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(2) Tue Jul 20 2010 21:07 fit for accountants: Our newest campus hire started this week. He also just bought a house...in my neighborhood. His backyard is catty corner to my backyard. That makes 3 current Ernst & Young tax accountants on 3 consecutive streets. What is it about our neighborhood being so appealing to overworked, underpaid CPAs?

(7) Mon Jul 19 2010 08:23 many are called, but few are chosen: I spent last week in St Charles again, a quaint little town on the Fox River a stone's throw (45 miles) from Chicago. This time, instead of being trained, I did the training. I finally broke away from the facility this round, and perused the local city. I waited 45 minutes for my deep dish pizza, only to be extremely disappointed. It really was a pie! Problem is, I don't like pie. I prefer NY style pizza, though I've had the experience now at least.

My coworker and I walked home from the pizzaria. It was dusk, we walked through a cemetary, with fireflies to light the way. And we see a deer hiding behind a masoleum. It was a nice walk.

I also rented a bike and perused the river trail. Man, what they call rivers back East equates to a lake in these parts! It was huge, with motor boats and steamboats sailing up and down. It was nice to get away and forget my woes.

I found out, while in Chicago, that my visa is, well, not approved, but not rejected. Apparently I'm not a known terrorist to the Indian government, but simply a byproduct of the beuracratic system. My paperwork took a standard extra 4 weeks, no one cares, and there you have it. But they promised to issue my visa within the next two weeks. India will come, in it's own time.

I'm depressed to turn 30 in the states, but such is life.

We spent the weekend in Park City at Justin's condo. Having not visited Park City in the summertime, we didn't realize the condo has no A/C. We won't make that mistake again. But we went swimming at the clubhouse pool, and the kids had a ball.

We also went to the Canyon's and rode the gondola and the ski lift to the top of the mountain for a nice jaunt. We ended up hiking 3.5 miles, not by choice. After being thoroughly exhausted from our hike, we were informed that the ski lift only goes up! We were forced to walk all the way back down to the gondola. But it was a nice escape from the 100+ degree weather here in the valley.

I'm really not looking forward to turning 30.

(1) Mon Jul 12 2010 08:50 on the train: Today the lady next to me was putting her makeup on while on the train. I don't know if it was the jostling of the train, or a personal preference, but I think she looked better without the makeup. She put on way to much eye shadow, and her powder puff ball went everywhere.

I'm heading to Chicago again this week. I guess the firm feels bad at their lack of efficiency in procuring my visa. So instead of training the Indian new hires, now I will train the US new hires instead. They get younger every year.

Fri Jul 09 2010 15:14 customer servant: I called Amex today to get a new credit card. Credit cards have a tendency to break easily in my wallet; they always get a crease down the magnetic strip that wears out over time. I've found that putting them in my wallet upside down helps, but I digress.

At the end of the call, the customer service representative thanked me for being a customer who consistently pays my bills on time. I didn't know what to say, other than "I don't know why you would thank me for that; doesn't paying my bills on time mean your company doesn't make money off me?" She laughed, I think because I am a customer, and I then caught myself and thanked her for appreciating my ability to be a responsible adult. But the comment really caught me off guard at first.

Fri Jul 09 2010 08:35 early or late?: Dalton has sprouted his first tooth! I guess I consider him early, since Maggie didn't sprout a tooth until she was 13 1/2 months old. But technically the 7-month mark is average tooth sprouting, so I guess he's late.

It's good Maggie was a late developer, because I don't worry about the Dalton milestones so much.

Sun Jul 04 2010 20:41 our curse: Our family decided to take a last minute trip to Vernal, UT to visit Dinosaur National Park. Vernal is about a 3-hour drive from SLC, with the first half of the trip providing beautiful scenery, and the last half of the trip providing scenery that could give Nevada competition for its ugliest scenic highway and byway distinction.

Upon arriving at our hotel, we were showered with the only baby crib in the joint. Unfortunately, it is missing a wheel. We pulled out the other 3 to make it balance; what else could we do? The one time we travel without our crib, and this is what we get. Lesson learned.

