Cochran Family History and News – BlogCochran.com

It was always gum that stands out, and eventually I had to make my own decision. Around the time I started spending more time with girls, having fresh breath became important to me. I’m sure Mom wasn’t very pleased, but I was able to argue the merits of sugar-free gum. Throughout high school and even today, if there’s gum in my pocket (and there often is) it’s dark blue (Wintergreen) Extra sugar-free gum.

As a parent myself, there’s a LOT of stuff I hate to let my kids have. Anything that comes in and out of the mouth is a potential sticky mess. That includes suckers, candy canes, etc. I like food that doesn’t leave a big mess and can be doled out in small portions. Smarties, Skittles, M&Ms, and so forth are perfect. Pixie Stix? Potential disaster. Fun Dip? Perhaps at age 12.

Well, the draft of my wagon post went missing.  Probably OK; it was longer than the papers most of Laresa’s students turn in.

I’ll redo it sometime.  I had lots of great times in the old Blushing Belle.

I love cars.  I love the memories of cars too.  A lot of the cars I drove overlapped with my siblings, but I think many of the memories are unique.  I’ll give a run-down of each car I drove, what I loved about it, and a few memories.

This was Dad’s car, of course, but I appropriated it to drive my senior year.  At first, I was terrible with the thing; it took a while to get the quirks figured out.  I’d flood the carb and need rescue frequently.  I think I got it towed the first day I drove to school; maybe just the first week.  Dad did not pay the bill ($65, in 1993 High School Zach Money; it was a gut-twisting amount to me then).

I did eventually get the hang of the thing, though; I figured out what to do when the brakes and power steering stopped working (check vacuum hoses), or when the tail end started to sag (air shocks, pump them up).  I even began to do repairs; I did the water pump, plugs, etc. 

I loved that car, but I’m afraid I drove it hard.  I was young and stupid, of course.  I remember coming down the canyon and zipping down University Avenue before they had all those lights in.  I meant to turn on Center Street, but nearly missed it.  Rather than turning around or going to the next light, I pulled a crazy maneuver and got the car a little sideways to make the turn.  I was with a girl, and I apologized for crazy driving, but she just had a big grin on her face and told me she thought that was pretty good stuff (turns out she drove a ‘67 GTO). 

The first and only time I ever let someone drive the car was on a large group date.  We were doing a video scavenger hunt, and one of the requirements was a Chinese fire drill (where you pull up to a red light and everyone dashes around the car to different spots).  The retard I agreed could drive (after asking if he’d driven a stick, even) burned out the clutch.

One night I was at McDonald’s and was trying to leave the parking lot when the car in front of me just stopped, blocking our way out.  Someone ran into the store, so I figured they’d be right out.  Well, after a few minutes I got antsy and crept up to tap their bumper with mine.  (We used to do that all the time; we were teenage boys.)  Well, they were not amused and called the cops, reporting a “hit and run”.  Retards.

I used to love driving around the Alpine Loop in the Dodge.  I’d often go late at night after my shift at the pizza place.  I was on my way to do that one night when I got pulled over; I’d been going 65 on State Street going down the hill in Lindon.  The officer believed me when I said the speedometer didn’t work, and also when I told him I’d taken my seatbelt off when he approached (both true, but I could see how it sounded totally made up).  I got a ticket for being out after curfew.  Rather than going home, of course, I made my way around the loop anyway.

The Dodge had a hole in the fuel tank, so I could never fill it up higher than about 3/4 of a tank.  What was wonderful, though, was that gas was often as low as $0.89/gallon.

I know it was probably hard for Dad to let me drive it.  I know that when I was done with it, it wasn’t even a good candidate for restoration.  I’m grateful that I had a car that taught me how to troubleshoot and how to fix simple things to avoid getting stranded.  I loved having a big, fast American coupe to drive around.  When I think about the car I’d like to drive around the country during retirement and between missions, I think of a car like the Dodge; large, powerful, comfortable.

So thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting me cut my teeth and letting me be free to screw up so much.  Thanks for letting me fix the car and have some responsibility for its maintenance.  And thanks for letting me be free to explore and make mistakes.

I’ve never been over the oceans.  The most foreign I’ve been is Tijuana and Vancouver.  I know more about the world than many people who have been abroad, I think, but I’ve never taken the opportunity to go.  I do know America, though. 

