Tom is done with his papers, and meets with the Stake president on Sunday. This went rather quickly. Tevia reminded me this morning that we should get our bets in as to where he goes. We could go back and look at what we predicted, or just re-predict what we think.
A few of the last guys we knew have gone stateside; Martin Wall to South Carolina, Brandon Prettyman to Las Vegas, Dan Morgenegg to Utah.
I am thinking he will go foreign, South America, probably Brazil. Did I say that last time? I'll have to look it up.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Wii fit
Dad bought me this for mother's day. I finally made a mii, named Kari. I did 17 minutes of a combination of yoga, arobics, and balancing. I am great at the yoga, terrible at the balancing. Actually, I did beat Tom in crossing over the high wire. The balancing part would be great for Jarek and Malik. Good news- it does not consider me overweight, just right on the border of being overweight. Bad news, it considers me as 73 years old! The way it measures 'real age' is a combination of weight, BMI, and balancing. I didn't understand the balance thing, so I didn't even really do it. I guess that will make it easy to improve!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Last Days in Hong Kong
What do you do your last days in a country? Shop? Tour? Cry? I am the type of guy that likes to recreate memories. Last night I decided to go over Victoria Harbor on the Star Ferry and watch the lights on Hong Kong island. The night was fairly clear and not too hot. Since it was Friday it was crowded on the Kowloon side with many tourists and different languages being tossed about. I watched the beautiful skyline of Hong Kong island dance in the multicolored lights and lasers. On the ferry back I smelled the harbor, the fuel that powers the ferries, and enjoyed the slight breeze on my face. I then laid down on a bench and looked up at IFC tower for perhaps the last time. I have great memories of this place. And though the last few months have been marred by the fact that I have been alone for the most part, I am grateful to have had my family here.
Today there was temptation to go to Shenzhen. But the only reasons I could determine to go were to shop and fill my second slot on my China visa. I didn't NEED to buy anything, so decided not to go. Instead I headed over to Repulse Bay where we lived as a family and put my feet in the bay. I walked along the Seaside Promenade and remembered times with my family here. I came out on Deep Water Bay and grabbed the 6X bus to Causeway Bay. While there I bought a few little things with the small amount of cash I had left and had my last meal in the basement of Times Square in CitySuper. It was fun to remember the many times we ate there as a family and the kids love of Curry in a Hurry.
I am now packed up and ready to go. I will soon be on my next tiny adventure to London where I will spend a few days. At this point I wish that I had not made this trip to London, but it will be good to see our office and help me in my career if I decide to stay with Prudential. In the end it only delays seeing my family for five days. But at this point five days seem like an eternity. I look forward to seeing an old friend on Sunday. In fact, she was my first friend and mentor when I started my career at Prudential so many years ago. But most of all I look forward to getting that much closer to my wife and children.
Today there was temptation to go to Shenzhen. But the only reasons I could determine to go were to shop and fill my second slot on my China visa. I didn't NEED to buy anything, so decided not to go. Instead I headed over to Repulse Bay where we lived as a family and put my feet in the bay. I walked along the Seaside Promenade and remembered times with my family here. I came out on Deep Water Bay and grabbed the 6X bus to Causeway Bay. While there I bought a few little things with the small amount of cash I had left and had my last meal in the basement of Times Square in CitySuper. It was fun to remember the many times we ate there as a family and the kids love of Curry in a Hurry.
I am now packed up and ready to go. I will soon be on my next tiny adventure to London where I will spend a few days. At this point I wish that I had not made this trip to London, but it will be good to see our office and help me in my career if I decide to stay with Prudential. In the end it only delays seeing my family for five days. But at this point five days seem like an eternity. I look forward to seeing an old friend on Sunday. In fact, she was my first friend and mentor when I started my career at Prudential so many years ago. But most of all I look forward to getting that much closer to my wife and children.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
A Beautiful Mother's Day Poem
Jarek was sick last week and missed bringing home his mother's day gift to me. Gayla Finlayson (a member of our ward who also works up at the school) brought it to our house tonight. This was the highlight of my day, reading this poem. Jarek wrote this for me all by himself. It made my heart burn with joy and my eyes fill with tears.
