Party animals!

We had our annual work party tonight- at the zoo. Laura graciously agreed to be my guest, and we hung out with Trevor for most of the night. Much fun and excitement esued:









Hooray for fun evenings at the zoo!

Explanation of previous post

Last night I was working with some songs that Danielle and I recorded when I visited her house in March. I don't know much about GarageBand so I was playing around to get individual songs out as tracks and what have you. Then I got curious to see if I could upload an audio file anywhere that I frequent on the internet. I can't see how to do it on Facebook, but I did discover that mp3 files can be uploaded onto Blogspot as videos. Therefore, we have me singing, Danielle playing the piano, and Danielle's kids making noises in the background. Such fun memories. I'm so glad we recorded those songs :-)

Ponderings

A lot has taken place in my life and in my character recently and it's all swirling around inside me. I had an awesome day today. I had an opportunity to confirm to myself how powerful it can be to drop barriers and converse freely with people I love about hard things. I got to feel the spirit give me power and comfort and confirmation as I pondered the things I've been learning, and the things I've been prompted to do. I got to ponder on the fact that every experience in life is an opportunity to springboard into something greater.
You know something? Life is amazing when the dominant feeling I allow to be present is love. Love for myself, love for my family, love for God, love for all my brothers and sisters all over the world who I haven't met yet in this life. I've contemplated a lot the idea that Ghandi verbalized about how we must be the change we would see in the world, and I'm getting more and more excited by that. I get to change, I get to let go of the garbage that I've dragged through life with me and allow myself to fly by not tying myself down to anything that has-or hasn't- happened in the past. The word I use in church to describe that process is repentance. And it makes me so happy to know that I get to let go of the garbage of the world, free myself from the mire, and soar. The power is in me. I am an agent unto myself. I get to do the acting, not the being acted upon- if I so choose. That's exciting.

A little bit of sun

So here's a surprise. I like Phoenix. A lot more than I thought I would. I'm such a phytophyll that I've always declared that there's no way I could live in a place more dry than Utah- but I am rather fond of Phoenix. And it partly has to do with the plant life. I went on a walk through downtown Phoenix tonight and found a lovely little shopping center where I stopped for dinner and then sat in a public garden for a while. And while I use the term garden loosely, it was a lovely little place and very aesthetically pleasing.

I continued on my wanderings and stumbled across Arizona State University, and the Historic District, which are right next to each other. By now I had bean pods from a mimosa tree in my backpack and I was holding a beautiful white flower in my hand. I am such a nerd. And it makes me happy.

On my way back, I wandered through the grounds surrounding the Francisca Catholic church near my hotel- St. Mary of the Basilica. Here I was met by a mystery. I found trees that had the leaves of a cottonwood with the bark of a birch, while sporting the podlike fruit of a legume. O mystery tree, what art thou? This is one very frustrating thing about not knowing what the foliage is- it's very tricky to find out. I can try just pinching random descriptive words into Google, but that doesn't seem like it would yield much fruit.

Oh yeah, I went to my conference today, too. Met a lot of nice people in the cytogenetics field. Learned a lot about melanoma and bone marrow sample preparation. Had a very nice, fancy business lunch. Ran through my presentation probably about ten times- I still clock in at about 11 1/2 minutes when I run it without looking at my notes, which is a minute and a half too long. If I look at my notes, I can get it in ten, but I guess I like to talk and throw in extra things? How many more times can I practice this thing before I go crazy? Good thing that I will be presenting it in twelve hours . . .

When did I get grown up enough to give presentations at national conferences?

Living life freely

I am tuckered. A half day at work followed by flying to Phoenix to get ready for the conference is apparently wiping me out.

However, it has been a very good day, as well. I ended up sitting next to a very nice, chatty woman in her mid-70s on the plane named Trudy, and Trudy and I had a great conversation. It was so pleasant, in fact, that we talked all the way from Salt Lake to Phoenix. She told me all kinds of stories and asked me lots of questions, too.

Then as I was waiting for my shuttle to take me to the hotel, I chatted briefly with a man who was a CPA in town for a different conference. He told me he was from Iowa, "believe it or not."

I wasn't sure what I shouldn't believe, so I guessed where he was heading and replied, "yeah, I guess a few people do live in Iowa."

He laughed heartily and gently slapped me on the shoulder and said, "yeah, a few people and a lot of Indians."

Right then my shuttle came up, so I have no idea if he was being serious or not. But I must admit that I have never pictured Iowa as being populated by a lot of Indians. Huh.

Upon getting to the hotel and getting up to my room, I saw my friend Brad was online and started a chat with him. I thought I recalled that he was in Phoenix for the summer, and that proved to be correct. Turns out that his ward holds Institute on Wednesday nights, and he offered to give me a ride over. So I went to Institute. The lesson was an excellent one about the dealings of the Lord with Nephi, son of Helaman in the beginning of the Book of Helaman, and it covered several things that I've been pondering a lot lately. Maybe someday some of them will make it on to this blog. In any case, I was grateful for the unexpected opportunity for spiritual nourishment tonight.

After Institute, Brad and I hung around and talked to people for a while. One of the girls there has pet sugar gliders- with her. I'd never actually seen a sugar glider before, and I was fascinated. The glider just ran up and down the girl's shirt- and then jumped on to mine. We got to be friends there for a minute, and it was a cute little thing. Now I have held a sugar glider.

Now I'm back at the hotel- fanciest place I've ever stayed, I think. I just ordered room service for the first time. I'm on the 21st floor of the building, which is really interesting when going down in the elevator with one glass side. Great view of the city, now that the sun isn't glaring in to my room. I had a pretty good day. Now I will go take advantage of the king-sized bed I have at my disposal and sleep soundly.

Mmmmmmm

I love accidental yummy things to eat. Today I threw together a sandwich for lunch and wound up with a surprisingly delicious delicacy. i strongly recommend:
turkey, provolone, green onions, and poppyseed dressing
Surprisingly good.