Rachell told me last night that Josh Groban released a new CD so it is time for all of you to watch this and revel in the beauty that is Josh's voice:
Monson
Friday, December 17, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Geology, mostly.
This blog could be tricky. For some reason the pictures are showing up as text/code, so I am not sure what is what. I will do what I can though. I have recently had a host of "firsts," I think including this blog (first of this year). My other firsts are a little more noteworthy. For the first time I had to buy jeans with a 36 waist. Kind of embarrassing. I am going to revise that statement to say I chose to buy 36 for fear of not being comfortable, but could have handled 34. Anyway, that first led to another: my first purchase of running shoes. I decided I needed to do something quickly about this growing problem (pun intended). So I have been out running a couple of times, and it hurt. But I am probably headed to the Bahamas in April for a geology trip, so I need to be looking good. The third first is that I donated blood for the first time. I figure getting rid of a pound or two of blood also helps keep the weight down. I'll probably donate weekly. And I had no problem. Since I assume that only family reads this, I don't see a need to explain what kind of problem I might have had. Those are the firsts I had on my mind. There are probably some others, too.
The following is almost strictly geology related. If you are reading this blog and not interested in the geology pictures, I suggest skipping to the last picture for a good laugh.
I have started working with a professor that focuses on geophysics, and that includes seismic work. I have been going out into the field with him to gather data, and it has been cool. The next 5 pictures are from a trip to an old and massive landslide a couple hours south of Provo. One of the sweet things about this setup is that I get paid to be taught. Love it. This day I was clocked in for 14 hours.
This (above) is looking down on the landslide where we gathered data. If I remember the picture correctly, almost everything you see is landslide material.
This is our project site. It is a little bog that sits on the landslide. The idea is that we can shoot seismic and find where the contact point is between bog material and slide material. Then carbon dating of the bog material closest to the contact will give us a rough estimate on when the slide occurred.
Here we are laying the geophones and line to record the data. The phones are every two feet.
The way we get the data is by pounding on a steel plate. That generates a wave of motion that is detected by the phones. We hit the plate at every phone, somewhere around fifty times. That is why the professors bring students along. This guy hammering is a grad student in the class that my mentoring professor teaches. We were the only two students.
This is a picture of how the seismic data shows up on the computer. Not much can be said about this. More correlating data is necessary.
The above is a sweet shot looking towards Provo from Provo Canyon. Specifically from the Bridal Veil Falls fold in Provo Canyon.
The next four pictures are from a structural geology field trip. If you would like to know more, I can send you the write-up I had to do. I tried to put a link to it, but was unsuccessful. The pictures are kind of in reverse order too.
This is what we climbed up to see, the very middle of the hinge of the fold.
I hoped this picture would give some idea of how high we were. You can see the road in the bottom corner.
This is trying to climb a face up to the hinge zone. Only one professor in the department would even try something like this with 20 students.
This is where we climbed to, zoomed in from the road. End of field trip.
This sign says it all. This is Death Valley, a field trip from mid October. The next several pictures are all there.
This is a salt flat we were looking at.
This sign says Sea Level on it. I haven't zoomed in yet.
Sea Level zoomed in.
Devil's Golf Course, which is a badly deformed salt flat, more or less. It looks like it has been plowed. It hasn't.
This picture is to show the vastness of the playa lake we were on. A playa lake is a dried up lake that occassionally fills slightly.
These are magic rocks. If you look closely you can see a trail behind the rocks. Nobody knows how they move, although there are theories. Some of the rocks are fifty pounds or more. The trail indicates they move when the lake bed is wet, but there are no other marks (like foot prints) that could say how it is done. It has to be wind, although the conditions to move fifty pound rocks are hard to imagine. Another theory is aliens. You could google this.
Sand dunes in the valley.
Death Valley, from the top. I still don't know how to orient pictures. Obviously. Death Valley has the greates topographi relief of any location in the country. Meaning that the vertical difference over the horizontal difference is huge. The mountains on the other side of the valley top out at 13000 feet, and drop almost straight down, as it were. End of geology pictures.
This is on my birthday. Elin made a delicious strawberry-rhubarb pie. Really, really delicious.
Logan came home looking like this once during high school. More or less. Turns out I have very narrow shoulders. I'll say it is the angle.
The following is almost strictly geology related. If you are reading this blog and not interested in the geology pictures, I suggest skipping to the last picture for a good laugh.
I have started working with a professor that focuses on geophysics, and that includes seismic work. I have been going out into the field with him to gather data, and it has been cool. The next 5 pictures are from a trip to an old and massive landslide a couple hours south of Provo. One of the sweet things about this setup is that I get paid to be taught. Love it. This day I was clocked in for 14 hours.
This (above) is looking down on the landslide where we gathered data. If I remember the picture correctly, almost everything you see is landslide material.
This is our project site. It is a little bog that sits on the landslide. The idea is that we can shoot seismic and find where the contact point is between bog material and slide material. Then carbon dating of the bog material closest to the contact will give us a rough estimate on when the slide occurred.
Here we are laying the geophones and line to record the data. The phones are every two feet.
The way we get the data is by pounding on a steel plate. That generates a wave of motion that is detected by the phones. We hit the plate at every phone, somewhere around fifty times. That is why the professors bring students along. This guy hammering is a grad student in the class that my mentoring professor teaches. We were the only two students.
