Dusting Off Archives

As I drove home from a day of running errands with my sweetheart, a song popped into my head.  It was mine, one I had written years ago.  I don’t think I have any record of it except the memory, and it hit me that I have half a dozen or so that fit in that same category.  I need to dig those old songs out of the archives and get them recorded or on GarageBand before they get lost forever.

Easter Sunday!

We had a lovely Easter Sunday sacrament meeting today!  A recently returned mission president, President Newman, spoke about the Atonement.  He was planting, and as he dug holes his shovel severed the water line.  “I’ll just keep planting,” he thought, but then he realized that he couldn’t just carry on with his work.  If he didn’t stop to fix the water line, the plants would die.  So it is with us.  We need to stop what we are doing and fix the problem, and restore the Living water that Christ offers to us by applying the Atonement in our lives.

This analogy resonated so much with me.  I am becoming increasingly more aware of how much plants, trees, and animals mean to me.  They have always been such a huge part of my life, but I am getting a better understanding of why.  I think it is an innate part of my nature to enjoy and nurture life in its various forms.  As uncle John said as we were trying to root cuttings, “experiment a little bit, try a few different things, and you will start to learn what makes life.”

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

Higher Education: Peter Thiel vs. Vivek Wadhwa

Peter Thiel’s view of higher education and an interesting rebuttal by Vivek Wadhwa entitled Friends Don’t Let Friends Take Education Advice From Peter Thiel.

Read his article carefully, he really does have good points about the cost of education, especially when it comes to the “brand name” schools.  A quarter of a million dollars for your education?  Crazy?  Yes, but it may set you up for life if it means being connected to the right people at Harvard…

These issues are not as simple as they may seem at the outset.  Personally, I don’t think either of them are 100% right, but read what they have to say!

John’s Garden

Living here, taking care of John, is quite an experience.  It is really good, and it has lots of rewards, and they balance out the work.  But it is work.  An all-day affair of phone calls, meals, dialysis, packing, trips to the garden in his wheelchair, and endless planning, re-planning, and re-re-planning.

John is teaching me more tricks to grow things from cuttings.  I have cuttings from several types of roses, a camellia, pomegranate, and lemon that I hope will grow, because when they sell the house we will be losing one of the most wonderful established landscapes that can fit inside an acre.

For instance, the roses:

The bamboo grove:

Not to mention a Meyer lemon tree, a lime tree, an orange tree, three kiwi, a nectarine, a guava, and some amazing elm.  Oh, and ivy covered fences that give the backyard walls of lush green.

Making Decisions and the Cost of Information Overload

I recently found this article in Newsweek that really piqued my interest.  I have found in many cases that as I analyze my options and the pros and cons of each option, it is very difficult (sometimes nearly impossible) to not get bogged down with the barrage of information that is available.  As information becomes more and more readily accessible, it becomes increasingly essential for us to learn to quickly sift situations and cut through the irrelevant or less pertinent data and single out the handful of details that really matter.  Ignore the side effects and identify the crux of the matter.  On numerous occasions after a discussion I remember my dad saying, “therefore what?”  After all the deliberating, weighing, and what ifs, what is the point?  Is there a way to cut to the chase?

Let me know what you think.