I read that a meteor shower would be happening in the early morning in the east sky tomorrow morning (Nov 18). Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which it appears that the shower originates. Word has it that you may see 10 or more an hour if you have a dark sky and look east early in the morning in Leo.
On a similar morning, ten or eleven years ago, I was up early one morning to walk around our neighborhood in Kingman, AZ for a little exercise. I looked up and saw several shooting stars in just a few minutes.
I immediately headed home and wanting to share it with someone and recognizing that Vicki valued sleep more than shooting stars, I woke Katherine and asked her if she wanted to she some meteors. She said "sure" so I pulled out the Levi quilt, laid it out on the ground like a sleeping bag and we crawled in to stay warm and count shooting stars.
In less than 20 minutes we counted over 100. We saw most of them at the same time but I missed one that Katherine didn't. I had glanced down at the quilt when suddenly the sky lit up. I could easily see the ties on the quilt. "Oooo" Katherine exclaimed. I looked up, but all I could see was the smoke left from the meteor.
What a pleasant memory that was.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Moving Mountains
April of 1995 I accepted a position with General Cable Company in Kingman, Arizona. As I drove down to start the job, I had the highlight of seeing Hoover Dam. Upon arriving at the dam, I parked and got out and walked the dam enjoying all the plaques and construction displays.The spillway walls were up and the dam was near to overflowing. My how things have changed.
It wasn't long before my friends at General Cable told me that preliminary work was ongoing to construct a bypass bridge. It would be built in about ten years. I have crossed the dam probably 100 times or more since that first trip. A memorable crossing was the second Saturday after 9/11 when we took our youth to the LasVegas temple to do baptisms for the dead. Some parents didn't want their children to go and I can appreciate that. But it was interesting to see the security changes that took place so quickly.The government was quick to install a check point on either side of the dam. The first 6 months, they were very thorough with their searches of every vehicle. Then I learned some expediting tricks. If your vehicle has tinted windows, roll them all down so that they can see in side. Always have your driver side window down for communication purposes. Act like your not hiding anything. And always say thank you just in case they remember you the next time. You will sail right through 99% of the time.
Driving from Kingman it was about 60 miles from the detour route around the dam to the check point. There were lots of signs warning people that all vehicles except for cars would be turned back. As we approached the dam that day, we saw a yellow 16 foot moving van which was occupied by a couple of men who appeared to be of middle eastern descent. Sure enough, they were turned around and had to travel back 60 miles to the detour and then another 100 miles to get to LasVegas.
Over the years, I watched the construction with anticipation of the bypass bridge completion. I have waited in traffic for construction work; at other times for movies being made on the dam and of course for tourists. I got pretty good at knowing when to take the detour because of bad traffic. Friday nights and Saturday afternoons into LasVegas were the worst. Saturday from noon to 4 going to Kingman were just as bad.
As the preliminary work was being completed and the design was taking shape, I started to follow the progress on hooverdambypass.org. I was on the website when the hits were in the low 100,000. Today the count was 14,591,800. I have followed every step of the way since they contemplated the style of bridge to build including polling the web site visitors; (I voted for a cable stay bridge. I like wires. I lost.) the location of the bridge; the construction of the approaches and ultimately the construction of the bridge.
The highlight of the bridge construction for me was this past Saturday when I got to walk the bridge with 20,000 of my closest friends. Some souvenirs were given out. I have saved them in their original form. Maybe in 50 years, my children can get $25 for the set.
Here is a link which will take you to a video tribute I made to show the bridge and some of the work involved in building the bridge. I hope that you can get a feel for what is was like.
TTFN
-Ron
It wasn't long before my friends at General Cable told me that preliminary work was ongoing to construct a bypass bridge. It would be built in about ten years. I have crossed the dam probably 100 times or more since that first trip. A memorable crossing was the second Saturday after 9/11 when we took our youth to the LasVegas temple to do baptisms for the dead. Some parents didn't want their children to go and I can appreciate that. But it was interesting to see the security changes that took place so quickly.The government was quick to install a check point on either side of the dam. The first 6 months, they were very thorough with their searches of every vehicle. Then I learned some expediting tricks. If your vehicle has tinted windows, roll them all down so that they can see in side. Always have your driver side window down for communication purposes. Act like your not hiding anything. And always say thank you just in case they remember you the next time. You will sail right through 99% of the time.
Driving from Kingman it was about 60 miles from the detour route around the dam to the check point. There were lots of signs warning people that all vehicles except for cars would be turned back. As we approached the dam that day, we saw a yellow 16 foot moving van which was occupied by a couple of men who appeared to be of middle eastern descent. Sure enough, they were turned around and had to travel back 60 miles to the detour and then another 100 miles to get to LasVegas.
