Moving... Again.

So I haven't written an update since before Mike's Google blog. I do have a legitimate excuse this time though. First, we had finals for winter semester all while looking for a new apartment in Pocatello. Then a few days after the semester ended, I started summer term. Then, once Hyrum got out of school, Mike and the kids moved to Pocatello while I moved in with my mom to finish the summer semester. Well, Thursday was my last day of school, so I finally get to post all the videos and pictures we've taken and haven't had time to post. I'm so glad to have the rest of summer off, and I'm so glad to finally be able to move back in with my family! Be sure to check out my posts on Hyrum's field trip to the zoo and Hyrum's Spring Concert. Nothing much to read, just videos and pictures.

Our old apartment in Shelley.

Our new apartment in Pocatello.

An open letter to Google Corporation

Dear Google, we're on the verge of another technological revolution, and I want you to lead it. Please consider the following life-altering changes:

• Google Cellular
  Purchase T-Mobile.  They're a carrier that hangs around, but really never competes against the big boys of cell phone companies (Verizon, Sprint, AT&T).  Once purchased, make all your rate plans just $30-$40 a month -- only for unlimited data access and messaging charges.  The voice charges will come from replacing the ringing (or, in some cases, music) the caller hears with advertisements.  These would be selected ads you would feel comfortable letting your callers listen to (ie. I would never want anyone calling me to hear about RedBull or Trojan condoms ads).  I feel it's a small inconvenience to pay for free voice service, which of course, will be using the cellular data network and not the POTS.  Besides, if the subscriber doesn't like it, there would be incentive to answer their phone quicker.  Much better than the alternative.
• Google Medical
  No, we don't need a hospital run on Google Wave, although you wouldn't have any problems with your own WebMD.  What we need here is an intervention with our government medical paper trail.  You see it every hospital, clinic, and outpatient care you visit.  It's costs billions (un-sourced and un-researched) and is behind the times.  Digital records held in the cloud is what we need: a universal health-care filing system (read that again, carefully, conservatives).  Would we go to the extent of tattooing or implanting a scannable ID on our bodies?  Probably not.  Use a digital ID card or a SIM card in phones from your new cellular network.  People leave their wallets at home, but never their phone. This would consolidate your whole medical history, current medications, donor status, recorded biometrics and make them accessible for any certified medical care providers the whole world over allowing personnel from emergency response to your family doctor to access updated records every time they needed it.  People may go conspiracy theory on you, but the idea that we've been living in an archaic (this Internet capability has been accessible for ~15-years) system baffles me.  Get some senators on board and get your government grant.

• Google OS .. Google TV ... Google Netflix?
  You're so close to this one I can smell it.  With the advent of your hard-driveless operating system and the launching of Google TV, all this dilapidated redundancy in my house is frustrating.  With 1 desktop, 1 server, 2 laptops, and 2 external storage drives, Picasa and Google Apps, I feel I have the digital household makup that John Kerry would be envious of.  My family photos, videos, documents, music, and now recently, my backed up DVDs reside in multiple places and are often duplicated with no stapled method of organization.  I want all of this out of my hard drive and into one accessible place: the Internets.  No more purchasing a physical DVD.  Make it virtual.  Same price as an off-the-shelf DVD, but no physical media to speak of.  That way, there's only one copy of the movie in the world, but with millions of people owning the rights to it.  Your TV at home or in the car will access your purchased DVD online and on demand.  I think you're right there... Netlfix is almost there, but it's still just a rental, we don't own anything.  Hopefully your WebM video codec is an indication that this was your plan all along.
• Googlezon
  Credit for this goes to a former co-worker.  A Google shopping search gets unreliable results.  It's time to open your own web store and shipping centers and replace Amazon.com's supremacy.
• Google Entry
  QWERTY needs to die.  The English language is too complicated and cumbersome to be the ongoing solution to command input.  The console interface designers of Star Trek had it right.  We need a group of linguist and mathematicians to create a universal visual entry language.  One that uses sentence conjugations, tap-swipe entry, series and sequence patterns to develop a thought provoked input language.  This, integrated with our Google Pad (not trademarked... yet) will grant Gene Roddenberry an eternally restful slumber.
• Google Movers
  I need someone to come pack and move my house.  After doing it 11 times in 10 years, you would think I would be a pro.  However, it's quite the opposite.  Instead of becoming efficient at the task, I've become burnt out and often find excuses to avoid packing.  Things like writing an open blog letter 3 days before we move.

