Trip to Utah, February 7-12, 2012

Darren at the Brick Oven

The Marriott Center (stock photo)

I drove by myself up to Provo, Utah on Tuesday, February 7, 2012 in order to visit our son Darren, who's a student at BYU.  I stayed in the Provo Super 8 (on Canyon Road at University Parkway) for five nights, finally driving home in a series of blizzards on Sunday, February 12.  I also was able to visit with my brothers -- Roger, Robin, Jeff, and Kelly -- all of whom live and work in Utah Valley.  Robin invited me to go to the BYU-Pepperdine men's basketball game on Saturday, and I believe it was the first time I'd seen a live game in the Marriott Center (see photo) since I was a student at BYU in 1981 -- which, coincidentally, was the only year the Cougars have ever made it to the round of 8 in the NCAA tournament.  In some ways, going to the Marriott Center after all these years was like going through a time warp, although a lot of things have changed, especially the ear-splitting volume of the sound system.  Due to my chronic illnesses, the drive to (or from) Provo is almost more than I can handle, and the stress of driving home on icy roads did a large number on me.  It was all worth it to see Darren, however, and hopefully to give him a lift in this, his last undergrad semester.

Bread On the Waters

I've been thinking quite a bit lately about the 1970s-era soft-rock band Bread.  (I have a "greatest hits" CD and have listened to it several times in the last week or so.)  When I was a teenager, I was mostly into hard rock music, but, around 1974, after Bread had broken up the first time, I bought an 8-track tape of The Best of Bread (see illustration) and a Bread songbook (Bread Complete, which I still have).  Something about their music appealed to me -- perhaps starting with the fact that so many Mormon girls liked them in that era -- and I learned to play several of their tunes on the guitar.  Most of their hits, starting with 1970's "Make It with You," were syrupy love songs penned and sung by David Gates, but I have to admit they had the whole "soft rock" thing down cold.  I remember there was a "faith-promoting rumor" going around that Gates's grandfather, about whom he supposedly wrote "Everything I Own," had been a Mormon bishop; I don't know about that, but I do suspect that the biblical references in the titles of a couple of their albums (On the Waters, Manna) helped to endear them to a certain religious segment of the population.  I read sometime back that Larry Knechtel (upper left in the photo above) had died of a heart attack in 2009; Knechtel was not only well-known for his studio work -- he played the epochal piano accompaniment on Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" in 1969 -- but also as a side man (having, for example, been part of The Mamas and the Papas' backing group at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967).  However, I hadn't known before this week that James Griffin and Mike Botts both died from cancer in 2005 at age 61, which leaves David Gates as the sole survivor of the "classic" Bread lineup.  (Robb Royer, a founding member of the group whose place Knechtel took in 1971, also survives.)  Reportedly Gates, now 71 years old, is presently a full-time cattle rancher in northern California, although I have to think he'd make a ton of money doing live performances.

There aren't too many things about the 1970s now that make me nostalgic for that period, but Bread's music is one of them.  At this point, "Diary" is the only one of their songs that I can still play all the way through, although I remember performing "If" at both a Heritage Halls "candle passing" at BYU in ~1978 (if you have to ask what that was, you'll never know -- I only know it's not a common practice these days) and at my mission Christmas party (in Santiago, Chile) in 1979.  (The latter involved my singing the song, too, which didn't work out well since I don't have the vocal range to sing the whole song in the same octave, at least without hitting some really low notes.)  It's too bad that there is no "soft" pop-music genre nowadays that doesn't involve a lot of scatting or ululation -- in which the song is the thing and not the vocal gymnastics.

Not-so-random Thoughts

1. I keep feeling like I should have a lot to write, but I've had great difficulty in organizing my thoughts.  The new year, 2012, is one that I approach with more than a little apprehension: not only will it bring an election with tremendous implications for the future of this country, but it's almost like I sense a lot of bad things in the offing.  Much is being made of the Mayan calendar's "running out" later this year, as though the Mayans were predicting the end of the world.  I don't buy the idea that they knew something we don't, but I have ample reason to worry about several family members for whom 2012 could be a "make or break" year.

