A Photo Essay: Cape Cod Sunrise

This morning I left the house at 6am.  Yes, I did it for fun.  I find that when I'm on vacation, it's nice every once in a while to go watch the sunrise.  Then to find a few geocaches.  I'm compulsive like that.

This week for Thanksgiving we went to Cape Cod to visit GG and Great Papa.  It was our first trip that direction for Turkey day, and we made a great time of it!  They are so wonderful.  After having three days of Turkey Dinner, I think I'll have to reduce my portion size next week... especially since after each meal I enjoyed a "sampler platter" with a sliver of three or four pies.  For the week: apple, blueberry, coconut cream, pecan, and pumpkin.

Anyway, here's a selection of pictures that I took this morning on our walk down to Cockle Cove and Forest Beach.  Later, we hit the bicycle path to go find some additional geocaches.

Forest Beach, Chatham, MA.  Sunrise at 6:42 a.m.

The air was fresh, the sky was clear enough to get some color.

Brother-in-law Sean came with me for the morning jaunt.

Chatham-style vandalism: Let's paint scenery on the "Stay off the seagrass signage."

Shells washed ashore en masse on this beach.

Our hike down the rail trail was equally relaxing.  Sean found his favorite pillow.

Down on the Cape, it's intriguing to see more moss up in the trees than on the ground.

Yes, that's me.  Approaching the Tree Cemetery.

Green Sheet Friday.

Black Friday?  Perhaps.  But forevermore, in my mind, this is Green Sheet Friday!
Ten Years ago today, on the day after Thanksgiving, Jennifer and I started colluding about how to prepare for a pending engagement and ultimately marriage.  We mutually decided that it was the path that our lives were destined to take, so ever-logically, we started drafting the factors that need to be under consideration to help make it happen.

We pulled out a green sheet of paper and began brainstorming.  Through the years, we've talked about "the green sheet", though I don't know that we've known where it was.  Recently, I stumbled upon it again.

As we look through it, it's interesting to see that our biggest concerns were finances and timing.  We trusted that everything else would take care of itself.  After 10 years, I can attest that we made it through the engagement and early marriage years successfully; finances have worked out and we've never had any regrets on the timing. 

On the back, we made "rules of engagement."  These flowed down from two courses I think.  First, we had a great bishop who counseled single adults to stay "out of the box."  The box was pretty much any private place where a couple was confined away from others.  So we had a few rules about being inclusive.  We had rules about respecting personal space and making the most of our time together.  Together, we felt the rules would put us in a place where we could have a respectful engagement that would keep us out of the box.  Since they include some cultural references that you might not get, and I wouldn't want to embarrass Jen, I've left of the actual images of the green sheet..

For the fun of it, we wrote down the responses of our friends as we told them, as follows, for those who can't read my script:

Jen and Joe (interested party): I just want you!

Steve (my roommate): Well good, Joe.  [eyes roll]

Joe's parents: I'm so happy for you.

Ben and family (apartment-mate): Well, it is tradition to ask permission.

Jen's parents: Oh you are?

Isaac (longtime friend): You're kidding, right?

Amy (Jen's best friend/coworker): ---Awww!

Jared (Joe's best friend):  I can't believe you.  I'll still have you for the next semester.

Shannon and Chris (engaged roommate):  Hahahah! Congratulations!

Matt Duke (the ward bachelor): Oh reaaaaally?

Jenn Alder (Jen's best friend/roommate): Ahhhhh!

Erin Steck (Jen's apartment-mate): --No. Way.

So that is the story of the Green Sheet.  The evidence is clear that everything Jen and Joe were bound to do would be thoughtful, methodical, and structured!

Happy 10 years of commitment, dear!

Whoops!

Today at work I was working through some problems with our subcontractors at BYU (fun to have contracts with my grad-school advisor), and I mentioned one of the big gaps in the research to date.  This was a realm where we don't really have any theoretical results to back up our practical observations.  I'm all for observations, but unless you can prove it, the observations are ... just observations.

An hour after the phone call, one of the graduate students sent me a paper he had written for a class project that shows some justifications with some theoretical background for me to review, and I printed it and left it on the printer for a few minutes.  The CEO and founder of my company stopped by my desk a few minutes later and asked about this document that had been generated for a class project-- because it had been a derivative work from one of his seminal papers from 1971!  The student cited his sources, but agreed that there wasn't much new or innovative beyond the 1971 paper.  Our CEO asked to keep that copy and wanted to review it.

