Poor Unfortunate Souls

Once again a new semester has started and like clockwork, there are a few Poor unfortunate Souls, a.k.a. freshmen, who really struggle with the first week of college classes. My experience has been that most freshmen have very awkward moments the first year, some are just better at hiding it than others. Hey even I walked into at least one wrong classroom, only to quickly exit and move to the “right” class.

So far this week, I have one student who not only went to the wrong classroom, but ended up in the wrong building, and stayed the entire time because the teacher was talking about lots of different books.

Much to my surprise, I also have a repeat student. A very special repeat student. Last semester, Alice Wonderland (name has been changed) made it to class for the first two weeks and then dropped off the radar. About mid-term I received an email from Alice telling me that she needed to meet with me to explain her excessive absences. I reminded her of my office hours. Again she dropped off the radar…two weeks later another email shows up from Alice. I really need to meet with you to explain why “I don’t want to come to your class”. She continued saying that her schedule was not compatible with my office hours so I scheduled a special appointment with her. She didn’t show.

At this point I tried to direct her to the Director of Freshman Composition, if she wanted any hope of passing the class or taking an “I”. Again she dropped off the radar screen, until the last day of class when she emailed me and asked if there was a final for the class, in which I responded “No.” She also claimed that she had tried to get a hold of the director through email. I checked with the director and discovered that not such contact had been attempted.


I have two more classes to go...if anything happens, you'll be the first to hear about it.

Self Induced Honey-do Chores

The monotony has finally broken me. FYI, I have been out of school since May and simultaneously out of work as well. This newfound freedom has left me with way too much time on my hands. I mean, we traveled to Oklahoma, Colorado and Utah this summer, as well as burned up oodles of additional gallons of gas here locally. I’ve also spent way too much time indoors, inside the confines of my own castle. I don’t know how the rich folks (as in ancient European nobility) stayed sane by not having to work every day of their lives.

As such, and with work starting up again next week, I have taken upon myself some long overdue and new honey-do chores. I have two projects going simultaneously out in the garage. Both involve lots of sanding with power tools, which makes me wish for an air compressor to blow away all the dust. One project is the refinishing an old headboard and foot board on a bed that has been stored in the attic since our arrival. The other project requires some refinishing work on my wife’s glider-rocker that was slightly damaged during “the move”.

The hardest part about all this is the “dry time” between coats of paint, drying stain and drying urethane. I was not born with the patience for the waiting game. Not to mention that the humidity levels are very high right now cause it rained fast and furiously in the middle of the night and then sprinkled some more around mid-morning.

To Be a Prophet For a Day

From my earliest memories from Sunday school I recall being taught that prophets help guide Heavenly Father’s children upon the earth. Recent experiences have reinforced this perspective. Contrary to the local belief, "Lubbock is a breeze of a town to navigate" I proclaim in defense of the non-Lubbuckian That Lubbock is a difficult town to navigate for beginners. Having been here a year, I can see why they hold to such a belief, but having also been a newcomer or an outsider, Lubbock can be very daunting because of the many options for getting from point A to point B.

In the past month or so, I have had the honor of visitations from several different family members. Each and every one of them at some point in time became lost in trying to drive their way through and around town. Now I am not trying to equivocate myself with the noble mantle of a prophet, but my wife and I were able to help these helpless travelers find their way. We employed many different methods, ranging from verbal step by step instructions via cell phones (what a great modern convenience), written instructions, hand drawn maps and personal guides by way of driving in front of, or riding shot-gun.

I do not seek praise or compensation, because anyone else would have done just as much to help a family member reach their destination safely. I could not help but notice that in the same way I did what I could to guide my family, God also continues to guide his children by living prophets all along the way whether it be by radio, satellite, magazine, internet, etc. What a great time to be alive.

Lack of Inspiration

This does not mean that nothing has been going on. I just haven't been able to find myself in the right blogging spirit. Hang in there. This too shall pass.

We Were Almost Neighbors

Just last night My family was up in Provo as my wife had a Story Time Felts party at a friend’s house in the aforementioned villa. After the party, we was a visitin and a talkin about the movie, Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration that my family had gone to see the day before… when to our surprise, the name Chris Kendrick and neighbor were used in the same sentence.

So I interjected, “You mean that the Kendricks live in this ward?”

“Yes” was the reply.

“No way!” ( I was about to give a Princess Mia ‘Shut up!’ followed by an Elaine from “Seinfeld” shove, but I restrained myself).

So I quickly explained how I came to “know” these folks via my blog and former high school bunch.

So to the mighty Kendricks…. I welcome you to the 8th Ward…. A day late, but not a dollar short…I hope.