2. The attached picture was taken in early 1974, when I was on the basketball team in ninth grade at my junior high school.  It was the only year I played on a school basketball team, and this photo of me, making a layup after stealing the ball, was published in the school annual.  I wasn't a great player by any means, although I would have been good enough to play at my high school, at least at the C-team and JV levels, if I'd stuck it out.  I was nothing if not insecure in those days, however, and I would have required a lot of encouragement from the coaches, something they really had no reason to provide to a marginal player.  (I also would have considered it an intolerable come-down to play on the C team after my brother Kelly had played on the JV in his sophomore year.)  Instead, church basketball had to suffice for me, although I now wish I'd never played basketball at all -- I still encounter people at church meetings and functions who (justifiably) regarded me as a jerk back in the day, and who obviously continue to do so now, on the basis of the hyper-competitive games we used to play.  I simply cannot consider it now to have been worth the strife it caused then.

3. A few weeks ago I sat in a Sunday School lesson in which the dichotomy between works and grace was discussed.  The teacher noted that someone, an evangelical Christian, had stated to him that Mormons don't believe in grace and instead believe that one's works are the only thing that matters.  It occurred to me that an evangelical -- much like the Russian who, upon viewing his first baseball game from the left-field bleachers, wondered why almost all of the players continually massed in one small portion of the field of play -- would have limited experience, and thus a skewed perspective, concerning LDS church doctrine.  However, I also asked myself what reason most Christians would have to conclude that the LDS church really does believe in the Atonement of Jesus Christ -- that is, his grace -- as anything more than (a) the means by which almost all of mankind will be resurrected from the dead, and (b) a sort of triggering mechanism that enables people to reach the highest heaven by virtue of their own works, which are necessarily judged in absolute terms without regard for individual circumstances.  To illustrate the point, let me put Christ's "Parable of the Talents" into what I regard as Mormon terms.  Suppose the minimum threshold for entering into the joy of the master is the earning of five talents for him.  The servant who is given five talents is thus operating at a decided advantage compared to the servants who are given two talents and one talent, respectively; in fact, it is virtually impossible for either of the latter to reach the five-talent threshold imposed by the master.  In the end, it doesn't matter that the servant with two talents doubles that amount for the master; rather, he winds up under more or less the same condemnation as the servant with one talent who has buried it and earned nothing.  Of course, this "version" isn't the church's official view of things, but it more or less conveys the overpowering sense of hopelessness permeating most LDS lessons, sermons, and conference talks on the topic of eternal life.  I can think of at least two friends from my teen years who went inactive in church precisely because the church made them feel like losers who were beyond hope -- which, it seems to me, is the opposite of the lesson we should be learning from the Atonement.

4. Every time I drive out to my daughter Devery's home, which is located on Albuquerque's west side near the intersection of Coors Blvd. and Montano Blvd., I feel very thankful not to live on the west side myself.  And Devery has it good, living not too far from I-40, compared with the poor inhabitants of Rio Rancho, who have roughly a five-mile drive in any direction (south on Coors, east on Paseo del Norte, or north on S.R. 528) -- generally in bumper-to-bumper traffic -- to access a true freeway.  One has always been able to buy more home for one's money in Rio Rancho, but, even at this late date, it comes with a steep price in the form of a horrible commute on busy throughways that even one small accident can snarl for hours.  I'll take our older home in the northeast heights, and my fifteen-minute commute to work, anytime.

5. I continue to suffer from various health issues.  Since I wrote about going off sleep meds back in August, I started taking them again after about only seven weeks, and now I've gone off them again in the interim.  Needless to say, I feel very uncertain of my ability to stay free of the meds long-term, simply because I haven't succeeded in sleeping without them; however, it becomes clear at some point that they are doing at least as much harm to me as good, and I feel I have to stop taking them.  On this go-round, however, I haven't noticed any improvement in my mal de debarquement dizziness, which still, after two years, shows no signs of going away.  And I've started having an increasing number of aches and pains in my lower back and hips, which are probably the result of mild arthritis (and which are certainly aggravated by the additional weight I've put on in recent years).  The soreness in my back and hips has made it more difficult to do even low-impact "cardio" exercise like riding a stationary bike.

