The Tribulation of the Choir Director

Let me walk you through my day: First, I had to cover for the Elder's Quorum President today in Ward Council. Normally that isn't a big deal, but since we have the early session this year, I had to be at the church at 7:00 a.m. That means I had to get up at 6. Again, not that big of a deal. However, since the choir was performing today in sacrament meeting, we had rehearsals before church started at 9:00 a.m.

Right after Ward Council, I called home to make sure everyone was ready to be picked up. No worries there. So I race home to find out that Benjamin had thrown up in the 15 minutes it had taken me to get home. Leslie had to conduct Primary today so couldn't stay home and I had to direct the choir so I couldn't stay home. We quickly decided that I would take the non-sick kids to sacrament and then I would come home and Leslie and I would switch.

With the kids loaded up we raced back to the church, thinking I was going to be late for the choir rehearsal. Two people showed up. Two. Normally no big deal. But we haven't practiced in the past few weeks due to several different issues. (Is Valentines day really an excuse to bail out on choir? I mean, church gets out at noon and if someone REALLY needs to be with their spouse that bad that they can't stay for the 45 minutes after church we have for choir practice, who am I to say otherwise?)

So there I was, sitting in sacrament with 4 kids wondering if anyone was going to bother getting up when it came time for the choir to sing. Lucky for me, they did. Not very many, mind you, but at least there were some. (I may be overreacting, but it seems like our ward choir has been getting smaller and smaller since I was called as the director. Meh...whatever...) We sang "Love at Home" - first verse in unison, second verse guys on melody and women on the alto line, and last verse in all 4 parts. We sounded like a typical small ward choir. I'm not judging, but I do have to keep reminding myself that none of us are professionals and with so few of us, I have to really scale back on my music selection (like strictly out of the hymn book. Luckily we have a fantastic piano player who is able to embellish the accompaniment beautifully.

A quick 15 minute run back home saw me rushing in the house and Leslie out of the house. The car engine was never shut off and I felt like high-fiving my wife while yelling "You're It!" Ben was asleep and the rest of my morning was fairly quiet. I think I was supposed to go home teaching today as well, but my companion and I never really touch base with each other and, since I wasn't really at church today, I didn't think about it until just now.

As a brief follow-up from my last post, apparently everyone in my entire world has a facebook account. Who knew? There is a lot of stuff that I just don't quite understand yet and (justified or not) there are a lot of things that the privacy freak in my head is screaming about. (i.e. I wouldn't mind playing a game or two on there, but when it asks for permission for some third party to access my personal information I tend to say, "Huh, what do you know? I didn't want to play that as much as I originally thought...") Overly paranoid? Possibly. I've accepted this about myself. I'm not sure how much I'll use it, but there it is. If someone wants to get in touch with me, they now can.

Post Birthday Week

Last week was a very bad week for me. There were a lot of reasons for it - none of them worth squat in the grand scheme of things though. I was overly irritable and I generally blew up at the kids for the littlest things. Luckily, my family still loves me and I'm slowly getting over it (the feeling is still there to a degree, but I'm working harder at keeping it in check). I don't want to go into details of my funk because it would be at all helpful and there are just some things that aren't flattering to myself or others. It could be described as one of those dark corners of mortality that, unfortunately, spilled out into the rest of life.

I find it odd that our own perception of who we are is, at times, greatly different from how others perceive us. Iwas talking to Mary about this the other day. We can sit in church and look at a family and think they have it all worked out - nearly perfect in some cases. Then we feel inadequate, imperfect, perhaps even hypocritical at times. That is especially true when we hear from others how "perfect" our own family is. To paraphrase Bugs Bunny: "They don't know us to well, do they?" But it goes the other way too. We can't see what goes on in the homes of others, or in their heads. No one is perfect. No family is perfect. We only see a family on their best behavior for a few hours a week. We only see the outward appearance of a straight A student, or a good singer, or a good dancer (or sometimes all three togehte). It can be disheartening for children and adults.

