Dead last in March Madness brackets? Yep, that’s Crystalee

In sports they say, "go big or go home." In that case, my NCAA bracket scores are home wearing pjs, snuggled in bed, eating gluten-free pretzels.

As you can see in this picture, for my first-ever March Madness bracket, I ranked right above non-participators. Although a sister-in-law of a professional sports writer, I had no method for my selections – just picked whatever team names I liked best.

Eh, whatev … somebody’s gotta be last.

While I'm technically 523/523 (as the bottom three didn't do brackets), the Grand Prize 42” plasma TV is beyond my reach. The cool part? Maybe MarketStar will award the biggest loser something ...

Update on 4/3/12:

Yep, I was officially just declared the Biggest Loser in an email to 3,000 + employees. Still no word if I'm getting a prize ... we shall see ...

Update on 4/6/12: I AM GETTING A PRIZE! Blu-Ray player, baby. Thank you, MarketStar! I'll be Biggest Loser any day ...

Brotherly Reunion

Beck family breaking news: Welcome home, Randy!

Our brother Randy returned from his two-year LDS mission to Vina del Mar Chile today. I was sad to miss the airport reunion, but couldn't take time off work. Ryan carved time into his school schedule to join the Beck family at the SLC airport. (Since he didn't supply me with a single picture of today's blissful family reuniting, I figure this old picture of Randy and Ryan in a German BMW Exhibit will suffice for blog purposes.) Vrrooommm, vrrrooommm ... more family adventures ahead!

We're so glad you're back, Randy. You've been in our prayers for two years, and I'm excited to get to know you now as your sister-in-law, since I was just "Ryan's girlfriend" when you left.

Oh, and BYU-Idaho ladies, prepare yourselves. You have a stud coming your way soon!

P.S. This picture hints at the next blog post coming soon: His & Hers: Car Genius v. Oblivious (I'll let you guess who is which)

Meet the shoe-shining legend of the SLC airport

Wanna meet someone really cool? Cancer-fighter, veteran, and card game shark, our pal  J.C. "Shine" has manned the SLC airport shoe shining booth for 22 years. Click here to read my feature story about him in the Deseret News, or check it out below.

 
Familiar to frequent fliers, J.C. "Shine" Wilson, 74, mans the shoe shining booth in Terminal One at the Salt Lake International airport. A cancer-fighting veteran, he has shined shoes and shared his heart with thousands.

Last fall, Wilson faced lung cancer with humor. Just before surgery to remove the affected upper lobe, he told the anesthesiologist, “Whatever you do, get it taken care of. I don’t want to be late for work.”

Six days later, he was smiling and shining shoes at the airport.

Wilson recalls a memorable customer.

“I was bent over, working on his shoes, when another traveler stopped by to say hello. They talked about military service, and I asked which branch my customer served in,” said Wilson.

“All of them,” answered the customer.

“I looked up to see Colin Powell’s face, our Chief of Staff at the time,” Wilson smiles.

For the past 22 years, Wilson has shined shoes for well-known customers like the late King of Tonga, former Sen. Robert Bennett and Jerry Seiner. His work and personality have brought him up close and personal with thousands from all over the world. He likes to learn about the people he serves.

“The closed mouth goes unfed. If you don’t ask questions, there’s a lot you miss,” said Wilson.

Airport employees also notice Wilson’s friendly way with travelers.

“He’s a really nice guy,” said Robert Heatherly, team leader of Paradies Shops. Heatherly works down the escalator from Wilson. “I’ve seen J.C. be courteous with everyone.”

In the “polish, brush, shine then buff” process, he’s known to strike up a story. Wilson calls himself “half comedian,” and loves to get to know his customers.

“He’s really got a great heart,” said frequent flyer Ed Galisewski, who has visited Wilson on his monthly commute from Denver for the past 16 years. “Whenever I go to town, I look forward to a shining when I land and a shine before I take off. He shakes my hand and gives me a big bear hug.”

Galisewski recalls years ago when Wilson shared concern for a friend who worked at the airport, a single mom who was struggling financially.

“J.C. has a real sensitive heart for people. That year, we got together and made sure she could take care of her kids at Christmas,” said Galisewski.

During their monthly visits, Wilson and Galisewski swap stories while Wilson shines.

“He asks about my life, and I found out about his Vietnam War stories. He’s sure led an interesting life,” Galisewski said.

Originally from Pecos, Texas, Wilson has served eight years in the military (with an honorable discharge). He has worked as a truck driver and at the post office, and has owned a janitorial business in California. He also used to own the “Jazz Hut,” a Salt Lake City club where he used to let George Foreman and his youngest brother play pool.

In his free time, Wilson likes to visit his family and participate in the Elks and Masons clubs of Salt Lake. He has six children, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Nearly a quarter century ago, Wilson came to his shoe-shining gig when a friend told him about the position. He remembers when the Salt Lake International airport had “just a little dusty parking lot, and passengers walked straight out to the plane, with no jetways.”

Ever since then, Wilson’s risen at 4:30 a.m. and worked 11-hour days, six days a week. For the first time in two decades, he cut back to five days a week after his surgery last year.

