Zooba Bean

Posted on December 21, 2010 by Cam

Years ago in college I took a children’s literature class/workshop. I wrote a couple of stories about two ant entrepreneurs named Zooba and Bean. I liked the idea of “antrepreneurs” (who works harder than an ant?) and I envisioned a whole children’s series around them that would teach kids basic business ideas. I submitted one of these stories to a few publishers (it was one of the class assignments) and got positive feedback but never really bothered to follow up. I had a particular idea in mind of how it should be illustrated and wanted to do it myself (I may still try, but I think I may have found the perfect artist).

Anyway, I registered this domain (zoobabean.com) awhile back with the intention to pursue writing at some point in the future. I think that time may have come. It’s my intent to dig out some of my work from the last few years and publish it online here. I won’t promise you it’s great literature, but I think some of it is unique and entertaining. I have a twisted streak and have been planning to compile some of my work into a book I have entitled Terrible Short Stores for Children. Obviously it wouldn’t really be for children. Well, today’s kids though… maybe. But the Zooba-Bean stories are innocent and actually are written with children in mind.

And so, without further ado:

The Zooba Bean

“Bean, I think we’re nearly done.” Said Zooba. Bean nodded his head and replied, “Just think- we’ll be the first ants to ever accomplish something like this!”

They had named their spaceship the “Zooba-Bean” and friends all seemed to agree that it looked just like one. But no one really thought the ship would work. Willy the worker ant said, “That’s a great looking ship but I don’t think it will take off.” Bean and Zooba replied “We’ll see!”

Zooba and Bean brought chairs and tables into their ship. Donna the digger ant said, “That’s a nice looking ship, but I don’t think you’ll have that many ants in there. Probably just you two!” Bean and Zooba replied “We’ll see!”

Zooba and Bean took huge leaves filled with food into the ship. It was enough food to feed everyone for at least a week. Scoot the scout ant said, “You don’t need that much food! It will go bad long before it can be eaten.” Bean and Zooba replied “We’ll see!”

While Zooba and Bean continued to work, the Queen ant came to visit. “I am very impressed with what the two of you have built, but I’m worried you’re wasting your time. You know that in the human world air travel is impossible without ‘Boom Juice.’ But Boom Juice is dangerous and I could never allow it in the hill.”

Zooba and Bean smiled. “Our Queen,” they said, “We have all the juice we’ll need and none of it is dangerous. We’re not wasting our time! The Queen said, “I don’t see how this ship can do what it’s supposed to do!” Bean and Zooba replied “You’ll see!”

Zooba and Bean waited in front of the curtain that covered their spaceship. The other ants from the hill were gathered around the covered ship. They were all very curious to know what was going to happen.

Bean said, “Welcome to our grand opening!” Zooba pulled the cover off the ship. A giant sign said, “The Zooba-Bean Space Restaur-ant.” The ants gasped! None of them had thought that the spaceship was going to be a restaurant.

“No wonder you needed all those tables and chairs!” said Donna. “No wonder you needed all that food!” Said Scoot. “I guess you do have all the juice you need!” said the Queen as she held a tall glass of honey nectar. “Maybe this place will take off after all!” said Willy.

The Zooba Bean Submarine

Zooba and Bean were regarded as the best ant-repreneurs in the hill. They were already well known for their restaurant and fitness club, so when they announced they were going to build a submarine no one was surprised. When they said they would do it in three days, everyone was surprised.

Zooba and Bean worked behind a very large curtain so no one could see inside, but the other ants stopped by to have a look anyway. Brenda the bridge builder caught up with Zooba and Bean as they were gathering supplies. “That’s quite a project you’ve announced. I think you can do it, but I have a question. You’re building a submarine where there is no water. How will it work without water?”

Zooba and Bean smiled. “We won’t need as much water as you think!” said Zooba. Brenda scratched her head.

