Hall of Baldness Party!

The long awaited time has finally arrived:  my first trip away from Edmonton since we moved there last August.  We are in Utah for the next week or so, and near the very top of my to-do list is to get a chance to spend some time with all of the dear people who have given me so much love and support over the last 10 months.   So, we are going to have a Hall of Baldness party!

Who: All Hall of Baldness members, families, and friends.  Actually, anyone who knows about the Hall of Baldness and wants to come is welcome to.  This means you!

When: Monday, June 18, 2012, 5pm until bedtime, whenever that is for you and/or your kids!

Where: My parents backyard, email me if you forget/don't know where this is.

What: A (potluckish) party!  We will have the BBQ heated up, and we will provide hotdogs, drinks,  a few sides, and cups/plates/silverware.  If you come, bring a main dish (meat or something similar) and/or a side dish and show up for a good time.

If this date/time doesn't work for you, send me an email and we can work out another time to get together.  I need to say thank you in person to as many of you as I can.

See you Monday!

Hall of Baldness: Raimondas

I met Raimondas while on my mission in Lithuania.  He is a super cool guy, and spoke English impeccably.  He knew all the cool phrases and words and got along really well with all of the missionaries.  He would sometimes come out to eat with us and the like.  Raimondas is currently working as a chef of some sort, and seems to be doing rather well.  

Brittney and I had a chance to visit Lithuania about a year after we were married.  We were dropped off at the apartment that we were going to rent for the few days we were there and due to a mix-up of times had to wait on a bench in a nearby pedestrian zone for about an hour with all of our luggage until the landlord could come and get us set up.  We had just got settled on our bench and started looking around when who should walk up but dear old Raimondas.  I can't tell you how good it was to see a familiar face.  It really started our visit in Lithuania off on a good foot.  

Anyways, Raimondas is a great guy and it is a pleasure to have him in the Hall of Baldness.  Raimondai, welcome to the Hall of Baldness!

Hall of Baldness: James

James was one of my Cub Scouts back at Stanford.  He is a bright kid, full of energy and spunk.  He is very athletic and was a lot of fun to have as a Scout.  He is also a great older brother to his younger brother Chase.  I was really touched by James' decision to join the Hall of Baldness.   He is a welcome addition to its numbers.  James, welcome to the Hall of Baldness!

Hall of Baldness: Anna, Coleman, Dan, Dave, Hyrum, Jacob, Jake, John, Leland, Matt, Megan, Rob, Robby, Russ, Ryan, Scott, Tiffany, Vhari

These lovely folks are some of my dearest and oldest friends. Leland, Matt, Robby, Russ, Ryan and Scott all went to the same elementary school as me. I specifically remember that Robby and Leland were in my second grade class, Ms. Griffiths' class, which was the first year that we lived in my parents' current house. I remember the other four from times throughout the rest of elementary school, but it is hard to remember specific classes and who was in which one after that. Anna, Dave, John, Megan, Rob, Tiffany and Vhari I remember best from high school, although I have vague recollections of Rob being on one of my soccer teams as a child. Dan married Megan, and Coleman is one of their sons, and Jake married Julia, another friend from high school and church. Hyrum and Jacob are Robby's two boys. Before I get into details, these people are just the best. They are the friends that I try to see when I am back in Provo. They are the friends with whom I had such fun times from high school and afterwards that I can always remember. They are all such good people and have been such examples to me in my life. They are also some of the funniest people that I know, and our get-togethers get me laughing in a way that little else can. I treasure these friendships and am so grateful that I have had friends like these by my side my whole life long. This post will necessarily be longer than usual, but hopefully it will be worth the read. Each of these people deserve an entire tome written in the praise, but as I want to get this posted and my memory is sometimes random, I will be forced to post a few things that come to my mind as I think about these dear people.

