My Virtual Absence

I've been quite a slacker here in cyberspace, and I suppose a word of explanation is in order. In mid-June I began a four week rotation at Dixie Regional in St. George. Lee was just four weeks old at that point so you can imagine how excited Pam was about me going on this little adventure.
While there I met many friendly people both in and outside the hospital. It was a great learning experience, but it was not fun to be away from the family. Pam and the kidlets took advantage of the time however and spent much of the four weeks visiting grandparents in Colorado, southern Utah, and Salt Lake. The bright side of my stay in St. George was being close to the temple. I was able to attend a session each week I was there. I also brought my golf clubs down to experience some of the famous St. George courses. My first and last venture however was less than enjoyable. Trying to navigate an unfamiliar course, at a proximity of only half a mile from the surface of the sun was not my idea of ideal golfing. I suspect one would find it more enjoyable in the late fall.
My second rotation began right after coming home, at a Walmart pharmacy in west valley city. While it doesn't sound like the most inspiring setting, it wasn't nearly so close to the surface of the sun and above all, I was able to be home again. The preceptor there is great, and we got along really well (in fact I hope to join him for some pheasant hunting later this fall). Even so, I wasn't sure the past four weeks there were ever going to end. Paying tuition to work for free is not the most inspiring motivation to get up every morning. Thankfully the duration did come to an end and I now have about two weeks at home before classes begin again in earnest.

Fishing Daddy-Daughter Style

Tenna and I woke up early this morning and drove up to Silverlake in Mt Green for some fishing. She was a good little fisher and reeled in all three of these rainbows. We saw a great deal of waterfowl and of course bugs. I was proud of her though, she just enjoyed it all. One of my favorite fishing trips in quite a while.

News You Won't Hear on CNN... or FOX for that matter

Below is a story from a weekly newsletter I received recently:

The Patriot Post
Friday Digest
22 May 2009
Vol. 09 No. 20

Profiles of Valor: 10th Special Forces Group

On 10 September 2007, a team of three Army Green Berets led by Capt. Matthew A. Chaney, along with nine Iraqi police, began an assault from two helicopters near Samarra, Iraq. The team was targeting Abu Obaeideah, a leader of the Islamic State of Iraq in the area. The field designated for landing was covered with water, so the helicopters had to land closer to the insurgents' safe house, where they came under heavy enemy fire.

Practically blinded by dust from the second helicopter, the Iraqis were all but taken out of the fight from the start, so Chaney, Sgt. 1st Class Michael D. Lindsay and Staff Sgt. Jarion Halbisengibbs led a charge against the building where the hostile fire was originating. Halbisengibbs threw in a fragmentation grenade, killing two, and the soldiers rushed in. Lindsay was hit in the throat by an AK-47 round, and Chaney took a hit to the pelvis. Then both were thrown from the doorway by a grenade blast. Lindsay, who couldn't raise his rifle, fired at the enemy with his pistol. Chaney couldn't feel his legs, but he kept firing, killing a jihadi. Halbisengibbs "continued to clear the structure in complete darkness as his night vision goggles and personal radio were all destroyed by enemy gunfire at point blank range," the official narrative read. He was shot in the thumb and knocked down by a grenade blast but continued fighting, killing another terrorist. As he moved back to the courtyard to protect his wounded comrades, Halbisengibbs was shot through the abdomen but managed to kill another jihadi on his way to the ground. He then directed the Iraqi police to finish the fight. Obaeideah was killed, along with 12 other insurgents, six by Halbisengibbs.

All three Green Berets have recovered from their injuries. Chaney and Lindsay were each awarded the Silver Star; Halbisengibbs received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army's second highest combat medal.