This is a picture of how the seismic data shows up on the computer. Not much can be said about this. More correlating data is necessary.
The above is a sweet shot looking towards Provo from Provo Canyon. Specifically from the Bridal Veil Falls fold in Provo Canyon.
The next four pictures are from a structural geology field trip. If you would like to know more, I can send you the write-up I had to do. I tried to put a link to it, but was unsuccessful. The pictures are kind of in reverse order too.
This is what we climbed up to see, the very middle of the hinge of the fold.
I hoped this picture would give some idea of how high we were. You can see the road in the bottom corner.
This is trying to climb a face up to the hinge zone. Only one professor in the department would even try something like this with 20 students.
This is where we climbed to, zoomed in from the road. End of field trip.
This sign says it all. This is Death Valley, a field trip from mid October. The next several pictures are all there.
This is a salt flat we were looking at.
This sign says Sea Level on it. I haven't zoomed in yet.
Sea Level zoomed in.
Devil's Golf Course, which is a badly deformed salt flat, more or less. It looks like it has been plowed. It hasn't.
This picture is to show the vastness of the playa lake we were on. A playa lake is a dried up lake that occassionally fills slightly.
These are magic rocks. If you look closely you can see a trail behind the rocks. Nobody knows how they move, although there are theories. Some of the rocks are fifty pounds or more. The trail indicates they move when the lake bed is wet, but there are no other marks (like foot prints) that could say how it is done. It has to be wind, although the conditions to move fifty pound rocks are hard to imagine. Another theory is aliens. You could google this.
Sand dunes in the valley.
Death Valley, from the top. I still don't know how to orient pictures. Obviously. Death Valley has the greates topographi relief of any location in the country. Meaning that the vertical difference over the horizontal difference is huge. The mountains on the other side of the valley top out at 13000 feet, and drop almost straight down, as it were. End of geology pictures.
This is on my birthday. Elin made a delicious strawberry-rhubarb pie. Really, really delicious.
Logan came home looking like this once during high school. More or less. Turns out I have very narrow shoulders. I'll say it is the angle.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
A Stage Without A Play
This is a marvelous bit of Nibley from a lecture he was asked to give at Westminster College in 1977.
The world we live in today is a stage without a play. This was brought home to me thirty years ago when at the dawn of a cold March morning, I happened to approach the Third Mesa with Brother Virgil Bushnoff, a long time missionary to the Hopis. When we stepped through the little tunnel into the windy plaza, it was still dark and what I saw was most remarkable. To an audience consisting of only one or two ancients, and a handful of shivering children, a full scale Greek chorus and 52 dancers, elaborately and splendidly attired, tremendous headdresses and so forth. [. . .] were performing a sort of play with the protagonist in it. And why were they going to all that trouble with nobody to look at it? I soon learned that this drama was part of a cycle that went through the year.
We had come to the Mesa to visit Tom Quisho, 94 years old at that time, who was one of the grand old men of the Hopis, and he explained many things to us. These people were at that time enduring, and since have endured what we would consider, insufferable hardships. And that cheerfully because they knew what they were doing. They had a plot to their play; they had a scenario to go by. What was most impressive was that this carefully staged theater was being performed in a vacuum. At that time there was only a dirt road, (that was a long time ago), leading to the Mesa and it ran for sixty miles through a scene of utter desolation [. . .] There was nothing but sky and rock. So it seemed as it really was, that we actually were beholding a drama in space, in bare space with nothing but sky and primordial earth between. A rocky planet orbiting in a vast emptiness. To find an inhabited planet in space is remarkable enough but to find a full scale drama in progress when you stumble on it—what’s going on here? That’s something truly fundamental.
The whole strength and astounding survival of the Hopis lies in the plot to the scenario by which they live. And my point is that our world does not have such. A scenario in which their real life, the vicissitudes of life, were a parody, a side show, a mock play on the side—and that’s the only play outsiders ever see. And our existence is a parody, it’s not the real play. Scenario is a Hollywood word. It’s a good one, we have to use it [. . .] It’s very old, it’s a Renaissance word, but the dictionary defines it as an outline or synopsis of a play, or the book of an opera, showing the scenes and entrances and exits of the actors. An abstract of the chief incidents in any drama or work arranged according to act and scene, giving a sort of skeleton to the piece, that’s your godspell. That’s your spiel. That’s your play [. . .] And a scenario is then [. . .] a plausible story to explain a certain condition or situation.
Whereas a model is a plausible mechanism to show how something works. The dictionary calls that a set of plans or designs for a building to be erected or similar drawings to scale of a structure already built [. . .] In general, models are scientific, scenarios are religious or philosophical; they go together. The properties of the play suggest the play, they don’t determine it [. . .] There are a number of scenarios available today, not just the Hopis’. Every scenario is a model and has its merits and its faults. The best have survived for hundreds of years. And the weaker ones fall by the way. But all are tentative. Each one offers only a suggestive solution.
As with the gospel too. Try it on for size. Try it this way and see how it works. The best models are strong enough to dispense with dogmatic touchiness. The question is not which scenario explains everything perfectly, as we know none of them does, but which gives you the best explanation of the most phenomena to your greatest satisfaction. You choose the model that suits you best.
