a birthday ode to a DOBO

(Director Of Basketball Operations)
Since all of my other entries were late I thought that I would write Daniel's on time. The punctuality of my blog post is my birthday gift. Relish this Daniel. You clearly are special.Daniel is a great guy. From the moment I met Daniel in my first post-mission, mangy apartment, I knew we could be friends. He is a good basketball player, and at the same time he can play with our family and not be totally bored or ruin the game, or he at least does a good job of pretending. When we talk about basketball and I give opinions he does not ever make me feel like I should be quiet because he knows much more about this than I do. He is very smart and quick with witty repartee. He can hit a softball out of a little league field. He makes fun of all of my sisters, Carly the most, but all of them as well. But he makes Carly very happy. I knew that when they were dating, engaged, and when they got married. I knew and still know that he makes Carly happy.
Daniel is always up for a good time, which may entail lighting fireworks, getting slushies at 3 in the morning at the 7-11 on University, fantasy sports, scaring my sisters by yelling at them in a convincing Mexican accent while they were taking a late-night walk on the streets of Mexico, playing homerun derby, spraying Martinelli's on other people to celebrate historic World Series victory, and visiting John grandparents.
On top of being athletic and sharp, I know Daniel to be a spiritual and sensitive man. During their courtship I saw how much he loved Carly and how he treated her, and their relationship set an example for me, their older brother, when I met Carrie.

While you may be the "butt" of the John High Holidays, I salute you Daniel. You have a big nose, and you have made it so far.

Birthday Shout Out Part VIII

Again, this comes a day late, and for that I am sorry. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! For those of you who have never met Thomas Douglas John I will describe him for you. He loves eating graham crackers and milk and watching sports on television. He enjoys very much winning athletic contests, especially if he feels he won with guile and not with his overwhelming athletic talents. His jump shot has little to no arch. He does a lot of behind the scenes stuff for our family that does not get recognition, but he does it because he loves serving his wife and kids. He loves buying Christmas presents. He sunburns easily and painfully. He makes killer frappes (a very thick milkshake). He has surprised multiple friends of mine with how hard he will throw them a baseball because their dads did not treat them as equals. On a similar note, I always felt that Dad treated me more equally than other kids' dads, which meant that he smoked me in Scrabble for juniors, basketball, even Yahtzee! (which should be a game of chance). His tendency to treat kids as equals is what makes him very good with teenagers. He is very funny. As a child he liked the Pittsburgh Pirates. I have very fond memories of him and me at New York baseball games. I have even fonder memories of Fenway Park (coming back and beating the Royals in the late innings, staying up past midnight to see us beat the hated A's, being escorted to my seat by security on Mormon Night). He taught me math calculating Dwight Evans' batting average and Oil Can Boyds' earned run average. My dad and I share our helmet-like hair. We both made fabulous decisions on whom to marry. My dad has vivid dreams and talks in his sleep. His laugh sometimes starts with a quick weaze and goes into quick yelps of ah ah ah ah. That's how you know something is really funny. He was the QB of his high school football team, and at the same time he has perfect pitch. He is a modern Rennaisance man. Happy Birthday Dad!

Birthday Shout Out Part VII

Really this post is a phony excuse to show off this final pic of my beach bod...I mean...HAPPY BIRTHDAY Hillary!
Well, I know your birthday was a couple of days ago, but since Carrie put me in charge of your birthday blog shout out it comes late. Yes, I know, you are shocked.

I like Hillary because she is a lot like me: a little absent-minded, has a big head, is coordinated and likes sports, but maybe will never achieve the professional athlete dream. She is brilliant, warm, kind and sensitive, funny. She makes delicious foods that I like to eat. She is a bit of a people-pleaser. She has had a sultry voice from the age of 4 on, though it does feel awkward to describe your sister's voice as sultry. She is all those nice things, and at the same time adds just the right amount of fierce independence and competitiveness to not be a doormat. In fact, never cross a John family child if you plan on cheating, being unfair, or challenging their intelligence. They will tear your heart out and serve it to you on a platter, even Alicia, Hillary, and Matthew ("the nice ones").

So Happy Birthday Hillary. Even if this birthday post was all about my gratuitous skin beach photo here, I think it was worth it.

Birthday Shout Out--Part 6

Today we want to wish a very happy birthday to.........Meredith!!

Meredith is pretty awesome and here are a few reasons why:

She is always happy and has a beautiful smile.She is talented and fun.She brightens everyone's day.
She is a great friend.
Happy Birthday!!

