Quote of the day

It was said that at African American would be voted into the White House "when pigs fly"; indeed 100 days after President Obama took office...Swine Flu :)

A Dismal End to the Jazz Season

So, Karalee and I are pretty big Utah Jazz fans (we also love BYU football and basketball. Surprisingly, Karalee is interested in more sports teams than I am--she also loves Ducks hockey and the New York Yankees. But, things are more normal when you look at the amount of time each of us spends with sports) and we're disappointed that last night the Jazz season came to an underwhelming end.

If any of you follow the Jazz, or the NBA, you might know that the Jazz' struggles came in the form of a lot of injuries and an atrocious road record--they beat two winning teams on the road this entire year.

What then, should the Jazz do to improve their fortunes next year? Well, you've come to the right place if you wonder what I am thinking:

The Jazz should trade Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko and find a way to get good draft picks in the upcoming draft. In return for Boozer and Kirilenko and aside from getting draft picks, I would like to see them land Andrew Bogut, Chris Kaman, or Marcus Camby.

Boozer should go because Paul Millsap, while not as talented--is younger and has time to become as talented, actually wants to stay in Utah, and for now would likely be cheaper to pay than Boozer. All the Jazz needs would be to re-sign Millsap to keep him and get rid of Boozer!

Kirilenko should go because he is probably the fourth or fifth best player on the team while also easily being the highest paid player on the team. I believe he still has the potential to be the best or second best player on an NBA team (he didn't get his monstrous contract in the first place because he got splinters riding the bench) but I must attribute his foundering play to a weakness in coaching on Jerry Sloan's part. http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ctqqc2
ESPN makes me look like a big Bobcats fan, but I think this trade would work out for the Jazz, by just waiving or benching everyone in the trade but Andrew Bogut. I've tried other trades too, but they don't factor in trading draft picks--something the Jazz could surely use.

The point about Kirilenko is that I would love to see him reach his full potential with a team willing to utilize fully his talents--I think those teams would most likely be from most to least: Phoenix, Golden State, and New York.

By bringing in Bogut (or Kaman or Camby) the Jazz bring in much needed size and defense, along with people that hopefully want to stay. Plus, I think the trade would slim the Jazz' contract.

In the end, I would be very interested to see a Jazz team that started Deron Williams, Ronnie Brewer, Matt Harpring, Mehmet Okur, and Andrew Bogut with Ronnie Price, Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap, and CJ Miles coming off the bench.

Almost as interesting would be seeing Steve Nash, Jason Richardson, Matt Barnes, Andrei Kirilenko, and Amare Stoudemire starting for the Suns, with Leandro Barbosa, Louis Amundson, Robin Lopez, and Grant Hill coming off the bench. I say almost as interesting because I liked the Suns a lot just a couple of years ago when they had Raja Bell, Shawn Marion, and Boris Diaw, and didn't have Jason Richardson or Shaquille O'Neal.

In the end, I think the most shocking thing that might happen to the Jazz is that Boozer will opt out of his contract. That would be insane, because Boozer has spent half his Jazz career on the bench and I can't believe he'd earn more than his current contract somewhere else--especially in this difficult economy. Unfortunately, I really think Kirilenko would be even less likely to be traded because his contract is bigger and has shown even less potential than Boozer. This would also mean that the Jazz couldn't afford to keep Paul Millsap :(

So I think the Jazz' biggest off-season shake-up would be deciding between Millsap and Boozer. I'm sure that in such a situation, the Jazz would prefer that Boozer opt out of his contract (unless the Jazz could get someone on the very cheap in return) and then sign Millsap to a modestly big contract, while the main core of Williams, Okur, Kirilenko, Brewer, Korver, Harpring, (maybe Ronnie Price),and Miles would remain. For financial reasons, Boozer would likely lose big in this scenario, but at least his ego would be really big until he signed that new contract. Unfortunately again, unless the Jazz sign someone that can shore up the defense and put a new wrinkle into their total scheme, I don't think the Jazz in such a situation would be markedly different from the team of this year. Who knows though--maybe they'll do something crazy. However, they've hardly done anything remotely close to crazy trading in their entire history that I'm aware. Maybe we'll be surprised then next year with essentially the same team, but minus Boozer...

