Feb 8, 2003	Ghost Recon by J
	I finally did it. I managed to finish Ghost Recon on the Xbox. I've spent a few hours here and there going through the various missions in different formats to complete the 50 tasks to make the rank of General. Yes, I am an Army Green Beret elite soldier. Fear Me! This game was a total adrenaline rush for me when I first started it. It was reminiscent of playing paintball. Unlike your average first-person shooter game, you're very careful not to put yourself in harm's way as a single bullet can put your man out permanently. Now I'm just mad at the publisher for giving the PlayStation 2 owners a leg up on us Xboxers. As if the PS2 didn't already have all the good games, they released the Ghost Recon PS2 version with the additional "Desert Siege" levels that we don't get on Xbox. What gives?
Feb 8, 2003	Someone tried to burn it? by J
	A few weeks ago we got some coupons in the mail from Hollywood Video promoting their new Springville location, so today we decided to rent some movies at a price that I would consider fair. (No, I don't consider their nearly $5 regular fee fair.) One of the movies I rented was "About a Boy," a recent Hugh Grant romantic comedy. Upon arriving home, I discovered that our DVD player refused to play or even recognize the disc. Karen looked at it and noticed that it looked like it had been scratched and someone had tried to resurface it to repair the scratches. I've seen a few resurfaced discs and have never been impressed with the results, but this one was incredibly terrible. I was not even the least bit surprised that it wouldn't read. So I took the disc back to swap it for a good one. You won't even believe what the HV employee told me...
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Jan 30, 2003	Halloween Page by K
	I finally got around to putting together a page about Halloween 2002. We had lots of fun automating the porch at my parents' home. The page is still a work in progress, but please take a look! Sadly, Joel missed the fun since he was in Canada, and hopefully Lauren has forgotten. She got really scared when she was accidentally left alone in the livingroom while a bunch of people went out to watch the porch.
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Jan 1, 2003	What Could Have Been a Lousy New Year's Eve by J
	Leaving work after everyone else, I locked up before heading home on New Year's Eve. The new snow covered a layer of ice on all the windows of my car, so I turned on the engine to get it warming while I started brushing snow and scraping ice. A minute later, I was shivering as I finished getting the car ready. What kind of idiot leaves his coat at home in the middle of winter in Utah, anyway? I grabbed the handle of the driver side door only to find it locked! The power locks are supposed to refuse to let me lock the door while the keys are in the ignition unless the door is already closed, so I shouldn't be able to lock myself out like that. But it happened just the same. The only other sets of keys were at home, 20 minutes away and Karen had no way to bring them to me. Not to mention that I don't have a phone to even call her.
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Nov 2, 2002	Back from Canada, eh? by J
	I spent the last few days in Toronto, Canada. My company was exhibiting at the LONWorld tradeshow there. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures while there and we didn't even have time for a visit to Niagra Falls. It was my second trip to the Great White North, and I wouldn't mind going back for a vacation someday, eh?
Sep 24, 2002	Sprinklers and New Concrete by J
	Last Thursday we had a guy come with a ditch witch trenching machine to dig trenches for our sprinklers. On Friday we had over $1000 of sprinkler system parts delivered to our home in preparation for the big event. Saturday morning bright and early we got up and started raking gravel to get ready for the cement on our new back patio and driveway section. It wasn't long before lots of people started showing up. Read more about all our fun below.
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Sep 18, 2002	Lauren is a Teletubby by K
	Today I had a picture of Lauren on the computer screen and I asked her who it was, expecting her usual answer: "baby." Instead she smiled, pointed to herself with both hands and said "Laa Laa." She has finally figured out how to use her name! I guess that she likes the Teletubbies even more than I realized (the yellow one is named Laa Laa). I wish I'd known she would name herself so soon, it would have saved us a lot of trouble when she was born :)
Sep 17, 2002	Note to Self: Concrete is Hard by J
	Talk about hard work! I've been swinging the sledge hammer and driving the wrecking bar for a few days now and I'm worn out. Since we're going to widen and lengthen our driveway soon, I had to excavate a couple of sections of our sidewalk so that we can pour a new tapered section of sidewalk up to the new section of driveway. Read on to see what a grand time I had.
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Aug 30, 2002	Baby #2 is here!! by J
	Melanie Jayne Smith is here and we're home from the hospital. She was born Friday, August 30, 2002 at 4:39 am. She was 8 lbs 3 oz and 20.5 inches long. Everything went really well and mommy and baby are doing great! You can read more and see the baby pictures on Melanie's page
Aug 23, 2002	Rush Concert: Vapor Trails Tour by J
	I spent the evening with my good friend and fellow Rush fan, Josh, and his brother. We headed up to SLC to the Delta Center, home of the worst concert acoustics in the world, to see that band from the Great White North. It was really loud and made me wish I had brought my earplugs. It was so loud that I could actually hear better with my fingers in my ears. The music was great and they played a very entertaining concert. The drunk behind us spilled beer all down my seat not 5 seconds after I stood up.