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I spent two years on my mission in Germany, most of that time riding buses, street cars, and bikes.  But I was assigned to the mission office in Duesseldorf for a few months, and was responsible for the several mission cars, ranging from the president’s Mercedes, to the zone leaders’ Opels, to the office staff’s VW bus:

It took nerves of steel to drive a car in Germany.  Roads were narrower and cars drove faster than I was used to in the USA.  But I loved it.  I felt a lot of responsibility driving the VW Bus on mission errands, picking up and dropping off missionaries at the airport, for instance.  I also enjoyed taking delivery of brand new mission cars.  

After my mission I took the family1966 Impala station wagon back with me to BYU, and it was essentially mine from then until 1984.

I recall sliding down an icy street in Provo with this car.  Fortunately, I didn’t strike anything except the curb.  A memorable adventure with this car was getting a high speed tire blowout with a full car driving home from BYU in the California desert late at night.  Somebody had a dim flashlight as we struggled to change the tire.  

We moved from Provo to China Lake, CA, for my first engineering job, hauling all our belongings behind in a U-Haul trailer.  We hauled two large loads of lumber from Riverside back to Ridgecrest, CA, to build a back patio for our new home.  This was our only car when we moved to Meridian, ID, in 1978, locking our keys in the car in Bishop, CA, during the trip.  The locked door was opened easily by sliding a bar inside the door (can’t do that with modern cars, I don’t think).  

That first winter in Idaho was a cold, snowy one.  More than once I had to put those bulky chains on to get to work.  Worse, some mornings I had great trouble getting the car started.  I resorted to using that “explosive” ether spray into the carburator to get it going.  Another time I was stranded somewhere and resorted to sticking some metal gum wrapper into the shifter connector to permit the car to start.  One time we turned a corner on a quiet city street and the rear door flew open, spilling one of our tiny children out onto the icy street.  We once hauled a big load of manure for our garden in the back of the “Chuck Wagon”, as we called it (named after my father, Charles).  Suzanne says more than once she couldn’t start the car, until after a small child said a prayer, then it started right up.  One time I discovered our full tank of gas vanished, and I assumed somebody had siphoned our tank, but then discovered a small hole in the tank.  I fixed it with a metal screw and rubber washer.

One time I drove some coworkers and my boss to a dinner in this car.  Shortly after I got a nice raise at work.  I wonder if my boss felt pity, figuring I needed to buy a new car.  He was right, and in the summer of 1979 we splurged on a new VW Rabbit.  It was a very fun car to drive, with a 5-speed manual transmission, and used regular leaded gas, which was a big thing back in the days of OPEC and gas shortages.  It wasn’t quite so fun when our son Daniel applied some house paint to the car.

In late 1981 we traded for a new diesel Rabbit.

Suzanne accused me of going through a crisis turning 30 years old, but, while this diesel did get excellent mileage, it was a dog to drive.  0 to 60 in 3 minutes flat.  We made more than one trip from Idaho to California with three kids in the back seat and a luggage rack on top, driving through the night.  Near Hawthorne, NV, in the middle of the night our tank was near empty, and we crossed our fingers and kept driving.  We were fortunate to find an open station with diesel.  Another time we were just driving along not paying attention to the gas gauge, and approaching Lovelock, NV, we were shocked to notice we were empty, and pulled into a station as the engine coughed.  It was also in this car driving with the family to church on an icy winter morning we carefully approached a stop sign, and just slid right through the busy intersection, avoiding all the cross traffic.  Yikes!

The Chuck Wagon and these Rabbits were staples for our growing, young family, and they bring back numerous memories.

 

As a freshman I lived in the dorm at BYU.  Of the 50 or so students on my floor I could count on one hand the number who had cars.  Those were very popular guys, and it was a treat to go for a ride in a car (perhaps 8 of us packed into a sedan!), or, extremely rarely, to borrow and drive one.

My freshman year for Christmas break I rode a bus from Provo, UT, to my home in Riverside, CA.  It was memorable indeed to drive all that way through Utah and Nevada on clear, winter roads, only for the bus needing to stop and put on chains in the snow through Cajon Pass, just 25 miles from home.

For spring break I traveled to the Bay Area in California for my brother’s wedding, and was very fortunate that my parents let me take a near new Ford Pinto back to school with me (since I would be coming home from school in two short months).

That was a long (13+ hours) memorable drive, alone all across Nevada back to Provo, UT.  Now I was a popular guy around campus for those few short weeks.

A few years later it was this Pinto that we took on our honeymoon to San Diego and Anaheim.  Leaving the wedding reception on our honeymoon we were bumped from behind at at stop sign–the driver was probably distracted by all the decorations.

It was this same model Ford Pinto that later became infamous for the exploding gas tank in collisions.  We were fortunate not to be hit harder at that stop sign.

I learned to drive at age 15 to 16 with my parents’ 1966 Chevy Impala station wagon.  I also had early experience driving a VW Beetle with manual transmission, and I think even some time shifting three gears on the column with Dad’s 1953 Chevy.

