Showing posts with label JDub. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JDub. Show all posts

Thursday, December 09, 2010

JDub's Strange Form of Stress Relief

Those of you who know JDub well know three important things about him.  For the rest of you, I'll give you the background you need to make sense of this post.
  1. He sells woodworking tools online for a living.
  2. After many years he's gotten super good at detecting scam email orders. (Hint: Grammar is key.  If they can't write good Engrish, you are can be certainly they not is legitimatized customers.)
  3. He hates doesn't really like his job.
So, he sent me this email exchange the other day.  First the email from the customer (name changed even though it probably wasn't a real name in the first place.):

From: Brock Lee
To: JDub's Business
Subject: URGENT ORDER


Hello Customer Service

My name is Mr  Brock Lee, I am with the [Insert Fake and Generic Sounding Business Name Here] and with regards to your Company i will like to make an order based on (EDGE SANDER) in stock for sale? If Yes kindly email me back with the types of Edge sander that you have in stock and the total pick up price of the sizes, so that we can proceed with the order. More over i will like to know if you do accept Credit Cards as a form of payment... And allow pick-up at your location . Looking forward to hear from you soon so that we can proceed with the order...


Kind Regards
Managing Director
Mr Brock Lee, 
1234 Bogus Lane Unit 24
Supertown,BS 11111-11,
U.S.A. 



JDub's Response:

From: JDub's Business
To: Mr. Brock Lee
Subject: Re: Urgent Order


We would be happy to ship your order of edge sanders but we are overrun with pumpkins right now and are using the edge sanders as fences to keep the raccoons out. We will let you know as soon as the situation changes.


Best fishes,


JDub

Funniest part: He replies like this to scammers all the time.

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

My Husband Is Wonderful

I get a little crazy sometimes. And soul weary. And discouraged.

I'm lucky to have one of the best friends in the world to pull me back. He gives me solid ground to stand on and wings to fly.

I love you, honey.

This song came on the radio today. I'd never heard it before, but it reminds me so much of JDub.



Everybody needs inspiration
Everybody needs a song
A beautiful melody
When the night's are long
Cause there is no guarantee
That this life is easy

Yeah, when my world is falling apart
When there's no light to break up the dark
That's when I, I, I look at you
When the waves are flooding the shore and I
Can't find my way home anymore
That's when I, I, I look at you

When I look at you
I see forgiveness
I see the truth
You love me for who I am
Like the stars hold the moon
Right there where they belong and I know
I'm not alone

Yeah, when my world is falling apart
When there's no light to break up the dark
That's when I, I, I look at you
When the waves are flooding the shore and I
Can't find my way home anymore
That's when I, I, I look at you

You appear just like a dream to me
Just like kaleidoscope colors that
Cover me
All I need
Every breath, that I breathe
Dontcha know?
You're beautiful

Yeah yeah..

When the waves are flooding the shore
And I cant find my way home anymore
Thats when I,
I I look at you
I look at you

Yeah yeah..
Oh oh..
You appear just like a dream to me...

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

My Cool Husband


Maybe I've never told you how cool my husband is. He's pretty cool.

Case in point:

Several keys on my digital piano have been broken for years. The D Flat above middle C was the most troublesome. Then a couple of days ago Mashuga did something atrocious to the piano. All BUT the middle C were broken. I was in the depths of despair, certain we would need a new piano. I cried, I yelled and sent Mashuga to his room for the rest of the night. It was a testament to the ferocity of my emotions that he actually stayed there.

Then, after teaching a childbirth class that night, I came home to find JDub putting the finishing touches on our piano. It was fixed. He took our digital piano completely apart and figured out how to repair it.

He is still waiting on parts from Roland. It turns out that the breaking hammers were due not only to our unusually rough children, but a factory defect. So, since JDub is willing and able to do the labor to fix the problem, the company is sending him a whole new set of hammers. I hope this leads to many more years of musical happiness and a much more durable piano.

Take home message: My husband is awesome and clever and brilliant and I'm so lucky to have him.

You're reading this, right honey?

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Happy Birthday JDub


A little over fifteen years ago I went with my friends to a church dance. I was happy to be wearing a new dress and hoping to dance with some cute boys. I had no idea that my life would change that night.

From my journal, September 5, 1992:

I met this guy named JDub. He is so cute! I danced with him about six times, he's really nice....Then once, when I was dancing with JDub, my friends informed me that my slip was showing, so I told him what was wrong and that I'd be right back. So, I hurried to the bathroom, pulled my slip up, told the other girls in there why I was laughing and hurried back. When I got back he was sitting there swaying and he put his arms around me and said it wasn't as much fun without me. He is cute.
I have only one excuse for the silliness of this journal entry: I was fourteen. We became good friends after that. We talked on the phone a lot because he lived an hour away from me. I had an unrelenting crush on this cute blond army brat who had spent most of his childhood in Germany. He was friendly, but entirely oblivious to my feelings for him. I was terrified whenever I was around him, even though I felt very much at home with him. (Cheesy, I know, but true.) I dated his brother. He moved back to Germany and then served an LDS mission for two years in Chile. It was during this time that we really fell in love. We were able to share parts of ourselves through letters in ways we had never been able to before. Though there were other guys I loved and dated through these years, by the time JDub came home I was certain that he was the one for me.

