Service is Essential

          On Sunday we drove to the Big City of Roseburg to attend a special conference for several regions in the northwest.  Most of the meeting was televised, but we did manage to get a seat in the chapel rather than what Roland calls the “nose bleed seats”.  I also saw at least six other people from our ward seated in the chapel.

          Our stake president started off the meeting before the broadcast was aired.  I enjoy listening to our stake president.  He gave a comparison of feeding a campfire to fueling our own testimonies.  The choir sang a number and then the broadcast was shown after a long five-minute countdown. 

          It was announced that the broadcast was coming from the Conference Center – though I don’t know which part of the Conference Center – not what one normally thinks of when hearing “Conference Center” – a room off to the side used only for the purpose of televising meetings.  I doubt there was room for the camera crew and a live audience.

          I had seen the room before during another televised meeting, but I have never seen it in person.  I have been to the Conference Center before, but had never explored beyond the main meeting area.

          The conference theme overall was on service. The first speaker was Elder K. Brett Nattress from the quorum of the 70.  He started off his talk relating a situation about two brothers working together to try their hand at an athletic sport involving jumping.  The seven-year old’s plan was to jump off the balcony while his four-year-old brother stood waiting with a pillow to cushion his graceful land – which, as you can imagine, was not graceful.  It is a miracle that there were no broken bones.  The seven-year-old said he wouldn’t have done it if he had known it was going to hurt so much. 

          Elder Natress than gave three steps to finding happiness.  They are

1)           To Pray every day

2)           Read the Scriptures, especially familiarize self with the Book of Mormon

3)           Serve each day.

He gave an example of administering the sacrament and I thought of my three boys really enjoying having the opportunity of taking the sacrament to those who had health problems that prevented them from attending weekly church meetings.

The second speaker was Christina Franco who serves in the general primary.  She also counseled to “be of good cheer” and gave us four guidelines to apply to our understanding:

1)           Understand that we have a Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ who love us

2)           Understand that the commandments are there to protect us

3)           Understand gratitude

4)           Understand that service brings joy

She read some verses from Mosiah. 

When her talk was finished, the congregation was invited to stand and sing "Go Forth in Faith" (version of hymn found here).  I wasn't familiar with the hymn.

The next speaker was Patrick Kearon.  Love the accent.  He talked about being strengthened through the atonement and gave us the acronym FEMA (find every Mormon available).  He then shared some examples of service and how both the recipient and server are blessed.  My mind wandered back to a time when a former bishop (the one who had married Roland and me) was also giving a lesson on service and how sometimes the recipient may present other obstacles that may be difficult to conquer.  

His example was in doing a service project with the youth who had gone to spruce up a yard for a rather demanding “do it my way or else” old prune (he did not call her an old prune; that was my own interpretation) and how though our recipient might not have the best attitude, it is still important for us to do our best.  How do you teach the youth to love service if so many hurdles are thrown at them before they even start?  We need not let pride stand in our way of doing the right thing.

The concluding speaker was Elder Todd Christopherson who talked about a quorum of thirteen praying for inspiration and direction on New Leadership between Pres. Monson’s death and Pres. Nelson’s sustainment.  He talked about his personal experience as he had never had that opportunity between prophets.  He also talked about J. Rueben Clark and played a clip of an address that Elder Clark gave about “not where you serve but how you serve”.  Service is an offering we place upon the alter.

Overall it was a really good meeting.  Worth the drive.  Worth the front row seats.

Who is To Blame?

            I was on my mission when Howard Jones released "No One is to Blame" found here. Whenever I heard the song I would visualize a lower to middle class young man who had taken a job at a country club.  He has his eyes on one of the members - a girl from a prestige family background.  He would like a relationship with her and she with him, but as they are labeled into upper class and lowly servant, there is no relationship other than "client and worker"

         

            I now hear this song expressed in some talks given by various leaders - particularly when the talk is geared toward the family.  How many others can hear these words (symbolically of course)?

            I am grateful for the ward members that I think of as family as Roland and Jenna are my only biological family in this state.  Unfortunately not all wards are the same.  There are a wide variety of members and there are some who offend - even when it's not intentional.

Just in Case I'm Not Already Bored

           

The online courses offer a new feature to the mix.  We now have the option of listening to instruction, discussion, assignment or what have you. 

 

As each sentence is read, it lights up in green.

  The word being red is highlighted in blue.

 The player says 'Speech-enabled by ReadSpeaker".  Machines can't feel.  There is no voice to indicate emotion.  ReadSpeaker makes sounds.  It is monotone.  It makes whatever I have to read even more boring than it already is.  I asked for excitement not a challenge to see if it could be made even more boring.  Even a class that I love would sound dull with this devise. 

