cc: file, Andrea, Tony Hafen, Sara and Des Penny, & Maxine Shirts
"Monday, July 12th, 2004 we got a call on my cell phone from Paul. Ella Dawn was born at 6:27 PM. She weighed 8 pounds and 15 ounces and was 21 inches long. Kate was induced at 9:30 AM, and had a long hard labor. The epidural did not take, and it punctured the spinal column so she had spinal headaches for about a week after the birth. This was the big news this week, and yet, as a 5 times Grandpa, I'm sure I will be talking about Ella Dawn a lot over the coming years, and so I decided to title this Thoughtlet, which is a week-over-due, by the major activity of the week, namely the Shirts Reunion in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho.
Also, there were two things I forgot to include at the end of the last Thoughtlet I wrote, which I want to include at the first of this one. The last Thoughlet concerned the death of Charles Caron (0428.html). I wrote a possible stanza for Prime Words based on Bishop Camp's quote of Neal A. Maxwell (a) and from comments by Shane Gillette (b), who was the key speaker at the funeral:
Second, during our conversation with Wesley Staheli when
we went to lunch and over to Cynthia Songster's house in
the evening, we learned that they have never found Todd
nor Michelle's wills. I suggested it would be a good
idea to have a secure offsite location for each of you
to keep your wills and other valuable papers, and
volunteered to keep a copy here. I do hope each of you
will take the time and pay the money to put together a
valid will, and that you will place it in a secure place,
and possibly have a copy in a second secure place, in
case of fire or other destruction of the primary documents.
THIS IS IMPORTANT! If death can come unexpectedly to
Todd Staheli, Michelle Staheli, and Charles Caron, there
are none of us immune, and we should prepare our estates.
As to more enjoyable aspects of life, let me write a little bit about the Shirts reunion in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. Russell and Marilyn were not able to join us. However, they called and passed on thoughts via the phone. Steve and Jill, Robert and Janet, Andrea and myself, and Randy and Kathryn all like to be around each other. And, of course, Grandma Shirts was there, and she continues to be another mother for me. We had a good time together, and it is safe to say everyone is looking forward to when we get together again.
Audrey, thanks! Your mom and I were able to attend because of the discounted airline passes we get as part of your job. Sometimes it feels like you are trying to pay us back for what little help we were able to give you towards your college expenses. I hope this is just my perception and that it is just a misguided perception. If there is some truth to it, please put this aside and accept what little we were able to do with the love and as the gift intended. My Mom often said I have what she called a Savior-complex, and that I'm always trying to save the world. Please see the positive side of what I'm attempting to write. What we have been able to provide is a free gift, a poor attempt to emulate how our real Savior freely gave His life as a gift for each of us.
So Monday morning we got up early and drove to IAH Airport. We were able to get on the flight to Salt Lake City with no problem. Matt had a regular ticket, and so, of course, he was not worried about missing his connection. However, if he made it and we didn't, then Randy and Kathryn were going to meet him in Spokane and drive him 30 miles to Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. Turned out we were able to get on the plane in Salt Lake also, and all three of us made it to Spokane with no problem. Andrea had a rental car with Enterprise. But they were out of the size and ended up giving us an upgrade. It was a nice car. We got to Robert and Janet's house about 5:00.
After the pleasantries, we went out on Robert's new deck. It is made with a new composite material called TREX - a combination of sawdust and plastic. Really impressive material. Needs no maintenance, looks and acts like wood, and is stronger than wood. I was fascinated with it, and it gives me the urge to get after my new kind of city.
Robert and Janet's son Jeff was working at a new job until 11:00 PM. Matt stayed at the house so he could hang out with Jeff. Andrea and I stayed at a Marriott Fairfield Inn. When Randy and Kathryn drove up they noticed a big dent on the rear driver's side of our rental car. I hadn't seen it when we picked up the car, and the only thing we could think was that it happened when we parked at the hotel. Andrea was worried it was going to cost us $500. It is two weeks later and they haven't charged us anything yet.
In the evening there was a discussion about genealogy. Andrea asked me to talk about the web pages I put together (http://www.walden3d.com/Nelson/genealogy and http://www.walden3d.com/Shirts/genealogy. When we went to the Fairfield Inn I connected to the Internet (a wireless connection), downloaded all of the files I had created, then when we got back to the house, hooked up to a projector Robert had borrowed from the Seminary Program (his career is teaching Seminary), and gave a presentation about the importance of documenting original documents and linking them to Family Group Sheets and Pedigree Charts. I was surprised about how positive they were about the approach, and especially how excited Andrea got about the idea. She wanted to start a business to exploit computer genealogical services, and she talked about it several times during the week. Interesting.
