White Sands Trip

This past Friday and Saturday I (Bob) had the opportunity of taking a group of about 2 dozen youth from our Ward down to White Sands National Monument for an overnight trip. (FYI-Youth come in dozens. They're sort of like eggs)
White Sands is the world's largest gypsum dune field where over 275 square miles of desert are covered by white gypsum.
Sledding is a common activity at white sands as well as playing football, Frisbee, baseball, etc. I don't have pics of all the activities that we did, but this will give you an idea.

Setting up camp upon arrival at our campsite in Alamogordo, NM

Eating lunch instead of setting up camp upon arrival.
I can't talk, I was taking pictures!

At the dunes: I laughed my head off when I saw Jeff being buried in the sand.

This is why you should not laugh at others misfortunes

Dinner at the dunes

Parker Shepherd: the Man, the Legend

Breakfast on Saturday

Bob's "Faux Hawk."




Eating lunch in the parking lot of a Lowe's Hardware store in Las Cruces, NM















Just a minor sledding injury
I don't know how well you can see it in the pic, but there is a bruise all the way from the base of my palm to the red "strawberry" a third of the way up my forearm.





The toughest part of the trip for the Brewer brothers and me? Being complete studs!

Introducing Mortimer

I'd like to take a moment to introduce everyone to Mortimer. He is my green bumper-less 1996 Mitsubishi Mirage with almost 175,000 miles on him. My family bought Mortimer back in 1997 and he has been the means of transportation for my dad for several years, my brother Mike when he was in college for a few years and I have now been driving Mortimer since the Summer of 2003. Mortimer's "check engine" light has been on pretty much all the time since sometime in 2003...although there was a 2-week period a few years ago when the "check engine" light turned off. I was really worried about him during that time, but became relieved when I turned the engine on and saw that familiar red glow of the "check engine" light. Whew!
Mortimer has endured some tough times. His rear bumper is held on by a wire hanger. As you can see, his front bumper is no longer attached at all. This is due to an incident that occurred in the Spring of 2005. I went out to go to work one morning and found that Mortimer's bumper was missing and was nowhere in sight. I knew the vehicle I had parked next to the night before and the white paint on Mortimer matched not only the white paint from the van, but also the scratches on the van seemed to have some green Mortimer paint on it. We filed a police report and didn't hear anything for several months and the final verdict was that the driver of the van denied that he ran into poor little Mortimer and the Police Department didn't have the resources to come out and compare marks on the 2 vehicles which would have PROVEN that the driver of the white van was the culprit. Oh, well!
For a while now I have had the feeling that Mortimer needs to go out in a blaze of glory. Here's my plan: When I know that he is on his last leg I will take him on a road trip and just drive him until he completely dies. (This is different than just "mostly dead.") When he does die I will dispose of him in the quickest and least-expensive manner and either hitch a ride home or find a new vehicle wherever. There are a few problems. Here are the top 3:
1. Emily will most likely never let me do this.
2. When I decide Mortimer is on his last leg he will probably still run for another 75,000 miles.
3. He will probably die in Tenney, Minnesota. Tenney has a population of 6 people and I would probably have to hike a long distance to find a place to catch a bus back home.

I don't have to worry about this right now. Mortimer will at least make it to 200,000 miles...

Happy Birthday Bob!

By now you all know that I, Robert Brough Terry, am a strange fellow. I wrote fairly extensively several months ago about how I don't really like questions pertaining to what I would like to receive for gifts on special occasions. In that post (November 4, 2007) I was referring to Christmas gifts, but in some ways birthdays are even worse. I don't really like the attention I receive just for making it through another 365.242199 days. My response to the ever dreaded, "What do you want for your birthday this year?" question just happened to be, "I really want an iron and ironing board!" I'm not sure if this request is stranger than the squeegee request at Christmastime, but the number of funny looks I got when I told them that an iron would be the perfect gift for me on my 26th birthday was quite amazing. I have just needed an upgrade. Here is a few pics that show the small iron/ironing board I've been using (or not using because they're too small) along with the new birthday upgrades.


My wonderful wife gave me this new, improved ironing board and Dave and Jane (my in-laws) teamed up with her to provide this awesome iron.




















Again, I would like to thank 4 of the people I know who actually listen when I give them strange requests...thank you Dave, Jane, Emily and Nancy. (FYI-Nancy gave me a squeegee).

Beware the Ides of March

In the past I have become frustrated when people have asked what my birthday is and they have no idea what I'm talking about when I respond, "The Ides of March." At some point I realized that the only reason I (or anyone) would have reason to remember that the Ides of March falls on the 15th day of March is because that's my birthday. People who don't share the same birthday would only remember it because they love history, Shakespeare, or random facts. After all, there are some very important dates that are very close to the Ides of March. March 14th, for example, is Pi Day celebrating the mathematical symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Why March 14th, you ask? Pi ()=3.1415926 and 3/14 at 1:59:26 is when the ultimate Pi Day festivities take place. I'd go into more detail about the festivities, but the focus of this entry is not Pi Day, it's the Ides of March. For more info check out the official Pi Day website so you can be prepared for next year: http://www.piday.org/
Another holiday that is close to the Ides is St. Patrick's Day. When I was younger my favorite color was green. I attribute this to the fact that the Ides of March (my birthday) is so close to St. Patrick's Day.
Now, why is the Ides of March so well known among history and Shakespeare lovers? Well, the Ides of March is the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated. As the story goes Caesar was warned by a fortune teller to watch his back on the Ides, but he didn't heed the advice and ended up being killed.
You may have heard of the infamous Ides of March from the following places:
Shakespeare's play entitled "Julius Caesar"
Ides of March" is the name of a song recorded by Guns 'N Roses
In "Back to the Future II" George McFly was killed on the Ides of March in 1973.
In "The Simpsons" episode "Homer the Great", Lisa warns Homer, "beware the Ides of March", after Homer claims he now knows he is God. Homer replies, "No!"

