Recent story about a young man who listened to the Spirit in order to help someone in need:
http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/56349/Boy-Scout-hero-follows-the-Spirit.html
"It's a wonderful feeling to know that you served the Lord and that you really helped save these people's lives," Gabe said. "It's a feeling like none other. It's a really tremendous feeling."
Here are some fun parlor games published by Carma Wadley in the Deseret News. Great for when everyone gets together!
There are writing games, a reindeer word scramble, a drawing game, and many more!
Here's a great little slideshow created by the BYU Department of Fine Arts:
Proposition 8, the proposal in California to define marriage in the state's constitution as limited to a man and a woman, has been a very hot topic as of late.
In late November I read an interesting article from the LDS Newsroom on Proposition 8. It includes pleas from individuals on both sides of the issue to maintain civility and clarity. Especially awesome are two letters written by Catholic Bishops from the Sacramento and Salt Lake Diocese, both of which are linked from the above article. I would recommend reading the article and both of the letters.
CLERGYMAN: Mahwage. Mawage is wot bwings us togevah tooday. Mahwage, that bwessed awangement, that dweam wifin a dweam ... And wuv, twu wuv, will fowow you foweva. So twesa your wuv –
PRINCE HUMPERDINCK (interrupting): Skip to the end!
CLERGYMAN: Have you the wing?
I feel that it is important for each of us to ask ourselves and study out in our own minds why we believe what we believe. The following thoughts probably began as a teenager, evolved as I served an LDS mission, attended college at Utah State, and continue as the battle rages regarding the definition of marriage and family:After every argument is heard regarding the definition of marriage, etc., I always come back to one very simple set of ideas:
I have not read his book, Crash Proof, but it sounds like Mr. Peter Schiff could see what many of us could see coming. I really felt like the home prices around me here in Utah, as well as my own was a false, blown-up bubble that would pop. It was unhealthy, unsupported growth.
I can remember practicing in a combined choir with Brian Weston and Lynn (I can't remember his last name) when a guy next to me was asking what I thought of the government's deficit spending. I remember telling him something to the effect that anybody or any organization who continues to go into debt further and further will one day have to pay the consequences. I can remember being discouraged at the fact that the government was not balancing its budget. I am not a financial wizard, nor the world's greatest budget-keeper, but I know I feel better when I save my money and am able to make sound investments. Many of us in the U.S. have borrowed way too much and it is now coming back to bite us.
An address from President Gordon B. Hinckley has been a great guide to me in my life. It is entitled, To the Boys and To the Men, and was given in November of 1998. I include what is to me the most significant excerpt:
This counsel has guided me in many decisions. I am thankful for a prophet who just simply wanted us to live wisely, both spiritually and financially.Now, brethren, I should like to talk to the older men, hoping that there will be some lesson for the younger men as well.
I wish to speak to you about temporal matters.
As a backdrop for what I wish to say, I read to you a few verses from the 41st chapter of Genesis.
Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, dreamed dreams which greatly troubled him. The wise men of his court could not give an interpretation. Joseph was then brought before him: “Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river:
“And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:
“And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed. …
“And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine: …
“And I saw in my dream … seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good:
“And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:
“And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: …
“And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, … God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
“The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. …
“… What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.
“Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt:
“And there shall arise after them seven years of famine;
“… And God will shortly bring it to pass” (Gen. 41:17–20, 22–26, 28–30, 32).
Now, brethren, I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in the future. But I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order.
So many of our people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings.
We have witnessed in recent weeks wide and fearsome swings in the markets of the world. The economy is a fragile thing. A stumble in the economy in Jakarta or Moscow can immediately affect the entire world. It can eventually reach down to each of us as individuals. There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed.
For the past several years I have carried around in my scriptures a sheet of paper listing the beginnings of what a either a teacher in a past Sunday meeting encouraged us to to do: Create a list of 50 of your greatest experiences so far in your life. I do not remember who it was, but have resolved over this Thanksgiving weekend to finish this list that I started, and then record them in my journal.
I express my gratitude for the individual that extended this challenge and for some of the great examples of journal-writers in my life: Wilford Woodruff, Kenyon Platt, and Annie Weber.
Let's go back to 1863 and use this proclamation from President Abraham Lincoln to reflect on our own blessings...