But something occurred to me today in regards to my children: They may not be the best at anything visible (athletics, singing, grades, etc.) but they are still very young. Before, I would think, "They just need to find something they really enjoy doing." However, in thinking of the response I would most likely get to "What do you enjoy?" I can easily imagine them saying, "Having fun!" And there it is. They don't need to have a hobby or an exlusive interest at this point in their lives, do they? They are still young kids. They need to have fun. And they do. There is still plenty of time for them to figure out what they want to do in life (hopefully they'll figure it out sooner rather than later like me - not that I have figured it out yet mind you).

I guess I worry they are going to be lifetime slackers like me. But, then again, that gets back to my earlier point: They way I see myself isn't the way others see me. Success in life might be more based on the latter rather than the former, so maybe I worry needlessly.

Pictures to the Family Vacation...

...are over here at the very pink blog.

A Sizzle, Fizzle, Fourth

It was hot. There was a pool. There was a grill. There was an extremely dense chocolate cake. There were some less than impressive fireworks.

So no rabble-rousing for me this time around. We were invited (at 10:00 PM the night before, I might add) over to another family's house for the Fourth of July. At the end of the day, we were all pretty wiped out. It was alright for what it was, but it just seemed like any other weekend. I didn't get all crazy-patriotic (a little, but nothing "extremist" inducing). And then, today, I went back to work. ::shrug::

We actually have a lot going on this month. This Wednesday, is Cub Scout day camp (I got the day off work so I get to go). Mid-month, we're headed out on a family vacation to the zoo and aquarium across the state. At the end of the month is a local gaming convention that might be mildly amusing. We'll see.

The basement in the house has been almost finished for quite some time now. Leslie's been doing a lot more work on it than I have; that's because I'm a slacker - I've accepted this about myself. We just have a small bit of mudding and taping to finish up, then it's on to texturing and painting. After that, we can spend a fortune to carpet everything. The downstairs bathroom won't be finished yet, but the toilet flushes and that is good enough for me.

Sprinkle, Sprinkle, Little...umm...Sprinkler

It was warm enough yesterday for the whole family to run through the sprinkler in our backyard. Yay for being a kid again!

Thoughts on Warfare (LONG)

With all the news in the USA about interrogations lately, I thought I would write out an in-depth statement and reasoning of my views. Personally, I don’t care who knew what, or when. Those are nothing but political attacks and the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. So let’s start with some definite laws that I was taught during Military Basic Training and that we as Americans should unquestionably uphold: The Geneva Conventions.

Interrogation

Prisoners of war are only obligated to provide names, ranks, date of birth, army, personal or serial identification numbers or equivalent information. (Convention III, Art. 17)

No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion may be inflicted. Prisoners who refuse to answer questions may not be threatened, insulted or exposed to unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind. (Convention III, Art. 17)

So there it is, plain as day. However, the legal rub is that in order to qualify as a “prisoner of war” an individual must first be classified as a combatant.

Combatant Status

Convention I defines combatants as members of the armed forces of a party to an international conflict, members of militias or volunteer corps including members of organized resistance movements as long as they have a well-defined chain of command, are clearly distinguishable from the civilian population, carry their arms openly, and obey the laws of war. (Convention I, Art. 13, Sec. 1 and Sec. 2)

However, other individuals, including civilians, who commit hostile acts and are captured do not have these protections. For example, civilians in an occupied territory are subject to the existing penal laws. (Convention IV, Art. 64)

The 1977 Protocols extend the definition of combatant to include any fighters who carry arms openly during preparation for an attack and during the attack itself, (Protocol I, Art. 44, Sec. 3).

A mercenary does not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war. (Protocol I, Art. 37)

Are the people we commonly call terrorists considered combatants or mercenaries? Further definition of “mercenary” is needed.

Mercenaries

A mercenary is any person who is specially recruited in order to fight in an armed conflict, who takes a direct part in the hostilities, who is motivated by money and is promised substantially higher pay than that paid to other combatants of similar rank, who is not a national of one of the countries involved in the conflict nor a resident of a territory controlled by any of the parties, is not a member of the armed forces of any of the parties, and who has not been sent by another country on official duty as a member of its armed forces. (Protocol I, Art. 47)

I imagine that those who make the decisions in the military define terrorists as mercenaries and thus afforded no protections under the Geneva Conventions. The more you look into the wording of certain parts of the Geneva Conventions, the more of a gray area it seems; a case could be made for either stance. I’ve only provided examples of one side here.