6. I've read with interest some of the recent news coverage of the extraction of petroleum and natural gas by hydraulic fracturing (or "hydro-fracking"), which entails the underground introduction of a pressurized liquid to create fractures in rock strata in order to release fossil fuels.  Some reports have stated that "fracking" has the potential to increase domestic production of oil and gas significantly, in turn enabling the U.S. to reduce drastically its dependency on foreign sources.  Of course, now the anti-energy Luddites of the Left are doing all they can to link "fracking" to groundwater contamination, and even to the occurrence of earthquakes, something I might have been inclined to have concerns about, too, if it weren't for the utter predictability of it all.  The notion of "peak oil" -- i.e., that petroleum production has hit its peak and therefore will, from now on, tail off in marked fashion -- becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy if every bit of new technology must be eschewed whose effect is to increase oil production or facilitate its delivery.

7. The Iowa caucuses take place today, followed by the primary elections in New Hampshire and South Carolina.  It seems almost inevitable now that Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee for president, despite late surges by Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and most recently Rick Santorum.  Consequently, some conservative pundits are already conceding re-election to Barack Obama, placing Romney in the line of 'Pub candidates whose largest qualification to be the nominee was that it was "their turn."  I think I would have preferred to choose among Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, or even Jeb Bush; however, I consider it overly pessimistic to believe Mitt Romney cannot be elected.  I wince even to think about the prospect of an Obama second term, even if the 'Pubs, as seems likely at the moment, have control of both houses of Congress next year.

Noelle Rosa Hamblin, b. 12/5/11

My Greatest Christmas Present Ever

What a dizzy person looks like who sleeps poorly

This photo shows me with my Alvarez acoustic guitar, which my parents gave to me as a Christmas present in 1975; thus I have had it for nearly 36 years.  My mother bought it for $120 (along with a second Alvarez for my sister) at a small music store on Eubank Blvd., north of Constitution Ave., called "Mr. Music," which went out of business shortly thereafter.  

I haven't played the Alvarez much in recent years due to my fascination with the electric guitar -- which resulted primarily from the fact that extremely versatile, relatively inexpensive guitar amplifiers (like my Line 6 "Spider" amplifiers) are on the market now.  However, last week I put a new set of strings on it and sort of "re-discovered" it, finger-picking old tunes like Roberto Carlos's "La paz de tu sonrisa," Christopher Cross's "Think of Laura," Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide," and Bread's "Diary."  At times I've considered buying a new, more-expensive acoustic guitar, but there simply is no need; the Alvarez has taken a beating through the years (including the extremely poor job I did years ago of replacing the tuners), but it still plays and sounds nice.  It was an "entry level" guitar -- note the adjustable bridge -- but it was always much, much more.

When I think about how long I've had the Alvarez, it occurs to me that it is the greatest Christmas present I've ever received.  How many people ever receive a gift that still brings them joy, and has practical utility, three or four decades after the fact?  I bless my mother for her kindness and generosity in buying it for me.

