tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32768233166923325022024-03-12T19:02:15.929-06:00The World Through My Eyes - Kevin KartchnerKevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comBlogger349125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-6400294880778786602021-01-09T20:01:00.000-07:002021-01-09T20:01:24.987-07:00Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-40455568979962507482017-02-25T13:13:00.001-07:002021-01-09T19:54:04.610-07:00The Face of Disability
The last seven years have taken their toll
I have now been on "extended" sick leave for a week. My 1,040-hour sickness benefit, combined with my accrued/accruing vacation and holiday time, will take me into September 2017, or well past my 25-year service anniversary on July 6, 2017. I turned in my "PCII" form, with a letter attached from a nurse practitioner at my primary-care Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-70299046823727044382016-05-26T16:21:00.000-06:002016-05-27T22:25:49.213-06:00And, now, for something different...
Me with Granddad Stradling, 1981
I'm still a little dumbfounded by how seemingly quickly I lost interest in blogging. I guess I can chalk it up to several factors: (1) I became "written out" on most of the topics that prompted me to start this blog in late 2007; (2) my constant mal de debarquement-related cognitive fatigue has made it much harder for me to think, much less to write; (3) Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-47158859735545845612016-01-13T15:48:00.003-07:002016-01-13T15:48:38.700-07:00Elijah Kevin Hobbs, b. December 23, 2015Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-85181616788170438842016-01-11T22:58:00.000-07:002016-07-20T10:29:33.903-06:00El embudito de una vida
For some time, I've sensed that the circumstances of my life have been forcing me -- funneling me, if you will -- to a choice between retirement and suicide. When I first became ill six years ago with mal de debarquement syndrome (MdDS), I couldn't have imagined continuing to work for that long in the state I was in; however, things have in fact become steadily worse in the Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-89627734574770392762015-11-01T20:05:00.005-07:002017-02-26T17:56:22.204-07:00Trip to L.A., October 7-12, 2015
Darren and Dorine at L.A. Temple
Manhattan Beach
Dorine at Griffith Park
Retrieving Murray in Redondo Beach
Van Gogh
Dorine at La Brea Tar Pits
Dorine with Bougainvillia at Getty Center
Panoramic View of Getty Center
L.A. Temple
Monet
Getty Center Art Museum
Me with Galen in El Segundo
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<!--[if gte mso Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-78802113750850871912015-10-15T16:33:00.004-06:002015-12-11T21:34:10.440-07:00Bill Shunn's The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary
I have now read Bill Shunn's memoir The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary. It is a brilliant piece of writing, made even more so by the lengths to which Bill went, utilizing the services of a world-class editor, to produce the definitive version of the book. I have always liked Bill's writing, as it takes him little effort to serve up some tasty literary "Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-28009646556824577732015-08-16T19:15:00.002-06:002016-02-16T11:00:05.397-07:00The End of the Road?
"The river of time keeps on pulling us..."
I've become increasingly disinterested in updating this blog and may just call it quits. I have not written about trips I/we have taken, thoughts I've had on the upcoming 2016 presidential election, ongoing events in our family, my personal feelings and struggles, my mother's age and physical state, and any number of other topics that once would have Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-30058473907467863362015-07-06T18:40:00.007-06:002017-02-26T17:58:53.317-07:00South Sandia Peak Hike, 6/19/15
First two-thirds of the hike
Last one-third of the hike
For the first time in nearly three years, John Brewer and I went hiking together in the Sandia Mountains on Friday, June 19, 2015. Once more John let me pick what inevitably became an over-ambitious route; I wanted to go to South Sandia Peak again, although I couldn't bear the thought of hiking up one of the Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-36154078892158379692015-07-06T18:32:00.005-06:002015-08-16T10:07:58.867-06:00Mexico Trip June 2015
Casa Alhaja from across the street
Walking past "Tessoros" at dusk
"Dream By the Sea" house
Living room of "Dream By the Sea"
Nicole, Mariah, Dorine
Downtown PP
Front of La Michoacana
Ice Cream at La Michoacana
Traditional Hamblin Family clambake/pig-out
Catching crabs on the beach at night
Leah and Noelle with my new guitar
Darren and Cait
The only Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-51256495970430367982015-04-20T16:34:00.001-06:002015-05-12T22:17:20.166-06:001978 -- A Pivotal Year
With Shana, summer 1978
I've been thinking a lot lately about 1978 and what an important year it was for me. I spent the first four months of the year at BYU, finishing up my freshman year of college. I would turn 19 early in May, and thus I was old enough to start church missionary service shortly after I got home from school. However, I was nowhere near being emotionally ready to go on a Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-85651314452493751742015-02-19T19:22:00.000-07:002015-07-01T11:13:51.369-06:00Oh, really? No, I didn't think so.
