cc: file, Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, and Maxine Shirts
"Christmas week 2002 was busy and full of family. I guess there can never be too much of this type of familiy time for me. It would have been nice to have had even more kid and grandkid time. It was especially noticable to me, and I'm sure to Andrea, that Audrey and Heather were not here. Oh well! I expect the times to be far between and few when we will be able to enjoy everyone's company. Maybe this is why I take so many digital photos.
I do have some disk space and time issues, and so I have not downloaded all of the digital pictures taken during the week. Paul taught me how to show them on the television. So when you next visit we can all look at them if you want. Someday I will get caught up with moving all of the photos to the web. One of the issues is they need to be put in a database, and I don't have a database set up for photos. I have attempted to include a photo of everyone who visited sometime during the week either in the previous Thoughtlet (0251.html), this one, or the next one (../0301.html).
This was the last year the blue recliner was in the room when we opened presents. However, we really didn't switch around and have people sit in it to open their presents. Because it is broken it was too hard to get into and out of. The following photos kind of summarize the morning:
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| Paul, Kate, and Matt on the couch opening presents. | Rachel showing off her mask from Nigeria. |
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| Rob after hooking up the DVD player we got as our big present. | Sara playing with Colby. |
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| Melanie and Jared showing off their tablecloth from Nigeria. | Andrea and Grant after watching Roice get his Chinese top to fly above the magnet.. |
 | A closeup of the top flying above the magnet. |
It was interesting that the magnets with tops that float above them, which Andrea, Matt, and I picked up in Beijing, seemed to be the hit present of the day. Roice told us the guys at his work spent several hours working with them. They found there is a 2 minute boundary where the tops fall because of air friction. They had competition to see who could keep the top spinning the longest. Ben and Sarah were down at Galveston with her family, and I never did hear how his magnet and top went over. Paul was frustrated with it. Rob got his to work pretty good and lost some of the parts. Roice domineered everyone. It was all part of the day.
On Thursday, December 26th, Paul got up and took Matt to the park by Nottingham Elementry to participate in the 17th annual Turkey Bowl with Chris Schmidt. The stories they came back with were really funny. Paul had all of these kids hanging onto him and he dragged them through the mud. One of the Stevens kids dropped the ball and Paul just picked him up and carried him down the field for a touchdown. After which he did a dance in the end zone. I didn't go because I had PetroChina work to do and because I always have got hurt or broke my glasses when I went. That evening I went out with the missionaries, and one of them had a brace on his finger because he had pulled his finger out of joint the same way I did back in 1998 (see ../9842.html for an X-Ray of my finger). Chris Schmidt limped into church still carrying his wounds the following Sunday. The missionaries mentioned others who stopped play because they were hurt. I felt justified in not going, and I was really glad Paul was here and took Matt down. Matt had a really good time. I enjoyed going out with the missionaries. We taught Stephen and Sharon again. They have a good spirit in their home.
Anyway, as mentioned in the previous Thoughtlet (0251.html), we watched a lot of movies over the holidays. And I picked the 11 I had ticket stubbs for or remembered watching on TV, and have written up my top 11 movies of the holidays in 2002. Hope you enjoy it and find something useful in the comments.
