My health care has wellness options that encourage participants to get active and eat properly. Those of us with BMI of an excessive nature that qualified for participation in the plan through blood work and dental and/or doctor visits qualify for a free FitBit. So I ordered one. I'm not sure what taking the challenges will be like, but we'll see.
Despite me being significantly overweight, my blood pressure is good, my blood glucose is good, all results from the blood panel were in normal ranges except for the triglycerides which were a bit high. Based on other blood tests over the past several years, that's no biggie because it'll be down the next set.
I am very blessed (not lucky, but blessed) to have excellent health. While it's all from God, part I attribute to good genes, and part to a decision early in married life that we would eat whole grains and other nutritious sorts of food. So when the move to Las Vegas occurred and we both got carried away with the buffets and other foodly temptations, we were buffered some by what we ate when we weren't eating poorly.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Do I want to be a writer?
Off and on over the years I've pondered if I have the desire and enough of it to put in the labor needed to write. It seems like an easy task before beginning - find some idea and write. Of course it's not that easy and it's not that simple. One bit of counsel I see over and over in reading what authors say about writing is you need to actually write. Some set specific times when they write, others have page goals or some other way to push them into the task.
If I, or anyone really wants to write it's necessary to know why you are doing it. Is it because you want to write that great series of stories that the reader can't put down? It is to become wealthy? It is for the fame? Do you wish to record your life, or part of it for posterity?
Regardless - one has to actually DO it.
Years ago, I attended several conference presentations given by Orson Scott Card at Life, the Universe, and Everything which was held for many years at Brigham Young University. I believe it is held an Utah Valley University these days. It was titles 1001 Ideas in an Hour and the whole premise was to brainstorm as a group to come up with story ideas. Scott Card said it didn't matter how many people in the group wrote stories from the presentation because every story would be different. One concept that I remember was a planet inhabited by two sentient races that were quite unaware of each other because one hibernated in the cold season and the other was active then and ate the bodies of the deceased of the other race that were placed in caves.
Quite a different idea, but it ended up in several stories, including Card's.
Don't ever go with your first idea - odds are it's cliched and trite - think out of the box - lots of what-ifs. Stories can come from words or places or random thoughts. Ideas exist everywhere, but it takes training to see them.
If I, or anyone really wants to write it's necessary to know why you are doing it. Is it because you want to write that great series of stories that the reader can't put down? It is to become wealthy? It is for the fame? Do you wish to record your life, or part of it for posterity?
Regardless - one has to actually DO it.
Years ago, I attended several conference presentations given by Orson Scott Card at Life, the Universe, and Everything which was held for many years at Brigham Young University. I believe it is held an Utah Valley University these days. It was titles 1001 Ideas in an Hour and the whole premise was to brainstorm as a group to come up with story ideas. Scott Card said it didn't matter how many people in the group wrote stories from the presentation because every story would be different. One concept that I remember was a planet inhabited by two sentient races that were quite unaware of each other because one hibernated in the cold season and the other was active then and ate the bodies of the deceased of the other race that were placed in caves.
Quite a different idea, but it ended up in several stories, including Card's.
Don't ever go with your first idea - odds are it's cliched and trite - think out of the box - lots of what-ifs. Stories can come from words or places or random thoughts. Ideas exist everywhere, but it takes training to see them.
My thoughts on same-sex marriage from an eternal perspective
Many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have mixed feelings about the Church's stand on the legalization and redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples. They feel that we are not being Christ-like when we deny these individuals the same access to marriage as heterosexual couples. It feels like we are not loving them equally and breaking the 2nd great commandment - to love our neighbors as ourselves.
What we fail to consider, I believe, is that we are really -not- loving them enough, because we are not thinking of their happiness in this life and in eternity. To achieve the greatest happiness in the world to come, we need to be in a position to become like God and live the same life He lives. This requires the ability to be eternally with a companion and have eternal increase.
To validate same-sex marriage is to deny those couples the possibility of that relationship ever being an eternal one. To validate as a family, same-sex couples and any children that are brought into that unit is to forever deny those children the possiblity of being an eternal family with those who raise them.
We are not loving our neighbor enough when we support a relationship that can never result in an eternal bond. We are selfishly saying "We love you a whole lot right now - but we don't love you enough to want the joy that God has in the eternity to come."
