Peaceful demonstrations

1 September 2011, 6:33 pm by Giggles
Categories: Life, Questions, Random

Every Wednesday morning at least since I moved to Tucson, there is half a block along my way in to campus that has protestors lining both sides of the road. They are peaceful. The two sides don’t interact much. I drove past it for around a year before I figured out why they picked that particular spot.

On the north side of the road is a bunch of people dressed in orange holding big signs about how war is bad and you should honk if you don’t like war.

On the south side of the road are a bunch of people wearing red, white, and blue, there are flags stuck in the ground behind them, and they are holding signs about how we need to support our troops and honk if you support the troops.

If I was the type that honked at those signs I’d probably honk at both. I don’t like war and I support the troops. I think the troops would say they don’t like war either.

They’re there for about two hours and then clear out before it gets too hot. The groups have gotten smaller recently, but they are still there.

And why are they at that particular spot? Along the south side of that street, all in a row, are the recruitment offices for the various branches of the military. As soon as I noticed that, the location all made sense.

If someone is protesting anti-terrorism, does that make them an anti-anti-terrorist?

4 Shared thoughts

Beauty

29 August 2011, 6:30 pm by Giggles
Categories: Happy Things

Last week as I was driving home on Wednesday I watched a storm start to head in the direction of our house. Most of the storms have missed our house lately, but this one was kicking up a lot of dust and looked like it would probably get us. I started calling Brett, but his phone was off. Strangely, it was out front as I pulled up. I jumped out of the car as the first rain drops started to fall and told him we had laundry on the line and ran through the house to get it. This greatly confused Brett because laundry day is Tuesday. We just had a lot so I’d done another load before leaving that morning.

The storm wasn’t a bad one and I decided to try to get some pictures of it, specifically of the lightning. Because I love photos of lightning. However I do not have the equipment for that so it did not happen. This did though.

Maybe when I get equipment to take photos of lightning I can also take star trail pictures like this one – A Summer’s Night Dream. Only that would require getting lightning bugs to go with the equipment. But that’s not such a bad idea either.

Getting a photo like this sunrise photo would require a lot more equipment. But it’s one I would really enjoy taking. My reaction on seeing that photo was simply the thought, “Beauty.” It’s a thought I often feel when I’m looking at sky.

2 Shared thoughts

New school books

27 August 2011, 11:16 pm by Giggles
Categories: Books, Education, Learn Something

It’s a new semester. So I bought some books to learn some things with. I’m technically not taking any classes, just teaching a class and doing research. So I got to pick what books I wanted to learn from.

First, I bought two cook books, both from America’s Test Kitchen (because they have an awesome cooking show on PBS and really test things backwards and forwards). I bought Slow Cooker Revolution and The Best 30-Minute Recipe. We’d borrowed both from a friend and really enjoyed them so I ordered my own on Wednesday and returned hers on Friday morning and mine arrived Friday afternoon. We really like page 113 in the 30-minute book, although it has yet to take us 30 minutes. More like 45 for us. We’re working on it. So I’m going to learn to cook new things.

Wednesday when I was ordering cook books I also bought my first knitting book – Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi. I love how quick her things are to knit up and how cute they are (check out her adorable blog – Mochimochi Land). I need quick. I’ve had a sweater cast-on since my early years at BYU. I still like the sweater, so I’ll finish it some day, but I really like quick things. I’ve knit a few of her patterns before (pencil, hearts, tiny bunnies), and I’ve learned a lot of skills that way. I’m definitely going to need more sizes of double pointed needles for this. Now to decide what I’ll knit first. Probably the elephant because I have grey yarn. But I really need to knit an island to put on my desk for motivation. I’ve told Brett that when I graduate I want to get a hotel room on a beach somewhere and sit with my toes in the sand for several days.

I also just have three letters left in the alphabet book challenge. I finished my W book today – The Secret Life of Words. Now to figure out what I’m reading for X and Y (Z is already picked and sitting on our shelves).

5 Shared thoughts

Approaching the light

24 August 2011, 3:59 pm by Giggles
Categories: Education

I realize not everyone knows what exactly I have to cross off my list of things to do before I graduate. Announcing I got approved yesterday doesn’t mean much to most people. So here’s the list. I’ve included rough date estimates for things. I have to do three “small” studies (they’re calling them outcome assessments) and a dissertation.

Math Motivation Study

  • :x: Proposal approved by the ethics board – May 2011
  • :x: Data gathered – May 2011
  • Data analyzed – On going
  • Report written – Fall 2011
  • Report defended – Spring 2012

Math Stereotype Stratification Study

  • Measures obtained (I’m doing a modified replication of someone else’s study) – On going
  • Proposal approved by the ethics board – Fall 2011
  • Data gathered – Fall 2011
  • Data analyzed – Fall 2011
  • Report written – Fall 2011
  • Report defended – Spring 2012

Third Study

  • The details of this one are still slightly undecided. It’s possible I just need to analyze data, write a report, and defend it. Or it’s possible I need to do a literature review and defend it. It needs to basically be done during Fall 2011 though.

