Ending the Hiatus

For anyone who had any doubt as to whether or not I still had my uncanny ability to turn a clever phrase...actually, it was more my doubt than anything...I have decided that I would jump on and just let my thoughts flow onto the keys. In other words, I have no idea what I am going to write, I'm making this up as I go.

I suppose the rather lengthy gap in my entries stems from Lisa's miscarriage. For some reason, life just became a little nuttier than usual at that time and blogging wasn't high on my priority list. Then, after the emotional blow of that event had subsided, there was the ongoing political furor that has been weighing heavily and inescapably on my mind. Honestly, I don't believe that there has been a single day when I haven't gone on a political tirade. I suppose working in news, especially for one of the more liberal networks, it would be a most unusual phenomenon if I were able to curb my visceral reaction to the seemingly endless fawning of the media over a particular candidate who is running for the highest office in the land. That being said...I actually did attempt to type something up on here once while on break at work...I couldn't think of anything to say except how utterly fed up I was with all things Obama. Which, ironically is what most of this entry has been thusfar. Okay...time to move on.

Let me explain some of the events that have taken place since I last wrote...no, there is too much, let me sum up...no, there is still too much, I will tell you some of the things that have happened in the past week or so. Alright, so...last Saturday, Lisa had a Pampered Chef party with my boss' wife, Judy, who also happens to be one of our anchors at the station. There were even some notable guests, such as anchor and reporter, Sarah Stokes, and reporter, Mary Rinzel, and producer/reporter, Heidi Bohl. Look at me name dropping. In reality, some people do react to it that way: "You had a Pampered Chef party with Judy Clark!" I believe that Lisa got that reaction from a number of people. I think it is really funny. They are just people. And most of them like to be treated that way...but, seldom actually do. Lisa even told me that in her time at Target, Judy came through her line and one of the other customers remarked, "You're Judy Clark! I love you!" To which Judy responded with a rather uncomfortable..."Oh...that's...um...great."

But, setting aside all talk of my notable local friends, it was a successful party and Lisa still has a few orders rolling in from an already high grossing show. Following that little soirre, we threw our bags in the car and headed up to Oakdale, MN for a marathon of Stake Conference meetings. I was supposed to be at a auxilliary leadership meeting at 2:00, but we left Eau Claire at about 2:30. But, we arrived in time for me to attend a priesthood leadership training at 4:00...well, I missed the first 15 minutes. I would have been sooner had I not taken the freeway in the wrong direction, not realizing it untill I saw Minneapolis looming large in the distance, as I passed unfamiliar buildings thinking..."Wait...I don't recognize any of these buildings." After finishing what actually ended up being a rather enjoyable leadership meeting, I got some nasty food from Dairy Queen for Lisa and I to eat as we ran out the door of our hotel to make it to the adult session. After getting back to our hotel, we tried to enjoy some quiet and relaxing time in the pool area. Some rather loud, and particularly giggly teenage girls that were the residue of a birthday party saw too it that our time there was neither quiet, nor relaxing. The following morning, we went to our final session of Stake Conference. I made certain that I was able to sit by my friend, Ethan Wickman. Meetings are so much easier when you have someone to joke around and laugh with. Well, a speaker got up who looked for all the world like a skinny Kenny Rogers. At one point, Ethan leaned over to me and said, "Brothers and Sisters, you gotta know when to hold'em. Know when to fold'em. Know when to walk away. Know when to run." I just about busted a gut. Despite how enjoyable it was...I don't know that I got much out of that talk.

Other than that...it hasn't been an overly eventful week. On all hallows eve, I dressed up in my Spider-Man outfit and worked master control at work. Fittingly, it was one of the most hair raising master control experiences I've ever had. Almost immediatly after I began my shift, I missed rolling a weather spot that airs during the Today show out of New York because they had put a break in that nobody told me was merely a list of spots to be moved to a different spot to air during an additional break that network had given us. Then, of course, there was dealing with the fact that most of our programing is now HD and the methods for getting shows and airing shows is very different. So, essentially I was flying by the seat of my pants the entire shift. On top of that, I had a nasty head cold that made the time even more unbearable. I got home and took a nice warm bath and just laid low for the rest of the evening. We had one anomalous group of Trick-or-Treaters stop by, which took up about 3/4 of a bag of candy that we happened to have. We did have a ghoulish time watching Ghostbusters in honor of the holiday. Then, it was off to bed.

Yesterday morning, Lisa had her biweekly charge of Wyatt, one of her semi-regular daycare kids. We went shopping and banking with little Wyatt in tow. When we stopped at Copps, we discovered that little Wyatt has very little love for the sun in his face. His carseat faces backwards and when we parked the sun was directly behind the car. I parked, got out, and when I went to open the door so I could get Wyatt out of his car seat, he was writhing in his car seat with a grotesque look of agony on his face. He looked how I would imagine a vampire looking in a similar position. I couldn't help but chuckle at this. Lisa said I was mean. I told her that I would have laughed even if it was our own child. Not that I wouldn't help them...but, I would still find their discomfort amusing.

After Wyatt's father came and picked him up, we spent the afternoon cleaning up the apartment, folding laundry and preparing dinner for the Solin (Bohl) family. We had been trying for over a month to have Heidi and her husband over for dinner. It was an imensely enjoyable time. I had been stewing before they came over, wondering how our conversation would be. I didn't want to bring up either of my two favorite subjects: politics and religion. I know that Heidi's political views...differ from mine. And, of course, it can be really uncomfortable bringing up religious views with a dinner guest. But, they actually did ask about the beautiful building that Lisa and I were married in. Without going into detail, we told the Solins about temples. So, a religious subject delicately picked up and then set back down without any trouble at all. Then, I think the closest we got to politics was a brief discussion of how hellacious work is going to be durring elections this next week. But, it was just a very pleasant visit.

So, there you have it. As up to speed as anyone could hope to be. I hope I managed to turn a phrase or two. It was decidedly more newsy...but, take what you can get, right? I will write again next month! (Hey, set expectations low and you will always meet or exceed them.)

Late Night Blogging

So since Dave hasn't written in quite some time and I for some reason can't sleep, I thought I'd write a little something for all to enjoy. I'm actually kinda surprised Dave hasn't written in so long. I'm sure he has had lots of exciting things he could write about. Today he finished putting up the window sealing things and he put up NEW window treatments in the bedroom (no more spidey blanket and flannel sheet). They are really nice they help keep light and sound out and help keep the cool/heat in.

My Pampered Chef biz is slowly coming together. I finally got my website set up. Hopefully by the end of Oct I will qualify (submit 4 shows) and then everyone will not only be able to do shows through my website but also order individual orders (right now I can only do shows). I will have my first real live cooking show next week (it was postponed a couple times). I'm sure I will have a ton more to say then.

My daycare is going well too. I still only have the 3 kids and none are full time, but it is working out really well. One really nice thing is that I finish with the kids at 1:30 at the very latest and Dave finishes work at 12:30 so we both have the afternoon off and can spend time together. I'm having a lot of fun with the kids. Alexis (4 yr) really likes to help me cook in the kitchen so I'm trying to come up with more easy fun and yummy things to make (we both prefer making sweets). I've also started coming up with craft ideas for Halloween. Trenton (2 yr) is happy to do whatever, though he really loves to run around outside. I'm not sure what to do when it's too cold for that yet, bundle them up well and send them out anyway? I've only had Wyatt (1 yr) twice now but both days he was pretty happy to just walk around the apartment. I figure he's 1 he can walk and he can "talk" and he wants everyone to know it. I gave him my old broken cell phone to play with and that was a great thing to open, close, push buttons on and chew on while he walked around the house "talking". They are cute kids, and even though there are times when they are driving me crazy I still love it and I'm growing to love them too. I wake up in the morning and I don't hate that I have to work. I don't get up and think "maybe I'll call in sick today" which I did almost every morning while working at Target and sometimes I actually did call in. It's really great to have a job that I actually love. (Thanks to my wonderful husband for letting me do this. I love you!)

On that note I just yawned and I think I might be sleepy now (that it is almost 11:30). Hope everyone enjoys the update.

Great Weekend

A while ago, we had a fantastic weekend with Mom and Dad. On Friday we had Mom and Dad Nigh visit from Sun Prairie. They came up on Friday evening. We went to Godfather's Pizza for dinner and talked about politics and sports. The pizza was really good despite how eccentrically the place was decorated. We had some good conversation about how delightful it is that Ned Yost is no longer managing the Brewers and about how impressed we all were by Aaron Rogers (who has since been less than impressive.) After we ate dinner, we came back to the apartment to rest and digest a bit. We watched a few Rifftrax clips on YouTube (Our favorite- The Matrix- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1TULRXHpTk).

