4:12 Playlist

Music is defining. You can tell a lot about somebody by their record collection. So here’s a look inside my brain, via iTunes. My birthday playlist for 4/12 is every song 4:12 in length.

My favorite right now from this random list is track 2, “U Get Me High.” I just finished Tom Petty’s biography, and this is my favorite song on his last album. The liner notes credit Heartbreaker Mike Campbell with lead guitar in the left stereo channel, Tom Petty with lead guitar on the right. I love that attention to production detail; as you listen it helps you appreciate the interplay of two guys who’ve been jamming together 40 years. This one’s on my iPod for running, it’s a laid-back song that lets everyone know you’re cool.

Tears For Fears — Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers — U Get Me High
The Killers — A Matter Of Time
David Bowie — Seven
Adele — Sweetest Devotion
Fleetwood Mac — Rhiannon
Brandon Flowers — Untangled Love
Sia — One Million Bullets
Scritti Politti — Sugar And Spice
Yello — Fat Cry
Pet Shop Boys — If Looks Could Kill
Xymox — Phoenix Of My Heart
Delerium — Run for It
Pet Shop Boys — I Get Along
Enya — Drifting
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark — History Of Modern (Part II)
Moby — I'm Not Worried At All
Owl City — Silhouette
Duran Duran — Virus
Delerium — Stopwatch Hearts
Death Cab For Cutie — Prove My Hypothesis
Delerium — Stargazing
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark — The Avenue
Eurogliders — Can't Wait To See You
Hot Chip — (Just Like We) Breakdown
Natalie Merchant — Golden Boy
U2 — Every Breaking Wave
Dave Matthews Band — Rooftop
Bad Lieutenant — Sink Or Swim
New Order — Rock The Shack
The Eagles — Already Gone
The Fixx — Can't Finish
Yello — Houdini
U2 — Gloria
Keane — The Starting Line
U2 — No Line On The Horizon
Dave Matthews Band — Sweet

Pearl Harbor 75

My grandfather, Hugh Morgan Weaver was in the Navy at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Whenever I asked him what it was like that day he would fall silent. He refused to talk about it. This week my brother sent me a scan of a ship’s muster that placed him on the USS San Francisco, which is more than we’ve ever known.

Records show the ship was docked for repairs with its heavy ammunition in storage, so some of the Frisco crew crossed to the New Orleans to man anti-aircraft guns, while others used rifles and machine guns to do anything they could. With help from a VA historian this week I have another muster that shows him still on the San Francisco, 7 days after the attack. I can’t confirm the role he played that day, but at least I know he was a firsthand witness to the devastating loss at Pearl Harbor.



The historian also shared a YouTube link to a newsreel from a year later showing the San Francisco returning victorious after being outgunned at the Battle of Guadalcanal and sinking three of Japan’s largest warships.


Grandpa Hugh served 20 years in the Navy and loved that part of his life. He was proud of my career to work for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and he was a patient at the West Palm Beach VA hospital — he’s the reason I do what I do. I’m proud of the man he helped me become.

Niagara River

Autumn getting started along the Niagara River border, with Canada on the left, the U.S. on the right, and Lake Ontario on the horizon.

The water below has just come from Niagara Falls, and interestingly, flows north towards Lake Ontario, not south towards the equator as it normally should. Water starting in Lake Michigan travels through the Great Lakes, into the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, and then the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic in about 15 hours.

I've been admiring this view from the Queenston-Lewiston bridge for a long time, but the actively watched international roadway and pesky guard rails have always kept me from getting a shot. On Thanksgiving/Columbus Day Monday, the line to enter the U.S. was so backed up so far that it spilled onto the bridge. I had time to slip my car into park and run across the northbound traffic lanes for a couple shots!

Stormy Sunset

I absolutely love when we get weather in Salt Lake City. There's not a lot of it because of the desert climate, but when it actually happens it's gorgeous.