My New Buddy

I've been a bit distracted from blogging for the past several weeks. Some important things have been happening and now I think I should get back to work and document some of them.
The biggest new change in life is the arrival of my son Lee!
Lee Charles was born May 14th 7:26 am, weighing 7 lb 12 oz and measuring 21 inches long. He and Pam are both doing very well. We are thrilled to have him be part of our family.
A little background on Lee's journey here: at about 5 months pregnant, Pam learned from her doctor that she was producing antibodies to Lee's opposite blood type. In the past a simple shot has prevented this from being a problem. This time however it appeared that the shot was not working.
This meant that if at any time over the next four months Pam's production of antibodies rose too high, Lee would run out of sufficient red blood cells to continue carrying oxygen and nutrients through his body. Well, Pam was checked regularly since that time and in a truly wonderful answer to prayer, her antibody production remained extremely low (in stark contrast to our anxiety and worry).
After Lee was born his jaundice levels were a bit elevated (remaining antibodies from Pam's immune system could lead to higher breakdown of his blood cells and consequently higher bilirubin buildup), but even these stayed within normal limits and declined quickly.
We feel extremely fortunate to have him here, healthy and strong in spite of numerous opportunities for things to have gone otherwise.

Par three? Really?!?!

As you may have noticed, I've been a bit of a slacker at posting here lately. School has really been working me over, but I took a moment out today to watch this cool little video and wish it was me on the green.
If you overlook the ghastly disregard this represents in these tough economic times, this looks like it would be fun to try! Anyone who has ever golfed with me already knows however that I would definitely need a mulligan or two for this hole :)

My Breif Taste of Freedom Comes to an End

Tomorrow morning I go back to the pharmacy school salt mine. The break seemed to fly by, but it is probably a good thing it was not any longer or it would be even harder to go back.
I've made good use of my time though. I located the hard-to-find bushing for my tiller after stopping at four different places. Pam has been talking about getting her pea's in the ground soon so I gave our garden spot a first tilling.
The bathroom project moved along a bit more, and I finished off another of the books on my list. This one however was a sorry disappointment.
I have been a Louis L'Amour fan since I was a kid, and often people have suggested that I might like Zane Grey's westerns as well. So I decided to try these suggestions and found the ZG novel "Riders of the Purple Sage". It intrigued me because it was set in a small southern Utah border town around 1870. Without wasting too much time let me just make the issue very clear: this was not a 'western', it was a romance novel and an exposition for poorly researched and seditiously indulged rumors of the 'vile creed' that is 'mormonism'. The characters were inconsistent and many poorly developed. The landscape and relative positions of landmarks like canyons, homes, hideouts, etc would constantly shift and change in proximity and direction. And while Zane Grey exhibited a good vocabulary, he used it poorly and the writing was often choppy and of irregular flow. There were certainly promising elements of the story like horse races, indian hideouts, and daring escapes (conspicuously lacking in good gun fights though), but these were all wasted in poor portrayal and a story that constantly devoloved back into either the sputtering emotion of the female characters (and some of the men) or the blistering calumnization of those vile mormins. I give the book 1.5 out of 5 stars overall. The short version is, unless you're a simpering pansy, don't read it.

Project'n

I've been on spring break this week and using the time to get caught up on stuff at home. At first I was extremely good at honeydo projects and seemed to knock them out without any trouble... then I got married.
Seriously though, I've learned that certain projects have red flags all over them if one knows what to look for. Right after we bought this house, Pam and I started talking about remodeling the bathroom off the master bedroom. Two and a half years later I've finally got the plumbing and new floor in and started on the shower installation. Meanwhile other projects have been backlogged. We got the new windows in over last summer, but they still need to be trimmed and shuttered. My shed is up and organized with shelving, but it too lacks the trim and finishing that I had planned. It's all about function first, then finishing touches later...
That said, what I haven't mentioned is that I actually enjoy the work and though it irritates sometimes that there just isn't time to do it all at the rate I would like, it's still fun. Few things can make you feel more manly than strapping on a tool belt full of stuff you don't really need but it makes that satisfying clink-clank sound each time you step, and then acting like you know exactly what you're doing as you take a hammer to the wrong wall.

Dunks and 90 foot buzzer beaters...

A couple of good high school b-ball stories turned up today in a season that is usually dominated by college hoops.
The Montana team took a tough lesson in following the rules, but I think somebody should review that rule book. Get over it and let them play.
The last minute shot from the backcourt is truly amazing, but the repeat in practice later is unreal...