Megan, Dan and Coleman: I met Megan at some point early in high school. Her father was an English teacher at Provo High, and we had several classes together. Megan is a great people person, very smart, and also one of the funniest people I know. Her sense of humor is so brilliant and clever and just kills me. Brittney and I went to my ten-year high school reunion and we sat at a table with Megan and Dan among others and the entire night was just fabulous. Not because of the program or anything, but because of how funny everyone was. I remember one Christmas eve late in high school when Megan and Scott and I went to the mall to do some last minute shopping. We ended up sitting on a couch in the middle of the mall for what seemed like an hour, analyzing the people walking by, and how they held hands, and what that said about them and their relationships. What a fun day. I also remember that somehow I got free tickets to go to some swing dance at the high school, and ended up going with Megan. Neither of us knew at all how to swing dance, but we had so much fun faking. That night was memorable for another reason as well. On the way home some idiot leaned out of his car next to us at a light and punched in the window of the car we were in (my friends car). It was one of the most random and crazy things that has ever happened to me. Megan is a terrific writer, and I love following her goings-on over at her blog. I have met Dan several times at get togethers, but I feel like I know him somewhat from Megan's blog. He seems like a terrific guy, and a lucky one to be married to Megan. Coleman was the braver of the two twin boys, and I am happy to welcome such cuteness into the Hall of Baldness.

Megan, Coleman and Dan

Dave and John: I met Dave and John in high school as well. We had many fun times together playing basketball and Bond. Dave is also one of the funniest guys I know. He has a zany humor that just cracks me up. We were lucky to be able to drive out to his wedding reception when we lived in California and it was great to see him and meet his lovely wife. John is a gentle giant. He is one of the strongest people I know, and also one of the kindest and gentlest. I have never heard him say an unkind word about another soul. He is genuine and just good. When I heard that he was engaged I was overjoyed. I have yet to meet his wife, but I am sure she is as amazing as he is.

Dave

John

Robby, Hyrum, Jacob and Leland: My friendship with Robby and Leland goes back to my very beginning on Grandview hill. I remember playing with them from second grade on. Going over to their houses after school. Playing computer games like Mist and SimCity. They were my friends that I would walk home from school with each day. They are both great people. I haven't seen Robby for a while, but a few months ago we chatted on skype for a while and caught up. I was so touched by his sons' decision to join him in showing support by shaving their heads. I think Hyrum and Jacob have a great example to look up to as they grow older. Leland is one of my favorite people in the world. He is soft-spoken, humble and kind. He is one of the best basketball players of the lot of us, and always was able to pull off some amazing circus shot to get the ball in the hoop. I haven't been able to see him in person for a few years now, but was overjoyed to hear of his recent wedding. I can't wait to meet his wife. She is a lucky girl.

Robby, Hyrum and Jacob

Leland

Anna, Jake, Matt, Ryan, Rob and Tiffany: I met Anna in classes during high school. She is a great soccer player and good friend. The first date I ever went on was to the Halloween dance with Anna. Our group all dressed up as Waldo (from Where's Waldo). It was pretty awesome. Jake married Julia, who was in my ward during high school and also friends with all of us. I look forward to someday meeting him. I remember Matt from elementary school and also from high school soccer. I remember his dedication during practice and the effort he put into becoming a good goalie. He was pretty successful and we had some good times during high school soccer. Ryan is another gentle giant. I remember him most specifically from Calculus classes in high school. Our second year class was rather small (7-10 people) and so we had a lot of chances to interact and associate. He was funny and smart, and I still remember the things we learned, and our hero Guillaume de l'Hopital. Rob I remember from youth soccer and high school. Tiffany I also met in high school. She married another of our friends who I also knew from youth soccer. That makes keeping up with friends a lot easier, when they are married to each other.

