For some strange reason we have toads at our house. First, there was the toad that we caught in a mousetrap (here's a little refresher for those who forgot), then we had the toad that lived under our garbage can at the side of the house. Most recently, I was mowing the lawn in the front yard and as I approached a thick patch of grass a toad jumped out onto the sidewalk (seconds before taking a trip to the catch-bag the hard way). I picked him up and he seemed surprisingly calm (I'm assuming it was a "he" because he was not hysterical about the fact that he was almost "eaten" by a lawn mower). Suddenly, he jumped out of my hand onto a not-so-soft clump of dirt and then took cover under the alberta spruce.

In an unrelated story, I got my hands on one of the new twenties tonight. At first I was somewhat skeptical of the significance of the changes, but I quickly became a believer. I'm a little bothered that the government is lying to us, though. The whole campaign advertises that the new colors and features will make your money more secure by making it harder to counterfeit. This is a half-truth, though. The fact of the matter is that when criminals are trying to copy the money they will be laughing so hard about how stupid the new money looks that it will be impossible for them to stay serious long enough to make a good copy! Honestly, the new twenty is absolutely ridiculous-looking! The clincher is all the little mini-20s on the back of the bill.

If it were up to me we would pay with toads instead of twenties.

I returned to Reno late last night after a two-day stint in San Jose. I went for a work-related meeting at our Mt. View office. It was nice to get away from the Reno office for a couple days - especially after starting the week with a grumpy Monday.

On Tuesday night we went to watch the Mighty Ducks play the Sharks. It was a ton of fun to be at the game, but the Sharks were pathetic. Their strategy seemed to depend heavily on luck, which was unfortunate because they had none. Still, it was fun.

We finished with our meetings at about 4:00p, but I was a little hesitant to try driving home through San Jose at that time. Traffic was horrible, so I bummed around the area until the traffic thinned a little. I ended up hunting a couple caches. I went by Fry's. I pretty much did all the usual stuff you do when you're in San Jose.

Going down I used Yahoo! Maps and the directions took me right where I needed to go. Coming back I used Streets and Trips. BIG MISTAKE. I started following the directions, but after going in a strange direction for a while I decided to zoom out the map and see where I was headed. The directions had me going in a zig-zag pattern up to Oakland and San Francisco and then back to Reno. I decided to turn around and reverse my original route, which ended up working out much better.

Anyway, made it home and enjoyed sleep in my own bed. I liked the hotel they put me in - it was very posh. The pillows and comforter were down and were very comfortable. Still, I slept better in my own bed.

While Emilie was doing her Super Saturday thing, Mike and I had our own Super Saturday. The plan was for a lot of fishing and a little geocaching. We got up early and headed to Davis Creek park only to find the entire pond empty. The ground was pretty dry, too, so it must have been empty for a while. We headed for the next spot, which was Crystal Peak Park over in Verdi. Fishing wasn't too good, but we became fascinated with the huge number of crawdads all over the place. There were claws and heads and tails - some of them attached to other pieces and some of them not. We made a really great video, which I plan on posting in my next blog.

We tried fishing in Mayberry Park but had about the same luck. We met a very strange man that informed us that the "big boys" are sitting out there waiting to bite. He scared us a little.

We went to a few caches and were met with slightly more luck than we had while fishing. One cache appeared to be missing (the It's a Jungle in Here cache), but we located the Steamboat, Ice Station Zebra and Teed Off in Reno caches. I had already found these, but since we were in the area it gave Mike a chance to find them.

Speaking of finding caches, we stopped by Richard and Misti's on Sunday to drop off a baby gift (the gift itself was not a baby, but rather was for a baby). We decided to go hunt the Rusty's Revenge (Don't take any wooden Nickels.) but met ultimate defeat. It's not too bad of a hike to get to the cache, but the cache itself was ridiculous to find. We looked for about 30 minutes and then gave up so that we wouldn't get locked in the park. I don't know if I ever want to go back to look again.

Otherwise, my life is work. Work. Work.

Well I have been really busy....
Since I have been released from Releif Society 2nd Counselor and put in as Primary President Ive been juggling two Home, Family and Enrichment nights (one encludes a Super Saterday) while getting settled as the President, finding teachers and getting the Primary Program ready. AHH...
After October 11, I will be free from the Enrichment night duties and I can focus on Primary. I am excited for Primary, I am thankful for dependable teachers who do the majority of the work.
I still have not received my new car. It has been over 4 months since our first trip to Reno Subaru, when we were conned into buying a car that we didnt want and in the end had recinded the deal (which we are still having problems with). They found a replacement car for my lemon and it is here but we are waiting for the mix ups with the car that we bought and was not supposed to buy and the financing owed to us on the lemon to be resolved. I am losing patience since I have been in a rental car for almost a month! I think this situation has been a big trial for me mentally, emotionaly and I hope to let Lithia Subaru and Subaru of America know that their customer service bites.
Other than that I kinda have my web page going. I put it on hold untill after October 11 (dang Super Saterday) but I will have it up with some more exciting stuff about me. Not!

Mike and I were hiking around the lake out in Double Diamond and encountered one of the biggest, ugliest spiders I've ever seen. Mike's digital camera had a dead battery and I only had my 35mm camera, so the pictures I did get are still on film waiting to be developed. I went back last night and took some pictures with a digital camera, though, so that I could present the evidence to you.

If anyone wants to go see it in real life I can tell you exactly where it is.