Oklahoma Earthquake 2

Today we had another earthquake just outside the city of Norman. This time it was a 4.2 (although initial reports had it at a 5.1). When I was on my way to work, we had a good montage of statements from people who felt the effects of it.

My personal favorite:

"I knew that it wasn't squirrels shaking the roof because they can't do it that much."

Squirrels - shaking the roof?

Up and Up, but where?

Target, at some time in the recent past decided to have a marketing overhaul to its brand name. Most Target shoppers are familiar with their food line called Archer Farms and the Target brand with the store emblem on it for the sundries. Well, Target decided to change it's namesake brand name to Up and Up. What they probably didn't anticipate were the consequences of that name in the feminine hygene section of the store.

Up and Up super tampons. Nice.

Cross-Dress Burglary

I was reading the news and found an article about a cross-dressed burglary. The incident happened early this morning where a woman in Oklahoma City woke to find a man in a dress stealing her purse.

It turns out the guy was her ex-son-in-law.

The best part of the article is her statement when she aknowledged who he was. She said, "Ends up that's my ex-son-in-law, so that's awesome."

Awesome? Really?

What happens 9 months after a snowstorm?

It's September, and last December, the most snow fell ever on Christmas eve - 14 inches. What do you get when you're cooped up for 3 days on a holiday?

Yeah, I know it's obvious - pregnant.

Earthquake - Oklahoma Style

I was watching the news with Alex this morning and they reported on a 4.0 earthquake that we had in northeastern oklahoma county. This is quite powerful for Oklahoma (although we have many more earthquakes in OK per year than CA).

During the report, they interviewed two ladies who live in the area. One of them said, "I thought that someone took the John Deer tractor and hit ma' trailer."

That's exactly what I think when the ground starts shaking - tractor to the trailer.

Jball on YouTube

I found this looking at funny plays in baseball. Here's the clip. I recommend that you only watch the first part since it's all in Japanese:


So, would this be a catch in the MLB?

Mary Poppins...

eat your heart out

Sorry I couldn't resist

burning carbon

A while back, I bought me a cast iron skillet. Cast iron is pretty nice, if you know how to use it. One thing to know about cast iron, though, is that it has a coat of carbon that is called seasoning. That's what makes them black - and somewhat stick proof.

Tonight, when I got home, I decided to cook myself some chicken. I always like to preheat my skillet, so I turned on the burner and went to watch tv for 5 minutes. I guess that I turned the burner on too hot, because I soon had smoke going through the entire house. Fun.

Anyway, I cooked up the chicken for about 5 minutes on both sides, poured a can of chicken broth on it and then seasoned it with some rosemary and garlic seasoning. (Now, here's the beauty of the cast iron) I put that in the oven for about 25 minutes (12 minutes each side) and cooked up some mashed potatoes on the stove-top. Aside from the smoke everywhere, the food turned out to be pretty good.

Finally, an update

So here's the scoop. For the past few months, I've been working 2 jobs and working my tail off to get a better position at work. I'm now what we call an aligned underwriter at the Hartford. This is to say, I am assigned certain territories and I make decisions on behalf of the company for those states. Good times. I have also given up on my second job which consisted of making leather goods for horses. That was pretty fun, but phew! it was tiring to work 12+ hour days and 6 days a week.

Oh and Alex is working at Jamba Juice.

Oh well, it's probably going to be a while before anyone reads this since I haven't posted in a while.

Seriously?

Please stop the MJ thing NOW!!!

About Rand...

I honestly feel like, after reading Atlas Shrugged that I have discovered a major revelation about society and politics. It is as if I didn't quite understand something, but I do now. I will say, It is a very cumbersome book to read, but completely worth the time and effort.

Atlas shrugged is about the human spirit and how it is giving way to the government. It involves industry versus rediculous measures taken by the government, and as Rand likes to call them, looters. It was written in the mid 1950's for those of you who don't know, and it is scary how things are playing out today are similar to what goes on in the book. I recommend it.

Here's a quote from the book that I thought was great. I'll call this the "title track" of the book. You'll get my meaning when you read it. Francisco, an apparent playboy heir, is trying to explain to Henry Rearden, an entrepreneur/inventor why he should quit his business (even though at this point in the book, we don't understand that's what he's trying to get him to do).

“Mr. Rearden,” said Francisco, his voice solemnly calm, “if you saw Atlas,
the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood,
blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but
still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the
greater his effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders – what
would you tell him to do?”

“I…don’t know. What…could he do? What would you tell him?”

“To shrug.”

Does this sound familiar?

First of all. I've not written anything for a bit because of a 2 job run that's going on right now. While I've been busy doing that and dealing with Alex's surgery, I've also been reading. Here's a bit from Rand's Atlas Shrugged:

It was the chance conversation of two men somewhere behind her that came beating
suddenly against her closed attention.

“But laws shouldn’t be passed that way, so quickly.”

“They’re not laws, they’re directives.”

“Then it’s illegal.”

“It’s not illegal, because the Legislature passed a law last month giving him the power to issue directives.”

“I don’t think directives should be sprung on people that way, out of the blue, like a
punch in the nose.”

“Well, there’s no time to palaver when it’s a national emergency.”

“But I don’t think it’s right and it doesn’t jibe. How is Rearden going to do it, when it says here—“

“Why should you worry about Rearden? He’s rich enough. He can find a way to do anything.”

Instructions: Replace "Rearden" with "America." Think cap and trade. Fabulous.

Swine Flu

With all of the fuss about the swine flu going on. I have to ask the question: Why do they hand out anti bacterial handwash when dealing with a virus?

Murphapril

Yes, I just made up a word, terribly. What I am trying to convey was that I've had a Murphy's Law April. Let me begin with my post earlier this month. That, I will call, the starting point. The following Monday, Alex went into the ER for a pain in her abdomen and missed 3 days of work. She fell and banged her knee real bad that same week, then the following week, she was in the hospital again because she fainted at work.

And, oh yeah! Don't forget Mini's trigeminal neuritis. Then we had a flat tire from a nail on Saturday - which was fixed yesterday - to only be punctured and ruined today by a screw.