Saturday night we went hiking in a place about 10 miles north of Vernal to see some petroglyphs. We ate dinner there, which consisted of things we could eat that we found at the grocery store. Maggie ate an apple, Dalton ate baby food, Susie and I shared a salad, and I ate a nectarine. Incidentally, I would suggest this activity for anyone seeking a fun, cheap date. Give yourself ten minutes at the grocery store to make dinner you can eat at the park. Most deli sections provide free plasticware; however, if you pick anything juicy, like a nectarine, best also pick up some baby wipes.

The petroglyphs were pretty neat looking. Maggie hiked the entire trail, 1 mile, with many steep parts, and seemed to enjoy looking at the drawings.

Today was THE day. We started with continental breakfast, which was basically code for one waffle iron to be shared among the 50 guests at our hotel. Then we went to Dinosaur National Monument, the UT side, and saw some dino bones still buried deep in the rock. Maggie really enjoyed this! Then we hiked into a box canyon where a lady lived by herself in a log cabin from 1870-1950 something.

Next we drove into Dinosaur National Monument in CO, where, oddly enough, there are no dinosaur fossils! We enjoyed the 31-mile drive to see some pretty spectacular scenery, but alas, as always happens, we ran into a huge rain storm that dropped the temperature from the 80's down to a balmy 45 degrees. So no more hiking for us at this point. Every time we venture out, it rains. I guess that's why Bangalore won't have us; what do they need with more rain? At any rate, I've now been to CO! Maggie was deputized as a paleontologist and Dalton was deputized as a jr ranger. Maggie was given a Boy Scout iron-on badge and Dalton got a pin-on badge that, though pinned to his shirt, still somehow made its way into his mouth.

For dinner we chanced upon a chinese buffet where, for only $20, we ate every American Chinese dish known to man, also ate mac and cheese, jello shots for the kids, ice cream, Mongolian BBQ, and pudding!

The best part of this trip came during mile 89 of our trip today. I heard nothing but laughing and giggling from the backseat of the car. Maggie and Dalton were playing together and it was awesome. They'll be great playmates soon, if we can get them to share.

Tomorrow we will hit the actual dinosaur museum, and stop to pose with the 50+ kitschy statuettes of dinosaurs that adorn the town. The largest one, a T-Rex, has taken Sam Eagle's place. He is spouting Uncle Sam clothing and has two large USA banners adorning his left and right flanks. I'd love to see how they dress him up for the other holidays!

I would love to escape life one day and live in a small town like this. But not this one. My allergies have been unkind to me since we got here.

(1) Wed Jun 30 2010 07:37 travel pool: Was supposed to leave for India yesterday....not in the cards I guess...the other coach left yesterday.

At least I got to meet my new niece Kyli Rae!

Now that she is born, we can forget the baby pool and move onto a travel pool. Currently taking bids on our actual depart date for the skinny mango....my guess is July 17.

Fri Jun 25 2010 21:43 letting it all out: Maggie is obsessed with that idiotic new show Wipeout. She calls it the owchie show and asked to watch it tonight. It's not on Friday, so we watched it online. She likes it so much she refused to take a potty break, instead peeing on my lap so she could continue watching the show. End result: no more show. That's bad behavior, and the show is horrid.

I wonder what she likes about it? Are the geniuses behind the show aware of its pull on toddlers?

Thu Jun 24 2010 20:41 robert frost: I took an evening stroll today, with only the lightning bugs to light my way.

Wed Jun 23 2010 17:35 steak and eggs: It's tornado-ing in the vicinity all week. The nearest shelter to my training room is the men's room. Yeah, that's where I want to hudddle with 30 coworkers; in a tres fragrant room. At least it's functional, I suppose.

The food here isn't terrible, and the exercise facility is fab. But I'd rather be home.

(2) Thu Jun 17 2010 16:12 in His hands: Moving out of my house tomorrow. Still to green light from the Indian consulate. Basically, we are going to be living on faith that we won't be homeless for too long. I'm told the last coach got the green light two days before they wanted him there; he technically made it on time because of that.

Going to IL all next week for training. Looks like, one way or another, I'm going to be living out of suitcases for the next month at least.

Sun Jun 13 2010 17:37 wishful thinking: I really wish my local ward would check their politics at the door when they come to church. There's a new 's' word in town....