I watched this sunset unfold one night on the highway home from swimming at the gym. There's a spot down the street from where I live where the Salt Lake Valley opens up, it's perfect to take in the entire valley.

Grandon Fan Club: 10 Years

Today is the ten-year mark of starting this blog. So much has taken place in my life, as I reread and consider where I was during those first posts in the right sidebar.

Posts are fewer here lately, and that's a product of becoming single a few years ago. I'm a bit more guarded about presenting myself. Facebook is also faster, but I like the longer form a blog requires.

I've gained a great deal from starting this blog. In my web work when social media was up-and-coming, I was able to say, "Blogs? No big deal, I've had a blog for a few years now." Now I'm in charge of social media policy for one of the largest federal agencies. Thank you, Grandon Fan Club.

Personally, I've learned how much I love writing. When I started this blog I thought it would be more of a photo gallery, but the desire to caption taught me to love crafting words and sentences and paragraphs. I wouldn't call what I do here literature, but I've become much better at both technical writing and storytelling. It becomes a creative challenge to decide which details to include in a story, which to leave out, and which to let the accompanying picture tell. Between working on the words and photos here, it's made me more effective at work, whether in writing email or crafting content.

After years of feeling I was quiet and reserved, it hit me this weekend I've become a functional introvert. The practice and success I've had here has made me better in social situations.

A couple weeks ago I was at a work luncheon. I was seated at the head table with one of VA's top physician leaders, along with the outgoing and incoming CEOs of Intermountain Healthcare. It was a bunch of MDs around a table talking about their world travels and the state of American health care ... and me. I didn't feel like I fit in, but I made myself ask questions and join in the conversation. One of the more important products of the Grandon Fan Club has been learning how to reveal things about myself and participate in social settings.

To my loyal readers (all three of you), thanks for joining in the journey.

Letchworth Lights

Letchworth State Park is far enough away from big city lights for naked eye viewing of the Milky Way. There's a satellite passing through, dead center, visible in the larger version. From our camping trip on the night of August 22, 2016.

Summer Vacation 2016 — Utah

Carter and Claire came from Toronto to Utah for a weeklong vacation out west. They've never been this far from home, so we packed all we could into a week!

First I flew east to pick them up.


Once we got here the kids got to see Temple Square and the Conference Center.



We took a hike to Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Ten seconds into the hike, which starts out on a hill, Claire said, "I hate hiking," and repeated those words all the way to the falls. Then she saw the falls! She had a great time scrambling up the rocks and exploring. Not one complaint on the way back down.




We hiked Arches National Park and felt how the desert is. How hot? It was 100°F but it felt hotter with the desert reflecting the heat back and no shade. The terrain here is so alien. We saw a lizard, and the kids were amazed to see cactus growing everywhere for the first time!





We've been visiting zoos around the country, so Hogle Zoo was definitely on our list.





We played with cousins, lit fireworks with them, and we went to see The BFG movie.


We also went to Seven Peaks water park — twice!

And Claire and I had snacks on the deck most nights as we watched the gorgeous Utah sunsets.


We watched 100 fireworks shows from the east side of the Salt Lake Valley on the Fourth.

Two nights before on Saturday we were on a plane taking off from our connection in Chicago — it was around 9:30 p.m. so all of Chicago was launching fireworks. What an incredible sendoff from our plane window seat.

Full vacation pictures on Flickr.

Lake Blanche Hike

Memorial Day hike up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Lake Blanche. It’s 6 miles up and back, and some spots are pretty steep. It took our group about 2-1/2 hours to get there, it’s uphill the entire way, but the view of Sundial Peak is magnificent.



There’s still snow melting at the top of the trail and many trees are just coming out, so everything is bright, beautiful green.


There's a full photo set of the hike from start to finish on Flickr.

Overlook

Another gorgeous sunset in the Salt Lake valley. There's rain in the distance tonight. Occasionally I'll have a day around the house and I'll watch the light and colors change throughout the day.

