Paper shredder

It's four feet tall and devours everything you feed into it with its dozens of tiny, grinding, zipper-like teeth. The following warning is displayed above the machine: ALL THAT REMAINS OF THE LAST VICTIM, with a small red bag about six inches long and two inches wide.

Sue let me use the beastie yesterday when I asked if she had anything I could do at work. :)

Mara is the best roommate in the whole world.

I'll tell you the story later. Maybe.

The long-anticipated day has come

Friday.

Oh blessed September 23, Day of Free Food. Today we had una fiesta en la clase de español with frijoles, queso, arroz, lechuga, chips, galletas and doughnuts. I had two helpings. The food was delicious each time. I'm still not sure why el profe decided to have a fiesta, but you won't hear me- or anyone else- complaining. Ahh, it was good.

Later today, tengo una otra fiesta para español- this time with the entire Spanish and Portuguese Department. Before that, there's an ice cream social at 4 which I can't attend; but Mara and Sara can, and Sara promised to save me some helado. La comida continues tonight with shaved ice and a movie (or the game, we haven't decided which) with Mara and Josh at Josh's apartment, and tomorrow for lunch with David, el hermano de Sara, followed by una cena antes de the Relief Society broadcast. And then, to cap it all off, vamos a tener "break the fast" el domingo (we're fasting this week since Conference is next week).

Estoy feliz.

Saxophone class

I finally got in touch with my saxophone teacher fifteen days ago or so and had my first lesson last Tuesday at 6. My teacher's name is Jory. He's a graduate student, he's a really good player and he's really nice. My first impression was a positive one.

This week, I accidentally wrote down the wrong time for my class and missed it altogether. I showed up about two minutes after it ended thinking it was due to start. When Jory found out I hadn't intentionally blown him off, he rescheduled the lesson and arranged for a substitute teacher. And so my second private sax lesson ever was yesterday at 5, with another amazingly kind, patient grad student named Ben who seemed worried I was getting bored with playing scales. (Jory taught me one last week; Ben added two more.)

"I'm happy to play scales," I told him. "It's more than I walked in here knowing."

"Well, I'd recommend finding a recording of a sax player you like and using it as a reward for playing your scales," Ben said. "Try to figure out the songs; try to figure out some other scales on your own. You'll learn so fast if you do."

It's so exciting to hold a saxophone in my hands again and actually begin to feel I know what I'm doing.

Chain of ignorance

Last night Mara and I and three boys from our ward went to the BYU hockey game. Our presence was a tribute to how much Mara loves hockey; the Cougars got killed by the Aggies, 2-12.

We started talking about the big rivalry football game today against Utah and how none of us had tickets, but we'd probably be able to hear it from our "backyards," considering the stadium is right across the street from Alta.

"A bunch of people in the lounge usually watch games together," Josh said.

"We could watch it on TV and hear it live at the same time," I quipped.

"We should do it," Mara said. She turned to me and asked, "what time is the game?"

I turned to Josh and asked, "What time is the game?"

Josh turned to Tanner and asked, "What time is the game?"

Tanner looked at him and said, "I don't know."

Josh looked at me and said, "I don't know."

I looked at Mara and answered, "I don't know."

On the other side of Mara, Chris started laughing. But he didn't know the answer either.

Sara's proposal

"I have a proposal for you," Sara said last night to Mara and me as we stood in the kitchen watching her wash her dinner dishes. Mara's face lit up with a devil-innocent grin.

"Oh Sara, the answer is yes!"

There are few things more satisfying than work well done

... Actually, there's probably a lot of things more satisfying than working, but here's what I've been up to the past few days...

The computer network was down at work for three days in a row (Monday through Wednesday), which was frustrating but fun when I discovered ways to get work done without My Documents. (Hooray for my flash drive and e-mail, which I used heavily as places to save and transport the work I did!)

Article #1: PhD student takes third in new ACS symposium, published Monday
Article #2: Lots of fun and food at annual department picnic, published Wednesday with pictures

When I wasn't sorting through 165 pictures (I got a little trigger-happy at the department picnic), revising articles, or finding creative ways to update the digital signage, I was catching up or getting ahead on school assignments... All told, a productive couple of days even though the odds were stacked against me!

Even so, I was very glad when I arrived for work today to find the network up and running once again.

10 years ago today

The morning began like any other. I awoke, dressed, ate breakfast, and was on my way out the door to go to school when my dad called to tell my mom to turn on the TV news. Always a television magnet, I hung back to see what was going on before leaving. The reporters were recapping the story of the first plane when their guy on scene said, "Wait- there's another plane! There's a second plane!" and the video immediately cut to a live feed of the Twin Towers in NY, NY, just in time to capture the second crash. I was transfixed. I could tell my mom and the reporters were stunned.

My mom stared at the screen for a minute, then remembered I was still in the house and turned to usher me out. I walked to my elementary school, which is right next to our house, not fully comprehending what I had seen or the scope of the tragedy that had just occurred. When I got to school, my fourth grade teacher Mrs. Evans asked how many children had heard the news. Quite a few had. We talked about it for a little bit. I don't remember specifics of what was said, but I recall that was the moment I realized these two crashes were more serious than I thought.

In the years that have passed since then, I keep realizing more and more what a shocking, terrible thing this was to happen, the incredible heroics of the emergency personnel that were called to the scene, and the phenomenal feelings of unity and patriotism as our nation rallied around the tragedy.

Timp hike

Sara invited Mara and I to hike Mount Timpanagos with her family yesterday. We spent Friday night at the Djurich house so we could all get up at a whopping 3:30 a.m. (so we weren't hiking in the hot part of the day).

Sara read us a bedtime story, "Where is My Cow?" by Terry Pratchett

(This is Rachel's room, where Mara and I slept. We were excited and very entertained by the wide expanse of glow-in-the-dark stars covering the ceiling. Also she has a super comfortable bed. "We pretty much died in that bed," as Mara said.)

Sara on the trail at 5 a.m.

Mary and her friend Savannah- 5 a.m.

Mara. 5 a.m. I had to take a picture of this.

Sunrise from the mountain

Sunup

Hiking- Mr. Djurich, David, Mara, Mary

One of the many waterfalls :)

Pretending to eat moss at Emerald Lake (Sara)

Emerald Lake

Mara, Mary, Sara, David, Savannah

Mara

Small waterfalls (to the side of a big one, which is not pictured)

Everyone was pretty tired on the way back down

Mary surveying the waterfall

Mara and I were super sore when we finally got back to the Djurich house. Everyone was tired. Mr. Djurich fed us fried chicken, which we devoured. Everyone showered and then Mara and I crashed while Sara and Mary veged playing Legend of Zelda. We woke up in time to go back to Provo with David, and Sara crashed while Mara and I did laundry and swam for a bit. (We needed the weightlessness to give our muscles a rest.)

After church today, we went and visited Jill at Wyview. She serenaded us on the guitar outside for a little while, and we talked a little bit. It was nice.