Now, what Joseph Smith gave the world was a remarkably full and complete scenario. An enormous structure actually. And this accounts for a good deal of what happened when he started giving it to the world. Brigham Young shows us the reaction on both sides. He “rushed as to a banquet, spread by the prophet.” He came like a starving man. Why? He tells us quite plainly: because his world had no real explanation for anything. No satisfying scenario. It was not hard work or austere living that made life gloomy in Puritan New England, but the sense of not really knowing what it was about. This went beyond the scope of their disciplinary rules. As Samuel Sewell sat in church one morning, he writes in his famous journal, “The idea occurred to me with great force and conviction that Jesus Christ had never existed.” And this from the most devout and conservative member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
So, Brigham says “being raised in that atmosphere there was more or less of a gloom over my feelings form the earliest days of my childhood that I have in my recollection. Until I heard the everlasting gospel declared by the servants of God. The secret feeling of my heart was that I would be willing to crawl around the earth on my hands and knees to see such a man as was Peter, Jeremiah, Moses, or any man that could tell me anything about God and Heaven. But to talk with a priest was no more satisfactory to me than it is now to talk with lawyers. And then when I saw Joseph Smith, he took heaven, figuratively speaking and brought it down to earth and he took earth and he brought it up and opened it up in plainness and simplicity the things of God. Under that preaching the gloom vanished and has not since troubled me for a moment. I gave away all I had, I started to preach the gospel. I was obliged to do it. For I felt as though my bones would consume within me if I did not. Consequently I devoted my time to preaching.”
So there you have it. As he said, “outside of the religion we have embraced, there is nothing but death, Hell, and the grave.” And my question is do we have any competing thesis to offer here? I have heard old timers, pioneers, declare more than once they would gladly, like my grandparents for example, gladly go through everything they did all over again. A thousand times if necessary. Why? They hadn’t seen Joseph Smith. They didn’t know him. They joined the church in the old country and came over here, and it was for the gospel. Why always for the gospel, a mere doctrine and abstraction? Because it told them what they yearned to know and nobody else could. There were times when they possessed nothing else and then they considered themselves richest. But that was enough.
The reaction of the world around Joseph Smith clearly proclaims bankruptcy. I think it is one of enraged frustration. Some years ago, surveying all of the anti-Mormon works, from the beginning to the 1950s, I noted there a standard stereotyped reaction to Joseph’s message. The trouble was not only that Joseph Smith was putting forth the most wildly extravagant story and doctrine that anyone had ever heard, but what was far worse, they had nothing whatever to put up against it. Hence, the two paradoxes often noted in the history of the church: the fierce, unparalleled persecution of the Mormons for no apparent reason whatever, and on the other hand, the incredible loyalty of the Latter Day Saints to their cause, regardless of the hardships they had to face or the difficulty in getting along with each other or accepting some of their leaders. Even the apostates could never shake its influence once they’d come under it. The scenario was worth everything. For that they were willing to sacrifice anything.
The world we live in today is a stage without a play. This was brought home to me thirty years ago when at the dawn of a cold March morning, I happened to approach the Third Mesa with Brother Virgil Bushnoff, a long time missionary to the Hopis. When we stepped through the little tunnel into the windy plaza, it was still dark and what I saw was most remarkable. To an audience consisting of only one or two ancients, and a handful of shivering children, a full scale Greek chorus and 52 dancers, elaborately and splendidly attired, tremendous headdresses and so forth. [. . .] were performing a sort of play with the protagonist in it. And why were they going to all that trouble with nobody to look at it? I soon learned that this drama was part of a cycle that went through the year.
We had come to the Mesa to visit Tom Quisho, 94 years old at that time, who was one of the grand old men of the Hopis, and he explained many things to us. These people were at that time enduring, and since have endured what we would consider, insufferable hardships. And that cheerfully because they knew what they were doing. They had a plot to their play; they had a scenario to go by. What was most impressive was that this carefully staged theater was being performed in a vacuum. At that time there was only a dirt road, (that was a long time ago), leading to the Mesa and it ran for sixty miles through a scene of utter desolation [. . .] There was nothing but sky and rock. So it seemed as it really was, that we actually were beholding a drama in space, in bare space with nothing but sky and primordial earth between. A rocky planet orbiting in a vast emptiness. To find an inhabited planet in space is remarkable enough but to find a full scale drama in progress when you stumble on it—what’s going on here? That’s something truly fundamental.
The whole strength and astounding survival of the Hopis lies in the plot to the scenario by which they live. And my point is that our world does not have such. A scenario in which their real life, the vicissitudes of life, were a parody, a side show, a mock play on the side—and that’s the only play outsiders ever see. And our existence is a parody, it’s not the real play. Scenario is a Hollywood word. It’s a good one, we have to use it [. . .] It’s very old, it’s a Renaissance word, but the dictionary defines it as an outline or synopsis of a play, or the book of an opera, showing the scenes and entrances and exits of the actors. An abstract of the chief incidents in any drama or work arranged according to act and scene, giving a sort of skeleton to the piece, that’s your godspell. That’s your spiel. That’s your play [. . .] And a scenario is then [. . .] a plausible story to explain a certain condition or situation.
Whereas a model is a plausible mechanism to show how something works. The dictionary calls that a set of plans or designs for a building to be erected or similar drawings to scale of a structure already built [. . .] In general, models are scientific, scenarios are religious or philosophical; they go together. The properties of the play suggest the play, they don’t determine it [. . .] There are a number of scenarios available today, not just the Hopis’. Every scenario is a model and has its merits and its faults. The best have survived for hundreds of years. And the weaker ones fall by the way. But all are tentative. Each one offers only a suggestive solution.