| #11 | Platoon: TV 01Jan03 I grew up in the Viet Nam era. I did not go to this movie in the theaters because it was R-Rated. Never sure how much they cut out of movies when they clean up the language and some of the other stuff. Brought back lots of emotions tied to the war, even though I was not in the armed services. |
| #10 | Catch Me If You Can: 28Dec02 Reminded me of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Cute movie, glamorizing theft and immorality. My friend Paul Sovelious walked on several planes during this same time period, and it was not pretty what the military did to him when he was caught. It was neat that they showed the root causes of this type of activity, stressed that you always get caught, and showed how someone can contribute to society after turning around. |
| #9 | Maid in Manhatten: 03Jan03 Cute show. Very up, and very much showing how there is nothing holding us back except ourselves. Like much of today's society it was based on unbridled sexual activity, and mirrors what the news has to say about the star, Jennifer Lopez. |
| #8 | Two Weeks Notice: 28Dec02 Seemed like an advertisement for some of the radical environmental stuff that goes on these days. Hugh Grant was easy to dislike as the self-absorbed industrialist. I have met folks who fit the mold presented by the lead characters, and it seemed like a feasible story. |
| #7 | Star Trek Nemesis: 24Dec02 I've been a Star Trek fan since it first came out. Maybe I'm getting older, or maybe the genera has become to common. It is hard for me to believe I am ranking a new Star Trek movie as #7. And I am. |
| #6 | Rabbit Proof Fence: 04Jan03 Another example of the impact of do-gooders, presented from the point-of-view of those who are hurt by others determining what is best for them. Couldn't help but think about the Indian Village in Cedar City all the time I was growing up. Also about Tony Largo (a Navajo indian in my High School class) and the Indian Placement Program. This is a good movie, and I encourage each of you to seek it out. |
| #5 | Star Wars II - Clone Wars: TV 26Dec02 Rachel gave Matt this movie on Video. I, like many of you, love this spaceship, special effects type of show. |
| #4 | Raiders of the Lost Ark: TV 04Jan03 What a great movie. It came on last night and I was carving with my new knives and ended up rewatching it again. Action, good guy hero, and fun story with multiple levels of meaning. It pleases me to know Paul tells folks he grew up as the Young Indiana Jones. Guess I associate myself with the archealogist. |
| #3 | Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring: TV 25Dec02 It is a little violent, and the gouls are bad and ugly. They are suppose to be. This is the first DVD movie we have bought, and like any good story with multiple levels of meaning it is good to watch it every once and a while. I am convinced Tolkein was not only creating a mythology for the English, he was telling the story of World War II and the corruption of power in a understandable way. |
| #2 | Lord of the Rings - The Twin Towers: 27Dec02 What a great movie. I was enthralled the whole time. It has been years since I read the books, and the movie seems as good or even better than the images I created in my mind as I read. I'm looking forward to all three being finished, and when my Grandsons are about 12 years old, setting up a large screen and spending a full day immersed in Tolkein's story. |
| #1 | Evelyn: 01Jan03 Andrea wanted to go to this. I wasn't so sure I would like it. Maybe I associated with the hero. Maybe it was the humanity and frailty of the hero and how he improved over time. However, I expect it was the love he had for his kids. It always looks better in the movies than it is in real life. Especially with step-kids. However, I hope all ten of you and Bridget can come to know this is how I feel about each of you. I strongly encourage each of you to go see this movie. |
When I went to the airport to pick up Andrea on Sunday evening I got mixed up on the times. I arrived about 45 minutes early, and since I didn't have anything with me to do, I went to the bookstore, broke the sabbath, and bought a Tom Clancy Op-Center novel. It was called `Mission of Honor' and was set in Botswana, South Africa. I have read several of these novels, and other than the language, I have quite enjoyed them. Always feel like I learn something new. In this case it was about the influence of the Catholic Church in Africa. It is interesting that on the way home from the airport Jude called and he was quite upset with how I had `held him hostage' to get my last retainer payment. We had a good two hour conversation about this on Monday this week, and hopefully things are on track. If Emerald actually is funded, there should be no problem. If not, I anticipate a parting of the ways. If this happens it will be sad, both from a friendship and financial standpoint. Hopefully their funding will come through. He expects to know about the time I get back from China. I did read the whole 400 some page book over Christmas week. It is kind of like a movie, and I would rank it at 6.5.
Besides time with you kids, a highlight of the week for me was to be a witness at the baptism of one of the girls Matt and I Home Teach. This was Sunday evening the 29th. Karina Marie Riches baptism was special. I especially liked the song she asked everyone to sing after her baptism and prior to her confirmation:
This is definitely a better message than the book or any of
the top 11 movies of the holidays."