Growing Up Fast

Todd participated in "Zion's Camp" last week. The typical Zion's Camp calls for camping, but this year was different. All the young men in the stake spent three days on a pretend mission. They slept at their own homes, but the rest of the time they were at the stake center participating in activities that approximated life as a missionary. Todd was "called" to Denmark. He needed to wear a suit, but didn't have one that fit. So Rita took him to Mr. Mac and got a nice black one. He looked about three years older with it on.

On Friday Todd finally got his braces off. The final results of all those years of discomfort were pretty good. He's got a great smile now. Again, he looks a lot older now that he has them off.

We sure think Todd is a great kid...or should I say "man"? He looks a lot older now.

In the Newspaper and on TV

The Standard-Examiner ran a story the other day that had two pictures of Todd and me (Brent). The story was about the monthly drum circles that we go to. We knew that a reporter and a photographer from the newspaper had been at the drum circle. But we didn't find out until a month later that not only had the article appeared in the paper, but there were multiple pictures of us. The story ran in the January 30 issue. You can read it on-line here.

The first picture shows most of the participants, including the two of us sitting together drumming:

 The second picture is a close-up of our drums and shows just our hands:

You can click on either picture to get a larger version.

At the next drum circle, a reporter and cameraman from Fox 13 News were there filming the whole thing. Our entire family attended. Tonight (2/19/2012) it aired during a segment called Uniquely Utah. There are a couple of shots of our whole family, and one close shot of Alec. Here is the story:

 

This is a still shot of our whole family:

We're not exactly on the road to fame and fortune, but it's fun that we've been in the media lately.

Rita's Career Milestone

I wouldn't say it is her "dream," but Rita has had a career goal for a while now to be a professional counselor. With that goal in mind, back in 2000 she took some extra classes as part of her degree that would allow her to get her counselor's license. As you know, she got a job as a school psychologist and the goal to be a counselor was put on hold...until now.

The requirements to be a professional counselor are quite strict. First you need a graduate degree in mental health counseling, then you need to apply for an associate license. After you've been granted an associate license, you still need to complete 4,000 hours of supervised professional counseling before you can get the full license. It's hard enough to complete 4,000 hours, but you've got to find someone who will supervise you the entire time.

This past summer, Rita started working a few hours a week at the Neuropsychology Center of Utah, along with my sister Andrea. NPCU is a new clinic that opened this past year, specializing in diagnosing and treating psychological disorders. It's in Clinton, about 15 minutes from our house. Rita and Andrea have both worked there as psychologists, administering various tests to help diagnose ADHD, Autism, and other developmental disorders. The clinic also does counseling for patients.

Rita has enjoyed working at NPCU as a psychologist, but the real reason she took the job is that the main counselor there, Dr. Schwebach, agreed that if Rita could get her associate license that he would supervise her. She would be able to not only work as a counselor but also log hours toward getting her full license.

With that in mind, Rita applied for her associate licensure and expected to get approval within a couple of weeks. Her degree was in school psychology and counseling, not mental health counseling as required for the license. But with the extra classes she took, she met the requirements. Or at least, that was what she thought. The license application needed to be approved by the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, and one of the members of the approval board had some "concerns" with her courses. The approval got held up for weeks. After multiple phone calls over several days, Rita was finally able to speak to the correct person in charge and plead her case that her coursework met the requirements. She was evidently convincing because a few days later she noticed her license was posted on-line. (You can see it here.) We expect the actual license in the mail any day.

Rita told Dr. Schwebach that she got her license and he is going to start having her work as a counselor. I'm so excited for her. She's already been a counselor to about half the ward, but now that she's official she can actually get paid to do it.

Kenna's (and my) Science Fair Project

Yesterday was the Science Fair for Kenna's school. For a couple of reasons, I had high hopes that her project would do well. The first reason was that Todd did very well when he was that age, going on to win first place at the district fair. The second reason was that I was the one that thought of her experiment and am very proud of myself for thinking of it...probably a bit too proud.

As you know, I have a degree in Physics. It's something that I enjoy, but it won't surprise you to learn that I don't get to use it much. On the rare occasion I get to apply my skills, I really get into it. So when I first learned about the science fair, I started thinking pretty hard of the perfect experiment.

Originally, I had wanted to measure the speed of light. I thought that would be about the coolest experiment that I could pull off. I even thought of a way to measure it using a laser pointer, a mirror, and a spinning bicycle tire. But after a few calculations, I realized that either the mirror would have to be a couple of miles away from the laser pointer or else the bicycle tire would have to be spinning a few hundred miles per hour. I decided to settle on something a bit less ambitious: measuring the speed of sound.

Before formally proposing to Kenna that she use my idea for her project, I decided to do a proof-of-concept experiment to make sure it was even possible to measure the speed of sound using household items. So one night after the kids went to bed, I got my Physics on.

My initial tests went very well. I won't bore you with the details, but I was able to measure the speed of sound using only my laptop computer. Okay, it was so cool that I have to bore you with the details. First I installed a free software application called Audacity that allows recording and editing audio. Then I created a sound file that would play a loud click on just the right audio channel. My laptop has stereo speakers and also stereo microphones. These features allowed me to start recording, play the audio file out of just one speaker, then visually examine the recordings of both the left and right audio channels. Because the microphones are about two inches apart, the right microphone picks up the sound slightly before the left microphone. The time difference is only 1/6700 of a second, but the standard recording takes a sample every 1/44100 of a second. So, the difference is about six or seven samples in length. Using a bit of algebra and arithmetic I was able to measure a speed of about 700mph, which is within 7% of the expected value. Not too shabby.

Measuring the speed of sound using Audacity

The next day I excitedly proposed to Kenna that she use my idea for her project. She certainly didn't get as excited as I was, but she did agree. We knew the final experiment would need to be more scientific that just a single measurement of the speed of sound. After some thought, we came up with the idea to measure the speed through different materials.

Kenna got the idea approved by her teacher and then started doing all the necessary research. You already know that Kenna is great at doing any kind of project. The science fair project was right up her alley. She was in charge of creating the report and the display board. She also came up with a list of materials she wanted to measure the speed of sound through. I was in charge of performing the actual experiment.

My initial measurement had gone so well that I assumed other measurements would be simple. Boy, was I wrong. I was ultimately able to devise a simple way to measure sound through other materials, but it sure took me a lot of time to get there. I spent hours and hours over the Christmas break trying to measure the speed of sound through water. I tried what felt like a million different methods, but finally had to scrap that idea. My final solution required two microphones that I bought for $5 each at Walmart. I connected them with a y-adapter and plugged them into the microphone jack of my computer. I then placed them both on the floor and hit the floor with a hammer. The microphones picked up the sound as it traveled through the flooring. We repeated the experiment for wood, tile, and cement flooring.

I learned from Todd's science fair successes that the key to doing well is the ability to clearly explain the scientific concepts involved. So I made sure Kenna understood the nature of sound waves and why they travel at different speeds through different materials. Of course, my efforts were unnecessary because she did such a good job with her research. She also made a great looking display. I went to the awards night fully expecting her to be a winner.

There were about 80 entries in the school fair. They chose 25 First Place winners and then they narrowed it down to seven Best in Show projects that would go on to the district fair. When they announced the First Place winners, they had them all come up on stage. We were not surprised at all when Kenna was selected. Then they started announcing the Best in Show winners. There was excitement and anticipation, but not any suspense as they announced the winners. They made it to the last two names and I still had full confidence the entire time.They finally announced her name second-to-last. She had a big smile on her face when they gave her her ribbon.

The district fair is February 22. I'm sure she'll do very well.

Eric and Lisa's Reception

Friday we went to the wedding reception for Eric and Lisa. I think that everyone that follows this blog already knows that Eric is the widower of my late sister Sheri. I also think almost everyone knew that he was getting married. But, what you might not all know is that the wedding was this past week and that his new wife is named Lisa. She lives in Farmington and teaches at Davis High School.

She and Eric seem like a good fit to me. I still don't know her very well, but her personality seems similar to his: quiet, conservative, goodhearted, and genuinely nice. Like Eric, she lost her spouse not many years ago and has been a single parent ever since.

We all got together before the reception for family pictures. Most of Eric and Lisa's families were there. I hadn't met any of Lisa's family and hadn't seen some of Eric's family in years, so the event was a great way to establish or renew many relationships. Having my siblings there made it entertaining. I really wish my parents could have been there, but they were delayed on their way back from Fiji and couldn't make it.

I can't explain how friendly to us the families of Lisa and her late husband were. These are people that we aren't going to see very often, so a close relationship isn't exactly mandatory. But, we seemed to make an instant connection to them. They gave me every reason to think that all families involved will get along very well.

One special part of the reception was a display of photographs of Eric and also some of Lisa with their respective late spouses, along with their children. One set of pictures had the caption "Because someone we love is heaven, there's a little bit of heaven in our home." The saying was originally written in reference to Eric's loss, but I thought how the sentiment applies to Lisa also, and doubly so to the new home that they will have.

The reception was a special occasion and I hope that we are all able to get together again in the future. I couldn't be happier for Eric and Lisa and look forward to seeing them often since they will be living just up the road in Farmington.

19th Anniversary Celebration

On Sunday, Rita and I completed 19 years of marriage. That's right: 19 years! It's hard to believe it was that long ago that we tied the knot. I must have been like 8 years old.

I was in charge of planning some sort of celebration. It was particularly challenging this year for a couple of reasons. First of all, we didn't want to spend much money. Yes, we are trying to be disciplined with our money, but more importantly this year is an off year. We will spend the big bucks for our 20th anniversary. The second difficulty is that we have both temporarily sworn off of junk food. (I will probably explain more about our new diet in a future post, but basically our whole family is trying to not eat junk food except on specific occasions during the first 100 days of 2012.) Going out to dinner or a treat has been a common date activity since we first met, but without eating junk food our options would be limited to basically a sandwich from Subway--not exactly the most romantic restaurant. I knew I'd have to use my imagination just a bit.

The fun started on Saturday. The first activity I planned was for the two of us to go to a discount movie. We went and saw Tower Heist at the Kaysville theater. Neither of us knew much about the movie, other than it got a decent score on Rotten Tomatoes. We were pleasantly surprised. It has some funny parts, and the plot is pretty good for a comedy. I wouldn't recommend it for young children, but it's definitely worth seeing.

On Sunday we exchanged gifts with each other. Rita got me a trunk-mounted bike rack for my car, which I will use a lot this summer. I got her a set of Conair Xtreme Instant Heat Hot Rollers. These are not exactly the most romantic gifts we've ever gotten each other, but I think we got all the romantic gifts we could think of back during anniversaries 1 through 10. I guess you could say that the romance has dwindled a bit, but did I really want some cologne?

On Monday, we decided to include the kids in our celebration. We all went to the Ogden Ice Sheet and participated in the Layton City Family Skate Night. The skating was only a dollar! We have varying skill levels at the sport. Rita is a good skater, coming from Canada and all. I am just good enough to make it fun. Todd is decent, and Kenna and Alec had never been. Everyone sure had fun.

After some early hesitations everyone was cruising around the rink pretty well.

It was a fun celebration for me. But, it wasn't as fun as what I was celebrating...19 wonderful years of being married to Rita!

New Year's Resolutions

When it comes to New Year's resolutions, I (Brent) normally set one or two, if any. Also, I normally forget about them some time around January 2nd or 3rd. This year I have several goals and resolution and I'm committed to working on them throughout the year. Some of them are pretty aggressive, so I've got my work cut out for me. Here is the list:

• Qualify for the Boston Marathon. This isn't a new goal. I've had it since August of 2010. The qualifying times are more strict this year, so I realize it's a bit of a long shot. It is going to take a ton of work and a lot of luck to even come close. I'm excited that my brother Steve has the same goal. He and I are both signed up to run the Utah Valley Marathon. Wouldn't it be fun if we both qualified together?
• Create and follow a set of value statements. This might be one of the cheesiest goals I've ever set. It seems too much like one of those hokey company mission statements. But, this won't be imposed from above like it is in a company. These will be personal to me and I can customize them to my beliefs and needs. I actually got the idea during Elders' Quorom instruction on New Year's Day. The lesson explained how George Albert Smith had written what he called his "personal creed." The statements were so specific, profound and well-written that I thought it'd be a good idea to try to come up with something similar for myself. Unlike a company mission statement, I won't show my value statements on a PowerPoint slide at a company meeting or anything like that. I'll read them from time-to-time as a reminder of my own personal creed.
• Keep a daily tracker. If you're forgetful and unorganized like I am, you need this. My tracker is just a sheet of paper that lists all the items I should do each day. It's got things like weighing myself, feeding my fish, flossing, and getting to bed on time. You'd think I would have mastered that level of simple organization back when I was a teenager, but I still struggle with it.
• Read 12 books. I like to read. Or, at least I wish I liked to read. I don't do it nearly as much as I think I should. I only read two books in all of 2011, so I'll need to put in a lot more time than I have been.
• Post to my blog 26 times in the year. I blogged a lot more last year than I ever have and enjoyed it. I did it every day for a month, so every other week shouldn't be too hard. The difficulty will be remembering. The posts will be spaced far enough apart that I could easily forget.
• Be more patient with my kids. Of the times I've lost my temper in the last five years, about 99% of them have been directed at my children. It's so obvious that yelling and screaming is counter-productive, but in the heat of the moment it seems so logical. I'm committed to not letting myself get to that point this year.
• Pay off our home equity loan. Last year was a difficult year financially for Rita and me. This year promises to be much better. If things continue to go well and we are disciplined, we can pay back the money we've borrowed recently. I have a lofty goal to never borrow money again. I'm not sure that is a possibility, but paying this off would go a long way to making it a reality.
• Earn a promotion at work. I'm not ambitious at work and have no desire to be a manager, but seeing multiple coworker friends receive multiple advancements has spurred me to try a bit of self-promotion. I'm trying to toot my own horn more often and be more assertive. At my last performance review I announced my intention to complete the steps necessary for advancement on the technical track, so now I'm officially bucking for a promotion.

What are some of your resolutions and goals for the new year? Please post a comment if you have one or two that you are willing to share.

Wind Storm of '11

This morning was perhaps the worst wind storm I've ever been a part of. We had heard the weather forecast yesterday saying that winds were likely, but we had no idea it would be this bad. We could hear the wind howling during the night, then the power went out. The kids had to get ready for school in the dark. When we left the house we could see the ongoing damage. There was a tree across the street to the East that had been uprooted. Then while I was getting in the car I heard a crack and looked across the street to the North and saw that there was a tree that had been broken in half. The thickest park of the trunk had been snapped like a twig.

On the news we heard that there were wind gusts up to 100 mph and the freeway and many schools had been closed. They didn't say that our kids' schools were closed, so I went ahead and took them. There were trees and other debris all over the place. There was a power line down on the way to Kenna's school that we had to go around. When we got to Alec's school, the power was out and they were sending everyone home. As we were driving away we saw a huge tree across the street that had fallen down.

It was hard for us to get back home. I tried to avoid the main intersection in Kaysville because the stop lights were out and the traffic was backed up. But, I couldn't go around because three different roads that I tried were closed because of downed power lines. I had to avoid about 10 different large trees that had fallen into the road.

When I got home I noticed that the neighbors both South and West of us had lost parts of their fences. I had Todd put our plastic lawn chairs in the garage last night, but I didn't think to put away the heavy metal patio furniture. It had blown across the lawn.

I made a video attempting to show how bad the wind was, but you can barely see the trees that fell and the audio didn't work. But, it's all I've got.

The news story about the storm is here.

Book Review: The Hunger Games

Kenna and I just finished reading The Hunger Games. We read it together and liked it a lot. This is the review that I posted on Goodreads:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Before reading The Hunger Games, I thought it was yet another simple-minded book for early teens. It had been highly recommended to me by more than one friend, but I was skeptical that I'd like it. As a general rule, I don't like works of fiction so I'm very selective when it comes to novels. I decided not to read it.

In the meantime, my wife purchased the book after a friend of hers recommended it. Curious to know if it was a book I would enjoy, I encouraged my 15-year-old son to read it. He declined. Finally, I talked my 11-year-old daughter into reading it. To help get her started, I agreed to read the first chapter to her. Well, it didn't even take that long for me to get pulled in by the story.

My earlier fears were unfounded. The book isn't simple-minded at all, and it's not just for early teens. It has a sophisticated plot and an extensive vocabulary. Yes, the main character is a 16-year-old girl, but the book is an action-packed, blood-and-guts, exciting cliff-hanger. Pretty soon I was not only reading the book to my daughter, but reading it by myself after she was in bed.
The book is at times unnecessarily gory, and it does seem to suffer from plot manipulation. However, the fact that it was able to keep both me and my daughter so interested is no small feat. I've already ordered the sequel (Catching Fire). My daughter and I can't wait to read it.
View all my reviews

Africa Heartwood Project

We have recently become involved in a local charity called Africa Heartwood Project. We learned about it from Todd's djembe teacher, Andy Jones, who is the founder and director. They help the needy in Africa in several ways. These are the projects we have been involved in:

1. They buy drums from local artisans in five West African countries and sell them on their web site Djembe Direct. The drums are hand made and very nice. That is where we got our two drums. If you've seen them then you know how nice they are.
2. They help pay for the installation of hand pump bore holes in rural villages in Ghana. These provide clean water to villages that would otherwise get their drinking water from streams that might be far away, polluted or dry at certain times of the year. We have contributed a small amount of money to a couple of the projects.
3. They fund the Refugee Orphan Home at Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana, Africa. There are over 40 children there that are refugees from Liberia. They are trying to help these children return to Liberia but have been unsuccessful so far. We have donated several items to the orphanage. Almost all of the items have been household items that we no longer use. After we donated a set of items, the orphans sent us a letter:

If you click on the image above, you may be able to read the letter. This is what it says:

Dear Sponsors,

We greet you in the name of our lord Jesus Christ amen. We want to tell you thanks for your kind support and love you people have shown us, we also want to let you know that we recieved ever things your have sent us which are listed below.

1. hats
2. mobile phone
3. mous
4. 10 ear piece
5. 1 digital phito viewer
6. with some drugs
7. mp3 player 3

Yours and only orphan:

They then all signed the letter.

The letter made me smile. It was a bit comical: No, we didn't send them any drugs! But at the same time it seemed so innocent and so sincere. We had given them what was basically junk to us and it was clearly something that they appreciated.

We have supported a variety of different charities, but this is perhaps the one that has been the most tangible. With some charities, the only interaction we have is a form letter. With Africa Heartwood Project we feel much closer. We've been able to talk to Andy about the projects. (He travels to Africa frequently.) We've also seen the videos that they've posted on their web site. And the letter from the orphans was special because it was directly from the people we have helped.

One fun aspect about Africa Heartwood Project is the fundraisers. They are most often drum circles or performances. If you get a chance, I recommend attending one. The next one is tonight, November 29. (Sorry for the late notice.) We are planning on attending. There is information about tonight's fundraiser, as well as other upcoming events, on their website here.

Giving to a charity is almost always rewarding, no matter what the organization or cause. But, we've found helping the Africa Heartwood Project to be a unique experience that has helped us be thankful for what we have and to appreciate the value in selfless giving. We hope to continue to support their cause.

My New Phone

I got a new phone today. What is my phone of choice?? I'm a hi-tech guy. Surely I got the latest, greatest iPhone. No. I work for a company that sells software for Android. Then surely I got the a fully-loaded Droid phone. Nope.

What I actually got is an LG Rumor Touch. The name makes it sound like it's similar to an iPod Touch. The fact that it has a touch screen is about the only similarity. This is not a hi-tech phone. It is better than my previous phone--an LG Rumor--but not by a lot. And, I don't have a data plan of any kind. No web browsing. No email. No picture mail. No FaceTime. No GPS. Just phone calls and texts. The lady at the Sprint kiosk in the mall was palpably disappointed with me.

I've been surprised by the social pressure to get a smart phone. I'm not just talking about the Sprint lady. My coworkers think I'm the crazy old guy in the office that thinks the internet is a passing fad. Almost everyone I know has a smart phone and loves it. They use them all the time. They get all the latest apps. It makes me feel like the old guy that stops at the end of the freeway on-ramp because the traffic is coming too fast for him to merge.

Am I living in the dark ages? Am I starting to show my age? Will my next phone be a Jitterbug? That might be a partial explanation. After all, I run Windows XP on my computer at home...and I actually like it. I also find my computer programming skills becoming more and more dated. My language of choice is C++. Some of my coworkers think I may as well just be programming in Fortran on punch cards. I have to admit that as I get older I am slower to adopt new technologies.

But like I said, this is only a partial explanation. There are a lot of technologies that I adopt quickly. I bought an Android tablet over a year ago before Android was even cool. I've had a Blu-Ray player for years. No, I don't think my aversion to getting a smart phone is just because I'm old. It's because I'm cheap. I just can't bring myself to pay for the data plan. The aforementioned lady at the Sprint kiosk told me it was only $10 more. Right. When she crunched the numbers it came out to more like $50 a month on top of what I'm currently paying. And Sprint's plan is cheap compared to most.

If you know how cheap I am then you know that $50 a month is about $49 more than I would like to pay. I'm way too frugal to pay that much. The phone itself cost me precisely $0 because of my credits I've earned. Maybe when I'm willing to buy breakfast cereal that comes in a box or soda that isn't labeled "Sam's Choice" then we can talk about a $50 data plan. I'm almost never far from a computer, so really all a smart phone would do for me is let me web browse while I'm in my car. That's a pricey luxury. Oh, and it's illegal.

What do you think? Am I the old lady that has a million dollars in the bank but still lives off dog food? Am I an old dinosaur? Please post a comment. I'm sure one of my kids can show me how to read it.

Layton Lights

We have a family tradition to visit the holiday lights in Layton. This year it was extra fun because we were able to do it with Rita's parents and with Rita's sister and her family.

The light display is pretty extensive, considering Layton isn't the biggest city around. There are a lot of lights, and they seem to add more each year. I think we enjoy the Layton display almost as much as we do the one at Temple Square. This may seem a bit odd because of how much they differ in quality. The lights on Temple Square are religious, classy, and beautiful. The Layton lights are gaudy, cheesy, and completely disjointed. They are devoid of anything religious or anything having to do with Christmas.

I'm starting to sound a bit like a Christmas lights elitist. But don't get me wrong. I still think they are a lot of fun. They might not give you a feeling of reverence like the Temple Square lights do, but they are very popular, and rightfully so. You can see them all from your car--which is very nice if you're in a hurry--and you can also walk on the path that winds among the trees and other displays. Also, they are free. We have been to more than one lights display that costs money and isn't as good as the Layton lights.

Perhaps the best part about these lights is that our kids love them. While I might find a tree that has been meticulously covered in thousands of uniformly-colored lights to be beautiful, my children have entirely different tastes. They enjoy what I find to be trashy: flashing, multiple colors, animated animals, etc. One particular aspect they like about the Layton lights is that they are memorable. While I wouldn't ever say "I remember that tree on Temple Square from last year," a big part of the Layton display is remembering the frog catching the dragonfly or the ape breaking open the coconut.

If you go to only one light display this holiday season, go to Temple Square. But if you go to two light displays, I recommend you also go to Layton. It will be a memorable experience.

Here are some pictures of the event:

Our family.

Rita's sister Stephanie's family.

The kids being crazy around Rita's parents.

Procrastination

Do you suffer from procrastination? I sure do. I often hear people express their displeasure with their own procrastination. It seems to be a universal problem. I recently read a great article that explains why it is so common. It also explains that we don't procrastinate because of laziness or because of poor time management. Instead, we do it because we give in to our impulses and we also fail to "think about thinking." The article goes on to explain what that means. (It is part of a web site that is dedicated to exploring self delusion. It's called You Are Not So Smart and I highly recommend it.)

An interesting thing I have noticed is that the people I hear expressing the most guilt about procrastination often are people that I consider very hard workers. In other words, the people that I think procrastinate the least are the very ones that think they do it the most. Why is that?

It could be that a result of recognizing your procrastination is that it makes you do it less. If you think you procrastinate you will be less likely to do it. That is probably only a partial reason. Surely there must be more to it than that.

Another possible reason could be that these people are more ambitious. They try to do a lot, which leads them to do more, but also procrastinate more because of the simple fact that they have more things to procrastinate. People like me that are lacking in ambition don't procrastinate as much because we don't really have any tasks to procrastinate. I'm not procrastinating that yard work...I just don't think it needs to be done.

Another article I read talks about "good procrastination" and "bad procrastination." You only have a limited amount of time, but an unlimited number of things that you wish you could do. You will inevitably have to procrastinate something. The key is to procrastinate the right things. The article does a good job of helping you not feel guilty about procrastination, as long as it's the good kind. It also explains the cause of bad procrastination and gives some strategies to help you avoid it.

I am no expert on avoiding procrastination, but I do have a few strategies that I try. Better organization helps, but it needs to be more than just making a to-do list. If I don't look at it again it's pretty much worthless. I find that I need to check the list at least twice a day and schedule my time accordingly. But that is no cure-all. I still need to muster the will power to actually do the items on the list. Also, the list needs to be realistic. A wish-list of anything I ever wanted to do doesn't help, and may actually make me more likely to procrastinate because the items are overly ambitious.

Another anti-procrastination strategy I use is to employ little tricks to help me start on a task. For example, I break it down into smaller tasks and then do the easiest one. This helps me avoid feeling overwhelmed. Once I'm finished with the little task, I get a feeling of accomplishment and have momentum to keep going.

Which tasks are you most likely to procrastinate? What strategies do you use to avoid putting things off? I'd love to hear your comments.

Black Friday

Black Friday and I are not a good fit. The only thing I hate worse than shopping is Christmas shopping, which is fighting crowds to shop for someone else. The thought of shopping on the busiest shopping day of the year has always seemed like torture, which is why I had never been shopping on the day after Thanksgiving...until today. Well, it was actually late last night. My shopping started at 8:45 in the evening and lasted until 1:30 this morning.

I had heard the stories of the crazy shoppers camping out until the store doors open and then scrambling to get the hot items. It didn't seem like something I ever wanted to witness. The motivation to finally join the ranks of Black Friday loonies came when Todd found an advertisement for a very low-priced XBox bundle at Walmart. He had said he wanted an XBox for Christmas, and we had decided that if we could find a good enough deal then we would get one. The deal he found was about $100 less than what I had been expecting to pay, so it seemed like it would be worth waiting in line and then withstanding a bit of pushing and shoving for a chance to get such a great deal. Plus, it seemed like it would be interesting to observe some of the crazy shoppers. I even toyed with the idea of bringing a video camera to document the experience.

Todd and I went to Walmart at 8:45 last night. I didn't have any idea what to expect, but I assumed a lot of waiting outdoors would be involved. We prepared for the worst. We brought heavy coats, soda, the Nintendo DS, and even a football. When we arrived, I couldn't believe how many cars were there. The parking lot for the Layton Walmart is *huge*, and it was full. People were having to park across the street. We found what looked like the last parking spot in front of Bajio and then walked to the store.

We thought the doors didn't open until 10:00, so I was a bit surprised to find that the store was already open. We were able to walk right in. However, no one was able to buy anything yet--the registers were closed. People were filling their shopping carts and then getting in the huge lines at the check-out. The place was a mad house. The special-priced items were on pallets throughout the store, so people were wandering around trying to find what they were looking for. Movies were in the dairy aisle, TVs were by the pharmacy, and the Wiis were in Produce. Every aisle was congested with pallets, wandering shoppers, or people waiting in line. And there were sooo many people. I couldn't believe it. It was like a bad dream.

Depending on the item you were looking for, you might or might not be able to put it in your cart. You could take a normal item, but the hot items were wrapped in cellophane  Depending on the item, you either had to huddle around the pallet until the appointed time--each item had a different time it was available--or you took a ticket and got in line. Just like the lines at the check-out, these lines weren't moving yet.

After wandering around for a while we found the XBox line. It weaved its way through Apparel. After a bit more searching we found the location where the line was forming--the location where they hand out the tickets. Luckily, they still had a few tickets left. We had arrived early enough to get what we came for! It appeared to me to be the hottest item in the store, so we felt pretty lucky.

We were instructed by the lady handing out tickets that if we got out of line we'd lose our ticket, so I left Todd to wait for his XBox and I went to do more shopping. There were a few other items that were on sale that I thought would be nice to get. I knew I could only get in one other line, so I tried to find some of the things that you didn't have to wait in line for. However, they were going fast. The movies had been picked over to the point that I hadn't even heard of any of the ones that were left; the desktop computer I was interested in had been taken; and all of the Wii games were gone. Oh well. We already got what we came for.

I remembered that my sister Andrea was interested in getting a Wii, so I went and got in line for that. In the meantime, Todd was the victim of a bit of "Black Friday Rage." He had been sitting on the ground while he waited in line. He was playing with the DS with his back to some of the shelves. An old woman came up and said "Excuse me." He looked at her, but then concluded she was talking to the person next to him in line and went back to his game. She was evidently displeased with his non-compliance and gave him a little whack in the head with her purse! Shocked, Todd didn't say anything at all and moved out of her way. Crazy.

They were scheduled to start handing out a lot of the items--including both the XBoxes and the Wiis--at 10:00, so I still had a bit of a wait. When the time arrived, people throughout the store started cheering. At first I thought it was a bit bizarre to get excited about being able to buy an electronic item, but then I realized that they were cheering that they finally got to start moving through the line. I'll bet some of those people had been there a really long time.

I got the Wii, then headed over to meet Todd as he got his XBox. Then we got in line for the check-out. When we got in the line we were by the bread. I don't know if you know the layout of the Layton Walmart, but the bread is about as far away from the registers as you can get. This wouldn't have been so bad, but the line was barely moving at all. We ended up being in that line for over an hour and a half. Ugh. We were in line with our friends the Wilkos. That made the time pass more quickly. We also drank our sodas and Todd played the DS. (No, we didn't throw the football.) But, it was still painful.

When I finally got to check out, I lightheartedly told the lady at the register that I hoped they paid her extra for working that day. Her response was "Nope!" That was it. She kept on working without even looking at me.

After we finished at Walmart we still had more shopping to do. We went to Target to join Rita and her sister Stephanie who were already in line. The line was outdoors, so we put the football to use after all. Compared to Target, Walmart was a ghost town. The line for Target was almost all the way around the building. Think about that for a minute. That's a quarter-mile long line. At midnight. For a chance to...buy some stuff.

When they opened the doors it was a stampede. People were running to get it. They were hopping the barricades they had set up in the parking lot. Inside the store it was just as bad. People were scurrying around the store looking for things. They had blocked off the checkout area to cut down on traffic, but that just confused people because they didn't know how to get to the other side of the store. A worker was yelling so that people knew they had to go around. Things were flying off the shelves.

Rita went directly to Electronics and got in line to get an iPod Touch. They weren't out on the shelves like all the other items, which I think confused people. Rita had asked a worker, so she knew to go straight to the line and got a pretty good place. Meanwhile, Todd and I roamed around looking for other items. We got a $10 HDMI cable, a $30 camera, and some board games. Or, I should say Todd did. I don't know that I was the one that found any of things we were looking for.

We had to wait in line for an hour to get the Touch. Luckily we were able to also pay for all of our items at the Electronics register. The thought of waiting in line again would have been too much. At this point, we were exhausted and went home.

It was an interesting experience full of dichotomies. On the one hand it was totally painful, but on the other hand we got the items we were looking for at a good price. It was fascinating so see all the people and all the mayhem, but not fun at all to be part of it. It's great that our society is wealthy enough to afford high-tech electronic devices, but sad that our materialistic nature will make us do some crazy things. Of the crazy things we do in our society, one of the craziest has to be Black Friday.

What I'm Thankful For: Part 3 - Things about Myself

This is the last in a series of blog posts dedicated to giving thanks. The first post included things I'm thankful for in our society and the world. The second post included things close to me such as family and friends. This final post will include things about myself.

Let me warn you now that a lot of the things in this post could be considered bragging. It's not like I need to publicly thank myself for having good characteristics. However, I think sharing this list can serve two purposes. First, it will give you a heartfelt glimpse at what I value. Second, it will hopefully give you an example of a good "daily affirmation." I am a big proponent of a healthy self image and think that everyone should try to recognize their own good qualities.

Things I'm Thankful For about Myself

• My health. There is a saying: "As long as you have your health you have everything." I don't fully agree with that sentiment, but you have to admit that there are very few things in life that matter as much as your health does. I try not to take my health for granted. I'm thankful that I'm able-bodied, active, and rarely sick.
• My intelligence. I'm thankful that I have a job that allows me to use my intellect. It's a good thing, because I'm not good with my hands and I'm a bit lacking in people skills. It's true that I hated school, but I love learning and using the things I learn.
• My knowledge. I'm thankful for the things I've learned. I have a college degree. I enjoy the benefits of living in the Information Age and the immeasurable knowledge that is just a mouse click away. I'm also thankful for my knowledge of the Gospel.
• My analytical nature. If I had to describe my personality in one word, I think I would choose "analytical." I like to analyze everything. I realize this doesn't make me the life of the party in social situations, and it also causes me to be indecisive. But at the same time it keeps me out of trouble and helps me understand technical things. It's a part of me that I've learned to embrace.
• The wise decisions I've made. I've made many decisions that I'd be embarrassed to share, but I've also made some decisions that I'm proud of. I've never done drugs. I have been financially responsible. I decided to marry Rita and chose to be a father. My career decisions have had good results. I have made my share of small mistakes, but as far as major life decisions are concerned I think I've made the right choice every time.

I recognize I have personality flaws, but I have learned to accept myself. I'm thankful for my unique personality traits, both good and bad. In summary, I'm thankful for who I am.