And...since we last wrote we have seen the end to a very frustrating experience with eBay. We didn't want to write about it until after it had been resolved since we didn't want to run the risk of further aggravating an already tense situation. So...here is the tale: so, mom had given us a bunch of American Girl dolls to auction off on eBay so we had some extra spending cash. Well, a few of the dolls were duplicates. So, when taking pictures of the dolls to put on eBay, Lisa would only take a picture of one of the duplicates because...it's the same doll, why would I take a picture of the same doll twice? Well, we listed one such doll about a month ago. This doll happened to be one of the dolls that Becky had on display in her room. Never played with, never tossed around...just had out of the box on display in a smoke free home. Apparently this doll was less the tag that was on the doll that we took a picture of, which was a mint in the box doll. Again, however, we didn't feel like this was an issue since the doll was in great shape and...most importantly, it was the same doll. So, it sold. We shipped it off the day after labor day and thought that was the end of it. A week and a half later we got an e-mail from the buyer demanding that we send along the tag. We replied that we didn't have any such tag and they said that they were going to try to get us kicked off eBay and that they would go to the post office and get us charged with mail fraud. We are suddenly dealing with this aggressively vindictive person who was all bent out of shape because the doll we sent was "not the doll pictured." We even relented that we had not pictured the exact same doll but emphasized that it was the same doll!!! This was not enough. They wanted a full refund of their money plus an additional $10 for shipping. At this point we mentioned that they had neither contacted us or shipped back the doll within the 7 day period described in eBay's return policy. They said that they had contacted eBay and that eBay had sided with them in saying that we "misrepresented our item"...but we knew that this wasn't the case since we hadn't heard anything from eBay to that effect. So, we finally went to PayPal who has since determined that we should refund the original price paid and the buyer will be responsible for shipping. We are ecstatic that this is finally going to be over...but, just a little miffed that we had to deal with this idiot in the first place.

Anyway...sorry it has been so long. Life has been a bit nutty.

And I Manage Another

Wow...so not only did I post twice yesterday on my scripture thoughts blog...but, I follow it up with a newsy blog on Nighspace. That and I will probably update my scripture blog when I study this afternoon. Somebody give me a medal, or a cookie...or maybe just a comment on both blogs. Ooh, that does sound nice!

So, since we last wrote, Lisa continues to be morning sickness free. But, we're anticipating that what misery we are spared at the beginning of the pregnancy will be made up somewhere down the line. At least, that's what I think.

We have actually given some thought to the name of our future offspring. If we have a boy (Oh please, oh please, oh please!) we will name him David Gregor (David after me and Gregor after Dad and Grandpa.) If we have a girl, we aren't completely sure yet...but, we like the name Summer Elizabeth. But, Lisa hasn't given the official stamp of approval on that one yet. So, that is the speculative name of a future daughter. If we manage a son we won't have to think about it too hard and then we will have a little bit of time to think about what name we might want for a girl.

In other news, Lisa has a job again! The most wonderful part of it is: it's daycare! I had been reminding Lisa that she needed to find work so that we could scrape together a little more savings before the big hit when the hospital bills start piling up. I knew she didn't want to get her Target job back or any other sort of dead end job that she would just be miserable in...but, she had been without work for quite sometime and she is only going to get more pregnant from here on out...so, I was starting to feel the tug in my purse strings (figuratively speaking, of course...I don't own a purse.) But, Lisa was very diligent about keeping her Craigslist ad for daycare at the top of the list and she got several calls and e-mails and interviewed with one yesterday and started today. She also has an interview set up with another person this morning. So, that deal may get even sweeter. But, it is really nice to not only have Lisa working again, but working in a job that she can enjoy and a job that will allow her to be home when I get back from work. That and our afternoons will be just about as free as they have been. It is truly a blessing. One we had to wait for...but, all good things take time to be perfectly cliche.

At any rate...I guess that's really all the news I have. Life is splendid and we are quite happy. Love to all!

Guess What!

So, not long ago, Lisa went off birth control and we decided that rather than continue to prevent pregnancy by various methods we would just go for it. Well, last week, Lisa went to Walgreens to get a couple of sticks to pee on. Lisa had said that we would test on Saturday. So, I woke up at 3:00 and gently woke Lisa and asked if she had to use the bathroom. She said no and I slept for a little bit longer. So, at 4:30, I nudged Lisa awake again and asked if she had to pee. Once again, the answer was no. But she also asked why I kept asking. I told her that I wanted to test. So, test we did and pregnant we are. The picture I have included is our picture of the test result from the pee stick. We figure that she is about six weeks along. So far, no morning sickness. Lisa is just as chipper and active as ever. We have determined that we need to make walking a regular part of our routine so that Lisa can keep fit and have an easier pregnancy/delivery.

So...after waking at 4:30, Lisa and I went and helped the Javners, a family in our ward who I also home teach, move. All went well packing up and such. But, we got over to their new place and Brother Javner had forgotten his keys. Well...since most everyone helping was a member of the elder's quorum we couldn't simply wait until the key showed up. Josh Jacks tried picking the lock. Aaron Javner lifted me up onto the balcony to see if the patio door was open. But, ultimately Josh and Aaron lifted me up and I used a knife to pop the screen off of one of the windows that was only about a foot wide and I crawled through and opened up the door. After finishing our adventures with moving and breaking and entering, Lisa and I went home to prepare diner for the Javners. After we had the Javners over, we drove over to the Plaza to attend the wedding reception of one of our anchors at TV 13. It was a rather long day.

So...even though it isn't quite as cool as finding out that I'm going to be a father or fitting through a one foot window to break into a house, I do have some Wii news. I played a round of golf and shot a -10. Wow! I also played the home run hitting baseball training and hit 10 of 10 for 5,700+ feet and got a platinum medal for it!! Like I said...not as cool as an actual accomplishment, but noteworthy nonetheless.

Anyway...that's it! Bring on the comments!

All the Latest

Alright...so it has been awhile since our last post. There have been a handful of things that have transpired in the life of the Eau Claire chapter of the Nigh family. So, here I am to make sure that everyone has all of the most up-to-date information (once in awhile, at least.)

So, we have a new car! Well, not necessarily new...but, he isn't a 95' with 173,000+ miles on him. We have followed the Nigh family trend: we bought a LeSabre. While the car is working out great, the business remains unfinished...we need a name. Preferably something that rolls off the tongue like "Big Pappa". So far, all we have come up with is calling our new vehicle "Aaron Rogers", implying the replacement for a reliable old veteran. There are a few problems with this in that, for one, our new car is a decent replacement for our old one whereas Rogers has been a major disappointment. For another, there is little to no chance that we will see Big Pappa rolling around Eau Claire with someone else driving him. And finally, "Aaron Rogers" doesn't really slide off the tongue like Big Pappa did.

Still along the lines of the rebuilding process. Lisa has begun working as a purveyor of Pampered Chef products. Thusfar, she doesn't have anything set up for September. She is looking for work as a daycare provider without much success but has also put in applications at a few other places that will allow her some flexibility in her schedule. Target is a distant option...but, probably too distant for a report that she has made a repeat appearance in her employment at the retail chain.

Anyhow...things are going relatively well. We are able to pay our bills and still have fun. I have been a bit more diligent about attending my plasma appointments...which has helped. That is pretty much the story, though. We have a car, one of us has a full time job, the other is working on it and things are going fine.

21!

Its a few days late but I thought I'd write about my birthday and updates on the going ons of Nigh life in Eau Claire...Dave will be so surprised.
So first off for those who don't already know Dave and I have internet in our house now!!! It's really exciting. Dad brought his old computer to us when they came to visit and we piggy-backing our high-speed off someone else in the building (hope thay don't move soon). So not only am I writing my 4 blog ever but I'm writing from my own home.
Birthday Time! It wasn't really a grand or exciting birthday...I threw up in the morning (I think it was the juice I had with breakfast because I had more later and felt sick again). I went to work with Dave for a picnic. We are always up for free food. I searched online for a new daycare job and wrote up an ad to put on craigslist (I've made 2 contacts with that and am currently waiting to here back from them after answering some questions). When Dave came home had to go to Target because the chain of the necklace he got me (after he told me where it was hidden, I got to open at 3:00 AM) had broken (already...grrr.) Of course they didn't have the same necklace so we got a chain and went home to fix it. We both had things to do at church so we headed off and got home at 8ish and went to bed....Like I said nothing to exciting. I did get lots of phone calls from my family which was really nice. It was a good birthday!
Update on the car: So we went to the mechanic today (with Tom, Daves boss). We test drove a couple cars while Tom talked the price down $300 for us. We are going to buy a "new"(1998) Le Sabre, we both liked it a lot. As for the old car our mechanic (Sean) is going to run a copression test (free of charge, assuming it's not fixable) ASAP, to see if the car is fixable. If it is we can fix it and sell it for more or keep it and have 2 cars. We are waiting to hear back about the test and more about the damage to decide what we will do there.
Even though everything fell apart the other day things are getting better....well not yet but they are looking better and we are feeling positive again. I think I got everything, if not I'm sure Dave will add a entry soon.