Causes for fainting

Alex, as you may already know, fainted at work in the bathroom on Tuesday. We were compelled to go to the ER for the second time in two weeks and the doctor there said that it was most likely due to her taking Ultram, a perscription painkiller. Since Alex has had such a hard time in the past two weeks with her fall and her crazy ovaries, etc, etc... I decided to go online to find what I could on the condition.

What I found was pretty interesting. Apparently, sudden hypertension is the leading cause of fainting. In addition to cocaine induced hypertension, I found this article. Apparently licorice can cause fainting. Who'd have known?

My house = Leaky Bucket

Today was a big day for Alex and I. We, for the first time in years are now able to shower in the Master Bathroom. It's not like we didn't want to, no. It's that the shower first had a messed up drain, then leaky fixtures that prohibited use. We've been trying to do Dave Ramsey. The mantra for Dave Ramsey is live like no one else, so that later you can live like no one else. Get it? So, we haven't gotten it fixed.

Luckily for me, I won a huge bonus at work that made it feasible to meet our debt goals and also get the bathroom fixed. So we called the plumber and he came to replace our 3 fixture shower. It cost us $600 to get a plumber out here and get it done (I couldn't do it since I'm no good with copper work).

Anyway, we got everything adjusted and sent the plumber on his way when I decided that since the shower was fixed, we should clean it up and use it. I went to the kitchen for the softscrub and discovered you guessed it, a ton of water under the kitchen sink. I was curious to see what happened, so I turned on the faucet and all of the sudden tons of water came shooting down. Profanity was near my lips is all I can say.

So, I put my hand around to feel where the water was coming from and discovered that it came from no other than the garbage disposal. I've never done a garbage disposal. I've heard that they're quite the pain, so I started to panic. A while back, though, I bought this book:








I found out that this book has a step by step instruction on how to replace a garbage disposal. I looked it over, got some confidence built up, and went to the Home Depot.

I bought me a garbage disposal and surprised myself. It took about an hour and I have a new garbage disposal. Too bad today's adventures weighed heavily on the pocketbook.

Jupiter = Climate change humor

Scientists have found that the great red spot on jupiter has been shrinking since the beginning of the 20th century. CNN decided to do a story on it. I was reading some of the comments and busted up laughing. It was pretty funny. here are some of my favorite examples:

I haven't seen these two solutions:
We can send a ship with a huge quantity of red dye (or some other color just to make it interesting),

or

We can send a shipment of viagra to deal with the shrinkage.

and

I think the sun is affecting our solar system...global warming and now the red spot...thats why all the water from mars disappeared...=)

and

I'm guessing all of the locals on Jupiter are driving too many Hummers and causing greenhouse gases (or redhouse?) to build, thus throwing the climate into more turmoil. You'd think they'd learn from us Terrans.

Then you have the silly people who can't take a joke:

I don't know what's funnier, some of these global warming jokes or the folks who are actually taking the jokes seriously! :)

and

Come on. One more person make a joke about global warming. You're so original.

Stupid and humorless is no way to go through life, folks

Oh poo poo :( Cry baby.

Anyway, I'm not a climate change denier, just sceptic that we have any control over it. I thought this was pretty funny.

At least he was killed by a dragon

Check this out. This guy actually got killed by a dragon. I knew that they were big, but was heretofore unaware how dangerous they were.

The Wii

As most of you know, Alex and I bought a WII. It's a pretty fun system. My dad has a PS3 for the blu ray feature which is pretty impressive. Alex and I haven't quite bought in to the blu ray thingie yet, and we had a gamecube before the WII, so it made sense to get the WII since it has the backwards compatibility thing and all. We had to completely rearrange our furniture which was a pain, but once that was done, we've been enjoying the thing. It's definitely a different sort of toy. Anyway we got tetris party which has a balance board game. It's pretty fun and if anyone else out there has one, we'll play against you online.

The waiting game

I applied for a new position within the company. I would be an underwriter for the territories that encompass southern Utah and Nevada. I'm waiting to hear back. Keep your fingers crossed.

Best news I've heard in a long time

This is the best news I've heard in a long time. Go Repubs!

Ever thought about eating...

from a urinal? Yum.

Dippy Dawg

No, I'm not talking about some gangsta rapper. I'm talking about a dog that's dippy. Goofy. Check this google search. It's pretty funny.

facebook = no blogging

So, my friend Cory asked me to get on facebook. Ever since that fateful day, I haven't posted a single blog. The thing is strangely addictive and surreal. I believe that this is just a phase, but who knows. Anyway, as you can tell on my wife's blog I'm alive and well. I just thought that I would take a minute to post something. Anyways, if you read this and do have a facebook profile, go ahead and become my friend if you haven't already.

Natural Ingredients

What was the pepperoni made of before?!?!

Piratic Justice

I know Kathleen has a fascination with pirates based on her posting here and here. This story that I found shows some good ol' poetic justice regarding pirates. Serves 'em right!

Cool Christmas present

Since Alex and I don't have kiddos yet, we went all out on our nephews, Jackson and Brandon. We got them this awesome Black and Decker workbench. They are pretty ecstatic and so are we. Jackson asked me to help him build the birdhouse 2 times. I'm sure that will become a headache eventually, but it's cool for now.

Fire meats desire

This news story caught my attention for Flame. A new fragrance from... Burger King?!?. It's described as "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat." Yum.

Last time I checked they were all sold out :(.

Update: I seriously suggest if you go to the website that you click on the spray bottle repeatedly. You will be rewarded.

Sam Bradford

1 word. Boomer!

Good Christmas Songs

I posted on Cloark's blog about how there is a group that is great for Christmas music. Their name is Straight No Chaser and they are talent and ingenuity all mixed up together. Here's the song I was referring to. In my opinion much more depth than Barenaked Ladies. Don't get me wrong, the Barenakes Ladies are great, but this is better. I think you'll agree.

Sirius the Rat Terrier!