Proclamation of Thanksgiving
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battlefield; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed,
Done at the city of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State
From my brother Andrew:
In an Opinion page editorial in today's [Tuesday's] New York Times, Mitt Romney says "Let Detroit go Bankrupt!" If this radical non-political pandering spinal fortitude behavior persists, I will quit my job and work full-time on Mitt's 2012 campaign.
Way to go Mitt!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19romney.html?_r=1&hp
~Andrew
A teaser...
If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.
When I was a kid one of our favorite toys were the two Nerf Men we got for Christmas one year. We threw them all over the house. They were probably confiscated to prevent damage because I don't remember much more of them. Maybe they were so much fun we didn't do our chores. Or maybe my dad made good on his threat that he'd "cut it in half if you throw it in the house."
Anyway, I read an article on Monday in the Deseret News about toys. It highlighted a blog, The Toy Snob, kept by Nicole Bradley that reviews creative, aesthetic, classic-type toys. I took a peek and found a toy that I almost bought for my nephews last year- the Automoblox cars:
You can drive one of these for just $32 plus shipping from a great on-line game and toy store, Fat Brain Toys. They have great deals on pretty unique games and toys. The article also talked about the purpose of toys. I remember that a lot of our play as children was invented and much of it took place outside. I remember spending hours driving our Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars around a dirt hill with my brothers and friends.
These Automoblox cars come apart and even come in smaller versions ($10) and in sets of three for $26. Pretty cool.
The mini-cars:
I had better get married and have a kid so I can get some of these... for the kids, of course.
Bill reflects...
Apparently Mr. Clinton states that the primarily Democratic congress during his administration shares a lot of the blame in the Fannie May and Freddie Mac problems that began to grow during his administration. Apparently a group of Republican Senators were attempting to regulate them more, but it didn't make it too far. Thanks Bill!
I did my daily check of the articles summarized on the home page at RealClearPolitics.com and found an article in the Wall Street Journal about the differences in the proposed tax plans of Barack Obama and John McCain. It is interesting to see how the two candidates "spin" their statements on taxes, especially Obama. I quote three portions:
Mr. Obama claims no "working families" earning less than $250,000 would pay more in taxes, but that's because he defines income more broadly than the taxable income line on the IRS form. If you're an individual with taxable income of $164,550, you will pay more taxes.Now, I am fiscally nowhere near the $160K or $250K tax bracket, and it seems that right now I may benefit more from Obama's plan. More highlights:
Summary:As for Mr. McCain, the central plank of his personal income-tax proposals is to make permanent almost all of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. This would leave the top marginal rate at 35%. The one exception is the death or estate tax, which expires for one year in 2010. Mr. McCain wants a 15% death tax on estates larger than $5 million. Mr. Obama wants a 45% rate on estates larger than $3.5 million.
Mr. McCain would also increase the dependent exemption by two-thirds -- to $6,000 per dependent from $3,500.
In sum, Mr. Obama is proposing to use the tax code to substantially redistribute income -- raising tax rates on a minority of taxpayers to finance tax credits and direct income supplements to millions of others. How much revenue his higher rates would raise depends on how much less those high-earners would work, or how much they would change their practices to shelter their income from those higher rates.
By contrast, Mr. McCain is proposing some kind of tax reduction for most Americans who pay taxes. He says he would finance those cuts by reducing the rate of growth in federal spending.
The one thing I like about both is that they're both going after the oil profits. Obama's plan is much less friendly to small businesses and for well-to-do families hoping to pass on their estates to heirs. Obama has many little perks for people like me, students, and lower-income families, thus his comments that 95% of all Americans would get a tax break or cut under his plan. In the same breath many of those same people would also be paying more taxes elsewhere. Obama also wants the wealthier portion of America to be the primary financiers of the Social Security program, using it to "redistribute wealth." McCain's is aimed more towards reducing government spending and promoting growth in the economy by taxing businesses less.
Remember to vote!
The New York Times link below explains the hand the government had in creating the current mortgage crisis. The article was written in 1999, and occurred within Clinton's administration. This article was sent to me by my politically savvy friend, Mike Taylor.http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260
Isn't life all about perspective? And there is always more than one way to view the current economic status of our nation. If you're one that has savings, a great credit rating, and have been waiting to get into the stock market or a house, this may be your big chance!
