Football Season

Thursday, August 30, BYU, UofU, and Utah State had their first football game of the season.  Go figure.  Logan is the home of Utah State, so they are not very partial to BYU fans.  There are, however, quite a few BYU grads in Logan. 

The women in my family are the football fans: Grandma Mutt, Mom, me, and Jeanne.  My Grandpa Bjorgum was a coach at Eastern Montana (now Montana State, Billings) and had played football.  He coached everything at Eastern; consequently, Grandma Bjorgum became familiar with sports.  She loved following professional football, especially Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts.  

My mother was a fan of the University of Washington Huskies when they were called the "heart attack" team.  They were called that, at least in our in house, because they always seem to come from behind to win in the last moments of the game.  Mom became a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs and Lenny Dawson when she and Dad lived in Kansas City.  She continued to support them when she and Dad moved to the Bay Area in California.  Then she also adopted the Oakland Raiders.  Grandma and Mom had their football rivalries.  

I liked football in monsoons.  It was so fun watching the guys slide down the field when they were tackled in the rain at Clark Air Base in the Philippines.  When I was back in the States I followed the Chiefs when I lived in Jeff City, Missouri, then the Raiders when I moved to Fremont, California.  I became a 49ers fan when Joe Montana and Steve Young were their quarterbacks.  I haven't kept up with professional football since the 1990s

Jeanne is not into professional football, but she loves BYU football.  She knows more about what is going on with that team then I ever did when I was following football.  

I think the only men in our lives that enjoyed sports were my grandfather and now Jeanne's husband, Jared.

Labor Day

No. 119 coming up the track.

September 3 was Labor Day so the LDS Employment Resource Center was closed.  We used the day off as an opportunity to go on a road trip.  We went to Promontory Utah where the East meets the West; the place the transcontinental railroad was completed.  It was about a 90 minute drive, approximately 60 miles on local highways.  We arrived there around 11am and left about 1:30pm.  We had our choice of parking places when we arrived, but there weren't any spaces available when we left.  For being in the middle of nowhere, it was very popular. 

Driving the last spike.

They do a reenactment of the "Last Spike" ceremony several times during the day in the summer with some history about activities leading up to the ceremony.  The last spike ceremony was suppose to have happened on May 8, 1869, but the No. 119 was two days late due to weather and a labor dispute.  The No. 119 was the Union Pacific locomotive from Omaha and the Jupiter was the Central Pacific locomotive from Sacramento.  The trains at the Golden Spike Historic Park are replicas and actually function; however, they don't let people on board.  The Jupiter burns wood so it blows white smoke from its stack.  The No. 119 burns coal so its smoke is black.  One of the rangers gave a little history of why the trains met at Promontory Utah in the auditorium of the Visitors' Center.  There was as much political maneuvering back in the 1860s as there is now. 

The cast.

Okay, here is something you don't see very often in California.

If you can't read the sign (sorry that it is blurry), it says:  FREQUENT CATTLE CROSSING NEXT 1/2 MILE.  Luckily we didn't come across any on our trip.  Too bad!  That might have been fun too.

23 August 2012

Truth be told, I miss starting school.  We saw several children on their way to school today with their backpacks slung on there shoulders or carried by mom.  What fun and excitement!  Catching up with old friends and meeting new ones.  The first days of school are nervous for the teachers as well.  The children bring so many interesting talents and persoalities to the classroom.  Each child is so amazing in their own special way.

25 August 2012

Box Elder Tabernacle

We drove to Brigham City today for a Culture and Brotherhood celebration at the Tabernacle; however, we couldn't find it.  We walked around the Tabernacle there and saw lots of people going to the Temple open house.   The Box Elder Tabernacle is across the street from the new temple.  (I've been calling it the Brigham City Tabernacle and now realize that it is the Box Elder Tabernacle.  Brigham City is on the eastrn edge of Box Elder County.)

Brigham City Temple

Just on a chance that we had it wrong, we went back to the Logan Tabernacle.  Sure enough, they were having the cultural fair there.  It was mostly Hispanic culture. I was expecting a little more diversity.  I guess I have been spoiled by the Provo multi-cultural celebration.

pioneer family

On the grounds outside the Logan Tabernacle there is a statue of a pioneer family.  If you stand behind the statue you can see that the family is looking towards the Logan Temple.  If you look at my picture you can see the spires of the temple between the man and the woman. 


