One time I went to Gettysburg

This weekend was so nice and relaxing. Friday night Tim and I went to the waterfront in Georgetown and walked around and watched the rich people on their boats with their cocktails. It was kind of nice. We went out to eat later with his sister Devany and soon to be baptized Jeff. The food was good, the spring rolls were yummy and we had a crepe thing with tofu and bean sprouts that was decent as well. It was cheap and filling, so I was happy with it.

Saturday I was forced to wake up at the crack of dawn and go on a field trip. Normally this would be OK, but since Tim wasn't there, I wasn't too eager to spend the day with a bunch of obnoxiously-conservative (and I like conservatives, don't get me wrong; I don't like unknowledgeable, unable-to-argue neoconservatives who are so stuck in their ways it's impossible for them to hear anything). I sat in the back of the bus by myself and brought a great book to read (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver; another blog post for another time). I actually sat next to a really cool couple named Paige and Mike. They got married a few months ago, and Paige actually campaigned a little for Claralyn. Her mom and grandpa are some wonderful Utah County Democrats and were really involved in the campaign. It was fun to talk to her about Utah County politics.

But I digress. We went to Gettysburg and went on this multiple-hours bus tour. I hate "touring". I like to explore on my own time and see the things I want to see, even if I don't get all of the history behind everything. Our tour guide was one of those goofy, trying to be funny but not at all middle-aged men who has lived in the town his whole life. He knew everything there is to know about Gettysburg but was incredibly long-winded and I don't think I really learned anything. I took some cool pictures though-- don't ask me to tell you what happened where.

This is the eternal peace flame, or something like that. During the energy crisis of the Carter era, they had to extinguish it. It was re-lit a decade later.

It was motorcycle gang weekend as well in Gettysburg.

Tree pose on a nice rock.

I had fun playing with the settings on my camera to take some rad pictures. This is a general of some sort, overlooking a ridge (Cemetary? Seminary? Little Roundtop?)

After Gettysburg and some down-home eatin' at a southern buffet, we went to Harper's Ferry. The drive was GORGEOUS. The town was quaint and there were all sorts of little shops to peek around in. I wanted to buy many things like organic onesies with peace symbols and giant homemade purses. But I didn't.

When I got home from the trip, I went straight over to my sister Lauren's house for some good female bonding time. We tucked her kids into bed and watched Taken. Interesting to watch, but we poked so many holes it looked like Swiss cheese. Liam Neeson is great though, and it's good to see such a crucial issue as human trafficking being addressed in a mainstream film. Even though it was terribly unrealistic.

The next day was Sunday and Tim came over too and went to church with Lauren and company. It was weird to be back in a normal Mormon ward. I can't imagine what it will be like when we end up back in a student ward in Provo. Culture shock.

Luckily Lauren likes our company, because we really like hanging out over there. She always has good food. And she's an awesome mom. It's refreshing to have such a normal, capable example of a mother to hang out with and try to emulate in the future. We may disagree on some things, like the phthalates in plastic causing early puberty (since she and her husband were such late bloomers, they are totally feeding their kids from BPA-containers to help them out a little). But she's always willing to listen to my rants about the environment and home birth. She's a great talker too, always open to new ideas and not judgmental at all. I'm lucky to have such a great big sister.



(this picture is really old, but I couldn't find another one of the two of us since).

The Target Happs

So, I've been trying to be as positive about my job as possible. It's not that bad, really, but it wears on me a little. So things like the following keep me entertained.


First off this is just a stupid product overall. Do you really need a leash for your child? What kind of message is that sending? Responsability, zilch, captivity, all you've got.

But the real funny part are the pictures. The subtle and very real threat is that if you don't use this product, you wont have a nice white boy, but, horrors of horrors, a little BLACK GIRL! Avoid undersirable offspring with the Eddie Bauer Harness Buddy, because some risks just aren't worth it.


Another product that gives me the chuckles. There are is no actual chicken in this product, except for a little chicken meal (which is what?) but not organic or free range. So what they're saying is that while there is actually no natural free range chicken in this product, but the chicken that your cat tastes is going to taste like its a free range chicken, and not a cooped up diseased chicken, where the actual chicken comes from. But as long as you call it natural, you can charge a buck more for it. So there it is.

It was a long weekend, without a lot of sleep and I started making the mistake of mixing up my replies to thank you: "You're welcome" and "No problem" into an unfortunate problem of "Your problem." I would feel like an idiot every time I said it, but then I would forget and say it again. It would have been funny if you were a small angel on my shoulder.

