For Whom the Dogs Bark

Sounds like a cool experience.

I rolled my ankle a few months back and when I started exercising it (doing ankle circles at my desk, etc) it started getting better more quickly so I think that was a good call to start using it and putting just a litle pressure on it.

Hope your having a great time despite the ankle.

Your comment on the left: "they make the road go up and down...put it back after the race?" makes me laugh soooo hard!

Hey, I was born in Hong Kong. Fun reading about your trip to HK and Shenzhen. Definitely a place more for shopping than for running.

I noticed you ran the Texas Marathon this year. GREAT time! I want to run that marathon some day. My daughter lives in Kingwood and I have run the Greenbelt trail there many a times when I visited her and the grandkids.

Hope your ankle is doing better now that you're back to "flatland"!

Flatlander, meet Smooth. Smooth, meet Flatlander. Just so you know, both of those names are aliases. I found out Smooth wasn't her real name when I was trying to track her last year on the Boston Marathon.

Smooth's husband is a stake president just like you Flatlander.

I'm totally spreading rumors here.

Joe, back in the U.S. now, sitting in the Newark airport, thanks for the comment. My ankle still feels fine, so if I am not too jet lagged I plan to go for a regular run in the morning. I think it is properly rested.

Burt, thanks, it was a great trip and the ankle is ready to go.

Smooth, thanks so much for the comments (and for the comment on my 1-1-2010 race report). I have seen your blog and enjoy reading it. I was telling somebody during this trip that I think Hong Kong is one of the top 5 cities in the world. It is a very exciting place, very efficient with a great mix of big-time business interests and tons of unique local flavor. I hope to visit again sometime soon.

I live over on the northwest side of Houston, but I have friends in Kingwood, some of them may know your daughter's family. I'm already registered for the Kingwood marathon this year. The following year (2012), New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, plus they moved Cowtown to Sunday so we are fast running out of marathon options around here. Hope to see you down here for it sometime. Great job in Boston, by the way.

Burt, LOL, that will never happen. The church is a little thin here but not that thin!

I'm sure you'd make a great Stake Pres, flat, if you really aren't one. Wouldn't ever happen to me in my stake. Too many lawyers, doctors, presidents of major corporations, etc. :-p But hey, I'm happy to be in Primary (where I've been since we moved here 4 years ago) and leave all the "big" callings in the ward and stake to those that want them.

Wes, thanks, really not one. That is just a rumor that Burt helpfully started. Actually, I am on the high council, which is a lot of fun. Second time I have done that, did it years ago during law school when I lived in New York City.

For all on the blog who aren't LDS and are scratching their heads as the Mormons rattle on, please forgive us and our jargon. There is actually nothing all that mysterious about it. Mormons have a lay ministry and these are all different offices in the church that ordinary people do for a period of time apart from their regular jobs and then it rotates to someone else. A stake president is a person who presides over several congregations, a bishop presides over one congregation (called a "ward") and reports to the stake president, high council is a body that advises the stake president, to name a few. Wes teaches "primary", which is Sunday School for young children, one of the best jobs of all. He must be good or they wouldn't have let him do it for four years. We take our duties seriously but honestly we don't consider one job more prestigious than another, and we don't believe that God does either. But we do honor and revere our leaders, especially our prophet, and we certainly have a lot of fun and joy in our service. So there you have it, Mormons 101 in a nutshell.

Welllll.....there's a certain level of wisdom, spirituality, and experience you have to obtain to be called as a stake president. You ooze that. Wes and I haven't quite reached that rung of the ladder.

Is there a goof ball rung?

Goof ball is not good, very ominous. Goof balls become bishops, because they relate so well to teenage boys.

Hmmm, ok Mormons...here's some Catholicism 101 since we've been around awhile - you don't want your bishops relating TOO well to teenage boys.

JK! (Probably shouldn't have gone there, sorry God!)

Oh shoot, Joe! I've been holding my bladder here at my desk. I almost lost it there.

There was a little tiny voice in the back of my head telling me not to make the bishop comment. Of course I forged right ahead.

Sorry to take the class out of your blog Flat, most people are mature enough to resist...most people.

No problem, if I had waited just a minute I would have seen the connection and worded it differently, but no, not me. I wonder if Burt is back yet from his afternoon break?

I'm back now. I can't help but feel partially responsible to the downward spiral of this conversation.

Smooth probably hates me by now.

Burt, actually, I think I was the one that started it on it's way down. You have to forgive me for my jaded view of callings. I fully believe that the people that are called (no matter what the calling) are supposed to be there. I support each and every one of them.

Let me explain my (warped?) view of our ward. If there are ward members that actually read my blog, maybe they'll learn something. Our ward spans from about 5 miles from the city to about 25 miles. The rich people live up north, us poor people live in the "ghetto." There is a very distinct line - typically drawn by zip codes (yes, Utah bloggers, we have wards that span more than a couple of blocks haha). So there's that division.

Then the types of people that comprise our ward further divide. As I mentioned, we have a disproportionate number of "white collar" lawyers, doctors, CEOs, and even a Pittsburgh Steeler. Not only that, but we get the medical and dental residents that move in, stay for a couple of years, then move out. The funny thing is that all of these students live better than I do (on student loans) and are social climbers. So, when they find out that I'm just some computer nerd that lives in the ghetto, they move on. No skin off my back.

So you have the haves, the have-nots, and the students (have-nots, but will eventually be haves). We've had a couple of families that we were friends with from the time we moved in (they were students) but as soon as they were doctors, they moved up north and they were assimilated into that social group, never to talk to us again.

I have held "big" callings in the past, but I've never aspired to them. I like my Primary calling, working with the 10 year olds, and doing Scouting. The Bishop asked me if I wanted a change and I told him no way. I'm happy where I am.

Sorry for the long post, but I feel like I had to explain my comment so that non-Mormons wouldn't think that people that are called to be Bishops, Stake Presidents, High Counselors, etc. is because they're rich, powerful, etc. That has nothing to do with it, and I don't want people thinking that I believe it does. Some of the best leaders I've ever had were ones that were not well off. They were humble, willing to help, compassionate, and were sensitive to your particular situation. I've also had an incredible Bishop (he's now our Stake President) who is the CEO of a network TV station here. He's probably one of the richest people in our stake, but he is the most humble, kind, warm, personable person I think I've ever met. He didn't get called to be a Bishop or Stake President because of his money, power, influence, or anything like that. He was called because he is a very good man. I respect him highly.

Now, if you've read this far, I hope I've explained myself better. After rereading my post, I see how it could be taken the wrong way...