Gee, you really shouldn't have Mr. President...

This is an excerpt from yesterday's edition of the Patriot Post newsletter that made me laugh at first and then made me a bit depressed. A quick google search verified that the British people were not very impressed either. See what you think:

"British prime minister Gordon Brown thought long and hard about what gift to bring on his visit to the White House last week. Barack Obama is the first African-American president, so the prime minister gave him an ornamental desk-pen holder hewn from the timbers of one of the Royal Navy's anti-slaving ships of the 19th century, HMS Gannet. Even more appropriate, in 1909 the Gannet was renamed HMS President. The president's guest also presented him with the framed commission for HMS Resolute, the lost British ship retrieved from the Arctic and returned by America to London, and whose timbers were used for a thank-you gift Queen Victoria sent to Rutherford Hayes: the handsome desk that now sits in the Oval Office.And, just to round things out, as a little stocking stuffer, Gordon Brown gave President Obama a first edition of Sir Martin Gilbert's seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill. In return, America's head of state gave the prime minister 25 DVDs of 'classic American movies.' Evidently, the White House gift shop was all out of 'MY GOVERNMENT DELEGATION WENT TO WASHINGTON AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT' T-shirts. Still, the 'classic American movies' set is a pretty good substitute, and it can set you back as much as $38.99 at Wal-Mart." --columnist Mark Steyn

Gun update

This week has been test heavy at school. After studying since 4am for therapeutics and a pharmacology test today I decided I needed a little non-pharmacy fun time so I stopped by the gun store on my way home and picked up the brush attachment I've needed for the 270, and some cleaning resin. I had to pull myself away from drooling over their Colt Old Army revolvers, then came home and spent some quality time with the family and the 270 after the kiddies were in bed.

Unlike other more scientific gun enthusiasts who have very strict routines for gun cleaning, I approach cleaning a gun based on how many star trek episodes it takes to get the gun clean. Tonight I watched "Dagger in the Mind" and "Journey to Babylon" while working on my gun and figured that was a pretty decent job. It was definitely a good way to recover from a heavy week at school!

I tried to take a picture of the bore but was not very successful. It is somewhat clear in the two pictures I posted here that the bore actually looks really good but the external surface of the end of the barrel is pretty rough. I did manage to get the shoulder strap cleaned up with an abundance of saddle soap, so it no longer smells like smoke and dead cats.

I think I'll try to get it down to a gunsmith I've got a connection with and see what his recommendation is from here.

Insights from Gospel Doctrine Class Today...

My lesson for Sunday school today was on the restoration of the priesthood. The thought that has lingered in my mind from the class, comes from section 84 vs 19-21; particularly where it talks about evidences of God's power being manifest in the ordinances of the priesthood. I asked myself: What is manifest to me from the ordinances of the priesthood?
As I sat observing the priests and deacons administering the sacrament and the other people in the congregation around me I considered: what other authority or power on earth can be given to a group of young men, which when exercised, reconciles all recipients who have prepared themselves back to the originality of their individual baptismal covenants with God and avails a renewed remission of sins? All other earthly authorities may try to imitate the act, but without the restored priesthood, the ordinance is empty and only an outward shadow of a much more powerful and personal communion with our Father in Heaven.
It's fitting really that the "power" of God evident in the priesthood ordinances is, like his voice, still and small by earthly perspectives. To those who prepare themselves spiritually however, that power makes possible healing, blessings, and promises that can be obtained in no other way (and it happens every week!). The security of a family sealed together beyond the reach of mortal death, the right to constant companionship of the Holy Ghost so long as we remain faithful and the countless spiritual gifts associated with that companionship (Moroni 10: 5-18, 1 Corinthians 12: 3-11), are each just a few of the things that become abundantly available with the restoration of the priesthood.
The last thing I'll add to this line of thinking comes from section 110: 11-16, where additional important keys were restored by those ancient patriarchs who held them in their own dispensations of the gospel: Moses, Elias, and Elijah. Each key restored in this section alludes to additional roles of the priesthood which are now being exercised. In the context of all these considerations, it is much clearer to me what the Lord was trying to teach when he said back in section 84, "Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest."

