Cerebrate Good Times

Well, it's been a minute. Things have been extraordinarily busy, and I've been hanging onto some news that I wasn't really ready to announce until things were official. But I'm changing jobs next month. We moved to Idaho for me to take a marketing communications job at a nutritional supplement company. And it's been great. I love the people I work with and enjoy what I do. But earlier this year I was contacted by a recruiter for the Idaho National Laboratory about writing for them. The INL is a huge complex that performs research into nuclear power and other areas of energy and national security. The have a site out in the desert an hour away that houses the Advanced Test Reactor, but I'll mostly be in town working with the people managing nuclear research programs. It's going to be a big adjustment, for two reasons. One is learning the technology itself, and I'm trying to research as much as I can before starting. The second reason is that working f...

It's funny how attached we become to worldly possessions. That's the case with my car. This is a 2001 Pontiac Sunfire. Katie bought it when we had just started dating, in December 2003. She drove it for a few years until we got something bigger for her to take the kids around in, and this has been my commuter car for the last 10 years. So yeah, I've become attached to it. It's not much to look at, but it's been surprisingly reliable over the years. It's also got relatively low mileage for an 18-year-old vehicle (164,000). But all things must come to an end, and so it's time to bid farewell to this relic of our courtship. And like our courtship, I went through a while "shopping around" and then once I found the right vehicle it clicked immediately. I ended up getting a 2015 Nissan Rogue. It's significant to me because every car I had ever owned was a GM vehicle (2985 Chevrolet Celebrity, 1994 Chevrolet Corsica, 1999 Chevrolet Lumina, t...

Just a quick update on the Great Sugar Experiment . It's day 23 and I've still been able to stick to the rules. Interestingly, even with no added sugar or desserts I am still averaging around 50 grams of sugar a day just in the meals I'm eating. It's well below the 80 g allowed by the app (more on the days I run), but you can see how things are not the greatest in the modern diet. There have been a few serious temptations, like when Katie made brownies and frosting from scratch, but I have persevered. There are actually some good sugar-free desserts like Jello pudding that I've been enjoying. And, of course, fresh fruit. I've also been sticking with the protein goal as well, getting at least 120 g almost every day. I've also done my basic strength exercises six days a week and run three times per week (including half marathons the last three Saturdays). And I haven't yet gone over the total calories I supposedly need to meet my goal of dropping a few p...

Well, it seems I've posted about this before here and here . But I've been worried about my weight again lately, in part due to a very long course of Prednisone (like 8 months), which causes an appetite increase and subsequent weight gain. So that number was ticking up a little more than I would have liked, and I thought I'd give it another shot to go without sugar. I started that on August 26, with the goal of lasting one month. This time, however, there are a couple different goals in play here. First, I wanted to stop having any sugary treat or dessert. I'm not worrying as much about the sugar that is in the meals I eat, but I'm not adding sugar to anything, and I'm avoiding things I know are high in sugar like most breakfast cereal. Second, I came across an article online discussing protein intake for runners, and after a little more research discovered that I'm definitely on the low end of what I should probably be getting. A couple months ago I al...

I used to watch football a lot when I was in high school. (This is American football I'm talking about, of course.) I enjoyed the strategy and the brute force involved. I loved the Miami Dolphins and Dan Marino, who of course never won a Superbowl. (This was in line with my Utah Jazz fandom and the Stockton/Malone finals teams that could never get past Michael Jordan.) After my mission I never managed to get back into it. I went to BYU and occasionally watched their games, but it never became rabid fandom. These day I really dislike football. I hate what it does the the players' health, I hate the culture of violence and the enmity between rival teams, and I hate that we are so focused on it rather than dealing with more important things in our country (notwithstanding the protests during the national anthem, which I wholeheartedly support) . The whole idea of putting your team's flag in your yard or whatever is just weird to me. I mean, I like pasta, but I don't put ...

On Saturday morning I got up early to run and beat the heat. I had a plan to run, do a little other exercise, shower, and go get a grocery pickup order we had placed, all while taking care of the kids so Katie could sleep in. And I did get out and run. But after I got back and was working on the list, our doorbell rang. It wasn't 8:00 yet, so that was a surprise. I thought it was probably a neighbor kid looking for my kids, who weren't awake yet. At the door was an older man who looked like an aging biker, holding a boy who was maybe 3. He asked if I knew who the kid was. He found the kid wandering down the street with no parents in sight. The boy didn't seem to know how to get home. He had walked up and down the street knocking doors but hadn't found where he belonged. I didn't recognize the boy but pulled up my LDS Tools app that shows all the LDS families in the neighborhood. I went through the list, and he didn't seem to fit with any of the families. I w...