I purchased my first car in 1968 for $200–money I earned working for McDonalds.  It was a 1961 Pontiac Tempest–a 4-cylinder automatic transmission, with the shifting lever on the dash.

(Those are my two younger brothers by the car.)

I took great pride of ownership in that car, waxing its blue paint to an impressive shine, and carefully wiping off the dust from parking in a dirt lot next to McDonalds.  It was a pretty reliable car for its time.  I only recall doing minor repair work on it, with help from my dad.  I learned how to change oil, replace brake pads, and a few other things, skills which I have put to good use over the years.  As I recall, it required premium gas, at a whopping 34 cents per gallon.

I don’t recall if it had seat belts.  Perhaps not, as that wasn’t a priority for cars in the early sixties.  I never had an accident in the car.

I drove the car to school each day my junior and senior years in high school.  It was a real luxury at the time to own and drive a car (as a teen).

Sadly, I left the car behind when I went off to college at BYU in 1970.

 

We enjoyed the company for Thanksgiving dinner of all our local family this year, 11 of us:

The food was plentiful and delicious.  

We were able to engage in a video chat with Teresa and her family in Idaho.  The time zones were too offset to connect with Bridget and her family in Finland, but we did get her blog post about their Thanksgiving.

Life is very good, and we certainly count our blessings.

Recently Intel announced they were enhancing their parental leave policy for new mothers, and fathers (including adoptions, not just newborns).  Mothers already had generous paid leave, but fathers now also get something like 8 weeks, anytime in the first year, to help around the house and bond with the new child.  Wow!  That is great to work for a forward thinking company like that.

And would have been even greater if it had happened a generation earlier when I had my five kids.  What a windfall that would have been.  (Suzanne laughs about the “bonding” and helping part, knowing that I would just use the time for recreation or whatever.)

But I did experience other wonderful improvements in the workplace.  For example, my father had big difficulties with heavy smokers in his workplace.  Never an issue in mine.  In fact, Intel “banishes” their smokers to a small, marked off area outside.  Perhaps it is my profession, but it has been rare for me to hear profanity at work.  There was a time early in my career, though, when it was tolerated for offices to have calendars with nude women pictured–and that was at HP, a very premier company.  I can’t imagine anything like that being allowed today.

Perhaps it is a mixed blessing, but it has been very convenient to work from home sometimes.  In my field I can login to my work, and even my test systems in the lab, all from home.  Many meetings are conference calls and can be taken at home.  The downside of this can be that you are never off work.  Our current project has team members in China and Poland, so somebody is working somewhere around the clock.  Many times I have been working with these folks late at night, or early in the morning.  I used to have access to my work email on my smartphone, which meant I was never off work.  I don’t do that anymore.  This situation is quite different from a few years before my time at Intel, when the company took attendance at 8:00AM, and you got “demerits” for arriving at work late.  Of course, nobody takes reverse attendance for everyone who routinely stays late.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my engineering career, and count my many blessings for the positive workplace experiences I have had.

Here is a clip from my all time favorite movie, Amadeus:

A year ago I received a new calling in my church congregation–ward choir director.

It is commonplace in our church, with its lay ministry, that we are called to various responsibilities for which we may not feel we have the talent, expertise, or experience.  But we do the best we can, and invariably learn and grow from the experience.  Such was the case with me, as I had never directed a choir, hardly ever led music.  Granted, I have sung in many choirs through the years, and have had numerous excellent role models as choir directors (including the current one for the Portland Choir and Orchestra).  It was made even more intimidating since I was replacing an excellent director with charisma, talent, and experience.

We have rehearsals each Sunday, and sing for the congregation once per month.  Then sing several numbers as part of the Christmas service.  I have had my ups and downs as far as directing the choir, and it is always a challenge to recruit choir members who will practice regularly.  But I have to say I have loved the music part of the calling.  And the performances have all been very good, even the times when I was quite worried we weren’t prepared well enough.

The clip above reminds me of my experience selecting the music for our Christmas program.  Our stake center has three very full filing cabinets full of sheet music for wards to check out, and I spent part of an afternoon there going through the Christmas section.  While I’m not that good at hearing the music and all the parts from reading the sheet music, it was a marvelous experience contemplating all the great music, and trying to limit my selection to four numbers.  Perhaps in a subsequent post I’ll review my selections–all wonderful arrangements of glorious Christmas music.

I just listened to an interesting podcast “Eye in the Sky” from Radiolab.

http://www.radiolab.org/story/update-eye-sky/

It talks about technology used in Iraq where a small plane flying above a city would take pictures every second.  Then when a bomb exploded they could go backward in time from the photos and track who placed the bomb, and then forward to follow where they went.  A special forces team could then go to that location to arrest the culprits.

Another example was related where the technology was used in Juarez, Mexico, where a police officer was ambushed and killed, the killers were tracked down, and a drug cartel was tracked and eventually busted.  This cartel had been responsible for over 1500 murders.

