Of Bouncing Back, Fireworks, Old-Timey Wringery Washing Machines, Andy Bibo, and West Side Story

Hidily-ho. Alyssa is at work and I am bored-a-rooney at the moment, hence my blogging. Let's see, stuff going on as of late... Yesterday Alyssa and I "bounced back" to Lagoon and had a loverly time. We even went on the Jet Star, which wasn't as bad as I remember but still hurt my arm like a banshee. No, the Butt Guy wasn't there this time, which is good because otherwise I might have "accidentally" kicked him in the region from which he gets his name. Just kidding! I think! We went on pretty much all the other Benworthy rides as well, including Rattlesnake Rapids twice (the above photo is me at the end of the ride), and also went to Lagoon A Beach (I know, ridiculous spelling, but it's probably so they don't get sued by the REAL Laguna Beach). That was interesting because the swimsuit Alyssa had selected for me was about two sizes too big, meaning I couldn't wear it or we would be having neverending reoccurrences of the Lake Powell Youth Trip Nightmare from back in 1995. (Shudder.) Fortunately a kindly park operator (they DO exist!) lent me a safety pin and disaster was averted.

Last Saturday me, Alyssa, Laura, and Trey went to the fireworks for Taylorsville Days (Dayzz?). They were pretty good, but Trey zoned out pretty fast. Looks like he's on the road to Short Attention Spanville, just like Uncle Ben of old. That day was also Alyssa's birthday. We didn't officially celebrate until the next day because she had to work, but she did go wild and crazy that night and make pizza with the new baking stone I got for her. It was scrum-licious. Sunday we had her birthday dinner, then several of us drove down to Carolyn's deceased mother-in-law's house, which Alyssa and I might end up renting if her parents don't get the condo-house they put in an offer on. (STILL haven't heard a dang thing back from those scoundrels.) It's as "old ladyish" as you can get and even has one of those old-time "wringery" washing machines in the basement (along with a bottle of lamp oil), not to mention a laundry chute. It's also pretty tiny. But the property it sits on is pretty good size, and the garden area is stinking ginormous. You could probably just about call it a "plantation." So I'm kind of torn there.

a

Sometime during the week we went to Costco for some reason, and guess who was working in the electronics department? Good old Andy Bibo! My "mission father." I didn't get to talk to him for very long, but he's planning to go to optometry school. I told him he'll be an expert since he wears glasses. Man, I am such a riot. Anyway, it was good seeing him again after 9 years.

Last night, in celebration of Independence Day, we watched (get ready!) West Side Story. I'm not quite sure why we decided on that. But it does have that song about America in it. Alyssa and I messed with sparklers afterwards, but they were kind of on the duddy side.

Well, that's about everything for now. Cheerio, chaps.

Of Crooked Real Estate Agents, Marjorie Scardino, and the Infamous Butt Guy of Lagoon

Guten morgen. It's Saturday morning. Not much going on at the moment--Alyssa's at work and I'm waiting for Sheridan and Beth to get here so we can drive to Idaho Falls and visit Gramps. Things are good; we're both enjoying our work and life in general. No word back on the house that Julie put in an offer on; apparently the real estate agent was "a little crooked" and told another potential buyer what our offer was, and they put in a higher offer. I swear the real estate world is turning into Ebay.

Tuesday my office had a visit from Marjorie Scardino, CEO of Pearson and, according to Forbes for 2007, the 17th most powerful woman in the world. Yeah, she's ahead of Oprah AND Hillary Clinton AND Queen Elizabeth the Whatevereth of England. Ay caramba! No, I didn't actually get to meet her, but she DID pass by my office a few times. Good thing management made us clean our desks before she arrived, because mine was a pigsty, and if she had seen it like that, I might actually be LIVING in a pigsty right now. No, kidding aside, I'm sure Marjorie is just loads of sweetness and fun. Ahem...

Yesterday we went to Lagoon because Overstock had some kind of company party thingermabobber and Shawn had a bunch of extra tickets. The trip for Alyssa and I didn't start out that great; she and Laura and Becca stood in line at the Jet Star for about an hour, and when they got to the front of the line they realized you can't have single riders. Yeah, it's blatant discrimination against groups with odd numbers. Anyway, Alyssa wouldn't have been able to ride, so Laura and Becca convinced me to go through the gate to join Alyssa so she could ride. (I hadn't planned to go at all because I hate the Jet Star.) Long story short, just as we were about to get on the roller coaster, the operator guy--who should take some satisfaction in knowing that he'll probably be a roller coaster operator for the rest of his life--kicked us out for "line-jumping," notwithstanding the fact that Alyssa had been in line for an hour and there were no signs saying you couldn't ride alone until the very front of the line, so none of us would have had any way of knowing anyway. I wasn't too put out, since, as I mentioned, I'm not a Jet Star fan, but I felt pretty bad that Alyssa didn't get to go. Things eventually got better though; we went on some crazy big roller coasters that could kick the Jet Star's butt any day of the week. (You say roller coasters don't have butts? The Jet Star does. That ride operator guy. Zing! I hope he reads this.) Alyssa and I also bought a hamburger hat as a souvenir of our trip and also of what we ate for lunch that day. (See the above photo for a really hot visual aid.) Also, by astonishing coincidence, I saw two different people from my work, both of whom are related or married to people who work for Overstock, and also Sunny Beck, whom I went to school with, but even though I was about five feet away from him and yelling his name and waving my arms and he was staring right in my direction, he didn't see me. It was weird.

Well, that be it for now. Toodles!