I haven't posted in a while, but there was one that I've been meaning to for about a week now. I've been running with Sirius my dog for the last few weeks. It's been good for me and for him since we're both overweight. The unintended consequence that came out of this is a bit of agression that Sirius has started showing... towards mice.

Alex and I have had a bit of a mouse problem that we've been trying to remedy over the last month or so. We've been plugging all of the holes and cracks in our subfloor with foam and steel wool. We've also been setting traps for the ones that may already be in the home to get rid of them. So far, we have had 7 fatalities (I know a lot!).

Last week I was up really late since it was the Thanksgiving holiday and I head a snap come from under the sink. Sirius heard it too. He was over by the sink before I was and as I opened it, he started lunging to get in there. I blocked him with my arm as I looked in there. There was the mouse, but it was only caught by the tail (those with weak stomachs for mice stop reading here).

As I tried to pull the thing out by the lever on the trap the mouse was scurrying, trying to get away and suddenly Sirius lunged at it. I couldn't stop him this time. He grabbed it, chewed on it and spit it out. It was very dead at that point. All the while I was yelling at him not to eat it. I was relieved that he didn't. Anyways, he's got the bloodlust in him now and is on the prowl every time he hears something coming from the kitchen like our filter system regenerating or something like that. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

Barry Manilow is torture!

...at least according to this judge.

bill one down

Got a bill this week for the surgery. It was the hospital stay, ER use, etc. The initial charge was over $22,000. I ended up paying about $850. Sigh.

You can do it quick, or you can do it right

For those of you who have been reading this blog, you know that I'm no stranger to toilet stories. I just thought of an anology regarding all of the bailouts. I'm likening those in favor of the quick as the ones who are for the bailouts. The ones against it are "right".

The reason is because of perception. In reality, the ones who think that the bailout will cause the recession be quick and easy are in for a surprise. Just like those who do number 2 quick. A quickie may ease the pressure right now, but it just means that stuff will come back to haunt you that much sooner.

Running with Sirius Part 2

Shortly after I had my appendectomy, I caught a nasty head cold. Not something to take joy in. As a result, I haven't been running like I've wanted to. I decided to take Sirius along with me this morning again. He still drags behind. I started dragging also. Fun fun fun!

Woolly Mammoths...

So Alex and I were on our way home when I mentioned this article about how they are now able to clone animals that have been frozen. This is actually pretty amazing seeing as to how scientists have said that they previously thought that cloning animals that had been frozen would have been impossible due to the theory that the dna would be damaged in the freezing process.

So, I said to her, "they may actually end up cloning woolly mammoths."

Alex responded, "Isn't that pretty Jurassic Parkish."

I asked, "How's that?"

Then Alex said the awesomest thing ever.

"Didn't they eat the Vikings?"

Don't worry, it gets better....

Then I said, "No honey, they were plant eaters like all the elephants."

And then...

"That's impossible. It was the ice age, there were no plants!"

And one for the road.

Jogging with Sirius

Since since my surgery I can't do lifting, I've decided to go ahead and start running. I've done it every day except Sunday since last Thursday. I've decided to take Sirius along with me. When we walk he pulls, but I've found that when we run... well, he drags.

Need blood pressure medicine?

I like the natural kind.

Anchors Away!

So I was driving to church on Sunday when I realized that the car was making a rattling noise. I got out and looked all around and saw nothing on top, so I looked underneath. The muffler anchor was broken and my tailpipe was banging on the wheel well. AWESOME! So I took it in and I didn't have a broken tailpipe, just a broken anchor and it ended up only being $70. In my book, not too bad. Thank goodness since I just had a surgery and all of those bills coming up!

Who knew?

Stayin' Alive might actually keep you alive.

Back to the grind

Well, I'm feeling well enough to work. I started back to work on Wednesday. I was a bit tired during the day, but I made it through - not bad for 8 days post op. Today work was a bit more interesting in that I have a meeting at 6:30 for the Homeowners association. I have to convince the HOA board to let my wife and the students have seminary at our clubhouse. It's going to be interesting to see what the reaction is. I have the hardest time with one of the members. I think our personalities clash a bit too much. I try to be professional, but sometimes I think she doesn't like me or something. I guess you have that kind of people in all walks of life.

My side of the story

Many of you have been following Alex's story about how I had apendicitis and almost died, so here's the pre-op to op story.

I got home from work on Monday at about 5:30 and had some leftover lasagna and proceeded to go about the normal business when all of the sudden, my stomach started hurting really bad. I had a really sharp pain right in below my ribs as if someone stabbed me. I went up to bed to lay down and rest it off and after that didn’t work, I came back downstairs. I started with a tiny puke, then I just started puking over and over again.

After a bit, I asked Alex to go to Walgreens and get me some pepto, which she did. In the meantime, I proceeded to hurl the rest of my dinner up. When Alex got back, I took some pepto and then, you guessed it, I puked that up too. After that I decided it was bad, so we went to Mercy After-hours. At this point I figured it was the left over lasagna, therefore food poisoning. The way it tasted while it came up sure made it seem that way, so I told the doctor that’s what I thought it was. He checked out my stomach and pressed a bit here and there for pain. When he pressed on my lower right side all of the sudden I had a dull pain there and I told him that it hurt when he pressed there. He said that he agreed with me that it was food poisoning and gave me a shot and a prescription for pain (which I have yet to take any of the medicine).

It turns out that the nausea shot did absolutely nothing for me. When I got home, I puked again and again, so finally I called Dad and asked him to come over to give me a blessing so that I could get to sleep. Dad and mom came over and I told them how my lower right hand side was hurting and they were very concerned and told me to go to the hospital.

So we went up to the hospital (12:30 AM). By now it was midnight and pouring rain, so we went in and I told the nurse that I thought I might have appendicitis and all of the sudden I had another nurse scoop me up in a wheelchair and I was whisked away to the ER. They laid me down on the bed and took some blood, gave me some shots for the nausea and some delotid (a pain medicine). After that I was feeling good. I got Dad to call Nate and they gave me a blessing.

