3/16/08

Que Pasa Amigo,

It’s another week and another letter, and yet another week without a letter. What’s up with that? Have I made you mad? Did I offend you somehow with something in one of my letters? It’s pretty brutal to now be on week 4 without a letter. I could go off but will give you allowance for one more week. If I haven’t received a letter for 5 weeks, you better look out. Homes here has been known to spout off in a letter or two. I read a letter from Kyle over at Ma’s and Pa’s yesterday that came with a picture too. I was half tempted to post that on your blog since that’s the most attention I’ve gotten in a long time. He referenced me in his letter which made me feel part of the action again since I’ve been left out of it for quite a stretch.

So how are things going there in the NCCM? So did Alex move out here to Utah? I got an e-mail from him replying to my most recent e-mail saying he was here in Utah, Beautiful mountains, and I couldn’t really understand the rest other than he sent me another resume. No one really wants to give him a shot. For some reason. He just needs to get more practical experience here and not Russia maybe. He might need to find a paid internship just to get something under his belt, even though it won’t be much pay at first. Those always become jobs in the engineering world if he can stick it out for a few months.

Work for me has been busy. I have had a lot of turnover this month, whether that means they quite or I fired them. I still have a couple more I’ll be letting go this week, so the bleeding has not stopped yet. My B of M reading is still marching along. I’m on Ether 10 and will easily finish it this week if I stay on it. Since my deadline isn’t till May 10^th, I think I’ve begun to putter out a little on my hard core reading. But sometimes it’s nice just to bite off little pieces to chew on for a while. I think you can ponder some things that you haven’t pondered before when you bite off more easily chewed portions.

John popped the question Friday night. He took her to Ruth’s Chris Steak House, dropped $140 on dinner, gave her a YUGE, that’s right, not just huge, but YUGE bouquet of flowers, and of course the ring. They talked about it till 2:00 AM when she finally told him she’d have to take a week to think about it and that was that. So I guess we’ll see how it turns out this week.

Oh, I also brought the Foosball table home Friday night. So we’ll have plenty of room in the basement to foos it up and get after it again when you come over here.

Well, I need to bust out a lesson plan for my class today. So I’m going to get on that and after church I’ll finish this up and send it off. I’ll catch you in a few hours.

Ahhhhhhhight, it’s 9:00 PM now. Had a lot going on today, so I’m finally back to finish this up. Oye! Those kids were bad again today. I’m sick of it already. They are trying my patience. I also got the foosball table downstairs. So I just need to set it up now. Kind of excited about that. I got my College Basketball tourney bracket all filled out too. Tip off of March Madness is in 3 days. I’m sure you will see some effects of that out there. North Carolina is a number 1 seed so they will do well and have a good shot at final 4. I actually have them in my final 4 but losing to Kansas to make it to the championship. Too bad for NC. We’ll see if they prove me wrong though. I remember tracting during March Madness and having dudes just get warped on me for interrupting the game. That’s going to be a big slap in their faces at final judgment, eh? That reminds me, it’s time for the Quote of the Week which is along these lines:

“Remember that “it is a day of warning, and not a day of many words.” If they receive not your testimony in one place, flee to another, remembering to cast no reflections, nor throw out any bitter sayings. If you do your duty, it will be just as well with you, as though all men embraced the gospel.”

- Joseph Smith

I had an issue with that for a long time on my mission. I would cast reflections and throw out bitter sayings. Joseph Smith of all people should have had room to talk a little smack about those who persecuted him. But he drops knowledge on us like this and just solidifies my testimony even further that he is a true prophet. Good quote.

Anyway, I hope all is still going well. One of these days, you ought to consider writing home to tell us about it. Looking forward to your next letter. Keep up all of your good work out there.

I love you.

Trav