Well, the move finally took place this past week. What a stressful process. I now hope we never move again....and at that point, it's a move out west. But it all turned out well.
Just some random observations to get me back on track as to posting on my blog...there's so much more to be written about the move, but here's a few nuggets:
1. In most areas, we upgraded. But I do miss having a garbage disposal and an ice maker in our new kitchen. But not deal breakers.
2. I officially begin my first new commute in more than 8 years. Our two houses (one rental, one owned) were three doors apart, so my commute hasn't really changed since moving to the 'burbs of NYC. I'm going to miss having the freedom to walk out the door on my schedule to catch the train rather than having to have Kathryn load up the kids and drive me to the station.
3. We finally have a door bell that works.
4. Thrilled about having forced air (and that means central air, too). I'm thrilled to say adios to radiators and their non "on-demand" approach to delivering heat.
5. You know you're finally comfortable in a new place when you feel safe wandering around the house at night without turning on lights. That hasn't happened yet. I try it...but without success.
6. Why don't our bathrooms in our new place have toilet paper roll holders?
7. Why did the sellers take the mailbox? Odd.
8. Our neighbors have no idea what they're in for!
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Church News
So much to write, yet so little time as we move this week to our new house a mile away from our current abode. So I'll save some of my nuggets for next week.
But I wanted to let everyone know that Kathryn had a great article published in this week's Church News about a new branch that was created in our stake. I believe it's page 13, and it's a full page.
On a related note, a couple of thoughts about the Church News:
1. It kind of follows a double standard when it profiles new mission presidents, temple presidents, General Authorities, etc. Why is it the style to publish the age of the priesthood holder, but never the age of his wife? Of course, I'm smart enough to know why that is, but if it's not relevant to know the wife's age, why is it relevant to know the male's age?
2. Of course, I'm glad they publish the male's age. I always look to find the youngest-called mission presidents. And I've noticed a trend. If you don't want to be called as a mission president when you are super young, don't work for the church!!! Seems like all 39 year old presidents are CES, BYU or some other job with the church. Working for the church seems to be like putting a red beacon on your head that says: "Hey coach, send me in as a mission president while I'm young".
3. If all callings are of equal importance, in theory, and the most important callings are HT, father and husband (for males), why do they list all the former callings of a new mission president? Does their past experience need to be listed to show they are qualified? I thought "he that is called is qualified", so shouldn't that be enough? And how relevant is it to their calling at age 65 that they were a Sunday School president at age 25?
But I wanted to let everyone know that Kathryn had a great article published in this week's Church News about a new branch that was created in our stake. I believe it's page 13, and it's a full page.
On a related note, a couple of thoughts about the Church News:
1. It kind of follows a double standard when it profiles new mission presidents, temple presidents, General Authorities, etc. Why is it the style to publish the age of the priesthood holder, but never the age of his wife? Of course, I'm smart enough to know why that is, but if it's not relevant to know the wife's age, why is it relevant to know the male's age?
2. Of course, I'm glad they publish the male's age. I always look to find the youngest-called mission presidents. And I've noticed a trend. If you don't want to be called as a mission president when you are super young, don't work for the church!!! Seems like all 39 year old presidents are CES, BYU or some other job with the church. Working for the church seems to be like putting a red beacon on your head that says: "Hey coach, send me in as a mission president while I'm young".
3. If all callings are of equal importance, in theory, and the most important callings are HT, father and husband (for males), why do they list all the former callings of a new mission president? Does their past experience need to be listed to show they are qualified? I thought "he that is called is qualified", so shouldn't that be enough? And how relevant is it to their calling at age 65 that they were a Sunday School president at age 25?
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Daylight Savings Time
A short post today...I used some of my writing time drafting a letter to "Sue Sue" on her mission instead of blogging:
1. I don't have an issue with the whole Daylight Savings Time in principle. And I really like the earlier start time as NYC is at the start of the Eastern Time Zone which means it can really light really early in the morning, which means kids rise earlier. (Mid to late March was always like "running out the clock" to get to Daylight Savings Time as it would get sunny too soon).