Tuesday we slept in, met at the house, and then went down to the town center of Coeur d' Alene, Idaho and went for a hike around Tubbs Hill. Pretty 2 mile hike. Beautiful lake. Matt finished when we were about half way around, and he was calling to see where we were. We took a lot of photos, which once some new disk space is set up will all be put on-line. There were wild cherrys and wild blueberries, and we had fun picking and eating them. I was surprised how tired I got on this little hike. Elevation and not running because of the commute have their affect very quickly when one gets to be 54 years old. After the hike we stayed with Randy and Kathryn and looked at all of the art shops along the main drag. I always compare everything I see to Ken Turner's work, and it normally comes up short. There were some interesting pieces. There was a drawing, sort of like Di Vinci's pencil self portrait, which I liked. There were some modern art things, where black and white photograph quality drawings had been created showing a freeway driving through a tree or a ship falling into a circular waterfall near the Statue of Liberty. And there was an interesting Lucite statue inside another Lucite statue.
In the afternoon Matt and I traded off using the computer, and we talked. Robert had to run some errands and Andrea and I went with him, seeing where the Jasper's old home was, and seeing a lake. Andrea didn't like my choice of background when I took a digital photo of her wading in the lake. The blonde's bikini was revealing. Oh well! That evening there was an interesting discussion about Shirts family missionaries. Andrea's Grandpa, Morris Shirts served in Dallas and East Texas. Robert has the suitcase he carried with him on his mission. Some of the people I knew and worked with in Dallas during our five and one-half years there were possibly a result of Elder Shirts. What a small world. This was the first time I have been with folks who talked about how many baptisms they had on their mission. It was interesting that a lot of Randy's numerous baptisms came in Poza Rica, a major oil town, where folks were moved because of jobs and were away from family. As I listened, I had one of those feel good, spiritually comforting moments, where it was reconfirmed to me that I served an honorable and good mission. Andrea and each of her four brothers served similar missions, and maybe because my experience was more challenging in some ways, which I realized as I listened to the conversation, I was once again glad for the opportunity I had. Of course, I did not have my appendix out in Japan, so it was not so challenging in other ways.
Wednesday was kind of a slow day. Janet was the nurse at Girl's Camp and was not around very much. We slept in, and then went over to the house and kind of hung around. I worked on my Book of Mormon data mining project, and we talked. Robert had gone to Spokane and picked up the suitcase his Grandfather had used when he served a mission in the 1920's. My Grandpa Nelson served a mission to Sweden right after he got married. It was never talked about very much, and I think it was a hard experience for a newly wed to leave his young wife and go to Sweden. None of his eight children served missions. Grandpa Hafen and none of his three children served missions. Grandma Hafen served a mission to California, she was confined to quarters for many months because of a yeast infection, and I've had the impression her mission was not the best experience. So this reunion was my first experience being around a family where all of the children served missions, each having a good experience, and where they still talk about the time they spent with reverence and joy. The three Kruegers, Darrell, Roice, and Eric, and Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Luana's boys are the other example of this I've been close to, but not all day for three consecutive days. I thoroughly enjoyed our time and the experience.
We went to the city park, where they have a wonderful fort for kids to play in. Stephanie, Steve and Jill's youngest, and I went and played in the sand and slides. I think I'll be a pretty good Grandpa, during those times when I get to spend with my Grandkids. I have often speculated how, or if things would have been different, if after the Landmark public offering we had moved back to Cedar City. Certainly I left home, partly to be away from the pain associated with the relationship between my Mom and Dad. Based on how I contributed to repeating this family trait, I'm not sure any of you would have chosen to stick around in Cedar City, even if we had moved back in 1990. And I guess it does not do anyone any good to look back and `what if' the different forks in the roads we consciously or unconsciously took.
I think it was Wednesday evening we went back down to the town center for ice cream. They have these quarter gallon glasses, and Matt ate a whole one. I ate most of one, so I shouldn't talk. We were sitting by Randy and Kathryn, and they expressed how little they liked the architecture of the office complex built in the lake. Other than the ramp, I kind of liked it. It has some similarities to some of the things I've been designing in my mind recently. To them it reminded them too much of the utilitarianism of Geneva Steel, which, like the architecture described in `The Fountainhead,' is designed to perform a specific function. And that is what I liked about it. We walked around it on what they call the longest floating boardwalk in the world, I took digital photos, which I do not have space to load onto the computer, and talked and thought about utility and aesthetics. Very interesting. Andrea had brought up the CD for `The RM' and we didn't ever get around to watching it, we were too busy talking and enjoying each other. It would sure be nice to see the 10 of you kids have this same kind of relationship and to experience this same type of reunion.
