A beautiful day.

The really nice thing about a big storm coming through is that it cleans out the valley, and if the sun comes out the next day it is beautiful. So, I went over to Sugarhouse Park this evening to get some pictures. I ran into a couple of students who were snowboarding over there and commented on how clear it was. One of them said, (giving me a New York flashback, sorry Jannx) "I don't trust air that I can't see." Yeah, well, I prefer air I can't taste. So, here are the pictures:

Looking west over the Salt Lake Valley.

Hidden Hollow, a little park surrounded by commercial area, that the local Elementary students petitioned and saved.
Just some funky lit up clouds.
Sunset behind the trees at Sugarhouse Park.
Mt. Olympus - looking south-east from the park.

A good day.

1. 
   
   I got the BattleCruiser back, front end fixed and new tires.  The old ones were worn, but also too bulky for the front end - made it wander too much.  The new tires are great.  It feels surefooted (for a car that size) now, and I even had it out in the snow, and it got up the driveway and into the carport, with a couple inches of snow, without any problem.
2. 
   
   Got the Subaru registered no problem also (expired the end of October).  It only took 15 minutes at JUST Emissions, and I spent that time at Albertsons shopping.  I saw them pulling the car out as I was walking back.  I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to get the sticker, since I misplaced the new registration documents when setting up the new computer, but alas, they did the whole thing right there.  **She did suggest that once I got the sticker put on the license plate, that I put two diagonal cuts into it, since people seem to be desperate enough to steal them these days.  So I did it on all the cars.**
3. 
   
   And the biggest "Thank You, God!" item: I retreived all the payroll information from the crash.  I went out and bought the Vista version of the old payroll program I was using, installed it and decided to try finding the payroll data.  I didn't find the data, but I did find the backup data, and after a few hundred clicks it updated it and imported it!  Which means I don't have to spend the Holiday vacation recreating the information so I can print the W-2 forms next month.  That was a major cause of stress for me the last couple of weeks.

So, a good day.  Even the snow helped it.

Reality here, ................G.W.Bush way the hell over there ------------------------>

I know I said I was done with Bush quotes, but this is a brand new and it's beautiful.  I wept.  Yesterday he gave a commencement speech at Texas A&M that was very somber, reflective and psychotic.  These quotes come directly from the Salt Lake Tribune article today (Dec 13, 2008), the last one is my favorite. 

• 
  
  "Remember that popularity is fleeting as the Texas wind.  Character and conscience are as sturdy as the oaks on this campus."  Yeah, how windy is it in your world G.W.?
• 
  
  If you go home at night, look in the mirror and be satisfied that you have done what is right, you will pass the only test that matters." Got any mirrors left?
• 
  
  And the best : "To those of you with jobs lined up, congratulations.  To those of you not exactly sure what comes next, I know how you feel." Yeah, just like every college graduate with $200,000 pension, Secret Service protection and paid travel expenses.

Gangsta-teen dating game goes mobile on Trax, details at 11.

I'm done. Presentation complete, ate food, said our goodbyes and left for the semester. Only one more semester left for my Master's degree. Yippee!

There may be a low pressure full of precipitation heading toward the state, but a psycho front hit the valley yesterday afternoon. One of the most eventful commutes up to the U yet. I can't even remember all the specific events, but the best one was the Teen-mom bachelorettes.

4 boys got on the train at the 21st South station, obvious gang wannabes, 15 maybe 16 years old. I just look over at my fellow teacher and say "Awww, how cute, a gaggle of little baby gangstas." The head larva has one of those hoodies that zip up and and has a creepy face on the hood, with cutouts for the eyes. He looks around for a while trying desperately to get a reaction from somebody, to no avail. Just a couple minutes after taking it off, this skinny little girl (we think) walks by and goes up to king larva and tells him that her friend thinks he's cute and wants his phone number. "Things ain't so down lately, got no cell." he tells her. She walks back past and goes to where a couple of teen-moms are rocking their babies at the front of the train and talks to the blond teen-mom. My friend looks over at me and says, as if talking to larvae boy, "She's got a kid, run, man, run!" Girlfriend goes back and forth a few more times trying to talk the boy into being interested in blond teen mom. Somewhere around the 9th South station, when teen-mom sees this is going nowhere she gets desperate and yells to him, across the full length of the Trax train "and I'm a Jugallette". Jump on it my friend, gangsta teen mom. What more could you ask for. Fortunately our stop was the next stop, because we were at the point that we were bound to say something, loud enough to get us shanked. I would have loved to be there for the last segment of the show. "Ok larvae-boy, time to choose. Will it be gangsta teen-mom #1, gangsta teen-mom #2 or the gender unspecific friend gangsta non-mom #3?" "Well, Wink, I think I'll choose........"

This is it folks.

Next week is the last week of the semester for me at the U. I've just submitted the paper for my Leadership class and our group has everything done for our Instructional Design class. All that is left is to show up for class, do the presentations for the project in each class and then sit back and listen to everyone else's presentations. Yippee!

This means ONLY ONE MORE SEMESTER LEFT! It also means a pay raise. Yup, I'll have 24 more semester credits under my belt since I made the Bachelor's+20 pay scale, and that'll push me up to the Bachelor's+40 level. And if all goes well, by the end of April I'll have my Master's degree. Whew! 80% of the way through.