MOTHER
I love you the color of
A Beautiful red flower
Growing in the meadow.
I love you the color of
The bright orange sun
Shining for the world.
I love you the color of
The nice green palo verde trees
Swaying in the desert.
I love you the color of
A sweet purple dusk
Hanging over our house.
Oh mom, I love you very much!!!
Love,
Jarek
MOTHER
I love you the color of
A Beautiful red flower
Growing in the meadow.
I love you the color of
The bright orange sun
Shining for the world.
I love you the color of
The nice green palo verde trees
Swaying in the desert.
I love you the color of
A sweet purple dusk
Hanging over our house.
Oh mom, I love you very much!!!
Love,
Jarek
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
scary and sad world
wow! that is a lot of people that were wiped out in China and in Mynamar! The numbers keep going up. 15,000 in one place, and 60,000 in another, with more to come. That simply amazes me. For journal purposes, Mynamar is a small country near India that I think used to be Burma. They had a cyclone, which is much like a hurricane with a tornado in it. China had a huge earthquake right in the middle of the country. Both of these catastrophies happened within a few days of each other.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Clue
We found a game that we don't fight about. We have tried it with all sorts of variations. The 2 we played last night were:
- put any three cards in the mystery envelope, don't use the board at all, guess any 3 guesses each turn, ( you can guess 3 people, 2 rooms and a weapon, etc), and no lies.
- put any there cards in, don't use the board, you have to guess a person, weapon, and room each time, and you can lie one time in the game.
I found them both fun, and I actually lost the second game because Kathy is a good liar. :)
- put any three cards in the mystery envelope, don't use the board at all, guess any 3 guesses each turn, ( you can guess 3 people, 2 rooms and a weapon, etc), and no lies.
- put any there cards in, don't use the board, you have to guess a person, weapon, and room each time, and you can lie one time in the game.
I found them both fun, and I actually lost the second game because Kathy is a good liar. :)
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Happy Mother's Day
Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in my life. Today in church we had the Area President (President Garn) talk on mothers. It is always so great to hear general authorities speak. He said two things that really touched me. He said that Russell M Nelson, who was a heart surgeon, was once asked why he had chosen that career. He said that the greatest job on earth is to be a mother, but since he wasn't able to do that he thought he would try to help the sick.
President Garn then quoted from another general authority (I can't remember who) who had said that the role of men is to protect, provide for and to admire women. I thought this was very deep. Especially the "admire" part.
I want to the most important mothers in my life - my mother and the mother of my children - to know that I do admire them. I love them with all of my heart. I hope one day to be as good as they are. I hope to always make them proud. Both of them keep me on the strait and narrow. Thank you for all that you do. I love you.
President Garn then quoted from another general authority (I can't remember who) who had said that the role of men is to protect, provide for and to admire women. I thought this was very deep. Especially the "admire" part.