But here's my issue: What idiot decided that 2 a.m. would be the PERFECT time to lose an hour? Sure, it works great in the fall when we gain an hour. Who doesn't love an extra hour of sleep. But seriously...does anyone really desire to give up an hour of sleep? Why don't we lose that hour when we're doing something we hate....or at least gets us to the weekend faster? How cool would it be if we lost that hour at 4 p.m. on Friday....we'd all get to leave work early and have a longer weekend.
For that matter....nearly ANY hour lost during the work week would be preferable to having one less hour on a weekend.
I realize from a practical matter it has to be the nighttime. But at least make it Friday night to Saturday morning so we have a couple of days to adjust to it before having to go to work
2. We've been doing a lot of packing...and purging...this weekend. When I looked in one trash bag, I saw a handful of Christmas toys for the kids from a couple of years ago. Makes you think about the "shelf life" of the things we buy.
I wondered if our purchasing habits would be different if we had to have an "exit strategy" for every item we bought (i.e determining ahead of time when and how we'd discard the item after it had served its usefulness). If we had to commit to keeping -- and using -- something for a full year (under threat of a penalty for not adhering) I think we'd second guess a lot of our purchases. Just think what that money could be used for. Even realizing that some of the things we buy are more disposable than we think (i.e. we'll trash them in a year or so) would provide a sober reality.
And if we were brutally honest, we'd probably admit that 90 percent of the things we buy for our kids for Christmas get tossed aside within three months. Of course....being a marketer of toys, I can't have too many realize that or I'd be out of a job.
1. I don't have an issue with the whole Daylight Savings Time in principle. And I really like the earlier start time as NYC is at the start of the Eastern Time Zone which means it can really light really early in the morning, which means kids rise earlier. (Mid to late March was always like "running out the clock" to get to Daylight Savings Time as it would get sunny too soon).
But here's my issue: What idiot decided that 2 a.m. would be the PERFECT time to lose an hour? Sure, it works great in the fall when we gain an hour. Who doesn't love an extra hour of sleep. But seriously...does anyone really desire to give up an hour of sleep? Why don't we lose that hour when we're doing something we hate....or at least gets us to the weekend faster? How cool would it be if we lost that hour at 4 p.m. on Friday....we'd all get to leave work early and have a longer weekend.
For that matter....nearly ANY hour lost during the work week would be preferable to having one less hour on a weekend.
I realize from a practical matter it has to be the nighttime. But at least make it Friday night to Saturday morning so we have a couple of days to adjust to it before having to go to work
2. We've been doing a lot of packing...and purging...this weekend. When I looked in one trash bag, I saw a handful of Christmas toys for the kids from a couple of years ago. Makes you think about the "shelf life" of the things we buy.
I wondered if our purchasing habits would be different if we had to have an "exit strategy" for every item we bought (i.e determining ahead of time when and how we'd discard the item after it had served its usefulness). If we had to commit to keeping -- and using -- something for a full year (under threat of a penalty for not adhering) I think we'd second guess a lot of our purchases. Just think what that money could be used for. Even realizing that some of the things we buy are more disposable than we think (i.e. we'll trash them in a year or so) would provide a sober reality.
And if we were brutally honest, we'd probably admit that 90 percent of the things we buy for our kids for Christmas get tossed aside within three months. Of course....being a marketer of toys, I can't have too many realize that or I'd be out of a job.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Training from an Area Authority 70
Admittedly, last week's posting was lame, but I was tired yet still wanted to keep my promise of a "post a week".
Tonight, here are some thoughts and such from an early morning training we had with Elder Kim Smith, our area authority 70.
1. To the older men in the audience who were bishops: Don't think you can't relate to the youth. Pres. Hinckley is 96 or so and can you think of anyone who relates better with the youth than he?
2. Did you know that the only time a President does NOT choose his councilors in the church are when it's a YM president? The new handbook confirms that. The Bishop calls the President of the YM AND the councilors as they oversee a specific group of boys within the AP.
3. We must all ensure the church is keeping true to the Church Handbook. As a councilor, it's OK to point out that something isn't according to handbook. The handbook represents safety, and we should all protect ourselves by doing whatever it takes to adhere to it.
4. YM need to learn how to SERVE, not just be entertained. After all, missions and EQ sure aren't about being entertained!