However, because of the nature of the War on Terrorism, my view (with the understanding that I have no knowledge of the nature of the prisoners’ capture) tends to lean towards them being closer to mercenaries. With that being said, do I agree that torture is okay, depending on the situation? Absolutely not. Do I think “waterboarding” is torture? Yes, I do. (I have lots of reason to think so, but I won't go into them at the moment.) Even if an individual may not legally fall under the protections of the Geneva Conventions, I truly believe all captured “terrorists” should be treated as prisoners of war, and thus protected as combatants. The ends do not (and have never) justified the means.

There must be an understanding that there are higher laws than man’s. Just because something is legal doesn’t make it ethical. We are all children of God (the good and the evil among us) and should be treated as such. Just because an enemy doesn’t extend to our soldiers the same respect doesn’t make it okay for us. We need to set the example and follow the moral laws we claim to hold so dear. To do otherwise makes us seem like immature kids who whine about having to keep their rooms clean because Billy’s mom doesn’t make him clean his room.

So what is this higher, moral law? Quite simply, it is summed up thus: Do unto others as you would have done unto you. The Golden Rule. Many religions around the world have a similar phraseology:

• Judaism – “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowmen. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary” (Talmud, Shabbat, 31a)
  
• Buddhism – “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful” (Udana-Varga, 5, 18)
  
• Confucianism – “Surely it is the maxim of living-kindness: Do not unto others that you would not have them do unto you” (Analects, 15, 23)
  
• Islam – “No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself” (Sunnah)
  

Am I preaching complete pacifism? Not really. As a youth and young man, I had no problem with the thought of taking another person’s life to defend my life or that of a member of my family. I felt I had every right to proclaim a person’s life forfeit in such a situation. As a man rapidly approaching middle age, my views have altered somewhat. I have a greater understanding and appreciation of what I’ve heard called “an Eternal Perspective.”

A few years ago, I sat down with my scriptures to see if I could reason out my views of self-defense and general warfare and to find what scriptural support there was for such actions. Although I didn’t write it down at the time, I remember the general starting points and, with help from the footnotes in my scriptures, I can fairly accurately retrace my steps.

The first person I looked to was a hero of mine from the Book of Mormon: Captain Moroni, described thus:

And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect understanding; yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his bretheren from bondage and slavery;

Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood. (Alma 48:11, 13)

Immediately following that is this:

Now the Nephites were taught to defend themselves against their enemies, even to the shedding of blood if it were necessary; yea, and they were also taught never to give an offense, yea, and never to raise the sword except it were against an enemy, except it were to preserve their lives. (Alma 48:14)

It would be a very simple thing to stop there and think my question answered. It is even backed up by a footnote by the phrase “never to give offense” with several scripture references, the first of which leads to:

And again, the Lord has said that: Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed. Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending with the Lamanites, to defend themselves, and their families, and their lands, their country, and their rights, and their religion. (Alma 43:47)

Again, more support for self-defense. The second scripture reference is 3 Nephi 3:20-21, which (perhaps having some modern application) talks about a chief captain wanting to go after a large band of robbers in the wilderness but was counseled to prepare defenses instead and wait for the enemy to come to them. From that, there are several footnotes that lead to a very apparent principle that warfare should be fairly defensive. There are plenty of examples of the “good guys” pressing an attack, but those were individual battle and not the war as a whole. A pre-emptive strike just because the “bad guys” are out there and might hurt you “someday” just isn’t supported.

Fair enough. I can accept that. However, something in the back of my head seemed to tell me that something was missing. I went back to Alma 43:47 and read the preceding verse, specifically the last part:

Inasmuch as ye are not guilty of the first offense, neither the second, ye shall not suffer yourselves to be slain by the hands of your enemies. (Alma 43:46)

First offense? Second offense? Seemed to support the “defensive warfare” model that was developing in my mind. One of the footnotes in that second leads to something Jesus taught:

And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid him not to take thy coat also. (Luke 6:29)

Wait…what? We seemed to have switched gears because Christ is giving a pretty strong teaching of pacifism here. On reflection, though, it makes sense. Be “not guilty of the first offense, neither the second.” Further enlightenment comes from yet another footnote reference:

Now, I speak unto you concerning your families – if men will smite you, or your families, once, and ye bear it patiently and revile not against them, neither seek revenge, ye shall be rewarded; But if ye bear it not patiently, it shall be accounted unto you as being meted out as a just measure unto you.

