End of 2017/Start of 2018

Time to (finally) blog a bit about Christmas!  It was a very busy and eventful couple of months, which was at once a bit frantic and a lot of fun.  There were the usual traditions (family musical soiree wherein I led a sing-along of Rutter's Angels' Carol, pajamas from Nana, more Santa excitement than ever, sooooo many treats, Christmas movies and shows, ward choir program, etc. etc. etc.) but there were lots of exciting new happenings too.  I'll just let the Instapictures tell the story.

Wherein I offer a 50% off commission sale and have a nice response!  See our art blog for a collage.

Wherein we go to the Christmas In Color drive-through light show!  Feliz Batty-Bat!

Wherein we go to the adult ward Christmas party and I sing Mele Kalikimaka/Christmas Island and wear my favorite shirt and hat (repeat picture post but it's relevant).

Wherein we brave the crowds of downtown SLC and have fun but decide never to to the Temple Square within a week of Christmas again.

Wherein we watch a Christmas classic and are forcibly reminded by Cindy Lou Who of a certain someone.

Wherein we go to the kids' ward Christmas party and it's our best roller skating outing yet. 

Wherein Wife and Baby come hear me sing Bach and Williams with the TSO.

Wherein my favorite Primary tradition continues for the 4th year!

Wherein I am amazed at how marvelous this movie is.

Wherein Little Mister and I are vest buddies on Christmas Eve.

Wherein we try out our new phone with a front-facing camera!

Wherein I try out my new at last running shoes.

Wherein I pose cheesily with my favorite Christmas present, which I call Coco.

Wherein we go to a merch pop-up of the Wizarding World of HP.  Almost like almost like the real thing!

Wherein this wasn't anywhere to be found in stores so we bought it ASAP (even though I know you can listen online... it's just nice to have).

Wherein we cling to the gingerbread feeling by finding any and all local light displays (this was at University Mall, er... Place).

Wherein the NYB pulls through yet again.

Wherein the kids are very fancy with their breakfast beverages.

Wherein The Wife figured out an ingenious way of getting the Christmas cards to stop falling off the front door every ten minutes -- take them off and hang them up somewhere else. 

Wherein The Boy Who Lived rings in the New Year on my desk at work.

Every time I have choir things coming up I have this underlying and ominous dread that something will happen the day before and I'll get really sick or lose my voice or whatever, but luckily another Christmas season has come and gone with much singing and no serious illness, so I think that's reason (for me at least) to rejoice.  It was a really lovely Christmas with lots going on and so much fun and going to church the day before was a perfect way to keep grounded amid all the festivities and remember the Point in the first place.  2018 is going to be just marvelous.

P.S. These days we get sleepy pretty early and one or both of us heads to bed shortly after the hour hits double digits, but this year I totally scored my NYE midnight kiss. ;*

Lessons Learned From a Shattered Phone

(Happy 5 months to Baby!  But first, from last Friday...)

I will tell you, I fought the smartphone revolution heartily and well.  My old flip phone (which I had to eventually relent to get even that) was working just fine, and I liked my service (i.e. family plan...), and as a phone it was all I really needed.  All the texts I wrote to and received from The Wife while we were dating long-distance were on there, and it meant a little something to me, scratches and all.  But then, plans were changing, its camera, such as it was, was lacking, the idea of being able to look things up on the go started to sound really appealing, and in general I figured it was time to grow up and get off my dad's cell phone plan.  I really didn't want to become one of Those People who are always staring at their phones, especially when we had a little one on the way, but I was sure we would be able to use them judiciously.  We switched to some starter phones, which were amazing to us, but which after a couple years started to show signs of aging.  But the real jump to a more legit smartphone was switching to a completely new service.  I could go on and on about the things I like about RepublicWireless (and just one on about the things I don't quite love), but for the price it can't be beat.  The only catch was that you have to buy their phones.  Fine, no problem, we were probably due for an upgrade anyway.  Flash forward about half a year after that magical Christmas morning, full of shiny new phones in stylish protective cases that take much better pictures and have much more reliable internet features and much bigger hard drive space...