As with the gospel too. Try it on for size. Try it this way and see how it works. The best models are strong enough to dispense with dogmatic touchiness. The question is not which scenario explains everything perfectly, as we know none of them does, but which gives you the best explanation of the most phenomena to your greatest satisfaction. You choose the model that suits you best.
Now, what Joseph Smith gave the world was a remarkably full and complete scenario. An enormous structure actually. And this accounts for a good deal of what happened when he started giving it to the world. Brigham Young shows us the reaction on both sides. He “rushed as to a banquet, spread by the prophet.” He came like a starving man. Why? He tells us quite plainly: because his world had no real explanation for anything. No satisfying scenario. It was not hard work or austere living that made life gloomy in Puritan New England, but the sense of not really knowing what it was about. This went beyond the scope of their disciplinary rules. As Samuel Sewell sat in church one morning, he writes in his famous journal, “The idea occurred to me with great force and conviction that Jesus Christ had never existed.” And this from the most devout and conservative member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
So, Brigham says “being raised in that atmosphere there was more or less of a gloom over my feelings form the earliest days of my childhood that I have in my recollection. Until I heard the everlasting gospel declared by the servants of God. The secret feeling of my heart was that I would be willing to crawl around the earth on my hands and knees to see such a man as was Peter, Jeremiah, Moses, or any man that could tell me anything about God and Heaven. But to talk with a priest was no more satisfactory to me than it is now to talk with lawyers. And then when I saw Joseph Smith, he took heaven, figuratively speaking and brought it down to earth and he took earth and he brought it up and opened it up in plainness and simplicity the things of God. Under that preaching the gloom vanished and has not since troubled me for a moment. I gave away all I had, I started to preach the gospel. I was obliged to do it. For I felt as though my bones would consume within me if I did not. Consequently I devoted my time to preaching.”
So there you have it. As he said, “outside of the religion we have embraced, there is nothing but death, Hell, and the grave.” And my question is do we have any competing thesis to offer here? I have heard old timers, pioneers, declare more than once they would gladly, like my grandparents for example, gladly go through everything they did all over again. A thousand times if necessary. Why? They hadn’t seen Joseph Smith. They didn’t know him. They joined the church in the old country and came over here, and it was for the gospel. Why always for the gospel, a mere doctrine and abstraction? Because it told them what they yearned to know and nobody else could. There were times when they possessed nothing else and then they considered themselves richest. But that was enough.
The reaction of the world around Joseph Smith clearly proclaims bankruptcy. I think it is one of enraged frustration. Some years ago, surveying all of the anti-Mormon works, from the beginning to the 1950s, I noted there a standard stereotyped reaction to Joseph’s message. The trouble was not only that Joseph Smith was putting forth the most wildly extravagant story and doctrine that anyone had ever heard, but what was far worse, they had nothing whatever to put up against it. Hence, the two paradoxes often noted in the history of the church: the fierce, unparalleled persecution of the Mormons for no apparent reason whatever, and on the other hand, the incredible loyalty of the Latter Day Saints to their cause, regardless of the hardships they had to face or the difficulty in getting along with each other or accepting some of their leaders. Even the apostates could never shake its influence once they’d come under it. The scenario was worth everything. For that they were willing to sacrifice anything.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Things of which I can hardly contain my excitement for:
I was awakened in the middle of the night 2 nights ago by the sound of thunder. I don’t know the last time that has happened.
Forrest bought us a futon for our guest room.
It has thundered, flashed lightning, and poured rained intermittently throughout the last two days and it has been glorious.
The BYU football team is practicing for a quickly approaching season (they are probably out there playing as I write this!)
The first BYU football game of the 2010 season in LaVell’s stadium is on September 4th! (I know, who ever thought I would be this crazy about football? Ah well, it was bound to happen sometime—it’s in my blood (i.e. Grandma Jenson))
I get to dust off my BYU football jersey that Forrest got me for my birthday last year and I can wear it on September 4th!
In exactly 4 weeks I will be with my sister Delys and my niece Katelyn.
My parents are going to be here in 5 days and I get an early birthday party!
The third book of the Hunger Games is coming.
I want to eat a Café Rio pork salad right now.
I watched Finding Neverland this week and cried.
A slice of Watermelon sprinkled with crystal light sounds amazing (thank you Jacob and Mary Jane for reminding me of this delight)
My little brother is serving a mission in Milan and he sent me the sweetest letter.
We are thinking of going to Atlanta for Thanksgiving!
My brother just moved to Chicago and I want to visit him!
The movie Flipped – I can’t wait.
I finished hemming half of the curtains in my house. (I would probably be completely finished if I had Blythe here with me!)
An inside joke that I have with Laura and Caitlin about scrubs (not the show).
I have almost finished reading Atlas Shrugged.
Tomorrow is Friday
Friday, June 11, 2010
Life as I know it
I love this place, even though it was cold this morning and it is June. As much as I do not necessarily want to make this my home permanently, let it be known that I do love it here.
However, I spent 4 glorious days in Texas and Beavers Bend, Oklahoma and it was over 90 degrees and nice and humid the whole time. While Forrest would have melted, I very literally reveled in the heat. It was simply heaven for my body which has been dried out and heat starved for TEN MONTHS! That is correct, the last time it was hot…I mean really hot here was last August.
