Right place, right time

Everyone in the DC area noticed the severe storm that came through last Wednesday. I don't pay too much attention to the news, and even I heard about it enough in advance to be prepared. But when another severe storm came through on Saturday night, I hadn't been warned.

I was probably out of the loop because it was the weekend, and I had been focusing on other things. I had a day planned from the start to the end with fun and uplifting things to do. When the storm came, I was just about 10 miles north of my home, at the adult session of our stake conference. Afterward, I went out to eat with a few other young people. We only received very light rain, but did get to hear thunder and see some impressive lightning to the south. It was only when I got home that I realized how bad the storm had been. A huge limb was down, blocking half of the road into my neighborhood. As I turned onto my street, the usually beautiful tree lining both sides of the road and the median were missing several large limbs as well -- of course, they were on the street. The parking lot in my apartment complex likewise has a plentiful supply of trees, so there were many smaller limbs scattered all of the lot. Sirens could be heard throughout the neighborhood. I saw my neighbor on the way into my apartment, and he informed me that I missed out on 60 mph winds and coin-sized hail.

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I like to think that my car (and I, of course) was kept safe because I was in the right place.

Rocky Mountain Kai

Wow. Has it been a month already? I got pretty distracted.

One thing that has occupied my time and attention has been my goal to read a book every two months. I know that's not a very ambitious goal, but it's a big improvement over nothing. I never did report back on my January-February reading, but yes, I did complete The Numbers Behind NUMB3RS. Then I picked out a much longer book for March-April -- The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography (alternately subtitled The Secret History of Codes and Code Breaking). It seems the science field really loves its subtitles. Well, as April drew to a close, I knew I would not finish this book in time. However, I did finish, but May was half over before that time. Still, I'm not worried, because since then, I have read another book. While not fitting into my science/math theme, The Five People You Meet in Heaven was a great read.

That makes 3 books in less than five months, so I'm ahead of my goal. But I still have over a month left in this May-June period, so I won't be resting on my laurels. My bishop will be holding a discussion with all of the adult men of the ward in early June on the topic of the priesthood, and he will give out a copy of Men of Valor to each individual. To ensure participation in the discussion, the bishop has given some copies of the book to some of the brethren ahead of time. In light of another event (discussed below), I became one of these brethren. So I need to finish this book with a couple weeks. After that, I'll still be nearly a month ahead of schedule. Maybe I'll use that time to get a head start on another lengthy tome.

Another object of time and attention has been my new responsibilities at church. I was called to be the assistant ward clerk, and I was specifically given the responsibilities for finances. Now, I don't know the first thing about finances, but that's okay. My largest tasks are accounting for donations, reimbursing members for approved expenses, and handling fast offering assistance. Most of these are pretty straight forward in their own right; the difficult is documenting it all properly. It's all done electronically, and I'm no stranger to computers. But the church's computerized financial system is stranger than anything I've encountered before. I require help from my predecessor fairly often.

Last week I also had the opportunity to spend the better part of a week in Colorado Springs. My sister and her husband moved out there rather recently for his work. But the main reason for the visit was the first birthday of my only nephew (so far). Kai is an adorable one-year-old now. He walks with ever increasing confidence, but his shy speech betrays the engineering backgrounds of his father and uncle! His toy collection gathered several new, flashing, noise-making entries, and he made a mess of his birthday cupcake -- just the way a first birthday should be. While I was in town (accompanied by the proud grandparents), I also had the chance to see some of the sights. I spent time at the Air Force Academy, the Garden of the Gods, Cave of the Winds, and the Anasazi Cliff Dwellings. And what trip to Colorado Springs is complete without a meal and show at the Flying W Ranch? Despite the unpleasantness of the air travel (complete with restrictions that resulted in my mother's toothpaste being confiscated), in the end, it was a very fun trip.

Since I really should be working, I won't take the time right now to post pictures. But I'll put some up soon.

Update: The pictures are here! (Finally!)

Here's Kai with his mommy.

And his daddy.

Here's the chapel at the Air Force Academy. My parents got married in there.

It's quite beautiful inside!

It took me several tries to get my dad's camera to focus on the right thing here. This is the Siamese Twins formation at the Garden of the Gods framing Pike's Peak.

The Anasazi cliff dwellings.

And finally the Flying W Wranglers. Apparently a few of them are frequent champions with their respective instruments at national competitions!

Working? Hardly

In 1942, Britain realized they were short of staff at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. (The school was working on breaking the Enigma's encryption, a vital war effort.) So, they placed a crossword puzzle in the Daily Telegraph, and challenged readers to complete it within 12 minutes. 25 readers responded as having done so, were invited in, and were issued a second puzzle with the same time restriction. 5 completed the puzzle in the time frame, and a sixth had only one word remaining. All six were interviewed and recruited to the school.

So, does this mean that -- as long as I have no other tasks to perform -- I can do puzzles at work guilt-free?

Kiter's remorse

I tried flying my stunt kite today, because the wind was supposed to be 13 mph. However, my cheap, heavy kite can't fly in the wind unless it's steady, rather than gusty -- and it was gusty. (Actually, I stood out for several minutes, and only felt two gusts, and from vastly different directions. So sad.) :(

I think I might have to put this kite away for now, and reserve it strictly for beach use. However, I found this kite. It's flyable even in no wind (check out the video), and it's affordable! It also has short line, which is supposed to increase responsiveness and make tricks easier to learn. Maybe then I'll be able to do something with my other one when I take it to the beach. That's my hope, at least. (Even if I can't get it to do tricks, I can always put a tail on it and just do loops and turns, leaving a trail in the sky. I think that would look cool.)

I just need to get to the beach, so I can use that big (heavy) one. I've never been to beaches up here in Maryland -- either out at the eastern shore or the Chesapeake Bay. The bay is actually fairly close, while the eastern shore is about three hours out. But I don't know how the wind will be as good at the bay. Still, it should make a fun trip someday.

What do you think?

Volleyball keeps a dear school

Lessons learned from hours of volleyball on a Friday night:

1. Playing as a 5'5" hitter: humbling.
2. Playing as a setter in a 6-2: fun.
3. Playing as a setter in a 5-1: tiring.
4. Playing as a setter in a 4-1: awkward.
5. Playing for six hours: sore.