And again, if your enemy shall smite you the second time, and you revile not against your enemy, and bear it patiently, your reward shall be an hundredfold.

(skip ahead a few verses)

And then if thou wilt spare him, thou shalt be rewarded for they righteousness; and also they children and thy children’s children unto the third and fourth generation. Nevertheless, thine enemy is in thine hands; and if thou rewardest him according to his works thou art justified; if he has sought they life, and they life is endangered by him, thine enemy is in thine hands and thou are justified. (D&C 98:23-25, 31)

It goes on with some very interesting verses on how the Lord fights His peoples’ battles. However, in light of this discussion, I come away with the following:

1. We are justified in defending our families and our liberties unto the shedding of blood
   
2. The higher way Jesus would have us take is to patiently bear the afflictions given by our enemies
   
3. If we continue to “turn the other cheek,” we will be greatly blessed
   

What would I do if my family were under attack? Honestly, I don’t know. To paraphrase an old saying, I may not start a fight, but I am justified in ending it. I've told my wife often enough that I hope no one ever hurts her or one of our kids, because I'd hate to go to jail for killing someone. A lot of times, I think I meant it - but I don't truthfully know how I would react.

From what I’ve read, it seems this same principle applies to nations as well as individuals. When it comes to war, Carl von Clausewitz calls war the “continuation of political intercourse, carried on with other means” (On War, pg 87). I’m not entirely sure I agree with that. Should warfare be started just because someone doesn’t do what you want? If that nation attacked first, then by all means we are justified in doing everything in our power to protect ourselves. But there is a distinct line there – protecting our freedom versus removing the threat of attack. Again, pre-emptive strikes are just not in the program.

Many today claim war is nothing but an economic vehicle for enriching one group of people over another, or that the strong have a right to whatever the weak cannot hold. Of course I reject that completely; but what if an enemy takes control of some economic base (a commodity or property) that we as a nation feel is “ours” even if it doesn’t affect our life or liberty? Do we fight to get it back? The current war on terror seems to be a too much of a war of retaliation. Someone has done us wrong and we are going to make them pay. We are going to hunt down every threat to our people and eliminate it before they can hurt us again. It seems to fall too far outside of the bounds of a “defensive war” for my comfort. I feel we would be better served by following the council found in 3 Nephi 3:20-21 as mentioned above.

(Quick tangent: Speaking of economics and war, I’ve heard it said that war is good for the economy – after all, it got America out of the Great Depression, didn’t it? Well, one of my favorite authors, Frederic Bastiat, wrote an essay in 1850 called That Which is Seen and That Which is Unseen, which, in addition to his book The Law, should be required reading for anyone in politics. Bastiat’s essay deals with the hidden costs associated with the destruction of the property of others. Read up on the Parable of the Broken Window; it’s good stuff.)

I think a lot of warfare has to do with Pride (with a capital “P”). Too many people (of all political persuasions) have become incapable of turning the other cheek out of pride or fear of looking weak. Humility and meekness are seen as faults and not virtues as they one were. The consequences of pride in the scriptures are clear: “Pride goeth before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18). It destroyed the Nephite nation and the city of Sodom. Saul became an enemy to David because of pride. It was because of pride that Jesus was crucified. It is because of pride that too many of our men and women have already lost their lives (and I'm not talking about just those in the military). And it is because of pride that I am now watching the leaders of my country slowly (or quickly as the case may be) tear at the very foundation of our society.

Well, this has gone on much longer than I expected. Still, I'm glad I finally took the time to write all this out. I think if more of our politicians would sit down and write out what they believed (if anything) and why they believed it (other than to get votes), we might be in a better position than we are now.

There is an old Chinese saying: "Unless we change our direction we're headed, we'll end up where we're going." Amen, brother. Amen.

City Boy, Rural Dreams

I was dreaming about farms this evening. That is something I haven't done in quite awhile. Not only has owning my first house taken the wind out of my sails a bit, but seeing how nearly incompetent I am when it came to remodling the basement and general house repair almost killed the dream completely.

Not tonight, however.