Dissertation

  • :x: Gather measures and instruments – Summer 2011
  • :x: Proposal approved by the ethics board – 23 August 2011
  • Data gathered – Fall 2011 & Spring 2012
  • Proposal officially proposed before my committee (I can’t officially propose it till after I’ve defended the other three, but they all know what I’m doing and are okay with my slightly backwards take on things) – Spring 2012
  • Analyze data – Summer 2012
  • Write report – Summer/Fall 2012
  • Defend report – Fall 2012

And then finally:

  • Graduation – December 2012 :apple:

You will notice that approval from the ethics board is one of the first things that needs to happen. It was a HUGE stack of papers I submitted to them on August 15th. And then I crossed my fingers and held my breath and prayed they’d expedite it for me. Parent permission forms need to go out next week to keep me on schedule and not delay me for a year.

So when I got an email from them yesterday afternoon, just 8 days after I’d submitted it, 6 working days later, that they’d approved my research, I couldn’t help myself. I shouted and did a little victory dance. :woot:

Looking at that list there is still a LOT to do. I’m not going to fully start breathing again on my dissertation project till next month when the wheels are fully in motion. But I’ve gotten over the first major hurdles. There is almost a light at the end of the tunnel.

5 Shared thoughts

First day of school socks!!

22 August 2011, 4:29 pm by Giggles
Categories: Education, Work

Last fall a friend of mine said this about her son:

Asked my 8-year-old if he plans to wear socks that match each other for the first day of school. He shook his head and said “Mama, they need to know who I am.”

Which I thought was absolutely brilliant. So I decided I needed to wear some cool socks the first day of class so my students would know who I am. My standard first day of school outfit now is a knee length skirt with my knee high lady bug socks.

Here’s a picture of me on the first day of last Spring semester. I’ve had good classes every time I’ve worn them. I think they’re lucky or something.

My class this semester is about 90% art, theatre, and music education majors. It looks like it’s going to be a colorful group. And I got a couple of comments on my socks. Walking around during a small group activity I even saw one person had written “SOCKS” on the top of her note page. They know who I am! I’m wondering if I need second day of school socks now too.

I even had my obligatory first day of school nightmare last night. I was teaching in a forever long hallway so that only half the class could hear me at a time. One long wall was all windows and it was snowing, so that was distracting everyone. And they were all speaking in German to me. There was also a marching band group that was trying to organize uniforms or something. So basically nobody was paying any attention to me at all. I don’t really mind those dreams though. It’s my head doing it’s worst-case-scenario thing and then things can only be better.

And, because I can, and because it’s related to lady bugs … Chuck & the Lady Bugs.

5 Shared thoughts

Questions for a change of heart

21 August 2011, 8:00 pm by Giggles
Categories: Gospel, Life, Musings

I have spent a lot of time thinking about the fifth chapter in the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon. It contains a long series of questions that you can ask yourself to determine where you are at spiritually in your life.

Several years ago, I used chapter 5 as a format to create a list of questions personalized to me that I could ask myself to see where I stood. I keep this list of questions in my scriptures in Alma 5 and read through it every so often to see how I’m doing.

What are my priorities? What are they supposed to be? Is _____ taking precedence over other, more important, things? What is keeping me from praying, studying my scriptures, and writing in my journal? Why do I have so many excuses for not _____? Am I making the best use of the time I have been given each day? Am I improving, progressing, and moving forward? Or am I standing still or even moving backwards? Am I a wise steward over what has been placed in my responsibility? If called to leave this earth at this time, would I be ready? Am I worthy of all the blessings, honor, and glory that have been promised me? When was the last time I felt the Spirit? What was the last personal revelation I had? Could I be accused of being a follower of Christ? Are my children and ancestors proud of me? Or am I a weak link in my family’s chain of faith? Is my faith such that I can put everything in the hands of the Lord? Am I keeping the covenants I have made both at baptism and in the temple?

It’s quite the list of questions. But it definitely makes me take stock of what I am doing with my life.

From Alma 5 there are three questions in particular that stand out to me every time I read the chapter, two from verse 14 and one from verse 26.

Have ye received his image in your countenances?
Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?
And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?

Today I found myself specifically thinking about what it means to have a change of heart. Which led me to thinking about dirt. I’ll explain. In the New Testament there is the parable of the sower. In the Book of Mormon we have Lehi’s vision of the Tree of Life. Both contain four different groups or situations. I put together this table to examine them.