Love
Lisa

The Bottom Drops Out

Well...I know that I have experienced some bad days in my life...but, I think yesterday made the top of the list. Just when you think that things cannot get worse...they do.

So, the day started out pretty well. We went to the viewing for my late Uncle Will and then hit the road for a long drive back to Eau Claire. What we didn't realize was how long it was really going to be. Our route was detoured, which added about 30 miles onto our trip. We had more than one excrutiatingly slow vehicle in front of us with parades of traffic on the other side preventing a number of passing opportunities. During the drive I was called by several people informing me of meetings at which I will be expected. So...all of these things would have been palatable were it not for the events which transpired after in rather rapid succession. When we were just 13 miles outside of Eau Claire, I felt/heard something happen with the engine. After pulling off to the side of the road and determining there was nothing that could be done, I went to get back on the highway with my engine making a very obvious clicking noise. Well, not even 40 feet onto the highway, the engine just shut down. We had enough momentum that we were able to pull over onto the side of the road and get safely away from the flow of traffic. After struggling through poor cellular signal we were able to get hold of my boss, Tom and he gave us some phone numbers for tow companies. We got our car towed to an auto shop near the station and then got a ride home from our Relief Society president. Shortly after arriving at home, Lisa got a call from the lady she was going to be nannying for informing her that she had found someone else. So...no job, no car. At least I have my job.

For the moment, Lisa is at home and that will be nice for a little while. But, we will unfortunately need the additional income, especially if we are going to have a baby in the not terribly distant future.

For the fans

Hope everyone likes the new layout for the Nighspace page. If anyone is confused as to the significance of the white Dave and Lisa, check out http://www.myspace.com and look at their logo. Ours will make a bit more sense then. We don't have a third person to put on it yet...so, it is just two...and I think it's sufficient for people to get the idea.

With Mom and Dad Hellums coming into town, I thought it prudent that I post something to keep everyone satiated for a little while since it is not likely I will hop on a computer and type something up while they are in town. Watch for a follow up report of the goings on of the week of their visit, but...nothing else in the meantime.

This past week has to have been one of the longest ever in my personal history. Aside from Monday and Tuesday, Tom Benson has been gone all week. It has, consequently, been my duty to direct everyday. Needless to say, it has been a rather stressful week. I will become accustomed to it in time, but...how much time remains to be seen. I will say...it will be very nice to have a shortened week next week.

Not really much to tell otherwise. It will be nice to have Lisa home from here on out. I am excited for the change of pace, at least as far as Lisa's schedule is concerned. Horray for spending time with my wife.

Sorry this is so short. Hope it will suffice.

Time Waits for...

It is inevitably true. Last thing I knew, I was writing a fresh new blog with all of my hard hitting updates on the life of the Eau Claire extension of the Nigh family...then, I have my in-laws coming to visit in less than a week. My wife is finished with her job at Target in less than a week. And...to top it all off, I haven't written a blog in almost a month! Okay, so now that I've committed that hyperbolic statement to the electronic realm of cyberspace...let me try to recollect what has occured within the past few weeks.

Well...work has continued to go well. I directed just about every day last week, with the exception of Monday and Wednesday when I worked in master control. It isn't horrible...but, every time I work in master control, I am reminded of how much I don't like it. It actually works out fairly well, because when I'm running master, it generally means that Tom Levenhagen is in traffic, which he doesn't like...so, at least it isn't anything to which I need to become accustomed. The great thing has been that I've been training a fellow, Joel, in master control on the days that I've worked that. He is really competent in master, so aside from the occasional reminder to roll a break or instruction on clipping a show or routing a source...I didn't have to do much. Not that I wasn't working...but, with me gone next Friday, Joel is going to run master on his own...so, I pretty much stay there for questions and emergency situations.

Yes...it is true what I said...Lisa has finally put in her notice at Target. Many were the times that Lisa would walk in the door at 9:00p or later and asked, "Can I quit?" and for each of those times my response remained, "When you have another job lined up." There is a family in the ward that has asked Lisa if she would do daycare for their baby since both parents are working. It looks to be a good fit and Lisa has also agreed to try her hand at doing Pampered Chef. It is going to be exciting and scary. I am sure we will be fine. The best perk, though: I get to see Lisa when I get home!!!

Although it seemed quite a ways off when the Hellums had booked a flight back in May...August is looming just around the corner. Almost unexpectedly, they will be arriving this Saturday! Crazy! Although I do have to work Monday through Wednesday, we have enough things planned that they should be tided over until we can head down to the Dells on Wednesday afternoon and spend the rest of the time there. It will be some much needed R&R for me since the weekends haven't quite been sufficient for me to recover from the mixed master control/directing weeks that I have had for almost a month.

In rather trivial, but nonetheless exciting news...Lisa and I are the proud new owners of a Wii Fit. It is amazing! It is essentially a fitness video game. You can bet that I am in heaven. I like to try to stay in shape and I like video games...the combination could not be more ideal. Although...I also like money and when I go to the plasma center, Wii Fit is out for the evening. But, it has been fun the few days we have had it.

Anyway...I hope but do not promise that I will find time to write another blog in the near future. Especially with all that I have described as being just around the corner. But, I will write again...next time!

Of Fireworks and Things

Well, our Independence Day has come and gone. Lisa and I have been very busy working, traveling and such. Last week, Lisa had a number of late work nights and I stayed up for them...since falling asleep without her there proved to be quite the task. Then, on the 4th of July, we went down to Sun Prairie to visit with Mom and Dad. It was a pleasant weekend. We went to see WALL*E, which was cute in spite of its socio-political commentary. The planet is not on its way to being as polluted as many people would believe. And although there was a little bit of hyperbole in the depiction of people becoming extremely obese as a result of having everything automated and sitting in floating chairs all day sipping on shakes and malts, I have seen that there is most certainly a trend of people who I have begun to refer to as having just "gotten off the ship". Anyway...I was most impressed with the way that the entire movie was carried with very scarce dialogue. This was something that I admired about Cast Away. I think films of that nature are a fine tribute to the filmic principle of showing, not telling. I get annoyed with films that try to expedite parts of their story by explaining things that happened through a line or two.

Friday night, we went and saw the fireworks show in Columbus. It was actually pretty cool. Lisa took some pictures, one of which I have included here. It was a pleasant evening and the drive home was a pleasant contrast to my memories of driving the maddening crawl away from Warner Park after Rhythm and Booms...but, if memory serves, I was asleep for the better part of both, so I suppose there wasn't that much difference in terms of cognisant perception.

Saturday, we went to the farmers market down on Capitol Square...and by farmers market, I mean we stopped at two or three tents and then went in for a tour of the capitol building. It was really cool. It wasn't anything I would have appreciated as a kid, even though I certainly remember taking tours there before. I guess I was more interested in horsing around with my friends than paying attention to the dusty old pieces of Wisconsin and U.S. history. But, we were able to get up onto the observation deck and look out over the whole city. It was really neat. After that, we went to the Sun Prairie 4th (5th?) of July parade. It was extremely enjoyable. We then just relaxed for the evening by playing a game of Bocce, bolo ball and watching National Treasure 2. Sunday was your typical Sunday...as typical as they are away from home. Then that was it...we came back to Eau Claire and geared up for the start of a new week.

Not much going on here. Lisa is seeking a promotion at Target. I think she is more than qualified...but, we will see what happens. We have Mom and Dad Hellums coming to visit in the next few weeks and that will be a treat. I am just hoping that I get more sleep than I have been getting.

Anyway...that's all for now.

From Work (Kinda Like a Written Cut-In)

Well, it has been an incredibly busy week. Between my work, Lisa's work and interpreting on Wednesday and Thursday, Lisa and I have spent very little time together. It has been incredibly tough. Lisa even made the comment to me that this is the reason that she doesn't want me working two jobs. Despite the loss of sleep and the missed time with my sweetheart, it will be nice to have the additional padding in the family coffers.

The interpreting was really fun. It was for a leadership training camp for UW-EC incoming freshman. They addressed a lot of the complex issues that are faced by new college students: engaging in difficult discussions with people whose opinions are different, communicating with others, appreciating other cultures and lifestyles, etc. Much of it was very positive. I appreciated the things that were taught and discussed. On the flip side, this is a college...and so I very strongly disagreed with a fair number of the things that were said. There was more than one mention of our economy being "in recession" and a number of other disparaging comments regarding the United States (despite the fact that everyone in the room was a US citizen). But, on the whole there were a lot of positive things that I observed while there. Thursday, they were sharing their life's mission statement and one of the girls who got up mentioned that one of her goals was to get married and have a family after having saved sex for marriage. That was such a refreshing and positive thing to hear especially in light of the number of people that I know that place no value on the principles of chastity and fidelity. Later, after having a rather lengthy group discussion on stereotypes, in a smaller group the discussion continued, but in the direction of religion. The girl that I was helping to interpret for mentioned that she had known and was friends with quite a few Mormons and that she felt as though they were misunderstood and descriminated against. This was also very pleasant to hear. It is good to know that there are some open minded people in the rising generation.