Over the years, I watched the construction with anticipation of the bypass bridge completion. I have waited in traffic for construction work; at other times for movies being made on the dam and of course for tourists. I got pretty good at knowing when to take the detour because of bad traffic. Friday nights and Saturday afternoons into LasVegas were the worst. Saturday from noon to 4 going to Kingman were just as bad.
As the preliminary work was being completed and the design was taking shape, I started to follow the progress on hooverdambypass.org. I was on the website when the hits were in the low 100,000. Today the count was 14,591,800. I have followed every step of the way since they contemplated the style of bridge to build including polling the web site visitors; (I voted for a cable stay bridge. I like wires. I lost.) the location of the bridge; the construction of the approaches and ultimately the construction of the bridge.
The highlight of the bridge construction for me was this past Saturday when I got to walk the bridge with 20,000 of my closest friends. Some souvenirs were given out. I have saved them in their original form. Maybe in 50 years, my children can get $25 for the set.
Here is a link which will take you to a video tribute I made to show the bridge and some of the work involved in building the bridge. I hope that you can get a feel for what is was like.
TTFN
-Ron
Friday, October 15, 2010
Unseen Passengers
We may have some unseen passengers riding with us in the Tahoe from now on.
Now that may sound strange but we are coming up on Halloween and after you hear what happened it may not be so far fetched.
The brakes on the Tahoe had gotten real bad. No chirping or squeaking, just flat out grinding. So Wednesday about Noon, the Tahoe was taken to our mechanic for an inspection.
We trust our mechanic. He has treated us fairly and like family and he is ASE certified. He knows his stuff. He had done so much to extend the life of other car parts that we knew he was a straight shooter.
The results of his inspection:
Upon his report, I told him to fix it up. Usually, he is really fast in getting things done. I thought we may get a call Wednesday evening but no such luck. It seemed real weird that I didn't hear from him on Thursday. Today when I didn't get a call at all from him, I decided that I better give him a call.
The call went something like this.
Me: Hey hows it going.
Mechanic: Great. I'm just taking your Tahoe out for a test drive.
Me: Glad to hear it. When can I pick it up.
Mechanic: Anytime this afternoon. (pause) I think there is something you should know.
Me: O.K?
Mechanic: Everything is fine with your car. But . . . We had a fire at the business in the far end of the building Wednesday night about 8:30 and the fire department came into the shop and cut holes in the back roll-up doors and and the roof to make sure we didn't have any fire in our section.
Me: Isn't the far end business a pet crematory.
Mechanic: No, It's a human crematory.
When we picked up the Tahoe this afternoon, there was a definite "camp fire smell". We just couldn't tell if it was Douglas Fir or Alder that we could smell.
The next time you ride with us don't be surprised if we introduce you to Doug or Alder. Don't worry though. They are just wafting through.
Now that may sound strange but we are coming up on Halloween and after you hear what happened it may not be so far fetched.
The brakes on the Tahoe had gotten real bad. No chirping or squeaking, just flat out grinding. So Wednesday about Noon, the Tahoe was taken to our mechanic for an inspection.
We trust our mechanic. He has treated us fairly and like family and he is ASE certified. He knows his stuff. He had done so much to extend the life of other car parts that we knew he was a straight shooter.
The results of his inspection:
- Front Brake pads? Gone
- Front rotors? Too thin to turn. Replace
- Back brake pads? Gone
- Back drum rotors? Too thin to turn. Replace
- springs, seals, fluids everything but the master cylinder? Replace all of it.
Upon his report, I told him to fix it up. Usually, he is really fast in getting things done. I thought we may get a call Wednesday evening but no such luck. It seemed real weird that I didn't hear from him on Thursday. Today when I didn't get a call at all from him, I decided that I better give him a call.
The call went something like this.
Me: Hey hows it going.
Mechanic: Great. I'm just taking your Tahoe out for a test drive.
Me: Glad to hear it. When can I pick it up.
Mechanic: Anytime this afternoon. (pause) I think there is something you should know.
Me: O.K?
Mechanic: Everything is fine with your car. But . . . We had a fire at the business in the far end of the building Wednesday night about 8:30 and the fire department came into the shop and cut holes in the back roll-up doors and and the roof to make sure we didn't have any fire in our section.
Me: Isn't the far end business a pet crematory.
Mechanic: No, It's a human crematory.
When we picked up the Tahoe this afternoon, there was a definite "camp fire smell". We just couldn't tell if it was Douglas Fir or Alder that we could smell.