The Dirt (Matthew 13) Explanation of the dirt People (1 Nephi 8)
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
Matthew 13:4		 19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
Matthew 13:19		 31 And he also saw other multitudes feeling their way towards that great and spacious building.
32 And it came to pass that many were drowned in the depths of the fountain; and many were lost from his view, wandering in strange roads.
1 Nephi 8:31-32
5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
Matthew 13:5-6		 20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Matthew 13:20-21		 21 And I saw numberless concourses of people, many of whom were pressing forward, that they might obtain the path which led unto the tree by which I stood.
22 And it came to pass that they did come forth, and commence in the path which led to the tree.
23 And it came to pass that there arose a mist of darkness; yea, even an exceedingly great mist of darkness, insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lose their way, that they wandered off and were lost.
1 Nephi 8:21-23
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
Matthew 13:7		 22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Matthew 13:22		 24 And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree.
25 And after they had partaken of the fruit of the tree they did cast their eyes about as if they were ashamed.
26 And I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth.
27 And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit.
28 And after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost.
1 Nephi 8:24-28
8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
Matthew 13:8		 23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth and endureth; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Matthew 13:23 (JST)		 30 But, to be short in writing, behold, he saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree.
1 Nephi 8:30

The first group does not understand the word of God, it is not planted in their heart. The second group starts off great and fizzles real fast. The third group starts off great as well, but is soon ashamed and even distracted. Think of all the “cares” that exist today that try to choke our faith and joy. The final group though, not only starts off good, but they endure. Their faith is a continual thing. A seed planted in their heart will truly grow.

So thinking about dirt, the dirt in our yard is good for growing cactus and weeds, and not even that great at the weeds. When we get a garden going it’s going to take a lot of work to get the dirt ready. We’ll have to make sure it isn’t super hard and stony. We’ll have to keep the weeds and thorns pulled so they don’t take the nutrients and water from the plants we want to grow. We’ll have to maintain our gardening enthusiasm and not forget to water it after a week or so when the newness wears off. And we’ll have to frequently add fertilizer to keep the soil rich. Changing desert soil to garden soil is not a simple matter. It takes work and constant attention.

Having a change of heart so that the image of Christ is reflected in our countenance is the same thing. We have to keep our priorities right and remove those things/people that keep us from doing what we know we should, make good friends that will help us have a richer heart. We need to constantly nourish our hearts and souls with scripture study and meditation. And it is not something that we can do once and check off our list, it is something we need to constantly work at to make sure we still feel that way now.

If I tried to make our dirt fertile in one go I’d be exhausted and frustrated and feel it was pointless. Changing our hearts takes time as well.

While we believe fully in the mighty change of heart described in the scriptures (see Mosiah 5:2; Alma 5:12–14, 26), we must understand it often occurs gradually, rather than instantaneously or globally, and in response to specific questions, experiences, and concerns as well as by our study and prayer.
Elder Cecil B. Samuelson, Testimony, April 2011 General Conference

However, as you change your heart, you will also change your life. Your life will become a fertile place for spiritual growth and light. Just like the hard work of making a garden will be worth it when we get to eat fresh tomatoes, the hard work of changing a heart is worth it when you reach the tree of life and get to partake of the love of God.

21 Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?
22 And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.
23 And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.
1 Nephi 11:21-23

3 Shared thoughts

Transferring Google

19 August 2011, 1:04 pm by Giggles
Categories: Questions, Science & Tech

Last week was spent frustratingly holding vigil waiting for the last signatures I needed before submitting my research proposal to the ethics board at the university. It was highly depressing. I did not feel productive at all, just sitting around waiting.

I had been thinking for several weeks about the fact that I have two gmail accounts. I have one that uses my pre-married name that everyone who knew me before I got married contacted me with. I also have one that uses my post-married name and people who I have met since getting married have been using that one since that’s how they know me. Forwarding all the mail from the one to the other and being able to choose how I replied made it super easy to keep both and it wasn’t an issue.

When I got a Goolge+ invite though it quickly became apparent that using two accounts with that platform would be a bit problematic. At some point they’ll probably figure out how to merge two accounts on the platform, but for now, it seemed real redundant. Especially considering how compartmentalized you can make Google+. I particularly love how easy it is to choose who sees what every single time you share something. Want to ask a question about a local restaurant? Ask it of just your local friends rather than everyone you know. Talking about a fun family thing? Share it with just family. No more sharing vomit like on FB. Wired has a pretty basic article about getting started on Google+ if you’re curious.

So what does this have to do with me being frustratingly unproductive last week? I decided that more than just picking which account I would be using Goggle+ with, I should probably switch which account was my main account with all Google platforms. I realized that while right now the balance is clearly in favor of those who knew me before I got married, at some point that balance would shift and more people would know me after getting married than before.

But… I had SO MUCH STUFF set up so perfectly with my email filters and my read feeds, setting that all up from scratch would’ve taken forever! And while I did have a lot of spare time sitting around twiddling my thumbs last week, that was not how I wanted to spend my time.

But… Google makes it so super simple to transfer your information. They figure you own it so you get full control over it. A few quick exports of contact lists, email filters, and feeds from the pre-marriage account. A few more quick imports of the same into the post-marriage account. And I’m set up in the post-marriage account exactly like I was in the pre-marriage account. Could not have been more simple. And helped me feel productive when nothing else seemed to be working for me.

I sent out an email to the people I email from my pre-marriage account, a grand total of 14 people (there are some people I email regularly from the post-marriage account), letting them know that I was changing my default address but still keeping both. And ta-da! I was done.

Except then I got to thinking, if I’m really only emailing a handful of people, why do I have 250+ contacts in my contact list? That, my friends, is a question for another post.

6 Shared thoughts