The only thing he doesn’t like about his job?

“When I don’t have customers,” said Wilson.

During the writing of this article in March 2012, Wilson’s cancer relapsed. He had another surgery, and is now home recovering and plans to be back shining shoes soon.

If you want to meet a living legend the next time you’re in the Salt Lake Airport, be sure to get your shoes shined by the legendary J.C. “Shine” Wilson in Terminal One, at the top of the elevators.
  
Made it all the way, huh? Thanks. You're welcome to browse more of my published stories in the Writer Girl tab. ;)

Best part of Sundays? Funny 4-year-old friends

We look forward to Sunday afternoons all week. Why? We teach the 4- and 5-year-old Primary class. Cute and candid, they've won us over - we LOVE spending time with them, chaos and all.

Anywhere from five to 11 kids show up depending on the Sunday, and every week we get HILARIOUS quotes to tide us over 'til we see our little rascals again. Some favorites so far:

Everyone coloring pictures, and Ryan uses a purple crayon.Disobeying "color gender laws" at their age is apparently cause for ridicule and quick correction.
Summer: (emphatically) You can't use that color, teacher.
Ryan: Why not?
Summer: That's GIRLISS, not BOYISS.
Danielle: Yeah, that's too GIRLISS for you.

Preston, sitting by darling Maddy, looks up at me innocently:
Preston: I'm not gonna kiss her, cause I'm not allowed to.
Crystalee: That's good, Preston. Let's not do that.
Preston: But when I grow up, I can marry her. (Maddy blushes profusely)


To act out examples of how to CTR, I brought props. I gave one boy a box of tissues.
Crystalee: Ok, class, we're pretending James is sick. How could we help if he's sick?
Preston: Give him medicine.
Crystalee: That's a good idea. What's something nice we could say to him?
Preston: (thinking about it, then confident) Do you want some medicine?

In the big Primary group, the Sharing Time teacher holds up a picture of President Thomas S. Monson.
Teacher: Who is this?
Thomas: (shouts out) THOMAS the PROPHET! (mumbles to himself) And there's Thomas the TRAIN, too.

Discovering ancestors on London study abroad program

Hurray, published today! You're invited to see my published article at Deseret News Online or read the text below. My story is printed today in the Mormon Times section today on page C8.

The day after I turned 20, I took my first international flight to London. My 42 study abroad friends and I lived in the beautiful BYU London Centre and spent four months befriending Big Ben, admiring National Gallery art, relishing British accents and snapping photos of real-life castles.

I also found a personal treasure — I found a connection with my English ancestors.

This quest began when our insightful religion professor, Dr. David R. Seely, assigned a family history project. Researching at the local family history center, senior sisters helped me navigate census files. I learned my 18th- and 19th-century ancestors were from Guilden Morden, just outside of Cambridge. I wanted to see Guilden Morden, hoping to feel closer to them.

With professor permission to go on a day trip on my own, I researched train and bus information. All semester I looked forward to the journey. The awaited day arrived, and I took a morning train from London to Cambridge, leaving just a short bus ride to Guilden Morden.

Unfortunately, that day the next Guilden Morden bus wouldn't leave until 5 p.m. —after my returning London train would depart. Scouting out my next option, I learned the 20-mile taxi fare was £27. I only had £25 — not enough to get there or back.

There I stood — 4,500 miles from my USA home — and just 20 measly miles were keeping me from my ancestor’s town?

The 40-mile roundtrip was too far to walk in a day, so I considered renting a bike. I imagined pedaling the blustery, unknown roads to a place I’d never seen and miraculously finding my ancestor’s grave sites; it could be a tear-jerker family history story repeated in Relief Societies everywhere.

Then reality hit.

My bike idea wasn’t practical. I was alone, tired, didn’t know where I was going or have means to get there. I couldn’t miss the train back to London. And would I fail my family history project?

Later, safe in the BYU London Centre, I received an email just before the family history project deadline. It was from Elizabeth Thomas, a distant cousin I’d never met. My Grandma Webb had asked her to send stories about the Squires, our other family line.

I learned Henry Augustus Squires, and his wife, Sarah Minnie Catlin, sailed to the United States with five little daughters in 1856. They crossed the plains with the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company. Sarah gave birth to my 4th-great aunt in Echo Canyon, Utah, naming her Echo. Miraculously, the whole family made it to Utah.

Adding their stories to my paper, I concluded, “I truly feel the Spirit of Elijah when I see those pedigree charts — I have love for my ancestors I never knew before. My quest for my ancestors will continue for the rest of my life.” Maybe I didn’t quite make it to my ancestor’s town on my study abroad, but I found what I was looking for: a connection to them.

And in case you’re wondering, I got an "A" on my project.

New smile thanks to an old email

Have you looked through old emails or notes lately? I bet you'll find a memory that makes you smile.

My heart made a happy little leap when I saw Ryan's name in this old email to my dad. I didn't remember I wrote home about my future-husband when I first had a crush on him!

