First visit with our cousin, M. Jo

Eli in Bonneville High School's The Music Man

Updated Canada Trip Slideshow

Petersen FHE

Fun times with Drew & Jess (Fixing Jeff's car)

Adventures of the Snake Librarian

I see some very interesting behavior working with the public at the library. Allow me to share an example.

A few days ago our circulation supervisor came to me to report that a woman was parked along the curb near our crosswalk (a dangerous situation with all of our foot traffic). Apparently both the supervisor and another employee (on two separate occassions) had politely asked the woman to move her car. She ignored both of them. Could I try talking to her? Sure. I walked outside thinking, "How hard can this be?"

The woman had several windows cracked in her car, so I went around to the driver's side window and said, "Excuse me ma'am. I'm afraid you can't park here. It's a safety hazard because your car blocks other drivers' view of the crosswalk. You're also blocking library traffic. This is a two-way thoroughfare. Would you mind moving your car?" Nothing. She sat, head and eyes down, apparently engrossed in a book. I knocked on the back window and repeated myself, trying to vary my speech so that it would be more interesting and elicit a positive response from her. Nothing. "Ma'am, please don't ignore me." Nothing. After a few minutes I thought to myself, "Is it possible that this woman is deaf or blind? No, that can't be right. Why would she be driving?"

Since I was standing quite close to the car and since it appeared I now had some time on my hands (after all, I was already on my lunch break), my eyes caught sight of the title of her book. I can't tell you the exact title, but it had something to do with being a good Christian (I'm serious about this one). Okay. I decided to move to another position. I trampled through the bushes along the curb so that I was in her direct line of sight--along the front passenger side of her car. I waved my hand frantically back and forth in an attempt to get her attention. "Ma'am? Ma'am! Ma'am!!!" Finally I approached the unrolled passenger side window. At this point I was a bit exasperated. "Ma'am, if you don't move your car, I'll have to call the police." Her head snapped to attention, and she replied tersely, "I can park here. This curb isn't painted red. I know the law, and it's not against the law to park along a none-red curb. Go ahead and call the police." Well, to be truthful, I wasn't actually sure what the police could do (I'm a bit fuzzy on parking laws), but my words were intended to get her attention and to ultimately ensure the safety of our other patrons (we've had some close calls in the past). I furrowed my brow, hesitated a few seconds, and then decided to leave. What else could I say at this point?

I walked inside, went to my office, and began to write an email to our facilities department to request that the curb be painted red. A few minutes later, I spoke with the supervisor who had initially reported the car to me. "Well, I couldn't get her to respond either. I told her I'd call the police, but even that didn't work." She repied, "Well, it must have worked. She moved her car." Big sigh. All in a day's work. And now I can say that I've been completely ignored by a grown woman.

Kind of recent pictures

My family with our friend, Ricardo, from Argentina.

Our butter sculpture creation of "Petersen Memories" at the Petersen Family Reunion at East Canyon. This sculpture was in remembrance of the girls' cruise to Mexico. Though the butter shavings resemble ice chunks, the trip did not turn out as ill-fated as the Titanic (though we did get off to a very rough start by missing the boat).