Well...I suppose that is really all I have for now. I don't know if I will get another one in prior to the 4th, so happy Independance Day, everyone!

A Rare Two-Post Day

Alright...so, I decided that I left out one of the more newsworthy things. I have had my first and, ideally, last crash on the H4. Last Wednesday, I had gone to escort Lisa home from work. So, she got in the car and I hopped on the scooter. We were headed through the neighborhood that we always go through when going to or from Target. With Lisa in the lead, we approached a right hand turn that we make to get through the neighborhood, across Hwy 93 to get to our neighborhood. Well, at this point I made a very dumb decision. I decided I would pass Lisa in the turn and go shooting past her on the neighborhood street. Lisa began her turn and I gunned it and went into a wider turn. Well, come to find out, with that tight a turn at that speed and with a little patch of gravel, physics works the same way it always has. After uttering a cry of frustration and fear, I landed hard on my right hip and elbow. The H4 skidded over into the lawn of the house on the corner. I skidded just to the side of the street. At this point, a terrified Lisa had parked the car by the side of the road and had exited the car to make sure that my stupidity hadn't cost me my life. I quickly got up and shook the dust off, went over to the scooter and pulled it back up onto the road. I gave Lisa a wave and a thumbs up to let her know I was okay. My elbow was scraped up pretty bad and I had some minor abrasions on each of my wrists. Miraculously, despite wearing shorts, I hadn't a single scrape on my legs. I don't know if I would ever be able to achieve such a thing were I to try that again. Needless to say, it isn't high on my "To Do" list. Almost a week and the wounds are just about healed. I am still very cautious on the H4 and intend to remain so. Well, there you have it. Two posts, one day. Amazing!

The Thrill of Victory Accompanied by the Agony of No Sleep

Well, the title pretty well sums up what this next week is going to be like. It was a fairly normal day today and will be a fairly normal day tomorrow. But, on Wednesday and Thursday, I will be going over to Eau Claire campus to do some sign language interpreting. I won't be done until 11:30 at night. Getting up even at 3:30 will be extremely hard. But, it means $400 in the Nigh family coffers. That will be extremely helpful in paying off some of our remaining debt on the scooter and working our way to paying off my school debt. Right now, we've been making bigger payments and it will be really nice to lay down some bigger dollars and pay everything off faster so we can get ready for a family.

But, I digress. This past weekend was extremely nice. Lisa got off work on Friday and Saturday. So, after I got home from work, Lisa and I scrambled to finish getting the apartment clean and the laundry at least laid out so it wouldn't wrinkle. Then we headed off to La Crosse to attend my cousin, Stephanie's wedding. It was a lovely little riverside ceremony. We ate our food, watched the newlyweds dance and took our trip back to Eau Claire with my parents in tow. After visiting for a short while, Lisa and I finished cleaning up the kitchen, making the bed and folding laundry then a very tired Dave got some much needed rest.

On Saturday, we got up about an hour earlier than was necessary but had ample time to get all four of us showered, dressed and fed in time to leave for Oakdale, MN for a lovely little trip to the temple. Mom, Dad and I each had a slight snooze during our time in the temple. I wasn't quite satisfied with mine and so, got what sleep I lacked on the ride home. After eating lunch and watching School of Rock (which Mom and Dad both surprisingly liked) we headed off to watch the local minor league baseball team, the Eau Claire Express, take on the Alexandria Beetles at Carson Park. I had obtained the tickets from work. It was really pleasant. We all got a laugh out of the mascot, Trax, who bears a strong resemblance to South Park's Mr. Hankey (the magical Christmas poo.) Hiiiiiidey ho! The Express won, despite some major fielding errors that cost them 4 runs in the top of the 2nd inning. All and all they played a pretty solid game.

On yet another pleasant note, on Sunday, after the first hour of church, Lisa and I were asked to tend the nursery. Of course, it is necessary for kids that are the age of the kids we were watching to have snack time. The order of the day? Goldfish crackers! One of my staples of life. Well, one of the boys that I was sitting next to started feeding me his goldfish. Another one of the boys saw this and decided to join in. It was awesome! I have decided that this is something that Lisa and I will have to train our children to do. "Go get Daddy some food. Good, keep it coming." It was actually pretty cute.

At any rate...life goes on. Lisa and I will hardly see each other this week other than in passing. Mom and Dad bought me a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper so that I have some caffinated substance to boost my energy level on Wednesday, Thursday and my morning shift on Friday. I may not need it on Wednesday...but, Thursday and Friday will be killer. Until next time, Nighspace fans!

The Weekly Dose of Dave

Well, I guess it has been over a week since the last post. But, it is, nevertheless, a post within the calendar week. It is about as good as anyone can expect now that Lisa is working ridiculous hours at Target.

Work continues to go splendidly. I have benefits now. Isn't that nice. I don't know how anxious I am to use them. The coverage is only catastrophic...in other words, it would really only be good for something more along the lines of emergencies where it was one trip to the hospital and walking out in a cast or something. Not necessarily for regular visits. Of course, both Lisa and I are young and healthy enough that we aren't on myriad medications and constantly making trips to the doctor.

This next week will be a pretty full one. Mom and Dad are coming up on Friday to attend my cousin, Stephanie's, wedding in La Crosse. They will then just come up to Eau Claire and spend the night at our place. It will be really nice. We have an honest to goodness guest room with a full sized bed, so Mom and Dad won't have to shell out money to stay at a hotel. It will be nice to not have to wait for them to travel from their hotel to start the day with us. The plan is to head up to the temple on Saturday. We've already booked some time there so the whole thing is wired.

I'm in the beginning stages of writing a book. I'm going to write on the various things within the church that seem to be very commonly misunderstood, which I know I misunderstood for a long time, because of the Mormon "culture" which teaches various perspectives that aren't always completely accurate and in harmony with the actual doctrine. It will be a rather lengthy project. I don't anticipate finishing it any time within the next year. I think what I may end up doing is just sitting down and chipping away at it when I'm at home and have some time. Lisa and I are planning on expanding the family in the not terribly distant future, so...time is quickly becoming a precious commodity.

I've been called by a lady in the Eau Claire area to assist in interpreting. I have a job next week from Wednesday to Friday in the afternoon/evening. She said I can expect $400-475. I'm not certain exactly what it is I will be interpreting for...but, shoot, with a price tag like that...who cares. The hours are long, though. I will be going there straight after work at the station and interpreting untill 11:30. I am going to be one tired boy. I told Lisa we need to bring her up to speed so that she can interpret, too. $800 would be an awfully nice chunk of change. Not that she will be ready to interpret by the 25th, but...in the future, such pay would be something, indeed. That would even be something that she could even do while she is pregnant. I think...as long as she wasn't on her feet much.

Well...I don't know that there is much more to say. It is going to be a rather lonely evening. Lisa works until 10. The plan is to visit her when she takes her 1/2 hour break at around 6. But, other than that, I am on my own. I'm going to find a movie while I am here at the library so that I can avoid watching the same old movies that I've already seen 10 times each.

Anyway...as I am finishing...can people who read this make a comment please...I was looking at the archives and seeing that there are relatively few comments on the various entries. So, I'm not sure who reads these. I know Mom reads them with a fair amount of regularity...but, I don't know if she is the only one. And if Mom is the only one who reads this...I can just e-mail her. Anyhow, not to be a stick in the mud, but there it is.

Bye everyone. Or bye, mom, I guess.

Scooter Gang

So...the more I have driven around town with the H4, the more I have noticed other people riding scooters. Every time I do, I give a thumbs up or wave. I can't help but laugh...it seems as though everyone that rides a scooter likes everyone else that rides one too...either that or they are just glad that they aren't the only one who is out there looking goofy tooting along at 25 MPH with a full helmet and a heavy jacket on. Either way...it is really funny that I have become a part of the brotherhood of scooterists.

Aside from becoming increasingly fed up with Lisa's job at Target...life is splendid! We recently bought a brand new mattress and have finally been getting the sleep we never knew we were missing out on. It's fabulous! It has unfortunately opened the door on an ever growing wish list. Certainly things that may be feasible within the next year or so...but, I don't know. In case anyone's interest is piqued, the list is as follows: a Wii, new sheets for the bed, an office chair and a storage footer for our guest room. It may be some time before we get most of those. I feel like I really stretched buying a mattress.

I don't know that there is too much more to report, really. I have begun teaching as a quasi-permanent sub for the 14/15 year old class at church. It is nice...the kids are pretty...active. Trying to get through the lesson and having them take something from it is about like trying to carry on a conversation with a 5 year old in the middle of the New York Stock Exchange. Yet, I have hope. This past Sunday, we only had a few minutes left and I had become fed up with these kids all yakking and goofing around while I was trying to involve them in the lesson that I just stopped and said, "You guys don't care to learn this stuff and you should. This stuff applies to you even though you think it's a drag. I know the people that wrote this did so over a thousand years ago and you think that has nothing to do with you, but it does. These people understood you. They understood your pain, your problems, your fears. Believe it or not, you could learn something from them." Perhaps not a verbatim quote...but, that was the message, more or less. It was pretty quiet for the remainder of the time. I challenged them to take a bit of time and just read the scriptures. We shall see if that has happened when I follow up this Sunday.

