... I HATE EM"
![indy-snakes[1]](http://byfiles.storage.msn.com/y1p_9r19f1KfXXwlbfADtwhCxxKiah1sTYxtpHvqyqqdMMsFCscmDvDfpx-_BBmL7QLMOPA5hTR2BY?PARTNER=WRITER)
People would come into the store and ask me if they could see the 6 foot boa constrictor. I would tell them, "Sure, go ahead-- see- its right there!" They would look at me oddly, and I would go find the other employee, Dave who had no such irrational fear and he would help them out. Then came the times when Dave wasnt around, and I was forced to "man up". I would go into the back room where we could access the cages and pull them out and basically fling them at the customer in order to get rid of it quicker. We sure didnt sell a lot of those boas, but people sure liked to handle them. After a few months of that, I became much more comfortable with them and got to the point where I would walk around with them wrapped around my neck just to freak people out. I never was bit by one of those. The only snake that bit me there was a smallish green snake, but it wasnt a big deal. I even developed a morbid fascination come feeding time. They would usually eat a rat or a guinea pig about once a week based on the size of the snake. We used to have to "knock out" some of the rats before we fed them to the snakes, because if the snake wasnt hungry, sometimes the rats would start chewing on the snakes. One time, one of the bigger boas got out of its cage one night. Gary, the owner was quite distraught. We had to make sure that all of the kittens and puppies were locked up tightly over the next few weeks. The boa had found its way up into the attic of the store and then Gary pulled it out and put it back in its cage. Phew. Crisis averted!
People would come into the store and ask me if they could see the 6 foot boa constrictor. I would tell them, "Sure, go ahead-- see- its right there!" They would look at me oddly, and I would go find the other employee, Dave who had no such irrational fear and he would help them out. Then came the times when Dave wasnt around, and I was forced to "man up". I would go into the back room where we could access the cages and pull them out and basically fling them at the customer in order to get rid of it quicker. We sure didnt sell a lot of those boas, but people sure liked to handle them. After a few months of that, I became much more comfortable with them and got to the point where I would walk around with them wrapped around my neck just to freak people out. I never was bit by one of those. The only snake that bit me there was a smallish green snake, but it wasnt a big deal. I even developed a morbid fascination come feeding time. They would usually eat a rat or a guinea pig about once a week based on the size of the snake. We used to have to "knock out" some of the rats before we fed them to the snakes, because if the snake wasnt hungry, sometimes the rats would start chewing on the snakes. One time, one of the bigger boas got out of its cage one night. Gary, the owner was quite distraught. We had to make sure that all of the kittens and puppies were locked up tightly over the next few weeks. The boa had found its way up into the attic of the store and then Gary pulled it out and put it back in its cage. Phew. Crisis averted!
November 02
Reminiscence - 43 points
I had a rough time making the basketball team in High School. It was like Jr High deja vu all over again. There was some favoritism (in my mind, anyway) that still came into play my sophmore year, and I was one of the last few cut again. My junior year, I felt I had a pretty good chance, then the night before tryouts began I was playing pickup ball at the school gym when I made a stop on defense against this guy named Gary, and my shoulder dislocated as he crossed over and I tried to stop it. Worst. Pain. Ever. Anyhow, that ruined all chances I had for making the team as that took me out for 4-6 weeks. It was very depressing. I had a pretty good "shot" that year too. (Did you see my double meaning there? ;)) With missing out on the Junior team, my chances of making the team as a senior decreased significantly (Although even the great Michael Jordan didnt make Varsity until he was a senior ) -With that development in my life, I basically lived for "Church Ball" during the winter months. So it was that during my junior year (1988), after recovering from the dislocated shoulder, that I proceeded to "tear it up" in the church ball league. I had a few 30 point games, and then came the big one. We were playing against my friend, J.R. Broadbents ward. I probably had an extra amount of adrenaline because we were playing against my friends team. My brother, Brian and I were the foundation of our team, and everyone else just pretty much would pass us the ball right off. (Although Bryan Lampropolous was quite a gunner-- I knew I could get a bunch of rebounds anytime he threw up a shot! ;)) That night, I went off. The other team overall was more skilled than ours and we went into double or triple overtime. It seemed that it had been quite a number of years since our ward had beat them, so it was quite exciting. Every shot I took was golden. They started to get a bit frustrated as I kept hitting my shots. I scored 43 points that night in a loosing effort. So close, yet so far... I remember dad telling me afterwards that a number of people watching couldnt believe I wasnt on the high school team. I couldnt believe it either! ;)
November 01
Trunk-or-Treat
Back when I was a kid, we had to work for our candy. We had to walk from house to house, often times 30 yards or more before finding a house that was open for candy-giving business!
This is the new generation. Our ward does *Trunk or Treat* Everybody drives to the church parking lot and hands candy out of the back of their trunks. Some people decorate their trunks just like they would their home. There are jack-o-lanterns, dry ice, all of the good stuff. Our kids walk about 8 feet then another 8 feet, and so on and so on. Within that same 30 yard range that we had to walk to get 3 pieces of candy in the 70:s, they get about 10 peices! After about 30 minutes of "hard" work, Austin came back with at least a gallons worth of candy. He seemed to have a lot more than Jaylin or Autumn for some reason. (He must have figured out some way to work the system..) After people started packing up there, we drove to a nearby neighborhood to have them go around "The old fashioned way". They needed to get some exercise on Halloween night! From there, we took Autumns friend Sabrina home and they hit about 10 houses in her neighborhood. Then back to our house and they talked us into going around our neighborhood as well. (guess I am not the only candy monger in the family!) They scored at least 20,000 calories worth of candy last night.
This is the new generation. Our ward does *Trunk or Treat* Everybody drives to the church parking lot and hands candy out of the back of their trunks. Some people decorate their trunks just like they would their home. There are jack-o-lanterns, dry ice, all of the good stuff. Our kids walk about 8 feet then another 8 feet, and so on and so on. Within that same 30 yard range that we had to walk to get 3 pieces of candy in the 70:s, they get about 10 peices! After about 30 minutes of "hard" work, Austin came back with at least a gallons worth of candy. He seemed to have a lot more than Jaylin or Autumn for some reason. (He must have figured out some way to work the system..) After people started packing up there, we drove to a nearby neighborhood to have them go around "The old fashioned way". They needed to get some exercise on Halloween night! From there, we took Autumns friend Sabrina home and they hit about 10 houses in her neighborhood. Then back to our house and they talked us into going around our neighborhood as well. (guess I am not the only candy monger in the family!) They scored at least 20,000 calories worth of candy last night.