I was then taken to radiology and they put dye up my you know what in order to get "contrast" in my bowels. They took pictures and then I was carted back to the ER.

A while later they came in and said that the white blood count was high and that the pictures were conclusive that it was apendicitis and that they wanted to operate ASAP. By now I was pretty much out of it (I am told that it was 4:30 AM). They told me that they would have me in the OR by 6:30 and took me to a room. I don’t remember much more except when I woke up at 6:30 with a super dry mouth and tons of pain. They doped me up with some morphine and then the doctor came personally and told me that I would have to wait a bit longer because he had to perform some other operations. After that I was out again.

Then next thing I knew I was in the prep room, Alex was changing my clothes to a gown, and I was wheeled into the OR onto a tiny table. They put some arm rests under my arm and then…

I woke up with a stinking tube in my nose to my stomach, a tube in my side, oxygen in my nose and oh yeah… stiches in my front.

It was a pretty wild ride. Don’t wish it on anyone, but it’s over now and I’m doing quite well. I had a drainage sack for a few extra days, but that came out today and I’m going back to work on Wednesday, so all in all not too bad.

I saw this in a class at BYU... Did you? It's how I feel.

WARNING Don't play this around your kids!

Hurl squats

So today is Thursday and I had the hack squats again. I made it through the whole session without a problem... but when I went to pick up my wife, I was so overheated that, yup the funk wanted to come up again. Joy! Good thing I only have one more week left of this combo.

Since everyone's playing the blame game...

why not join in?

Whatever happened to songs for America?

So Fox News has a blog about Obama's singing choir. I guess that all of the socialists are really on the bandwagon trying to gum us up for communism. Maybe we'll have Obama placed on some historical site in the US like Mao on the forbidden city entrance in China. I'll bet that a good place would be on the statue of Liberty, or even better, the capitol building! I don't have photoshop, so you can use your imagination.

Crystal Light + Workout

My day today began with a dentist appointment. It hurt and you always get a bit bloodied when they stick those metal prodding tools into your mouth. Then I went to work out. I got to do hack squats for the first time in my life. They are like squats, but harder because you're at a 45 degree angle. After doing them, I was really thirsty. I brought crystal light thinking that it's just water with a few chemicals. It's not like I'm drinking carbon or anything like that... WRONG!

Into my third set, I began to feel a bit queezy. I didn't think much of it and then it really hit me. I couldn't go on, so I put the freeweights back and headed home. On the way I felt so sick that I had to stop. Then when I arrived home, no sooner than getting out of my car I hurled. I spent the rest of the morning on the couch and in intervals made appointments with the porcelain basin. YUCK! I think I'll stick to gatorade and/or water from now on.

No... that's stupid!

I went to buy (ahem) feminine hygene products for my wife this morning after I worked out and while I was checking out, I made the usual squirmy statement that I make when I'm sent on husbandly missions, "This is true love!"

The service rep looked at me and said, "No, free reign on my baby's American Express is."

I didn't say anything back, but I thought No, that's stupidity on his part.

Phew! We're safe for now.

So they took down the LHC. We're not going to be sucked into black holes after all. Yes I'm being sarcastic (no I don't think we're going to die from black holes).

If this is true, it's absolutely outrageous

Apparently to help his own campaign out, Barrack Obama asked the Iraqi administration to delay sending the troops back home. Isn't this the promise that he's been making to everyone. What a shmuck!

This one goes out to Nate and Tiff

Good intentions

Although T. Boone Pickens' plan is noble, it has one very major flaw - supply and demand. This has been a major concern of mine ever since he started touting his "brilliant" plan. Steven Milloy from Junkscience.com says:

Moving past the personal expense and inconvenience, the broader implications of natural-gas cars are worrisome.

The U.S. currently uses about 23 trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year. Like all commodities, the price of natural gas is supply-and-demand dependent.

Switching just 10 percent of the U.S. car fleet to natural gas would dramatically increase our consumption of natural gas by about 8 percent (1.9 trillion cubic feet) -- an amount that is slightly less than one-half of all current residential natural gas usage and one-quarter of all industrial usage.

The price ramifications of such a demand spike would likely be significant. The current cost advantage of natural gas over gasoline could easily be reversed. Our move toward energy independence could also be compromised.

Domestic production of natural gas has not kept pace with rapidly increasing demand. Consequently, about 15 percent of our natural gas must now be imported.

It's good to be independent, but wouldn't this just delay longer what's going on with oil?

By the way, this guy needs to read Clark's blog about what's going on.

P.S. I hope they read this!

Favre anyone?

Man, I am tired of fogies "deciding" to come out of retirement. More like they found out that their endorsement's don't pay the bills anymore, so they do some sort of ploy to get marketers on their bandwagon again.

The End of the World?

This is interesting. I wonder what physicists instead of reporters think about it. At least we’d know that the world will end in 2012 (4 years from now). Isn’t that the end of the Mayan calendar too? Scary…

Good motivation for the olympians

While Alex was watching the endless march of the opening ceremonies, I was surfing and came across despair.com. All I can say is that I need more of this kind of stuff at work.

If you're interested, you can make your very own here.

The NBA stole their Thunder

I was casually looking through espn and lo and behold, I saw this. It's pretty funny if you ask me.

I know... my title is puntastic.

WTS (what the smell)?

Listen to this link. It's really disturbing sounding. I can't post it here, so I'm going to give you instructions on how to get there. Go to this link to Shannon's Blog. If you look at the verification section on the lower right hand side, you'll see a little handicapped character. Click on it and be afraid like Alex and I were.

PS The Red Sox Empire is crumbling.

Worst 5 character crossovers ever

What I mean by character crossovers is the crossovers that you see like Star Trek characters from one series to the next (e.g. captain Janeway from Star Trek Voyager on Star Trek: Nemesis). Get it, got it, good. This is according to me, so take it easy. Here goes:

5. Lee Majors from the Six Million Dollar Man appearing in Jake 2.0
4. Kevin Sorbo from Hercules: the Legendary Journeys appearing in Xena: The Warrior Princess
3. The Hardy Boys meet Nancy Drew
2. The Jetsons Meet The Flintstones
1. Sunny from the Host meets Edward Cullen from Breaking Dawn.

