Winter Fun

We just saw to guys go by on snowmobiles out in the snow covered fields around our house.  What a fun thing that would be to do someday.  I'm sure I could find a way to justify the purchase of one someday.  You know, ... in case of some kind of snow emergency, it would be good if we had one (or two). 

New Boots Tested

It rained yesterday, and I got to try out my new boots, and they work great!  I love 'em. 

Spiderwebs and Rain Boots

My awesome wife got me some awesome boots.  I'm very, very excited for the next time it rains, which should be Tuesday night or Wednesday.  I can't wait to go out and do something that involves puddles.  It might just be me feeding the cats, but all the same, I'm excited, and glad to have boots that will keep me dry in up to about a foot of water.  I don't plan on encountering any puddles that are a foot deep, but it's nice to know that such an encounter would not prove to be a hindrance to any outdoor activities planned or otherwise.

I realized on Saturday, that the more time you have, the funner it is to live in the country.  Some things in life seem to require quite a bit of time to fully enjoy them, and I think the country might be one of them. 

I spent Saturday afternoon in the garden.  And by garden, I mean the spot in front our house that's mostly rocks and dying weeds.  There were bugs and worms and lots of dirt and my muscles were sore and I got some dirt in my eye one time and I broke a shovel while trying to uproot two small bushes and a small tree and eventually did uproot the small bushes and the small tree and it was really nice just to have the time to be out there.  Being out there was nice, but even nicer was having the time to be out there.  Life can be so busy sometimes.  It's just really nice to have some time to do something different.  It was the first time in a while that I wasn't trying to finish something really quickly so that I could get to something else on time, and in turn do that quickly so that I could move on to the next thing.

The last time that I had some time was several months ago.  I was out on the back porch one morning and saw a dozen or so spiderwebs, each slightly glistening with morning dew.  Seeing spiderwebs like this is one of my favorite things.

Wii Fit, EA Active, and posting from my Blackberry

So, party because of Wii Fit and EA Active and partly because I really
like that I can post blogs from my blackberry, here's another update
from the life of Scott.

Now, I'm a pretty big guy, so I've been blessed with the ability to
impress my wife by lifting extremely large tree branches and tossing
them over my head during post pruning activities, but I don't think
anyone would mistake me for some one that was actually in shape.

But, I'm getting alittle older and starting to realize the benefits of
getting in shape. Now that I'm almost 30, I know things now that I
didn't know 10 years ago. Things like the exact cost of my health
insurance and how much of it is paid by my employer. And, that taxes
are higher on fast food and restaurants than they are on produce.

So naturally, when I got Wii Fit, I played it for a couple days and
then put it back on the shelf for almost a year. But then, I got EA
active and played that for a few days and ... put it on the shelf for
a year. But then, I pulled both of them out, added a reminder on
google calendar, and have been playing both for about 4 weeks. And
I've been surprised by the results.

Now, I admit that because I'm a mathematician, part of it is my love
for charts and graphs. Every time I look at the random fluctuation
around the 5 pounds I've lost so far, I can't help but imagine a least
squares line fit to the data while I project it out to come up with my
best estimate of when I'll hit my goal. (Right now, I'm guessing
Febuary or March, but we actuaries like to be conservative, so for the
record, I'll say april or may.)

--
Sent from my mobile device

A quick post for a quick study break

So, I think I figured out how to post blogs from my blackberry using
email. This is mainly just a test to see if it works right. I'm
alittle concerned that the spacing between paragraphs will be off.
And this post is mainly just to a test to see if putting two blank
lines between paragraphs will show up as one blank line on the blog.
Here we go.

This new paragraph is on the topic of exams being very hard.
Especially exams of the actuarial variety. I'm currently studying for
CAS exam 6 and can confirm that it is of the actuarial variety and
indeed hard.

--
Sent from my mobile device

U of I 2009 College of Business Diversity Exchange

Today was the college of business's diversity exchange. They called
it an exchange, but it was a lot like a conference.

They had some pretty cool activities to illustrate some aspects of the
benefits of diversity. I learned a lot.

