Telework

I am grateful to telework one day most weeks. I do teleconferencing, work on papers from home. I get to see the kids before they go to school. Today, I discussed a position paper on a bill before the Senate. While watching my youngest son sled for a while before school started!

Two-hour delay + two-minutes from the sledding hill = morning fun! Sam tried a dozen times to hit this hill.



He finally did!

You can hear me during this one telling my older sons to finish getting ready for school so I can take them over. We are close, but with 4+ inches of snow on the field, it would be yucky to walk to school and then have wet socks all day long...

Go to Sleep! And Eat Your Vegetables!

We have an important rule in our house; Dad's a snoop. I occasionally browse through my kids emails, their browser history. Review what games are installed, what chats they are having. I saw this impressively self-aware comment in a conversation between two children;

"If I got mad at you at night that means I am sleepy"

I worry about my kids getting enough sleep. I tell them at night, when they are so anxious to stay up, play one more game, watch the rest of the movie, have one more turn on the computer, "Go to bed early. If you wake up early, THEN you can play some more!"

So, referral one of the day; go read this article about how to sleep better.


Referral two! I feel very fortunate that my kids are willing to eat stuff that we feed them. This article had some inspiring new ways to tell my kids to, "Eat your Veggies!"


Might as well trot out all the links I've had kicking around. SCIENCE! I love science, and am pleased my children do, too. This article gives us some new things to talk about around the dinner table.


The Economy is in rough shape, but maybe its not as bad as we think. Food for thought.


One author's opinion about the top 25 innovations in recorded history. Another fun one to discuss around the dinner table.

Finally, a thoughtful and adult review of the book "Twilight". Be warned, it's written by an adult, so there's lots of thoughts about sex and the extremely sexual (unconsummated though it may be) relationship between Bella and Edward.

Room Enough to Receive It

I learned something new today about my oldest son; his wrestling teammates call him "Stewie". This delights me. I had a nearly existential moment, realizing while he was wrestling that the crowd was calling his name, encouraging him. I had heard his teammates, that made sense, but it was a new thing to see adults, men and women my age and older, other team-parents, calling out to him, cheering him on.

Two weeks ago, I was late leaving with him for an early appointment. We hurried up the road. Coming around a corner, nearly half-way there, I swerved slightly (well, I thought it was slightly), whereupon the car fishtailed off of the road and hit a telephone pole.

It happened very quickly, so I am sure there are details that I missed, but there are certain memories that are bright and clear in my mind. My son's grunt of "Oh!" when the car leaped into the air after hitting a slight bump as we left the road.

The slow sliding across the grass towards the telephone pole. I thought we were going to miss it, go by it, but . . .

Nope.

The smoky chemical smell of the airbag detonation (which I didn't "see"; I wonder if the noise made me blink instinctively).

In the two weeks since, I keep having these moments of terrifying clarity. Images of my son, hurt in the accident. We weren't hurt, really; I skinned my shin pretty good on the dashboard. My son was sore, but thinks it was from the wrestling match the night previous. My nose hurt, I presume from the airbag pushing on my glasses.

My Dad came and got us. I've had car wrecks before, but before this one, I was always alone. This one has been much harder to shake off.



Since then, I find myself caught up short. Gasping nearly. You know, when you wake up from a horrible nightmare, and just draw a sharp breath? Like that.

Visions of how my son could have been hurt. While he is wrestling, the lurid image of how harm from the accident might have forced him to forfeit the rest of the season. When he got his A.C.T. scores back (34 composite), I feel the faint echo of worrying wonder, "What if we had spent that morning in the hospital instead?"

My life didn't flash before my eyes, but his has been...

The following Monday morning, we were running late to seminary, thus putting me at risk for missing my train. As we gathered for our mini-family prayer, I told the boys to stop rushing.

"Saturday, I almost killed us racing to be somewhere. I'm done racing, I'll just catch the later train."

He turns 17 in two weeks. Hearing the going-on-his-mission-in-a-month speaker today in church made my mind flash forward to my son, in two years. I am so glad I didn't hurt him in that stupid accident, feel so guilty for almost harming him. Be careful with your loved ones this week. They are our treasures.

Midwinter's Heart

I've spoken often about how much I love my walk to and from the train station at work. It reminds me every time how much aggravation I am avoiding, how beautiful the world is. But the ice storm last week added a new wrinkle.

The bridge was closed!

The snow, ice and then sleet/freezing rain on Tuesday-Wednesday made the bridge mighty treacherous. Well, I guess enough people complained about how dangerous it was, because by Thursday afternoon, they put up the emergency tape. And yes, the picture is oriented fine; whoever tied the tape just did it upside down. But I scoff at danger, because I have skills. And preparations!


These are called "Yak Tracks". A fellow train commuter showed me his before Christmas, and I requested them as a holiday gift. Here is a picture of my footprint from a few days earlier, where the coiled wire cut through the snow.


There is something primal about dropping things from great heights. The ice lent itself to this activity awesomely.


I could break off large slabs of ice, nudge them over the edge


and onto the frozen river below.




One other nifty feature of forging on through the crusty snow was how LOUD the walk is. Every once in a while, one of the boards of the bridge would pop. Turn the sound up and listen to the video. The BOOM is about 7 seconds in.




It was really a beautiful, if loud, morning walk.



This, for anyone interested, is my complete cold-weather kit. Please note the awesome BYU colored tuque. Thanks Laurajane!

What Are Snowy Days-off from School for? Watching 12 Hours of Tolkien, That's What!

The annual Landbeck Fellowship film festival and feast is upon us again. What follows is roughly the schedule of what we ate at which point of the film. The goal was to enhance the movie-watching by having food and drink which echoed the on-screen actions. This is the first year that I had substantial help (in the form of Grandma and Grandpa Landbeck) in orchestrating the food. Plus their surround sound and big TV! Thanks to my Mom and Dad!

