First Week of School

Mary Ellen is just finishing her first week of school. Although she started the week a bit apprehensive and anxious, she has had a really marvelous week of classes, assignments, studying, meeting new people, and having fun learning new things. Thinking back almost 40 years when she went to BYU the first time, she enjoyed it then, but not to the same degree. I think the experience of living for over 60 years makes for a better perspective at how enjoyable it can be to learn new things.

She is only taking 10 credits in 5 classes (she will be a bit upset at the "only" word - it is really keeping her busy). She started the week with Art History where they are looking at art from about 1500 to the present. Next semester she will step backwards into art before 1500. The one comment she had about this (and other) classes was that all of the instructors act like their class is the only class that is important, and really the only class that the students should spend ALL their time on. Following that class, she has a Family History class. The instructor wrote his name on the board ("Roger Minert") and asked if anyone could pronounce his last name. Mary Ellen held up her hand and pronounced it correctly. He said that she was the first one to ever do that, and asked how she knew. Her reply: "Because your neice is my daughter-in-law." The whole class laughed at that one.

On Tuesday Mary Ellen has a 3 hour intaglio class. It has something to do with etching copper plates that is well beyond me (at least beyond my interest level). Mary Ellen is really loving this class as she has wanted to take printmaking classes since she first arrived at BYU. She also attended the first devotional.

Wednesday is her long day. Besides Art History and Religion, she also has a three hour water color class. Since it was the first meeting, no one had any materials to work with so the class was pretty short. It should get going next week.

On Thursday, besides her intaglio class, she has a seminar where they invite artists in to speak to all art majors. The teacher for this class was the one who got her into the program so quickly. A number of people in the class were complaining that the class was two hours long and interfeared with other classes they wanted to take. He response: (1) it used to be no-credit so no one would come, (2) the artists that come to speak are the best in their field and the students will enjoy their talks and learn a lot, and (3) the other classes aren't as important, so if they don't like the fact that they have to take this seminar every semester, they can get a different major!

Luckly Mary Ellen has Friday off to catch up on assignments, the family, the home, and church. She has been more than wonderful to me this week, in spite of being so very busy.

I don't think there is anything a husband can do that is more wonderful that helping his wife to soar. She is a marvelous person, a very fine artist, a wonderful wife, a marvelous friend, and very supportive of me and works to meet my needs. Helping her achieve her dreams is the least I can do for her.

Birthday and Gifts

My birthday was Wednesday. Mary Ellen and my kids made it a wonderful day. We did a combination of things, including having lunch at the Mongolian Grill in Springville. It is a really nice hole-in-the-wall chinese place with good food that is really inexpensive. The people there are really nice but barely speak English. I have decided that doesn't always equate to good food, any more than nice americans running a hamburger joint equates to good hamburgers. I do find, however, nice people who run any business make the business a better place to shop.

Irony: During our lunch in Springville, we got a call from Eric & Sarah, who live in Springville, who we were planning to visit after our lunch. They too had gone out for lunch -- in Lehi. They wanted to stop by our house (in Lehi) after lunch.

Many of the gifts I received were really wonderful and thoughtful, including a couple of gift cards to a book store and Outbacks (both of which I love), a wallet (which I needed), a book (non-fiction - can't put it down), and a MindStorms set from my sweetheart. Some of the gifts were far more random. I know that I can respond with thanks and appreciation for the thought of the gift, but how do you respond when the giver of a "questionable" gift asks if you like it? Or worse, if they had spent a lot of time and effort to find the "perfect" gift that ended up to be something that really wasn't your style or taste, then how to do you respond?

If any of you reading this blog gave me a gift, thank you! And I assure you, your gift wasn't one of the "random" ones. :}

More Computer History Ramblings

I am constantly amazed that it isn't necessary good software that succeeds in capturing the market, but well marketed software. Several cases come to mind:

Back in 1978, CP-M was the best microcomputer operating system with the most users. MS-DOS (Microsoft DOS for the younger crowd) was slower, bigger, less features, and generally shunned by most users. So why is CP-M unknown now and Microsoft the "king" of software? Blame IBM. When microcomputers started appearing, IBM said that they would never catch on. (You may have heard the quote in the 50s by the head of IBM saying that there will only be a few hundred computers ever sold - must be the same guy who said that there will ever be a market for microcomputers.) When IBM saw that they were wrong, they quickly came up with the IBM PC. (Again, for the young folk, the IBM PC wasn't the first PC. It sure wasn't the best PC. Its architecture was really poor. It was put out in a hurry. But it was made by IBM and was well marketed. So it survived, the rest - Osborne, TRS 80, Commodore 64, Kaypro - did not. IBM didn't have the time to come up with an operating system, so they negotiated a "deal" with a young nerd named Bill Gates. They could have gone with CP-M but they got a better deal from Bill. Although I don't care for Microsoft, or any of their products, I will say that Bill Gates knows how to market.

For a word processor, Microsoft Word started as one of the worst word processors. There were several much better than Word, including WordPerfect, XYWrite, and others I can't remember. IBM had a pretty good one that I used for a while. But each one disappeared as the Microsoft Marketing Machine pushed its product harder and harder. WordPerfect held on to the Number 1 slot though, until Windows came out. For some reason, WordPerfect didn't think that it was necessary to have a Windows product. So they were left in the dust by the Windows version of Word. Then Novell bought WordPerfect and didn't know what to do with it. That finished WordPerfect as a contender in the word processing market. Corel later bought the product and still sells and supports it. I still prefer it. It is a lot easier to use. But I use Word too because "everyone uses it".