There are gaps, but I’ve been over most of the country.  I’ve been on every mile of Interstates 70, 80, 15, and 5, and I have long miles on many of the others.  National parks?  I’ve been to Glacier, Arches, Zion, Capital Reef, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Yosemite, North Cascades, Olympic, Yellowstone, Tetons, Redwoods, Rocky Mountain, Wind Cave, Smokies, and maybe others I’ve forgotten.  I’ve walked the streets of San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Salt Lake, Denver, Santa Fe, New Orleans, Washington, New York, Phoenix, Tucson, and a hundred small towns in New Jersey.  I’ve stopped for gas in hundreds of other towns, or just passed through.

And that’s just scratching the surface of this country.  There’s so much to be experienced in America that I may never get around to Europe and Asia.

There’s something amazing about a country that produces both Davy Crockett and Thomas Jefferson.  The personalities unleashed when liberty reigns are like none other in the history of the world.  I have no doubt that the founders of this nation were inspired, and most of them were among the elect as well. 

In one trip, I went to both Gettysburg and to the Lincoln Memorial.  Many conservatives have their issues with Lincoln, but I am not one of them.  He was a titan, a frontiersman turned statesman whose skill saved our nation.

I visited Monticello one hot August afternoon, where I felt I came to know the eccentric Thomas Jefferson.  He was a great mind and a great man.

I walked around the battlefields of Monmouth and Yorktown, and I used to play softball in a little town called Washington’s Crossing.  The shadow of George Washington is heavy over New Jersey.  This quiet, sensible servant steered the country so well, and then returned to his farm.

I’ve been to Palmyra, Kirtland, Independence, and Nauvoo, where the American Prophet spoke to angels and restored the church of Jesus Christ. 

One spring I walked along the National Mall in Washington.  I passed the long dark wall of the Vietnam Memorial, the great plaza of the Navy Memorial, and other monuments to men and women who served and died.  I regret not being part of that brotherhood sometimes.  I think about the unique American soldier, summed it in the following quotes:

“Retreat? Hell, we just got here!”

“Nuts.”

“You don’t win a war by dying for your country. You win a war by making the other son-of-a-bitch die for his.”

Other soldiers rape, torture, and destroy.  Our soldiers build; my brother-in-law spent a whole year in Iraq building sanitation facilities for the people.

Other soldiers have no regard for human life.  Ours rescue kittens and dogs and especially children:

This image is credited to Michael Yon, and you can read about it here.

Another Michael Yon pic, this showing one of our soldiers in the Tennessee National Guard:

I had a conversation about American exceptionalism once.  The other person argued the familiar line about all countries having something unique to argue, and how arrogant we Americans are.

I called BS.  America does more good in the world than any other nation in Earth’s history while doing less harm.  No other people or nation has spread prosperity and freedom so far, and we did it with a bunch of cast-offs from the so-called great nations of the earth

For most things, I’m pretty flexible.  I find what I like best, and I tend to roam around.  I have a few preferences, but they’re based on product performance or my taste at the moment rather than loyalty to any brand.  So I’ll start with what I use currently, then I’ll finish with brands I’m picky about.

For toothpaste, I currently use Aquafresh Extreme Clean Freshening Action.  It’s a solid clean!  My gum of choice is generally the dark blue Extra (sugar-free).  I use Old Spice deodorant and aftershave (sometimes alternating with Aqua Velva).  I like the plain yellow Bic disposable razors.  I get haircuts at Sport Clips; they do a better job on average, and my one experience with an old-time barbershop here in Knoxville didn’t go well.  I like the new white Mt. Dew.  I lean more toward Mercedes than BMW these days, but if I had to choose, I might just get a Porsche.  The Challenger is hotter than the Mustang or the Camaro.  I buy Levis because I know how they fit and have my size memorized.  I generally use Logitech peripherals, but I really love the old Keytronic keyboards.  I buy OEM spark plugs; whatever was in the engine when it left the factory is fine.

I’ve said many a time that I will weep if ever Pace Picante Sauce is discontinued.  I use it on a wide variety of foods.  It’s a real staple.  I generally dislike other flavors of store-bought salsa.  I make sure we have TWO back-up bottles so we never run out.

