Friday Night Videos

No Halloween games this year. The games in the previous years are mostly still available to play, but this year, I'll post the Halloween and spooky movie clips that have creeped me out.

Nightmare Before Christmas: Okay, so not creepy, but this song is a bit addicting:


From Dusk Till Dawn: a great vampire movie:

Something Wicked This Way Comes: When I was a kid, I saw this movie at school and it freaked me out! This is a really great scene from the movie:

The Watcher in the Woods (1980): Creepy, creepy, creepy, seriously creepy - and it's a Disney movie!! One of the creepy scenes:


Poltergeist: I saw it when I was 11 years old, and it has freaked me out since. Stupid clown doll!


Resident Evil: I'm not such a zombie movie fan, but I do like the Resident Evil series of movies and I'm looking for to the release of the next one:

Two movies that still send a chill down my spine are:

1. When a Stranger Calls - the original from 1979, not the new one. The music clearly makes this move incredibly freaky! Here's a scene from the opening 20 minutes. If you haven't seen it, get out there and watch THIS version:

2. The Changeling (another 1980 movie): It has a slow beginning, but it will get you every time. Creepy, freaky, spine tingling! Here's the seance scene:

Happy Halloween Weekend!

Halloween Past

Halloween has always been a fun time for us. This year, I haven't had time to really prepare and won't be able to pass out candy to the neighborhood children - so sad.
I have other pictures 'somewhere' but here are a few Halloween pictures from the past.

1977 - Gypsies and a bunny. This was my favorite Halloween costume for many years. I still want to do this one again because it was so great.



1978
My mom as a witch. She scared many a teenage that year:
Flowers and a pirate:

1997 - leap forward in time
Elida's last year trick-or-treating:
The Maleficent costume I made. My mom helped me with the head piece.

2001 - Woody's Round Up (Richard, Cynthia and Collin)

2005 - Collin, Andrew and Elise - One of my favorite pictures!

Last year:
Have a safe and fun trick-or-teat-filled Halloween!

Must Go

Another list of things that must go. As you know, I've been training new software to employees at the University of Utah Health Care since August. We are all exhausted from the training, constant changes and attitudes of many of those who attend our classes. We go live in one week and we will have trained over 4,500 users since August 13. What a crazy endeavor!
Here are my things that must go as it relates to training:

1. It isn’t uncommon to have someone in class let us know (in a whiny tone): “I don’t know why I’m here, I’ll never use this program in my job,” and then this person sulks and sighs through training and constantly reminds everyone that training isn’t needed for his/her job. Well, here’s the thing, friend: I’m not your guidance counselor and I didn’t make the decision that you should be here, that was your manager, so here’s a phone; call your manager and tell them you think training is unnecessary for your job. In the mean time, we are moving forward with or without you because I don’t care how this applies to your job….it applies to mine.

2. Inconsistent feedback from class participants. One person will say, "the class moved too slowly for me." And someone from the very same class will say, "the class was way too fast. I couldn't keep up." Really? huh....so throw that feedback out.

3. People who give feedback like: "I think you should make the slow people go to another class so the fast people can learn and be done." I appreciate where people are coming from because I catch on pretty fast,too. But here's the thing: how, exactly, would you propose we implement this?
"Uh, yeah, so could the dummies go to classroom B and the smarties stay here?" No matter how fast people think they are, there will always be someone in class slower than you, so buck up and deal with it.

4. People who give feedback to me and a co-trainer regarding a class we didn't teach. Not the class they've just completed, but for a class to they took a couple of days ago. Really!? How is that feedback going to help us!? I don't care that you didn't like that class or that those trainers sucked. Tell us how awesome we did with THIS class!

5. People who ask, "You mean I have to pass a test in order to gain access to the program?" Yup. You sure do.

6. Managers who are convinced that they will be able to demand access to the program without having gone through training. Good try, but take that weight you think you have and throw it around elsewhere.

7. People who don't read and follow directions, even when those directios are very clearly spelled out, step by step. This usually comes from those same people who think they belong to the fast learning group. They read through the directions too quickly and then get lost. "Click here."
"Uh, what do I do? I don't get it." Maybe you need to attend the dummies class, don't you?

8. Clinics and managers with whom I have been communicating via phone and email, who then go to my manager and tell him that I haven't replied to the one question they sent me half an hour ago. Especially when I HAVE replied...It's usually with an answer they didn't want to hear.

OMG...I could go on and on. With all that said, and as tired as we are, I have had so much fun with the trainers. We have had a lot of really fun moments together and we all knew it was just a passing time in our work experience but it has been fun!

Friday Night Videos

Tonight's videos brought to you by the Letters: T and I and the number 7:

This song reminded me of my sister who loves her hair. Such a cute video by Sesame Street:


Another one that made me laugh! Grover rocks!


An interesting video using Google:


A fantastic and inspiring commercial (of all things):

Water Skiing in October

We enjoyed a wonderful Conference Weekend at Echo Reservoir with family and friends. The weather was fantastic and we all got a little bit sunburned. Here are some of my favorite shots:

Richard and his wall of water:
He looks so content, doesn't he?
Cynthia also looks positively happy:
Elise having a little alone time:

Family Portraits

A couple of weeks ago, Eric and I drove up with Richard's family, into the canyon to see the changing colors. We'd missed most of the reds, by then, but we got some really nice pictures:



Having a fun moment, until evil Aunt Tina insists on a few serious poses:

My favorite one, of the many, that I took:

For more pictures check out my flickr page.

Friday Night Videos

We've been really busy and we are all getting super tired and exhausted at work. One of our methods for relaxing is to find videos to make ourselves laugh.

Here's one we laugh with:


No matter how many times you watch this one, you can't avoid laughing! It just makes you laugh.


Silly cat that makes me laugh:


Eric and I met on a skydiving adventure and when I watched this video, it made me want to lose weight and do it again! Loves it!

Elise's Birthday

Eric and I spent a Saturday with Richard's family and celebrated Elise's birthday and baptism. Here are some of the pictures. I sure do love this little girl!
Before going into church:

Making sure the jumper fits:

Elise with her proud father:

Elise, Collin, Andrew and Marcus:

Friday Night Videos

I've had a lot of fun doing all the crazy training that I've been doing for my work. Long hours prevent me from doing a lot of video searches, but here are a few I found this week. Enjoy.

It's long, but this is the crazies mud slide, turned flood...it's boring for a minute, but around the minute and a half mark, things get crazy!


Crazy talent! Of course, my favorite part are the dogs:


I stumbled onto this video months ago and never posted it. It's from vimeo, where I have found many treats!

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

And, last is this video that makes me laugh...We have Joint Commission coming to the University before the end of October, and I think this is how we will prepare for them. tee hee hee!

Chance's 2nd Birthday

How much better can it be for a two year old? Have two birthday parties, two cakes and a double dose of center of attention. That's how Chance's 2nd birthday was celebrated (clear back in August).

Here are some of the pictures taken at his two parties. Pictures from party #1.
Eyeing the pizza:

Perfect reaction to any gift, I'd say:
Mr Potato Head filled with more potato head family members:
Party #2 and Laura and John's house:
I loved his smile in this picture as he's ready to blow out the candles:
The first attempt to blow out the candles didn't work...so he re-adjusted himself in the chair and tried again:
While I was at it, I thought I'd try out my new macro lens on various flowers in Laura's garden. Here's on of the shots:
To answer the question that's been posed to me: I love my new camera...I have had a blast experimenting with lighting and camera settings. Love, love, love it!