This entry came about as a tangent as my wife discussed how Apple is not the Apple that Steve Jobs created.  He wanted to "stick it to the man" and give consumers another option than buying a PC.  However, his interests have changed, along with his company.  His advancements in "iTechnology" have been fabulous, but now outwardly bashing Adobe Flash 10.1 and Google WebM codec make him more like Bill Gates version 2.0 .  MicroSoft is all but done, having created innovations, but lacking the commitment to follow through to the bigger picture.  They did it with Windows Media Center PCs, attempting to integrate the PC and media experience, but needing so many requirements to have it work just right.  They did it with MicroSoft Surface, but wanted too high a price that only larger corporations could pursue.  Now they're doing it again with the Kin.  A social networking tool that no doubt will repeat the MotoBlur experience.

It's up to Google to make our dreams realized.  They can get this cloud thing going and make the literal Universal network in our hands (let's not mention the SkyNet possibilities).  Our cell phones are almost our computers, car operating systems, garage door openers, remote controls, radios, and one day, mind control devices.

Have any more Google _____ ideas?  What's your take on the advancement toward a more simplified (yet complex) technological experience?  Are we heading down the wrong path or moving towards a more Utopian society?  Share your thoughts in the comments.

Updates

° School is in for Mike. School is a lot more work than Mike thought it would be and is thankful that he doesn't have a part-time job. However, the lack of income has made things quite tight. It will work out, however, because of that tithe law. Mike is taking Java, Trig, Astronomy, and Business Statistics. An interesting variety of classes, but until he gets on course for his Major, it will have to be that way.
Do you remember me complaining about how much I made at my last job? Well, that raise was well worth it. It shot us into another tax bracket (for the first time in my life) as I made $35k last year. Nothing exactly to brag about, but we've never really been that successful. Too bad about the lay off!!! Now we'll have to settle for a stint at school in hopes of landing a $250k one. Grrr.

° Work started for Jay, and she just got out of training with an unjustly, horrible schedule. She scored 100% on her training exam and was given quite possibly the worst shift they have, while others in her class did quite bad and was given early shifts, including 4-10's. This is going to make the daycare quite expensive. I've urged jay to try and find someone to talk to to find the method of their madness and perhaps petition for a better schedule. They never did give any options to select your preferred shifts, so it's as if they just assigned schedules randomly. We hope all goes well, and I'm sure it will, as long as we continue to be obedient and enjoy the temple. However, there has been talk about looking for other open positions in the region as well.

° Speaking of, we've finally gotten back to the temple. It had been so long... we estimate about 6 years or more. We just took the close proximity to the Idaho Falls and Boise temples that we never attended. And you wonder why things weren't working out for us in the past?...

° Myson LOVES school, of course. We spoke with his teacher and they didn't seem too excited to be getting another kid, as their actions spoke louder than words and left him out of 2 weeks of school to do "paperwork." When we met, we helped him learn his teachers' name (Mrs. Hayes & Ms. Welker). She just said, "Oh, don't worry about it. The other kids just call me teacher." In the interest of respect, we wouldn't have that -- but we didn't have to try anyway. We met her on the Friday before he would start Monday. He had already memorized her name and let us know the whole weekend before.

° Em has started what we call "preschool," which is really daycare but she doesn't want to go to daycare (even though she calls it that when she leaves). She is the most adorable thing that we know of on this Earth (but she's also 2 right now, so she's also very difficult). One example: Myson brought a teddy bear to school as an assignment for bear week and Em would not go to daycare without one as well. So we let her. As we were leaving when I went to pick her up, we were interacting with her and the attendants and they asked, "What's the bears name?" To which she replied, "Bear Haddox" quite matter-of-factly. Very cute. There are a million more examples which need cataloging, but I'm horrible at memory, so we'll let Jaypea do that.
She's also potty-training, which I was just reminded to talk about as she said "Ooooh. Big poop" as she currently sits on the toilet. She was doing so well her first week, but then got in a pattern of not caring and just letting it all go onto the floor. I tried to make the thing positive, but after 3 days of non-stop cleaning of the carpet, I let her know the law. After that I didn't need to discipline anymore. She's knows what right and wrong now and she gets Hello Kitty! stickers for doing a good job.