Hike to Rincon Ridge via Piedra Lisa Spring Trail

The Knife Edge of the Shield

The northern Sandias from the Rincon

View of rock formations from the Piedra Lisa Spring Trail

I'm still trying to hike on Sunday afternoons after church. Last Sunday, November 20, I hiked up the Piedra Lisa Spring Trail to Rincon Ridge, a 4-plus-mile hike (round-trip) that I'd wanted to do for some time but had put off due to (a) the long-ish drive required to get there, and (b) the lamentable $3.00 day-use fee that the USFS imposes on people parking at any of its trailheads.  (I remember when the USFS started charging what it originally called a "courtesy" fee [what a joke!]; the ranger I first spoke to about it told me the USFS was just "trying it out," but, alas, government regulation and taxation only ever seem to ratchet in one direction.)  Anyway, it was a great hike for me -- I loved the scenery and did passably well on the uphill leg; however, I've got to remember to take my trekking poles even on these shorter hikes, as the pounding I took on the way back down caused my lower back and hips to ache horribly.  The first picture above shows the "Knife Edge" of the Shield, the largest single rock face in the Sandias. (The "Knife Edge" is an increasingly popular route for thrill-seekers -- it's "Class 4" in rock-climbing terms but extremely exposed -- and several people have uploaded videos to Youtube showing some exciting jumps.)  The second picture is the view north from the Rincon, showing an aspect of the Sandias that is invisible from Albuquerque.  The last picture shows the "Needle," a large pinnacle, on the left, and the "Tombstone," a small formation that I climbed several times with Rod Williamson (most recently in 2002), in the middle.

The route

Trip to Heber/Overgaard, AZ (Nov. 11-13, 2011)

At Cardo's in Payson

In our suite at the Worldmark resort

Mogollon Rim

Mike and Judy on the Rim

Looking at clouds from both sides now

Playing games in the suite

Dorine and I in the living room

Hot-tubbing in 40-degree weather

Mike taking panoramic pictures

Dorine at the Petrified Forest

Painted Desert, AZ

Dorine and I went to Arizona last weekend with Mike and Judy for our annual "anniversary" trip, which took place earlier than usual this year owing to family matters due to arise in the first half of December.  Mike and Judy are members of "Worldmark by Wyndham" (which is described on its website as a "flexible vacation ownership program"), and we were able to get a large suite at the resort in Overgaard, AZ (adjacent to Heber) for a really good rate.  Our trips with Mike and Judy are always enjoyable, largely because we purposely don't do much besides kick back and relax -- and we always eat well.  On this trip we drove into Payson on Saturday for gasoline (staying for lunch), and then we drove along the Mogollon Rim, marveling at the scenery.  On Sunday, we drove through the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert on the way home.

Hike up Long Canyon, 11/6/11

Me in Long Canyon, 11/6/11

Dorine and I took a short hike today up what I believe is called Long Canyon, which I'd never, in all my years of hiking in the Sandia Mountains, visited before.  The canyon is accessed at the southeast corner of the Glenwood Hills subdivision, which itself is located at the far eastern end of Montgomery Blvd.  As it happens, Long Canyon is a pretty cool place, at least the lower part that we saw.  I now want to go back and hike up the entire canyon to its head at/near the "Whitewash" Trail.  The topo map (below) shows the canyon becoming quite steep near the top; however, it looks manageable, assuming there's a recognizable trail up that high.  I'm not quite sure why Mike Coltrin makes no mention of Long Canyon in his hiking guide; I wondered if it might be private land, but the topo map shows the wilderness boundary (dotted line) passing just beyond the existing subdivision.

[Update 11/8/11: I happened to be e-mailing Coltrin yesterday about a work-related matter -- he, too, works at Sandia National Laboratories -- and, in an aside, I asked him why there was no mention of Long Canyon in his hiking guide.  His response was simply that he omitted a lot of what he referred to as "user" trails from the book (especially ones that follow streambeds, which he says he avoids for aesthetic reasons), and that he didn't want casual hikers to get lost on unofficial, primitive trails.  I'm not sure I buy that 100%, since (a) Long Canyon has such easy access, and (b) his book references many other primitive trails that would be infinitely easier to get lost on, and where it would be a much more-serious matter to be lost (e.g., Chimney Canyon).  I can't help thinking that a combination of parties -- the USFS, the City of Albuquerque, the Glenwood Hills subdivision, the residents whose houses one has to walk past to get to the canyon, and perhaps even Coltrin and his publisher -- have collectively made the decision not to publicize Long Canyon for the express purpose of minimizing vehicular traffic and hiker impact in the area.  I'm sure they'd much rather steer hikers north to the Embudito Trail (see topo map).]

