Goodnight Peter!

I checked into a Embassy Suites hotel in Cleveland and I was given a room on the 14th floor and it was as far away from the elevator as anyone could go. It was very late when I arrived and thus I groped around in the dark feeling for a light switch. I finally found it and then I could find my way around the suite. About a minute later the phone rang and I picked it up and answered “Hello, Mark Salmon”. The person on the other end of the phone said “Hello Mr. Salmon this is Peter at the front desk, welcome to Embassy suites, how are you doing?. “Just fine, thanks!" I said thinking they are very professional and what a lot of work to call every guest to welcome them to the hotel. “Mr. Salmon are you SURE you are okay?” Peter continued. “Yes I am feeling pretty good -thanks” now I am beginning to think this is kind of weird. Peter then asked “Can you get up Mr. Salmon?”.“I am standing right now” I said and I am now thinking this is a bothersome service they could do without. Peter continued “Mr. Salmon are you able to turn off the alarm?.” "What alarm?" I say with an annoyed tone. “The alarm that is ringing at the front desk - that is coming from your room” Peter explains. “My room?” I blurt out.“Yes you are in a handicapped room and there is an alarm that has been set that is coming from your room” Peter clarifies for me. I said “Oh –okay let me find it and shut it off - do you want to wait?" "Yes" said Peter firmly. On the wall right beside the light switch was a second switch with a long string that hangs close to the floor. I pushed up the little switch and went back to the phone and said “ is that it Peter?” “That is it Mr. Salmon – goodnight Mr. Salmon” “Goodnight Peter” I mumble as I hang up the phone. I wonder why is there a handicap room as far as possible from the elevator and on the 14th floor. I wonder why the the toilets are so high that my feet do not touch the floor when seated upon the “throne” which I suspect is wheelchair friendly thing. Also there is always phone near the floor in the bathroom but I suppose now if I fall I can call Peter to come and help me or just call him to say "Goodnight Peter"

Utterold - What is Utterold?

A few weeks ago I was at a cafeteria in Birmingham Alabama (the deep south) and I ordered an egg and bacon sandwich for breakfast on toasted bread. Just before she handed it to me the lady asked me what sounded like "utterold?" I looked at her with a frustrated look and she said again "utterold?"I just looked at her not comprehending at all what she was saying "utterold?" The fourth time the volume was up now to "UTTEROLD?". I was holding up the line and so I finally had to say " I cannot understand what you are saying!". She looked at me with anger in her eyes, gritting her teeth and said loudly " CUT OR WHOLE?". To that I smiled and said ‘ Whole would be fine!’ and she handed me my sandwich.

Our Dishwasher is taking a break

Almost a month ago our dishwasher started leaving a lot of water in the bottom at the end of each cycle. After a few days it was apparent that there was something wrong so we called to get some service. It took the company a week before they came and then they were only here a few minutes - they claimed a large amount of rice was the problem but they also reset the electronics at the same time. The way I see dishwasher usage is that there are two types of users; those who just place the dishes in without any pre-wash or rinsing and those who practically pre-wash everything and use the dishwasher as a sterilizer for the dishes. We lean heavily to the latter so the rice claim was not convincing and I had already cleaned the filters. We had been steadily increasing our usage of paper and plastic goods to lighten the hand washing experience and so with the dishwasher repaired that trend could now stop. But no such luck the problem came back again after 10 days and this time it was worse so of course I called the same company to come back and make the repairs they forgot to do the first time. I called them Wednesday...I called them Thursday...I called them Friday and they still have not called to schedule another appointment. So officially the dishes, bowls, glasses and utensils we use are all disposable and today we had several family members and close friends over for a large dinner. We needed to make some signage to remind everyone that if they use anything other the designated "picnic-ware" they have joined the dish-duty team and the signage worked very well. We even ate Kenny's Key Lime pie [see December 2007 post] with plastic forks on plastic plates - sorry Kenny I am sure that is an insult but finding people that know how to repair appliances seems to be a real challenge.

Quick little hands

Yesterday I am working from home and Lisa comes over to pick something up and brought Ryan with her. Now that Ryan can open doors he will come in to visit me but since I am usually busy on a computer he does not stay long. I suddenly hear the shredder going and turn around to see Ryan with his hands high in the air like he just won a sporting event by successfully shredding something from my desk. I knew he shredded something I printed earlier in the day so it could be replaced but I needed to find out how he did it so quickly and why his actions indicated that he thought he was a real hero. Also worried about little fingers I turned off the shredder and unplugged it. Lisa told me that he is the official shredder in their home and their shredder even though it is safe for his little hands remains unplugged most of the time as he knows how to turn it on and shred anything he can get his hand on.