° For Deedee, the move to Eastern Idaho was just another move. Since she's been through so much she doesn't make a big deal with them anymore. However, she does get motion sickness, so we had to buy some powdery stuff you mix in her food to calm her down. It worked quite well. So far we love Shelley. The people are all very friendly and the city is shut down on Sunday's which helps us observe the Sabbath a bit better. They only have 2 decent fast food places which means it's easier to get sick of them and not go to them.
Although I am switching to BYU-Idaho next semester (upon approval), we will still live in Shelley do to the proximity to the kids' grandparents and the cheapest daycare prices I have ever seen ($2/hr/kid).

° Dan came home from Afghan- and I can't wait until he's free to take phone calls. I'm excited to talk to him again but I really want him to spend as much time with his immediate family before we get to converse again.

° Great Britain has abolished the use of the apostrophe on all their street signs do to it making things too confusing. I wish the English language would the same as a whole because I suck at it. I signed up for an English class for the very reason to improve upon this, but then I did just one assignment and felt myself sick to the stomach the moment I got involved. Hence, that was dropped and Statistics was added (because it was the only interesting online class). Anyway, I brought that up because instead of making corrections on this blog, I'm just letting it go. For instance, I began the blog in third person, now I'm in first. How fun!

° I have a test at 2pm which I have not studied for... That gives me 1½ hours to do so. Enjoy the blog and please comment. We'd love to hear from you!

Let's Review Part 1: Pre Christmas

I said I would post again after Emily's birthday on December 6th. Well, if you didn't notice, it's now January 6th. So now I have to go back over a very eventful month and try to remember it all. Sadly, I never had the time to make Emily's birthday video, so pictures will have to do. I also don't have any Christmas pictures or pictures of my own birthday. Sorry. It's been a really crazy month.

We had been in East Idaho until 3 days before Emily's birthday, so we weren't able to plan much. Emily loves anything pasta, so we took her to a local place in Meridian called White Water Pizza and Pasta to open presents. Among her presents were bottles for her doll and Dora and Boots figurines which she loves to hug.

She also got a Dora umbrella, a doll stroller, and a mini stove/oven play set from my mom which is now her's and Hyrum's favorite toy. I didn't take many pictures of our trip to White Water, but took several videos. However, my camera was dying and the videos turned out badly. I'll see what I can do to clean them up. Maybe I'll just take new videos of her playing with her presents or something so I can make a video for her.

Mike and I finally moved out of our apartment in Nampa on Saturday, December 13th. We had planned to move out on the Thursday before, but U-Haul did not have our reserved truck in time so we had to push it out for the weekend. Lucky us -- It started a light snow as we loaded the final boxes in the truck. After cleaning the house and vacuuming the last Easy Mac noodle off the dining room floor, we drove out of Nampa at about 5:30pm. We got a call from both my mom and my step dad while stopped at a gas station in Nampa. They both warned that we shouldn't come because of a bad storm. However, everything was packed. There was nothing left to go back to, so we pushed forward. The roads were icy from the first snow of the year and many Boiseites had no clue how to drive in it. This was the cause of 12 accidents beyond the Vista exit which left us at a dead halt for 1.5 hours. Once it started going again, it was by no means fast. I think our average speed was 35 mph and at one time I topped it at 45 mph to pass someone. By the time we got to Mountain Home, 3 hours from when we left Nampa (normally a 1 hour drive), we took shelter in a Best Western and waited out the storm that night. It continued to storm all night, but the roads were mostly bare by the time we got away from the Mountain Home area. They got bad again around Pocatello and increased in severity all the way to Shelley. We got to Shelley white-knuckled and exhausted.

There was a little time between when I arrived in Shelley and when Mike came with the U-Haul. I took that opportunity to shower and unwind from the drive since, as soon as he showed up, we had to hit the road again to go to my Aunt's house in Firth for my Grandma's 90th birthday open house. I adore my Grandma Page and was so glad we were able to honor her in that way. My dad was also at the open house. I haven't seen my dad since the summer I was pregnant with Hyrum. He got to meet Hyrum and Emily for the first time ever. Once they got over their initial shyness, they loved him.