From my Gmail: 12.12.06

Hi dad! Finals are coming, and Thursday is the last day of classes. It's been CRAZY, but I'm enjoying myself. We had a devotional today and Joseph McKonkie, Bruce R's son, spoke about personal revelation.

Last night we had a fun FHE ward activity- ice skating. I skated with that cute boy that took me to Salt Lake* last week, Ryan. We like each other.

I'll be in touch. Love ya, LeeLee

*My 20-year-old self was referring to our Christmas devotional date, you can read here: Our First Date: Holiday Magic.

Picking up pennies makes cents

I'm a sucker for fallen coins, and a good word pun.

Thus, my KSL.com story, Picking up pennies makes cents.

Please read my two cents on the subject; my story is featured in KSL's "Happy Living" section. You can also find all my articles in the tab WRITER GIRL.

Are you a penny rescuer too?

Are you trashing cash for local schools?

Don't know about you, but I can't stand throwing money away. Although we don't have any kids yet (let alone kids in school), I can't help but clip and save Box Tops. Why trash cash? When I learned the Box Tops for Education program gave $59 million to schools in 2011, I thought I could help by posting a little donation envelope at my work break room.

Then I thought bigger - article time, baby!

Read my published story on KSL here: Are you trashing cash for local schools?

Published March 4, 2012

Published!

This past three days, when it rained for me in the publishing world, it poured!

Ever since writing as a student reporter at BYU five years ago, I haven't been able to shake a strong desire to write feature stories. While I do some feature-type writing in my full-time job, I had a hankering to share stories on a broader scale. It took an encouraging writer friend and many months of building up guts until I submitted ideas to the Deseret News. After four weeks of (sometimes not so) patiently waiting, the big payoff came when four of them were recently published!

Thank you for your kind support. Many of you sent nice emails and helped spread the word about babies and battery buttons - it's a hidden danger we all need to know about. Thank you Karla Rauch for sharing Emmett's story with me, and letting me help spread awareness.

From now on, I'll periodically post my published articles and put them in the fancy new tab (did you notice it?) called "WRITER GIRL."

Speaking of which ...

Click here to see my KSL article: New company offers in-flight babysitters

Published March 5, 2012 (teaser below)

Getting ready for Spring Break? Taking the kids on a flight? Launched in 2011, Nanny in the Clouds seeks to "change the way young families fly by connecting them with nannies already on their flight."

Babies and button batteries don't mix

SALT LAKE CITY -- As babies do, Emmett had been playing with the family DVD remote. When the bite-sized battery fell out the back, he instinctively put it in his mouth and swallowed it. Later, on the day of his first birthday party, baby Emmett woke up with an unusual, concerning fever.

In a series from every parent’s worst nightmare, he started coughing up blood. The parents rushed for medical help and soon found themselves with doctors looking at an X-ray of his tiny frame, and a coin-sized circular disk lodged in his throat.

Three terrifying hours and a surgery later, parents Karla and Michael Rauch of Peoria, Ariz., learned their son’s throat had suffered severe damage from toxic battery acid. It had burned two holes, and he had to have four inches of his esophagus removed.

Since that fateful day in October 2010, Emmett lived in and out of the ICU for nine months, had multiple cases of collapsed lung, and endured 19 surgeries along with almost 200 X-rays.

All this heartache came from one small button battery.

Read the rest of the article here: Babies and button batteries don't mix

Published March 3, 2012 on KSL.com

Author's note: My beautiful friend Karla and her husband Michael nearly lost their sweet a baby to a button battery. I decided to write the story and submit it to the Deseret News. It was published on KSL yesterday and already has had 12, 286 hits!* Please read the article and educate yourself on how to protect the children in your life.

*As of April 2012, the KSL story has had 19, 500+ views. Let's continue to share the message.

Thank you, OfficeMax!

Shout out to OfficeMax, who gave us everything in the picture above for FREE.

Ryan and I are both huge fans of F-R-E-E. For example, he found ways to live on free food in his single days. As student reporter I wrote an article for The Daily Universe about snagging free stuff online. (Yes, we bargain-hunters were meant for each other.)

To be transparent, there was time and a bit of money invested in getting these fancy new speakers, Skype videocamera and other goodies. But how, you ask, did we get $187 purchase for zero out-of-pocket? It's called MaxPerks Rewards program.

Here's the scoop:

OfficeMax gives you $3 credit for every empty ink cartridge you turn in. Since you can find them on amazon.com for something like 45 cents, pure math shows you can make a quick return. The catch: you have to be patient. The rules only let you turn in 20 cartridges per month, per person. (I heard of a family who signed up for 20 people, including babies, grandparents, etc., which is on the shady side.) We signed up for the two of us, and last year I'd make monthly ink cartridge visits to OfficeMax.

Other catch? To unlock your reward dollars, you have to spend dollar-for-dollar at the store. We accomplished this by buying Christmas presents there. Then, voila! A month later, we were rewarded with $224 to use to our free-loving hearts' content.

So far, we've gotten the above goods, as well as a nice Canon digital camera for a fraction of the cost. If you're going to try it, make sure you read through all the rules of the program.

Are you a FREE finder too?