THE PEOPLE MUST HAVE THEIR DAN MILLER

So I subscribe to a couple of Mormon-themed blogs. Most of the times their contents don’t interest me a whole lot.

But here’s one that I found quite funny. Feel free to look at it if you’re not Mormon but you’re not going to find it funny I bet.

Conference and Rumors of Conference - it’s a list (mostly madeup) of speculations of some “big” announcement that they will announce at General conference next weekend. Read the comments too as they have some funny ones.

Okay, let me throw my copious amounts of non-mormon reader (sic) a bone:

So I’ve been at this training for 3 days now, and it’s on the 6th floor of an office building. There is a bank of 6 elevators, 3 on each side. And every time I go up or down, I cannot figure out which way I need to go. It takes me a few seconds to orient myself. It’s kind of weird.

And… after I just wrote this post referencing an Allan Sherman song (”Good Advice“), I walk downstairs to the deli, and what do I hear on the speakers? “Downtown” by Petula Clark, a song also parodied by Allan Sherman (”Crazy Downtown“). Weird.

So, although I have made several copious blog posts over on my OTHER blog, I thought I’d take the time to bust out a quick one for some non-county related topics. Yes, there are some actual non-county related things taking up processing power in my brain.

1. I’m not sure if I mentioned this in an earlier blog post or not, but one of the handy little computer-related tricks is the fact that Ctrl-Backspace will delete an entire word. I have become quite addicted to this little feature, which is nearly universally implemented in all Windows programs. Oh, EXCEPT NOTEPAD, which is what I am using to compose this little ditty. In Notepad, instead you just get a little special character, which I then have to delete as well.

2. I went out and ran Monday morning. The hotel where I’m staying is in the middle of a pretty commercialized area. Think Fields Ertel or Great Northern mall. When I asked the clerk at the front desk if there was anywhere I could run, she kind of looked at me funny. Undaunted, I ran on sidewalks and through parking lots. I did actually find my way into a residential development, and ran over there. About 20 minutes in, I was trying to find my way back to my hotel but I was kind of lost. Well, I wasn’t really LOST, since I knew (more or less) where I was. I just didn’t know how to get back to where I wanted to BE. Important distinction! Eventually I just retraced my steps, which meant that I ran / walked about 4.4 miles.

3. The actual training class itself is going pretty well - I am enjoying learning about Websphere Portal, and there really are some pretty cool things that you can do with it.

4. So, before I say this one, let me just make a comment about gossiping in general. I try not to gossip too much. Really I do. This is actually something that the Mrs. and I have talked about several times. It is our feeling that there are a lot of people that gossip an awful lot, more than they probably “should” and a lot more than they think they are. Especially that one so-and-so. Oh my gosh does she talk a lot and did you SEE the outfit she was wearing!?!

Anyway, so while I would count what I am about to say as slightly gossipy, I think it doesn’t count quite as much since it’s about someone that nobody that reads this blog is ever going to meet. Hopefully said person will not see my blog address over my shoulder, read it out of curiosity, and find that the first post is about him!

So… I’m talking to one of the guys as class was ending on Monday afternoon. He is mentioning how he keeps falling asleep in class. I, having noticed that, made the joke that I thought that he was just “concentrating really hard”. Then he starts talking abou how he has a lot of things going on in his life and he’s tired a lot. He’s got some kids, and he’s single, and working a lot. So far, so good. But then he says “and I’m probably dating too many people…” Wha-huh? Where did that come from?!?!?