Here's the good part.  When the student replicated the original work, he hadn't realized that the original author was my company's founder, much less thought that his replica of the work would be snatched off the printer by the originator   He was mortified.  When I told him that his document was under review by "one of the greats" I'm pretty sure he felt like slinking into a crevice somewhere.  He didn't do anything wrong, but he certainly was embarrassed to have overlooked the connection!

Well, we all do embarrassing things sometimes.  Here I will share two old ones, and two new ones, just so you can laugh at me.  Cause that's what embarrassment does for a person--provides joy for others.

Old #1.

Elder Jackson and Elder Landon playing the Nose Harp, Spring 2002, England London Mission.

 My mother has helped me develop many talents.  One of those is playing the nose harp.  I must say I am quite good at it, and my harp has near-perfect pitch and a wonderful kazoo-style buzz.  You can try too!  Wrinkle your nose, hum a tune, and strum one nostril while holding the other one closed.  Nominally, this is not (too) embarrassing.  The level of embarrassment increases drastically if you have biological projectiles awaiting the first pluck of the old pipes.  My most recent attempt proved to be a catastrophe, and I abandoned my solo.

Old #2.

Elder Jackson, Winter 2001, at the Lowestoft Flat.

This was a time when I had... swelled a bit.  I don't look so bad here, but I gained about 30 pounds at one point as a missionary, and thus, my clothes wore a bit differently.  Here we see the results of changes in geometry matched with riding a bicycle every day.  JCPenney was good to sell me a suit with two sets of trousers, because once someone identified that my whites were showing through my blacks, I couldn't get changed fast enough!

New #1.

I was at a training meeting last month with a small group of participants and one trainer.  (It was a Scout Leader training for Venturing, for those interested.)  I was loving the material, and was enthusiastic with my responses to the trainer's questions.  At one point when the trainer was describing a particular part of the organizational structure, I (accidentally) reverberated my chair with a wee bit of flatulence.  (Is there a more polite way of saying that?)  

I was willing to be mature and just ignore it, as were my fellow participants.  However, the trainer, a very polite and respectable older man, had thought I was volunteering an interjection and had something to say.  "Yes Joe?"  Only, I could think of nothing to say to recover, so I awkwardly fumbled, "Oh, nothing, carry on!"  At that point, two of my classmates looked at me with a wink and a nod, as if to say, "Hahahahhahahahaha!!!!"

New #2.
This problem is more typical of men/boys.  My mom had a code-word.  XYZ stood for eXamine Your Zipper. Very discreet.  Well, it's tough to be discreet when you discover you are standing for the rest hymn very reverently up on the rostrum in front of 200 of your fellow-worshippers, and you discover you have 3.5 verses until the song is over and you can sit down again.  The most agonizing 3.5 verses of my life.  

There are several  reasons this problem might come about.  When I was a kid, I used to have a pair of jeans with a slippery zipper.  I probably celebrated the day when I outgrew them after the constant attention they required.  The offending trousers this summer had a button, a hook, and a zipper.  Getting 2 of the 3 fit the normal rhythm of dressing in my typical pants, and I have neglected part three on multiple occasions with these slacks.
In a small group, it's easy to cover the offending zipper until an opportune time comes.  But when you are holding your hymnbook at chest-level, THEN what do you do?  Turn around to face the wall?  Slowly drop my hymnal to waist level?  Clasp my hands in front of me to obscure the XYZ issue?  Do a quick down-and-up fixer action?  I couldn't think of anything that wouldn't draw attention.  So I wore it well until the hymn was over.  Luckily, most people don't watch the conductor when they sing.   Quick as a flash, while people were transitioning to be seated, I tugged the old YKK until I was secure again.  

Nobody said anything about it.  But still, I'm tortured to think, "How many people wanted to give me a wink and a nod as if to say, 'Hahahhahahah!'"?

Mostly Done.

This is a treatise on Why I don't untie my shoes.

Not that it's a newsworthy topic, but when I asked Jen at the beginning of the month what she thought I should write about, this is one of the ideas she pitched.  So here goes.

First an image of a cute puppy.   He almost made it.  via.