The next time you ride with us don't be surprised if we introduce you to Doug or Alder. Don't worry though. They are just wafting through.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Stairs
Stairs are ubiquitous but unique. Some are strictly functional while others are primarily artistic. Sometimes, stairs are a nuisance. When in a hurry, it isn’t uncommon to see someone jump to the floor, skipping the last stair or two. To a home with a family, stairs can be entertainment for the children and fearsome to the parents as the stairs serve as potential energy inviting all sorts of experiments.
What goes down stairs alone and in pairs and makes that slinkety sound? A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing, everyone knows it’s a slinky.
I was raised in a home with stairs. I played all sorts of games on stairs. I would run up stairs skipping every other one. I would run funny patterns on stairs going up against the wall on the right or jumping from the right side to the left side never stepping in the middle. When playing ball, I found that the stairs were the best teammate ever. They could give you grounder practice if you were playing with a baseball or return a pass when you were playing basketball. My stairs were consistent, always passing the ball back and I didn’t ever need to chase a bad pass. I would practice my basketball passes to the first stair, the second stair, the third stair, all the way up to the top step; except when I messed up and passed to the seventh stair before the sixth stair. Then I would have to start over.
I remember the day a new upright freezer was delivered to the house. The only place where we had room for the freezer was in a remote corner of the basement. Once the freezer was in place, the movers were preparing to remove the box. I didn’t want them to take the box away. I begged for the box to stay, I pleaded for the box to stay. I recruited my sister to join the groveling. Mom relented and with the box fitting snuggly between the walls, the stairs suddenly became a slippery slide and a steep mountain slope to climb.
Stairs have always been slides. My children figured out that slippery nylon sleeping bags increase the speed and enhance the thrill of going down stairs. They slid down the stairs feet first, and head first. They slid solo in the bag and teamed up with each other. Each ride down elicited the giggles of glee and screams of joy with changing pitches of little voices as each step bump was crossed.
Stairs have so much excitement about them with new and unique opportunities to the creative. Or the bored. Boredom was my problem one day. I was seven or eight years old and I don’t remember any of my other seven siblings being in the house to play with me. I was at the bottom of the stairs trying to figure out what to do. I stood on the bottom step and jumped down. Then I climbed to the second step and jumped to the bottom again. An idea struck like a flash of lighting. My mind discovered a new game. Climbing one step at a time, I would jump from each successively higher step to the bottom, until I had jumped from the top step.
To make this new game official, I would have to start over. Back to the first step. Jump. Land.
Second step. Jump. Land.
Third step. Jump. Land. “Oof. That almost hurt. I need something to soften my landing.” I searched the basement and found a mattress cushion from a baby crib. “That will do.” I drug it over to the base of the stairs.
Fourth Step. Jump. Land. “Soft. That’s better. But truthfully this is getting boring. I’ll just go to the top step and jump and be done with this game.”
My father was an architectural engineer. The architect title meant that he could design buildings. The engineer title meant that his designs were more functional and less form. More functional describes the house in which I was raised. The house was a rectangular box. Everything was divided along the centerline and no room crossed the center line. The front of the house had a living room with two bedrooms connected by a hall. The hall had cabinets and drawers for storage which was right in line with the closets of the two bedrooms. Function demands storage.
The back of the house had a dining room, kitchen and master bedroom. Squeezed in between the kitchen and master bedroom were stairs and a master bathroom. The stairs led down to the basement in one direction and out the door to the back yard in the other. The master bathroom had two doors; one by the bedroom and one by the back door. This facilitated the bathroom being shared by all the neighbor kids who came to play in the back yard. Once again, function over form.
Rooms and storage in our house were fit together so tight that I now believe that dad used a shoe horn when he drew up the plans. I didn’t believe that when I was small however. I thought we had a big house. We could fit ten people around our dining room table. Of course the first one in had to go to the far end and couldn't escape once everyone else was seated.
The upstairs had a couple more rooms. Coming off the backside wall of the hall was a second entry to the master bedroom, the hall bathroom and the hall closet. The hall closet was maybe three and a half feet wide and two and a half feet deep. A shelf about six feet high extended to the ceiling for storage and the floor was sloped. The sloped floor could hold shoes because narrow boards running lengthwise had been nailed into the floor so it would catch the shoe heels. The hall closet was my favorite place to hide when playing hide and seek. I would scooch up to the top of the sloping floor and hide behind the coats. You really had to look to find me there.
Perhaps the one flourish in the home design was the redwood paneling that covered the living room walls and served as a veneer around a support beam which the vaulted ceiling rested on, providing an open space between the dining and living room. Actually, all the rooms upstairs had vaulted ceilings, a nice feature for sure, but truthfully the home was just a long rectangular box so the vault went right down the center of the house. Function won out again.