In the first activity, they gave it person a picture from a series of pictures that kind of told a story. Then they had to put the pictures in order without letting anyone else see what their picture is. The idea was that each person usually only sees part of the bigger picture and that it helps to work together in order to see the whole thing.

The second activity divided the group into smaller groups of 4 or 5 people. Then the gave each group the rules to a card game. The objective of the card game was the same for each table, but the rules were slightly different. At first, there's no problem, but when we had the winners from each table move to another table and told them they weren't allowed to talk, it caused a little confusion. The idea was that sometimes we go into a situation thinking that everyone has the same understanding of something. But with different backgrounds, people often come together with the same objective, but sometimes have a slightly different understanding of the rules.

Overall, it was a pretty good event. It was nice that our company could be a part of it (even though it was a very small role).

Fiesty Cat

We got a new cat and named him Fiesty Cat.

Pictures

Here are some pictures from around our house:

Speaking in Church

Below is an email I got about giving a talk in church. Following the email are two articles that are referenced and below that is the talk that I gave.

Brother Christensen,

I just had a speaker cancel for this coming Sunday, the 9th, so if you're OK with preparing something that quickly, I'll take you up on that offer! I was hoping you could base your remarks on the following 2 talks from recent General Conferences (feel free to quote from them as extensively as you feel is prudent). The idea here is that we should treat others, especially our family members, with kindness and patience, and not cut them down. It's a message that we all need to be reminded about on occasion, and I thought it would be appropriate for our branch.

Could you prepare for 20 minutes or so?

Thanks so much for doing this!

-Greg George

Slow To Anger by Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=5f362bce258f5110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

The Tongue of Angels by Elder Holland

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=662fb5658af22110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

Talk

We all get angry. Some of us might have gotten upset yesterday. Some of us might get upset tomorrow. And so far, this isn’t a very insightful talk, so some of the people in the audience might be getting upset right now.

There are times when it may be ok to show your anger. Most of you are probably familiar with the story of Jesus and the money changers. President Hinckley shared the following insight:

Anger may be justified in some circumstances. The scriptures tell us that Jesus drove the moneychangers from the temple, saying, “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13).

But even this was spoken more as a rebuke than as an outburst of uncontrolled anger.

So, with the exception of appropriate and loving rebuke like Jesus showed, nothing good ever really comes from anger. So why do we do it?

Why do we get angry? Why do we get upset?

All of us can probably come up with a long list of things that can sometimes make us upset.

So, here’s my list of things that can sometimes make me upset (in no particular order): my boss, my interns, working late, coming into work early, hot weather, arrogance, ignorance, sales taxes, income taxes, real estate taxes, taxes on capital gains, wasteful government programs, wasteful state programs, logical fallacies, bulk items that are more expensive per unit than individual items, entitlements, the democratic party, the republican party, cleaning up after pets, cleaning up after people, cleaning up after myself, tomato juice, Portobello mushrooms, radio commercials, television commercials, billboards, advertisements in magazines, waiting at hospitals, the DMV, religious intolerance, political intolerance, racial intolerance, China’s occupation of Tibet, genocide in Darfur, exercising, sweating, getting blamed for things I didn’t do, getting blamed for things I have no control over, taking actuarial exams, studying for actuarial exams, bad customer service, not having a signal for my cell phone, having my cell phone run out of batteries, paying tips, shopping, shower heads that are too low, whining, complaining, crying, getting interrupted, doing work that someone else should be doing, excessive sports fans, police officers that abuse their power, dental work, shaving, wearing suits, sitting in boring meetings, convenience fees when paying with a credit card, waiting for trains to pass, driving in Chicago, paying bills, unexpected expenses, detours, road construction, daylight savings time, fox news, slow internet connections, movie challenges on facebook, spam, junk mail, taking out the trash, cleaning up rotten apples, mice, moles, ants, flies, crickets, grasshoppers, raccoons, uncomfortable chairs, airplane seats, inflation, an unregulated federal reserve, federal budget deficits, corrupt governors, business writing classes, sore muscles, high gas prices, and … the IRS.

Now, this is a pretty long list, and I could probably make it longer.

So what are we supposed to do about all these things out there that have the ability to make us upset?