I told Leslie that I wanted to get some chickens. After she recovered from the panicked, deer-in-the-headlights look, she made a sound that was vaguely reminescent of the tone people use when a stranger starts talking to you and you don't want to talk to a stranger but don't want to seem rude. I'm pretty sure she thought she had married an idiot. Actually, I figure if she is only just figuring that out after 12 years, then I can't be held responsible.

There is actually a city ordinance that regulates (but doesn't forbid) chickens to be raised within the city limits. They also allow bee hives. I want chickens (I'd prefer ducks, but that's a story for another time). I want bees. I want a greenhouse filled with veggies. Actually I want a few acres of some kind of grain. My dad had some of this. Chickens, a cow, sheep, rabbits, a garden, an old beat-up truck.

I have a cat and a minivan. 

And some dead tomato plants.

Unfortunately for me, my dad is a better man than I am. He may not think so, but life has a funny way of making someone not realize they are more important than they think. As I sit in my house (basement still not finished) with my wife and five kids, I look back in complete awe at what my father was able to accomplish. But I'm getting off topic...

Whether or not any of my animal husbandry/agricultural dreams ever come true, it was nice to be able to dream and plot and scheme like that again.

Hey Ma! Look What I Made!

Therapeutic Shower Singing

Yesterday was a bad day. Nothing specific, but I just woke up mad and kept up a low-level irritation all day long. Well, almost all day. When I got home, I started listening to some Bobs music and started to mellow out a little. Finally, I decided to take a shower.

Many years ago, I used to sing in the shower. I'm not talking about generally mumbling out a tune, I'm talking about singing at the absolute top of my lungs. I haven't done that in many years, but today... Perhaps it should come as no surprise that every one of my kids (even Benjamin) was huddled around the door listening to me, giggling, and occasionally shouting out requests. What did come as a surprise is that none of them are old enough to have heard me sing in the shower before. Leslie told them that I used to do it all the time and they thought it was pretty funny.

It really kinda shocked me to realize that I really DON'T sing as much as I used to. I really should do it more. It does wonders for my kids, my mood, and (perhaps most importantly) it makes my wife smile.

Updates on that Other Stuff

So, besides this Ultimate Gamer Test, what else has been happening? Last Saturday I got some tickets for the local minor league baseball game through work (along with free food and drink coupons) and took the kids to go watch. For what it was and for how old they are, the kids did a fantastic job. Isaiah got chosen to go out on the field and announce the first batter. He was THRILLED! He got a free T-shirt and one of the game balls to take home. I think he wants to be a professional ball player now.

Everyone else enjoyed the game as well. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it...not in a rabid fan sort of way either. There were two home runs and quite a few really good defensive catches. All in all, it was a great weekend.

However, after the game, Isaiah went down to spend a few days with Leslie's parents and younger brothers. He got to go hang out with his uncles and I'm sure they had a great time. I can't say for sure because on Wednesday, Leslie took the other kids to the family reunion/camping trip and will come back this Saturday. That means I won't see my girls for three days and my boy for a whole week. Let me tell ya...I hate coming home to an empty house. You'd think it'd be relaxing. I don't like it.

Why didn't I go to the reunion? Work. And GenCon. I don't have enough vacation time to attend both and I certainly can't afford to take unpaid leave. I'm sad to miss out on the camping - and even more sad that I'll miss most of next week with my family as well. At least I'll have four days of mad-crazy gaming to make up for it...

In other news, I've thrown my hat into the ring for an electrical apprenticeship. Because the parent-company of my work is the local utility, I am able to see all the internal-only job postings, and one of them is for a candidate pool for electrical mechanic apprentices. I've taken and passed all the required tests and submitted my application packet (complete with test scores, military training certificates - in electronics nonetheless - and I even found a letter of recommendation from my training squadron commander about my average military tech school grades...98%!). If I do get accepted, it will nearly double my annual salary...and that's just the start. Apparently electricians who work for a utility company (as opposed to construction) make an unbelievable (to me anyway) amount of money. If I don't get it, no worries...but with the luck I have been having lately, I think my chances are higher than average. The posting doesn't close until the end of this month, so I'll just have to wait and see.

