Erika and I have signed up for our first 1/2 marathon race. We have started running / cycling / walking / cross-training again. We plan on racing at the SLC race in April. Hopefully we are ready by then, to go the distance.
Aug 24
One of the things that I have been working towards is to make my life a bit more simple. I’ve been reading a great blog on zen-habits, that seems to really ring true for me. It has great ideas on how to simplify, be happy with less, etc.
One thing that I think would really help this world would be to follow the Unix Philosophy in our lives:
The Unix Philosophy : Write programs that do one thing and do it well. Write programs to work together.
I see this philosophy at work each day, as I am a linux nerd. Today’s example goes as follows: I needed to look though several million lines of code, for a single word, output the file-name, project, and word count. Subversion keeps track of code | svnadmin dumps the code to stream | grep finds the word I need look for | wc counts lines of code | pipes writes to results to file | sftp moves the file to my machine | pure happiness. 
So each program only does one function, and is not complicated to use, so it does it’s function well. Something as simple as ‘wc’ that counts lines per file, and words per file may seem so simple that it is silly, however it performs it’s job perfectly each time, and developers never need to write a program that does anything like it, because it already exists. It can be trusted, day in and day out, it is tested, true and good.
There is a great post about how to help do this at a human level, here. We should loose some commitments, clean out the clutter in our lives, do one thing and do it well. Think of how much better our lives would be if we could trust that everyone we need help from had the time and commitment to do it well. We would have better trust, better efficency, and be able to accomplish so much more in our lives.
Aug 20
Nathan_0 and I were able to go serve at the Temple tonight, to prepare it for the dedication tomorrow. We got there late, because we left work late, and because we had to get some dinner at 5 guys.
We did some cleaning, even got to clean the oxen under the baptismal font. We dusted the pipes in the basement, cleaned light fixtures and moved all kinds of boxes. And we had some free time, so we went to every room we could find in the Temple. Turns out there is a whole lot of equipment and stuff in the Temple. Rooms full of light bulbs, lots of air conditioning equipment, water pumps, and even a room with 20 huge rolls of carpet.
Nathan is a really good kid. I had the opportunity to have him program with me this summer at work, and he did an excellent job. He was able to pick up programming really quick, and even wrote an entire project by himself.
Here are some pictures of him with those anti-dust / anti-static shoe covers on his head. We were goofing off in the parking lot on the way back from a storage shed tonight and I was happy to get these great picture of him.
Aug 20
The boys had a chance to race their pine wood derby cars this week. We did pretty good in standings, nearly right in the middle of the rankings. There was the usual mix of contestants, fathers that would not let their kids touch the cars, all the way to the kid that did everything and took last place.
We had a great time putting them together, and the boys had a fun time racing their cars.
Aug 20
Here are a few quick picture from youth conference. We were up big cottonwood canyon for the weekend. There is a picture of our new bishopric member, and two great young men. Donut falls, and then a picture from the top of the administration building downtown.
Aug 20
The boys just finished another round of swimming lessons. They both think they are superior swimmers. Here is some pictures of both of them jumping into the pool from the diving board all by themselves. Nathan was able to swim back to the wall with no help. Benjamin needed a little bit of help to keep his head above water.
Aug 17
My latest creations for the RC plane world have been with 3D models. They are made from simple foam sheets, that can be purchased at most any craft store. There are plans for all types of planes, however many just make up their own designs, add powerful motor and radio equipment and hope for the best. I’ve made a simple Delta wing plane. Just a huge triangle, with ailerons on the back. When the engine is installed, I’ll post some pictures.
This is the plan that I made up tonight. It is just a simple wing based on any old low wing plane, and square fuselage. My plan is to get the old motor from my trainer installed, and try to go fly it before the week is up. I have some hardware coming in from Hong Kong, and it should arrive Thursday. Can’t wait, because after this crazy week, I’m ready to go flying and relax.
Aug 16
Been a while since the last post. Most all of all our time has been spent on this years youth conference. Youth confernece is a super great weekend of fun and learning for the boys and girls, age 12-18 at our church. We spend time up in the mountains, playing games, reading scriptures, hiking and eating. It all went really well, had some rain both days, but we lived through it.
Several of the youth were able to talk on it at church today. It was good to hear them share their experiences and testify of the Spirt that they felt. It makes me happy to be apart of helping these kids through the teenage years.
Aug 11
The boys were rough on Erika again today. We’ve been trying to improve them with the usual techniques, like nose on the wall, taking away good stuff, and time in their rooms.
Since none of it seems to work this whole last week, we have resorted back to Peanut-Butter sandwiches and water for all three meals. Included is no good stuff ( TV, radio, computer, friends, books, etc…. ), and early bed time each night.
Tonight extra fun was rewriting down scriptures on paper for an hour. Hour of cleaning, and to bed by 8 pm. Hopefully we see improvement soon.
Aug 10
This is my new plane, it is 3/4 done, all hand cut wood. Just needs coating and radio. It is called a Skeeter 30. I am waiting for ESC and engine to show up in the mail. Will post pics when it is complete.
