Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

This email comes around every year and I smile every time I get it.

To All My Democrat Friends

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010 but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

To All My Republican Friends

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

 

I Love This Stuff

 

Will someone please help me?

I had been planning on a Nook 3G+WiFi for Christmas, then when they banned reading at work (well, at least on the PM shift) I began to rethink it.  Since then, I’ve done a lot of thinking about e-readers and simply can’t justify why I need one.

That brings me to this point: what do I want for Christmas?  I’m honestly at a loss.  That, and I keep having 2Ne: 51 repeat in my head – “Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy.”  Currently, my list consists of a 12″ cast iron frying pan.

Bueller?  Bueller?  Bueller?

Oh sure, there are old standbys like Pachmayr grips for my S&W 686 or my Ruger New Model Super Blackhawk, but come on!  There has to be something else that I want, right?

Ideas.  I need ideas.  Please, please give me some!

 

Teaching the Boy

One of D’s favorite songs is the Happy Birthday song.  When a member of the family has a birthday he’ll walk around the house singing happy birthday to them until the next birthday arrives, then he switches to that next person.  Tammy and I have been trying to teach D about the meaning of the 4th of July and it must have clicked because today the song changed.

Happy Birthday to you.  Happy Birthday to you.  Happy Birthday dear America!   Happy Birthday to you.

Hopefully the Founders are smiling as much as I am.

 

Never Forget

 

Belated Thanks

My wife showed me this and I had to steal it and post it:

Happy Mother’s Day to all of my favorite mothers!

 

Happy New Year

May the God of Heaven bless you and yours!

 

Last Minute Run-Arounds

Monday I spent several hours picking up last minute gifts for the boy.  Today I did my final running around of the week, picking up knick-knacks like stocking stuffers (candy, oranges, etc) and grocery basics (so that we’re good through Monday).  Just finished lunch and Tammy put D down for a nap.  Now I need to finish the dishes.  Then, relaxing and celebrating for the next several days.
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Update: Tammy already finished the dishes while I was sitting here.  Now on to relaxing!

 

The Season is Upon Us

The Thanksgiving weekend isn’t over for a few more hours but the Holiday Season is fully upon us.  I’ve had a great week off and am looking forward to getting back to school tomorrow and finishing the last three weeks of my undergraduate degree.

Normally around this time I would have taken the time to sit back and reflect on the blessings that have been mine this year.  Yet, I’ve had so many opportunities to do so that it would seem forced to set aside a special day.  So let’s recap the last year: 

School Blessings

December 4, 2008 I lost my job for the second time that year.  I had been working full-time and going to school part-time since Summer 2006 and had projected a Summer 2010 graduation as long as I could maintain 9 credits each semester, three semesters a year.  However, Tammy and I decided that, with the state of the economy in January 2009, it would be wise for me to focus all of my energy on school and graduate sooner so that my school schedule would not be an obstacle in my finding employment (as it had been thus far).  Thus began my 2009 education blitz, completing 43.5 credits in three semesters: 12 in Spring, 15 in Summer, and 16.5 this Fall.

Family Blessings

I’ve had more time to spend with my family, especially my son.  Born in May 2007, D has always been his mother son.  In fact, he really didn’t like me at all for the first nine or so months of his life.  I could hold him if Tammy was in the room, but as soon as he discovered that she was gone, it was kicking, punching, screaming, and crying until she came back and held him.  Even as he started to warm to me, the situation didn’t really seem to improve much.  I was usually gone from early in the morning until late at night, night classes being the only classes that I could take because of work.  On nights that I didn’t have class I was home, but usually huddled over my homework.  My absence strained my relationship with my son because I didn’t understand his attempts to communicate with me (as babies do) and my attempts usually left both of us frustrated.  My lack of employment has been a huge blessing in that it has allowed me to spend more time with D and our relationships have changed dramatically in the last year.

My family has been blessed with good health this year.  As we’re uninsured (except for the boy, thanks be given to CHIP) and have not had the finances to survive a major medical event, this has been a major blessing!

Financial Blessings

On top of student loans, which thankfully will not be excessive when I graduate, I’ve been able to participate in a state tuition assistance program that assists displaced workers to receive additional education in order to improve their employment opportunities.  And since University students are not generally admitted to the program it is an even bigger blessing.  This has allowed us to use more of our student loans for living expenses. I was able to find temporary employment with the U.S. Census Bureau during the spring.  The majority of the work fell during the break between Spring and Summer semesters and took some strain off of our student loan funds. 

Our car is in good order.  Our bills are manageable.  We have all been healthy.  We almost lost our apartment when the owner filed bankruptcy, but miraculously they didn’t lose any of their real estate in the bankruptcy.  Also, our extended family cannot be overlooked.  They have stepped in countless times and surprised us with diapers or clothes for D, food, and even money when things got really tight.  We could not be where we are without them. 

