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.