One busy morning, my phone disappeared.  We looked everywhere, I tried every possible method of locating your phone (you would think in emergencies this would be easier these days), I seemed to remember putting it on the roof of the car and thought maybe it had fallen off when The Wife went to the store later that afternoon but had no luck driving up and down the road searching, I worried it was going to die and then it wouldn't even be heard ringing (if I hadn't left it on silent...)... And then when The Wife went on her run the next morning, she found this:

Major street cred at least?

So.

Here are some lessons learned from a shattered phone.

• First things first, DON'T PUT YOUR PHONE ON THE ROOF OF YOUR CAR.

• Second things second, if you DO put your phone on the roof of your car, don't forget about it and leave it there all day.

• Third things third, wear shorts with pockets, especially if you're going out and about.  Seriously, this whole thing would have been avoided if I had had pockets and somewhere to put my phone when I came home and immediately started to doing yard work.

• If you find a shattered phone, plug it in and see if it still works.  If it does (like mine did), hurray, you will probably be able to get all your pictures and such off of it!  Especially if (like mine did) it has a removable SD card.

• That screen really does have sharp little pieces and cracks.  It might not have been able to cut me, but it sure felt like it would.  Street cred, pffft.  I'd take a nice shiny screen any day.

• Try not to let that blinking notification light and occasional ding from a phone with an obviously working phone but obviously not working screen get to you.

• If you have a protective cover, it will only go so far.  (Then again, apparently not all covers are created equal?)  This thing didn't have a chance, considering the entire back popped off along with the cover when it was, I can only presume, run over several times before finally making its way safely to the gravelly side of the road.

• When you get your replacement phone, turn off USB debugging and install lost phone recovery apps right away.  This will save you such grief, believe you me.

• Speaking of grief, if you haven't turned off USB debugging or installed lost phone recovery apps, you will still be able to get a lot of your contacts and such from some of your online accounts, but I'm sorry to tell you that, at least for the time being, your texts will be long gone (this does matter to me since I communicate with my family and The Wife so much this way, and now at least seven months' worth of that communication is lost... ah well, fresh start?).

It should be noted that if you figure out after hours of searching that such a thing cannot be done, it's probably best to give up the search, or at least moderate the time you spend on it.  All it will do is make you more frustrated and have the same result, and who needs that?

Incidentally, if anyone ever figured out how to transfer texts without having turned off USB debugging or installed lost phone recovery apps, do let me know?

• It's not a terrible idea to look on eBay for used/refurbished phones, but buy with care and don't be too hasty (luckily mine allowed me to cancel my order the next day when I found a more reputable option), and you can always check with your retailer for specials or deals:

• If you are a RW customer, you may have the option of buying a lower-priced replacement phone from their B-Stock supply, which are phones that are possibly refurbished or new returned for whatever reason but unable to be sold as "New", but are still in working order.

• Sometimes if you get a replacement phone, it will also not work...

• If your replacement phone doesn't work, try not to spend hours trying to figure it out.  In my case I guess it must have been the proximity sensor or something, because every time I tried to make or answer a call the screen instantly went black.  The call was still in operation, but you were unable to use the keypad or even hang up, and the only way to get the screen back would be if the person on the other end hung up (which made for some awkward scrambling after leaving a message).  I found that if I plugged headphones in the screen would come back on, since the proximity sensor is no longer in use, but then would go black again when I took the headphones out, and then if I turned on the speaker and took out the headphones it was fine, but if I turned the speaker off it was black again... It was most vexing.

• If your replacement phone doesn't work, you can try to take it apart and make it somehow magically work, but don't get too frustrated if it doesn't work.  Most of them time you need very specific and very unique tools for such an operation, surely by design.  I had dreams that this would work out, but no.

• If your phone doesn't work AS A PHONE, you need to get a new phone.

Third time's the charm??

• It's a bummer to lose info and pictures (I luckily didn't lose any of those at least), but there are worse things.  And most of that stuff actually does transfer pretty quickly and easily, especially if both phones are at least functional.

