Time Spread Too Thin

Online work

Check

Turned in

Both Classes

Have even received

my first week's grade

in one class

Resumes, cover letters, references

so many weaknesses

Next week will be

setting up a LinkedIn account

and preparation for

mock interviews

I'm getting the

experience that will

take me to a job

career opportunity before

the end of the year

I even have my interview

set up

Now to build confidence

and prepare to answer

questions

word: TRANS

The word "trans" all by itself means "denoting or relating to a molecular structure in which two particular atoms or groups lie on opposite sides".  The word "trance" means "a half-conscious state characterized by an absence of response"  I have used the word "trans" in a couple of posts when I meant "trance"  Whoops!

Truth is, I didn't know that "trans" was a word all by itself and so when spell-check accepted the spelling, I did not bother to look for a definition, but just assumed it meant "a half-absent state of mind"

The prefix "trans" means “across”, “beyond” or “through”  I have "transferred" many pictures from my camera onto my computer.  I have watched Roland transfer food from the stove top into the oven in order to keep it warm.  Jenna's school records have transferred from one state to another.  I had transferred to five different areas during my mission

My blog posts are full of examples of transportation including the bus, the train, water and feet.

Translation is the ability to communicate one language into another - weather verbally or written words.  Accounting is a language I haven't fully been able to translate.

A Transgender is a person who was born one sex but typically feels trapped when he/she has the desire or the instinct to believe he/she is the other and will make that change.  Jenna has many friends who are transgender.

To transform is to change into something else - such as a caterpillar into a butterfly,  a sawmill factory into Millsite park - and even the park itself has gone through changes or transformations since we arrived in Oregon to what it is right now. I remember having the opportunity of having reels of film to film transformed or converted to VHS.  Now we are transferring things to CD rom and flash drives. Beautiful (because they're possible) transformations!  We have also transformed t-shirts into book bags.

I've had problems with the transmission on various cars.  It's always a transition to adjust to our way of living after a loved one has passed.

Sing Your Favorite Hymn

          Last week we were short a speaker.  The counselor who was conducting the meeting announced that he would be calling on some members from the audience to share their testimonies.  It reminded me of a time when I had lived in mom's ward and what took place when the speakers were absent. The bishop at the time would conduct special meetings that became quite popular with the youth - though I can only remember being in attendance for two of the meetings.

          He had announced that the scheduled speakers hadn't shown for whatever reason and apologized to the organist for not having made arrangements with her, but had invited each member in attendance to think of our favorite hymn and if we felt prompted to do so, we could each take a turn coming up to the stand to say what our favorite hymn was and why we liked it.  We would then sing the hymn as a congregation.  On those days, our congregation truly worshiped the entire meeting through music.

          I enjoyed listening to others share their testimonies on why the hymn was a favorite for them.  I enjoyed watching the enthusiasm of the youth and sharing discoveries that they had made.  I enjoyed singing.

Dash #555 Pets

 Did you have any pets during your childhood?

          There are posts that I have shared about adopting dogs during my married life.  I think the only pet from my childhood mentioned is a rabbit I had received from an aunt one Easter (see here) but Pinky was not our only pet.

A German shepherd pup had wandered into our yard one year.  We tried finding its owner and kept him for a couple of months as I recall.

          Patrick wanted to keep it and gave him the name "Junior".  He tried training the dog, and paid bail money when he was caught by the pound.  I think that happened twice before he decided he really couldn't afford the cost.  That is how Houdini was from this post.

       

          For years before and several years after Junior I had gone through at least five cats.  Mittens, Blanco, Inky . . . I don't know what happened to all of them or how long I had each one.  I don't suspect any of them made it a full year.  I don't even remember one of the names.  I don't know if they ran away or were stolen (I had attempted stealing a neighbor's cat at one time).  Mom told me that there was one that she found in the dryer. I think it was Blanco. Her neck had snapped.  Sorry for that gruesome detail.  I don't remember it personally.  Mom told me that she couldn't deal with it and called a neighbor to remove it.

          The cat that was with me for the longest was "Patch".  I don't know how old I was when we got her but I know I still had her when I was in junior high.  I considered her to be my cat and figured I was in charge of naming her and tried out different names like "Jelly Bean" and "Marshmallow".  Unfortunately I never did settle on a name.  We kept Patch in the basement.  As our washer and dryer were also located in the basement, mom would meet up with Patch whenever she was doing laundry. She started calling my cat "Patch" because of a grey mark surrounding one of her eyes.   

          I remember Patch disappearing and hunted in the basement for her and found her under the stairs along with a litter of 5 kittens.  Mom would not allow me to keep any of them.  I don't remember how many years I had her.  I would think more five to ten.  We had to put her down.  I wish I had better memories to share.

          Corey had gone through a series of cats also.  I have more and better memories of his cats than I do my own.

           Never had a goldfish - but had purchased goldfish for the boys after I got married.  I also think that either Patrick or I briefly owned a turtle.

Conspiracy Spending

            GAAP stands for generally accepted accounting principles .  At least once each year businesses who have stock investors have to go through an audit.  GAAP sets guidelines for business owners to keep accurate records so there is no question about how revenues are made, how money is spent and if there is a profit.  As there have been a number of business owners or other workers who have been found to be dishonest (such as these examples) GAAP has seemingly created so many conditions over the years that the audit can be rather time consuming.  This set of guidelines is set to protect the investor as well as the consumer.

           Stockholders can feel more secure with their investments as long as GAAP continues with guidelines, but paying taxes is not the same as investing stock.  Sometimes the government - or some aspects of it rather - can seem to be just as corrupt as some businesses who have failed due to dishonest records.  So who looks out for the taxpayers' money? GASB requires governments to use full-accrual accounting that tax payers may have the opportunity to understand about the governments capital investments and holding as the government should be watched just as much as the for profit business.

