Today there was a piece in the Washington Post about how slugging could be a vanishing mode of transportation because Virginia allows drivers of hybrid type vehicles to get on the very low congestion High Occupancy Vehicle lanes without multiple passengers. This really bugged me when I used to slug to work every day. As more and more people buy these hybrid vehicles because of the better gas mileage they get the HOV lanes will become more and more meaningless. The whole point of the lanes was to reduce traffic congestion. Law makers need to keep that in mind when they decide whether or not to continue to allow the hybrid vehicles to drive in the HOV lanes.
The real thing that bites me about this whole issue is that Hybrid cars don’t even provide a low pollution benefit from their electric propulsion when they are traveling at high speeds. When they get going over 50 MPH they pollute just as bad as any other compact car. I think they should be banned from HOV outright. If the idea is to benefit from the reduced pollution levels of vehicles that use electric power…and these cars only use the electric power at slower speeds…than Hybrids should always be stuck in the slower lanes so we can all benefit from the cleaner air!
Read this short piece about Pat Tillman, a soldier who died in Afganistan recently. Its been a while since I teared up after reading news piece. This did it…
(Link courtesy Dan)
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My friend, Mr. Dan Simmons, passed the Virginia Bar exam!!!
Drop by his site and offer up congratulations. He deserves them.
Corryn and I went to the library yesterday. She loves going to the library because they have kids puzzles there that you can check out. She loves putting the puzzles together and I like watching her do it. She is so pleased with herself when she completes one.
I started the van as we were on our way and an Oingo Boingo CD started playing. I must have driven the van last. Corryn listened to the music for a moment and then said, “Hey, this is Jack the Pumpkin King!”
I almost started crying. My daughter is an Danny Elfman fan. She said that she wanted to listen to the Pumpkin King song so I immediately opened up my ancient CD storage book and rummaged through to find the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. We listened to most of it as we went to the library and ran some other errands. Corryn loves it. She kept wanting me to start the songs with Elfman solos again. She then told me that she wanted to see the movie. I told her that I’d watch it with her in a couple of years (I’ll do it when she stops waking up with bad dreams but I didn’t tell her that).
I sure love Corryn. I often wonder how I’m going to be able to appreciate the one on the way when she arrives. This one that I’ve grown so close to over two and a half years is so very cool.
Mormon churches are almost always too hot during the first spring warm up. Yesterday was no exception. I found myself listening to the High Council speaker so closely that I’d close my eyes to concentrate on what he was saying. I’d then have wonderful visions of things that were extremely interesting only to feel the punch on my arm bringing me back to reality. At least I usually don’t snore when I doze in church…at least I don’t think I do!
The one thing I couldn’t get out of my head yesterday as I dozed in sacrament meeting was my encounter with the sick pigeon. I went out to the garage on my way to an early* church meeting and there he was standing on the top of our van.
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I’ve just completed my first full week of working for Advantage Home Appraisal (we’re still working on improving the website) full time. It has been exhausting. I really did want to blog every evening after Corryn was put to bed but I found myself at the computer pulling comps on houses to be appraised or doing data entry on houses that had already been inspected. The past two weeks have been our busiest ever. There is tons of work to do and not enough time to do it. Lisa and I have both been really frustrated with the fact that Corryn is being neglected so we are thinking about hiring someone to do some data entry for us so we can spend more time with her. The extra work is a blessing because it means more money but it sure comes at a high cost. It is a good thing I quit when I did.
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OK…it is clear that there isn’t much of a chance that I’m going to be able to do regular entries to this site during the day. The past two days have been busier and harder than any that I spent at FSI during my 6 years there. I have a greater amount of respect and awe for my wife who has been doing this by herself for almost a year now. She’s amazing.
I’m going to try to start posting every night with a rundown of some of the thoughts I’ve had during the day and any interesting events during the day that I want to remember. Sort of like Lileks does but with writing that is far less excellent and that has fewer references to ’40s music.
I hardly remember what I did today. The computer melted last night (actually it wasn’t the computer but the NIC…of course I reformatted the harddrive and re-installed everything again before I figured that out). I spent most of the first half of today getting things running and then the rest of the day working on several appraisals that were due yesterday. We got 5 new orders in today so it looks like things aren’t going to let up. That is good and bad. Corryn had a hard time today. Her dad is home but she doesn’t get to play with him like on weekends. It is as hard for me as it is for her. We are planning on working out some sort of a schedule where I can work in the mornings while Lisa spends time with Corryn and she can work in the afternoons while I get fun time. We’ll see…
I noticed some recent comments on the site are mocking the “no trolls” policy. Stop it or you’ll be banned…then I’ll hunt you down and come visit you…and bask in the hot warmth of the Arizona sun…instead of being here in the damp cold miserable Commonwealth of Virginia. I sure love how green everything is turning but it would be nice if it would warm up too.