• In the end, it's just a thing.  We use and even need things these days, especially if it's our line of communication to friends and family and work, but there are ways to get your things working again, even if it takes (heaven forbid) a week or two.  Try not to let it occupy your thoughts too much.

And, most importantly:

• If you start to even joke that you're trying not to feel like an amputee now that your phone is not constantly on your person for a few days... it's time to detach.  I mean, I'd been meaning to disconnect a little more lately, I'd just have preferred it had been on my terms, all things considered.  Still, the fact that I was so cranky about a phone was a good reminder.  I've been happy to leave it in another room for long stretches at a time so I can concentrate on other things (until I need to grab it and take that picture while the toddler and the infant are being so cute together!).

So I learned a lot from this experience.  At the moment my third RW phone seems to be working just fine, though there is the slightest speck of broken pixel/ding in the screen at some level which lets out just the tiniest little sparkle when the screen is lit up.  I thought about trying to fix it or get the thing replaced again, but:

• If you're on your third phone in half a year and discover the tiniest blemish, embrace it.  I like to think of it as a remnant of some kind, just a hint of its dearly departed father's and grandfather's respective and varied fates.  Like a reminder to its owner of what happened, and really, if this extremely minor version of a shattered, unusable screen is what I'm left with, I'll take it.

It's almost like it has a little scar from its very infancy.

I call it Harry.

2013: A Year of Big Changes

It's a new year.  Big things are happening.  BIG!  Already!  Not even one month in.  They involve new hair, new eyes, new ears, new feet, and new everything in miniature.  Here are some details:

1)  First things first, at the start of the year, and after a few particularly itchy, out of control hair days, I decided to submit myself to the third-annual epic shave-and-buzzcut.  Sometimes it seems odd that I would do this shearing in the dead of winter, when most creatures of the world grow their hair out for their winter coat, but it's nice for wearing beanies and running indoors too, and it's like a clean slate of short hair and no beard for a new year (though I promptly start to grow them both out).  I think I can pull the look off though, when I used to be chubby it made my head look tiny, but now I think it's actually slimming, and of course if there's one thing every dude wants to be, it's slim. (Or something.)

2)  Almost thirteen years ago, when I suddenly realized while reading Hamlet for a Humanities class that the small text was looking a little blurry when I read with one eye (since I was lying on my bed, the best possible way to stay awake while reading Shakespeare) and realized that my lifelong perfect vision had somehow been compromised, my also lifelong wish of wearing glasses (I don't know why... my brother had them... maybe I was jealous?) came true.  I still really like wearing glasses and how they look on me, but ever since my favorite frames broke and I had to get new ones which were nice and flexible but seemed much more susceptible to scratches, which were annoyingly visible while reading and watching TV (why do the scratches have to be RIGHT in the middle of the lenses?), and ever since becoming husband to a girl who wears contacts, I've been thinking about it.  Really, those scratches were kind of the tipping point, though the inability to wear sunglasses at Disneyland without either doubling up (which makes for a few interesting vacation photos) or going without specs and therefore suffering a headache by early afternoon had a lot to do with it too.  So when The Wife was planning a checkup to order more contacts, I decided to up the ante too, at least to have the option.

Eep!

So now I'm rockin' the lenses!  It feels really weird to look at myself and not see glasses on my face after all these years (especially with the haircut, I hardly look like myself anymore), and it's also quite an adjustment to feel these little pieces of flexy flimsy plastic clinging to my eyeballs, which at a certain time in the evening MUST be removed.  I'm getting much better at putting them in and taking them out, though for the first few days I felt a little like Daria when she tried to make the switch.  It kind of changes the whole landscape of your face, you know?  I did have this little stint with colored contacts for Halloween one year, but this is significantly different (they weren't even prescription... it's probably the furthest length I've gone to in order to perfect my Harry Potter costume, though dying my hair black was pretty far too).