I want to the most important mothers in my life - my mother and the mother of my children - to know that I do admire them. I love them with all of my heart. I hope one day to be as good as they are. I hope to always make them proud. Both of them keep me on the strait and narrow. Thank you for all that you do. I love you.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Settlers
Since forever our family has been insanely competitive as everyone knows. I personally like this because I thrive on competition and I think it helps me improve myself. However, I do not think that I am going to play another game of Settlers of Catan in this family for a long time. Usually at least some one gets mad every game but lately since Tommy and I have been home, every single time we play, I think every single person has gotten frustrated to the point where it is no longer a game but a yelling session. And last night, we decided or Dad decided that we were going to be very positive and complement each other frequently through out the game. LOL. That probably lasted the first 15 minutes. However, it was still an exciting experience because in the middle of the game mom's tooth came out and I almost fainted. Anyways I love Settlers, mostly because I get lucky almost every game but its going to be awhile until I play again. It's aquire all over again!! lol Why can't our family just play a nice game together? Even though I like competition sometimes I wish it wasn't life or death in this family and Dad didn't leave ready to kill someone, Tommy didn't try to talk about it for 10 hours after the game (like Jacob) and Mom didn't say things to make it better even though she makes it worse. And I could control my frustration and want to keep playing. Maybe we'll get better but I honestly doubt it lol. And even though I say this, I bet we play another game of settlers tomorrow. =)
Temple, Iron Man, Shake 'em Fries
It is a three day weekend here and also my last. So last night I spent some time trying to figure out what to do. There are many options as there are still many things I have wanted to do since being here in Hong Kong. In the end I decided on going to the temple and seeing "Iron Man."
I woke up a little later than I had wanted to and that started the day off on the wrong foot as that meant I had to rush to the temple in order to make the session. This is never a good way to go to the temple. I did make it though. Barely. I could have used a few minutes to sit and wait and clear my mind. The session was in English, which was disappointing. I like the chinese sessions better. It was good though as I needed some peace during this stressful time of being away from my family and wondering where I will be in 6 months.
Afterwords I had a good plan to walk over to the cool theaters with the rumble seats to see Iron Man. I did not bring a map (hey, I've been here for 9 months) and this led to a bad situation. I do not like not knowing where I am. It is a weakness. And unfortunately I took it out on my wife who was waking up so anxious to talk to me. I guess the temple spirit didn't stay with me too long. I'm sorry Tevia. I eventually did get there - MUCH later than anticipated - and that through off my plans for the day.
The movie was excellent. I absolutely enjoyed it and these theaters are so fun with the rumble seats. I then did a little shopping at some of the markets and by the time I got home it was nearly 8:00PM. Another typical day in HK where I leave in the morning and don't get back until right before bed.
For dinner I just stopped at McDonalds. It is a bad habit because I am so cheap. It is so hard to justify eating at a healthy place for $10 USD when I know I can eat at McDs for $3. It is terrible I know. But, today they had a special where you could buy a Chicken McNugget combo with fries and it comes with a bag with flavored powder (think ramen noodles package). You then shake them in the bag (the nuggets and/or fries) and eat. I got the curry flavor. The nuggets were ok, but the fries were awesome. I don't even like fries! But these were great. So I expect I'll have at least one more terrible-for-me-but-extremely-cheap meal at McDonald's before I leave.
I woke up a little later than I had wanted to and that started the day off on the wrong foot as that meant I had to rush to the temple in order to make the session. This is never a good way to go to the temple. I did make it though. Barely. I could have used a few minutes to sit and wait and clear my mind. The session was in English, which was disappointing. I like the chinese sessions better. It was good though as I needed some peace during this stressful time of being away from my family and wondering where I will be in 6 months.
Afterwords I had a good plan to walk over to the cool theaters with the rumble seats to see Iron Man. I did not bring a map (hey, I've been here for 9 months) and this led to a bad situation. I do not like not knowing where I am. It is a weakness. And unfortunately I took it out on my wife who was waking up so anxious to talk to me. I guess the temple spirit didn't stay with me too long. I'm sorry Tevia. I eventually did get there - MUCH later than anticipated - and that through off my plans for the day.
The movie was excellent. I absolutely enjoyed it and these theaters are so fun with the rumble seats. I then did a little shopping at some of the markets and by the time I got home it was nearly 8:00PM. Another typical day in HK where I leave in the morning and don't get back until right before bed.