Have you ever been in a situation where you had a job to do, and you realized that the constraints were so tight that you could do 50% of the job and get 95% of the benefit?  It sounds terrible, I know.  The words, lazy, slacker, unmotivated, and half-hearted come to my mind.  None of these are words that I imagine anyone wants to use to describe themselves.  They are the type of words that you'll never find on a resume, that you'll never hear a person pride themselves in, and that you'll probably never hear come from someone's mouth with a smile on their face.

BUT--

What about the other side of the coin?  You know-- the "glass half full" interpretation of that situation.  In the financial world, people get huge bonuses for ideas like that.  People use the words efficient, savvy, innovative, and advantage.  I see a whole side of the issue that says that given a limited set of resources, where can I get the largest return on a minimum investment?

I think this is how I see the "To untie or not to untie" debate.  To me, untying shoes that will just need to be tied again is somewhat of a waste of (time) resources.  In a world where clogs and slip-on shoes abound, why not just loosely tie the shoes so they can effectively be slip-ons?   Granted, there are athletic shoes that need to be cinched up to perform properly, as you shouldn't hike, run, climb in loose-fitting shoes.  But cruising around the office?  Or walking to school?  Sounds acceptably leisurely to me.  And what of the "You'll break the heel!" argument?  Well, it's a good one, especially if the shoe is tied so tightly that they do not approximate the comfort of slip-on shoes.  Therefore, if you have to wriggle and jam your feet to get the heel to slide into a tied shoe... you better untie them.  But if you can easily shoe-horn the footwear on-- I say go for it.  Leave them tied.

Shoes aren't the only domain where people historically give a half-hearted effort.  Here are a bunch of stereotypical and otherwise examples of people doing 50% of the work to get 95% of the benefit.  Consider:

• Make bed-- or at least pull the covers up.
• Close the bathroom door--or at least swing it so it obscures the toilet.
• Put the toilet seat and cover down--or at least don't leave a mess.
• Take the trash out at the end of the night--or at least get to it when it's full.
• Put away the folded laundry--or at least put the clean stack in your room.
• Put dirty clothes in the hamper--or at least gather them on laundry day.
• Throw away the gas station receipts--or at least get to them on semi-annual car cleanout day.
• Put things away--or at least stack things at the bottom/top of the stairs for the next trip up.
• Take care of the yard--or at least mow the lawn but not trim around the edges.
• Get all your shopping done--or at least get the food in the trunk and let the next person put the cart away.
• Get on your Sunday best--or at least sling a pre-tied necktie loosely over your unbuttoned collar.
• Put your toys away--at least so they don't get run over (even if they'll still get rained on).
• Write a great paper--or at least get the polished draft written without spell-checking.

See what I mean?  There are LOTS of ways that we go halfsies to mostly get the job done.  People have their "things", you know?  I put away my dirty laundry and clean laundry, but I don't tie my shoes. 

Went to the temple.

So when I say that phrase, most of the LDS readers in this audience might think of this:

Boston Temple via.

Or if you knew I was in Washington DC this week you might have thought of this:

Washington DC Temple via.

But instead, I'm going to talk about this:

Rapeseed fields near Cressing Temple with Elder Jackson, June 2001.

In the background there, you see the Cressing Temple and Barns.  Here's the run-down, from Wikipedia:

Cressing Temple is an ancient monument situated between Witham and Braintree in Essex and was founded in 1137 by Matilda of Boulogne, the wife of King Stephen. It was the headquarters of the first grant of land given to the religious order of the Knights Templar in England. The two barns and the templar well which exist on the site, originate from this period. The Wheat Barn and the Barley Barn are the two finest Templar-built barns in Europe while the Barley Barn is recognised as the oldest timber-framed barn in the world.

Check out this guide from the temple website. 

 So now, who are the Knights Templar again, and why do they need barns? Again, from Wikipedia:

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders. The organisation existed for nearly two centuries during theMiddle Ages.
Officially endorsed by the Catholic Church around 1129, the Order became a favoured charity throughout Christendom and grew rapidly in membership and power. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. Non-combatant members of the Order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, innovating financial techniques that were an early form of banking,^[6][7]and building fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land.

And further down:

Although the primary mission of the Order was military, relatively few members were combatants. The others acted in support positions to assist the knights and to manage the financial infrastructure. The Templar Order, though its members were sworn to individual poverty, was given control of wealth beyond direct donations. A nobleman who was interested in participating in the Crusades might place all his assets under Templar management while he was away.  

