cc: file, Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, Lloyd and Luana Warner, Diane Cluff, and Maxine Shirts.
"There were three separate things this week which I thought woud make a reasonable title for a Thoughtlet.
On Thursday evening we went to the Grand Opening for the Taylor High School PAC (Perfoming Arts Center). Rachel sang with the choir in two numbers. They were very good. I could not help but think of Paul as JD Janda received a very touching UIL Southwestern Bell Sponsored Excellence Award (given to 15 High School Teachers from all across Texas and from all disciplines involving UIL). The UIL State Director of music came from Austin to give the award, and I could not help but resonate with his words:
Even the anger I felt boil up inside as Mr. McDonald spoke
(I clearly recall the last few months of Paul's Senior year
at Taylor High School), conspired to sharpen my senses to
the experience. Bishop Camp's daughter Holly was the lead
singer in highlights from this year's Taylor Musical: The
Boyfriend. The orchestra was exceptional, and I could not
help but think how much my sister would have enjoyed
`Paragon Rag' and `Country Club' by Scott Joplin. I even
enjoyed the Pacesetter's dance routine. As the Theater
group quoted various American Patriots, I found tears of
pride in America. The jazz band played `In the mood,' and
I could imagine Paul up there with his saxophone. There
was a really neat xylophone trio, with other percussion.
Rachel and the Choir sang `Cindy,' an American Folk Song.
Expresssions sang a couple of numbers and the
Orchestra played `Ashokan Farewell' and 'Hoedown from
Rodeo' by Aaron Copland. There was a neat song which
combined many of the Beach Boy's songs called `Surf's Up.'
JD Janda received his award. The Wind Ensemble performed
Aaron' Copland's `Lincoln Portrait.' Then the Theater
Department quoted various other American Patriots. And
the choir and combined Fine Arts Department students
closed with `America The Beautiful.'
As we left, I stopped to ask the video camera operator if I could get a copy of the tape for Paul and my sister. It turns out he is Rachel's boss, which Andrea knew, and so even though copies are not available, I think we will get a copy. As we left, we looked at the paintings on display. As much as I loved High School, we did not do anything near the quality of what was shown at the PAC.
The second thing to get my rapt attention this week was the opening ceremony at the Salt Lake City Olympics. I remember walking in as the Sydney opening ceremony was broadcast, and watching the torch lit and the cauldren climb the stairs. Thought it was neat. Friday night's program was simple and elegant. I wonder what it took to get those five Utah indian tribes on the same stage at the same time. When we used to go ice skating on the Kenny Pond at the top of The Lane (Minnersville Road), it was not anywhere near as elegant as the ice skating, flames, and fireworks accompanying the opening ceremony. I loved watching an olympic athelete `forcing' a cell phone on President Bush when he sat with the atheletes after starting the games. It was neat to hear the challenges, and the oaths not to use any drugs or body enhancing steroids. Hopefully the message gets out to those who are playing with or trying out addictive drugs of any kind, including alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and tea. It was elegant. I was proud of Mitt Romney and his organizing committee. The whole ceremony reflects on my culture, my beliefs, and my heritage. And of course, by saying `my' I am also saying this heritage and culture belongs to you, my descendents. It was amazing the 10 folks who carried in the Olympic Flag. As each one was announced, I was more startled. First class. And, of course, the ceremony started with the Flag retrieved from the twin towers being carried into the stadium.
Since there were flags at the PAC Grand Opening, and since there were all kinds of flags at the opening of the Salt Lake City Olympics, I decided to use my third choice as a title for this week's Thoughtlet: `Flags of Our Fathers.'
On January 27th of last month, Matt and I went to do our Home Teaching. We only had 2 families, the Riches and Hayden Hudson. Hayden wasn't home. I sent him an e-mail, and he sent back a note saying he was OK, and:
After our Home Teaching message to the Riches, we were
talking while Matt went and played with the kids. I
described reading Ayn Rand's `Anthem' over the
previous couple of weeks, which Steve Riches had
recommended, and how much I enjoyed it. Steve went
and got a book he had just read and said how much he
enjoyed reading it. I borrowed it. I read it this
week. It is called `Flags of Our Fathers.' It is
the best book I have read in years. I thoroughly
enjoyed it. It is about The Photograph of six U.S.
Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima. It describes
the home life and ancestry of these six young men.
It describes the author's interest in getting to
know his Father after he found out his father earned
the Navy Cross at Iwo Jima (Sulphur Mountain in
Japanese). It described their enlistment, their
training, the armada, D-Day, D-Day Plus One, D-Day
Plus Two, D-Day Plus Three, the flag raising, the
myths, the next 33 days, coming home, the war bonds,
the movies, the honors, the nightmares, the successes,
and the failures. I quote three paragraphs from
page 333:
I doubt if this book report will touch you and get you
to buy or check out of a library and read the book:
`Flags of Our Fathers' James Bradley ISBN 0-553-38029-X.
However, if it does and you read it I promise you that
you will be a better and a more patriotic person for
having met the challenge. I cried. In fact, I cried
many times as I read the book. It reached into my
soul and made me proud to be a U.S. citizen.
A few weeks ago, Sara sent me the obituary of one of our family friends from Cedar. I want to share it, in the spirit of `Flags of our Fathers,' because I never knew Wendell Jones was part of the first assault wave to reach Omaha Beach on D-Day in Normandy:
I had no idea the heros I grew up with. I recall
stopping to talk to Carmen, Wendell, and Curtis (see
../2000/0048.html), what seems like yesterday. I
guess there was more meaning in the U.S. flag than
even I recognized, when I wrote about it last year
(../2001/0139.html). Since Wendell's oldest son was
also named Howard, there was always a bond there,
even though he was several years younger than me.