When the prices of stocks, or homes, generally plunge like they have recently. It's like having a sign saying:
Here is a great article from RealClearPolitics.com that talks about the current candidates and their VP picks. It discusses experience, or record, as opposed to rhetoric. I thought it very insightful:
Hmmm...
What shall we believe when a candidate speaks? Who knows what McCain will say or do next.
I wonder if it's too late to convince Colin Powell to run for office.
Here's what's happened today, and what might be a normal Saturday for me lately...
1. Sleep in until 8 or so (normally I do like to get up a little earlier).
2. Read (currently John Groberg's, "In the Eye of the Storm")
3. Run (4 mile loop- haven't gone that far in a while).
4. Vacuum
5. Breakfast (2 bowls of cereal and about an hour later, 2 awesome breakfast burritos made by yours truly).
6. Watch the rest of the Texas Longhorns game with roommate as they beat the currently #1-ranked Oklahoma Sooners.
7. Help roommate clean up kitchen because I feel guilty that much of the mess is mine.
8. Load 1,960 lbs. of junk in the old orange flatbed dumptruck (cement chunks, old beams, wood, pipe, and other miscellany). Added a new driveway a few weeks ago and the cement guy did his "cleanout" right in front of the leftover cement. Gratefully there was not too much.
9. Visit the dump as a very light rain turns so snow (that makes 3 weeks in a row). Last week's trip was almost 3 tons and great fun in the rain. The landfill was a muddy, stinky mess and after I dumped my load I felt like I was in one of those events you might see at a truck pull. I was peeling out and flipping mud everywhere. It was pretty fun. Good thing I had "duallies" in back or I may not have made it. :)
10. Hurry and answer a few e-mails that have been sitting in my inbox.
11. Check friends' blogs. Feel guilty about not posting anything. Create this post.
12. Get a little to eat (leftovers from Saturday breakfast last week [blueberry pancakes] and today).
13. Hope to work on finishing a few small rough framing things in the basement "studio" room I am finishing.
14. Get cleaned up.
15. Go dancing with friends at the Murray Arts Center (M.A.C.). Possibly visit IKEA beforehand to check on flooring that is $0.49 a square foot (probably pretty cheap stuff).
16. Bed.
What would I change? A few things- three, in fact. Love Saturdays. Next week I have a 4-day weekend. Awesome.
After a little feedback from friends and a Louisville Slugger to the head (courtesy of an anonymous comment on my 'flaky' analogy posted a few weeks ago), I thought I'd elaborate a little on the baseball/dating comparison:
1. This analogy is probably more fitting to a baseball practice or baseball tryouts. Don't take it beyond the pitcher-batter idea.
2. Consider it, women who are pursuing men that are NOT stepping up to the plate does not help them to STEP UP and be a MAN. Men need to STAND UP and put forth their best effort. They need the challenge and the chase. Each situation is different, but a healthy relationship is based on the fact that each person inspires the other to be their best- in a simple and wonderful, kind of way. I would not recommend that women date the guys that are forever languishing in the dugout. But everyone has that choice. The point of dating and life is that men learn how to step up to the plate. The dudes who NEVER step out of the dugout just get booted off the team anyway. Women- be your best and the men that can handle what you dish out will be the ones that chase you. Birds of a feather flock together, but the scriptural reference says it best.
3. Men: It may appear that some women are not pitching at all when you are doing your best to ask for a pitch. She may be pitching or winking elsewhere.
4. Women: Just because a particular fellow is not stepping up to your plate does not mean he is not doing his best to hammer a homer (connect) or get a pitch elsewhere.
5. We have a limited view of each other as we live in our little worlds. Sometimes we become generally frustrated that a certain person(s) is not doing what we want s/he to do. Thus the need to gain perspective from other sources.
6. Amen to the comment left on the post: "It's easy to lose track of the whole doggone' game when you're hanging out in the dingy dugout with the boys." That is very true.
7. Also in response to the same comment: Getting "beaned" in the head with a fastball while sitting in the dugout WOULD be a great wake-up call. It may even put a fellow in the hospital. Lighting a fire under the pine bench in the dugout might be even a better idea.