Somebody loves us!

This past week was an absolutely wonderful week. My younger sister Alli came out to visit like the amazing person she is (hint, hint). She was able to come from Wednesday to Saturday, a much too short but much appreciated trip. We began our adventure around 10 AM on Wednesday morning when I picked her up from the Tucson airport. From there we made a very necessary trip to In-n-Out. Having never been to Tuscon, we had quite an adventure finding In-n-Out. Alas, after about an hour we were able to call our endeavor a successful one when we finally spotted the bright yellow arrow that can only be associated with In-n-Out. By the time we got there we were absolutely starving. We each managed to down a burger, fries, and shake, and then made sure to order another burger and shake for the long ride back to Sierra Vista. The rest of the week I gave Alli the tour of all of Sierra Vista...that lasted about 5 minutes, we played games (she is officially the Scattergories champion after beating me and Curtis quite soundly), watched "Sense and Sensibility" (a movie Curtis would never watch with me), we got caught up on some very important shows, went shopping, watched the Jazz beat the Lakers and the Ducks beat the Sharks (a very good night in sports), and most importantly we ate very, very well (and by well I definitely do not mean healthy).


Our trip to In-n-Out was great, but not the only necessary resturaunt on our to-do list. A trip to Jack in the Box was also a must, since they are few and far between back in Utah. And of course, I could not have a visitor without having pizza, seeing how Curtis won't eat the stuff and I am very much deprived of the deliciousness while it is just the two of us at home. However, these meals were nothing compared to the feasts we put on for Curtis when he got home after a long day's work. Who knew Alli and I had such culinary talent? And of course, we had "midnight foil wraps" a tradition that we began years ago after learning that for some reason our hamburger and potato dinners wrapped in foil tasted ten times better at 12:00 at night.

What's a vacation if you can't eat until you are sick?

We also decided to pull an "all-nighter" the last night Alli was here, which lasted until about 3:30 in the morning...I'm not quite sure that I have ever actually made it all the way through an all-nighter. On Saturday it was back to the airport, but not without a quick stop at Inn-n-Out while we were in Tucson.

It was an amazing 4 days, not just because of the food, but because I was able to spend it with one of my favorite people in the world. We don't have to be doing anything to have a good time and it was nice to just relax, play games, and talk all day long. I was very sad to see her go and am not quite sure how I am going to go back to my real life of being home alone almost all day every day. I love visitors, especially when they are as awesome as Alli! So don't be shy, come on down! (I mean it)

Curtis and I also never have anyone around to take a picture of us, so I never have any to post, but while Alli was here Curtis made sure she got one.

Where have all the Reaganites gone?

(The views presented in this current posting do not necessarily represent the views of Karalee Merrill--although they should!)

Last week, my cousin Robert Boughan, who lives in Sierra Vista, invited Karalee and I to attend a meeting of the 1200 club. The 1200 club is a Republican organization that invites elected officials and candidates for public office to speak to club members about topics that the club chooses. We attended and were very pleased that Robert invited us, but alas, the 4 officials that represented the city, county, governor, and state senate, all bemoaned the huge loss of revenue that their respective governments are seeing due to the economic downturn. The county, and especially the city official, were the most upbeat about their affairs--inspite of the economy.

Nevertheless, not only did the state senator and governor's representative lament the poor economy, they went on to blame the democrat minority in the state senate, citizen-passed state referenda, and the former governor of Arizona--our own new DHS secretary, the radical leftist Janet Napolitano for the state's inability to meet the state's budget needs without raising sales tax. In short, like most politicians, nothing was really their fault.