It doesn't take much looking to find that the Templars had much influence in England.  I visited several ancient sites like this round church while there as a missionary.

Hedingham Castle at the village of Castle Hedingham.  

This Castle is where Matilda, who founded the Cressing Temple,  died  in 1152.  You can rent the castle's great hall if you want to host a wedding there.  Otherwise, the castle appears to be occupied by the owner's son and daughter-in-law and small children (how cool would it be to be raised in an ancient castle?). 

Associated with the templars are pilgrims, who would visit the Holy Land, even amid the war and turmoil.  They were permitted to visit Jerusalem as long as they were unarmed.  I wonder if that's why one of these stone figures of pilgrims have been unarmed?

Pilgrims at Finchingfield

When I took this picture, I thought it curious that some mischievous person inscribed the tomb with graffiti, "1755", right above the man's bicep.

Well, maybe we're not so different than the ancient pilgrims and Knights Templar as the principles of visiting holy places, contributing our means to funding the Lord's effort, and sending (peaceful) missionaries to reclaim the souls of men are still in effect.

"To you who are worthy and able to attend the temple, I would admonish you to go often. The temple is a place where we can find peace. There we receive a renewed dedication to the gospel and a strengthened resolve to keep the commandments."

—Thomas S. Monson

Interconnected.

Have you ever stopped to think about how deeply our lives are intertwined with others' lives?  These days especially where it is easy to maintain some sort of friendship across the country or the world.  Facebook and email makes it so you can send a note on a whim to a person you are thinking about.

via. 

I have heard some people quote studies on how many people you can  be connected to at any given time, like this one (120-130 friends, with a retort here).  This particular article claims that you can have reciprocal relationships with 1500 acquaintances at once, though only 150 is the size of the average social group.

Of course, sublevels exist even within that select circle. At the top of your social pyramid are the five people closest to you, most of them probably relatives. They are nestled inside the top 15, with whom you generally have weekly interchanges. Then come the top 50, with whom you keep up every month or so. Finally, there are all the others with whom you correspond in any meaningful sense. All the relationships require tending, although relatives retain their place in the hierarchy more tenaciously than nonrelatives do.

Then there was the note about how relationships fade.

I suspect that Facebook's one great contribution has been to slow down that rate of relationship decay by allowing us to keep in touch with friends over long distances. How long it will prevent relationships from fading altogether remains to be seen—social networking sites haven't been around long enough for us to tell yet. My guess, however, is that they will slow the rate of decay only temporarily and won't prevent relationships from dying eventually. What makes relationships really work, it seems, is "doing stuff" together. Catching up over the phone helps to keep the acquaintance ticking, but if at some point we don't get together—and sooner rather than later—then the relationship will fade, Facebook or no Facebook.

Have a read through the article and see what you think.  So for my analysis, here are the measurables that I have available.  Now, first of all, I am not much of a socialite in the online world.  I don't update my facebook status, like or plus things, tweet, or any number of other terms.  Maybe just a bit of a sentimentalist who wants to reach out to people I knew a decade ago and just say "Hi" once to let them know I was thinking of them.

Here's what I have:
301 Phone numbers for  265 Contacts
128 LinkedIn Connections
398 Facebook Friends
710 Gmail Contacts with 114 "Other" Contacts (Granted, 198 contacts are affiliated with my current ward)
125 this year's Christmas List
129 Google Plus Contacts in Circles

Of the 20 People most frequently emailed from my gmail account, I go to church will all 20, and I live in the same house as one of them.

I started thinking about this last week when I was flipping through my contacts list on my cell phone and found people I haven't called in years... but have still not deleted them.  It was interesting to see who was in there that I NEVER call.  And yet, some of them, I just haven't deleted because I like having the phone numbers on hand.  Just to remember.  Is that weird?

For example,

• A birth mother who we were corresponding with 3 years ago.  
• Our bishop from 6 years ago.  
• My Elder's Quorum presidency from 7 years ago.  
• My freshman roommate 13 years ago.
• Our next-door neighbors from 6 years ago.  
• My neurosurgeon from 7 years ago.
• A friend from growing up who I have never called.
• That couple we met on the cruise to the Bahamas that said "Come visit us anytime!"
• A favorite mission companion.
• My grandpa who passed away 3 years ago.
• A genius friend from graduate school.
• The phone number to my college research lab.