Anna

Jake

Matt

Ryan

Rob

Tiffany

This theme continues as we move on to:

Russ and Vhari: I didn't meet Vhari until high school, where I had various classes with her. But Russ and I go way back. We played soccer together as long as I can remember, all the way through senior year varsity, and even some intramurals at BYU. I remember our freshman year they didn't have a freshman/sophomore team and we didn't make the junior varsity team. Together with another friend we worked our tails off over the next year to make sure that didn't happen again. And the next year we achieved our goal. I also had great fun studying for AP US History over at Russ' house. We like to combine studying of history with ping pong, Excitebike, and Rage Against the Machine. We really appreciated the perspective on US history that many of their songs gave, and of course they were just awesome to me, since I hadn't really heard much of them before. Russ and Vhari ended up getting married. Just this last summer they were in San Jose for Russ' internship and we were able to have them over for dinner. What fun that was, to meet their two darling daughters and reminisce. They are just wonderful people.

Russ

Vhari

Scott: Even among all the wonderful friends I have listed here, Scott's friendship stands out in my memory. I knew Scott from elementary school, but we really became good friends while studying for Calculus and other classes in high school. Scott's friendship came at I time where I didn't often feel that I had many friends. We began by watching the Simpsons and hockey, or playing pool or Cruisin' USA while listening to Led Zeppelin and Tom Petty. Scott's sense of humor seemed to mesh well with mine, and for some reason we just got each other. We eventually convinced my parents to get a pool table and then spent many hours playing pool and ping pong over at my house. My friendship with him was at the core of all my other friendships throughout the rest of high school and it was really through him that I started doing things with any other friends. Scott is brilliant and hard-working. He is a talented architect. He has a sarcastic and pointed sense of humor that I really appreciate and which I think is fantastic. I will always think of Scott's friendship and support with immense gratitude.

Scott

So, why were all these wonderful people covered in one post, you might ask? And what did you ever do to deserve such fantastic friends? Well, the answer to the second question is still a mystery, but the first can be explained. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Scott organized a head-shaving get-together at his Mom's house while he was in Utah. This was amazingly well-attended, and many people shaved their heads together. The others who couldn't make it joined in via Skype or sent pictures in later. A few days later I was chatting with Scott online and he told me of what had happened, and sent me a few of the pictures. I was literally sobbing to myself, overwhelmed by the amazing show of love and support by these people who are so dear to me. Scott, Leland and Leland's wife Lacie stopped by my parents' house and surprised my Mom, who didn't recognize them with their shaved heads. She, like me, wept as she heard what they had done. Over the next few days as a few more of the photos trickled in from those who couldn't be there in person, I was again overwhelmed and humbled by many the angels that my Father in Heaven has placed in my life. I will forever be grateful for all of these people. Anna, Coleman, Dan, Dave, Hyrum, Jacob, Jake, John, Leland, Matt, Megan, Rob, Robby, Russ, Ryan, Scott, Tiffany and Vhari, welcome to the Hall of Baldness!

Hall of Baldness: Lana

Lana is a friend of Brittney and her family. I have never met her, but I am grateful for her support and concern. She is a mother of two and also a graduate student, working on a thesis relating to parent-adolescent communications. She was a few years older than Brittney, and Brittney remembers her kindness in reaching out to make her feel welcome. I do know that Lana hasn't lost that ability to reach out in kindness and love, and I hope to meet her someday. Lana, welcome to the Hall of Baldness!

Hall of Baldness: Brittney

Brittney is my wife. We have been married for 7.5 wonderful years. We have lived in Utah, California, and now Canada. Together we are the parents to three beautiful children. Brittney is amazing, inspiring, and vivacious. She is the dearest person to me in the world, and I love her tremendously. When she is with me I feel at home and that all is right in the world. Her touch is therapeutic.