(5) Sun Jun 13 2010 09:49 5-year blur: I received accolades recently for my 5-year anniversary with EY. To reward me, I was allowed to choose a gift. The gift choices included a toaster, a waffle iron, some jewelry, an MP3 Player, etc. All interesting choices as a way to celebrate 5 years of service. I chose a suitcase, since it'll come in useful on our move.

Can't wait to see how I'll be rewarded for 10 years of service. Perhaps I'll get a tie rack!

(2) Sun Jun 13 2010 09:15 lost and found: I was invited on Monday to a reunion of Vocal Ensemble, an elite group of the top 28 voices in my high school. Twelve years down the road, I must admit, I was not good at keeping in touch with any of the old clan. I had moved on, and had reservation about attending the event last night.

Also, I apparently was missing. No one could find me. They finally tracked me down in the nick of time for the reunion. I had no idea I was missing. Apparently not having a Facebook makes it easy for one to go missing.

Anyway, Susie had a piano recital, so I took the kids and went. I made a goal to talk to everybody and not just my old clan of friends. I had a really nice time. I must have been missed, not having been at any previous gatherings, due to being lost, because people were also interested in my kids. A handful of people complimented them thoroughly. And I've learned that it's a huge deal when you can eke out a compliment from those who already have multiple kids of their own. Jana in particular was enthralled with Dalton and held him for about half of the time I was there.

Also, apparently the past 12 years have been good to me. Several people told me they didn't recognize me and thought I was the spouse of a female VE alumna.

I've avoided high school reunions because I didn't want to relive any popularity contests or engage in a debate as to who had spent the past 12 years in the greatest endeavors; but this gathering wasn't like that at all. Everyone was very complimentary of each other and genuinely interested in each others lives. I think I'll continue to avoid the reunions, however. As mentioned above, this group was the cream of the crop; I guess I shouldn't be that surprised how nice everyone was.

(1) Sat Jun 05 2010 09:26 today and beyond: Packing and boxes, boxes and packing. That's pretty much the life right now. We move in two weeks, though our visas are still in limbo. I guess our stay at the 'rents house will be longer than we thought. I hope they don't mind; I already know we mind. As much fun as it is to be delayed and living out of a suitcase is, I'd rather be on my merry way.

Yesterday I was running late to a meeting in Farmington and so of course I got pulled over for speeding. The officer didn't give me a ticket, however! He said thanks for being honest about speeding and let me go on my way.

I'm reading the Hunger Game series and can't put them down.

Sat May 29 2010 14:19 for the dead: Yesterday we went to Provo. We hiked up to the top of the Y on the mountain. Maggie first thought we had chanced upon snow; she never really seemed to internalize that we were indeed atop the big Y on the mountain she pines for so often. It was a very strenuous hike and gave me blisters. It also gave me heart attacks watching kids climb all over it like it was a ride at an amusement park. The Y is very unstable and at a very steep grade. But I guess when you have 10 kids, what's the difference if one falls off?

After we had lunch at Hogi Yogi and then onto visit Roy & Frances. Maggie got a time out at the cemetary, but Dalton was having fun eating the plastic fork I brought to stick Dalton's homecard i luv you card into the grass. For once, the tombstone was actually clean of debris!

Today we went to the Lehi Cemetary with Grandma June. She pondered having her name on a tombstone while I dug around Grandpa to plant some fountain grass. I told Grandma it blooms like wheat and she was so impressed I knew how to use a shovel. I had to carfully plant the night-lights on the edge of the fountain grass so it won't get mowed over. Hopefully I built a sufficient bumper around the plant. We also put down some daisies and a note from Maggie on Grandpa's grave.

Grandma was thrilled that we brought her a nice, comfy, padded folding chair to sit on and a blanket to snuggle with Dalton (it's windy and 50 degrees outside in our anti-spring world here) but unfortunately, what with all the grandma-planning, we forgot the camera.

Next we went to American Fork cemetary to visit Grandma and Grandpa Chadwick's gravesite. Good thing Grandma June came with us; she remembered where it was, next to the bench, as I couldn't for the life of me remember where they were buried; I don't think I've been to visit them in 7+ years. We also gave them some daisies and a card made with love by Dalton.

