By the Time I Get to Phoenix...

On Thursday I get to go to Arizona for a grand total of about 12 hours. I fly out arrive at the Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix at 8:15am and depart at 9:20pm. It's gonna be a very long day.

If only this was a social visit, but such is not the case. My boss is sending me there to set up some scanning equipment in the Mesa Regional Family History Center. I'm hoping that everything goes smoothly and there are no problems with the computers or scanners.

I've never been to Phoenix, but don't think I'd mind a visit...what with warmth in the winter, the Phoenix Suns, Baseball Spring training and cacti...who wouldn't want to go to Arizona? Maybe if I'm lucky I'll get to see the Christmas lights on the Temple grounds before I head to the airport...what time does it get dark in Arizona anyway...?

I know you've all been dying to find out....

The new car (yet un-named) is not so bad.

More Than A Memory

There's a new song out by Garth Brooks called More Than A Memory that I love. If you haven't heard it, its basically about a man trying to forget someone he loved dearly...it's a good song.

As many of you know I have many times professed a undying love for my VW Beetle, "Bebo". I've even been know to say "if I could find a man I love as much as I love my car I'd be set." As with any love affair Bebo and I have had our ups and downs.

Bebo and I met 6 years ago on a dark night. I was driving home in the Prism that I was starting to lose affection for...(mostly because it was a stick-shift and I'm terrible at driving one)...when Bebo caught my eye--"shining like the top of the Chrysler building' beneath the bright spotlights. It was love at first sight. Not to mention I swear I saw him wink one of his headlights at me. I pulled over at the car lot and examined him up close. He was perfect--leather seats (complete with "bun warmers"), Moonroof, 5 disc cd-changer, turbo-charged, the works! The next day I scheduled an appointment with the dealer and went in to take a test drive...and fell hard in love with the little guy. As the numbers were crunched I kept telling myself if it's meant to be things will work out...they did and I brought Bebo home with me.

A few weeks later there was trouble in paradise. Bebo decided to flash his Malfunction Indicator Light (which according to the owner's manual means you should immediately drive your malfunctioning car to the nearest VW dealer for a check up...I've lost count of how many time I've done this over the past 6 years. But my love won out every time...and I stuck with him.

Recently I discovered Bebo had a new trick up his sleeve...He started professing his undying love to me by flashing me with his many dashboard lights...the latest the oil pressure light in concert with the temperature light, along with a REALLY annoying beep. Needless to say this grew real old, real fast. There's nothing to match the feeling of dread that overcomes you as you fear that your little car might keel over as you are traveling 65 mph down I-15.

Every time I got in the car a feeling of stress came over me...I found myself asking what's going to go wrong next? Along with everything else the stress was too much. So about a month ago I started the quest for a newer car with fewer problems. I looked at many and then before I knew it, last night I was holding in my hands the key to a Silver Ford Focus...

I knew it would be hard to hand over the keys to my beloved. First I gave them to a cute little guy named Nate who took Bebo for a spin to see if everything worked and to assess the trade-in value. I have to admit it was hard to see my car drive away without me. Nate gave the keys back and I waited...Then I handed the keys to Toby and she cleaned out my personal affects. Making sure to retrieve my beloved CDs (which at present include Bon Jovi, Air Supply, U2, Simon and Garfunkel and the soundtrack to Wicked). Lastly I handed the key over to Chris (the car guy) and that was the beginning of the end.

I walked into another room to sign the paperwork and when I came out Bebo had been stripped of everything that made him mine -- even down to his license plates (004WKP). It pulled at my heart strings...

I had Toby take one last picture of him -- there he was, once again under the bright lights where I first fell in love with him...it was too much for me. It broke my heart to climbed into the Focus and drive away.

Tears started to fall (as they are falling now). I had left my Bebo behind. I never knew saying goodbye to a beloved car could be as sad as saying goodbye to a friend. I will miss him dearly.

In my world, Bebo will always be "more than a memory"

Good Advice...? (Too Good To Resist)

My sister found this quote and I couldn't help but share it:

"Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any; also to strangers, and sometimes to others. If a person offends you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measure; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick. That will be sufficient. If you shall find that he had not intended any offense, come out frankly and confess yourself in the wrong when you struck him; acknowledge it like a man, and say you didn't mean to." (Mark Twain - Advice to Youth speech, 15 May 1882)

Did you know...

that if you keep Starbursts in your desk drawer long enough they turn into Now and Laters.