Mary the match maker saw Zooba and Bean in the garden the next day and said, “I’m very excited about your submarine. You don’t really have time to be here in the garden though, do you? You should be working hard on the Submarine!”

Zooba and Bean smiled. “Don’t worry. We’re working on the submarine right now!” said Bean. Mary raised her eyebrows.

The day before the project was to be unveiled the Queen herself came by to have a look. Zooba and Bean came out from behind the curtain to visit with her. The Queen said, “I’ve always been impressed by what you boys have been able to accomplish. I wonder if you’ve bit off more than you can chew this time.

Zooba and Bean laughed. “We’ll see tomorrow!” said Zooba.

The big day arrived. Once more the ants from the hill gathered around a giant curtain. Zooba and Bean stood off to one side. Bean said, “It’s been very hard work, but I think you’ll all agree the results speak for themselves!” With that the curtain fell.

The ants gasped! Before them was a giant Submarine s-ant-wich! It was big enough for everyone to share. A beautiful bread roll was piled high with fresh lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese and delicious ham and turkey.. “Come and get it!” said Zooba.

As they ate Brenda said, “I guess you don’t need much water for this kind of submarine!” Mary said, “You really were working in the garden.” And the Queen said, with a mouth full of food, “It looks like it was me that bit of more than I could chew!”

Disney Land, our First Vacation in Six Years.

Posted on November 7, 2010 by Cam

I swore I wouldn’t do it. But I did. I went on a vacation. As Fran likes to point out, it’s our first “real” vacation in over six years (a “real” vacation is a trip where we’re gone longer than overnight- seems fair). The destination? Disney Land. We felt like the kids were all finally big enough to enjoy it. We went six years ago with my parents. This time my Dad decided to come with us which worked out really well; three kids and three adults.

We decided to drive there this time around (my Dad drove separate do do some sight seeing). We broke the drive up over two days each way. On the first night we swung through Las Vegas and ate at the Rainforest cafe at the MGM Grand Casino. The food was okay and the atmosphere was exceptional. I have to confess that it was a little weird walking though the casino with our kids. Despite their protests I didn’t let them gamble.

The drive went really well and our kids were great (my mom had prepared little game bags which really helped). We rolled into Disney Land Tuesday evening. We had reservations at Disney’s Paradise Pier. We’ve stayed previously at the Grand Californian hotel. Paradise Pier isn’t as luxurious, but it’s definitely more kid friendly and still very nice. The next morning we were off for days of fun and adventure in Disney Land and California Adventure Land.

My Dad has his birthday while were at Disney Land. He wore his “It’s my Birthday” pin most of the time and used his clout to score several pictures with celebrity ducks.

I think it’s fair to say that the six of us had a great time. It was a little harder than I expected with three kids. I was very grateful that my dad had come with us. The kids constantly wanted to be carried, couldn’t agree on rides, argued about who would sit with who on the rides, obsessed over churros and relentlessly overpriced imports but it couldn’t overshadow the magic of the Disney Land park.

We ate in the park. This is astronomically expensive, but if you let cognitive dissonance do it’s job you can escape with the illusion that somehow it was better and/or worth it. Red’s Rocket Port has some great salad and pasta. It was as good as I had remembered.

Old favorites like Space Mountain, Splash Mountainm, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Indiana Jones still delivered all the thrills I remembered from six years ago (our last visit). Since we opted to go during school, the crowds were nearly non-existent. Most of the rides we walked right onto and worst case we waited about 15-20 mins. There were several new attractions, but nothing really stuck out over the classics.

We also ate the the French Market (and here’s a photo of all of us). Fran was disappointed and I’m pretty sure I got food poisoning there (chills, headache and vomiting ensued). Being sick put a damper on the trip, but I recovered quickly enough .

After spending a day in Disney Land we headed over to California Adventure Land. They had pulled out a couple of rides to make room for a new attraction based on Cars (they’re basically building out a Radiator Springs). California Adventure isn’t quite as magical as Disney but it’s still got some fun rides like Screaming, Soaring over California, Tower of Terror and the 3D shows.