It costs me nothing to keep these numbers in my phone, so for now, they'll probably stay.  Is there anyone in your phone list that you never call?

He or She makes They.

Following the theme from last Friday, I thought I'd mention another quirk in my language.  In this case, actually, I just tend to be wrong.  Two things: a) singular/plural pronouns, and b) subject-verb agreement.

via.

Singular/Plural Pronouns.
I don't claim to be a grammarian, and by no means do I know all the writing rules, but I had always been told to make sure a sentence is consistent.  I listen for consistency.  I've noticed that many people, in an effort not to give away gender when being anonymous, replace the pronoun he/she with the singular they.  For example, "I know a person who once was in debt so much that they cut up all of their credit cards."

I didn't know it was a real thing, but there is a syntactical basis for it, as recorded in this generations online encyclopedia (Wikipedia).  It's correctness is debatable, but is recognizably used for indeterminate gender and indeterminate number.

From Wikipedia, an example of indeterminate number:

There's not a man I meet but doth salute me / As if I were their well-acquainted friend — Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, Act IV, Scene 3 (1594)

and indeterminate gender:

"It can't be true what the girls at the Rectory said, that her mother was an opera-dancer—""A person can't help their birth," Rosalind replied with great liberality. — Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1848)

There's a slew of other examples.  My conclusions is that if it's good enough for Shakespeare, it's good enough for me.  I won't feel guilty about being indeterminate with my "they" anymore.

Subject-verb agreement.
  I have often gotten in trouble with my subject verb agreement when I write.  I remember as a kid my teacher would circle the verb, then draw an arrow back to the subject to indicate that they don't match.  This problem still lurks in my writings and conversations.  Particularly singular and plural verbs.

I write many emails each week, and often I use "is" with a plural subject.  Not quite as bad as "they is goin' out fer dinner," but pretty close.   Mostly "Here is my vacation plans," where plans is the subject (here and there are never subjects).   "Where is the salt and pepper?"  Gotcha!  "Salt and pepper" here is a combined unit.  But how about this one?  "Here is my email address and phone number."  I think I say it wrong.

Grammar Book guidelines.

Rule 6
As a general rule, use a plural verb with two or more subjects when they are connected by and.
Example:A car and a bike are my means of transportation.

Here's another ambiguation/disambiguiation, depending on how you look at it:

Rule 15
Collective nouns such as team and staff may be either singular or plural depending on their use in the sentence.

Examples:The staff is in a meeting.  Staff is acting as a unit here.  The staff are in disagreement about the findings.  The staff are acting as separate individuals in this example.  The sentence would read even better as:  The staff members are in disagreement about the findings. 

Most of the time, I think it's just that I slap my verb into the sentence before I really know what I'm going to say.  So I'll just have to keep my ears open and think before I speak, then occasionally getting annoyed at myself when I find an inconsistency.

Is Blake and Ian coming?

Well, is they?

Of course they IS!  (Better watch out!)  Deerfield, NH Fair, 2012

Old Face.

If yesterday's post highlighted my baby face, maybe now I should admit that I'm not as young as I used to be.  I'm in my fourth decade, folks.   (Gasp!  No! Did he really say that?)

9 years old, maybe?  Even a babyface can grow crows feet if he squints too much.
I could also rock the short shorts and tube socks back then.  Shara was an all-star with the jams.

I know everyone ages, but I half expected it would be everyone but me.  Isn't that the way things work?

Here are my top 10 physical evidences of my three decades:

1. My hairline.  Yikes.  It's moving.

2. I've got these creases that emanate from the corners of my eyes and try to touch my ears.

3. My cheeks wrinkle up to frame my mouth when I smile, then sag back down when I stop smiling.  Good reason to always be smiling, I guess. :)

4. I'm going gray.  Jen first discovered it when we were idling away our time at Heathrow in 2008.  Now it's spreading to the top, too.  I knew it was getting more prominent when cousin Joy was here to visit this spring (2011), and she resounded, "Joe!  You have gray around the edges!"  I think I wear it dignifiedly.

5. There's this one arm-hair that is like 2 inches long just below my elbow.  Weird.  I'll leave out details about nose-hairs. But my eyebrows are... umm... they're starting to bush out like my dad's.  (No offense, dad!)

