The Other Tags

Five Places I Have Lived:

(1) Brigham City
(2) Orem
(3) Provo
(4) Ogden
(5) Nada

Five Jobs I Have Had:

(1) Pest-Control Specialist: I'm quite certain I will get cancer as a result of this job. The chemicals we sprayed were banned two years later as carcinogens. We rarely used masks. One thing I learned from that job was that Chris has no idea how to drive a four-wheeler, and he has no idea how to use a winch.

(2) Telemarkerter/Surveyor: Two separate jobs really. I did telephone surveys for PGM Inc. when I was trying to save up money for Heather's ring and the honeymoon. Into the fourth month, I hit a wall. I stood up at about 11:15 in the middle of a work day and told my supervisor I couldn't do it anymore. She asked if I was quitting, and I replied in the affirmative. She asked if I was giving two weeks; I replied that I wasn't giving a day. I told her I couldn't do one more call. She said they wouldn't be able to give me a good reference. I told her I wasn't planning on putting PGM Inc. on my resume. As a telemarketer, I worked for a new business in the Riverwoods, which consisted of eight employees. The owner was an ex-baseball player who sold the products out of a closet near the sales floor. The two products were acne treatment (which I later learned was burning off people's faces) and bust-enhancement cream. If any of you would like me to recite the script to you, I can.

(3) Pet Shop Associate: I worked for Petco. I cleaned crap out of birdcages and caught crickets for people's lizards. I was bitten by a hamster, rabbit, rat (ouch), and psychotic McCaw (one of the very large and colorful birds). When the McCaw bit into my finger, I couldn't get it off. He tore nearly into my bone. We took the bird to the vet to see what it's problem was. The bird was later diagnosed with psittacosis, one of the few diseases birds can transmit to humans . . . having just been bit by the bird, I felt very good about the whole circumstance.

(4) Nielson's Fruit Stand (no official title): My very first job was at Nielson's Fruit Stand. On my first day, old Ralph Nielson told me to "Keep'm busy," with no further instruction. I carried a few empty boxes around the stand for several days just to keep up appearances. I also stood around and rotated the fruit. After three weeks, I asked Ralph when I would get paid. He took me back into his office, stood up on a chair, reached back into a secret cubby, and paid me cash out of a brown paper bag. I didn't ask if the cash was taxable. Ralph then told me he didn't think he needed my help anymore . . . but I can still pick a mean watermelon.

(5) Cookie Delivery Boy: I worked for nearly a year for Cookies By Design. I was informed on the first day of the job that they were duly impressed with my interview and had hired the first male in the history of that branch of the company. I was a man among women. I drove our Toyota Tercel all around Utah County and listened to a lot of talk radio. To end this tag, I once counted, and I believe I've held over fifteen jobs. Apparently, I'm Mr. Steady.

Five Things I Would Do If I Were A Millionaire:

(1) I only need one for this one. I would give it all to charity; no question otherwise. Ha, ha, ha. First, I would pay off student loans.
(2) I would put a bunch of it aside for school and savings.
(3) I would throw at least half of it into risky stocks, such as Washington Mutual and Lehman Bros.
(4) Our family would definitely travel.
(5) And yes, we would try to help out family members and give some to charity. I might also think about paying tithing.

Five Things I Was Doing Ten Years Ago:

(1) Singing my heart out in Madrigals at BEHS (my junior year) . . . and pretending I knew how to dance by co-founding the still existent Swing Club. My how times have changed.

(2) Palling around with the likes of David Conover and Jake Mildenhall. I played a lot of golf and Stratego and watched U2 Rattle and Hum at least twice per week. My wife is mistaken in the sense that we had met. I obviously remember better than she. We wouldn't have met until the following February (1999). Our ten-year "meeting and dating" anniversary is only in a few months. I wasn't dating at the time but had a serious thing for Shania Twain.

(3) Eating tons of Saltines. My parents had already started buying their retirement-like snacks at the grocery store: grape nuts, bran, apricot nectar, oatmeal, rice pudding, etc. Now don't be mistaken, we ate like kings at dinner. The dinners were always delicious. What the Wendell and Kathy Droubay household lacked was snacks. Thus, I found myself eating a lot of Saltines because there weren't a lot of treats. I would get white bread and put Saltines on it for a "cracker sandwhich." When I couldn't bear the crackers anymore, I would eat ice cubes.

(4) Saying every household prayer. After Mike and Chris left, there were very few people to disperse family prayers to. Dad, being the patriarch, always called on people to pray, of course, so he didn't pray too much himself. For dinners, it was about a 50/50 shot. Half the time it was me, a quarter of the time it was Mom, and the other quarter Dad called on himself. Family prayers were a different story. For whatever reason, I seemed to be called on every time. I don't thing Mom and Dad realized it. Things started getting very repetitious, and you can only ask to bless each family member in so many ways.

(5) Practicing for the BEHS school play. It was the only high school play I ever participated in, and for good reason. I was cast as the drunk Indian in Lil' Abner. The lines seemed racist, and I'm sure I didn't help things, being painted brown and carrying (what was supposed to be) a large amount of booz around. I'm surprised they are still allowed to put on that production.

Five Things On My To-Do List Today:

(1) Finish this freakin' blog update.
(2) Help clean the house.
(3) Finish reading my Stephen King novel (it is Halloween time, after all).
(4) Watch scores and hope every top 25 college football team loses after BYU's humiliating loss.
(5) Make a root-beer float for Meg (I owe her one).

Here We Go

Oh Gosh, I promised myself I would only view blogs and let my wife post. But alas, all of you have roped me into this, so here is my first official post. Sweet fancy Moses!

