one funny thing

as i walk the hall of UVU I meet people and stuff happens. As I think about some of the happenings and the way they came about, they are more funny than remarkable.

Humor happens....... It just like Pasteur muffins. (left by cows)

You're walking across a Field which has no other large mammals in it, the grass is knee high

All of a sudden you become keenly aware that you have either discovered mutable earth, capable of arbitrarily varying its density and viscosity, or you have personal empirical evidence that a cow has been in the vicinity with in the hour.... (ewwe! maybe a half hour)

This isn't necessarily the kind of humor that is found at Utah's second largest university, but the funny stuff has an equal ability to astound and amaze....For instance;


A week or so back: I was in an open lab in anatomy and in a room designed for 40 people, there was about seventy five...... with standing room only...even for the cadavers.....that's not the funny part.....


a few days before this, during our scheduled lab, we had a few moments where we were alone as a class.

Someone brought up the subject of organizing study groups, OK it was me..

I had looked at the blanched faces as the reality of the work load and curriculum was making its self known to us. Then some how I heard my self say "lets get our study groups figured out"

First thing, I know nothing about study groups and how to organize them, so I prodded a few people into action and we got moving.

Some how my group ended up with allot of people (15) and the labs were very crowded so we decided that we would all wear the same kind of name tag,

The plan was; as we slithered through the mass of other students we could find others, who were working on similer tasks and shared some of the same assignments and help each other....are you laughing yet? No wait it gets better.


On the first night we did this. I had the name tags. someone came in late and asked "who has the name badges" one of the other members pointed to me and said.;

"That big guy, you know PAPA BEAR."

In my mind I did on of those stop and stair moments and I said in my mind "whaaat!"

I don't know how to spell it, but this word is used when your kid tells you that they have wrecked the car or something....what you do is pronounce the "wh" softly and then draw the "a" sound slightly up and louder and finally you bite of the "t" like you were tearing it off the sentence.... but this frightens kids like a bird looking into the eyes of a cobra.

This effectively gets their attention, but like I said, I had thought that i had only said it in my mind...... Unfortunately it leaked out.......

As I looked narrowly at her trying to ascertain if I had in fact heard , what I thought I had heard
every one in the group looked back and fourth between us, wondering what would happen next.

She gave me the deer in the headlights look knowing that she had some how stepped on a pasture muffin......she said

"Somebody told me that was your nick name or something..."(shrugging of shoulders and a timid smile)

in this open lab there were several young people who know me, one of these was a girl who effectively grew up in my house as a weekend guest and consumer of the delicate waffles which on special days of the week appear as if they were magic, on the kitchen counter, these delicacies are consumed voraciously by Friends of kids. And by friends of friends of kids on a good day..

she is an TA in the class. and I looked across the room at Becca, my daughter with five helpful study partners (all male). so I wondered if this might be the source.... some kind of joke they had played on me.

But this isn't the funny part yet.

She asked if she had offended me? But she thought it was a good nick name....

then I remembered a line from a movie I saw once.

I folded my arms across my chest lowered my brow staring at her and in a calm ,even, and low tone said;

" You may only call me that when I am wearing a broad rimmed felt hat and a fur coat while driving my fusia Cadillac....."

She looked terrified for a moment and paused as if considering something then asked me.....

"Do you really do that?"

The entire side of the room laughed and one of the older ladies whispered to her;

"No he doesn't sweetie."

"Oh......"

now that's funny.