Dating and courting does really hurt now and then, believe me. The pain can inspire growth and understanding or make one retreat (both can be equally helpful). But it is only when we take the greatest risks that we can expect the greatest returns. Though I often feel like a "Little League" kid when I step up to the plate, awkward and inadequate, I must say that the dating/courting experiences that I have had are some of the most rewarding of my life.
I think Doug Robinson has a point... I love the Olympics, but what do they symbolize?
Has it become, or has it been, a political show?
Does it strengthen relations between countries?
Berlin Olympics, 1936
Jesse Owens, 1936Athletes from around the world embracing, encouraging, and rejoicing together.I love the "human" elements of the Olympics:
Coaches comforting an athlete in tears.
A crowd cheering for one who faltered but finished.
Seeing competing athletes congratulate and comfort one another.
Watching parents of olympians cry in the stands.
Seeing individuals pushing themselves to their limits.
Seeing a winner totally freak out when they win.
Seeing individuals heed that eternal spark inside them that always tells them that they CAN do it!
Dating is much like baseball. In dating men should step up to the plate & ask a woman for a pitch if they're interested. Women then choose whether or not they'll pitch, & what kind of pitch to give. Both she & he want to know what the other is all about. Good pitchers throw challenging pitches, not soft tosses given half the distance between the mound and home plate, and a good slugger keeps his eye on the ball and swings strong and level.
A man needs to understand & respect the fact that even if he steps up to the plate, a woman may not choose to give him a pitch. It also gets confusing if pitches are unexpectedly thrown into the dugout. A pitcher can wink from the mound & pursue her game, but throwing a pitches to those not up at the plate is not how it works. This is the old-fashioned version of baseball I was taught.With gas prices at an all time high, I was surprised by a sign I saw while on my way home from a hike. I had stopped to pick up a few items at a shop when I spotted it:
Wow! Free gas!
What?
Free gas! About 12 miles south of my house- $0.00 per gallon!
Free?
Yes! Frrreeeeeee!
Hurray!
I couldn't believe it either and took the photo above to prove it. I'll have to go there more often!
Here is a photo of the whole storefront:
Look closely at the photo...
Yeah, it's a bike shop- Bountiful Bicycles. I recently re-invested in a bicycle and needed to get a few things. I thought that the sign on the storefront was pretty creative and funny. I used to have a road bike in high school that I rode to work quite a bit between Kaysville and Centerville, and thanks to ebay, I found a decent, used bike in Colorado to replace my aged and crippled Specialized Hard Rock (that is now 18 years old). Now I need to get a second set of rims in order to exchange quickly between mtn tires and road tires, or slicks.
Here is the new ride:
I was surprised that I won the ebay auction. I thought I'd have to increase my bid by $100 or so, but didn't have to. I also am learning to use clipless (eggbeater) pedals for the first time. They're easier than I thought they'd be, although not as easy as toeclips. So far, it's harder to get INTO the pedal than releasing it.
I figure that I'll have to bike well over 4,500 miles for this purchase to pay for itself. With the ride to work and back being a 24-mile round trip, that'll be nearly 200 trips to work. At least it will give me about an hour of cardiovascular exercise each day I ride. Also cheaper than a Toyota Prius and faster than walking!
(written Saturday afternoon, June 20)
Today I feel more like a man. Why? I discovered the deeper meaning of a weighty, masculine word. There are a handful out there: lumber, football, etc.
In the course of these events it has broken down at least three or four times. We've blown just about half of its hydraulic hoses, improved some of the electrical wiring, and most recently I had to replace the starter. Thus this blog entry.
Yes- I know- this was actually posted on a Sunday, but I have been inspired by Bamamoma's "Food Friday" recipes and thought I'd share a few of my own (or those I've stolen). I don't know if I can commit to sharing a recipe every Friday, but we'll see. I'm starting out with a basic recipe, a little beyond cold cereal and homemade toast. I'll save them for when I have no ideas.
With this first recipe I am also putting my life in peril. I think it is a top-secret family recipe. If Mark Lambert finds out I have published this on the web, all of his family members may be after me (and if you include all of the grandkids, that's a lot!). So, if I die an unusual death in the coming months, you'll know whodunnit. Mark didn't have a precise recipe, but this is pretty close and has been modified a little by me. This one makes 4 or so loaves.