For dinner I just stopped at McDonalds. It is a bad habit because I am so cheap. It is so hard to justify eating at a healthy place for $10 USD when I know I can eat at McDs for $3. It is terrible I know. But, today they had a special where you could buy a Chicken McNugget combo with fries and it comes with a bag with flavored powder (think ramen noodles package). You then shake them in the bag (the nuggets and/or fries) and eat. I got the curry flavor. The nuggets were ok, but the fries were awesome. I don't even like fries! But these were great. So I expect I'll have at least one more terrible-for-me-but-extremely-cheap meal at McDonald's before I leave.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
wicked
The evening was beautiful. We couldn't have asked for better weather. We left early enough to have a nice drive down, but ended up a bit early, and couldn't park in our Icon parking lot until 6pm, so dad pulled up along a road and I had to stand lookout for 20 minutes for cops. I felt silly and like a spy. I would have just paid the extra money to not have to had to stand there and waste time, and we could have had a nice leisurely dinner. As it was, we had to rush down our delicious sandwiches at a deli as fast as we could and race to the theater.
The play was wonderful! It was even better than I expected. As you all know, I don't like to see movies or plays twice, so I thought I might be a bit bored. I was not! They have made some small changes since dad and I saw it last, and I understood it much better. Some of the minor connections that I must have missed the first time were clearer. The people were great, in my mind, although Kathy and dad thought Galinda has been better in the past. I thought she was great, as was Elphaba. Our seats were fine for the 56. we paid, and I hope Tom enjoyed his first Broadway play. We did get in a traffic jam on returning home, which was not the best way to end the evening, but we got home about 12:30, which wasn't too bad. Poor Kathy had to be at work at 7am, and the rest of us slept in till 8.
The play was wonderful! It was even better than I expected. As you all know, I don't like to see movies or plays twice, so I thought I might be a bit bored. I was not! They have made some small changes since dad and I saw it last, and I understood it much better. Some of the minor connections that I must have missed the first time were clearer. The people were great, in my mind, although Kathy and dad thought Galinda has been better in the past. I thought she was great, as was Elphaba. Our seats were fine for the 56. we paid, and I hope Tom enjoyed his first Broadway play. We did get in a traffic jam on returning home, which was not the best way to end the evening, but we got home about 12:30, which wasn't too bad. Poor Kathy had to be at work at 7am, and the rest of us slept in till 8.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Saturday, May 03, 2008
So...
Well, if that wasn't just the weirdest but coolest couple of days of my life!! :-)
We're now home and after a nice nap for everyone and Hazel's first at home feeding, we're all doing well. She's sleeping again and Jacob's off at the store picking up some things I didn't know we needed and some lunch.
Hazel's doing really well, though she does have some jaundice. We have to go back to the hospital in the morning for her to get a little more bloodwork done to see if it's getting better or worse. I'm just really, really glad to be home. Jacob has been absolutely wonderful. He got the house all cleaned and all of Hazel's stuff ready yesterday. Most everything was still in disarray since we weren't expecting her for another couple of days.
I'm really tired and on all kinds of fun pain medication. Jacob said the pharmacist gave him a long, long lecture when he picked up my 3 prescriptions and I got a similar lecture from the nurse before leaving. I guess neither of us realized how much of a prescription drug abuse problem there is, especially in Utah. Not that either the pharmacist or the nurse was insinuating that either of us would start abusing my medication, but there was a lot of concern about keeping the medication secure so it doesn't get stolen. Weird. Anyway, overall I'm feeling pretty good - all things considered. Just very, very tired. I may go try to sleep some more since that is what Hazel is doing right now. Seems like a good idea to me. :-)
Thanks for all of the phone calls and the prayers. I know they helped us make it through the adventure of the hospital. Love you all and we'll try to take and post some more pictures later tonight.
We're now home and after a nice nap for everyone and Hazel's first at home feeding, we're all doing well. She's sleeping again and Jacob's off at the store picking up some things I didn't know we needed and some lunch.