6.  My footwear collection now has more formal shoes than sports shoes.  (Remember when life was simple and you had one pair of church shoes and one pair of school shoes?)

7. I can't camp out without a cushy ground mat, and these days I need ear plugs to mute those fiesty critters who scavenge for food all night long.

8. After working outside (leaves, cars, etc) or playing sports, I've got to use a massager or warm shower to loosen my muscles, or I'm stiff for 3 days.

9.  I have begun to notice things like ride comfort in a car, legroom on an airplane, and have to get up and stretch after sitting for a while.  I can't kneel for more than a minute without my legs falling asleep.

10.  I am now a snorer.  I think.  I've not really heard myself, but sources say it's disruptive to sound(less) sleep.

I'm not worried.  I'll take it as it comes.  I filled my 20s with good times, and I anticipate the same for my 30s.

Hairline, Squinting, Cheeks, Bags under Eyes.  Campobello, New Brunswick, July 2011.
Photo courtesy of Ian.

"Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been."

~Mark Twain

Baby Face

It probably comes as no surprise to you that people think I am younger than I really am.  It's been a part of my life since high school I guess.  I've had blond eyebrows, very little stubble, and a smooth, pale face.  Sometimes I've even been blessed with those cute round cheeks.  Especially after Thanksgiving!

Is this the face that folks see?  Looks like 8 candles to me.

I must've been about 15 here.  

Senior Year of high school, 17. My big sister was in College!

Preparing for a group date.  Everyone was 18, but visible disparity in features.

In college, we were all men.  But there were varying levels of maturity, poise, and stature.  In the image above, Joey D. in the blue shirt was known for his striking adult features.  Some of the guys had 5 o'clock shadows to contend with.  Not me.   I can still get away with shaving twice a week without much notice!

Last week I came across an article about how Leonardo's young face helps him be likable, and to take his characters to another level.  Turns out there really is something called the Baby Face Bias, wherein baby-faced adults are perceived as more innocent and honest, but have a hard being taken seriously in confrontation or when they are authoritative on a subject. That got me thinking about several of the times when people want to talk about how young I look.

Example 1:

Missionary Trainer, Elder Cannon, August 2000

As a missionary in England, I remember introducing myself to someone (pretty close to my first month in the country) and someone was just so taken aback at my living on my own.  I believe she may have said, "Does your mother know you are here?"   What?   Like I was a runaway or something?  Later in the conversation, I think she likened my appearance to Opie or Richie Cunningham on Happy Days.  I remember getting that alot.  Is there really a resemblance?  I think it was just that I was a clean-cut American boy, and that's what they had to compare against.

Ron Howard, aka Opie, or Richie.

Example 2:  Another memorable time was a few years later, the winter before my college graduation. A few months after we adopted Ian, I remember going into a Wendy's on a road trip and the cashier kept giving me a funny look.  After a taking my order and calling it into the mic, she paused, then seemed to get up the gumption to ask, "Is that your kid?"  I was already feeling kinda self-conscious and new at being a dad, but I understood when I said yes and she followed up with, "You look too young to even be married, much less have a kid!"

Undergraduate Graduation Day. Almost 24.

Master's Thesis Defense Day. Almost 26.

Example 3:  Wow.  So then a couple of weeks ago I was at a conference of many well-respected decision makers related to one of my projects at work.  I was feeling pretty dapper in a suit and one of my bowties.  I may have been one of the younger people in the room.  When I chatted with the session moderator, he commented, "Wow, you look like you could be 16!  Good on you for presenting today."   I wasn't embarassed or offended.  It just comes with the territory, I guess.

I don't think my baby face affects my credibility, though I can never be sure.  I understand that there are factors in judging people externally, such as their accent, culture, and so forth.  As in my confidence post, I have discovered that I have to assert my capability, and maybe that's one of the reasons I wear a bowtie at professional events... it throws people off my "young face" ice-breaker, and lets them chat about how swanky a bowtie looks.

Age 18

I think it's akin to how people paint a mental picture of what someone looks like that they've only talked to on the phone.  When they find out the truth, it's a surprise.  Lots of the people who misjudge my age follow up their comments with, "Oh, well, you'll be thankful for your young face when you are 60 and look like you're 40."  That could be true.  But in the end, I'm not convinced that I care all THAT much about what people think of my face.  Maybe I'll have a young voice like Ira Glass, radio host for This American Life.  He sounds 30, but he's like 52.  I wonder how often people comment to him about it?