Anyway...not much more to be said. Really. I am done now.

Seek Ye Out of the Best Books

Recently, I attended a priest's quorum lesson during which the discussion turned to the matter of profanity in literature. I held my tongue despite my objection to many of the things that were said. I appreciated that there was a liveliness in the participation which is the antithesis of the norm. But, I certainly can't keep quiet when I feel strongly about something.

In essence, the discussion went something along the lines of some of the priests expressing their discomfort at having to read some foul language in books like Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, Raisin in the Sun, etc. Now, I can certainly understand that when I was that age, I also remember it to be somewhat appalling. However...from what little I have read from the great literary works, I have come to understand the value of those works. I wouldn't say because of the profanity...but, neither would I say that it is in spite of it. I'm know that some of the young men in the room who were objecting to the things that they were reading at the behest of their teachers went to see Iron Man of their own free will and mentioned no similar discomfort at language that was no less profane than anything that they could possibly have read in any of Steinbeck's novels. Am I saying that they should not have seen the movie? No, I enjoyed it myself. But, what I am saying is it is inconsistent. Iron Man can be a wonderful movie despite the occasional vulgarity but Catcher in the Rye is too offensive. In my conversations with others regarding this subject I have had various perspectives on the matter but all have been similarly conclusive: there is value in looking past the vulgarity. In D&C 88:118, we are told that "as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith." A work does not diminish in value because it has swearwords, violence, or even sexuality in some cases. The work diminishes in value because of how it uses those things. If someone writes a book laden with obscenities merely for the sake of venting their own desire to be profane, then there is no depth to their work at all. However, in the case of Steinbeck or Salinger, their characters swear because that is their character. Now, can we read Of Mice and Men and notice only the cussing? Certainly. And if that is the case, then it is not worth reading. But, if this is the case, it is truly sad, for it is indicative of a lack of maturity. The ability to see what is truly going on in the story rather than focusing on what the characters are saying is what allows us to find value. One may watch The Passion of the Christ and see extremely graphic violence that depicts the suffering of Christ and gain an invaluably increased appreciation for the Savior. Another may watch a YouTube video of teens beating one of their peers to a pulp, which has violence of a similar nature to The Passion...but it is not likely that they will gain anything except a permissive attitude toward the perpetration of assault against their fellowman. Could someone gain such a permissive attitude from The Passion? Sure. But, one would be mistaken in thinking that was the intent of the film's creator. It is sincerely doubtful that Gibson ever intended to advocate brutality by depicting the savagery that Christ experienced. One could not rightly assume that the same is true of the prideful youth who posted the uproar on YouTube. As another example, Michaelangelo's David is a tremendously valuable and beautiful work of art depicting a naked man. It is a beneficial contribution to the world of understanding the beauty of the human body. But, can someone view this statue in a perverted way? Without a doubt. Does this mean that nobody should view the statue? Absolutely not. It does mean that people ought to be conscious of themselves and know whether they would have the ability to view something of that nature. It is somewhat a connection to the admonition from the Lord that we should not need to be compelled or commanded in all things. We ought to know ourselves well enough to govern ourselves. We ought to be mature enough to see the value in things. We also ought to be mature enough to be able to know when enough is enough, too. A somewhat altered serenity prayer is applicable: God grant me the serenity to see the things that can teach me, the courage to turn away from the things that will hurt me and the wisdom to know the difference. Does one's life become of less value because of its profane nature? Because of my sins and shortcomings can I have nothing of value to say? And does this give liberty to everyone else who has their own struggles to judge the things I say and do as worthless? I am sure that there is more that can be said...but, I am just about out of time.

Sorry if that was too ranty. I had to say it, though. TTFN.

Everyday Masterpieces

I'm not sure it's exactly what anyone would call a newscast that I've directed. But, hey...even Picasso's weirdest "portraits" are considered masterpieces. So, I suppose just the fact that I've done them at least makes it cool to me. I've been directing every morning news show that we do for the past two days. I wouldn't say that I've done an outstanding job...but, at least with the Today show and the Noon show, I've run some pretty clean shows. There are still little things here and there that I still get caught on...but, I'm slowly getting those taken care of. I still have to become more familiar with the board. But, I am at about 85% of what I feel I want to have at this point. I'm very skilled at audio, I can hold my own at chyron/camera and I've got a pretty good hold on master control. Directing is just another that can be thrown in to the refining process. Good stuff!

Speaking of the studio...tonight I will be giving the young men a tour at the station. I've been excited about this since we decided to do it. I love talking about what I do. It is fun! I also like being able to show people what really goes on in a broadcast. Most people don't realize the number of people that it really takes to run a news show. There is a lot that goes on that people don't ever see.

I've been trying desperately to overcome my second cold in the past month. Last Thursday, my throat started feeling sore and that turned into a full-blown head cold overnight. I'm hoping that I can go a bit longer before my next illness.

In the way of a category all but forgotten, we have a furnishing update. Yes, a bit of a throwback to the days of recent-movedness where any seemingly insignificant piece of furniture that we obtained was newsworthy since our apartment was so bare. Well, we have acquired a full-sized bed. One of the fellows in our ward has a bad back and was getting rid of a full sized pillow-top that was too soft to support his back. So, we now have a guest room. It will be a particularly fortuitous find when we have parents come to visit that don't need to book a hotel room.

Well...I suppose that is about all the news that is fit to print. I could go on a political rant or share some of my recent reflections on some of the comments from priests quorum this past Sunday...but, I think that may be one to hold off on until I have been able to contemplate it and refine it a bit more. I don't know when that will come to fruition, but you may look for it in a day or so...depending on when we get to the library again. Until such time...adios.

Of governance

"That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves." -Thomas Jefferson

After I read this statement, I thought about how well our founding fathers knew to set up a government. How incredibly brilliant the foundations were that they laid and how far we have strayed from that. Of course, some change was necessary. Women needed to vote, blacks needed to be accepted not as slaves, but as fellow citizens. All were and are entitled to the pursuit of happiness that our founding fathers intended. I am in full support of such change. But, as I am certain Jefferson feared (as I'm sure many other founding fathers did) we have a government that has begun to govern much more than I believe was ever intended. When legislation can be made to tell a business that it cannot permit smoking...a business that I would hazard a guess that most of the public servants have not even seen, let alone set foot in. And yet their hands are in there snuffing out the clientele of a hardworking citizen who is just pursuing their own form of the American dream. We have a government that has been working for years to restrict citizen possession of arms. Not exactly a far cry from the events leading to the 1972 declaration of martial law by Marcos in the Philippines. Not long ago, we had a nation of people who were prosperous because, for the most part, we disciplined ourselves. There are certainly correctional facilities full of people that evidence the contrary, but, their numbers are few relative to the population as a whole. Now, we have government that is incredibly micro-managing. They haven't quite gotten into every corner of every home and business, but it doesn't take much more than a few stories on the news to see that they are trying. And with all of this happening, our economy is dragging, oil prices are rising, food prices are rising and we have a whole country full of people that continue to cry for the politicians to fix it. What we haven't gotten, though...is a politician who will smack some sense into the people who don't realize that they can do it themselves. Yes, we need the government. But, we don't need it for what it is trying to do. We need a government to correct error, not establish truth. Truth, as Jefferson also said, stands by itself. We don't need bio fuels, we don't need compact fluorescent bulbs and we sure as hell don't need our leaders sitting down to negotiate with terrorists! Sorry, this is becoming PG. Anyway...come November, we need to elect good people who will govern only what they are supposed to. I don't think either candidate that is currently awaiting nomination would.

In other rants. Lisa's work has been absolutely horrid. I'm not certain that they value the concept of families. Lately, Lisa has been scheduled to work some rather late hours. Yesterday, she worked until 7:45. Tomorrow, she works until 10. The former, I was ready for bed when she got home, the later, I will likely be asleep. Lisa has filled out a request for change of availability and has been duly rejected...twice. She went in today and spoke with the woman in charge of scheduling who told her that she needs to be available in the evenings. What would they do if Lisa had another job? Or night classes? It is simply ridiculous! It is infuriating that despite knowing why she wishes to change her availability they fail to see how reasonable her request is. Grr...it's enough to drive anyone bonkers!

Anyway...well, at WEAU where my schedule and personal life is respected...I've been directing! I do the cut ins just about every day. I've been doing the Today show and the Noon. Lately, I've also been doing the first hour of Sunrise. Not too long now and I will be directing the whole morning block. I still need to become a lot more familiar with the switcher...but, that will come in time. Right now, I have enough familiarity to do a fairly simple newscast. Once I have had a little more time to become natural with the lower third of the switcher (where most of the switching takes place, anyway) I will be able to branch out in to the more complicated intricacies of the switcher. It has been really fun.