Nathan received his mission call

We all thought Nathan might be the first person from our immediate family to break the tradition and go outside of the USA on his mission. I went to San Diego, CA; Aaron went to Sacramento, CA ; Michael went to Las Vegas, NV- so where is Nathan going?. With both Aaron and Michael we were contacted by Salt Lake about our status in the US and were told beforehand they would be staying in the US. Nathan updated his passport so he would not have any issues where ever he was called to go. Nathan informed us that he had received his call and scheduled a date and time to inform the family and his friends. There were 24 participates on a conference call with Nathan after he had walked up to the "Y" in a small blizzard in late March with his best friend from BYU. Once they arrived he opened the paperwork and slowly read the letter as we all listened "Las Vegas" was the location which is different then Michael's mission which was the Las Vegas - West mission. That ensures that we all went to locations in the US, English speaking, in the Pacific time zone, and they all touch on each other. So we sure know where we are needed. Nathan loves the dry heat ;-) or he soon will. We are very happy for Nathan and Loraine is relieved his is not going somewhere considered not safe.

PDT

What is (a) PDT? Well it could be Pacific Daylight Time or Product Development Team but this PDT is PhotoDynamic Therapy. If you know what it is you probably have had one or know someone close who has had one. The purpose is to remove precancerous spots and other blemishes from ones face. It is popular with some people because it can make you look younger by removing fine lines and wrinkles and shrinking the pores. Because my face is loaded with scary looking blemishes I recently had a PDT. I am going to give you my description on what happens and what it feels like.
The night before you wash the face thoroughly and then clean it further with acetone and cotton balls removing all protective oil. The next thing is to take a little tube that looks like cardboard but actually it has a glass cylinder inside that needs to be broken by crushing the cardboard with your fingers. As it is being crushed the glass breaking can be heard and felt with the fingers. Then the little cover is removed and the Levulan is to be applied over the face but NOT on the lips or in the eyes. Levulan is some sort of acid and it releases some fumes that slightly bother my eyes. The levulan makes skin very sensitive to light so when traveling to the doctors office a hat must be worn and sunglasses and anything else to shield the face - so basically you are driving and look like you on the way to rob a bank or have just done so and apparently are not in a rush. I somehow did not do it right (not me) and ended up getting too much in some areas and none in others and so I called Lisa in a panic and travelled all the way to her house so she could apply the contents of a spare tube that was at her home - the right way.
After arriving at the doctors office and removing the face coverings one can opt for the numbing cream but I got straight in the chair and prepared for the laser. After both the patient and the laser operator put on protective eye wear the fun can begin. The first laser feels like a person has a rubber band rapped around their index and middle finger and they are pulling it back about 5 inches and letting it hit your face. At first you first just grimace and bear it but eventually after about 30 times biting down down hard on your teeth and clenching your fists will get you through to the second laser. Now the second laser feels like a small sparkler is being held close to your face and it is a good break before the third laser. The third laser feels like a 100 watt light bulb being held 1 mm from the face and it is passed over the entire face. I was sure I could feel and smell flesh burning - mine. A cold ice pack that is used to follows it takes away much of the pain and then the whole procedure is complete.

So in a day your face will look like you are a careless sun tanner with some puffiness, some loose skin and much redness. In three or four days the new you will emerge and you will look 10 years younger or at least that is what I have heard but have not experienced that part.

Friday the 13th

We received a phone call on Friday the 13th from the local grocery store (Kroger) and the message was " This message is for Loraine Salmon and we are calling to tell you we have your purse and you can pick it up at Kroger customer service". Loraine went to pick up the stolen purse and learned that it was left in a shopping cart in the back of the store. ( I immediately thought lets check the camera's but since the police were on to bigger and more exciting crimes I knew we had to move on)- so much for CSI when we needed it) When she brought it home we checked to see what was missing and what was left in the purse. Remember this is a large purse and it still contained a lot of stuff. The first thing of note was all the glass pieces that we were able to dump out the purse ( I wonder if they cut their hands as they rummaged quickly through the purse) Dozens of other business cards and several plastic cards were still left in the large purse. Some things of note was the Safeway card, the Co-op card and a Smith's Foods card - two of which are from Canada (9 years old) and the third does not exist in the state of Georgia. An old Alberta drivers license for Michael was another odd item. A huge bag of paperwork and bank statements filled one compartment of the purse. Credit Card, debit cards and cash seemed to be the only things missing - 4 tanks of gas (which we did not fund) and less then 20 dollars was all they got and 10 of those dollars was a Canadian ten. Certainly a hassle for us but truly "Crime does not pay."