When the sun gets lower in the sky at early evening the Great Salt Lake begins to glisten as it reflects the sky, and then the sun sets right over it. Not bad.

The Spackler

I've been in Salt Lake City the last few weeks helping my brother finish two new stories on his house in the evenings after work. If you need something spackled, I’m your man.

Patrick AFB Beach

With a some extra time before my flight home from Florida, I hit the Atlantic coast to stand in the waves for an hour. I love this beach across the street from Patrick Air Force Base, south of Cocoa Beach.



I've been here before — this is the kind of natural, non-commercialized Florida beach I grew up on.


These are the leaves of a sea grape bush, and when I was young my mom showed us you can pick these to eat. You'll find these along the beaches in spots with their distinctive round leaves. Sadly, I couldn't find any grapes this time.


As a kid once when I was swimming in the surf I got my legs tangled up in a Portuguese Man o' War. A nearby lifeguard sprayed bleach on my legs, and all was well, but I had some pretty good welts. This was the largest I saw washed up on the beach, it had tentacles about 3 feet long, and I found a few babies nearby. They're gorgeous and painful.

Good Morning, Chicago

Flying into Midway by way of downtown.

Temple Square Obstacle Course

A few last shots of the Christmas lights at Temple Square.

This place is extremely popular, it was jam-packed with visitors looking around. The lights turn off at 10:00, and I showed up late to do some last-minute picture taking. I couldn't get to all the spots I wanted because of the all the people everywhere. Which I suppose is the point.

It's probably not in the Christmas spirit to knock people over with a cold metal tripod?

I had one more beautiful shot almost lined up ... and before I could click my shutter, the lights clicked off.



Here are a couple of pictures I took on a different evening at dusk. There had been a big snow the night before, which made it even more beautiful.

Holly Jolly Christmas

From my Salt Lake City road trip 2015. My first time to see the Temple Square Christmas lights!

Road Trip

My car this morning in Salt Lake City after a foot of snow. Meanwhile it's 70° in Buffalo today. What was I thinking?

Buffalo Stake Presidency

Here's a photo I made of our stake presidency this weekend.

This was a quick, unplanned shoot for three very busy men. But I had all my photo gear set up, and grabbed them after they reorganized the Young Single Adult branch presidency on Sunday afternoon.

Here's where having a portable studio really makes sense. Setup was in the hallway outside the chapel, which was a little cramped, but it worked. I ran out to the car to get a black piece of fabric in my trunk at all times for serious portraits, which I threw over my backdrop frame. Lighting is from two flashes and an umbrella.

I laid a folded chair on the ground and teetered on it so I could be eye-to-eye with President Pace, he's 6' 7", which is an inch and a half above me.

Alien Landing

I've just spent an intense week in DC — by Friday I was really ready to get back home to some familiar surroundings. Only problem was the pilot of my plane flew to the wrong airport.

As we were coming in for landing I looked out the window. Where was the Hudson River and the meandering Mohawk? Where was the New York State Capitol? Where were the rolling farms among the foothills of the Catskill and Adirondack mountains on the horizon ... why was everything flat?

Oh yeah, I moved to Buffalo.

I've lived in Buffalo only about 2-1/2 months now, and this was my first plane ride to my new home, so looking out the window caught me by surprise. I forgot it would look so different out there. I'll get used to it, right?

Homestead

Fields of corn the morning of the Mud Run at the VanDerwerken farm, Esperance, New York, fall 2014.

Kickball Truth

Had a great first night last night at Cub Scouts. Ate s’mores, met some great Scouts and Cub leaders, and most importantly, introduced the boys to “seminary rules” kickball afterwards in the gym.

I’ve got some sewing to do.

Lunar Eclipse

Every lunar eclipse for me lately has been ruined by clouds. I had much better luck tonight — the clouds rolled in one minute after peak. Above is maximum eclipse at 10:47 p.m.

Below is a shot before maximum eclipse.


Below is after maximum eclipse — a break in the clouds restored the view.