It was just me and the girls in a cabin in Beavers Bend. The drive to Beavers Bend actually reminded me of Atlanta. It is gorgeous and green with long stretches of trees and beautiful sky. God truly did bless the south, I’m not going to lie. Forrest always tells me that Texas doesn’t count as “the South” and I know that it’s not the Georgia south; but let’s be honest, when you look at a map of the United States, where is Texas and Oklahoma on the map? Exactly. I like Texas because it is hot and people speak slowly and with accents. Everyone smiles at you and waves like they know you and boys refer to you as “ma’am” and “miss” and treat you like a lady. What a place.
On Wednesday, Forrest and I were able to meet Madelyn Enger for the first time. I cannot tell you what a beautiful moment it was seeing Rachell there holding her baby. I cannot tell you what a beautiful moment it was when she let me hold her baby. I wish all of you had been there, but I’m glad all of you were not because Forrest and I got to be selfish and have the Engers all to ourselves. Rachell, you are my rock and that baby is lucky to belong to you and Tim.
One last thought: I have been thinking a lot about all of my siblings (including their spouses of course) and am just amazed. Take a look at us:
Roberts: Logan, Paula, Nathan, Lindsay, Ben, Ryanne, Forrest, Elin, Russell
Engers: Tim, Rachell
Jensons: Layne, Ian, Laurel, Seth
Tylers: Delys, John
4 Mothers
4 Fathers
9 College Graduates
5 Soon to be College Graduates
3 Individuals accepted into Graduate School (2 law schools, 1 medical school)
3 Certified Teachers
4 fluent Spanish Speakers
2 fluent Portuguese Speakers
7 Return Missionaries
1 Missionary bound for Milan
2 Scout Leaders
3 Eagle Scouts (There may be more—I only know of the 3 Jenson boys)
2 Soon-to-be expert fishermen
5 High School Football Stars
1 Orthopedic Surgeon- Need I say more? I don’t know why but he is so impressive to me because school and work never ends for this guy! He works so hard and yet is so generous with his time and with what he has.
1 Owner of photography business/craft blogger/Interior Designer/ winner of “She can do anything” in Elin’s book
1 Recently promoted employee/author of a book-length manuscript that is soon to be published/reigning six degrees of Kevin Bacon champion/ Experienced Gardener/House Remodeler
1 Owner of an Arborist Business/Champion Cycler/big muscles/Outdoorsman
1 Prom King/Skilled Vocalist/High School Musical Superstar
1 almost certified nurse/playwright and actress who recently returned from Ghana/Pianist/Vocalist/ Cake decorator Extraordinaire
1 Skilled Musician (sings, plays the piano, plays the guitar and about any other instrument you give him)/plays the expert levels on Rock Band and Guitar Hero/Dancer/Winner of “Crazy Talented” in Elin’s book
1 Computer Genius/Cultured, well-read in everything, and knows way too much about art, books, music, history, etc./Winner of “Most Enjoyable to be Around” in Elin’s book
1 Best husband in the world/Geologist in training/Valevictorian/Experienced Gardener/Layer Carpet and Tile
1 Gun connoisseur/Eternal student of American History and Economics/When I met Forrest, this guy was his hero
1 Expert organizer/Half-Marathon runner/Avid reader/Winner of “Best-dressed person I know” in Elin’s book
1 Gourmet chef/Talent & Beauty Pageant Queen/History Buff/Interior Designer/pianist/vocalist
1 Expert quilter/Adventurer/Hearts Champion/ Winner of “Life of every party or gathering” in Elin’s book
1 Dancer/Adventurer/Half-Marathon Runner/Health Nut who eats lots of ice cream & frozen yogurt/Soprano/Winner of “Most amazing hair I have ever seen” in Elin’s book.
1 Businessman/lucky charm/gets hired for every job he interviews for/winner of the “Greatest Male Smile” in Elin’s book (I can’t pick my husband because he already won for best husband….)
And these are just some of the somewhat measurable qualities.....
Friday, April 9, 2010
Playing with Dolls
Did any of you ever have an American Girl Doll or a wanna-be American Girl Doll? My mum bought me Samantha for my 10th or 11th birthday (yes I still played with dolls when I was 11) and it was the joy of my life. Laurel's favorite was Felicity but she only got a wanna-be felicity doll (which, in fact, was actually prettier than the actual Felicity doll). Did you ever notice that they kind of make the AG doll's buck toothed?
Anywho, one year when I was younger, before I had or even wanted Samantha, I wanted the dream barbie. That's what she was called and she had this magnificent dress that was kind of a gold color. She was beautiful. I begged my parents to get me this dream barbie for Christmas and on Christmas morning, I opened a beautiful dream barbie look-alike. But she was very obviously NOT the one that I had seen in the Saturday morning ads that I had seen in between Saturday morning cartoons. My mum had purchased a much less expensive barbie doll and then made a dress that was similar and probably a lot better quality than the one I would have received had it been the real thing. I still remember being a little disappointed though because the dream barbie in my head was different than the one I was holding.
My mum could tell this I'm sure, so years down the road, when I wanted the "real" Samantha, she actually spent the hundred dollars on her. You can buy a bunch of dresses from the AG store for your doll, and though mum bought me the real doll, there was no way she was going to spend tons of money of a wardrobe for her. So she made me a wardrobe for Samantha which were so much better than anything we could have bought. She made Samantha a sailor dress and a party dress and a play dress...and she made me (or purchased inexpensively) furniture and accessories. You have no idea the connection I formed with that doll. It was magical.