Birthday Shout Out--Part 5

We also owe a belated birthday shout out to...........TINA!!!

Tina is great because she is so loving...

...and willing to have a good time...

...and always up for an adventure!

And lots of other reasons besides those (we just don't have very many pictures on our computer to illustrate). Tina, we hope you had a great day and can't wait to show of Springfield when you visit us in May. Happy Birthday!

Birthday Shout Out--Part 4

This post is a few weeks late, but we wanted to give a big MISSOURI birthday shout out to Matt!


Some of my favorite memories of Matt include:

• Playing nertz with the Johns the first time I met them and Matt saying "D'oh" every time someone beat him to a spot. I couldn't help but laugh even though I had a really sore throat.

• Being peppered with various "Office" trivia questions and Matt knowing the answers better than Wikipedia.

• Getting schooled in Ninetendo while in Mexico and having him feel sorry for me and my lack of skills (but still killing me anyways).

• Watching random youtube videos in Belmont, i.e.the Greatest Tragedy in Sports or the one making fun of the magician guy (I can't remember the name).

• His personal NBA preseason rankings.

Matt--we hope your birthday was great! Happy Sweet 16!

I've been transformed...

A while back Anthony won a "spa package" for his lady from the radio trivia show. Today I ca$hed in on the prize. :) The spa is called the Tr@n$f0rm@+i0n clinic (I wrote that with symbols because I am paranoid and don't want them finding our blog). While they specialize in body contouring, they also offer non-surgical face lifts, ionic foot baths, and a radiant sauna--all of which I enjoyed today.

The non-surgical face lift takes 10 years off your face, although more than my one session is required to reap full benefits. The sauna helps you sweat away impurities, though I mostly enjoyed its warmth. I had no idea using a sauna actually burned calories. I will now be more supportive of Anthony's desire for a Finnish sauna in our future home. The footbath helped rid my body of toxins and balance acidity.

Here is a picture of me BEFORE:

And here is me AFTER:

What do you think? Do I look younger? I would like to note that they didn't do anything for my hair (which badly needs to be cut) or make-up, so you are just judging whether or not I look younger/rejuvenated/happier/more healthy.

I want to give a big shout out to Tony for thinking of me and winning me such an exciting afternoon of indulgence. **Sidenote: I couldn't believe the regular prices. It would have cost me more than I make in a week (I work part-time) to do all these things if I was paying out of pocket.

**A cry for help: Do you tip when you have a gift certificate? Do you tip at a spa? How much? Tony and I couldn't agree about it and I am curious as to what other people do or think about it? (Not just at a spa either, like at a salon, or after a massage? Or even when you go out to eat?)

Comprehensive EXam EXtravaganza!

Nothing starts out a blog post like alliteration!

I pretty much checked out of my own life for last few days leading into this weekend. My wife was wonderful, and my bosses seem to understand. I had to prepare for my final comprehensive examinations for my Masters program. You're thinking: what are those like?

Well, around Christmas time me and the other victims were given 10 questions to prepare our answers for. The questions are not yes-no, but are multiple questions that wind around each other that are wrapped in a riddle confused in a conundrum. In other words, the answers are not necessarily obvious and I had to spend many hours finding in the answers in the notes that I saved from the last year and a half of graduate work. I spent hours studying my answers to the questions and the feedback I had recieved from professors regarding my answers that they had reviewed.

On Saturday I showed up and took the test on campus in a computer lab. I was given three of the questions to complete in 3 hours, lunch hour, and then 2 more questions to complete in the last two hours. It was probably the most intense five hours of my life, and made me glad that I am not moving on for more exams, more research defenses which I have heard can be much more nasty.

Being done with the exams was the best part about them. I felt quite energized and happy, and I drove to Kansas City that same night to spend the weekend with the Crane's and our friend Matt Wilson. He's going on a mission and enters the MTC Wednesday. I personally am very proud to call Matt my friend. We wish him nothing but the best on his church mission in Macon, GA.

Back to my tests- I feel somewhat confident I passed, and if I did not, Carrie informs me that she will divorce me. I told her that that did not help my nerves, and she retorted that she was just so confident in me. When I get that nervous I start to shake. It happened when I would play math Around the World in second grade. It happened when I took timed multiplications table tests in third grade (Which I dominated and bragged about). It happened in plays in high school. It happens when speak in church. It definitely happened when I asked Carrie to marry me. I can't stop shaking for awhile.

I can't wait until I enter the real world of no exams.