Brittney is a fabulous teacher. She is trained and gifted as an educator of children, and I love watching her interact with and teach kids. Our first calling together as a married couple in church was teaching the 4 year olds Sunbeams, and it was great to teach alongside her and learn from her. She is very humbled and sometimes intimidated by teaching adults, but she is one of the best adult teachers I have ever been around. She gives incredible talks in church, and it isn't just me that thinks so. After one of her last talks, someone came up to me and said that while they were listening to the talk they leaned over to their daughter and said: "this is just a perfect talk." Just last week in Sunday School the teacher mentioned a topic that Brittney's talk had been about and said that she had wished that Brittney would just give her talk again, since it was so good. The funny thing was that the teacher thought it had been just a few weeks ago that Brittney spoke, but in fact it was around 3 months ago. Brittney currently teaches the women of the church once a month in Relief Society and after every lesson I get a cavalcade of women who all tell me what a great job she did. I am just jealous that I don't get to listen as well.

Brittney is a great mother. Motherhood has its ups and downs, and all in all is a challenging task for anyone, but there is no one else that I would rather be raising my children with. She does such fun things with the kids, and is good at being aware of the parenting techniques we are using. She is always thinking of ways that we can do better as parents and as a result I always feel that we are trying to improve. She does a great job with a blog and simple journal that really help capture the joys of raising kids

Brittney is very creative. She is constantly thinking up new projects to enrich our lives or home or to capture a thought or feeling that she has. She has designed and made dresses, blankets, a quiet book, a bean bag and duvet covers, to name a few. Each of these items took a large amount of time and energy and they all turned out amazing! With our friends at Stanford she was always experimenting with new recipes for cakes and cookies and they got really good at making ice cream cakes. I was blessed to be able to benefit from the fruits of their always tasty experiments.

Brittney is kind and considerate and is so often thinking of others and what we can do for them. She maintains great relationships with friends and family even though we are far apart from them. She is a great talker and listener and has a way of being able to share herself deeply and also ask questions that get beyond the normal small talk and really open up relationships and conversations with others.

Brittney has an incredible voice. I love hearing her sing. One of the many things I loved about living in California was participating in our ward choir together. Brittney and I got to sing as part of a trio for "The Heavens are Telling", by Haydn. A few weeks before we moved out of the ward we sang "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" in Sacrament meeting. We sang each verse as a duet, and another couple helped us out with the 4-part harmony on the chorus. I loved sitting during Choir practice on the back row with the basses and hearing Brittney's beautiful clear voice soaring with the Sopranos and creating an angelic feeling in the room. It is a treasure to be able to hear her sing around the house and sing to our children. There is no one's voice I would rather hear.

Brittney is a wonderful person, and a joy to be around. I am thankful each day that somehow she agreed to be mine. She helps me be a better person, and I am so glad I get to spend the rest of our lives and all of eternity together. Brittney is my best friend, my companion, and I am the luckiest. Brittney, welcome to the Hall of Baldness!

Hall of Baldness: Tiffany

Tiffany is Brittney's elder sister. I have known her pretty much as long as I have known Brittney. When Brittney and I were dating, and then for our first few years of married life in Provo, Tiffany and her husband Todd and daughter Mary were the people we hung out with the most. We would babysit Mary for them, hang out on nights and weekends. I remember when we all got into the show 'Alias' on dvd and watched the whole first season in a few nights

together (at least it seems like that in my memory). From the very beginning of our relationship, Tiffany and Todd have been so friendly and really made me feel a part of the family. We have had so many fun experiences together over the years: family reunions, New Year's Eve parties, picnics, a camping trip. Tiffany has been great at visiting us as we have moved around. She came out to California when Brittney was pregnant with Charlie and I was away in China for 2 weeks, and several other times for more random trips. Most recently she made it up here to Canada to help out for a week during one of my treatments.

Tiffany is an amazing person. She is very hardworking and ambitious, while also kind and loving to those around her. She is trained as a nurse and has been sacrificing her evenings taking online classes to get her Master's degree, which she is almost finished with. She is also a dancer, and has gotten certified to teach Zumba and organized several "Thrill the World" dance events in the Salt Lake City area. She seems to always be experimenting with new recipes and foodstuffs, with delightful results. She is an example to me of charity, and I have seen her provide amazing amounts of service, care and love over the last year or so to a friend and former neighbor of hers that had cancer. She is a wonderful mother to her own children, and one of the people with whom I am most comfortable leaving my own children if we ever need to.