Anything else? Oh yeah, I've been asked to write a blog about gaming with kids to post on this Gleemax site once it gets up and running in the next week or so. I won't be reproducing my posts for that here, but I'll make sure to put up a link so you all can read my less-than-expert advice and thoughts on playing games with kids between the ages of 5 and 11. I've got the first two posts already written, but you'll just have to wait like everyone else. So nyeah...

A Picture?!? It's About Time!

Enjoy!

What is it About the Duck Tie?

Once upon a time, a man had a maroon tie with an embroidered duck at the bottom. It caught the attention of the man's son and soon the son was wearing it all the time and the man never saw it again.

As the son grew older, he kept the tie. Oh, he had other ties, but the tie he had "borrowed" from his father was one of his favorites. Eventually, the son got married and started having kids of his own.

One Sunday morning, his own oldest son came out from his closet carrying the duck tie and told his dad, "Dad, I want to wear this tie."

Now this little boy had never worn a full tie before. It had only been clip-ons. Somewhat humored, the dad tied it for him and let him wear it. And behold! The kid looked good in it.

This little boy (the grandson of the original owner of the tie) now seems to have laid claim to the tie and wears it every Sunday.

The moral of the story: Dad, if you want your duck tie back, you'll have to bring it up with your grandson. Apparently I no longer own it.

March Madness

No...this isn't about basketball. Have I ever mentioned how much I REALLY dislike rabid sports fans? But I digress...

It's been a busy month with all the birthdays and our 10 year anniversary. Plus we have been fighting a round of the flu in the household. We had one day where the three older kids were all throwing up at the same time...not fun.

Leslie and I haven't been able to get out to do anything for our anniversary. Between the new baby, sick kids, work, school, church callings, lack of money, it has been pretty impossible. It's kind of strange to think about being married for 10 years. It seems like a long time and a short time at the same time. (How many times can I use the word "time" in a sentence?) I suppose I could take this opportunity to reminisce about years gone by, but I'm not feeling particularly nostalgic at the moment.

I've started up yet another blog...this time it is an exercise related one. Although the name is "Water Blogged", you can see there has been a distinct lack of water thus far. The original idea was to use it to track my swimming workouts, scuba dives, etc. It might just end up being a place to write more random thoughts...who knows?

Tomorrow I mail off my application packet for graduate school. They make their decisions in May. I'll have to wait a whole month to find out if all the effort was worth it. Blech...

Workplace Violence

I made a mistake. I returned to work with no pictures of the baby. BIG mistake. But I apparently made an even BIGGER mistake. Several of the ladies there didn't even know we were expecting. Good grief. You'd think I had insulted their womanly heritage since the beginning of time.

I'm still living in the Stone Age and don't have a digital camera. So pictures are on the way...it will just take a little while. Hopefully I can survive until then.

As If This Time of Year Didn't Have Enough Birthdays

I am pleased to announce the birth of Benjamin, my second son and fifth child. He was born at 3:09 in the afternoon, weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces, measured 18 3/4 inches, and complete with black hair and dimples. Both he and mom are doing great. They will be coming home tomorrow; until then, I am pulling full-time Daddy Duty (it's not "baby-sitting"...it's called "parenting").

Isaiah is excited to have another boy in the house and wants to share all of his toys with Benjamin. Rebekah is thrilled that there is another black-haired person, Mary is on worry-overdrive about them staying at the hospital tonight. Emma is also on overdrive, but for a different reason: she has been told it is her job to hold the baby's hand and to make sure Mommy has enough blankets, diapers, etc. for the baby. She has been waiting for this moment for a long time now.

As for me and Leslie, I think we have reached an agreement that this will be our last kid. Not only is it already like a horde of locusts at mealtimes, but it is starting to be a drain on us physically, mentally, and emotionally. I love my kids, but everyone has a point at which there is a limit - as the saying goes: "It is not requisite that a man run faster than he has strength."

The Fruits of My Loom

Yeah, I gotta claim 'em...and yeah, they're fruits.

I Found 'Em!

Wah-hooo!!!! Break into your "Happy Snoopy Dance" everyone - I found em!

After a long time of searching for an inconsequential piece of genealogical information, I think I have finally found what I have been looking for: The ship that John Wilson, the first person in my direct line to come to America, came over on. I still have to verify it on the actual ship's passenger list, but I'm 90% sure it is them (meaning John and his mother Eliza).