Of course, I really didn’t care about form or function that day. I had a goal. I started climbing to the top of the stairs. Unbeknownst to me a slight problem was arising. Being eight, I was not a very observant tyke. I had failed to notice the pertinent architectural features of the house. As I had mentioned, the stairs had a very tall vaulted ceiling that made the stairway seem very open. At the top of the stairs was a four foot by four foot landing. As I reached the landing, I turned around, placed my toes at the top step’s edge and focused on the cushion at the bottom of the stairs. Swinging my arms back I crouched down and for just a split second I held the mounting energy in my stance; my energy suddenly reversing my arms thrown forward and legs springing I was on my way. It was a long ways to that cushion. I had to clear 11 stairs.
As my feet left that top step, I looked up for the first time. I noticed that the back wall from the hall closet was coming towards me while I was in mid-flight. I surveyed the situation and made a snap judgment which perhaps only an eight year old could appreciate the simplistic beauty and novelty of the choice. With the wall getting closer and closer, I shut my eyes.
I don’t know how it happened but I’ll tell you that I sure am grateful for function. Someplace between Newton’s law of gravity, my falling with style, and the functionality of a sloped floor of a hall closet that precisely matched the sloped ceiling of the last four steps of the stairway, I managed to hit the cushion at the bottom of the stairs without hitting the wall.
I grew in wisdom that day. As I stood up from the cushion, I distinctly remember my first thoughts. “That was stupid. I’ll never do that again” And I haven’t.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the anti-slavery book Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852. Since reading that book last year, I have thought about Uncle Tom and slavery today. I found that the thing that kept Uncle Tom a slave was his loyalty to his master, his fear of the unknown and his unwillingness to remove himself for that which enslaved him.
Of whom are we the slave? What keeps us from reaching our potential. Benjamin Franklin said:
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
Who is our master today? Why are we unwilling to break the bands that enslave us. As those to whom we, as a republic, gave authority to govern try to increase our collective "safety", we will find that we are losing our freedom of self governance and self determination.
Of whom are we the slave? What keeps us from reaching our potential. Benjamin Franklin said:
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
Who is our master today? Why are we unwilling to break the bands that enslave us. As those to whom we, as a republic, gave authority to govern try to increase our collective "safety", we will find that we are losing our freedom of self governance and self determination.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Warning. Nauvoo Posts are About to Start
We will start posting on Friday about our Nauvoo experience. Feel free to follow and comment if you like.
TTFN
-Ron
TTFN
-Ron
Friday, June 25, 2010
Did you guess???
So here's the difference between every Ivy league school and BYU.
Ben has received letters of inquiry from every Ivy league school inviting him to consider attending there.
BYU?? I guess they just aren't interested.
Ben has received letters of inquiry from every Ivy league school inviting him to consider attending there.
BYU?? I guess they just aren't interested.
Monday, June 21, 2010
One of These Things is Not Like the Other
It's official. Today I can ask the question and Friday I'll give you the answer. I will have a prize for the first person to correctly identify what my answer will be Friday. I won't change the answer. I promise.
What is the difference between:
Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Penn, Yale, Harvard
AND
BYU?
What is the difference between:
Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Penn, Yale, Harvard
AND
BYU?
Friday, May 28, 2010
. . . And now you know . . . the rest of the story.
On March 30th I entered what appeared as an innocuous post titled "Whew". Vicki completed her refresher course to get her nursing license back. Feedback showed people as being excited and happy for Vicki but no one asked why she went back. As Hugh Nibley said in "Leaders and Managers, the Fatal Shift." regarding a controversial prayer he had said at a graduation, "Well, some knew the answer already, and as for the rest, we do not question things at 'the BYU'." In the article, Nibley was relieved that he could explain himself and likewise I am too.
Vicki has been trying, for the past four years, to get her RN license activated. This past year she has felt especially impressed to complete this. She has known ever since we were married that someday she wanted to go back to school but never pursued it because of the family situation. This past fall, she received answers to her prayer that now was the time. I usually respond with something like "That's nice. Whatever you want Honey."
Since that time little miracles have occurred. Vicki was called before the Nursing Board in June 2009 to discuss her issue. After she laid out her case as to why her license lapsed, the board told her that they would grant her a temporary license as soon as College of Southern Nevada's (CSN) admitted her into their refresher course. Upon completion of the course they would issue a license without stipulations.
Vicki had applied to CSN in 2008 and they told her they had a four year waiting period. Suddenly, in August 2009, they had a spot open up. After she passed the challenging paper course in early December, she had to wait for a preceptor so that she could work for 120 hours free in some hospital to prove her competence. All the age 30 something nurses were placed quickly and we watched week after week as nothing came up for the "senior" nurses.
