Fri Oct 01 18:35:32 MST Happy World Vegetarian Day!!: I think that it also may be the start of hunting season. I was reminded yesterday about the bitter infighting that can happen in politics and the rifts that are in our society. I thought to myself during the presidential debates that the two really aren't too different on the political spectrum. Nonetheless, they really beat each other up and hyperbolize differences in order to win some conflict of ideas. It is all about jockying for power and position.
On a different note, The church will announce tommorrow (i think) who will fill the vacancies left by the deaths of the Apostles. There was no vitriolic infighting in the selection of them, and I will be happy to hear the counsel that they will give tommorrow.
Mt. Saint Helens erupted, and the tabernacle will get a new Anti-earthquake upgrade as well.
Well, more drama with the Michal Moore--UVSC situation. A generous donor has threatened to pull over 1 million dollars in artwork if the university doesn't disinvite the man of controversy. Perhaps more people will donate to the university because of their sympathies toward Moore as well, I don't know.
Incidentally, the article says that he will give the art to BYU instead--a far better venue for his collection in my opinion.
Louise's Mum called last night as well, and we had a nice chat (for about an hour).
Fri Oct 01 18:35:57 MST Happy World Vegetarian Day!!: I think that it also may be the start of hunting season. I was reminded yesterday about the bitter infighting that can happen in politics and the rifts that are in our society. I thought to myself during the presidential debates that the two really aren't too different on the political spectrum. Nonetheless, they really beat each other up and hyperbolize differences in order to win some conflict of ideas. It is all about jockying for power and position.
On a different note, The church will announce tommorrow (i think) who will fill the vacancies left by the deaths of the Apostles. There was no vitriolic infighting in the selection of them, and I will be happy to hear the counsel that they will give tommorrow.
Mt. Saint Helens erupted, and the tabernacle will get a new Anti-earthquake upgrade as well.
Well, more drama with the Michal Moore--UVSC situation. A generous donor has threatened to pull over 1 million dollars in artwork if the university doesn't disinvite the man of controversy. Perhaps more people will donate to the university because of their sympathies toward Moore as well, I don't know.
Incidentally, the article says that he will give the art to BYU instead--a far better venue for his collection in my opinion.
Louise's Mum called last night as well, and we had a nice chat (for about an hour).
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(3) Mon Oct 04 19:09:13 MST Happy B-Day Geneal: We went up to Sandi yesterday for Geneal's Birthday. We watched a litte conference and had some cake and Ice Cream (homemade--you know the kind with eggs and sugar). We also spent quite a bit of time with their family. So much time that we arrived home later than expected.
The kids (Josh, Sarah, Alex, and Olivia) are all doing well, and Russ is jumping into his practice. Incidentally, Russ had to go at 11:00 p.m. for a surgery of some 20 year old guy who stuck a knife through his knee.
Louise and I also got to tour Russ and Geneal's home. It is situated in a little secluded neighborhood up by the canyon. It is complete with a little stream and bridge at the entrance. There are firs and aspens in front and on the sides property to sheild the veiw of other homes. Very idyllic. It is also huge. There are three floors, and one floor is about the size of the entire house that I live in now. It will be nice for company.
Speaking of Sandi, I say Aunt Sandy and Shelly Whitney. They were buying out the Bookstore. We talked for about 30 min and caught up. Sandy has ideas to move to Park City. I think that will be fun for family gatherings. I have always liked Park City.
Well, the books becon me.
(1) Tue Oct 12 11:05:55 MST A whole week has passed: It has been a good week and we have been really busy. I am now in a Lab where we are taking EEG measurements of each other, and other neat stuff. I also saw a video of a guy in a wheelchair that was able to move his chair forward or backward by his EEG monitoring. They had him hooked up to this EEG Machines and with his thoughts he could predictably move his chair back and forth. It is really amazing what people are able to do nowadays. The reverse engineering of the brain will create a whole new field of human adaptation, and it will be very interesting to see where it will be in 60 years or so.
Perhaps Louise will be able to get some new high definition eyes in the future, but if not we will not be disappointed. "Quality of Life" as they say is just as high for her as any sighted person (she is probably much happier than most sighted people actually, and that is much more dependant on the way she lives life not if she can see a rainbow).
School is much the same as ever. Sunday, however, was eventful because of the visit by Geneal and family for Louise's birthday. They are a wild bunch of kids. I realized how very unsafe and non-child proof our home is as well. That cast Iorn stove in our living room is a really interesting item for a two year old, but not very safe at all.