There’s my dad with the Ferris Wheel of death behind him. Some of the cars on the Ferris wheel slide along rails. It made my Dad and me really sick. As I get older motion sickness isn’t fun like it used to be. California Adventure is a blast, but with thin crowds there’s not quite a day’s worth of stuff to do and so we headed back to Disney Land. Just to prove how tough we were my Dad and I rode the teacups.

One of the trip highlights was the Wold of Color, in California Adventure. We went to the show on Friday night (and by Friday the crowds had increased exponentially). The show consists of water, lights, projected images, lasers and music. My picture doesn’t do it any kind of justice (you can find the show on You Tube).

And then it was time to head home. We briefly considered hitting Lego Land or the San Diego Zoo, but we were pretty exhausted (I would say the recovery time for me personally, once we got home, was about a week). The only real casualty of our trip was the mini-van. Our kids have a gift for making messes. Here’s the back of the car by the time we got home.

Overall a great trip. Looking back we might have waited one more year to go, and we may have flown. But hopefully we built some good memories and the kids will look back with fondness on our trip. I’ll be ready to go on another vacation in about six years.

Posted November 7th, 2010

Fireworks Steak, Food Lagoon, Chicken Blog Race

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Cam

Thought I’d descend from my lofty perch and let you mortals know what I’ve been up to. I get a real kick out of doing mortal stuff so…

We celebrated the 4th of July with the Browns (T&A). The best part about the 4th for me is watching the kids light the fireworks. They get pretty excited. Typically they try to keep the old firework hulls. I did that as a kid too; I would fill them up with baking soda, food coloring and vinegar and have the 5th of July. My father was a very patient man.

I celebrated my 9th anniversary with my lovely mortal wife, Fran. Time has only deepened my love for her. Once I tried to make a list of the things that were wrong with her. The list only had one thing on it… and that was her husband. Given the hugeness of my love I thought it only fitting that we eat a meal of proportional deliciousness. We headed over to Ruth’s Chris. They recently reopened the location in Salt Lake City. As far as I’m concerned there is no better steak anywhere. I went with the Ribeye (my favorite cut).

Since it was our 9th year of passion we splurged and and got sauteed scallops and a lobster tail. Everything was cooked very well. The only part of the meal I didn’t care for was the free dessert. It was a cheesecake, but it had way to much crust and very little flavor. Still, overall the meal was fabulous. I’d recommend Ruth’s Chris to anyone looking for great steak.

And speaking of things that are great. One of my favorite mortal treats is ice cream. It was a sad day when the Leatherby’s in Provo closed down. Lately we’ve been making the trek up to Taylorsville to eat there. Their sundaes are just as great as I remember them. If anyone wants to go eat there holler. I’m always up for a Tracy’s Peanut Butter Cup.

And speaking of Sundaes. On Sunday (who is the segway king? You know it) Fran makes us breakfast for lunch. Pancakes, eggs, sausage, fruit, orange juice, and tons of toppings. This has become one of our favorite traditions. And did I mention that everything is delicious. I have a sneaky suspicion that part of the pancakes might be whole wheat though…

I actually took a day off of work this year (is that a joke… I don’t even know) so we could go up to Lagoon as a family.

Lagoon has a bad rap, but it was actually pretty fun. Mike and I went on all the roller coasters (Wicked is very cool), but the other kids were a little too short for some of the rides. I think everyone had a good time though. By the way- I don’t recommend the Wild Mouse. It’s just a thrash-a-thon. It bruised my arms up (when in mortal form I am susceptible to mortal injury).

In other news, American Fork has a Chick-Fil-A now. Before it opened there were tons of people camped out. I took a picture so I could make fun of them later. It turns out the first 100 people to eat at the restaurant got free meals for a year. That’s not really very funny. I went and ate there the first week it was opened. They come around to your table and ask if they can “refresh your beverage.” Awesome.