                GASB guidelines assist not only with the financial reporting but the fiscal policies as well. In a nutshell, GASB is to the government like GAAP is to the world of business.  Guidelines and regulations for GASB are there for the benefit of the taxpayers as GAAP is there for the benefit of the stockholder.  For the last three weeks I have had to write assignments about GASB.  In my last report I commented on three specific public roads and the amount spent on each project. According to my understanding, the government has to break down that cost to an exactness:  The amount spent on each crew member hired, not only the cost of building material itself, but the cost spent on supplies to insure the safety of the workers, cost of traffic lights (if applied), paint, concrete, tar, and so forth - even the costs of for the temporary method of traffic flow set up until the major road had been fixed.

                I have been wanting to rewatch "Capricorn I" for some time and finally took that opportunity yesterday morning.  I realize not everybody has been or will be a big fan of the movie, but I still enjoy it.  Elliot Gould plays Robert Caulfield, a reporter who has a friend who works at NASA.  When his friend disappears just after making a comment about the mission to mars, Caulfield starts to investigate.  Meanwhile,  Kelloway, played by Hal Holbrook, tells three astronauts (played by James Brolin, Sam Waterson, and O.J. Simpson) that there is a problem with a product and that the government has so much funding on the line they can't afford anything to go wrong.  Thus the three astronauts are driven to a warehouse where they are told to "perform" their mission on a set to save face basically.  When the astronauts realize that they the charade can't last forever, they realize they have to escape the warehouse as their only means of survival.  Their destination is for finding a reporter and camera crew. Made in 1977.  I thought it was a good movie.

                I am so grateful I had already turned in my final assignment as I know my mind would have taken me in a totally different direction and gotten myself in deeper than where I needed to be.  "Capricorn I" is NOT based on a true story . . . but then again (see here) . . . it gives you something to think about.  How far would the government or government sponsored programs be willing to go to keep the public from knowing the truth?  I thought about Deep Throat (here) and Watergate (here), agent orange (here) and wondered if people really disappear when trying to uncover scandals such as these.  Surely those are not going to show up on the accounting journals:

                10,000 to knock off Elliot Whitter,

another 8,00 to hire Alva Leacock to pretend she has been living in Whitter's apartment for a full year,      70 dollars for forged magazine subscriptions and other mail,

               6,000 to tap into Robert Caulfield's breaks,

another 2,000 to for hiring a team that find planted drugs in Caulfield's apartment. 

                2 mil for the helicopters sent to chase the three astronauts, on and on and on . . .

of course the funds would never get recorded in that manner. 

I am done with accounting!  Five or six classes left.  Should be smooth sailing from here on out.  I start two more classes tomorrow.

Side Note:           I don't remember the first time I saw "Capricorn I" but I have some fun 
                    memories                  - both which involve my brother Patrick.

                1)            I was with my mom and Patrick was sitting with a group of friends a few rows back.  The film stopped in the middle of the movie, and it was announced that it would be a few minutes before the projector would be running.  I made a bold move up to the front of the theatre and announced that it was Patrick's birthday and asked those in attendance to sing "Happy Birthday" to him.

                2)            Patrick recorded the movie from a local TV station.  Parts of the movie had been cut out to make room for the sponsor's ads - unfortunately Hal Holbrook's speech had been one of the scenes that had been cut.  Everytime Patrick had friends over who were not familiar with the movie, he would pause where the scene had been cut out and explain what was going on - kind of important to the movie.

                My favorite part of the movie is the end - to watch the expressions of those in attendance to honor the three astronauts - Brenda Vacarro and Hal Holbrook especially as they have the best expressions.  For the full episode of Capricorn 1 see here.

               

255 students in 75 minutes

          I have assisted with Vision Screenings before when I was living in West Valley and Jenna was going to school in Taylorsville.  That was probably five years ago.  There was a nurse at one station and at least three other stations with six volunteers, perhaps seven (someone must have served as a runner).  Vision screenings were done in the hall in front of the auditorium.  Two aides worked in teams.  One would stand at the eye chart and point to pictures or letters and the other would sit and record the results of each test of the student - they would also have to find each student and mark the set of duplicate directories that we were all given.  Yesterday's testing went so much smoother.

          The Elks Club brought this sophisticated equipment that would read each child's eyes.  Each class had been given stickers to pass out and most students who came through the line had a sticker.  Some did not have them and were pulled aside to wait for the man who seemed to be in charge.  The students would stand in line and sit at one of five chairs when they became available. All of this was done in the library.

          Three members of the Elks club were receiving information from the stickers and taking pictures.  Two of our aides were recruited as well after having had a crash course on working the devices.  Initially, I was going to be one of those aides that would be helping to test, only one of the devices was not working properly. Another aide was trained on how to work it once the problem was resolved.  I would have liked the opportunity to sit down.  At the same time, I would have had a hard time trying to read the stickers as half of the library was not well lit (I think for proper use of the equipment),

          We were done with all thirteen classes in 75 minutes!  Record time.  I really don't know how many students were present today.  255 is just an estimate.  There were several who were absent yesterday as the weather was too cold or else it may have been just to get a jump on the holiday weekend (that seems to be a pattern). 
         Yesterday was a pretty good day overall.  The rain did not start pouring until after school was out.  It poured hard.  After eight-plus months of our rivers being dry or extremely low, they now look to the point of overflowing.  We shall see.

          Snow at the top of the hills yesterday morning.  It appeared the rain had removed most of the snow before nightfall.

Gray and Gloom

It's Raining

It's Pouring

All the Snow has melted

The sun is gone

the Skies are gray

And these are

some photos from

the last few days

Yesterday afternoon the hills were green.  This morning they are capped with snow.