"I drive a Dodge Stratus!!"... almost.

Over the past couple of weeks Millie and I have been actively searching for a new (used) car for our growing family. The need for one has become greater since Millie passed her NCLEX exam and has officially earned her LPN Certification!!! That means she'll be looking for, then starting a new job soon!

Our criteria for the new car was simple:
Midsize
Somewhat fuel efficient
Dependable
Affordable
Cute

According to Millie we got all but the last one. But to me, the 2004 Crystler Sebring (AKA Dodge Stratus) is perfect.

It is a Midsize four cylinder, that, for being a domestic car, doesn't get THAT bad of gas mileage. After running countless Carfax reports on countless other vehicles this one made me most at ease... and the fact that it was a certified pre-owned and still under a warranty made the "affordable" part of the deal all the more sweeter. As for the "cute" part... well... I like how they look. Maybe not AS much as some of the other cars we looked at... but considering the cost difference, I think we'll both survive... and Millie seems to agree. :)

pirates

who's all going to pirates? tom went at 11 pm thursday night all the way to danbury with Boomer and his friends, got home at 3am, and went to school. he said it was long and kind of had lots of plots so hard to follow that late at night. dad is taking kathy to the 4:30 showing today. they have asked me, but I fell asleep in the last one. I don't like all the fighting and ugly creatures. I will stay home and make desserts for YW Medallion night tomorrow night. tom is at westpoint today. he had to leave here at 4:30am to get there in time to serve with the scouts at the concession stand for the graduation. VP Cheney is speaking, and security is tight. they had to be there before 7am, even though the speech started at 9. there was a lockdown after 7am. they even called to get all the scout's s security numbers.

Change is good....

It's been a while since I've MADE time to blog. I am now sitting in my new office and approaching two weeks in my new position. It didn't bring much in the way of a pay raise (I'll be getting $4,000 more annually) which I think translates as a loss in pay thanks to Uncle Sam... but to me, that's not the important thing... this is: I will no longer be the "go to" guy (or more accurately the office... uh... B****).

It was getting so stressful carrying the weight of the administration tasks of this rapidly growing company without being recognized for what I was really accomplishing. Now as I gradually pass my duties off to other employees (yes, plural), I realize no one in this company really knew what it was I did. And how could they? They were blinded by human nature and egocentric attitudes. Just about EVERYONE in the company flashes around a "Director of such and such" title or in some cases can't see past the rear of whosoever butt they happen to be kissing.

BUT, is it THEIR fault I was in the position I was? No. I too was just as caught up in my self pity for being overlooked for promotions or pay raises as they are in kissing rear and thinking so highly of themselves.

I think the point of this goes back to what Bret (I think it was Bret) blogged about a while back... mental attitude and personal confidence. I think I set a limitation on myself as "office manager" and was too caught up in focusing on my importance to the company in that role that I was preventing the powers-that-be (including myself) from allowing me to grow and advance. My mental attitude was piss-poor at best on some days, grumbling about my overworked and underpaid lifestyle, and my confidence was all but shot from living in fear of the possibility that, IF I did get a new job and title in the company I would move from being constantly relied upon by all for answers and solutions, to having to ASK for help.

Change is good.

fight in the street

Dad, Ann Rawlings, and I were driving home from a trek meeting in Newburgh and were in the village of Wappingers on 9d. It was about 9:15 and dark. she notices some people crouching over in a side street as we drove by. as she tried to look closer, she observed one of the guys was punching something on the ground in the middle of the street. it took her a moment to realize it was a person. she calmly told us that she thought she saw someone punching someone in the street. dad turned around as quickly as he could. he turned on his brites as we approached the side street. dad and Ann saw someone running away. Ann saw one large man, dad thinks he saw 2 men. it all happened so fast. I was busy looking in my purse for my cell, and I called 911. the guy in the street slowly got up to his knees. dad got out of the car. the guy's face was all bloody. he then tried to stand. he was wobbly. the police came quickly, ( I thought so, dad thinks they took a while). the corner of the street was a bar. the owner came out and the hurt guy went in, along with dad. Ann and I stayed in the car and locked the doors. they knew the guy that had gotten hurt, and he was drunk. they think he knew at least one of the men that beat him up. then he passed out. an ambulnce came. the cops came out and took Ann's statement, phone number, and license number. they told her they would call her for a more formal statement. she really didn't see all that much. it was kind of strange to see it happening in the middle of the street. the guy was lucky that no cars had come up right then, as he was laying down and totally dark. dad said the guy's face was pretty bad. sad world.