In early March Vicki got a call to go to work. She had said before that there was no way she could work a graveyard shift and no matter how unsavory, would be willing to work any Sundays just to get it over. She figured that it would take 15 days to finish. When CSN called, they told her she was assigned to a 12 hour shift. Her preceptor did not work any graveyards and they didn't have any Sundays scheduled and she would be done in 10 days.
In January and February, Vicki started investigating on-line universities. She was very thorough as she looked for a school that provided a masters degree in nursing. The further she looked the more she determined that she wanted a program that would offer specialties in Nursing Education and Leadership and Management. Also, she was adamant that the school be accredited by an appropriate accrediting institution.
Vicki had about 6 schools that were close to what she wanted but bit by bit, each school fell out for one reason or another. It was then that in my mind one of the biggest miracles happened. Although very frugal, Vicki has a knack of walking into a store to buy something and when she finds the perfect item it is always the most expensive. Doesn't matter, shoes, dresses, china, fabric whatever, she always like the priciest. But this time, she chose the best university to meet her needs and it was the most reasonably priced. A two year program at just $9,000 a year. Others ran $14,000 to $18,000 per year.
Now I didn't know how we are going to swing $9k but it's better than $18k. She has continued to get all her transcripts and paper work together and submitted to Walden University. Once everything was in place, they called her last week to congratulate her for her acceptance into Walden University.
And now you know the rest of the story!
Almost.
Back in late February Vicki saw that Walden had a full scholarship that they offered to a person. The scholarship was based on an essay with the topic of How my Walden education has made a difference. Vicki wrote a very nice essay and sent it in. Then she looked at what the past winners had written about. She saw the divorced and abused women who were helped and the women who had overcome cancer and how the education provided an unanticipated opportunity to progress. At that point, we wrote off any chance of the scholarship.
But, you remember that in an earlier paragraph, I said "one of the biggest miracles." I didn't say the biggest miracle. That happened Wednesday when Vicki got a phone call from a Walden administrator congratulating her on being awarded the "Project Working Mom" FULL scholarship.
And now you really know the rest of the story.
Really!
Vicki has been trying, for the past four years, to get her RN license activated. This past year she has felt especially impressed to complete this. She has known ever since we were married that someday she wanted to go back to school but never pursued it because of the family situation. This past fall, she received answers to her prayer that now was the time. I usually respond with something like "That's nice. Whatever you want Honey."
Since that time little miracles have occurred. Vicki was called before the Nursing Board in June 2009 to discuss her issue. After she laid out her case as to why her license lapsed, the board told her that they would grant her a temporary license as soon as College of Southern Nevada's (CSN) admitted her into their refresher course. Upon completion of the course they would issue a license without stipulations.
Vicki had applied to CSN in 2008 and they told her they had a four year waiting period. Suddenly, in August 2009, they had a spot open up. After she passed the challenging paper course in early December, she had to wait for a preceptor so that she could work for 120 hours free in some hospital to prove her competence. All the age 30 something nurses were placed quickly and we watched week after week as nothing came up for the "senior" nurses.
In early March Vicki got a call to go to work. She had said before that there was no way she could work a graveyard shift and no matter how unsavory, would be willing to work any Sundays just to get it over. She figured that it would take 15 days to finish. When CSN called, they told her she was assigned to a 12 hour shift. Her preceptor did not work any graveyards and they didn't have any Sundays scheduled and she would be done in 10 days.
In January and February, Vicki started investigating on-line universities. She was very thorough as she looked for a school that provided a masters degree in nursing. The further she looked the more she determined that she wanted a program that would offer specialties in Nursing Education and Leadership and Management. Also, she was adamant that the school be accredited by an appropriate accrediting institution.
Vicki had about 6 schools that were close to what she wanted but bit by bit, each school fell out for one reason or another. It was then that in my mind one of the biggest miracles happened. Although very frugal, Vicki has a knack of walking into a store to buy something and when she finds the perfect item it is always the most expensive. Doesn't matter, shoes, dresses, china, fabric whatever, she always like the priciest. But this time, she chose the best university to meet her needs and it was the most reasonably priced. A two year program at just $9,000 a year. Others ran $14,000 to $18,000 per year.
Now I didn't know how we are going to swing $9k but it's better than $18k. She has continued to get all her transcripts and paper work together and submitted to Walden University. Once everything was in place, they called her last week to congratulate her for her acceptance into Walden University.
And now you know the rest of the story!
Almost.