A few thoughts about summer. I really enjoy summer, but I don't sleep very well. It always seems too warm at night, and it's light by 5 a.m. Plus the kids always go to bed later. I do like having the mornings to myself, though. I also have to get up extra early to run on Saturdays. I found this old post asking about whether it's better to have a nice summer but cold winter, or a mild winter and brutal summer. It's funny that ten years later I would have exchanged the hotter summers and milder winters of Utah for the awful winters and gorgeous summers of Idaho. I think it's better, since during the colder months you're mostly inside anyway. So whether it's 20 degrees or 10 degrees, you don't notice much difference. We didn't hit 90 degrees until July 5. It's been nice. The Fourth of July continues to vex me, with people celebrating their freedom by inhibiting the freedom of their neighbors to sleep well. It has always bothered me that choic...

I've posted too much serious stuff lately, and that must stop now. I just came across a movie trailer for Bumblebee, which is about the Transformers character. But it's not actually a Transformers movie. I guess after Star Wars and X-Men, Hollywood is now doing standalone films of every character from every franchise. Let's think of some characters who could be getting their own film soon. Here are a few I'm interested in. A lot of these are from 80s/90s movies, because those seem the most fun to me. The Xenomorph from Alien . It starts with the Alien chasing the crew of the ship. Then  there's a record scratch and freeze frame, and a voiceover. “You’re probably wondering how I ended up here." Just kidding about this one. Edna Mode from The Incredibles . You know she has an amazing backstory. I want to see her working at the height of superhero popularity, dispensing sass to all those proud people. Louis Tully from Ghostbusters . He seems like a boring ac...

You guys! I checked off a major bucket list item last Friday. I got to ride in a helicopter. It was amazing! At work we had a group of distributors visiting the home office as a reward for performance. They all got a chance to ride in a helicopter, and some of the employees got a chance too. It was just a quick trip around Idaho Falls, but it was so much fun. Even when the pilot dropped us down suddenly to mess with us and I felt my stomach try to escape. Yay! Bonus points to anyone who gets the reference in the title.

I am not a traveler. I have never flown anywhere just for leisure. I generally prefer to stay home, and with children there are logistic and financial implications to traveling as well. And until my current job I never had to travel for work either. But in the last two years I have taken a few trips, and it's been interesting to gain some perspective on what it may be like for those who do it more often. Last week I was in Fort Worth for a convention. Our employees all had rooms at a hotel by the convention center. I ended up on a flight that came in at midnight with a few coworkers. We were picked up at the airport, but the hotel had overbooked and had to find us rooms elsewhere. The other hotel had a problem finding our reservation, so we ended up getting to our rooms about 1 a.m. So instead of this: We ended up in this. It's a hotel built in 1907, with old-timey style. It was kind of a fun place. But I was only there for a few hours. The next morning the...

There's a big music store in town that I drive by on my way to work. They have a piano showroom, and I think they rent instruments as well. This place always seems suspiciously busy to me. Whenever I pass by the store, whatever time of day, there are always more cars there than I would expect form a music store. I seriously wonder if it's some kind of front for a criminal enterprise. If we were still in prohibition days it would be the perfect speakeasy. But given modern society it's more likely a meth lab or something. Guess I'll start using the inside lane to pass by, just in case.

I guess I usually do a year-end post of some kind, but it's been a little hard to figure out what kind of year 2017 was. And yet for some reason I don't feel like I should post anything else until 2017 is put to rest. So what you get is stream of consciousness! Recency bias means things toward the end of the year are on my mind. I had a bit of an unusual health situation happen, and as a result I learned that I can give myself shots, at least when it's a pen-style syringe. Depending on what happens over the next few months I may post more about this, but for now this will do. But it has altered my perspective on things a bit. I traveled to Dallas and Las Vegas for work conventions. I dislike being away from the family for five days at a time, but the change in schedule can be fun. I work with good people, and they make things run smoothly. As far as running, the year was okay. I got in 800 miles (the goal was 1,000). I got a lot better at running up hills, and did cli...

What's the deal with Christmas? Why does everyone get so stressed and nearly kill themselves over it? I struggle to understand why people cause themselves pointless anxiety, and why Christmas has to be a big deal. In particular I don't understand the question "Are you ready for Christmas?" As if it's a storm that's coming. To me Christmas means you put up a few lights outside (not an elaborate display, just a string on the house) and spend an afternoon putting some decorations up in the house. You do a little online shopping for the spouse and kids, and that's it. Why do we treat it as this huge obstacle to be surmounted? It should be a time that allows us to be cheerful and focus on other people, as well as religious devotion for us churchgoing folk. I just feel like 75% of what people give themselves to do is totally unnecessary (though this isn't necessarily limited to Christmas). In other news, I just received this amazing sweater and am super ...