The routes of my two hikes up Long Canyon

[Update 11/28/11: Yesterday afternoon I went back up Long Canyon, this time by myself, and hiked/scrambled all the way up to the Whitewash Trail.  The last half-mile or so turned out to be a bit of an ordeal -- steep, rocky, loose, bushy, cactus-y, and not much of a trail -- and immediately upon reaching a real trail, I decided not to go back down the same way.  I essentially had a choice, then, between hiking up to Oso Pass, and then down the Embudito Trail, or simply going down the Whitewash Trail; lacking a lot of daylight, I chose to do the latter.  So I sat down, drank a bottled water, ate a granola bar, called Dorine to tell her I'd need to be picked up later (and then taken back to where I'd parked my truck), and then set out down the trail.  Unfortunately, I got off the bottom part of the Whitewash Trail (there being numerous "trails" in them thar hills), and rather than back-track, I kept going down, finally having to pick and slide my way down a boulder-strewn canyon and ending up behind the flood-control dam on Menaul south of the "Whitewash Trail" parking area.  Thus the last half-mile of the descent was almost as bad as the upper part of Long Canyon, and it became clear to me that I need to start going "shorter and easier" on my Sunday-afternoon hikes or else I'm going to burn myself out.  Anyway, below are a couple of photos of Long Canyon, taken from the Whitewash Trail; the first shows the lower part of the canyon, and the second shows the upper portion where I came up -- my path roughly corresponded with where the shadow line falls here.]

Long Canyon, 11/27/11

The upper part of Long Canyon

Trip to White Sands and Ruidoso, October 7-9, 2011

Sam, Zach, and Mason

Kayla, Mason, and Tyler

Tyler and Mason check out the gear

Grandma sledding with Mason

Sam, Zach, and Devery

Me and Zach at Oliver Lee S.P.

Making s'mores at Oliver Lee

Sam, Kiley, and Devery

Tyler and Mason

Sam packing up to go to White Sands

Getting ready to go to White Sands

Maddy guiding Tyler across the road

The girls in front of the Swiss Chalet Inn

Zach with Tyler

At the Swiss Chalet Inn

Kristy, Chris, and Kids at White Sands

In back of the hotel in/near Ruidoso

Toasting marshmallows for s'mores

Mason taking a tumble at White Sands

Grandma doing a little sledding with Mason

Me taking a sled run on "our" dune

Series of videos that Kristy and Chris shot at White Sands

Our extended family (minus Darren and a couple of sons-in-law) took a weekend trip to southern New Mexico on October 7-9, 2011. This was a trip I'd wanted to do for some time, so I looked forward to it with great anticipation. We camped Friday night at Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, located south of Alamogordo, NM, then spent several hours on Saturday at White Sands National Monument, which is west of Alamogordo. Finally, we drove up to Ruidoso, NM (a pretty mountain town that was once the playground of many a Texas oil millionaire) and spent Saturday night in the Swiss Chalet Inn, an older hotel north of town.

I love the Oliver Lee campground and always enjoy staying there. It was windy and thus the tents flapped around all night, impeding everyone's sleep; however, I think we all had a great time camping out otherwise. The conditions at White Sands the next day were perfect -- perfect weather, perfect dune, perfect company, and perfect equipment (fast masonite sleds for the adults and slower plastic sleds for the kids).

Ruidoso was a little disappointing. The rooms at the Swiss Chalet Inn were far better than the online reviews I'd read would suggest, but the indoor pool was out of operation, a severe letdown for the grandchildren. And I became very self-conscious about our having five kids under the age of six, all of whom were excited to be with their cousins, in a hotel that wasn't designed for children. I know the desk clerks caught an earful from various guests about the noise, so if we ever take the whole family back to Ruidoso -- which I doubt, since there just isn't that much for kids to do there, anyway -- we'll plan it out better and get a cabin. The highlight of Ruidoso for me was eating at the Circle J Barbecue on Saturday night, and then at Schlotzky's Deli on Sunday before returning back to Albuquerque.

Overall, everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. It was the very sort of trip I'd like to take at least four or five times a year.