            Ironically how my last post was about poor sleeping habits.  Apparently my prayers were answered.  All I have to do is turn on this "speaking" invention, plant myself in the recliner and baby, I am gone. 

  

Who knew?

Sweet to Sleep

             I have never had the best of sleeping habits.  Ever.  According to mom, I believed I had had my fill of sleep by the time I was one.  I got to relive that with Jenna!  After turning one,  she has ALWAYS been a horrible nap taker.  I guess she gets that from me.  Patrick, on the other hand, put in enough hours of sleep for all of us.  He was great at taking naps and sleeping during the night.  My mom was neurotic.  As I had always been awake, she was not used to a baby who was gifted about sleeping.  She would often check him just to make certain he was still breathing.  Total opposites.

 

            There are times I crash out of sheer exhaustion.  I wish it was more frequent - or rather I wish I could sleep like I'm exhausted but not feel exhausted ever - just always feel well rested.

            Sometimes I fall asleep in the front room when the TV has been on.  Often Roland has left me there because he knows I prefer the airflow in more open space - although there is more airflow in the bedroom that is part of our current house.  It is the biggest bedroom I have ever had.  Plus (as I mentioned earlier) our broken couch is as comfortable as a jagged rock.

            Sometimes I wake up during the night either in our room or the front room and will think I'm in the other.  That is how I want to sleep.  Deep and unaware.  I want to wake up refreshed - not dry from the electric heat or too hot or too cold (the cold thing rarely ever happens except for my ears and toes.  They are often cold when I am awake.  I often wear a hat and slipper socks  while I read or exercise or do puzzles. 

            I know that good sleeping habits will help my emotional development.  I'm all for that.

https://www.memecenter.com/fun/6469/catch-some-zzzs

A Dictionary on the Table

            Mom and I had played "Scrabble" on occasion, but I preferred playing "Upwords". 

We used to play several times a week. We had a dictionary on our kitchen table at all times - or that is how it felt anyway.

            Our dictionary eventually got torn up a bit, but it was nothing compared to the tiles of disappearing letters.

  

            They would scratch off and we attempted to go over each with a marker until finally we just broke down and purchased a brand new game

 

            Eventually those tiles wore out as well.  After I married mom purchased another upward game with a more spacious board and smaller tiles.  After she had gone into assisted living, I took the game to live in my household.  It was this version that made it to Oregon with us.

            It is a game Jenna doesn't enjoy playing, but recently Roland has made the sacrifice of leaving the TV in order to play "Upwords" with me.  We don't yet have the sparing relationship that mom and I had together - often playing two or three games in a row.  Roland's maximum (so far) has been one.  It hasn't come close to the competition which mom and I had experienced, but it seems to be getting there.  I am grateful for Roland's willingness to work his way into becoming an "Upwords" rival.

When it Rains, it Pours

            It’s been just over three and a half years since we had made the purchase of our reclining couch and chair – something that had invited comfort in the showroom.  We didn’t realize the furniture had been created over extremely heavy frame that would misshape each time it was moved.  Thus, coming out to Oregon really took a toll on our misshapen couch each time it was moved.  It’s sad that it’s value had depreciated so quickly.  We feel so gipped.  But what can we do? 

We have looked to replace our pathetic couch, but it’s not a priority.  There are two other issues at hand.

            First there is the matter of the car that my mom had purchased brand new, however Roland and I put more miles on the car than she ever did.  We had borrowed it to go on long trips thus it had quite a bit of mileage on it before we had purchased it.  We have worn the poor baby going up and down hill;

I don’t think our car was designed for climbing. 

            Saturn checked the car each year as part of their service.  I don’t think it got as much attention after Saturn went out of business.  It currently needs a transmission.  A car seems more necessary than a couch.  Also, more expensive.  A second car would be imperative.  Of course, it costs much more than a couch.

            And now we have an additional problem.  One of our toilets leaks. 

We don’t from where exactly.  Our carpet was wet and we dried it out, but we noticed the carpet managed to get drenched again after another flush.  So, for now, all of us must use the master bath.  What moron decided carpet in the bathroom was a good fit anyway?  We’ll be contacting the insurance company on Monday to see if we are covered.  We’ll have to cut the carpet out (which had actually been our plan since before we moved in, but still don’t have the finances for) and redo the floor (in addition to plumbing expense) 
           Then there is the matter of medical bills - not even sickness but check-up routines. 

I can't imagine how outrageous it would be if any of us were actually sick or hospitalized!  What a nightmare!

            Oh, the joys!

I Need to Take a Breather

            I had quite a full agenda yesterday.  After the sun rose, I drove to Riddle as Jenna had a dentist appointment.  On our return, I stopped at Dollar General for just a few items to add to her lunch and then I took her to school.

            I meant to turn in my assignment before my assessment, but I somehow had allowed myself to become frazzled and instead of submitting the assignment I clicked my assessment and started the quiz. 

            Once the quiz starts, there is no turning back, there are no retakes.  Most tests are timed. I had less than two hours.  And though it is open book, the e-book appears on just one third of the screen and I have to control plus each page I am on in order to view something bigger.  As I had explained in my last post, it is very time consuming.  And while I thought I knew the answers to some of the questions, there were a few that had stumped me. 

            It took all of two hours and I started marking answers just to have them answered but still hadn't checked on whether they were correct.  Time ran out before I was able to find them all - plus I knew I had a luncheon to attend.  I should have waited until this morning to take the assessment!  I doubt I would have gotten a much different score however - but perhaps I would have had a few more right.  I don't guess I'll ever know for certain.

            I had misunderstood the meeting time, for I thought I was assisting with cleaning the church before going out to eat. I have not assisted with cleaning a church building since I lived in Utah.  It is quite different here as it is a smaller building and only one ward meets there.  In Utah the cleaning was always done on Saturday - sometimes by different families, sometimes by organization.  The ward I had attended in Kearns split the work in half with one family cleaning  the chapel and the other the rest of the building.  In West Valley the chapel made about a third of the work (bigger building and three wards)

            This ward is cleaned on Thursdays.  A couple alternates weeks with two sisters - or at least that is how it has been.  But health issues have complicated matters and so there have been requests made for others to volunteer their time.  Aurelia had started at 10:00.  On the average, I am not even available on Thursdays until noon - so I was not there when the workload started.

            Aurelia had invited me to lunch because she wanted me to meet with one of the sisters that she visits teach.  We met at the restaurant that serves Mexican food before returning to the church.  They had the majority of it cleaned already.  I was asked to dust and wipe down the kitchen and doorknobs. 

            The "dusting" reminded me of dusting in the temple.  One has to have a recommend to clean in the temple.  I haven't done it often.  Maybe three times in West Jordan.  It seems like it was a very long time ago.  A white cloth will remain white by the end of the night.  I used a blue micro cloth at the church yesterday.  I did finally manage to find some dust on the piano used in the Relief Society room.  All the dust I had gathered yesterday amounted to less than the size of a fingerprint. 

            One tiny piece of glitter sparkled over the piano keys.  I was excited that there was only one.  I saw glitter ALL of the time when I was cleaning in West Valley. I don't think there was any week I cleaned that I didn't see glitter.  So finding only one glitter speck was really quite refreshing.  I think if they assign workers - even more so specific jobs (that's what they had done in my mom's ward;  my nephew and niece had been assigned to clean the blackboards; someone else was assigned vacuuming and so forth) also I think they might get a better turn out on a Saturday than a Thursday.  Cleaning on a weekday just seems weird to me. 

            Then again, my mom's ward had several hindered people who were/are active.  Those that attend this ward may already have multiple callings.  I do.

            I did not return to the house until just before 4:00.  Today I've been managing online billing, account balances and other information required for credit.  Jenna will be home in one hour and though I have accomplished a lot, I still need my breather.   Tomorrow we'll be going shopping for a car.  Dang! I feel so overwhelmed with missing hours.   

I Need More Analogies and Less Pauses

   In this post I made a comment about how a survey is sent out during the final week of an online class and that we are expected to fill out said survey before we can continue with program.  I have now taken 4 or 5 classes in which I either haven't had a pop-up or else it popped up later than usual.  I don't know if I'm through with the surveys as I am halfway through my program, if it's a fluke, or if there have been bugs in the system when the school changed its format.  I'm guessing the latter.

          Currently I'm taking the first of six intermediate accounting classes.  I signed on to the live lecture and was asked how I felt about last week's assignment.  O.K. I guess.  In the chat box I wrote, "I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either."  The instructor laughed as she read my comment.  She seemed to agree because of the subject matter.

          Seriously?  If you actually agree with me, why not liven up your lectures?  Why present something boring in an even more boring manner?  Why does accounting have to be so boring?  At least try to fake some enthusiasm.  What are you doing teaching a course where there is no passion?  Are all accountants boring?  When I type accountants in Google imaging, for the most part they don't look boring.  They're smiling. 

https://summers-mcnea.com/

They're laughing.

http://www.insightsfinancialreview.com/skills-every-accountant-should-have/

 Maybe at an inside joke that has nothing to do with accounting? 
These silhouettes make accountants look like super heroes.  Hey, there's an idea: make the boring profession appeal to children.

https://www.ckca.co.uk/

So here are my ratings for my current class.

Overall, I am satisfied with this course.

 I think not; It's accounting. 

The work required for the course is reasonable.

 So far.  It seems relative.  Finding the correct page number on the ebook has been a major pain!  I think it's consumed more of my time than just doing the dumb problems!

The instructor is organized and prepared. 

No, Not really.  I would think there would be less pauses and shorter ones.  I don't know that she has ever taught online before.  I sense that she is not experienced with this.

The instructor is knowledgeable about the course subject.

Honestly, her voice indicates that she is more bored with the subject than I am . . . if that is even possible.

Instructor teaches concepts in a way that is easy to understand. 

Okay, I'll give her that one. She did make more sense of the chapter at one point.

instructor holds my interest 

Not hardly.  Again, it may just be the subject.  I find CrashCourse videos easy to understand;  however they don't seem to deal with accounting.  SwotSmart does put out a more entertaining video than do most accountant videos I have seen.

I  hope I may view the next two weeks with more gusto as I haven't found it thus far.  Why was it I chose to major in accounting?

Heavy Bars for Tonight's Cook-Off

                I think the young men and young women have a combined activity each month.  Once a year (I guess in January) they have a cook off.  Jenna had wanted to make the "cupcakes" that we had at her last birthday party - sure she is combining three ingredients to make something else, but I don't really think it should count if Reese's, Pillsbury and Duncan Heinz are really doing most of the work.  The rules are that it needs to be a recipe and not from boxes.  We didn't happen to have brownie mix, cookie dough and peanut butter cups hanging around anyway and so Roland had talked her into making an apple pie.

            Pie for an armature cook-off?  Really?  I could sense that Jenna was not that thrilled with the idea of making any kind of pie. Nor did she wish to start it last night but rather after she returns from school today.  However, Roland was able to assist last night and will be working when she returns from school.   I don't want to make pie!  I looked for a recipe that would work with ingredients that we already have.

            From years' past, I can remember when Peggy Bird was in her domestic mother earth stage.  The woman was always baking.  I loved going across the street because her kitchen was always filled with pleasant smells of baking.  Molasses cookies seemed to be the number one staple.  But I do remember my first encounter with Peanut butter squares (or peanut butter fingers as the boys called them) coming from her house and had searched for that recipe so that Jenna could make them.

            She found all the ingredients and placed them on the table and then measured each one out and really did do most of the stirring and combining and baking herself.  We didn't have the right size pan and so our bars came out thicker - and heavier.  I don't recall ever having such heavy bars before.  We could have made the frosting, but chose to sprinkle on chocolate chips as soon as the pan was removed from oven.

            I turned the oven off and returned the pan to the warm oven to allow chips to melt as the oven cooled down.  After a few minutes we spread them over the bars. I cut them into rectangles this morning, but thought better of it and cut each rectangle in half - not only because it would give Jenna more bars to take, but because they are heavy and a long bar might be too much sugar shock for some.  

            So here is the final product minus what we sampled and the oversized edge that she ended up taking to school.

            The recipe we used is found here, though there are others.  I might have used a different recipe the last time I had made them (recently as October) or had used two different pans as mine were not as heavy.  I think these ones that Jenna made are definitely the most heavy I have ever eaten.  I am assuming there will be leftovers.

Return to Grants Magic

                It was at the end of August or the beginning of September when the library treasurer mentioned a grants program workshop she had signed up for and said the tuition would cover up to four participants.  I don't know if she had mentioned it in hopes I would volunteer - but I did.  She said the program would start in October and I would be receiving email from the instructor - and then I forgot about it.

            In September I attended a meeting in which clipboards were passed around in order for us to sign up for teams which would guide financing, library training, public relations and one other.  There were two that I definitely didn't want to belong to and signed up for training.  But wait . . . what happened with the Grants Magic (here) I had been signed up for?  I told the treasurer I had not received an email.

            This is an eight session class - the great thing about the online sessions is they can be watched at the participant's own pace.  This is good since that by the time I was finally able to log on, the workshop was halfway over.  I started watching the sessions in November.  I wasn't even halfway through the course when I received the final session.  There's so much I need to review now - but I at least have that opportunity.

            It was easier to go through the process when I had only one class, it was easy to take several minutes out of my schedule in order to review the videos and workbooks required for the Grants Magic course, but when I had my Psychology and Programming class side by side, even the bonus "Christmas goodies" had to be put on hold.  Oh, my goodness.  It's a wonder I remember any of it really.

http://www.grantsmagic.org/

            Now that I take only one class this mod and the lecture doesn't take place until Wednesday afternoon,  I have some free time to continue through these sessions - which I really am enjoying.  Hopefully I will gain more confidence that I am able to assist in an efficient way.  Thus far I haven't practiced methods with anyone else on the financial team - which initially I hadn't signed up for, but had received one email that indicated I was on the financial team.  It does make sense, but I have not met with the team as of yet.  I've pretty much been out of the loop with the library since the Children's Summer Reading Program came to its end.  But now that the holidays are over, I need to get back into the swing of things.  Hopefully I'll be more focused and become a leader in my field. 

Somewhere Between Walter and Sheldon

                There is a student in my accounting class who thrives on accounting.  She LOVES accounting.  Her interest is consumed in accounting.  It is her primary focus.  I don't know if she has any other interest. 

                When posting to the discussion, we are suppose to use at least 150 words (some classes say 300;  it depends on the class) and she always uses over 1,000.  At first I thought it was an attempt to show off her knowledge, but after having at least two other classes together, I can see that she is not only knowledgeable but passionate as well.  She wants to share her passion.

                I do not share her passion.  Accounting is a complicated language.  I don't think it needs to be.  I can pick out words that make sense to me, but overall I feel like the character on the outside of the "nerd-circle".  Two television shows come to mind.  Both series of CBS.

https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/scorpion-season-four-ratings/

The first is a drama/crime show called "Scorpion" which is about four geniuses who work for/with a government agent to solve problems that the average human mind wouldn't be able to grasp.  Walter is the over achiever who is academically gifted but totally lacks in reading emotions.  The only person he has ever seemed to be attached to is his sister who had a disability that he wanted to make better. He basically heads the group - or believes that he does.

Happy is the mechanic of the group. She is comfortable with infusing things together and making them work.  She is estranged from her father or any other relationship for that matter.

Toby is the doctor of the group.  He seems to understand what is needed to fix the human body, both physically and emotionally.  He uses humor as a defense mechanism.  Toby likes to gamble.

Spencer is possibly my favorite character of the four.  He's overweight, loves comic con,  excels in any and all forms of arithmetic, is germaphobic.

The first season introduces Paige and Ralph.  Ralph is a boy genius who excels beyond his peers.  He's eager to learn on a college level and understands complicated words - more complicated than accounting.  Paige is his mother.  She doesn't understand her son's mind.  She doesn't understand academic complication.  She doesn't seem to have a great handle on relationships as there have been complications with her mother and Ralph's father.  She does understand emotion and ends up working with team Scorpion even though she is far from being a genius. She has emotional intelligence.  I seem to identify most with Paige as I go through my courses of study: overwhelmed by the complexity of the trade, but understanding the personal aspect of self. 

http://www.cbs.com/shows/big_bang_theory/

"The Big Bang Theory", a situation comedy, also focuses on four nerds who hang out together.  They are Leonard, Sheldon, Raj and Howard.  All four work at the same University in California.  Three are scientists and one an engineer. All four love comic con, "Star Trek", and "Star Wars". I would be most interested in going out with Leonard and Raj.  I would not want to date anyone like Sheldon or Howard.  Sheldon thinks quite highly of himself.  He's a gifted know-it-all who does not recognize emotions, sarcasm, or why people might find him offensive.  He's a highly exaggerated character who also loves trains.

 Howard can also be offensive - usually to the opposite sex.  He is overly insecure.  He lives with his mom for most of the series.

Penny is their neighbor who, for the most part, has no clue what the others are saying.  The expressions she wears are similar to the ones I wear in accounting.  It seems like she will sleep around with almost any breathing guy.  But even she is revolted by Howard.

I think the classmate I refer to at the beginning is somewhere between Walter and Sheldon.  I don't know that she gets emotions.  She has them, obviously, but they seem to be tucked away far beneath her intellectual passion.  She's asked me for "answers" to other class projects outside of accounting.  I've tried explaining to her that she should not expect to receive a grade based upon my opinion; rather she needs to have her own.  I think the idea of sharing emotional opinion is as foreign to her as accounting is to me.

 Have you ever seen those questionnaires on BuzzFeed or Zimbo that ask "What Disney Princess are You" or "What Scorpion Character" or "Big Bang Charter are you?"  I don't see how anyone can honestly end up with Sheldon or Walter.  I don't believe that either one of them would take the quiz seriously enough to sit down and actually take the time to take the personality quiz - which of course is only done in fun and has no relevance - which is another reason that neither one of them would take it.