On Saturday we went to our old neighborhood in West Jordan for a birthday party for Christian. Before the party, though, we stopped at Jordan Landing to do some shopping. As we navigated the parking lot, Soren’s sharp eye spotted the green-clad girls and leaders outside the doors of the store selling their wonderful pre-packaged morsels of bliss and shouted “Hey, there’s Girl Sprout Cookies!” Actually, I think that’s a great name. I like it better than the original.

I just got back from 3 days in San Francisco where I was doing some training. It was enjoyable, but I definitely missed Julie and the kids. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to check out the sights but when I did I kept thinking how much they would have enjoyed it. The cable car in particular. The boys would have absolutely loved it. My hotel was right next to the famous Powell Street cable car, which is the original San Francisco cable car line. There are a bunch of others now and the newer ones are all done with overhead cables but this one is the classic with a big cable under the street that’s pulled along the route by a massive motor and pulleys in a big building on Powell Street. Very cool. I frankly couldn’t believe that in this day and age where people aren’t responsible for their own mistakes, that the cable car was still wide open. You’d think SOMEONE would have taken a spill off of it, or got off in front of an approaching car and got hit and sued the city and everything would be ultra-safe now but no, it’s still the classic wide-open trolley where you can literally kick the cars that are passing you on either side — not that I did that or anything, but you could .  The Powell Street car goes past Lombard Street, the famous windy road, and as you pass it and look straight ahead you’ve got an incredible view down to fisherman’s wharf and the sea and Alcatraz Island, which is my favorite place in S.F. I’ve had an ultra-fascination with Alcatraz ever since we toured it when I was a kid. I’d love to go back again, but the latest tour leaves at 4:00 and I was in training until 5:00 each day, so unfortunately missed out. But we went to a great restaurant, Scomas, located right on the end of Pier 47 with a nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Oh it was good seafood. My hotel was also just 2 blocks from the Chinatown gate, so of course we did that too. But after a short while it became nothing but a mass of eclectic junk-filled shops — along with some good Chinese restaurants of course.

This was a great opportunity for me to go and along with the Microsoft training I attended a few weeks ago, I’ve had to be gone for quite a bit the last month. It definitely would have been impossible without all the help Julie got from her mom and Jessie and Megan and Katie. Julie didn’t have to go through a single night with the twins on her own and hardly even had a day when she was by herself. Come to think of it, she probably had more help with me out of the house than she has when I’ve been home. So thank you to all those who have served and helped us so much, not just the last month but since the twins were born especially. It’s been awesome to be on the receiving end of so much service.

I discovered another great benefit of twins this morning.  Both twins awoke around 4:00 am and it was my turn to feed them.  Unfortunately they didn’t fall back asleep after eating as they usually do, so I put them each in their car seats and began rocking them back and forth.  Well, they didn’t seem to like that so I picked up their car seats and began walking around with them.  They did like that and just sat peacefully while we walked around the dark house.  It was taking a while to get them to sleep though, and the thought struck me that I really wanted to get a workout in before work, but didn’t think I’d be able to since I’d been up so long getting the twins back to sleep.  Then I realized I had a 20 – 25 pound weight in each hand.  Hmmm…   I did curls, upright rows, shoulder lifts, tricep curls, and even worked my calves by standing on tiptoe and walking around the house with the car seats hanging by my side.  Sure they were a little bulkier than normal dumbbells but it worked all right.  I should have taken pictures as I’m sure it made quite a sight.  Alas, it was dark and I was the only “big kid” awake.  The babies seemed to enjoy the little workout too and by the time we were done, they were fast asleep.