As briefly as I can put it, I was rather frustrated that neither of these public officials offered any resolution to the budget shortfall--and debt--a la Ronald Reagan and supply side economics. So, here's the questions I would have asked these officials, if I gave myself the chance:

In response to their matter-of-fact statement that they don't want to cut government employee jobs but if they must, they want to do so equitably:

--Is the state government's purpose for employing simply to employ, or are these state employees, like teachers and other educrats, actually supposed to provide a service? (At this point I would have mentioned an article I read several months ago about the Postal Service attempting to lay off 40,000 employees--but the consumer wouldn't have to worry about that because said consumers would not distinguish a significant difference in service, if any difference at all. If this is so, why were the 40,000 employed in the first place?)

In response to their insistence that raising sales tax, albeit "temporarily," would go to benefitting conservative principles like education, public safety, etc.:

--How does the Arizona State Republican economic agenda differ from Barack Obama's, a plan that also calls for raising taxes? You, Mr. Republican Public Official, might insist that your tax raising proposals aren't even in the same ball park as Mr. Obama's, but how do you reconcile your excitement over the recent Tea parties with your tax raising agenda, even if the plan is temporary?

In short, I would ask them:

Where are the the Reagan Conservatives? How is the current Republican economic agenda not just a moderate version of the Democratic economic agenda? Where are the Republican proposals that are just as radical in their philosophy, yet completely opposite to Barack Obama's proposals? Do you think the lack of any such proposals could help explain why we call Barack Obama "President," and not John McCain?

To be fair, we do live in a Democrat run state--the Teacher's and other Unions, Environmentalist-Marxists, and a large state bureaucracy that endorses LBJ style welfare--hold significant sway in the state. This is not to mention that Janet Napolitano was the governor, tax-payer funded vouchers were declared unconstitutional a month ago, and that Proposition 200 was ruled unconstitutional a few years ago, to mention a few hurdles Republicans face and explain in part why the state is $1 billion short of a constitutionally-mandated balanced budget .

But haven't any of these officials seen what is going on in California and Michigan (both states are broke), and that many other states are headed in the same direction, primarily for the same reason (that high state and federal taxes choke private enterprise, thus decreasing the revenue of the state and country)? If these states are failing for much of the same reasons we're insisting on doing what we're proposing to do in Arizona now, perhaps another idea might prove more successful.

Anyway, Karalee thinks you might be bored of this particular post, if you've read up to this point at all. But I did mention in the first post that this blog would include commentary on politics, the Utah Jazz, BYU--anything, in addition to our daily and weekly goings-on, but not a lot went on this week in our lives aside from the 1200 club. So there it is, and admit that you've been warned. Besides, I identify myself considerably by my political leanings, so I welcome you into a window of my life and thinking as I divulge my thoughts on politics.

Have a nice day. And believe in Reagan!

A day in the life...

Now that you know what Curtis is up to, let me fill you in on my exciting life. Be warned, it is a hard life I live.

For starters, I generally get out of bed at about 9:30 or 10:00am. Curtis would probably kill me if he knew I slept in so late (so we will see what happens once he reads this), but I figured that I should get sleep now while I still can because once the baby comes I know things will be a whole lot different. Even though I get up so late I would hardly ever call what happens when I am in bed restful sleep. I have always been a pro when it comes to sleeping; I used to fall asleep within minutes of hitting the pillow, and would rarely ever stir until my alarm went off the next morning. However, the last month has been a completely different story. It is virtually impossible to get a good night's rest now between having to get up to go to the bathroom 3 or 4 times a night and trying without success to find a comfortable position to sleep in. When the morning rolls around I feel like I have gotten a total of 2 or 3 hours of good sleep. I have always heard women complain about not being able to sleep during pregnancy, especially towards the end, but for some reason I always thought that it wouldn't happen to me. I don't know how women with lives, that actually have to get up in the morning, do it.