Monday started a week of madness. We had gone ahead with the move from Nampa because we were supposed to have our apartment by no later than Tuesday. U-Haul had agreed to let us keep the truck a few extra days for free when we let them know of the situation. The truck would be due back on Wednesday. However, on Monday, the apartment manager told us our application was rejected because we would make too much money with Mike having a part time job. This was a load of bull. Her numbers were all speculative. There was no way Mike could make as much as she assumed he would while going to school full time. She returned our holding deposit to us, and we began the search for a new apartment. We looked all over Shelley and Idaho Falls the following few days, but nothing looked as good as the apartment we had originally applied to.

On Tuesday, Mike went back to the apartment office and begged the manager to review our application, saying he wouldn't be making that much at part-time. He even went as far as to tell her he wouldn't work if it came down to getting the apartment or not. Living in Shelley was a priority to us because child care in Idaho Falls is twice as expensive as we can get in Shelley. The manager agreed to look over the application again, but said she couldn't promise anything, and told us to keep looking since our U-Haul was due back the next day.

Mike tried to follow up with her on Wednesday, but she was screening his calls, and wouldn't answer. We called U-Haul and told them we needed to extend the rental on the truck at a rate of $40/day.

Thursday, Mike finally got a hold of the manager who told us that she had been up all night working on our application and didn't foresee any problems. Worst case scenario, we could move in Friday morning at 10:00. This was great news because if Friday came and went with no apartment, we wouldn't be able to sign a lease and move in until Monday. Keeping the U-Haul over the weekend would be very costly. The apartment manager had already deposited our $300 security deposit check (without giving us keys or a lease).

10:00 came and went with no word. Mike called at 11:00 to ask what was going on, and the manager told us that the compliance manager had rejected our application because she needed a slew of ridiculous paperwork. For example, she saw that we had a foreclosure on our house, but for whatever reason said she needed proof that we no longer owned the house. We didn't have this paperwork. She also asked for proof that I wasn't a student because I had student loans. Well, duh. Of course I still have student loans. That doesn't mean I'm going to school, just that I did at one time. She also wouldn't accept my letter of hire from Center Partners even though it supplied all the information she needed. We were so sick of the run-around they were giving us, and took matters into our own hands. I went to Center Partners and was told that they couldn't fill out the paperwork the apartments needed because I wasn't yet an employee, but that they could send a letter to the management with the exact same information that was in the letter of hire that they wouldn't accept before. We asked HR to go ahead with that, but had little confidence that the manager would accept it. We had no other choice. We also called my student loan holder who said that they could just look online to prove that I wasn't a student, but that no documentation existed on the matter. In the end, Mike and I had to sign an affidavit saying that we no longer owned our home in Ammon and that I wasn't a student. If they had just asked us for this information a month before, when we started the application process, we could have spared ourselves a lot of headaches.

We sat in the apartment office for 3 hours waiting for the compliance manager in Seattle to approve or disapprove our application. She kept sending emails back to the apartment manager asking for different documents, explanations on the documents she had received, and explanations on how the apartment manager had figured our income. By the end, the apartment manager was as fed up with the compliance manager as we were. Finally, a little after 5:00 pm, the compliance manager gave in. The apartment manager told us she wanted to go home, and didn't want to go over the lease until Monday, but gave us a key so we could move in and return the U-Haul.

Unfortunately, it was too late to return the truck without being charged for the day, so we kept it over night and moved in on Saturday. I'm pretty sure it was well below 0° on the day we moved. Because it was so close to Christmas, we were unable to recruit any extra help . Mike, Sherwin, and Sherwin's son Dale unloaded the truck themselves while Mom and I stayed home with the stomach flu. By the afternoon, we were feeling a bit better and went to the apartment to unpack boxes.

I'm a Bengal

I have been accepted at Idaho State University and will begin classes on January 7th (or so). Now comes the joy of applying for financial aid, registering for classes, and balancing the time when I will be at school and Jessica will be at work. FUN!

