A train wreck, an organ, and a press catalog

A few weeks ago (March 12), the commuter train I was on hit a truck. I was on the train a half hour later than the one I usually catch, but I was running late. Five minutes into the trip (between North Temple and Woods Cross) there was a jerk of the brakes (nothing crazy, definitely not the hardest I've felt the brakes on the train) and a distant thump, then we came to a stop and the brakes started stinking. The guy across from me said he saw the remains of a truck as we went by.

Long story short, the guy who was driving the truck got stuck on the tracks or something and he ended up with minor injuries. Nobody on the train was injured. Instead of getting home at 5:55 I got home at 9:00, making a commute of 4 hours 15 minutes. I thought the workers on the train did a fine job, and the EMTs who checked on everyone were great. But whoever at UTA is in charge of figuring out what to do in an emergency is completely inept. At first they said they’d bring buses. We sat for over two hours, then they finally brought an engine up the back (our engine was out of commission), hooked to us, and towed us back to North Temple where they said buses would be waiting to take us to each station. Then we heard that instead, the buses would take us to Woods Cross, where we would get back on a train and go home. When we got to North Temple, there were a dozen buses waiting, and they did in fact take us to Woods Cross, where we waited nearly 30 minutes for another train. One came but they said it was going out of service so we had to wait for another. Extremely poorly planned. Michelle was a champ seeing kids through swimming lessons, dinner, baths, and bedtime routine.

The reason I was late was because I got to play this thing.

That's the pipe organ at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square. The annual Church History Department meeting was held in the Assembly Hall because the room where we usually meet in the Church Office Building was being renovated.

It was a real thrill. Tabernacle organist Clay Christiansen was kind enough to help set up practice time for me and he came and showed me how to work the organ and the video camera. The organist sits with his back to the audience and there's a case of pipes (the positiv organ) blocking the view, so there's a camera and TV set up to see the conductor. I figured this was a once in a lifetime affair so although I didn't "pull out all the stops," I came close on the final verse. The fellow conducting the meeting said when I was done, "Well, you know it's that time of year when we give out raises but we let Nate play this organ so I think that counts for him this year." Which was pretty much true.

Also, A Zion Canyon Reader is listed in the latest U of U press catalog. Go pre-order it for yourself and your 55 closest friends.