This is a very interesting use of a tag cloud to show themes of speeches made by US Presidents over time: http://chir.ag/phernalia/preztags/
Fascinating to see some of the themes that have come and gone. Even more so is the one that seemed to stay pretty much constant: war.
Three weeks through January, first ‘weekly’ update… That’s the kind of month it’s been.
January always starts out fun, coming off of Christmas and right into our anniversary (11 years!) then Caleb’s and Alec’s birthdays. Trent feels picked on this time of year when he is left out of the celebrations.
Over Christmas break, I tried twice to take Caleb and Trent skiing, but my timing was bad both times – snowstorms made it impossible to get to the mountains. This last time I tried, we made it about 20 miles down the interstate. After about 1 hour and 10 cars off the road along the way, we decided to turn back. So eventually we’ll make it up there, just don’t know when that will be.
I’ve been very busy with clerk responsibilities in our ward. The bishopric is all new, the clerks are new, the stake clerks are pretty new… we’re all learning together, and making plenty of mistakes along the way. That always reaffirms my testimony that it is the Lord’s church, not ours — that in spite of the people serving in it, it keeps rolling along smoothly. Today was our ward conference, and as a bishopric we spent some time with the stake presidency. As much experience as they have serving in the church, there are still plenty of issues and questions that come of for which they don’t have a ready answer. But somehow it gets figured out and we move forward. For me it is a very interesting experience learning some of the mechanics of how the church functions.
There’s also plenty of work for me to do at my day job — good thing is that I generally enjoy it. This week I managed to get involved in a couple additional projects, all of which are interesting and good opportunities to impact the overall organization. I just need to figure out how to stop doing some of the other stuff I already have. I will be going to Israel for 2 weeks the end of March, which I am looking forward to. Kim’s not, but I appreciate her being positive.
We’re looking forward to blessing Mark in a couple of weeks, and the visits from family that will go along with that. It is great to feel your love and support, and we hope we are able to return it in some degree. At least enjoy some pictures, hopefully they bring a smile or two (argh… something’s messed up with my picture gallery…)
If you haven’t heard the story of Dick and Rick Hoyt, it’s well worth your time:
http://optoutprescreen.com/ is a service run by the credit bureaus to allow you to opt-out of receiving any pre-screened / pre-approved credit and insurance offers. Takes about 30secs to opt-out electronically… hopefully it will reduce the amount of junk mail I receive.
I agree with others that it is silly to create grandiose goals to start the new year — only to forget them within a week. I’m not planning to set any new goals, really, just write down some of the things I’m actively working towards, and elicit feedback and support from others to help me achieve them. So here goes…
Get under 175 and stay there – I’m generally active a reasonably healthy, but losing a couple pounds would be great. I don’t have the time and energy to commit to really shaping my body… this goal simply means that I need to be more disciplined, mainly cutting out the junk and exercising a bit more regularly. I expect to hit 175 by the end of March.
Go to bed by midnight at least 3 days a week – This is a major issue and a discipline I need to develop. Getting more sleep, and more consistently, will have many positive ripple effects in other areas.
Never use credit cards again – Mostly we keep credit cards for emergencies, and pay the balances quickly. But really it’s a crutch to keep from having to be more disciplined and plan better. I’ve been reading and listening to stuff from Dave Ramsey, and he’s helped me realize my dependence on them and that it has to stop. I strongly encourage you to follow his advice (which certainly isn’t anything new).
Establish a 6-month emergency fund – Another of Dave’s baby steps (also not unique to him). It’s tricky to balance all the competing needs for financial resources, but this is something that has to be done first. Our landscaping and other plans will just have to wait a while longer.
Earn revenue from my genealogy business – I’ve been working on some web-based genealogy service stuff with some partners for about a year now… mostly we’ve just been learning and prototyping, and not moving very fast at all. This year I plan to move that far enough along that it generates actual revenue – anything more than zero counts! I see the potential as being much greater than that (or else why would I do it?) but, realistically, everything else that takes my time and energy is not going to go away.
Get out of the house with my wife at least twice a month – Two days until our 11th anniversary, and I certainly have a lot more to learn about dating her. It doesn’t have to be anything lavish, but it does have to be just the two of us.
Ski and golf with my boys – I’m looking forward to lots of fun activities with my boys as they get older. It will be a while before we all are able to do these things together as a family, but I’ll do what I can for now. As Kim’s grandfather Brig says, “All I hope for this year is to make more money and play more golf.”
Use technology to benefit my extended family – uh, that doesn’t count as a goal, but I’ll let it slide – I’m kind of the nerd of the family, and that’s okay. I know a lot about the internet and such that can benefit my family. This past year I got my mother blogging. This year I need to finish up on the Lofgreen Newsletter project I started a couple years ago. Then there’s teaching about things like RSS, avoiding viruses, phishing and other attacks, filtering bad content, etc. There’s no way I can keep up on all of it myself, but I’m happy to consult and help any who ask.
Looks like 2007 will be as busy as ever. Hopefully writing these down and sharing them publicly will help to yield positive results. I’m looking forward to it.
The past two weeks were made unexpectedly interesting by the big snowstorms that blew through here. The snow was very welcome, but it sure did mess with some of our plans. In spite of it all, we managed to enjoy a fun Christmas together as a family, with plenty of new toys around the house — mainly Nerf Tag dart guns and r/c cars for each boy.
Saturday before Christmas we enjoyed the annual tradition of making graham-cracker ‘houses’, delayed this year so Merrit and Colin could be there as well. That is one of the traditions that I enjoy most from my childhood… so far we’ve been around my parents most every year to continue it, and I hope to carry it on in the future. It’s hard to come up with something new each year — over the years I’ve done a tank, an ostrich, the US Capitol building, a Tongan hut… This year it was a teepee.
Because of the snow, I had to call off my ski trip with Caleb and Trent. I refuse to go on a Saturday (traffic is one of my least favorite things…), so it’s tricky to find a time when I can take them. Hopefully we’ll make it before school starts up again.
I spent the week after Christmas working (sort of) and playing at home. We added ‘Risk’ to our collection of board games, and Caleb really got into it. I’ll have to let him win one of these times so his enthusiasm doesn’t disappear. More snow came, but not as much as I’d hoped — I woke up the next morning and was disappointed to see that our street had already been plowed, so no excuse to stay home from work. We celebrated Kim’s birthday, and generally relaxed, as much as is possible with three boys running around and one more that is constantly starving.
All in all, 2006 was a good year for our family, and it ended pretty positively as well. We’re looking forward to making many more memories in the coming year, hopefully more with other extended family as well. In the mean time, here’s a bunch more pictures.
I took the superhero quiz and I’m somewhat surprised at the results…
Your results:
You are Superman
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You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.  |
Not that it means anything, but it’s interesting… share your results!