This news also means that we finally know exactly where we're going to live. That also means that we're moving this weekend. Depending on how efficient we are, this could be on Friday or Saturday.

More news will come later, as I won't spend much time here NOT packing (although it sounds good to me). While you wait, you can laugh at the ridiculously orange school logo.

Note how this particular Bengal has obsessive compulsive disorder, as displayed by his strangely symmetrical claw marks.

East Idaho Trip Update

Since Mike lost his job and decided to go back to school, we've been looking for jobs and apartments in East Idaho. However, we found it very difficult to do this while still living in West Idaho. So Sunday the 23rd, after choir practice, I left Nampa for my mom's house in Shelley. The original plan was that my move was permanent. Mike and the kids would join me later after finishing up the packing and getting Hyrum's school records transferred. I missed my family, but it felt so great to be back in that area again. Since we've moved out here, I feel almost paralyzed by the city. We don't have any friends, I don't know the roads, I hate our neighborhood and am afraid to let the kids go outside. Because of all this, I never leave the house and have become antisocial. Not healthy, I know. There were plenty of things I didn't like about East Idaho, like how people there are cliquish and how every store and restaurant plays country music. Still, East Idaho is home to me, and not just because that's where I grew up. I enjoyed just driving down the familiar roads and visiting with my old friends who have been anxiously awaiting our move back to the area. The feeling of freedom seemed to confirm to me that we were making the right choice. I feel like I can finally get back to being healthy again.

Monday, I found an apartment. I looked at a few places, but for the money and space, the best option was a complex just down the road from the credit union where my mom works. I never would have thought I'd live in Shelley. The problem was, there was a ton of paperwork to be approved to live there. They gave me an estimate of at least a 3 week wait. That meant 3 weeks before the rest of the family could come join me. We decided not to worry about that until we had to.

Tuesday, I found a job... kind of. I applied at a company called Center Partners which is a call outsourcing company I've worked for before. I used to be on the Qwest Loyalty and Retention account, but Qwest has since moved all their call centers in-house. You have to be a top agent in the Qwest general queue before being considered for a loyalty agent position. This all worked out great for me since they said that any accounts they currently have would be a cake walk after my retention experience. They gave me a basic computer skills test and set me up for an interview on December 3rd. I was told that it was mostly a formality, and that I'd be offered a job unless they found something wrong in my past HR records or if I messed up badly in my interview. I was one of their top loyalty agents in both quality and save rate and received more kudos calls of anyone in the center, so I wasn't worried. Then came the bad news. The training class wouldn't start until mid January. I decided to begin looking for temp work the next morning.

My temp job search didn't go as well as everything else had up to that point. I applied for seasonal work at Walmart only to find out that I couldn't work at the Idaho Falls store because my aunt works in personnel there. I couldn't work at the Ammon store either, because they had entered a hiring freeze. I did, however submit my application to the Blackfoot store. I planned to apply at Shopko, Target, and other such stores after Thanksgiving.

I enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Judy's house the next day. We had a nice time visiting and playing games. Mike and the kids had dinner at my brother James's house in Boise. After dinner, they drove out to Shelley for the weekend.

Friday, we opted to stay out of the after Thanksgiving shopping traffic and submitted applications online instead. On Saturday, Mike got a call from the Ammon Walmart for a job and went to a late night interview. They offered him a position as a cart pusher on a temp/seasonal basis and told him to go for a drug test on Monday. I was surprised since I had been told they had a hiring freeze. However, when he went for his drug test on Monday morning, the store manager told him that the assistant manager had hired him by accident and that they weren't accepting new employees. Still, he did say that he might need someone in the electronics department, so Mike is hoping to get a call about that soon.

Hyrum had Friday and Monday off for Thanksgiving break, but had to be back on Tuesday. So the plan was for Mike to head home after his drug test on Monday. Instead, he decided to stick around until after my interview on Wednesday and take me back with him since the temp job idea wasn't working out. He decided to use his free time to meet with advisers at BYU-I and ISU since he still hasn't decided which school to go to or what to major in. ISU couldn't fit him in for an appointment, so we drove to Rexburg. He got a lot of good information, but now he's even more unsure of which school he'll attend. He found out that he can take his entire first year at ISU remotely at the Idaho Falls campus. That would be really convenient, but ISU doesn't have the exact major he wants most and BYU-I does. I don't really care which school he chooses. I just wish he'd choose!

