California

I went to C-A-L-I-F-O-O-O-R-N-I-A last week. I was visiting my brother Ben and his family. Ben works at PIXAR (yeah, I know, my brother's cool) so we got to tour the facilities. We also went to the beach on a very hot day. Okay, as hot as it gets at a beach in San Francisco. So basically it was cold, and the water was freezing but the sun was shining! My dad put on his water shoes and lead us into the water. Ben and Caleb were soaked up to their necks (but Caleb's neck wasn't wet) and it was a lot of fun. Ben kept telling Caleb to body surf but Caleb didn't want to get his neck wet. So I was wearing my swimming suit and decided I would body surf. It wasn't really body surfing because the minute my body was in the water it froze so I couldn't really relax and let the waves take me. It was fun though. We had a lot of really good food. Ben and Val are the best cooks; they should open their own restaurant. I loved spending time with C.J., Mia, and Xander--even though Xander wouldn't give me the time of day. Ben, Val, Caleb and I stayed up one night playing combat and Hugger Mugger. I should have won every game but I didn't. I got a new job at the Romney Institute of Public Management (it's the alumni institute for the Business school). I'll be making more money and it seems like a faster pace, higher energy environment. I was getting bored at the Women's Research Institute. I had to give two weeks notice today and it was really scary. I was nervous but it worked out.

Oh, and I love my family!

Not Just a Duck

Located on 800 N. in Provo, just down the street from Brick Oven, is a famous duck pond. It mostly gets its fame from all the couples who like to go have a romantic sit (a.k.a make out) around the pretty disgusting looking mud hole. The only reall cool thing about this duck pond are the ducks (and the turtles, but then I would have had to say 'the only really cool thingS' and I didn't feel like it, so I'll just talk about the ducks.) These ducks have the highest IQ out of any duck I have ever met. A few weeks ago I was crossing the street right at the duck pond. AFter I finished crossing I heard a car honk so I turned to make sure they weren't honking at me. To my surprise they were honking at a pair of ducks that decided to walk across the street using the crosswalk, instead of by flying. They stayed in between the lines the whole way across: they are so lawful.

A few weeks before that I went for an early evening run. I ran right past two ducks on a date. They were sitting next to each other under the tree far away from any of the other ducks. Good on them for realizing that the nasty pond isn't really all that romantic.

One more story, and this one is my favorite. Just this week I walked down the 150 stairs that lead right to the duck pond (I have to do this to get to and from work, that's why I see the ducks so often.) One duck passed in front of me and then proceeded to the bushes on my right. I didn't think much of it until I saw about 6 other ducks scattered, hiding, beneath this bush. The duck that crossed in front of me quickly took his seat under the bush with the other ducks. None of them were sleeping, they were just being really quite. And it hit me: They were playing sardines! The duck I saw finally found where everyone was hiding and, as the rule goes in Sardines, had to hide with them.

I won't go into detail about the duck that flew right into my shoulder while I was talking to my sister on the phone, or about the baby ducks that like to run full speed and head first into the small birds. Basically, I could watch these ducks all day long. Perhaps they were genetically altered.