Once I finally manage to roll out of bed (and I literally mean roll...it is quite amusing to watch me try to get up from a laying down position), I start my never ending quest to find something good to eat. I am trying really hard to be careful about the type of food I put into my body now that my baby's health depends on it...but I can't say that I always succeed in choosing the healthiest of foods. Curtis made the comment last night about how "cute" it was that I ate all of his raisins... "along with the entire kitchen." Cute huh?...I don't think so.

The rest of the day I try to make this house we are renting a home. And let me tell you, I suck at it! I am the worst decorator ever and I don't have my sisters around to help. I also decided that I would be a lot better at decorating if I had lots of money to spend on cute things...but instead I have to work with what I've got, which isn't much.

I also get to do all the "housewife" duties that I haven't really done too much of on my own before. Cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, ironing (I am the worst at ironing, unlike my mom who even irons her pajamas!), paying bills, etc. It is strange to have to do all of this by myself because in the past Curtis and I both worked about the same hours and so we would do a lot of this stuff together. It makes me feel very grown up. I thought not having a job was going to be a nice break, but I didn't realize that I was going to work just as hard doing things I don't particularly enjoy doing. I want my job back!! Oh well, at least I get to sleep in :)

I am very much looking forward to the baby coming, for many reasons, one of which is to have some company around the house during the day! I feel very blessed to be able to stay at home with my son. I think it is so important for a mother to be the one to raise her child, if it is possible. I spent no time setting up the baby's room once I moved here, it definitely took precedence over setting up the rest of the house...even though the baby won't be here for another 2 and 1/2 months. Here are some pictures of the room. The walls are purple, not by choice, it is just one of the joys of renting rather than owning.





I spend lots of time sitting in the baby's room just imagining what it is going to be like when he actually gets here! I love sitting in the rocking chair and reading.

That is pretty much how everyday goes for me. Sounds tough, right? Sleeping in and sitting around reading...The highlight of my day comes around 6:30 when Curtis comes home. I try to be a good wife and have dinner ready for him when he gets home, and so far I have managed to have something different for dinner almost every night, which is a huge accomplishment for me. Even though I feel as though I have accomplished very little by the time Curtis gets home, he is constantly praising me for whatever I have been able to do. I am so lucky to have such a sweet husband! (Hopefully he remembers that once I tell him that grocery shopping and posting on our blog are about the only things I have done today).

Well goodness, I can't imagine that any of you actually read this far, I know this hasn't been the most exciting post, but hopefully they will become much more interesting once the baby is here...

So What Is It That Curtis Does on the Border (and what about that fence the government said it will build)?

Right now, I am being trained as an agent. I've been to the Border Patrol Academy, a nearly three month experience, for the last month I and 2 fellow trainees have been with a training officer in the field and will be with him for two-and-a-half more months, and then I will be assigned to a journeyman agent for at least a couple of months. By then, I should be given my own assignments and will work without accompaniment.

What will I do unaccompanied? Well, before I reach two years worth of employment, at which point I can apply for assignments called details, I will essentially do what is called line watch. Line watch consists of several tasks:

First, I will patrol the border. This means driving mostly, but also hiking the area within 25 miles of the international border, utilizing smart border technology and my own training and experience to detect and then apprehend aliens and contraband that crossed our borders by subverting the ports of entry (it is illegal to enter our country outside the POE).

Next, we man an immigration checkpoint within about 75 miles of the border. At this checkpoint, we momentarily detain everyone ensuring that they are US citizens or that they are otherwise here legally.

Also, we patrol the local highways near the border as a back-up to patrolling the actual border and the immigration checkpoint.

After apprehending all of these aliens we must fill out all sorts of paper work. This processing can involve sending the aliens back to Mexico or sending them to a judge to determine whether they can remain here and/or be sent to jail.

Before 9/11 Border Patrol almost exclusively focused on deterring and catching aliens. Since 9/11 our mission has changed. Our #1 priority is to prevent the entry of terrorists and terror weapons. This includes cash and other contraband used to aide in terrorism. Now, we still apprehend a lot of aliens, but in this line of duty we come across and seize an awful lot of dope.