The Logan Tabernacle was giving tours.  (They give tours six days a week anyhow.)  I learned a few things I didn't know before about tabernacles.  Until I arrived at Logan, I thought the only tabernacle was the one in Salt Lake City.  Wrong.  There are over eighty in Utah and eight in the Cache Valley area.  The tabernacles were built as a place for the community to gather.  It wasn't just a meeting house for church services.

The organ pipes to the right in the picture are the actual pipes of the organ; the rest are a facade.  The smallest pipe is the size of a #2 pencil; the largest is 17 feet long.

27 August 2012

My companion thinks she knows why there is a flag on the fire hydrants ... so they can find them when it snows.  I don't relish seeing that much snow.  That means I will have to drive in it!

Sunset in Providence, UT

The past week or so the sky has been very hazy.  Being a Californian, I think of it as smog, but there isn't the traffic around here like the Bay area or LA to create that kind of haze.  This morning I woke up to find it smelled strongly of smoke.  I learned that it is smoke from all the fires burning in the states around us.  The smell permeates through the walls.  It seemed like I could smell all day in the office and now it seems to fill the room.  We have kept our windows and doors closed today.

Everyone in the Cache Valley area is excited for the Brigham City Temple Open House which begins tomorrow, August 18.  It is interesting to note that all the young sister missionaries from our mission have been pulled into Brigham City to help with the open house; the elders will have to cover the sisters' area for the next month.  Because it is a small temple, everyone is required to have tickets to attend the open house; the tickets are at no cost.  They will only be able to accommodate 300,000 people.  We have tickets for the afternoon of September 10.  The last day of the open house is September 15.  The temple will then be closed until September 23 on which day they will dedicate it.  After that only members with temple recommends will be able to go into the temple.

This is only the second open house that I have been able to attend.  The first one was for the Billings Temple.  I don't think we needed tickets for that one.  I remember taking my dad and step-mother to the Billings Open House.  I had made a special trip to Billings to see them and go through the temple.  It was fun to show them how beautiful the temple looks on the inside.  My step-mother really appreciated all the richness of it.  I always enjoy being able to attend the temple in Billings. 

We have two more missionaries on-board for the Accelerated Job Search (AJS) program.  They are residents of Logan and have been called to serve a full time mission in the employment center.  After some confusion over paperwork, it was decided that they didn't need to attend the MTC in Provo because Becky does her own MTC.  I am sorry they didn't get to go to Provo because that is a very special experience.  Becky's MTC focuses on the employment center services, no Preach My Gospel.

We now have 11 candidates participating in the program.  Part of our objective is to get the candidate ready to go out to do intensive job hunting after one week of preparation.  We spend a week building a résumé for their number one targeted job, practice interviewing, developing skills for networking, and being sure they know how to dress for success.  At the end of the week they hit the streets.  Every morning they come in to review how their job search went and do networking with each other, the missionaries, and on the internet besides following up on any leads they have received.  The first résumé for each individual is the hardest one to put together, generally, after that the résumés for their second and third targeted jobs go together faster.

We have a great group of candidates that are hard workers.  They are very supportive of each other and share leads to jobs that even they are considering.  It is amazing to watch how they boost each other up in the down times and help hone each other skills.  The candidates care about each individual and are concerned about each person's welfare.

The AJS  candidates are asked to spend eight hours a day, five days a week job searching.  Job search authorities say that if you want a 40 hour a week job, you spend 40 hours a week looking for it. Statistics show that those who do this will get a job much more quickly.  It is a lot of hard work! 

Job hunting is not like it use to be when I first started looking 40 plus years ago.  At that time you had one résumé that you passed out to everyone.  In today's world you make a specific résumé for each job that you are interested in.  Occasionally you can tweak a résumé that you already have, other times you have to create a new one.  The job of the résumé is to get you the interview.  In the interview you show that you are the best candidate for the position.  Résumés don't get you jobs, they get you interviews; you get the job.

Companion has arrived!!!

Yesterday I arose at 6am so I could exercise before heading out to pick up my companion at the MTC.  My plan was to leave by 7am so I would have time to get lost or stuck in traffic and still arrived by 10am.  Well, it was 7:30am when I was walking out the door.  Getting started in the mornings is a challenge for me.  As luck would have it, I arrived at the MTC by 9:30am.  I am confusing Bay area travel issues with Salt Lake City travel issues.  They have their problems, but still have a way to go before they can match the Bay area.  As a result, it took me only two hours instead of three.  To my daughters, I stayed within the speed limit all the way.  

in the Mission Office

When I walked into the lobby, I saw a lady sitting in a chair busy with her iPod.  The only other people there were behind the counter, so I walked over and sure enough her badge said "Sister Bews."  Elder Lloyd came through about the time we were gathering Sister Bews' things, so we got to say goodbye to him and his wife, again.  He found information about "This is the Place" we could visit it in Salt Lake on our way out.  As we were heading north on I-15 in the HOV lane (since there was two of us we could use it), we decided that we just wanted to get to Ogden without any stops along the way.