5. IF YOU ARE IN THE BATHROOM DO NOT ANSWER YOUR CELL PHONE! IF YOU ARE TALKING ON YOUR CELL PHONE DO NOT COME INTO THE BATHROOM! This first law has been long-standing. And it has been violated numerous times, and I’ve really wondered why people feel the need to answer while sitting on the throne? Are you so important that you MUST be reachable at every second of the day? Are people’s lives hanging in the balance, and if you can’t give the OK on your cell phone they will be executed? This second part I thought was pretty obvious and didn’t really need to be explicitly stated, until today. I’m walking to the bathroom and some guy (not in my class - just some other guy that works in the same building) walks into the bathroom talking on his cell phone. So I naturally did what I normally do whenever I’m in the bathroom with someone talking on the phone - peed loudly and flushed as many times as possible without looking too obvious (in this case just once since he was at the urinal right next to me). I feel like it is my duty to try and let whoever is on the phone know that he is talking to a cell-phone bathroom person. Let’s step back and take a look at this. You’re on the phone, and you can’t hold it for 5 minutes? I mean I’ve certainly been in situations when I REALLY have to go, but those are typically situations where a bathroom is not available, like say trying to visit 88 Ohio counties in 24 hours. Perhaps I am atypical or coming out of left field here, but when I am in a situation where a bathroom is readily available (like say at work in an office building), I don’t typically let myself reach the point where relieving my bladder becomes so urgent.

So I’m in Chicago, after a roundabout trip. If you want to see more info on that, check Day 0, Day 1 and Day 2.

So anyways, I went to church at the Plainfield Ward, in Joliet, IL. And there were a few things of note that I felt like blogging about.

A few months ago, we had some people in church get up and complain about sacrament meeting reverence, especially pointing at kids. This annoyed both Carolyn and I, but I’m pretty much over it now.

Anyways, since then, I have been to 2 other LDS meetings. They have been in 2 different states (IL and PA), and 2 different times (9 am and 1 pm) though oddly enough they were both testimony meetings.

And both times, the reverence and general loudness has been insane. If people think our meetings are loud and irreverent, they should try some of these wards! Especially the one today. It was, no joke, 5 to 10 TIMES as loud as our ward.

Don’t get me wrong, I have 4 kids 6 and under, so I’m very well-versed in the sometimes pointlessness of kids and church. It just seemed here though that multiple parents were just not even TRYING. I don’t know - I’m trying not to be (too) gossipy or judging - maybe they were just having a bad day, or some of the kids were special needs or something, but it was just crazy. And it certainly wasn’t all of the families - there were some who I felt were doing a very good job of maintaining reverence.

Still, nearly the entire day later, it just boggles my mind how loud it was. I mean, I think I have a very high tolerance for loudness. And I was nearly to the point of walking up to the pulpit and calling them to repentance.

However, despite that (or maybe because of it!) it was one of the most spiritual meetings I’ve attended in quite some time. I suspect that a lot of it was due to the fact that I didn’t have to worry about maintaining my OWN kids’ reverence. But I really felt uplifted - I was moved by the Spirit 3 or 4 times during the songs or testimonies, occasionally to the point of near tears!

So to those who say that they can’t enjoy Sacrament meeting due to the loudness of other peoples’ kids, I say Nay to you, Nay.

Anyways, so I’m in Priesthood opening exercises, and they are introducing visitors. So they introduce “Sister Smith”’s father, and he stands up, and it’s totally the dad of one of the guys in our ward from Cincinnati (Joe Chrisman). I have seen him a couple of times at church here in Cincinnati - apparently I just happened to attend church at Joe’s sister’s ward. Not quite as weird as seeing the Derenthals 2000 miles away at the Joseph Smith Memorial building, but still, weird.

So Meijer has a deal going on this week where if you buy $15 of participating General Mills products, you get a coupon for $10 off your next shopping order. The $15 is before coupons, so it’s really not that difficult to get your bill under $10, qualifying it as a moneymaker.

So I’m there after work this afternoon, and Carolyn and the kiddoes are meeting me there. I got there first and have the cart filled up, but I was waiting to check out in case we had any weekly groceries that we needed. In the cart were 3 orders. Each one had $15 of groceries, 7 $1 off coupons, meaning that I would make $2 on each order.

So I’m waiting out by the entrance for the rest of the fam, and I think “Hey I should go outside and see if they’re here yet and see if I can help unload the kids and such.” I start to go outside and realize I haven’t paid for my groceries yet, so I had to stop.