Nancy Pelosi should look in the mirror to see a "total failure"

I know, politics = bad blog, but it's an election year and I don't hear about anything else, so I'm chiming in. Nancy Pelosi said, "God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States -- a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject..."

Congress last month celebrated a job approval rating of about 18%, whereas Bush is holding steady around 30%. Who's the bigger failure?

If you haven't seen this, you need to...

nothing ado

I'm still here, just no inspiration. Possibly more to come soon...

Ramsey

So I turned on the radio on Monday and heard this guy talking to a caller about debt. The guy who called said his wife has $80,000 in student loans and the guy said that he wanted to pump $2,500/ month to get it paid off in a few years, but that his wife wanted to put about $1,500/month instead because she had just graduated and wanted some time to relax. The host David Ramsey said, "She just doesn't get it. You'll end up paying that off in 10 years instead of 3. Do you know how that's going to set you back financially?"

That's when I was interested.

So I found out this guy, David Ramsey, has a few books out. I bought Total Money Makeover and I'm almost done. I am hooked. So far, I've gotten through baby step 1 (thank you federal goverment) and I'm starting the "debt snowball" on my next paycheck. I've also canceled Netflix and my newspaper subscription and I'm going to cancel our satellite subscription on June 28th. I've declared war on debt!

I've decided to keep tabs here on my blog, so we'll keep you posted.

Why else would we have "forever" stamps?

Did you ever wonder why the US postal service started doing "forever" stamps. I'll tell you why I think they did. If you read here you'll notice that they raised prices again. It's less of a headline now since we don't have to worry about getting those 1 cent stamps anymore. But you can count on this happening a lot more often in the future since they don't have pricing on the stamps anymore to remind us of what they cost us.

Iron Man? More like Terran Man

This idea looks more like Starcraft than Iron Man to me. Especially since they won't fly.

West Coast Watefronts

For anyone who frequents the link to Engrish.com you are probably aware of the typos that are going on in China. I didn't expect this to happen on foxnews.com:
Nice, eh?

I’m hunting wabbits

So, I went to see Rush this past weekend with my brother. A good concert (not as good as the last time I saw them, but good all the same) and I told my brother that as payment, I would mow his lawn 4 times. Today was the second of 4 mows. Everything was normal. As usual, I edged and weed-whacked first. Then I started up the mower.

Now before I go on, the last few times I went to my brother’s house, I’ve seen rabbits bouncing around. My brother lives in a new development area and as they expand, the rabbits scramble (that’s to be expected). What I didn’t expect was what happened when I came around on my first round. A rabbit hole with about 6 baby rabbits inside squirming around right under where the mower was sitting. I immediately got my brother’s wife and showed her the critters. They were all squirming around and looked like big worms.

So, then I called my brother. He told me to finish mowing and he’d take care of it. So, gingerly, I continued to mow, making sure there was nothing under the blades as I went through the back yard. Then as I got to the other side of the house, I turned a corner and 3 other baby rabbits (a bit older this time) jumped out of yet another hole and started bouncing all over the place. I told my brother’s wife about the new holes and finished. They’re going to have to call a trapper to get them cleared out, so that’s no fun. It made for an interesting morning though.

The Cure for the common Dancing With the Stars

It's called:

The Twilight Series. Um... no, it's not because I like the series, because I have no idea whether I do or not. It's because I don't have to watch dancing with the stars because Alex is now distracted. YAY!!!!!!

Reminiscing

I was just thinking about this picture for some strange reason that's found at BYU. Those of you who went prior to the canning of the Smith Family Living Center knew it to be in the pathway going towards the Benson building (at least, I think that's the local). That whole walkway was destroyed and the statue was moved to another area of the campus on the Southeast side as found in this picture (I don't know if there are any pictures showing it where it used to be). Anyways, this reminds me of a really funny story about the BYU newspaper. There was apparently an editorial about how the woman in the statue doesn't have a ring on her finger *gasp*. This editorial sparked an outrage and soonafter, you would see twisty ties put on the ring finger of the woman to make up for the "missing ring". People are shallow and silly sometimes.

Life in Life out

Clark and Shannon are saying hello to their new baby who was born today. Everything seems to be going really well for them. My wife and I are really happy for them. Congratulations Clark and Shannon!

On a sad note, my cousin, Matthew Tyler, just lost his baby girl today who was just 3 months old. I'm so separated from my family that I don't even know her name. I got my Aunt's telephone number and called and told her that I loved her and let her know that I was sorry. It is a terrible loss to her, my cousin and his wife.

I know, I probably shouldn't complain about this, but...

I was reading this new blog Mormon Matters and saw this:

I’ve long thought the best talks are “front-loaded” into the Saturday session to reward those dedicated souls who are willing to give up both their Saturday as well as their Sunday to participate in eight to ten hour hours of conference over the weekend. emphasis added.

Now. I think that I know what they're trying to say here when they say "dedicated souls," but here's my beef. I have to work on Saturdays and don't have a choice in the matter. Does that make me less of a good person? This is exactly what I have a problem with when people who are presumptuous that they think they know what it's like to live in reality. Okay, it's out and now I can go on living my life.

Time

Time is something I seem to have less and less of. I've taken on two major projects and have to teach a training class on Wednesday next week. The projects will probably take me, if not the rest of the month, the majority of it. I'm also on a new shift right now (12:30 to 9) and I've been trying to get as much done as possible. I do have good news. I've moved up to the rank of level 1 underwriter at my job which is a pretty big deal. I'm also starting a mentorship with a project manager in Connecticut at the home office. He was recommended to me by one of my college buddies who works at the Hartford. I'm looking forward to getting everything done so that I have more time.

"The Field"

I once had a friend that I grew up with in Oklahoma who had since moved to Orem, Utah who said that she missed OK. She then said that she missed “living in the field”. It took me a second to understand what she meant by that. When I did, it was almost insulting, if not presumptuous, to insinuate that there is no missionary work in UT to be done. I guess that’s what was meant by “Carnal Security” in the Book of Mormon.