In President Hinckley’s talk, he share’s a couple of stories. The first is a story from his own life:

Many years ago I worked for one of our railroads. A switchman was aimlessly strolling about the platform one day. I asked him to move a car to another track. He exploded. He threw his cap on the pavement and jumped up and down on it, swearing like a drunken sailor. I stood there and laughed at his childish behavior. Noting my laughter, he began to laugh at his own foolishness. He then quietly climbed on the switch engine, drove it over to the empty car, and moved it to an empty track.

I thought of a verse from Ecclesiastes: “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9).

The next story that President Hinckley share’s doesn’t have as happy of an ending:

Grudges, if left to fester, can become serious maladies. Like a painful ailment they can absorb all of our time and attention. Guy de Maupassant has written an interesting chronicle that illustrates this.

It concerns Master Hauchecome, who on market day went to town. He was afflicted with rheumatism, and as he stumbled along he noticed a piece of string on the ground in front of him. He picked it up and carefully put it in his pocket. He was seen doing so by his enemy, the harness maker.

At the same time it was reported to the mayor that a pocketbook containing money had been lost. It was assumed that what Hauchecome had picked up was the pocketbook, and he was accused of taking it. He vehemently denied the charge. A search of his clothing disclosed only the piece of string, but the slander against him had so troubled him that he became obsessed with it. Wherever he went he bothered to tell people about it. He became such a nuisance that they cried out against him. It sickened him.

“His mind kept growing weaker and about the end of December he took to his bed.

“He passed away early in January, and, in the ravings of [his] death agony, he protested his innocence, repeating:

“ ‘A little [piece] of string—a little [piece] of string. See, here it is, [Mister Mayor.]’ ” (See “The Piece of String,” http://www.online-literature.com/Maupassant/270/.)

Hauchcome had become so obsessed that he let his grudge against the harness maker consume his entire life.

Now, most of us won’t let one offence consume our whole lives, but most of us would let some things consume our lives for a day, for an hour, or at least for a few minutes. But the end result is still usually the same. We get mad about it for however long we think is appropriate and then look back and realize it probably would have been easier to just ignore it and let it go.

Sometimes, when I’m being exceptionally patient with someone, my wife will ask me why I’m not getting mad. And I usually joke, “Well, I try not to get mad because in the end, it always makes me upset.”

Elder Holland gave a talk on the power that our words can have. He emphasizes that:

The voice that bears profound testimony, utters fervent prayer, and sings the hymns of Zion can be the same voice that berates and criticizes, embarrasses and demeans, inflicts pain and destroys the spirit of oneself and of others in the process.

Both President Hinckley and Elder Holland emphasize how important it is to control our anger in our marriages and in our families. Now I can’t speak to every situation out there, but this is how things usually go for me.

I wake up in the morning head over heels in love with my sweet, adorable wife. I start getting ready for the day, and something goes wrong that puts me in a bad mood. Then something else goes wrong that puts Amanda in a bad mood. Then I go to work and a hundred things go wrong, but because I have to stay professional at work, I bottle it up inside. Amanda’s at work too, and her list of things that goes wrong quickly passes the one or two hundred mark. Then we both get home with a combined total of two or three hundred things that we are upset about. It seems that we sometimes come home from work only one bad thing away from hitting our threshold. If one more thing goes wrong, we’ll both get upset and say things that we don’t really mean and I’ll have forgotten how much I loved my cute wife when I woke up that morning.

Fortunately, Amanda and I are both aware of this and we are very good at translating what the other person says into what they really mean. So when I come home and say something stupid, Amanda is pretty good at translating that into what I really meant to say, “Amanda, I love you, I’m saying something stupid right now because I’m upset, but I don’t really mean it. What I really want you to know is that you’re wonderful. I’m really glad we are married and I don’t know what I would do with out you.”

Now, even the most patient people you know still have things that make them upset. Mother Theresa, the Dalai Lama, Joseph Smith, Thomas S. Monson, and your cute old grandmother from when you were a kid all have things that make them upset. The key difference, from my experiences and from the talk that president George wanted me to speak on, is patience.

President Hickley began the comments in his talk as follows:

I have chosen tonight to speak to the subject of anger. I realize that this is a little unusual, but I think it is timely.