Why am I so sure? Also on that ship is a Mercy Miller, which is the married name of John's younger sister and a William A.S. Miller, who is Mercy's son. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is them - but I still want to see the actual passenger list. I got the info off a website I just came across.

Anyway, here is my tentative timeline of John Wilson's life (some details I will leave out for brevity's sake):

1828 - John born in Ingleby Cross, England

1853(?) - John's father, Robert, dies

1 March 1856 - John baptized (and I always thought he was baptized after he came to America)

18 April 1856 - John boards the ship Samuel Curling at Liverpool with his mother, Eliza, his sister, Mercy, and her son William (possibly others, but we won't worry about that right now)

23 May 1856 - The Samuel Curling arrives in Boston, USA

26 May? - The Mormon pioneers from the Samuel Curling board a train and travel to Iowa City (need to verify this one)

15 July 1856 - John, Eliza, and Mercy (and her son) join the James G. Willie handcart company (yeah, one of the doomed ones) and leave Iowa City

September(?) 1856 - Upon reaching Florence (now Omaha), Nebraska, John and Eliza drop out of the company and stay there for the next four years (Good for John and his mother, not so good for Mercy and her little boy who continued on. She survived, not sure if he did or not)

30 May 1860 - John, according to the 1860 Census,was working as an upholsterer when he and Eliza join the Warren Walling handcart company and leave Florence

9 August 1860 - The Warren Walling Company arrives in the Salt Lake Valley

There is more, but that is the time frame I've been working on. For some reason, I just wanted to know the details of exactly how John and his mother got from England to Utah.

Now that that is settled, I really would love to do some more research into the area of England John was living in prior to immigrating. I've always thought it would be neat to write a book about his life. Even though I couldn't write specifically about what he did (as he left no written record that I know of), there should be enough about the period of time, areas, and travel companions that could fill a book.

Let's see, how many descendants of John are there? Multiply that by the price of a book and I could make enough money for my family to starve. Still, it would be an interesting project and perhaps quite valuable for someone in the future.

Blanket Forts, Late Nights, and Sleep-Overs

On Friday night, Mary got to sleep over at a friend's house. Isaiah and Rebekah were a bit upset that she got to do that and they didn't, so I promised them we'd make a blanket fort in the living room and watch a movie. I picked up a Looney Toons collection for the occasion. I figure my kid's education isn't complete without a little classical grounding...

Anyway, long story short, it wasn't a great idea. Isaiah and I stayed up way too late - and, wow, was he cranky the next day...all day. Mary wasn't that much better off when she came home.

So yeah, we had a crank-fest this weekend.

(P.S. I'm proud to announce that all my kids are roadrunner and coyote fans! Some days I wonder how my wife puts up with us...)

Behold! Dad Reveals All Their Goofy Glory!

Amid my crappy week, my printer decided to go belly-up on me. The upside is that I got a good deal on a scanner/printer combo so I can at least make some horrible scans of some pictures. So here are the kids, goofy smiles, bad hair, and all!

Don't get me wrong, if there was a goofy poll taken at my house, I'm pretty sure I would win hands down. I think I have them all thoroughly convinced that their dad is the silliest person alive...and I KNOW that would shock a lot of the people I work with.

PS. I can't figure out why one picture is higher than the rest. If anyone can figure it out, let me know...

Hello Family!

This is a big shout out to my dad and sisters who I just finally got around to telling that this blog exists.

Okay, so I haven't written in awhile. The main reason is that I'm pretty discouraged with the whole library profession. When I first started looking into it, it seemed everyone was screaming that they had nobody to fill all the librarian positions out there. Not true. Sort of...

The problem is that there are no entry level positions open (according to a lot of people in the profession). The people that have been in the profession for years (decades?) do not want to move into manager slots. Which leaves the newly graduated library students no place to work.

I had planned on getting a masters degree in library sciences after I graduate this year, but I'm incredibly close to calling the whole thing off. But what about my current job? Well, I talked to some folks around here and it turns out that every time they lose a staff position, it is gone for good. When I graduate, there will be no open spots for me to fill. All in all, very discouraging.

So what to do? To quote Baldrick from the show Black Adder:

"I have a clever plan!"

More info to follow...