Geneal made a wonderful dinner for us of chicken parmesean pasta, carrot salad and a strawberry cake. It was nice to visit with the family as well.
(3) Tue Oct 19 13:12:42 MST Test week: Louise and I are both in tests most of this week. Louise had one yesterday (physical science), and another today (spanish). She had a traumatic experience yesterday owing to the fact that the Testing Center double booked the room that she was supposed to be in. 20 min. into the test another student came in and saw that she had taken the room. His reason was that he was extreamly attention deficit and he just couldn't study when there is noise (even in the usually quiet Testing Center). Louise felt very bad about this, and it didn't help her on her grade. She of course needed the room because of a TV magnifier that is in the room.
Yesterday was also our day of interveiws with INS up in Salt Lake. The interveiwer had to verify that we indeed were married not just so that Louise could be a citizen of the U.S. The whole thing is simply a little humorous. One question that he asked is if Louise was a member of the Nazi party before the year of 1950 or a Communist. Well, he had the Birthdate, and I also don't think there are too many communist in russia trying to come to the U.S. now that the Cold War is "over." He also asked us for some documentation that proved that we were married other than our marriage certificate (which wasn't asked for in the letter that we received calling us up to the interveiw). We didn't have any rental contracts or such, and he was eventually forced to accept the credit cards that we had together.
When I deal with american bureaucracy I get a little glimpse of what it is like for other citizens of other not so free countries (i.e. Iraq pre-wrong war, place, and time), and I am grateful that there is at lease a measure of the rule of law here and not just the caprice of some interveiwer that doesn't quite like the way you look.
Fri Oct 22 18:46:09 MST Winter has come: and it forgot to leave the flu behind. I have been a little scratchy throat this week, but I am surviving. I also found out today that Lorin my brother-in-law in Australia just got signed onto a national record label. He will be on the morning show on one of the Australian channels next week and he is quite busy doing shows and gigs down in Sydney. Congratulations Lorin. Something else that is neat is that you can search his name now on the internet and come up with the newspaper articles about him.
Julie (louise's mom) also called today to talk to her little girl. They are going to Brisbane in the next couple of weeks and then to Southwest Rocks. That is a little beach resort town where they often go to stay in a nice little cabin. John is going charter boat fishing out in the ocean. I sure wish that I was there to be with them. I kinda miss family there as well as the beauty.
Mon Oct 25 21:33:24 MST Long week ahead: 3 tests in 3 days with another at the end of the week. That's my schedule. I also have some pretty difficult assignments due on wed. I have been moving supprisingly smoothly, though, and I am happy to be getting so much done.
In other news, yesterday was my first day in the young men's presidency at church. I am over the larger Deacons quorum, and so far I will also be the interum Scoutmaster. I guess I had better get a scout shirt. We have some good boys, and there is also a lot of work to do. There are a few who come from single mother homes, or they might as well be no parent homes because the kids pretty much do what they please. Hey...my philosophy is, if you don't want to raise them then don't have them. Is that too harsh?, I don't think so. Although, I know that sometimes it's not that simple.
I have been playing with a version of Adobe Photoshop Elements that Louise and I received with a digital camera. Yesterday I spent a few hours on our Wedding Pictures as well as vacation, etc. It is really neat what you can do with computer software.
The day's here in Provo are nice and wet. I absolutly love the vivid fall colors of purple, red, yellow, up against the Green background glisening with rainwater and smelling of fresh moist earth. I am planning a ski trip during Christmas as well as in January. I am excited to get into the powder and go into the mountains. Up there, the snow dampens all the sound so that all you hear is your breathing and the crisp footsteps in the snow...it is intimate really the way that nature seems to focus on the individual and all things stand in reverence with the trees bowed down and the ground blanketed over with pure white snow. Gosh, there's got to be a Prarie Home Companion monologue in there somewhere.
(2) Wed Oct 27 13:17:54 MST windy city: Today was a bit windy. I sure love these fall days. I had a bit of a snag this morning. Today is a due date for two of my assignments, and when I came to school I found that I had left the zip disk that had the assignments on them at home. It is always a bit disappointing when I forget the little things like that.
Louise had a mid term paper due yesterday as well. She was really stressing trying to finish it. I am glad that today it is all over for her, and she can relax the rest of the semester.
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