What an AWESOME Month of May its been....

Ahhh, where does the month go?? Been a typical May so far--kids are wrapping up school, the garden preparatory weeding is coming along nicely, nice little bit of rain here and there, and oh yeah, I got laid off, along with 30 other guys... So that's fun. Nothing like looking for work again, after thinking I'd found the perfect home.

that's actually true--loved NOV, loved the work, had just finished my training and was ready to deploy to the Far East, when the bottom truly fell out of the market. Thanks Global Recession! Apparently the contraction in oil demand has been steep enough to make most major companies cut back on new investments in the cool cutting edge drilling technologies (ahem, NOV). So most of our division was hosed. And I understand the company line--tough to keep 40 guys on the payroll when there just is no where to send them for 10-12 months. I've been on the other end of the table, and while it is certainly worse to GET laid off, being the one bearing bad news is no picnic either. So bummer. Being fully trained and qualified though, I guess its nice to know we're first on the callback list when work picks up, but who the hell wants to wait or CAN wait around that long? Meh...

In a nutshell, Agi and I are really enjoying yet ANOTHER chance to reevaluate where we are going, and I think I'm full circle back to schooling. I guess there is no bigger neon-flashing sign than this--that I'm supposed to go back to BYU and wrap up those pesky final 3-4 classes. So that's the plan. I'll keep working part-time while I knock the schooling out, and get back into the Reserves. Once the degree is out of the way, we'll go from there.

So that was our awesome Month of May .

IN way more fun family stuff--this development gave me the time to go hang out with Ashton on his Heber Creeper field trip. IT was fun being the only 'Dad' chaperone in the class. I got to be in charge of him and 2 other boys...

The actual 'Heber Creeper' train and route were a MASSIVE disappointment. I've heard for years now how cool the ride is, from Heber City through Provo Canyon. The actual ride was a major letdown. Get on the train, pull out of the station, creep along the backside of the Deer Creek Reservoir for 1 hour at 15 MPH, grind to a halt before even hitting the Canyon and all the supposedly spectacular views, then back up and creep back to the station. What a rip-off. Paid 6 bucks each to creep along in a straight line for 10 miles, then back. Might have been a thrill for the locals I guess, but after 'train-ing' it through Europe, this was a huge waste. Couldn't hold a candle to the ride from Budapest to Ljubljana. Both Agi and I are really missing Hungary right now. Happy to be home, love Nephi, love the schools, but there are just tons of little every day things that remind us of Hungary...

But the time spent with Ashton and his buddies was fun, and I guess that's the point....


Probably the only decent view from the train....


Lone Wolf and Cub hanging out in the bitter frigid crosswinds that are only experienced by screaming down the tracks at 15 mph...

Rainy Saturday morning-- the perfect time to get caught up...

Been a while. Since the last post. Not for the nagging though--not a day went by really where I didn't hear from one internal family member or another to POST SOMETHING! Got caught up in wrapping up training at work, umm, washing the dogs, painting bathrooms, umm, and whatever other excuse I can come up with...

Oh yeah--Agi always ends each blog post request with a resounding rejoinder of "make it funny!", so in the interest of keeping her happy, here you go:


Courtesy of my MacBook Pro's "photobooth" program... This is my new 'Cletus Palmer' look... I figure I take so much good-natured crap from extended family now for living in Nephi, that I'd throw them a cliched bone to fit the stereotype. No problem--whatever keeps them from moving down south to the best-kept secret in Utah... Nephi rocks.



Back to my blog-delinquency excuses----Mainly I think I just got tired of sitting down to the computer and being overwhelmed with the urge to vomit out obscenities at the Obama administration. I definitely don't/didn't want to become one of those tired sites, where all content is consumed with whining about the direction our country is headed. Though on that front there is MUCH to whine about.... I'll just try and keep it to a minimum...

SO--that pesky update that Agi has been bugging me to write for 3 months now....

Wrapped up the training program at work two weeks ago. Finally. The end couldn't come quickly enough. I am now for all intents and purposes qualified to go out on an offshore rig in Australia/Malaysia/Asia/Middle East and do what we do. Granted, I really look forward to being the junior guy for a while to get my bearings in off-shore life, but I've got the basic tools down to at least muddle through. Right now I am enjoying the time off while waiting for an assignment, and realizing that I have fully transitioned from a corporate life complete with meeting, suits, ties, powerpoint presentations, and employee reviews, to one of "new low guy on the totem pole", albeit in the awesome world of OIL. Its with a hugely successful, established company, in a new division that is perfecting cutting edge technology, and I'm in at the beginning. So happy times, hopefully, after a rough year...

Got my 2008 taxes done without a minute to spare. And by "got my taxes done", I mean got the accountant to file the extension on the last possible day, thereby pushing the day of reckoning to August. Taxes. Awesome.

Had an awesome week with the family, immediate and extended. Tough to ascribe the adjective 'awesome' to any event surrounding a funeral, but that is what it was. Grandma Solie passed away, after fighting off medical problems for the better part of 20 years, and it was good to get together with the entire extended Solie clan and see cousins again. Already planning a big "Salem Days" get together in August. It really is ridiculous that we all live here in Utah now and don't get together with the cousins that made muggy summers so much fun so many years ago. The Holland Clan is awesome.

Whaaat else..... Oh yeah--props to the other grandparents, the Hughes, on their 60th wedding anniversary, three weeks ago. 60 years she's put up with that guy :-). Love 'em. Hope to get to 60 with Agi. The over-under on that happening without me being murdered in my sleep is about even right now, and I'm hopefully going to put off that fate for as long as possible by being a semi-decent husband. I get pretty good marks, usually :-)

We also got a new puppy. A papered Golden Retriever we officially named Maximimus Attila, or Max for short. We are such puppy whores, apparently. I'd post a picture right now, but don't want to get up and go find the camera... Take my word for it, he's cute. Almost cute enough to make up for losing Jack to a nice family in the Inland Empire. With work for both Agi and I and school for the kids, Jack just wasn't getting all the attention a Vizsla puppy needs, and was making life hell for our neighbors during his lonely daytimes. So, with the help of Jared in SoCal, found him a great home with a developmentally disabled teenager who can devote all time and energies to him 24/7. He's in puppy heaven right now. NOt the real Heaven--the one in Menifee, CA.

In the meantime, we'll make do with Max and Midnight, our other fat lazy black lab. She's fun, active, and yet too apathetic to make life challenging for the neighbors. SO the perfect dog. I can picture her hunting though--"hey girl! GO get the bird! Looks up annoyed--'go get it yourself, fat guy...." ehhh.

So that's it in a brief nutshell. Caught up. Now that I've shaken off three months worth of rust, and have some indefinite time off, I'll blog a bit more frequently.....