Do you have Baby Face Bias?

10 Odd Things Here.

Okay, let's play a game.  I'm going to show you a picture, and you'll have to write down 10 interesting things about the picture.  If you know me, you'll see some of the interesting things.

Some of the interesting things 

1.  I'm a bowtie wearer now, which didn't become a regular habit until about 5 years after this photo.  It was a borrowed clip-on bowtie, which I would never wear these days.

2.  This dance was the Deseret Towers Invitational... and were were a Heritage Halls crew.  This would be categorized as crashing the party, wouldn't it?

3.  My roommate (Justus) and I went out with "the Jen's", for which he had a crush and I had a crush.  As you can see, the crush has been realigned.

4.  Clarification:  I am told that this event was one coordinated by the female contingent, which is not all that unusual at BYU.  Though I probably had like a 5:1 ratio of asking vs. being asked for dates.

5.  I went on several dates with Jenn ("Eyes") through the year, and I think she still holds it against me that on one of those evenings, I was double booked with another date later in the evening (could've been a different night than this one, but still).

6.  There's some gal really excited to be peeking her way into the picture.

7.  For some reason, the only balloons in the scene are tied to our dates' wrists.  Easy to not get lost in a crowd, that's for sure.

8.  Seems like we're the only gents wearing hats.  With hats seem to have come with the shirts our dates are wearing.

9.  Those lights in the background look like they are in Thai or some middle eastern language.  Illusion?

10.  I bought a tux shirt a few years ago for events such as this, but A)  Jen seems to think the vertical silver strands sewn into it are tacky, and B) I haven't gotten Jen to go to a dance with me since we were married.


I think we ended up leaving before  too long, because DT just didn't know how to throw a party the way Heritage could.  Freshmen spend an aweful lot of time preparing for the social scene.

MOS Night

 I believe I've mentioned it before, but if not... we love to go to the Boston Museum of Science on Friday Nights!  (Open until 9pm!  Low Crowds!  Free parking for members after 5pm!)

This our second year with a membership, and it really only takes a couple of visits to "be worth it" and it makes for a great venue to have a place to go when-- you need a place to go.

It has a Life Sciences Wing, Technology Wing, Dinosaurs, Butterfly Garden, Children's Discovery Center, IMAX, 3D, Planetarium, Rotating Exhibits, this cool Acoustic Sculpture, and a automated hand-stamper at the exit turnstyles!  (And much, much more, as any good advertisement should say.)

This week we had one of those times.  I packed the boys a picnic dinner and off we went, while Jen took advantage of a couple of quiet hours at home alone.  We can make it there in 20 minutes with no traffic, or 45 if there is some mysterious backup on Storrow Drive that makes it so we sit at a standstill for an additional 25 minutes.  Makes sense, eh?

This is Blake's first time to come with Ian and Dad on MOS Night.  Over the last year and a half, Ian and I have gone regularly on Fridays.  (Was it to give Mom bonding time with Blake?  Ian bonding time with Dad?  Mom some chance to have a quiet house?  Dad a chance to play with toys and not get funny looks?)  
I don't think Ian minded, and I certainly could  tell that Blake enjoyed himself!

                           

My boys like to eat.  And I like to eat.  We're a good team.
We did a good job polishing off the PB&J and grapes.

At the Kids Discovery Zone, we got lots of learning accomplished.
We did a little paleontology, electrical circuitology, magnetology.

We did a little bubble science, where I'm not sure Blake felt comfortable in the safety goggles.  So I lent him my sweet shades.  Ian was the bubble master, with some seriously big ones.  He said by sucking on the straw, he could make the bubble go inside the cup.  I didn't try that experiment, for fear of tasting soapy air.

We sauntered over to the water table, which is always a hit.  I felt like Blake and Ian played so nicely together.  Ian took all-things-round, and Ian dealt with all-things-swimmy.  

Needless to say, we'll be going back again.  Soon.  Especially when the snow flies and Jen says the boys are suffering from cabin fever.  Or Blake wants to watch chicks hatch.  Or Ian wants to "build a fish" at the virtual fish tank.  Or I need my hands-on experiment fix.  Any excuse will do.

So much to learn, so little time.