Of Healthwise, Treybirth, General Conference Bingo, Benmom Visit, and Sweet Lil Birdies

Hidey-ho. It's been a while since I've written anything, but that's not to say nothing interesting has happened during that time. I got a new job a few weeks ago, writing anything and everything for the Department of Engineering at BSU. Kind of funny how I just can't seem to get a technical writing job in a field that actually interests me. First there was the Facilities Department at USU, where I wrote about janitorial work. Then, at Motive Power, I wrote training manuals for building locomotive engines. And now, here I am writing about components of semiconductors. I thought I had the Healthwise internship in the bag, but apparently I was "too nervous." I don't know, I never actually talked to the lady. She called on the cell phone while I was working at the Cat Pheromone Factory, but for some reason I never heard it ring, so she just left a message saying I was out of the running. Maybe that was the real reason I didn't get the job. Maybe it's just as well. I don't know if I want to work for a company whose number one perk is letting employees bring their dogs to work.

We got back from Salt Lake two days ago, where we attended Alyssa's mission reunion, visited Laura in the hospital (she had her baby), and watched General Conference, by which I really mean we kind of watched it but were all mostly concentrating on our General Conference Bingo cards. But some of the talks really hit home, especially the one about procrastination by that Donald guy (Hallstrom?) in the Priesthood Session. I think that talk was pretty much written for yours truly.

My mom came up here for my birthday a few weeks ago. It was ever so loverly. We went out to eat at Aladdin (the Egyptian restaurant near BSU) and shopped til we dropped. Normally I wouldn't be into shopping, except that most of this shopping was for my birthday, which makes it okay. I ended up getting a watch and a new digital camera. (I think the old one may have been done in by wearing it while I was riding that four-wheeler back in July.) I spent several hours last night trying to figure out how to transfer photos from the camera to the computer. I finally realized I can do it on my laptop, but not my desktop computer. Pretty weird, eh? But at least now I can upload all of the photos I took over the summer using the old camera, including the one at the top of this post. Did I ever mention the house finches that built a nest near our front door? They were really cool. After the baby finches were a few weeks old, they would climb onto the edge of the nest and just sit there and stare out for ten to fifteen minutes. Finally, off they would go on their first flight, to join their parents in the branches overhead. They knew exactly what to do the very first time. Guess that shows the value of preparation, huh?