A Daily Slice of Awesome

I couldn't let the poor guy go around without at least some cover. Every time he bends over though, it's a little embarrassing for everyone, but we appreciate him for the good little Bum-kin he is. "Hey, could you get that, thanks a-lot."

Today's slice of awesome is brought to you at the expense of a poor mother struggling to get her kid into the car. Church had just ended and we were getting our own children into the car. We believe in bribes after church for good behavior so usually the kids are excited to get home to their treats. I watched a mom manhandle her two-year-old into the backseat, only to have him stiffen. Imagine this, he's going in horizontal, legs first, and he stiffens so she can't fold him into the seat. He wriggles and writhes like a stricken earthworm so she is forced to bring him out to get a better grip. Now, I don't know why, but I think it's instinctual for children to suddenly go limp when they sense your hold on them may have lessened. He turned into little boy jelly and slumped to the parking lot. I think his mother thought the fact the pavement was super wet would shame him for his poor behavior. It didn't. He knelt on the wet pavement, yelling in frustration, and t...

I love Eagle Scout projects. I like them for a lot of reasons, but primarily because it's hilarious watching a 16-year old try and organize a project. It's a good experience for him, but after a while, things need to get done so the dad kind of takes over. We built a dock for a small pond out at a campground. It was pretty well organized except we kept running out of battery power for the drills. It was a really nice day--quite different than when I did my Eagle Scout project, so many years ago, when it was pouring down rain the whole time. I think rain builds character. In other awesomeness, my daughter has a cold sore just above her lip that she kept worrying over, and so it started to bleed this evening. She needed a band-aid. So now, she has a mustache, and looks kind of like Charlie Chaplin. She didn't think it was funny but we did.

So, I'm not much of a Halloween fan. I recollect at about the age of twelve finding an old sweater that had a red maple leaf on it and pretending I was a hockey player...in jeans...and a sweatshirt with no real connection to hockey other than I think it said Canada on it, and Canadians like hockey--right? Kind of sad really. It's gone downhill from there. Tonight we had the ward harvest party, which was more a chance for a bunch of kids to dress up and rotate between the cars in the parking lot where we can be pretty sure there aren't razor blades and weirdos ready to pounce. I'm in favor of good, safe activities. I think about the fourth time a kid comes round to my car though I'm a little done. *Reminds himself this is supposed to be a positive blog* The awesome thing tonight was that my daughter won the costume contest, along with a number of other kids. She was cotton candy. I have to say, it was a pretty cool costume. My wife took fuzz, sort of like the s...

The day began innocently enough. The good employees of the facility plant trees at a local park each year as part of our Earth Day celebration. Yes, we do it later in the year because Earth Day is actually on a horrible day, and all the trees we used to plant then died during the Summer. If we do it now, they have a better survival rate. We dispensed with tree planting in short order. Our Facility Manager, who has been with the plant now for thirty-one years and is undoubtedly one of the finest operators in the business, decided we should all go to breakfast. Totally cool. In fact, we went to a fantastic place and had a really good breakfast. The eggs were perfect--no crinklies on the edges. The potatoes were seasoned really well and they make their own sourdough. Expecting to head back to the plant for a normal day of work, the Facility Manager instead headed for the hills and took us to Silver Falls for a couple-hour tour of some of the prettiest scenery I've seen in a lo...

I'm sure perfect sunsets can come in a lot of different hues, shapes, and places. They probably are different to different people. I saw one tonight though heading out of Salem towards Silverton. You get out of the city (not that Salem is much of a city) and into rolling farmland as you head towards the cascade foothills. Out in the distance, snow-capped Mt. Hood is illuminated in oranges and purples as the sun sets behind the opposite Coast Range. It was pretty cool. As it got a little darker, a perfect Cheshire-cat crescent moon was prominent in the sky. I had to do the same drive twice so the second time the sunset had become full night and when you're out in the middle of nowhere the stars are pretty cool. Those moments when you can just drive through fields of gold are amazing. I'll bet there are a lot of other places that are specially illuminated by a good sunset. The Oregon countryside is especially awesome though. I wish I had snapped a photo but I was driving ...

I work in a fairly interesting industry. You either know what I do and have a fairly polarized opinion of it, or you have no clue what we do. Let me explain. I work for an Energy from Waste company. We convert waste into energy, deal with the resulting pollutants from the combustion process, and manage the ash by-product in a responsible manner. A lot of people seem to have it locked in their minds that we are evil, downright evil. I respect people's opinions. Living in a country where it's alright to have, and express vehemently, one's opinion is a great freedom. I won't get political. I do feel though that when people sit down and honestly take a look at what we do, nine times out of ten, the question they have is "why aren't we doing more?" I feel pretty good about that. Here's the daily slice of awesome though. We hosted a Representative from the California Legislature today. I'm not sure he knew much about Energy from Waste but he was in...

Let me tell you about Daniel. He is a new member of our congregation, and has faced a lot of challenges in his life. Among other things, he is currently homeless, living in a tent by the highway. He's also one of the coolest guys I've met. Despite this and other challenges he has, he has one of the most positive attitudes I've ever encountered. In my church responsibilities I have to try and help with the temporal needs of those in my congregation. Something awesome happened. We've been trying to find a permanent housing situation for Daniel, and a lot of people put in a lot of effort. One amazing sister in our ward specializes in helping people with this sort of thing, and we thought had a place for Daniel to land with a refugee family from Somalia. Then their lease ran out and he couldn't get past a background check to be put on the lease renewal. He was back out on the street just as the weather was turning. Then I had a good friend in my ward call me one nig...