Now my mum is making American Girl doll clothes again and she posts them on an Etsy that my aunt started. Look at these clothes! Doesn't it make you want to buy all of these dresses and play with dolls again? Seriously, the next time I am home, I am taking my Samantha and all of her clothes and bringing them back with me. Rachell, your little Madeleine/Chloe can play with her until I have a girl of my own!
Friday, March 12, 2010
On Government
I inadvertently triggered an hour long heated discussion about America’s present economy and government. Let me give you a little background. This discussion was between a professor of ancient scripture (particularly Old Testament) and ancient languages (like Babylonian, Ugaritic, and Hebrew) and an accountant. They conversed/argued about a number of issues ranging from universal healthcare, the present quality of European and Canadian economies under a socialist government, government involvement and control in civil matters and non-civil matters, the difference between a civil matter and a religious matter, government’s involvement in the housing crisis, etc. Phrases like “right wing lies,” “moral obligation,” “government forcing the people,” and “freedom of choice,” were used in abundance.
All of this because I innocently asked the accountant what he meant when he said in the course of one of our conversations that government subsidies had only inflated the housing prices. There is a lot that I do not understand about our economy and I wanted to know what the “government subsidies” were and I wanted to know how they effected the housing prices. Somewhere during our conversation, the other individual who must have heard some of the things the accountant was saying, entered the discussion with his own point of view.
It was something else, let me tell you. Probably similar conversations about the same topics occur on a daily basis, country-wide or even worldwide, but this is the first time I ever had the debate standing right next to me. I have heard both sides of the issues expressed very passionately by individuals, but never have I heard both sides in the same room at the same time. (The debates I have heard politicians participate in do not count, because no matter what side they are on, they always swing to the middle in order to please the most people…which is understandable.)
Neither individual was particularly hostile, but both were very vehement and I knew from the beginning of the conversation that neither opinion would be swayed more than a couple of inches. I know that they did not want to be considered “close-minded” but it was very difficult for either of them to give way to a concept they did not believe. In the end, the closest thing to reconciliation was the accountant stated something like “well, thank you for your comments. You have changed my opinion slightly with your perspective. Now if ‘such in such’ does happen I will be a little less unhappy about it than I previously would have been.”
Here’s what is difficult for me to swallow: both men are good. They are both religious and their desires and hopes for humankind in general are almost identical—the difference lies in the how they believe those desires and hopes should be realized. They have the same religious and moral beliefs, and both are convinced that the political party they support will do the best in supporting those beliefs. Do you not find that odd and a bit difficult to reconcile? I also noticed that one of them would say something like “Look at Germany. Under their socialist government, they are currently enjoying the best economy in the world” (and this from a man who lived in Germany years ago for an extended period of time). Then the other would say something like, “No, Germans are experiencing an economic crisis there in many respects.” Now, who is right? Both are actually very well-informed gentlemen. They both keep current on the issues and read a lot, etc. But obviously, they are getting their information from very different sources. How do you know which source is correct?
Mark Willes, CEO of Deseret Management Corporation (meaning KSL, Deseret News, etc.) spoke at our 4th annual Neal A. Maxwell Lecture last night and he entitled his remarks “Reinventing the Church’s Media Businesses”. He has a very impressive work history (he was publisher of the LA Times for awhile) and he is an incredible speaker. I enjoyed his lecture immensely and at one point, he told a story about an issue that a reporter was researching. Apparently, they had heard reports that Africans were still selling slaves to individuals who would pay high enough. Many journalists would conduct several interviews and hear different opinions and pose questions like “Is Africa still involved in a slave trade?” to a variety of individuals, perhaps some of them African government representatives. The news story would have both sides of the issue but would it be at all conclusive? However, this particular journalist asked the question “Can I purchase a slave in Africa” and then took two individuals, one Caucasian and one African-American, and sent them to Africa to see if they could obtain the answer to that question. They did. They bought two boys who had been taken from their mother by slave traders (the boys, of course, were returned to their home). I thought that was interesting.
So what questions do I need to be asking and what actions do I need to take to find the real answers? Would I actually need to be a part of the government machine to know what’s really going on there, because honestly, I hear such different accounts from different people about government involvement? Then I hear of people living outside of the United States who love their socialist governments, and then I hear of people living outside of the United States who are not happy with their socialist government. That is not surprising- I am sure it, like any other form of government has its advantages and its disadvantages. It just makes it more difficult for me to wrap my head around it—largely because the people trying to “inform” me disagree with each other in a huge way. (Writing my frustrations down in this manner makes me feel a little bit of what it must have been like for that young 14-year old boy. Hmmmm…)
How on earth am I supposed to vote on issues and help to elect leaders and become involved with state and federal governments when I currently have no idea what I am doing, when I am not “informed” and when I do not feel prepared. I know most of the fault is my own, but I do feel, with all of the information and facts and opinions that are raining down on you incessantly, it is difficult to reach conclusions for yourself in these matters. At the same time, as I grow older, I feel an increasing sense of duty and responsibility to be involved and to become “informed” and to prepare myself to engage in these issues and help where I can. My question is how?