5. Bishops are too quick to write welfare checks. By doing so, they are preventing a unique teaching opportunity from occurring.
6. When someone seeks welfare assistance, a Bishop should ask how their extended family is helping them out as that's the first line of defense. He shared an example of a brother to whom he wasn't close that needed help. The Bishop told him to ask his family first, and he said he was embarrassed. But now he and that brother are very close. (So, to my family...anyone need help?!)
7. Elder Bednar had said at a training recently that the Devil has increased his intensity so if we are at just the same level of spirituality as in the past, we're actually losing ground. (It's like my company....if we make the same amount of money from year to year, we actually make less profit as salaries have gone up, rent has gone up, etc. and we have less left over as profit). If you are doing LESS than you have normally done, you're losing ground twice as fast. So we need to make an active effort at increasing our level of spirituality.
Mark
Tonight, here are some thoughts and such from an early morning training we had with Elder Kim Smith, our area authority 70.
1. To the older men in the audience who were bishops: Don't think you can't relate to the youth. Pres. Hinckley is 96 or so and can you think of anyone who relates better with the youth than he?
2. Did you know that the only time a President does NOT choose his councilors in the church are when it's a YM president? The new handbook confirms that. The Bishop calls the President of the YM AND the councilors as they oversee a specific group of boys within the AP.
3. We must all ensure the church is keeping true to the Church Handbook. As a councilor, it's OK to point out that something isn't according to handbook. The handbook represents safety, and we should all protect ourselves by doing whatever it takes to adhere to it.
4. YM need to learn how to SERVE, not just be entertained. After all, missions and EQ sure aren't about being entertained!
5. Bishops are too quick to write welfare checks. By doing so, they are preventing a unique teaching opportunity from occurring.
6. When someone seeks welfare assistance, a Bishop should ask how their extended family is helping them out as that's the first line of defense. He shared an example of a brother to whom he wasn't close that needed help. The Bishop told him to ask his family first, and he said he was embarrassed. But now he and that brother are very close. (So, to my family...anyone need help?!)
7. Elder Bednar had said at a training recently that the Devil has increased his intensity so if we are at just the same level of spirituality as in the past, we're actually losing ground. (It's like my company....if we make the same amount of money from year to year, we actually make less profit as salaries have gone up, rent has gone up, etc. and we have less left over as profit). If you are doing LESS than you have normally done, you're losing ground twice as fast. So we need to make an active effort at increasing our level of spirituality.
Mark
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Another Sunday night...
1. The worst part about showing a house when trying to sell it is you can't find your stuff anymore. For example, Kathryn straightens up before each visit, and stashes things. I spent 15 minutes the other night trying to figure out where the new tube of toothpaste got tossed, and never did find it. I used the Dora toothpaste instead.
2. I had a 7 a.m. Stake Priesthood Meeting this morning. Josh didn't want me to miss it, so he was "kind enough" to set my alarm clock last night (unbeknownst to me) for 4:20 a.m. It woke up me, Kathryn and Samuel...which meant I had to get up with Sam...which dominoed into the other kids waking up. Thanks Josh! (Kathryn did spot me at 5:30 and let me go back to bed for 30 minutes).
3. I don't know where the nail trimmers are either.
4. I put on my list of things to do this weekend: Eat a lot of chocolate. I made that goal. I think my problem with creating lists is I've ben adding the wrong items to the list!
Don't have much else to talk about tonight...need to go catch up on my sleep!
Mark
2. I had a 7 a.m. Stake Priesthood Meeting this morning. Josh didn't want me to miss it, so he was "kind enough" to set my alarm clock last night (unbeknownst to me) for 4:20 a.m. It woke up me, Kathryn and Samuel...which meant I had to get up with Sam...which dominoed into the other kids waking up. Thanks Josh! (Kathryn did spot me at 5:30 and let me go back to bed for 30 minutes).
3. I don't know where the nail trimmers are either.
4. I put on my list of things to do this weekend: Eat a lot of chocolate. I made that goal. I think my problem with creating lists is I've ben adding the wrong items to the list!
Don't have much else to talk about tonight...need to go catch up on my sleep!
