3-Day Valentine's

My wife and I celebrated this past Valentine's Day over three days. We didn't really mean to, but it just sort of happened. We spent Wednesday night together, then Thursday we spent with the kids, then yesterday we spent with the kids and then went on a date late at night.

What we discovered was the following:
-- Flowers are insanely expensive to buy on Valentine's Day (I figured my $40 would be better spent elsewhere, and my wife agreed).
-- Flowers are dirt cheap the day after Valentine's Day, but they are the leftovers and look pretty haggard. Since I'd given my wife flowers the week before, we opted not to buy any at all.
-- A date can be just as fun with no plans as it can with plans.
-- Getting a table at a restaurant is much easier when there's only two of you instead of the 5 we normally are when we go out as a family.
-- The average age of the people at the mall on Friday night can be brought up dramatically by two people in their 30s walking in.

We like to spend Valentine's Day with the kids. It's as much a holiday for them as it is for us, and we want them to know that we love them, too (something that's tough to do if you leave them home with a babysitter). We had a fine dinner that evening with red-tinted, heart-shaped pancakes topped with whipped cream; pink scrambled eggs topped with melted cheese, and pink milk. The kids loved it. During the day, they consumed far more sugar than they should have, and my wife gave us all gifts (what a sweetheart!).



Last night for our little date, we didn't really do anything. We left the kids with the babysitter at 5, went and got gas in the car, bought some butternut squash soup from Trader Joe's, then headed over to the Elephant Bar & Grill for dinner. We split a grilled pork dish that had mashed potatoes, spiced apples, and sautéed vegetables, and we also split a side-salad. Normally a restaurant has either too much food or too little (the grossest of restaurant sins), but we've found this combination works best for the two of us.

Afterwards, we just drove towards the mall, no destination really in mind. We saw a Pottery Barn we didn't know was there, so we parked and went in. Of course, it's far too pricey there to buy anything on a whim (in our opinion), but we enjoyed just walking around. Then we went across the street to the mall, and literally just walked it's length one way on the upper floor, then came down and walked the it's length on the way back to the car on the ground floor. It had been a really long time since we'd just been together with nothing to do and went window shopping, and I really did enjoy it!

When we left, we headed over to a friend's house to pick up a book my wife wants to read, then came home. My wife took the babysitter home while I set up the TV to watch "Lost", which we had recorded the night before. While watching that, we had some coconut cream pie, which I had purchased from Marie Callender's two days before. It was great. When the show was done, we were so tired, we just went to bed -- reading for a while before turning the lights out at about 10 pm.

It really was nice just to be together. We enjoyed each other's company, and it was great to have some quiet time alone without the kids taking our attention. It's funny, Valentine's Day is a day to recognize the ones that we love. Society has changed this into a very commercial day where you're supposed to recognized your loved ones with gifts of various kinds. Well, we eschewed all that, and I believe we had a very meaningful time. I'm grateful for my little family, and I do love them with all my heart.

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

An Ode to Bad Poetry

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, so therefore men the world over are scrambling trying to think of something to give their loved one so that they aren't perceived as forgetful, cheap, neurotic, selfish, or just plain stupid. For me, gift-giving holidays completely freak me out. My wife gets so exasperated that I have the most difficult time thinking of meaningful gifts to give. She'll often tell me that just being together is good enough, but I know better; she really wants to be swept off her feet by her romantically-challenged husband. To this end, I occasionally try my hand at poetry -- what could be more romantic than that?

When I was a teenager, I used to write poetry all the time. I believe that the poetry that came from my pen was and is still quite good. What I have discovered, however, is that now that I am in a healthy and happy relationship with my wife, the words just don't fall together like they used to. Perhaps it is because my teenage angst, driven by hormones and loneliness, provided certain stimulants to the creative parts of my brain. I'm not really sure.

Nevertheless, I still try. Last year, for example, my wife and I celebrated our ninth anniversary (we are quickly approaching our tenth!). At that time, we concluded we should try to save a bit of money and instead just do creative gifts to each other. From this effort came the following poem, displayed here in all it's agonizing awkwardness:

2922

Two-thousand nine-hundred and twenty-two:
The number of days since I married you.
And during that time so much has gone on,
That I wish I could share it in a memorable song.
But since I can't sing, or carry a tune,
I'll do my best now to write this for you.

We've seen really poor times when we lived check-to-check.
We've seen really sick times with some pains in your neck.
Let me remind you of the one-room apartment
when your tonsils poisoned your body and throat.
Memorable days and, yet, just the beginning
As we started a family and, yes, started living!

Our children came, each one with a shout,
And let's not forget the one that fell out!
We're probably not done (so we hope anyway)
As we watch them, with wonder, grow more every day.
Each child is a marvel, with beautiful blue eyes,
That always remind me of clear summer skies.

When you met me, you were soon to find out
That I was the one who would take you about
From place to place and from state to state.
Even now we plan to broaden our plate
And travel to places and see things afar
And make some new memories to hang on our wall.

I remember in London the beautiful days
Where we saw so much, even a play!
We've stood within chapels and gazed upon castles
And at the top of St. Paul's we saw tens of cathedrals.
From the British Museum to Piccadilly Square
To Westminster Abbey, the tubes took us there.

And far from there, on the California coast,
We've gazed at the oceans and spent the most
Time that we could on the beach watching waves
As the sunset glistened down at the end of the day.
Drives up PCH, with the fog and twisted roads,
Betrayed flying kites and beautiful sail boats.

We've seen canyons, and mountains, small streams, flowing rivers.
We've seen farmland and ranches and buildings and bridges.
We've been frozen, so cold, that together we huddled.
We've been so hot sometimes that we wished we were naked.
We have flown, we have swam, we have run, we have crawled,
And best of all were the days that together we strolled.

All these memories, just a start, give me joy every day
And the best part of all is to know that you'll stay
By my side through it all, hand in hand, arm in arm,
To weather the winds and the sun and the storms.
These days, two-thousand nine-hundred and twenty-two,
Are just a start to eternity I will spend loving you.

It's truly bad, I know. It goes on and on, the meter is all wrong, and some of the lines don't even rhyme. But it came from my heart, and my wife was happy. Of course this might have been because I read it to her right before bedtime when she was completely exhausted and just happy to be going to sleep, but still, I gave it a shot.

So this Valentine's Day, I urge all of my faithful readers (all two of you) to be patient with your husbands when they write bad poetry for you. They are trying, really, and love you more than you can possibly comprehend, even if they can't form a single coherent sentence to express it -- let alone write you poetry.

And for all you husbands, usually your wife will just appreciate that you tried to write her poetry, even though it might be atrocious (and please ignore her when she acts delighted in the same way that she does when the kids bring home from school really awful art that looks like roadkill). Keep trying, for one day something surprising (in a good way) might result.

And Happy Valentine's Day!

The Plan of Salvation

I went to lunch yesterday with a very good friend of mine. We've been friends for years, but have moved on in our professional lives down different paths. Nevertheless, we still get together about once a month to go to lunch and to catch up with each other's lives. In the past, he has always been reticent to talk about religion. He describes himself as a "deist", which to him means that he does believe there is some kind of all-powerful being who kick-started the universe and is out "there" somewhere.

Well, yesterday I felt it was important to ask him where he was with regards to religion these days. What followed was a most remarkable discussion that covered nearly every aspect of what is called the Plan of Salvation. To that end, I wanted to record the salient features of our conversation, as it was both intriguing and instructive.

The discussion began with my inquiry as to whether or not he believed in God. He was hesitant to answer, as he considers himself a man of science. Nevertheless, he did state that he believes that there is some being greater than ourselves who put together this universe. As an engineer and scientist, he sees too much order and pattern in the universe for it to have all been an accident.

I followed that question up by asking him if he believes that this supreme being, for lack of a better term, cares about our well-being. He replied that he thinks he/she/it does. He struggles with the concept of a benevolent God, however, because of all the misery and suffering that is in the world. He sees this misery and suffering as evidence that if there is indeed a benevolent God, then that God chooses not to interfere in the affairs of mankind.

I challenged him at that point by asking that if he is a hands-off God, why would he have created this universe in the first place? His response? He believes that it is this Supreme Being's intention to bring us all together in the end. I was surprised by this, as it sounds suspiciously like the scripture found in the Book of Moses, which I shared with him. It reads:

For behold, this is my work and my glory — to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

Then I challenged him again, stating that if this Supreme Being is hands off, yet it is It's intent to bring us all together in the end, then It messed up. He wondered how It messed up, and I responded that since there is so much misery and suffering in the world, then clearly the Supreme Being did something wrong. How could it be so Supreme and goof up the creation so badly?

What followed was an interesting discussion about the purpose of suffering. By his own words, he stated that people grow stronger by experiencing challenges in life. Again, it sounded so familiar; this is from the Book of Ether:

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

I then shared with him that we believe that the Spirit is eternal and that we have always been. He agreed wholeheartedly with this principle, indicating that the essence of who we are is not some temporary flash in the universe, but an enduring entity, given life by this Supreme Creator for a purpose. Again, we agreed that this purpose is that we may all be together in the end.

Before we came to this Earth, we lived with this Supreme Being. I shared with him that before this Earth was created, God brought forth a plan, one where we would be given the opportunity to come to Earth, receive mortal bodies, and be tested by the challenge of free agency. From the Book of Abraham we read:

And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;

We must be challenged, we must have the opportunity to choose. This is our divine birthright. He agreed with this concept, and indicated that were it not so, if we lived in a world devoid of challenges, then even the smallest disagreement or injury would seem to us as the greatest of misery.

I told him then that at the time that God was proposing this plan for us, there was one who disagreed, who proposed an alternative plan that would make it possible for all of us to come back to be with God. Many at that time agreed with this alternative plan, and thought it good, but that plan, by bringing us all back to God, would of necessity deprive us of that divine birthright that we have been given: our free agency. This alternative plan, proposed by one named Lucifer, was rejected by God and Lucifer rebelled. From the Doctrine and Covenants, we read:

And this we saw also, and bear record, that an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son whom the Father loved and who was in the bosom of the Father, was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son, and was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him — he was Lucifer, a son of the morning.

Lucifer was cast out of heaven and was permitted to roam the Earth, tempting and trying mankind. The irony is that even in the very act of rebelling against God, Lucifer facilitates God's eternal purposes by providing temptation to those who come to Earth. The prophet Lehi gave these words to his son Jacob in First Nephi:

For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

So this life, then, becomes a time to be tested. The prophet Alma spoke of this, when contending with Zeezrom, when he said:

... this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead.

My friend was troubled by this. He is challenged by the fact that we will be judged by our deeds, since he recognizes that none of us are perfect. Further, it disturbs him that some religions proclaim that an evil person can repent on their deathbed, so to speak, and return to God, whereas a long-time good person can make one final mistake before dying and be banished to Hell. It can not be so black and white, he said.

I took the opportunity to express to him then that justice must be satisfied. I shared with him of the parable by Boyd K. Packer on the concept of justice, that illustrates the great need for mercy. Were it not for mercy, not a single one of us could return that God who gave us life. The prophet Nephi stated to his rebellious brothers:

Wherefore, if ye have sought to do wickedly in the days of your probation, then ye are found unclean before the judgment-seat of God; and no unclean thing can dwell with God; wherefore, ye must be cast off forever.

Clearly, we need a mediator, or savior, to pay our debt. In the book of 1st John, we read:

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

We understand this to be the Savior of the world, even Jesus Christ Himself. He not only showed us a perfect example to follow, but took upon Him all the sins of the world. But there is still a price to be paid by those for whom He has done this: we must let him. We must exercise our free agency, our divine birthright, to allow the Savior of all Mankind to bring us back to that God who gave us life. This is done by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior, through repentance, and by keeping the commandments.

Only by doing so can we overcome the two great obstacles that keep us from God, namely physical death and sin (sometimes called a spiritual death). Those who have done so can die with a calming assurance that all will be well, while those who die having done evil in their lives will pass on to the next life with fear and dread.

I explained to my friend that while traditional Christianity believes this to be the end, it most certainly is not. We still await the resurrection, where our Spirits are brought back together with a perfect, immortal body; and the judgment, after which we will finally receive our eternal rewards.

Alma the prophet spoke to his son Corianton on this very topic, saying, in part:

Therefore, there is a time appointed unto men that they shall rise from the dead; and there is a space between the time of death and the resurrection... Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection — Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow. And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil ... shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and this because of their own iniquity, being led captive by the will of the devil. Now this is the state of the souls of the wicked, yea, in darkness, and a state of awful, fearful looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them; thus they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection.

I explained to him after expressing these sentiments that he was right -- it isn't as black and white as a simple heaven and hell. This judgment must come, and then all will be sorted into the appropriate place where they receive their just and happy reward. As the Savior himself said, as recorded in the book of John:

In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

We know that there are different areas within the kingdom of heaven, sometimes called different glories, as recorded in 1st Corinthians by Paul the Apostle:

There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:

With this, my friend and I came full circle in our discussion. We once again came back to the question of whether or not he believes in God. He again expressed that he does, but does not believe that God is involved in the affairs of men. I asked him if he has ever prayed, and he said he does not, as he does not believe that God would lower himself to our level to answer our prayers, which he considers to be mostly mundane, repetitive, and selfish in nature.

He further repeated his observation that people the world over do the most atrocious and horrific things after having received what they consider to be divine guidance. Thus if some are inspired to do evil after praying, then certainly it can do no good. I asked him then how one is to learn the "truth" about God, and he replied, somewhat abashed, that he relies upon the "scientific method". He indicated that he tests and tries what he learns from all religions, seeking the common truth and that which feels right to him. He rightly notices that nearly all religions, for example, carry simple prohibitions against certain immoral behaviors, such as murder and theft.

I asked him if he could believe in a prophet, and he again said that he does not believe that any person can receive guidance from the Supreme Being since it does not deign to communicate with anybody. This made me very sad. My friend has literally cut himself off from all forms of communication that God has with His children, namely prayer and prophetic utterance, both living and dead.

Furthermore, he proclaimed that no one church can be "right", since by stating they are right, they, by implication, proclaim that all other churches are "wrong." It was with some irony that I was reminded of the words of one young boy who had similar feelings when faced with a great religious excitement. He was faced with many religions, each quite zealous to proclaim the truth, or their version of it, and was troubled by his inability to determine which was true. Indeed, this boy, Joseph Smith, later wrote:

In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?

As a 14-year old boy, Joseph Smith was humble enough to recognize that he needed help. He turned to the scriptures, which instructed him to pray to receive answers, and received a most glorious answer to his prayer. As a prophet of God, he taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and encouraged people to pray to know the truthfulness of what he taught, as well as to search the scriptures.

My poor friend refuses to do all of these. He refuses to read the scriptures, as, in his opinion, they are the so-called inspired (and contradictory, though he's never truly studied them) writings of prophets, which don't really exist. He refuses to contemplate that there might be a living prophet today, who could be receiving guidance and direction from the Almighty. And worst of all, he refuses to humble himself even in the least to utter a simple prayer of any kind. In this state, I can not fathom how my friend can ever truly understand in his heart even the most simple of Gospel truths.

Strangely enough, though, his search for truth using the "scientific method" has yielded him some understanding of divine principles. By and large he does live a moral life. He does seek to do good. He doesn't entirely know why, nor does he understand how his good works can ever be of benefit to himself. He does know that he has a role to play in reducing human misery and suffering, those very things which the devil himself brings to this world. I am reminded of another scripture, which explains his behavior. It was written by Moroni in his waning days:

For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.

And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged. Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.

My good friend does have this light of Christ, even if doesn't know it. It teaches him to be a good person and to recognize certain divine truths that encourage him to live a moral and honest life. I count myself lucky to be his friend, and even though I would not say this conversation with him was enlightening to him, certainly it was two good friends communicating matters of eternal importance. We left our lunch, both of us, agreeing to disagree in our approach to seeking the truth. We will meet again next month, and I pray that maybe something of what I shared with him will spark some greater desire to learn more.

A Busy Saturday

Saturday was a great day. The weather was perfect, I spent a goodly portion of it with my children, and we got some stuff done on top of that!

The early morning was spent ignoring the kids as they played in the hallway (loudly) while we pretended it was still time to sleep. Then we got up and had a leisurely morning having breakfast and goofing off.

I went bicycling with my oldest son, going up to the top of the hill above our house where there's some dirt jumps to ride on. Then with a sly grin, I suggested we take a ride around the block. He thought that was a great idea and we started off. The way I took him, though, wasn't exactly "around the block" -- it was more like "around the range of hills separating my neighborhood from the one just to the west of us". I think it was something like a 3 mile ride up some really steep hills. We had a great time, though, going super fast down the hills, but we were tired and slightly sunburned by the time we got back!

By then, my wife was panicky since she needed to go out to do something and couldn't until I got home. When she came back, we went out shopping to go buy some flowers and other plants to put in our back flower bed. On the way home, we picked up some lunch from Burger King (the kids had earned certificates for free kids meals) and we ate lunch on the back porch.

Putting our youngest to bed, we then proceeded to garden. We worked really hard, getting most of the flowers in, clearing debris from our strawberry patch, cutting down some annuals that needed trimming, and generally cleaning up the back yard. The kids even spent some time weeding in the garden, doing a wonderful job.

About 1:30, we realized what time it was and we had to scramble to get my oldest ready for his basketball game at 2. We made it on time, though, and I enjoyed watching him play. He had a great game and really enjoyed himself.

Afterwards we came home and worked in the yard some more while the kids were playing in the water. My youngest was wandering around in a bottom-heavy diaper while my two older ones were wearing swimsuits. We worked hard until it was finally dinner time when we went inside and got the kids in the shower at various times. My oldest was quite motivated to get through his shower fast since we wouldn't let him play on the computer until he was done showering. My younger kids had a more leisurely bath.

For dinner we had leftovers from the night before (rice topped with a cream sauce with chicken, pineapple, chow mein noodles, and a few other tidbits). It was nice, and we had a pleasant evening together.

Before bedtime, we got out some glow sticks. We turned out all the lights and the kids ran around in the dark. We played a game where my wife and I would hide the glow sticks then they'd have to go look for them in the dark. One of them was such a bright green that it basically glowed so bright as to leave no doubt where it was -- my youngest was assigned to find that one. It was a great time.

Then my wife and I put the kids to bed, reading scriptures and saying prayers with them, and then had some quiet time together. We watched "Lost", which we had recorded Thursday night, and then just went to bed since we were so tired from the day.

It was a great day spent together as a family, with a good combination of work and fun.

In My Son's Classroom

I went to my son's classroom last Friday to give a presentation on Mars. They have been doing a unit on space and the planets, and my wife volunteered me for it (I wasn't unwilling!). It was quite a good time. The night before I had spent far more time than I should have putting together a presentation. My wife had asked a friend if we could borrow their projector so I could attach it to my laptop. Powerpoint and I are friends, so when I found out that I could do it this way, my fears of standing in front of 40 wiggly 8-year-olds without visual aids went away (thanks, wife!).

In any case, as soon as I went to the classroom, the buzz started. The kids were wondering who I was -- some knew already and felt really cool about that. My wife joined me with my youngest son, who occasionally would punctuate what I was saying with sound effects ("The rovers on Mars move really slow" = "Vroom!").

I set up the computer and the overhead projector so it was lighting up the white board at the front of the classroom. As soon as I put it on, there was an audible "oooh!" since my desktop background is a computer rendered version of Gale Crater on Mars and is, to be frank, nothing short of spectacular.

I then started in, talking about the relative size of Mars compared to Earth. I spoke about it's lesser gravity, it's thinner atmosphere, and how cold it is. The kids were so fun as they kept asking questions -- lots of them! These kids are really interested in this stuff, and it's unfortunate that most of them will lose that curiosity to the ease of video games and loud television.

Friday, though, they were just eating up the knowledge. They were most curious about two things: is there water on Mars, and have we found any aliens. (Yes, lots of it; and, no, not yet.). I showed them some overhead pictures taken from my spacecraft and compared them to some of the pictures taken by the rovers. They loved being able to see both perspectives, and even though they don't know why that was exciting to see desert-scapes filled with rust-colored rocks and sand dunes, they enjoyed it just the same.

At the end, as expected, they asked if anybody has actually been to Mars, yet. I told them that if everything goes as scheduled (which it won't, I'm realistic enough to know that, even if I didn't tell the kids that) then we should be sending people to Mars in the 2020s, right when they hit their own 20s. My comment of, "You could be some of the first people on Mars!" was met with raucous excitement.

At the end, I asked them if they wanted to watch a video, and, of course, they were enthusiastic about that, too. I put on a bootleg copy of a video circulated internal to my work back in 2003 that is a computer-rendered animation of the launch, cruise, and surface mission of the rovers we have on Mars. It was a huge hit. (The highly unofficial use of Lenny Kravitz's "Fly Away" music overlaid on the launch of the rovers is always popular ...)

In any case, I'm somewhat of a celebrity among the kids now. At my oldest son's basketball game on Saturday, two of the parents of the kids who were in the room were telling me how they loved the talk, but most especially the video, of course. It's tough to upstage a video ... ;)

I'm glad I had the chance to go and do that. It's always nice to be able to share something about what I do and what I know about Mars. These kids are good kids, but often don't ever get challenged to think big about their future. I just hope that maybe I sparked something in some of those kids to do just that.

A Few Random Thoughts

I haven't posted much lately. Last week being what it was, I posted "privately" and held on to them for a while until I decided to publish them (1 and 2) now. Then this week, I've been back at work full-time again and every evening we've had something to do, so I haven't really had much time. Monday my oldest had basketball practice, Tuesday my oldest had scouts, last night I had a meeting at church to attend (Ward Conference Stewardship Meeting with out stake presidency ...), and tonight my wife will be at work and I have a lot of phone calls to make. Tomorrow morning I'll be presenting in my oldest son's classroom about ... something space related, haven't decided what, yet; and we will have the missionaries over for a dinner appointment.

Regarding my "private" posts, I did put up the first one and immediately got a comment on it that I should write this stuff in a journal and keep it private. I have two things to say to that: 1) This is my journal now, and 2) Why must we suffer in silence? Just because it was my wife who miscarried, do I as the husband not have my own feelings to express and have need for comfort? Ridiculous. So, the posts are up.

This week, I have been spending a bit of time at my other blog. I've been working a little on the new FamilySearch website and am delighted that I've actually been able to find some ordinances that need to be done! This is really big for me, since I've been an amateur genealogist for a few years now and have never been able to find any temple work that needed to be done. This new system is truly remarkable. The distance between the initial research and the temple work is so short now, that it is much more satisfying.

Quite a Sight

I'm subscribed to the "space weather" email notification list. Whoever "they" are, they send out notices every once in a while letting people know about upcoming astronomical events. Typically, these show up and tell you about something that's going to happen at about 4 am in a few days. Clearly, this is absurdly early, so I usually take note then delete the email. Well, this happened last Thursday, with an email that reads:

MORNING SKY ALERT: Set your alarm for dawn. On Friday morning, February 1st, Venus and Jupiter converge in the southeastern sky less than 1 degree apart; they will beam through the rosy glow of dawn like a pair of celestial headlights. It's a spectacular view worth waking up early to see. The February 1st alignment kicks off four mornings of beautiful views as the crescent Moon moves in to join Venus and Jupiter over the weekend. Visit http://spaceweather.com for sky maps and photos.

As is typical, I took a mental note, had no intention of being awake that early, and deleted the email.

Well, this morning, I woke up early to go to work and as I was backing out of my garage and on to the street, what should appear above my house? Two planets and a crescent moon in the eastern sky. It was absolutely beautiful. The horizon was just starting to alight with that deep blue that comes in early dawn, fading into blackness overhead. The two points of light were higher in the sky, piercing the blackness like pin holes. The brighter of the two was Venus, and I was surprised at how bright Jupiter appeared; it was no meager companion. Beneath these two was the crescent moon, just a few days from a new moon. It hung beneath them in the bluer sky, centered as if it were dangling by strings from the two planets, tips to the right and features bright.

It was quite a sight, and I wish I would've had a camera with me to record it. Nevertheless, this picture was taken from somebody in Turkey hours earlier. My sky was bluer and it appeared from my vantage point that the moon was more beneath them, but it's a fair likeness.

10 PM Awakenings

My daughter usually wakes up at around 10 or 11 every night. We don't know why. We think it may be because that's just after we check on her and somehow we might be disturbing her sleep despite our best efforts. Usually she'll stumble out of bed, and if we don't intercept her, she'll turn on every light in the house between her room and ours until she comes creeping in, eyes shaded from the bright light, mumbling something about a dream she was having.

Well, last night, I intercepted her at her bedroom door, quickly turned off her light, and ushered her back to bed. Once there, the following dialogue ensued:

"Daddy ..."

I wait. I know there's more coming. Seconds pass.

"I think ..."

I continue to wait. Maybe she has something to tell me about a dream?

"I need ..."

At this point, I'm expecting her to ask for a drink of water.

"... a little bit ..."

Hmm, so much for the water.

"... of ..."

Then she winds down. Ten seconds go by. Twenty. She's still awake, still struggling to pronounce whatever it was that was on her mind, but I tell her, "It's okay, just go back to sleep."

To which she replies, gratefully, "Okay."

Then she rolled over and went back to sleep. Funny little girl.

The Super Bowl

So my family isn't exactly big on watching sports. We have the kids play sports -- my oldest son has played soccer, tennis, and basketball and my daughter has played soccer, danced, and is now in gymnastics. My wife plays basketball on occasion, and I myself have played tennis, racquetball, baseball, and soccer. Notice the gap in all of that? Yes, my family is not into football. At all.

So today I came home from church and announced that we were going to watch the Super Bowl. My kids got so excited. They started running around the house and when 3 o'clock rolled around, and I announced that we were going to turn on the football game, they started cheering.

Then my daughter said, "But Dad, what about the super bowling?" Umm. Yeah. My wife and I looked at each other and started laughing.

"No, honey, the Super Bowl is a big football game."

"Oohhh," she said, a look of both realization and confusion on her face. I could almost see the next question (which didn't come) of, "So why do they call it a bowl?"

Yeah, we're not really into football. Nevertheless, my two older kids are now old enough to actually follow the game, so I insist that they be exposed to this, um -- what would you call it? -- cultural event. My wife disagrees, but she's off to choir practice, so ... ;)

Mortgage Rates

Ack. I feel like I had a rug pulled out from underneath me. Last week I was looking at the mortgage rates at my bank, and I saw, with some measure of shock and awe, that there was a 20-year fixed mortgage available at a rate of 5% (no points). This was astonishing to me, and I was ready to jump.

However, I also had a real good feeling that "the Fed" was going to cut rates again, so I waited a few days. Sure enough, "the Fed" did cut rates, but going back to look at my bank, the rate was now up to 5.75%! I called the bank, and asked, "What gives?!" and the person on the phone was less-than-helpful and told me pretty much that what I saw that day was what I could have got that day and I was then out of luck.

So now I'm kicking myself. I could have cut 6 years off my mortgage (I'm 4 years into my current 30 year mortgage) for about $200 more a month (which I think we can do right now), and would have saved about $200,000 over the course of the loan if I had jumped when I saw the 5% rate.

Argh. Now I'm obsessively checking the stupid rates every day hoping to find some other freakishly low rate, and when it hits 5.125% or lower, I'm calling and making them lock it in.