An Unexpected Blessing from an Elders Quorum Moving Party

Have you ever been called by the EQ president to help someone in the ward move, and then you dutifully show up only to find that its the crazy cat lady and she doesn't have anything packed? That's where I found myself this morning, trying not to breath while hefting weird junk into a U-haul.
Things unexpectedly got much more interesting once we reached a back bedroom and found a couple of rifles in the closet of what was obviously a guys room. She told us that her son had passed away some time ago and she hadn't really done anything with his stuff. We asked her what she would like done with the rifles and she said she really didn't want to think about it, and just intended taking them to the nearest pawn shop.
They were in pretty rough shape from neglect but the elders quorum president and I both had an eye for the situation and promptly made her two offers she couldn't refuse. I came home with a nice little 270 Winchester Model 70, and he bought the other two which were a Sears model 30-06 Springfield, and a little tube-feed .22 that looked more serviceable as a baseball bat than a rifle.
The 270 was very dirty, but after taking it apart and cleaning things out, I don't think her son ever did anything with it. The stock has no signs of wear other than a pinhole size indentation on one side. The checkering is still very sharp with little sign of handling. The bolt is bright, the action smooth (once cleaned and oiled), it has a cheap but functional scope, and a fairly nice leather shoulder strap (although the leather still reaks of cats and smoke, so I'll have to see what a little saddle soap will do for it, or just throw it out). Everything is perfect about the gun except... it looks like he stored it with the end of the barrel in a glass of salt water. The last inch of the barrel and front sight are horribly corroded with rust, to the point that I seriously think the gun would come apart in your hands were you to fire it as it is. Have a look at the pics and you'll see what I mean.
So, now my next decision is do I buy a new barrel, or just shorten and re-condition this one? If I buy a new barrel do I look into smithing it in myself or do I find a reputable gunsmith and pay him to do it (I'm partial to this option)?
The funny part about this story is that once I realized I was getting a gun out of it, I didn't mind so much helping the crazy cat lady move!

Pharmacist 1, bad guy 0

Kudo's to this pharmacist showing his grit in a bad situation.

Saturdays were made for good books

I decided I needed a break from studying this weekend. Pam wanted to try out her new 'sit-n-stand' stroller with the girls, so we took them on a walk to the park for some slide time (the sun was out and it was a balmy 55'ish degrees). On the way out the door I decided on a whim to take a Louis L'Amour book along that had been sitting on my headboard for weeks begging me to read it. The title is "Utah Blaine", which caught my interest for reasons that should be obvious. Utah is a gunfighter who escapes from a Mexican prison and flees north to Arizona territory with nothing but the clothes on his back. On the trail he rescues a wealthy rancher from being hung by his low-down, no-account, two-bit, (you get the idea) varmint of a ranch manager and several other thugs. Utah and this new friend strike a deal to quell the conspiracy of land-hungry neighbors and preserve the ranch. Of course as Utah takes to his new job there are plenty of badguys to fill with lead, but a fiery, attractive, and implausibly available young woman shows up in this Arizona frontier story and you just can't help hoping Utah can get the girl in the end... but those flea-bitten, yellow-bellied, cattle-rustlin' pole-cats just keep turning up and it makes for a great story.

Sterile Compounding Practical Exam

I'm feeling a real sense of relief today. The first major round of exams for this semester is officially wrapped up, having finished the sterile compounding practical exam earlier this afternoon. This was a simulated preparation of a sterile solution for IV injection. We had to scrub and suit up in the anteroom, then enter the simulated ISO-7 cleanroom and prepare a solution of growth medium in an IV bag, making 17 different manipulations, back and forth with the syringe, all in a sterile compounding hood. I feel like it went really well, but the final result will remain to be seen as the bag of growth medium is incubated now for the next two weeks. As long as nothing grows, I'm good.

Mom's and sportsmanship

This is one of those stories that stays with you and tends to generate great movies like Rudy and Hoosiers...

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=914609