Fran has launched a new blog effort. She was irritated with the lack of features that WordPress provided so she migrated over to BlogSpot. I can’t really blame her. WordPress can be very irritating at times when it comes to adding features you want. Anyway- be sure to check out her new blog!

And what post would be complete without talking about cars? I went to Rocky Mountain Raceway last Friday to watch some friends race in the midnight drags. I’m hoping I can go next week, but I have a problem. I burned out my old clutch. I ordered this beautiful yellow thing (ACT T1S-G01 twin disk clutch rated to 850 lbs of torque! Plus it’s lighter that the stock assembly) but I have to get it installed and broken in by next Friday. The clock is ticking…

So that’s it. A quick overview of things from the past few months. I always mean to maintain my blog better. I’m just so darn busy living my life. Well, back I go (you know, back up).

Disney on Ice

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Cam

This past Friday Fran and I took Claire to see Disney on Ice (Worlds of Fantasy) at the Energy Solutions Arena. We decided that she needed some alone time with just the two of us, so we left the boys with my parents (we’ll take them to a monster truck rally or something another time). We sat right up in the front so she’d have a good view (having learned a lesson from our trip to the circus).

The show was pretty fun. First the gang from Cars drove around on the ice. Then we were treated to numbers from The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and finished with a Fairy finale. The choreography and costumes were all very good and I think it’s safe to say that we enjoyed the show more than the circus.

Our refusal to buy $11 ice cream cones and $10 lemonade and cotton candy resulted in tears (much like the circus). As we left the show Claire announced “It’s not a good day!” Maybe we’re doing it all wrong- maybe part of the show is buying overpriced food and merchandise. But I’m not giving in just yet! We did stop for ice cream on the way home. Thanksgiving Point has a nice little ice cream parlor and even on Friday night there’s never a long line.

As the kids get older it gets easier to go to events like these. We’ve got a few more planned in the next couple of months and we’re looking forward to them. We may even attempt some movies. Oh yeah- it’s crazy time.

September 2009

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Cam

It’s been another busy month. Busy on the home front (seems like there’s something going on every day) and busy on the work front (I think we’ve finally settled in, but the business never sleeps). Sometimes I wish I didn’t need sleep. And believe me I’ve tried to get by with nothing. For awhile I actually slept every other night (that was a bad idea). Time is just so hard to come by. That’s been on my mind a lot lately- lack of time. Maybe I just manage my time poorly. I could be exercising instead of doing this blog post!

Speaking of exercising… Rachel organized a relay marathon a few weeks ago. Each of the five members on the relay team runs a 5K section. Fran trained for it blazed through her section in about 47 mins. That’s basically five ten minute miles. Not bad! Makes me want to train for a race.

Speaking of races… A couple weeks back Jim, Justin and I hit the Rocky Mountain Raceway for some midnight drags. Anyone who hasn’t gone should check it out- $5 to go watch people dual it out in the quarter mile. And a mighty dual it was. Corvette vs. Corvette vs. Camaro I ran a 12.1 at 131mph, Jim ran a 12.2 at 121 and Justin ran a 12.3 at 117mph! It was a super close race between Jim and I- he had me until about 90mph. You can check out one of our races and some pictures on Jim & Cindy’s blog. We were all hoping for 11 second runs, but we’ll have to get a little faster.

Speaking of a little faster… That’s what I plan to be shortly. I recently picked up a copy of HP Tuners. This nifty little software package gives the user control over every aspect of the car’s engine computer (yes, this can be very dangerous) . I need to pick up a few more things before I’m ready to start seriously tweaking, but I predict a predict a lot of fun… or tears.