The Army Corps Engineers called back about Barker Reservoir. I was in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho at a park, and they talked to me as if I was in Galveston where they are located. Technology still amazes me.
Thursday was an experience. We got up at 2:30 AM Coeur d' Alene, Idaho time (4:30 AM Houston time), and drove to Spokane. There was no one at Enterprise so we just dropped off the car. We have never heard anything about the dent in the back of the car, so hopefully we do not have to pay anything for the dent. Then we went and stood in lines. There were a lot of soldiers in line. All flights on Sky West were overbooked, partly because they are reworking the runway, the takeoff distance is shorter, and they have to limit weight. We ended up on a United flight to Denver, then flew Delta back to Salt Lake. I had Randy's car key and parking sticker. So I used his car to drive Andrea and me to Provo to see Ella Dawn and family. Andrea stayed to help Kate. Kate's spinal headaches were hurting a lot. Her Dad had a heart attack on a scout trek a week earlier, and so her Mom could not come up to help. Val is 49, Andrea's age, and he had a couple of strokes when they got in to the hospital, about 8 hours after the first problem. He is stabilized now, and it has been a hard couple of weeks for their family. It was a very short visit for me.
I drove Randy's car back to the same parking lot, and after standing in line for 45 minutes, met Matt. I was upgraded to First Class (thanks again Audrey). I sat next to Arun Dharbal, who manages Oracle's $250 million/year consulting business. It was one of the most interesting conversations I've had on a plane. He is into improving infrastructure, including high bandwidth communication, and improving how houses are built. I could write another of these Thoughtlets about this conversation, and I won't. He is coming over to GDC on Monday the 9th of August to talk about how his communication infrastructure work could benefit seismic acquisition and processing. So I expect there will be time to write about this conversation in the future. Matt and I got back to the house about 10:00 PM. I took a digital photo of the blue piece of paper showing where Randy's car was parked and e-mailed it to Robert so Randy would have a copy to get to his car. Fascinating what can be done with digital technologies.
Friday there was an independent review of the Michael Moore film Fahrenheit 9/11 in one of the Katy papers. I've listened to comments about this movie from several commentators as I have commuted to and from work at GDC. I have not seen the film, largely because of the "R-Rating." I like movies, and I do not mind looking at the other other side of pretty much any idea. However, I strongly agree with church leaders who have stressed the addictive and negative power of pornography. Pornography is not just sexual images and language. In my mind it needs to include words and images that mislead, that are pleasing to the natural man, that directly attack the character of another human being, that are designed to redirect our actions through half-truths and lies. The independent review started out by saying:
A couple of things caught my attention. First all of the
comments about the bin Laden family members who were allowed
to return to Saudi Arabia. It turns out that of the dozens
of Arab paintings that Ken Turner did for Saudi Arabians,
many of them were financed by the bin Laden family. I still
remember when he called me a few years ago and asked me to
remove all references to bin Laden from the HGOL web pages,
and I had to ask him why. He explained how the CIA and
others have targeted Osama bin Laden and that he just wanted
to protect us from having them come and question us. Based
on what I read in this review, in Time Magazine, and heard
in radio commentaries, I think I am probably closer to the
bin Laden's than our current President Bush is. Maybe
Michael Moore needs to do one of his documentaries about me?
Second, my mind went to church teachings concerning `loud laughter and evil speaking of the Lord's anointed.' In D&C 42:27-28 we are taught:
In Acts 23:5 Paul taught, after the high priest Ananias
commanded those that stood by him to smite him on the mouth:
There are numerous other references to both laughter and
evil speaking, and I encourage each of you to do a little
bit of scripture study and to ponder what is said in the
scriptures and in the endowment concerning these topics.
Friday at work was a catch-up day. The database for Tile-01 was still not complete, and so it was a good week for me to take off and to go to Coeur d' Alene, Idaho.
Friday evening I took Rachel to dinner at the Thai place on Mason Road. A memorable moment was when she said, `Why have a six pack when you can have a keg.' I think this needs to be my new motto. It was a fun evening.
Saturday morning I started to go on a run. However, on Fry, about parallel to the Schmidt's house, I stepped on a pine cone and sprained my ankle again. Since it has taken me two weeks to write this Thoughtlet, this sprained ankle has been my theme for the last two weeks. I spent the rest of Saturday with my foot elevated and on ice, working on my Book of Mormon pattern finding project.
Sunday I wrote two possible stanzas for Prime Words:
My ankle hurt, and I didn't feel like sitting at the computer and writing a Thoughtlet. So I didn't. Matt and I watched a movie, I worked on my data mining project, and dreamed about my week in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho."