It’s been 20 years this winter since I participated in the BYU Winter Semester Study-Abroad Program in Jerusalem, Israel. That experience remains in my top ten life list. Not only did it make a big impact on my life at the time, but I also enjoyed the experience immensely and would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
My group was in Jerusalem during the beginnings of the first Intifadeh, so we experienced things like Old City strikes, tear-gas, tire burning, bus stoning, curfews, canceled trips. We never felt like we were in danger, however. We actually sought out trouble for the excitement of it all.
We were also the first group to stay in the brand, new Jerusalem Center for the entire semester. There were 130 girls, and 30 boys. I was one of three RM sisters, so I had a lot of gals approach me for advice on whether they should serve a mission.
Fun times. Freedom within structure. Good people. Great professors. I would love to visit the Holy Land again with my family. I hope that one day we can make it a reality.
It’s amazing to watch early video of your child after fifteen years of life. Although Dallen has grown considerably, he has not changed in disposition or personality. My psychiatrist brother once told me that we would never have major disciplinary problems with Dallen due to his natural disposition as a baby and young child. So far, it has held true.
Dallen’s first babysitter used to constantly tell us that we didn’t know how lucky we were to have Dallen as our first child. He was such a joy, all the time. He was very pleasant, very adaptable, very social. And he was doted upon, by everyone–especially Mom and Dad.
When Dallen was born Brad and I did not have a video camera (I know, “Gasp!”). So my brother, Barry, and his wife, Lisa, gave us a VHS tape and let us borrow their video camera every few months to record Dallen’s growth, until we finally got one of our own in late 1994. Hence, Barry and Lisa are in a lot of the video because we were using their camera.
I’m still amazed at all the iPhones that have been sold. At the BlogHaus, the iPhone was the rule — and my BlackBerry was the exception. Someday I’m sure I’ll pack one. But not without copy and paste, 3G, and Bluetooth sync.
Ars Technica offers some great insight, including this market share quote from Gartner and unit sales growth chart from Apple:
The iPhone has managed to stay atop the news almost constantly since its launch last June—and sales haven’t been too shabby either. Market research firm Gartner said that the company managed to capture 20 percent of smartphone sales during the third quarter of 2007, second only to RIM with the heavyweight BlackBerry at 39 percent.
Saturday afternoon Brad and I took Abby and Bridget for an hour of sledding on the east hill of the Cedar Hills Golf Course. It has become a popular spot for North Utah County sledders. We think that perhaps the City of Cedar Hills should start charging a sledding fee to generate more dollars for the city. Golf in the summer, sledding in the winter…that is until home construction starts on the 15th hole.
Last night I was invited to attend the opening film of the Sundance Film Festival in Sundance, Utah. It’s called Fields of Fuel and is directed by Josh Tickell. The film is a documentary about alternative fuel sources, primarily Biodiesel. The film is also politically charged concerning America’s dependence on foreign oil and the U.S.’s participation in Middle East wars to keep our country’s supply flowing.
After watching the film I became convinced that I can help decrease my fuel consumption, at least in one small way, by purchasing a diesel vehicle and using Biodiesel fuel. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to learn that there are no gas stations in Utah County offering Biodiesel. This information comes from Utah Biodiesel Supply.
The other problem is finding a diesel vehicle that would suit our family of six. We need either a mini-van, or a SUV. To find a diesel vehicle, you have to search used vehicle sights. And the majority of consumer diesel vehicles available are sedans and smaller cars. It’s very frustrating when you would like to be environmentally green, but there are no sources available to allow you to be so.
This is where the underlying theme of the film comes in. We, the people, need to let our politicians and the powers that be, that control auto manufacturing, and that produce fuels, know that we want alternative choices. I don’t want to buy an SUV that gets 14 miles to the gallon and contributes to green house gases. If given the choice I would definitely purchase a diesel vehicle and fill it with Biodiesel. BTW: you don’t have to make any modifications to your vehicle to use Biodiesel. Plus, it’s cheaper, you get better gas mileage, your vehicle runs better, and it emits 75-80% less emissions than regular diesel.
I will continue to watch for the availability of Biodiesel close to where I live, and more choices in consumer diesel vehicles. Hopefully, after the year-long 50-state information blitz about alternative fuels and Biodiesel by Josh and his crew, it won’t be very long.
Any Book of Revelation signs of the times watchers reading my blog? Take this report to church with you next Sunday.
The total number of natural disasters worldwide now averages 400–500 a year, up from an average of 125 in the early 1980s. The number of climate-related disasters, particularly floods and storms, is rising far faster than the number of geological disasters, such as earthquakes. Between 1980 and 2006, the number of floods and cyclones quadrupled from 60 to 240 a year while the number of earthquakes remained approximately the same, at around 20 a year. In 2007 the Oxfam International family of agencies responded to floods or storms in more than 30 countries.
The number of people affected by all disasters has risen from an average of 174 million a year between 1985 and 1994 to 254 million a year between 1995 and 2004. Earlier this year the Asian floods alone affected 248 million people.
I have been patiently awaiting the release of this movie. I suppose that it intrigues me because it is a commentary on today’s society and the technology that is a part of our daily lives, namely small video cameras, video on small cameras, camera phones, etc. We can document things as they happen. We don’t need to wait for the local news truck to show up anymore. We create the news.
Update: Brad and I saw the movie Saturday, January 19. It was entertaining enough. I enjoyed I AM Legend much more, however. It was also scarier than Cloverfield. I never had to cover my eyes in this movie.
People were annoyed by the camera movements, and by the movie’s ending. However, the director purposefully wanted to make it seem that an “everyman” took the footage, not a cameraman or director. Also, since it states at the beginning of the movie that the footage was found in Central Park, it’s obvious that the main characters don’t survive. Brad commented that if our audience had pitchforks at the end of the movie, they would have run the screen with them in hand. There were a lot of angry comments.
I read enough reviews and interviews beforehand to know what JJ Abrams was trying to create in this movie, so I wasn’t upset by it. At least he is introducing a different concept, although it has been described as “Godzilla meets Blair Witch Project.”
The theater showed two movie previews of the same old kinds of movies that come out every few months . . . Hellboy 2 (which at first I thought was another X-men movie), and Ironman, another Marvel comic movie. From what I observed of the audience, those are the kinds of movies that entertain them. This audience doesn’t want “art.” They want action and special effects–which this movie did have–with a weak plot line–which this one kind of had. But, Cloverfield had enough art in it that the general audience couldn’t stomach it.
Of course, everyone loves to play with the iMac camera. Photo Booth has to be one of the best applications to keep kids entertained. Here’s poor little Taylor who just had a hard time sitting still — at least until he was introduced to the iMac.
When Brad and I were first married, I put together a 72 hour kit and forgot about it for about…oh, 15 years. It was pretty frightening when I went through it about 1 1/2 years ago. I couldn’t imagine the stress of trying to live through an emergency on what I had in that big, heavy duffle bag.
About 1 1/2 years ago, I decided to go through some 72 hour kits that I had purchased for the five of us while living in Arizona. They all needed updating, and I had to make yet another one because we had since welcomed Abby into the family. After a lot of research and money, I felt that I had our family fairly prepared for an emergency…until we had a lesson on emergency preparedness in Relief Society. I wrote notes and added items to the kits, and finished with the feeling that we were “more” prepared for an emergency.
Until I went to a presentation by the State of Utah Earthquake Lady. I added more notes to my long list of things to buy and do and thought I had it all figured out…until we had “another” lesson at church that took up both the Sunday School and Relief Society hours. I took even more notes and made even more plans.