Speaking of tears… I’m guessing people who shelled out 4K or 5K for a Dell color laptop ten years ago have shed a few. In the past couple of weeks I’ve gotten two laptops and I can’t believe all the computer you get for the money these days. The little guy above to the right was $279. It’s an HP Mini Notebook from Best Buy (I think this model might only be available though them). I got it to use with HP Tuners and it stays in my car- fits perfectly in my glove box. It has a 16 gig solid state drive (important to me since it will get bumped around in the car) a gig of ram, a 9″ 1024 x 600 screen, high speed wireless, USB outs, – everything that would have cost thousands of dollars a few years ago. The other laptop was a Dell Studio XPS. Again- an amazing bang for the buck.

Speaking of bang and bucks… A couple of nights ago we went to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus! I haven’t been to a circus in years and I have some really good memories from when I was a kid. Aside from trapeze performers they had all the good stuff I was expecting. We got to see magic acts, a ton of awesome acrobatics, people shooting out of a cannon (bang), clowns, tigers, elephants, tightrope walkers and more. I have admit it wasn’t always easy to follow everything- at times there was so much going on that the ring seemed chaotic. And it didn’t help that our kids seemed to have an endless queue of needs.

It may seem terrible to say, but if we were to go to the circus again soon we might leave some (or all) of the kids home. We willingly bought $10 cotton candy and a $9 lemonade (bucks) to appease their ceaseless demands for food, but Mike wanted popcorn as well ($12). We said “no” so he folded his arms, arranged a giant frown on his face and announced that he was wasn’t happy. He managed to sulk all the way home. That kind of put a damper on festivities. Gabriel was also a handful, but he’s 2- we can cut him some slack. Hopefully Mike will remember that we went to the circus and not that we refused to buy him Popcorn. I guess it’s hard to be a kid.

I always get confused when I post- I can’t remember if the pictures go first and then I blab. Or if I blab first and then put a picture. Ah well- I’ll let people figure out which blab goes with which pic. Until next time.

Egg-citing Stuff

Posted on April 13, 2009 by Cam

Saturday we spent the morning coloring eggs for Easter. One of these days I’ll have to take time to research the origins of coloring eggs and how that might (read “might not”) relate to the Resurrection of Christ. No idea- but coloring eggs is fun. We used an Transformers coloring kit we bought last year after Easter (I think it was marked down to a buck). Funny thing- the red dye pellet didn’t make it; I guess its shelf life was less than one year. We made our own ready dye with food coloring and vinegar. The kids had a blast (well, not Gabe- he was napping).

That afternoon I commenced the wiring portion of my subwoofer / amplifier install. That’s going to be a big job. Mike was a huge help and we got the seat and some panelling out and and started running the ground wires and RCA cables. This coming week I’ll have to remove the center console and the actual receiver (from the instructions I’ve got it won’t be fun). But hey- that’s what life is all about: Doing things that aren’t fun with the hope that later something not fun that you did will result in fun.

And finally Easter. We hid chocolate eggs in the living room and the real eggs outside. Mike and Claire put the eggs in their baskets but Gabe just put everything in his mouth. Another holiday successfully celebrated!

iPhone? Not my phone.

Posted on January 19, 2009 by Cam

Cellular phones have come a looooong way. Fran was the pioneer in our family, adopting one when they were still brick-like and cost two small fortunes. Her phone made and took phone calls… and that’s it. Kind of unreal. Then there was the whole Pocket PC craze (remember the ipaq- why?!). Then the cell phone and Pocket PC were merged into one mostly harmonious whole and we achieved “nerdvana” (that term was coined by Scott Adams in his Dilbert cartoon strip).

Nearly eighteen months ago I got the Sprint HTC Mogul (below left) and I wasn’t sure how things could get any better. Then along came the Apple iPhone (below right, as if you didn’t know). It was sleek, easy to use, versatile, and inexplicably it was only available on the AT&T network. I was still happy with the Mogul… I had high speed Internet. Then along came the 3G iPhone. Now they had high speed Internet too! Meanwhile my phone began to slowly die. One day after the seventh reset I decided that maybe an iPhone was in my future after all. But I still had 7 months left in my Sprint contract… what to do?