Hazel's doing really well, though she does have some jaundice. We have to go back to the hospital in the morning for her to get a little more bloodwork done to see if it's getting better or worse. I'm just really, really glad to be home. Jacob has been absolutely wonderful. He got the house all cleaned and all of Hazel's stuff ready yesterday. Most everything was still in disarray since we weren't expecting her for another couple of days.
I'm really tired and on all kinds of fun pain medication. Jacob said the pharmacist gave him a long, long lecture when he picked up my 3 prescriptions and I got a similar lecture from the nurse before leaving. I guess neither of us realized how much of a prescription drug abuse problem there is, especially in Utah. Not that either the pharmacist or the nurse was insinuating that either of us would start abusing my medication, but there was a lot of concern about keeping the medication secure so it doesn't get stolen. Weird. Anyway, overall I'm feeling pretty good - all things considered. Just very, very tired. I may go try to sleep some more since that is what Hazel is doing right now. Seems like a good idea to me. :-)
Thanks for all of the phone calls and the prayers. I know they helped us make it through the adventure of the hospital. Love you all and we'll try to take and post some more pictures later tonight.
Bird Park - Zoo
Thursday was a holiday here. So I had the day off. I decided I would check out the Jurong Bird Park which was highly recommended by Jemy Kannan, one of my employees. So I hopped on the MRT to the end of the line and then jumped on a bus to the park. In all it took about 40 minutes from my hotel. I have become a minimalist, so I didn't bring the usual backpack filled with water, etc. I brought myself and a camera. It is now that I would love to get a pocket camera, but for now this camera will do.
The park is the world's largest bird park with thousands of species. It was very cool. My favorite parts were the lorry loft where you could feed the lorries and the world's tallest manmade waterfall. At the lorry loft I bought some nectar and waited patiently for some birds to come by and drink out of my hands. It took some patience, but eventually they came flocking. It was fun. The waterful was gorgeous and refreshing - hard to believe it was fake. It was over 100 feet tall. I also saw one of those cool birds of paradise that do the moonwalk (have you seen that Planet Earth episode?). There were also tons of beautiful flowers, which reminded me of Tevia. She would have loved it. I wished my family could have been with me.
Today, being the weekend, I decided to spend some time out at the pool in the morning. I don't have any suntan lotion (left it in PHX) but I figured I would just chill out there for an hour and not have to worry too much. Well, I was wrong. Tonight I am pretty red on my belly and chest. I should have realized since I am probably the whitest I have ever been since being in HK. Before I realized I had fried a little I had decided to go up to the zoo. So I headed out on the MTR again and grabbed a bus there. The weather was wonderful as it was a little cloudy and not too hot. We took the boys here when we were all in Singapore and I remembered enjoying it. But I had forgot how GREAT this zoo is. It seems every animal is awake and close. And it isn't because they have small enclosures. The reality is that most have huge areas to roam around in. But I was able to see most of the animals up close and active. These were my favorites:
Komodo Dragon: we saw these last time we were here, and me being a lizard fan I was excited. But they were just sitting at the back of their pen. This time a big one walked up to the front and planted itself just a few feet in front of me.
Jaguar: I arrived at their beautiful enclosure at feeding time. This meant they were up and anxious and the trainers were throwing pieces of meat all over the place. At one point the one jaguar leaped about 10 feet from the land into the pool to catch the meat. They then played in the water for 15 minutes or so looking for meat on the bottom. I have never really seen cats swim before (in person) and it was amazing to watch. They were so beautiful.
Mountain Lion: I have seen some mountain lions in zoos in the USA, but I've never seen them move. They were moving here. Jumping, running. Amazing.
Flying Fox: this was the coolest part of the day. Flying foxes (bats) are the world's largest bat with wingspans up to 6 feet. In the zoo's rainforest enclosure they had at least a dozen of them. And most of them were feeding on fruit just inches from me! I tried to take pix with my blackberry and will try to post later. I have never seen such cool animals so close. They would hang there upside down with their claws and once in a while they would just fly away and come back. It was so cool. Oddly enough, when one decided he had to take a leak (and yes, you could tell which were boys) he changed from hanging upside down and hung rightside up in order to pee. Very smart. I loved this part of the exhibit and was so distracted by the bats that the free roaming lemurs that you could basically pet (if like me) were a little boring.