On a food-related note, I like Triscuits.  The generic version will not do.

I love Camelbak.  I’ve got four of their packs, for different occasions.  I have two bottles, one for the gym and one for work.  All the kids have their own bottle, because they are relatively spill-proof.  I got my first Camelbak right after I got home from my mission.  It was such a life-changer for hikes and biking that I never looked back.

I’m pretty loyal to DishNetwork for my TV.  Lots of people say I’m silly, but I’ve had everyone else, and the darn system just works well.  It’s not the brand so much as everything else is worse, I guess.

I always have some faLAAAMING Cheetos.

I really like Panasonic Lumix cameras, but my next one will probably be a Sony (it’s waterproof, dustproof, shockproof, freezeproof!)

Other than that, I can’t think of anything.  Any of the above will change when something more awesome comes out.

Well, I have only a few memories of Kindergarten at Huntington Elementary. My teacher was Mrs. Richards, and I remember some of the toys.  There was one toy that was always hard to get when it was play time.  It was a little Tonka back-hoe like the one below:

I have some flashes of memory from the playground and the classroom, and I can even remember some of the kids, thought not their names. I could dig out my pictures, I suppose.

There’s one incident that I think happened in Kindergarten. One of the kids was flipping the bird, and seeing as I had no idea what that meant, I started doing it too. I was very bewildered when Mrs. Richards sharply rebuked me: “What do you think your father would have to say if he saw you doing that?!” Anyway, that was how I learned “flipping the bird” was bad.

Well, I don’t know that I can remember everything.  I remember a lot of toys I didn’t have, because the novelty sticks with you (the Linford kids had a Lite-Brite).  But we had a lot of really great toys when I was a kid.

I remember I had a little Winnie the Pooh bear and a brown bear with a little music box in it.  For some reason I remember Pooh didn’t talk; he only said “tweet”.  So I’d wind up the musical bear (it played Brahms’ Lullaby) and I’d have Pooh sing along.  “Tweet tweet tweet, tweet tweet tweet . . .”

I liked our Little People a lot.  I remember playing what seems like a long time in my memory with both the camper and the castle.  I also remember having a Big Wheel when I was small, and riding it a ton.  Heidi had one too, I think, and we’d ride together.  I don’t really remember the Tike Bike, except one memory of riding it around in the basement in Huntington when it was just framed and playing “Bank” with Heidi.  We were going through the drive-up when we’d ride between the walls.

I also remember our swing set. I don’t know when it got set up, but I was very pleased with it.  We played a LOT on that thing.  I remember being out there all by myself swinging and singing at the top of my voice. 

Six years ago yesterday Kathleen and I checked into the hospital expecting to have a kid.  As the day went on, we waited for our boy to come.  Well, he was a stubborn kid.  I took this picture out the window as the sun was setting:

Well, it was early the next morning before Isaac got here.  I’m sure many of you know the instant love and joy that you feel when a new child is born.  This was the first time I felt it, and while I feel the same when each child is born, it’s always as if it’s the first time.

Here’s the boy and his mom:

What a great day.  It felt like we were finally a family. 

Well, I don’t get injured much.  I don’t do a ton of sports, either, but there are some exceptions.

At the age of 14, I undertook a brief career as a daredevil.  I endeavored to jump from a moving car and alight safely on the pavement.  Well, I wound up with a bruised knee and a broken arm as a result. 

In little league baseball, I recall Bryce trying to catch a pop-up fly with his forehead.  That same season, however, I learned a valuable lesson about which foot to step back with to avoid a bean-ball.  The pitcher was the coach’s son.  The team was the Mariners, if I recall correctly.  The kid was throwing a little wild, so I was anticipating a walk (due to my stature).  I’d been beaned before, so I wasn’t really scared of the ball.  I saw it was coming at me, so I stepped back from the plate.  Unfortunately, I stepped back with my front foot so I turned to face the ball rather than away from it.  The ball hit me smack in the groin.  This would have been much more amusing to watch.  Still, I took my base (and I think I scored that inning, too).  Moral: step with your back foot.