That's Target.

Baptism

I went to the baptism of Devany's boyfriend Jeff. It was really good. A ton of people showed up. And all I got was this stupid photo:


Actually, it's not that bad of a picture. That's what I look like most of the time anyway. I haven't been to a baptism in a while and I forgot how much I like them.

Two of the speakers (who were both in the Bishopric) talked about their conversions and baptisms. I was baptized when I was eight, so I don't much remember my baptism. But I thought I'd just take a second to say that, looking back on my life, I've come to see that the commitment I made that day has reached out to touch many parts of my life. Christ has been my dearest friend and closest confidant. Sorry Cait, you are a very close and beloved second, with everyone paling in comparison. I feel like Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Kruegar's Christmas when he travels back to the manger, in this clip from 17:16 to 21:15. Sorry I couldn't find a clip where it was isolated.

The Long Walk

I listen to a daily podcast called the Daily Audio Bible. It's good, basically just readings from the bible and some commentary from the reader, Brian. If anyone is interested in stuff like that, you should check it out. I'm looking at you Brad Anderson.

Anyway, they have this little tradition for listeners where they take off July 7th and go out into nature and commune with God, enjoying and appreciating his creation. I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would. I came back refreshed and just...happy. I know you may say it's lame, but I say that the way you say it is lame is lame, so there.

Pictures:



I was fasting when I went out, so I stopped in to pick up some food at Trader Joe's to eat later.


I walked out along the Potomac for a good long while.


I then crossed over to the Virginia side and ate lunch under a tree in Lady Bird Johnson Park, or Parkway, maybe.

I then crossed the foot path into Teddy Roosevelt park, which was incredibly natural for the being in the middle of a metropolis.


The biggest indication of man's presence on the island was a little plaza surrounded by what I assumed were Teddy Roosevelt quotes. I was sitting in front of this one for a while, thinking, praying and writing a love letter for my wife.


I then made my way home. Here's looking at Roosevelt Island from the bridge back to DC.

Try something similar yourself. Take a day off (Sunday doesn't count, that's never really off), try to do it alone or with someone who wont be distracting you the whole time. If you believe in God, talk to Him. If you don't talk to nature, or yourself. I had a good time, anyway.

In which the world sucks yet again

Ok, I'm sorry to keep posting depressing news articles but this one has me absolutely floored.

Germany: last week. A neighbor has called a Muslim woman (a highly-educated Muslim woman as well, she is a pharmacist and her husband a research fellow, though that doesn't matter really) he lives near a "terrorist" and is harassing her. She sues him (I presume that's what happened, it didn't really say but they end up in court over it). While in the courtroom, he pulls out a knife and stabs her 18 times, killing her and then severely injuring her husband who is trying to protect her. The police officer in the court room draws his weapon and mistakenly shoots the husband in the leg, critically injuring the man. Oh, and did I mention she was pregnant? And her three-year-old was standing by?

Apparently the man was a Russian immigrant, a neo-Nazi fanatic driven by a deep-seated hatred of Muslims. Egypt is in an uproar. They "will avenge her death." Great.

The Happs

I wanted to start this blog post by saying just how much I love my wife. She makes me happy very deep inside.

I cooked this on Thursday:



1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon white sugar
4 zucchini, chopped
1 cup chopped fresh dill weed
1/4 cup uncooked long grain white rice
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

2 cups plain yogurt
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the sugar, then add the chopped zucchini, dill, and rice. Cook and stir until the zucchini is softened, about 5 minutes. Pour in the water, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the mixture until the rice is cooked, about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat, and let the mixture cool to lukewarm.
Make a sauce by mixing the yogurt, garlic, and salt in a bowl. Serve over the lukewarm zucchini and rice.

And Cait made up this Salad:


Arugula
Walnuts
Tomatoes
Raspberry and gorganzola Dressing
Onions

It was overall pretty good. I would have done a few things different. I used less onion than it called for, but it probably needed a whole onion. I also didn't get the rice cooked completely. I still enjoyed it and Cait "thought it was delicious. Absolutely stinking delicious." If you want to try it, get some good bread to go with it.

We were walking around town the other day and all these fireworks went off.



So we sat down and watched:


For some reason we felt rather patriotic.

Wendy recommended this, it's hilarious.

Now I've got to go. It's lovins time.