A proverb in the Old Testament states: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32).

It is when we become angry that we get into trouble. The road rage that affects our highways is a hateful expression of anger. I dare say that most of the inmates of our prisons are there because they did something when they were angry. In their wrath they swore, they lost control of themselves, and terrible things followed, even murder. There were moments of offense followed by years of regret.

He goes on to share a story:

This story is told concerning Charles W. Penrose. He was a convert to the Church and served as a missionary in England for some 11 years. When he was released, he sold some of his belongings to pay for his trip to Zion. Some of the Saints observing him said that he was taking Church property.

This angered him so, that he went upstairs in his residence, sat down, and wrote these verses, which are familiar to you. (See Karen Lynn Davidson, Our Latter-day Hymns: The Stories and the Messages [1988], 323.)

School thy feelings, O my brother;
Train thy warm, impulsive soul.
Do not its emotions smother,
But let wisdom’s voice control.

School thy feelings; there is power
In the cool, collected mind.
Passion shatters reason’s tower,
Makes the clearest vision blind. …

School thy feelings; condemnation
Never pass on friend or foe,
Though the tide of accusation
Like a flood of truth may flow.

Hear defense before deciding,
And a ray of light may gleam,
Showing thee what filth is hiding
Underneath the shallow stream.
School thy feelings, O my brother;
Train thy warm, impulsive soul.

Do not its emotions smother,
But let wisdom’s voice control.
(“School Thy Feelings,” Hymns, no. 336)

I really like this hymn, because Charles is basically saying, “Go ahead and feel upset about it, that’s ok. Don’t smother your feelings. You’re upset for a reason, and if something’s wrong, it’s good that you feel that way. But, before you open your mouth, think things over for a second. Make sure you have all the facts. Make sure you hear everyone’s defense. And when you open your mouth, do so with wisdom. Don’t make things worse by letting anger choose your words. Choose your words carefully and with a cool and collected mind. You’ll probably want to accuse or condemn someone in the passion of your anger, but don’t. Train yourself to rely on wisdom and reason when you try to correct this situation.”

This hymn, very poetically reinforces one of the many ideas that God has shared with the world in order to help us find joy.

Responding with kindness, patience, and compassion to situations that originate in anger and hate is taught by Buddhist, Hindus, Muslims, Atheists, and Christians all over the world. It’s a secret that God hasn’t hid from any of his children.

And, this very well, might be the hardest thing we’ll ever try to do.

I leave you with my testimony that on the rare occasions when I’ve been able to respond with patience, love, and compassion to situations that originated in anger and hate, it has brought me closer to my God and has brought me the peace that Jesus spoke of. I leave you this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Arthur Benjamin's Formula

For many people, probability and statistics will be more important than calculus:
http://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_benjamin_s_formula_for_changing_math_education.html

Summer

Summer got hot. I don't have any pictures to post this time. Sorry about that. I'm sure I'll get around to it sooner or later. Things have just been so busy lately.

I thought I'd have more to say when I started writing this blog, but not much is coming to mind.

I sent an email to my representative, Timothy Johnson. Evidently, there is some sort of "Cap and Trade" bill being proposed. Ron Paul is very opposed to it. The conservative radio guy that I listened to on the way home from work in the car seemed very opposed to it as well.

The thing I don't get is, how am I supposed to be an informed and responsible citizen when I can't even find a copy of this 1000-page bill? Why is this bill 1000 pages long? Why is congress trying to pass it by the end of the week? I just wish congress didn't feel like they had to pass bills all the time. Don't we have enough bills? Could a person actually read all the bills that are in effect in one lifetime? The whole thing seems a little out of control to me.

Update - It took me some digging to find the number of the bill. It's HR 2454. I also found the full text. Now all I have to do is read all 1000 pages tonight and let Tim Johnson know how I feel about it before he votes tomorrow.

Been awhile

It's been a long time since I poster anything on my blog. But I do
have some good pictures to post and some good updates about how our
gardening is going. I've just been really busy studying for an
actuarial exam and teaching a new testament class in the mornings for
my church. The exam is on thursday, and this is the last week I teach
the class. So we shpuld see some blog activity pretty soon.

--
Sent from my mobile device