READY... SET...

HIT YOURSELF!!!!

Eyesight blues

For those who know me and have known me, I've had glasses for years and years and years. As a matter of fact, the only people to have known me without glasses were my parents my older brother and sister and my little sister, Suzanne. That's because I've had glasses since I was 5 years old. I still remember to this day the test that I had when I was preparing for school. It was at Columbia Elementary school in Kaysville, Utah. I was looking at cutouts of hands, you know the ones where people draw a line around their hand and you're asked to point the direction that the fingers are pointing. On the ground, there were some footprints and they led up to the hands. When they asked me to point, I couldn't see the hands, so they asked me to move up the footprints until I could see them. Well, to make a long story short, I ended up on the closest footprints and still couldn't see the hand. I think that was the 20/200 line or something.

The only reason I'm bringing this up is because, as I mentioned before, I got some new glasses and they didn't quite seem right. I told my doctor (my wife's boss) and he invited me back in. I went in and I looked on the 20/25 line and, although it was a bit fuzzy, I could see. He tweaked it a bit, asked me to look at the 20/20 line and I could see a few letters, but I couldn't see any of them clearly. I guess that's the best I'll get. My eyes suck!

The other red white and blue flag

I didn't think that I'd ever wear this flag.

My wife works at an optometrist and picked out some glasses for me and they have the logo on them. Oh well.

Askamony

If you're a member of the LDS church, you've heard of the Testimony. if you've been to BYU, you've heard of the Thankamony and the Loveamony, but I have a new one for you, the Askamony. This is where people get up and ask the Elders quorum to move them in front of the entire congregation.

What the...

You fill in the rest after you read this:

Sheriff: Woman Sat on Toilet for 2 Years
By ROXANA HEGEMAN – 20 hours ago

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are considering charges in the bizarre case of a woman who stayed in her boyfriend's bathroom for two years, spending most of her time on the toilet — so that her body was stuck to the seat by the time the man finally called police.

It appeared the 35-year-old Ness City woman's skin had grown around the seat, said Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple. The woman initially refused emergency medical services but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.

"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."

Whipple said investigators planned to present their report Wednesday to the county attorney, who will determine whether any charges should be filed against the boyfriend.

"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Whipple said. "It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself."

Police declined to release the couple's names, but the boyfriend, Kory McFarren, agreed to be interviewed Wednesday by The Associated Press. He identified his girlfriend as Pam Babcock.

McFarren, 36, told investigators he took Babcock food and water and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.

"And her reply would be, 'Maybe tomorrow,'" Whipple said. "According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."

McFarren told the AP that he wasn't to blame, and that it was solely Babcock's choice to remain in the bathroom.

"She is an adult; she made her own decision. It was my fault I should have gotten help for her sooner; I admit that. But after a while, you kind of get used to it," McFarren said.

Although authorities said they think Babcock was in the bathroom for two years, McFarren said he wasn't certain how long she stayed there. He said she had a phobia about leaving the room because of childhood beatings.

"It just kind of happened one day. She went in and had been in there a little while, the next time it was a little longer. Then she got it in her head she was going to stay — like it was a safe place for her," McFarren said.

But McFarren said Babcock moved around in the bathroom during that time, bathed and changed into the clothes he brought her. He said they conversed and had an otherwise normal relationship — except that it all happened in the bathroom.

McFarren, who works at an antique store, said he has been taking care of Babcock for the 16 years they have lived together.

McFarren called police on Feb. 27 to report that "there was something wrong with his girlfriend," Whipple said.

Police found Babcock clothed and sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh. She was "somewhat disoriented," and her legs looked as if they had atrophied, Whipple said.

"She said that she didn't need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave," he said.

She was reported in fair condition at a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles southeast of Ness City. Whipple said she refused to cooperate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators.

McFarren said that his girlfriend has an infection in her legs that has damaged her nerves, and that she has no feeling in her legs. She may wind up in a wheelchair, he said.

Authorities said they did not know whether she was mentally or physically disabled.

The case has been the buzz of Ness City, said James Ellis, a neighbor.

"I don't think anybody can make any sense out of it," he said.

Ellis said he had known the woman since she was a child but that he had not seen her for at least six years.

He said she had a tough childhood after her mother died at a young age and apparently was usually kept inside the house as she grew up. At one time the woman worked for a long-term care facility, he said, but he did not know what kind of work she did there.

"It really doesn't surprise me," Ellis said. "What surprises me is somebody wasn't called in a bit earlier."

Common Sense

I have to disagree with the website Obsolete Skills where it talks about common sense as an obsolete skill for the obvious reason. Those who have common sense tend to be better off than those who don't.

Local Politics

Yesterday we held city council elections for my city Warr Acres. I live in Ward 3 where you can see, if you visit the site today, that Phil Owens is the winner of our ward. Phil Owens is the eldest brother of one of my best friends growing up, David Owens. Something that's a bit funny about that is that my home owner's association, Wind Tree is in a lawsuit with Warr Acres and wants to resolve the situation. If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm the VP of the board for the association. We invited the incumbent, Walter Johnson and the other Ward 3 council member, Dean Johnson to the meeting. Dean Johnson returned our phone call to come and said he would come right off the bat. Walter Johnson, however, did not return our phone calls. Since I knew that Phil Owens was running for council and since he was a friend of the family, I called him up and invited him to our meeting. He said that he had heard about the meeting from Dean Johnson and that he had spokent to Walter Johnson about it and that Walter had said that he wasn't interested in going. I invited Phil and he said that he would come out.

The meeting was scheduled for last Wednesday (2/28) and we finally got a hold of Walter Johnson. He said (ready for this) that he was sick and couldn't come (yeah right). So Wednesday, I let everyone at the meeting know that when I invited Phil to the meeting, he had already told me that Walter wasn't coming. After that, everyone at the board meeting got behind Phil and in the end he won, but boy it was a close one. The final vote count was 136 votes to 132 votes. By the way, there are 4 members of the board of directors of Wind Tree.