The purpose of the Church is to assist the Lord in bringing to pass the "immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39) Christ has guaranteed to all humanity immortality. Eternal life is God's life and can only be achieved through obedience to God's laws, including marriage as established by God.
Some words from a song that are applicable:
Neither the man without the woman,
Neither the woman without the man.
This is the life of our Father and Mother,
Meant for their children too.
Our lives and our loves extending forever
A covenant made everlastingly new.
What we fail to consider, I believe, is that we are really -not- loving them enough, because we are not thinking of their happiness in this life and in eternity. To achieve the greatest happiness in the world to come, we need to be in a position to become like God and live the same life He lives. This requires the ability to be eternally with a companion and have eternal increase.
To validate same-sex marriage is to deny those couples the possibility of that relationship ever being an eternal one. To validate as a family, same-sex couples and any children that are brought into that unit is to forever deny those children the possiblity of being an eternal family with those who raise them.
We are not loving our neighbor enough when we support a relationship that can never result in an eternal bond. We are selfishly saying "We love you a whole lot right now - but we don't love you enough to want the joy that God has in the eternity to come."
The purpose of the Church is to assist the Lord in bringing to pass the "immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39) Christ has guaranteed to all humanity immortality. Eternal life is God's life and can only be achieved through obedience to God's laws, including marriage as established by God.
Some words from a song that are applicable:
Neither the man without the woman,
Neither the woman without the man.
This is the life of our Father and Mother,
Meant for their children too.
Our lives and our loves extending forever
A covenant made everlastingly new.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Obituary indexing
The current obituary projects I've been working on have had small batches and small recored, usually only 2 individuals noted on the index. It's heart-touching when indexing to find young children, only a few months or few weeks old that have died. Also sad are the accidents and the suicides. One young woman, only 20 years old, died of a stabbing while in Paris. I'm sure there is quite a story there, but all the obit had was the very briefest of information.
Come join in the fun at: FamilySearch Indexing Even if you do not need the collections currently being indexed, someone will. Every record you find via an index is work done by another.
Come join in the fun at: FamilySearch Indexing Even if you do not need the collections currently being indexed, someone will. Every record you find via an index is work done by another.
Pool time
Got a new swimming suit today - it's a modest one-piece and the bottom has shorts attached. It fits well and looks a whole lot better than most suits do on me. I went out and swam for the first time this year, mostly treading water, but getting my exercise today. It's sort of a pain to get ready to use the pool then get dry enough before going indoors so as not to drip all over, but there are a lot of things one can do to exercise in a pool and work muscles without the stress that out of pool work can cause. I mostly tread water - good for arms and legs and core.
Family History for all
I spent some time today working on finding newspaper articles for one of my former co-workers who is doing a presentation for the American Library Association Convention in Las Vegas this month. Newspapers are quite interesting sources of information. I found an obituary and some legal notices for the estate of the deceased.
I've also started corresponding with a person who created a memorial on FindAGrave for the daughter of my 4th great grandfather. Her son-in-law is my 4th cousin. It's quite interesting to find these distant relations and share information. She had a history for one of my g-grandfathers that I had seen before, but one for my 4th-ggrandfather I had not seen. He was an early settler of Randolph, Utah - sent there by Brigham Young to establish a community there. Hard work and a harsh country.
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| Edwin Theodore Pope I, 1835-1917 |
I've also started corresponding with a person who created a memorial on FindAGrave for the daughter of my 4th great grandfather. Her son-in-law is my 4th cousin. It's quite interesting to find these distant relations and share information. She had a history for one of my g-grandfathers that I had seen before, but one for my 4th-ggrandfather I had not seen. He was an early settler of Randolph, Utah - sent there by Brigham Young to establish a community there. Hard work and a harsh country.
Adam and Eve
Consider this verse in light of revealed understanding about God and our pre-earth life, and our life after death. Genesis 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
When Eve partook of the forbidden fruit and Adam chose to go with her into exile from the Garden of Eden, they both recognized that this was a necessary part of their path back to God. Adam also realized what he was doing by going with her. He was leaving his Father and Mother to cleave to his wife. Thereafter, they would not walk and talk with God face to face, but were shut out from His presence.
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