(I borrowed this photo from http://mac-aroni-n-cheese.blogspot.com/2008/01/yummy.html)I always check the news every morning or afternoon on-line. First, I was happy to read that the U of U was able to recover the thousands of medical records kept on data tapes that had been stolen (mine included) with the help of the local police department. Second, I ran into a cool article on grilling in the Deseret News. I purchased a smoker grill last year and have used it 4-5 times to grill. I am still a novice, but I am getting better. This February and March we grilled shiskabobs. Here is a delicious photo the second time we made them:
Here are some thoughts and recent finds on car care, or more specifically, oil changes. A while back I rambled on about gasoline prices. And due to a complaint that my posts were sometimes long, here's a two-point summary of what the rest of this post says (so you don't have to read it all):
1. Oil changes can be done at 4,000 or 5,000 miles instead of 3,000 (unless you've really been driving in rough, dirty conditions). I usually change mine at about 4,000 miles, sometimes later. Also, your oil filter also doesn't NEED to be changed at every oil change, but considering they are between $3 and $6, it is not really a big deal to change it, and most places do (make sure they do). A study found that oil change places like Jiffy Lube were not doing a lot of what they said they were. I change my own oil and just don't like the idea of having that clean oil I just put in my car running through a used filter.
2. A few eco-friendly, oil-free transportation options and some fun links. The solar car is quite interesting. I'm telling ya- we'll all be driving something like this in about 20 years.
Here are the details:
I can remember reading in the auto manual of the first car I owned (a light blue "Calvin & Hobbes-ish " Nissan Stanza Wagon- an awesome car- I could fit 4 mountain bikes upright in the back of it if I took off their front tires). The manual recommended oil changes at least every 7,500 miles. I was a little surprised. This morning I came across an article at KSL.com on oil changes- that we don't have to do it every 3,000 miles. It states that "Toyota recommends getting a change between 5,000 and 7,500 miles, or every six months, and under certain circumstances, the closer to 5,000 miles the better."
The KSL article reminded me of a study on oil brands that I read in Consumer Reports (CR) several years ago (I couldn't find it on-line). The Consumer Reports team was researching the quality of different brands of oil and testing how they protected the engines of several taxi cabs with newly-rebuilt engines. They chose to do their testing with taxis because of the sheer number of miles they put in each day, the fact that they are running most of the day, and that they are used in what is considered the most wearing type of driving- city driving (lots of stops, starts, constant accelerating/decelerating). Anyway, the rebuilt engine parts were measured before they were put back together and then after a significant period of wear, were taken out and measured again. As I remember, a different brand of oil, including synthetic oil varieties, were used on different group of cars. And each group using a specific oil type had cars that had its oil changed at either 3,000 or 6,000 miles. They hoped to determine whether it made any difference. 
Well, to make a long story short, they drove and drove all of the taxis for what I think was 60,000 miles. At this point they took all of the engines apart and found no measurable difference in the engine wear of all the cars and the oil types they tested. They concluded that for 60,000 miles of wear, changing your oil at 3,000 miles or 6,000 miles didn't really make a difference. The only difference in the oil brands were that some started breaking down on a molecular level earlier than others, but all still seemed to protect fine.
The only significant difference that a synthetic oil makes is that it "bonds" better to the engine parts due to its finer molecular structure. It also can increase your mileage by 1-2 miles per gallon. This works, both myself and a friend have tried it, though it does cost between $3 and $5 per quart of synthetic oil as compared to $1 or $2 a quart for regular oil.
Here are a few useful and fun links:
On another note, the city of Seattle is seeing "greener" taxis nowdays. I understand that Vancouver, Canada has had hybrid taxis for a few years now.
NYC has some hybrid Ford Escape hybrids as well.
I thought I'd share a few photos from our family reunion at East Canyon Resort held in early June. We had a bit of rain but had a lot of fun in between and during. I played shuffleboard for the first time- a pretty fun game!
Burn, baby, burn!
Fishin'
Fishin' with Daddy
Canoeing & Fishing
Near the state park entrance to the reservoir
Some guy getting in the way of the great scenery.
The drive home
