Staying Dry (and Out of Jail)

Some reporting for today to share with Elder Benge and everyone.

Our stake president shared this TED talk by the late Clayton Christensen, and I recommend it for two main reasons: 1) it contains remarkable thoughts on what success really is and it is measured, and 2) I think it is an excellent example of how to incorporate the Gospel in our everyday lives, sharing messages of salvation to the world on a level they understand. Elder Christensen was a brilliant professor at Harvard. He spoke to my department at work a few years ago, and it was the most career enlightening talk I have ever heard.

Susan's great uncle, Grant Keeler, passed away this week at the age 103. We attended his funeral in Layton. I don't know if any of you older children remember when we visited him. (He lived near the "Surf-n-Swim" water tower near highway 89.) His son spoke and mentioned some of what was in the aforementioned video, and said that at the end of his class, he would ask his students three questions:

1. What will you do to be happy in your work and career? (Harvard grads are most likely to be successful.)
2. What will you do to be happy in our family?
3. How are you going to stay out of jail? (He knew some Enron people very well!)

Good questions.

There aren't many WWII veterans left. Uncle Grant was was a bomber pilot, shot down twice on bombing raids. The first time he was wounded but landed the plane in allied territory. He was picked up by SS troops the second time, and suffered in a prison camp for months. He showed no bitterness for his lack of food there, stating that everyone there was starving, even the prison guards.

It was awesome having Gideon and Regan here yesterday. But, as I am wont to do, I got to a place where I could do a bit of a project, started screwing it up and then ignored them. I am attempting to put in a new, high efficiency water softener. The hardest part is just finding time to shut off the water. I probably need to take a day off!

Last week I put in a pressure gauge and shut-off valve in the furnace room. Yesterday I did this:

The right side is the in line, and the left is out. I have another pressure gauge, with the idea that if we have another pressure drop I will know why rather than pay a plumber $600 to do the wrong thing.

The semi-hilarious part is how long it took me to get this little bit done. My brilliant (?) plan was to have bypass valves so I can work on the water softener without having to shut water off to the house. (And the other shut-off valve in the furnace room makes it much easier to turn the water off to the house.) The first try put the two valves close together. A hint of panic set in as the short distance was less than the to handles together. I quickly removed the elbow and rushed off to the store to get a union to elongate the distance. On the way back, I started to think about how the bypass valves really worked, and felt I was missing something. As I walked in, Joshua pointed out what should have been an obvious error, that I am sure you can see in the photo: for the bypass to work properly, the one on the left has to face out, and the one on the right has to face in. The handles would never touch.

I put the union on, cut a new length between the bypass valves and put it all together. And got a leak at the elbow in the upper right corner. I had already removed that elbow, so I figured I must have damaged it. I ran to the store again and bought another elbow and put it on. It still leaked. I had damaged the pex pipe, not the elbow. Oy.

Well, it works now. We are dry. And I am ready to put in my water softener. I think. I have no instructions, but I think I know what to do. I am brilliant. What could go wrong?

In other gnarly news:

The Layton Temple has beautiful spires and an Angel Moroni on top! I took this photo yesterday right after Uncle Grant's funeral which was held at the meetinghouse across the street.

Monday and Tuesday we went to Hale Center Theatre's Treasure Island. The center stage is now surrounded by water, and the "ocean" is used in the show! Very cool!

We split up because I got us all tickets for Tuesday, but the choir concert was scheduled for Tuesday. I took Joshua and Rachel Monday, as those were some of the only tickets left!

And that's about it. Set building begins Saturday, and I have some dread. It is end of term and everyone is behind. Lucy has been very sick with a painful ... let's call it a boil. And Susie is now extra busy, having been asked to create and lead a ward choir for Easter.

Love ya all!