Lastly we took Grandma to Zupa's for lunch, on us, for a change. She not only ate her entire bowl of soup, she also ate a whole piece of bread and two of our chocolate-dipped strawberries. She would have eaten all three but I wouldn't let her eat Maggie's. Then we played at Grandma's house for a while and now we are at home resting from our day of the dead excursions.

(3) Thu May 27 2010 16:45 Happy Days: I don't have to go back to work until June!

Today I worked from home, and Dalton kept pulling on my mouse cord, so I unplugged the mouse and let him play with it, as using the mouse pad on the laptop was less annoying than the constant tugging. Now my mouse won't work. I guess that's what I get.

Susie and I watched "Seven Pounds" last night and it was fine, but I'd never watch it again; it's too depressing. But I think we should subject teenagers to watching it, because it shows what comes of texting. As the news reported here in UT, texting is the leading cause of teenage deaths. I think they mean texting while driving; otherwise, I'm very confused. I also assume the title of the movie has reference to Shakespear's "Merchant of Venice" but who can say?

Other new haps including packing up all our belongings and placing them into one room in the house, watching Rachel book tickets to India while we still sit on the sidelines, and preparing for our yearly jaunt to Provo tomorrow to visit Frances, Roy, and the Y on the mountain.

(2) Thu May 20 2010 16:58 Maggie Funnies: Maggie: Who's at the door?

Me: It's nobody.

Maggie: It's yes-body.

I think I hate weedwhacking more than anything else in life.

Wed May 12 2010 07:58 never more: They have turned off the white noise at work (though the intent for such action is unknown; I suspect it's broken, given our history with the management company here). It is eerily quiet and I can hear phone conversations across the cube banks. That means my phone conversations are no longer private. What to do?

Anyone else ready for 'Lost' to be done?

(2) Tue May 11 2010 13:29 doing without: I have determined that wallets, keys, and cell phones are extremely hard on dress pants. As such, I am scaling back on wearing such items. I keep my keys in my briefcase on work days and only wear them on weekends. I keep my wallet in my briefcase on weekdays and just leave it in the car on weekends (out of sight of course).

The phone is harder to part with, however.

I don't miss the key lines on my pants or the rate at which a wallet rips a whole near the back pocket. I think I'm truly onto something here.

Sun May 09 2010 20:29 where have all the 5K's gone?: I am running a 5K in Draper in two weeks to support a Draper City police officer with a rare kind of cancer that, shock, his insurance won't cover. I heard about this 5K in the Draper paper. Also included in the paper were adds for Bake Sales to cover medical costs for people that have pre-existing conditions not covered by their insurance. Alas, every page of the paper was covered with sob stories.

So, for all the faults of the health care bill, one question looms large: when everyone is taken care of, what will we run for? Or bake for? Indeed.

(3) Sat May 01 2010 11:49 wearing genes: Dalton appears to be his daddy's boy. He's an early riser like me, which is great on the weekends. I get to snuggle him in a nice quite house, while mommy and her little protege Maggie sleep in.

It's raining today, ruining my plans for a nice run and marathon day of yard work. When we told everyone in CA we were moving to UT, they all told us we'd miss the weather. But you only have one season in CA, I'd mention. Sure it's awesome, but it's all the same. But UT only has two, they'd retort. Too hot and too cold. Tis true; spring and fall seem to be nonexistent. How did I not notice this growing up? At least it never snows in May in India!

Today, instead, I get to help someone move and go to a boring church meeting. At least next week's work schedule is somewhat promising: I'll be in Dallas for training and can enjoy a nice, quiet hotel room for some relax time.

I finished Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" this week. Dreadful. His books really are all the same. Though the more I think of it, I really disagree with Joseph Walch that he's anti-Christian. I think the point he's trying to convey is that all religious and social milieu can be traced back to one beginning; this explains the similarities. Which one is still pure (if any) and which have been corrupted is the question. But regardless, focusing on the similarities in the world's cultures is the right thing to do. Enough pontificating; regardless of the message, the book was still horrid.

