And it doesn’t matter that I don’t have any kids yet. I’m still qualified to write about Important Principles I Must Teach Them. It’s the same with baby names. You don’t have to be expecting, or married, or even expecting to be married to pick out fifty different baby names and rank them in decreasing order of preference. People do it all the time, especially in Utah. Most girls already know their top choices for baby names by the time they’ve picked out their ideal engagement ring from the ad inserts in The Daily Universe. Notice that no husband-to-be is required for either selection.

And although I don’t claim to be among the many die-hard Baby Name Pickers, I have seen the list of Utah’s top ten baby names from 2004. Three of my favorites are in the list. Which basically means none of my future kids nor pets nor plants will be named Emma, Emily, or Samantha. I’m pretty sure that Emma’s popularity started to rise after the movie Emma came out in 1996. According to weddingvendors.com, the name Emma rose from #52 in 1996 to #37 in 1997. Which pretty much means that not enough people read these days because the book Emma‘s been around since 1815. A sad, sad commentary on society. (more…)

Last week John planned our date in advance–something new we’re trying. (More exactly, something that we haven’t really done lately and we’re trying to resurrect.) He called me at work on Wednesday to tell me the details of our date for the coming Saturday.

John: We’re going to the Springville Museum of Art and the T-Bone Restaurant in Springville for lunch.

Shannon: Fabulous. (pause) Wait–there’s a T-Bone Restaurant in Springville? Springville that has three Mexican restaurants and one non-Mexican sit-down restaurant? You’re telling me that Springville has a steakhouse?

John: Apparently.

Shannon: I don’t believe it. Where’d you get the name of this place?

He got it off of www.springville-utah.com. I decided to check out the Web site myself. I got a little worried when I saw on the Springville Calendar of Events page an announcement about the Springville Playhouse “coming in 2004!”

I looked up the number for this T-Bone place and gave them a call.

Asian-sounding woman: Hallo? Dis is da T-Bone Restaurant.

Me: (Sigh of relief that they really do exist) Um, what kinds of foods are on your menu?

Asian-sounding woman: Our av-wage is abou’ $5.99.

Me: (pause) No, I actually meant what kinds of foods are on your menu.

Asian-sounding woman: Oh! Do you wan Chinese oh American?

Me: (startled pause) Um, American.

Asian-sounding woman: American, huh. (thinks for a moment) Do you like fish?

Me: (even more startled pause) No.

Asian-sounding woman: Um, if you don’t wan fish, an you like gwavy, we have a weally good countwy fwied chicken.

Me: Burgers, do you have burgers?

Asian-sounding woman: Yes, if you wan American.

Me, thinking: Yes! I want American food! Why do you call it the T-Bone Restaurant if you serve Chinese food?!!!!

Me, out loud: Thank you very much for your help.

So on Saturday John and I ventured to the T-Bone.

As you can see, it turns out the T-Bone is a Chinese-American restaurant. Big surprise there.

It was actually a bit busy. Not every table was full, but there were people there. The inside feels like a diner, with booths set close together and pictures of classic movie stars taped to the walls. The lattice separating our tables from the kitchen was painted bright red.

We couldn’t decide between Chinese and American, so we ordered both. John got sesame chicken with fried rice, egg drop soup, and egg roll. I got a grilled chicken and swiss sandwich with fries. Given that this place was run by an Asian family, we were surprised that my chicken sandwich was much better than your average chicken sandwich, and it was even better than John’s sesame chicken. I think they seasoned my chicken with terriyaki sauce or something. But it tasted darn good. Service was quick, and the bill was cheap. Just $11 for two full meals with leftovers to take home.

A bit of an unconventional place, but I’m happy to know that Springville has one more nono-Mexican sit-down restaurant to its name. Even if I didn’t see steak on the menu for a place called T-Bone.

Dear Freshman Hilary,

By the way, attending the game with a group of shirtless (and, I’m sorry to say, extremely unmuscular) freshman boys with BYU painted on their chests does not make you True Blue, especially when neither they nor you are in the seats assigned on your tickets. Here’s a little tip for husband-hunting: don’t hang with guys who argue with the people who say you’re in their seats and then argue again with security when they come to make you move over and then grumble for the rest of the game about how stupid everyone is. You may also want to try watching the game a little more instead of talking on your cell phone and posing in pictures with your friends. I mean, that IS why you stood on the bench seat in front of me, wasn’t it? To see the game? Or was it to show off your hair? (more…)

Today is the final day of Kyra’s womanhood. Tomorrow she goes under the knife, and we’ll pick her up on Saturday. We got her in May as a six-week old kitten. Now she’s six months old–a teenager, in people years.

I have to admit that although I was in favor of getting a kitten when we did, I wasn’t sure if we’d regret our decision later. We’d never had a pet before and I was worried about turning our house into pet-hair heaven. We picked her out on a Sunday night at a family’s home in Springville who had a whole litter they needed to give away. We liked Kyra best because she was grey, female, and the smallest. She also had beautiful eyes.

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I’ve been feeling a bit bored with my usual exercise routine. It’s been the same for two years: aerobics from 5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., Monday through Friday (assuming I go all five days). Granted, the classes offer some variety—some days are step, some are interval training, some are kickboxing or hi-lo. But since we moved to our new house in Springville I’ve been struggling to push myself to class every day after work.

So I decided to try something new. I went to a kickboxing class in Springville that starts at 5:45 in the morning. (more…)

Recently I went to a seminar for work about giving and receiving feedback. Actually, it was called “Receiving and Giving the Gift of Feedback,” and it emphasized how feedback is information that helps people align their actions with their goals, and that it is a wonderful, charitable thing to throw around–so long as you’re doing it with the intent to help the victim, I mean other person. One of the main things we talked about is that good feedback is often frank feedback.

The greatest learning disability in organizations today is the inability to give and receive candid feedback.

So then a loud, portly man in a red t-shirt threw up his hand and asked, “Does this apply to spouses, too? I mean, if my wife says, ‘Does this dress make me look fat,’ I can say, ‘Yes’–right?” (more…)