Back to the Future. So 2015 is the year in Back to the Future II (1987) to which Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) travel forward in time from 1985. It's interesting to ponder on 1980s-vintage screenwriters' speculations about what life would be like in 2015. Of course, the film got most of the big things wrong (flying cars, "Mr. Fusion" units, Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-55785427873771147062015-01-07T21:41:00.000-07:002015-01-14T08:45:13.209-07:00The New Year
Our family on a Photoshopped beach
The grandkids
The kids
I don't know what to expect from this year, 2015; fear and dread are about the only emotions I feel concerning the future these days. This month marks five anguished years that I've been sick with mal de debarquement; I have no hope whatsoever that my sense of equilibrium will ever return to normal or that I won't feel awful Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-36571284030049405712014-12-26T15:08:00.000-07:002014-12-27T17:02:50.926-07:00Our Thirtieth Wedding Anniversary
Pre-wedding studio photo, about November 1984
Dorine and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary on December 18. My health issues resulting from the cruise we took to celebrate our 25th anniversary have sort of killed the idea of our taking another cruise -- or any expensive vacation, for that matter -- for number thirty. As usual, I don't know where the time has gone. I Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-29868013003956838272014-12-22T19:30:00.000-07:002017-02-25T22:42:41.407-07:00Trips to Las Vegas and Pinetop, AZ
Downtown Vegas at night
Mike on a Hike
Dorine, Judy, Mike in Pinetop
On our hike
A tree-hugger at heart
Working on crafts, Pinetop
At Walmart in Show Low
Recently I attended a class in Las Vegas, NV, and then, later in that same week, Dorine and I traveled to Pinetop, AZ for our annual "anniversary" trip with Mike and Judy. I flew Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-73008612709342920442014-12-20T21:29:00.000-07:002014-12-22T11:00:48.786-07:00(I Hope) All Dogs Go to Heaven
Mischa as a puppy, ca. 2005
I took our dog, Mischa, in to be euthanized today. Sometime back, she'd run across a "foxtail" weed, almost certainly in our back yard, and it had become embedded in her neck. As was the case with her diabetes, we didn't know what was causing the open wound in her neck (and perhaps were derelict in addressing it) until there was nothing we could feasiblyKevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-56861811232835090852014-11-25T22:00:00.000-07:002017-02-22T22:26:45.292-07:00Sports Talk Radio and Other Banalities
1. Mike and Mike In the Morning. It's hard to say why, but I turn on ESPN2 in the mornings when I get up to go to work, just to listen to a couple of minutes of "Mike and Mike In the Morning," the ESPN Radio talk show hosted by Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic (see photo). It certainly isn't because I care about the subject matter; while I get that people want to see sports events (Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-38977622845509202872014-11-09T19:00:00.000-07:002014-11-11T10:42:54.510-07:002014 Elections
Another midterm election, another Republican clean-up. I don't expect much to come from the GOP's taking control of the Senate (with a pick-up of at least seven seats and possibly as many as nine); however, President Obama won't be getting many of his judicial nominees through now, and I expect the Keystone XL pipeline to be approved next year for construction, possibly over the Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-50212169271074406192014-10-19T15:48:00.000-06:002014-10-30T15:04:54.604-06:00Trip to Los Angeles, October 8-12, 2014
Dorine, Murray, Cait
Darren and Cait's place in Lawndale
Going to see "Meet the Mormons"
Street view of the house (in back)
"How did he do such terrific stunts...?"
"It's not the years, honey--it's the mileage"
Me with Murray
On Hollywood Blvd.
At Redondo Beach
At In-N-Out Burger in Kingman
Redondo Beach
Hollywood Blvd.
Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-38938179706648348602014-09-07T19:03:00.002-06:002015-03-03T12:11:57.992-07:00The Latest
Me and my bubs
1. Work around the house. Dorine and I have done a few things around the house, like putting up a new Rubbermaid shed in our back yard, installing galvanized-steel turbine attic-ventilation units on our roof (in lieu of the busted-up plastic vents that were there previously), and putting in a retaining wall (of bricks) around our shade tree in the back yard in order to Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-50985611104777106312014-08-01T14:58:00.000-06:002014-08-03T12:09:04.114-06:00Family Campout at Paliza, July 25-26, 2014
Hanging out
More hanging out
Sam, Kiley, and Joey
Noelle and Tyler
Breakfast
Joey parked on the water
Kayla toasting a marshmallow
Leah
Mason
Noelle
The old folks
Dorine and I took our annual overnight family camping trip on Friday, July 25; usually we go to Villanueva State Park, but this year we decided to go to the Jemez Mountains instead. Heidi, Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-36198864409369453042014-07-29T13:42:00.001-06:002014-08-18T13:09:48.961-06:00I'm not a poet...and boy do I know it!
The Bard
When I was younger, having studied Spanish and English literature in college, occasionally I took a stab at writing the odd sonnet or two, although iambic pentameter has never exactly rolled off my tongue (or pen). I didn't finish many of them, but here they are in their utter shamelessness:
The first was a joke (an obviously bawdy one) on the subject of BYU coeds; in fact, Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-78724405490263507902014-07-20T22:32:00.002-06:002014-07-21T15:44:11.099-06:00White Sands Trip, ca. 1962
Albuquerque 2nd Ward Deacons' Quorum, ca. 1962
I saw this photograph numerous times in my mother's photo collection when I was growing up. It shows my oldest brothers Roger and Robin with their deacons' quorum and its advisor, Vern Payne (who, 50+ years later, is now the Albuquerque Temple president), in about 1962. What piqued my interest in it recently was President Payne's Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-15228602699950196852014-07-19T19:00:00.000-06:002016-09-04T00:59:20.620-06:00Oh, yeah....
"They comin' to America"
1. Immigration "reform". The new immigration "crisis," consisting of unaccompanied minors (most from Central America) crossing the U.S.-Mexico frontier, once again highlights the need for greater border security. It's well-known that Hondurans and Guatemalans who cross Mexico en route to the U.S. aren't treated very well by the Mexican populace, and, given Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276823316692332502.post-60282638461349323582014-07-15T13:44:00.000-06:002014-07-21T15:11:48.690-06:002014 World Cup
Wondo's Whiff
I watched quite a bit of the recent FIFA World Cup soccer tournament in Brazil. There were some pleasant surprises -- (1) the U.S.'s advancing out of its "Group of Death" with Germany (the eventual winners), Portugal, and Ghana; (2) Costa Rica's winning its group (beating Uruguay and Italy and tying with England) and then advancing to the quarterfinal playoff round by Kevin Kartchnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11558890272697826276noreply@blogger.com