September 24, 2001

Much has happened and I haven't had time for updating. I've wanted to do this about once a month, but things keep going on. Of course, there is the New York tragedy. I may put something up about that soon (my own reaction). On the national front, that's the biggest news, of course. However, on the personal front, I have big news, too. My lovely wife, Kari, is nine weeks pregnant. I think that means we are expecting in early May, 2000. An interesting side note is that Debbie and Gary Griffin are also expecting, about two weeks before us. One of the good things about having many siblings like I do is that my children will be near the age of their some of their cousins. To make it more interesting, Christina and Eric Mortensen had Aaron on July 12th. Elizabeth and Doug Marteeni are expecting a girl in December, if I remember correctly. Four cousins near the same age. Cool.

Other news? Hmmm. Heidi went to England for a month with her fiance. Jon is going back to Eastern Arizona for one more semester before his mission. Gary Griffin finally got a job in California and stole Debbie away. Eric Mortensen got a job teaching so the Mortensens moved to Albany, Oregon. Hmmm, maybe it's our turn to move next.

Kari is currently student teaching and got a scholarship for her last semester of school. Her first and last scholarship. She also wanted me to mention that she is on the Dean's Honor list. She is fighting the tide of baby-related changes happening to her right now. Kari and I became stake missionaries (a church calling much like being a full time missionary except I have Kari as my companion and we still have to support ourselves).

I got a bad back somewhere in all of this and was laid out for a while. The Doctor thinks it might be a slipped disk. All I know is it hurt and I couldn't stand up and I couldn't sit or lie down. The first Doctor thought it was an ache related to the flu from which I was recently recovering, but he was a moron. Four days later came the slipped disk diagnosis. Always get a second opinion. I'm doing exercises and stuff for it now.

I took the GRE last week after stressing for several weeks. The truth is, I did quite well, enough that I should get accepted any place I apply.

Unlike the GRE, my job is still here, still the major source of my stress. I really don't feel like going into details except to say I have no confidence in management right now and feel that my clients are suffering even more than I am right now. Almost everyone I work with feels the same way. Sad. Almost criminal, in a way.

Kari and I had birthdays this month, now 25 and 27 respectively. We ended up having a LAN pary (that's a network of computers playing games kind of party) for my birthday and another How to Host a Murder party for Kari. Despite the shock of the 9/11 tragedy, we still had a birthday party, because dang it, you only have a birthday once a year.