They always came out to our house for Mom's annual
Christmas Open House. And Carmen was a weaver (she
told me she got burned out and stopped, when we
visited). She helped teach Grandma Hafen how to
weave, and she was always doing things for and with
Mom and Grandma Hafen. Oh that we truly understood
the flags of our fathers! What a wonderful heritage
we share. I hope my simple insights help you each to
recognize and incorporate this heritage in your lives.
As far as the week, it was quiet. Sam LeRoy and I gave a 2 hour presentation to Santos, a large Austrailan oil company. The follow up meeting was postponed from Friday to this next Thursday. I met with Joel Davis, who represented Hunt Oil at the Seismic Acoustics Laboratory when I worked for the University of Houston. He works with a major insurance company now, reviewing oil deals for them. He stayed for a meeting with Jack Platt and Kevin Franz. Kevin and I met again on Friday. His wife, Kathy, taught Roice and Melanie at Memorial Parkway Junior High School. He is a lawyer, interested in taking drilling deals to some of his clients. Keith Cote came by and picked up the Spotfire Computer in the afternoon. Oh well! I went to the University of Houston in the evening for the annual Milt Dobrin Lecture. Andrea had a Young Women's Presidency meeting, and I didn't realize a lot of my friends would be there with their wives. Ben sent me an e-mail about cement production of CO2 a few weeks ago, and I had passed it on to the speaker, Jamie Robertson. His topic was global climate change. Really well put together. Guess this could have been a 4th title for this week's Thoughtlet. I have several pages of notes from his talk. Maybe some slow week I'll write it out. Good stuff. Maybe I say that because I was the only person he referenced in his talk, based on my e-mail to him about cement, etc.
On Wednesday I met with Joe Watson, Alf Klaviness' friend. He really isn't interested in retiring for another year. He is interested in mentoring me, and so hopefully there will be something come from this new friendship/acquaintance. Wednesday eveing Albert Boulanger and I had dinner at The Goode Seafood Company. Albert wasn't feeling well and ended up not eating much. It was amazing to learn about all of the new developments that have happed this last couple of months. And a lot of the developments are being driven by Homeland Security. They have GPS (Global Position Sensor) referenced sensors the size of a whiteboard marker cap, which have the ability, using something ultra wide band, to report on what they are sensing by radio telemetry. This has significant implications to measurement and monitoring of oil fields, pipelines, traffic, pollution, people, etc. I'm sure I will write a lot about this stuff over the coming months.
Thursday evening Andrea and I went to the PAC Grand Opening, described above. Friday I ment with Kevin, learned about his wife being Melanie and Roice's teacher, and watched the Olympics. I started reading Flags of Our Fathers last Sunday, read a little most evenings, some at lunch, and finished it up this afternoon after church. Yesterday Andrea, Matt, and I worked on the yard, triming trees, and collecting all of the leaves. It was a full day. I was wiped out by evening. Matt and I had an altercation, and I stopped putting up with his stuff. It has not been easy for him since yesterday. I hope and pray there will be some breakthroughs for him and his ability to be around and interact with others come from this. Rachel had Sadie Hawkins last night. She had a good time, and there was some unnecessary trauma brought on by some of her friends. Oh well! I watched olympics, read, and worked on Dynamic stuff in the evening.
Today was nice. Sara, Melanie, and Jared came over for breakfast at 9:15. Paul and Kate, I made a double batch of your German Pancakes for breakfast. Lots of butter. Really good with strawberry jam. Sara asked what was in it, and I started to refer her to the Thoughtlet woth the recipe (../0118.html) she said, `No, No, Dad, we're having a conversation!' Opps! There was interesting discussion about how counting swallows wouldn't work because it would simply result in giant swallows and the creation of bad habits. As a scientist, I found this an interesting diversion. Obviously it won't work if I were to do things different, and not do things the way I always have. I consider it a matter of scientific integrity to not change the measuring stick. From what was said, it sounds like Rob is doing OK, although it was pretty obvious there were things that were not said, like the gender of his friend whom he is living with. He has gone back to Mayde Creek High School and is on schedule to graduate. This is great.
Sara, Melanie, and Jared came to sacrament meeting with us for Amy William's missionary farewell. Nice meeting, even if Andrea and I were asked to say the opening and closing prayer in Sacrament Meeting for the first time since we have been married. Paul Sullivan was visiting for the first time in a couple of years. I skipped Sunday School, copied some things for Andrea and Young Women about the Daddy-Daughter Fun & Games Night (0208.html), and spent a half-hour catching Paul up on the things we have been doing at Dynamic Resources. Interesting conversation. I missed saying goodbye to Melanie and Jared. Good priesthood meeting. Dave Williams taught the lesson. This afternoon I finished reading `Flags of Our Fathers, wrote this, watched most of a Star Trek movie, went to Amy's open house, and watched some of the olympics.
The PAC is a lovely auditorium. The opening ceremony of the Salt Lake City Olympics was touching. Reading about The Photograph and all of the implications coming from a chance 1/400th of a second shutter click has got my mind roving through our blessings. Last Sunday Riley Skeen called and we talked for a while on his free cell phone minutes. He said two things I have thought about all week:
And so we strive to live and love and be an example, so our kids will be able to write positive words about the the flags of our fathers."