In fact, the southeastern border patrol sector, named Tucson, is on pace to seize over 1 million pounds of marijuana this fiscal year. Tucson sector last year seized over half of all the marijuana seized by the entire US Border Patrol.

We apprehend all sorts of aliens, but due to increased enforcement, but mostly the economy, apprehensions of aliens are down. The places where aliens cross goes in cycles as well. For example, in some parts of Texas and Yuma there are almost zero apprehensions, while the apprehensions in Tucson are up in some parts of the sector. Years ago, San Diego was a flood gate for illegal entry. But a fence was put up there, along with the increased enforcement and so the entries moved east, to Yuma. And so the story goes...

Well, as you move east of Yuma, you get into very rugged but beautiful country. Country that has few border cities, but lots of desert. BP has decided that putting border fences in places a great distance from border cities is impractical; in these remote areas, aliens must travel for hours, and sometimes days to reach a city or a smuggler. Conversely, a fence deters an aliens for minutes realistically. These minutes near a city can be critical, but in the desert mean little--if we don't catch them as soon as they cross the border we've got several hours at the least before they reach their intended destination.

And those details I mentioned earlier. The details range from riding horses and ATVs to catch aliens, to being an instructor at the academy, to undercover work, intelligence, prosecutions, and more. In fact, there is a detail to build vehicle barriers.

Finally, the lie that 95% of guns in Mexico come from the US--only 17% actually come from the US. It's 95% of traceable guns, i.e. a serial number, come from the US.

Our first posting!

Since so many of the Merrill kin has their own blog, which has nothing to do with the creation of our own blog, we are excited to announce this blog!

We made the big move from South Jordan, Utah to Sierra Vista, Arizona. Both Karalee and I were teachers, but I switched careers, to the Border Patrol, and Karalee is now a homemaker. We are excitedly awaiting the arrival of our first child, a boy, at the end of June.

Absolutely you can prepare for an exciting blog (subject to Karalee's editing when I post) about the Utah Jazz, BYU, politics, the Mormons, and of course, our family.

Currently, we just rented a house in Sierra Vista. We like it a lot. It is a good location to commute to work and is very near to the business areas of Sierra Vista.

My co-workers give me a lot of guff for living in Sierra Vista, as opposed to the Tucson area. However, to justify our decision, Sierra Vista is closer to work and to a significant business area of a town than any other possible choices in the Tucson area. Also, the climate is quite mild compared to Tucson (and Salt Lake City, for that matter), we actually know a couple of people in Sierra Vista (My Uncle Si and Aunt Joan Boughan live here, as well as two of their eight children), it's a little cheaper here, and Sierra Vista isn't nearly as big as Tucson (which suits me well, since my hometown is home to 400 people--Tucson is home to over a million people while the Sierra Vista area is home to about 70,000), while it still has nearly all the amenities we desire. Perhaps we'll decide to move to Tucson, but the chances of that happening are very slim.

Karalee is very busy as a homemaker--doing things she dreads doing most: calling for services, doing taxes, etc. She enjoys teaching more than doing all these tedious errands! However, we're confident that once we're settled into the house the most tedious of errands will become a lot less frequent.

As far as my new job with the Border Patrol, I am being trained in all the various activities I will be assigned to complete as an agent. I am anxious to become a full-fledged agent so I can be better able to defend our American way of life.

We're like everybody--we love visitors. Some people say--if you're ever in ___________ don't be a stranger. Well, many of you have little reason to ever go to Sierra Vista. But, there is plenty to do here aside from just visiting us: Tombstone is nearby along with Kartchner caverns, Bisbee is a very artsy town, and Tucson is a little over an hour away, with such attractions as an air museum and national forest with all those Saguaro cacti. I'm sure that as we get to know the area more we'll discover even more attractions.