Random Thoughts, Part 7

1. Next year's presidential election is already weighing heavily on my mind.  Barack Obama has been such a disaster as president -- having no leadership skills and lacking sense enough to surround himself with people who do -- that one would normally think he had no chance whatsoever of being re-elected; however, the Republican field of candidates is something less than reassuring.  I feel like I should be enthused about Mitt Romney's front-runner status, given his being Mormon (and thus probably a very decent individual) and his proven administrative ability, but I can't feel good about his tendency to say and do just about anything that he thinks will help his chances of being elected.  I also know the mainstream media will lay off him until he becomes the nominee -- just because they they think his religion makes him an easy target  -- and then come at him full-bore.  ("Funny underwear!" "Polygamy!" "Men can become gods!" "History of racism and sexism!" "Weird temple ordinances with Masonic origins!" "Homophobic bigots!" "High rates of [fill in the blank]!")  But who else is there?  Apart from being more conservative, Rick Perry seems like the second coming of George W. Bush.  Michele Bachmann appears bright and sufficiently conservative, but the media proved with Sarah Palin that conservative women are easily ripped apart.  Newt Gingrich is smart and experienced, but he simply carries too much baggage.  I'd relish the pitting of a conservative African American like Herman Cain against the liberal ideologue Obama, but I'm just not convinced Cain is prepared to assume the office (reminiscent of Obama himself) -- and, of course, at any rate the media would paint him as a blood traitor to his race.  The election is a long way off, but the Republican train hasn't even made it onto the rails yet.

[Update 11/10/11: Rick Perry has now committed a gaffe in a debate -- forgetting "Department of Energy" as the third of three federal agencies he'd abolish as president -- that seems likely to seal his doom as a candidate.  And, as if anyone couldn't have predicted it, Herman Cain, like Clarence Thomas before him, is being tarred as a serial sexual harasser; it's curious how every conservative African American man seems to be "outed" as an out-of-control horndog at the precise moment he's poised to make an impact on the national political scene.  Barack Obama has an amazing array of dirty operatives at his disposal -- just look at his election as senator from Illinois, when the "sealed" court records from his opponents' divorces magically came to light -- which makes me wonder why it is that no reputable person in the party opposite seems to have the means or the nerve to dig up the goods on Obama.]

2. I really don't know what to make of the recent "Occupy [Wall Street, etc.]" movement, if one can call it a movement.  Their contentions are both incoherent and absurd -- they're blaming banks that they ended up with $100,000 in student-loan debt and a useless college degree in liberal arts? -- but one common thread seems to run through them: the reflexive desire for government to step in and make things "right."  That in itself makes them, for lack of a better term, the "anti-Tea Party," given that the Tea Party movement wants government to intrude less and to allow free enterprise to refuel our terrible economy.  (More than one conservative wag, taking note of the personal-hygiene habits of the "Occupy" people, began referring to them as the "Flea Party.")  There is such an air of unreality these days, on both ends of the political spectrum, that I despair of finding a solution either to the debt crisis, on one hand, or the jobs crisis on the other.  Will our mind-boggling national debt be paid down without tax increases?  No.  But has Congress shown it can raise taxes -- or, for that matter, do anything at all -- without also raising expenditures?  (And are there enough "rich" people to leave holding the bag?)  No...writ large.  It's all too depressing to contemplate.