The technology was then offered to cities in the USA to help combat crime.  In Dayton, Ohio, it was considered but at a public hearing a vocal small minority opposed the plan and the city dropped the idea.  The major concern was potential government intrusion into privacy of the citizens.  Even the commentators for the podcast did not sound like they favored the idea.

I have to say I’m amazed by the objections.  Perhaps I’m too naive and trusting of government, but what’s not to like about this wonderful technology that, for a very low cost, could make dramatic progress in fighting crime?

Concerns were raised about violating rights of the people as per the Fourth Amendment:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

I think it would take a broad interpretation to say deploying this technology in our cities would violate this amendment.  But I suppose it could ultimately come down to a Supreme Court review to decide.  In the meantime, I bet cities would be very gun shy about civil suits as they consider it.  Such a shame.

 

I have hesitated writing a political post, as there is already too much of this out there in cyberspace.  But I, along with many others, will be glad to see the end of so much divisive, ugly campaigning.  Still, we live in a marvelous country where we are free to vote according to our conscience.

I’ve read numerous opinions in blogs, on Facebook, in newspapers/magazines, and in email.  I do see merit in the various arguments on both sides of the presidential race.  Though, I confess, I don’t care much for the too frequent dogmatic attitudes of “I’m right, you’re wrong”, or “I know/understand, you don’t”.  I have family and friends I think highly of on both sides, and I respect all their opinions.

I have long been politically conservative and a faithful Republican.  But I am dismayed at where the Republican party has steered recently, and especially with the man who heads the ticket this election.  I cannot vote for him.  I have strong objections to the person and the ideals of the Democratic nominee, and can’t vote for her.  In my state of Oregon my vote won’t matter, as it will go Democratic in any case, so I will write in a candidate.  Of the many articles I have read, perhaps this one (from an old college friend) best sums up my feelings (though I won’t be voting for McMullin):

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson/2016/11/why-i-intend-to-vote-for-evan-mcmullin-tomorrow.html

As for the Republican Party, I listened to a thought provoking This American Life (episode 600) podcast about how feelings on immigration have shaped this election, and the party.  This is perhaps a major reason Trump became the Republican nominee.

I think it is a basic human instinct to distrust and fear those who aren’t like ourselves–who look different, are a different color, dress differently, speak a different language, worship differently, etc.   Perhaps this trait is buried in our genes, from tribal warfare and survival instincts.  And there is still much of this in the world today.  We, in this melting pot of the USA, have both benefited from and struggled with immigration through our history.  Each immigrant group has encountered obstacles, and many continue to face them, though most assimilate and contribute to society over time (think Irish, Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc.).

While I have high respect for Islam as a religion, and Muslim people and communities I have come to know, I can understand reservations many have about increasing Muslim populations in their communities (and the nation).  We see terrorism, ISIS, 9/11, bombings in Europe, and much more due to radical Islam.  And it is natural to be alarmed when minority groups grow in size and begin “taking over” our schools and communities.  My Mormon ancestors were chased out of Missouri and Illinois, and became refugees for similar perceptions.

Still, I think we must rise above these baser instincts.  We in the USA must be better than that.  Here is a link to a short video in that regard:

 

It was just a couple of days ago I blogged about turning the corner to more winter-like fall weather.  But then came today!

I awoke to a foggy morning (and 63 degrees on our indoor thermometer), but later the sun emerged and a glorious day ensued.  I went out for a bike ride in my shorts and shirtsleeves.  Many trees were shedding their leaves, and many colors abounded everywhere.  And check out the 66 degrees!

We’ll get some rain tomorrow, but still, not a bad 7-day outlook for November.  Today was for bike riding and mowing the lawn, and just soaking in the fine weather.  I have to think we won’t see another day this nice until at least February, perhaps March.  At which point I will be exclaiming this is the nicest day of the year so far as we ramp back up the seasonal slope.

We humans are creatures of habit.  Our family has sat in the same church pew for a decade or two.  I will sit in the same classroom chair day after day.  We watch Masterpiece Theater every Sunday evening.  Etc., etc.  We have our routines that we like to stick to, and can feel a curve has been thrown at us when they are disrupted.  I suppose this is not a bad thing, so long as we aren’t stuck in a rut.

Take my typical weekday morning.  After rising from bed (not a predictable time, as my work start time is somewhat flexible, so it can depend on how I sleep that night) I will shower, dress, eat my breakfast cereal of Wheat Chex and granola (with in season fruit, such as strawberries or peaches), make my sack lunch (P&B on whole wheat, three slices, cherry yogurt, apple, carrots), and gather the newspaper daily puzzles (crossword, word jumble, and sudoku).

I usually don’t have time to finish the puzzles before I leave for work, unless I can race through the word jumble.  And sometimes Suzanne will leave a few blanks in the crossword for us to finish over dinner.  I jokingly refer to us having solved the world’s problems when we complete the puzzles.

Now that our daily newspaper is only delivered W-F-Sa-Su I have to go online and print the puzzles on M-T-Th.  So that has become part of my routine now.