Jeff Blogs

We had multiple reasons for going to Idaho on vacation. We had to, it would take multiple reasons to drag me back in time to be here. It is not that I don’t like Idaho, it is just that my lifestyle does not meld well with that of this state. I tend to be someone who is always connected and interested in new and adventurous activities. Unless these adventures take place in the great outdoors, Idaho is definitely not going to be confused with state-of-the-art. So what were the reasons for us being here? Well our daughter Mallorie is going to school at Brigham Young University – Idaho so we did want to make she was surviving (especially since this week is finals week for her). My parents are celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary this week as well so we wanted to be her to wish them well. My mother has been going through chemo-therapy so I also wanted to see her and make sure everything was progressing well (they are). Finally, my grandmother recently celebrated her 90th birthday and I wanted to see her.

(continue reading…)

On our trip up to Idaho we spent a couple of days in Utah with our daughter Ashley and her husband. While there Ashley sent me over to see the new Timpanogos Harley Davidson dealership. Before that time Harley-Davidson dealers and motorcycles were not even at the forefront of my mind. Since then though all I can think about is my Softail Night Train. Well that and how to stay out of trouble with the Shuttle small form factor computer I just built. While visiting my parents we happened to drive past Grand Teton Harley-Davidson in Idaho Falls. On the way back to Trina’s mother’s house I decided to stop.

(continue reading…)

It is as though the Shuttle saga is taking on a life of its own. It was bad enough that I had somehow snuck in a brand new computer but this hole I am digging just seems to be getting deeper and deeper. I keep thinking that if I can shovel dirt from one side of the hole to the other than I can get closer to the top and finally get out of this mess but that doesn’t seem to be working. It started when I decided to bring it on vacation. I probably could have gotten away with that but I forgot the monitor and had to buy a new one. Trying to explain why I needed a new 22″ LCD monitor while we were on vacation took a serious amount of creative thinking and tap dancing. Unfortunately, that was not quite the end to my needs.
(continue reading…)

My parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary is this upcoming Friday. It is hard to believe that they have been married half a century. This is obviously a big deal and I have been wracking my brain trying to think of an appropriate gift to commemorate such an occasion. I had drawn a complete blank. At one point I considered going through their photo album and select important photos to commemorate their life together and having Trina make a photo quilt for them. When I suggested this Trina was very excited but when I talked to my parents to ask for their help in deciding which pictures to use I was met with apathy. I decided that perhaps something else may be better and I decided to perhaps go a different direction. The question was, what could I do especially given the short time frame I had before the actual event.

(continue reading…)

Today is Saturday July 12 and that can mean only one thing, it is the Hallmark Holiday Ornament Premiere. Does the Hallmark Corporation have any idea how strange that sounds? Here we are in the middle of summer. The backyard grill still has the remnants from the Independence Day BBQ and we’re still trying to decide if we can get away with one more night of setting off fireworks before the cops come over and confiscate our remaining bottle rockets. In the midst of all that we are supposed to get in the mood to select ornaments for a Christmas Tree that will remain stored in the garage for another 5 months. I was ballistic when I went in Wal-Mart the other day and saw them starting to prepare aisles for Halloween costumes now I am being asked to decide what decorations I want to see on my tree. That just seems really messed up. I’d love to be able to blow off the premiere but I’ve been down that path before and it is not good. The saddest part is that I have no one to blame for this but myself.

(continue reading…)