Wednesday was my interview at Center Partners. I showed up early and was the only candidate dressed appropriately for an interview. I thought I had it locked. The HR director took me back to the call floor and began chatting to me about the people I knew when I worked there 7 years ago and how all the accounts and buildings had changed. We went to the break room where she got me a large cup of hot chocolate, then we returned to her office for the interview. I set my hot chocolate on the edge of her desk while I pulled off my coat. Well, you all know what a klutz I am. Yep, I knocked the hot chocolate over with my coat sleeve. It spilled all over her desk and the 2 inches of paperwork she had piled on it. I quickly ran back to the break room for paper towels and water, and we spent the next several minutes cleaning up the mess and trying to save her memos and reports. The spill narrowly missed an envelope of her kids' school pictures. I felt terrible. She had to sit on her jacket because the hot chocolate had dribbled off her desk and soaked her chair. I must be totally awesome because I still got the job!

We're home now, and it feels good to be back. I'm anxious to move to East Idaho, but my mom's house was just a little too crowded with the 4 of us and Sherwin's son Dale and daughter Donna visiting as well. We're hoping to hear from the apartment complex soon. Until then, we get to do my least favorite chore... packing.

Tomorrow is Emily's 2nd birthday. We'll see if I can find the time to make a video of that.

Happy Birthday, Hyrum!

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, Hyrum's 5th birthday was Monday! I can't believe he's already 5 years old. Wow.


Hyrum and Emily helped Mike make a fort in our living room on Sunday. This was quite a feat since our living room is about the size of a shoe box. After Emily went to bed, Mike and Hyrum put pillows and sleeping bags in the fort and fell asleep watching movies. Hyrum loved it! He's about the only one who did. Well, maybe our cat liked it. Hyrum kept waking up Mike every few minutes to kiss him and tell him he was happy, and Mike ended up with a sore arm from sleeping on the ground. Emily was upset that Hyrum wasn't sleeping in the bedroom with her and kept waking up crying. This, along with Mike's occasional trips to the bedroom to tell me he was sore and miserable kept me awake all night too. It's a good thing Hyrum has school in the afternoon!


Monday, after Hyrum came home from school, we went to IHOP to eat and open presents. Now, this may sound odd to you. Why IHOP? Why not Chuck E. Cheese or some other kid type place? Well, IHOP is most decidedly Hyrum's favorite restaurant. What can I say? Pancakes are one of the few things he'll eat. Pizza isn't.

Here's how things went at IHOP. If you want to see all 7 videos in their full version and with full audio, they're posted on my facebook. Someday maybe we'll get a real video camera instead of one that's primarily for stills. Also, yes. I know the music is weird. I like it.




We had a good time at IHOP despite the waiter who intruded on our table far more often than was necessary. I'll forgive him since he gave Emily free yogurt and Hyrum free ice cream. I only wish I had gotten a video of him trying to sing "Happy Birthday to You." I gave up trying to sing along after the 12th key change. Sorry... I have a hard time not slipping back into snooty music major mode sometimes.


Hyrum got Cooties from Grandma and Grandpa Crooks. ~Sigh~ *gets out the shampoo.* We got him a sweater, a shirt and a Simon game.


We're still looking for a new apartment and job. The trouble is knowing which city to look in. Mike applied at BYU-I and ISU, but we don't know where he'll go yet. Problem is, Rexburg and Pocatello are rather far apart. If Mike does ISU, he'll probably try to take as many classes as possible at the satellite campus in Idaho Falls, but he'll still have to go to Pocatello for a few others. So I guess, not knowing where he'll be, Rigby might be the best place for us to live. It's about halfway between Rexburg and Idaho Falls. But do I really want to live in Rigby again? There's a house for rent in my old neighborhood, only about 2 blocks from where I lived. Feels a little strange. Living in Idaho Falls or Shelley would be better if Mike ends up at ISU. ARGH! I just don't know! All that being said, we're rather optimistic. We're just... a little stressed.


I'll update the blog again when things settle down a bit. Or at the very least, when we have some more definite plans.