Likewise, Excel was a bit player in the spreadsheet market. They weren't first. Visicalc was. They weren't the best. They were one of the worst. But marketing wins. For many years, Lotus 123 was the best and premier spreadsheet. But they kept the price high and didn't have any student option. Microsoft almost gave away the Office suite to students. So the students bought Office and became the next business leaders and pulled Office into businesses.

Powerpoint, on the other hand, has been a great product for a long time. It really started as the number 1 presentation product and no one has even gotten close to competing with it.

Trip to Visit the Mouse in his House

I admit it. I am a Disney fanatic. I LOVE Disneyworld. And Disneyland. So when Mary Ellen asked where I wanted to go for my retirement trip, there was really only one place to go. When I was a kid, I never got to go to Disneyland. Although it was only 400 miles away, that seemed like forever for a young kid like me. My first trip was a few months after we got married when we went to visit Mary Ellen's aunt and uncle in the Los Angeles area. I was hooked on that first trip. The next time was many years later when Mary Ellen was pregnant with Rachel, our 5th. We had just bought our first camper and used it to go to Disneyworld for the first time. It was a wonderful trip. We stayed in Fort Wilderness, the campground on Disney property. It was (and is) the best campground you will ever see. Somehow, there were no flies, mosquitos, or other bugs. There were Disney movies every night. You could go swim in the lake, or bike around the campground, or take the boat or bus to any of the theme parks. We saw the light parade on the lake every night and the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom.

This trip was different but just as wonderful. We decided to not rent a car and to book the entire trip through Disney - the flight, transportation to the park, the hotel, and even the food. We thought it would be the most "convenient". I figured the food would be mediocre, but I was wrong. It was fabulous. We dropped our luggage off at the Salt Lake airport, and the next time we saw it, it was in our room in the Caribbean Beach Resort. We got off the plane and walked onto a bus which took us to the resort. We ate a wonderful dinner at the resort that evening. It was steak with a Caribbean flare. Everything about the meal was great - the service, the steak, the vegies, and the dessert.

The next day we spent at Animal Kingdom. It is still one of the best parks to visit. I especially love the Safari ride. Disney has designed it so you ride through the jungle, then the savannah, seeing animals all around with no cages or bars. Besides the safari, there is also a couple of jungle walks (Asia and Africa) with animals and birds and beautiful pathways through the forests. We ate dinner at the Tusker House, a buffet with foods from Africa and Asia. Again it was wonderful.

On Day 2, we started out at Typhon Lagoon, a huge waterpark with a lazy river (we went around a couple of times) and a wave pool. By "wave", I mean a real tidal wave about 8 feet high at the start that travels the length of the pool (probably 200 feet) ending in a small wavelet for the kids. Lots of fun. There were also slides and chutes for the more adventurous (not us).

After the waterpark, we went to Hollywood Studios. They have a new ride - Toy Story 4-D Midway Arcade - where you ride around with 3-D glasses from one midway arcade to the next, shooting virtual darts, balls, pies, etc at various targets. There are about 5 different arcades each person has a chance to shoot at and build up their score. No prizes but you get "ranked" versus other people in the park that day who rode on that ride. Really a LOT of fun. We also saw the mini-cars in well done "movie" set, Muppet 3-D, and several other rides and shows (Beauty and the Beast was really well done.) We ate dinner at the 50s Cafe, where they had old 50s furniture, TVs, TV shows, etc in small 50s dining rooms where you eat with about 4 other families. The waiter/waitress is "mom" (since you are in Mom's house), constantly chiding patrons to "get your elbows off the table" or "stop fighting with your brother" with appropriate punishments (standing in the corner, singing "I'm a little teapot", or the like), with mom-style dinners (I had meatloaf, Mary Ellen had steak).

Day 3 was Epcot. We really enjoy watching the kids playing in the fountains between Futureworld and the World Showcase. Also they were having their International Food and Wine Exhibits, so there were many extra stalls with food from all over the world that you could sample. Part of the meal plan was a snack for each of us every day, which we could use in these stalls. We especially liked the cheese sampler with some wonderful cheeses. We also enjoyed The Seas, The Land, a new to Florida "Soaring" ride - taken from Disneyland where you are "gliding" over various California scenes. It is so realistic that you lift up your feet because you glide so low. That evening we ate at Cape May in the Beachclub Resort, a seafood buffet that was terrific.

The last day was Magic Kingdom, with its rides (Jungle Cruise, Journey with Winnie the Pooh, etc) and another wonderful dinner at the Crystal Palace, another buffet with beef tenderloin, salmon, and many other wonderful dishes. It also was a "character" spot so we ate with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eyore, and Piglet. Check out the pictures via the link at the right.

It was Florida, however. So it did rain every day. It was in the upper 80s and very humid. The crowds weren't bad though and no hurricaines this time. But we were prepared and the rain didn't really bother us at all. Mary Ellen could have done without the heat though.

Alpine Loop

This past week, Mary Ellen and I took a drive up American Fork Canyon to view the fall colors on the Alpine Loop. The Loop is a narrow, winding road that starts in American Fork Canyon, loops up around the back of Mt Timpanogos, and ends up near the mouth of Provo Canyon. Although the Utah Valley isn't showing much fall color, we found a lot along the Loop.

For those of you in Utah, I would greatly recommend this trip as something not to be missed. The colors don't last long and they are nearing their peek. People told us that the colors weren't too great this year. We found that true on the Provo Canyon side of the Loop. But the American Fork side was breathtaking.

For more photos, click on "Alpine Loop in the Fall" in Our Photos on the right.