Back in late February Vicki saw that Walden had a full scholarship that they offered to a person. The scholarship was based on an essay with the topic of How my Walden education has made a difference. Vicki wrote a very nice essay and sent it in. Then she looked at what the past winners had written about. She saw the divorced and abused women who were helped and the women who had overcome cancer and how the education provided an unanticipated opportunity to progress. At that point, we wrote off any chance of the scholarship.
But, you remember that in an earlier paragraph, I said "one of the biggest miracles." I didn't say the biggest miracle. That happened Wednesday when Vicki got a phone call from a Walden administrator congratulating her on being awarded the "Project Working Mom" FULL scholarship.
And now you really know the rest of the story.
Really!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Nice Friends
Vicki developed a friendship with a scouter during our recent scout-expo experience. As they were talking, she happened to find out that he does repelling trips. Vicki mentioned that Spencer needed to repel 30 feet to fill one of his camping merit badge reqirements and of course our new friend invited us along the next time he went.
This morning we got to his house and he was covered a few things regarding safety and the area to which we were going and then said "So you need to repel 30 feet. 30 feet; 150 feet what's the difference?"
Ben was already a pro from previous experience.
Spencer got to be quite the pro.
And Vicki? What a mom!
I made it down a couple of times myself but camera duty called and I made sure that objective evidence for the merit badge counselor was recorded.
I hope that we can be nice friends like Loren is to us.
Aussie Style. FAIR DINKUM!
TTFN
-Ron
This morning we got to his house and he was covered a few things regarding safety and the area to which we were going and then said "So you need to repel 30 feet. 30 feet; 150 feet what's the difference?"
Ben was already a pro from previous experience.
Spencer got to be quite the pro.
And Vicki? What a mom!
I made it down a couple of times myself but camera duty called and I made sure that objective evidence for the merit badge counselor was recorded.
I hope that we can be nice friends like Loren is to us.
Aussie Style. FAIR DINKUM!
TTFN
-Ron
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Gehry's Revenge
Frank Gehry said he would NEVER design a building to be built in Las Vegas. Well as the old saying goes, never say never.
Visitors walking into the Lou Ruvo Cleveland Clinic from the parking lot are greeted by this inviting bench made from rock, but driving up from the opposite corner of the property Da da duhm....
GEHRY's Revenge
Now living in LasVegas, there is a whole new world of lingo one must learn.
LasVegas doesn't have gambling, it has gaming.
LasVegas doesn't have alcohol it has spirits.
The bank role behind this building is a man who has spirit, has spirits, sells spirits and makes a lot of money from spirits. The reason behind this building was that his father passed away from the affects of Alzheimer's. Larry Ruvo had a dream to find a cure to the disease by attracting a prestigious national medical research facility to study neurocognitive disorders a group to Las Vegas. Ruvo arranged a meeting with Frank Gehry. Gehry had previously vowed to never design a building for LasVegas because Las Vegas has a ". . . cacophony of high-rise casinos and condos forming the spine of Sin City's sprawl." but Ruvo pressed on because of his dream
Ruvo was able to get Gehry to renounce his vow "Vegas Vow" because Gehry's pet cause of curing Huntington's disease fell under the umbrella of the clinic. Working with Gehry's name he was able to attract the Cleveland Clinic.
Ruvo and Gehry came up with the concept of having a building with two distinct parts. Part one is the fund raising wing and part two is the clinic. The fund raising wing is why Ruvo sought out Gehry. Ruvo a distributor of "spirits" had an aha moment when he was thinking about the building he wanted to have. It is said that one day he was thinking of his building when he realized that although he had over 100 different types of Vodka in his warehouse, four of them make up 90% of his sales. Now I am told that all Vodka tastes a like so the only difference is the packaging. Ruvo wanted a package that would attract fund raising dollars. The main eye catching portion of the design is a 9000 square foot open structure where activities can be scheduled. The room rents for $5,000 per night on weekdays and $10,000 per night on the weekends.
The clinic portion of the building has no lobby's for waiting rooms. People as they come in are either escorted up to the medical imaging section or upstairs straight to one of 27 examining rooms. Each examination room is different. All design is based on research done on patients who are in varying stages of the disease with the primary goal of making them as comfortable as possible. Ruvo's whole purpose is to "keep memory alive".
So there you have it. Gehry's revenge is not the building in Las Vegas but the means to find a cure against neurocognitive disorders.
P.S. I chose not to mention the irony of alcohol use to brain function because the potential affects of Alzheimer's is all to real to me. And, I am grateful for what this may mean to my family.
Visitors walking into the Lou Ruvo Cleveland Clinic from the parking lot are greeted by this inviting bench made from rock, but driving up from the opposite corner of the property Da da duhm....
GEHRY's Revenge
Now living in LasVegas, there is a whole new world of lingo one must learn.