Medicaid, a sign of what's to come with socialized medicine

I was watching Good Morning America (due to the fact that my wife likes the show) today and they were doing a piece on this little kid in New York who was dying from a heart condition. The condition (that I didn't pick the name up) has three different causes and there is a test that is administered by one single laboratory in the US. This laboratory had not applied "properly" for New York's medicaid program, however, and the kiddo couldn't get the test because, due to the paperwork hangups, New York wouldn't pay for it and his parents couldn't afford it. This was, according to GMA, due to the beurocracy in NY's medicaid program and according to NY due to the bureaucracy of the lab. Of course, since the media got into the picture, the problem has been solved, but my problem is that once this "holy" socialized medicine kicks in and this kind of crap becomes common place, will the media cover it or since it becomes common place will the media not care anymore?

New question for the Bethletard

To answer Clark’s question, as far as I know, no, there are no other physicists who read my blog. You are correct in noting the misnaming of my blog by calling it “a question for the physicists." I should have rightfully called it “a question for the physicist."

Before I get started I have a disclaimer. I just have to get these questions out before my head explodes and this is actually probably a lot easier to answer.

First question:

Does nuclear fusion in itself cause radioactive waste? My thoughts are that it doesn’t, but that it creates a great deal of radiation (e.g. the sun’s radiation).

Second question:

How much energy is required to cause fusion of lets say, hydrogen and what’s the marginal payoff (i.e. energy produced – energy used)? Is that marginal payoff greater than nuclear fission?

Third question:

How necessary is it to use nuclear fission in order to cause nuclear fusion? Is there any alternative to using fission, or is that what the particle accelerators are for?

A question to the physicists

If the big bang theory was the beginning of all, why scientists claim that the only producers of heavy metals are super massive stars?

I’m no physicist; however, I do have an interest in physics. I’ve learned recently that science shows that through supernovae from super massive stars, we get heavy metals (iron, lead, etc.). This is due to the extreme mass which creates enough gravitational force to continue fusion after the “fuel” (hydrogen and helium) is burned and contain the stars intact during the process since fusing heavier elements creates more energy therefore more outward force. Since scientists claim that the big bang created all, why is there no evidence, or debate for that matter as to why heavy metals didn’t exist before super massive stars could form and create those metals. Or even more so, why aren’t all the elements out there heavy metals? My question, though possibly flawed, is spawned from my recent knowledge and also from when I was in Junior High. At that time, I “learned” that the combined mass of the universe before the big bang was so compressed that it was as small as the period at the end of this sentence. If that’s the case why do they say that when this incredible “explosion” occurred that the only elements in existence after the big bang were “light” elements like helium and hydrogen? Am I crazy for asking that kind of question, or are they all wrong?

Mycoplasma Pneumoniae

Walking pneumonia (a.k.a. mycoplasma pneumonia or atypical pneumonia) is a term used to describe a mild case of pneumonia. It is a lung infection that is caused by the mycoplasma pneumoniae organism. Walking pneumonia is different from other types of pneumonia in that, even if untreated, walking pneumonia would not cause a person to be confined to a bed or require a hospital stay.

Yeah, that's what I have and that's what I've had for 6 weeks. Fun, eh?

Ricardo Montalban

Remember this Taco Bell commercial?


Fact:

The voice who does the end of the commercial is, in fact, Ricardo Montalban, not only the actor in the TV series, Fantasy Island and Kim Possible, but he was also this guy:

Don't recognize him? How about now?

Yeah, that's Khan, as in The wrath of Khan. Pretty funny if you ask me.

Yes...

I'm still sick. I've had a lingering cough that turned into a sore throat. I'm really really tired of it. I got put on Azithromiacin (sp? and I don't care to check it).

Today, we moved a family of elderly people. We went out of our ward boundaries and unloaded their house. This would have to be the first time I've been asked to move rocks. I won't go any further, but it was the worst move that I've ever been involved in.

I sure asked for it

Here's a pretty funny email conversation that my wife & I had today.
For those of you who don't know, we live in a condo association with monthly dues.

From me:

Alex,

Can you go pay the ho dues?

Thanks,

Ben

From Alex:

the Ho dues? since when do we owe anything to hos?

Executive Pay

I just looked at the sec.gov filing form supplemental to form 10-k called the "proxy statement". This venture brought me to an astounding discovery. The ceo of my company received in 2006 a complete compensation package of over $17 million. Too bad we don't get a free company party like all the other corporations out there on the gounds that it's wasteful spending.

Happy Birthday Alex

Alex, my wife puts up with a lot. I'm glad to report that she didn't have much to put up with this weekend. I'm glad that everything went relatively well for her birthday. The good news is that we were able to attend church and go to the doggie park today.

As you can tell, she's a bit sad today also. Always happens. I feel bad that I can't do more than love her. She's a really sweet woman and deserves better. I hope that she doesn't lose her good cheer. She means a lot to me. Well, 27 is now. Happy birthday love.

Farewell January and Hello Taxes

I just sent my tax return and it was pretty delicious. I'm looking forward to getting a few bills paid off (namely my wife's surgery which was a doozy). The good thing about tax returns is that they are money that has already been taxed and I was able to file with itemized deductions which helped our state taxes immensly.

The first month of the year is over, and I'm (believe it or not) joining a gym. We were able to get a sweet deal at work for about $14 a month which I'm paying for with part of my tax return. If you've heard of it, I joined "this city is going on a diet" and I'm on a goal to lose 85 or so pounds. I'm starting right now, so wish me luck.

Saturday Night bonus

I know that there's this crazy writers strike going on and most of you have probably seen Jay Leno and David Letterman since they've been back and strapped for content. What's funny is that if you stay up a bit later (which I have on occasion) you will see Conan O'Brien on the tube. Actually, I would say that the reason why I've been up late at all recently is because of my sickness that I've been dealing with. Anyway, Conan has gone as far as hooking up a zip line in his studio among other things to waste time (since he has nothing better to do). To get to the point, there's a game on his website that I thought you should check out. Enjoy!

just so you know..

what I was talking about yesterday. This is the commercial. I was at work when I posted which has youtube blocked (for obvious reasons).

