Feeling Blessed

            Not long ago, I'd been contacted by Riddle Fire Department.  We had been there a couple of months ago for an open house the RFD was putting on for fire safety and as a tribute for the family that perished in the fire the year before (see here and here).  One of the firefighters had asked if we had signed up for a smoke alarm.  I told them that we lived in Tri-City and didn't wish to take away from the residents of Riddle.  They said they were willing to come or pass the information onto TriCity.  While Jenna was in Portland, a firefighter from our neighborhood came to install two smoke alarms. 

            He told me that they had been donated by the Red Cross and asked if we slept with the doors open or closed and was relieved to learn we keep them closed.  An open door will feed the fire with the extra air.  A smashed window will feed it even more.  Jenna was excited to learn that she is allowed to knock the screen out and legally exit through her window in the event of a fire.

            The wind had blown our tarp off the roof and it no longer covered the car.  I had mentioned it to Roland, but it remained uncovered.  The sun's been blaring by the afternoon and we have turned on the air conditioner a few times, or else we'll leave the windows open and turn up the fan. 

           

            This morning I woke up to a clap of thunder sonic boom right over my head.  The lightening right on its tail.  There were no counting spaces between the thunder and lightning.  "NO,"  I thought.  It was pouring outside!  Please don't let the smoke alarms go off.  Please keep our house safe.  It was raining HARD.  The entire time we've been in Oregon, I don't remember a thunderstorm like that.  I thought for sure the waterfall would be back in our yare, but it is not.

            We have a man in our ward who works for an insurance company.  He has a device to keep tabs on exactly where the lightning is headed.  When he dropped Roland off this afternoon, he mentioned that the lightning had been directly over us.  I don't doubt it.  Feeling truly blessed that our neighborhood did not see a fire this morning. The storm lasted maybe an hour and a half.  We could hear it move away from us.  According to the news, the storm had headed north.  Weird.

Journal Entry

             I could have slept in this morning as I did not need to be up with Jenna.  She's currently in Portland with the rest of her schoolmates.  She had asked if I'd take her to the school yesterday morning.  Quite understandable.  She didn't wish to carry her "luggage" on the bus and then up the hill. I don't like to drive in school traffic and told her we would have to leave early.

            Since I had to go back through downtown anyway, I decided I would stop at the park for some needed exercise and hopefully dodge the buses.  It had been colder outside than I had predicted.  I made good timing with missing the buses - except for one returning to the bus yard - at least I would guess.  I didn't have to stop for it though.  It seemed to be going slower than the allowed speed limit, but that's okay.  I don't care much for flying down Old Pacific at 45 mph anyway.

            As I turned off the main street, I passed a couple of high schoolers on their way to the bus stop. I don't know if the high school offers overnight trips or not.  My school never did - well, not for the school as a whole. Perhaps the athletes had gone on overnighters - but they didn't happen out of saving accumulated box tops.  I can tell you that.

            I finished up my assignments for accounting and philosophy.  My philosophy assignment for this week was on the topic of tablets vs. textbooks.  My research convinced me that we should stay with textbooks.  Perhaps I can post my assignment after it's been graded?

            After I had finished all my school work, I wrote out some checks to pay bills.  I had three envelopes in my hand when I went out to the mailbox.  It was still early, but the mail had already come.  I had planned to set the bills aside and put out today, except there was a check in the mail that I thought should go into the bank right away.  Thus I went downtown again and dropped my three bills in the mailbox and went to the bank.

           

            Roland had given in to his sweet tooth and decided to bake some cookies.  He was suggested peanut butter and raisins.  Gross!  If you insist on putting raisins in cookies, best to go for "Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies".  I should have just allowed him to make the peanut butter and raisin and then I would not given in to eating any.

  

            Roland and I will need to pick up Jenna at the school at 5:00 tonight.  It is so weird not having her in the house last night.  When was in the sixth grade, her school went to Grants Pass to ride the Jet boats 

and then off to a museum in Ashland.  They stayed the night in Grants Pass.  Yesterday her school went to the Oregon Museum of Science and  Industry in Portland 

and then off to the North Clackamas Aquatic Center.  It is so awesome that she has these opportunities.  

 Today they will be going to the zoo before returning back to Myrtle Creek.

Dreams with APA References

       

          The assignment for my Philosophy class was to write my opinion on a dream job - which I already established in this post is NOT in accounting - though I may consider applying for said position with the Hallmark Corporation - though I think there would be other positions that would be of better interest.

          After reading over my assignment, I decided I hadn't completed the expected requirements and so am posting this to my blog instead.

What is a Dream Job?

            "The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive" - Albert Einstein (Doyle, 2018)

            The words "Dream" and "Job" together feel like such an oxymoron.  A job is something I would have in order to pay my bills and put food on the table.  I have had many jobs.  None have fulfilled any dreams for me. A Dream would be to give service, to share my thoughts and talents.  If I were to get paid for doing what I love, that would be an added bonus.

            I'm not saying that the dream job cannot happen.  There are many people who define "dream job" to mean a large variety of things from a handsome paycheck (Oteify, 2016) to having friends and sincerely looking forward to Mondays (Martin, 2014) I know that  no one career is going to fulfill all of my desires - which I realize does not sound at all optimistic.  We all have hurdles to jump - the first is in landing the job.

            I have been in a number of dead-end jobs to avoid the hurdle of interviewing and competing with others.  Oft times it feels like an endless game.  More people have worked at their careers than the success stories of those jobs that just seem land in their laps. Yet there have been a few success stories about being at the right place at the right time.

            Vanna White was only 25 when she applied for Wheel of Fortune.  I am certain that she had not dreamed that it would 30+ year career.  There may be girls today that would like to grow up and get paid for turning letters and wear different fashions every night.  But who was Vanna White's role model?  Who would have even dreamt up what she does?  

I really like these two quotes she gives:

            “It's not the most intellectual job in the world, but I do have to know the letters.”

            “Think about it: I get to give away someone else's money and make people happy—how's that for a job?”

            I think looking like Vanna White at age 61 would be a dream (Vanna, 2017)

            Carroll Spinney (2017) was approached by Jim Henson to work on Sesame Street - which may have just started out as a job for him but after suicidal thoughts and a broken marriage, Sesame Street eventually became his purpose in life (LaMattina, 2014).  A 45-year career he would have never thought to dream about.

            I think growing up on Sesame Street would have been a dream job.  Acting, playing, educating and getting paid for it.  I don't know how much money each made, but to me, that is not the most important part.  If I am not happy in a job, no amount of money is going to change that.  It is the least important of my priorities.

            My top priority would be location - which has nothing to do with the job itself.  But I do not wish to drive more than 20 minutes to get to my job.  I do not wish to live in the city and get stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on my way to work or the return home.  Horn honking and uptight drivers do not set well with me.  I want to be pleasant and focused when I am at work or home and not waste time in heavy traffic.

not in my part of Oregon, worse in Portland

            The final assessment for my last mod was finding a company with a well-known trademark and write an analysis on my recommendation of the company.  I think I was supposed to include comparing different years of finances.  I ended up doing my report on the Hallmark Corporation and convinced myself that it is a company that I would like to work for. 

          I wondered what kind of a grade I would receive as I did not make a financial comparison. Their company does not have finances available to the public because they do not have investors.  I would like to work for this corporation as they are a family oriented company with ethics.  That, to me, is much more important than a paycheck. 

            I do not wish to open my own franchise but would like to work at headquarters sharing my opinion.  That would be a dream job if they were located closer to the Pacific coast and not in Kansas City Missouri where it will be too hot for me 5 months of the year. But then again, if we were to move to Kansas City - and I'm not saying it will be in our future - we'd be closer to Roland's other two daughters and possibly get to know them.  But then again, moving to Kansas City will also put us closer to their mother which may be worse than any natural element causing the temperatures to rise.

APA References

Caroll Spinney. (2017). Retrieved from IMDB:         https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0818973/?ref_=nv_sr_2

Hallmark Corporation. (2018). Hallmark Deferred Compensation Plan. Retrieved from Hallmark             Corporation: http://www.empower-            retirement.com/client/Hallmark/DCP/documents/summary_highlights.pdf

LaMattina, D. (Director). (2014). I Am Big Bird [Motion Picture].

Martin, E. (2014, October 10). 5 Signs You've Found Your Dream Job. Retrieved from Business   Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/signs-youve-found-your-dream-job-2014-10

Oteify, R. (2016, December 9). What does a ‘dream job’ mean to you? Retrieved from getthat:             https://gulfnews.com/business/sectors/careers/what-does-a-dream-job-mean-to-you-           1.1942493

Vanna White. (2017, April 27). Retrieved from Biography:   https://www.biography.com/people/vanna-white-9542236

Two Classes and Strobe Lights

Scenario: You are an instructor about to present a lecture that you will need to record anyway.  It is 11:30 mountain time - the time announced to students when live lecture takes place.  You turn on your computer ready to start the meeting and there is no one there to listen to you live

question:    Do you start the lecture on time? Do you walk away from your computer and decide to return a few minutes later?  Do you wait half an hour after designated time before you start?  or would you start on time even though there isn't anybody with you at the start?

I would hope you would start on time.  five or ten minutes after the designated time, maybe, but not half an hour.  

I was late for class, I'll admit that.  Maybe 15 to 20 minutes.  There was somebody else signed on beside the instructor.  Why isn't he talking?  I am late for class.  What am I missing?  How come the sign on screen is on and I don't see a lecture.  I typed:

"Have you started the lecture yet?  I don't see anything."

My classmate answers that she is double checking the schedule because she can't see or hear anything either.  So what do we do?

I continued working on an assignment that I had started for my other class, but as time marched on, I grew concerned.  What if our instructor, who had obviously signed in to start the lecture, had had a heart attack or something?    It had been half an hour since the lecture was supposed to start.  I didn't feel like I was jumping the gun, but apparently, I was.  At 11:01 his voice came on and he announced that we would get started.  Just getting started?  What?  

I asked about the time and he said that he'd been there on time but that no one else was.  But two of us had been waiting for at least 20 minutes - though I told him half an hour because that's how long it had been from when he should have gotten started.  

Toward the end of his lecture, my screen started strobing - well, not my entire screen, just the lecture. "What is with your screen?" I asked my instructor - believing that he could see the same thing as I.  He suggested that the problem might be with zoom.  Oh, goody.  A third party device.  Who'm I suppose to address those concerns to?

I get someone at Tech support who says there is a glitch and did I try restarting my computer.  I guess I'll just use my laptop next week.  My last instructor (three mods now) made the screen so huge - almost too huge, but at least I could see it.  The class I had today was bigger than the one I had yesterday.  Back to a post-it-note size framed in black background.  Why does there have to be so much background???

I am excited about one class and will learn to adjust to the other.  I will be kept busy for the rest of this month.  I don't know how often I'll be able to post to my blog.  Weekends, maybe?

Truth Among Bibical Deception

            I have the hardest time teaching the old testament to children - the story of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac or all the lies and deceit that took place and seem contradictory to the message I am supposed to convey.  Yesterday's lesson was on Jacob and the 12 tribes.  The last time our class met, the lesson was on Jacob and Esau.  We related the account of how Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.  Rebecca dressed Jacob in goat skin in order to trick Isaac into giving him the blessing that was supposedly given in Esau's name

            It's been suggested that both parents played along as it had been revealed when Rebecca was pregnant with the two that each twin would bear nations but that the elder would serve the younger.  Perhaps Rebecca and Isaac had put on the charade for Esau's sake.  It's still deception.  Yesterday's lesson was on Jacob returning to Haran to take a wife because no maiden in Canaan was worthy of the Abrahamic line - and yet the family continued to return to Canaan.  I don't get it.

            Jacob labors seven years for Rachael but is tricked into marrying Leah instead of Rachael.  In my mind, Laban's deception toward Jacob doesn't seem any different than Jacob's toward Esau or Isaac.  It was still a part of the plan, right, that Jacob marry multiple wives and have many children?  The scriptures will have us believe that it was Leah who was the most fertile as she had more children than the other three put together.  But does Dinah even count?  There is no evidence of our having a tribe through her.

            In addition to lots of prayer, I used this summary and this video to assist my understanding, though I knew I'd be limited in what I could share with the children.  My absolute favorite quote in this movie is when Jacob finds Leah in his bed instead of Rachael and she says, "Have you never wanted something so badly that you were willing to deceive even those you love in order to get it?"  Duh, Jacob.  

            I know it's just speculation, much interpretaion is - how can one really look at the Bible (either old or new testament) and think it complete?  Perhaps the details aren't important, but it would certainly help me to have more of them.  In the TNT production, it shows that Laban and his family use deception for gain - not so much because it is tradition to marry off the eldest girl first, but because "Whatever Jacob touches, flourishes".  Laban did not wish to lose that and thus continued to lie to Jacob until finally Jacob and the others snuck away when Laban and his servants were unable to see.