(2) Wed Apr 28 2010 19:21 and stuff: I am selling my gold Ford Escort to my nephews Chad and Justin. What the state is thinking allowing these hoodlums to drive is beyond me. But what can you do? My sister needs another car and I figured, since I don't need mine for the next year, why not? She's been a grand car (my car, not my sister). I got her about a week after my mission. So here we are, 9 years later, 85K miles later. I searched high and low for the title but cannot find it. But apparently in UT I can still sell it without it, by, you'll never guess...filling out extra paper work for the state to process!

Upon looking for the title, I ran across a black and white photo of Leonard and Susie circa 1985. Leonard's shirt says "Have a Smurfy Day!" I'm curious how to accomplish this. I have a feeling, based on the picture on the shirt, that it involves taking a nap on a cloud that has a rainbow on top. Yeah, I could use that right about now. I've always wanted to use the word circa in a sentence.

We're also renting our house while we are gone. Between a forgone car, packing up the house, getting immunized (did that Monday), etc, things are starting to come together.

Sun Apr 25 2010 10:37 as the old saying goes: "If you don't like the weather in UT, move to California wait 5 minutes!"

We just got back from our 4-day jaunt to Southern UT and had a blast. Below is the play by play, interspersed with doses of Maggie cuteness:

1. Wednesday it poured buckets of rain on us the entire drive there. Not fun. Parts of the 15 now allow you to do 80 mph (they call them experimentation zones, though what they are experimenting with seems to be human fatality statistics) but I opted to go 70 mph the whole way, what with the rain and all. I was pretty uncomfortable with the number of cars whizzing past me.

2. We checked into our hotel at Ruby's that advertised a lakeview and actually gave it to us. The room was fab, especially because the fridge was huge and fit all our food. This saved me from having to hassle with excess food in the cooler and multi-day ice bucket runs.

3. Having dealt with adverse weather before (ie the entire 10 days in Yellowstone, multiple rainy trips to the cabin), we decided to hike to Mossy Cave in the hail Wed night. Unlike the trips above, we were prepared with umbrellas, about 10 different coats, 10 pairs of gloves, hats, scarves, etc so the hike was fine. And the nice thing about the Southern UT soil is that the dirt doesn't turn into quite the mud we experience hiking in the rain at the cabin. We had extra towels for the car to keep it clean.

4. Back to Mossy Cave. It was still frozen! I have a picture of my last trip there, circa 1989, and Jodi and I were climbing in it. No more. It now is fenced off.

5. TH morning we got up and headed off to Sunrise point. It was 27 degrees per the RAV 4, but only seriously only felt like it was maybe in the 40s. I couldn't even see my breath. I'm not sure how temperatures work there, but it never felt as cold as it said it was. We hiked down into Bryce Canyon among the hoodoos and the tunnels in the cliffs and Maggie loved it. We kept pace with an older couple from Upstate NY. They couldn't believe we kept up with them with kids in tow. I couldn't believe they kept up with us. We are used to 8000 foot elevation hiking; they are not. They were good company. The switchback out of the canyon was tough, as it was rather muddy and each step had to be pulled out of the clay. But we did it!

6. FR was a nightmare. It was supposed to be warmer than TH but was way worse. We took the 18-mile path to Rainbow point, elevation 9115 feet, to do a simple 1-mile loop hike at Bristlecone to see the fetrified forest. We finally found the trail, after endless searching, when we realized it was buried beneath our feet about 3 feet below the snowpack. Why the damned park website couldn't simply tell me any hike at the south end would be impassible until June is beyond me, but that's the government for you. We spent a good 15 minutes getting all bundled up and situated in the hiking carriers only to go back to the car and unbundle. Poor Dalton was sleeping too. The rest of the drive was bitterly cold, so we saw what we could through the car windows. Maggie entertained us by playing with her My Little Ponies in the backseat. They were talking about snow, hiking in Bryce Canyon, that one has a unicorn horn and one doesn't, etc.

7. We arrived back at our room around 12:30 to find it still unmade, so we went swimming. It was awesome! We had the pool to ourselves. Maggie is still very apprehensive about swimming but finally let us teach her a few things. Every time we asked her to do something, she'd say "I would not could not" to quote a verse from Sam-I-am. Dalton seemed to enjoy swimming in the spa where the water was warmer. Maggie kept throwing his toys in the water and we had to fish them out before they sank to the bottom.