Initially I was pretty determined to pay the early cancellation fee for Sprint and hop on the AT&T iPhone train. I even went to buy an iphone…twice. After some extensive research, price comparisons and a good deal of persecution I decided to stick with Sprint and buy a new phone. Right now I have a great deal- 1300 mins, unlimited night & weekend, unlimited texts, unlimited data, and all the other good stuff for $56 a month. That’s the final statement price, including all the taxes. Hard to beat. It would be almost double with AT&T. The Sprint phone I ended up buying was the HTC Touch Pro (below center). Following is my review of the Touch Pro.

On of my biggest gripes with the iPhone is the that you have to type on the screen with the phone in a vertical position. I’m sure that I would have gradually gotten used to it, but I really love the slide out keyboard on the HTC Touch Pro (and on my old Mogul). The keyboard gives you five lines (one more than the Mogul) of typing real estate and the tactile feedback is exceptional. The keyboard is backlit which is another nice feature. Granted, the keyboard makes the Touch Pro a bit on the thick side, but the phone still has a very nice feel and it isn’t nearly as bulky as its predecessors. Given the amount of typing I do on my phone I’m not ready to give the keyboard up… yet.

What impresses me most about the Touch Pro is the screen. The resolution is stunning (640 x 480 on a 2.8″ screen). When I was growing up we had the Atari Lynx, the Sega Game Gear and other color hand held games. You could clearly see the red, blue and geen of the pixels. It drove me nuts. LCD screens, like phones, have come a looooong way. The iPhone screen looks great, but when I look at the Touch Pro screen I’m floored every time. The pixels are so small they aren’t even visible to the naked eye which makes the Touch Pro screen the sharpest I’ve ever seen. A huge problem with the Mogul was that the screen became virtually invisible in bright light. The Touch Pro screen is clearly visible in direct sunlight and from every angle. It’s a little on the small side, but I can deal with it.

Speed-wide the Touch Pro is adequate. I still find myself waiting for things to load occasionally, and sometimes with too many applications open everything crashes. It amazes me to think that this little phone is more powerful (and in some cases much more powerful) than my first five computers. The Touch Pro runs Windows Mobile 6.1 which seems pretty stable for the most part. HTC has created an interface they call Touch Flow 3D which runs over Windows and makes it a little easier to use (you can actually avoid the stylus altogether for most functions). Truthfully I think the iPhone’s interface is more intuitive and better thought out, but HTC has taken a step in the right direction here.

Functionally I really like the Touch Pro. Email is easy to use, text messaging has been improved (and again, I really like the keyboard) and Opera is the default browser now (it works very well). The 3.2 megapixel camera takes passable pictures (the color seems a little off), but I do like the fact that I can take videos with the Touch Pro. Window’s Mobile gives me access to Windows Live which is a pretty comprehensive information tool (maps, directions, traffic, movies, shopping info, etc). Applications aren’t as easy to get (the iPhone store is something to behold), but there is plenty of software available if you don’t mind a little digging.

The Touch Pro isn’t perfect- I have a few minor complaints. The touch screen seems to require more force than my Mogul did (I have to push a good deal harder to get the same results). HTC uses a proprietary input jack so you need an adapter for headphones. Touch Flow 3D isn’t as customizable as I’d like either. Still, all things considered this is a great phone and I’m really enjoying it. For the time being, my phone is not an iPhone.

I’m going to poke Fran and see when the next Hughes Family Blog update will be. I may have to start posting some of our activities over here! We’ve kept pretty busy this past week (the first week I’ve really felt up to doing anything) with movies, food, family activities (I finally went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point) and friends. I’ve really cut back on work these days and I’m taking it easy. Sometimes life is really great.

I Hate Mosquitoes (The Worst Day Ever)!