            And what makes one a servant anyway?  A population is just born into being?  I don't relate to their customs at all.  With Laban's daughter's getting married, he gives each a gift - a handmaiden.  My gift to you is a person?  This person is going to come in handy when you learn that you won't be able to bear children after your own sister has had four and three more after that?

            My lesson that it is wrong to lie or to break a promise.  I wholeheartedly agree.  It is wrong!  It was wrong for Laban to do it and I think it was equally just as wrong for Rebecca to do it.  But it's just.  It was part of the plan.  But why is it just for her and Jacob and not Laban since Laban's deception also fulfilled a necessary part of the plan - not that I condone plural marriage either nor do I understand why Jacob was able to father with others if he wants us to believe that he was so devoted to Rachael?

            Of course I hadn't planned on mentioning any more than the lineage.  I printed two for the class to look at and ended up talking more about personal genealogy rather than Abraham and Jacob's.  Thomas and Carli listen better when their hands are busy and so I don't always know they are listening, but was actually impressed at how much each of them retained and contributed.  

            Three more lessons about Joseph and Moses after that. I am so grateful to live in a time with easy access to the scriptures and words of the prophets and paved roads and many methods of transportation and choices of footwear, written communication and photographs.  Those old testament people always seem so lost and often out of touch - and incomplete.

Scamming the Scammer

            Funny how since giving the lesson on "Divine Design" to the RS sisters almost a month ago, that I have been noticing more parallels and "divine design" examples in so many lives that I hear about.  Last week Jenna and I watched this story on Sunday Morning - a program that Roland has on almost every Sunday I have known him.  

            He was in the kitchen making breakfast for Jenna and me when the Steven Hartman shared his piece about an unlikely friendship between Ben Taylor from Ogden, Utah and Joel Willie from Liberia.  Joel was in need of money and has been using facebook to connect with strangers to invest in a business.  Ben Taylor accepted his friendship that he might keep Joel so busy that he wouldn't have time to scam anyone else.  Joel's interest was in an electronics outfit located in New Jersey, but Ben had googled the address and the location seemed suspicious as it appeared to be a dumpground for trashed or stolen cars.  He had even called the police to investigate.

            Ben changed directions to "scam the scammer" and said he was interested in purchasing photography and that perhaps Joel could send him some pictures of a Liberian sunset - I am uncertain at how the photographs were received.  They weren't great photos and no indication that the sun was setting.  Ben told Joel that they were great but needed something different and finally blamed the camera for an imperfect quality and purchased a small red digital camera for $60. and sent it to Joel.  

 Joel sent him photos of people and places in Liberia and Ben created a book and put it on the market.  The book raised $1,000 - which in Liberia is an unbelievable huge amount.  

            Ben told Joel he was sending 500 dollars for him to keep and would send another 500 if he would give it all to charity - which Joel would have probably done anyway.  He purchased school supplies and paid for transportation to distribute to five schools and sent Ben more photos of his actions.  Shocked with all that had taken place, Ben flew to Africa to meet Joel. 

CBS photo

 Was it coincidence or by divine design?      

            For more accurate story and interview with Steven Hartman, see here 

CBS

.

           

I Don't Trust Microsoft

            It might not even be Microsoft or Windows but rather a scam - which indicates that it needs to be corrected.  Constant interruptions whenever I use the web - I used to get a warning page with white captions in red background and even voice advising to call Microsoft IMMEDIATELY!  

Roland says he gets that too, but ignores and proceeds.  His computer is for work.  I guess if he can do it, I can do it.  The other day I was researching for an assignment.  I got the message that I had been locked out of my computer and my screen went white.  In the corner was a number to call.  I reported it to Roland who said he would look at it but was taking too long for me and so I called the number to give them hell.

            I got a recording.  Could I please take a short survey while I wait.  I guess.  I don't even remember what the first question was but I answered yes.  The second had to do with medical benefits and would I like to know more.  I pressed No.  Congratulations.  "You now qualify for a cruise for you and your family.  All expenses will be paid except for 65 dollars for each person who will be going.  Press 1 to learn more."  I did not press anything.  Going on a cruise for 65 dollars sounds awesome.  Going on a cruise for 65 dollars sounds too good to be true. Going on a cruise for 65 dollars sounds like a scam.  The message repeated.  I hung up. 

            Inadvertently I hit a key that brought up more options.  I wasn't locked out of my computer!  All I had to do was choose the second option and close down the screen that had popped up - giving me the illusion that my entire screen had gone white.  I was both relieved and upset.  I am so tired of deception.