With the beginning of the film, "ring pop" candies were distributed. The rules are simple, everyone be in charge of your own garbage, and no putting stuff down on the furniture.

Next is the celebration of Mr. Bilbo Baggins' eleventy-first birthday about twenty minutes in. The cake this year was sort of cheating; snack cakes. But easier to eat in front of the television than a real birthday cake.

50 minutes into the film, we passed around a plate of fresh, raw vegetables during Merry and Pippin's pilfering of Farmer Maggot's fields. We broke the carrots in half in salute to Merry's crash landing. Just after that, a glass of foamy apple cider while our four thirsty hobbits delight in drinking pints at The Prancing Pony. And next, oranges to throw around the room during after Pippin's complaints about needing to stop for second breakfast.

Now the next bit took some preparation. Time for the official breakfast, and someone had to scramble the eggs, crisp the bacon, and fry the sausages. Tried to have things ready to eat *just* as Frodo awakes to Pippin's cooking at Old Weathertop. This is about 70-75 minutes into the film. Your cue line here is "My to-mah-toe's burst!"

Then we cleaned up and watched the rest of the first movie. Though I walked around the room, scraping an ice cube across a zester, to make icy powder fall on everyone as Saruman tries to bring down an avalanche on the party as they make their way through the mountains.


For The Two Towers, it's time for shortbread. Early in the film, Frodo and Sam take a break and eat some Lembas bread; large cuts of Scottish shortbread make excellent Lembas bread. Please note; you can never have too much shortbread. Mmmm, flaky buttery goodness.

I saved some of the sausages from breakfast, and cut them in half. Yummy, icky finger food for when the Orcs fight amongst themselves, killing one of their own, declaring, "Meat's back on the menu, boys!"

When Merry and Pippin find and drink some of Treebeard's "mead" it's time for another glass of juice. Something exotic, golden-orange if you can. Passion fruit, or peach nectar, for example.

When Gollum complains about not being able to eat the "Nasty Hobbit Food" he finds and slurps up what looks like a long worm. The perfect spot to pass around a bowl of gummi worms.

And as Gimli feasts at Edoras, as Gollum berates Samwise for cooking the coneys into a stew, it was time for a stew of our own (we used Dinty Moore, and we were fine with it). And "Po! Tay! Toes!" too, of course. A hearty meal for the midway point of the day.

And as the movie ends, when Merry and Pippin raid Saruman's larder, we passed around a bowl of apples. No smoking, please.


The final film, in the beginning when Gollum catches, kills, and bites so grossly into a raw fish we had tuna on crackers.

By the third movie, everyone was pretty well fed, so we didn't break for food very often. As Denethor gorges himself during Faramir's futile charge, I passed out grapes and little cherry tomatoes (and napkins). And a final chance for Lembas bread near the beginning, when Gollum steals and throws it all away.

My favorite scenes are Gandalf's fight with the Balrog, and the calvary charge of the Rohirrim at Gondor. But the joy of the films watching them with family makes the whole thing wonderful. We had people coming and going all day long (wrestling practise, birthdays, what not). It's fun to do things together!

Why Blog?

So here's something curious to me; when I consider the blog authors I am personally acquainted with . . . why are they almost all women? I have a rich social network of interesting men-folk. Why aren't they out here being funny, profound, and interesting? Seriously, I know, like, two. Versus the dozens of women?

I know why I blog; I love words. I love speaking them, writing them, hearing them. The poetry of thought and reason is music to my brain. Do my fellow men just not love words like I do?

Are they too busy? Self-concious? Is self-publishing a vanity, so the avoidance is an act of humility?

There are lots of good things to compel our attentions. Too many to ever do them all. So maybe "blogging" as an activity just doesn't rank high enough on the list to compel obedience. And it's not fun enough to do for the sheer joy of it, perhaps?

"May I suggest to you that you write, that you keep journals, that you express your thoughts on paper. Writing is a great discipline. It is a tremendous education effort. It will assist you in various ways, and you will bless the lives of many--now and in the years to come, as you put on paper some of your experiences and some of your musings."

--Gordon B. Hinckley

But I think we (people-we, not men-we) have a duty to record something of our thoughts, our processes. We give our children the opportunity to learn from our history. By recording it, it is available for them.

OK, yes, maybe there is a little vanity, sometimes. But there is also the zeal of joyfully sharing truth. Beauty. I blog, because I am certain there are things I know that are important. By writing them down, by writing down HOW I came to know them, I make them more real. It is a joy to go back and read something I wrote, to feel the resonance in myself that I still feel that way.

" I ask that you join the conversation by participating on the Internet . . . to share the gospel and to explain in simple, clear terms the message of the Restoration. Most of you already know that if you have access to the Internet you can start a blog in minutes and begin sharing what you know to be true."

--Elder M. Russell Ballard

Now, if I can just avoid the vanity trap . . .

Happy Birthday Mrs. Landbeck!

What words exist to capture how much good a single person can do with her life?

Mrs. L was born this day. I met her about nineteen years later. She has made me happy all my days since. I am thankful for her grace, beauty, wit, intelligence, and spirit. Her faith has given me strength. With her life and might, she has given me a family. Her standards move me to strive to be a better person, a better man and father. Her artistry and industry have made my home, my life beautiful.

If I spent all my life looking up adjectives in the thesaurus to describe how good she is and how happy she's made me, it would be insufficient. I knew when I met her that she was amazing, and that opinion has only deepened in certainty in the years since.

I love you, dear. Happy Birthday!



My only regret is I wish I'd met you sooner!