Christmas Pictures

After I did my Christmas card, Becca and I decided we'd one up it and actually do Christmas cards. So we "hired" our friend Laurel - who is trying to start up her own photography business - and had her come and take pictures. We went to the Marriott hotel in Provo and took some pictures by the tree and in front of the fireplace and felt like complete dorks in front of all the guys working the night shift on a Sunday. So here are some of the pictures that we liked:

This was a good one.

 

I love this picture. I feel like it is the epitome of what Becca has to deal with sometimes. My scheming ways, my little excitements over small and juvenile and really ridiculous things...and her response. I'm an idiot. Ha.

  

And THIS is the masterpiece that happens to be the focal point of our Christmas card - which quite perfectly says, "Sending you holiday hugs and kisses." If you don't get it, you're slow and I'm disappointed. Just look again, I was completely tickled! I would put a picture of the actual card, but then I'd have to scan it, and that's not going to happen.

Twilight Years

HAHAHAHA. I love it.

Twilight Years from Tom on Vimeo.

I am a Legend

First, Congratulations Derek (DAK!) and Ashley: the new Mr. and Mrs. Boogaard. There wedding dinner was done in great taste and they looked especially happy. I am thrilled for them.

While sitting at the table waiting for dinner to be served, I looked over and saw my former boss from Power Innovations (2006-2007) sitting at the table next to me. Karen was my direct supervisor for most of my tenure at PI. I was able to interpret the things that she needed done and figure out which "CRISIS" actually needed attention versus which could be ignored. And I knew that if you asked about her grandkids, you got a paid forty-five minutes of stories. I thought that we were fairly tight. She defended me when I was unfairly let-go, she's given me GREAT references when I've needed them the past few years and yet, when I went up to say "Hi"... She didn't recognize me.

The truth was, I saw her husband, Bruce, first. I kept looking at him, knowing that I knew him and then it hit me, and I looked around and saw Karen. She looks basically the same. I suspect that my hair has changed about a hundred times since I've last seen her.

The point of this post is that, Karen didn't recognize me - but she's still been willing to give me a raving review whenever I've given her as a reference. So why would she do that?

I recently read a book called The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies. In it, one of the local boys is lost in action and then eventually declared dead. This boy, who was so much considered a nuisance or strange or weird or having held any number of quirks that were annoying, was suddenly transformed into a local hero. Because he had served his county and represented his home town and died in the cause, he was immortalized. So, I think, perhaps, because I was terminated so unjustly, perhaps Karen remembers me as someone who was better than I really was. In her mind, I wonder if I am immortalized as someone she owes because I was a good employee but still had a premature ending with the company. My memory lives on - even though she is no longer able to tell it's me.

It doesn't matter, of course. I've been able to find two good jobs because of her. I gained a lot of experience working at PI: like being able to work in a technical field that I don't understand but need to still be able to answer questions, or learning about marketing so I could get that job at Novell. In the end, I owe her a huge thank you. I was able to tell her that tonight, and now... now, I think that she can forget me forever. Unless, I really am a complete legend at Power Innovations. (Somehow I doubt it, though.)

Late December back in '63

December 10 is probably one of the most underrated days of the year. But it should be celebrated with GUSTO! (GUSTO I SAY!) Because it is my mom's birthday and she deserves to be celebrated. I was trying to find a poem or song or something that fit here, but they were all really gay and my mom just doesn't deserve a gay poem on her commemorative post.

That being said, well, there isn't much more to say. My mom is the most awesome, caring, faithful woman I know and I love her more than life. She is literally my best friend. I hope that she knows how much she means to me. (She should, I only call her six times a day in order to tell her! That's right Mom, my calling you and telling you every mundane thing that happens in my life is just a way for me to tell you how much I love you!)

So, Happy Birthday, Mom! You deserve a very wonderful day!

BEWARE! You, too, can have sensitive teeth and overdraft charges!

www.premiumwhitepro.com
www.myidolsmile.com

Oh Facebook! So full of knowledge and useless information. Used for cheap shout-outs, desperate requests for sympathy and product endorsement. Facebook itself is not a scam, at least, it hasn’t gotten me yet. And when a friend of mine posted as her status:

Judy Starbright* :))) I got my free teeth whitener trial today and my teeth are so shiny and white!! I feel like a new person.. for those of u that are gonna ask were I got it at here's the link, www.myidolsmile.net use promo code: whitetoday.. you're welcome!

*name changed to protect the innocent.

I thought, “Hey! I could really use that,” and didn’t stop to question what I was getting myself into. So I typed in the myidolsmile.net. The promo code said that if you paid $1.95 for shipping and handling, the product was FREE. How can you do better than that? The website seems legit. I didn’t really question anything, especially because if my friend had done it without problems, I assumed I would be fine as well. So I ordered it and provided my debit card number in order to pay for the shipping. I got a confirmation email from premiumwhitepro.com.

The product came within three weeks. So far, so good. It wasn’t very good quality, and the gel that they raved about was nothing special, and actually pretty gross. But it was a trial, and so I wasn’t too upset…until I checked my bank account and saw that Ultifreshwell had removed $49.89 from my account. I wasn’t sure what it was for, but I thought that maybe it meant they were sending me a longer lasting package, that I could send back for a refund, or something like that. Nothing else came in the mail. A few days later, Sup*Smilebright removed $86.93 from my account. And I currently have $48.23 pending to be taken out of my account from Sup*Whiteteeth.

I’ve canceled my bank card and started fraud cases on all three transactions, and of course, have yet to see whether or not that is going to be enough. I did some research after it all happened, because the numbers that are provided on the statement for the company are completely bogus. The numbers took me to a few discussion boards that talk about the ads seen online for “A stay at home mom discovers the trick to whiter teeth!” The discussion boards also give several different company names such as Dazzle Smile or Dazzle White. But they all sound like the same thing and they all have reoccurring charges on their account. Some resorted to closing their bank accounts altogether. I really don’t want it to get to that point, but it might be the only thing to stop the charges.