Young Men's continues to go splendidly. Tonight there is a combined activity. They are playing kick ball. I don't believe I will be attending, as Lisa got off work at a reasonable time and I will actually be able to spend some time with her...plus I believe I am getting a bit of a cold. But, planning and organizing within the young men's organization has been a fun thing for me to do.

Despite feeling a little too governed and deprived of my wife...I am enjoying life. I hope that these problems will find a way to resolve themselves...because, at least at this point, I don't feel there is much I can do to stop a river by putting forth my puny arm. So, I will just let the river flow where it must go. Enjoy the ride, right? So long, until next time.

My third...total

Dave wants me to write something...because I never do. The way I see it he has more to say than me so I just let him do all the talking or writing in this case.

Really there isn't much for me to say...I'm looking for a change in career...to what I don't know. Right now the 2 big ones are cosmetology or child care (ie. Daycare). That really it about me.

So now Dave can be happy I wrote something ;)

Promises...promises.

I very seriously debated doing another political rant...but, decided that it is Sunday and I'd rather not get myself worked up when I could just relax and enjoy a quiet afternoon in the library with Lisa. But, I will say this much: SOCIALISM DOESN'T WORK!!! Every nation that has ever tried to function under a Socialist government/economy has sunk itself. There is no incentive to work within a government that doesn't reward the work for its worth. I admit that capitalism is flawed...but, it is a far better system than anything that Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton have to offer. There it is. Rant finished.

So...this past week was a rather full and somewhat hectic one. Lisa worked nearly 40 hours and naturally, if she is putting in those kind of hours on a schedule that is on almost the exact opposite time frame as compared to mine, we didn't see each other much. It was pretty rough. This next week, Lisa will be going in to work after I get home. She works from 1:30 to 10. This essentially means I will be in bed, asleep before Lisa even gets off of work. Lisa is somewhat anxious to hit her 90 day mark so she can change her availability so that she can see me more often. It would be really nice to have her home a little more when I can be home and spend time with her.

Well...my work has been going extremely well. I have been learning a lot more in the directing position. Tom Benson, my boss, told me that I am far ahead of where he expected I might be as far as learning the skills I need to be a director. That was really good to hear. I am not quite as pleased with my progress. Of course, the fact that I would like to understand everything right now sets the bar a little higher than it should be. But, I directed all but a few cut ins this past week. I even directed a few portions of the Noon and Today shows. That was pretty cool. I'm getting the hang of it somewhat...but, I still want to progress more.

Might as well end with a funny little anecdote. So, this past Tuesday, I went to my young men's meeting at 6 and found out that the older boys were going to play football. So, I called Lisa and asked if she would bring over my athletic clothes along with my cleats. Being the dutiful wife that she is, she obliged me. When she dropped those things off, however, she cautioned that she wished for me to be safe and return home unharmed. Understandably so. Past experiences with football and with ultimate frisbee taught that I tended to overexert myself and come home feeling a bit achy for the next few days, accompanied, of course, by grumbling about how I'm not in such great shape at present. So, at her caution, I said that I would be careful and wouldn't hurt myself. Well...on my teams opening drive, I played at the quarterback position. I was rushed and, so I ran it in for the TD. Well, our end zone was a rather brief patch of grass followed by the parking lot. Cleats, while excellent for gripping on turf of various kinds tends to slip on pavement. The first drive of the game proved to be the last, as the star quarterback skinned his knee and his hands in the end zone. Of course, the worry was not for the injuries themselves (which have actually healed up quite well) but for the doghouse I was afraid I would be in when I got home after my promise not to hurt myself. But, Lisa was just fine with it. Relieved, would actually be the better word. It turns out she had expected me to call from a hospital with something strained, pulled or broken. Hardly a vote of confidence, but a pleasantly low expectation that was exceeded despite my spill.

Anyway...that is all from the Eau Claire chapter of the Nigh family. Keep those cards and letters coming.

Praise the Lord, and pass the tax rebate!

Well, folks, it's economic stimulus time! Believe me, we are prepared to do our part to help stimulate the economy. We're hoping for the fatter $1200 option that a jointly filed married couple is stipulated to get. I'm planning to only get the $600...for budgeting purposes. We would probably get along just fine without the extra $600...in fact, I almost think it might be better. But, if we are "unfortunate" enough to get the larger sum, our plan is to head over to Target and really maximize Lisa's discount by getting ourselves a nice, new 720p 32" LCD HD television. Regularly priced at $791.24 (tax included), currently discounted to $579 but would end up being somewhere around $550 (tax included) after Lisa's discount. Total savings of nearly $250! Pretty exciting. I did mention to Lisa after doing a little homework on this that it would mean that our dryer and our TV would be the nicest things we own along with the scooter (which we don't really own, yet.)

This week has been an adventurous one at work. I still functioned in my usual capacity as audio operator, but on Tuesday as well as yesterday and today, I was chyron operator (i.e. graphics monkey.) Tuesday, I just worked cameras and cued up the graphics...didn't really put any into the chyron machine. Then yesterday, I actually loaded some of the graphics in, along with operating camera and reading up the graphics. Today, we added a little bonus. I directed all of the cut ins. It was a bit shaky...but, it was fun and, with a little time, it will become much more natural.

Young men's this week consisted of picking up a few sticks and weeds on the church grounds. I was about as motivated to do it as the young men were. And, like most lawn care activities turn out with young men, we played football the rest of the time. I would say that I put in a healthy showing worthy of nomination for player of the game. On my team's first possession, I was QB and ran it in when I was rushed. Following our kick off to the other team, they threw a pass in my direction which I nabbed out of the air and ran in for the TD. It was a pretty impressive game, even if I do say so myself. My team won 21-7.

Aside from a little bit of unwelcome snow...the weather has been reasonably pleasant. Temperatures are in the 50s as the typical high and they seem to be leveling out at the moment with the promise of rising in the not too distant future.

Lisa will be giving a talk on Mother's Day. She was initially supposed to give it the week after conference...but, she was postponed so that the Quinlin family could speak before they move. Then, the following Sunday was Stake Conference and this past Sunday was booked with a litany of released and newly called presidents (i.e. primary and relief society) sharing their testimonies. So...Lisa's talk on traditions will have to be tweaked somewhat to appropriately tailor itself to the sentiments of the day. But, the upshot of the delay is...Lisa finally has a calling! She is the secretary in a newly reorganized relief society presidency! So, I guess that is the trade off for not speaking.

I don't know that I have mentioned this in the blog, but Lisa is also currently "in the system" as it were with United Health Group. She has interviewed twice and is hoping for a positive phone call informing her that she will be accepted as full time at that company. The plan is that she will work there and start taking night school at a cosmetology school. If that ends up being the case, I will try to get some part time work at United Health so that we have some additional income and I will have something to do while Lisa is in class. There are likely to be some rather significant changes within the year.

Well, I suppose that's it. Everyone enjoy your money from the government! I know we will, however much we get. It will be some welcome padding to the budget...and hopefully our entertainment center.

To everything there is a season: a time to rant and a time to really steam away

So...I apologize...this particular blog will not necessarily be so much about what is going on in the lives of the Eau Claire extension of the Nigh family so much as it will be a major rant about my latest frustrations with the government...or I guess I should more specifically say my frustrations with democrats.

First of all...going green. Going green, going green, going green. Green in the face is what I think. That has been everything I hear lately. I get so tired of going in to work and hearing if not seeing the people on NBC Today talking about the latest way to be environmentally friendly in the way I eat, dress, clean or travel. What the heck does anyone really care? Are we supposed to start breaking out the good old covered wagons again? I'm all for fuel economy. I love that my scooter gets 100 miles to the gallon and that while he doesn't get quite the same gas mileage, Big Papa still gets some decent bang with each unit of fuel. But, I'm not about to go out and spend half of my paycheck to fill up with ethanol. I'm sorry, but, I am a CORN FED American guy and I am puzzled as to why we would use corn for anything other than food. Furthermore, I am not about to try to sign up for monthly payments on a hybrid vehicle, either. I'm making payments on a scooter as is.

Stop making organic foods. Just stop it. I've been consuming cows and cow related things (i.e. butter, milk, ice cream) that have been injected with things that make for more milk, better tasting meat, etc. and I am a healthy person. I've not gotten cancer I haven't grown any extra appendages or anything. The only pollution that I see is from the idiots in the congress and senate that see fit to stick their dirty little hands into my food so they can regulate it and charge me more for it. Hands off of my insecticide covered cabbage! You can go get yourself some worm ridden bunch of vegetables and your milk from one of the few cows that survived despite lack of vaccinations, I will take my "inorganic" food any day of the week because it's cheaper and NEWSFLASH: it's the same stuff!