I hate the Spurs

What a great game last night! I haven't been so nervous about a game in a long time. It was fantastic. I almost turned the game off. Glad I didn't. But what a way for the league to ruin a great game and run by suspending two of the Suns for a ridiculous rule after a completely cheap foul. I understand rules are rules, but the NBA needs to understand that such a black & white rule will lead to unfairness. Now the dirty team that committed the terrible foul will only have one role player out. Two of the Suns players, who did nothing but stand up in concern for their team leader, are out and are key players. Which team got the better deal? I still have hope the Suns can beat the Spurs in 7, but if they lose it will be a direct effect from this terrible call.

And go Jazz! They've been a fun team to watch. Sloan is a genius.

bluebirds

thanks to a wonderful previous mothers day gift, I get to enjoy bluebirds every year. we have 3 eggs today, 3 yesterday. it is weird that they lay one egg at a time like that. we usually get 4 or 5. I will check and see if there is one more tomorrow. the nest has bluebird eggs in it, but it is not the usual bluebird nest. it is really messy. they usually build very neat, round nests. strange.
I was hoping for a hummingbird feeder this mothers day. hint to tom.

Black vs White - Save $

I read a pretty cool article the other day that talked about how a website with a white background uses about 74 Watts to display while a site with a black background only uses about 59 Watts. A reduction of about 15 Watts. The article went on to say that if Google, which happens to be the most visited site in the world and has a white background, would change its background to black it could save 3,000 Megawatt-hours per year. Though the article was certainly from a "save the world" point of view, the idea is interesting. In my efforts to save you some money and reduce my effect on the world via this blog, I'm going back to black for a while. You can see that though Google hasn't responded, a new site called blackle.com has basically taken Google's search and put it in on a black page. Also, Firefox has now added some extensions to change white sites to black. I've always been a fan of the black background for many things (even my desktop at times which I change frequently).

trip to UT

Tevia, have a great time! Bret, you too! call us and play with us once you have the kids locked up somewhere and under control... :) mom

tennis season

Tom and his partner, Harry Yee, went undefeated this year! they beat Arlington last night after a gruelling long first set tie-breaker. then they found their nitch and creamed them, 6-1. Tom was in tip-top shape, and getting his first serves in with great speed. the newspaper was there taking pics. today, there is a big article about the rivalry of the two high-schools, and that ketcham won. but after taking tons of pics of tom and harry, there is a pic of an arlington guy. and although they do note that tom and harry won, they don't even mention that they went undefeated. he now gets to play in the tournament on friday.

The Brick Testament

The Brick Testament

Pretty funny stuff. Pretty accurate, too. What better way to teach your kids the Bible than making the stories out of LEGO? Read Esau's Birthright - it's pretty good.

The Mormons - PBS Special

I'm not sure if everyone was able to watch this PBS special, but we did and we also taped it (in case anyone would want it - but it is also available online @ http://www.pbs.org/mormons/view/).

I definitely liked the second night better than the first, but I would say that overall the series was positive for the Church. But as I watched it I knew that many members of the Church would not find it positive at all - and in fact many would feel quite uncomfortable and even angry. In fact, the program actually touched upon the reason why this would happen, though to a much larger extreme. I felt that this program was definitely marketed toward and was based upon the opinions of older generations. As I watched it I told Tevia I would be curious to see a program based more on GenX or GenY. Many of the things they mentioned might be true (or perhaps a better term would be "common") for things mentioned, but for the younger generations I don't think it is as big of a deal. A couple of examples would be excommunication and homosexuality. They had several examples of members who were shunned due to their excommunication or same-sex attraction. Though certainly this occurs today, I do think it is much more rare. I certainly don't shun any of the people I know in that situation. In fact, I would love them even more. Anybody who would shun someone in that situation does not listen to the current prophet who has made it quite clear on numerous occasions of the error to act in such a way. Indeed, it wouldn't be Christ-like either. And yes, we are Christians.