LasVegas doesn't have gambling, it has gaming.
LasVegas doesn't have alcohol it has spirits.
The bank role behind this building is a man who has spirit, has spirits, sells spirits and makes a lot of money from spirits. The reason behind this building was that his father passed away from the affects of Alzheimer's. Larry Ruvo had a dream to find a cure to the disease by attracting a prestigious national medical research facility to study neurocognitive disorders a group to Las Vegas. Ruvo arranged a meeting with Frank Gehry. Gehry had previously vowed to never design a building for LasVegas because Las Vegas has a ". . . cacophony of high-rise casinos and condos forming the spine of Sin City's sprawl." but Ruvo pressed on because of his dream
Ruvo was able to get Gehry to renounce his vow "Vegas Vow" because Gehry's pet cause of curing Huntington's disease fell under the umbrella of the clinic. Working with Gehry's name he was able to attract the Cleveland Clinic.
Ruvo and Gehry came up with the concept of having a building with two distinct parts. Part one is the fund raising wing and part two is the clinic. The fund raising wing is why Ruvo sought out Gehry. Ruvo a distributor of "spirits" had an aha moment when he was thinking about the building he wanted to have. It is said that one day he was thinking of his building when he realized that although he had over 100 different types of Vodka in his warehouse, four of them make up 90% of his sales. Now I am told that all Vodka tastes a like so the only difference is the packaging. Ruvo wanted a package that would attract fund raising dollars. The main eye catching portion of the design is a 9000 square foot open structure where activities can be scheduled. The room rents for $5,000 per night on weekdays and $10,000 per night on the weekends.
The clinic portion of the building has no lobby's for waiting rooms. People as they come in are either escorted up to the medical imaging section or upstairs straight to one of 27 examining rooms. Each examination room is different. All design is based on research done on patients who are in varying stages of the disease with the primary goal of making them as comfortable as possible. Ruvo's whole purpose is to "keep memory alive".
So there you have it. Gehry's revenge is not the building in Las Vegas but the means to find a cure against neurocognitive disorders.
P.S. I chose not to mention the irony of alcohol use to brain function because the potential affects of Alzheimer's is all to real to me. And, I am grateful for what this may mean to my family.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
FHE proves viability of Evolution
Vicki made some cookies last night for the family home evening treat while Ben was preparing his lesson. For once, Vicki didn't make these cookies from scratch. She used a Krusteaz chocolate chunk cookie mix.
Ben then headed into the kitchen and, without a recipe, made chocolate chip cookies from scratch.
We sang, we prayed, and we had a scripture. It was time for the lesson.
"Here are two different cookies. Mom made cookies from a mix that had exact measurements. The cookies I made without a recipe. Take a bite of each cookie and tell me what you think."
Honestly, Ben's cookies were superior. They looked more appetizing, had a much better texture, and the flavor was excellent (including my favorite parts of the bitterness of the chocolate and the hint of baking soda.).
From there, it was hard to make the point that the world was put together with a plan of exacting steps. On this night, the haphazard boom beat the intelligent design.
PS. Before I start getting comments, Ben has been making cookies since he was eight. He even took a cooking class as a freshman in high school. He pretty much has a chocolate chip cookie recipe memorized.
Ben then headed into the kitchen and, without a recipe, made chocolate chip cookies from scratch.
We sang, we prayed, and we had a scripture. It was time for the lesson.
"Here are two different cookies. Mom made cookies from a mix that had exact measurements. The cookies I made without a recipe. Take a bite of each cookie and tell me what you think."
Honestly, Ben's cookies were superior. They looked more appetizing, had a much better texture, and the flavor was excellent (including my favorite parts of the bitterness of the chocolate and the hint of baking soda.).
From there, it was hard to make the point that the world was put together with a plan of exacting steps. On this night, the haphazard boom beat the intelligent design.
PS. Before I start getting comments, Ben has been making cookies since he was eight. He even took a cooking class as a freshman in high school. He pretty much has a chocolate chip cookie recipe memorized.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Whew!
Last night we celebrated. We whooped. We hollered. And balloons rained down.
Vicki had just completed her tenth 13 hour day marking the end of the clinical portion of Nevada's requirements for re-licensing. Soon she will have her license to be a practicing RN in the state of Nevada. Then she can go back to school to work on a master's degree and be the boy scout camp nurse.
That was a long five years.
Vicki had just completed her tenth 13 hour day marking the end of the clinical portion of Nevada's requirements for re-licensing. Soon she will have her license to be a practicing RN in the state of Nevada. Then she can go back to school to work on a master's degree and be the boy scout camp nurse.