I haven’t had a chance to read any of my favorite blogs or catch up on the news. I think I’m going to be behind on many of my interests for the next couple weeks as I get caught up with my new job. I do hope the president did a good job defending continuing the fight in Iraq…it is important. I am betting he came across as a fool though…he has a habit of doing that.
Its bedtime. More tomorrow.
I probably won’t be able to post the quantity of stuff I used to now that I’m working a real job. I decided to put this up this morning between appointments. Work is going well and we are keeping busy. I hope to do a better post this afternoon.
As many of the three readers of this site know…I quit my job recently and my last day is tomorrow. The purpose of this entry is to post a few pictures of things I’ll miss when I leave here:
The Foreign Service Institute of the State Department is a beautiful facility on a very nice campus. I love in the spring to walk around outside during lunch or my breaks in this pretty place.
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Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, is now the richest man in the world thank in part to the slipping value of the dollar.
I know my family has contributed quite a bit to his pocketbook…I think we got a better deal on our stuff from IKEA than we did on our purchases from the world’s #2 richest guy, Bill Gates.
(link courtesy Instapundit)
I found this post at Times and Seasons and left a comment there. I’ve thought about this topic quite a few times and discussed it with my wife. She’s usually nice enough not to roll her eyes at me when I bring stuff like this up but I could tell she was tempted to remind me not to be dorky when I last mentioned the subject so I was glad to find other people discussing this stuff!
I’ve often wondered what the point of blessing food before eating it was. Especially desserts. Is my blessing going to make 150 grams of fat and sugar more healthy? Of course I’m thankful that I am able to have food on my table and we always pray before eating and express thanks for the food but I’ve stopped “blessing” the food in my pre-meal prayers.
We had a YM/YW activity on Wednesday and in the closing prayer I told the teacher who was going to pray to bless the refreshments. He did and I remembered right after giving him the assignment that I never do that in my prayers.
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Here is an interesting (but stupidly titled) story from today’s Deseret News about a study conducted by a BYU researcher on the mental well-being of Mormon women. Apparently Mormon women are happier in general than their non-mormon counterparts.
The story only briefly mentions at the end the fact that Utah ranks very high in use of anti-depressant drugs compared to other states…
I think the reason LDS Women take lots of anti-depressants isn’t directly because of their faith. I think it is because they are more prone to having children than women in other populations. Pregnancy is hard miserable work that really messes with hormones. I bet a study of practicing Catholic women would reveal similar levels of anti-depressant drug use to that of Mormons.
All these studies sure make one who has the goods glad that he’s a guy!!!
In honor of General Conference this weekend I figured I’d post a link to FAIRLDS.org where they have some interesting videos taken of the loonies and jerks who come out to protest against my church every six months when LDS General Conference is held in Salt Lake City.
Each video is prefaced with the words “Some people say Mormons are not Christian…”.
Then the videos show these thugs shouting at people leaving the conference center…mocking clothing that is sacred to members of our church…and throwing our scriptures onto the ground while mocking Mormons as they walk past the spectacle.
I don’t know how many converts these people get with their biannual protests but they do seem to have a good time. The FAIRLDS.org videos end with a caption that reads, “Would you invite THESE Christians to your home?…They come to our home every 6 months.”
(Image courtesy FAIRLDS.org)
This post is up a little late but check out the webpage and watch the videos…
America should make sure that our troops have access to every technology that could possibly help them kill our enemies. Here is a really cool one…the Recon Round:
The 2-pound, 6 inch-long reconnaissance device, made from off-the-shelf parts such as digital camera components, would be used in weapons like mortars that launch shells high in the air. Far above the battlefield, a separation charge opens a parachute, and the surveillance device floats down transmitting digital images as it descends.
…Typically deployed at a height of about 1800 to 2000 feet, the reconnaissance round has a field of view of 600 feet by 400 feet and can view terrain as far as 3.1 miles.
Thats pretty cool.
Sam argues that technologies like this are of more value to America than technologies like missle defense that the Pentagon is currently spending tens of billions of dollars to develop. I have a hard time refuting that argument…
Something came up today that made me think philosophically about what I want this site to be.
This is my site. I do it because I like to post my opinion on topics and I like to have a place outside of my head to store my thoughts. If readers agree or disagree with my opinion they are free to leave well thought out comments. Most of the time I’ll respect those comments and I almost always respond to acknowledge the commentor’s point of view.
Comments that are left for the sole purpose of annoying me or those which do not contain a reasonable argument will be deleted without acknowledgment at my discretion as will all spam comments.
I like thoughtful discussions.
I don’t like troll comments…they will be deleted.
Thanks,
The Management
