sick irony

somehow between working on my thesis this morning and now my jump drive has erased itself. i hope that more of my electronic equipment can break down, except that i don't own anymore. luckily, though, this time i think it's funny because i only lost a few days worth of notes and my work on cpt 3 this morning (my other 2 chapters are safely in my gmail inbox). anyhow, my computer, then my cell phone, then my jumpdrive. someone doesn't want me writing on networks!

John A. Clark Gravesite in Haifa

Haifa is situated on the Northern Israeli coast. The town is primarily located on the south end of a large harbor, and rises quickly from the coast up to Mt. Carmel. There are two primary areas of Christian burial. One is the larger of the two and is located right on the water on the road from Haifa to Tel Aviv. The second is downtown, on Jaffa and Rothschild streets. I found the grave site here. The third picture down shows John's grave in the foreground and Adolf Haag's in the background.

Gardening and Thomas the Train

Here are some pictures of William helping to water the garden. Amy bought him a cute little watering pail and he loves to come with and help out.

In Heber, UT they do a children's fair on Memorial Day. They have a petting zoo , toys, activities and a real Thomas the train. Will loved seeing Thomas and the highlight was a ride through the country side on Thomas. It was the cutest thing. He kept saying "ride on Thomas!" An amazing old gentleman came through the passenger car where we were, dressed as the conductor and was taking to the kids and handing out Jr. Engineer certificates. Whenever we ask Will, "what did you do today?" he still responds, "THOMAS!"

Jerusalem, Jeff Goldblum, Bethlehem, and USB

Friday we went to Jerusalem and saw... everything. It was incredible! We had considered renting a car and doing the whole thing on our own... bad idea. We decided to hire a tour guide for the four of us. Moshe! He took us to see the Wailing Wall, the Jaffa Gate, the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish quarters of the old city, the Dome of the Rock, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Garden Tomb and Golgotha, David's tomb, the room of the Last Supper, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, and Bethlehem.

Bethlehem required us going out into the desert, meeting a Palestinian driver who took us to Jerusalem (Jews are not allowed), where we met a Palesenian tour guide. Guide #2 took us to the church on the spot where Jesus was born. We then saw the Shepherds field, and the place where Ruth gleaned in Boaz' fields. To get us back to our Israeli (Jewish) tour guide, we had to be driven to an abandoned security checkpoint back in the desert and meet our Israeli tour guide. At one point, I would not have been surprised to see masked gunmen surround our car. Pretty cool (in retrospect). Bethlehem is very depressed economically, but Jerusalem is booming. The Palestinians are shooting themselves in the foot.

Also, I saw Jeff Goldblum playing the lobby piano in our hotel last night. Today, he was in the executive club, and I told him he did a good job on the piano, and asked if he was learning to play. He thanked me and said he was always a student. He is very tall, and has shaved his head to look bald.

Finally, I have taken 200+ pictures, but have no way to upload. I will do so after I return. I also took some video. Love you all. I love Israel. Went swimming in the Mediterranean today. Surreal.

A title, a title, my master's degree for a title

So, my thesis defense is fast coming upon me. But even faster, I need to turn in the form that schedules the defense; and that form demands a thesis title. I am taking nominations and original works.

Some ideas:
Mom and Dad had a great Al Gore one that I hope they'll add
The Night of the Living Gothic Network.
From Newton to Fig Newtons: Gothic Literature and Informationalism
Spinning the Web: Gothic Literature and Networks
It's Alive! The (dis)Embodiement of Informationalism
The Invasion of the Gothic Snatchers

Any ideas?

Memorial Day in Portland

The Bennion Family Builders congregated at John and Wendy's to construct a 3rd generation play structure. The photo above is taken Saturday evening after the concrete posts were poured and set.