Minutemen, Murder, Mormons

Last week, two men and one woman posing as U.S. Marshals barged into the house of an illegal immigrant and shot and killed him and his 9-yr-old daughter. They are "minutemen", groups of anti-immigrant individuals who take the law into their own hands and take turns patrolling our Southern border, and apparently now, have extended their duties to breaking into homes and committing first-degree murder. While I realize that other Minutemen have lambasted their rogue counterparts, and that most Minutemen are not the extreme like these individuals, it's still telling of the kind of personalities and ideologies that are attracted to organizations like this.

A few weeks ago I was at a national security simulation with the rest of the BYU interns. We were discussing narco-trafficking and how to secure the U.S. border with Mexico further. The issue of minutemen came up. The rest of the students on my team decided it was a stellar idea to incorporate these individuals into our law enforcement ranks, you know, since they are doing the job anyway we might as well pay them. I was the only one in a group of 10 or so that thought this was absolutely ludicrous! Let's take individuals who think they are above the law already and give them authority. When Tim shared this story on CNN about the minutemen really taking the law into their own hands by committing first-degree murder I felt sick that BYU students could think that what these minutemen are doing are good deeds at protecting U.S. soil.

Then I thought to this Daily Universe article last year about Utah Minutemen, who take trips down to the border to participate in patrolling. One individual who does this on a regular basis: None other than Rep. Chris Herrod. Remember, the one who beat Claralyn Hill for State House? Remember, the incredibly-unexperienced, ridiculously-policied, self-proclaimed on his campaign website "PhD flunkout due to his ADD" candidate who beat Claralyn only because he was running on the Republican ticket, though I can bet that Claralyn's moderate views are much more in line with the constituents of the 62nd district than his. A telling part for me was when more people in his ward voted for Claralyn because anyone that actually knew him would not even vote for him. And yet he's still there, in the Utah House of Representatives. I hate Utah politics. SO MUCH.

Yesterday on the way to the temple, Tim and I met a really nice couple from El Salvador and got to talking (half in Spanish, half in English). Amelia and Jesus have been in this country for 24 years, I'm guessing they probably came during the civil war in the 1980s. She works as a housekeeper but he can't work because he can't find a job without papers. They are losing their apartment this month because they can't pay rent. They don't know where they will go next, but they have been living in this same area since they arrived 24 years ago. Their son was born here. They are faithful members of the Silver Spring Barrio (ward) and faithfully attend the temple once a month. What if someone wanted to shoot them because they were not documented citizens? Does Jason Chaffetz want to round them up with the rest of the illegal immigrants and put them into an internment camp? What if they were in the same ward? Then would he want to?

And speaking on the LDS side of things: I just can't make sense of all of this Mormon politics anti-immigration rhetoric. We preach at church one thing about charity and pure love of Christ for all man, but does that not extend to those who left their country in desperation to find a better life but since the channels for obtaining legal status in the U.S. are so difficult and expensive they had to do so illegally? Why are members of our Church so anti-immigrant?



(If you want to listen to the 911-call of the wife from the first story, it's here at CNN. But I warn you, it's kind of disturbing).

Some cake

Here's a picture of a cool cake that a girl named Marie, an intern here at the Barlow Center, made for all the people having birthday's before we leave in August.

I was actually a late addition to the party, because my birthday is just a little bit after we leave, but I didn't make it on the cake. Although the guy on the bottom left corner looks a lot like me, except I don't wear my glasses much anymore. Anyone who reads this blog that was on the cake is welcome to donate a picture of themselves for comparison. I'll also look at getting the picture where we are all pointing at who we were on the cake. I pointed at Obama.

I heard it at Target

I was cashering the other day when a man in a wheelchair came up to the register. I hesitate to tell this story because the man was disabled, but his disability had nothing to do with how out of hand it was, so I continue. He placed a single, normal-person sized Coke on the belt (32 ounces maybe? I don't buy many drinks) and waited for me to ring up (I originally wrote "wring up." sometimes I dream) the person in front of him. When it came time for him to pay, he handed me a 9 dollar bill with a picture of President Obama on it. When I wouldn't take it he accused me of being a racist. That's the first time I've been accused of being a racist. I assume it would come at some point, but I didn't think it would come like that. And then he asked me to double bag his Coke. People here are crazy about their double bagging. Target bags are tough people. There is nothing dense enough that we sell in the store that would wrip one of those bags. But keep asking, because you are always right.

There was also a really funny comment a mother made to her daughter about her daughter liking pooh. It was funny. What she meant was that her daughter like Winnie the Pooh. But I can't remember how it went. Crap.

About a year ago today, we walked into an antique shop on Center Street and spontaneously walked out with two pretty sweet rings.

And I'm so glad we did.