With the Mission President and his wife.

The first time I was in Ogden President Olsen was transitioning out and President Hiers had not arrived yet.  This time President Hiers and his wife were there and available to meet with us.  What a wonderful couple they are.  I really wanted to meet with them because I wanted clarification about what Senior Missionaries can do.  (My personality needs some guidelines.)  He said it was pretty much up to us to follow the spirit in deciding what we can do.  If we felt a movie was okay, then we could go to it.  If we needed to take a break from each other, it was okay; we don't have to stay within sight of each other.  If we want to watch TV or swim, it was our decision.  He encouraged us to go out with sister missionaries if we have time and attend baptisms.  We are welcomed to join them at zone conference in our area and the dinners they have with senior missionaries in various areas.  It is nice to feel accepted and included.

We ate lunch at the Greenery Restaurant at Rainbow Gardens which is located at the mouth of Ogden Canyon.  It had started out as a mineral springs resort in 1895, but had its ups and downs.  At one time, there was a huge ballroom, indoor and outdoor pool, and 18 bowling lanes.  I was told the old indoor swimming pool is a sunken gift shop and solarium, but we didn't make it there.  The food was good and reasonably prices.  

We arrived back in town in time to stop off at the employment center so Becky and Paul could meet Sister Bews.  

I've been experimenting with my Cannon settings.  Finally a sunset picture that I like.  I still need to do some more practicing.  Maybe I should read the instruction book.  Now were did I put it???????

Next blog I promise to give more details about what my work entails at the LDS Employment Center.  Hint:  I haven't strayed too far from my previous occupation.

Holiday and such

July 1st

We have had a few fires here in Utah, one not too far from my apartment complex but rather small in comparison to the other battles that have been raging.

This was near Millville just south of me.  You can see the carport cover in the picture to the left.  The fire department had it under control in 24 hours and out about 48-72 hours later.

July 3rd

 

Logan didn't cancel it's fireworks show, but they had them on the 3rd instead of on the 4th.  The pyrotechnics have a busy schedule this time of year.  One of the Sister's I work with has a nephew who does the Logan show and several others.  I guess it takes about three or four 12 hour days to get everything ready.  They had done a show in Idaho on June 30th so they were hussling to set up Logan.  It was a spectacular show.

I experimented with my camera taking lots of  shots of the program.

 I put my camera on a tripod to keep things a little more steady.










  


  These are some of the better shots.  

This clip is the finale.

July 4th

For the Fourth, I visited Willow Park Zoo.  It is small zoo they have here in town.  It is so small that they have a post at the entrance that has a slot in it for you to drop a recommended donation in.  

 Remember Night at the Museum, well this is a Capuchin monkey.

 This is actually a baby emu.

 Loving his watermelon on a hot day!

Would you believe this is an albino porcupine.  He looked kind of cute sleeping with his head on his paw and his paw on the branch.

I will be an Accelerated Job Search Facilitator (sounds impressive, huh) when our ERC starts implementing the program.  West Jordan, St. George, Welfare Square, Boise, and Sacramento have started.  Church headquarters wanted the pilot started last January.  My Director Becky Conger has been waiting for her full time missionaries to start because they will be responsible for running the pilot.  She has a couple from the area that will start next month as full time missionaries living at home as well as my companion.  They will all have to go through the MTC too.

People who come into the office are called candidates.  Some come in to practice for interviews and others want help with their resumes.  Still others come in to do job searches on our computers.  We have a bank of eight computers available for doing job searches.  We encourage everyone who comes in to take the Career Workshop.  All the services we offer are free to everyone.  

I plug away answering phones and registering people on LDSjobs.org.  One morning we had an individual come in seeking help with a summary on a college paper.  The candidates primary language is French and had been referred to LDS ERC to get assistance correcting it.  An intern from the college and myself went over the paper correcting grammar and sentence structure.  I have also been asked to mentor two individuals going through the Deseret Industries training program.  They are employees receiving training so that they can get jobs in the public sector.  They are assigned mentors from their church wards to work with them.  The mentors for these two associates had moved out of their ward.  DI people are referred to as associates instead of candidates.