But then I think, actually, if Meijer were smart, they would just LET me walk out without paying for my groceries. That actually would SAVE them $6!

In any case they soon showed up and I “paid” for my groceries.

Dan’s first law of the Internet says:

“No matter how much you like something, there’s someone out there that likes it more, and already has a website about it”

This is a law that I have had for quite some time, but I was reminded of it by this comic by the good folks at Wondermark.

(Note if you can’t see the whole comic due to the stupid sidebar, just click on it and it will open up in a full screen)

So this week is March Madness. And I really don’t care!! Yesterday was Selection Sunday, the day that they announce who is going to play where and when and all that. In past years, I have sat down in front of the TV watching this eagerly, usually with pen and paper in hand.

So this year, I don’t know if it’s the lack of a TV (though I could have watched it on the little TV since it was on CBS) or the fact that the Bearcats stink, or (more likely) some combination of the 2, but it came and went without ado in the Miller house.

So this Thursday and Friday are the big March Madness days. In previous years, I’ve taken the afternoons off and watched the games on both TV and computer, swapping between various games. This year, I’m not sure what I will do. One convenient factor is that our recycle challenge starts today, so I have the option of going down there and watching the games on the TV down there (at work).

In other news, I would like to echo a comment Carolyn made the other day. It’s not so much how old my oldest child is getting (almost 7!) that makes me feel old - it’s how big my 3rd child is getting!

I’ve had a post in me since the weekend and am now able to unveil it, in all its posty glory. I ran a 5K race on Saturday, called “5K for a cause“, benefitting the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. The race was put on by Princeton High School, and the course wended its way through the lovely suburb of Glendale.

I had meant to post about that but was waiting until the results were online, which they now are (pdf). If you’re looking for me, I ended up in 30th place (out of 140 entrants), with a time of 25:39. Though according to multiple sources, the course was a little long (3.25 instead of 3.12), so at that pace, my actual 5K time was more like 24:40. Gooooo me. I was also intrigued to see that my plan of passing myself off as a 51 year old woman to score a free cake WOULD have worked (as there were no 51+ year old women running though a few walked).

So I think that things are going well for my upcoming triathlon, which is now in a little less than a month and a half.

So a bit about my experiences on race day. I got there pretty early. Packet pickup time was from 8-9:30, with race time at 10. I got there at about 9:00, picked up my packet and then…. well there wasn’t much to do. I wandered around Glendale (looking at the historical marker there!) for awhile. It had been suggested to me that I do a bit of pre-running for 1/2 mile or a mile or so, so I did that, but that still left me with a lot of time to kill. I really had to go to the bathroom, but there was nothing available. I overheard someone talk about there being one a mile or so up the road, so with nothing better to do, I headed up that way. I passed by the fire station and thought I’d take a shot there. The 2 firefighters there were very nice and after using the facilities I chatted with them for awhile.

Then it was GO time. We all lined up at the starting line. There were supposed to be 2 co-workers of mine at the race, but only one was there. He opted to line up a bit behind the front runners, whereas I lined up nearly right on the line. No way was I going to be cheated out of 2 seconds!!

He was somewhere behimd me for the first mile. He had warned me not to get too caught up in the adrenaline and try to sprint with the “rabbits” that would lead the pack, which is what I did. I kept a pretty good pace and was at 8:15 at the 1 mile marker. Somewhere around there was the first big hill - I believe it was on Magnolia Drive (course map here). I heard my co-worker give an audible groan and I never saw him again :-). He ended up about 2 minutes behind me.

As I mentioned, there were supposed to be 2 co-workers there. The other one nancied up. So I brought my race marker in and doctored it with a Scarlet N (for nancy). I scanned it in but unfortunately it’s in black and white

I’ve been doing some selling on eBay lately of these American Idol sponsored Coke / Edy’s ice cream coupons and there’s a rant in me brewing about eBay / Paypal, but it will have to be saved for another time…