Mark
Sunday, February 18, 2007
I've returned from a one-week hiaitus
My apologies to the legion of readers who wondered why I didn't post last Sunday. I was in Toy Fair mode, and was simply exhausted. But with Toy Fair in my rear view mirror, I'm back on my game.
1. Consumer Alert! Delta no longer allows you to buy a half-price ticket for a child under the age of 2. If you want a child to have a confirmed seat, it's full price. This just went into effect the end of December...even the Delta clerk I spoke with didn't know that.
2. I'm a "run out the clock" kind of guy. Whenever there is something I dread, I think forward to determine the number of hours/days until the unpleasant task will be done. Then, I count backwards and create a comparison by figuring out what I was doing in the same amount of time in the past. Then I'll say: "The bad thing will be all done in the same amount of time it has taken to get from when I went to Church last Sunday to now. That's not so bad! I can make it".
Initially, I played that game as a child to while waiting for Christmas to arrive. As an adult, I started doing that with bad things when I traveled with kids. "In 6 hours the plane will land and I'll be done with this experience of traveling on a plane with kids. 6 hours ago, I was going to bed...that doesn't seem that long ago. I can make it!"
3. You heard it here first: the hot toy for Christmas 2007 will be Squawkers McCaw, a Furreal Friends Parrot for $69 that is very cool and really realistic. (And yes, we rep that toy).
4. It pains me to see jetBlue enduring their PR nightmare. It's such a domino effect...how do you ever even fix the problem once it starts?
5. Sammy looks really good in yellow...it matches his hair well.
6. If you are the last speaker in a church meeting, it is your responsibility to make sure the meeting ends on time. I spoke in a Spanish unit today, and I didn't stand up to speak until 2:35 p.m. (the meeting ended at 2:40 p.m.) In that situation, bare your testimony and sit down. Nobody learns anything...and the spirit leaves....after the scheduled close of the meeting.
7. Miracles happen every day. We are still living in an era of miracles.
8. This whole house-buying and house-selling situation has given me such an increased understanding of faith and being led by the Spirit. More important than what the Spirit has directed me to do is learning better HOW the spirit works and having more trust in it.
9. I saw George Lucas this week. I didn't meet him, but saw him 3 different times as he toured the Hasbro Showroom and checked out the Star Wars toys.
10. Looks like we're going to get the new Monopoly: Here & Now game set on to the next Shuttle mission. I've been invited to watch the Shuttle launch, but don't think I'll be able to make it due to the time commitment involved.
11. I'm fearful that "The Office" has not necessarily jumped the shark, but just lost it's sharpness. The last 3 or 4 episodes have been weak.
12. The NBA All-Star game in Las Vegas is a good idea.
13. Someone routed a list of Ten Good Reasons to Elect a Mormon President. My favorite: At the inauguration, he would swear on the Bible 'as far as it is translated correctly.'
See you next Sunday night!
Mark
1. Consumer Alert! Delta no longer allows you to buy a half-price ticket for a child under the age of 2. If you want a child to have a confirmed seat, it's full price. This just went into effect the end of December...even the Delta clerk I spoke with didn't know that.
2. I'm a "run out the clock" kind of guy. Whenever there is something I dread, I think forward to determine the number of hours/days until the unpleasant task will be done. Then, I count backwards and create a comparison by figuring out what I was doing in the same amount of time in the past. Then I'll say: "The bad thing will be all done in the same amount of time it has taken to get from when I went to Church last Sunday to now. That's not so bad! I can make it".
Initially, I played that game as a child to while waiting for Christmas to arrive. As an adult, I started doing that with bad things when I traveled with kids. "In 6 hours the plane will land and I'll be done with this experience of traveling on a plane with kids. 6 hours ago, I was going to bed...that doesn't seem that long ago. I can make it!"
3. You heard it here first: the hot toy for Christmas 2007 will be Squawkers McCaw, a Furreal Friends Parrot for $69 that is very cool and really realistic. (And yes, we rep that toy).
4. It pains me to see jetBlue enduring their PR nightmare. It's such a domino effect...how do you ever even fix the problem once it starts?
5. Sammy looks really good in yellow...it matches his hair well.
6. If you are the last speaker in a church meeting, it is your responsibility to make sure the meeting ends on time. I spoke in a Spanish unit today, and I didn't stand up to speak until 2:35 p.m. (the meeting ended at 2:40 p.m.) In that situation, bare your testimony and sit down. Nobody learns anything...and the spirit leaves....after the scheduled close of the meeting.
7. Miracles happen every day. We are still living in an era of miracles.
8. This whole house-buying and house-selling situation has given me such an increased understanding of faith and being led by the Spirit. More important than what the Spirit has directed me to do is learning better HOW the spirit works and having more trust in it.
9. I saw George Lucas this week. I didn't meet him, but saw him 3 different times as he toured the Hasbro Showroom and checked out the Star Wars toys.
10. Looks like we're going to get the new Monopoly: Here & Now game set on to the next Shuttle mission. I've been invited to watch the Shuttle launch, but don't think I'll be able to make it due to the time commitment involved.
11. I'm fearful that "The Office" has not necessarily jumped the shark, but just lost it's sharpness. The last 3 or 4 episodes have been weak.
12. The NBA All-Star game in Las Vegas is a good idea.
13. Someone routed a list of Ten Good Reasons to Elect a Mormon President. My favorite: At the inauguration, he would swear on the Bible 'as far as it is translated correctly.'
See you next Sunday night!
Mark
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Post Super Bowl Musings
Well, the Bears lost. While I went into the game knowing that I'd be happy no matter which team won, I've always been a Bears fan. Why? When I was in kindergarten, my friend (who is also named Mark) and I were playing football in his backyard. He said "I'll be Dallas and you be Chicago". Ever since I was assigned that team, I've been a Bears fan. (Do team affections ever have more rationality to them than that?)
I remember gettinga Bears jersey in kindergarten that I still have -- mainly because Santa brought a XL instead of a Small, so it had to be hemmed, which meant the "60" on the jersey was completely cut in half. I ended up wearing it in high school.
I also got a Bears helmet that year, too. That came too small, so my dad had to cut off the foam padding over the ears so I could get it on.
Needless to say, I was super excited in 1985 when the Bears won their only Super Bowl appearance before tonight.
I've liked the Buccanners (pardon the spelling..it's late) from Tampa, too. I think I was always drawn to them because they were the biggest losers EVER in the NFL. Kind of like how people like the Cubs or Red Sox because they always lose and you like to root for the underdog. When I was young, the Buccs were a new team, and lost every game one season. In a weird way, I can very much relate to the Buccs more so than, say, the "America's Team" Cowboys. Call me a Charlie Brown, but I think all of our lives have more failures than we care to admit, and as such, I could easily relate to the losing of the Buccs.
So you can imagine my excitement a few years ago when the Buccs won the Super Bowl.
In an interesting twist, the coach of the Colts, who won tonight, was the coach of the Buccs until the season before Tampa won it all (he got fired when he couldn't get them to the Super Bowl). So while I'm sad the Bears lost, the Colts victory is kind of a victory for my Buccs, too, and that's OK.
I remember gettinga Bears jersey in kindergarten that I still have -- mainly because Santa brought a XL instead of a Small, so it had to be hemmed, which meant the "60" on the jersey was completely cut in half. I ended up wearing it in high school.
I also got a Bears helmet that year, too. That came too small, so my dad had to cut off the foam padding over the ears so I could get it on.
Needless to say, I was super excited in 1985 when the Bears won their only Super Bowl appearance before tonight.
I've liked the Buccanners (pardon the spelling..it's late) from Tampa, too. I think I was always drawn to them because they were the biggest losers EVER in the NFL. Kind of like how people like the Cubs or Red Sox because they always lose and you like to root for the underdog. When I was young, the Buccs were a new team, and lost every game one season. In a weird way, I can very much relate to the Buccs more so than, say, the "America's Team" Cowboys. Call me a Charlie Brown, but I think all of our lives have more failures than we care to admit, and as such, I could easily relate to the losing of the Buccs.
So you can imagine my excitement a few years ago when the Buccs won the Super Bowl.
In an interesting twist, the coach of the Colts, who won tonight, was the coach of the Buccs until the season before Tampa won it all (he got fired when he couldn't get them to the Super Bowl). So while I'm sad the Bears lost, the Colts victory is kind of a victory for my Buccs, too, and that's OK.
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