And he still is. He is my best friend, my home, my grounding force. We have had and continue to have our problems, but they have only helped us grow closer together. I could not be more honored and grateful to be sharing my life with this good man.

Happy birthday, sweetheart!

Just for kicks, here are a few other journal entries. 'Cause I'm masochistic like that and think you'll enjoy reading just how dramatic I used to be.

From June 20, 1994:
I can't even begin to describe it in words. I was so in love with him in that moment, and it was in that moment that I realized that I could never be without him. I mean, not physically or short term. I don't need him every waking moment, but I realized that my life could never be complete without him in it. I love him so very much.
From March 14, 1997:
Today I saw JDub for the first time in over two years. I am in complete awe. He is wonderful. I didn't realize how much I missed him unti lI was able to hug him tonight and have him in my arms. He has had such a tremendous impact on my life.... I find myself feeling awkward in the way I act toward him, but I am amazed at the peace that fills my heart just at having him near. The knowledge taht he is in the same house as I am makes me want to sing for joy.... He is the kind of person I would love to marry. Not only that, I love him. This is not the fleeting, infatuated "love" that I have often experienced. I love him and I am clear-headed. I love him and I want to be a better person.... I am not blind to the fact that he has faults, but I love him for who he is, faults and all. I like him. I don't just like parts of him or things he does. I like him.
(See what I mean? Dramatic much? It gets better.)

April 7, 1997 (The day after we were engaged.)
I am excited to share my life with JDub. I am excited to have children with him and to raise a family. I look forward to the day that we will look back on today and know that the love we feel now has been built upon and expanded through diligence, commitment to each other and faith in the Lord. I have a feeling that we do not comprehend at all what love is and I anxiously await the years of discovery that lie ahead.
Note to Heather in 1997:

You're right. You have no idea. It won't be easy. Some years it will be a fight just to stay together, let alone like each other. But I promise it will just keep getting better and that you'll love each other more than you can now imagine.

Okay. Drama off.

Love you, honey.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

A Whole Decade

I have often said that marrying JDub was what Mary Pipher would call a "North Star Decision."

He is so much of who I am (and like about myself) now. So many experiences and decisions and happy times in my life would never have happened if I hadn't chosen to marry him ten years ago.

I adore this man and I am so grateful for him. He makes me laugh every single day.

We woke up this morning and just stayed in bed, talking and laughing. I love him even more now than I could have imagined ten years ago. And I told him that, knowing everything I know now about everything that has happened in the last ten years, I'd do it all over again.

"Even Mashuga?" He teased.

"Especially Mashuga," I told him.

It's good to be where we are.

Today we took the exhausting hike up to Timpanogos Cave and toured it. It was a lot of fun. We really should have gotten a picture up there together, though. Oops.

Here are some pictures from that day, oh so long ago. My only regret about our wedding day: I wish we'd hired a better photographer.




Monday, August 06, 2007

Sicko

You'll have to forgive my truncated and postdated Soap Opera Sunday post. I have a sick little baby.

He has herpangina and is very uncomfortable. He has wanted to be held and nursed almost constantly since Saturday.

I took him to the doctor on Saturday to see what was going on. He'd been fevered and irritable since Friday morning and I thought he might have an ear infection.

Nope. The doctor took one look in his mouth and said, "Ah, he definitely has herpangina."

I called JDub on the way home to tell him the news.


"I took him to the doctor and she says that he has herpangina," I told him.

"He has her WHAT?!?" Jeffrey responded. "Don't you think he ought to give it back?"
That's my JDub. Always the comedian.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Finding Gravity

JDub likes to use an interesting analogy about life, gravity, consistency.

As he puts it, what would life be like if, every morning when we got out of bed, we had to wonder which direction our feet would go? Will it be up today, or down, or sideways? It would be very hard to accomplish much of anything without the constance of gravity.

And so it is with our lives. If we are ever-wondering what will happen next, it is hard to accomplish much of anything, to move forward, to blossom and become better.

And so, in this stage of my life, I feel myself yearning to find gravity, to find and create some constants that can hold our family to the ground long enough to move forward.

I've never been good at routine, at consistency. Even as a teenager, when my days were pretty much planned for me -- School from 7:30-3:30, Madrigal Choir from 3:30-4:30, Soccer practice from 4:00-5:00, play practice from 5:00-9:00 -- I had no routine. I'd make it to school on time. Sometimes. Sometimes I'd go to a full soccer practice and miss part of choir, sometimes I'd skip soccer practice. Sometimes I'd go to play practice, sometimes I'd just go home and take a nap.