She always opens her home for us when we are visiting and makes us feel right at home. She is great at talking to people and making you feel loved by showing her sincere interest in your life and activities. Brittney and I have spent countless evenings spent in fun and deep conversation with Tiffany and Todd. I am grateful to have Tiffany's example in my life, and especially for the sister and friend she is to Brittney. I know that, outside of perhaps her own parents, Tiffany is the person that Brittney admires and looks up to the most, and whose companionship and friendship she thoroughly enjoys. Brittney is always happy when we have a chance to be with Tiffany, or even talk about the next time we will be able to be together. Tiffany, welcome to the Hall of Baldness!

This was Tiffany's joke picture, with brothers Jordan and Jared (who actually shaved their heads), which was photoshopped by Todd to give the rest of the family a surprise. It was pretty funny to say the least, and gave us a few moments of confusion and puzzlement. Next is a picture of her after her real haircut, which she got done here in Edmonton. It also gives me a chance to put in a picture of my cutie-pie kids!

Hall of Baldness: Justin

Justin is our brother-in-law. He is married to Brittney's younger sister Sarah. They got married a few days after I had my first chemotherapy treatment and as a result I was unable to attend. This made me quite sad, but I was grateful that Brittney at least was able to be there. I have only met Justin a few times, during our stop in Utah on the way up to Canada, but I can already tell he is a great guy. He is personable, hard-working, and has a fun teasing way about him, especially with Sarah or the nieces and nephews. I do know that Sarah is happy, and that makes Justin all right in my book. I look forward to many more years and chances to get to know him better. Justin, welcome to the Hall of Baldness!

p.s. Justin shaved his head on an extended family swimming outing and this picture was taken in the locker room. What is awesome is that Sarah didn't know that he was going to shave his head, and so when he emerged sans hair, it was quite the surprise. Someone might have her reaction on video (if you read this, get the video to me somehow, and I will post it here).

Hall of Baldness: Blaine

Blaine is Justin's second oldest son and was our neighbor at Stanford. He was one of Alec's best friends and Alec still talks about him and reminisces about their times together. Blaine, as you can tell from the "after" picture, has a wonderful smile, which just makes you want to smile back. He had kind of a quiet mischievousness about him, and was a great friend and companion to the other kids in the courtyard. He is getting really good at the piano, and even teaches what he knows to our friend and other former-neighbor, Ella. He had incredible attention to detail and was able to color perfectly in the lines at a very early age. He is eager to share and help others, is a great brother to his siblings, and I remember him fondly. Blaine, welcome to the Hall of Baldness!

Hall of Baldness: Justin

Justin was our next-door neighbor and my good friend and Stanford. I first met Justin and his wife Amy when we were at the Stanford Computer Science Department PhD Admit weekend. It was fun to find out later that they also decided to go to Stanford, and we ended up being in the same ward for our whole time together, and next door neighbors for our last year there, and just a courtyard away for the four years before that.

Justin was a great friend to me in so many ways during my time at Stanford. He was my best friend in the CS department, and I stopped by his office many times when I was in need of someone to chat with. It was so nice having someone who was also going through the PhD program and could understand the stresses and ups and downs of it all. He was also a great friend at home, especially when we could chat out on the playground while watching our kids play together. Justin is a great conversationalist, and I always loved our talks. He has a very honest and inquisitive way of looking at things and always had new viewpoints that helped me see other sides of whatever we were talking about. He also was best BYU-fan friend, and we could always celebrate BYUs wins and commiserate about their losses together. Suffice to say, he has been a great friend for the past 5 years.

Justin is a bright guy, a great teacher and a brilliant researcher. I sat in on one of his lectures last summer when he taught a class on computer graphics and I thought he did a great job. He is a great father and husband, and was always a good example to me on those fronts. I am honored to be his friend. Justin, welcome to the Hall of Baldness!