All About Anecdotes

Any story will do for conversation, a speech, or writing, as long as it’s short and personal.  To qualify as an anecdote according to all-knowing AI Overview, it should also "offer a quick example that helps an audience process information, understand a complex topic, or feel a connection."  (My experience in Toastmasters International must have taught me that, so why did I have to look it up?  Rhetorical question.)

For example, I remember being in Wayne’s Barbershop on Third Avenue, Salt Lake City, when Russell M. Nelson brought in his little son for his first haircut.  So cute!  To this day, as President Nelson celebrated his 101st birthday, that scene is unforgettable.  I guess it was years later when Dr. Russell Nelson performed heart surgery to save my father’s life.  One of the Nelsons’ beautiful daughters was in my East High Seminary class.  Another daughter was in Kay Hinckley’s East High class.

For many reasons, I feel a connection to our dear Prophet, who lovingly leads and teaches by example worldwide.  He so blesses friends and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Kay & I are grateful for President Nelson’s good life.  Happy birthday!

An iPhone, Watch, and I

Incredibly, I made it through 17 years of school (not counting preschool) and 19 years of marriage without a cell phone.  How did we do it?!  Was life so much simpler?  (Fast-scan this to compare.)

One call I remember used the yellow wall phone in the lower-level recreation room in our big home on Northcrest Drive.  I carried the handset into the hall for privacy, as I gathered courage to invite a young woman to a high school dance.  Getting a date was a scary challenge for this shy boy, despite having freely enjoyed private group dances throughout 8th grade — unforgettable.

Big jump ahead, past the “brick phone” years, and past the smaller one I carried in my back pocket for business management.  Years later, I downsized to a favorite phone with a slide-out keyboard.   At some point, a cheap Cricket was my extra business device to avoid exceeding my minutes limit.

Then iPhone came and changed my life.  Several years ago, an upgrade deal got me an Apple Watch at half price and a Bluetooth JBL Clip Speaker; all three were life-changing.  Side note: by sliding a button on the left side of iPhone, I intentionally kept it on silent 24/7 since October 2018, and usually only answered calls on my Contact list — never telemarketing or scam calls.  Text messaging has saved me countless hours of conversation when I’m in a hurry.  Answering some calls on my Watch has been helpful when my hands are tied.  Unlimited Internet access in hand manages frequent “senior moments” and music; Personal Hotspot connects my laptop.  Notes files easily handle journals etc.  Frequent Copy-&-Paste is too easy.  Kay & I would’ve been lost without iPhones on our Detroit mission.  Google Docs and Google Sheets work anywhere while waiting in line, on hold, or in bed.   Have I mentioned my OC photography and photo-journaling?

With iPhone and Watch used conservatively, I stay on the path to “Simplify! Simplify!”

Just saying …

Part of my personal history must be what I say and think of saying.  Just a few examples:

(To family:) “You can wake up now.”

(Waiting behind cars at a stop light, to prompt drivers:) “You can go now!”

(Explanation:) “I always sit in the back row, so I can see all the people … especially the latecomers.”

(Wishful thinking:) “I want to attend Relief Society, but I really wouldn’t fit in.”

(Personal planning:) “Monday is my day of rest.”

(To clarify — avoid ambiguity, especially on Sunday:) “It's next week, not this week.”

(Admiring new cars in a showroom, am I interested?) “Yes!”  (Am I looking to buy?)

“I prefer not to.”  (Why?) “I prefer not to say.”

(Not in sales training manuals.  Always works.)

(Aging thing:) “I forgot, so I Google-searched.”

(Good news after 25 moves, smiling:) “My peaceful, top-floor apartment is facing west … for the sunset of my life. I will never move again.”

(Getting more personal, revealing:) “My TV is still in the box. I prefer to read.”

(Introduction in ARP group I support:) “I’m Ned, a recovering collector.”

(Keeping life simple:) “I’m a wannabe minimalist.”

(From my experience:) “Healthy, favorite snacks: oatmeal raisin cookies and dark chocolate.”

Speaking for many Utahns, “My all-time favorite main course is funeral potatoes.”

(At church and concerts:) “I like an empty seat next to me, in case my wife Kay takes a break to sit and visit. It’s about love.”

Just saying.

Gift hunting vs. collecting

Confession: I am a recovering collector.  Every day in my spare time, I am gifting, donating, recycling, or discarding.  The path to become a minimalist is not easy for a collector by nature.  In the beginning was my copy of Walden by Henry David Thoreau with “simplify, simplify” underlined.  Years later, I’m still working on it, hoping to leave little to burden our children when I pass.  I can’t take it with me.   

Recently a Treasure Trove store opened nearby to test my resolve, especially on one-dollar Wednesdays, for hunting valuable gifts.  My limit of $4 is easily reached in two minutes of scanning piles of cool merchandise … with restraint.  

Gift hunting (shopping) shows my weakness or strength.  For example, I learned years ago to not wait until Christmas Eve, and to buy additional gifts during clearance sales afterwards … to save for Three Kings Day (Epiphany) on January 6th.  (Party on!)  So, gift hunting all year gets me in the holiday mood early.  On the other hand, finding gifts in my home is a challenge … and a nice surprise a year later.  Nevertheless, KIS is my goal: keep it simple.

Back in the day …

Remember when children spent summers outdoors, riding a big wheel, playing catch and “no bears are out tonight” …?  Back in the day, summer time for me was freedom from curriculum cares and scheduled activities.  It was hours of solo fun building a three-story hut, rafting on ranch canals, riding ponies, railroading with American Flyer, and reading books. 

Back in the day, we had no AI Overview to explain this “colloquial idiom referring to a time in the past, often with a sense of nostalgia or fondness for that period … [without specifying] a particular time frame.”  And no Internet.  Was I deprived ("suffering a severe lack of cultural benefits")… or what?

Pioneer Yesterdays

Ogden Pioneer Days celebration never ceases to amaze me.  Gets better every year — well worth a journal entry.  Yesterday 9am I walked a half block from my apartment and watched the big parade, which included a float for myHometown Ogden.  I walked around the corner and cooled down with my daily few minutes of exercise at the new Marshall N. White Community Center track above the sports courts.  An afternoon visit to best friends at the Community Resource Center on 24th Street was relaxing.  At 6:30pm a dear friend from Belize (British) accompanied me to the annual band concert at Barker Park in North Ogden — pretty cool near the canyon road over the mountain to Liberty and Eden.

Monday 7/22/2024, a sweet cousin invited me to the world-famous rodeo in the new Pioneer Stadium by Ogden River Parkway Trail.  Elizabeth & husband had free tickets as volunteers managing concessions.  Amazing drone light show at the end.  Altogether an awesome event!

Kay & I are forever grateful for our pioneer heritage which blesses our posterity and us.  May we all exercise “faith in every footstep” … with love. 

Trivia Journaling

(A random addition to personal history, copied from iPhone Notes.)

7/11/8pm  I awoke from a dream about glazed donuts ... before I could eat them.  Darnet!

6/2/25 Found my 1970 Argentine poncho in [storage].

3/21/7:31am Awoke from a dream about $1 profit I made on a small put-option trade.  Exciting!  [Needless to say, I didn’t always beat the market makers in my trading days.  AI Overview: “While market making is a legitimate activity, concerns arise when market makers are perceived to be exploiting retail traders.”]

5/24 Every Saturday night in ARP group 

I support, my serious intro is,  “I’m Ned, a recovering collector.”

(Exceptional — not trivial:)

I had been in myHometown Spanish class:

1/13/25 9pm “Mi esposa se llama Kay.”

My wife is Kay Hinckley Cannon.