Now, I have learned much since those crazy days about being dependable and showing up when a team or a cast or a class is depending on me. But, I still find it difficult to rein my fickle ambitions and unruly emotions into anything that resembles order.

And if the over-scheduled life of teenage-dom didn't help me learn to pattern and plan my days, the empty canvas of motherhood and family life is certainly not bringing order to my life.

But order is something I really need to find right now. For me, for our children, for my sweet husband.

I've always thought of JDub and I as two parts to a song. He is the rhythm. I am the melody.

But, this isn't working anymore. In our nightly talks, between the time we put our kids to bed and JDub slouches into a sleepy, drooling blob because he's been awake since 4:30, we have determined that the rhythm JDub is marching our children to is a bit too strong.

Also, the relentless, maddening rhythm of his life outside our home is nearly killing him.

So, it falls to me, miss melody, miss fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, the free spirit of the family to find a better way.

Deep breaths.

So I'm searching and thinking and trying to find and create some laws that govern our family's universe.

Like eating dinner before 8pm and breakfast before 11am.

But, I also want it to be more than a marching order. I want ritual, beauty, joy and peace to fill our days.

Is this too tall an order?

So, I'm dying to know, for those of you who are so much better at this organization and routine stuff than I am, how do you do it? Any suggestions?

And for those of you who, like me, are a bit on the erratic side, have you learned any ways to channel yourself? Your family?

Please share your ideas.

How do you weave a sense of gravity, of ritual and things to depend on into your family's daily life?

Friday, June 29, 2007

Profile of a Hero


For your reading pleasure, I have something for you that JDub wrote.

But first, a little background. JDub has decided to go back to school. He's done with his current job situation and finally the pain of remaining where he is is greater than the pain of returning to school. We both have mixed feelings about this. It'll be a tough few years, but I'm excited that he's jumping back in.

But, before he begins his quest, he has one thing that he must accomplish. English 2010. This will be the FIFTH time that he has taken it. Every other time he has either dropped it or failed it. Not because he can't do the work, just because... Well, I have no idea why. Neither does he.

For his first assignment, his teacher asked him to write a profile of himself from any viewpoint.

What he wrote was just delightful.

So, without further ado, I give you JDub.
_________________________________________________________

As I undertake to write this forward to what will undoubtedly be a voluminous account of his heroic deeds, I can't help but think - what if HE had been ME. Of course I am wakened from this fallacy by my own subtle understanding of this man, nay this LEGEND. I can scarcely describe even a fraction of his greatness and any attempt to constrain his stupendous distinction to mere words is hopelessly inadequate. Letting brevity champion, I will try.

Exactly three and a half jamillion years ago history as we know it was forever changed. Though just the merest of insignificant blips on the cosmic radar, one cannot begin to insubstantiate the birth of the leader. The timing of his birth, in Berlin, Germany on the continent of Europe pertaining to the planet then called Earth, is nothing short of celestial. Scarcely could his parents have foreseen the impact their human son would have in the universe so many years later.

From the beginning, his enemies were at work to tear down and destroy any mention of this great man. He heroically triumphed over the many childhood scourges known as Chicken Pox and Growing Pains. He barely glanced at adolescent attacks of Acne and Love Sickness. Indeed, all these maladies served only to strengthen him. And though his enemies sought to erase him, going so far as to delete from the geography of the time the very place of his birth and the dwellings of his childhood, they cannot deny the man he became.

There was a terrific battle, as we all remember, that took place towards the latter part of his childhood. As he breezed through the intellectual speed bumps of academia, his enemies - the enemies of all civilization - were mounting their most daring attempt to thwart him. Their secret weapon -- codenamed English 2010 -- was so feared by most that it was barely mentioned. Few understood the depravity and baseness of this weapon, yet so concentrated was it's intensity and so targeted were it's implications upon our courageous leader that, even now, we mention English 2010 with reverence.

The enemies mounted their attack four times over the course of 7 grueling years. Mere mortals would have withered at the prospect of this hideous weapon directed not once but five times at our hero. After the fourth time the enemy thought our hero defeated. He had disappeared, apparently in defeat. The scholarly annals make no mention of him for 3 years. During this time of anonymity, instead of being resigned to the scourging of defeat, our hero used his concealment as preparation time to mount his deathblow.

The enemy had increased in vanity and power, seemingly unstoppable.

With swift accuracy and indescribable prowess, our hero struck that decisive August in Earth Year 2007. English 2010 was vanquished forever. I need not detail the events of that battle, as every child knows the story before they turn even four years old. I yield, as do we all, and submit my greatest respect to our hero, known to one and all as JDub The Great.