Sparks from the Smithy

Some of you noticed that Logitech, my employer, announced a couple of weeks ago that it was going to do some layoffs, and expressed concern about whether I’d still have a job.

It was kind of a strange situation. I’ve been through a few layoffs in the past, but those have always been executed at the same time that they were announced. It made for a stressful couple of weeks, wondering if I’d be around to do the things my team was planning. Little glitches, like getting disconnected from the email server and being prompted for a password would make your heart skip a beat while you wondered if it was significant. I’m also a relatively new employee, so I was worried that that might put me at greater risk.

All the layoffs actually happened this morning, and I’m happy to say that I continue to be employed. Even better, all the people that I work most closely with also kept their jobs. There were a few from our office that were let go, though, which is always sad.

Further good news is that Alan (my brother who also works for Logitech) hung on to his job, too.

Thanks to everyone who expressed (or even just felt) concern!

Dear Dad,

As a parent myself, I have honestly said that some of my favorite gifts to receive are the one-of-a-kind, homemade, glue, love, and macaroni encrusted works of art.

I don’t think macaroni emails very well and I’m pretty sure this doesn’t qualify as art, but here is my homemade gift just for you—and everyone else who has nothing better to do on Christmas Eve.

Continue reading “A Letter to Dad”

Friday at work, I got a call from someone at Ethan’s school. She said that Ethan was in the office after apparently hurting his arm during recess — maybe a sprained wrist. She asked if Ethan was prone to drama since he had been lying on the floor of the nurse’s station not wanting to even get up onto the bed. “Although,” she continued, “he does look really pale and it’s hard to fake that.”

Continue reading “Snap!”

Editor’s note: This is an essay from many years ago — when we moved into our first house. Some of you may have read this before, but it seemed like something that belonged on Sparks. It is timely for the Wrathalls since they’re currently working on terminating some unwelcome rodents with extreme prejudice.

I broke the bad news to my wife last Monday.

“I think we’ve got a mouse in the house.”

“How do you know?”

“Mouse poop. A bunch of it around the kitchen sink.”

It seemed a little unfair. I could understand having mice if we’d just bought a 50-year-old house — but a brand-new house seems like it shouldn’t be rodent-infested. I’ve come to accept spider infested — easily over 100 spiders killed in the few months we’ve lived here. Not many other kinds of bugs, though.

Continue reading “Mouse Hunting”

It was 5:43 AM yesterday when the shower turned on. My mom was up and getting ready. I was semi-dozing in that slightly anxious way when you know your alarm is set a little later than you really need to get up. I let Shannon sleep a few minutes more, but before long, we were all up and on the road to the airport to welcome Jacob home from serving in the Micronesia Guam Mission. Here are a few pictures of the happy homecoming.
Continue reading “Welcome Home Elder Peden”

The other day I came into work to find the name tag normally affixed to my cube lying on the floor instead. Someone had probably gotten snagged on it while walking by. Given the sharp aluminum corners, I can’t really blame them for immediately seeking first aid instead of trying to put it back up. The thing is, though, once one of these tags has come off, they never stick quite the same again.

Continue reading “The Next Page in My Career”

“How long has this been there?”

Eric looked quizzically at me in response and then his eyes zeroed in on the whitish ring adorning the left side of my pewter blue jacket, the one I always feel very stylish and trendy when I wear. He said all he knew for sure was that it wasn’t there before we’d left for church that morning—at least for a few minutes I was child debris free, but beyond that he couldn’t be sure.

Continue reading “Tanks for the Memories”

Last night I had a dream that the sun had come out and melted all the snow off of my driveway. It was a nice dream. In reality, as I got ready to head out to an early church meeting this morning, I found another six inches piled on. And it was still snowing!

Continue reading “Wet, Cold, Snowy”

Cub Scout racing events have definitely been down and up for our family. Ethan’s pinewood derby car came in last place in every race, but his raingutter regatta boat was unbeatable. We missed out on the rockets — I think we were out of town — so the next event was pinewood derby again. Of course, Ethan has moved on to the eleven year old scouts, so it was Gerrit’s turn to give it a go. Continue reading “Gerrit’s Green Lightning”