I just completed a fun project that I’ve been working on since the beginning of the year. It’s for VeriSign and launched yesterday morning. The biggest problem online businesses face is getting customers to actually complete their order. One of the big reasons people don’t complete their order is a lack of feeling that the website they’re on is secure. The rate of online cart abandonment is very high and VeriSign is on a quest to change that with their new extended validation site seal. As part of the launch of this new site seal, McCann put together a campaign revolving around Liberty Fillmore, a Cart Whisperer who travels the world seeking to rescue abandoned shopping carts (the metal and plastic, not online, kind). He’s a man on a mission and feels strongly about what he does. Who better to speak to the plight of abandoned shopping carts, both real and virtual, than the world’s only cart whisperer? Here’s a message from him…

—————————————————————————

Let’s cut to the rocky mountain oysters: this here’s one of them chainmails.
Or chain letters. Whatever. It’s galldurn serious stuff. See, the spirit of a shopping cart that was abandoned just up and takes the spirits of anyone who don’t forward this message and its correresponding interweb site onto at least 10 friends. T-E-N. An idiot’s dozen. But, fear not, it ain’t all curses and fire & coldstone. If you do forward this on to your interweb pardners, you just might get the name of your crush on your pager machine or in a text or dream or something.

The site?

www.NoMoreAbandonedCarts.com

It’s about me, Liberty Fillmore: the world’s only Cart Whisperer, a lone wolf in a world of coyotes, a sprinklefied donut in a pretendgious muffin world. I rescue abandoned carts. And this interweb site tells my story.
Please take a look-see. And look-see that your friends look-see as well.

Preciate cha!

Liberty
Sworn Defender of Abandoned Carts

—————————————————————————

So get on over to the site and check it out. There’s some fun stuff. Currently our YouTube video, the “World Premiere”, is in 3rd place for most viewed with almost 1 million viewings since yesterday. And if you happen to upload any of your own photos of abandoned carts you can be entered in a weekly drawing for an overstock.com gift card.

So I mentioned that I’ve been in Redmond, Washington on the Microsoft campus since Wednesday for some training on the Windows Live platform. Lots of cool things that may or may not be practical and/or applicable to the types of work I’m doing. It’s been a fun trip though. My first impression was that I couldn’t believe how big this campus is. It’s truly a campus, easily bigger than BYU. There are over 30,000 employees that work here in some 45 large buildings. It’s really it’s own city. Really incredible. I think I’ve eaten more and better food than any 3 day period in my life. Our first night, we went to this great Oyster bar restaurant but got no oysters – instead Filet Mignon that was perfect. I’m here with 2 co-workers, Jason and Buster. The next day Microsoft provided a big breakfast and then a very good prime rib and tortellini lunch with awesome deserts. Then, last night a bunch of us training attendees here, went to this great Italian restaurant in Bellevue, called Maggiano’s. Everything was served family style and included a bunch of different appetizers, great green salad, the best baked ziti I’ve had, mushroom ravioli, loin tips, salmon, calamari, oysters, tiramisu and blueberry cheesecake. There was a ton of food and it was all excellent. Unfortunately I was dumb and left my camera at home, but I do have a few pictures from a Korean guy who was here. This was quite an international group. Microsoft brought in about 35 developers from all over the world. I met guys from Mexico, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Korea, Japan, and England.

Well, it’s been a LONG time since I last blogged.  Julie and I have been barely able to stay awake a lot of the last month so that’s my excuse.  I am currently sitting in a conference center on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington attending some training.  I’ll write about that a bit later.  The important thing though is that Julie is home alone with 6 kids.  And it hasn’t been easy.  I flew to Washington last night and called Julie to get the update.  Soren had drawn all over Peyton’s whale report that was due this morning.  Eden was busy throwing up and dry-heaving.  And the twins were both screaming.  Fortunately, there has been some help.  Megan came up and stayed the night, taking Maren with her in the guest room.  And then this morning Julie’s mom came up to stay for today and tonight and I guess a lot of tomorrow too.  We have received and continue to receive so much service.  We’re definitely blessed.

This morning Julie and her mom took the babies to the doctor.  We’ve been pretty excited for this visit just to be able to see how much they’ve grown in the last 6 weeks since their 2 week check-up.  I knew they’d grown quite a bit, but I was surprised by how well they’ve done.  Roman is 10lbs 2 oz and Maren is 9lbs 5 oz!  And they went from -3% (not even on the chart in other words) to 30% height and weight.  So they’re really packing it on and the doctor said they look super.