One final blessing that cannot go unmentioned – my wife.  She has been my rock since the day we were married.  She has primarily managed our finances so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it (and because I SUCK when it comes to money).  Tammy has found ways to cut our grocery bills down to almost nothing, with out sacrificing food, in ways that I never thought possible.  She deserves all credit for the intellectual growth and development of our son and I give it fully.  I keep saying that I don’t deserve her and that some day she’ll realize that.  Yet, in her usual way, she reassures me of the opposite.  I hope to be able to prove her right. 

Tis the season, they say, to be grateful for the blessings that we have.  I’ve been thankful every day for the last year and will continue to be so. 

 

Happy 4th of July (Part II)

Here’s Marko’s view.

 

Happy 4th of July

Tam has a look at what to celebrate, independence.

 

New Year's Day Range Time

I called my brother late Wednesday and said that we finally needed to get together for a range day, so we planned it for Thursday, New Year’s Day. I packed up my XD45, Super Blackhawk in .44 Mag, and my Winchester Model 70 (post ’64 model) in 7mm Rem. Mag, plenty of ammunition for each and headed to Nephi. For those of you not from Utah, and even some that are, it’s pronounced “knee-fi.” It’s about an hour and a half south of me so it was a nice relaxing drive.

Once on the range we decided to mercilessly butcher paper like there was no tomorrow. Shane brought his XD45, Sig P245, Super Blackhawk in .44 Mag, S&W Model 66, and a rifle (I believe a Remington) chambered in 7mm Rem. Mag.

We practiced rapid fire, self defense drills, and even had some failure drills from some ammo that my brother’d loaded. Then out came the Super Blackhawks and a couple of games of roulette. Now, before you get worried let me explain. In our family, playing roulette with a revolver chambered for a magnum cartridge means that you load 4 or 5 chambers with the “special” round for that caliber (.38 Special/ .44 Special) then the remaining chambers with the magnum round (.357 Magnum/ .44 Magnum), spin the cylinder, shut it, and test for recoil anticipation. Those who have fliers or are all over the paper are worried that “this one might be the magnum.” It really is a fun game. You should try it.

Once we were finished with the hand guns we broke out our rifles to try out some new rounds my brother’d loaded to use on coyotes. You’re typical 139 grain 7mm bullet will travel about 3,100 ft/s. These had been chronographed at just over 3,300 ft/s. At 100 yds these Hornady 139 gr interlocks were shooting about 2-3 inches high (the 200 yd range was in use or we’d have been over there). I think they’ll work really well on coyotes.

 

Checking In

I have been in a blogging fog since my last post. I have sat down several times and tried to put something on the screen and it just hasn’t worked out. I wonder if the problem stems from the mass quantities of sugar that I’ve been consuming.

I did, however, find this neat little warning label generator.

Happy New Year, everybody! I’m sure that things will pick up around here again as the brain becomes more functional.

 

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

З Різдвом Христовим!!!

From Left to Right: E. Carrier, E. N. Rencher, Me, E. Hodson
Anya, Raica

My first Christmas in Ukraine (2002) was spent in the town of Brovary. Anya and Raica made us feel very welcome as we decorated their tree and had a nice simple Christmas Eve dinner.

My second Christmas in Ukriane was very different. I had spent the previous 11 months in the Obolon/Vinogradar areas of Kyiv. On Christmas Eve (2003) I was transfered out west to Rivne. Here I was, in a brand new city, with a new companion and in a new district, the day before Christmas. The branch members were very kind and made me feel right at home though.

 

Thanksgiving

As I sit here at the end of a successful Thanksgiving, I wonder at that word, “successful.” What must a day contain to make it a “successful” Thanksgiving. I got to spend the day with loved ones, and especially the one’s I love most – my wife and son. I am thankful for them, for the joy that they give me each day. I’m thankful that all my son has to do is smile at me and everything that is wrong with this world disappears, if only for a moment.

I’m thankful for the warm embrace of my loving wife. How her tender words calm my soul and how a quick look from her will gently but firmly put me in my place. I’m thankful for the opportunity to worship my God according to the dictates of my own conscious and that I live in a country that allows all people the same freedom.

I’m grateful for Jesus Christ. I’m grateful that He took upon Himself the sins of the world, my sins, so that I have the opportunity to return to live with Him again. That return is contingent upon obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel which thankfully have been restored, in their fullness, upon the earth today.

I’m thankful to live in a country where I have the opportunity to receive any amount of education that I desire. That knowledge flows unrestrained, as long as we are willing to work for it and earn it properly. I am grateful for the freedoms that I have. Though our Constitutional Republic has ceased to function as originally intended, we are still far better than the majority of countries on this planet.

I am thankful for my health. I am thankful for my employment. I am thankful that I am poor, because it keeps me humble. And yet, I am not as poor. I have been blessed to have been born in a good land, where food is plentiful, where I have a roof over my head, where science and technology have increased the ease of life.

I am thankful that happiness is still found in the simple things – friends, family, being kind to others.

Paul taught in Ephesians 5:20, “Giv[e] thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Alma taught in Alma 7:23, “… ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.”

It has been a good Thanksgiving. Hopefully we can all do a little bit more to keep the intent of this day with us every day.