Another word on the high cost of gasoline. We have oil. There are capped wells all over the place and geologically tested ground that would yield a healthy supply of oil including some potentially overflowing abundance that could be obtained by drilling off the coast. But, no...these dumbocrats want to stand up in the congress and senate and thump their chests and talk about how we need to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and they wag their fingers at the naughty oil companies for ripping off the American people...all the while making money left and right by taxing the fossils right out of our fuel. What a facade! What an infuriating charade! All of this smoke and mirrors act to make us all feel as though we should blame the oil companies while their policies keep us going to Ahmadinejad who apparently thinks that the price of oil isn't high enough: "How else am I going to be able to afford nuclear arms?"

An old article...but, given that it is nearly a year old, it proves somewhat prophetic:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/IndustryInfo/Story?id=3290259&page=1

Well...enough ranting for one day. Life is good. Work is good. Time to go.

I'll be back

Well...time for another update on the Nigh life. Today's accompanying picture is a little bit ironic because I feel like anything but an unrelenting machine. More to follow on that. So, when we last left our heroes, they had just purchased a brand new dryer. Well, life hasn't been quite so exciting since then. Monday, I worked in Master Control...which was disastrouswhich I suppose is exciting, but not the kind that one usually likes. I forgot to change over the satellite feed to pick up the network promos for the rest of Monday and any other times that we needed them. I rolled a break two minutes late during the today show. I rolled the full break and didn't cut back to network until that full two minutes had rolled straight into HotaKotb and Kathy Lee's interview with Martin Short. Oh well. The good news is, I have it on good authority that I will not be in master control for the next two weeks...oh, except for this Saturday. But, after that...all broadcasters in New York can rest easy. I won't be cutting out parts of your show here in Eau Claire.

The days following Monday have been tough in terms of feeling well rested. Getting up at 3 is much harder after you've been getting up at 6. I have yet to recover. Thursday and Friday were both master control days, Saturday and Sunday I didn't have work and then Monday was master control again. So...it has been a little tough.

Last night was young men's. I had to go in for a meeting at 6 which culminated with yet another excruciating Boy Scout meeting. Thankfully, I've learned that if I allow myself to drift off into my own world but remember to smile and nod or grumble with sounds of approval that the meetings go just a tiny bit smoother and faster. Yet another reason why I would never make a good politician.

So...after the meeting, we had a combined young men/young women's activity..."combined" being sort of a loose term here. We played ultimate frisbee, which was an absolute blast! However...after playing for no more than three minutes, some of the young men stated their concern that they were going to run someone over and that there should be a division between those who wished to play "competitively" and those who did not. "Competitively" can very easily be replaced by the word "testosterone". So, there was a combined activity only in the sense that there were young women and young men playing the same game...but, on different fields. Anyway...so I gallivanted about running around making my lungs hurt and my muscles sore. I played well, though. After all was said and done, my team had won. If nobody had kept score, I wouldn't have known it, though. I was just playing...when my lungs were able to catch up.

When we adjourned, I let one of the young men drive my scooter. He is only 13, so I sat on back and did the lion's share of the steering. But, all of the observing cub scouts and girls of the equivalent age thought that the H4 was just the coolest thing ever. They all wanted rides and I knew there wasn't enough gas and that Lisa would not have the patience for me to come home late enough to have provided a ride for every kid that wanted one. But, I told them that they could race me as I left the church parking lot. That seemed to be an acceptable trade off. So, off I went and all of the kids just thought that was a riot. So, I am now the champion of the tweenies.

So...here is where everything culminates to explain my lack of Terminator-ness. Since Tuesday night, I have accumulated a rather persistent cold. Not one that is debilitating in any way...but, just like carrying a backpack full of bricks that I can't take off...it is slowing me down. So...after playing ultimate frisbee like I'm still a 16-year-old while my body is battling a cold and while I am loosing sleep like I'm still a single college kid (or an engaged college kid, for that matter), my body is ready to put in for a full weekends worth of unconciousness...too bad I will be in master control. Bring on the overtime!

Short

Well, I don't have scads of time to blog my brains out...but I'm going to try.

I guess the most outstanding news is that Lisa and I are the proud new parents of a bouncing new...dryer. Anti-climatic, I know. But, I can tell you that we are both thrilled at our new arrival. Actually, it isn't home yet. Best Buy is holding onto him until they can clear his health and then they will throw him on a truck and bring him home and install him for us. We're so excited! This is the only arrival we will have for a long time that will actually do chores without back-talking their mother. We also don't have to feed it, change its diapers or be woken up in the middle of the night by it. But, it probably won't bring as much joy, either.

Mom, Dad and Becky came and visited on Saturday. It was splendid, albeit short. We had a lovely lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and played some Apples to Apples at our apartment. Lisa was "sick" and unable to go to work, so it wasn't just me and my family all day, which would have been fun for me...but, Lisa would not have been able to see them.

That's about all I can squeeze in with the time I have. Hopefully this week will be a little less bedlam than last and we will be able to make it to the library a little more often. Take care, everyone.

Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

I'd like to thank Dave Barry for my title today. It is in congruence with the picture that I have included. It is a little photoshopped wonder from my friend and coworker, Dewey. He is quite skilled at photoshop and has taught me a thing or two...but, I still have yet to attain his level of mastery of the program.

So...this has been a fairly eventful week and I may even say that it has been further proof of the reality of the statement that the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft a-gley. On Monday, Lisa and I had plans to head over to Gold's Gym and sign up for our free membership through NBC. Well, it turned out that I had a mandatory meeting at the station shortly after Lisa finished work. Well...it ended up being alright because Lisa was invited to come along, I got to clock in and there was pizza there (which is the reason that Lisa was invited, not because she would enjoy the meeting.) But, we certainly didn't go to Gold's that night. Not to mention that I had ridden the H4 in to work and while I was there it started snowing to beat the band and I ended up getting a ride home from Tom and leaving the H4 there overnight.

So, now we come to Tuesday. Yet another day where things went a little crazy. I woke up at about 4:40, which was actually early since I was supposed to be working a master control shift starting at 7. Well, I got up and decided to go and get a drink of water. As I was walking down the hallway and heard the familiar buzzing of my vibrating phone from the office where our phones charge during the night. I went in and saw a (715) number and knew it was probably my boss, Tom, calling for me to come in early. Well...after searching around our apartment for a signal I was finally able to connect and Tom told me they really needed me to come in to do audio for the Sunrise show. I said I could and proceeded to get Lisa out of bed and get myself ready to go. This was, of course, April fool's day and the thought occurred to me that this might be a ruse. But, my caller ID showed that the same number had called something like eight times since 3:00, so I determined that this wasn't the case. I got there right as the show started and was able to run audio. It was a decent day even though I was quite tired. It warmed up significantly and I was able to ride the H4 home. Lisa and I finally made our long awaited trip over to Gold's. We just signed up...we weren't dressed for a workout. So, we went home and I crashed. I was able to pull off only one April Fool's Day prank out of three. I put some wadded up toilet paper in the neck of Lisa's bottle of body wash, I unscrewed the lightbulb on the lamp next to the bed that Lisa always turns on to read before we go to bed, and I shortsheated the bed. Well, somehow the bulb got tightened again before Lisa got to it and it turned on just fine and when she went to get in bed, she pulled the spread back far enough to see my little trick...so, oh well. There's always next year.

Yesterday was a little more normal...sort of. I went to work at the expected time, but it was at work that the unexpected things happened. I planned on going to pick up my helmet which was supposed to be at a local Postal Carrier annex. I was going to do that during my break since the place was only about 5 minutes away. But, as I was sitting there I felt a pop on my glasses and the vision of my right eye became quite blurry. Well, the little plastic string that held the lens on had just snapped. So, my plans changed. I ended up paying Lisa a visit while I waited for my glasses to be repaired at the Target optical center. I went and got my helmet after work. I managed a quick stop at home before going to the plasma center. Then, after dinner, it was off to young men's. We went to a driving range. It was fun, albeit a little chilly.

That pretty well brings us up to speed. I will say that I am awfully glad that I have a helmet now. It makes riding the scooter a little bit warmer and a less intimidating proposition. It is a marvelous machine, though. Roughly figured, we will end up spending about one fifth the amount of money on gas for the same mileage we get on a full tank with the Buick. Wow! I've told Lisa that I want her to learn how to drive the scooter so that when gas is really bad, she can take the scooter to work and I can just ride my bike. The car will be for grocery runs, going to church and longer road trips. Aside from that, we will stick to the H4 for our primary means of transportation.

Anyway...hope nobody got tired while reading this. You can take a nap now.

The Power of the H4

So it isn't exactly our H4, but it is colored the same and it is made to look just as cool as it is in real life. I don't know that our little scooter could reach the speed limit on the road that I've photoshopped it on...but, with that environment it looks cool and rugged like something that Hummer would make.