The bottom photo is Monday afternoon after the neighborhood kids had discovered the newest community toy. Please notice the following features:
*Dual swing (visible in foreground)
*2nd swing in distance next to fence
*Dowel totem pole steps on farthest upright post
*2 steering wheels on walkway
*rope assisted climbing wall (with plastic climbing rocks to be added:)

I'm Having Thesis Dreams

So, I was reading a chapter in The Network Society yesterday for my introduction, and had the funniest dream when I fell asleep right after. It started off with Brian going to a football game with his face painted blue (I think this is because the chapter talked about how informationalism is like neurology). After the game he said he had to work on his 80 page biology paper. I said I felt his pain, and that I would be happy to look over it if he wanted. And then suddenly I was talking to my thesis chair on the phone (which in and of itself is bizarre because I hate talking on the dang phone--family members excluded), but we got cut off, and then I was talking to one of my readers who was watching the Jazz game, and his whole family showed up. And then I went into my room (in the dream) and stared at the computer screen, unable to come up with anything to write. And then I woke up, and wanted to go back to sleep. My subconscious is going crazy, I think.

Found It!!

I found and photographed John Alexander Clark's grave in Haifa. I will post photos tonight of the grave. It is located in the Templer (sic) cemetery in downtown Haifa northwest of the intersection of Jaffa and Rothschild streets. The grave is beautiful. It has a large square base roughly 2 ft tall. On top of the base sits a round pillar that rises to about 5-5.5 ft in the air that has been roughly cut symbolizing a life cut short. The grave gives his birth, death in 1894, names the parents and that he was a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. Nearby is an identical gave for another missionary Adolf Haag. Ezra Clark (great-great grandfather to my generation) purchased both headstones. The grave has a beautiful tree growing on it. Apparently, these graves were used by the church to show the Israeli government that the church had before had a presence in what is now present day Israel, and this helped secure permission for the BYU Jerusalem Center.

St. Joe

As you all probably know, I've been working on my thesis. Saturday I took my laptop up to campus to continue writing one of my chapters. I was sitting in the JFSB, minding my own business, when my mother board fried and my computer crashed. Although I had backed up my files the week before, I had not backed up my latest notes on my reading, nor the chapter I was writing (this was even round 2 for the chapter). I called HP, and they said they could offer me a new computer. I cried to Mom. But then Joe came to the rescue!! I talked to him when he got off work, and he promptly went to the store to buy some software, and magically recovered all my files and put them on an external hardrive for me. What a gem!! Thanks a million trillion, Joe! You saved my sanity!! Three cheers!


Also, I signed up for classes at USCarolina. I'm taking English novel pre 1800, Victorian Poetry, and teaching pedagogy. Pretty exciting!

Movie Recommendation

Elisabeth (my friend from the grad program) and I went to see the movie "Amazing Grace" this evening. It was really good! It's PG, and has many solid British actors (Albert Finney, Rufus Sewell, Nicholas Farell, Cirian Hinds, Michael Gambon (dumbledore)). It's all about Wilberforce and the abolishment of slavery in the British Parliament. 19C Great Britain is such an interesting time I think, and I thought the movie did a good job not being too emotional about a very emotional topic. It's worth seeing. :)

JBB Family

These didn't make it somehow in the Dunlap Family section so I'm "reposting". Great looking family!

Dunlap Family Get Together April 2007

Go ahead and say it... we're the new blog hogs! We had such a great time in Wenatchee with Grandma and Grandpa Dunlap, Max, Burke and Chantelle. We took over 300 pictures so, believe it or not, this is just a small sample. Much Love!!

Dunlap Family Cont'd

Dunlap Family Cont'd

Dunlap Family Cont'd

Dunlap Family Cont'd

Dunlap Family Get Together April 2007

Anger Management

I love this commercial. It reminds me of parenting like when Nathan put his appendage in his dirty diaper while I was changing it and I punched the floor so hard I sprained my hand. "AAAAAAHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

So you think you have probems

Frontline Special

Did anyone catch "The Mormons" on Frontline?

How was it? Thoughts?