My mother’s father was a professor at BYU and is a fairly liberal republican and his wife is a democrat and perhaps they would have agreed with the professor who was debating in my office this morning. I am convinced that every single Roberts would have been arguing on the side of the accountant, with the same amount of fervor. My parents are Republicans on paper and issues like this were discussed in my house but it is hard for me to know exactly where my daddy stands. Anytime I said something with certainty in my voice, he always helped me to see the other side of the issue. I’m not saying he agreed with the other side—he just wanted to be sure that I knew that there were other ways of thinking. What is a girl to do?
I will tell you this much: I feel we will flourish the most as a country and as a people if we give the government the least amount of power that we possibly can. But the flourishing will only happen when we, as human beings, use our self-interest (that oh so dangerous trait that must exist to drive a capitalist society (did I get that right Nathan?)) to work hard, to use what we earn to provide for our families and to put into the economy, but then discard all self-interestedness to help those who are not able to work or function as we do live as full and happy a life as we . Which political party supports that? Is that kind of existence attainable? How do we become those kinds of people on a national level? What do we do on a community level to attain those goals?
Sounds a bit utopic and it doesn’t really allow for job shortages and a million other factors that can prevent many from being able to provide for their families.
At any rate, I am babbling—and obviously about topics that I know very little about but I just wanted to express my frustration. I am very frustrated.
I just asked Alison, who live in England for the majority of her life, what she thought about socialist governments and she told me that they never work for very long. She said that the post-war socialist government in England was nice for awhile, but things started falling apart. She has lived under a socialist government for a long time and she expressed her opinions without reservation, but very level-headedly. I appreciate that. She thinks it would be a huge mistake for United States to move towards a more socialist government.
The accountant is going to bring me a sort of “economics book for dummies.” I can’t keep up with the current issues if I don’t even know the foundational economic principles, eh?
All of this because I innocently asked the accountant what he meant when he said in the course of one of our conversations that government subsidies had only inflated the housing prices. There is a lot that I do not understand about our economy and I wanted to know what the “government subsidies” were and I wanted to know how they effected the housing prices. Somewhere during our conversation, the other individual who must have heard some of the things the accountant was saying, entered the discussion with his own point of view.
It was something else, let me tell you. Probably similar conversations about the same topics occur on a daily basis, country-wide or even worldwide, but this is the first time I ever had the debate standing right next to me. I have heard both sides of the issues expressed very passionately by individuals, but never have I heard both sides in the same room at the same time. (The debates I have heard politicians participate in do not count, because no matter what side they are on, they always swing to the middle in order to please the most people…which is understandable.)
Neither individual was particularly hostile, but both were very vehement and I knew from the beginning of the conversation that neither opinion would be swayed more than a couple of inches. I know that they did not want to be considered “close-minded” but it was very difficult for either of them to give way to a concept they did not believe. In the end, the closest thing to reconciliation was the accountant stated something like “well, thank you for your comments. You have changed my opinion slightly with your perspective. Now if ‘such in such’ does happen I will be a little less unhappy about it than I previously would have been.”
Here’s what is difficult for me to swallow: both men are good. They are both religious and their desires and hopes for humankind in general are almost identical—the difference lies in the how they believe those desires and hopes should be realized. They have the same religious and moral beliefs, and both are convinced that the political party they support will do the best in supporting those beliefs. Do you not find that odd and a bit difficult to reconcile? I also noticed that one of them would say something like “Look at Germany. Under their socialist government, they are currently enjoying the best economy in the world” (and this from a man who lived in Germany years ago for an extended period of time). Then the other would say something like, “No, Germans are experiencing an economic crisis there in many respects.” Now, who is right? Both are actually very well-informed gentlemen. They both keep current on the issues and read a lot, etc. But obviously, they are getting their information from very different sources. How do you know which source is correct?
Mark Willes, CEO of Deseret Management Corporation (meaning KSL, Deseret News, etc.) spoke at our 4th annual Neal A. Maxwell Lecture last night and he entitled his remarks “Reinventing the Church’s Media Businesses”. He has a very impressive work history (he was publisher of the LA Times for awhile) and he is an incredible speaker. I enjoyed his lecture immensely and at one point, he told a story about an issue that a reporter was researching. Apparently, they had heard reports that Africans were still selling slaves to individuals who would pay high enough. Many journalists would conduct several interviews and hear different opinions and pose questions like “Is Africa still involved in a slave trade?” to a variety of individuals, perhaps some of them African government representatives. The news story would have both sides of the issue but would it be at all conclusive? However, this particular journalist asked the question “Can I purchase a slave in Africa” and then took two individuals, one Caucasian and one African-American, and sent them to Africa to see if they could obtain the answer to that question. They did. They bought two boys who had been taken from their mother by slave traders (the boys, of course, were returned to their home). I thought that was interesting.
So what questions do I need to be asking and what actions do I need to take to find the real answers? Would I actually need to be a part of the government machine to know what’s really going on there, because honestly, I hear such different accounts from different people about government involvement? Then I hear of people living outside of the United States who love their socialist governments, and then I hear of people living outside of the United States who are not happy with their socialist government. That is not surprising- I am sure it, like any other form of government has its advantages and its disadvantages. It just makes it more difficult for me to wrap my head around it—largely because the people trying to “inform” me disagree with each other in a huge way. (Writing my frustrations down in this manner makes me feel a little bit of what it must have been like for that young 14-year old boy. Hmmmm…)
How on earth am I supposed to vote on issues and help to elect leaders and become involved with state and federal governments when I currently have no idea what I am doing, when I am not “informed” and when I do not feel prepared. I know most of the fault is my own, but I do feel, with all of the information and facts and opinions that are raining down on you incessantly, it is difficult to reach conclusions for yourself in these matters. At the same time, as I grow older, I feel an increasing sense of duty and responsibility to be involved and to become “informed” and to prepare myself to engage in these issues and help where I can. My question is how?
