An Hour til April

There are times when this year seems to be moving slow.  Those times happen to be when I find myself strapped to this here computer for my online math class.  Then there are moments like just now when I realized that there is an hour until we are in the month of April and I am shocked by just how fast the time is going.  It is a wonderful thing.  Hopefully the month of April will disappear quickly as the end of April represents the end of the semester and I am ready to be done.  I think it is the math that is wearing me out big time right now.  The time commitment alone for that is overbearing and since math simply is not my favorite subject it makes that time commitment even more painful.  I am glad that I am pushing through it and learning things and that is obviously worth something.  It just isn't a subject I find a lot of personal satisfaction in.

April is a month I look forward to with great anticipation as it is time for General Conference once again.  I love conference and am excited to hear the Prophet and other leaders of the church speak.  There is great power that comes into my life as I review these topics and try to learn from them over the course of the next 6 months.  In fact this morning I just finished listening the the October conference once again.  There are powerful lessons of a lifetime from men and women I love.  Any who know the last talk of the October conference was given by Elder Bednar and in his message he shared powerful lessons of a lifetime that he has learned from members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve that have passed over the course of the last eleven years that he has served in the Twelve.  That is what I reviewed today and it is a message that I loved hearing.  I look forward to the talks that will be shared over conference on the 2nd and 3rd.  I look forward to the stories, the testimonies and the spiritual insights.  I look forward to the things the Lord wants me to know.  As I have gotten older and learned to listen a little better, I have found so much more in conference that I need to hear, things that uplift and strengthen my resolve to carry on and press forward even when it seems so hard to do so. 

Well, now it is 37 minutes until April.  Looking forward to it. 

Rough Week

We are having experiencing some unusually busy nights at the restaurant this week and that is causing some headaches.  Because things are usually slow at night I staff accordingly.  This week I have added an additional waitstaff member.  That has not been enough and the staff is being overwhelmed.  Because of that they are stressing out a bit and that is causing the service to suffer this week.  We are already under a microscope because someone screwed up last Friday night and we got a bad review.  Once that happens it just seems to escalate and suddenly everyone starts piling on.  What I would give for a few positive reviews to hit the food review page right now.  I feel like I'm beating my head against the wall. 

A Quickie

I just pulled this up and realized that I still have an assignment due for another class.  Sweet.  I just finished my math which only soaked up 5 or so hours of my life today.  I am so ready to be done with math.  Well, crap.  I'm a bit tired.  Trying not to be completely burned out on school at the moment. Need to stay strong for a few more weeks.  I'm going to cut this short this evening because I need to get on this other assignment in order to get it in on time.  Love the student life. 

Back to the Weight Room

When spring break hit the campus was closed so I transitioned my workouts to my little workout room.  When spring break ended and campus re-opened I did not go back to the weight room but continued to workout in my workout room here at the house.  I need to have 45 workouts logged at the weight room on campus in order to get an A in my circuit weight training class.  I was sitting at 35.  Today I returned to the weight room.  With 9 more visits I will have secured my A in the class and then if I feel like returning to the home gym I will or I will continue on in the weight room at the school.  Either way I am doing my best to log in some cardio and weight lifting everyday.  I may not be the most fit person out there, I carry some extra weight.  Underneath that layer of insulation I much prefer to have strong and active muscles.  I don't like it when I let myself get weak.  Everything tends to hurt in that situation and that just isn't a lot of fun.  Shedding a few extra pounds won't hurt my feelings either.  If I can manage some of that along the way you will hear no complaints from me. 

Easter 2016

The "easter bunny" was up quite late last night getting everything together for this morning.  There were plastic eggs to stuff and hide.  There were little goodie baskets to put together though I didn't actually mess with baskets.  I really just set up three different goodie stations.  Don't know if that even makes sense.  Anyhow, I got it all together and then got to bed a little after 2 AM.  I pushed sleep as long as I could and we got up and the kids started hunting around 8. It was a quick hunt and I had to give some hints on a few eggs that were not found.  It was good and the kids seemed happy.  We then raced to get ready for church and then got over to church just as the meeting began at 9.  I suppose I could have done something to make the morning more special but the kids had fun and all was well.  

We had a great Sacrament meeting today and it helped me to ponder the Savior and his love for each of us.  Truly his life was a gift and the blessings of the resurrection that we celebrate this Easter Sunday are wonderful.  I am so very grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ.  What a blessing it has been in my life to have a testimony of the Gospel and of the Savior.  Through times of struggle and tribulation it is that testimony that I have turned to and it has helped me as my faith in Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ have lifted me out of darkness.  I am humbled and grateful for the Savior.  I know he lives and I know he loves each of us.   

This evening we went over to the folks house and enjoyed a family Easter feast.  It was good.  We invited Annie Draper to join us as she was home alone today.  She said she was feeling lonely and was happy to come and hang out with us.  It was a good time.  Had fun playing with my kids and with the three nephews in attendance.  They are good kids and such a source of joy.  Grateful for these wonderful spirits and grateful to have enjoyed a wonderful Easter Sunday.  

Something Hit the Fan

Woke up this morning to a message on the food review about a customer that walked out last night after they were seated and then missed by the wait staff.  Fabulous.  Pretty much makes me want to puke.  Having waited tables I know how hectic it can be and how hard it is to remember and keep straight everything that is going on. At the same time I think our people spend too much time doing things that are not productive and are not customer oriented.  And so this crappy review that others jumped on lead me to send out a straight forward message to all of my front end employees about customer service, about taking responsibility, about stepping up and not dropping the ball.  When I read these kind of revues I just want to curl up in the fetal position and cry, okay, maybe that is a stretch.  I think I would much rather go beat the crap out of the punching bag.  It is really frustrating because our problem was not lack of people last night it was someone missing an assignment and no one else paying attention to it.  And so we refocus. We apologize to those who were offended.  We do our best to train the waitstaff again on the importance of every customer, every table, every time.  We trust that our people will do the job right.  Often times they do and it is good.  Those positive messages are always wonderful to see.  Unfortunately when a negative message comes up it seems to fester and inspires additional comments that rip on our business.  That is a bit upsetting.  I don't like it when something hits the fan.   

Small Problem

I have a small problem at this time of year.  It's called Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs.  Oh my gosh.  I just need to stop buying them but it is so hard to resist these tempting little morsels of chocolate peanut butter goodness.  It certainly is not helping my biggest loser aspirations.  No, I indulge and it's not just a one and done scenario.  They are too good for that and since they are only around for a limited time you have to take advantage of them while you can.  Dang it Reese's.  Why do you have to do this to me every spring?  I thought maybe I should buy a few extra bags and throw them in the freezer but I think that would be counter productive.  I need to get this stuff out of the house not stock up on it in the freezer.  So yes, I have a small problem, a delicious small problem.