I've had the opportunity to move a lot of people in and out of their homes. I actually really enjoy moving furniture, minus pianos and washers. Dryers are pretty light, they're alright. I've been involved in many different kinds of moves--you know, the ones where someone isn't ready and all their stuff isn't packed yet, and then the really good ones where everything is in similarly-sized boxes. I don't get a lot of exercise so I suppose that's one reason I like moving. I get to feel manly and sweat a little. I like it when a group of people get together and in a quick fit of industriousness you fill up or unload a big truck of stuff. Like today, we got my in-law's stuff moved into their new home. Another family and us got all the things unloaded with the objective being to fit it all in a garage bay. This brings me to what I think is awesome about moving: the Tetris aspect of it. Maximizing space is awesome. There is a moment when you find the perfec...

As if some switch has been flipped, it has begun to rain in Oregon again. We had a dry summer with record-breaking wildfires all over the state--including one started by some punk teenagers that roasted some of my favorite places to hike, thank you very much. Yesterday in particular, we had torrential downpours that turned the streets into makeshift streams. The skies were dark and I knew I was back home where I belonged. I am a Northwesterner. One thought that occurred to me as I was staring out at a deluge of precipitation was how much weight the water represented. If you added up all the rain from that one downpour, why, the weight must be terrific! How does a cloud carry it all? How do planes fly through them? It's pretty cool when you think about it. Thank goodness for umbrellas, houses, covered areas so kids can run jog-a-thons, and cars so we can pick up mom and kids as they walk home from school in the rain. There are few things better than waking up in the morning an...

I'm sure it's common these days, but let us dwell for a moment on the following: I was on the phone--not a landline--but a cell phone for a teleconference between at least thirty to forty people in locations from New Jersey to Hawaii. I had a laptop hooked into my house WiFi, through a VPN that connects to my company's headquarters. I can access the files of all of my facilities, which are in Washington, Oregon, and Michigan. That's cool. What's cooler is I could do it in the comfort of my home, sitting in a pair of sweatpants. Now, I don't wear sweatpants often, but when I do, I prefer them when I'm sick. Technology enabled me to sit at home, spew virus all over the house, and still get everything done that I needed to. Even ten years ago, that would be virtually impossible. Twenty years ago cell phones were the size of shoeboxes and modems were dial-up. The internet was barely alive, but growing fast. It's all pretty cool. The entire world can view...

So, I swear I'm not one of those people who forgets to show up to meetings. Particularly meetings with ecclesiastical leaders who had to move the meeting at least three times to accommodate everyone's schedules. I think Google Calendars conspired against me because it wasn't on my calendar, and I didn't have it in the back of my mind. I blame that on the fact my mind was full of snot from a recent cold. While they may not have wanted my presence at their meeting due to the aforementioned virus, I found out about an hour too late I hadn't even notified someone I wouldn't be there. Whoops. Has it happened to you? It happened to me. Hopefully I can borrow a proverbial penny from the little dish at the gas station and buy some goodwill that I hope everyone extends to those who just forget to do something, once in a while. Too many pennies borrowed and people start looking at us funny, but every now and again, I think we can cut ourselves some slack and assume li...

I have a responsibility in my local church congregation to lead a group of men. Ours is a mission of service, to each other and to our community. As a leader, I periodically get to sit down and have check-in interviews with them. My daily slice of awesome today has been the opportunity to have a short chat with two fine friends who love the Lord, love their families, and their communities in which they work and serve. It's an honor to be a small part of their lives and watch their efforts. Being a leader isn't always fun--most of the time it really isn't, but there are things you get to see and participate in that are always unique. Tonight has been a highlight, and I salute those who serve without question, price, or recognition. There is a lot of misfortune in the world, and those who try and help lift a burden are the best of us. Sometimes the best are those just willing to smile when it's raining. So, have a daily slice of awesome and smile at someone else.

Our mission today was simple. We were in search of pumpkins. I'm not sure when I started out the day that I would find a pumpkin with such character. In fact, it started out in the phlebotomist's office getting blood drawn. Bummer. So, when I found a pumpkin with such an amusing, but pleasing posterior, it made the day so much more of a success. I present the true Country Bum-kin. I'll spend the next week or so trying to figure out the best way to really display such a unique find. I almost can't bring myself to carve a face when the real action is in the back. I may just find some sort of underwear and put it on. Maybe I'll leave it bare. That'll show those annoying teenage trick-or-treaters who come to my house. My pumpkin moons you. I'm not sure I could take myself seriously afterwards, but I've considered carving "PINK" on it like I see on so many sweatpants. Maybe it should be "ORANGE." No matter what though, it's a s...

I suffer from depression. It comes and goes but when it comes, man, it really comes, and when it goes, there's a little piece of me that worries about the next time. I know lots of people suffer from the same thing, and I'm pretty sure there isn't much I can do about it. For me though, I've decided that the one thing I can  do is try and look for at least one positive, humorous, or noteworthy thing each day, and keep a little running journal about it. That's what this blog is. I decided a blog was something interesting for me to try. I'm an aspiring author, and I like storytelling. I like imagining I have an audience, and the best part about an imaginary audience is I can pretend you like anything I write. If you don't, well, there are plenty of places on the internet you can go, and I'll ask kindly that you don't bother replying to a post here. If something I write does spark something positive in you and you'd like to share, by all means, s...