Shortly after arriving at the pier, we were inundated with a fierce thunderstorm consisting of down-pouring rain and wind gusts. Paul was skeptical about finding a beach that evening with the fear of bad weather and bad waves. Fortunately, the storm passed and the evening ended up proving a beautiful one. It was perfect for driving the houseboat to the perfect beach spot.
Happy Anniversary Brad.
The first segment of our relaxing and fun-filled adventure in Lake Powell, compliments of Paul and Natalie. We also enjoyed the company of Troy, Kim, Boyd and Debbie. No kids, beautiful weather, and great friends. Who could ask for more?
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
Love this video by Matt Harding. Priceless.
Amy and I took a drive tonight on the Alpine Loop, a mountain road from the mouth of American Fork canyon, around the back of Mt. Timpanogos on a narrow and winding road, and out Provo canyon. We stopped for a few pictures and went on to the Foundry Grill at Sundance resort for dinner. A few snapshots from our drive, including a cute Amy in the aspen grove.
I attended the 50th Anniversary of Oakcrest LDS Girl’s Camp in Woodland, Utah, where I was a counselor during the summer of 1984. Our staff actually had a 20 year reunion four years ago, but I failed to take any pictures of the camp while there. I was too tired. I was nine months pregnant with Abby.
I thought that it would be fun to take Abby with me on Friday. She had fun, although we stayed in the lodge far too long. We should have walked around the camp more and taken more pictures. She enjoyed the singing, and she flirted with my counselor friends. She enjoyed all of the attention.
I can’t believe that it has been 24 years since I was a counselor there (It’s been 30 years since I was a camper). I feel so old, especially when the current counselors would ask you what year you were there and then gasp when you told them. The majority weren’t even born yet.
Ah, but what a fun summer. My Dad got mad when I told him how much I made after working five days a week, 24 hours a day for three months. I tried to help him understand that it was not for the money, it was for the experience. But he wouldn’t hear it. It was a fun summer. There haven’t been any more like it since.
A funny satire on the global warming issue compliments of The Onion…
Last night KSL 5 News reported on the congressional race between Jason Chaffetz and Chris Cannon. Mr. Chaffetz was talking about–you guessed it–”change,” and Mr. Cannon was talking about his “experience” in Washington. Well, tonight KSL 1160 reported that 69% of the precincts had posted their numbers by 9:45 p.m. and so far Mr. Chaffetz had a 61% lead over Mr. Cannon…i.e. Mr. Chaffetz will be the Republican Congressional front-runner for our district.
Incumbents should pay heed. The people are tired of “experience.” Experience has brought our nation nothing but problems. We are sick of incumbent experience. We are sick of inaction. We want change. We want something done about the myriad problems that our country faces.
I was listed as “unaffiliated” but changed my party to Republican today just so I could vote for Mr. Chaffetz because I wanted to send a message to Mr. Cannon. I haven’t seen any results out of Washington regarding issues that are very important to the American people. Your turn is done. It’s time for someone else to give it the old “inexperienced” college try!
An interesting read. There was nothing in this book that I didn’t agree with, or that I haven’t heard many times before. The thought that kept coming to my mind as I read the book was: “If just one of these things happens, it will be bad. If more than one thing happens at once, then heaven help us.” Furthermore, some of the things that he predicted (the book was published in 2007) have already happened in 2008. The good thing is that the last chapter is filled with advice on what “we,” as individuals, can do. But then again, it is nothing new. The advice is what we have been told for years.
I have come to the conclusion that there is a conspiracy between the modest t-shirt businesses, and the fashion industry. The modest t-shirt businesses must give a percentage of their earnings to the designers so that the designers will continue to make clothes that are immodest and impossible to wear alone if you are a temple-endowed LDS woman.
Every time I go clothes shopping, I spend a good deal of time trying to find a shirt that I can wear alone (strange concept, I know), or some pants that don’t show six inches of my panties when I bend over. I am getting so tired of it.
Low-waisted pants DO NOT look good on a woman who has a baby pouch, regardless of how thin she is. The baby pouch is located in just the right place so that it bulges out and over the pant line that sits just below the waist. It looks disgusting. Add to that a tight t-shirt, with a snug shirt over that, and it is not a pretty sight. And you can’t tuck in the shirts…they are cut too short in length. Plus, same problem as mentioned above.
If a shirt is not cut too low, then it is cut too wide at the neck, and if not, then the underarm area is cut too low. Any of these situations require a t-shirt underneath, which are “all” round-neck, by the way. Why can’t anyone create an under-t that is v-necked? Some shirts DO NOT look good with a round-neck t-shirt underneath. The cut of “many” shirts require a v-neck, or a “straight” neck. And I’m not talking about camis either. If you have a low-cut underarm area, a cami won’t work.
Would somebody out there start designing modest clothes again? And not just t-shirts? I am tired of wearing t-shirts! The cycle has past! It has been years! Hey, why not the modest t-shirt businesses? Why can’t they venture out into other modest apparel? I think that they would double their sales because I have a sneaking suspicion that every one is SICK OF IT!
Tonight while driving I was listening to the song “Peaceful Easy Feeling” by The Eagles. I’ve listened to it many times since December 1972, but for some reason concentrated a little more on the lyrics tonight. Here they are:
I like the way your sparkling earrings lay
against your skin, it’s so brown
and I wanna sleep with you in the desert tonight
with a billion stars all around
(Chorus) ‘Cause I gotta peaceful easy feeling
and I know you won’t let me down
’cause I’m already standing on the ground
And I found out a long time ago
what a woman can do to your soul
Ah, but she can’t take you anyway
You don’t already know how to go
(Chorus)
I get this feeling I may know you
as a lover and a friend
but this voice keeps whispering in my other ear
tells me I may never see you again
(Chorus)
I didn’t think much about the lyrics, until the last verse when he said that something tells him that he may never see [the girl] again. I then thought “Eew! How creepy!” I always thought that he was talking about someone that he knows, perhaps a girlfriend. But he isn’t. He’s talking about some girl that he has just met.
Okay girls, let’s just stop and think. What if some guy you just met gives you a line that he likes how your sparkling earrings lay against your brown skin, and then, probably after some more “light” conversation, asks you to have sex with him in the desert? Would you jump up and down with delight and exclaim “Yes!” Probably not. Like the majority of women, you would tell him to get lost, and then turn to whomever would listen and exclaim “What a creep!”
I then pictured in my head Ron Burgundy from Anchorman using that pick-up line and subsequent request… because it’s such a 70’s song! All I can say is that I am so glad that I was in elementary school during that era and didn’t have to deal with creepy 70’s guys as a young woman.
The Animated C02 Map video is from an article on Dot Earth, a blog of the New York Times. The Vulcan Project has done research over several years of the carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. They have animated the emissions at various times throughout the day. They have a video on You Tube that shows their research work. It’s pretty cool and gives you an idea of how much emissions are produced in high population areas. Click Here to view the article and watch the video.
Update: At around 1:35 a.m., an alarm went off in the street below our hotel room in Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii. It was very loud. Brad and I immediately awoke from a dream state. The alarm lasted for about 10 minutes. I even went into the room where the children were sleeping and looked out the window. Not one of them awoke the entire time, even 15-year-old Dallen. They slept through the entire ruckus.
This news story is very disturbing for parents. I am going to do a fire alarm test while my children are sleeping. If they do not wake up, I will be looking for voice alarms. We leave the older ones to babysit Abby at least once a week, and sometimes don’t return home until after midnight when “everyone” has been asleep for a few hours.
Remember when I was so hyped up over the future of biodiesel? Well, lately my exuberance has been waning as I have been reading and hearing about the environmental consequences of growing crops for biofuels. After reading this week’s cover article in Time magazine called “The Clean Energy Myth,” my excitement over biofuels has all but disappeared.
Following are some quotes from the article (by all means, read the entire article here):
“The grain it takes to fill an SUV with ethanol could feed a person for a year. Harvests are being plucked to fuel our cars instead of ourselves.”
“The basic problem with most biofuels is amazingly simple, given that researchers have ignored it until now: using land to grow fuel leads to the destruction of forests, wetlands and grasslands that store enormous amounts of carbon.”
“Indonesia has bulldozed and burned so much wilderness to grow palm oil trees for biodiesel that its ranking among the world’s top carbon emitters has surged from 21st to third…”
“Deforestation accounts for 20% of all current carbon emissions.”
Since purchasing a diesel, we have been feeling the harsh effects of the recent rise in crude oil prices at the gas pump…ouch! Trying to find ways to save money on fuel, I decided to sign up for a gas card at Macey’s since I usually do my grocery shopping there. You can save anywhere from .05 to .35 cents/gallon on gas depending on how much you spend in the store.