I hope the March history lesson wasn't too boring for everyone. And when the time comes again...BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH!!!

Exciting finds

So I have made some exciting purchases lately that I had to tell you all about. The first is my new china set. My Dad has been promising me for years that he will build me a piece of furniture (he is a fabulous wood worker) and he has finally started. He is building a beautiful china hutch with glass doors, but I didn't have a nice set to put in there so of course I had to buy one. My sister Genevieve started selling Pampered Chief (for those of you who don't know what that is, you need to call me immediately so I can let you in on the secret) and they had the set I wanted. It is cranberry and white and looks so classy. Below are some pictures of some of the things I got. I bought a set that accommodates 8 but I only set it up for four since our table doesn't fit that many. The first picture is some of the cookware that is magic (it is called stoneware) and I cannot wait to cook a big fancy meal with it.














The other exciting purchase was made at Olive Garden when Bob and I went out to dinner this week. Anybody that knows me knows that I am obsessed with the salad and bread sticks there. I even ask for extra salad dressing to dip the bread sticks in (it's great you should really try it!). Well, the waiter noticed how much of it I was going through and mentioned that they sell it. I was so excited and told her to add a bottle to our bill. She brought it to the table and I thought it was the cutest bottle ever. I am planning on washing and re-using it after I am done.My job at the credit union is going well and I am still not over the fact that I make more than Bob now. This has been the first time that that has happened ever and it makes me feel good. Bob hasn't been complaining one bit. In fact he is very excited to have found his sugar mama.

Smooth

Sunday, March 9th 2008
8:48 am: Bob wakes up. His face itches really bad. He thinks about the fact that the women (yes there is more than one) in his life really like smooth faces. The beard has got to go.


9:04am: Bob emerges from the bathroom with the softest face on planet earth.




Later that day...
6:17pm:Mackenzie (one of Bob's girlfriends) spots a soft-faced Bob sitting on the couch a few feet away...




6:18pm:Mackenzie decides she wants to get a closer look at the smooth face.


THE END!

Oh, the things I've seen...

This is Bob again. Most of you know that I work for a pest control company here in Albuquerque and as part of my job I get to travel around to different parts of Albuquerque and the surrounding areas (including Santa Fe) as I work. Here's what I look like while I'm driving around. Surprise! I'm growing a beard. Apparently I'm having some technical issues uploading the photos so just copy and paste this link to see the pics:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15964&l=03a38&id=812773210

I see some interesting things and while I don't have pictures of all of them here are a few gems.

Let's start with a few religious items. I saw this truck next to me as I was headed up Eubank the other day. I sent the picture to my favorite quotes "blog" in hopes it would get "published," and I'll let you know if it does. Sorry this pic is so big...I wanted you to be able to read it.



This one reads, "...FEAR HIM WHICH IS ABLE TO DESTROY BOTH SOUL AND BODY..." It's a reference to a scripture and a surefire way to make a neighbor feel welcome. Do you think I should put a sign like this in my yard? Wait, I haven't got a yard yet, but when I do...



I sprayed a house out in Corrales, NM and this "Ordain Women" bumper sticker was on all 4 cars sitting in the driveway. Apparently they feel very strongly about it.



Corrales is also the Llama capital of New Mexico. This one's name is Jim.



Having trouble selling your house? That's because it's not a purple mobile home with a mean dog out front.



Another sign from a front yard. Vote Republican, eh? Even if it means voting for John McCain? Yikes! It reminds me a little of the bumper sticker I saw the other day that said, "Electile Dysfunction."



This hot dog makes me hungry!



I will continue to update you on the interesting things I see.

What does Bob do with his time???

I am ready for a break! School and work are keeping me so busy I hardly have time for other things. I just realized that my e-mail inbox hasn't been cleaned out in a while and I'm up to 250 messages there. I have been doing a little bit of reading other than what is required for school. I just finished George Orwell's Animal Farm and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy For Serious People. Orwell's works are always fascinating. Earnest was also a good read. Another way that Emily and I unwind is by flipping on the TV for a bit. With the subscription to Netflix the Aries gave us for Christmas we have been watching a lot of movies and NCIS (one of Emily's favorite shows). And while I'm on the subject...if you are a fan of suspense movies and you haven't seen Disturbia yet, you really need to.
Emily blogged a while back about our trip to Arizona...I need another trip! I guess it's a good thing Spring Break is coming up soon. I just need to go to a place where Jalapenos, Oreos, and Squeegees grow on trees...Gilbert, AZ. (FYI~Don and Nancy threw us a graduation party while we were in Arizona and since it was around Christmas they decorated a Christmas tree with the New Mexico Lobos colors and some of our favorite things). Here's a pic!
Emily bought be a bread machine for Christmas and I am loving it! In fact, I think I'm going to go make a loaf right now! Bye!
Bob