I also got to see the cheetah up close and then saw him run away. My boys would have loved that. The white tigers also were swimming. It was a great day. The park is gorgeous and it made me want to move here. I could picture the Wall family at the zoo on the weekends easily.
The park is the world's largest bird park with thousands of species. It was very cool. My favorite parts were the lorry loft where you could feed the lorries and the world's tallest manmade waterfall. At the lorry loft I bought some nectar and waited patiently for some birds to come by and drink out of my hands. It took some patience, but eventually they came flocking. It was fun. The waterful was gorgeous and refreshing - hard to believe it was fake. It was over 100 feet tall. I also saw one of those cool birds of paradise that do the moonwalk (have you seen that Planet Earth episode?). There were also tons of beautiful flowers, which reminded me of Tevia. She would have loved it. I wished my family could have been with me.
Today, being the weekend, I decided to spend some time out at the pool in the morning. I don't have any suntan lotion (left it in PHX) but I figured I would just chill out there for an hour and not have to worry too much. Well, I was wrong. Tonight I am pretty red on my belly and chest. I should have realized since I am probably the whitest I have ever been since being in HK. Before I realized I had fried a little I had decided to go up to the zoo. So I headed out on the MTR again and grabbed a bus there. The weather was wonderful as it was a little cloudy and not too hot. We took the boys here when we were all in Singapore and I remembered enjoying it. But I had forgot how GREAT this zoo is. It seems every animal is awake and close. And it isn't because they have small enclosures. The reality is that most have huge areas to roam around in. But I was able to see most of the animals up close and active. These were my favorites:
Komodo Dragon: we saw these last time we were here, and me being a lizard fan I was excited. But they were just sitting at the back of their pen. This time a big one walked up to the front and planted itself just a few feet in front of me.
Jaguar: I arrived at their beautiful enclosure at feeding time. This meant they were up and anxious and the trainers were throwing pieces of meat all over the place. At one point the one jaguar leaped about 10 feet from the land into the pool to catch the meat. They then played in the water for 15 minutes or so looking for meat on the bottom. I have never really seen cats swim before (in person) and it was amazing to watch. They were so beautiful.
Mountain Lion: I have seen some mountain lions in zoos in the USA, but I've never seen them move. They were moving here. Jumping, running. Amazing.
Flying Fox: this was the coolest part of the day. Flying foxes (bats) are the world's largest bat with wingspans up to 6 feet. In the zoo's rainforest enclosure they had at least a dozen of them. And most of them were feeding on fruit just inches from me! I tried to take pix with my blackberry and will try to post later. I have never seen such cool animals so close. They would hang there upside down with their claws and once in a while they would just fly away and come back. It was so cool. Oddly enough, when one decided he had to take a leak (and yes, you could tell which were boys) he changed from hanging upside down and hung rightside up in order to pee. Very smart. I loved this part of the exhibit and was so distracted by the bats that the free roaming lemurs that you could basically pet (if like me) were a little boring.
I also got to see the cheetah up close and then saw him run away. My boys would have loved that. The white tigers also were swimming. It was a great day. The park is gorgeous and it made me want to move here. I could picture the Wall family at the zoo on the weekends easily.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Hospital is a go
Well, it has been a long night. Long story short is Cari's headache got progressivly worse until 3am when we had to take her in. Her blood pressure is still very high 150/100. They gave her some pain medication for the splitting headache. If her vitals are good, they are going to induce her at 3cm which with the gel stuff working should be between 10am-2pm today. Overall it is good news and she seems to be doing well. We will keep you posted. Don't bother calling as no one is home. If I get bored at the hospital later today I will make some rounds with the telephone.
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