I wanted to try out my gas card, so I purchased $66 worth of groceries at Macey’s. I received a .05 cent/gallon savings on gas. If I had purchased just $9 more, I could have saved an additional .05 cents/gallon. I had just above 1/2 tank of gas left, so I could really only add 12.613 gallons of diesel. I excitedly looked at my gas receipt after it printed out to see how much I saved: .63 cents off of $48.17. My excitement deflated.
I started doing math in my head and realized that if I filled my tank with a .05 cent/gallon saving, I would save only $1 on a 20-gallon tank. If I filled my tank once a week, I would save only $4/month, or $48/year.
A few weeks ago I had to explain to Jed what the cigarette lighter in our GL is used for. It is situated between the two front seats in a fun drawer at hand level, so it’s readily available to curious front passenger hands. In our Sienna the lighter is in the ashtray because I always had my iPod charger in the lighter outlet. Furthermore, the lighter is below the stereo on the driver’s side, so it’s not easily accessible to curious hands.
Yesterday Dallen was in the front passenger seat of the GL while I was ordering food at the Wendy’s drive-thru. I heard a pained cry from Dallen and turned to see smoke rising around him, and I smelled something burning. It was flesh. Dallen had been playing with the lighter. He didn’t realize that when he pushed it in the outlet, it becomes very hot. So after the lighter popped out he pulled it out of the outlet and pushed on the button, branding his middle finger on the other hand.
I couldn’t understand why Dallen didn’t know what the lighter was, and why I had to explain it to Jed earlier. A friend was in the GL with us and leaned forward to hear my explanation to Dallen what the lighter is used for. He didn’t know either. These are all teenage boys.
And it isn’t a Toyota Prius. I just couldn’t get myself to buy one. I think that in the end, the size bothered me. Although roomy inside, it’s too small outside. With driving children around on a daily basis, I would be too afraid of the consequences if we were hit by one of the many tanks on the road.
Plus, it would undermine the plan I have been patiently waiting to implement. Get a new family vehicle this year. Get Brad a new car next year. Retire the 8-year-old Honda next year to the first of three new teenage drivers within a span of four years (frightening, isn’t it?).
So what did I get? The vehicle that best meets our family’s needs (okay, “my green” needs): Four-wheel drive; Fit six people comfortably (including long-legged teenage boys); Smaller than a “tank”; Environmentally friendly; Reasonable fuel-efficiency; Exciting to drive; Well built.
What else is out there that meets all that criteria? Not much. And I love it! And so does my family. And in the end, that is all that matters.
BTW: Here is an article in Popular Mechanics about the future of diesel vehicles…move over hybrids, stiff competition is on it’s way. I’m just pleased that we’re on the cutting edge. 
Oh, I forgot one teensy bit of information…I can use biodiesel in it! And Mercedes even gave it’s blessing.
Well, I’m (Brad) guilty to a few claims published in report from Mindset Media. TheStreet created a video based on the report. Some of the activities / attitudes associated with Mac users are listed below. Not sure that I’m all, but certainly some are spot on. Watch and see if you agree.
Whether Global Warming is real or not, this video makes a very good argument. It would hurt more to not act, than it would to act. And by acting, we could make some changes in our world and in the economy that would, in the end, benefit everyone. Who can argue with that?
Below are some simple ways that you can help (source):
Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (cfl)
Move your thermostat down 2° in winter and up 2° in summer
Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner
Install a programmable thermostat
Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases
Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket
Use less hot water
Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible Continue reading »
Bill needs to be careful with the criticisms he makes, it may come back to hit him in the face (although I don’t side with GM…I don’t have an inkling of a desire to purchase one of their vehicles).
Bill Gates reportedly criticized the auto industry, stating that “if General Motors had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.”
GM extended the comparison:
For no reason whatsoever your car would crash twice a day.
Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you’d have to buy a new car.
Occasionally your car would die for no reason, and you would just accept this, restart, and drive on.
Occasionally, executing a maneuver like a left turn would cause the car to shut down and refuse to restart; you’d have to reinstall the engine.
Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought “Car XP.”
Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive, but it would only work on five percent of the roads (my personal favorite).
New seats would force everyone to have the same size derriere.
GM would require all buyers to purchase a deluxe set of road maps even though they neither need them nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would cause the car’s performance to diminish.