Posted on September 6, 2008 by Cam

Ever had a day where everything went wrong? Well I sure did. I all started when I lost my truck keys… in Utah Lake… for the second time…

Things actually started off pretty well. On Thursday evening me and a handful of friends headed out to Utah Lake for some tubing and R&R. Everything went fine until we headed back in. When we reached the harbor in Provo I discovered that my tuck key was missing. Not necessarily a big deal, but I had already lost my other truck key (in the lake) the previous week. A boat in the Provo harbor, no truck key, no extra key, no way to park my boat- frustrating.

We scoured the boat for my key. I had emptied my pockets when we launched and I was certain it had to be on the boat. Needless to say the key never turned up. We docked the boat as best we could and attempted to formulate a plan. Meanwhile the mosquitoes were starting to bite…

Tom suggested attaching the boat trailer to his SUV so we could get it out of the water. The SUV was at his house so he went to get it. I puled the boat trailer off my truck and felt relieved that things weren’t more complicated. The mosquitoes were getting pretty bad. We had found some bug repellent in the boat so I doused myself again. When Tom came back we realized that we’d need to transfer the hitch over to his SUV. Sadly it was locked onto my truck. After many minutes of trying every boat key I had I realized that I was somehow missing the key I needed to unlock the hitch. Two missing keys. Nuts.

Jim called his parents-in-law and they were gracious enough to offer assistance. They were in Spanish Fork so it was about a half hour before they could come get us. I was wet, cold, embarrassed and covered with mosquitoes. Since the boat covers were locked in the truck we had to tow the boat back to Lehi without them (cringe). Since dinner had not been available dockside we stopped at Wendy’s on the back It was closed. The freeway was also closed becuase of a rather severe accident so we took Geneva road (long and bumpy!). When we finally made it home I showered and collapsed in bed. I felt kind of itchy, but it was going to have to wait.

Around ten the next morning I was woken up when all three of our maids came into my bedroom. I groggily opened my eyes and sat up. One of them shrieked and they all ran, giggling, from the room. An inauspicious start to the day. As I came to my senses I remembered that my truck was in Provo and I had to find some way to get it home. The itching was getting worse. I felt very sick. Allergies or a cold- they could be nearly indistinguishable. I rubbed my eyes- oh no… my contacts were still in. I pried them out but my eyes were bloodshot and stung like a wasp. My glasses were missing so I had to put my contacts back in- ouch. I made my way to work and Fran called our favorite locksmith.

They said making a new key was complicated, but possible, expensive and very time consuming. They would call us as soon as they could squeeze us in- but we had to be at their shop within 20 minutes of their call and then take them to the truck. Standby. I hate standby. I was about to each lunch when a customer came in. After the customer left I was about to eat lunch when the locksmith called. We met them at their shop in American Fork and they followed us to Provo. We arrived at the truck and our locksmith hit us with some bad news: he had forgotten something kind of fundamental to making the key- namely the key template. He had to go back to the shop. “At lest you have something nice to look at.” he said gesturing at the the lake.

I was hungry. We had some time on our hands so we went to Saigon Cafe to pick up some food. The order was wrong. My kids all decided the were hungry again (I shared). My little girl, Claire, stepped on the take out box and dumped the food out. A bee flew over and stung me. No sign of the locksmith. I was really itching. My wife had some calamine lotion, but it had dried into a chalky powder.

Over an hour later the locksmith finally came back (he’d stopped on the way down to do another job). Finally it was time to start making our key. It was going to take another hour. I sat in the grass (it was wet) and built a little house out of sticks. I wished that I lived in the little house… until my kids smashed it, that is. Anyway- the locksmith finally got the key made. He pointed out some imperfections in it (“Really hard key to make!” he said), and explained that it would “break in.” That’ll be $300. Fine by me- my ordeal was coming to an end. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel…

…but I would have the mosquito bites- over two hundred on my arms, legs, head and back- to remind me of my worst day ever…

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