Butler 4

What's that toupee doing on the floor?It's not a toupee... It was just time for me to get a haircut. Turns out that I have ears.
My new roommate mike cuts my hair and he's great at it. We chose The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly soundtrack for our haircutting theme. It created the perfect vibe for musically expressing what we are all about. I didn't intend get it cut so short, but I love it. I always fantasize about cutting it short... but I'm always to scared to do it. So here's to Mike for pulling it off.

P.S. Mike is always looking for new customers. If you're interested can contact me directly.

This is the wonderful table all set up. We each had our own gourd with our name tag tied on it.
Here is Amber moving really fast setting everything up. Running at this speed is her little secret to "getting it all done".Amber asked each of us to bring a side dish. Dave brought some amazing sweet potatoes, I brought some great brussle sprouts with apples and bacon. Stephen brought some green beans with spam and onions and Collin brought some fresh coke-cola in a two liter bottle.
When all that was said and done this is what my plate looked like. It made me very happy to eat it.

After the food we all sat down and watched A View To Kill. A lovely James Bond film. It has become my thanksgiving tradition to A: wear a tie to dinner and B: watch a James Bond film. We also watched The Birds.

Thanks Amber... It was really great.

Stephen and I were on our respective bunks when he received an email offering tickets to go to a piano recital at Carnegie hall. I have never been to Carnegie Hall so I jumped at the chance. We got dates and went on a double date.
This is the sign to Carnegie Hall out front. We rode the subway there which has a stop right on the corner in front of the hall. I was hungry so I bought a hot dog with mustard for a dollar from the street corner before we went in. The hot dog was great and it made me very happy.
This is what Carnegie Hall looks like from our seats... It's also what Carnegie Hall looks like from the highest tier and the last row. Denis Matsuev was playing that night. He is from Russia and looks like he could have been a boxer in Rocky IV. Turns out he's real good at playing the piano too. He played Schumann, Liszt, and Prokofiev. He didn't have any sheet music. That alone was amazing.

Jordan really liked it. She plays the cello and the piano. So this was right up her alley. The playbill gave a short synopsis of each of the pieces. Here is an example of one of those synopsis, "The heavy desire pulls them down. And they are swallowed in the boiling sea of ecstasy." I didn't get that from it when I heard. I guess I'm not that "cultured". I think that Jordan (being trained in such things) understood that musical ecstasy was occurring.

One of the best parts of the night was when Peter would finish a section of the program he would get up, bow, and walk off the stage and the door would open magically unaided and close behind him. Then it would swing wide open and he would strut out, bow, and sit and play. After the program was finished there was more bowing and flowers were brought out. He left the stage and came back out, bowed and left the stage again. Then the door opened again and he walked out and bowed behind the piano. Then sat down and played an encore. He got up. Bowed and left the stage. The door magically opened and closed behind him. Then the door opened and he came back out. He stood in front of the piano and bowed. Turned around and left the stage. The door opened he strutted out, bowed behind the piano then sat and played another encore. In all he played 5 encores following the same strutting, bowing, walking off and on the stage each time. A pattern emerged to tell if he was going to play or walk off. If he bowed in front of the piano he would walk of the stage. If he bowed behind the piano then he would sit down and play another encore.

The last encore was the best. He got all into it and at the very end he hopped up out of the piano bench kicking it from behind him. He came down on the last notes fiercely with his legs spread to keep his balance like he was steading himself on the subway. He stood up composed like his display of emotion never occurred and bowed twice slowly and then walked off to the stage.
After the show we walked down the spiraling staircase out to the street. We hopped on the subway and headed home. I would have to say that it was a successful first venture to Carnegie Hall.

This week Liz had the chance to come with me to work. On this particular day, I was overnighting is San Fran. We took the BART downtown and did the normal tourism stuff. Nothing like a free vacation! This first picture is at Pier 39, with Alcatraz in the background.
Tons of sea lions were hanging out catching some rays and rest.
A WWII sub. Sorry I don't know how to flip the picture around.

A street car named Desire...not really. Liz and my flight attendant on a cable car.

This is a piece of bread that came from Elder Johnson's magical kitchen. Elder and Sister Johnson and I work the Friday night temple shift together. We have all become great friends. Elder Johnson has gone lawn bowling in central park with Jeff Mulcock and I. Elder Johnson has let it slip out that he makes amazing things in his kitchen. This Friday he invited me over to their apartment to get some homemade salomie . I jumped at the chance since Jeff Mulcock didn't come to work that night and I knew this would make him jealous. This is the loaf of Bread! Look how big that thing is! Please notice that in Elder Johnson's hand is the homemade salomie. The week before Elder Johnson had brought some salomie and left it in the break room for the workers to enjoy. His recipe is 50% lean beef and 50% fatty pork and a list of seasons as long as your arm. "You've got to have the fat in the pork or it turns out like sawdust ." I believe him.
He asks me if I want him to cut if for me because if he does then it will last longer. "They're just like potato chips... you just can't eat one", he tells me. I asked Sister Johnson how she got so lucky. She said,"he's always cooked... It's his kitchen." The Johnson's mission is over in a few weeks. It's going to be tough to see them go home, but it's just like the Lion King teaches us... it's the circle of life. I'm going to miss them more then the salomie.

P.S. You might be wondering what Elder Johnson did for a career. He engineered and built rocket boosters for the space shuttle. He told me about working on it. I knew it was an awesome story when he ended it with, "you could never get away with testing it like that today."

It's Sam Blackham!!!
His girlfriend of two and half years came with him. We met up for lunch . I took them for Japanese food.
This is where you can get beard papa's. They are pretty amazing. Just look at these photos.

Labels: Beard Papa, Sam Blackham

Maybe Brig and I went to a birthday party.
Maybe we went with Emily.
Maybe Emily had been giving me a hard time all night.
Maybe there was a calender of shirtless NYC firemen on the wall.
Maybe Brig and I took the calender off the wall and hid it in Emily's bag.
Maybe Emily found the "item" on her cab ride home and texted us immediately.
Maybe this is a picture of what Brig and I looked like on the subway ride home after realizing that Emily has banished us... possibly forever.

Maybe those things transpired on the 11th of November 2007.
Maybe it was worth it.
Perhaps.

Labels: Emily Kunz, Practical Jokes, Shirtless firemen

Dinner at our house this week has turned into the alamo. Or at least what I imagine the Alamo was. We are finally cracking down and making Hank eat something besides macaroni, chicken nuggets, or scrambled eggs. The first night we had spaghetti and meatballs. After an hour of crying (I wish I was exaggerating), we had Hank "teach" Abe how to eat them. He caught on pretty quick. The next night I made Shepherds Pie (I am such a mean mom). It was another 2 hour battle but I won. I hope it goes better tonight.

Where are the post and pictures of the Children in their Halloween Costumes?