3)  Also about thirteen years ago, I joined the ranks of the mobile-ly communicative and joined our family cell phone plan with my very own brickphone.  I loved that old phone very much, including its dinky little Lord of the Rings ringtone and primitive games (what is better than Snake II?), and though I didn't use it a LOT a lot, it was really nice to be able to communicate with my loved ones with such convenience.  I went through a couple of them, dropping them occasionally in the toilet or taking advantage of eventual upgrade options.  When I left on my mission we all commiserated our cellphone loss, suffered from phantom pocket buzzes, and rejoiced when the mission president announced that the missionaries would be carrying cellphones.  Then when I came home from my mission, I started using my very first flip phone, and until that point the smartest phone I had ever had.  It took (blurry) pictures and played (very few) songs!  I could even use a real live mp3 as my ringtone.  And now, after being home for almost five years (WHAT) and married for over three years, The Wife and I have finally decided to follow through with our oft-discussed plan of branching out on our own and getting our very own family plan, complete with new phones (I'm finally off your bill, Dad!).  We looked around and decided to go with the Family Mobile plan from Walmart.  It's pretty inexpensive per month, has ZERO contract, and the phones were free with a special they were running.  It's also run by T-Mobile, which is encouraging, since I've been using them for years, and then it's an established service provider, not like WalFone or something like that.  And I finally am not using a dumbphone anymore!!!  Though I have loved my dumbphones in years past.  We're still getting used to what our new phones can do (Words With Friends!  Sensitive touch screen technology!  Dice With Buddies!  Internet right on the phone!  Aaaangry Birrrrrdsssss!) and how long they take to charge and how quickly the battery can drain (seriously, the old phones last for days and days on like 20 minutes of charging), and I've already had to do one factory setting reset (*grumblegrumble*... I hope this doesn't become a habit).  Apparently our phones aren't the fanciest ever, but they're perfectly suitable for our needs, and after all, they ARE telephones first.  I was always worried that if I starting using a smartphone I would be one of those people who are constantly glued to their phones in public and had to check their email and news every ten seconds (even during the midnight showing of the last Harry Potter movie, guy in front of us...) and could never go back (and maybe I can't), but I think I'm going to be able to handle this new mini-computer, especially since our plan includes ridiculously small amount of data transfer, but enough for us.

Neat, right??  Sure it has its issues, and the internal memory is incredibly low, but for newbs like us, it's pretty much just right.

And here I am with the requisite bathroom MySpace photo, featuring new hair, new eyes, and new phone.

4)  Since I'm already talking about new things, I might as well mention that my running footwear has changed recently too.  I was shopping for new shoes and I saw these orange and gray ones that looked good, were very light and fairly inexpensive, and were amazingly flexible, which is something I always look for -- ask The Wife, I usually grab shoes and try to squish them in half, and if they don't bend very much I put them down and move on.  So these ones were pretty squishy, and really comfortable, so I decided to give them a try!  Little did I know (and not at all were they labeled) that they are minimalist shoes!  I don't really think it's necessary in life to run barefoot, but I have been intrigued by Vibram Five Fingers shoes in the past, though I hear you need to kind of ease into using them or you could get injured.  Well, I probably should have eased a little more into these too, even though they're not completely minimalist shoes, since regular use for the first few days, though initially leading to really great runs, also led to really great blisters and VERY painful arches for several days.  I started interspersing their use with my previous shoes, and by now I have really come to enjoy them, and even prefer them.  I could probably start wearing them exclusively by now, and I might do just that.  I may even order a few more pairs for when these run out since the word on the street is that they're not going to be available for much longer for some reason.

They are great!  I hear they also come in blue.

And now, last but absolutely not least...

5)  This little guy:

Last fall it came to our attention that something was growing inside of my dear wife, and after a couple of home tests and a few visits with the proper professionals, it was confirmed that our little family was expecting an addition in late spring 2013.  (And yes, we have already announced this on Facebook, and our art blog, and also Julie's blog, but I had to put him on here too, of course.)  We were cautiously excited, and hesitant to spread the good word around just yet after what happened around this time last year, but by the time Thanksgiving came (about, oh, 16 or 17 weeks or so?) we were ready to at least tell our family, and by Christmastime, the word was out, including the big announcement on our Christmas card.  (And yes, this means that The Wife was about six weeks along when we went on our Epic European Tour...  and yes, that means she had her first experiences with pregnancy pukiness during our travels... I promise next time we cruise we'll go when you're not pregnant, Wife!!!  Though of course she was a great sport anyway.)  Last week we just crossed the halfway mark, and though The Wife has been a champ through all of her morning/afternoon/evening/night sickness, she's really glad to be feeling more like herself again, and we're especially excited that we've been able to feel (and even see!) its little bumps and kicks.  The first time I felt it for real I just about lost it and had to shout it out to the Facebook world pretty much immediately.  Last week we had our ultrasound visit, where we were finally able to see a nice, clear picture of our little boy (yes, boy!!!) for the first time.  Everything looked great and healthy and normal, his heartbeat is strong and hearty, and based on the views that the technician was able to get, it is most definitely a boy (I'll spare you all the more, erm, revealing photo, though it was a delightful sight for us to see at least).  It's funny because I thought it was a girl for the longest time, I even unwittingly referred to it as "her" and "she" several times, but in the last couple of weeks we were starting to think it might be a boy after all, and then that was my final guess, and then I was finally right!  I almost always guess wrong when people are having little ones.  How nice that I guessed right on our very own, though now I doubt it will ever happen again, ha ha.  When we asked our friends for their guesses as to what it would be (I hoped it would be a human, Julie would have been happy with a kitty), it seems like most others guessed girl too for whatever reason, and although Julie is slightly intimidated at the thought of a wee boychild, it feels right, and now I can't imagine ever having thought it was a girl.  It's so amazing how much you can see with those machines, from bones to brain and muscle tissue, and of course that beautiful little beating heart, with all four chambers.  It's also amazing that The Wife is able to build this child's every physical and anatomical attribute by basically just existing (and also by HIM just existing).  Evidently the pains we took to remove the notorious tennis ball etc. from The Wife's insides paid off, and we're certainly glad of it.  It's terrible to lose a child, no matter at what stage of the pregnancy it happens, and maybe even worse to have trouble getting pregnant in the first place, so we sympathize with family and friends who are undergoing similar experiences, but we're also just so relieved and glad that the time has at last come for us.  (And like I said, she has also blogged about this moste exciting news on her blog, which you should read, since she IS giving the greater contribution to this collaboration.)

SO in May we will be welcoming this little fellow into our home.  My plans of taking a little girl to meet her favorite princesses at Disneyland and drawing winged unicorns to keep her entertained and occupied have been replaced for now by plans of taking a little boy to drive alongside Lightning McQueen and drawing superheroes, and I couldn't be more stoked.  And we'll have another man to carry on the family name!  (For those wondering, we do have a few choice names we're still thinking about, but we aren't quite ready to reveal those...  for the time being, Julie has taken to calling him Humboldt [the temporary girl name was Frangipani], or, of course, what he has been known as for some time now, The Infamous Speck.)

So yes!  Changes!  2013 is going to be a stellar year.  I'm a daddy!!!  XD

Does it seem silly to blog about my firstborn son and boychild in the same post as announcements about cellphones and running shoes?  Well... I'll just call it economical and efficient, and they are all pretty big changes...  Though sometimes tells me #5 will be the biggest change of all.  I can't wait to meet you in person, my son!!!

An interesting conversation

After reading Matt's series of bizarre and interesting messages left on his phone obviously for someone else, I was quite surprised when I had my own series of misdirected text messages! Here is the dialogue, between me and Mystery Texter:

MT: Hey bro guess who?

Me: Erm... Walt Disney?!?

MT: Umm...starts with an h.

Me: Harry Potter! Of course, that was my next guess.

MT: I was thinking down the lines of hot stuff...

Me: Oh, of course... Also know as?...

MT: Hata

Me: I'm not a hata!

MT: Are too. What u doing?

Me: Working, getting ready to mow the lawn. You?

MT: Who dis?

Me: You tell me, you texted me first.

MT: I think i got the wrong number.

And there you have it. This is somewhat amusing, but mostly annoying because it cost me some of my precious reservoir of allowed texts! I never know when people call or text me, because they could be mission friends or something, whose number I don't have yet.

But snaps to them for use of the words "hata" and "dis", and of course for referring to themself as "hot stuff."