Five Hours to Lift Off or The Perils of Procrastination

It's moving time. I still haven't finished packing up my room. I've got a cedar chest full of stuff and a desk that's covered in miscellaneous junk. I've known about this move for a least three weeks--but have come up short in my preparation. I'm the girl who waits until the night before a paper is due to even start. Perhaps I thrive on self-imposed stress.

So this afternoon I will be speed-packing--(a technical term which here means throwing everything into boxes whether I want to keep it or not). Fortunatley, Dizzy has offered to come and help pack a few boxes and a few members of my adopted family will be coming as well to help move the big stuff. So all in all, it should be a great time.

I have learned a couple of things as I've packed my boxes...

A) I have a bunch of clothes I never wear (including too many sweaters).
B) I have an overabundance of books and stuffed animals.

Donkey!

Reading BlueStocking's Blog this afternoon reminded me of something. She mentions an "artist Donkey" she has in her closet...I got the giggles recalling the first episode of The Amazing Race that we watched last night.

We've watched a time or two before just for laughs and Sunday's episode was good for a few. The group had to race to Shannon, Ireland where they had to drive around a lot and then they got to ride a tightwire bicycle across a canyon with their partner hanging from the bottom of the bike. I have to admit I was particularly amused by the final challenge...which involved donkeys.

Tied to a hitching post there are eleven donkeys (one for each team). The object of the challenge was to load up a donkey with 15 pieces of peat. Once this was accomplished each team was supposed to lead the donkey back to the starting line.

This was hilarious. Some of the donkeys were trotters and others were super stubborn. Maybe it speaks poorly of me, but I was amused as several teams and their donkeys literally ran past a couple of teams who's donkeys were, if you will, steadfast and immovable. It was awesome. One team even made their donkey so mad that it was braying at them...how could I not laugh?

Here we had grown men an women yelling at their donkeys thinking that somehow that was going to get the poor animal to cooperate with them. Have you ever know anyone to want to cooperate with someone who yells at them.

By the end of the challenge I was laughing. I was having a hard time deciding who was the bigger donkey--the one with four hooves or the two-legged geniuses who thought yelling, pushing and pulling the donkey was ever going to work.

If you've ever seen a donkey in action you know that you cannot convince him/her to do any thing they don't want to. Whoever came up with idiom "as stubborn as a mule" must have had a donkey.

You Go Donkeys!!

A Must See

"The Devil Bat" starring Béla Lugosi

Today's the Big Day

We are closing on our house today.  I have to admit I'm a little nervous.  It's a HUGE step but it's one worth taking.

Halloween at our House

I have always liked Halloween. Hello--A Holiday devoted to the art of candy gathering--what's not to love?

I knew it was going to be an especially good night when the great pumpkin across the street had been carved with the face of Captain Jack Sparrow! Our neighbor holds the record for the biggest pumpkin in Utah this year. Last year he carved Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean (not to be confused with the pint-sized crooner from The Monkees). It was pretty cool, but this years was infinitely cooler.

We had 34 trick-or-treaters--yes I counted, it's a tradition--mom used to always keep a paper on a nail next to our front door to count how many kids came that year.

Among those 34 kiddies there were the teenagers who needed to be told they are too old for the annual candy gathering festival (I was told this by a nieghbor when I was eleven); There were several disney princesses, a couple of farm animals, a pink pirate girl and the cutest little fairy I have ever seen.

This little girl couldn't have been more than 3 years old. Her older brothers and sisters had just come to the door and she was a little cautious. As she got to the door, she says to me in the tiniest little girl voice i've ever heard, filled with what can only be described as awe "you're like a vampire" (I was wearing black with a silvery spider-web cape--more witch like than vampire, but you can't correct a living, breathing version of Tinkerbell.

I couldn't help myself and told her how cute she was and she proudly pointed out her wings to me. They were perfect fairy wings, such that I think I may need to change from Witch to Fairy for my Halloween costume--they were cool wings. I've seen some cute costumes in my day but last night I think was the best ever.

I gave her some candy and as she walked away she turned around and squeaked "see you in the morning time, k."

Sadly, she didn't come back to play today.