Stupid Kia Commercial

Bet you didn't know that there's a no-fail way to know which side of the car the gas goes in. The next time you get into your car, look at the gas gauge. Notice that there's an arrow. Yeah, that arrow is pointing to the side of you should position your car when you fill up. That's why the Kia commercial about forgetting what side of the car the gas tank is on is stupid.

Funniest commercial ever!!

There are some commercials that are pretty funny. This is one of them.

Pseudoephedrine and Tissues

Remember this post on January 6th how I was complaining about being sick. For the past 3 weeks I have continued to be sick week after week. Not continuously, but I have been sick on a regular basis. Good times.

Absolute insanity!

I don't know if you noticed the Ariticle VI Blog link, or if you ever visited that website, but to give you an overview, it's about Article VI of the Constitution, which reads:

"No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification
to any office or public trust under the United States."

A bit more information about that blog is that it is effectively Pro-Romney, who is a Mormon and who's Mormonism has been brought up repeatedly ever since his announcement of his candidacy of the race for President. I haven't completely decided who I'm going to vote for, but I agree with Article VI blog's premise that our forefathers set the precedent and example that our government should not qualify/disqualify someone based on their religion. And from the example of our forefathers, men greater than I'll ever hope to be, we should try to rule out religion as a test for ourselves. To me, it's one of the building blocks of being American. Being able to coexist. What a novel idea. I reserve the right to allow others to have their own opinion even if they're wrong and allow others to do the same to me. How NOVEL!!

Anyhow, I was reading on that blog about the controversial "push polls" in New Hampshire and gave a link to some of the things from those phone calls they are as follows:

Here are some statements about John McCain. After hearing each, please tell me if you are more likely or less liely to vote for McCain for President. IF MORE/LESS LIKELY: Is that much more/less likely or somewhat more/less likely?


Q9: McCain is a decorated navy fighter pilot who spent six years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. While a prisoner of war, McCain was tortured on a regular basis.


Q14: McCain's sons have followed his footsteps in serving our country. His oldest son was an A Six pilot in the Navy with 256 carrier landings. Another son is a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy and his youngest son is a Marine serving in Iraq.


Q16: McCain was the first member of the U.S. Senate to recognize our Iraq strategy was not working. In 2003, he called for an aggressive counter-insurgency campaign similar to the surge now being successfully implemented by General Petraeus. He was also one of the first to criticize Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's lack of aggressive action in Iraq. Defense experts said McCain's early call for stronger action was "the very picture of courageous political leadership." If McCain had been President we may have already won the war in Iraq.

Okay so they're pulling for uh, McCain, perhaps?

Then this crap happens:

Q20: Next, Mitt Romney is a member of the Mormon Church. Mormons believe the Book of Mormon is more correct than the Bible. Mormons claim the Book of Mormon was given to a prophet in the 1800's by the Angel Moroni. On any given day, the Mormon Church is working to baptize thousands of people who have already passed away so they can be converted to Mormonism and join in the Glory of God.


Based on this, would you agree or disagree with those who say the Mormon Church is a cult religion not in the American tradition? IF AGREE/DISAGREE: and would that be strongly or just somewhat agree/disagree?

Uh, what does that have to do with the presidency. I still don't know.


Here are some statements about Mitt Romney. After hearing each, please tell me if you are more likely or less likely to vote for Romney for President. IF MORE/LESS LIKELY: Is that much more/less likely or somewhat more/less likely?

Q30: Romney is a member of the Mormon Church. The Church did not allow African Americans to be priests before 1978.

Q32: Romney's five sons have never served in the military. During a recent campaign event, Romney was quoted as saying that working in his presidential campaign is the same as serving in the military.

Q35: Romney is a member of the Mormon Church. Mormons believe the Book of Mormon is more correct than the Bible.

I cut a few out, but I think you get the picture. But the real fun starts next. The company that did this poll calls it, you guessed it, research? From their own "defensive" statement:

American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) has good definitional information on what is push polling and what isn't push polling. "Negative or disturbing information about a candidate does not automatically make a survey a push poll,” said AAPOR President Nancy Mathiowetz. “Message testing, when campaigns test the effectiveness of possible messages about opponents and even themselves, is very different; and it is a legitimate form of surveying.”

Good thing their president is such a genius that she could make up her own authoritative definition of what a push poll is. Sounds all good and convenient to me, or bovine fecal matter. You decide.

The Newspaper

I was deep in thought in my congested head today and I thought about something that one of my colleagues, Mark, told me. I’m one of the few of my demographic that receives the newspaper. I guess that I am an oddity in that respect except for that I noticed a while back that Clark (as seen here) received the paper. The one good thing about the newspaper is that it includes the funnies and the one here prints my opinion. My reasoning as to why they did publish me is due to the fact that they don’t have any other 28 year olds who write in all that often anymore.

On that note, my family’s reaction to my printed “opinion” was that they were afraid that I took after my namesake, Grandpa Young. He’s the opinionated one of the family and has a history of getting things printed in the paper. By the way, his name is Charles Young (my middle name is Charles).

Off of that randomness. I think that the paper is a lost cause. The internet is going nowhere and the paper is always a day later and an opinion slower, so it’s going to go the way of the dodo. I just hope that they figure out how to get me my funnies.

a la comical part II

Deuteronomy 23:12-14

12Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad:
13 And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover athat which cometh from thee:
14 For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.

Nothing like a bathroom - biblical style

biblical verses a la comical

Something for your Tuesday morning:

Judges 3:20-22

20 And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.
21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:
22 And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out.

Yummy.

New years a coming

So, I haven't taken the time to make a blog for the new year as of yet. I guess it's more or less due to the fact that nothing of import has happened yet. The only thing that's happened to me so far is that I've gotten my first head cold of the winter and I was miserable all day today. Good start, eh. By the way, happy new year!