Well, we've had quite a week. It was Lisa's first week of full work at Target. It was good and bad at the same time. I'm really glad for her that she has something to do during the day. Especially while I'm at work since I know she gets a little stir crazy without me around. So, that is a good thing. That and our budget could certainly use the padding that her employment will provide. But, at the same time...even though she works what Target deems a "daytime" shift...the times that we are home don't coordinate as well anymore. I guess by "daytime" Target means "during any daylight hour" right up until there are no daylight hours left. In other words, there may come a time when I'm in bed by the time Lisa gets home.

There hasn't really been anything eventful that has happened recently. I put in some overtime at the station. It is really nice to get the hours. It will be even better to get the check. Now...I don't want to say anything to tarnish anyone's name...but, I will say that I am awfully glad that the talent that I work with in the morning is much more amiable and much less full of themselves.

I suppose that is about it. I could go on a tirade about how upsetting certain personalities can be...but, I'd rather end this on a pleasant note. I hope everyone can get a good laugh out of the picture of the H4. I also hope that this next week can produce some more newsworthy events. Until then...talk at you later!

From the Batcave

Well, it has been a little while since the last update. Apologies to those of you (Mom) who have been waiting for such with baited breath and have been disappointed. I guess life just has not been all that exciting of late.

In home news, we have decided to christen our little scooter. I went to visit Lisa while she was at work at Target yesterday since I was done at 3 and she would not be done until 6:30. Well, Lisa and I picked up a few items while she was on her break. I already had a few things in the seat of the scooter and Lisa asked if she wanted to put the groceries in the car or if I could take them with me in the scooter. I said, "Oh sure, the H4 can handle it." So there you have it. Hummer's latest creation: our little scooter. Not exactly all terrain, but it is a funny little name for our inner city cruiser.

At work, I have been doing shifts in master control. Master control is essentially, in a watered down way of describing it, watching TV for eight hours straight. In a more descriptive yet still simple way of stating it, it entails the monitoring of programming (i.e. checking the meter readings on our analog and digital outputs to make sure that everything is where it should be), rolling the local commercial spots, getting shows off of the satellites, clipping up daily shows like Jeopardy, Family Feud and Wheel of Fortune (Jeopardy comes in two days before it airs, so I know who will be the new/returning champion before anyone else even watches it), and during our newscasts, I switch the tapes for the show. It is a lot of work…for just watching TV. The shift is also a bit different from what I’m used to. Instead of the early rising 4 to 12:30, it is 7 to 3. So, it has been nice to “sleep in” until 6 instead of 3. But, I did get up at 3 this morning…and that was a little shock to the system. I’m sure that I will crash pretty quick tonight.

So…I’m sure you are a bit puzzled by the title of this particular entry. Well, puzzle no more. The story goes: because Lisa has been working quite a bit more than before and since her hours conflict somewhat with mine, I have been riding the scooter in to work everyday. My boss, Tom Benson, said that it was okay for me to pull my scooter inside a little garage door just behind the studio. So, that’s what I have been doing. The other day, Tom watched me take off on the scooter and he said that having the little garage made it like me taking off out of the Batcave. But, that’s not where the story ends. So, yesterday when I was home and Lisa was not, I had our whole garage in which to park the H4. Well, when I went to visit Lisa at work and later when I took off for the library I had to be innovative. See, we only have one garage door opener and that stays with Big Papa (AKA the Buick). So, what I’ve been doing is unlocking our door to the garage, opening the garage, pulling out the H4, going back in to shut the garage door and then locking and closing the door to the garage behind me and finally getting on the scooter and taking off for wherever I need to go. Well, this time I decided to try something. I backed the scooter up to the garage door button and started the engine. I pressed the button and gunned the H4 and went flying out under the closing garage door! Now that was a Batcave experience! I almost couldn’t stop laughing after I had done it. Lisa said she isn’t sure if she wants to watch me do it or not…since she isn’t sure she wants to know how close I get to being clothes-lined by the door. I don’t really know…all I know is: I made it and it is really fun. So there you have it: the Batcave title and the included picture.

Anyway…I hope that this update has been satisfying and amusing. Until next time…same Bat time…same Bat channel!

Hooray for scooters!!

So...yesterday after leaving the library, we got on our mighty scooter and started on our way home. Well...there isn't really a way to get home without going on a hill in one direction or another. So, we tackled probably the biggest hill that we could have. I knew it would be slow going and that it was possible that we would have to get off and push. I throttled as much as I could and got the bike up to 40. The speed dropped precipitously, but leveled out at 20 and the only repercussions that we faced were the impatient drivers who shot past us in the other lane. No harm, no foul. I'm certain they expected that we wouldn't be able to maintain the 30 mph speed limit, so it wasn't that we made anyone angry. If anything, I'm sure they laughed at us struggling up the hill. And the upshot is: we know we can make it both to and from the library on the scooter!

Work today was pretty good. I had forgotten my cell phone and was unable to receive texts from Lisa. I was able to send one via T-Mobile.com, but I couldn't get texts back. That was okay, because I was rather busy the entire time. Generally, I spend a bit of time just walking around looking for something to entertain myself between cut ins and shows. But, I worked on a few web graphics and helped with some of the pre-producing of this Friday's "Technology Spot". It was an all day sort of work day, which was nice.

Spring officially begins tonight just after midnight. It will be nice to see the temperatures rise to bring weather that is a little more scooter-worthy. Not that I'm anticipating that overnight, but, it will be nice to leave behind a winter that should fly in the face of the global warming theory.

Happy Spring everyone, enjoy the vernal equinox!

Smaller than small

Sorry...not much time to write today.

Things are going well. Mom and Dad came to visit. It was really nice to finally see them after a month. Boy, I've gone soft, huh? I could handle four months while I was at school, but now that I'm in the same state, I guess I think I should see them more. Their visit was great, albeit brief. Thanks to their generosity we have a TV stand, we have a scooter and most important: we have food!

My boss, Tom Benson, is off on vacation this week. Not that there is anything significant about this week. His kids do have spring break this week, so it is timely. But, from the sound of things...he just had vacation days left and didn't want them to go unused. I can understand that. But, it does mean that one of my other coworkers is directing and his approach and style are very different. If I were to name Tao in terms of what I have learned in my Pooh book, I would say he is a Tigger. If there is any wonder what I mean...read the book. You'll see what I'm talking about and laugh.

Anyway...as was the caveat at the beginning of this entry, my time is limited. So, rather than belabor this particular entry, I will leave what little I have already said. Until next time. Same Nigh website, anytime you feel like it.

A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly

Well, here we are. Another day older and wiser, too. At leas ideally that's the case, the one is inevitable and the other depends on you.

Work remains very much the same. I've gotten to the point that I very rarely make mistakes on audio. Although today I was pretty tired and just about fell asleep during the noon show. Tom called for bump music (which is the music that plays right before we go to commercial break) and I about jumped out of my chair making sure I hit it. It was almost a disaster. In any case, I certainly didn't look calm and controlled. Tom got a laugh out of it.

I have made a very sound determination about my life. Not anything that will alter the trajectory of my career or the goals that I intend to pursue in life. It is really more of an affirmation that I have gone into the correct field. I had a meeting last night with the Young Men's Presidency. We had a meeting with the scouting committee from our ward and the Chippewa Falls Branch. I'm not really certain what all of the squabbling was about...but, it felt to me like something that I might experience were I a senator or congressman. Do we see where I'm going with this? I could never be a politician, if for no other reason than the fact that it would drive me crazy to have sitting around pontificating and blowing smoke be a part of the duties of my office. It was so irritating to sit there and feel as though there were a number of good ideas that were presented that would have worked as the solution to the problem that I had gleaned from what was being said. But, someone had something different in mind and so rather than seek to understand how such a solution might be viable, they reject it because it wasn't exactly what they had in mind. Grrr.

Moving onwardly...Lisa and I have been reading a book called The Tao of Pooh. What a fascinating book! It talks about how Pooh is somewhat the embodied epitome of Taoist philosophy and how the other characters in the Pooh story are, in one way or another, the antithesis of such. It goes through and takes a chapter to explain how each character is at odds with Taoist teachings and how Pooh is. Reading it has sparked a few enlightening philosophical conversations between Lisa and me. I have determined already that I am not very much like Pooh. Which...from a Taoist perspective, is okay. I don't know that I could say that I am any one character, though. I don't think anyone is. It's like the Myers Briggs personality assessment. You will be dominantly one thing over another, but have characteristics of both, otherwise you have some sort of mental disorder.

In other news, my parents are coming to town tomorrow!! I've been looking forward to this since they told me that was their plan. Of course, when they told me it felt like forever away. But, I've been like a little kid who has been told that Christmas is almost here. Not that I keep thinking that I need to ask Lisa if Mom and Dad are coming today...but, almost that bad. It will be exciting in so many ways. They will get to see our place and what we have done to move in, they will get to see my work and see what I do so they can picture me there, they will get to see the area and know a little more what it is like here in Eau Claire and they will get to meet the people we go to church with. It is exciting!

Anyway...there isn't really anymore to be said. TTFN, ta ta for now.