G Mountain Photographer

September "Simmerings"

I don't know if the title is in the right grammatical form but I'm trying to catch up. We're almost to the month's halfway point and I hadn't updated the blog in a while. Since the latter part of last month, work has been a bear, trying to keep up with the demands from our campus departments. Life's been pretty fast pace and once school started, the traffic has been horrendous.
I've taken to driving a different route to and from work just to avoid the ever growing list of traffic lights. We used to have about twelve traffic lights to pass through to get to campus, now that list has just grown to twenty-two traffic lights. Well, you have to deal with the lights, deal with the "happy valley driving mentality," and the every popular wild life (aka, pedestrians0, it makes my travel time so exciting.
That last item is sometimes the worst of all, especially on campus. Of course the law says that if a pedestrian is in the cross walk, they are protected by the celestial law, the Utah Traffic Code. However, some will push the letter and limits of the law to mean that they can access the sacred "cross-walk" at any time no matter if traffic is flowing through it, and no matter what color the traffic lights are, as though they have a protective force field shielding them from the onslaught of a typical Detroit made vehicle, equipped with chrome plated bumpers, or plastic painted to look like metal bumpers, etc.
Even after many have answered the soul searching questions to their minister, preacher, Bishop, or Rabbi, "do you obey and keep the commandments, and are you honest in you dealings with your fellow man?, They repeatedly ignore the implications of of their conduct and carry on as though there would be divine intervention to protect them from the possibility of physical demolition when they come in contact with the bumper-fender combination. I don't believe that this would be a valid qualification for the category of "road kill" but it sure comes close.
I know that at this institution, as part of the cirriculum taught here, religious studies does address topics such as "this earthly life" or such things as "life after death" and even deeper topics as "the three degrees of glory" etc.
If your familiar with campus, I drive past the new Alumni building, then past the TNRB on the the gate guard before I enter the JFSB underground parking. It's at the crosswalk in front of the TNRB that I have issues with the public. For one thing, they have a traffic light there, to allow safe passage across the road. Generally a majority of the people using the crosswalk believe in observing the traffic laws, lights, and essentially most laws of the land. There is a growing trend to push the limits by justifying entering the cross walk even though the pedestrian crossing signal (big orange hand flashing) do not enter, or because there are pedestrians already in the crosswalk. By the way, many of these crosswalk abusers are "Graduate Students" going to and from class. Perhaps they feel they have earned the right to push the limits of their own safety while crossing the road.
We have those who also like to show off their new, or nearly new, or souped up mountain bikes, those who weave in and out of traffic. How foolish these so called educated people are. Don't they understand that the bigger the vehicle, the more right of way one has and the great chances of survival in case of a physical encounter of the first/second kind.
I also love the people who push the limits of understanding posted signs such as "Gate Card Access Required" and they pull up to the gate barrier and magically hope that it would open for them when they know that they don't have one of those new fangled electronic gate cards to trigger the gate barrier to open. What, do they think that they can will the barrier to open, or perhaps they have magical Harry Potter powers. Wow, we have people who are so called intellectuals or in higher education but have no clue.
I am sure that there is a big misconception that just because they've been accepted to attend school here, that they are holier than others. Wrong! Not everyone is like this but there are a few whose desired spiritual potential has exceeded their physical body in this life.
Now, getting back to reality, this campus is a great environment of spiritual growth, It just means paying attention to those things that really matter. While the educational offerings aspire to prepare one to "go forth and serve" and "the world is our campus" what a great atmosphere for learning. They're other great simmerings on this campus. Just to name a few; there is no graffitti anywhere on campus, there's no smoking, so their's no cigarette butts on the ground, there's no alcohol, so there's no DUI, the honor code dress and attire standards are observed so there's no lewd, or provocative dress and appearence, the only body piercing are worn by women who wear pierced earrings, long hair is worn mostly by women, while a few men are beginning to push the limit, and the only people who are high on something are those who will tell you that they are high on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How is that for making a statement?
Anyway, if its only these items that I have to complain about, then I am sure that life is sweet.
On a more pleasing note, we have living with us our third daughter and her family. We have the pleasure of having little ones in our home again, not just for the visit type but real live in type. The eldest grandson goes to school and in the first grade. He attends the same elementary school that our youngest daughter did when we first moved here. what's neat is that he walks to school with a couple of neighbor kids who attend the same school. Then there's another classmate he has who is our same home ward. They all attend Primary together. Wow, how neat.
He and his brother play with the neighbor kids from across the street and also some kids who live down the street. It won't be long till they will be playing the famous Utah "night games" just as his mother and father do occassionally with their friends from the area. On this last remark, I was just shocked that even these not so young adults, though married, still play "night games".
To make our home more appealing to the public, our daughter and son-inlaw did some landscaping and made some timely improvements. It's looking better than it was.
Though we are making adjustments to having other family members in our home, we are thrilled to have them here. The little people are really fun to have in our home.
Last item: This weekend, I've been batching it with my son-inlaw and grandson. The women folk made a quick trip to WA to see our eldest daughter and her family. So, let's see, last night it was saimin noodles for dinner, tonight is every man for himself, and tomorrow night is my Student Stake Luau, and Sunday is Roast Beef. That should be good until the women folk get back next week. Bye.