Check out this story from the Tucson Citizen newspaper.

Can you believe that?  Actually, I can.  This story is completely infuriating to me.  Since when do Mexican government officials get off coming to America and calling for a change of laws that are “unjust” to their constituents???  I guess, since President Bush and many of congress, including my good old former representative (from when we lived in Salt Lake), Chris Cannon, have decided to stay soft and even give in on many key illegal immigration issues.

Of all the statements in the story, there is only ONE valid one:  “Amparano said the Mexican legislators are already asking the federal government of Mexico for help for Sonora.”  WHAT???  ALREADY???  That’s what you’re SUPPOSED TO DO, Mexicans.  @#$%$@!

Every single quote from a Mexican official in that story smacks of “You are responsible to take care of us”, like these:

“Mexico is not prepared for this, for the tremendous problems” (Well that’s MEXICO’S problem, right?)

“What do we do with the repatriated?” he asked. “As Mexicans, we are worried. They are Mexicans but they are also people – fathers and mothers and young people with jobs – who won’t have work in Sonora.”

But maybe the most twisted arguments are the ones that appeal to our sense of family:

“We are one family, socially and economically,” she said of the people of Sonora and Arizona.”

and even worse…

“He said the Arizona law will lead to “disintegration of the family, as one ‘legal’ Mexican parent remains in Arizona and the other returns to Mexico.”

Personally, I think it’s about time that we saw some common sense immigration laws being made in the U.S.  Heck, we sure don’t see any of those in Utah, nor from what I hear, in Texas.  What happened to the days back when I was in high school in Texas when a local McDonalds got raided by INS and EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYEE got shipped back to Mexico because they were here illegally?  We laughed about it back then, but I’d sure love to hear of a story like that now.  So a great law, removing the source of income for the Mexicans, is passed, but now we have to listen to (and read about) Mexico crying about it.  And undoubtedly, this will lead to liberals crying about the “injustices” and lack of compassion we have for others, and calling for change.  It’s unjust when we enforce the laws, and just when we look the other way?  How twisted is that?

[audio http://www.netrixweb.com/OneBoyOneGirl.mp3]Oh man, I am SOOOO tired today. I swear, the twins have been up all night the last 2 nights, not to mention the time spent eating regularly every night since we brought them home, and it’s really starting to take it’s toll. Julie and I are both dragging. We were warned by other parents of twins how little sleep we would get with 2 babies, but I just don’t think you can understand or prepare for it until you’ve experienced it. My experience has allowed me to formulate my TWINS theory (an abbreviation for The Widening Increase of No Sleep, of course ). This theory states that as the number of babies increases, the amount of sleep attainable by the parents decreases exponentially to zero. In other words, we’re not getting half as much sleep as we did with 1 baby. We’re getting far less. Given this theory, I can’t imagine what it must be like to have triplets or, heaven forbid, quadruplets. Those parents must seriously be walking zombies.

Logan is 4 years old today! He wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese in Sandy for his birthday tonight, so we’ll be braving the mass of children and cheap rides and games tonight! Anyone who wants to is welcome to join us. By the way, I worked at Chuck E. Cheese in high school in San Antonio for a year or so. I could turn out a mean pepperoni pizza! But the highlight was the few times the regular Chuck E. didn’t show up and I got to BE Chuck E. Cheese! Up on stage, dancing around, sweating like CRAZY! Woohoo!!! Actually the real highlight was probably making 2 large sausage pizzas for Shaquille O’Neal who had a weakness for Chuck E. Cheese sausage pizzas. He was from San Antonio and would come in often the summer before he was drafted and believe it or not, would order 2 large sausage pizzas for himself and then challenge us to a game of the arcade basketball game that was back with all the games. You know, the dual kind, like this:

I beat him once. But of course, Shaq’s never been a great free throw shooter anyway.