3. I've thought a lot about the devolution of traffic court in the local Metropolitan Court system.  At one time, smart people always opted to go to court when cited for speeding, simply because there was a better-than-even chance the police officer wouldn't show up for "trial" and the citation would be dismissed.  If the cop did show up, it was certain the person would end up paying something, as one could neither (a) argue the facts, since the officer was per se considered more truthful/credible than the "defendant," nor (b) argue the law, because frankly the law doesn't mean very much in traffic court -- Metro Court not being a court of record and its judges thus not having to fear being reversed or taken to task by a higher court.  (There's a term for a court in which neither the facts nor the law is subject to dispute or interpretation, and it involves a certain marsupial.)  However, the judge typically offered some sort of plea-disposition deal, which involved paying a lower fine and having the citation "dismissed" -- and not having the "offense" reported to the Motor Vehicle Division -- if the person had no subsequent citations for six months.  (The terms of such a deal were often deviously offered, which one would discover only the next time he was ticketed --  which could be many years later -- finding he was now a "repeat offender" and subject to greater sanctions such as driver-improvement school.)  The situation these days, however, is much worse.  First, on the initial trip to court, one meets with a court "negotiator" whose job it is to arrange for plea deals without involving the officer at all.  A person can still insist on having an actual "trial" date, but those dates are carefully aligned with the cop's schedule, and all APD officers are now scheduled to go to court on certain days.  And, second, the person is warned vehemently that if he doesn't accept the plea offer, he will, if (make that when) found "guilty," have to pay both the full fine associated with the citation and court costs.  This new system has made traffic court even more Kafka-esque than ever, something I wouldn't have thought possible; in any case, there's now a tremendous (and assuredly intentional) disincentive to go to court in Bernalilllo County on a traffic citation. Thank goodness I haven't had a speeding ticket now in over six years, but there are times -- particularly when I'm on my way to work and am trying to hit all the lights green -- when I exceed the speed limit by up to 8-9 mph.  In general, I'm fairly careful not to speed...too much...but I remain vulnerable.

4. I sometimes think about my immediate family's (that is, my siblings' and my) record in marriage.  Only two of my parents' six children haven't been divorced, or at least separated, from their first spouses.  One brother has been married four times to three different women, although his current marriage has lasted a number of years now.  Another brother has been married three times to two different women, although his current marriage has lasted about thirty years.  A third brother divorced after 33 years of marriage and is still in some personal disarray over the breakup, despite having been unhappy in his marriage for many years.  And my sister only recently reconciled with her husband after an extended separation.  Thus my remaining brother and I are the only ones who have stayed with our original spouses for the duration.  This record may not be a stellar one, but I attribute it more to basic incompatibility than to the shortcomings of my family members.  The LDS church leadership is on record as saying that any man and woman who are committed to living gospel principles should be able to have a successful marriage, but I think all of my siblings would agree with me that such a blanket statement is, to say the least, overly simplistic.

5. I bought a "magnet therapy" bracelet when we were in Pagosa Springs in July.  I considered it new-age voodoo even at the point of sale, but I've been willing to consider various alternative remedies for my equilibrium problems.  It almost goes without saying that the bracelet has done nothing to alleviate my dizziness, but I continue to wear it: one, I like the way it looks; two, it was Dorine's idea to buy it, so, in a way, it's a second emblem (along with my wedding ring) of my love for her; and three, well, I wear it as a token of both (a) faith that I can be healed from my mal de debarquement and (b) the utter failure of conventional medicine to diagnose or treat my ailment.  I'll probably lose the bracelet eventually, as small magnets don't make the best of clasps (and it's already come off at several inopportune moments) but I'll wear it while I have it.

6. I still feel some odd draw to my singles-ward days in 1981-84, and I wish for more content on Facebook about the old Albuquerque 11th Ward.  Just why I should feel a greater draw to the singles ward than to other times of my pre-marriage life (such as high school, my time at BYU, or my mission), I can't explain.  Do I miss these people?  Not particularly -- I'd like to become friends again with my old buddy Tracy Carroll, whom I haven't seen now in probably 12-13 years, and I'd sort of like to know what happened to Barbara T_____ and see a current photo of her, but that's about it.  I can't even say I'd like to re-live any singles-ward times or events, but perhaps I have a Freudian sense that I've left things undone or should have treated people differently.  Who can tell?

7. It's interesting to me how my diet has changed over time.  I still eat way too much of the wrong things, but I don't eat much ice cream anymore.  I also eat much less cereal, red meat, eggs, and even chocolate and other candy.  Finally, I drink quite a bit less soda pop than I once did.  However, I still eat too much in the way of chips, nuts, and other snack foods -- and even my daily quart of Gatorade packs a lot of sugar.  What I really need to do is eat fewer meals and smaller portions, and also snack less.  My metabolism has slowed so much that I can't say what it would take in the end for me to lose weight, but I've made some progress, anyway, in terms of diet.