Six unimpressive quirks about me:

(1) I'm a terrible backseat driver. My anxiety level is always high in the car . . . I always feel like I'm in a tremendous amount of danger; thus, I criticize most drivers in my mind and occasionally with my mouth (though Heather would say it is more than occasional). I also tend to control other things in the car, like the music. I send a special thanks out to my wife who always lets me listen to what I want--music is important to me in the car.

(2) I have this issue with collars and T-shirts. I hate wearing shirts that have stretched out neck-holes. I like tight neck-holes and don't like to have part of my shoulder (right or left), chest, or back showing in the slightest. Now, T-shirts get worn and stretched out with time; thus, you will notice that I often wear two T-shirts; I figure that together, they will act as one T-shirt and hug my neck tightly. This rule does not apply to polos. You will also notice that I rarely wear "T-shirt" style garments; instead, like an 80-year-old man, I wear scoop-necks. The reasoning is the same. I don't like the collar getting stretched out and gray. An ideal present for me, a thick, tough T-shirt with a small-neck hole and beefed-up collar.

(3) I rarely eat breakfast. It's supposed to be the most important meal of the day . . . it inevitably makes me sick and interrupts the flow of my day because I'm running to the bathroom an hour later; I guess "flow" might be the wrong word. One exception to this is at Oma and Opa's house because Opa always fixes a large and delicious breakfast. For some reason, I've rarely gotten sick when I've eaten breakfast in Tooele. This is yet another piece of mounting evidence (to me) that Opa and Oma's place is somehow magical.

(4) I have really long toes. I think I got this from Big D. It's not that my feet are big, it's that my toes are big. No kidding, from ankle to the tip of my toes, 75% of what you see is toe. That's messed up. Jesse Roberts used to not let me take my socks off at sleep-overs because he said my "finger toes" freaked him out.

(5) I love Halloween time. I'm not sure if this is an unimpressive quirk, but it is a quirk nonetheless. I still go to haunted houses and corn mazes, read horror books, and watch scary movies every weekend. I love it. I love the Droubay Halloween party. I love pumpkins. I like that it's Fall and the leaves are falling off of trees. I love trick-or-treating and dressing the kids up. I like the fact that you go around to neighbors houses and mooch candy off of them. It's also baseball season, which usually entails watching the Yankees (although this year was a bit different in that respect) and college football. When I was little, I wanted to be a witch for Halloween. Mom had no problem letting me go down under the stairs and pull all of the costumes out of "the box." I remember one particular day, when Dad came home from work for lunch, I was dressed up like a witch, with the dress, cape, hat, and mask. When he asked Mom why his son was dressed up like a witch, she quickly replied, "He's not a witch, he's a warlock Wendell!" Classic.

(6) I have shaved my head for a couple of years now. Even with it shaved, I still generally use hairspray. When I was in 7th grade, I had a standard missionary hair cut. What wasn't standard was the fact that I'd douse it with half a can of hair spray. If you were to light a match in the room, my crispy hair would've been the first thing to go. Although I don't use hair products like that anymore, the remnants of those days still remain. Even though it does nothing stylistically, I still find myself briefly spraying it and then coming my eyebrows with a comb.

Double tagged

Bro Brian (I will be specific because the last time I wasn't, Grandma Marchant thought brother Brian was getting a Ph.d. in psychology (a month ago). She was too confused for me to correct her so if she asks you how that degree is coming you will be prepared) tagged me a few days ago. I had every intention of doing it when I got double tagged by Sarah who was also originally tagged by Brian. Phew. I'm glad I got all of that out. Now, hurrying up with the tag already.

FIVE THINGS I WAS DOING TEN YEARS AGO (age 17)
1. "Hanging out" with Brian. By Brian's own rules, we weren't allowed to be dating until after he graduated.
2. Visiting lots of old people at the retirement home. Brian arranged for us to do this ALL the time because it wasn't officially a date so we could do it often. As silly of a reason it was, I look back on it so fondly. I have very wonderful memories with Brother Sepos (who was sure that our drinking water was poisoned by the government and that a Kia is a verrry verrry good car [said with a german accent], Brother Nelson (the sweetest old man ever, who loved John Wayne and watching birds and who frequently supplied us with temple names to do baptisms for), Sister Cobbley (who was deaf but good at reading lips, she told us so many stories and would repeat the same stories many times each visit). . . .those three are the most memorable. Ahhhh, what great memories.
3. In my second to last trimester at Box Elder High School.
4. Lifegaurding and teaching swimming lessons at the Nat
5. Deciding which college to attend and for what.

FIVE THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST TODAY
1. Take and pick up Meg from preschool.
2. Finish puttying holes in our master bedroom left by the totally tubular sheet metal crown molding.
3. Tidy up the house.
4. Update our rule chart for Meg (I needed to add a few rules for issues we are dealing with as a result of the bad examples at preschool)
5. Go to the store and by juicy fruit balls for Brian. He is addicted.

FIVE THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A MILLIONAIRE
1. Pay off our student loans and buy a house.
2. Set aside money for Brian to finish school.
3. Help my family.
4. Set aside enough for my kids' schooling.
5. Save or invest???? the rest so it would build interest and it could supplement our income for the rest of our lives.

FIVE PLACES I HAVE LIVED
1. San Jose, California
2. Provo, Utah
3. Orem, Utah
4. Brigham City, Utah
5. Ogden, Utah
6. Logan, Utah (I thought I would throw that in there since it is the only other place I have every lived.)

FIVE JOBS I HAVE HAD
1. Paper girl
2. Lifegauring/Swim instructor
3. Cake decorator
4. Receptionist for a quacky chiropractor (no offense to other chiropractors, but this one truly was quacky)
5. Receptionist/Coder/Medical Biller for IHC

I think I got them all. I'll be checking Charisse and KORY's and Andy and NATALIE's blogs often to see their responses ;0)