I also think that many members do suffer from paranoia or fear of history. Perhaps the Church has helped support this, but there is nothing wrong with questioning. There is nothing wrong with learning that a prophet of God is not perfect. They certainly were not in the Bible! The key to the Church is a testimony that is given by the Holy Ghost; not in evidence from Mayan culture or Brigham's thoughts on blacks. In fact, the program aired one of the great talks of Pres. Hinckley over the past few years where he emphatically states the one thing our religion hinges upon. Either the Book of Mormon is true and hence this religion is exactly what it asserts or it is false and the entire religion is a farce. It is so simple. As missionaries we pound this into our investigators and hopefully we have taken the time ourselves to find out the veracity of the book and the prophet Joseph. But if I know it is true (which I do!) knowing that Joseph Smith liked to dig for gold will not shake my testimony. In fact, nothing should. Of course, our testimonies will grow and shrink over our lifetime. But Mormons should not fear history or lack of scientific evidence, etc. On the program the one man put it perfect when he said it is merely a question of time. All religions are built upon unbelievable and miraculous happenings. The Exodus is respected (by many) because it happened thousands of years ago. Mormonism is so "new" and close that it is more difficult to believe due solely to that fact. Had Joseph lived in 1000 AD I don't think most critics or even members would think twice.

I do feel the program spent a little too much time on polygamy and the Mountain Meadow Massacre. Not sure why they needed an entire hour for those two topics. Some of the people on the show made me laugh. Sarah Gordon made me chuckle every time she came on with her crazy hair and way of speaking; though she also seemed very positive toward the Church. Most impressive to me was Terryl Givens (wrote "By the Hand of Mormon" - great read by the way - thanks to Jake for that) who throughout the whole show I thought was Mormon until I figured out who he was. Marlin Jensen did fantastic and actually got the most airtime, which I thought was generous of Helen Whitney who produced the show. I did think that unfortunately Elder Packer came off a little on the rough side (though he only had 20 seconds or so of time) with his response to his quote on gays and scholars.

Most impressive I thought was the ending. It was ended on a very positive note AND a very unique thought. The guy they quote (and I have forgotten who it was) mentioned that all religions were created to defy the inevitable death. He then states that no religion defies and flat out denies death more than the Mormons. I would agree. We truly are unique in our belief of a plan of salvation and an infinite existence. More so than any religion I know of I would also agree we have overcome the fear of death and actually embraced it as almost a reward. It was a great point I had never thought of before.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. As mentioned, I don't think many others will feel as positive about it (though the Church itself did in their press release here).

I thought it was a great tool to talk about the Church with others. For some good blogs, check out this site in the Washington Post.

Everyone's got something

It is kind of interesting talking to women who have children. I am discovering more and more that almost everyone I come in contact with that has children, have children that has "issues". Now this can range from speech problems, developmental problems, sensory problems, physical problem, psychological problems, behavioral problems, the list goes on and on. Everyone has a therapist of one kind or another. Growing up, I didn't really know many people or kids that had any of these problems, but now it seems to be a normal occurrence that one or many of the children in families have these issues.

Some people are chalking it up to poor environmental conditions, pesticides, bad air quality etc... Some people say it is because more and more women are having children at an older age and therefore have a higher chance of having children with these problems.
Still others say that we are letting too many people survive with these problems and/or diseases and this is making our gene pool quite weak. (We are forcing people to spend more time in the "shallow end of the gene pool" to quote The Lion King)
Another contributing factor to some of these issues (mostly the behavioral one) is because parents aren't being parents. They are having everyone else raise their children.

I think it is a combination of all these factors. Is there much we can do about it? I don't know, I am not a scientist and I haven't done any research into this. All I know is what I am seeing. So many women I know have at least one child who has one or multiple problems. It seems like a sad, scary trend for children. Should we still be bringing these children into our families. Absolutely. I wouldn't trade the experiences and things I have learned having Jarek and Malik for anything in the world. It is nice to see and understand the big picture. I can be stressed and worried for a time, but I know that the struggles here on earth are but a short time. My kids are wonderful, and they will have wonderful lives and in the end it doesn't matter what physical limitations they have, because we know their spiritual potential!