My mother’s father was a professor at BYU and is a fairly liberal republican and his wife is a democrat and perhaps they would have agreed with the professor who was debating in my office this morning. I am convinced that every single Roberts would have been arguing on the side of the accountant, with the same amount of fervor. My parents are Republicans on paper and issues like this were discussed in my house but it is hard for me to know exactly where my daddy stands. Anytime I said something with certainty in my voice, he always helped me to see the other side of the issue. I’m not saying he agreed with the other side—he just wanted to be sure that I knew that there were other ways of thinking. What is a girl to do?
I will tell you this much: I feel we will flourish the most as a country and as a people if we give the government the least amount of power that we possibly can. But the flourishing will only happen when we, as human beings, use our self-interest (that oh so dangerous trait that must exist to drive a capitalist society (did I get that right Nathan?)) to work hard, to use what we earn to provide for our families and to put into the economy, but then discard all self-interestedness to help those who are not able to work or function as we do live as full and happy a life as we . Which political party supports that? Is that kind of existence attainable? How do we become those kinds of people on a national level? What do we do on a community level to attain those goals?
Sounds a bit utopic and it doesn’t really allow for job shortages and a million other factors that can prevent many from being able to provide for their families.
At any rate, I am babbling—and obviously about topics that I know very little about but I just wanted to express my frustration. I am very frustrated.
I just asked Alison, who live in England for the majority of her life, what she thought about socialist governments and she told me that they never work for very long. She said that the post-war socialist government in England was nice for awhile, but things started falling apart. She has lived under a socialist government for a long time and she expressed her opinions without reservation, but very level-headedly. I appreciate that. She thinks it would be a huge mistake for United States to move towards a more socialist government.
The accountant is going to bring me a sort of “economics book for dummies.” I can’t keep up with the current issues if I don’t even know the foundational economic principles, eh?
Monday, March 8, 2010
Pictures Worth A Thousand Words
This is Forrest. Elin posted this blog and I am going to edit a bit before anybody reads it. I just want to say that my pants being wet down to me knees is a result of sitting in the front of the "boat" on Splash Mountain, and getting soaked, with water. It is not a result of anything that might have happened due to any fear I might have felt from sitting in the front of the boat.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Lessons Learned
I know Forrest was planning to post some of his wittyative observations on life and all things concerning it, so I have held off writing anything. However, Forrest is a busy man with school and work and making my breakfast and lunch in the mornings and playing intramural and church basketball and keeping up with everything else. So, I suppose I will just go for it. And, I imagine that Andrea is tired of having the picture of her that I stole from her blog featured prominently on my own miniscule piece of the worldwide web.
At any rate, I would like to share with you a few of the lessons I have learned from life in the last few months:
Despite my tallness and my seemingly tough exterior (hey, I like to think I could throw some mean punches, some fatal blows if I was ever forced to), I recently learned by doing intervals in my “Cardioblast” evening class, that I have absolutely no upper body strength.
Taking voice lessons doesn’t necessarily mean that you will ever sound like Mariah Carey or Lea Salonga—nor does it mean that your voice will actually sound any better, even if you are using your air correctly.
I owe just about everything I am to my mother and my daddy.
There are not really twenty four hours in a day. It is a lie.
Guys have it tough. Being the “provider,” the “patriarch,” the “protector”—what pressure you men have on your shoulders. I hope that I can make that pressure seem lighter for my husband rather than adding to his load.
Reading my scriptures daily and saying focused sincere prayers is the difference between a good day and a not-so-good day for me. It is actually quite miraculous really, that such small things really make a difference.
And finally, I need to say that a dream of mine that has lived in my heart for years now will soon be made reality. What a joy that a place like this actually exists and that I get to go there in less than a month! Thank you dear Walt, for making the magic happen.
At any rate, I would like to share with you a few of the lessons I have learned from life in the last few months:
Despite my tallness and my seemingly tough exterior (hey, I like to think I could throw some mean punches, some fatal blows if I was ever forced to), I recently learned by doing intervals in my “Cardioblast” evening class, that I have absolutely no upper body strength.
Taking voice lessons doesn’t necessarily mean that you will ever sound like Mariah Carey or Lea Salonga—nor does it mean that your voice will actually sound any better, even if you are using your air correctly.
I owe just about everything I am to my mother and my daddy.
There are not really twenty four hours in a day. It is a lie.
Guys have it tough. Being the “provider,” the “patriarch,” the “protector”—what pressure you men have on your shoulders. I hope that I can make that pressure seem lighter for my husband rather than adding to his load.
Reading my scriptures daily and saying focused sincere prayers is the difference between a good day and a not-so-good day for me. It is actually quite miraculous really, that such small things really make a difference.
And finally, I need to say that a dream of mine that has lived in my heart for years now will soon be made reality. What a joy that a place like this actually exists and that I get to go there in less than a month! Thank you dear Walt, for making the magic happen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)