Most of my friends are in their mid-30s, and therefore have more than a decade to go before their recommended colonoscopy at age 50. Once anyone reaches that age, I highly recommend following the medical community's advice to have one done. To ease anyone's fears, I'll tell you all about the preparation in light of the scoping I had yesterday (my third). First, you are supposed to pick up some meds that help "clean out" your digestive tract. There are a couple different kinds available. Suprep is the more expensive one (it cost me $45 even with insurance), but in my experience it's easier on the system and is worth the cost. Then, the day before the colonoscopy you go on a clear liquid diet. You can probably have a normal breakfast, but afterward you can only have things like apple juice, Jell-o, Sprite, and chicken broth. No juice with any kind of pulp, nothing with red or purple coloring. In my opinion this is the most challenging part. In the evening ...

I think there are two kinds of happiness: moment-to-moment happiness, and overall happiness. A given day can swing wildly between happy and sad, but your overall happiness has more to do with overall satisfaction and contentment with life. For example, I have a loving wife and children, and nice home, and a good job. I am happy, and couldn't really ask for more out of life. But one day I might be sick, or the kids will be driving me crazy, or work is especially hard. In those moments I am not happy. But they don't really affect my overall feelings about my life. That is a lot harder to impact. It's kind of like when I'm running and I can look at my current pace or my average pace. It takes more miles of running faster or slower to change the average. On the bad days I try to reflect on how nothing is really  wrong with life, and I have no real cause to complain. I can't say that it always works, but it is helpful to remember that things do get better.  Just my...

Okay, there are two ways to go about this. The first is to read whatever it is that I'm about to write. The second is to just watch this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5W6JyF7br8&t=2s If that link is dead, or you just want to read instead of watch a video for some reason, I recently went to the emergency room. I had only been once before as an adult, although my parents claim I went all the time as a kid. I had been feeling sick in the gut for a few days, and one day my body decided that it would try to wring everything out of me. I was trying to keep hydrated, but my mouth was completely dry and I was starting to get a dehydration headache. This had happened in just a matter of hours, so between that and writhing in agony I decided to go to the emergency room. Katie drove me, and when we arrived I thought about the part where Brian Regan talked about how valet parking would be ideal at a hospital. I got checked in after a few minutes. I did get my own room, un...

Last weekend my family visited Salt Lake City, the first time we had returned to Utah since moving. All in all, it went pretty well, although James struggled with a drive that was longer than anything he had endured before. A couple weeks previous I had traveled to Texas for a work convention. So what to me has been more travel than usual has made me think about traveling. It's something I've never really understood. I mean, I get travel when there's a necessity, and I do understand the occasional vacation. What I don't understand is people who travel frequently for fun. It's just so exhausting, and I think you spend more time in preparation and sitting places waiting than you do enjoying your destination. I guess I have a strange feeling that you should live where you live, and spend the vast majority of your time there. But maybe I'm just jealous because I have four kids now and don't have the money to travel for fun. I suppose I will chalk it up to ...

This all started with a banana. As I've noted before , bananas are something I want to like but struggle with. But I think I've discovered how to like them better. It's because I have this thing with maintaining my weight. My philosophy is that if I put on a couple pounds I work to eat better and get rid of it before I get overweight. But most people scoff if I make any kind of comment about trying to eat healthy. "Pssh, what do you have to worry about?" Well, I don't think I should make it harder on myself. Anyway, I've been on one such cycle recently, trying to minimize foods with added sugar and stop with treats for a while. But breakfast is hard, because I love me some cereal. I love to have it in the morning, and then have a bowl before bed. But it's hard for me to figure out what to eat for breakfast without it. I love eggs, but you can have only so many before you get sick of them too. So I decided to get some plain oatmeal, which I feel i...

The other day while driving, rather than use my phone for music I popped the first CD I ever owned into the stereo. August and Everything After, by The Counting Crows. After 20-something years I still enjoyed listening to it.  At the same time I recognized that the singer's voice can be really whiny, and some of their songs kind of ramble aimlessly, especially on later albums. But I still enjoy them for the most part. It reminded me of how things we grew up with are given a different standard than things we are introduced to as adults. Many of us have a ridiculous movie we've enjoyed since childhood, but when showing it to a friend or spouse who hadn't seen it before, they think it's terrible. What is it about things we associate with our youth, that they get a pass on quality?  There are other things too, from Kool-Aid to Kraft macaroni and cheese. I love all of them unashamedly.

Our adventure of Idaho winter continues. There's a solid layer of ice on all the non-main roads that has hardened to the point that no amount of traffic can weather it away. Things are hunkered down waiting another couple months for some semblance of spring. One of the funniest things is the road leading out of our neighborhood. The layer of ice there is about 4 inches thick, with tire ruts on both sides of the street that actually reach the pavement. So you have traction there but can't help but feel that the car will get high centered on the ice. The ruts, however, seem to have been formed by some of the many large trucks that abound in this habitat. My little commuter car isn't quite wide enough to comfortably fit on those ruts. As a consequence, I bounce back and forth in a way that reminds me of a car on rails at an amusement park. If you try to turn farther than the rail allows, you bounce back rather abruptly. It somehow makes me think of people crossing the plai...