8. Getting back to our room at 2:30, it still wasn't made! The maid was one door away so we had to leave again but it was so depressingly cold and windy outside. So we drove and drove and drove. First on the 12 through Tropic, then through another small nameless town, for a sign to Escalante and Kodachrome. We ended up in the middle of nowhere at Kodachrome state park. It was warmer and we had sunshine down there (at only 5800 feet) so we paid the $6 and went it. We had a great time. They have some paved walks so Maggie could finally run around. I'm glad we decided to try this park. We also saw the Escalante trail, and I really wanted to do it, but it's a dirt road down to the grand canyon and it was getting dark. We'll have to research it and try it another time.

9. SAT was finally warmer! But we were still mad at Bryce Canyon so we checked out and played in Red Canyon. We did two hikes with a couple from France who had a 5-year old boy. It was finally warm enough to eat outdoors so we had a picnic on our hike and it was fabulous. 50 degrees is perfect hiking weather when you are toting kids around. We finally had blue skies as well.

10. We opted to go home on the 89, which was awesome because it was deserted. We went through Circleville, where Butch Cassidy's sister lives, and stopped at Big Rock Candy Mountain, which is possibly the lamest pit stop known to man. There was no candy to speak of, just a diner full of old people. I told Susie I would never spend the night there, as it feels like one of those places populated by pod people.

11. We ate out twice. Once at McD's on the way down, mostly because I needed out of the rain and Maggie needed to release some energy in a play place. The other was at the Ruby's restaurant. For $18/person, it's not worth it. None of the food there is worth it, as Lonely Plant aptly pointed out to us. So I'm glad we took our own food. We had Naked Juice, pop tarts, hummus, chips, a 5 lb bag of Sour Patch Kids, and croissant sandwiches to tide us over. We ate well on our own.

12. Maggie is a good sport and loves hiking, though she always tries to get us onto paths that are the wrong way or don't exist. Dalton still dislikes hiking. He's the most content when we are all corralled in the hotel room and he has a full bed to himself to play on. Maggie also liked staying in the hotel because it has cable so we let her watch Playhouse Disney in the mornings while we got ready.

13. Both kids were so good in the car we hardly needed the portable DVD player. Dalton slept the whole way home, including during our entire stop at Cove Fort. It was a slow day at the fort and we were accosted by missionaries within minutes of our arrival.

14. We passed a place near Richfield called Fremont Indian Reserve that is hiking to caves with Native American Carvings. I'm very intrigued and know what our next day trip will be!

15. Lonely Plant doesn't always get it right. They think all Mormons are gay-bashers (they're only partly right) and that Mitt Romney was governor of UT. But their facts about the parks themselves tend to be more correct.

16. Maggie kept calling our hotel a cabin and said she liked Grandma's cabin better. I think she misses the pool table.

17. We bought two souvenirs: a yellow Smokey the bear shirt for Maggie and Dalton and a puzzle of Bryce Canyon. Maggie spotted it within seconds of entering the VC. That and the face cards (or matching as she calls it). I told her she needs to wear the Smokey shirt for Uncle Brook. Smokey and two bear cubs are putting out a fire. Maggie says "where did the fire go" so I showed them it was put out with water. We want no fire in the mountains I told her. "No fire in the mountains, only letters" she says. I later noticed it says "Only you can prevent forest fires" on the bottom of the shirt.

18. Everytime we saw hoodoos and arches, Maggie would point out the hole. "Who put the hole there?" I would ask here. "Collette did it," she says. I guess it's along a similar vein to who let the dogs out.

19. Maggie is fascinated with the letters on the mountain. She really wants to find an M. Just before Big Rock Candy joke is a town of 12 called called Marysville. They may not have running water, or indoor plumbing, but they have the prettiest M on the mountain! Maggie was thrilled.

20. We noted we were out hiking on Frances's 58th birthday. We think we paid decent homage to her by taking our kids out to find America, though we did avoid KOA.

(1) Thu Apr 15 2010 07:50 thus it ends: And the best part is, I'm skipping the next busy season! Mr Chadwick, you just survived 5 years in public accounting, working enough overtime to make it the equivalent of 6 years in any other job.....what are you going to do next?

I'm moving to India!