I get scraped up in the wilderness sometimes, but usually not as badly as I deserve.  This fall could have been worse:

Note the mud everywhere: hands, elbows, bottom, leg.  The slope was steep and brushy, and I actually came out pretty well from it.  The trail was muddy, slippery, and narrow, and we were on the much-less-trafficked side of the mountain (we were the only people on that side, I think).  My leg did get a bit of a cut, but nothing bad.  Still, there’s blood, so I thought it made a good picture.  (Note the beautiful, flinty quartz; Deseret Peak is awesome!)

Even on my mission, where bike wrecks were fairly common, I only crashed once.  And luckily, that was right in front of the fire station, so though my pants were ruined, I was able to continue without going back home.  I had one companion split the head-tube of his bike from the two main cross-tubes (Schwinn was embarrassed enough that they replaced the frame), another go all endo over the handlebars when he wasn’t paying attention and had to start short.  Schmiddy took a silly jump off a dirt hill and went up and sideways (totally hilarious; I can still see the slow motion replay in my head).  And one elder suffered an injury to the groin requiring surgery (yeah, ouch). 

Anyway, my injuries have been light and my tales dull. 

I don’t have a lot of free time these days.  I have lots of things I love to do when I get it, though.

I love to hike.  I especially like the tops of mountains.  I’m not in very good shape, but I was able to do some interesting hikes last year.  My favorite hikes include Deseret Peak, Notch Peak, and Squaw Peak (it’s an easy one, comparatively).  I’m usually slower than my friends these days, and I go through a lot of water.  But I love doing it.  I’ve got a book of Smokies hikes, and I’m going to try to avoid the crowds.

I love to travel.  I enjoy driving, but I don’t mind flying, either.  I travel for the experience of seeing and feeling new places.  I travel to touch pieces of history and integrate them into myself.  I love to visit cities and just walk around.  My favorite cities to walk in are New York, Seattle, and New Orleans.  I like to eat the food and watch the people.  I like to smell and feel these towns.

I love national parks.  My favorite is Glacier, but I also really like Arches, North Cascades, Zion, and the Smokies.  One of the best experiences I ever had was driving up Going-to-the-Sun Road on fine summer Sabbath morning.  It was just me and David in my old brown wagon, starting at about 6 AM and climbing up those beautiful sweeps.  You drive past waterfalls and wildflowers, until you break through Logan Pass.

I love historic places.  I’ve been to Gettysburg and Manassas, Petersburg, Vicksburg, Monticello, Monmouth.  I love church history, too.  I’m been to Palmyra, Kirtland, Nauvoo, Martin’s Cove, Chimney Rock, and so forth.  I like to see and feel the places where the most important events happened. 

Adding Isaac and Charlotte to these adventures has been natural.  They’ll grow into more and more fun trips with me.

When I can, I like to play music.  I wish I had a small group to play with, but all my musical friends are all over the earth.  I recently figured out how to use Reason to build a virtual synth rack on my computer.  This is loads of fun; I can lay out a whole track very quickly.  I also just got a nice practice amp (gift from my in-laws) for my guitar (gift from my sister-in-law), which is ultra- fun too.  I’ve been able to get a decent digital stage piano (Yamaha CP-33) so I can stay sharp, and a cheaper keyboard for the kids to play with/practice on. 

I still really like computer games.  I love strategy games, especially the Total War games.  I also like to play online with my friends when our schedules allow.  We all have kids and we’re in different time zones now, so play time together is rare.  I also love weird games on the console that I can play with friends and family.  Chu Chu Rocket is a good example. 

I like to read.  I have a Kindle, which is awesome.  I never lose my place when I fall asleep, and I can keep a wide variety of books on it.  I love all kinds of books.  I have a soft spot for fantasy, though I am particular about it.  I like the Wheel of Time (In spite of its flaws and its never-ending books, it’s interesting and I’m excited to see how it comes out).  I like George R. R. Martin, Ursula K. LeGuin, Tad Williams, Robin Hobb, and many more.

I like science fiction, too.  My favorite author these days is John C. Wright.  I also really like Jack Vance, Ray Bradbury, Dan Simmons, and Neal Stephenson. 

I also really enjoy reading history and biography.  I just finished a biography of Davy Crockett and several histories of various Arab/Israeli wars.  I read philosophy, but it makes my brain work.

I write just a tiny bit.  I have a few stories in the works.  I don’t write much poetry anymore; I’m not grumpy enough.  I just write for fun when I have the notion.

I think that’s a pretty good summary of my spare time uses.