So anyway, sorry for getting off track! I doubt Shaq will be there tonight, but WE will be, to celebrate 4 great years of our little boy. They got off to a rough start. I will forever have awful memories of seeing our little baby boy a few weeks old, literally just skin and bones, hooked up to tubes and monitors as he suffered with RSV in the hospital. It was a scary experience (and the main reason I’ve said we’re not taking our twins out of the house, except to go to the doctor, until spring). But he pulled through and has always (well, ALMOST always ) been a delightful little boy to have in our home. Here are some of my favorite pictures of Logan through the years. We love you Logan! Happy Birthday!

So this is my response to Jenny and David’s blogs about embracing winter. David, I like your positive thinking there. However, as a fellow Texan, I REALLY struggle with this. As I mentioned in the title, the only embracing of winter that appeals to me is the really tight, right around the neck, kind that would render it non-existent. Actually I really don’t mind it for 2 days — Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I like having a white Christmas. But then I want all the white stuff to go away and not return for 363 more days. Or at least stay up in the mountains. It’s pretty up there. However, it is not pretty piled up by the foot all over my sidewalks and driveway. And the last month has been especially crazy with snow. We’ve had a TON of it. And it isn’t warming up so it can melt, so instead, it just keeps piling up. This morning is a prime example. At 4:00 am this morning I woke to the new double alarm clock we have (aka “the Twins”). When I went downstairs to get a bottle, I noticed out the windows that we’d had what looked like a few inches of new snow sitting on top of the walkway I had just shoveled yesterday. Of course. Well later, I went out to shovel. By the way, all this shoveling would not be required if a certain Texan who dislikes the snow — ok, fine, it was me– hadn’t tried to start his snowblower without checking the oil level first, thereby seizing the engine and causing $400 worth of repairs that are currently being undertaken at the mechanic while we receive foot after foot of snow. Anyway, when I went out to shovel and opened the garage, not only was it snowing quite a lot, but there was actually ALMOST A FOOT of very new, very wet and heavy snow awaiting me and my surgically repaired back. The truck is parked outside on the driveway and with all the accumulation, it now looked about 8 feet tall, the bed is filled up and the snow on the ground was up ABOVE the tires. Our mailbox now looks like it is about 8 inches off the ground. And to top it off, we have a 4-FOOT TALL berm of snow running clear down the street, blocking our driveway, leftover by the snowplows during the night. In the backyard, the 3-foot tall fence we put in dividing our yard from our neighbors has about 1 foot of fence visible on it. And the big hole we dug for our trampoline is almost filled to the ground level with snow now. It’s crazy! It took about an hour to clear a path to get the cars out of the driveway. I also cleared the walkway leading to our front door. And I’m happy to report that 2 hours later, we now have at least 2 more inches covering what I’d uncovered. Isn’t winter great!!!!

Now honestly, we REALLY DO need the moisture. We’ve been at or near drought conditions the last few summers here in Utah and our water levels are extremely low. So it is nice to get this. However, we’ve had big snowfalls in previous years and almost always, in the spring it warms up too fast causing all that snow in the mountains to melt too quickly, which leaves us with hyper-saturated ground and flooding and mudslides. So my preference would be to instead have a spring with TONS of those AWESOME South Texas rainstorms where the rain isn’t really falling, it’s flying horizontally and not in drops, but in SHEETS of water. Add in the huge thunder and lightning and it’s an amazing spectacle. I could live with a month or so of that to get our water supply.

Twins Update
Anyway, like I said, I did finally get the snow cleared enough to get a car out. But by that time I had given up on actually going in to work today. The snow continued (and continues) to fall and it would take a LONG time to get in. So I’m working from home. But I did have to take the twins in to be weighed. Last week, at their 2 week checkup, they were still almost a half pound lower than their birth weight. So the Doctor gave us some special formula and wanted to see them back in a week to be weighed hoping they would gain 5 to 7 ounces by then. Well, they pulled through with flying colors! Maren went from 4lbs 15oz to 5 lbs 9 oz, and Roman went from 5 lbs 11oz to 6 lbs 3 oz, putting each of them just above their birthweight!