Aloha

I’ve been away for two weeks. The first week was spent at Utah Business Week on the campus of Utah State University. The second week was spent in Hawaii with my family. It was nice to be out of the office for the time and away from school although my assignments weighed on my mind.
Nine years ago when my wife and I visited Hawaii, my wife tested positive when taking an early pregnancy test. We announced the news to our good friends at our favorite restaurant in Hawaii – Duke’s Canoe Club. Our friends suggested we name our child Duke and we fell in love with the name. Of course when we told our parents we were going to name our child Duke my mother was opposed. My wife and I compromised and decided to give our son a traditional name Andrew, but call him Duke. After the first year, my mother started calling him Duke too and she grew to love the name.
Duke Kahanamoku was a famous Hawaiian surfer who made surfing a worldwide extreme sport. Here out son, Duke, poses near a memorial wall located at Duke’s Canoe Club on Waikiki beach.

First Day With Otis

I promise…this is not a rebound relationship, it’s a heavenly gift. I’m not one to turn away divine intervention and I certainly couldn’t walk away from this cute little guy, but some weird events brought us all together. His name is Otis. He’s a new addition to our family and we’re excited to have him. I can’t wait to buy another hose, vinyl siding on the house and the door trim you see chewed up in the background. He’s too lovable to scold. Of course, I don’t let my kids read how I feel about Otis because I have them on the hook for a lifetime of feeding and cleaning up after him. They think I’d send Otis back if anyone skipped duty. Of course, I know the promise is short lived, but it buys me a few months. Now some of you cat people might be snubbing me because you know how I feel about cats. We do have one thing in common, remember, right now neither this puppy nor your cat is responsive to their masters. At 9 weeks, Otis is like a cat: he’s oblivious to anything going on around him, he wonders aimlessly, lies around whenever he pleases and he obeys no one. Oh, I can’t go on. It’s nice to know strong and bonding relationships develop between K-9s and humans. I don’t know how cat lovers find any joy.

Scofield Frountier Base Camp

I just returned from Boy Scout camp. I have two sons in the program so the pressure is on me as a father to help out. I have good memories of scouting, but a disastrous eagle project left me sour – so sour I quit scouting and the award was never pinned on or presented.

As a father, however, I’d like to see my kids become eagle scouts. The weeklong camp was full of all the good stuff: rifle range, archery, fishing, canoeing and best of all a trading post with all the boondoggle you could buy. To my surprise, I found a lot of relaxation sitting under a shade tree and watching scouts run all over the mountainside from one merit-badge station to another. I even whittled on a few sticks for hours.
There’s not too much excitement in my life at the time. I’ll report on my July 4 experience if I have one.

Coins are full of art and history

A good way to kill a hobby is give it a name like “Numismatic” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numismatic . I know…you want to quit reading now, don’t you? This “N” word really means “coin collecting.” It’s a hobby I’ve had since age 11. Okay, so looking at a nickel with Jefferson’s head on the front and the Monticello on the back may not be all that exciting. But there’s a lot of art in coins, especially the older ones.

One of my favorites is the Indian Head or better known as the “Buffalo Nickel” http://www.buffalonickels.us/history.html . It was made from 1913 to 1938 (the Jefferson took its place from 1938 to present). The buffalo nickel is one of the most popular coins among collectors. Not only is the art beautiful; it’s full of history. When I hold a 1914 nickel I wonder about who used it and what they bought. It was minted the year WW I started and times were tough.

The nickel got its name from the metal of which it was made. It’s a somewhat soft metal so the impression of the Indian and buffalo were of high detail because the mint presses created a good image on most strikes. At the same time, the nickel images tend to wear down faster than other coins (today’s nickels are actually made more of copper than nickel so this isn’t an issue anymore).

Anyway, my father told me that when he was a young boy living in Cheyenne, Wyoming during the late ‘30s, it wasn’t uncommon for a hobo to occasionally jump off a train, walk to my father's house and ask for work and food. If there was no work, these hobos would offer "hobo nickels" in exchange for food although my father and his family never actually received one.

What's a hobo nickel? Some hobos made good use of their time using a knife, nail or other tool to scrape, etch or push the metal on a buffalo nickel to morph the Indian image into someone or something else – often a bearded man wearing a derby. If there was no work, these carved nickels would be offered for a meal. Of course there aren’t many of these nickels around anymore, but when you find an authentic one it’s a prize. They're valued between $500 and $2,000.

Today, some people are making it a hobby as modern carvers http://www.hobonickels.org/showcase.htm. I’m not interested in these particular coins because they lack the history and crude craftsmanship of people who struggled to make ends meet. In my opinion, hobos were respectable and honorable. That’s why people during the depression through WW II offered help when they came around.

I took an old, worn-out buffalo nickel and tried my skill at changing the Indian into another character. I made some progress, but gave up after 3 long hours. The experiment enhanced my appreciation for the creativity some people had when times were so difficult. The two coins in the middle are mine; the larger images were pulled off the Internet to give you clearer picture of what they look like up close.

Social Networking

If you’re a classmate, I don’t want to run you through the same words you’ve read on other classmates’ blogs. I have the same thoughts and ideas about social networking. Social networking is great for staying in touch with family, with you, and I like it at work where our CEO blogs once a week to let employees in on his life and issues as president. And, I suppose if I were single, I’d use it to find romance. It’s a great tool for letting people in.

An old miner's cabin

On Saturday, we took off for a fun adventure in the Oquirrh Mountains west of Salt Lake. What a great ride. My three sons and I headed off the beaten road for a 3-hour ride, 15 miles into the hills. We came across several abandoned mines, an old mining engine and what looked to be a rusted truck from the '20s. We also came across the remains of several dead livestock; it must have been a tough winter for some lost grazing cattle. Anyway, we all enjoyed spending this time together. The boys are improving their riding skill and able to negociate some rocky spots. It's exciting to see how much their confidence improves after they climb a long hill or carefully manuver down a rocky trail. Here's a photo of us stopped at the old-miner's cabin.

So far, so good

If you're familiar with making mp3s and podcasting, don't waste your time reading this. I spent a few hours loading all sorts of programs off the Internet onto my computer to get my microphone to show signs of life and to get a workable platform that would allow me to make a recording of my voice and save it. Then I gave up. My computer was no longer working the way it used to. I shot an e-mail to my IT guy at 1 a.m. Saturday morning; he called on Sunday and showed up on Monday to clean things up. I think I'm on thin ice with this guy and it's going to cost me in the end. He now has the passwords to all my bank accounts. Anyway, I'm now an official mp3er; and I've downloaded nearly 2 gig of podcasts (best of youtube videos, NPR's financial news series and Comedy Central's live stand-ups). Now, I'll have something to watch at my kids' ball practices besides trying to read "wikis, blogs and podcasts." Blog-on...