That was a long five years.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Spring Break
Ben and Spencer had the great idea to go camping the first night of spring break. Now this isn't the official boy scouts camping, its more like "Dad" camping. They loaded the 4" thick foam cushions from the futon into the back of the Tahoe and Ben drove them up to the mountains.
I was sitting in the family room the next morning when they came in about 8:30.
A reliable source stated that when they got ready to go to bed, they discovered that Spencer forgot his sleeping bag. Ben unzipped his bag and laid it over them like a blanket. That was nice but, Spencer with about 0.2% body fat still got cold. He would get as close as he could to a heat source (Ben) and his heat source would push him away; all night long. When they got up and saw how cold it was in the morning, they climbed over the front seat, started the car up and headed home.
Like all true "Disciple of Dads" campers, they stopped at McDonald's to get a breakfast of soft serve ice cream cones.
Yep! The apple doesn't fall to far from the tree.
I was sitting in the family room the next morning when they came in about 8:30.
A reliable source stated that when they got ready to go to bed, they discovered that Spencer forgot his sleeping bag. Ben unzipped his bag and laid it over them like a blanket. That was nice but, Spencer with about 0.2% body fat still got cold. He would get as close as he could to a heat source (Ben) and his heat source would push him away; all night long. When they got up and saw how cold it was in the morning, they climbed over the front seat, started the car up and headed home.
Like all true "Disciple of Dads" campers, they stopped at McDonald's to get a breakfast of soft serve ice cream cones.
Yep! The apple doesn't fall to far from the tree.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Winter time
When all the world is brown
Do you swim in a pool
and scream like a fool
While your temperature drops to 5?
Is that what you do?
Not I.
But Ben did, today. You have to admire his courage.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Another Angel Got His Wings
Ben had an appointment at 10:30 this morning to take his driver's test. We showed up at 10 to start the paper work portion. After 60 minutes of testing, verifying, talking, picture taking and paying; he had his license. That's right the process took 60 minutes.
That would have been great I just didn't mention that we waited another 4 hours in between all the testing, verifying, talking, picture taking, and paying.
Ben used the time to finish up some homework. I read about the pilgrims. Did you know their trip took them 5-1/2 months. I figure it took them 3-1/2 months just to get the Mayflower licensed at the DMV.
I just can't wait for the government to get their hands on health care. We'll have a bunch more angels.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Get a Life
It wasn't as embarrassing as I thought it would be. Some people may not have even noticed, but I got to play Mom for a weekend including all the good and bad that comes with that.
Vicki went up to Provo with a friend from Kingman to celebrate her daughter's birthday. Lucky for Vicki, Katherine was the roommate so Vicki and Katherine got to spend time together.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we had a court of honor. This wasn't just any court of honor, it was the court of honor when Spencer received his Life rank advancement. And I got the mother's pin. ;-)
Vicki went up to Provo with a friend from Kingman to celebrate her daughter's birthday. Lucky for Vicki, Katherine was the roommate so Vicki and Katherine got to spend time together.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we had a court of honor. This wasn't just any court of honor, it was the court of honor when Spencer received his Life rank advancement. And I got the mother's pin. ;-)
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Yikes.
13 years ago today February 6th, Spencer was born.
Do you know what that means?!? For the next 52 days, Vicki and I are the parents of 3 teenagers. Come on March 30th. Then we'll be back down to two.
Actually, our children have their moments but we have been blessed with good hearted children who listen to their mother. (And sometimes they listen to Dad as well.)
Pay Day
January 16th, Ben performed in his recital. This past year, he has been taking voice lessons and loving his weekly lesson. I believe that this day was a pay day for Mom and Dad.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Pleasant Dreams
About a week ago, Vicki asked me one morning if I had had a good night's sleep. Vicki never asks me that question so, I started to think why would she ask that. Then it dawned on me.
The previous night, I had a dream that was so funny that I started laughing, out loud. I laughed so hard that it took me to that semi-conscious state where you know your awake but you hope your asleep. I kept on laughing but tried to stifle the laugh so much so that I thought to myself, it sounds like I'm crying. I really didn't care and kept on laughing until I settled down and got back into a deep sleep.
The worst part of the experience is that I not only forgot about laughing, I forgot what was so funny as to make me start laughing in the first place.
The previous night, I had a dream that was so funny that I started laughing, out loud. I laughed so hard that it took me to that semi-conscious state where you know your awake but you hope your asleep. I kept on laughing but tried to stifle the laugh so much so that I thought to myself, it sounds like I'm crying. I really didn't care and kept on laughing until I settled down and got back into a deep sleep.
The worst part of the experience is that I not only forgot about laughing, I forgot what was so funny as to make me start laughing in the first place.
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